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 24
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"They sow wheat in the neighborhood of Albany with great advantage. From one bushel they get twelve sometimes : if the soil be good they get twenty bushels. If their crop amounts only to ten bushels from one, they think it very trifling. * The wheat-flour from Albany is reckoned the best in all North America, except that from Sopus or Kingston, a place between Albany and New York. All the bread in Albany is made of wheat. At New York they pay the Albany flour with several shillings more per hundred weight than that from other places.
"They are unacquainted with stoves, and their chim- neys are so wide that one could drive [through] them with a cart and horses. The water of several wells in this town was very cool about this time, but had a kind of acid taste which was not very agreeable.
* * I think this water is not very wholesome for people who are not used to it, though the inhabitants of Albany who drink it every day, say that they do not feel the least inconven- ience from it. Almost every house in Albany
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has its well, the water of which is applied to common use ; but for tea, brewing, and washing, they commonly take the water of the river.
"There are two churches in Albany, an English one and a Dutch one. The Dutch church stands at some distance from the river, on the east side of the market. It is built of stone ; and in the middle it has a small steeple, with a bell. It has but one minister, who preaches twice every Sunday. The English church is situated on the hill, at the west end of the market, di- rectly under the fort. It is likewise built of stone, but has no steeple. There was no service at this time because they had no minister ; and all the people understood Dutch, the garrison excepted. The minister of this church has a settled income of one hundred pounds ster- ling, which he gets from England. The town-hall lies to the southward of the Dutch church, close by the river- side. It is a fine building of stone, three stories high. It has a small tower or steeple with a bell, and a gilt ball and vane at the top of it.
"The houses in this town are very neat, and partly built with stones covered with shingles of the White Pine. Some are slated with tiles from Holland, because the clay of this neighborhood is not reckoned fit for tiles. Most of the houses are built in the old way, with the gable-end towards the street; a few excepted, which were lately built in the manner now used. A great number of houses were built like those of New Bruns wick, [New Jersey], which I have described ; the gable- end being built towards the streets of brick and all the other walls of planks. * The gutters on the roofs reach almost to the middle of the street. This preserves the walls from being damaged by the rain ; but is ex- tremely disagreeable in rainy weather for the people in
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the streets, there being hardly any means of avoiding the water from the gutters.
" The street-doors are generally in the middle of the houses ; and on both sides are seats, on which, during fair weather, the people spend almost the whole day, es- pecially on those which are in the shadow of the houses. In the evening these seats are covered with people of both sexes ; but this is rather troublesome, as those who pass by are obliged to greet every body, unless they will shock the politeness of the inhabitants of this town. The streets are broad, and some of them are paved ; in some parts they are lined with trees : the long streets are almost parallel to the river, and the others intersect them at right angles. The street which goes between the two churches is five times broader than the others, and serves as a market-place. The streets upon the whole are very dirty, because the people leave their cattle in them during the summer nights. There are two market-places in the town, to which the country people resort twice a week.
"The fort lies higher than any other building, on a high steep hill on the west side of the town. It is a great building of stone, surrounded with high and thick walls. Its situation is very bad, as it can only serve to keep off plundering parties, without being able to sustain a seige. There are numerous high hills to the west of the fort, which command it, and from whence one may see all that is done within it. There is commonly an officer and a number of soldiers quartered in it. They say the fort contains a spring of water.
"The situation of Albany is very advantageous in regard to trade. The river Hudson, which flows close by it, is from twelve to twenty feet deep. There is not yet any quay made for the better lading of the yachts,
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because the people feared it would suffer greatly or be entirely carried away in spring by the ice, which then comes down the river. The vessels which are in use here, may come pretty near the shore in order to be laden, and heavy goods are brought to them upon canoes tied to- gether.
"There is not a place in all the British colonies, the Hudson's Bay settlement excepted, where such quantities of furs and skins are bought of the Indians as at Albany. Most of the merchants in this town send a clerk or agent to Oswego, an English trading town upon the lake Ontario, to which the Indians resort with their furs. * * * The merchants from Albany spend the whole summer at Oswego, and trade with many tribes of In- dians who come to them with their goods. Many people have assured me that the Indians are frequently cheated in disposing of their goods, especially when they are in liquor ; and that sometimes they do not get one half, or even one tenth of the value of their goods. I have been a witness to several transactions of this kind. The merchants of Albany glory in these tricks, and are highly pleased when they have given a poor Indian a greater portion of brandy than he can bear, and when they can after that get all his goods for mere trifles. The Indians often find, when they are sober again, that they have been cheated : they grumble somewhat, but are soon satisfied when they reflect that they have for once drank as much as they are able of a liquor which they value beyond any thing else in the whole world ; and they are quite insensible to their loss, if they again get a draught of this nectar.
" Besides this trade at Oswego, a number of Indians come to Albany from several parts, especially from Canada ; but from this latter place they hardly bring
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any thing but beaver-skins. There is a great penalty in Canada for carrying furs to the English, that trade be- longing to the French West India Company ; notwith- standing which the French merchants in Canada carry on a considerable smuggling trade. They send their furs by means of the Indians to their correspondents at Al- bany, who purchase them at the price which they have fixed upon with the French merchants. The Indians take in return several kinds of cloth and other goods, which may be got here at a lower rate than those which are sent to Canada from France.
"The greater part of the merchants at Albany have extensive estates in the country and a great deal of wood. If their estates have a little brook, they do not fail to erect a saw-mill upon it for sawing boards and planks, with which commodity many yachts go during the whole summer to New York, having scarce any other lading than boards.
"Many people at Albany make the wampum of the Indians, which is their ornament and their money, by grinding some kinds of shells and muscles : this is a con- siderable profit to the inhabitants. The exten- sive trade which the inhabitants of Albany carry on, and their sparing manner of life, in the Dutch way, contribute to the considerable wealth which many of them acquire.
"The inhabitants of Albany and its environs are al- most all Dutchmen. They speak Dutch, have Dutch preachers, and divine service is performed in that lan- guage : their manners are likewise Dutch ; their dress is, however, like that of the English. *
"The avarice and selfish of the inhabitants of Albany are very well known throughout all North America, by the English, by the French, and even by the Dutch in the lower part of New York province. If a Jew, who
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understands the art of getting forward pretty well, should settle amongst them, they would not fail to ruin him. For this reason, nobody comes to this place without the most pressing necessity ; and therefore I was asked. in several places, what induced me to go to it two years one after another. I likewise found that the judgment, which people formed of them, was not without founda- tion. For though they seldom see any strangers (except those who go from the British colonies to Canada and back again), and one might therefore expect to find vic- tuals and accommodation for travelers cheaper than in places where travelers always resort to; yet I experienced the contrary. I was here obliged to pay for every thing twice, thrice, and four times as dear as in any part of North America which I have passed through. If I wanted their assistance, I was obliged to pay them very well for it ; and when I wanted to purchase any thing, or to be helped in some case or other, I could presently see what kind of blood ran in their veins ; for they either fixed exorbitant prices for their services, or were very backward to assist me. Such was this people in general. However, there were some among them who equaled any in North America, or any where else in politeness, equity, goodness, and readiness to serve and oblige ; but their number fell short of that of the former. *
"The inhabitants of Albany are much more sparing than the English. The meat which is served up is often insufficient to satisfy the stomach, and the bowl does not circulate so freely as amongst the English. The women are perfectly well acquainted with economy ; they rise early, go to sleep very late, and are almost over nice and cleanly in regard to the floor, which is frequently scoured several times in the week. The servants in the town are chiefly negroes. Some of the inhabitants wear
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their own hair, but it is very short, without a bag or queue, which are looked upon as the characteristics of Frenchmen ; and as I wore my hair in a bag the first day I came here from Canada, I was surrounded with child- ren, who called me Frenchman and some of the boldest offered to pull at my French dress.
"Their meat and manner of dressing it is very differ- ent from that of the English. Their breakfast is tea, commonly without milk. About thirty or forty years ago, tea was unknown to them, and they breakfasted either upon bread and butter or bread and milk. They never put sugar into the cup, but take a small bit of it into their mouths whilst they drink. Along with the tea they eat bread and butter, with slices of hung beef. Coffee is not usual here : they breakfast generally about seven. Their dinner is buttermilk and bread, to which they sometimes add sugar, and then it is a delicious dish for them ; or fresh milk and bread ; or boiled or roasted flesh. They sometimes make use of butter-milk instead of fresh milk to boil a thin kind of porridge with, which tastes very sour, but not disagreeable in hot weather. To each dinner they have a great salad, prepared with abundance of vinegar and very little or no oil. They frequently eat butter-milk, bread and salad, one mouth- ful after another. Their supper is generally bread and butter, and milk and bread. They sometimes eat cheese at breakfast and at dinner : it is not in slices, but scraped or rasped, so as to resemble course flour, which they pretend adds to the good taste of cheese. They commonly drink very small beer or pure water." 1
The number of the inhabitants of Albany County, in 1749, was ten thousand six hundred and thirty-four ; a decrease of forty seven of the number in 1737. The bell,
1 Annals of Albany. Munsell. vol. i, pp. 262-774.
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which had been rung by order of the common council at eight o'clock every night, was also rung in 1750 at noon, or at twelve o'clock. On the second of March, 1751, the exclusive right of ferrying from Greenbush to Albany, at certain rates, for one year, was sold at public vendue to Cornelis van Vechten for three pounds nine- teen shillings, and the privilege of ferrying from Albany to Greenbush was sold to Jeremiah Pemberton for three pounds four shillings.
At the conference held in July by Governor Clinton with the sachems of the six nations of Indians, commis- sioners were present from the provinces of Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and South Carolina. The governor of South Carolina sent six Catawbas to make peace with the six nations, who had been at war with the Catawbas for many years. The tribes of the six nations and the Catawbas were the allies of the English, and a peace be- tween them had long been desired by the governors of New York and South Carolina. The usual ceremony of smoking the calumet of peace and of exchanging belts of wampum ratified the treaty between the Catawbas and the six nations. During the time of these conferences thirty-three canoes filled with French Indians, about two hundred in number, arrived at Albany, bringing a great quantity of peltry from Canada. 1
The seal used by the city in 1752 bore the figure of a beaver at bay. Above it was the name Albany in capital letters, and below it the date, 1752.
1 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. vi. pp. 715, 716, 717.
CHAPTER XV.
THE COLONIAL CONGRESS.
1754-1760.
The initiative act coalescing the thought of the peo- ple of the provinces in America in a desire to confederate themselves for defence and the advancement of their general interests had its primary development in the colonial congress convened in Albany, in June, 1754. This convocation of the commissioners from the prov- inces had been called by letters addressed to the governors of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Penn- slyvania, Maryland, and Virginia, by the Lords of Trade, dated at Whitehall, the eighteenth of September, 1753. The object of the meeting is thus explained in the cir- cular :
"His Majesty having been pleased to order a sum of money to be issued for presents to the Six Nations of In- dians and to direct his Governor of New York to hold an interview with them for delivering those presents, for burying the hatchet, and renewing the Covenant Chain . with them, we think it our duty to acquaint you there- with, and as we find it has been usual upon former oc- casions, when an interview has been held with those In- dians, for all His Majesty's Colonies, whose interest and security are connected with & depend upon them, to join in such interview, and as the present disposition of those
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Indians & the attempts which have been made to with- draw them from the British interest appear to us to make such a general interview more particularly neces- sary at this time, we desire you will lay this matter be- fore the Council and General Assembly of the Province under your government and recommend to them forth- with to make a proper provision for appointing Com- missioners to be joined with those of the other Govern- ments for renewing the Covenant Chain with the Six Nations, and for making such presents to them as has been usual upon the like occasions. And we desire that in the Choice and nomination of the Commissioners you will take care that they are men of Character, ability, and integrity, and well acquainted with Indian Affairs.
" As to the time and place of meeting it is left to the Governor of New York to fix it, and he has orders to give you early notice of it." 1
As commissioners to this convention the General Court or Assembly of the province of Massachusetts Bay ap- pointed Samuel Welles, John Chandler, Thomas Hutchin- son, Oliver Partridge and John Worthington. These persons were commissioned "to represent and appear for the said Province at the Convention aforesaid for the purposes" mentioned in the letter addressed to the gov- ernor, and " also for entering into Articles of Union and Confederation with the aforesaid Governments for the General Defence of his Majesty's subjects and Interests in North America as well in time of Peace as in war."
The commissioners from the province of New Hamp- shire were Theodore Atkinson, Richard Wibird, Meshech Weare and Henry Sherburne, jr. They were directed "to attend at the said Interview to agree upon, consult, and conclude what " might " be necessary for Establishing a
1 Doc, colonial hist. N. Y. vol. vi. p. 802.
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sincere and lasting Friendship and Good Harmony with the said Six Nations of Indians, and if necessary X * to sign every thing so agreed upon and concluded, and to do, and transact all matters and things which " might "appertain to the finishing the abovesaid work."
The colony of Connecticut instructed its commis- sioners, William Pitkin, Roger Wolcott, jr. and Elisha Williams, to meet with the other colonial commissioners and "to consult proper Measures for the General Defence and safety of his Majesty's Subjects in said Governments and the Indians in his Alliance against the French and their Indians."
Stephen Hopkins and Martin Howard, jr., the com- missioners from the colony of Rhode Island, were in- structed "to act in Conjunction with the said Commis- sioners in every thing necessary for the good of his Majesty's Subjects in those parts."
Pennsylvania sent as her commissioners, John Penn, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin, and instructed them to act conformably to the orders of the Board of Trade.
Maryland appointed Colonel Benjamin Tasker, and Major Abraham Barnes, commissioning them to act with the representatives of the other provinces for the defence of his majesty's dominions. The commissioners of the province of New York were Joseph Murray, William Johnson, John Chambers and William Smith. 1
The sessions of the colonial congress were held in the court-house ; the first meeting on Wednesday, the nine- teenth of June. The first consideration of the commis- sioners was respecting the propositions to be made to the Indians. To avoid all disputes about the precedence of the colonies it was resolved that they should be named
1 Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. ii. pp, 317-321.
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in the minutes according to their situation from the north to the south. The Rev. Richard Peters, one of the commissioners from Pennsylvania, preached a sermon on Sunday, the twenty-third of June, which was ordered to be printed.
At a meeting, on Monday afternoon, the twenty- fourth of June, a motion was made that the commis- sioners should give their opinions whether a union of all the colonies was not then "absolutely necessary for their security and defence. The question was accordingly put, and it passed in the affirmative unanimously." A commit- tee was then appointed "to prepare and receive plans or schemes for the union of the colonies and to digest them into one general plan " to be reported to the convention : Thomas Hutchinson, Theodore Atkinson, William Pit- kin, Stephen Hopkins, Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Tasker being named as that committee.
After a number of debates, a "Plan of a proposed Union of the several colonies of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- lina and South Carolina, for their mutual defence and security, and for extending the British Settlements in North America" was accepted by the convention. It was proposed that an humble application should be made "for an act of the Parliament of Great Britain, by virtue of which one general government " should "be formed in America, including all the said colonies, within and under which government each colony " might retain its "constitution, except in the particulars wherein a change " might "be directed by the said act. That the said gen- eral government [should] be administered by a president- general, to be appointed and supported by the crown, and a grand council [should] be chosen by the represen-
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tatives of the people of the several colonies," meeting " in their respective assemblies. That within [a certain number of] months after the passing of such act, the houses of representatives in the several assemblies that [should] happen to be sitting within that time or that " should "be specially for that purpose convened," might and should choose "members for the grand council in the following proportions, that is to say : Massachusetts Bay 7, New Hampshire 2, Connecticut 5, Rhode Island 2, New York 4, New Jerseys 3, Pennsylvania 6, Maryland 4, Virginia 7, North Carolina 4, South Carolina 4," being 48 members.
The city of Philadelphia was designated by the plan as the place for the annual meetings of the grand council. The plan further proposed that an election of members of the grand council should be held every three years. The grand-council, it further proposed, should have power to make laws for the colonies and the Indians, to build forts, to impose duties and taxes, and to regulate trade. The laws made by the grand-council were not to " be repug- nant but as near " as might " be agreeable to the laws of England," and were to be transmitted to the king in in council " for approval," and if not disapproved with- in three years after presentation " they were to remain in force.
The convention resolved that the proposed plan of union should be laid by the several governments before their respective constituents for their consideration.
A large number of the sachems of the six nations at- tended the conferences, with whom the commissioners made satisfactory covenants of peace and amity. 1
The plan was not acceptable to the crown of England. Nevertheless it was as sown seed waiting the favoring
1 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. vi. pp. 851, 853-892.
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influences that were to make it take root and to develop its germs not many years thereafter. The signatures of Stephen Hopkins and Benjamin Franklin, two of the framers of the plan for the Union of Colonies, were, in 1776, affixed to the Declaration of Independence.
The French, it seems, did not respect the articles of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, for a party of French Indians were permitted to invade the province of New York, who, on the twenty-eighth of August, 1754, burnt the houses and barns of some of the settlers at Hoosick. The Schaghticoke Indians, about sixty in number, men, women, and children, returned with the invading party to Canada. When Lieutenant-governor De Lancey was informed of these facts, he immediately ordered new palisades to be planted around the city of Albany and the block-houses to be repaired. He further directed that two hundred men of each regiment of the militia of the near counties should be held in readiness to march to Albany, and sent a company of soldiers there from Fort George, at New York.
The renewal of hostilities between England and France led in 1755 to an attempt to reduce the forts of the French at Niagara, which they had built there to de- fend their line of communication between Canada and the head-waters of the Mississippi River. The attacking forces were placed under the command of Major-general William Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts, the rendez- vous of his troops being Albany. He marched to Oswego, but proceeded no farther. Leaving a garrison there, he returned with the remainder of his forces to Albany.
Major-general William Johnson, then living at Mount Johnson, about forty miles west of Albany, was given the command of the troops to attack the French at Crown Point. In a letter to the Lords of Trade, dated at Lake
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George, the third of September, 1755, he thus describes the difficulties he encountered in going there :
" About 250 Indians have already joined me, and as small parties are every day dropping in, I expect, before I can be able to leave this place, to have 300. * Our Indians appear to be very sincere and zealous in our cause, and their young men can hardly be withheld from going out a scalping. *
"I am building a Fort at this lake which the French call lake St. Sacrament, but I have given it the name of Lake George, not only in honour to His Majesty but to assertain his undoubted dominion here.
"I found it a mere wilderness, not one foot cleared. I have made a good Waggon Road to it from Albany, distance about 70 miles ; never was house or Fort erected here before. We have cleared land enough to encamp 5000 Men. The Troops now under my command and the reinforcements on the way will amount to near that number. Thro' our whole march from Albany, tho' par- ties of the French have been hovering round us, we have had but one man scalped and one taken prisoner.
I propose with a part of the Troops to proceed down the Lake, at the end whereof is an important pass called Tionderogue, about 50 miles from hence, and 15 miles from Crown point, and there endeavor to take post till the rest of the Forces join me, and then march to the attack of Crown point, all which I hope to effect in about three weeks." 1
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