PUBLIC LIBRARY T WAYNE & ALLEN CO., I NO
ReFERENCE
"-M
1833 01747 7750
GENEALOGY
973.005
M27
1886
v.16
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012
http://archive.org/details/magazineofamericv16stev
l.AKI. Dl DUFFBRIN, K.r., K.C.B. l.ut, Governor-General of Canada, present Viceroy of India.
MAGAZINE
OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
WITH
NOTES AND QUERIES
ILLUSTRATED
EDITED BY MRS. MARTHA J. LAMB
VOL. XVI
July-December, 1886
3O LAFAYETTE PLACE, NEW YORK CITY
Copyright, 1886, By HISTORICAL PUBLICATION CO.
Press of J. J. Little & Co. Astor Place, New York.
CONTENTS
A Neglected Corner of the Metropolis , Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. i
The Dongan Charter of the City of New York Hon. James W. Geratd. 30
History of the Fisheries Question J. Macdonald Oxley. 50
The Speeches of Henry Clay Charles H. Peck. 58
Toryism in the Canadian Confederation .John Carrick. 68
Cedar Mountain Alfred E. Lee, I., 81, II., 159
Reminiscences of Libby Prison John Shrady, M.D. 89
An Old Mormon City in Missouri William A. Wood. 98
Daniel Webster William C. Todd. 100
The Celebrated Lewis Morris in Connecticut. The Sequel 103
Extracts from the Correspondence of Edward Gibbon, the Historian, 1778-17&3 104
Notes, Queries, and Replies 109, 197, 296, 400, 497, 591
Societies 113, 203, 404
Book Notices 119, 205, 302, 405, 501, 596
Montpelier. Historic Home of Major-General Knox E. Marguerite Lindley. 121
The Northwest Territory. Its Ordinances and its Settlements. .Lsrael Ward Andrews, LL.D. 133
Negro Slaves During the Civil War Colonel Charles Jones, Jr., LL.D. 168
At the Death Angle Charles A. Patch. 176
A Canadian View of Annexation .J. L. Payne. 180
Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. 182
The Ages of Military Commanders Hon. James G. Blaine. 188
President Lincoln's Story-Telling George W. Julian. 190
An Anecdote of Anson Burlingame 191
Reminiscences of Lady Harriet Acland 1 93
Letter from James Monroe, in 181 5, to Governor Shelby, of Kentucky 195
An Illustrated Chapter of Beginnings. The Founder, Presidents, Homes and Treasures of the
New York Historical Society Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. 209
The Defects of Our Constitution Hon. John W. Johnston. 245
My First and Last Sight of Abraham Lincoln Hon. Horatio King. 254
Pope Pious IX. and the Southern Confederacy J. Algernon Peters. 258
From Cedar Mountain to Chantilly Alfred E. Lee, I., 266 ; II., 370 ; III., 467 ; IV., 574
The Evolution of Canadian Parties Watson Griffin. 283
New England's Lost City Found A. B. Berry. 290
Albany's Historic Day 293
Washington's Last Tooth, the Original Letter from His Dentist 294
A King's Gift John Dimitry. 305
President Lincoln and Colonization Hon. Charles K. Tuckerman. 329
Territorial Growth of the United States William A. Mowry. 333
VAV*
iv CONTENTS
PAGE
An Earthquake in Kentucky John James Audubon. 342
Andrew Atkinson Humphreys Major-General John Watts De Peyster. 347
A ( '.mfederacy Within a Confederacy G. Norton Galloway. 387
Mis. Hutchinson's Cottage, Letter from Hon. Luther R. Marsh 391
Shepard Kollock, Printer of the First New York Directory Rev. William Hall. 393
Sketch of Hon. Robert L. Y. Peyton, of Missouri J. Lewis Peyton. 394
Unpublished Letter of Andrew Jackson, contributed by Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden 399
Governor Thomas Pownall, Colonial Statesman Robert Ludlow Fowler. 409
The I lermitage, Burgwin's Seat James G. Burr. 433
The First Anarchist Arthur Dudley Vinton. 443
Braddock's I )efeat T.J. Chapman, A.M. 446
Virginia's Conquest. The Northwestern Territory J. C. Wells. 452
The Split at Charleston in i860 A. W. Clason. 458
General Pope Again. A Noteworthy Review of Facts and Figures Professor W. Allan. 483
Margery Corbin George Houghton. 490
An Interesting Discovery. Finding the Bones of the " Worshipful Lion Gardiner." 493
Philadelphia Fashions in 1796 494
An Original Letter from Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney to Theodore Dwight, Jr 495
One New England Thanksgiving Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. 505
William Shakespeare's Literary Executor. The First Shakespearean Revival.
Appleton Morgan. 516 Ohio as a Hospitable Wilderness. Pioneer Life on the Western Reserve. . . J. H. Kennedy. 526
Creole Peculiarities P. F. de Gournay. 542
A Thanksgiving Legend Gilbert Nash. 550
The " Swamp Angel." The Gun Used in Firing on Charleston in 1863.
General William S. Stryker. 553
Misunderstandings. Halleck and Grant General James B. Fry. 561
Beaujeu and Fort Du Quesne John Gilmary Shea. 586
Lincoln and McClellan Hon. Horatio King. 587
Original Letter from Mr. McComb to President Vandike, of Delaware, in 1783 589
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Portrait of the Earl of Dufferin Frontispiece
La Grange Terrace, Lafayette Place 2
The Silver-toned Bell of the Middle Dutch Church 4
Reformed Dutch Church in Lafayette Place 5
Vauxhall Garden, 1 803 6
The Lafayette Medal 7
Diagram of the Astor Purchase in 1804 8
Map showing Location of Lafayette Place 10
Lafayette Place, Home of William B. Astor , , 13
The Home of the Sands Family 13
Portrait of John Jacob Astor 15
The Astor Library, 1853 17
Portrait of Joseph G. Cogswell 18
The Astor Libraiy, 1859-1879 19
Portrait of William B. Astor 21
The Astor Library of the Present 22
The Opera House, Astor Place, Home of the Mercantile Library 27
The Dongan Manor-House, Staten Island 31
Fac-simile of Signature of Thomas Dongan 33
The Great Seal of the City of New York 39
Portrait of Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury 4 1
Libby Prison, Richmond, Va 92
Portrait of Louis XVI 121
Montpelier, Home of Major-General Knox, 122
Portrait of Major-General Knox 123
Entrance Hall of the Knox Mansion 125
Servants' House of the Knox Villa 127
Monogram on the Knox Silver-ware 128
River Front of Montpelier. The Knox Villa 130
Burial Place of the Knox Family 131
Portrait of Marie Antoinette 183
Portrait of Pope Pius IX 209
Portrait of John Pintard 211
Federal Hall, Wall Street 212
Portrait of Judge Egbert Benson 213
Portrait of Gouverneur Morris 214
Portrait of De Witt Clinton 215
vj ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Portrait of Samuel L. Mitchell, M.P 2I7
The Elgin Botanical Garden, N. V. City, 1S25 218
Portrait <»f David Hosack, M.D 219
Portrait of James Kent 221
The Old Government House, Bowling Green 222
Portrait of Morgan Lewis 223
Portrait of Peter Augustus Jay 224
Portrait of Albert Gallatin 226
Portrait of Luther Bradish 227
Portrait of Hamilton Fish 229
Portrait of Rev. Thomas De Witt, D.D .' 230
Portrait of Augustus Schell 231
New York University 234
Portrait of Frederic De Peyster 235
Portrait of Benjamin H. Field 237
New York Historical Society 238
Section of the Library of the New York Historical Society 239
Objects in the Egyptian Museum of the New York Historical Society ... .241-243
Site of Norumbega, New England's Lost City 291
Portrait of John J. Audubon 305
Portrait of John Law 307
Portrait of Louis XV 309
Portrait of Don Antonio De Ulloa 311
Portrait of Charles III., King of Spain 313
The Belize, Mouth of the Mississippi, about 1850 315
Portrait of the Duke de Choiseul-Stainville 317
An Old Spanish Building 319
The Cathedral, New Orleans 319
Portrait of Governor-General O'Reilly 325
Map Showing the Territorial Growth of the_United States 333
Portrait of Major-General A. A. Humphreys 348
Ma]> Showing Marches, Engagements, and Positions of the Second and Third Army Corps,
April 6, 1S65 v 358
Battle-field of Cumberland Church, April 7, 1865 365
Battle-field of Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865 367
Portrait of Governor Thomas Pownall 409
The Province I louse, Boston 41 1
Great Cohoes Falls, New York 414
Fac-simile of Letter from Governor Thomas Pownall 416
Ponghkeepsie and the Ca| kill Mountains 420
Tin- Abbey Church, Path, England 427
Interior of Bath Abbey ( hurch 429, 431
The 1 [ermitage, Burgwin's Seat, Delaware 435
I'll. Wooded I lills of the New Township in Massachusetts 506
1 tagland I lomestead of the Pioneer 507
I he ( )ld fashioned Fire-place 509
Attending Church on Thanksgiving Day 511
I'll- < Children of Charles I 5r3
The Thanksgiving Dinner rIc.
ILLUSTRATIONS vii
PAGE
Portrait of General Quincy A. Gillmore 554
Portrait of General Edward W. Serrell 555
Portrait of Lieutenant Charles Sellmer 556
Portrait of Lieutenant Peter S. Michie 557
The Battery in the Swamp after Bursting of the Gun 558
The Gun on the Monument in Trenton 559
The First View of the Capture of Stony Point 591
MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Vol. XVI JULY, 1886 No. 1
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS
HISTORIC HOMES IN LAFAYETTE PLACE
IN the summer of 1836, just fifty years ago, public interest in New York city centered about a rising row of dwelling-houses in Lafayette Place, that were rapidly approaching completion. The marble used in their construction had been procured at Sing Sing, and the convicts in the State prison had been employed, at very cheap rates, to cut and prepare it before it was brought to the city. This economical transaction had caused, while the work was going forward, a terrific cry of disapproval from the stone cutters, who banded together and paraded the streets with banners, becoming so riotous that military aid was required to preserve peace. To many of New York's citizens, in that interesting period, Lafayette Place was an unknown quantity. It was a new and a very short and dim line on the recently-made city maps. Its existence dated only from 1826, in which year it was opened through the center of Vauxhall Garden, and called by its present name in honor of the Revolutionary marquis, whose late visit to America had nearly turned the American head. It was " two miles into the country," so the newspapers of the day said, and the wise and prudent shook their heads regarding great building enterprises in such a remote locality as very doubtful speculation. Mr. Seth Geer was the man who had the temerity needful for the achievement ; he designed and then built this somewhat extraordinary row of houses at his own risk. As he predicted, they were afterward sold at a considerable advance on the original cost. They are described in the Ladies Companion of November, 1836, as follows : " Of all the modern improvements which characterize our city, the sumptuous row of houses in Lafayette Place, called after the seat of the venerable French patriot, La Grange Terrace, is the most imposing and magnificent. These costly houses are universally allowed to be unequaled for grandeur and effect. They are built of white marble, the front supported by a rich colonnade of fluted Corinthian columns, resting on the basement story, which is of the Egyptian order of architecture. When we recollect that the very site now occupied by these stately homes
* Copyright, 1886, by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. Vol. XVI —No. 1.— 1
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS 3
was but a few years past the seat of the forest and morass, we may well wonder at the advancement we have made, and almost ask in amazement, if this be indeed the city, where, not a century since, the gable-fronted mansions of the Dutch were considered the highest acme of architectural splendor."
A glimpse of the authentic history of Vauxhall Garden will appear further on, but, with all due respect to the writer of half a century ago, we must pause here to deny the foregoing statement that its site was ever a morass. The locality was high and dry, so to speak, and its wealth of sand and sand- hills had always been a source of tribulation to the earlier settlers. It was good ground to build on, atmosphere healthful and scenery picturesque, yet, as was supposed, too far away for a whole row of city dwellings! It was really to the New York mind a much greater distance from the centres of business than Riverside Park is now, as there was no rapid tran- sit in 1836, no public conveyance whatever except the stage-coach — and the poor little germ of the horse-car of the future. Fashion, however, was captivated with the idea of elegant seclusion. The little street would probably never be lengthened, and it had a lordly breadth. The rattle and racket of Broadway could reach it only in dreamy murmurs. The " mag- nificent " terrace would naturally be occupied exclusively by first families in position and wealth. Thus Fashion argued. Handsome private car- riages rolled into the new place, observations were made, and presently other building sites were selected. Imposing homes soon arose in close proximity to the Terrace, and all along the stately little avenue. And Fashion calmly took its seat and held it.
Domestic architecture in America was then in a transition state. The effort for strictly scientific architecture, as ineffectually displayed in La Grange Terrace — in later years known as Colonnade Row — was on the decline, it being in no sense an expression of American domestic feeling to devote as much space to porticoes and colonnades as to rooms ; cheerful homes could never be constructed from reduced copies of the Parthenon. Hence, solidity of foundation, spacious apartments, artistic interior decora- tions, wide entrance halls, and in most instances a severely bald exterior were the significant features of the other dwelling-houses that followed in the immediate vicinity, but nowhere the world over were city homes ever built more delightfully roomy and comfortable.
In November of the same year, 1836, the corner-stone of the Reformed Dutch Church was laid in Lafayette Place, and the edifice was dedicated on the 9th of May, 1839. ^ nas borne the name of the " Middle Dutch Church " ever since its namesake in Nassau Street was given over to secular
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS
uses. It presents one of the very few examples, remaining in the city, of purely Athenian architecture. Its form is that of a parallelogram, seventy- five feet in width and one hundred and twenty deep. The front is an octostyle portico, surmounted by an angular pediment, including in its range the entire width of the church, and raised upon an elevated platform. The twelve columns are worthy of notice as each one is a dis- tinct piece of granite, not composed of sections as in other instances with shafts of such dimensions. It took more than two score of well- yoked oxen to drag either of the columns to its abiding-place. They are handsomely fluted, their bases finely molded, and the capitals well ex- ecuted, the neckings carved and en- riched with the Grecian honeysuckle. The windows are finished with Grecian architraves, sills, and cornices, sustained by consoles. The old steeple which ap- pears in the sketch has been removed. It was considered a necessary feature of Christian architecture at the time of its erection, but of a peculiar design quite irreconcilable with correct princi- ples of taste. In 1855, the old historic " silver toned bell " was placed in it, the bell that was cast in Holland, in 1731, at the expense of Abraham De Peyster I asa gift to the Middle Dutch Church in Nassau Street when that edifice was new. It was believed that silver coin was used largely in preparing the bell metal. At all events, the bell had a " silvery ring" — and those who listened to it in modern times thought its music would have been decidedly improved had the Hollanders omitted to throw their silver coin in as stated. During the Revolution this ancient bell was secreted from the British soldiers. It now hangs in the tower of the Reformed Church in Fifth Avenue, corner of Forty-eighth Street.
In connection with the naming of Lafayette Place, and of its first imposing block of buildings, it is instructive to note the current of popular feeling in that decade. In 1832, the centennial of the birth of Washington was celebrated in New York with great c'clat. On the evening of that memorable day the officers of the National Guard — the present famous Seventh Regiment- assembled under Washington's old historic tent
THE SILVER TONED BELL.
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS
5
that had been pitched in the park present Lafayette with a medal a testimonial of their respect and of solid gold from the North Brother. It weighed one hundred was thus graphically described at embossed front is surmounted northern hemisphere, on which are inscribed. A superb and devices : the American flag and displayed with their spear points basis of a shield, surmounted and circled in the interior with a which is in dead gold, are ington and Lafayette. Above axe, connecting the wreath neath is a shield, in which are the rising sun, borne on the arms, and the initials N. Y. S. a small shield in the center." On the reverse, which was inscription of the gift. The
with
military honors, and resolved to on the coming Fourth of July, as affection. This medal was made Carolina mines, by Marquand & and fifty-seven pennyweights. It the time : " The richly chased and by an eagle, standing on the the words America and France tasteful frame-work surrounds the that of the National Guard being on each side. These form the with various implements of war, wreath. In the centre of the field, raised medallions of Wash- is the Roman lictor's battle- with the hemisphere; and be- quartered the stars and stripes, shield of the State, the city A.; the letters N. G. being on The motto speaks for itself, plain burnished gold, was the medal was sent to the care
REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH IN LAFAYETTE PLACE.
of James Fenimore Cooper in Paris for presentation, accompanied by the following letter :
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS
• General :
The National Guard of the city of New York, a corps of citizen soldiers, have the honor to present for your acceptance the accompanying token of the sentiments entertained by the sons of liberty in America for the dauntless champion of that sacred cause, whose distinguished service in three revolutions, and whose untiring exertions in behalf of the oppressed and enslaved of every nation, have raised for the hero, ' monumentum cere perennius: With a fervent prayer for your health and happiness, we are, General, your obedient servants, L. W. Stevens, Colonel.
U. L. Smith, Lt.-Colonel. To General Lafayette. J. M. Catlin, Major.
Vauxhall -Garden, which was shorn of much of its ancient splendor
Iji-oatlwa/y
I | | I III!
2L2Z.
VAUXHALL GARDEN, 1803.
From an old Print.
when Lafayette Place was opened through its heart, was for more than a quarter of a century a popular summer resort. It first appears in the city directory of 1799. An energetic Frenchman by the name of Delacroix, formerly a distiller and then a confectioner, founded it, and made it the source of a considerable income. It is described in Mitchell's city guide of 1807 as a "garden laid out with taste; walks agreeably disposed and strewed with gravel, their sides adorned with shrubs, trees, busts, and statues. In the middle is a large equestrian figure of Washington. The orchestra built among the trees gives to the band of music and singing voices a charming effect on summer evenings. Within this enclosure the large apparatus for fire-works, the artificial mound of earth to view them from, the numerous booths and boxes for the accommodation of the company,
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS
refreshments of every kind, and above all the buildings and scenery for dramatic entertainments during the summer season, are all proofs of Mr. Delacroix's zeal and efforts to gratify the public." Balloon ascensions from this garden were quite frequent ; and its visitors regaled themselves at small
P" with fruit, wine,
fectioneries. In the
1 8, Mr. Poe, the father
gar Allan Poe, here
ance in a New York theatre
tunes Frolic." His wife made
Priscilla Tomboy. " She was
ty," the critics said, " and
both as a singer and an
was literally nothing."
opened on the 9th of
July
tres in part of ing clos that date), of "Animal great concert, members of the Sully, T wait s, Charnock, Stockwell dames Poe, Placide, and Dellinger."
(the thea-
the lower
the city hav-
ed prior to
with the play
Magnetism1 and a
The principal
dramatic corps were
Hogg, Poe, Bailey,
and Ringwood, with Mes-
Villiers, Young, Simpson,
THE LAFAYETTE MEDAL.
[From an old print.~\
8
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS
^JE?o>
DIAGRAM OF THE ASTOR PURCHASE IN 1804.
Prior to the birth of Vauxhall Garden this site was the property for
several decades of Jacob Sperry, a Swiss gentleman, born in Zurich in 1728. He came to New York at the age of twenty, and although educated a phy- sician, decided, after receiving his dip- loma, to become a florist. He had means at his command, with which he purchased this then uncultivated tract of pasture land, and established himself as a horticulturist. He built a house near by, where he resided, and reared a family of four sons and five daughters. His grandson, Henry C. Sperry, was born on the estate in 1800. In 1804, Jacob Sperry sold the much improved property to John Jacob Astor for $45,000, who gave a twenty-one years' lease to Delacroix. Thus it will be seen that the garden itself had been flowering and flourishing long before it was converted into a place of en- tertainment for the public.
Back of all this is a choice bit of history concerning the land, that will interest the curious. It was a plot granted to Anthony Portuges, a free negro, by Governor Peter Stuyvesant before the English conquest of New York. Governor Nicolls, in 1667, prefaced a series of confirmations of ground briefs in the following language : " Whereas, there was heretofore, that is to say, in the years 1659 and 1660, several grants made by the Dutch Governor, Petrus Stuyvesant, unto certain free negroes, for several small parcels of land lying upon the Island Manhattas, along the highway, near unto the said Governor's bowery," etc. — Lib. 2, pp. 1 19-132. These confirmations were then entered with minute descriptions, boundaries, etc. There were nine of the plots, and they extended from Art street — now As- tor Place — to Prince street. It seems that the ground briefs of the Dutch governors were conveyed in the name both of the States General and the West India Company, and, in view of the phraseology of the third article of the surrender of 1664. were indisputable sources of title either with or without a confirmation.
Before and during the Revolution the nearest neighbor of Jacob Sperry on the north was Andrew Elliot, Collector of the Port of New York under
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS 9
the crown, from 1764 to 1783, who held furthermore the office of superin- tendent general during the war, and with the mayor and a magistrate of police administered the civil government of the city ; he was lieutenant- governor of New York appointed by the king from 1780 to 1783; and the governor from April 17 to November 25, 1783, succeeding Robertson. He was the third son of Sir Gilbert Elliot, Baronet, Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland. His famous country estate embraced many acres, the land ex- tending from Art Street to the edge of the Brevoort farm, about Tenth Street, and east and west from the Bowery road to Fifth Avenue. He also had a city home of no little elegance in Pearl Street.
The mansion he built near Ninth Street, on the site of what was after- ward Stewart's dry goods store, fronted the Bowery road, although it was so far back from that dusty thoroughfare that Broadway, when cut through, clipped its rear porch. It was fashioned after an old French chateau, its geography most bewildering, and was notable for its spacious as well as numerous apartments, its odd-looking turrets and picturesque gables. It was painted in aesthetic yellow. Its grounds were elaborately cul- tivated and very attractive. It was approached from the Bowery road ; but Sandy Lane hovered along its southern boundary, leading from the Stuy- vesant homestead through what was soon to be called Art Street, and in a winding route across the island to the little village of Greenwich, on the Hudson. While the Revolutionary war was in progress this beautiful home was the resort of all that was distinguished in civil and military New York. Lord Cathcart, afterward earl, was in 1779 here married to Col- lector Elliot's daughter Elizabeth. The wife of Lord Stirling, who was the sister of Governor William Livingston, of New Jersey, with her daughter Kitty, were in New York by special permission of the British authorities, and the guests of Mrs. Robert Watts during the month of August, 1778. They were entertained, despite the fact that Lord Stirling was an officer in the Continental army, on more than one occasion by the Elliots at this country seat, the young ladies of the two families being intimate social friends. It so happened that Lady Kitty was married to Colonel William Duer, at Baskinridge, New Jersey, in 1779, about the same time that Miss Elliot became Lady Cathcart. Another daughter of Andrew Elliot married James Jauncey, one of the founders of the New York Chamber of Commerce. This splendid Elliot property was owned and occupied by Baron Poelnitz at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, who sold it in 1790 to Robert Richard Randall, the founder subsequently of the "Sailors' Snug Harbor" charity. It was his dwelling-place until his death in 1801, when it was given by his will for
10
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS
the support of aged, infirm, and worn-out seamen. He directed the build- ing of an edifice within the grounds, but his executors found the land in- creasing rapidly in value, promising an immense revenue, and decided that the legacy would better serve the poor sailors if the Home itself was located elsewhere rather than in the centre of a great city. Thus, after much con- sideration, it was, in 1833, erected on the northern shore of Staten Island. As the estate could not be sold, long leases were given for building purposes — even Stewart's great store stands on leased ground.
A portion of Vauxhall Garden was appropriated for amusement purposes for some years after Lafayette Place was improved. Manypersons now living remember its antique entrance from Broad- way, and, later still, its leafy at- tractions at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Eighth Street. Much is forgotten in a half-century. One eminent gentleman tells us of the pretty country places along the Bowrery road below Fourteenth Street, with their hedges and flower-gardens, as they appeared to his boyish eyes before Fourth Avenue was cut through from the Bowery to Union Square. He de- scribes the sand hill that Broadway encountered near Ninth Street, and demolished in its northerly course — it was lowered some ten feet — and tells how the corporation left the work for a long time in a rough and unfinished condition, and that on one occasion he was overturned in a carriage while passing that way in returning from the opera.
While Broadway and Fourth Avenue in their progress, with the cross-streets between, were holding a jubilee of destruction — pretty farm- houses, stables, fruit orchards, flower-gardens, rear porches and lover's
MAP SHOWING LOCATON OF LAFAYETTE PLACE.
A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS II
walks tumbling promiscuously into the mass of ruins, from which money was to spring forth, growing like the golden trees in the fable, to enrich posterity — Lafayette Place was quietly making for our readers this little chapter of history. Three churches, flying from the crowded city below, lighted and lifted their spires within its borders, adding immensely to its reputation for respectability. St. Bartholomew's (Episcopal) Church was opened for worship in 1836 on the opposite side of the way from the Middle Dutch Church. It had seventy-three members, and the Rev. Charles Vernon Kelley was its rector. He was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Balch in 1838. The church grew rapidly, and its congregation was soon quoted as one of the most wealthy and fashionable in the city. The edifice was the scene of more weddings during the first thirty years of its existence than any other of its time. Rev. Dr. Cooke succeeded Dr. Balch, and is still the rector of the same church organization, now wor- shiping in a new structure on Madison Avenue, corner of Forty-fourth Street. The site of the old church building in Lafayette Place is at pres- ent occupied by the Roman Catholic Mission of the Immaculate Virgin.
A quaint little church edifice belonging to the Presbyterians was, in 1842, brought, stone by stone, from Murray Street, where it had stood since 18 12, and re-erected in Eighth Street, fronting Lafayette Place. Its first pastor had been Rev. John Mason ; its second, Rev. William Snodgrass, from 1823 to 1832; its third was Rev. Thomas McAuley, who occupied the pulpit from 1833 to 1845. The building was then leased successively to several church organizations, and finally, in 1849, t0 tne "Church of the Mediator," under the rectorship of Rev. Francis L. Hawks. A few years later the Catholics bought it, and organized St.' Ann's Parish, under the charge of John Murray Forbes, D.D., an Episcopal divine, who, in 1849, m company with Doctors Newman, Manning, and others, entered the Church of Rome, and who, ten years later, returned to the Protestant Episcopal Church and was subsequently appointed dean of the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. He was succeeded in St. Ann's Church by Right Rev. Mgr. Thomas S. Preston, V. G., also an Episcopal clergyman, who became a Roman Catholic at the same time as Dr. Forbes, and who was made a priest in 1850. He was soon afterward appointed vicar-general and chan- cellor of the diocese of New York, and is distinguished as an author. When the building became too small for St. Ann's increasing congregation it was abandoned and given over to secular uses.
Among the historic homes in Lafayette Place that of William B. Astor, directly opposite La Grange Terrace, is one of the oldest and most
12 A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS
interesting. He had a large household, and the mansion seems to have been designed with special reference to the perfect comfort of every in- dividual member. Its broad front, as shown in the sketch, was well balanced by corresponding depth. Its decorations were elaborate. This beautiful, old-fashioned residence was the scene, in its palmy days, of many handsome and memorable dinner-parties and balls. In the rear was a bright-colored garden, a commodious stable, and a private riding gallery built by Mr. Astor for the exclusive use of his family. One of the curi- osities of the house is a mammoth safe, built into the foundation, which, during the Wall Street excitement of 1861, was the recipient of money from the banks to the amount of millions, brought up in trunks from the lower part of the city for safety. During a long period Mr. Astor could have been seen every morning at nine and one-half o'clock in Lafayette Place, walking with alacrity to his office in Prince Street. He was devoid of ostentation, tall, well formed, gentlemanly and polished though retir- ing in his manners, and always faultlessly dressed. His wife was the ac- complished daughter of General Armstrong, of Revolutionary renown, and a descendant through her mother of the Livingstons and Schuylers, of colonial New York. After her death Mr. Astor removed to a house in the upper part of the city.
The severely plain-looking granite home of the Sands family, adjoining that of Mr. Astor, will be observed in the sketch. It was built by the well-known merchant, Austin Ledyard Sands, nephew of Joshua Sands — Collector of the Port from 1799 to 1801 — and a step-son of General Eben- ezer Stevens. One of the distinguishing characteristics of this gentleman was that he never wore an overcoat at any season of the year or in any weather. Of his sons, who grew to manhood under this roof, were Dr. A. L. Sands, the Newport physician ; Samuel Stevens Sands, a Wall Street banker, who married the daughter of Benjamin Aymar ; and William R. Sands, who married the daughter of Hon. Samuel B. Gardiner, proprietor of Gardiner's Island.
The homes in La Grange Terrace were singularly attractive for more than a quarter of a century. Nearly all of them possess elements of national interest, and each one would furnish valuable material for a chap- ter of history. Washington Irving spent several winters at number 33 with his relative, Irving Van Wart, who made that house his dwelling-place. Mr. Van Wart was a descendant of one of the captors of Major Andre, and his son married the daughter of Marshall O. Roberts. The house, number 43, in the northern end of the row, was the home of Hon. David Gardiner, whose beautiful daughter Julia was married from there in 1844
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13
to John Tyler, President of the United States, the only instance in Ameri- can history of a President's marriage during his term of office until the recent nuptials of President Cleveland. The engagement of President Tyler had been kept a profound secret for some three months, and no one but the immediate relatives and friends witnessed the marriage ceremony
LAFAYETTE PLACE HOME OF MR. WILLIAM B. ASTOK,
The Home of the Sands Family.
at the Church of the Ascension, in Fifth Avenue, corner of Tenth Street. The wedding breakfast was served in the Gardiner home in La Grange Terrace, after which the President and his bride drove down Broadway in an open barouche drawn by four white horses, and embarked for Wash- ington on a ship of war in the harbor. The public knew nothing of the wedding, nor even that the President was in the city, until enlightened by
14 A NEGLECTED CORNER OF THE METROPOLIS
the guns of the forts and shipping as he departed. Those who saw him driving with his bride did not awake to consciousness until they read the newspapers next morning. Julia Gardiner had, not long before her romantic marriage, returned from Paris, where she and her father had re- ceived marked attention, and had been presented at the French Court. Her father was one of the six gentlemen instantly killed by the explosion of a gun on the steamer Princeton, near Mount Vernon, while on a pleasure trip down the Potomac by invitation of the President.
The home of Governor Edwin D. Morgan, reverently remembered for his efficiency in raising and equipping the 220,000 troops New York con- tributed to the defense of the Union in our late war, stood next door to that of Washington Irving. At the exciting period of his election to the gubernatorial chair he was forty-eight years of age, tall, well proportioned, and a vigorous thinker as well as actor in public affairs.* He had already been ten years a State senator, and after serving from 1859 to l^3 as governor of New York, was elected to -the Senate of the United States, remaining there six years. In 1865 he declined the secretaryship of the Treasury, offered him by President Lincoln. During a part of his pub- lic career, when not in Albany or Washington, he lived in historic Lafayette Place. The house adjoining Governor Morgan's on the north was the home of John Jacob Astor, the eldest son of William B. Astor. Under this roof was subsequently founded the Columbia Law School. The next house beyond was the residence of Franklin H. Delano, a partner in the great house of Grinnell, Minturn & Company, and a son-in-law of William B. Astor. The home of Mrs. Mactier, whose daughter married the son of the rich importer, David Hadden, stood between those of Delano and Gardiner. At Number 45 lived Colonel Bayard Clarke, at one time member of Congress, whose beautiful island at Schroon Lake is so well known 'to tourists in the Adirondacks. His northerly neighbor in Lafayette Place was an English gentleman, Matthew Wilks, the husband of one of Mrs. Walter Langdon's daughters, who has a stately mansion and large estates in Canada, known as " Cruickston Park." Later on, this Lafayette Place home was occupied by the Russian Consul, Mr. de Nottbec, whose wife was also a daughter of Mrs. Langdon. Mr. de Nottbec went out riding one morning, and was thrown from his horse and instantly killed. In a large house at the end of the terrace lived the distinguished physician, Dr. John F. Gray. He was a spiritualist, and had a seat placed every day at meals for his de- ceased wife. The property belonged to Charles Astor Bristed, grandson of John Jacob Astor, who subsequently made it his home. He is best
* Magazine of Amoican History, vol. xiv. pp. 288.
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15
remembered as an eccentric litterateur, writing under the name of " Carl Benson." He married the daughter of Henry Brevoort, and, after her death, one of the notable Sedgwick ladies of Stockbridge.
On the corner of Astor Place, with its imposing doorway and frontal in Lafayette Place, was the fine old-fashioned brick mansion built by John
JOHN JACOB ASTOR, 1763-1848.
The Founder of Astor Library.
Jacob Astor, the elder, for his daughter, Mrs. Walter Langdon. Its drawing-room was finished in carved wood. It had a grand ball-room, decorated in white and gold, with Watteau figures on the panels, and an entrance hall of princely breadth lighted from stained-glass windows, and one of the handsomest staircases in the country. A high wall, both in
the rear and at the side of the dwelling shut the beautiful
grounds
from
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the street. Mrs. Langdon after awhile went abroad to live, and never returned to New York. Her son, Eugene Langdon, who married the daughter of Rawlin Lowndes, occupied the house ; they were the parents of the celebrated beauty, Miss Marion Langdon. Mrs. Eugene Langdon subsequently married Major Philip Schuyler. Woodbury Langdon also resided here for a time. His wife was the daughter of Isaac C. Jones. Walter Langdon, the younger, who married Catharine Livingston, built the house on the opposite side of Lafayette Place, now standing next to Brokaw's clothing store, where he dwelt for many years; his house was hedged in on the south by Disbrow's Riding School, where the young men and maidens of thirty years ago learned the art of riding ; and where a large horse, made of boards and painted for a sign, was the admiration of the children of the period. Langdon was a leader in social life, and now owns the old Hosack place at Hyde Park on the Hudson. Francis R. Boreel, a Dutch nobleman, who was chamberlain to the King of Holland, married Sarah, the eldest daughter of Mrs. Walter Langdon, and took up his abode in the old Langdon home for a few years. When he re- turned to Holland, Madame Boreel became attached to the Queen's household, and on intimate terms with her Majesty; and their children all married into the nobility. This Langdon home, which, like a mirror, seemed to reflect the personality of its inhabitants, passed away about the year 1875, and upon its broad site, as if in natural sequence, arose a curiously significant institution. The property had been pur- chased by Orlando B. Potter, who erected a monster building, seven stories high above ground, and two stories below the surface of the street, that was immediately occupied by the great printing establishment of J. J. Little & Co. Thus the soil so prolific in history sustains the com- plex machinery by which history is placed monthly before millions of readers in every part of the land. Here the art of printing has been studiously cultivated, and brought to a degree of excellence rarely if ever before reached, as exemplified in the typographical beauty of The Maga- zine of American History, with its exquisitely printed historic illustrations — proof positive that an artistic sense may thrive among whirling presses as well as in the studio.
John Jacob Astor, whose remarkable career had shaped the destiny of Lafayette Place, died in 1848. Every intelligent American is familiar with the story of his arrival in New York in 1783, at the age of twenty, and of the consummate skill with which he thenceforward carved his own for- tunes, independent of capital, connections, or influence, until he became the richest man of his day in the United States. His investments in city
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real estate doubled and trebled on his hands ; his wealth increased in similar ratio to the growth of New York, and his means contributed im- measurably to the growth of New York. He was a man of interesting personal appearance, his serious features bearing the impress of genial sagacity. He was fond