USA > New York > The Olden time in New York > Part 4
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At the close of the last century, SIR JOHN TEMPLE came to this country as British Consul-General. He married in Boston, and his descendants, in different lines, under various names, are widely diffused through New York. This is Burke's record :-
. SIR JOHN TEMPLE, born in 1730, m. 20 Jan., 1767, Elizabeth, dau. of James Bowdoin, Esq., Governor of the State of Massachusetts, and had issue,
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GRENVILLE, his successor.
James, 6. 7 June, 1776, who assumed the surname of Bowdoin, pursuant to the desire of his maternal uncle.
Elizabeth Bowdoin, m. in 1786, Thomas Lindell Winthrop, Esq., Boston.
Augusta, m. to Lieut .- Col. Palmer, of Sth Hussars.
SIR GRENVILLE TEMPLE, b. 10 Oct., 1768, m. 20 March, 1797, Elizabeth, dau. of Col. George Watson of Boston, and had issue,
GRENVILLE, late Baronet.
Sir John Temple died in 1796, and his monument can now be seen in the chancel of St. Paul's Church, New York, with the arms and punning motto, TEMPLA QUAM DILECTA (the opening words of the Latin version of Ps. Ixxxiv.), " Temples, how lovely !"
In the romantic story of Major Andre we learn that it was at the residence of BEVERLEY ROBINSON, oppo- site West Point, that he met Arnold. The house is still standing unaltered from that day. The owner's family were well-known loyalists. Emigrating from England in the reign of Charles II .. Christopher Rob- inson was Secretary of the Colony, and his son, John Robinson, was President of the Council of Virginia, and married Catherine, dau. of Robert Beverley, Esq.
From one of his sons the New York family de- scended. At the close of the Revolution they retired to New Brunswick and Canada, where Burke thus gives the history of the present head :-
SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON, BART., of Beverley House, in the city of Toronto, Chancellor of Trinity College in the Province.
Sir John was appointed Acting Attorney-General of Upper Canada, in November, 1812 ; Solicitor-General in March, 1815 ; Attorney- General in February, 1818 ; and Chief Justice of Upper Canada, 13 July, 1829. In November, IS50, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and created a Baronet, by patent, September 21, 1854.
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Another branch remained in New York, where the name is still held in honor in the community.
In turning over the old volumes of Burke's Pecrage, we find the lineage of another former New York family, the INGRAHAMS.
The records of this family begin with Ranulf, the son of Ingel'ram or Ing'ram, who was sheriff of Nottingham and Derby in the beginning of the reign of Henry II., as were his sons Robert and William. Robert In- gram, Knight, whose arms are painted at Temple Newsam, was of so great eminency in the reign of Henry III. that the Prior and Convent of Lenton granted to him a yearly rent out of their lands at Sheynton and Nottingham for his military services in their defence.
In the reign of Charles I. Sir Arthur Ingram, of Temple Newsam, was prominent as a Cavalier. On the triumph of the Parliament, he saved his estate by the fact that he married a daughter of Lord Viscount Fairfax, of Gilling, and his eldest son had married a daughter of Montague, Earl of Manchester, both Par- liamentary leaders. Sir Arthur died in 1655, six years before the restoration of Charles II. On the King's return, he created Sir Arthur's eldest son Henry, Vis- count Irwin .* The title remained in the family until 1778, when, on the death of Charles Ingram, ninth Vis- count Irwin, without sons, it became extinct. Hence- forth the history of the family is carried on in Burke's Landed Gentry. The estate descended to the Mar- chioness of Hertford, daughter of the last Viscount, and from her to her sister, Mrs. Meynell, whose son took
* The portraits of Sir Arthur Ingram, in Cavalier dress, of his son Henry, first Viscount Irwin, in full armor, and his grandson Arthur, second Viscount Irwin, in half armor (all nearly full length), are in the collection of the Bishop of California, in San Francisco.
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' the name of Ingram, and his son is now the possessor of Temple Newsam.
The American Ingrahams-the spelling of the name having been changed after their settlement in this coun- try-are descended from Arthur Ingram, second son of Sir Arthur and youngest brother of the first Viscount. He married a daughter of Sir John Mallory. At the Revolution, the New York branch of this family was represented by Duncan Ingraham, Esq., of Greenvale Farm, near Poughkeepsie. Dutchess Co. He was a loyalist, and went to Europe, where he resided, in Paris, until the peace of 1784. President John Adams frequently mentions him in his diary, in Paris, in 1779. In 1784 he returned to this country, conformed to the Government, and died at his place, on the Hudson, in 1807. This family is now extinct in New York, and is represented by Commodore Duncan N. Ingraham, of Charleston, South Carolina, who was distinguished, in 1853, by his gallantry in the harbor of Smyrna, in the controversy with the Austrian vessels of war.
We turn to another New York family-the PIERRE- PONTS. They are of Norman origin, Robert de Pierre- pont having come over to England with the Conqueror. Pierrepont was a designation taken by the head of the family, from a stone bridge built by him in Normandy in the time of Charlemagne, to take the place of a ferry, which was then considered a great achievement.
In the time of Edward I., Sir Henry de Pierrepont, then possessed of large landed estates, married Annona de Manvers, by whom he acquired the Lordship of Holme, in the County of Nottingham, now called HOLME-PIERREPONT.
Sir George Pierrepont of Holme-Pierrepont had three sons, from the elder of whom descended the Dukes of Kingston. From the younger son was descended
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John Pierrepont, who came to Roxbury. Mass., and his eldest son was the Rev. James Pierrepont, of New Haven. During the American Revolution, the second Duke of Kingston died without issue, when the eldest line of the descendants of Rev. James Pierrepont, of New Haven, became rightful heir to the dignities and estates. The brilliant and celebrated Duchess of Kingston, whose marriage with the Duke the collateral relatives attempted to set aside, sent over to America and offered her influence in sustaining the cause of the American heirs. It was, however, during the troubles of the Revolution, and no steps were taken.
Lady Frances Pierrepont, sister of the second Duke of Kingston, married Sir Philip Meadows, and her son assumed the name of Pierrepont, and took the estates, though he could not inherit the titles.
Of the branch in this country, some of our most em- inent men have been descendants of James Pierrepont of New Haven. One daughter married the eminent divine, President Jonathan Edwards. The celebrated Pierrepont Edwards was her son. Judge Ogden Ed- wards of New York, Governor Henry W. Edwards of Connecticut, and Timothy Dwight, D.D., President of Yale College, were her grandsons. The New Haven branch still occupies the old mansion on part of the estate granted to James Pierrepont in 1684, and has the original portrait of their ancestor painted in 1711.
The New York branch is represented in Brooklyn, Long Island, and at Pierrepont Manor, in Western New York, by the descendants of Hezekiah, sixth son of the Rev. James Pierrepont.
Perhaps three of the most historical English descents of American families are those of the Barclays, Liv- ingstons, and Lawrences, of New York. Each of them has a proved pedigree of more than Foo years. The
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BARCLAYS prove their descent from Theobald de Ber- keley in 1110. From him they are traced down * to David Barclay, of Urie, of whom Burke gives the fol- lowing notice :-
David Barclay, born in 1610, Colonel under Gustavus Adolphus, purchased, in 1648, the estate of Urie, from William, Earl Marischal. He was eldest son of David Barclay, of Mathers, the representative of the old home of BARCLAY, of Mathers. He m. Katherine, daughter of Sir Robert Gordon, of Gordonstown, and had, with two daughters, Lucy and Jean, m. to Sir William Cameron, of Lochiel, three sons, Robert, his heir. John, who settled in America, and David.
From this son John is derived the American branch. It is curious to see how soon the line became mingled up with the familiar names of our old New York fami- lies. We will trace it for a couple of generations. The great grandson of John Barclay was the Rev. HENRY BARCLAY, D.D., Rector of Trinity Church, New York, who died 1764. He married Mary, daughter of Colonel Rutgers, of New York, and had issue-
Cornelia, 1. Col. Stephen De Lancey.
Anna, m. Col. Beverley Robinson.
Thomas, m. Susan, daughter of Peter De Lancey, Esq.
The children of Thomas Barclay were-
· Eliza, m. Schuyler Livingston, Esq.
De Lancey, m. Mary, widow of Gurney Barclay, M.P.
Susan, m. Peter G. Stuyvesant, Esq. I
.Thomas, m. Catharine, daughter of Walter Chan- ning, Esq., of Boston.
We turn now to the LIVINGSTON family of New York. Few American families have so distinguished a lineage. The history of the elder branch, the attainted Earl of
* " Nicoll's Peerages " and "Holgate's Genealogies. " .
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Linlithgow, can be found in Burke's Extinct Pecrages. The present representative of the family in Scotland is a Baronet, and his lineage is given by Burke in his Peerage.
The family is descended from Livingius, a Hungarian nobleman, who came over to Scotland in the suite of Margaret. Queen of King Malcolm III., about 1068. From that time their names were prominent in all the political and warlike movements in Scotland. Sir Alexander Livingston, of Calendar, was Judiciary of Scotland. His son, Sir James Livingston, had the appointment of Captain of the Castle of Stirling, with the tuition of the young King, James II., committed to him by his father. He died about 1467.
The family then received the title of Lord Livingston, which, in the seventh Lord Livingston, was merged in the higher title of Earl of Linlithgow, which title was transmitted through five descendants, till it was for- feited with the estates in 1715, for their devotion to the Stuarts. Unlike most of these attainted Scotch titles, it has not been restored, as the present heir declines the barren and expensive honor.
In 1647, Sir James Livingston was created Earl of Newburgh, a title which has since been absorbed in the old Venitian House of GIUSTINIANI, with which they, intermarried. The sixth Lord Livingston fought for Queen Mary at Langdale, and his sister, Mary Livingston, was one of the four Marys who were maids of honor to the Queen. As an old Scotch song recounts it -
" Last night the Queen had four Maries, To-night she'll hae but three, There was Mary Seaton, and Mary Beaton And Mary Livingstone, and me."
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In March, 1650, John Livingston was sent as a Com- missioner to Breda, to negotiate terms for the restora- tion of Charles II. He died in 1692, and his son, Robert Livingston, emigrated to America in 1676. He became, July 18, 1683, the first proprietor of the Manor of Livingston, on the Hudson. From that day the name has been identified with every movement in the State, and (what should be a patent of nobility in this country) it is found among the Signers of the Declara- tion of Independence.
We finish this list with the LAWRENCE family of New York. Their first ancestor of whom mention is made in the English Records, was Robert Laurens, Knight of Ashton Hall, Lancastershire. He accompanied Richard Cœur de Lion in his famous Crusade to Palestine, and distinguished himself at the siege of St. Jean d'Acre in 1191, by being the first to plant the banner of the Cross on the battlements of that town. For this he received the honor of knighthood from King Richard, and also a coat of arms with the fire cross (cross raguly gules), which is borne by his des- cendants in this country to this day. His family inter- married with that of the Washingtons, his grandson, Sir James Laurens, having married Matilda Washing- ton, in the reign of Henry III.
After this the family became eminent in England. Sir William Lawrence, born in 1395, was killed in bat- tle in France, in 1455, with Lionel, Lord Welles. Sir John Lawrence was one of the commanders of a wing of the English army at Flodden Field, under Sir Ed- mund Howard, in 1513. Sir John Lawrence, the ninth in lineal descent from the above Sir Robert Laurens, possessed thirty-five manors, the revenue of which, in 1491, amounted to {6,000 sterling per annum. Hav- ing, however, killed a Gentleman Usher of Henry VII.,
:
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he was outlawed and died in France, when, Ashton Hall and his other estates passed, by royal decree, to his relatives Lord Monteagle and Lord Gerard.
Another member of this family was Henry Lawrence, one of the Patentees of Connecticut in 1635, with Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, Sir Arthur Hasselrigg, Richard Saltonstall, George Fenwick, and Henry Dar- ley. They commissioned John Winthrop, Jr., as Gov- ernor over this Territory, with the following instruc- tions :-- " To provide able men for making fortifications and building houses at the mouth of the Connecticut River and the harbor adjoining; first, for their own present accommodation, and then such houses as may receive men of quality, which latter houses we would have builded within the fort." The Patentees all in- tended to accompany Governor Winthrop to America, but were prevented by a decree of Charles I.
This Henry Lawrence was in great distinction in England during Cromwell's time. Born in 1600, he became a Fellow Commoner of Emanuel College, Cam- bridge, in 1622, but having taken the Puritan side he was obliged to withdraw for a time to Holland. In 1641 he was a member of Parliament for Westmore- land, but when the life of the king was threatened, he withdrew from the Independents. In a curious old pamphlet printed in the year 1660, entitled, "The mystery of the good old cause, briefly unfolded in a catalogue of the members of the late Long Parliament, that held office both civil and military, contrary to the self-denying ordinance " -- is the following passage :-- "Henry Lawrence, a member of the Long Parliament, fell off at the murder of His Majesty, for which the Protector, with great zeal, declared that a neutral spirit was more to be abhorred than a Cavalier spirit, and that such men as he were not fit to be used in such a
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day as that when God was cutting down Kingship root and branch. Yet he came into play again, and con- tributed much to the setting up of the Protector; for which worthy service he was made and continued Lord President of the Protector's Council, being also one of the Lords of the other House." *
He married Amy, daughter of Sir Edward Peyton, Bart., of Iselham in Cambridgeshirc. He leased his estates at St. Ives, from the year 1631 to 1636, to Oliver Cromwell, to whom he was second cousin. He was twice returned as member of Parliament for Hert- fordshire, in 1653 and 1654, and once for Colchester- borough, in Essex, in 1656 ; his son Henry representing Caernarvonshire the same year. He was President of the Council in 1656, and gazetted as " Lord of the other House." in December, 1657. On the death of Crom- well he proclaimed his son Richard as his successor. In Thurloe's State Papers, vol. 2, is a letter to him from the Queen of Bohemia (sister of King Charles), recom- mending Lord Craven to his good offices. From the tenor of the letter it appears that they were in the habit of corresponding. In a Harleian Manuscript, No. 1460, there is a drawing of all the ensigns and trophies won in battle by Oliver, which is dedicated to his councillors, and ornamented with their arms. Amongst these are those of Henry Lawrence, the Lord Presi- dent, with a cross, raguly gules, the crest, a fish's tail or semi-dolphin. A portrait of the President is inserted in Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. His monu- ment, not yet effaced, is in the chapel of St. Margaret, alias Thele, in Hertfordshire.t
John, William, and Thomas Lawrence, who came to New York in 1635, were cousins of the above Henry Lawrence, being descended from John Lawrence, who
* " Harleian Miscellany," vol. vi., p. 469. i Ibid.
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died in 1538, and was buried in the Abbey of Ram- sey. They became at once large landholders in the Colony, and from these the present New York family is descended.
But we must close this list. We have selected a few merely as specimens of a numerous class. Were we to attempt to include all who have historical pedigrees in England, the time would fail us and this unpretend- ing article swell into a volume. Through all the original States were settled families who brought with them the best blood of the Old Country. We might refer to the Gardiners of Maine-the Bowdoins and Winthrops of Massachusetts-the Saltonstalls and Hillhouses of Connecticut-the Constables, and Montgomerys of New York-the Throckmortons of New Jersey-the Cadwalladers of Pennsylvania -- the Rodneys of Delaware -- the Calverts and Carrolls of Maryland-the Washingtons and Lees of Virginia -the Stanlys of North Carolina-and the Middle- tons and Pinckneys of South Carolina. Most of these names have been for generations " familiar as house- hold words " in the ears of our people, and are inter- woven with all that is historical in our land. In very many cases the younger branches of distinguished families sought here a field of enterprise and action which was denied them at home, and thus their blood has been widely mingled with that of our people. And sometimes, generations afterwards, as in the case of Lord Fairfax and the present Lord Aylmer in Can- ada, the failure of the elder branch in England sent titles to be inherited by the collateral relatives on this continent.
It will be noticed that in this article we have con- fined ourselves entirely to English lineage, though a similar story might have been written of every one of
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the great Continental nations. Each furnished its pro- portion to people our land. Nor did they all come as mere adventurers. We look at the portrait in armor of the old Governor Stuyvesant, painted by Van Dyck, and it realizes our idea of the stern soldier who had shed his blood on the battle-fields of the Low Coun- tries before he settled on the banks of the Hudson. In the same way Van Courtlandt had distinguished himself in arms, as the Beekmans had done in diplo- macy, receiving as their reward, from the king of Ba- varia, the coat-of-arms they now bear.
The possessors of many a knightly name, whose war-cry once rang over the battle-fields of the Guises, . are now quietly discharging their duties as citizens in this great Republic, and not unfrequently the noble from beyond the Rhine has broken away from the conventionalities of his own land, and when he took upon him the oath of citizenship, like Steuben and De Zeng, has laid aside his baron's title to assume his part in this great experiment of Equality and Self- government.
But in this land of their adoption their very names often suffered a change which would render them un- familiar in the ears of those who first bore them to this continent. Thus De la Montaigne has passed into Montanya; and who in the name of Carow can recog- nize the Querault of French minstrelsy, or in Hasbrouck a descendant of the chivalrous Asbroques of St. Rény ?
These may be called the " dottings of history." It may seem unimportant to us as to what are the des- cents or intermarriages of families, but this is far from being the case. It is by these inquiries only that we can often determine what are most likely to be the pro- minent intellectual or moral traits of a race. An infu- sion of new blood into a family may alter its character-
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istics for generations. The royal family of Austria still exhibit the long face and peculiar shape of the jaw which was derived from their intermarriage with a Polish princess two centuries ago. And why may not mental and moral peculiarities be stamped upon a race in the same way? One family is distinguished in war, another in literature, another in statesmanship, and an- other in art; and we can trace through the whole line the same kind of talent developed.
The settlement of this new continent is often putting a "great gulf" between families who have made it their home, and the memorials and reminiscences they left behind them on the other side of the ocean. Yet these traditions and historical facts should be chronicled for the benefit of those who are to succeed them. From these data only can we understand those mys- terious laws of organization by which either physical or mental or moral traits are transmitted in families.
And this subject is now receiving increased attention in our country. In New England a quarterly periodi- cal is devoted to genealogical records, while numerous volumes have been published, each comprising the history of some single family. Will not, then, the families which are now growing up in our land, branch- es of some parent tree which is still fixed in the soil of the old country, feel an interest in tracing their blood as it flows through channels on different sides of the . Atlantic? If so, these brief notes may not be without their interest or use to the descendents of THE OLD RÉGIME.
Year after year the historical families of New York are fading away and disappearing. " What" the writer once asked the Prince de Joinville, " has become of the Rohans and Montmorencies and the other great feudal families of France?" "Gone," said the prince,
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most energetically, " gone, never to be revived. The abolition of the law of Primogeniture has destroyed them forever." And so it has been, on a smaller scale, with the Colonial families of New York. Their for- tunes have been exhausted by the division of estates, until their old ancestral seats have passed into the hands of strangers and their names are fading out from the land.
Perhaps, in future years, the sketches we have given, may be read with pleasure by their descendants who bear their honored names. For them the past has a record from which they need not shrink. The feeling which prompts them to dwell upon the generations that have gone is one of which they have no reason to be ashamed. It is sanctioned both by reason and religion.
There is a philosophy in those words of Daniel Webster :-
" It is wise for us to recur to the history of our an- cestors. We are true to ourselves only when we act with becoming pride for the blood we inherit, and which we are to transmit to those who shall soon fill our places."
WASHINGTON'S RESIDENCE AS PRESIDENT, FRANKLIN SQUARE AND CHERRY ST., 178y.
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