USA > New York > Ulster County > Kingston > The history of Kingston, New York : from its early settlement to the year 1820 > Part 38
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At the semi-annual meeting in September, 1810, a sale of the triangular lot was authorized, and a committee appointed for that purpose. At the same meeting an unfortunate state of the finances is shadowed forth by the passage of a resolution directing the treasurer to have five hundred printed letters struck off, and that he send one to every defaulter on the books of the trustees.
At a special meeting on the 21st day of January, 1811, a com- mittee was appointed to solicit pecuniary aid for the academy from the regents of the university, the Legislature, and the citizens of Ulster County. At the same meeting the authority to sell the triangular lot was rescinded.
In the year 1812 the Rev. John Gosman was elected president of the board, and in the same year the Rev. Jabez Munsell was ap- pointed principal of the academy, and the price of tuition raised to $20 per annum.
At a meeting of the trustees on the 29th day of April, 1814, it was " Resolved that Mr. Munsell be requested to see that all the Students of the Academy are at their lodgings in summer by 9 o'clock, and 7 in winter." How happy it would be if such rule, including boys generally, could be established and enforced at the present day ! How many it would snatch from the jaws of dissipa- tion and vice !
At a meeting of the trustees on the 7th of May, 1816, the Monthly Examining Committee, Rev. Mr. Gosman, Mr. J. Sudam, and Mr. Z. Schoonmaker, were instructed strictly to examine into the education of the students. On the 11th of October following, the committee reported favorably upon the examinations, except that they found a defect in grammar, which Mr. Munsell had promised to attend to. This report shows that in those days such committees discharged their duties.
: In 1817 Mr. Munsell, having resigned, was succeeded by Mr. Malbone Kenyon as principal, at a salary of $600.
At a meeting of the trustees on the 27th of June, 1817, it was agreed that Mr. Kenyon might receive into his school such young. ladies as he might think proper to teach in the higher branches of the English language, etc., and also such young gentlemen as he
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might think proper under the direction of the School Committee. During this year the finances had reached a very disordered con- dition, and a bank loan of $1000 was made to satisfy arrearages.
On the 21st of January, 1818, it was resolved that all vacancies in the board thereafter, occasioned by resignation or otherwise, be not filled, so that the number of the trustees be reduced to twelve, according to the act of the Legislature of the session of 1816.
At the same meeting, the board having received notice of Mr. Kenyon's intention to resign at the end of the current year, ap- pointed a committee with authority to engage some proper person as principal, and to offer him $150 per annum and the proceeds of the tuition money for the instruction of twenty-four pupils, but no more. After which, and in the month of April following, Mr. Sidney Weller was engaged as principal upon those terms, except that he was allowed to take thirty pupils. On the 16th of October, 1818, the trustees authorized the number of Mr. Weller's scholars to be enlarged to forty, on condition that he procure an usher to be approved by the Visiting Committee, thus careful was the board of that day that the students should not be neglected by over- crowded rooms and an insufficient number of teachers. In May, 1819, Mr. Weller resigned, and he was succeeded by a Mr. Smith. He resigned after remaining about a year, and then the use of the upper room was granted by the trustees to Mr. French, an English teacher, until a classical teacher should be procured.
We have now reached, in this historic sketch, the lowest ebb in the tide of progress of this time-honored institution. From an institution standing for many years at the head of the academies in the State, boasting to have numbered among its pupils many who afterward became distinguished among the first and leading men in the State, we find it at this date struggling under pecuniary embarrassments, and without a classical department. Other rival institutions had sprung up and been established in all directions, which cut off its foreign support and threw it entirely upon its home patronage. That unfortunately proved insufficient to sustain it.
In this sketch we have thus far limited our notice to the prog- ress of the classical department, and indeed up to this time the care and attention of the board had been to a great extent confined to that department. The lower English branches had been con- stantly taught by teachers occupying some of the lower rooms in the academy, but although under the supervision of the board, were not recognized as belonging to the academy proper.
The first entry in the minutes in reference to the English school is under date of May 2d, 1800, when it was "Resolved that Mr. Martin Stanley have the use of the lower west room of the Academy for teaching the English language, mathematics, etc., etc. ; that he
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become subject to a committee of the Board, and conform to such rules and regulations as the Trustees might think proper to adopt."
On the 21st of January, 1803, the same room was granted to James Shields. In July, 1804, it was granted to Amos G. Baldwin.
On the 17th of May, 1808, it was " Resolved that a teacher be employed by the Trustees, to teach an English school in the Acad- emy under their direction and for their benefit." An English school was then established under the charge of Mr. L. Ruggles. He resigned at the expiration of about one year, and was succeeded by Mr. Oliphant. In September, 1810, Edward O'Neil succeeded Mr. Oliphant. On the 12th of May, 1812, it was " Resolved that the whole English department be abolished after September next," and in September, 1812, it was " Resolved to rent out the English School room." Mr. O'Neil continued in the occupancy under the new arrangement. On the 7th of May, 1816, a resolution to give the trustees of the common school the control of the lower rooms was negatived, and it was determined that $150 and no more would be given to any teacher to be employed in the English school-room, that he be limited to forty scholars, and be under the direction of the trustees and principal of the academy. Tuition fees to be $10, and nothing to be taught to interfere with the upper room. A contract upon this basis was made with Nathaniel Perry for in- structing the English school, and it is dated May 9th, 1816.
This plan was abandoned, and on the 7th of March, 1817, it was agreed that Cornelius Tappen might have the English school in the academy from the 1st of May then next, keeping it in good repair, and under such directions as he should receive from the trustees.
In October, 1817, the grant of the lower room to Cornelius Tappen was revoked, and the room was placed at the disposal of the Visiting Committee. It was subsequently occupied by Messrs. Morris and Walworth in succession, when Mr. French was appointed, with power to occupy the upper room until a classical teacher was procured, as before referred to.
The academy in its organization and early progress was confined entirely to the instruction of young men. Young ladies were not allowed to participate in its benefits. Shortly after its incorpora- tion, and during the administration of Mr. Smith. three young ladies were by special privilege permitted to receive evening lessons from the principal, and have the use of the maps and globes. They were, Miss Catharine Van Gaasbeek, a poetess of considerable eminence, who afterward married Mr. Martin Stanley, of East Hartford, Conn., and was the mother of A. D. Stanley, late Pro- fessor of Mathematics in Yale College ; Miss Catharine Hasbrouck, who afterward married the late Severyn Bruyn, and Miss Cornelia
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Marius Groen, who afterward married the late Zachariah Schoon- maker, and was the mother of the writer.
In 1809 it appears, from an entry in the minutes, that some young ladies had been allowed admission into the academy, and their rate of tuition was established at $10. At the semi-annual meeting in May, 1809, it was "Resolved that the Principal of the Academy have the right of appointing one of the young ladies, his scholars, as a teacher to the females under his care ; that that teacher shall not be charged anything for tuition." At a special meeting held in the month of December, 1810, the board confirmed an agreement made with Miss Wells, as female teacher, and " Re- solved, that the School for females be continued ;" and a com- mittee was appointed to procure a female teacher capable of teach- ing painting, embroidery, and, if possible, other fine arts. A Miss Paine was subsequently employed. But at a special meeting held on the 29th of January, 1812, the female department of the academy was ordered discontinued.
Afterward at a meeting of the trustees, on the 27th of June, 1817, the principal of the academy was allowed by the board to open the upper room to such young ladies as desired to study the higher branches of the English language, etc. This privilege con- tinued in force until 1820.
This academical sketch has now been brought down to the date at which it is proposed to close this history. But it is proper to add that the academy struggled along under the charge of the trustees with varying success until 1864, when it was merged into the free-school system and surrendered to the control of the Kings- ton Board of Education, under which, with an almost unlimited control of the public funds, there is no reason why it should not be maintained at as high a grade as any other institution of the kind in the country.
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CHAPTER XXI.
LOCAL MATTERS-DISPOSITION OF CORPORATE PROPERTY-ORGAN- IZATION OF VILLAGE-DISSOLUTION OF TRUSTEES, 1816.
A T the time of the Revolution that part of Kingston then known and designated as "the plains" was lying entirely open and in commons, and was not built upon. It comprised all the territory lying east of a line drawn from Pearl Street to St. James' Street along the easterly bounds of the lots now known as the Sahler Lot in Pearl Street and the Jackson Lot in Maiden Lane, and between Albany Avenue on the north and St. James' Street on the south, and it extended to the ring fence of the Armbowery.
The trustees caused all that territory to be laid out in lots and a map made thereof, and sold a large portion of it as building lots. They required every purchaser to bind himself, in the penalty of sixty pounds and forfeiture of his lot, to build thereon and improve the same within two years from the date of the purchase. When the two years had expired a large majority of the purchasers had failed to comply, and had not made any advance toward the improve- ment of their lots. At first an extension was given. But the parties still neglecting to improve, the lots were declared forfeited, and legal proceedings authorized to enforce the forfeiture and collect the ' penalty of the bonds. There was considerable discussion and ne- gotiation between the parties, and the purchasers demanded to be re- funded the purchase money paid. This was absolutely refused by resolution of the trustees on the 26th day of May, 1784. Then it was agreed to have one suit brought and tried as a test suit. This, how- ever, was delayed, and discussions and negotiations were almost con- tinually pending ; finally, however, on the 26th of February, 1790, a number of the purchasers appeared and offered to pay sixty shillings apiece more for their lots if the trustees would surrender their bonds. The trustees resolved that they would then, for the last time, offer that, if any whose lots were forfeited and bonds left in the hands of the trustees would reconvey their lots to the trustees the next Monday, they should have their forfeited bonds of sixty pounds returned to them. But all those who refused to comply must abide the consequences. Samuel Freer, Andries De Witt, Jr., Peter Marius Groen, Peter Roggen, Jonathan Elmendorf, Coenradt G.
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Elmendorf, Cornelius Persen, and Judge Dirck Wynkoop complied by reconveyances and took up their bonds. What was the result as to the other defaulters the trustees have not registered in their minutes.
At a meeting on the 5th day of November in that same year, 1790, the trustees " Resolved that the lot of land, known to be the water pond or ploss, on the plains which lies between the house of Abraham Vosburgh, where he now lives, and Col Hasbrouck's house and orchard to the west, and adjoining David Delameter and Wessel Ten Broeck lots to South west, being a triangular piece of land, the whole lot is reserved to build an alms house on, for the use of the corporation, at the request of William Ellsworth Jr." This lot is what in subsequent years was known as the " first plains," and that portion thereof east of Clinton Avenue is now occupied by Kingston Academy. The western part is covered with residences.
Before being thus occupied the first plains lay in commons for many years, furnishing a fine sporting ground for the boys-ball ground and other amusements in spring, summer, and fall, and good skating always after the January thaw in winter.
The second plains, lying beyond the junction of Maiden Lane and Albany Avenue, was used as a parade ground for companies' and officers' parade. It was eventually sold at sheriff's sale under a judgment against the trustees. Under the title acquired by that sale it has of late years been built upon and improved.
In 1783, when Congress and the nation were looking round for a permanent and suitable place for the location of the national capital, the goodly burghers of Kingston concluded that this of all others was the most appropriate spot. Accordingly, the trustees of the corporation, at their meeting held on the 29th day of Jan- uary, 1783, as a preliminary move toward the accomplishment of their object, adopted the following resolution :
" Resolved That a petition be draughted to lay before the inhab- itants of this town, in order that the Trustees may know the sense of their constituents, whether it will be agreeable to them that the Hon. the Congress of the United States shall come and reside within this town."
The trustees then appointed several committees to visit the different sections of the town " to collect the minds of the inhab- itants thereon."
On the 7th day of February, 1783, they by resolution directed their speaker to sign a memorial to the Legislature " praying that their estate be erected into a separate district for the Hon. the Congress of the United States."
On the 7th day of March, 1783, they " Resolved unanimously, that the President or Speaker sign and seal with the corporation
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seal, a certain instrument in writing, granting to the Congress of the United States one mile square of land within the limits of this town, in case they shall think proper to come and reside there."
On the 13th day of March, 1783, they received a letter from the Hon. Robert R. Livingston encouraging them with a prospect of success in their application to Congress. They directed Mr. Tappen, their secretary, to draught a letter to Mr. Livingston and enclose therewith copies of the aforesaid resolutions and papers.
The State Legislature at once seconded the application, as appears by the following proceedings in the Assembly :
"On the 14th day of March, 1783, a message was received in the Assembly of the State of New York, from the Honorable the Senate, advising the Assembly that the Senate had agreed to cer- tain resolutions relative to the township of Kingston ; to which they requested the concurrence of the House." The resolutions being read and considered by the Assembly, it was " Resolved That this house do concur with the Honorable the Senate in the said resolutions, and thereupon sent a committee to the Senate notify- ing them of their concurrence."
The resolutions were as follows :
" Whereas in the opinion of this Senate, it will be advancive of the public weal of these United States, to furnish Congress with the means of establishing their fixed residence within this State : and whereas it also appears to this Senate, that the township of Kingston in the County of Ulster, within this State, will afford a suitable situation for that purpose.
" And whereas the Inhabitants of the Corporation of the said township, the bounds whereof are very extensive, have offered, as an inducement for the purpose aforesaid, to grant to the United States in Congress assembled, a sufficient quantity of land within the said township, to secure to Congress a place of residence ade- quate to their dignity, with all the reasonable privileges which are in their power to grant ; and to subject themselves within the bounds of the said township, to such regulations, for the purpose of giving an exempt jurisdiction to Congress, as in the judgment of the Legislature can constitutionally be provided, for securing and perpetuating, as well such exempt jurisdiction, as any corpo- rate rights, which the Legislature may judge proper to grant to the United States in Congress assembled and to their successors forever. " Resolved (If the Honorable the House of Assembly concur herein) as follows viz FIRST That in case the Corporation of the said Township shall offer to the United States in Congress assembled such grant of lands, and other rights and privileges within the said Township, as may be lawfully offered, and they shall judge proper to accept, the Legislature of this State will incorporate and
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capacitate them for that purpose, if such grant be not inconsistent with the laws of the land."
Then followed another, the second resolution, conferring juris- diction over such territory to the United States in case of its adop- tion as the seat of Government of the United States.
Copies of the resolutions of the Legislature of New York, together with the petition and proposals of the trustees and citizens of the town of Kingston, were forwarded to Philadelphia for pres- entation to the Congress of the Confederation by Governor Clinton, accompanied by a letter, of which the following is a copy :
" KINGSTON, 20th March 1783
" SIR
" I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency, an act of the Corporation of Kingston, and joint resolutions of both houses of the Legislature of this State, respecting a fixed residence and an exempt jurisdiction for the accommodation of Congress. These papers are accompanied by a map which will point out the situa- tion and extent of the corporate lands.
"Their charter rights are ample, and their title unexception- able.
" Without entering into the merits of the proposition as it respects the Honorable Congress of this State, it is my duty to declare, that the zealous and uniform efforts of the Inhabitants of Kingston in the cause of liberty, and the calamities which they have suffered from the vengeance of Britain, avowedly for their distinguished patriotism, entitles them to consideration ; and it is with great pleasure that I submit their wishes to the attention of Congress
" I have the Honor to be with great esteem and respect " Your Excellency's Most Obed't Serv't " GEO. CLINTON " To His Excellency The President of Congress."
The papers thus forwarded were duly presented to the Congress of the Confederation, and referred by them to the committee having that subject under consideration.
On the 4th day of June, 1783, the committee reported the follow- ing resolution, which was adopted :
" Resolved that copies of the act of the Legislature of Maryland relative to the cession of the city of Annapolis to Congress for their permanent residence and also copies of the act of the Legis- lature of New York relative to the cession of the town of Kingston, for the same purpose, together with the papers which accompanied both acts, be transmitted to the Executive of the respective States,
. ..
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HISTORY OF KINGSTON.
and that they be informed by the President that Congress have assigned the first Monday in October next for taking the said offers into consideration."
On the 11th day of July, 1783, the trustees received a letter from his Excellency Governor Clinton enclosing the preceding reso- lution of Congress, also resolutions of the Corporation of Annapolis and of the Maryland Legislature in relation to their offers to Con- gress to remove and reside among them. They at once referred the papers to Messrs. De Witt and Tappen, as a committee to take such measures in regard to the same as they might deem necessary, and report thereon.
On the 22d of September the trustees received letters from Hon. William Floyd and Alexander Hamilton, delegates in Congress, suggesting that the trustees had not been sufficiently liberal in their grant of lands to Congress, and that if they had tendered two miles square instead of one, they might have had some hopes of success. The trustees then at once directed an offer to be made to Congress, through their representatives, of two miles square for their permanent residence.
On the 22d day of August, 1783, the trustees passed a resolution designating Messrs. A. De Witt and Christopher Tappen a com- mittee to call upon Chancellor Livingston and consult with him in regard to the residence of Congress.
There are no further entries in the minutes of the trustees in regard to the Congressional residence. Congress took no definite action on the subject under the Confederation.
On the 29th of January, 1782, it was resolved, at a meeting of the Board of Trustees, to present a petition to the Legislature for the erection of the Court House and jails in Kingston, and they appointed Messrs. De Witt and Tappen, together with Mr. Addison, to prepare the same.
Soon after this the Court House was rebuilt. It contained family rooms on the first floor, court-room on the second floor. The judges' bench was against the rear wall of the building, and behind it was a large frame containing the coat-of-arms of the State. The bar was directly in front of the judges' bench, with grand jury benches on one side and the petit jury benches on the other. An aisle led from the entrance along the jury benches and bar to the north wall ; from that aisle back to the front of the building were the seats of the spectators rising one above the other as you proceeded back, so that the rear bench came within seven or eight feet of the ceiling. There were two jury-rooms on the same floor with the court-room. The jail and dungeons were in the south end of the building.
The Court House was set back from the street about the same
.
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distance as the present one. In the front yard was the whipping- post, and when it was in vogue a town whipper was a regular office- holder appointed by the trustees, and women were not always exempt from the lash. In the front yard, alongside of the en- trance walk, were the stocks. Men and boys were fastened therein for minor offences. Loungers along the streets on Sundays and boys playing truant about the streets during school hours on week days were treated to the enjoyment of the stocks for a season. Mr. Benjamin Newkirk, an old respected citizen of this place, who has by some years passed fourscore years and ten, says that he has seen persons confined in the stocks, and that the boys would some- times salute those enjoying such privileges with sweet-scented rotten eggs.
The appointment of town whipper is recorded a number of times, with the compensation designated, in the minutes of the trustees.
Two instances of such appointment are as follows : At a meet- ing of the trustees held on the 26th of September, 1788, it was " Resolved that Anthony Baroon be appointed town whipper, and that the trustees pay a fine of £3, for which he stands committed, besides 20/ for the expenses of his commitment, for which sum, he the said Baroon has engaged to whip the first ten offenders who shall be sentenced to corporal punishment."
On the 19th of February, 1790, " Anthony Baroon waited on the Trustees, and said he had fulfilled his former engagement as Town whipper faithfully, and would now agree for another year. The Trustees agreed with said Baroon for one year more, and were to give him three pounds, and also the rent of the land he lived on, Provided he serve our Corporation as Town whipper one year at all times when requested and not fail."
The Hudson River along the boundaries of the old town of Kingston has always, since the first settlement of the country, been celebrated as a fishing place for shad and herring during the season thereof. Before the present great conveniences for travel, the inhabitants for many miles in the interior made an annual pilgrim- age to Kingston to procure a yearly supply of shad and herring. In process of time, as population increased, it became quite an ex- tensive and profitable trade. People came from a distance as great as forty or fifty miles to buy their shad and herring by the hun- dred. They salted the principal part of them down, and smoked the remainder.
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