USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. III > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
" And I do hereby pronounce and declare that the said Trinity Church, in the city of Albany, is consecrated ac- cordingly, and thereby separated henceforth from all un- hallowed, worldly and common uses, and dedicated to the
272
Trinity Church.
worship and service of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, for reading and preaching His holy word, for celebrating His holy sacraments, for offer- ing to His glorious majesty the sacrifice of prayer, praise and thanksgiving, for blessing His people in His name, and for the performance of all other holy offices, and the administration of all holy ordinances, agreeable to His will made known in the terms of the covenant of grace, and of salvation in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, according to the usages of His Holy Catholic and Apos- tolic Church, and the provisions of the Protestant Episco- pal Church in these United States of America, in its ministry, doctrines, liturgy, rites and usages.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed my episco- pal seal and signature, in the day and year above written, and in the ninth year of my consecration."
WILLIAM ROLINSON WHITTINGHAM,
Episcopal Scal.
Bishop of Maryland, administering episco- pal functions in the Diocese of New York, at the request of the standing committee.
Thus was the church edifice consecrated to the wor- ship and service of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and the congregation of Trinity Church (the third congregation organized in the city of Albany agreeably to the usages and worship of the Pro- testant Episcopal Church in the United States of America ) in possession of a permanent church edifice, set apart for religious worship and service, at the expiration of ten years and five days from incorporation, and numbering at the time about three hundred souls attending on the services, and from 60 to 70 communicants.
( 273 )
TAKING THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE
Albany City Records, Vol. IV, 362.
1699.
Albany the 4th day of January .* The Mayor, Hendrik Hanse Esq., Jan Janse Bleeker, Rekorder, together with Jan Vinnagen and Albert Rykman, Aldermen, did meet at ye Citty Hall, where all ye Inhabitants of this Citty were appointed to appear and take ye oaths and sign ye test and association, who accordingly came, ye Oath being admin- istered to them by Robert Livingston Esq., one of his Ma- jesties Councill of this Province. The Oaths which each respective person took, and ye Test and Association which each respective person signed are as follows :
The Oath.
I, A B, do hereby Promise and Swear yt I will be faith- full and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King William, so help me God.
I, A B, do swear that I do from my heart abhor, detest and abjure as Impious and Hereticall, yt damnable Doctrine and Position, yt Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by ye Pope or any authority of ye Sce of Rome, may be de- posed or murthered by their subjects or any other what- soever.
And I doe declare yt no foreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State or Potentate, hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction, Power, Superiority, Preeminence or Authority, Ecclesias- ticale or Spirituall within this Realm. So help me God.
The Test.
We underwritten do solemnly and sincerely, in ye pre- sence of God. profess and declare yt wee doe believe yt in ye Sacrament of ye Lord's Supper there is not any transub- stantiation of ye Elements of Bread and Wine into ye body
* See ante, p. 47.
274
The Oath of Allegiance.
and blood of Christ, or after ye Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and yt ye Invocation or Adoration of ye Virgin Mary and ye Sacrifice of ye Mass, as they are now used in ye Church of Rome, are Superstitious and Idolatrous, and we do Solemnly in ye presence of God, Profess, Testify and Declare, yt we do make this declara- tion and every part thereof in ye plain and ordinary Sense of ye words now read unto us as they are commonly un- derstood by English Prodistants without any Evasion, Equivocation or Mentall Reservation whatsoever, and with- out any Dispensation already granted for yt purpose by ye Pope or any other authority or person whatsoever, or without any hope of any such Dispensation from any per- son or authority whatsoever, or without thinking yt we are or can be acquitted before God or Man, or absolved of this Declaration or any part thereof, although ye Pope or any other person or persons or power whatsoever should dispense with or annull ye same, or declare that it was null and void from ye beginning.
The Association.
Whereas there has been a horrid and detestable con- spiracy formed and carried on by Papists and other wicked and trayterous persons for Assassinating his Majesties Royal Person in order to Incourage an Invasion from ffrance to Subvert our Religion, Laws and Liberties, we whose names are underwritten do heartily, sincerely and solemnly profess, testify and declare yt his present Majesty King William is rightful and lawful king of these Realms, and we do mutually promise and engage to stand by and assist each other to ye utmost of our power in ye Support and Defence of his Majesties most sacred person and go- vernment against ye late King James ye pretended Prince of Wales and all theire adherents, and in case his Majesty come to any violent or untimely death (which God forbidd) we do hereby freely and unanimously oblige ourselves to unite, associate and stand by each other in Revenging ye same upon his enemies and all their adherents, and in ye supporting and defending ye succession of ye Crown ac- cording to an act made in ye first year of ye Reign of King
275
The Oath of Allegiance.
William and Queen Mary, intituled an act declaring ye Rights and Liberties of ye Subject, and settling ye succes- sion of ye Crown.
Hend. Hanse, mayor
Abram Provost
Jan Janse Bleeker, recorder Wouter Albertsen Joh. Schuyler, alderman Abraham Staets Hend. Rensselaer, alderm'n Gerrit Rycksen Albert Ryckman, alderman Johannes Pruyn Jan Vinhagen, alderman Joh. Cuyler, alderman Samel ten Broek Wessel ten Broek, ald'n Lieve Winne Evert Wendell, assistant Claes Vondae Jacobes Turck, assistant Joh. Vinhagen Joh, Bleeker, assistant Philip Schuyler Joh. Mingaell, assistant Hend. Oothoudt, assistant Barendt Bradt
Abraham van Deusen
Jan Cornelise Vyselaer
Jan Lansingh Andries Nach Evert Wendell
Cornelis van Schurleuyn
Hend. van Dyck
Geysebert Marcelles
Jan Jansz Goes
Jan van Ness
Jacob Staets Nanning Harmense
Barent ten Eyck
Thomas Millenton
Joh. Livingston, D. C. James Parker
Johannes Appell Anthony Bries David Schuyler
Basteyaen Harmence
Volckert van Hoese Johannes Luykasse Johannes Claese Joh. Becker Rener Myndersse Rutt Melgertse Joh. Hanse Lendert Philipse Harmanus Wendell Jan van Streyen John Gilbert
Robert Livingston Jun. Abraham Lansingh Elbert Gerritse Joseph Jansen Jacob Gerretsen
Gerret Luychessen Hend. Lansingh Mattyes Nack William Ketellen Johannes Teller Wouter Quackenbos Jan Nack
Dirck Vanderheyden Pr Schuyler Robt Livingston Dirck Wessels Junior Joh. Groenendyck, sheriff G. Dellius V. D. M. Gerritt van Ness
276
The Oath of Allegiance.
Harmen Gansevoort
Warner Karstense Jan Radcliffe Philip Wendell
Haerpert Jacobse Willem Holle John Caer Jan Gerritsen
William von Alen
Dirck Tackelsen
Nicholaes Bleeker
Thomas Winne
Scheboledt Bogardus
Stevannes Groesbeek
Reyer Gerritse
Harmen Ryckman
Jonathan Breadust
Jacob Lansingh
Evert Wendell Jun.
Jelles van Voiste
Albert Ryckman Jun.
Cornelis Schermerhorn
Thomas Harmensse
Pieter van Wogelen
Daniel Bratt
Melgert van der Poel Jun.
Arie Oothout
Dirck Bratt
Wouter vander Zee
Abr. Janse Ayesteyn
Dirk Jansez Goes
Koenract Hooghteeling
Cornelis van Ness
Roeloff Gerritse
Geurt Hendrikse
William van Ness
Claes Luykasse
David Keteleyn
Cornelis Willemse
Frederik Harmense
Richard Bignell
Wynant Willemse
Peter Mingael
Elbert Harmense
Abraham Kip
Anthony van Schayeck Evert Banker Joh. Roseboom
George Ingoldesby
William Jacobse Benony van Corlaer
Gerrit Roseboom
Thomas Williams
Isaac ver Planck
William Hogen
Anthony Bratt Hend. Roseboom
Claes Ripsen van Dam
Abraham Verplanck
Naes Cornelissen
Daniel Keteluyn
Tackell Dircks
Johannes Beekman Melgert van der Poel Philip de Foreest Hend. Roseboom John Cideney
Gerrit Lansingh
Andries Douw
Abraham Cuyler
Pieter Bogardus Willem Groesbeek Isack Kasperse
France Winne Antony Coster
Hend. Lansingh Jun. Joh. Quackenbos
Hend. ten Eyck
Jacob Lansing Joh. Myndertse
The Oath of Allegiance. 277
Goose Van Schayck
Jan Salomoensse
John Fyne
Gideon Schaats
Joh. Jacobsen Gleen
Harmen Thomasen
Teunis Dirckse
Asweres Marselles
Jacobus Luykase
Jacobus van Vorst
Jacob Lockermans
Joh. Oothoudt Jurian Franse Claw
Claes Jacobse
Caspar van Hoesen
Ph. Lenderts Conyn Eghbert Teunise
Frederick Mindertse
Johannes Bratt
Jacob Bogardt
William Gysbertse
Thomas Wendell
Myndert Rooseboom Jan Rosie
These are those of ye Citty yt have signed ye Test and Association. Now follows those of Shennechtady.
The Inhabitants of Shinnechtady yt have taken ye Oaths and signed ye Test and Association on ye 11th of January 1699, are as follows :
Daniael Jansen
Claes van Petten
Marte van Benthuysen Jan Vroman
Jan Luycasse
Jan Danialsse
Marten van Slyck
Barendt Wemp
Peter van Olinda
Symon Vrooman
Gerrit Symonsse
Harmen van Slyck
Wouydter Vroman
Arendt Pootman
Gysbert Gerritse Victoer Potman
Symon Groot
Claes Fransen
Tjerk Harmensey Albert Vedder
Johannes Symonsen Arent Vedder Korsett Vedder
Daniel Mashereft
Thomas Smith
Douwe Ouckes
Benjamin Robberts
Cornelles Swetts
Claes Janse Boekhove Jan Wimp
Barent Vroman
Jesse Klaesse
Isaack Swits
Manes Vedder
Gerritt Gysbertse
William Hall
.
24
Jacobes Peeck
Corneles van Slyck
Jacob van Olinda
Phillip Philipsen
Reyer Schermerhoorn, justice
Luyckas Luyckasse
Poules Martense
278
The Oath of Allegiance.
Jacob van Dyck
John Senk Jan Mebie
Johannes Sanderse Glen,
Syas Wardt Justice of ye Peace Dirck Grodte
Cornelles Slingerlandt
Gosse van Vort
Symon Grodte Jun.
Simon Switts
Daniel van Olinde
Dirck Miller
Johannes Vedder
Claes France
Jan Flipsen Jeremias Lickton Dirck Bratt
Arendt Vedder Hendrik Brouwer
Peter Symonse
Johannes Peeck
Hendrick Vroman
Louewis Viele
Adam Vroman
Volcher Symonse
Jochem Valkenburg
Jonitan Stevens
The names of those yt have taken ye Oath and signed ye Test and Association living in ye Mannor of Rensselaers- wyk, Kinderhoek, Coxhackky, Catskill, and places adja- cent to ye southward of Albany, as far as ye County ex- tends, are viz:
Cornellis Gerritse
Volkert Gerrittse
Cornellis Tymesen
Stefannis van Alen
Evert de Ridder
Koenradt Bogardt
Harme Janse
Gysbert Scherp Adam Dinghman
Jellis Fonda
I. K. Backer
Gherrit Jacobse
Jan Hanse
Jacob Dinghmans
Jacob Schermerhoorn
Burger Huyck Johannis Huyck Andries Gardenier
Daniel Winne
Eldert Ouderkerk
Marten Cornelise
Albert Slingerlant
Dirck van der Kar Johannes van Alen And. Coeymans Marte Cornelise
Joh. Ouderkerck Hend. van Ness Jan Fonda
Pieter P. Coeman
Joh. van Vechten
Dirck Teunisse
Claes Gerritse
Barent Koeman
Cornelis Cristiaense
Isack Ouderkerck
Symon Danielsse
Pieter van Alen [burgh Bartholomeus van Volken-
Phillip Grootte
279
The Oath of Allegiance.
Joh. Cristiaense Lambert Janese
Hendrick Beekman Jan van Ness Edward Wieler Lawrense van Ale Andries Scherp
Dommineus van Schaiek
Johannes van Hoesen
Matyes Hoghtelingh
Manewel van Sahaiek
Arent van Shaiek
Evert van Alen
Pieter Bronck
Cornellis van Schaiek Luykas van Alen Isack Vosburgh
Kiliaen van Rensselaer
Pieter Martense
Abr. Wendell P. Willemse
Samuel Gardinier Lambert Huyck
Barent Gerritse
Gerrit van Wyen
Louries Scherp
Abrah Ouderkerk
Johanes Volkenburgh
Cornellis Masen
Jan Martense Jacob Basteyansse
Marte Cornelisse
Frans Pietersen
Gerrit Gisbertse
Marte Jacobse
Solomon Cornelisse
Gerrit Teunise
Sam Doesyn Jacob Tunissen
Luyeas Janse
Jan Tyse Goes
Tomas Janse
Hendrieus Jansen
Andris Davydse Dow Funda
Jan Hendrissen Hendricus Lammersen
Tunis van Sleyck
Maes van Franke
Evert van Ness
Jonatan Janse Eldert Cornelise Teunis Cornelus Volekert Douw Arent Slingerlant
Pieter Vosburgh
Casper Conyn
Cornelis Martensse
Melgert Abrahamse Wouter Quackenboss Isaae Janse van Alstyen Jacob van Hoesse Jan van Hoessen Franek Hardiok Juriaen van Hoesen Jonas Douw
Jan Hendrickse Solsbergen Hend. Solsbergen Hend. Valikenoer
Jan van Hoesen Jun.
Cornellis Stevessen
Jermeyas Milder Robt Tewissen Claes Sievers Jan Lanard Jan Andrisse Abr. Dirckse V. Veghten
Cornellis Tunissen
Samuel Koeman
Samel Dirckse
280
The Oath of Allegiance.
Matys Janse Goes
Hend. Dowu
Pieter Hoogeboom
Rissert Jansen van den Borke
Andries Huyck
Johannes Hooghtellingh
Dirck Teunisse
Jan Batyst Demon
Jan Casperse
Jyn Bronck
Volckert Andrisse
Andris Janse
Lendert Bronck
Jacob Janse Gardenier
Joh. Dirckse
Wee doe hereby Certify and Declare that the above Subscribers to the Test being all the Male Inhabitants of ye Citty of Albany from ye age of sixteen years and up- wards, consisting of one hundred and eighty men have taken ye Oaths established by act of Parliament, in Eng- land, instead of y" oaths of allegiance and supremacy which were tendered and administered by us pursuant to his Excellency the Earl of Bellomont's Proclamation, and yt they have also signed the Association, none of ye Inha- bitants refusing ye same except two Papists, called Frans Pruyn a Taylor, and Peter Villeroy a Frenchman, Laborer, who by reason of their Perswasion could not take ye same, but were willing to take an oath of fidelity to his Majesty King William, only some few have neglected to appear at ye time prefixed to take ye oaths and subscribe ye test and association, but shall tender and administer ye same before ye time be expired mentioned in ye sd Proclamation. Whereof we doe by these presents make this our Return to the Secretary's office at New York, in witness whereof we have hereunto sett our hands and scales in Albany this 16 of January, 1699.
ing by ABThrand
Menpelas
( 281)
LIFE AND SERVICES OF STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER.
BORN 1764; DIED 1839.
A Discourse on the Life, Services and Character of Stephen Van ยท Rensselaer, delivered before the Albany Institute, on the 15th April, 1839.
BY DANIEL D. BARNARD.
The Albany Institute, embracing in its objects a wide field for observation and study, is made up of three principal departments, each having its president, vice pre- sident, and other appropriate officers. It was formed ori- ginally by the union of two societies previously existing under separate charters. At the organization of the In- stitute, on the 5th of May, 1824, STEPHEN VAN RENSSE- LAER, then at Washington as the representative in con- gress from this district, was unanimously selected to preside over its deliberations. He filled, at the time, the presidency of the Albany Lyceum of Natural History, henceforth to be merged in the Institute ; and there was every thing in his position and standing, as well as in his direct connection in many ways with the objects of the new society, to make the compliment of the selection deserved and proper; yet it was found that his own re- gards, with characteristic modesty, had been directed towards another worthy and eminent citizen, as fittest to occupy the chair; and it was only after much hesitation and reluctance that he communicated to a friend on the spot, his permission and request to decide the question of acceptance or refusal for him. It hardly need be added that the office was promptly accepted in his behalf. By the charter of the Institute, this office is made elective annu- ally ; and every year, since the same agreeable act was first performed, and with the same unanimity, have the
282
Life and Services of
members of this society offered the same grateful testimo- nial of their respect and affection for their beloved presi- dent. Alas! my friends and fellow-members, that offering of ours has been made for the last time. We are now called, in common with the whole country, to mourn his loss. He departed this life on SATURDAY, the TWENTY- SIXTH DAY OF JANUARY last. It was at four o'clock in the afternoon, of a day which had dawned upon him with as fair a promise of closing on him in life, as any, perhaps which he had seen for the last two years, that in a small cabinet of his ample mansion, which his infirmities had made his chief asylum and sanctuary for many months, sit- ting in his chair, with just warning enough to convey the intimation to his own mind that his hour had come, without enough of previous change seriously to alarm the fears of anxious, watchful and trembling hearts around him, the venerable man bowed his head, and died.
In the affecting ceremonies of his funeral, the members of the Institute had their humble part. It had been re- solved, in special session, that they would attend the funeral of their president in a body. This, however, was not all their duty. It was thought to belong appropriately to them to gather up the memorials of his life and services, and cause them to be arranged and presented before the society in a regular discourse. It has pleased those whose charge it was to make the selection, to assign the duty of preparing and presenting this tribute, to me. They might have found many to perform the service more acceptably ; not one, since the time had come when the duty must be dis- charged by some body, to whom it could have been a more grateful office.
In entering on the execution of this trust, I should have been glad, if time had permitted, to have claimed the in- dulgence of my audience, first of all, to carry them back to a period in history somewhat remote from the times to which the distinguished subject of this memoir more im- mediately belonged. Some of the acts of his individual career, and the traits of his beautiful character, when we should reach them in the progress of our narrative, would, I think, have developed themselves much the more strong-
283
Stephen Van Rensselaer.
ly for the light which might thus have been thrown on them from the past. They would have been found, some of them at least, to have been linked backward, by unbroken chains, to the times and events of other and even distant generations. Men's virtues, any more than their vices, are not all their own. To some extent they are inheritors of virtues and to some extent they are moulded by circumstances. They may be trained in schools of which the masters are dead long and long before, and of which nothing remains but the transmitted lessons that were taught without intending to teach them. In his personal history. Mr. Van Rensselaer was subjected to the strong influence of great events-events powerfully affecting property, and rights, and ideas, and character. He was born the subject of a king, and he was born to a chartered inheritance, which gave him the right to a con- siderable share of feudal honors and feudal power ; at twenty-one, however, he had become, through a forcible and bloody revolution, a citizen of a free republic, with only his own share, as such, with all his fellow-citizens, in the popular sovereignty of the country. He was the proprietary of a remarkable landed interest-remarkable for any country-connecting him and his affairs directly with an ancestry, and through that ancestry with a people, in a portion of whose doings and history are bound up some interesting and valuable materials for the proper illustration of events and characters in later and even present times, in this part of our country. As such pro- prietary, looking to the earlier periods of his life, he represented, in his own person, a state of things in regard to property and its incidents, and the structure of social and political institutions, which in his own time and in his own hands, passed away forever-not, however, with- out leaving behind them their strongly-marked and indeli- ble traces; and, looking at him from the days of his manhood onward, he was, in his character and in his relations, a living witness and illustration of some import- ant contributions which a former age had made to the present, and by which the features of the latter, as stamped by a new order of things, were not a little modi- fied. Undoubtedly we change with the times ; yet no age
284
Life and Services of
can choose but wear, more or less strongly, the lineaments of its parent age-the complexion, even a very great way off, will show a tinge from the blood that was in the origi- nal fountain. He, the subject of our present reflections, stood, in one sense, between the present and the past ; between two distinct and even opposite orders of things, and he belonged in a manner to both. His life reached forward well into the heart of the republican system- and the whole country did not contain a more thorough republican than he was-while his days ran back to a period when a feudal aristocracy, of which he was himself a part, had a legalized and legitimate growth in the soil of this our native land. He was a thorough republican, in a republican state, and yet he bore to his death, by common courtesy and consent-never claimed but always conceded-the hereditary title which had anciently at- tached to the inheritance to which he had been born.
The title, as is well known to you, by which he was usually addressed and spoken of amongst us, was that of patroon. This title was derived, evidently, from the civil law, and the institutions of Rome. In the time of the Roman republic, the Latin patronus was used to denote a patrician, who had certain of the people under his imme- diate protection, and for whose interests he provided by his authority and influence. At a later period, and after the power of Rome had been greatly extended by her con- quests, individuals and families of the noble order, became patrons of whole cities and provinces, and this protective authority, with large and extensive legal and political rights and powers, in some instances descended by inheri- tance. The family of the Claudii was vested with this patronage over the Lacedemonians; and that of the Mar- celli over the Syracusans. It was partly from this source, it may well be supposed, that the Dutch, who had adopted the civil law, derived the idea of governing a remote ter- ritory, not easily to be reached by the central authorities, by committing it to the ample jurisdiction of a patroon. *
* I have seen the Jus Patronatus of the Roman law expressly re- ferred to, in an official MS. of the Dutch authorities themselves, as the foundation of the powers and jurisdiction committed to the patroons of New Netherlands.
Stephen Van Rensselaer.
This title was not applied in Holland, so far as I know, to any order in the state there, nor was it employed in, or by, any other of the countries of Europe. It was not a title of personal nobility, as that term is understood in Europe since the time when monarchs assumed the right of conferring these distinctions by creation or patent. It belonged exclusively to the proprietors of large estates in lands, occupied by a Tenantry ; and like the title of seignior which the French bestowed with the seigniories, or large territorial estates and jurisdictions in Lower Canada, on the first colonization of that country, it was deemed especially proper for transatlantic use. Yet it had been attached to it, in connection with proprietorship, the usual incidents and privileges of the old feudal lordships, in direct imitation of which, both title and estate, with their jurisdic- tions, were instituted. It may be added as worth remark- ing, that in the case before us, this title has run on, and been regularly transmitted, with the blood of the first pa- troon, down to our day, though it is now a century and three quarters since the inheritance ceased to be a Dutch colony, to which alone the title properly attached, and became, by royal authority, after a foreign conquest, an English manorial possession; and though, in later time, a revolution has intervened by which the estate was fully shorn of its manorial character and attributes, leaving to the proprietor, now for the last fifty years, to hold his property merely by the same simple tenure and ownership, with which every freeholder in the country is invested.
Mr. Van Rensselaer was the fifth only in the direct line of descent from the original proprietor and patroon of the colony of Rensselaerwick. This personage, the founder of tlie colony, was a man of substance and character. He was a merchant of Amsterdam, in Holland, wealthy, and of high consideration in his class, at a time when the merchants of Holland had become, in effect, like those of Italy, the princes of the land. He was that Killian Van Rensselaer referred to in our recent histories as having had a principal share in the first attempts made by the Dutch towards colonization in America.
I think this occasion would have been held to justify a
286
Life and Services of
more particular reference to the part which this ancestor of the late Mr. Van Rensselaer had in American coloniza- tion, and especially at the important point where we are now assembled ; and that it would not have been out of place, to have introduced the personal memoirs of the latter, by a portion at least of that curious and hitherto neglected history which attaches to the colony and manor of Rensselaerwick-that identical landed estate and in- heritance, which, nearly in its original integrity, though stript of its accessories, we have seen held and enjoyed, in our time, by a lineal descendant of the first proprietor. But the unavoidable length to which the briefest outline of that history runs-though fully prepared, after the labor of considerable research-has compelled me, reluctantly I confess, to lay it entirely aside. I must needs content myself now with some very general facts and observations in this connection.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.