USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. VI > Part 4
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The large steam vessel previously described, was named after Clermont, the country-seat of his friend, the Chancellor Livings- ton. It reached Clermont, at a distance of 110 miles, within twenty-four hours, left that point again at nine o'clock, on the next morning, and arrived at Albany some forty seven miles farther in about eight hours. It had thus made nearly five miles per hour against wind and current. This steam boat was the first that its owner began to employ to a practical purpose and valuable result.
* Mons. Nolte may have seen 450 persons on the boat, before it cast off, if so many could have stood on the deck.
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Steam Navigation on the Hudson.
NORTH RIVER STEAM BOATS.
The steamers of the Hudson are the fleetest and most beautiful boats in the world. In Europe the steam boats make but little better time than the steam ships-their average being from twelve to fifteen miles per hour. A first class North river boat will do you eighteen and twenty-two. The New World has done the distance between New York and Poughkeepsie, eighty miles, in- side of four hours-landings included. The Reindeer, on Wednesday, reached this city in a little over eight hours after leaving New York, making all the usual landings, and wrestling with a freshet equal to four miles an hour. Such speed is unknown on any other river in the world. The magnificence and comfort of our boats are unri- valed. The English steam boat is made for service rather than beauty. To obtain safety, they sacrifice not only speed, but comfort. Mirrors are superseded by staun- cheons, and ottomans by braces and clamps. As we mentioned before, the last sample of our skill is the pro- duction of the Reindeer - a steamer whose goaheadi- tiveness and finish may challenge comparison with any- thing that swims, beginning with a naiad and leaving off with a dolphin .- Knickerbocker.
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LUTHERAN CHURCH.
From O'Callaghan's Documentary History, vol. iii.
PETITION OF THE LUTHERANS OF WILLEMSTADT, FOR LEAVE TO BURY THEIR DEAD. 1674.
To the Rt Honble Myn Heer Anthony Colve Governr General of N. Netherland.
Those of the Augsburgh Confession represent with due respect that your Petitioners are ordered in cases of the burial of their dead, to pay the Sexton ( Aanspreecker*) of the Reformed Church notwithstanding they employ their own Sexton, as lately happened, one of theirs having seized goods by execution and sold the same at public auction : And the Petitioners remark that they fully pay all taxes assessments, excise and all others whatever they may be called; Yea they endeavor to pay also their own poor : They are therefore, as they consider, not in the least subject to such charges but on the contrary ought to enjoy their (religious) exercises and Divine Service free and unconstrained, for which they have a written grant from the late Honble Governour Lovelace copy of which is hereunto annexed.
It is also well known to all that Mr. Roosenboom hath addressed a petition on that subject to the Honble Heer General abovenamed, to be favored therein; which peti- tion had no result, but the Heer Laval being come up, said in full Court in date the 7th November 1672 he had au- thority as to Roosenboom's Petition-Let the Dead bury their Dead; for with what free conscience can your Pre- centor go and act for the Lutherans, for they have more ceremonies than the Reformed. Whereupon at that time he had no more to say, and it was as well.
* Literally, " The person sent around with invitations to a funeral ;" a custom still in prac ti « in some of the older settlements of this state. We render the word, "Sexton," being the nearest approach we can find to the original.
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Lutheran Church.
Wherefore your Petitioners for aforesaid reasons ap- proach your Honour requesting most humbly that they may enjoy what they have been granted, and as Your Petitioners Brethren at N. Orange enjoy the same, that they futher may bury their dead without notifying Mr. Roosenboom, but employ their own Sexton and no one else. Whereupon they expect a favorable answer. Your Honors Affectionate Subjects BERNHARDUS ANTHONY V. D. M. JAN HEINDERIK BRUYNS JOCHEM BACKER HANS HENDRICKSEN.
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DOMINE BERNARDUS ARENSIUS HIS PASSE.
Permit and Suffer the Bearer hereof, Domine Bernardus Arensius, to Passe from hence to Albany with his neces- saryes in the Sloope whereof Claes Tysen is Master, and to Officiate there as Pastor of the Augustine or Lutheran Congregation, as formerly under the English Government, without any manner of Lett, hindrance or molestacon whatsoever Given under my hand and Seale in New Yorke, the 6th day of November 1674.
E. ANDROSS.
DOM. SCHAETS AND THE LUTHERANS.
Extraordinary Court held at Albany
11 March 1679.
The Court met at the request of De Gideon Schaets, accompanied by the W: Consistory, who complains that Myndert Frederickse Smitt came to his house and told him the Dome never to presume to speak to any of his Children on religious matters; and that he the Dome went sneaking through all the houses like the Devil; adding, Our Domine (meaning Dom: Bernardus, Minister of the Lutheran Congregation) does not do so.
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Lutheran Church.
Dom: Schaets further complains that Myndert Frede- rickse's wife grievously abused & calumniated him behind his back at Gabriel Thomson's house, as an old Rogue, Sneak &ca. and that if she had him by the pate, she should drag his gray hairs out of it ; which the Domine offered to prove by witnesses.
Whereupon Myndert Frederickse & wife are sent for to Court and Dome Schaets accusation is read to Myndert who denies it all declaring that he had not given the Do- mine an ill word.
Pietertje, wife of Myndert Frederickse denies having abused Dom: Schaets as a rogue & sneak; but that the Domine hath abused her religion as a Devilish Religion.
Hend. Rooseboom sworn, says that he was at Gabriel Thomson's last Monday when Pietertie, Myndert Fre- derickse's wife entered, and wishing to go away was called back by Gabriel and conversing on the Subject of Dom: Schaets and her daughter, she said-What business hath Dom: Schaets to question mine daughter? To this Gabr said-Why should he not do so? The Domine does well to question people. Whereupon Pietertie said, Dom. Schaets, the old Rogue & Sneak; had she been by she should have caught him by the grey pate-adding he ought to look to his daughter the W-e and take care of her-To which Gabriel replied, Meutie, why say that & scold the Domine so? who answered him-You damned dog! you protect whores & knaves.
Cornelis Teunise Swart being sworn, says he was also at Gabriel Thomson's last Tuesday when Pietertie Myn- dert Frederickse's wife came in and enquired for her daughter, who not being there, she was going away but Gabriel called her back and said-sit awhile Meutie; and being in conversation about Dom: Schaets wishing to question her daughter-she said she had, herself, a teacher to do so-that if she had the old rogue, she would take him by the grey pate, and further knoweth not.
Mr Sherrif Pretty requests their Worships that he may act herein, to institute his action at a more convenient period.
The W. Court postpone the matter to the next Court
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Lutheran Church
day to act then on the merits. Meanwhile if parties can be reconciled, (through Respect for the Divine) they were particularly recommended to do so, saving the Sheriff's action & costs.
Albany 12 March 1679.
Myndt Fredericksen and his wife appear before their Worships of the Court, requesting that they may be re- conciled in love & friendship with Dom: Schaets as they have been with Gabriel. Whereupon their W: re- commended him to call Dom: Schaets which being imme- diately done ;
Dom : Schaets appearing before their Worships is asked if he were willing to be Reconciled with the aforesaid persons? who answers, Yes, on condition that they both acknowledge him an honourable man, and that they know nought of him except what is honest & virtuous (always excepting the Dispute out of which this case arose, namely -Universal Grace-being no political question*), also the Sheriff's claim
Whereupon Myndert aforesaid & his wife acknowledge the Domine in open court to be an honest man, and that they know nought of him except all honour & virtue and are willing to bear all the costs hereof, also to settle with the Sheriff
N. B. It is settled by And : Teller and for 6 Beavers and 6 cans of wine
* This is explained by the following testimony in another case- "Hans Dreper further says, that Gabriel's wife stated that De Schaets said at her house that whoever taught that Christ died alike for all men, taught a false and devilish Doctrine,"
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EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
From O'Callaghan's Documentary History, vol. iii.
STATE OF THE CHURCH IN ALBANY, ETC.
Rev. Thomas Barclay to the Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Albany Sept 26 1710.
Honoured Sir: As I did begin from my first coming to Albany, so I go on to catechise the youth, and it hath pleased God to bless my weak endeavours that way, for a great many Dutch children, who at my first arrival were altogether ignorant of the English tongue, can dis- tinctly say our catechism, and make the responses at prayers. Every Sunday, after the second lesson at evening prayer, I explain some part of the catechism in as plain and familiar a manner as I can, shunning all controversies, teaching them such fundamental doctrines as are necessary and tend most to promote piety and a good life. I have taught the scholars the prayers ap- pointed for charity schools, and I have used all possible methods to engage the children to their duty, both by the giving of small presents to the most forward and diligent, and by frequently visiting their schools: and for encouraging the school masters, I give them what charity is collected in our church, obliging them to bring their scholars to public prayers.
At Schenectady I preach once a month, where there is a garrison of forty soldiers, besides about sixteen English and about one hundred Dutch families; they are all of them my constant hearers. I have this summer got an English school erected amongst them, and in a short time, I hope, their children will be fit for catechising. Sche- nectady is a village situated on a pleasant river, twenty English miles above Albany, and the first castle of the In- dians is twenty four miles above Schenectady. In this vil- lage there has been no Dutch minister these five years and
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Episcopal Church.
there is no probability of any being settled among them. There is a convenient and well built church which they freely gave me the use of. I have taken pains to shew them the agreement of the articles of our church with theirs. I hope in some time to bring them not only to be constant hearers, but communicants.
Mr. Lydius, the minister of the Dutch congregation at Albany, died the 1st day of March last. He was a good pious man, and lived in entire friendship with me; sent his own children to be catechised. At present there is .no Dutch minister at Albany, neither is any expected 'till next summer; and from New York tc the utmost bounds of my parish, there is no minister but myself: most of the inhabitants are Dutch, the garrison excepted, which consists of three companies, each company one hundred men. In the city and county of Albany there are about three thousand souls, besides the garrison; in the mean time some of the Dutch children I have baptized, and married several, and other parts of the service I have performed in the Dutch tongue, and more of them would accept my ministry : but that Mr, De Bois, a minister of the Dutch congregation of New York, comes sometimes to Albany; he is a hot man, and an enemy to our church, but a friend to his purse, for he has large contributions from this place, As for myself I take no money, and have no kind of perquisite. I have used all moderation towards dissenters in this country. There is none but those of the Dutch church, and I have found two only not baptized, the one born in West Jersey and bred a Quaker, him I have brought over to our church, and christened him the first day of this year; the other is an old England man, but of a loose life; so soon as I can bring him off from his wicked courses, I design to bap- tize him.
Since the death of Mr. Lydius, the Indians have no ministers; there are about thirty communicants, and of the Dutch church, but so ignorant and scandalous, that they can scarce be reputed Christians. The sachems of the five nations, viz: of the Masque, Oneydas, Onnondages, Cayougas, and Senekas, at a meting with our governor,
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Episcopal Church.
Col. Hunter, at Albany the 10th August last, when his excellency in his speech to them asked them if they were of the same mind with those four Indians that had been over with Col. Schuyler in desiring missionaries to be sent and they answered that they were, and desired to have forts built among them and a church, and that Mr. Freeman, present minister of the Dutch congregation at Flatbush, near New York, be one of those two mission- aries which the queen promised to send them. This Mr. Freeman, five years ago was minister of Schenectady, and converted several of the Indians; he has acquired more skill in their language than any Dutch minister that has been in this country, and Mr. Dellius is not so well skilled in that tongue, a great part of our liturgy he has translated into the Indian tongue, in particular morning and evening prayer, the litany, the creed of St. Athanasius, &c., besides several places of the Old and New Testament. He told me when he read to them the litany, they were mightily affected with it. He is a gentleman of a good temper, and well affected to our church, and if there were a bishop in this part of the world, would be persuaded to take Episcopal ordination. I often entreat him to go over to England, but he is afraid of the danger of the voyage, and his wife will not consent to live among the Indians; he has promised to give me his manuscripts, and what he has done into the Indian tongue.
I am sorry to tell you, Sir, that I am afraid the mis- sionaries that are coming over, will find hard work of it, and if the commander of that fort be not a person of singular piety and virtue, all their endeavours will be ineffectual; these, here, that trade with them, are loath that any religion get any footing among them; besides, these savages are so given to drinking of that nasty liquor rum, that they are lost to all that is good. I must tell you that the Masque, of whom one of the four that were lately in England was a sachem, have not above fifty men. All the five nations cannot make two thou- sand, and of these, in number, the Senekas, are near one thousand, and most of them are in the French interest.
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Episcopal Church.
Hendrick the great prince that was honoured so in Eng- land, cannot command ten men; the other three were not Sachems. How far her majesty and the society have been imposed upon, I leave it to you to judge. I beg leave also to tell you, that the missionaries that are sent over, must have an honourable allowance and large pre- sents to give, otherwise they will have but few proselytes ; and great care must be taken that they be well used, otherwise their mission will prove ineffectual a: Mr. Moor's, and how he defeated the designs of his mission, Col. Schuyler best knows.
I have now worried you with a long letter, and shall only add, that I shall be always ready to follow the di- rections of the society, and to endeavour all that in me lieth to propagate religion where it is not, and cultivate it where it is established.
RECTORS OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, ALBANY.
The Rev. THOROUGHGOOD MOOR was the earliest Church of England clergyman in these parts, after the Rev. Mr. Talbot's short stay. He arrived at New York in 1704, and proceeded thence to Albany, as Missionary to the Mohawks. Owing to the influence of the fur traders, his efforts to convert the heathen were entirely without fruit, and he returned to N. York. He went next to R --- lington N. J., where he was so scandalized at the in- decent conduct of Ld. Cornbury and his Lt. Gov., that he refused to admit the latter to the Lord's Supper. For this he was imprisoned, but having contrived to es- cape from jail, he embarked for England. The ship. in which he was a passenger, foundered at sea, and he, with all on board, unfortunately, perished. The first rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany, as far as our know- ledge at present extends, was the
I. REV, THOS. BARCLAY. This gentleman was chaplain to the fort in 1708, and read the service and preached to the citizens in Dutch. He officiated also at Schenectady and for the Indians, until Nov., 1712, when the Rev. Wm
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Episcopal Church.
Andrews came out as successor to Mr Moor. Mr. A., however, had not greater success among the natives than his predecessor, and he abandoned his mission in 1719 .*
Mr. Barclay's congregation met, for seven years, in a small Lutheran chapel, when Gov. Hunter encouraged them to erect a church for themselves. To aid them, he furnished all the stone and lime necessary for the build- ing; the city presented £200, and contributions were received from Schenectady, and other parts of the pro- vince. The garrison also subscribed, and ££600 were soon collected. In Nov. 1716, the first English Church in Albany was opened for service. It was a handsome stone building, 58×42 feet. The communion service pre- sented by Q. Anne " to the Chapel of the Onondagas," during this rectorate, was, it is presumed, retained for the use of this church, where it is still preserved. The Soc. for Prop. the Gospel withdrew its allowance soon after, the consequence of which was, the church ceased to have a minister, until the arrival of the
II. REV. Mr. MILN. This clergyman was appointed in 1728, and continued until 1737, when he was transferred to New Jersey. He was succeeded by
III. REV. HENRY BARCLAY, the son of Rev. Thos. B., a native of Albany, who graduated at Yale Coll. in 1734. He was appointed, at Mr. Miln's recommendation, in 1735, catechist to the Indians at Fort Hunter, and be- came rector in 1737-8 which office he filled until 1746, when he was appointed rector of Trinity church, New York, where he died in 1764.
IV. REV JOHN OGILVIE, a native of New-York, and graduate of Yale College. Being a Dutch scholar, he was appointed to this mission in 1748, and arrived at Albany
* A clergyman, named Wm. Andrews; was a missionary in Sche- nectady where he also kept a school, as late as 1773, but his health failing, from the labors attendant on these avocations, he was obliged to resign his charge. He removed to Williamsburg, Va., but learning that the mission at Johnstown was vacant, by the retirement of the Rev. M. Mosley, pastor of that place, he immediately applied to Sir W. Johnson for that church, but we have not ascertained whether he 'ever returned to the Mohawk valley.
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Episcopal Church.
in March, 1749. In 1760, he joined the expedition - against Niagara, and continued attached to the army until the close of the French war. He succeeded Mr. Barclay, as rector of Trinity Church, New York, and died Nov. 26, 1774, aged 51. His portrait is in the vestry of Trinity church. An attempt was made in 1763 and 1766 to have a translation of the book of common prayer (pre- pared by Messrs. Andrews, Barclay and Ogilvie) printed in New-York by Weyman, in the Mohawk language. But the difficulty to print such language was found al- most insurmountable, as there was not at the time, "a Letter-makers founding house" in the colonies. Wey- man completed nine sheets, or as far as the 74th page, when he died bankrupt. The work passed then (1771) into the hands of Hugh Gaine, when four or five hund- red copies, it is said, were printed.
V. REV. THOMAS BROWN, B. A., of St. Albans Hall, was the only child of the Rev. G. Brown, of Oxford, Eng. He was ordained Deacon by the Bishop of London 23d Sept. 1754. He came to America some time after it is supposed with the 27th Reg't, of which he was chaplain, and married Martina Hogan, of Albany, on the 24th Aug., 1761. He served with his regiment at the reduction of Martinico in Feb., 1762, and having returned to Eng- land, received the order of priesthood, and was com- missioned missionary to North America by the Bishop of London, 8th of July, 1764. He succeeded the Rev. Mr. Ogilvie, as pastor of St. Peter's and served the church until 1768. He then moved to the south, and was ap- pointed, 30th May, 1772, rector of Dorchester, Maryland. He died 2d May, 1784, aged 49 years, leaving a wife and seven children; the survivor of these, a daughter, is still living in Albany. She has portraits of her father. grand- father and grand mother, in good preservation.
VI. REV. HARRY MUNRO, in whose time the church was incorporated, was rector from 1768 to 1773 or 1774. The congregation is represented as consisting of not
* 2 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. i, 148.
[ Annals, vi.] 6
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Episcopal Church.
more than thirty families* which Mr. Munro, in a state- ment before us, classes thus :- Attendants, 156; Com- municants, 44, of which 30 were gained by him or joined the church since his appointment, and he "had all the rest" (he says ) " to reconcile or bring back, his prede- cessor having had but three communicants, when he last administered." Baptized since his appointment in Al- bany, 345; Communicants lost by death, removals, &c. 14; desertions 4=18. " Three of those have left the church because they were not permitted to wrest the go- .vernment out of the vestry's hands; the other because he could not relish Bishops Tillotson's, Sherlock's & Atter- bury's sermons, and because Mr. Munro did not preach spiritual sermons."
The church was vacant during the war of the Revolu- tion, though it is stated that service was performed in 1776 .*
VII. THOMAS ELLISON, A. M., of Cambridge, Eng., was appointed rector on the first of May, 1787, and one of the Regents of the University, Feb, 28, 1797. He was, in private life, a gentleman of a sociable disposition and remarkable wit, whose society was much courted, for it is said of him, that he was " as much above a mean action as an angel is above a calumniator." The old church, in the centre of State-street, was demolished ,and the present edifice erected in his rectorate, Anno 1802, on the 26 of April, of which year, Mr. Ellison died. Bishop Chase, of Ohio, studied divinity under this clergyman. A vacancy, of more than a year, now occurred.
VIII. REV. FREDERIC BEASLEY, of Philadelphia, was elected rector in July (though others say Ist Sept.), 1803. Possibly he took up his permanent residence at the rec- tory at the latter date. He served six years, having re- signed in August 1809, and left the city the following month: ' He became afterwards provost of the University of Penn.
IX. REV. TIMOTHY CLOWES, son of Joseph C., of Hempstead, where he was born March 18, 1787, gradu-
* N. J. Hist. Soc. Proc. ii, 111.
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Episcopal Church.
ated at Columbia College in 1808. Having received Dea- con's orders he preached in Jersey City and Jamaica in 1809, on the 19th of Nov. of which year he preached for the first time at St. Peter's. He began his ministerial duties in this church on 23 April, 1810; but it was not until the 31 Dec. of that year that he was regularly call- ed, or inducted as rector. Having obtained the pre- requisite order of presbyter on the 26th Nov., 1813, he was instituted on 3d Feb. 1814. His connection with this church terminated in the latter part of 1817, when be returned to his native town and taught a classical seminary there for three years with great success. In 1821, he became principal of Erasmus Hall, Flatbush; in 1823, was chosen President of Washington College, Md., and rector of the church in Chestertown and St. Pauls, Kent Co. The college being destroyed by fire, Dr. Clowes, now LL. D., again opened school at Hempstead. He presided over the Clinton Liberal Institute, Oneida county, from 1838 to 1842, when he removed to Philadel- phia, where he pursued his usual business of instruction. He died in 1847, at the age of 60 .*
Dr. Clowes united himself, it is understood, to the Universalist Society in the latter years of his life.
X. REV. WILLIAM B. LACEY officiated from July, 1818, to the spring of 1832. He resides at present, according to the church Almanac, in the state of Louisiana, where we believe, he confines himself to the department of education.
REV. HORATIO POTTER, was instituted rector in 1833.
*Address of the Hon. Lt. Gov. Taylor and others to the congre- gation of St Peter's church; Answer of members of the congregation of St. Peter's church, Albany, to Lt. Gov. Taylor's pamphlet, printed for the congregation, February, 1816: Thompson's Hist. L. I., ii. 126.
atib
Ontario.
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Episcopal Church.
REVD WM ANDREWS MISSIONARY TO THE MOHAWKS.
At a Meeting of ye Comrs of the Indian affairs in Al- bany the 14th November 1712. Present Pr Schuyler Hend. Hansen K. V. Renselaer Mynd. Schuyler Johs Schuyler P Vn Brugh
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