USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. V > Part 20
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Preston Hollow, 30 miles S. W. from Albany, on the Athens and Cherry valley turnpike, contains beeween 30 and 40 dwellings; several mills on the Catskill, 8 miles from its head. Potter's Hollow, 2 miles W. of the above, has a Quaker meeting house, some 20 dwellings, and some mills. .
WATERVLIET, organized 7th March, 1788, since reduced in area, Includes the islands in the Hudson on the east; centrally distant north from Albany 6 miles; extending 10 miles along the Mohawk river and its lowest branch 'or sprout, and 6} miles along the Hudson: Surface generally hilly; soil varied, comprehending along the Hudson some fine flats, and good arable land upon the river hills, and in the interior sandy ridges, some marsh- es and pine swamps aed tracts covered with dwart
271
Topography of Albany County.
shrubbery. A fine Macadamized road extends along the river to West Troy, 6 miles; from West Troy a turnpike road runs to Schenectady, and nearly parallel with the Mohawk and Hudson rail road. Havers, Van Schaick's or Cahoes, and Green or Tibbet's islands, are formed by the sprouts of the Mohawk; they are notable as having been occupied by the American army under Gates in 1777. In the vicinity of the Cahoes Falls is a Dutch church and farming settlement, formerly and perhaps still known as the Boght, or Cove. The lands of the town are principally holden of Mr. Van Rensselaer. Cahoes, Neskayuna, and West Troy, are villages.
A small creek on the southeast corner of the town drives a factory and the mills of the Patroon, and there are other small mill streams. The Erie and Champlain canals unite in the town. At Port Schuyler, a race- way is taken from the canal, supplying several hydrau- lic works.
The property of the Cahoes Company, of which the village is part, at the mouths of the Mohawk, includes the falls and the banks on both sides of the river, and extends within a few rods of the junction of the Erie and Champlain canals. The property around the falls has, from the first settlement of the country, been in the Van Rensselaer family, who, with a just regard to its future value, had refused to part with it. The great hydraulic power here was first fully developed by Mr. Canvass White, during the progress of the Erie canal ; at whose instance it was arranged with Peter Remsen & Co. of New York, and Mr. Van Rensselaer, to commence its improvement on a large scale; a liberal charter was obtained from the state in 1826, authorizing the invest- ment of $250,000, and subsequently of half a million
By an independant canal, near two miles long supplied - with water by a dam in the river, half a mile above the falls, where the stream is 300 yards wide, unconnected with the state works, the company are enabled to avail themselves of the whole water of the river, yielding power for mills as durable and constant as the rocks and the stream. The entire head and fall thus gained is 120
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Topography of Albany County.
feet, permitting the use of the water under six successive falls, of from 18 to 23 feet above the level of the state dam, below which it may be used under a head of 11 feet, and may be carried on these levels to almost any point of the company's estate. The minimum supply of water is 1000 cubic feet the second, competent to drive from three to four millions of cotton spindles. The upper canal, excavated for the greater part of its course in the slate rock, passes from the dam on the east side of the Erie canal, and thence by a tunnel under that canal to the west side.
The advantages of this position for manufactures are unquestionably the greatest in the state. By the Erie canal and the North river it communicates directly with the great marts on the Hudson and with the ocean, by that canal with the interior of the state and the lakes and the Great West ; and by the Champlain canal with the northern portion of the state and the basin of the St. Lawrence: obtaining readily from the south all that may be required from abroad, and from the west and north a never-failing supply of provisions, lumber aud iron, upon the cheapest terms. It is surrounded by the following populous cities and villages :- Albany, distant 9 miles ; Troy, 3; Lansingburg, 2; Waterford, I; Schenectady, 15; West Troy, 3. The rail road from Troy to Saratoga runs on Green Island a few rods below; the proposed rail road from Troy to Schenectady must pass through or near the estate; the Macadamized road from Albany to West Troy terminates within three miles of it; and the side cut from the state canal enables boats from Cahoes to receive their freight at West Troy from the daily lines of tow boats plying to New York city.
The rock here is slate, lying generally, 5 feet below the surface, affording firm foundarions for buildings, flumes and basins at small expense; brick and stone are obtainable on the premises, and with lumber and other materials procured by the canals, every species of build- ing may be erected at little over half the usual cost else- where. The Delaware and Hudson Canal furnishes a steady and cheap supply of coal for manufacturing pur-
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Description of Albany County.
poses, and the large banking capital in the neighboring cities and villages afford all the assistance to trade de- ·rivable from such institutions.
The location is alike healthful and pleasant. The site of the village is on the southeast declivity of a hill, whence, as well as from the ridge of hills on the north- west are views which for variety and beauty are unsur- passed. The hills to the northwest rising 300 feet, give to the spot an agreeable temperature in summer, cooled by the waterfalls and rivers, and shelter it completely from the northwest winds of the winter.
The falls, in full view of the village, and seen with special advantage from the bridge, have a total descent of 78 feet, and a perpendicular pitch of about 40 feet. Above the cataract, the bank on the left has nearly 100 feet perpendicular elevation, and below, 170 feet. On the right above the pitch, the bank is low ; but below it, the shore is between 80 and 90 feet high; below the falls the river runs in a deep, rocky and broken bed for a short distance, expanding into the placid pool formed by the state dam, and glides over that dam in one lovely sheet of 550 yards in length, whose gentle fall of 7 feet, makes a pleasant contrast with the great cataract above. In floods the whole bed at the latter is covered with water, which descends in one unbroken torrent, about 900 feet wide. At such seasons, the high rocky barriers which confine the stream, the roar of the cataract, the dashing of the troubled waters as they descend the rapids, and the striking assimilation of the torrent with the wilder- ness above, give to the scene unusual sublimity.
The canal affording use of the water was completed in 1834. The village now contains one factory for cotton and woolen machinery, one for edge tools, one for cotton, linen and woolen hosiery made on newly invented looms, a mill driving turning lathes, an iron foundery, a carpet factory ; an Episcopal church, 2 hotels, 3 stores, many shops of various kinds on the canals and 60 dwellings, whose number is rapidly increasing.
[ Annals, v.]
22
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Description of Albany County.
The company offer lots and water rights for sale on very advantageous terms.
WEST TROY, incorporated in 1836, comprehending Watervliet, Gibbonsville, and Port Schuyler, though in Albany county, is a suburb of the city of Troy, with which it is connected by several ferries, and by the rail road bridge.
The Shakers are followers of Ann Lee, called by them Mother Ann, born in Manchester, England, Feb. 28, 1736, a religious enthusiast, who, leaving her native country in consequence of persecution, as she alledged, established a small society at Neskayuna in Sept. 1776. The society is principally distinguished by the profession of total celibacy, faith in the divine mission of Mother Ann, pretensions to superior holiness, the mode of wor- ship by singular dancing, and the order and economy of their domestic concerns, in which a community of goods is established. They own here 2000 acres of good land, well cultivated, and divided into four farms, on each of which is a family, the whole amounting to about 80 persons of both sexes and all ages. They raise garden stuff and seeds extensively for sale, manufacture various useful and ornamental articles; the proceeds of which, with the avails of the farms, form a considerable income. From a very small beginning the society has grown into several communities, one of which is established at New Lebanon, and another in Wayne county of this state.
Despite the temptation which a life of celibacy offers to immorality, these people are remarkable for the correct- ness of their conduct and the order of their lives, which may be attributed to the rigor of their discipline and the constancy of their labor. Though for a long time distinguished by gross ignorance and superstition, they are now feeling, slowly, the influence of the intelligence of the times, bestow some attention on letters, and mingle somewhat more freely than formally with the world.
WESTERLO, taken from Coeymans and Rensselaer, 16th March, 1815. Centrally distant from Albany S. W. 2] miles : Surface undulating traversed by moderate ridges, with small valleys of good arable, meadow and pasture
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Description of Albany County.
lands, having also some flat, low lands, which, however, produce good grass. The ground yields abundance of stone for field wall. The western part of the town per- tains to the manor of Rensselaerwick, and the farms are holden by lease; the east part is in the Coeymans patent. The settlements commenced here in 1759, by Dutch and Germans, around the low lands, but did not increase rapidly until 1.94, when many emigrants arrived from New England. The country abounds in springs; Prevost creek crosses the town S. from Berne, and other tribu- taries of the Kattskill run on the east and west. Han- nekraikill flows along and across the E. boundary. Sacketts is a small village centrally situated on the N. boundary, and there is a post office called after the town.
Chesterville and South Westerlo are post villages. Chesterville, centrally situated, contains 1 Presbyterian and 1 Baptist, church, 2 tanneries, 3 stores, 1 saw mill, and about 40 dwellings. South Westerlo on Prevost creek near the S. boundary, 23 miles from Albany, has 1 Baptist and 1 Christian church, 1 grist, and 1 saw mill, clothing works, 1 tavern, 2 stores, 25 dwellings.
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TURTLE SOUP IN OLDEN TIMES.
The following is copied from a newspaper scrap, on which there was nothing by which to identify the title of the paper from which it was cut.
The early history of the first attempt at tickling the palates of Albany epicures with that delectable chaos of flavors, known as turtle soup, was made, we believe, by the celebrated Andrew Jackson Allen, better known as Dummy Allen, who for many years acted as Edwin Forrest's costumer, and used to personate Caleb Quotem on the stage, in a style peculiar to himself. At the time we speak of, he kept a restaurant in the vicinity of the old Green Street Theater, late a Baptist Church, and now a theater again, and was a prime favorite among the bloods of the day, who made his place a customary resort. Albany was then, as now, a very nice village, but still, there were some things in Dummy Allen's cookery book not dreamed of in our philosophy. He therefore resolved to afford our ancient epicures a taste of bliss in a guise hitherto unknown to them, to wit: turtle soup. Accordingly, public announcement was duly made of the felicity in store for the lovers of good eating; and in order that appetites might be fully whet- ted, for a few days before the acceptable time, a sizeable, aldermanic-looking green turtle was allowed to prome- nade at the end of a long string, upon the side-walk in front of Allen's establishment. In due time the repast came off, and proved a complete triumph of kitchen art. The new and delicious gift to appetite became the town talk, and showered upon the immortal Dummy vast repu- tation and much gold.
Once more, and while the mouths of epicures were still watering with memories of recent bliss, the potent announcement was reiterated; once more a decent look- ing turtle, very like the other, divulged his ample neck
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Turtle Soup in Olden Times.
on Andrew Jackson's premises, to the great admiration of beholders; once more fastidious palates enjoyed select morsels of Paradise from Allen's marvelous boilers; and once more did vast renown and much lucre fall to the share of the inspired costumer of the inner man. The governor's first business in the morning, before proceeding to state affairs, was to inquire whether Allen served up turtle soup that day. Tidings of the miracu- lous food would agitate the senate, disturb the house, and drive the lobbies wild.
Turtle-soup became all the rage, and week after week it was eagerly devoured. At length, some sharp and perhaps envious observers thought they remarked a strik- ing similarity in all of Dummy Allen's turtles. One very suspicious individual, struck with their strong coin- cidence of aspect, quietly took the trouble of putting his sign manual on the back of one announced for that day's slaughter. The ill-fated criminal duly disappeared, and was commented upon that day, in the form of soup, as unusually excellent. But, amazement ! when next week's customary announcement of turtle-soup was made, how speedy was the ladder of immortality knocked flat from under the aspiring Allen, when that same turtle, the identical, supposed-to-be-slaughtered victim of the week before, bearing the deeply cut private mark of our sus- picious friend, turned up, and resumed its side-walk promenade, apparently in capital condition for a defunct animal. The secret was out. The game was up. Dummy Allen was done for. With a regular, cheap supply of calves' heads, and one specimen turtle, Caleb Quotem had been doing the Albanian epicures for a whole season. At little or no expense and with the sole aid of their imaginative powers, he had regaled them with unheard-of delicacies, and at the same time put a golden lining to his pocket.
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GOLDSBOROUGH BANYAR.
From Random Recollections of Albany, by Ignatius Jones.
Among other curious subjects that attracted my atten- tion during the early part of my residence in Albany, was a blind old man led about the streets by his colored servant. It was old Mr. Banvar, a most intelligent, wealthy, and respectable old gentleman. He was the most perfect type of the Anglo- American then living. He was the last of a race, or class of men, now totally extinct-a race, born in England, grown rich in America, proud of their birth, and prouder of their fortune.
He had been a secretary of state under the colonial government, and at the breaking out of the war of the revolution, very naturally, and the prospect considered, very wisely, took sides (but not arms) with the mother country. He was a royalist in feeling, and doubtless in principle-the feeling, it is believed, underwent no change; the principle, in the course of time, became tem- perately, and I may add, judiciously, modified by his interests. He had, while in his office of secretary, ob- tained from the crown many large and valuable tracts of land. These lands were the sources of his wealth. With the eye of intelligence, sharpened by the peculiarity of his position, he watched the course of events, and like a skilful pilot, steered between the extremes. He wisely kept a friend in either port, and had always an anchor out to windward. In short, he preserved his character from reproach, on the other side of the water, and his lands from confiscation on this. His mind kept pace with the intelligence of the age. He became an American when America became triumphant,-thought better of republic- anism as it approximated to power: and finally, without abating one jot of his love for the land of his birth, came quietly into our political arena under the banner of Mr. Jefferson! In all this, he acted, as we think, wisely and
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Goldsborough Banyar.
prudently. He was no American at the commencement of the war, but an Englishman, born and bred, with the badges of office and of confidence still in his possession. Yet he took no part-gave no aid, and but little comfort to the enemy, for when secretly applied to for advice, he sent by the messenger a basket of fruit-and when for information, the return was a basket of eggs! He was, therefore, no tory, but merely a judicious politician : in which character, if he acquired no fame, he at least pre- served his reputation and his property, and merited the thanks of those remembered in his will.
He must have been somewhere about three score and ten years of age when I first saw him in the streets of Albany. He was a short, stout built man, English alike in form, in character, and in aspect : and at the period to which I refer, infirm, gouty, and nearly blind; but still sound in mind and venerable in appearance. The colored servant by whom he was'led, was no unimportant personage. He was his man-friday-his man Peter-his all in all-for without his aid, locomotion was impossible. What was not a little remarkable, was the fact, that Peter resembled his master in almost every particular, save his gout and his blindness. He was of the same height and make, as well dressed, nearly as old, and quite as grey. He was, moreover, as independent, as import- ant and as irritable. At a little distance, it was indeed difficult to tell which was master and which was man.
Nothing could be more amusing than their conversa- tion and disputes when moving together, arm in arm, down Pearl street and across State, to Lewis's tavern- a haunt, to which they resorted daily, whenever the weather would permit. It was indeed the haunt of a good many other distinguished individuals of those days. All the quid nuncs, news mongers, segar smokers, and back-gammon players, together with a long list of worthies, who were constitutionally thirsty between twelve and one o'clock, made Lewis's their head quarters. Could the old gentleman have seen all the company there assembled, listened to their language, and witnessed their libations at the bar, he would probably have relished their society something less than he did.
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Goldsborough Banyar.
But, be that as it may-in his frequent peregrinations to and from that celebrated tavern, it was my special pleasure (boy like) to throw myself a few paces in his rear, and listen to the dialogue that was sure to take place between him and his man Peter. It was generally in a pretty sharp tone of voice, and almost always upon a disputatious key. In crossing State street one day, on their return from Lewis's, it commenced thus :- Peter, said the old man, you're leading me into the mud. There's no mud here, says Peter. But I say there is, retorted the old man fiercely. I say there aint, said Peter. D-n it, sir, said the old man, giving his arm a twitch and coming to a full halt, don't you suppose I know the nature of the ground on which I stand? No, says Peter, don't spose you know any such thing; you ony stept one foot off the stones, that's all. Well, well, come along then; what do you keep me standing here in the street for? I don't keep you, said Peter; you keep yourself. Well, well, come along, said the old man, and let me know when I come to the gutter. You are in the gutter now, said Peter. The devil I am! said the old man; then pausing a moment, he added, in a sort of mo- ralizing tone, there's a worse gutter than this to cross, I can tell you, Peter. If there be, said Peter, I should like to know where 'tis; I have seen, continued Peter, every gutter in town, from the ferry stairs to the Pa- troon's, and there aint'a worse one among 'em all. But the gutter I mean, said the old gentleman in a lower tone, is one which you cross in a boat, Peter. 'Tis strange, said Peter, that I should never have found it out ;- now, lift your foot higher, or you'll hit the curb stone,-cross a gutter in a boat! ejaculated Peter, 'tis nonsense. 'Tis so written down, said the old man. Written down, said Peter; the newspapers may write what they please, but I don't believe a word on't. I'm thinking said the old man, they put too much brandy in their toddy there at Lewis's. I thought so too, said Peter, when you were getting off the steps at the door ; and since you've mentioned that boat, I'm sure of it. What is that you say? said the old man, coming to a
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Goldsborough Banyar.
halt again, and squaring himself round; you thought so, did you? what right had you to think any thing about it? I tell you, Peter, you are a fool !
The attitude and appearance of the parties at this moment was so whimsical-in fact, so ridiculous, that I could not restrain myself from laughing aloud. Who is that? said the old man, taking quietly hold of Peter's arm again. Don't know him, said Peter; spose he's one of the new comers. New comers! said the old man, re- peating the phrase. Is he old or young, Peter? Young, said Peter. Then I forgive him, said the old man ; and after a short pause, added in a lower tone of voice, may he never know the. misfortune of blindness or the gout. Never in the course of my life did I feel so ashamed of myself as at that moment. A blow from a cane could not have hurt me half as much. My first thought was to walk directly up to him, take him by the hand and make him an ample apology. But to entertain a just sense of what we ought to do, is one thing-to do it, quite another. In the present case, I was apprehensive that my apology might not be accepted; besides, it was not at his infirmities I laughed, but at the singular odd- ity of the scene. I imagined, moreover, that Jeremiah himself, had he been present, would have laughed at the ridiculous dialogue and still more ridiculous attitudes of the parties.
It is impossible, I think, to reflect one moment upon the position which Mr. Banyar occupied during the war of the revolution, and the manner in which he sustained himself in it, without conceding to him a thorough know- ledge of the world, great sagacity and great address. It is said by those who knew him personally, that his man- ners were those of a gentleman, and that he possessed ro ordinary share of talent and of wit.
Among other curious things that attracted my atten- ' tion in the ancient city of Albany, just prior to the ex- tinction of the dutch dynasty, was the disproportionate number of old people. Pearl street in particular, was lined with these remnants of the olden days. The po- pulation of the city was evidently undergoing a thorough
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Albany in 1800.
revolution. One whole generation-nay, one whole race, was then on the very eve of passing away, while another of an entirely different character and aspect was coming in. But the most attractive pictures to my eye, were the aged members of the retiring race.
The city of Albany, in 1800, though the capital of the state, and occupying a commanding position, was, ne- vertheless, in point of size, commercial importance, and architectural dignity, but a third or fourth-rate town. It was not, in some respects, what it might have been; but it was, in all respects, unlike what it now is. It has probably undergone a greater change, not only in its physical aspect, but in the habits and character of its population, than any other city in the United States. It was even in 1800 an old town, but the face of nature in and around it had been but little disturbed. Old as it was, it still retained its primitive aspect, and stood in all its original simplicity; maintaining its quaint and quiescent character. unchanged, unmodified, and unim- proved: still pertinaciously adhering, in all its walks. to the old track and the old form. The rude hand of innovation, however, was then just beginning to be felt; and slight as was the touch, it was felt as an injury, or resented as an insult.
Nothing could be more unique or picturesque to the eye, than Albany in its primitive days. Even at the pe- riod above mentioned, it struck me as peculiarly naive and beautiful. All was antique, clean and quiet. There was no noise, no hurry, no confusion. There was no putting up nor pulling down; no ill-looking excavations, no leveling of hills, no filling up of valleys: in short, none of those villainous improvements, which disfigure the face of nature, and exhibit the restless spirit of the Anglo- Saxon race. The stinted pines still covered the hills to the very edge of the city, and the ravines and valleys were clothed with evergreens, intermixed with briars, and spangled with the wild rose,
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FIRST ENGLISH CHURCH IN ALBANY.
From O'Callaghan's Documentary History, vol. iii, p. 907.
To his Excellency Robert Hunter, Esq, Captain Gene- rall and Governour in Chief of the Provinces of New York, New Jersey, &c.
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