USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. VI > Part 23
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
( 302 )
ALBANY PLUMS.
At a late meeting of the New York State Agricultural Society, Mr. Elisha Dorr, of Albany, exhibited a col- lection of plums which attracted great attention, and received various premiums. Among them were several valuable kinds not generally known, including some seedlings raised by Mr. Dorr. In the Country Gentleman Mr. Dorr has given a history and description of these plums, which we copy. The variety called Schuyler Gage is one on which some mystery has heretofore rested. The same name has been applied to another variety-a plum believed by Downing and others to be identical with the Green Gage. The late Isaac Denniston, of Albany, called it the Schuyler Gage, because he procured the tree which bore it from the grounds of Gen. Philip Schulyer. The tree might have been a seedling of the Green Gage. It was transferred to Mr. Denniston's garden about the beginning of the present century, and became the parent of many fine varieties now named in catalogues, and in several instances reproduced its own fruit with exact similarity. Under the name of Schuyler Gage the variety produced by this tree has been exten- sively disseminated.
The variety called Schuyler Gage by Mr. Dorr, and well described by him, is quite different from that just spoken of. It is of great value on account of its excellent flavor and extraordinary lateness. We have plucked it, in high perfection, from the original tree, in the month of November, when the ground was covered with snow. The tree was much decayed when we first saw it, and is now dead. Mr. Dorr, fortunately, has secured the variety by inoculating it on other stocks. We should have pre- ferred a name that would have prevented any confusion in regard to its identity, and would suggest whether the
303
Albany Plums.
word late might not be added with advantage, and the name made Schuyler's Late Gage.
Mr. Dorr's Wax Plum we saw at the exhibition of the New York State Agricultural Society, in October last, and thought it the most beautiful plum we had ever seen. The quality, also, was very fine.
[The foregoing is, copied from a newspaper cutting, which can not now be identified. What follows appears to be Mr. Dorr's account of the plums.]
Madison Plum .- This fine seedling, so highly recom- mended by the Fruit Congress which met at Philadelphia I think in 1849, was raised by that celebrated plum grower, the late Isaac Denniston, of Albany. It came into bearing in 1848, and on the 16th of October, 1849, I saw .and eat its fruit, in company with Mr. Sanford Howard, who then remarked to me that it was a plum, which, if grown for market, would pay enormously, being so late and beautiful a variety. I accordingly pro- cured scions the following spring-very fortunately too- as the succeeding summer the tree, from an unknown cause, died. Its size rather above medium; color, rich yellow with carmine cheek; bloom, whitish; freestone; flavor, very rich, sugary, sprightly and very fine. Season, October. A fine grower.
Schuyler Gage .- This is one of the most beautiful and desirable of plums, on account of its lateness-being eaten by me the past season when the snow covered the ground. It never suffers from the attacks of the curculio, like most other varieties, which fact immeasurably en- hances its value with me, being always sure of a crop. It was raised by Gen. Schuyler, of Revolutionary memory, from the Green Gage, and was esteemed by him so great an acquisition that he never disseminated it; but gave to his rival fruit grower, Isaac Denniston, buds of the Green Gage instead. Mr. Denniston always believed it the Green Gage, saying he obtained buds of Gen. Schuyler himself, which, when fruited, was none other than the Green Gage. So choice was this variety with the General, that none but his intimate friends were
304
Albany Plums.
at his table served with them, and when solicited by them for scions, some other variety was substituted. Mr. Denniston frequently alluded to the strife which prevailed in the days of Gen. S., to obtain and exclusively possess varieties of choice fruit, and the amusing tricks resorted to when applied to for them-he having been for years duped by them.
After the death of Gen. S., the late John Bryan pur- chased the grounds, and finding an aged tree of this variety, grafted from it. Soon after the death of Mr. Bryan, the grounds came into the possession of Mr. E. C. M'Intosh, to whom we are indebted for making known this long heard of variety. In the fall of 1847 or 1848, Mr. M'Intosh brought to Mr. Howard and myself, some plums to identify. Being unknown to us, we visited Mr. Denniston to have them named, but without avail. At the request of Mr. M'Intosh we soon after visited his grounds to learn more of this variety, and there learned from a daughter of the late John Bryan, its name and history. It was raised about 1800 (as stated above), from the Green Gage. During the life time of her father, he never disseminated it, nor would he permit it to be done. We thus see why this choice fruit never was made known while possessed by two such peculiar men-remaining in their possession full half a century ; and why all pomo- logists have erred in calling it a synonym of the Green Gage. The fruit is medium size, long oval; skin golden yellow, dotted and washed with carmine; bloom white; stem 12 inches long. Flesh yellowish, quite juicy, high flavored, luscious, sprightly, fine. Stone, free. Season from 15th Oct. to 15th Nov. An erect grower.
The Wax Plum is a new seedling raised by me, and shown at the State Fair in New York. It is a quite late variety, ripening during the month of Oct., when light colored plums are gone. Its parents I believe to have been Bleecker's Yellow and Denniston's Superb, favoring more in its outline and stem, the Bleecker than the Superb, and in the growth and productiveness of the tree. Fruit large size, slight oval, stem quite 2 inches
305
Albany Plums.
long and hairy; color the richest yellow, mostly covered with carmine; bloom lilac; flesh greenyellow, juicy, firm, saccharine, with a sprightly, very pleasant flavor. Free stone. Season October.
Howard's Favorite, is another seedling raised by me, and named after Sanford Howard, from the preference shown by him for it, whenever he visited my grounds. [This preference was given not wholly on account of the flavor of the fruit, but in a considerable degree for its beauty and prolific character. S. H.] What either of its parents were, I am unable to tell. It is a profuse bearer, yielding me, this dry season, 2} barrels of fruit. It possesses a peculiarity which greatly enhances its value for my bleak grounds, that of resisting the gales of summer. Indeeed so great is its tenacity, that it is im- possible to knock them off without breaking the fruit spurs. It is a continuous ripener for six weeks. A very handsome grower, forming a fine rounded head. Leaves deep green, very large and crumply. Quite ornamental. Fruit, large sized, jug shaped; stem, 1} inches long, inserted in a rim like the egg plum; color rich yellow, dotted and shaded with carmine; bloom lilac; skin thick; flesh rather coarse, but very sugary, rich and delicious, clinging somewhat to the stone. "Season Sept.
Henry Clay-another seedling raised by me, and bore fruit first in 1852. It was raised from pits of Howard's Favorite. Of large size, considerably more so than. its parent, being broader and heavier. Color bright yellow on sunny side, with carmine cheek. Stem quite long, near 2 inches in length, slightly sunken; bloom whitish; skin tough; flesh yellow, rich, sugary, delicious. A noble plum, both in size, quality and beauty. Half cling and half free, like its great namesake. It was named by Dr. Warder, of Cincinnati-he deeming it worthy of so honorable a name. Season 1st Sept.
The five preceding are not excelled for productiveness. For beauty I know of none that can compare with them. For quality, they are not excelled by any, and for late- ness, where can five varieties be found that will furnish fruit for a period of 2} months ?
¥306
Albany Plums.
Lady Plum is another seedling raised from the Mirabille. It is quite a pretty fruit, esteemed highly for preserving +-this being its chief quality. It is a rampant grower- leaves small and pointed. An abundant bearer. Fruit quite small, oval; stem short and stout; color greenish yellow, spotted with brown; stone free and small; flavor acid. Season last of September.
-
( 307)
15.
JOHN C. SPENCER.
From the Albany Atlas.
Mr. Spencer, was born in Hudson, Columbia county, . in this state, in 1787, and, entering public life in his extreme youth, and preserving an active connection with public affairs till his death, his career may be said to have been almost coincident with that of the state itself. -
He was the son of Ambrose Spencer, a man whose iron will and marked individuality of character he in- herited, with its power and its imperfections. His father was on the bench of the supreme court in 1807-8, when Mr. Spencer was appointed by Gov. Tompkins his private secretary; and he was selected, in the latter year, to carry to Washington the electoral vote of the state just cast for Madison for president.
In 1811, he was appointed master in chancery for Ontario Co. In 1814, he was appointed postmaster of Canandaigua. In 1815, he was appointed by Gov. Tomp- kins district attorney for the five western counties of the state.
During the war with Great Britain he was active and influential in the support of the administration of Tomp- kins; and his father, Judge Ambrose Spencer, broke with his political friends, the federalists, rather than tolerate their unpatriotic course of resistance and ob- struction. A son, the elder brother of John C., Ambrose Spencer, Jr., fell at Lundy's Lane, while fighting under Brown and Scott; and another brother, Capt. Wm. A. Spencer, entered the navy, and died a year ago in New York. In the year 1817-19, he was a member of con- gress; and in the latter year, while still in the house of representatives, received the support of the Clintonian members of the state legislature for the post of U. S. senator. The nomination was the occasion of the rup- [ Annals, vi.] 27
308
John C. Spencer.
ture of the relations between the Clintonians, and the Democrats (called in the phrase of the day Bucktails), who had preferred Col. Young for the office. The latter received 57 votes to 64 for Mr. Spencer, the remaining votes being cast for Rufus King.
In 1819, while still in congress, he was elected to the assembly, and the next year was speaker of that body. He was then the champion and the leader of the party of De Witt Clinton, which was then in close alliance with the Federal party. His speakership closed in a storm, and by a refusal of many of his opponents .to concur in the customary vote of thanks. He was state senator in 1825, '6, '7 and '8.
The death of Gov. Clinton broke up the personal party that rallied around him and of which Mr. Spencer was the moving spirit; but before it occurred both these distinguished names were enlisted to the support of Andrew Jackson for the presidency, both again separat- ing from their friends, in order to assume this vantage ground of strength and popularity. Before the death of Clinton, he appointed Mr. Spencer to a work with which his reputation will doubtless long be identified, a task eminently congenial to his habits of thought, his extensive knowledge of law, and his power of analysis-the re- vision of the statutes of the state.
The commission was composed of John C. Duer, Benj. F. Butler and Henry Wheaton. The appointment of the latter by President Adams to the diplomatic post he afterwards filled with so much reputation, left a vacancy, to which Mr. Spencer was appointed. It was a work of great labor, and comparing it with what has been done in our own and in other countries in the same depart- ment of public reform, it was an eminently successful work. It effected many changes, facilitated many of the operations of the law, and simplified it; but it left the great structure, as it had gradually been reared by " successive generations, to retain all its majesty of form and to lose none of its harmony of proportions.
In 1829 he was appointed by Governor Van Buren,
-
309
John C. Spencer.
special counsel to prosecute the abductors and supposed murderers of Morgan, an office which he abandoned because the state refused to allow him the sum of $2000 necessary, in his opinion, to procure the testimony and attendance of a convicting witness. The appointment, its resignation, and the controversy to which it gave rise, threw him into the ranks of the rising Antimasonic party of which he soon became the master spirit. In 1831 he was the leader of that party in the assembly ; and in 1833 was again on the floor of that body, where he had sought a seat for the purpose of sustaining the administration of Francis Granger, who had been put forward by his friends for governor, with the most sanguine prospects of success.
That expectation was disappointed; and the Anti- masonic party, after a brief and fruitless career, subsided into the usual course of opposition, was reabsorbed into the Whig party, and remained a minority till 1838, when, amid the wrecks of speculation, occasioned by the mone- tary changes of that time, it came into power. He was appointed, by the Whig legislature of 1839, secretary of state, in the place of Gen. Dix; was next comptroller in place of Bates Cook, deceased, and was taken from the state administration in 1841, by President Tyler, to assume, first, the office of secretary of war, and again that of secretary of the treasury. He entered the cabinet of Tyler "with the advice and consent of his political friends the Whigs of the state of New York." So the Eve. Journal proclaimed in announcing his acceptance; but the connection was one that soon carried him beyond the sympathies or toleration of his party.
He had been associated with Tyler in the congress of 1819, and had distinguished himself by an able report against the Bank of the United States. This formed the tie of an honorable connection, and the extraordinary administrative abilities of Mr. Spencer were invaluable to the incoherent and disorganized cabinet which Mr. Tyler, in his unexpected accession to the presidency, was compelled to rely upon. The office severed him
-
310
John C. Spencer.
from his friends, and the course of Mr. Clay, in pro- claiming the outlawry of the administration, each day made the breach wider. Powerless for success, or even self-defence, the administration of President Tyler was yet capable of mischief to its assailants. In 1842, Mr. Spencer returned to New York to advocate the election of Gov. Bouck, who was running against Mr. Bradish, and to proclaim the virtues of John Tyler, " who had been brought up at the feet of Jefferson." He remained in the cabinet till 1844; and though he was an advocate of the election of Taylor in '48, and Scott in '52, never regained his ascendency in his party. Indeed he lived to bear testimony, like Clay and Webster, and many others, to the faithlessness, the selfishness, and the organic weakness of that party-testimony not the fruit of personal disappointment, but of philosophic experience. A career so varied, in which personal and partizan at- tachments were held so lightly, in which opinions and personal relations were so subordinated to ambition, was calculated to impair everything like political faith in the character of the mover. An insatiable activity of mind, a knowledge of the widest scope, an aptitude for public affairs, inherited, indulged in from youth, and disciplined through manhood, made him so conscious of his fitness for public station, as to close his thoughts to all lesser considerations. It kept him to the last busied with the affairs of the state; and made him indifferent to the character of the employment in which his wondrous energy and adroitness and acuteness might be employed. His death was hastened by the labors he volunteered in exposition of the affairs of Union College and in defence of Dr. Nott. His perverted ingenuity was manifested in the conception of the nine million bill, which he framed with all the sophistry of his subtle genius-and though detesting the men in whose interest the magnifi- cent scheme of chicanery was contrived-he seems to have become enlisted in the attempt to undermine the . constitution, merely from a desire to exercise his talents as an engineer !
31₺
John C. Spencer.
Yet he did much that will endure after him. His. career in congress; his support of the war of 1812; his part in the revision of the statutes ; his legislative course generally, were honorable to himself and useful to the state. He took early ground for the abolition of im- prisonment for debt in this state, and inspired, if he did not draw the bill by which that measure was incorpo- rated into our laws. He was active in the construction and extension of our common school system.
He also introduced many practical reforms in the laws, the character of which the legal profession alone can adequately appreciate. When speaker of the as- sembly he organized the business of the house on the basis on which it now stands. No man living knew so much of the history of the laws of this state-from their origin through all their changes, as he.
He had indeed wonderful capacity for detail; and he permitted himself to be carried away by it. With a mind appreciative of the higher philosophy of legislation and of politics-as was manifested in his edition of De Tocqueville's Democracy, and his appreciation of that book, and the impress which he imparted to it, in his intercourse with the author-he seldom stood far enough aloof from parties and interests, to regard them ab- stractly. His mind was nearer like that of Calhoun than any other American; with the advantage on the side of the southerner of a mode of life that lifted him above the necessity of submission to detail. He was, like the southerner, capable, ambitious, indomitable, free from all personal vices ; deficient, too, like him, in the plastic and congenial qualities that attach followers to party leaders. The versatility of position that marked the career of both was not the result of flexibility of purpose or vascillation of opinion in either ; but of powerful ambi- tion, wielding intellect as a weapon, and opening for itself a career wherever it chose. Like the Carolinian, too, he was proud of his native state, for he knew its history and the great events of which it had been the theatre, and he resented the false pretensions by which sectional egotism had sought to depreciate it.
312
John C. Spencer.
Mr. Spencer married in 1809 a daughter of James Scott Smith, and commenced the practice of law in Canan- daigua. He regarded that place as his home, until 1845, when he returned to Albany, where, for the last ten years he has resided. He closed his life, after a painful and protracted illness, on the 21st of May, 1855, in the 68th year of his age.
Such a character stands out with distinctness amid the crowd of commonplace men, his cotemporaries; and in referring to him in terms different from those of ordinary and indiscriminate eulogy, with which the multitude go down to oblivion, we feel that we are but making a re- cognition of a character fit to be historic.
DEATH OF JOHN C. SPENCER.
Messrs. Editors: I had commenced preparing some notes relative to the memory of my long cherished friend, the late John C. Spencer, when the very full and able obituary in your paper of Friday evening came to hand. I can now say very little in addition to or in correction of your statement. It is not, however, as full as I could wish, and, as I believe, his few other old surviving friends, would desire, in relation to the portion of his life between 1809 and 1816, embracing the period of the war with Great Britian. The events of this period of six or seven years Mr. Spencer delighted to dwell upon.
It was my good fortune to become acquainted with Mr. Spencer when he first came to Canandaigua, with his young and accomplished bride, now the mourning widow, in 1809. The county of Ontario then embraced all the territory now included in the counties of Wayne, Yates, and all of the counties of Monroe and Livingston, east of the Genesee river. The bar of Ontario county, at the time, and for many years afterwards, ranked among its members some of the most eminent and ex-
. 313
John C. Spencer.
perienced lawyers of the state; and it is to be remarked that the profession at that period was composed almost entirely of those who belonged to the federal party. Mr. Spencer was the only democratic lawyer in the county. His clients were mostly democrats, political and personal friends, and as no inconsiderable portion of the litigation of that day was occasioned by party col- lisions and the bitterness of party strife, it may well be supposed that he encountered, from the start, a combined opposition, at least in feeling and prejudice, among his brethren of the bar-an opposition which taxed the utmost energies of his "iron will," and which made it necessary for him to go into court, as he used often to say, " prepared at all points." It was at that early period that he contracted that "wonderful capacity of detail," of which you speak-the examination of collateral points, the bearing of which upon the main point in issue, few would be able, at first, to discover. Ile found it necessary to be continually upon his guard against the attacks of his political as well as his professional oppo- nents. To such he was distant and repulsive in manner. . He was indeed,
" Lofty and sour to those who loved him not, But to those that sought him, mild as summer."
. During the period to which I refer, Mr. Spencer was regarded, if not the standard-bearer of the Democratic party, at least the target of the opposition, in the western counties of this state. It was well known that to his pen, more than to that of any other, the administration of Mr. Madison and the prosecution of the war received the most efficient support. As the editor of a news- paper-the writer of resolutions and addresses, in which it was not his habit to spare his adversaries, he concen- trated upon himself no small share of the abuse of the Federal press of that section of the state. But his aid in the prosecution of the war was not confined to his pen. He taught by example, as well as precept. At one time, in particular, his law office was closed, and he and all his clerks were mustered among the volunteers to join
314
John C. Spencer.
Gen. Harrison at Fort George, on the enemy's territories. I say volunteers, for it should not be forgotton that those were the main reliance of the national government, until 1814. In the spring of that year, for the first time during the war, a majority of war Democrats was re- · turned to bothı branches of the legislature-a special or extra session of which, in the same year, passed the celebrated conscription law, as it was termed by the Federalists, by which 12,000 men, with arms, &c., were to be raised and placed at the disposal of the national government. Mr. Spencer was the firm supporter of that measure, as he was indeed of every measure of that pure patriot, Governor Tompkins, during the "second war for independence."
I should not omit to state that Mr. Spencer held one important office, during the war, which you have omitted to mention. It was that of United States Assessor, under the act of congress of 1813, imposing a direct tax to aid in the means of prosecuting the war. This law was ex. ceedingly odious to the opponents of the administration. It required great firmness and legal exactness on the part of all those who accepted appointments to carry it into effect. The duties of assessor under this law were fear- lessly and accurately discharged by Mr. Spencer.
If Mr. Spencer, as you state, suffered his ingenuity to be perverted in the framing of the nine million canal bill, no one condemned in stronger terms than he did, the subsequent proceedings under it-proceedings calculated, if not intended, to appropriate, as profits on contracts, so large a proportion of the money proposed to be raised under that bill; and no one, I believe, supported with more zeal, the public officers of the state in refusing to open the treasury to the payment of these contracts, until the courts declared them void.
The efforts of Mr. Spencer during his long professional career, although they can not be classed among the more brilliant in the popular estimation, yet they were quite as useful and conducive to the peace and good order of society. I may be pardoned for giving him credit, on
-
.
315
John C. Spencer.
this occasion, for one of his greatest and most successful efforts of this tendency. The title of the Holland Land company to the land in nine of the western counties of this state, although no original title in this state is clearer, was intricate and involved. After the courts, in several suits, at different times, had decided in favor of the title, the disaffected parties thought proper to bring the subject before the legislature, which they did in 1837. A majority of the committee to whom the subject was referred made a report favorable to the petitioners. The minority presented a counter report in favor of and in support of the title. This minority report was drawn up by Mr. Spencer. It is one of the ablest and most con- clusive papers to be found upon the journals of the legis- lature. It was widely distributed. It arrested further legislative proceedings, put an end to further agitation, and quieted the apprehensions of all.
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.