USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. II. Second Edition > Part 27
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308
The Dutch Language.
THE DUTCH LANGUAGE.
Since the memorable era of Col. Dongan's administration, the descendants of the ancient families which peopled the manor of Rensselaerwyck and the city of Albany have not only suffered the decadence of the institutions and language of their fathers, but have, generally, sought to unlearn and forget every thing that was Dutch; and thus virtually con- tributed, in no small degree, to render their paternity a bye- word. The ancient language of the city has been so wholly neglected, that, although spoken in some families, we know of no scion of the ancient stock who thinks it worth his while to cultivate it for literary purposes. Hence an im- pression prevails of the general stupidity of the people and the meagreness of the language. Nor is this impression in regard to the Dutch, notwithstanding the respectable figure they have made in the world for several centuries, confined to this country. It is not a little remarkable, says a British writer, that of a people whose national character runs in many respects parallel with ours; who have been animated by a similar spirit of industry, commercial enterprise and maritime ardor, even the language should be hardly at all known in this country, notwithstanding the study of it is calculated to throw so much light upon our own, which has not only the same common origin, but has immediately borrowed a great number of words and expressions from it. So far from meriting that contempt with which the insolence of ignorance has branded them, there are few nations which have contributed more towards the civilization of Europe, and to learning and science, than the people of the Nether- lands. The country that has produced an Erasmus and a Grotius, a Swammerdam, a Leeuwenhoek, and a Boerhaave; that has done so much for the physical sciences, for medi- cine, jurisprudence, philology, classical and oriental litera- ture; that can boast of such writers as a Vondel and a Bilderdijk ; that has done so much for the cultivation of its language; that possesses so many literary societies and in- stitutes, together with others for the encouragement of the
309
The Dutch Language.
fine arts, ought not to be stigmatized as one inhabited by a dull, plodding race of merchants.
One circumstance, which, if it has served to diffuse over Europe the labors of its learned men, has also merged their celebrity in that of continental literature generally, has been the practice of employing Latin; a circumstance which has rendered an acquaintance with the Dutch language unneces- sary for the purpose of profitting by their studies or disco- veries. Most probably, too, the universal celebrity of the Dutch scholars throughout the learned world has in no small degree tended. to divert attention from, and excite a prejudice against the vernacular language and literature, as being rude and uncultivated, and unfitted for any nobler purpose than that of carrying on the intercourse of daily life. Yet so very far is this from being the case, that there is scarcely any modern tongue which either contains within itself more plastic elements, or which has been more care- fully wrought up and polished ; nor have any people paid greater attention to purity of style and elegance of diction, than the writers of Holland of late years. It can not be said that the difficulty of acquiring it has deterred us from attempting to form any acquaintance with the literature of this country ; because, of all foreign idioms, it is that which bears the strongest family resemblance to our own ; so much so, that flippant and ignorant travelers have sometimes described it as a sort of bastard English ; which is just as correct as it would be for a Hollander to call English a bas- tard jargon of Dutch. Those who decide that the language in which Vondel wrote is a barbarous one, would be capable of pronouncing with equal effrontery that the language em- ployed by Milton is altogether rude and unpolished. It certainly has its defects, but they are those of our own lan- guage, which sounds equally harsh to European ears, and is condemned as being clogged with consonants and abounding with monosyllables. At the same time it possesses far greater homogeneousness, and, like the German, the power of combining out of its own elements and roots, that class of words which we borrow immediately from the Latin and the Greek ; for instance, onnavolgbare, inimitable ; vereeningen, to unite; veelomvattende, comprehensive, &c. : whereas we
310
The Dutch Language.
have only a very few of the kind, such as unchangeable, wherein the Saxon root is employed.
It is not pretended that the literature of the Dutch lan- guage contains so much to reward the student as that of Germany, but it certainly contains a very great deal, and much too that is equally or even more worthy of finding translators in this country than many of the productions which have come from Germany. There is a current of sound and healthy feeling in the literature of Holland; a devotional fervor, and a regard for the hallowing influences of domestic life; a beautiful simplicity ; together with a nobleness and independence, pervading many of the poetical productions of that country.
But lest we should be thought to depart from our pro- vince in extending this subject here, we will conclude by referring to the Encyclopedia Americana, its article on the language, literature and poetry of the Netherlands, in the hope that it may have the effect to inspire more favorable opinions on this subject even among those who ought more highly to reverence the language and literature of their fatherland.
Dutch Names for Albany and Vicinity. 311
DUTCH NAMES FOR ALBANY AND VICINITY.
Albany was known by the several Dutch names of Bever- wyck, Willemstadt, and Fort Orange, chiefly by the last.1 It was also known as the Fuyck, or hoop-net; and a kil is mentioned as there, and known as the Fuyck kil, changed to Rutten kil, an abbreviation of Rutgert's kil; Rutgert Bleecker,2 a proprietor of the ground adjacent to it, the third creek from the Norman's kil inclusive. The creek known as Vyde kil, the fifth creek, the creek at Water vliet, literally at the time water flood, the word vliet since rarely in . use; the seat of the family of Van Rensselaer. The lands immediately opposite to Albany, and for a distance along and from the river, the Dutch denoted as Het Greene Bosch, the pine woods, corrupted to Greenbush. The mouths of the Mohock they distinguished as the Spruytes, corrupted to, and which may also possibly pass for a translation, the Sprouts. The larger island formed by the Sprouts, they called Walvisch island, whale island. "I cannot forbear," says Van Der Donck, "to mention, that in the year 1647, in the month of March, when, by a great freshet, the water was.fresh almost to the great bay, there were two whales, of tolerable size, up the river; the one turned back, but the other stranded, and stuck nor far from the great fall of the Cohoes." The arable land immediately above, they denoted as the Halve Maan, the half moon, from its crescent-like form along the hills on the western side .- Judge Benson.
1 Fort Orange having been taken possession of by the govern- ment, and being often inundated, the settlement was removed far- ther north, to State street and vicinity, and called Beverwyk .- ' M. .2 This must be erroneous. In the records it is called Rattes kil, which shows that rutten is synonymous with ratten. No part of the city is so infested with rats to this day. This creek was called Rutten kil long before Rutgert Bleecker's day .- M.
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312
Origin of Yankee Doodle.
ORIGIN OF YANKEE DOODLE.
It is known as a matter of history, that in the early part of 1755, great exertions were made by the British ministry, at the head of which was the illustrious Earl of Chatham, for the reduction of the French power in the provinces of the Canadas. . To carry the object into effect, General Am- herst, referred to in the letters of Junius, was appointed to the command of the British army in north-western America : and the British colonies in America were called upon for assistance, who contributed with alacrity their several quotas of men, to effect the grand object of the enterprise. . It was still fresh in the memory of some of our oldest in- habitants sixty years ago, that the British army lay en- camped, in the summer of 1755, on the eastern bank of the Hudson, a little south of the city of Albany, on the ground now belonging to Jeremiah Van Rensselaer. Vestiges of their encampment remained for a long time; and after a lapse of sixty years, when a great proportion of the actors of those days had passed away from the earth, the inquisitive traveler could observe the remains of the ashes, the places where they boiled their camp kettles. It was this army that, under the command of Abercrombie, was foiled with a severe loss in the attack on Ticonderoga, where the distin- guished Howe fell at the head of his troops, in an hour that history has consecrated to fame. In the early part of June, the eastern troops began to pour in company after company ; and such a motley assemblage of men never before thronged together on such an occasion, unless an example may be found in the ragged regiment of Sir John Falstaff, of right merry and facetious memory. It would have relaxed the gravity of an anchorite, to have seen the descendants of the puritans marching through the streets of our ancient city, to take their station on the left of the British army : some with long coats, some with short coats, and others with no coats at all, in colors as varied as the rainbow ; some with their hair cropped like the army of Cromwell, and others with wigs whose curls flowed around their shoulders. Their march,
313
Origin of Yankee Doodle.
their accoutrements, and the whole arrangement of the troops furnished matter of amusement to the wits of the British army. The music played the airs of two centuries ago, and the tout ensemble exhibited a sight to the wondering strang- ers that they had been unaccustomed to in their own land. Among the club of wits that belonged to the British army, there was a physician attached to the staff by the name of Doctor Shackburg, who combined with the science of a sur- geon, the skill and talents of a musician. To tease brother Jonathan, he composed a tune, and with much gravity re- commended it to the officers as one of the most celebrated airs of martial music. The joke took, to the no small amusement of the British corps. Brother Jonathan ex- claimed it was nation fine ; and in a few days, nothing was heard in the provincial camp but the air of Yankee Doodle. Little did the author or his coadjutors then suppose, that an air made for the purpose of levity and ridicule, should ever be marked for such high destinies : in twenty years from that time, our national march inspired the hearts of the heroes of Bunker Hill ; and in less than thirty, Lord Corn- wallis and his army marched into the American lines to the tune of Yankee Doodle.
1 The appearance of the Massachusetts and Connecticut troops that marched through this city on their way to Saratoga, in the year 1777, was long a source of merriment among the Dutch burg- ers of Albany. Not only were many of them mere boys, but their dress and accoutrements were of the most heterogeneous descrip- tion. On being asked where they were going, the universal response was: "Going to take Burgoyne." But their arms and habiliments answered to the British description of the forces that, notwithstanding their uncouth and undisciplined appearance, made . an indelible mark at Bunker hill.
See the Yankees leave the hill With baggernets declining, With lop-down hats and rusty guns, And leather aprons shining.
Annals, ii.
27 .
314
Salmon in the Hudson River.
PEASE
SALMON IN THE HUDSON RIVER.
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The historian of the first voyage of Europeans upon our river, speaks of the abundance of fish they met with, among which were " great store of salmons." There are also tradi- tions, if nothing more reliable, that the creeks of Albany abounded with these fishes, particularly the Foxes creek, now become a mere sewer. Dr. Mitchell, nevertheless, wrote a learned paper in the Philosophical Transactions, and a letter of his is contained in the Collections of the New York. Historical Society, (vol. 1, 41), in which he labors to show that the Hudson river has never been a favorite resort for salmon. His letter is as follows :
Concerning the frequency of salmon in the river Caho- hàtatea or Mahaganeghtuc, when first visited by the naviga- tor Hudson, I have my doubts as to its correctness. That fish has, indeed, been taken in this river, and even in the vicinity of Albany. But this is a rare occurrence; and the individuals of this kind that have been caught are solitary, and not the gregarious salmons swimming in shoals. I have conversed with several persons here, who have seen a few of these lonesome and straggling fishes, from time to time, . as they have been brought to market.
I can not learn that there is any record or tradition of their having ever frequented our river, after the manner of the Connecticut, the Kennebeck, and the other streams on this continent. Salmon love clear and limpid water, as do all the species of the trout family, to which they belong; and I should question much whether the ooze and mud of the Cahohàtatèa was so agreeable to them, as the sandy bottoms of the more precipitous and rapid rivers. Besides, you well
315
Salmon in the Hudson River.
know, that our river is but an estuary as far as the outlet of the Mohock; and the strata of schistic rocks which cross it above the junction of that river, are generally more shallow, than, perhaps, the salmon would like. And, fur- ther, the Dutch word salm or salmpie, commonly in use to signify salmon, means also, in ordinary and loose conversa- tion and composition, trout.
There are, still, other considerations unfavorable to the abundance of salmon in our river. They are those which relate to the herring, the shad, and the sturgeon, the annual visitants of this stream, at Albany and higher. Whatever may be the opinion of speculative men, as to the governing principle of these creatures, whether it be instinct or reason, the fact nevertheless is, that they select very pro- per places to deposit their spawn, and perpetuate their race. In our river, these three species of fish had each an appro- priate place for the great work of multiplication.
The grand rendezvous of the herrings, was the Saratoga lake; into which they entered by its outlet, yet called Fish creek. The obstruction of this passage by dams and artifi- cial impediments, has turned the herrings from their favorite haunt. The inhabitants of the neighboring region have thereby been deprived of their yearly treat of herrings. . But, more than this, the herrings thus dispossessed and dis- couraged, have become more rare in the river, and are deserting it in proportion to the want of accommodation it affords them. It is reported, that the course of the herrings was more especially on the west side of the river.
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The shad traveled along the eastern shore. Their chief place of resort was the basin at the foot of Fort Edward falls.
No particular path in the river was selected by the stur- geons. They seem to have swam at large, as they do at pre- sent. But they assembled for the propagation of their kind at the bottom of the Cahoes, or great falls of the Mohock. The roes or eggs of the sturgeon, are exceedingly numerous,. amounting to a large mass of spawn. You recollect that the Russian cavear is made of them. Other fishes are fond of feeding on them : they eat it with remarkable voracity. It is one of the most alluring baits that anglers can use. The abundance of this requisite food at the breeding season,
316
Castle Island.
is supposed to be a principal inducement for the basse or rock fish, to follow the sturgeons to their place of deposit. The disturbance the sturgeons have experienced in the pro- gress of settlement, has diminished their numbers exceed- ingly ; and the basse has become proportionally rare.
Now, with all this information relative to the several sorts of fish, that have frequented the Hudson, since the posses- sion of its banks by European emigrants, there are no regular notices of salmon. Neither a swimming-course, nor a breed- ing-place has been detected. It is therefore a fair presump- tion, that these fishes never found within its waters sufficient inducement to visit them in great numbers, or at regular times, and that those which have been taken are merely strays and wanderers .- Dr. Mitchell, in Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc., 1, 41.
CASTLE ISLAND.
A few were selected from the crews of the Dutch ships which sailed up the river the following year after the dis- covery of it, to remain here a winter over. They erected an habitation on the point of the island, the southern limit of the city of Albany, and enclosed it with palisadoes as a defence against the Indians, and it was known as the Kasteel, the castle. Stuyvesant, in his correspondence with the go- vernment of the Massachusetts Bay, mentions the island as still known by the name of Kasteel island.
· Beeren island 1 and the Overslagh still retain their Dutch names. The Dutch navigators speak of the river Gambia, on the east of Africa, as having an overslagh, a bar, at its mouth .- Judge Bensen.
1 Now often erroneously written Barren island, because so pro- nounced. It signifies Bear's island. Overslagh (overgeslagen) so called as the place struck upon by vessels going on the river .- M.
317
Indian Names of Albany and Vicinity.
INDIAN NAMES OF ALBANY AND VICINITY.
Hudson did not give his own name to the river which he discovered. The Iroquois Indians called it Cahohatatea, The Mahiccans, Mahakanèghtuc, and sometimes Shatemuck. Hudson styled it, emphatically, the Great River or the Great River of the Mountains,1 no doubt from the extraor- dinary circumstance of such a body of water flowing through the mountains without a cataract. The name of its discoverer, however, was early attached to it. I find it familiarly called Hudson's2 river in some of the public documents of the Dutch colonial government ; but more frequently the North river, to distinguish it from the Delaware, which was dis- covered by the same navigator, and which, being within the territory claimed by the Dutch, was called by them the South River.2-Dr. Miller, in Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc., 1, 37.
The names of the rivers Mohock and Hudson, as they are extant among the Iroquois, have engaged my attention to make inquiry concerning them. My opportunities have been favorable. Mr. John Bleecker, the ancient Indian interpreter, now in the seventy-ninth year of his age, was well enough to receive a visit from me this morning, and in possession of his full recollection as to what I asked of him. On seeing me, he instantly, and without hesitation, pro- nounced my name, with a remembrance that he had been acquainted with me at Fort Schuyler, in 1788, when the Five Nations sold their lands to the state of New York. I have also seen Colonel Louis, the distinguished Indian war- rior, who is now in Albany, and have sought information from him. Jacob Dochstetter, the present Oneida interpre- ter, likewise gave me all the opportunity I wished of con- versing with him, while he was attending with his country- men, a treaty with the commissioners appointed on the part of the state.
1 This name is said by some to have been of Spanish origin.
2 There is reason to believe, that this name, though soon adopted by the Dutch, was first applied by the English ; probably as a part of their system for assuming the discovery and the property of the country to themselves.
318
Indian Names of Albany and Vicinity.
From these several persons I have obtained the following words, which I immediately committed to writing, and corrected as well as I could, by many repetitions from the mouths of the speakers. Though I ought to observe, that there are a few sounds which the letters of our alphabet are incapable of expressing.
· Canneogahakalononitàde -the Mohock river.
Skenectadèa - the city of Albany.
Ohnowalagantle -the town of Schenectady.
Cahohatatea - the North or Hudson river.
Skenectadèa, Cahohàtatèa - the North river, spoken of in relation to Albany or Albany river.
Tioghsahronde -the place or places at which streams empty themselves.
Tioghsahronde, Cahohàtatea -the North river spoken of in relation to the Mohock, the Watervleit kil, the Norman's kil, and the other streams which discharge into it.
The name of our North river, in the tongue of the Iro- quois, strikes my ear very agreeably : Cahohàtatea.
You may contrast this with the Mohegan name for the same river, given me this day by John Tayler, Esq., a gen- tleman long conversant in the Indian affairs of New York ; Mahakanèghtuc.
What their etymologies are, I have not been able to as- certain, except as to Skenectadèa, Albany ; which signifies the place the natives of the Iroquois arrived at, by traveling through the pine trees .- Dr. Mitchell, ibid., 1, 43.
The information that Shatemuck was one of the Mahiccan names of the River Hudson, was received from the Hon. Egbert Bensen.
IC
319
Dutch Names for the Fish in our River.
DUTCH NAMES FOR THE FISH IN OUR RIVER.
A few only will be noticed -some denoted by numbers as their names -the Twaalf, the twelve, the Streaked Bass, and the Elf, the Shad- the name of the Shad in Dutch is Elfet, in German Aloft, and in French Alose, all perhaps from the same root ; but being pronounced here Elf, the number eleven, the number itself possibly came to be con- sidered as its name, and so led to denote others in the same manner -the Drum is said to have been the Dertien, the thirteen. . Van Der Donck, speaking of the North river, ex- presses himself, it is seer visryck, literally very fish-rich - here the Dutch language would seem to have the advantage over the English, its capability of composition - het gelt- zucht, the money-lust; het mersch-zucht, the sway-lust; for a word for the first the English are indebted to the French, covetousness ; for a word for the other to the Latin, ambition ; Myn Eer-naam, my honor-name, the name or rather appella- tion, by which it is peculiarly my honor to be called - no word for it in either of the three languages -an instance illustrating it -"The disciples were called Christians." Speaking of the fish in New Netherland at large, and conse- quently comprehending the Connecticut, he expresses him- self, " there is also in some places salmon." Extract from the voyage of Hudson, as found in Purchas ; "They saw many salmons, and mullets, and rays, very great"-the third of September, not the salmon season. De Laet, ex- presses himself, " Hudson also testifies, that with their seines they took every kind of river fish in the river, also young salmon and sturgeon." The Dutch, whatever may be the true name of the fish in their language, always at least in this country, call the trout, Salmties, little salmon ; and they were doubtless in abundance at the mouths of the large streams issuing into the river. Belknap, and as a fact ap- pertaining to the life of Hudson, mentions, " that, in sailing up the river, he found it abounding with fish, and among which were great store of salmon."- Judge Bensen, N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., II, 2d Series, p. 130.
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320
Albany Academy Medals.
ALBANY ACADEMY MEDALS.
The Caldwell Mathematical Medal.
The institution of the Caldwell Medal took place in 1831. In that year William Caldwell, a retired merchant of the city of Albany, presented one hundred dollars to the trustees of the Academy, to be invested. in stock, the income of which should be devoted to the purchase of a gold medal, to be given at each annual examination to the student who shall have made the greatest proficiency in mathematics and natural philosophy ; the student to be of at least three years standing in the academy, and the medal to be given but once to the same individual. The donation was in- vested, and the interest is annually appropriated to the purchase of a medal, which is awarded to the successful competitor. These medals have no device, but simply the words " Caldwell Premium, Mathematics," upon the obverse, and the name of the recipient and the date upon the reverse side, as seen in the fac simile of one of them which is here given. The names of the students who have obtained this medal, are as follows:
1831, William Austin. 1841, John J. Olcott.
1832, no examination on account of cholera.
1842, Philip Phelps.
1843, William Wrightson.
1833, Henry Waldron.
1844, Andrew McElroy.
1834, Aurelian Conkling.
1845, John R. Croswell.
1835, John Newland.
1846, Francis B. Hall.
1836, Henry K. Viele. 1847, Frank Jones.
1837, George B. Hoyt.
1848, Jacob C. Koonz.
1838, Charles N. Waldron. 1849, George Wrightson.
1839, Joseph B. Brown. 1850, William Alvord.
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