USA > New York > Essex County > Bloomingdale > The New York of yesterday; a descriptive narrative of old Bloomingdale, its topographical features, its early families and their genealogies, its old homesteads and country-seats, the Bloomingdale Reformed church, organized in 1805 > Part 23
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
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Samt A Laurence
Portraits and signatures of Samuel Adams Laurence, Esq., and his wife Katherine Remsen, from the original paintings in possession of Mrs. Katherine L. Neumann
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poor, he was also a strong advocate of the cause of education as well as a munificent patron of the arts and sciences, and initiated many plans in concert with and while entertaining at Bloomingdale and elsewhere his friend and adviser De Witt Clinton, by whom he was referred to as "my Benjamin." He served as Ensign of the 2d Regt. in 1798, was ap- pointed Lieut. of the 13th Company, 6th Regt., on March 8, 1800, and Captain in the same command on February 16, 1802. He became a director and presi- dent of many corporations and institutions, but his crowning merit is that through life and in his last hour he was a conscientious and sincere Christian. He died August 5, 1851, at his city residence.
By his wife Catharine, daughter of John and Doro- thea Remsen, whom he married Nov. 26, 1803, Mr. Lawrence had eleven children. The names of the six baptized by Dr. Gunn were
Julia, m. July 27, 1835, Garret Decker, son of Louis Hasbrouck, M.D., of Ulster Co.
Henry, was educated for the ministry. He never married.
Horace, d. at Key West, Fla., Sept. 29, 1851. He m. Feb. 12, 1839, Laura, dau. of Michael Kelley, of Charleston, S. C.
Charles David, d. at Palestine, Anderson Co., Texas, July 29, 1852, unm.
Maria Varick, b. Aug. 10, 1819, d. unm. Eugene.
Samuel Sterry, a son, born Aug. 21, 1804, was a medical practitioner of great popularity and generosity. From his father he inherited a fortune which enabled him to gratify his scientific and literary tastes as well as to contribute largely to the charities of the time. He married
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fully as Deacon, "gentleman" as the conveyance reads, received a deed from the Corporation, of a certain plot in the Seventh Ward, part of the Common Lands, May 1, 1801, described in the Survey or map of said lands filed in the office of the Clerk of the County by the number 134, bounded west by a certain road laid out on said map called the Middle Road, on the east by another road called on said map the East Road, on the north by a street 60 feet wide between the lot hereby granted and released and lot No. 136, and on the south by another street of like breadth of 60 feet between the said lot hereby granted, and lot No. 131, containing in breadth at each end 3 chains and 3 links and in length on each side 13 chains and 94 links, at the rent of four bushels of wheat or the value thereof in gold or silver on the first day of May in each year forever thereafter.
The grant is not recorded, but a counterpart thereof is to be found in the Comptroller's Office in Book of Grants of the Common Lands at p. 12. The quit- rent reserved was commuted June 20, 1835, by William Wagstaff. Post built a residence on this property where he resided during his diaconate, and it was this house he opened to the military during the War of 1812, as heretofore narrated. He was born in Pompton, N. J., and served as a drummer in the Revolution. He married Elizabeth, the fifth of the eight children of James Board and Jane, daughter of Capt. Philip Schuyler (son of Arent Schuyler) and Hester Kingsland (daugh- ter of Isaac Kingsland of New Barbadoes Neck, Bergen Co., N.J.), license dated June 20, 1780. Jane Schuyler was born Oct. 6, 1728. James Board came from England in 1730 with his father Cornelius and settled at Ringwood, Passaic Co., N. J. Cornelius and his
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brothers David and Joseph who accompanied him managed the iron-works at that place. James was commissioned to sell confiscated property in Bergen County, and died in 1803. His wife died Mar. 31, 1816.
Post was elected Deacon a few days after he and his wife had presented themselves as applicants for admission to the communion. They were received August 1, 1814, at the same session as Matthew Horn and wife. He and Lawrence became Deacons the same day, Aug. IIth, and the former was chosen Treasurer of the Board in October. These positions he resigned on Aug. 19, 1822, with the thanks of the Consistory, and Richard A. Striker succeeded. In April, 1823, Mr. Post was appointed Church Master. He had been an officer of militia in New York City, having been commissioned Ensign May II, 1789, promoted Lieut., in Lieut .- Col. James Alner's Regiment, March 12, 1790, in which command many of his Bloom- ingdale neighbors served, among them Lemuel Wells, Jacob Harsen, and James Striker, Captain in the 4th Regt., Dec. 7, 1795, and 2d Major, Feb. 16, 1802. In Mrs. Johannah Beekman's will he is called Judge Post. On August 3, 1812, precautions were taken by the Common Council against riot and one hundred citizens in each of the wards volunteered and were organized, under the city authorities, to aid the Magistrates and Committee of Defence in keeping the peace. John S. Dusenberry of Bloomingdale was a peace officer connected with the Police Department. Special justices were appointed, whose duty was to attend at the City Hall throughout each night to quell riots. Post represented the Ninth Ward. These officials were appointed by the State Council of Ap- pointment at Albany and were familiarly known as
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Assistant Justices. Their powers were such as justices of the peace possessed.
His will, dated Sept. 6, 1833 (L. 71, Wills, 12), named Jonathan Ferris, Isaac Adriance, and Andrew McGown, executors. To them was devised testator's house and two five-acre lots, situated on the east side of Fifth Avenue, "and which are now in my occupation," upon trust to sell at public auction within a period of five years after his decease and from the proceeds to pay $400.00 to his daughter Sarah Ann and half the balance to his granddaughter Eliza McGown. The residue to be invested and the income paid to his grandson Henry P. Ferris. On March 13, 1834, Isaac Adriance, Counseller-at-law, and Jonathan Ferris conveyed these premises and lot No. 139 of the Common Lands to Andrew McGown; consideration $10,000.00 (L.31I, Conv. 592); and on April Ist of the same year, the latter and his wife Eliza Ann S. sold them for the same amount of money to William Wagstaff (L. 314, Conv. 245). This land later vested in Robert Lenox. He left a will, dated May 23, 1829, with codicils dated June 23, 1832, and Dec. 4, 1839, which was proved Jan. 15, 1840. This property became so famous in local history that it is interesting to add that he died Dec. 13, 1839, leaving a widow, Rachel, and these children, viz .: James Lenox, the later well-known philanthropist, Eliza L. Maitland, Isabella H. Banks, Rachel C. Kennedy, Jenet Lenox, Mary L. Sheafe, Henrietta A. Lenox, and Aletha L. Donaldson. Rachel Lenox died Feb. 9, 1843.
Deacon Post had but one child, Sarah Ann, who married Benjamin Ferris and their daughter Eliza A. L. Ferris married Andrew McGown who acted as a guide to mislead the British while Washington's army
Joel Post
Portrait and signature of Joel Post, Esq.
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made good their escape without loss to Fort Washing- ton in the War for Independence. He resided in New York City and had Henry Post, married Mary A. Dailey, lawyer and City Judge, 1892. Issue: Marianna and Rev. William Knight McGown; and Elizabeth Ann Post, married James H. Wright.
Another Post line, originally of German ancestry, came from Holland, where they were known as van den Poest, with a party of Pilgrims to Massachusetts. Jotham Post, fourth in descent from Lieut. Richard Post, who went to Southampton, L. I., about 1640, was born 1740 at Westbury, L. I., and came to New York City. He married Winifred Wright and had four sons : Wright E. (died at Newport, Sept 1, 1907), Jotham, Joel, and Alison. The eldest son was a celebrated physician whose portrait appears in the famous group representing the Court of Washington. The third son, Joel, who owned a pew in the church, purchased Claremont in 1821, where he resided throughout his life. Later he acquired the adjoining property, "Monte Alta." The mansion and site of Gen. Grant's Tomb were acquired (1873) by the city from his descendants when Riverside Park was created. He was married (I) to Elizabeth Brown by the Rev. Uzal Ogden, Rector of Trinity P. E. Church, Newark, May 21, 1796 (N.J. Archives, Ist Series, Vol. XXII, Marriages), and (2) to Alma Floyd. Their son John Alexander was baptized in 1824 by Dr. Gunn. He was in the whole- sale drug business. Nancy, the daughter of Jotham, Sr., married May 11, 1797, Peter Hawes, who, as a member of the Committee of Defence in the second war with England, had much to do in providing funds and volunteers for the building of the works on Blooming- dale Heights. Born June 6, 1768, he entered in 1787
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Rhode Island College, now known as Brown University. At that time it was necessary upon matriculation to give a bond to the Steward of the College. This curious document, as well as the Diploma from his Alma Mater, are in possession of his grandson, Gilbert Ray Hawes, a present Elder of the Church. Mr. Hawes determined to enter the profession of law and left the old Massachusetts home for New York City. The Directory for 1795 prints his name as follows: " Peter Hawes, Student of Laws. 91 Beekman Street." In the same year he was admitted to the bar. The license signed by Richard Varick, Mayor of the city, on Sept. 16, 1795, is a quaint old indenture and was exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago upon the walls of the New York State Building. He rapidly rose to prominence and soon acquired a large clientage. He organized the Washington Insurance Co., one of the first in the United States, and remained its Secre- tary to the date of his death in 1829. For many years he served as Elder in the Brick Church (Dr. Spring's) which stood on the corner of Nassau and Beekman Streets, was a member of the New England Society and its Secretary from 1807 to 1809. A member also of the Common Council (1809 to 1812), he held that office at a time when the name "City Father" was not inaptly bestowed. Mr. Hawes resided on the southeast corner of John and William Streets, and his gardens extended to the East River. The old house is yet standing metamorphosed to business purposes, on historic ground made memorable by the battle of Golden Hill. With other young fellows of the Knickerbocker period, Mr. Hawes founded the Cappiopean Society, which flourished from October 1, 1793, to February 3, 1799. The minutes of their meetings, at which poems and
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essays were read and then turned over to a committee for criticism, are in existence.
At this early period, Cherry Street was the Court end of the town and filled with elegant and fashionable residences. Conspicuous among these was the house built by Jotham Post, a respected and wealthy citizen. This quotation will bear repetition while we are on a subject so nearly related to Bloomingdale:
His daughter Nancy was acknowledged to be the hand- somest girl on Manhattan Island and the belle of New York. Many were the suitors that thronged the father's house and sought to carry off the prize. But, sad to say, she was inclined to be coquettish, as maidens sometimes are, even to this day. Scores of broken hearts were laid at her feet, but still she did not relent. Serenades were sung before her windows and sonnets composed to her beauty and charms but without avail. At last, Mr. Hawes, who was a man persistent and quite set in his ways, like his Puritan ancestors, determined that he must win her. He wrote a number of verses which did not have the desired effect of securing his lady's affections. She only laughed him to scorn. Finally he prepared a chef d'œuvre entitled "The Belles of Cherry Street," wherein she is apostrophized under the pseudonym of "Eliza," the name by which she was known in all these effusions. All the other belles of Cherry Street are mentioned in turn, only to be rejected. The final verse sets forth the pre-eminent attractions of "Eliza." There are many personal allusions which cannot be appre- ciated at this distant day. But the poem is sprightly and clever and in its present state of preservation we can hardly realize that it was written in the XVIII century. Whether it was this poem which caused her to smile upon him with favor, deponent sayeth not. But certain it is that, after a long and arduous courtship, Peter Hawes was able to lead Nancy Post, a fair and blushing bride, to the altar and the twain were made one.
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She died July 4, 1806, and on June 16, 1808, Peter Hawes married (2) Margarette Ray.
Col. Anthony Post, who married Petronella or Peternelletje Brouwer, Feb. 4, 1768, came of the Post family of Yonkers as detailed in Bolton's History of Westchester Co. He was the son of Jacob Post, who held lands in Phillipsburgh under the Phillipses and married Anne Heddy. Anthony obtained his title in the militia, having been commissioned Captain, Oct. 4, 1786, Major, Feb. 28, 1789, and Lieut .- Col., Commandant of the 2d Regt., in 1793. His resigna- tion was accepted by the Council of Appointment in 1796. He was one of the earliest attendants on the services and built a vault in the churchyard. He was chairman of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen and a Sachem of Tammany Hall. He lived in a house located on the Commissioner's Map on property which-part of the Medcef Eden farm- he purchased of Astor, fronting north on Verdant Lane. Their children were: Anthony, married Eliza- beth Polhemus; Nelly, married Odell Valentine; Betsy, married James R. Manley, M.D .; and Ann, married Joseph Bayley, M.D. There were four other daughters who d.s.p. Post's will was proved June 21, 1832 (L. 69 Wills, 110), devising the above estate. He had married a second time, for his widow Magdalena died in Mar., 1844. Dr. Bayley died in Dec., 1836, and his wife Ann, Dec. 21, 1829. She left her surviving seven children and three grandchildren. The son Anthony Post is not mentioned in his father's will.
Martha Brandon and Juliana Osgood, the former of whom was married by Dr. Gunn to Edmond Charles Genet, the French Minister, and the latter to her cousin
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Samuel W. Osgood, both on July 30, 1814, in the presence of Dr. David Hosack, the celebrated physician and botanist who was present at the Hamilton-Burr duel and attended professionally the lamented victim, were the daughters of Samuel Osgood of Massachusetts, who founded the New York family. Samuel, born 1748, graduated at Harvard 1770 and took up the study of theology. His health breaking down he forsook the pulpit for public life. In 1774 he was elected to the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. He or- ganized a company of minute-men and fought with them at Lexington and Concord. In 1775 he was made Major and in the fall aid-de-camp to Gen. Ward with the rank of Colonel. In the Congress he served for four years as a member of the Board of War. There- after he became a Senator and later a member of the Continental Congress, where he remained till 1784. " The following year he was appointed a judge and in a few months First Commissioner of the United States Treas- ury, which post he held till 1789. Until 1791 he was Postmaster-General. He resigned rather than leave New York City at the time Congress removed to Philadelphia. He was elected a member of the State Legislature, 1800-1801-1802, and during the first two years served as Speaker of the Assembly. From 1801 to 1803 he was State Supervisor and from then to 1813, the date of his death, he served as Naval Officer of the Port of New York. Besides the above he was an incorporator of the Public School Society, a trustee of the N. Y. City Dispensary, and an author of numerous books. His first wife was Martha Brandon by whom he had no issue. By his second, Maria Bowne Franklin, widow of Walter Franklin for whom Franklin Square was named, he had three daughters,
21
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the two above mentioned and Susan Maria who married Moses Field.
Samuel, the son of Walter Franklin Osgood and Ellen Moncrief, born 1812, was baptized by the minister, 1814. He graduated from Harvard (1832) and Har- vard Divinity School (1835). After a brief career as an editor he took a pulpit in Nashua, N.H., and in 1849 accepted the pastorate of the Church of the Messiah in New York City, in which place he died in 1880. His life may be divided into two epochs, twenty years in active clerical labor and eleven in literary work. His contributions to American literature were numerous and valuable. Among his chief productions were Studies in Christian Biography, God with Men, The Hearthstone, Milestones in Our Life's Journey, Student Life, American Leaves, and An Address before the N. Y. Historical Society upon Thomas Crawford on Art in America. He translated from the German Herman Olshausen's History of the Passion and De Wette's Human Life. For four years he was editor of The Christian Inquirer, while his magazine articles, college addresses, and critical studies were more than two hundred in number.
Daniel Mack, who was elected Deacon in 1816, was in the fourth generation from John Mack, who came from Scotland circa 1680, was at Salisbury, Conn., in 1681, and settled at Lyme, Conn., in 1697. He descended through Orlando in the second and Or- lando in the third. His father was born 1724 at Hebron, Conn., and married in 1744, Abigail Adams of that place. He was an Ensign and removed about 1763 to New Marlborough, Mass. The son, born Oct. 22, 1752, married Elizabeth Torot and removed to New York City where they joined the Bloomingdale
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Church, Aug. 28, 1814. Their daughter Caroline was baptized by Dr. Gunn three days earlier. Issue: Susan, m. Feb. 7, 1827, Dr. Lewis Hallock, a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1826. She d. Aug. II, 1832. After practising allopathy for fifteen years, he joined the American Homeopathic Institute in 1846, of which he was Censor many years and from which he received the degree of M.D. in 1876; Daniel, b. Nov. 8, 1787, graduated at Columbia College in 1807; Charlotte, m. John McChain, a New York provision merchant; Caroline, b. Feb. 11, 18II, m. Belcher; Sarah, m. May 21, 1808, George Woodruff of this city; Robert, who in 1851 resided at Newtown, L. I .; and Lucinda, m. April 23, 1812, John Steen and d. leaving two sons.
The Varicks were a noted family. Valentine's Manual, 1861, makes the common ancestor to be the Rev. Rudolphus van Varick. The Domine, whose will, dated Oct. 20, 1686, was proven Nov. 9, 1694, came from Holland circa 1685. Corwin's Manual, p. 871, gives Nov. 12th as the date when he offered his services to Classis in Amsterdam to minister to the church in New Netherland and the glad acceptance of the same. He sailed from Holland in March, 1686, and arrived early in July, succeeding Domine Casparus van Zuuren the same year as minister of the Long Island churches, his residence being at Flatbush; he also occasionally preached on Sundays in the churches of Bergen and Hackensack, N. J. During the Leislerian troubles he felt compelled to denounce the pseudo Governor, in which opposition he was supported by all the Re- formed ministers of the province. He found it necessary to flee to Newcastle, Del., and upon his return was charged with being privy to a design to
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rescue the fort from Leisler, and was dragged from his house in the fall of 1690 by an armed force, taken to the fort, and imprisoned for six months. Domine Selyns offered himself and property as bail for him but was refused and threatened with imprisonment him- self. He was finally released without the imposed fine, though he ultimately died in 1694 of his ill treatment. He was buried "in the church of Midwout," where his widow, who was Margarita Visboom, directed in her will, 1695, that her body be interred.
Dr. Edwin R. Purple asserts that Jan Varick of New York, 1687-1702-3, and Hackensack, 1720, probably his brother, was the ancestor of the largest branch bear- ing the name in both these States. His wife was Sara Visboom. The most noted of the name was the Hon. Richard Varick, a Colonel in the Revolution; Recorder of the city, 1783-9; Mayor 1789-1801; Attorney- General of the State 1788-9; Speaker of the Assembly 1787-8; State Commissioner to appraise the property of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Co., 1817, which property was used for the Erie Canal; President of the Society of the Cincinnati over thirty years; President of the American Bible Society at the time of his death, and one of the three founders of Jersey City, where he died July 30, 1831. In the Church re- cords we find that two of the children of Jane Dey Varick, the wife of Henry S. Dodge, viz., John Varick and Henry Augustus, were baptized by Dr. Gunn in 1816. She was the only daughter of John Varick, M.D., and Margaret van Wyck. Her father studied medicine with Dr. Peter Middleton in New York City, 1776. Her brothers were Theodore van Wyck Varick, b. May 15, 1790, graduated at Columbia College 1807 with degree of A.M., and John Varick, graduated at
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the same institution in 1813. Her grandfather, John Varick, brother of the Mayor, bap. 1723, m. in 1748 Jane Dey, dau. of Dirck Theunis Dey and Jane Blan- chard. The Deys descend from Dirck Jansen Dey who m. in New Amsterdam, Dec. 2, 1641, Jannetje Theunis of Amsterdam. In 1677, he leased from Governor Andros for thirty years the Duke's Bouwery, now belonging to Trinity Church, on which property he lived and acquired other lands later, for his will, dated Dec. 5, 1683, leaves to Geertie Jansen (alias Langen- dyck) his (2) wife, whom he m. Oct. 18, 1659, "all that land which at present lyeth to the south side of the house where the testator is dwelling." He established a mill and ferry at the foot of present Dey Street, which was named for the family, and resided on Broad- way at the head of that street. Henry S. Dodge subscribed for a pew in the Second House of Worship.
So far we have considered only a few of the in- dividuals who were identified with the infant organ- ization which assembled in the First House of Worship. In 1814, proceedings were inaugurated towards the building of the stone edifice which stood on the site purchased that year on the Bloomingdale Road, at what became later known as 68th Street. Stephen Jumel, the French merchant and the husband of the famous Madame, donated a bell for the original structure and this gift was hung in the cupola of the Second House of Worship when completed. The Jumels, even after they had removed from Bloomingdale, attended and contributed to the support of the Church. He landed in America a poor man, and by singular foresight in business matters, made an immense fortune in the wine-trade. He became noted for his wealth, liberality, and kind-hearted benevolence. The property on which
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stands the Roger Morris mansion (162d Street) and which is now a city park, was purchased by him April 28, 1810. The land, containing 57 acres, had been con- veyed by the town officers of Harlem to Jan Kiersen on March 7, 1700, and came into the possession of Col. Morris shortly before the Revolution. Selecting a site which commanded what has been described as the "most extensive prospect on this Island" he built thereon the mansion which was Washington's head- quarters during the battle of Harlem Heights. His estates were confiscated and sold by the Commissioners of Forfeiture. When Jumel acquired it, he made great improvements and in advertising the "Mansion House" in 1814, to let for two or three years, "as he intended shortly to embark for Europe," stated that the grounds covered thirty-six acres with two stables, and concluded :
It may well be said that there are but few places which excel the many advantages that this handsome spot affords; fruits of every kind are in abundance; also a vineyard of French grapes now in perfection which will supply any reasonable family with wine through the year; also oysters, clams, and good fishing within 100 rods of the Mansion and as to the ornamental part that environs this edifice, there have been no pains and expenses omitted.
Jumel died intestate, May 22, 1832, in his seventieth year, of an accidental fall, leaving his widow, whom he married about 1801, and no issue, and François Jumel, his brother, and Madelaine Lazardere, his sister, both residing in France, his only heirs-at-law. His wife was Eliza Bowen, the widow of Col. Peter Croix, a British officer. Soon after Jumel's death she sought the legal advice of Aaron Burr with whom she had been
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acquainted in her youth. It is doubtless true, as has been asserted, that they first met during attendance at the Church, where both were early communicants. The association as lawyer and client led to an intimacy which ended in marriage on July 1, 1833, at a time when the groom was in his seventy-eighth year. A few days after the wedding she placed in his hands for invest- ment a large sum of money and this being lost in Texas speculation caused her to file complaint against him. A separation ensued although no divorce was obtained. Burr, the son of the Rev. Dr. Aaron Burr, was born in the old parsonage of the First Church of Newark, Feb. 6, 1756.1 In the autumn of that year, the college buildings at Princeton were completed and his father removed there as President of the institution. Mme. Jumel, as she continued to be known, lived in retire- ment until her death, July 16, 1865. An obituary which appeared in the New York Times on the 18th has been republished in pamphlet form. Her property was the subject of a controversy in the courts which was compromised in 1880, when deeds were exchanged (Vide L. 1545, pp. 431, 435 ; L. 1559, PP. 223, 409).
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