USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The history of the city of Albany, New York : from the discovery of the great river in 1524, by Verrazzano, to the present time > Part 22
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The Church of England with directive zeal sent the Rev. Thoroughgood Moor, in 1704, to the province to reside among the Mohawk Indians to teach them the Christian religion. The fur traders, thinking that his teaching might be detrimental to their interests, per- sonally exerted their influence to such an extent that the members of the nation became adverse to his recep- tion into their castles. Having remained "near a twelve-
1 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. v. pp. 252 556.
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month " in Albany vainly trying to ingratiate himself into the favor of the Indians, he, in 1705, returned to New York.
In 1708, the Rev. Thomas Barclay, the chaplain of Fort Anne, began to read the service of the Church of England and to preach in Dutch to some of the people of Albany. In a letter written by him to the secretary of the society for the propagation of the gospel in for- eign parts, dated the twenty-sixth of September, 1710, he speaks of the field of his missionary work in these words :
"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 endeavors that way, for a great many Dutch children, who at my first arrival were altogether ignorant of the English tongue, can distinctly 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 neces- sary and tend most to promote piety and a good life. I have taught the scholars the prayers appointed 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 pub- lic prayers.
"At Schenectady, I preach once a month, where there is a garrison of forty soldiers, besides about sixteen Eng- lish and about one hundred Dutch families ; they are all of them my constant hearers. I have this summer got
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an English school erected amongst them, and in a short time, I hope, their children will be fit for catechising. Schenectady is a village situated upon a pleasant river, twenty English miles above Albany, and the first castle of the Indians is twenty-four miles above Schenectady. In this village there has been no Dutch minister these five years and there is no possibility of any being settled among them. There is a convenient and well built church which they freely give 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 communi- cants.
"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 to the utmost bounds of my parish, there is no minister but myself ; most of the inhabitants are Dutch, the garrison except- ed, 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 gar- rison ; in the meantime 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
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country. There is none but those of the Dutch church, and I found two only not baptized, the one born in West Jersey 1 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 baptize 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 Mas- que, Oneydas, Onnondages, Cayougas, and Senekas, at a meeting with our govenor, Col. Hunter, 2 at Albany, the 10th [of] 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 they were, and desired to have forts built among them and a church, and that Mr. Freeman, 3 present minister of the Dutch congregation at Flatbush, near New York, be one of those missionaries 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 [the] morning and [the] evening prayer, the litany, the creed of St. Athana-
1 The province of New Jersey, by a deed of partition, had been divided into East and West Jersey.
2 Colonel Robert Hunter was commissioned governor of the province of New York, October 19, 1709.
3 The Rev. Bernardus Freeman.
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sius, &c., besides several places of the Old and New Testament. He told me when he read 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 en- treat 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 missionaries 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 [should] 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 thousand, and of these, in number, the Sene- kas are near one thousand, and most of them are in the French interest. Hendrick, the great prince that was so honoured in England, can not 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 to tell you, that the missionaries that are sent over must have an honorable allowance and large presents to give, otherwise they will have but few proselytes ; and great care must be taken that they be
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well used, otherwise their mission will prove ineffectual as 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 directions 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." 1
By the treaty of Utrecht, made on the thirty-first of March, 1713, France and England concluded a peace ; the former power engaging not to hinder nor molest the five nations of Indians who were subject to the govern- ment of Great Britain.
As the common council thought that it was "very necessary and convenient " that a bellman should hourly patrol the streets of the city from ten till four o'clock each night and to cry the hours and the state of the weather, Robert Barret was appointed city-bell- man for one year, from the thirty-first of October, 1713, and given a salary of twenty-one pounds current money. The bellman, according to the resolution of the common council, was to be provided during the winter with sixtyloads of wood and two candles every night.
The congregation of the Reformed church, after the removal of Domine Dellius, was without a pastor until 1712 when the Rev. Petrus van Driessen was called to take charge of it. The church, which had been "built of timber and boards" in 1656, was so much decayed that the pastor, the elders, and the deacons presented, in 1714, a petition to Governor Hunter, in which they alleged that they found themselves "under the necessity of building a new one in its place," and asked him "to
1 Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iii, pp. 540-542.
Bell Rope INTERIOR OF THE OLD DUTCH CHURCH;
Erected. 1715
Demolished 1806.
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approve and encourage this pious work." 1 The gover- nor, on the eighteenth of June, approved of what was desired in the petition and recommended the same to all who were concerned. In 1715 the work of building the stone walls of the new edifice was begun. Meanwhile services were held in the old building. When, in October, the wood-work of the old structure was to be removed they were discontinued for two weeks. On the thirtieth of October, the first services were held in the new church. The building was consecrated on the thirteenth of November, when a large sum of money was con- tributed to liquidate the debt incurred for its construc- tion. On the tenth of August, 1720, when Colonel Pieter Schuyler was president of the provincial council, the society was incorporated under the name of the minis- ters, elders and deacons of the Reformed Protestant Dutch church in the city of Albany.
The sittings in the church were sold for thirty shill- ings. When the first occupant died, if he were a man, the seat descended to his son or the eldest of his sons ; if he had no son, to his son-in-law or to one of his sons-in- law ; and if he had no son-in-law, then to his brother or to one of his brothers. When a transfer was made, the successor to the seat was required to pay fifteen shillings
1 The site of the church was thus described in December, 1714 : "The Dutch Church Scituate, lying, and being in the said City of Albany, in the high street otherwise called the yonkers street nigh the bridge [over the Rutten kill] Containing in length on the South side seaven Rodd three foot four inches, on the North Side seaven Rood three foot one Inch Rynland measure, in breadth on the East and West Side Sixty-one foot and five Inches, wood measure." The lot as it was released to the officers of the church by the common council in December, 1714, is also described as forty- five feet distant from the house of Goose van Schaick, on the east side of Handelaars street "to the northeast of ye said ground ; " fifty-five feet from the dwelling of Luycas Wyngaert, to the southeast, "both English meas- ure ;" the southwest and the northwest corners of the lot being equally dis- tant from the house of John van Alen, "on ye south side" of Jonkers street, and that of Anna Maria Carstense, "on ye north side" of Jonkers street .- City records. 1714.
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for it. If the first occupant of a seat were a woman, it descended to her nearest female relative. Every seat- holder was required to contribute according to his or her means to the support of the minister. Sittings in the church were only sold to persons residing in the county of Albany. When a seat was not claimed by a successor of the former occupant it reverted to the church. 1
The missionary work of the Rev. Thomas Barclay was so successfully prosecuted that he was enabled to organize a church. The need of a suitable building for the use of the society was so urgent that he and his ward- ens, Peter Mathews and John Dunbar, in May, 1714, peti- tioned Governor Hunter to permit them "to collect and receive the charity and benevolence of all good Chris- tians within the province towards the building of a church or chappel for divine service in the center of the broad street called Yonkers street, leading from the ffort to the water-side, between the end of pearl street & the small street [South Pearl Street] that leads to the Lutheran Church, not exceeding sixty feet in length and fourty- five foot in breadth." They mentioned in their petition that they had been " necessitated to make use of a small old Chappel" belonging to the Lutheran congregation "at unseasonable hours," which building was "worn out & decayed." The governor willing granted them the necessary license on the thirty-first of May. Being sub- sequently advised that a more suitable site for the edifice should be selected farther up the street, they on the seventh of October requested the governor to permit them
1 Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iii. p. 546. Albany records. 1714. Coll. on the his- tory of Albany. Munsell. vol. i. pp. 56, 57, 61, 78.
The officers of the Reformed Protestant church obtained from the city, on the sixteenth of November, 1715, "a release for eight feet of ground in breadth on the south of the great door of the church and so much in length eastward " as was "thought convenient for a porch to be built thereon."- Albany records. 1715.
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to build the chapel nearer to the fort where the street was wider, and to make use of a space ninety feet long and sixty wide, "between the houses of Stephanus Groes- beck, on the north side, and the house of Abraham Cuyler, on the south side, not to extend further east than the east end of [the] sd houses and thence to stretch westerly Ninety foot in the same breadth of sixty foot equally distant from [the] sd houses." A part of this plot of ground was to be used for a cemetery. Governor Hunter consented, and by letters-patent granted the use of the described plot for these purposes, on the twenty-first of October, 1714.
When the members of the common council were in- formed, on the eighth of November, that the Rev. Thomas Barclay, Colonel Peter Mathews, and John Dun- bar had that day "layd out some ground on ye west end of ye Jonker street * for erecting & building a church without haveing any title " from the city, they re- solved that the former persons should be advised to delay the building of the church until the mayor, Robert Liv- ingston, jr., should return to the city. This action of the board of aldermen appears to have been taken to ascertain whether or not the ground granted by Governor Hunter was not the property of the city. Although the clergy- man and his vestrymen were notified to suspend the laying of the foundation of the projected building, it seems that they did not comply with the request of the common council but permitted the work to be continued. Perceiving that it was not delayed, the board of aldermen resolved on the third of March, 1715, that a letter should be written to the governor respecting the city's title to the ground. In their communication, the members of the common council adverted to the fact that the ground in question belonged to the city and was included in the
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charter. "It seems to us, on their side, either as an in- croachment on ye rights of ye sd city or a disregard to ye Comonalty, however to shew that we are not against that pious design but reather to promite we have offered them a more conveinent lott, and are still willing to grant the same altho' they have refused to accept it ; now to prevent any further trouble we apply to your Excellency that your Excellency will be pleased to signify to them such remedy whereby the matter may be reasonably ac- commodated."
Apparently the governor could not be induced to ab- rogate the grant to the officers of the English church, and therefore the common council resolved, on the eighth of April, to maintain and defend the rights and liberties of the city and to prosecute the Rev. Thomas Barclay, Colonel Peter Matthews, and John Dunbar as far as the law would permit, for occupying and encroaching upon ground belonging to the city. The men laying the foun- dation were enjoined from proceeding with the work, but they disregarded the prohibition and were arrested for trespassing on land owned by the city, However, having procured the required bail, they continued their work on the foundation of the edifice. This public dis- regard of the rights of the city caused the common coun- cil to resolve to send a messenger by express in a canoe to New York "for advice from two attorneys at law concerning ye trespass ** committed by several persons in laying a foundation on a certain lott of ground on ye west end of ye Joncker street."
The attempt of the city authorities to retain possession of the space in Jonker street, granted to the officers of the English church by Governor Hunter, was ineffectual, and the zealous clergyman and his earnest co-workers were permitted to accomplish the building of the edifice
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in 1716, which was a stone structure fifty-eight feet long and forty-two wide. In November, the first services in the church were attended by a large number of the officers and soldiers of Fort Anne and many people of the city, besides those who were communicants of the society. 1
In 1714 there were living in the three wards of the city eleven hundred and thirty-six people. Of this num- ber four hundred and ninety-five were white males, five hundred and twenty-eight white females, forty-seven male slaves, and sixty-six female slaves. The inhabi- tants of the county of Albany numbered three thousand and twenty-nine, four hundred and fifty-eight of whom were slaves. In 1723 the number of the inhabitants of the county had increased to six thousand five hundred and one.
The need of a school-teacher to instruct the children in the city is thus expressed in a resolution of the com- mon council of the eighth of April, 1721: "Whereas it is very requisite & necessary that a fitt and able school master settle in this city for teaching and instructing of the youth in speling, reading, writeing and cyffering and Mr. Johannis Glandorf haveing offered his service to setle here and keep a school if reasonably encourage by ye Corporation, it is therefore Resolved by this Comonalty and they do hereby oblidge themselves and their succes- sors to give and procure unto ye said Johan's Glandorf free house rent for the term of seaven years next ensue- ing for keeping a good and commendable school as be- comes a diligent Schoolmaster."
1 Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iii. pp. 546, 547. Albany records. 1714, 1715. Coll. on hist. of Albany. Munsell. vol. i. pp. 388, 389.
1
CHAPTER XIV.
THE TRADE OF THE FRONTIER.
1722-1753.
None of the governors of the province had so much personal sympathy for the degraded liquor-drinking In- dians of the five nations as Governor William Burnet. 1 In his conference with the Mahikanders or River In- dians at Albany, on the thirtieth of August, 1722, he spoke to them of the evil effects of rum-drinking, say- ing :
"I need not tell you how destructive your intemper- ance has proved and how much your people are dimin- ished by excessive drinking of rum, the women as well as the men being guilty of being often drunk ; let me advise you to be more sober for the future, and not to spend what you get by Hunting on strong drink, but lay it out on clothing and other necessaries for your support, and above all [do] not squander your Indian Corn for Rum which you ought to keep for your subsis- tence all the year."
The Indians palliated their love of strong liquor, say- ing: "We are sensible that you are much in the right that rum does a great deal of harm. We approve of all that you said on that point, but the truth is this : When
1 He began his administration as governor of the province on the seven- teenth of September, 1720.
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our people come from hunting to the town or to the plantations and acquaint the traders and people that we want powder, shot, and clothing, they first give us a large cup of rum, and after we get the taste of it we crave for more so that at last all the beaver and peltry we have hunted goes for drink, and we are left destitute either of clothing or ammunition ; therefore we desire our father to order the tap or crane to be shut and to prohibit the selling of rum, for as long as the Christians will sell rum, our people will drink it. * *
"We acknowledge that our father is very much in the right to tell us that we squander away our Indian corn which should subsist our wives and children, but one great cause of it is that many of our people are obliged to hire land of the Christians at a very dear rate and to give half the corn for rent, and the other half they are tempted by rum to sell, and the corn goes so that the poor women and children are left to shift as well as they can. * * *
"We have no more land. The Christians when they buy a small spot of land ask us if we have no more land. When we say yes, they wish to know the name of it, and take a greater quantity than was to be sold to them, and the Indians not understanding what is writ- ten in the deed or bill of sale, sign it and are thus de- prived of part of their lands." 1
Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia, and Sir William Keith, governor of Pennsylvania, also in the latter part of August and in the beginning of Septem- ber, 1722, held conferences with the sachems of the five nations, in Albany, and renewed the former covenants made with the chiefs of their tribes.
Writing to the Lords of Trade on the twenty-fifth of 1 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. v. pp. 662, 663.
19
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June, 1723, Governor Burnet thus speaks of the success attending his efforts to induce the Indians of the far west to come to Albany with their peltry: "Last spring there came about twenty far Indians to Albany, and this month about eighty, besides women and children, which they commonly bring with them where ever they go. I have sent your Lordships a minute of all their Proceedings at Albany, by which it appears that they are now incorporated with the five nations, who had before admitted the Tuskarores [Tuscaroras] to make a sixth nation, and now this far Nation has been received as a seventh. They are come above a thous- and miles to Albany from Mislimakenak, [or Michili- mackinac,] which lyes between Lac Superieur and Lac Huron. 1 * *
"I have since intelligence of forty or fifty more far Indians who are coming to Albany to trade, and thus I find the fruits of the Act restraining the Trade to Canada and of the Company whom I have kept in the Sinnekees Country whose business it has been to persuade all the Indians that pass by to come rather to trade at Albany than at Montreal, and as the Indians that come from the remote Lakes to go to Canada are commonly in want of Provisions when they come below the falls of Niagara, they are obliged to supply themselves in the Sinnekees Country where our people are and then they may take their choice where they will go and trade, which considering the experience they have now had of the cheapness of Goods in this Province, we need not fear will be universally in our favor, and I now flatter myself that the most difficult part is over, since the very Traders of Albany who were fond of Trading to Canada,
1 Michilimackinac, now Mackinaw, on an island in the strait of Mac- kinaw connecting lakes Michigan and Huron.
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generally confess their error and that since the remote Indians will come to them they ought not to have that Trade with the French, which they may keep wholly to themselves." 1
To protect the Indians, coming to Albany to sell their peltry, from the traders who gave them liquor to obtain their furs at low prices, Governor Burnet proposed to the municipal authorities the building of a number of houses outside the palisades for the use of the Indians. The buildings were erected conformable to the gov- ernor's suggestion, and an act was passed by the pro- vincial assembly for paying the charges for their con- struction. The governor, in his letter to the Lords of Trade, dated the sixteenth of December, 1723, thus ad- verts to the passage of the act for the liquidation of the debt contracted for the erection of these wooden houses : "This is a conveniency for the Indians that is newly made and is very useful to prevent their being cheated as they often are when traders get them privately into their houses and by the power of liquor persuade them to part with their furs for little or nothing. But when the Indians come to themselves, they grow very angry at their usage, and this often makes them very unruly and frequently endangers their good understanding with us.
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