The annals of Albany, Vol. V, Part 7

Author: Munsell, Joel, 1808-1880
Publication date: 1850-1859
Publisher: Albany : J. Munsell
Number of Pages: 374


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The first fort was built on an island below, but was abandoned in consequence of the frequency and height of the river floods. Fort Orange was erected in 1617, and a person by the name of Sebastian Croll was the first commissary at the fort.


In 1629, a charter of liberties and exemptions for pa- troons, masters, and private individuals, who should plant colonies in New Netherlands, was granted by the States General of Holland. Under this charter a purchase of lands was made in August, of the same year, for Kilian Rensselaer, a merchant of Amsterdam, the ancestor of the present patroon's family.


The consequence and power of this individual, as a pa- tentee, may be gleaned from the Dutch records in the secretary's office. He had a small fort of his own, and on one occasion lent some cannon to the military com- manders of Fort Orange. He had his sheriff, a fort at Bear island, and his commandant there was known to have fired at the sloops which passed without saluting the fort,


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His residence, called the Rensselaerburg, was first at the island below the city. The commerce of Albany, was principally with the savages, for beavers, in exchange for strouds, leggings, and rum. Brokers were employed by the inhabitants to purchase the skins; and they were na- tives or savages, as the demand or the competition made it necessary to obtain their aid. A court was held in the fort, consisting of the commissary and associates, duly . appointed in Holland; and these had the exclusive juris- diction in matters civil and criminal.


In 1664 it was captured from the Dutch by a force un- der Major Cartwright. Kalm, who visited the city after the charter had been granted by the English governor, Dongan, describes its appearance as being that of a small town, with two principal streets crossing each other, in one of which was placed all the public buildings. This will account for the great width of State street. It then contained the fort, a regular though slight stockade; the English church, the guard house, the town house, the Dutch church, and the market. It had a very rural ap- pearance; each house having its garden and shade trees. The situations on the water side were beautiful. There were three docks; the lower, middle, and upper. The lower was called the king's dock. The vessels were un- loaded by the aid of canoes lashed together, and having a platform built upon them, where the goods were placed.


The alterations in the city have been astonishing ; where Fox street now crosses Pearl street, was a deep ravine, crossed by a bridge, and the descent to it was quite sud- den. Other ravines crossed the streets running parallel to the river; these are now no longer visible. State street was much steeper. The road to Schenectady ran round the fort to the south and west, where the state offi- ces now stand; and where the elegant mansions of the present and the late mayor are now situated, were banks of earth reaching up as far as the third story. Chapel street was full of stores and ware houses, and there the principal business was done; then it was Barrack street. The Pasture was literally such; and now, where Lydius street is laid out, was the regular encamping ground of the


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History of Albany.


British armies, commanded by Amherst and Abercrombie. Even during the revolutionary era, our city presented a singular appearance. It was stockaded; had its north and south gates; was a military post; was commanded by the gallant Lafayette, and Col. Van Schaick, a dis- tinguished officer and native of Albany; and was con- sidered one of the most important stations in the United States. It was the key to the north and west, the point from which our armies threatened Montreal and Quebec, or the British posts on the lakes. Among the old build- ings still remaining, is that at the corner of State and North Pearl streeets, known as the Lydius house. The bricks were brought from Holland, and its chronicles are very interesting. The house, corner of North Pearl and Steuben streets, has still part of its date in the brick work of its front, 1725; and we believe there are others still older which could be pointed out. General Schuyler's, General Ten Broek's, and the Patroon's mansions con- vey to us a good idea of the taste of the builders, and the elegance of the modes of living among the wealthy and distinguished families of the olden time. A house in North Pearl street, near General Westerlo's residence, is distinguished as having been the head quarters of Lafay- ette, which, on his recent visit to the United States, he recognized as he passed rapidly through the town, from the circumstance of its having a curious brass knocker, an animal hanging down by its hind legs. The popula- tion of Albany has been latterly rapidly progressive. The following table is nearly correct :


Years.


No. of Inhabitants,


1790


3,506


1800


5,349


1810


10,762


1820


12,541


1825


15,974


1830


24,216


The increase in the number of inhabitants of this city, during the last five years, has been more than one half of its whole population in 1825-to wit, eight thousand two hundred and forty-two-an increase which we think has


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History of Albany.


scarcely a parallel in the United States in so short a period. In 1790, the white population of the city was less than 3000. In 1790 and 1800, the Colonie, or what is now called the fifth ward, was not attached to the city of Al- bany, and its inhabitants were not included in the enume- ration of either of those years. In 1810, the population of the Colonie was 1,406, and is included in the census of the city for that year.


In Kalm's time there were 40 sloops trading to Albany. In 1828, there were 550 vessels, exclusive of 66 oyster and fruit boats, paying wharfage (viz: 155 by the season, and 395 by the day), including 16 steamboats that belonged to this city and the city of New York. The whole amount rated as going from and returning to the city in these vessels in 1828, was 377,914 tons.


There are also now several thousand canal boats, each carrying greater loads than the largest sloops in Kalm's time.


The city is the seventh in size in the United States, and covers an area of 8,000 acres. State street is 1,900 feet long, and ascends 130 feet from the river to the Capitol.


The Capitol cost, $120,000


Academy,. 92,000


Jail, .. 40,500 Lancaster School, 24,000 New City Hall, about 80,000


The following is a correct list of the several mayors and recorders since the chartering of the city.


Years. Mayors.


1686, Peter Schuyler,


1687, ibid, Derrick Wessels.


1694, Johannis Abeel,


1695, Evert Banker,


1696, Derik Wessels,


1698, Hendrik Hansen,


1699, Peter Van Brugh,


1700, Jan Jans Bleeker,


1701, Johannis Bleeker, 1702, Albert Rykman,


Recorders. Isaac Swinton.


ibid.


ibid.


Jan Jans Bleeker. ibid. ibid.


Johannis Bleeker. Johannis Abeel. ibid.


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History of Albany.


Years. Mayors.


1703, Johannis Schuyler,


1706, David Schuyler,


1707, Evert Banker,


1709, Johannis Abeel,


1710, Robert Livingston, jun., 1719, Myndert Schuyler, 1721, Peter Van Brugh,


1723, Myndert Schuyler, 1725, Johannis Cuyler,


1726, Rutger Bleeker,


1728, ibid,


1729, John De Peyster,


ibid.


1731, Hans Hansen,


1732, John De Peyster,


1733, Edward Holland,


1741, John Schuyler,


1742, Cornelius Cuyler,


1746, Dirk Ten Broek,


1748, Jacob C. Ten Eyck,


1750, Robert Sanders,


1754, Hans Hansen, 1756, Sybrant G. Van Schaick, John G. Roseboom.


1759, ibid,


1761, Volkert P. Douw,


1770, Abraham C. Cuyler,


1778, John Barclay,


1779, Abraham Ten Broek,


1780, - ibid,


1783, John Ja. Beekman,


1786, John Lansing, jun., 1789, ibid,


1790, Abraham Yates, jun.,


1793, ibid, 1796, Abraham Ten Broek,


1797, ibid, 1799, Philip S. Van Rensselaer,


1808, ibid,


1810, ibid,


1811, ibid,


Recorders. Johannis Abeel. ibid. ibid. Robert Livingston, jun.


Johannis Cuyler.


ibid.


ibid.


ibid.


Rutger Bleeker. John De Peyster. 'Dirk Ten Broek.


ibid.


ibid.


ibid.


ibid.


ibid.


Edward Collins.


Robert Sanders.


Sybrant G. Van Schaick. ยทยท ibid,


Volkert P. Douw. John Ten Eyck. ibid. Abraham Yates' jun. ibid.


Leonard Gansevoort. ibid. ibid.


Peter W. Yates. ibid.


John Tayler. ibid,


Abraham Van Vechten. ibid. John V. N. Yates. Theodorus V.W. Graham John V. N. Yates.


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History of Albany.


Years. Mayors.


1816, Elisha Jenkins,


Recorders. Philip S. Parker. ibid.


1819, Philip S. Van Rensselaer,


1821, Charles E. Dudley,


Estes Howe. ibid.


1824, Ambrose Spencer,


1825, ibid,


Ebenezer Baldwin. James M'Kown,


1826, James Stevenson, 1827, ibid,


ibid,


1828, Charles E. Dudley,


ibid.


1829, John Townsend,


ibid.


1831, Francis Bloodgood, ibid.


In so brief and ordinary a work as a Directory, it can not be expected that we should embrace all the topics suggested by our subject. We are happy to inform our readers that a history of Albany is being prepared, under the direction of the Albany Institute, by a committee of three gentlemen, who are busily engaged in collecting materials. The works at present giving the most de- tailed account of the city, are Kalm's Travels, Mrs. Grant's Memoirs of an American Lady, and a recent work called the Englishman's Sketch Book.


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SOLOMON SOUTHWICK.


BY SAMUEL S. RANDALL.


The citizens of Albany are here presented with the speaking lineaments of a countenance long familiar to many of them; of a man whose pride and boast it was to number himself among them ; who for a long series of years occupied a commanding position in the political councils of the state, and whose career affords a signal practical illus- tration of what may be accomplished, even under the pressure of the most discouraging obstacles, by active per- severance, untiring labor and sound and fixed moral prin- ciples. Left at the age of twelve years a destitute orphan, without friends-without resources of any kind, other than such as nature had bestowed upon him in the inappreciable blessings of a sound and vigorous constitution-he com- menced the work of self-education in the stern school of adversity, and progressed step by step with an unfaltering determination and an unyielding energy, until he found himself in the highest walks of honorable usefulness- guiding the destinies of the state-wielding the truncheon of power, influence and wealth-dispensing patronage and diffusing knowledge. The history of such a man is worthy of the most careful study, developing as it does the ele- ments of self-culture, and affording that encouragement to the indigent and friendless which may enable them to breast the storms of life, and work out its manifold pro- blems with honor and success.


SOLOMON SOUTHWICK was born at Newport, R. I., on the 25th of December, 1773. His father was one of the earliest and most efficient champions in that gallant strug- gle for the rights of the colonists which eventuated in the war of the revolution, As the editor of the Newport Mer- cury, he fearlessly and powerfully asserted and maintained those republican doctrines which pervaded the hearts of


........


O


SOLOMON SOUTHWICK.


NAT. 1773: OBIT. 1839.


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Solomon Southwick.


the patriots of that day, and materially aided in hastening the eventful crisis which was destined to give birth to a free and independent nation. His well known sentiments and effective exertions in the cause of liberty, rendered him peculiarly obnoxious to the emissaries of the British' government; and placed under the vindictive ban of an unscrupulous and irritated tyranny, he became one of the earliest victims of oppression and power. From a condi- tion of competency, and even affluence, arising from his connection with some of the best and wealthiest families of the province, and by his own industry and talents, he was speedily reduced to utter destitution and penury. Hunted down by the myrmidons of despotism, he was driven from his home and compelled to seek elsewhere a precarious shelter from the . vengeance of an exasperated foe. His wife soon fell a victim to anxiety, care and physical and mental sufferings, and he survived her loss but a short period, leaving five children dependent upon the world's cold charity for the means of subsistence.


The subject of this sketch commenced his career, while yet a mere boy, as cook to a fishing company bound for Cape Cod; and after enduring for several months the in- numerable hardships and privations incident to such a sta- tion, he returned to Newport and apprenticed himself to a baker in his native town. Not long afterwards, abandon- ing this employment, he went on board a coasting vessel in the capacity of a common sailor, where he remained until he attained his eighteenth year, when he obtained a situation as apprentice in a printing establishment in the city of New York. From thence he was transferred as a journeyman to the office of the Albany Register, in this city, then conducted by his brother-in-law, John Barber, printer to the state; and soon after became a partner in that establishment. On the death of Mr. Barber in 1808, he succeeded to his interest in the paper; and in this ca- pacity, his talents, intrepidity and energy, soon placed him at the head of the democratic party, of which the Register was the organ and champion, and enabled him for a long time to exercise an almost unlimited influence upon the political destinies of the state. He continued in charge of


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Solomon Southwick.


the Register for a period of nearly thirty years, during which time he successively held the stations of clerk of the house of assembly, clerk of the senate, sheriff of the county of Albany, manager of the state literature lottery, state printer, regent of the university, and post master of the city of Albany. After the discontinuance of the Register, he established and conducted for several years an agricul- tural paper, under the title of the Plough Boy-first under the anonymous designation of Henry Homespun, jr., and subsequently in his own name. At about the same period, he also became the editor of the Christian Visitant, a periodical devoted to the interests of religion and morality, and to the refutation of infidel principles. Subsequently, he assumed the editorial charge of the National Democrat, during which period he presented himself to the electors of the state as a candidate for governor, in opposition to the regularly nominated candidate of the democratic party, the Hon. Joseph C. Yates. During the prevalence of the anti-masonic excitement, he established and for several years conducted the National Observer, the prominent or- gan of anti-masonry ; and was soon after nominated as the candidate of that party for the chief magistracy, in oppo- sition to Mr. Van Buren and the Hon. Smith Thompson, the candidates respectively of the friends of Gen. Jackson and Mr. Adams. Failing of success, however, and dis- gusted with the manifold vexations of political strife, he withdrew from the turbulent arena of public life, and sought in the congenial atmosphere of the domestic and social cir- cle that happiness and peace of mind which he had failed to experience in the restless career of personal and politi- cal ambition.


His long connection with the party interests of the day having terminated, the remainder of his life was devoted to study and contemplation, to the welcome enjoyments of the family fireside, and to the dissemination of religious, moral and intellectual truth. The morning of his life was overshadowed with heavy and threatening clouds ; his noon- day sun shone with a brilliant-perhaps a too brilliant and hurtful splendor ; but its evening declination was the steady, tempered and grateful reflection of a mellowed and


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Solomon Southwick.


softened light. It is to this period that we must chiefly refer those great exertions in the great field of moral and intellectual education to which we are indebted for the most conclusive proofs of the vigor, depth, compass and soundness of his mind, as well as the comprehensive be- nevolence and general philanthropy for which he was so eminently distinguished. From the years 1831 to 1837, he delivered, in most of the principal towns and cities of the state, a course of lectures on the Bible, on temperance, and on self-education, which were universally admired and highly appreciated. He also published during this period, the Letters of a Layman, under the signature of Sherlock, addressed to Thomas Hertell. Esq., of New York, chiefly on the subject of that philosophical infidelity originating with the French revolution, and which had taken deep root, particularly in the large cities and more populous places of our own country. This publication was followed by Five Letters to Young Men, by an Old Man of Sixty, designed to warn the rising generation against the many seductive allurements and criminalities which infest our cities and larger towns. For the last two years of his life he conducted the editorial department of the Fami- ly Newspaper, published by his son Alfred Southwick, in this city-a weekly journal devoted to literary and miscel- laneous topics-and devoted his leisure hours to a variety of literary efforts upon topics of general and local interest, theological, political, inoral, and miscellaneous, which it was his intention at a future period to revise and prepare for the press. But it was otherwise decreed by the all-wise dispenser of human events. Suddenly, and with- out any previous warning, he was arrested by the hand of death, in the midst of his usefulness and in the full matu- rity of his intellectual powers. On the 18th day of No- vember, 1839, while returning in company with Mrs. Southwick from a social visit at the house of a valued friend, he was attacked by an affection of the heart, which, in about fifteen minutes, terminated fatally. His age was sixty-six.


The chief elements which entered into the composition of Mr. Southwick's character were noble and intrinsical-


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Solomon Southwick.


ly great. Reared in the school of adversity-struggling with and heroically surmounting the most formidable ob- stacles to advancement and success-working out the ma- terials for usefulness, honor and fame, by his own unaided exertions-and finally triumphing, through the force and energy of his character, over all the impediments to his progress-obtaining, too, that most difficult of all victories, the final and complete subjugation of the selfish propen- sities to the higher and nobler intellectual and moral na- ture-his example can not fail to prove eminently benefi- cial to the youth of our land. Few men have occupied a larger space in the political history of our state; few have participated more extensively, or for a longer period of time, in the public confidence and regard; and few have experienced more striking vicissitudes of fortune in the busy arena of partisan warfare. The limits to which we are restricted on the present occasion, necessarily compel us to pass over this portion of his public career, and to contemplate him only in that aspect more particularly inte- resting to the numerous and honorable class of which he was a distinguished member, and for whose benefit his lit- erary labors were especially designed. Himself, emphati- cally, a self-made man-one of nature's noblemen- owing all of knowledge, of mental and moral culture, of success in life, of honor, fame, distinction and usefulness, to his own exertions and perseverance, it was the pre- dominant desire-the master passion, so to speak, of his mind-to communicate to others, and especially to the la- boring classes-to the indigent, the obscure and friend- less-and generally to the YOUNG in every condition of life-that knowledge of their powers and faculties which should render them independent of extraneous circumstan- ces and adventitious aid, in the development of their minds, and the advancement of their personal and pecu- niary interests. His celebrated address at the opening of the Apprentices Library, in this city-an institution to the establishment of which his exertions materialy contri- buted, and which long remained a proud and invaluable monument of public enterprise and private liberality-is an earnest, impassioned and eloquent appeal in behalf of the


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Solomon Southwick.


YOUNG MECHANIC, and secured for its author the most gratifying tributes of applause and admiration from the ablest statesmen and most distinguished philanthropists at home and abroad. Wilberforce commended it as one of the noblest efforts of comprehensive benevolence. Jef- ferson, Monroe and the younger Adams addressed to him and others, letters expressive of their exalted admiration of his character and efforts in the cause of humanity and education. This address was indeed a masterly produc- tion-overflowing with an energy, a pathos and an elo- quence which only such a subject, in the hands of such a man, could elicit.


His exertions in aid of indigent and deserving young men, and particularly of mechanics, struggling under the pressure of poverty and embarrassments, were unremitted and most effective. While his ample fortune afforded the means, he assiduously sought out those to whom he might beneficially and advantageously extend the hand of assist- ance, and neglected no opportunity of advancing and en- couraging the industrious and deserving by substantial tes- timonials of the interest which he felt in their welfare. Many instances of his timely and efficient, but delicate and unobtrusive interference, at critical moments in the career of the struggling sons of labor, are still gratefully trea- sured up in honest hearts, and will be long remembered. In all his various lectures, addresses and orations before literary and other societies, at public meetings, and on anniversary occasions, the welfare and prosperity of the laboring classes seem constantly and steadily to have been kept in view ; and he availed himself of every opportunity which was presented to communicate the rich results of his own experience, of his varied and extensive reading and comprehensive and judicious observations, with refe- rence to the cultivation and development of the mind. A few months previous to his death, he had projected the establishment of a literary and scientific institute in this city, to be placed under his personal control and super- vision, for the purpose of affording the requisite facilities to young men desirous of pursuing the course of self-edu- cation which he had himself marked out and followed,


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Solomon Southwick.


In person, Mr. Southwick was somewhat under the middle size-with a countenance beaming with benignity, and expressive of an enthusiastic, ardent and sanguine temperament-a countenance, indeed, indicative of the many and active virtues of his heart. When the writer of this brief and most imperfect sketch enjoyed the plea- sure of his acquaintance and intimacy, age " had silvered over his locks," without in any degree fastening its im- press upon the clear contour of his noble brow, or bending his manly form. An insidious disease-the result of sedentary and studious habits-had undermined the cita- del of health, and deprived the evening of his days of that uninterrupted and placid enjoyment to which he might otherwise have looked. But his cheerfulness and philo- sophic amenity never for a moment deserted him; and his domestic altar kindled to the last with the bright glow of diffusive charity and comprehensive benevolence. Peace to his ashes! So long as the kindly virtues of the heart are revered and hallowed, so long will the name of SOLOMON SOUTHWICK be held in remembrance by all who knew his sterling worth-by all who have participated in the blessings which he aided in securing to the young- by all who shall hereafter avail themselves of those signal advantages in the intellectual and moral culture of their minds, which it was the highest ambition of his life to promote.


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EARLY SETTLERS OF THE HUDSON.


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[The following reminiscence appeared originally in The Opal, a monthly journal edited by the patients of the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica. It is supposed to have been written by one of the inmates. It portrays some of the manners and customs of the olden time.]


Two hundred years ago there was a band of Hollanders emigrated to the banks of the Hudson, opposite Albany. One Mr. Volkert, who was noted for his piety and good sense, located himself on a point of land overlooking the river, erected a fire brick house in the Dutch style; the doors, divided in the middle, were painted a dark red, which contrasted with the white paint of the house. Mr. Volkert and his wife Katrina, took a deal of comfort on the front porch; Mr. Volkert smoking his long Holland pipe, and wife welcoming their neighbors with true Dutch hospitality; entertaining them with the last adventures of their honest Mike, up and down the Hudson, with the Captain his success in hoisting the sails of the sloop, and catching fish in the small boats. Then, the passing of a sloop, for they had no steam in those days, was hailed as a great event. Two stately elms were planted by Mr. Volkert in front of his house, besides sycamores and pop- lars were planted on the bank in front of the yard, and his friends, the Van H-, Y- and K-, lined the bank with a variety of trees, of which some few are to be seen at the present day. What comfort these emigrants must have taken in watching their growth. Their happy greetings with their pipes in their mouths, as it was the custom of their country to make free use of tobacco, and their good spiced wine, cider. and hot slippers, considered by them beneficial, with good cheer to keep up their sys- tems, were not to be sneered at in their estimation. They took the spirit of their country, and became slaveholders,




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