Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook Vol. 076 1991

Dutchess County Historical Society Year Book Volume 76 1991

The Dutchess County Historical Society Yeflr Book (ISSN 0739-8565) has been

published annuany since 1915 by the Dutchess County Historical Society, Box 88, Poughkeepsie, New York 12602.

Individual copies may be purchased through the Society. Selected earlier Year Books are also available.

The Publications Committee is now soliciting articles for the 1992 Year Book.

Articles should be no longer than 7500 words of double-spaced typescript.

Inclusion of photographs or other illustrative material is encouraged.

Manuscripts, books for review, and other correspondence relevant to this publication should be addressed to:

DUTCHESS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Publications Committee Post Office Box 88

Poughkeepsie, New York 12602 £dz.for.. Carol S. Kushner fdz.£orz.¢J Co77777tz.ffee.. Mary Ann Bruno, Elizabeth Daniels,

Eileen M. Hayden and Mary Lou Jeanneney J77dcxcr.. Eileen M. Hayden

The Society encourages accuracy but cannot assume responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by contributors. © copyright 1992 by the Dutchess County Historical Society All rights reserved.

The Dutchess County Historical Society was formed in 1914 to preserve and share the county's rich history and tradition. The only county-wide agency of its kind, the Society is an active leader and promoter of local history in Dutchess County. Principal endeavors include the publishing of historical works, and the collection and safe-keeping of manuscripts, artifacts, and other priceless treasures of the past. The Society has also been instnrmental in the preservation of two pre-Revolutionary landmarks, the Clinton House and the Glebe House, both in Poughkeepsie. In addition, the Society has an educational outreach program for the schools of Dutchess County.

The Society offers its members a variety of activities and special events throughout the year. For further information on membership, please contact the Society at Box 88, Poughkeepsie, New York,12602, or telephone (914) 471-1630.

Table of Contents MATTHEW VASSAR, 1792-1868: MORE THAN A BREWER Elizabeth A. Daniels l^7HY MR. BEARDSLEY CAME TO DUTCHESS COUNTY Janet E. Nugent

THE G. H. FORD TEA coMPAp`rv: MONUMENT To A WOMAN'S BUSINESS SKILLS .

Jane Dupree Begos DR. CORNELIUS OSBORN REDISCOVERED Brian L. Altonen EDVARD BECH: CITIZEN of POUGHKEEPSIE, 1852-1873 V. Bech Rambusch with Walter Averill

VASSAR BRICKMAKING in the STATE of NEW YORK Robin Lucas OFFICERS and TRUSTEES, STAFF MUNICIPAL HISTORIANS of DUTCIIESS COUNTY ...................... 71 HISTORICAL SOCIETIES of DUTCHESS COUNTY ......................... 72

INDEX

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MATTHEW VASSAR 1792-1868:

MORE THAN A BREWER Elizabeth A. Daniels Elizabeth A. Daniels specialized in Victorian 1.iterature while teaching for thirty~eight years at Vassar Conege, where she also held various deanships.

Following her retirement in 1985, she becane Vassar College historian.

This worlc was published in a catalogue to honor Matthew Vassar on his 2oothbirthday.

The year 1992 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of a remarkable selfmade man, Matthew Vassar, who at age sixty-nine, with no previous experience as an educator, endowed and founded a private college for women. It was the most unexpected and controversial accomplishment of a feisty Poughkeepsie business and civic leader's career. In 1861, public education was not mandatory in the United States. There were very few high schools for either sex, and almost no real colleges for women. Yet that year Vassar, with no more formal education behind him than a meager two or three years of grammar school, out of the intel1ectual blue founded Vassar Female College, where women might experience the same serious educational challenge as their brothers who went to Yale, Harvard, or Brown. Once he had decided to use much of his large, self-made fortune to achieve this end, he worked without stopping. His contributions to the education of American women constitute a unique achievement with national and international implications.

Vassar was a complex man who until late in life had many civic, cultural, and economic irons in the fire, but the education of women was not one of them. ``Progress is my motto," he wrote in a speech prepared for his college trustees

shortly before he died, and that phrase is an indication of the open attitudes and plainspeaking that characterized his activities on many fronts. He was a practical man who had a compulsion to create something of lasting value for the human race that would endure after his death. He struggled for a few years to decide what that something should be, weighing one possibility against another and listening to the conflicting advice of the many acquaintances and friends who were eager to help him spend his money.

Matthew Vassar emigrated from England in 1796 at the age of four with his parents, Ann and James Vassar, his four siblings, and some relatives. His family had lived near Norwich in East Anglia, England, where he was born on April 29,1792. Like other immigrants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Vassar's parents came to America with the idea of striking out anew. ``They were the first of the Family name that left their Fatherland and were induced to / seek this new Western continent more for the love of civil and religious freedom

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than from any pecuniary consideration," wrote Matthew Vassar in an unpub1ished manuscript. In England the Vassars were members of the independent, non-conforming church, and they earned their modest livelihood in farming, brewing ale, and brick-making.

Not too many months after they arrived in the United States, the family group put down stakes in Dutchess County, on Wappinger's Creek, a few miles from the Hudson River. Not until Matthew's uncle, Thomas Vassar, returned to Norfolk a year later to bring back some English barley, however, was the family able to begin its modest brewing enterprise. In 1801 James Vassar sold his farm and settled in the center of Poughkeepsie to brew ale.

By 1804, young Matthew, by his own account in his short autobiography, had had typhus fever three times and had been more than once at the verge of death.

His family had moved from one place to another in Poughkeepsie three times that he could remember, and he had gone to ``Night School" to one Gabriel Ellison, a schoolmaster with a temper, who on one occasion disciplined him by striking him on the head with a ruler, ``flooring" him. At that, Matthew Vassar got up, ``sent an Ink Stand at [the schoolmaster's] Yellow Breeches," and was dismissed. His father dealt with him harshly, his mother ``interceded," and, "to sum it all up," he received almost no formal education thereafter.

Vassar couldn't remember, when writing his autobiography, whether the time of his great escape from the tyranny of his father was during the spring of 1806 or 1807. His father intended to apprentice Matthew to a tanner since he did not seem to wish to join the family brewing enterprise. Matthew found the prospect of being a tanner completely unacceptable and, aided by his mother, who accompanied him part of the way along his escape route, he ran away from home.

Steamboat service on the Hudson River was organized by Robert Fulton in 1807, but Matthew Vassar went by a small boat across to a landing near Balm Town (now Balmville), north of Newburgh. There he encountered a friendly storekeeper named Butterworth, who agreed to pay him a stipend of $300 a year for assisting in the family business while Matthew lived in his employer's house.

After working diligently in this first position, he moved on to one with more responsibhity and more income, with a man named Daniel Smith. In 1810, as a young man of 18 with $150 cash in his pocket, he was ready to return to Poughkeepsie. Now, having proved himself, he willingly agreed to join his father and his older brother, John Guy, in the brewery business.

In 1811 the Vassar brewery, then located on Vassar Street, was destroyed by a fire visible up and down the river. The day after the fire, John Guy went down into a brewery vat to see what the situation was and what beer remained, and he suffocated from the fumes of carbonic acid. Matthew Vassar's father, James, was ruined financially and greatly saddened at the loss of his oldest son. He never fully recovered from these tragic occurrences. Matthew thereafter considered it his responsibility to undertake the guardianship of his brother's two sons, Matthew, Jr., and John Guy, Jr., although he did not officially adopt them. Now Matthew started brewing independently in a part of an old dye house that belonged to his sister Maria's husband, George Booth, an immigrant from Yorkshire, England who was the first manufacturer of woolen cloth in Dutchess County. Vassar's brewery, partly subsidized by Booth, was advertised as M. Vassar & Co.

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Word came in the spring of 1812 that an English warship was cruising off the Staten Island Narrows and that an attack on New York was imminent.

Recruiting offices enlisted volunteers, and at this point, young Matthew joined up as a sergeant in the local fusilier's company. He was serving as aide-de-camp to General John Brush when orders came from New York Governor Tompkins to march forthwith to Staten Island. Presumably Vassar was involved only in the preliminaries of this episode, as the fall found him renting a northeast basement room in the county courthouse, under the sheriff's office, and opening an oyster saloon and restaurant. (Oysters were all the rage in Poughkeepsie at this time.)

And so he peddled beer by day and ran the oyster saloon at night. He also began diversifying his investments and bought a patent-right for machinery for shearing cloth from Peter Cooper (later founder of Cooper Union) for $300 in 1812.

In 1813 Matthew Vassar, 21 years old, attempted to vote for the first time in the fall election. His vote was challenged, however, because he was an alien. He took advantage of this decision to escape the draft and six months of camp life.

He was thus afforded the opportunity to stay at home and enlarge the business of his brewery, still called M. Vassar & Co., but now extended into a partnership with Thomas Purser, a prosperous, but ailing, Englishman. A new, more elaborate brewery building was then built on the Vassar Street site of the one that had burned down.

Feeling established and secure, Matthew decided to propose marriage to Catharine Valentine of Fishkill, and after they were married in 1814, they rented a small residence for $40 a year on what is now the corner of Noxon and Academy Streets, in the village of Poughkeepsie. His father, thinking $25 would have been enough to pay for rent, rebuked him for his extravagance. (Our chances of ever knowing more particulars about the courtship or domestic details of the marriage were sharply reduced when Matthew Vassar, Jr., not conscious of the needs of history, sold most of Vassar, Sr.'s papers to the ragman after his uncle's death, thereby increasing the value of the estate!)

Purser's interest in the brewery was sold in 1815 to J. M. and N. Conklin, Jr. James Vassar was now trying to make a financial comeback manufacturing bricks, and when Purser left the firm, he assisted James in trying to sell them.

For Matthew Vassar, this decade had its ``ups and clowns," as he wrote in his autobiography. (He covered the period from 1815 to 1845, in fact, in one sentence, dismissing it as ``filled up with the ordinary buisness [sic] relations with its various phases." In his business correspondence, however, the story of the prosperous rise of a self-made man is quite clearly defined, and we glimpse bits and pieces of daily life in those times.) At age 27 in 1819, for example, Matthew Vassar was elected trustee of the village of Poughkeepsie, which around that time had a population of 5000. He broke his leg in 1821 in New York City and was laid up at home for six months. On top of that, he had two attacks of typhoid fever between 1815 and 1820. No wonder he spent the winter of 1822 in New Orleans, where presumably he ha.d business interests and had begun the national expansion of his brewery. Upon his return, he was laid up again for the whole of 1823 with a cold. Yet that same year, on February 4, he was well enough to be made a functioning member of Fire Company #3 of Poughkeepsie.

We know from newspapers that in 1824 the Dutchess County Colonization Society was formed for ``colonizing the free people of colour with their consent

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and choice," and that Matthew Vassar was designated as the recording secretary.

The papers also described the events of the holiday in August 1824 when General Lafayette, visiting the United States for a year, sailed up to Albany from New York City on the Jfl77tcs Kc77f and stopped at Poughkeepsie for a breakfast

visit. He was driven around the village in a barouche and ate at the Poughkeepsie Hotel in the company of the local elite, of whom Matthew Vassar was by then one.

The Conklin/Vassar brewery partnership was dissolved in 1829, and in 1832 Matthew entered into a new partnership with his nephews, Matthew and John Guy, continuing M. Vassar & Co. Vassar drew up a will in 1831, apparently contemplating the possibility of a trip to England, which did not, however, materialize.

During the next five years business opportunities mushroomed for Vassar and others, only to be followed by a time of economic depression, which Vassar mentioned in his journal for 1837, noting that he was weathering it. Among the growing enterprises with which he was identified were the incorporation of the Poughkeepsie Savings Bank in 1831, in which he took a prominent lead, and the formation of the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company in 1832, of which he was a subscriber/shareholder and director. The Farmers and Manufacturers National Bank was chartered in 1834, and Matthew Vassar, who later became its president, joined its board. In 1835 he was elected president of the village of Poughkeepsie on the ``Improvement" ticket. (Evidently, Vassar had become an American citizen, or was at least no longer considered an alien.) The "Improvement" Party vitalized public resources in the village, reorganizing streets, mapping districts, and building public utilities.

The Vassar Brewery built a new brick building down on the riverfront above Main Street dock in 1836. The company now had two branches in Poughkeepsie, one in New York City, and one in Lansingburgh, New York, near Albany. The new waterfront building was something of a phenomenon, three and four stories high, 200 feet by 50 feet, capable of producing 50,000 barrels per annum. In February 1837 Vassar's ale, made in the English tradition with hops and barley, was selling from $5.50 to $6.00 a barrel. In 1837, also, Matthew Vassar took over

the bankrupt business of Charles Vassar, his brother, which made bricks known as ``Poughkeepsie Stretchers" at a brickyard, on what later came to be known as Brickyard Hill at the east end of Poughkeepsie.

The most salutary event of the '40s for Vassar's future was the return to Poughkeepsie from Virginia of Lydia Booth, his step-niece, a successful schoolteacher and proprietor of a girls' seminary there. Having taught for 10 years or so in Tappahannock and Fredericksburg, Virginia, Booth was called back to Poughkeepsie in the mid-'40s to succeed a Mrs. Congdon, who had run a popular ladies' seminary in the village. First occupying premises at Uhion Square, Booth then moved to a building owned by Matthew Vassar on Garden Street, and called her school the ``Cottage Hill Seminary." In his autobiography, Vassar credited his niece with first turning his mind towards ``the erdarged education of women."

At this time the Baptist Society built a church on Lafayette Place at a cost of $20,000; one half the sum was donated by Matthew Vassar, who also gave the land. Vassar was very influential in the affairs of the Poughkeepsie Baptists, but more in the temporal aspects than religious ones.

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One of the most important commitments Matthew Vassar ever took on was the development of the Hudson River Railroad beginning in 1842. It is hard to imagine what it must have been like for Poughkeepsians whose business interests depended on transportation to other areas, as Vassar's did, to have the river lie frozen until late into the spring, as it did in 1843, when Vassar couldn't move his supplies for making ale from New York to Poughkeepsie. The railroad was constructed late in that decade, but not until a controversy about its route had been resolved. There were two factions concerned about its placement, one which wanted a shore route, and the other, led by a Councilman Leonard, an interior route some 30 ndles east of the river. Not until the Hudson Highlands had been surveyed was it clear that the shore route was feasible and would be some five miles shorter and about an hour quicker. The owners of river sloop enterprises were, of course, altogether opposed to the idea of modernized land transportation. Eventually, in 1847, Matthew Vassar was named president of the Hudson River Railroad. By 1849 regularly scheduled trains were traveling between New York City and Poughkeepsie, making the run in an hour and three quarters!

Vassar had amassed a small fortune by 1845, climbed to the top of the ingroup in the Poughkeepsie power-structure, and made a number of enemies in the inner councils of the Baptist church, in which there was a great deal of internal feuding. He had built a beautiful town house on property across the street from the brewery at the comer of Main and Vassar Streets. However, he apparently thought it would be a good time for a change of scene. Although Catharine, his wife, wasn't much of a traveler, he decided to take her back to the England he had left as a small child and also to visit the continent. He engaged Cyrus Swan, a local lawyer who acted as his adviser and business agent, to go along and help him with arrangements as a kind of secretary.

The entourage of three set off for England on the Nor£Jz#77tberJ¢77d in May 1845

and stayed abroad until late fall. During this trip Vassar tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to retrace his roots in the north of England. More important was his experience in London visiting Guy's Hospital, founded by Thomas Guy, whom Vassar thought to be one of his ancestors. He was deeply affected. Then and there, he said, he began to dream of leaving a similar legacy to those who would follow him. When he reached Versailles in September, it was the equivalent of beginning to dream in technicolor; he began to see the importance of leaving a physical monument of some sort, and the bigger the better. But he wanted the monument to benefit mankind. He returned to the United States with a resolve to spend his fortune for such an enterprise.

Shortly after he returned, Vassar was involved in an undertaking to raise a subscription for a projected rural cemetery below the central village of Poughkeepsie, near the river. He purchased the desired acreage for $8,000 in a.dvance of raising the money, only to find that Poughkeepsie citizens were reluctant to go through with the project at that time. (One reason for this was undoubtedly the enmity he had incurred among his fellow Baptists.) As a result, he decided to keep the property himself and develop it as a country estate. In 1850 he engaged Andrew Jackson Downing to design a villa and several other structures, as well as to create gardens, on the property. Although the villa never was butt - probably because he decided to build a college instead - Vassar did have several Downing buildings constructed, including a gardener's cottage,

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where he lived in the summer, trekking out from his Vassar Street mansion across from the brewery to seek the romantic beauty of ``Springside." He altermated between houses from 1850 to 1863, and after his wife died in that year, he lived at Springside year-round. (It is hard to imagine him, after the spaciousness of a townhouse, sharing his gardener's cottage with his housekeeper, Amanda Germond, who acted as his hostess, and also with his estate manager, who lived there too.)

Vassar was engaged in several other new enterprises in the '50s. The Poughkeepsie Lyceum of Literature, Science, and Mechanic Arts had been incorporated in 1838. In December 1853 a local paper noted that Vassar was in the last year of his several-year presidency of the Lyceum when he addressed its members before the first course of lectures of the year. Later on in the season, Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke. It is interesting to connect this occasion with one in May 1867 when Emerson again came to Poughkeepsie and lectured -this time at Vassar College - on ``The Man of the World."

The year 1855 was important to Poughkeepsie and to Matthew Vassar in at least three ways. The ci.ty was incorporated that year; Matthew Vassar became president of the Poughkeepsie Aqueduct and Hydraulic Company, the purpose of which was to supply Poughkeepsie with good, clean water (important to beermaking as well as to the citizenry at large). And it was a year in which a prohibition law was passed (the Prohibitory Law of 1855, Chapter 231 of the Laws of 1855). This law prohibited the sale and keeping of liquors for any purpose in New York State, ``except as a medicine or for sacramental, chemical, and mechanical purposes." Myron Clark, who was later to become the father-in-law of the Vassar trustee Frederick Ferris Thompson (1885-1899), that year defeated Horatio Seymour for governor of New York. Clark favored prohibition, and Vassar lobbied as hard as he could in Albany to defeat it. The ban was repealed in 1857, with Clark saying it had been subjected to ``unscrupulous opposition."

Vassar's business meanwhile seems to have continued uninterrupted.

By 1860 Vassar had determined to endow a college for women as an enduring benefaction for posterity. He came at his ideas about endowing a woman's col1ege after a careful consideration of alternatives. There were many conflicting suggestions from advisors and his relatives, once he made known his ambitions regarding the founding of an institution which would serve as a memorial to the Vassar name. He was primarily influenced in his deliberations by two individuals, he said: his step-niece, Lydia Booth, who championed the cause of women, and a fellow Baptist, the Reverend Milo P. Jewett, an educator from the South who moved to Poughkeepsie before the Civil War. Lydia Booth died suddenly at age 51 in 1854, and her school closed. Matthew Vassar sold the property to Jewett in 1855, and Jewett reopened Booth's school that year. Many of the ideas incorporated into the planning for the college were conceived by Jewett, who was very ambitious and who acted also as an emissary for Vassar in his quest for information about higher education.

One of the most interesting aspects of Vassar's life is the maturing of his ideas about women's education. Once determined to found and endow a college, he left no stone untumed to find out experiences and useful ideas of educators. An important detail of this growth is that, when asked, he joined the board of trustees of the University of Rochester of which his friend, Martin P. Anderson,

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was president, and he leamed a great deal from his association with Anderson.

It was Jewett, however, who conducted many of Vassar's investigations for him about women and higher education; but it was Vassar himself who laboriously arrived at his final decision and thereafter wanted to implement it properly.

Vassar came to hold very strong convictions that women should be offered the same opportunity for education as men.

A few years before he formed his board of trustees in 1861, Vassar commissioned Thomas Alexander Tefft, an American architect, to draw up plans for the building of the college. Having submitted first drafts, Teffi was in the process of refining them when he died in 1859 of the Italian fever in Florence. Soon thereafter Vassar gave the commission to James Renwick, Jr., architect of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

On Febmary 26, 1861, Vassar established his college, an act which was to consurne his energies and enthusiasm for the rest of his life. He invited 28 men, half of them Baptist clergymen, to form a board of trustees and to ask the New York State legislature to incorporate Vassar Female College. The first meeting of the board was held at the Hotel Gregory in Poughkeepsie, and Jewett was elected president. Matthew Vassar donated the funds for the endowment of the college in a tin box. The gift consisted of securities totaling $408,000, as well as a deed of conveyance for a parcel of two hundred acres for the college site. Vassar said to the trustees on this occasion: ``It occurred to me, that woman, having received from her Creator the same intenectual constitution as man, has the same right as man to intellectual culture and development."

But Vassar had picked a time of economic strain to build his college. Fort Sumter was fired upon on April 12,1861. During the four years that Main Building was being erected, the prices of lumber and bricks fluctuated; Vassar's investments suffered losses; and William Harloe, the builder of Main and the Observatory, two of the four original buildings, declared bankruptcy.

Nevertheless, the college went up pretty much on schedule and was ready for the opening on September 26,1865.

In April 1862 Jewett went to Europe to study women's education. While he was away, Vassar himself took on some of the work of answering letters of inquiry about the college and dealing with relations with the outside world. He was also actively involved in planning a landscape for the campus and working out details about the heating system. Here his business experience came into sharp focus, and he kept a daily eye on the campus as a kind of works manager ex-officio.

Between December 1862 when Jewett returned and April 1864 when he resigned as president, tensions arose between Jewett and several of the members of the board of trustees, especially Matthew Vassar, Jr., who was treasurer of the college. Vassar, Jr. had never been enthusiastic about his uncle's decision to build a college, and he resented Jewett's role in convincing Vassar to build a college rather than a hospital. Jewett, frustrated by the decision not to open in the fall of 1864 when he thought the building would be ready, made some indiscreet criticisms of the senior Vassar in a letter to some of the trustees. His insubordination was discovered by Vassar, who asked for his resignation. Thereupon, the Reverend John Raymond, a member of the board with experience in running an

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educational institution for men, the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, was persuaded to become the president. It was he who really set the college in motion and helped it weather its problematic first several years. He chose most of the nine professors, except for Maria Mitchell, who had already been invited by Matthew Vassar to be professor of astronomy. He sent out a prospectus, and he presided over the admission of students and the development of the curriculum.

In January 1863 Catharine Vassar died at age 73. At that time Vassar gave up his town house and thereafter lived year-round in the gardener's cottage at Springside. He designed an impressive tombstone to decorate the grave of his wife and himself. It was a large marble acorn atop a column. He was reputed to have said to Vassar students who saw it (with reference to the old adage of the oak and the acorn): `You get the point." After the death of his wife, he removed Springside from public access. Its grounds had served as a pleasure garden for about a decade or so.

Vassar purchased the art collection of the Reverend Elias Magoon for the college in 1864 as a nucleus for the conection of the Vassar College Art Gallery and also gave the college a library that he acquired from Magoon, as wen as his own library. Surprisingly, although Vassar never went beyond the equivalent of about third grade and could not spell very well, he seems to have developed into a reader. Many of the contemporary and classical books that he passed on to the college show signs of his having read them.

Vassar was happy to entertain the first group of Vassar students at Springside four days after the college opened its doors to 353 young women in 1865. His nephew, John Guy, a bachelor and world traveler, conducted a tour of the grounds. Vassar, Sr. himself continued to go to the campus almost every day, and he took great pleasure in chatting with the students and enjoying their company and praise. In April 1866 the faculty voted that Matthew Vassar's birthday, April 29, should `foe entered on the calendar as a holiday to be armually observed by appropriate commemoration exercises and that it be known as Founder's Day.'' It was celebrated for the first time that year, although one day late.

Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book, had waged a one- person campaign, since the opening of the college, to get the word ``female" removed from the name of Vassar Female College. In an age just encountering Darwin's Origin of Species, published in 1859, the indelicate word seemed to her to have suggestive sexual overtones improper for a college for women. In 1867 the trustees and Vassar capitulated, and the legislature was petitioned to remove the offending word from the title. Thereafter the college was known simply as Vassar College.

Matthew Vassar died on June 23, 1868, while delivering his farewell speech to the board of trustees. He had chosen the annual meeting that year to submit his resignation as trustee, since he was satisfied that his mission was accomplished: the college was in good hands, and the future was secure. As he slumped over, he was caught by Benson Lossing, one of the trustees, but he was dead. After a respectful interval, the meeting was continued, and the rest of his speech was read.

Vassar College became the living monument that Matthew Vassar first saw in his mind's eye and spoke about to the trustees. It held the field alone for ten years and was subsequently joined by equally substantial sister colleges. It

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accommodated itself to the changing needs of women, whose lives in each generation differed from those of their forbears. During the Taylor era (1886-1914), it grew in size and stature. Subsequently, in the Maccracken years after World War I, it was transformed into a more modern institution. In the 1960s it began to accommodate men and search for new forms. Yet on its founder's 200th birthday in 1992 it remains the planted tree-of-life of Vassar's imagination: ``So with a college, it should possess the germ of life within itself; something that whl grow. Things made by human hands are generally without life; but educational institutions should be living entities, and rise in strength and grandeur by an inherent power."

This essay appeared in a catalog of the sane nane for a Vassar Cotlege exhfoition, March23-June7,1992. © Elizabeth A. Daniels

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WHY MR. BEARDSLEY

CAME T0 DUTCHESS COUNTY Tanet rdugent Japeft_ Nugent served as Dutchess County Historical Society Curator from 1986 to 1988 and her responsibilities included Glebe House interpretation

qpd p{ogramming. She is currently the Executive Director of the NortJchampton County Historical and Genealogical Society in Easton, Peunsyivania.

So much, and yet so little, is known about the Rev. John Beardsley, the first occupant of the Poughkeepsie Glebe House. Helen Wilkinson Reynolds wrote the best account of his life in her two-volume work on the history of Christ Church.

Twenty years later Howard P. Nash drew on Reynolds' work when he wrote about Beardsley's Masonic activities.1 More recent articles tend to draw on the work of these two authors, rather than presenting any new information. In the more than fifty years since Nash did his research, many more resources are available to historians, and a clearer picture of Beardsley's life is now possible.

A native of Cormecticut, The Rev. John Beardsley came to Dutchess County as a Church of England (Anglican) missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) in December 1766. The people of Rombout (Fishkill), Beekman, Charlotte (Nine Partners) and Poughkeepsie Precincts joined together in the can for the minister, and pledged money for part of his salary. The SPG paid the rest of his salary. Beekman and Charlotte soon dropped out, but he continued to serve the people of Fishkill and Poughkeepsie.

Beardsley helped raise the money to build Trinity Church in Fishkill (1768), which is still in use today, and Christ Church in Poughkeepsie (1774). Christ Church, although originally larger and more substantial than Trinity, has since been replaced. Beardsley was also instrumental in getting the glebe (the church farm) located in Poughkeepsie, rather than halfway between Fishkill and Poughkeepsie, as originally suggested. The Glebe House, on Main Street, is still standing, and open to the public as a museum, though it has been altered considerably since Beardsley left.

In the 1770's, with political unrest throughout the colonies, Beardsley, like many other Anglican ministers, sided with the mother country. Calling himself a Loyalist, but branded a traitor by the Patriots (or Rebels), he and his family were forced to leave Poughkeepsie in December 1777, eleven years after moving there. He, his wife, and five children, took a few possessions and went to British-occupied New York City2 There he obtained an appointment as Chaplain of Beverly Robinson's Loyal American Regiment for the remainder of the war.

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The Glebe House, 635 Main Street, Pougivkeepsie, built for Reverend Beardsley circa 1767. The photograph was taken circa 1898. Adriance Memorial Library, Local History Collection, Greater Pouglckeepsie Lf orary District.

After the peace of 1783, he, with thousands of other Loyalists, went to New Brunswick, Canada. He secured a position at Maugerville, and served that parish until his retirement in 1801. He died in 1809, at the age of 77.

One of the questions regarding Beardsley that has never been satisfactorily investigated was why he chose to leave a settled mission in Connecticut and move to Dutchess County, where there were no churches built for the Anglican congregations. The assumption seems to be that he was an ambitious missionary, looking for a new, fertile field to work. The evidence points to more mundane reasons for moving: family and money.

John Beardsley was the fourth of eight children of John and Keziah Beardslee of Stratford, (Parish of RIpton), Connecticut.3 Born in 1732, John and his brothers, at least, seem to have received an education,4 although John is the only one to have a college education. By 1754, the Beardslee family was fiving in Dutchess County. Although Beardsley went off to Yale College around 1756, there is evidence that he, too, lived in Dutchess County for a time. In a letter to the SPG in 1764 he writes that he had traveled to Dutchess County, ''...where I formerly had a considerable Acquaintence.``5

It isn't known exactly when the Beardslees moved, or if the father, John Beardslee, Jr., died in Connecticut or New York. There are no records for him in New York State, although the records do indicate that his wife Keziah, and the other seven children are in Dutchess County, primarily in Southern and Fredericksburgh Precincts, as early as 1754.6

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Beardsley entered Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, but in 1758, after two years, he left to finish his schooling at Kings College, New York City.7 This move was possibly precipitated by a religious dispute, since he was going to enter the Anglican ministry, and Yale was the conege of the established church in Connecticut. The Rev. Ebenezer Punderson, missionary to the Anglican Church in New Haven, invited Beardsley to become a lay reader. However, as this would mean Beardsley would miss chapel at the school, the President of Yale refused to give permission. This was not the first time President Clapp had caused problems for Anglican students, but many Anglicans continued to attend anyway.

In January 1761, Beardsley went to Groton, Connecticut, to meet with the wardens of the church there. The churches of Groton and Norwich each agreed to pay him £20 Connecticut per year after his ordination if he returned to serve the parish. Since he had little money, they agreed to advance him one year's salary, plus ff to defray the Charge of Inoculation (probably for smallpox) before he went to England. He remained in Groton until April, acting as lay reader and reading prayers.

On April 12, 1761, Punderson wrote to the SPG to recommend Beardsley for holy orders. Since Punderson left Norwich and Groton for New Haven, the former two had been without a minister, he wrote, and

...it has not been in my power until very L.ately to get a person who I thought Suitable, but now both I and that People are greatly rejoiced; that we have found So worthy a Man as the Bearer. Mr. John Beardslee to supply that vacant Mission. who has been a. Member of Kings College in New york and graduated by the Revd. & worthy Doct. Johnson President, & has for Some time been Reading Prayers & Sermons there to very good Acceptance. . ..Mr. Beardslee is of more than Sufficient Age for Holy Orders is a Person of an Unspotted Character & of an Excellent Temper & Disposition ,... bids fair for doing great Service .... 8

Dr. Johnson, in a letter of April 30, 1761, was a little more restrained. As the former rector of Stratford, Connecticut, he baptized John and his siblings, but his letter doesn't reflect any great familiarity with him. In his letter he states;

As to Mr. Beardsley, he had been two years educated at Newhaven College [Yale]; & came thence well recommended to me & was here under my direction in his studies, till he went a few months ago to read at Groton. He has conducted with much seriousness & Industry, & I believe wi]] be a very useful person.

Mr. Davies, another candidate for holy orders, he has ``known several years ,... " These two, plus Mr. Andrews, he recommends for orders, They hav (sic) been here with me these 10 days, & appear very well deserving the Characters [ineg.I of them. Much allowance needs to be made as to Learning(?) in [illeg.I they have been educated in such a [illeg.] as this, but theirs is doubtless such as will well qualifie them for the place they aim at. and they appear to have a very sincere & honest Zeal to do their utmost in promoting the Increase in tine Religion.9

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On June 3, 1761, Beardsley received his A.B. degree from Kings College in absentia.10 He and the two other candidates for holy orders, Thomas Davies and Samuel Andrews, took ship for England prior to commencement. On August 21, 1761, the SPG agreed to recommend Beardsley for Groton, Norwich and Stonington when he was in full orders, and on September 18 recommended he and the two others be received into the Society's service as missionaries.]t On August 23, 1761, Beardsley, Davies and Andrews were ordained to the deaconate, and the following day the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Secker, ordained them to the priesthood at Lambeth.12 0n October 6, John Beardslee signed a Missionary Bond for £20. He was licensed to perform the duties of a missionary in Groton, Norwich, Stonington and Preston in Connecticut in the Province of New England, and was authorized to receive his Majesty's Bounty of Twenty Pounds to help pay the cost of his passage back home, on the condition that he board ship for his mission within three months.13 0n March 26, 1762, the Rev. Punderson informed the SPG that ``The 3 young Gentlemen who lately went Home for Holy Orders, safely return'd ye End of Jany are very acceptable to their people...``]4 Beardsley took up residence in the Glebe in Groton on Feb. 22 of that year,15 having been traveling for the previous eight months. Shortly after taking up his duties in Connecticut, Beardsley started a family. Sometime between 1762 and 1764 he married Sylvia Punderson, daughter of his mentor, the Rev. Ebenezer Punderson, and by September of 1764 had one child. 16 It is not certain when Beardsley first had plans to minister in Dutchess County, but since there was no organized church there, he had no choice but to look for another parish in which to start his career. Candidates for holy orders in the Anglican Church had to go to England for ordination. They needed money to travel to England, and it also seemed a necessity to have a parish willing to hire them on their return. Groton and Norwich had settled parishes, with two churches and a glebe, and they advanced him money for the trip. The Anglicans in Dutchess County were not organized, had no vestry, and no churches. They could not offer Beardsley anything financially, so he agreed to serve Groton and Norwich.

The Rev. Samuel Seabury, Sr., of Hempstead, New York visited Dutchess County several times between 1756 and 1762, and wrote to the SPG that there was a need for a missionary there, but the people were too scattered for him to effectively unite and raise the money necessary for a minister. Besides, he had no intentions of leaving a settled parish and starting over in Dutchess County, and he died in 1764. But by late 1764 Beardsley had visited Dutchess County six times. According to the church wardens in Groton, he was gone two months every year,17 which probably meant that between January 1762 and September 1764 he made two trips a year, each a month long. Either he started going to Dutchess County when Seabury stopped, or Seabury stopped going because Beardsley was doing the missionary work. Beardsley continued to travel to New York until he was transferred there, and it was probably he who organized the people to unite and raise the money.

Things apparently went well at first for Beardsley in Connecticut, then in 1764, only two years after he started, problems began to surface. In September he wrote that eight of the church men at Groton purchased an additional 18 acres, already enclosed, for a Glebe, which Beardsley estimated should bring in about 3

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pounds a year in rent. Unfortunately, he soon lost three of the eight men to death and illness. Since these eight men apparently kept the church going financially, Beardsley feared for the financial future of the church. Beardsley enclosed the original 14 acre Glebe Lot and provided himself a house, at a cost to himself (presumably by way of a loan) of about £200 Sterling. If the people of Groton would be prompt in paying him, he complained, he could probably repay it. But he had never been able to collect more than £5 at one time, and feared that he would have to move shortly, "or Descend to Such measure for my Daily Support as will tend very much to bring both me and my profession into Contempt.``]8 Since his household was growing (with a wife and one child already, he contemplated a larger family) the financial outlook was bleak.

Beardsley wrote in that September letter that he had made six trips to Dutchess County, about 120 miles away, since settling in Groton in 1762. There, he told the SPG, he baptized more adults and infants than in his own mission.

While he did not mention his family there, or even bring up the subject of a transfer, he did hint at it when he told how the people there desired a settled minister, and were setting out to build a church and procure a glebe.

By June 26, 1765 both he and the church wardens at Groton received letters from the SPG. Although pleased with the intercession on his behalf, Beardsley still felt that the money would not be forthcoming from the Groton people. The Norwich people could not afford to raise any more money, so unless the SPG could increase his salary ''or provide [for me] Somewhere else (I mention it with the utmost Submission to that Venerable Body to whom I'm bound by the Strongest tie of Duty and gratitude) I shall soon be reduced to great streights if not to extreme poverty.``19

While Beardsley was obviously cultivating the people of Dutchess County, and hoping for an appointment there, he was realistic enough, and the financial situation apparently poor enough, that he was open to other avenues. Both Rye and Hempstead parishes in New York lacked a minister in 1765, and he was willing, with the Society`s permission, to travel to those places to see if they might accept him. The SPG, meanwhile, directed that a letter be sent to the Wardens & Vestry of Groton letting them know that if they were not going to be prompt in paying their minister, the Society would remove him.20 The following Spring the Churchmen of Dutchess County submitted a petition to the SPG for a missionary. The petition related how the late Rev. Samuel Seabury had visited them and tried to unite the people and raise support for a minister. The county was about 60 miles long, along the Hudson River, and about 20 miles wide (from the river to the Connecticut border). Although there were numerous inhabitants, they were scattered, as were the Churchmen, throughout the county. After many ineffectual attempts, they wrote, they finally raised the money to purchase a glebe, and promised £60 New York annually for a salary for the minister who would officiate at four different precincts alternately. It would be a very laborious, as well as expensive, mission, yet the Rev. Beardsley had visited from Groton, and ''has promised that with the approbation and consent of the Venerable Society he will accept our call and Officiate among us.``21

Only six days later Beardsley wrote to the SPG regarding the offer from Dutchess County. They promised him, he wrote, "a handsom (sic) Glebe & House, and a Title of Thirty three Pounds ten Shillings, Sterling per annum. ``22

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He also added that the ``Extent of the Country must render it very Expensive & fatiguing to perform the Duty...among that Scatered people.`` If the Society would permit him to move, and give him whatever support they thought proper, "I should esteem it much better than my present Situation.`` He concluded that he could not earn a living in Groton ''without using Such measures as will Disaffect Some of my People, & Render my Life Uneasy[.]`` In May he received the support of Dr. Samuel Auchmuty, rector of Trinity Church in New York City, a correspondent with the SPG. Dr. Auchmuty endorsed the move, commenting that the "poor man is starving where he is."23 From July through October 1766 there was a flurry of letters from Beardsley and the Wardens at Norwich and Groton to the SPG. In July 1766 Beardsley expanded on the problem of money. The people of Groton and Norwich each agreed to pay him £15 Sterling per year. Norwich always complied, but Groton never paid its full share, in spite of the fact that there were about 15 families there who had joined the Church since Beardsley started. The Norwich people were upset at the prospect of losing him, and would try to increase their share to £20. By this time it was clear that he wanted to leave Connecticut. He again enclosed a copy of the petition from Dutchess County. If the Society decided not to appoint him to Dutchess County, he requested that it please send him to Newburgh, New York, as the church there was asking hiln to come.24 The Church Wardens of Groton also wrote in July to explain their situation.

They were not wilfully withholding pay from Beardsley, but the people of the parish were undergoing serious financial woes. Besides, the Norwich people had drawn up arbitrary lines splitting the two parishes, and were raising subscriptions on both sides of the river, which Groton felt should be the dividing line.

They went to Norwich, but the Norwich people would not let them see the subscription list. However, Groton had heard that Norwich probably raised about £30, some, they felt, from people who should be subscribing to Groton. They explained, and asked for understanding, but if Beardsley left, they stated that they had survived before without a minister, and probably could do so again.25 The Wardens of Norwich wrote a few days later, saying they had a hard time getting the subscriptions paid, but they did, while Groton was the problem.

Norwich parish managed to raise an additional £5 per year, but they would want to have a larger share of Beardsley`s services.26 When Beardsley learned about Groton's letter, he wrote to the SPG. By checking the Grand List, which was the list used to determine taxes for the Colony, Ministerial and Poor Taxes, he came up with the following figures. At Groton, the subscribers numbered 44, and were in the Grand list for £2220.5.6-; churchmen but not subscribers numbered 18, for £1094.9. In Norwich, there were 45 subscribers, at £1493.8.6, and 9 professed but not subscribed at ff06.7.6. He left it to the Society to take it from there, but he implied that Groton's cry of financial woe was Out Of line.27

In November, Auchmuty recommended that since Beardsley was to move, he might as well go to Dutchess County, "where there is a fair prospect of doing good.`` The Dutchess County people put up a £1 ,000 bond, and agreed to allow Beardsley 40 shillings a month for house rent, until they purchased a Glebe and built a house. They seemed very fond of Beardsley, he wrote, and asked that he be permitted to spend the winter there. Finally, at the July 1766 SPG meeting the

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move was approved.28 0n December 20, Auchmuty wrote to Dr. Burton that Beardsley was to spend the winter in Dutchess .County and was going to bring his family over in the spring. ''1 shall keep their Bond, and take Care that they pay the poor man his Salary. He is not very bright, but is honest and industrious in his calling and I think he is now usefully employed, and worthy of the Society's notice." The Society agreed to pay Beardsley £30 Sterling a year in Dutchess County.29 By December 21, Beardsley was holding church services in the home of William Humfrey, and living in rented quarters. On February 9, 1767 he left for Groton, returning to Poughkeepsie with his family March 5.30 In January 1768, a year after Beardsley left, the church wardens of Groton again wrote to the SPG. According to them, Groton and Norwich originally agreed to pay £20 Connecticut each per year for a minister, who would also minister to Stonington and Preston. There was a provision, they said, that any people who conformed in Groton, Stonington and Preston should have their rates accepted as part of Groton's £20. The men of Groton purchased an additional 18 acres to add to the original Glebe of 14 acres, and Beardsley rented the land out.

It appears that Groton was always late in paying Beardsley, although they said it wasn't as bad as Beardsley intimated. They implied that since.Beardsley was receiving glebe rent, he should not complain about back pay, while it seemed that Beardsley expected to receive both his pay and his rent, a not uncommon arrangement for ministers. They intimated that he collected other monies which he refused (or neglected) to account for, and did not properly account for some funds from new members.31 They wrote the letter because of rumors that a new missionary might be appointed to Norwich. Wanting to share this minister, they tried one last explanation in order to remain in the good graces of the SPG. As for Beardsley's family, they continued in the Dutchess County area until about the time of the Revolution. Austin, a saddler, moved across the river to Orange County in the 1770's, and in 1774 signed as a member of the Committee of Safety and Observation in New Windsor (Orange County), New York. He supposedly made saddles and harnesses for Washington's army later.32 In 1777, Jehiel signed an Oath of Secrecy in Albany, New York, not very far from where his brother Obadiah lived, in Hoosick, New York. The following year he was elected as a member of the Albany Committee Chamber as ohe of eight representatives of Hoosick.33 The whole family appeared to have left Dutchess County before the Revolution. There is no mention of any of the Beardsleys in the church records of Christ Church, Poughkeepsie. The records of Trinity Church, Fishkill where they might have attended, are missing for that time.

By 1774 the country was splitting apart politically. Beardsley, along with most of the Anglican clergy, was a Loyalist who opposed the Rebels from the beginming. It was inconceivable for the clergy to turn against the King, who was not only their secular ruler, but the spiritual leader of the Church of England.

Between July 1776 and December 1777, the rebel authorities confined Beardsley, arrested him, forced him to flee and go into hiding, and called him before the local Committee several times. The vestry suspended church services even before the Declaration of Independence, due to the turbulence of the times. In December 1777, the local Committee for Detecting Conspiracies ordered Beardsley and his family to go into New York City, taking only food for a few days and necessary bedding. Gov. Clinton signed the order for his removal, and

20

he had to leave behind his home and possessions. As he later wrote, ``1 did not remove from Poughkeepsie to New York...of my own accord, but went by Constraint, being Sent away by the powers then prevailing. ``34 Being forced from his home by the Rebels was a bitter blow to Beardsley. His family was scattering, and he lost most of his property and land. Most of his family, and many of his friends, were in the other political camp. He worried about the future of his two congregations and the churches he had worked so hard to build. ``1 had great anxiety, and used much exertion in up Building and establishment of the Episcopal church in its infancy here ,... I have not forgotten the Sacred connection between us[.I ``35

Although the future looked bleak and uncertain, he could look back on his tenure in Dutchess County with pride, knowing that he had set the foundation for the Episcopal Church in that area. His move to Dutchess County was a success. He had a chance to be near his family for a while, and he even enjoyed a respite of financial security as he received his pay on time, and was able to purchase land.

ENDNOTES 1 Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, T7ze Records of azrz.s£ Cfe#rcJz, 2 Vol (Poughkeepsie, NY: Frank 8.

Howard, 1911 and 1916). Howard P. Nash, ``William Walter's Associate Officers in Grand Lodge," Transactions. The American Lodge of Research Free and Accented Masons, 2. (]aLn. 6,1936 May 28, 1936): 250-309.

2. StaLte o£ New York. Public Papers of George Clinton. First Goverpor of New York.1777-1795.1801-

1804, 10 Vol (New York & Albany: State of New York, 1900), Vol 11, 574. His wife was

Gertrude Crannell daughter of Loyalist Bartholomew Crarmell. Gertrude was his third wife, whom he married sometime between Oct. 1774 and October 21, 1775, when Bartholomew Crannell Beardsley was born. Nezo-York Hisforz.c¢Z Socz.crty, Vol VII of Cadwallader Colden Papers, 231, marriage license for John Beardsley, Oct. 1774. Reynolds, Records, Vol 2: 10.

3 The family name has been spelled Beardslee or Beardsley at various times. John changed from -lee to -1ey after returning from England in 1762, and most of his brothers seem to have adopted the spelling after that. Augustine (who later used the name Austin), born Feb. 9, 1726/7, baptized April 23, 1727; Obadiah, born Oct. 6, 1728, baptized Feb. 2, 1729; Patience, born Sept. 4, 1730, baptized Oct. 4, 1730; John, born April 23, 1732, baptized June 11, 1732; Jehiel born Jan. 9,1733/4, baptized Feb. 24, 1734; Eunice, born Nov. 8, 1735, baptized Nov. 9, 1735; Charles, born May 28, 1739, baptized Sept. 3, 1739; Paul, born March 10, 1742/3, baptized April 3, 1743. Town Vital Records (Barbour Collection), Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT, all births recorded at Stratford, CT, Vol LR5, 18, 43. Baptismal records of Christ Episcopal Church, Stratford, CT., Vol I - 1722 - Baptisms, pp. 5, 7-9, 11, 13, 15. All baptisms performed by Rev. Samuel Johnson.

4 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) Joumal Letter of John Beardsley, Dec. 8, 1769. Beardsley writes that ``he has found a proper person Mr. Austin Beardsley to teach school...having been strictly educated in the rules of the church, and can read and write plain English..."

5 SPG Letterbooks. John Beardsley to SPG, Sept. 26, 1764, Groton.

6 Dutchess County Records, Dutchess County Courthouse (DCC), Poughkeepsie, NY, Ancient Doculnents, #389 & #698. On April 5, 1755 Keziah Beardslee loaned Joseph Dewey £35 NY, due May 15, 1756. She filed a complaint agaLinst him in the May 1758 Court of Colnmon Pleas for nonpayment. In October 1758 she apparently filed a suit against him, and asked for £40 in damages. No further documentation has been found for Keziah. Clifford M. Buck, Poughkeepsie Tax Lists -Index, 2., and C"£ord M. Buck, Southern Tax Iists. 4ls_o Frfderic±burqh.

Pfez.Jz.pse arzd So#£Jzeflsf, 2, 23. Austin paid taxes in Poughkeepsie in 1754, and Southern Precinct

21

from 1758 to 1767; Obadiah in Southern from 1758 to 1774; ]ehiel in Southern in 1758, and 1761 to 1773; Charles in Southern from 1760 to 1766. The part of Southern they lived in was later known as Fredericksburgh. A. |udd Northrup, LL.D. TJze NorfJz"p-Nor#zrcfp Ge7!e#Jogy (NY: The Grafton Press, 1908), 23-24. Patience Beardslee seems to have married Moses Northrup of Pawling, Dutchess County, and after land problems, they returned to Connecticut about 1760.

Northrup doesn't document this information. Charles Lathrop Pack, TJzofflas HflfcJ! of Bar7zsf#bJc a So77cg of Hz.s Dcsce#cZ¢7zfs (Newark, NJ: The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of NJ,1930),177; aLnd Jchn S. Lawrence, The Descendants of Moses and Sarah Kjlham Porter (GIaLnd

Rapids, MI: F.A. Onderdonk, Printer, 1910), 144-45. Eunice' seems to have married Timothy Hatch on June 22,1755, and lived in Fredericksburgh Precinct possibly until 1779, but neither book gives documentation. Buck, So#£Jzer#, 10, 27 lists a Timothy Hatch on the tax rolls from 1765 to 1779. New-York Historical Society,1811. Vol XXIV: 455, Muster Rolls of New York Provincial Troops. Paul enlisted in Capt. Rea's New York Provincial Troops in June of 1762.

7 Yale University Library, New Haven, CT. Letter from Chief Research Archivist of Manuscripts and Archives. John Beardsley listed under ``Absence from College after the Vacation in the year beginning September 1758." SPG Letterbooks. Dr. Samuel Johnson to Rev. Dr. Bearcroft, April 30, 1761, Kings Con. N. York. ``As to M. Beardsley, he had been two years educated at New-haven College; & came well recommended to me..."

8 SPG Letterbooks. Rev. Ebenezer Punderson to SPG, April 12, 1761, New Haven.

9 SPG Letterbooks. Dr. Samuel Johnson to Rev. Dr. Bearcroft, April 30, 1761, Kings Coll., N.

York. Samuel Auchmuty, on May 2, 1761, also recommended Beardsley and Andrews. `Trom my little acquaintance with them, and their general good Characters, I imagine that they win be useful in that Government, and of service in promoting the Interest of true Religion, should the Society take them into their Service." Henry Barclay wrote to Dr. Bearcroft May 5, 1761, recommending Mr. Davies, but sent his letters with Bearsley (sic) and Andrews. ``They will all (I doubt not) be very Useful Ministers."

10 Records of Columbia University (formerly Kings College), New York City. He received an MA in 1768 from the Graduate Faculties.

11 SPG ]ournal. Aug. 21,1761, and Sept.18,1761.

12 Reynolds, Vol I: 267. The Bishop of London generally ordained all missionaries, since he had control of all the missions outside of England. But the See of London was vacant at the time, so the Archbishop of Canterbury ordained the three.

13 Fulham Papers, Lambeth Palace Library. Vol XXI: 66-67; Vol XXXIII: 12-13.

14 Kenneth Waiter CaL"eron, ed. The Church of Enaland in Pre-Revolutionarv Connecticut (Hartford, CT: Transcendental Books, 1976), 63. Punderson to SPG, March 26, 1762.

15 SPG Letterbooks. Church Wardens & Vestry of Groton to SPG, January 6, 1768. Cameron, TJ!e CJzttrcJz of £77gJ¢7?cZ, 114. Thomas Davies to SPG, April 13, 1762. Mr. Davies wrote that he

arrived home ``after a long & dangerous Passage..." Kenneth Waiter Cameron, ed. OJd Connecticut: Historical Papers on People, Places, Tradition, and Early Amalicanism (flaLltford, CT..

Transcendental Books,1976),195. ``.. .the Rev. Samuel Andrews. `retumed from England' -so writes the clerk of the vestry -`January 23d, Anno Domini 1762, missionary for 3 parishes viz.

North Haven, Wallingford and Chesire. . ."

16 SPG Letterbooks. John Beardsley to SPG, September 26, 1764, Groton. ``1 have now A wife and one Child..."

17 SPG Letterbooks. Church Wardens & Vestry of Groton to SPG, January 6, 1768.

18 SPG Letterbooks. John Beardsley to SPG, September 26, 1764, Groton. 19 SPG Letterbooks.

John Beardsley to SPG, June 26, 1765.

22

20 SPG Journal. June 25, 1765.

21 SPG Letterbooks. Daniel Robert, Bartholomew Crarmell et al to Revd. Dr. Daniel Burton, April 10, 1766, Poughkeepsie, NY. A subscription paper, dated April 2, 1766, has the names and pledges of 68 people, including John Beardsley pledged 8. This paper is preserved in NY. the ``Acompts of the Glebe for Poughkeepsie, in thewho archives of Christ Church, Poughkeepsie,

22 The Pound Sterling (£ St.) was the legal tender of England. The colonies all used pounds, but the value of the NY or Conn. pound, for example, was not the same as the pound sterling.

Thus, the Dutchess County people offer £60 NY, while Beardsley translates that to £33.10 St. per year for the English people.

23 SPG Letterbooks. John Beardsley to SPG, April 16, 1766, Groton. Samuel Auchmuty to Rev. Dr. Burton, May 5, 1766, NY. 24 SPG Letterbooks. John Beardsley to SPG, July 27, 1766, Groton. 25 SPG Letterbooks. Church Wardens & Vestry of Groton to SPG, July 28, 1766, Groton.

26 SPG Letterbooks. Church Wardens & Vestry of Norwich to SPG, August 4, 1766, Norwich.

27 SPG Letterbooks. John Beardsley to SPG, October 4, 1766, Groton.

28 SPG Letterbooks. Samuel Auchmuty to Rev. Dr. Hind, St. Anns, Westminster, November 12, 1766, NY. SPG Joumal At the July 18, 1766 meeting they agreed to ``obnge the Inhabitants of Poughkeepsie." At the October 17, 1766 meeting, they agreed that his yearly salary in Dutchess County would be ffio St., to commence when he left his former mission.

29 SPG Letterbooks. Samuel Auchmuty to Dr. Burton, December 20 (29?), 1766, NY. SPG Journal.

October 17, 1766.

30 Reynolds, Vol I,119-20, quoting from Parish MS.

31 SPG Letterbooks. Church Wardens & Vestry of Groton to SPG. January 6, 1768.

32 DCC, Ancient Documents, #5887, #5976, #5278 and #6813. Two complaints against Austin in September and October 1767 for unpaid bills; a complaint against Jehiel in 1767; a complaint filed by ChaLrLes ±n 1770. EdwaLrd M. Ruttenber, History of the Town of New Windsor

(Newburgh, NY: Printed for the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands, 1911), 57-59. Frederick Adams Virkus, ed. TJze Co77z7ze7zcZz.#m of Amerz.co71 Ge#caJo#zJ (Chicago,

IL, 1937) VI: 596 (no documentation given). Obadiah paid taxes until 1774, then moved to Hoosick, Renssalaer County, New York. Louis C. Jones, Ed., G7`ozuz.7iq ap I.7t £J!e Coopcr Country: Boyhood Recollections of the New York Frontier (S:yraLouse, NIY.. S:yracuse TJriiv. Press,

1965), 8-9. Obadiah later moved to Otsego County. Jehiel was in the county until about 1773, then moved up near Obadiah. William S. Pelletreau, History of Putnam County. NY (Phil.: W.W. Preston & Co., 1886, reprinted 1975), 154- 55. Deed filed in Liber C, Page 314, Orange County Courthouse, Goshen, NY. Charles bought land in Orange County in 1767. He later moved to Hardyston, New Jersey.

93 Tames Sndlivan, ed., Minutes of the Albany Committee of Correspondence 1775-1778 2. Vcr (A]:bari:y..

Uriv. of State of NY, 1923), Vol. I: 2, 895.

34 Reynolds, 17ze Rcco7.ds, 362-3. Letter, John Beardsley to Vestry of Christ Church, Poughkeepsie, May 7, 1805.

35 Reynolds, 387-390.

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THE G. H. FORD TEA COMPANY

MONUMENT TO A WOMAN'S BUSINESS SKILLS Jane Dupree Begos Jane Dupree Begos is currently the Curator of the Dutchess County Historical Society following twelve years with the New Yorlc State Bureau of Historic Sites, first at John Jay Homestead in Katonch, Ne:w York and later at the State's Collection Managment Unit at Peebles Island. Ms. Begos is a nationally lcnown historian of women's diaries and journals and has written and lectured extensively on that topic.

24

In 1907, it was unthinkable for a woman from a good family to enter the business world. But that is just what Gertrude H. Ford did. However, it must have been a strange sight - the attractive young woman, attended by her maid carrying a paper bag on a small silver tray. This unusual pair walked back and forth in front of the old Fifth Avenue Hotel as the young woman gained courage to enter. When finally they did, they were met with smiles and snickers from the guests and help. Exasperated, the young woman grabbed the bag off the tray and told her companion, "Go home. I can't be a business woman with a maid tagging along.``] Gertrude Ford, bolstered by the courage of her convictions, became a very good business woman indeed, and an innovator in her chosen field, the importing, blending and selling of fine teas.

The product in the brown bag she carried into the Fifth Avenue Hotel was not tea, however. It was a confection she called "isques,`` nut cakes made with pecans or hickory nuts.

The history of Gertmde Ford and the Ford Tea Company is found mainly in the series of newspaper and magazine clippings which she kept in a large scrapbook, retained as an archive by the Ford Tea Company.

According to an article in T7ze A77zerz.co7€ M¢g#zz.7te of 1923,2 Mss Ford stated:

``1 was born and brought up in a little town [Simcoe] near Toronto, Canada.

Conspicuously displayed in our home was the picture of a castle in England that was connected with the origin of one of the branches of our family, and apparently it was the aim of the family to live up to that castle. Certainly we children gained the idea that there was something very superior about us.

However, the family's fortunes became such that not only my brothers but myself had to earn money.

"One of my brothers, who had come to the United States, always thought I

made the best nut cake in the world, and he believed I could get rich supplying such cake to hotels in New York. After he had rented an apartment in this city and that was fifteen years ago - I came down, baked my cake in the apartment and, accompanied by a colored maid who carried the bag containing my samples, went the rounds of the hotels, my first customer being the old Fifth Avenue.`` "The fact that I was not permitted to go selling without the escort of a maid shows how the family clung to its aristocratic notions. However, after three weeks of the maid, I awoke to the nonsense of the whole proceeding. It was an awakening in general. I saw that as a young girl I had no more to fear from the hotel stewards with whom I tried to do business than from the young men who were admitted to my parents' home. I saw that they respected every woman who respected herself; that, regardless of their origin, they were in the main not only able men, but kindly, gentlemen. In brief, I learned the great lesson that personal worth has nothing to do with birth, social position or business occupation.``

She felt that her new attitude proved to be another asset in her determination to become a business woman. "Dealing with the hotel stewards in my new way," she continued, ''1 never had reason to regret it. After I had been selling my nut cakes for four years, one of these stewards said to me, 'Miss Ford, I want to go on buying from you, but I wish you would bring me something staple. As a matter of fact, I don't see how you are ever going to get ahead with your nut cakes, competing as you have to do with hotel chefs.```3

25

In her search for ne:w blends, Gertrade H. Ford accurately measured and recorded teas at her specially designed testing table. Circa 1955. Courtesy Ford rllea Company Archives.

Gertrude Ford recognized the wisdom of this advice, and turned her attention to tea - a natural consideration, since her father had been in that business.

She decided however, that though she had been selling her cakes on the strength of her personality to some extent, she would sell tea "strictly on the basis of quality and value. ``4 In a March 29, 1925 interview published in the S#7td¢y fczgJc Mczg¢zz.77e Miss

Ford gave her opinion on the business of judging tea. "I believe that a tea taste must be inborn,`` she explained. ''But even if one has the gift, to perfect one's self in the art of smelling and tasting requires a study of many years.`` It took Gertrude Ford two years to learn to create her blends. Nine different varieties went into what she considered to be a nearly perfect tea and she never changed that original blend. She later created other blends, always using the flower of highland teas, which she said that "any connoisseur knows denotes quality.`` Some of her teas were the result of several year's blending, tasting and testing.

Some of her mixtures had as many as thirteen different teas in them. She followed the same procedure for nearly sixty years: when a new tea shipment arrived, she would go to her made-to-order small round table for a session with the cups. She brewed her tea with distilled water, and believed that sniffing the aromatic brew was just as important as tasting.5

26

Through the years, as she built up her tea company, Miss Ford added prestigious hotels and steamship lines. Her customers included the Pierre, the Ambassador, the Ritz-Carlton and Barclay hotels. Many of her original customers are still carried on the order books of Ford Tea Company. In the 1950s some of her more well-known accounts included the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Long Island; the Williamsburg Department of Inn and Lodge of the Williamsburg Restoration; The Uptown Club in New York City; the Yale Club; the Hotel Lexington; and His Royal Highness, the Duke of Windsor.6 All agreed that the quality of her teas was exceptional and congratulated her on the high standards she had set for her company. The Duke of Windsor had first tasted Ford tea as the Prince of Wales, when he attended the dedication services of the Peace Bridge between Buffalo, New York and Fort Erie, Ontario, in May 1939.

The Hotel Statler in Buffalo had charge of the catering for luncheon, which was also attended by Vice President Dawes and Governor Alfred E. Smith. ''The Prince was so well impressed with the Tea that he asked that a carton of it be placed on his train," wrote Ray J. Kief, the assistant manager in charge of catering at the Hotel Lexington, New York City.7 In 1941 Miss Ford, who in private life was Mrs. Charles Stuart Ramsay, made the decision to move from her factory on West 125th Street to larger and more efficient quarters.8 She decided on Poughkeepsie as the site of her relocated business concern. She had come to Dutchess County first in 1935 when she bought a 1776 farm house on Billings Road. She planned its remodeling with her son, Clinton Ramsey, and converted it to a charming home where she and her family spent summer weekends.9 Her son continues to live in the same house in LaGrangeville. The location she picked for her tea factory was a garage at Dutchess Turnpike and Peckham Road, which remains the location of the Ford Tea Company and Sales Outlet today.

By all accounts Gertrude Ford was an impressive woman. Early in her career, she realized the value of what advertising copywriters refer to as "product image.`` Miss Ford claimed to be an originator of the tea bag, and at first cut them herself of cheesecloth. The idea was prompted by a hotel man who, in the late 1930s, suggested to herself and another tea merchant simultaneously that there should be a better and more sanitary method for brewing tea than lifting loose tea from canisters, frequently by unclean fingers. Both merchants, she claimed, rushed back to their offices and created the "ball,`` thus setting a new trend.10 Although Ford teas are no longer packaged in cheesecloth bags, they are still packaged in a ball-shaped pouch, which contains a bit more tea than the ordinary flat ''bag`` preferred by most tea companies.

The second image of Gertrude Ford and her tea company was its main identifying feature - the color purple. According to publicity put out by the firm today, when russ Ford was visiting tea plantations in India in the 1920s, she also visited a guru who told her that purple was ''her color,`` predicting that it would bring her success.11 However, according to an interview in the February 1925 Nezu Yo7'k fz7c77z.7tg /o#m¢Z,12 she is quoted as saying that "When I was a girl of six-

teen my mother said 'that color [purple] will be good on you when you are sixty.` I replied I would begin wearing it at sixteen and continue till sixty.`` In either case, Miss Ford always wore shades of lavender, saying "I vibrate toward that color. Each one of us has some color to which we react more favorably than

27

The art deco angel design appears on all Ford Tlea Company bag tags. It has been in use since the 1920s. Courtesy Ford rllea Company Archives.

to others. Lavender happens to be mine, so I never use any other.`` She used it in her business as well as her personal life. The tins for her teas, her trucks, her office walls, and her packaging were and are the distinctive purple that became the color identified with her own careful costuming and her business product.

John Daniels of Poughkeepsie, who knew her in the 1950s, remembers her appearance as that of ``lavender and old lace" complete with choker and a cameo pin. She dressed in an old-fashioned style reminiscent of the early part of the century, complete with long dresses. She was driven about in a lavender, open Rolls Royce by a driver who was liveried in lavender. She also usually wore a hat with a wide brim. She was a good business woman, he says, polite and fun to deal with. She would come to his office about once a year, in warm weather in her car with the top down. He sums her up as ``quite a character," but one who commanded respect."

It was during the Roaring Twenties that Mss Ford adopted the art deco logo that has remained her company's calling card. The familiar tag, on each tea ball, is illustrated with a cherub pouring cups of tea.14 This distinctive lavender ink tag and the full round ``tea ball" have been the hallmark of Gertrude Ford teas recognized by diners and chefs alike as the epitome of American individual service tea.

Her use of such a feminine color to create such a feminine image for her business does not mask the fact that Gertrude Ford was an astute business woman, an innovator in her field, and one who was respected by others in the business.

In 1947, an article in the Nez{7 York Wo7'Jd -TCJegr¢77z on the second armual conven-

tion of the Tea Association of the United States noted that she was the single woman in a membership of approximately 125.15 Even as late as 1957, she was the only woman importer and tea tester in the United States.16 Reluctant to take credit for her long, successful career, Gertmde Ford was a devout Christian who attributed her achievements not to her own industriousness, but to God's guidance.17 ``For no consideration," she declared in an inter-

28

view in the Nczu york S#7t in 1929, "would I go back to social life. Here in business one is face to face with some of the deepest things in life; in society all is

superficial, insincere and monotonous. Never in my business career have I done a single thing which was inconsistent with the highest ethical practice, for I believe I must give 100 per cent value for money received. Friends have urged me to charge higher prices and earn larger profits. I have deliberately charged as little as I possibly could, for my own conscience means more to me than the income from my work. I do not attribute my success to myself, but to the help of prayer and to the code which has led me to apply to business the highest ethical standards.``]8 A part of her code was not to advertise, so she succeeded in her business on the merit of her commodity.19 In addition to being a devout Christian, Gertrude Ford was a vegetarian, and she believed in her own product. She sipped an average of fourteen cups of her own favorite Orange Pekoe a day. She did her taste testing on an empty stomach, when she felt her senses were keener. Unlike most tea and coffee testers she swallowed the beverage.20 ''A good way to taste," she is quoted in the 1925 Szt7zd¢y fngJe Mczg#zz.7cc, ''is to take the clear tea and let a spoonful of it go slowly

over the tongue. Then if one takes the leaves and smells them, one gets the full essence of the taste and smell combined."21

Although she found the courage to send her maid away early on, and was proud of her position as a successful, respected business woman, Gertrude Ford, an exponent of freedom for women, prided herself on the fact that she was an exemplification of the theory that it is possible to maintain a home, be a devoted mother and conduct a successful business. She drew a sharp line between what she considered freedom and license. She declared in the same article, ''So many people think women have no right to independent thought, but I am a firm believer in the right of women to think for themselves. However, there is a great difference in the interpretations of emancipation, and of late the meaning has been very much perverted.`` In short, she deplored the fact that young girls began drinking, smoking and wearing rouge in public, feeling that that kind of freedom was degradation. She also refused to become a political partisan after women won the right to vote. ''The women of both parties have asked me to affiliate with them,`` she stated, "but I wish to keep my own integrity in the matter of politics. I was amazed when women began forming Democratic and Republican clubs. This is the very thing they went on the stump and said they wouldn`t do before they got the franchise. Women had their big chance to do something worthwhile in politics, but they simply threw it up. They had tremendous potentialities when they first got the vote, they might easily have thrown their weight into a drive for cleaner pofitics, but what did they do? They lined up with the two parties and became even more partisan than men. It was a great disappointment to me, when my sex proved themselves no different from men pofitically. The same old methods prevail now as before they came into power, nothing is changed, nothing bettered. That explains my position and that is why I do not wish to identify myself with either party, but reseve my right to vote for any individual whom I think fit, regardless of political party."22 In 1963, when Gertmde Ford was incapacitated by an automobile accident, she had been directing her company for fifty-six years. She died in 1965 at age 86. The Ford Tea Company went into a period of decline following her death,

29

and many longtime customers assumed that it had ceased operations. In 1974, Alice and Alfred Bogad purchased the ailing company from Miss Ford's estate.

They made few changes in the product though the one-room factory grew to a three-room factory, office and retail store. Ms. Bogad became a tea expert in her own right, and was the first woman ever to serve on the board of directors of the Tea Association of the United States. For many years, she continued to use the specially designed table, ringed with tea cups which had been designed by Gertrude Ford to aid her in the tasting-blending process.23 In January 1992, the Bogads decided to retire and sold the firm to Keith G. Capolino of Wappingers Falls. A young man, Mr. Capolino has new ideas for the firm, but he does not plan to phase out any of Miss Ford's original blends nor to stop using the distinctive color purple which she made her signature image.24 Gertrude Ford was a woman ahead of her time in the business world. She succeeded with a combination of personal charm, business and personal integrity, and a belief in the help of Divine Providence. The firm she founded and directed for most of her life continues to be a vital, irmovative business. In fifteen years, it will celebrate its centennial anniversary.

ENDNOTES 1

Dixie Oliver, ``Business Suits Miss Ford to a Tea," Nezt) York World TCJegrH77i a S#7!, New York,

NY, January 24, 1957.

2 E. 8. Copley, ``She Furnishes Ready-to-Use Bags of Tea to Big Hotels," T7ze Afflerz.ca7t Mngazl.7zc, June 1923.

3 E.B.Copley 4 E.B.Copley 5

Szt7cdny fngJe Mngazz.77c, Brooklyn, NY, March 29, 1925.

6 Original letters dated June, 1944, and March-May, 1951, from Ford Tc¢ A7.chz.z7es.

7 Original letter dated May 29, 1939, from Ford Tcfl Archz.z7cs.

8 ``News of Food: Woman Head of Poughkeepsie Company One of First to Put Tea Bags on market," The Neztj York Tz.i77es, New York, NY, Saturday, February 14, 1948.

9 `Defies Conventions: Mrs. Gertrude Ford Ramsay of Dutchess County Imports, Tests, Blends and Sens Teas," PongJ!keaps!.c S#7cdny Nezt7 yorker, Poughkeepsie, NY, April 16,1944.

10 Elizabeth L. A. Hines, `'Career Evolves as Tea Blender: Gertrude Ford has Devoted 30 Years to Her `Contribution to Gracious Living," TJze Nezo York Tz.77zgs, New York, NY, Sunday, February 18, 1940.

11 Ford Tea Company Brochure currently in use.

12 Margary Rex, ``No One Thing Only if You Would Succeed, Advises Tea Queen: Good Living Possible to All," Nezt7 York fz7c„z.rig Jokr7!#J, New York, NY, Wednesday, February 4, 1925.

13 Phone conversation with John Daniels, Poughkeepsie, NY, January 23, 1992.

14 Donald M. Schoenholt, ``Gertrude Ford's Spirit Lives On," Tc¢ a Co#ee T7'Hde /o#r7IaJ, October 1982.

30

15 Margaret Follin Eicks, ``Tea Association Boils Down Facts on Brew," Nezt7 York World-TeJegr#m,

New York, NY, Monday, October 20,1947.

16 Dixie Oliver.

17 Dixie Oliver.

18 "Only a Cup of Tea, but It Made This Woman's Fortune," Nczc7 York S#7t, New York, NY, August 24, 1929.

T9 Sunday Eagle Magazine, March2:9,1925.

20 Dixie Oliver.

ZI Sunday Eagle Magazine, MaLlch 2:9,1925.

22 Sunday Eagle Magazine, March 2:9,1925.

23 Chris Wise Tiedemann, ``Continuing a Proud Tradition," Po#gJzkeepsz.e Jo%7.#flz, Poughkeepsie, NY, Wednesday, July 27, 1977.

24 Personal interview with Elizabeth A. Richard, manager, G. H. Ford Tea Co., Inc., January 20, 1992.

31

Dr. Cornelius Osborn Rediscovered Brian Altonan Brian Altonan is a former resident of Wappingers Falls, New York and lived near the base of Osborn Hill. This work represents a summary of his research on Dr.Cornelius Osborn, a surgeon during the American Revolution. Mr. Altonen is a medical botonist and historian, residing in Portland , Oregon.

The bulk of our knowledge of an 18th-century physician comes from reading first-hand accounts of his personal, academic, and professional endeavors. Such information is usuany found in the form of store ledgers, legal records, diaries and personal letters, along with whatever books and treatises he may have written. Too often, less is known about provincial doctors due to the scarcity of these documents. The lack of medical schools and exams for licensure, and the few apprenticeship records that were kept, only add to this lack of knowledge. On occasion, a personal ledger or two may surface, describing how patients were treated, but these are few and far between. As a result, understanding what a physician was taught and what form of medicine he practiced in rural counties like Dutchess often becomes a matter of speculation.

Dr. Cornelius Osborn (1722-1782) of Fishkill, New York, is the exception.

What is known about Doctor Osborn and the practice of medicine in Dutchess County is not only derived from a general study of his life as a physician, but also by interpreting the numerous documents that mention him, including church records, store ledgers, deeds, will, tax records, and Revolutionary War records. More importantly, he has provided us with a manuscript, a detailed description of his philosophy and skills as a physician and ``chimrgeon.''] This makes him the earliest physician of Dutchess County about whom much can be gleaned. Moreover, soon after writing his manuscript, Dr. Osbom served in the Revolutionary War where his primary responsibility was as a Field Surgeon.

This included providing patient care, as well as overseeing the work of other physicians in local Field Hospitals. Hence, it can also be argued that he has told us more about the practice of medicine locally during the Revolutionary War than any other Dutchess County physician of that time. Finally, by understanding his life and his manuscript, one acquires an admiration of other 18th-century physicians and the roles that they played in their new-fledged communities in New York and New England.

1722-1744 - HIS CHILDHOOD AND APPRENTICESHIP Since the first account was written nearly seventy-five years ago, little more has been mentioned regarding Osborn's work.2 One reason for this relates to understanding his manuscript. Its archaic terms, pharmaceutical nomenclature,

32

and unique abbreviations make it hard to interpret. Secondly, we need to know his life history up to and including his years as an apprentice. To date, most of the information presented about him has been limited to his life as a physician, and offered in small increments as part of a much broader coverage of Dutchess County history.3'4 To better understand his childhood and apprenticeship, other forms of documentation have to be corLsidered. James Smith was the first historian to note Cornelius Osborn's birthday and deathday.5 Since then, these have been accepted by most researchers and historians as July 16, 1723, in England, and August 23, 1782, in Fishkill, New York, respectively.6 Original documentation for this birthdate has yet to be found. Instead, evidence for an earlier date exists in the Tappan Church records, Tappan, New York, which states a ``Cornelis" was baptized on July 31, 1722. His parents are given as ``Jaems Hasban" (of Long Island), and ``Elisabet Cuyper" (of Orange Co., N.Y.).7J8 The

names of this family's relatives recur in those of Cornelius Osborn's children, supporting the notion that this is indeed his birth record. Additional evidence for this birthdate is found in his obituary, which his oldest son James placed in The Nezo yo7`k P¢ckef in 1782. It states that Comenus Osborn died at the age of 60,

a claim which is supported by the Tappan Church baptismal record, rather than at the age of 59, as suggested by Smith.9 Knowing exactly when Comelius Osborn was born may seem somewhat trivial, but knowing where he was born is vital to an attempt to understand his training in medicine. If he were born in England, as claimed by Smith, then he was more likely to have received his training with the help of a well-educated preceptor who owned a respectable medical library. In addition, he would have had the chance to attend classes in any of several medical schools in Europe, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leyden, and Paris. But if he were born in New York as the new evidence suggests, then he most surely would have leaned the practice of medicine on his own or as an apprentice, for no medical school existed in New York until 1768 when King's College (later Columbia College of Medicine) was estabHshed. Conjecture of Osborn's training as an apprentice is further supported by the fact that he does not appear on any lists of Revolutionary War doctors ``known to have received collegiate degrees either honorary or in regular course,'']° nor can he be found on the list of subscribers, licensees, and apprentices for 18th-century medics.11 As for the identity of his preceptor, there is some evidence suggesting that he came from a family of physicians who were trained by their elders.12 Alternatively, he may have learned his skills from a close friend of the family In either case, he would have received the bulk of his training in and around the Haverstraw Precinct. Such training traditionally took four to six years to complete, and commenced when the individual reached 15 or 16 years old; for Comelius, that would have been from 1736/7-1743/4. During that time, we assume he worked alongside his preceptor observing patients and learning the practice of medicine. Stepping a bit closer, we might also observe him taking care of the horses and stable, reading medical books, gathering herbs, and preparing medicines. It is reasonable to conclude that by 1744 he was accepted as a ``chirurgeon" or physician due to a successful apprenticeship. It can also be argued that during his travels with his father and/or preceptor, Cornelius met his future wife, Helena/Leentja Parmentier of Orange County.]3J 14 Helena, whose parents were Peter Parmentier

33

and Helena Van de Bogart, came from a family of landowners living in and around Ulster and Orange Counties. Soon after completing his apprenticeship, Cornelius married Helena and moved to Dutchess County in late 1744 or 1745.

Over the next two decades, all of their children were born.

1746-1768 - PATRON DOCTOR AND CIVIC LEADER As early as 1731, physicians passed through Dutchess County, remaining there a brief time to practice medicine before continuing on with their travels.15,16,17. By

1744/5 Dr. Osborn moved to Dutchess County and became the first physician to establish a permanent residence and pursue a lifelong profession in his community.

The earliest Dutchess County record notes him as one of the subscribers for ``a Call to Holland" in August 7, 1745. Originally sent in 1744 by the First Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie, the church later requested ``payments of (a) minister's passage to this country'', for which it received 5 Shillings from ``Cornelius Osborn."18 One month later, a local storekeeper, Francis Filkin, notes him in an account book: ``sept 1 1745 Docter Comelus Rasbun agreed with me for 20 shils: pr jear for to docter my famely he has due L1.0.0. Carried this in the new bock.'']9 Cornelius Osborn first appears in the tax records in 1745/6 for the Rombout Precinct,20 followed by the Poughkeepsie ward in 1746/7 when he was assessed at L2-0-0 (two Pounds, no shillings, no pence) and paid 11 pence tax.2t Ffis place of residence also appears in the tax records and is described as an ``old place" in 1755, and as a ``Doct farm" in February 1762-1763.22.23 Along with his family,

Comelius spent the rest of his life in this homestead on the south face of Osborn Hill, Fishkill, N.Y., on the Old Post Road.24 This placed him in a excenent location for a physician. He was removed from the disease-causing pestilence and ``miasma" of the swamps, ponds and creeks of nearby neighborhoods, and yet lived conveniently close to the Fishkill Village. Should any travelers passing through the village be in need of medical care, they could easily find him.

Typical of the lifestyle of a successful 18th-century physician, Doctor Osbom performed important civic responsibilities in Dutchess County. He served as a financier for mortgages and a witness for numerous legal matters. On June 5, 1753, he attended a Board of Supervisors in.eeting and was sworn in as a substitute Tax Assessor for the Rumbout Precinct.25 0n October 21, 1755, he was witness to a Deed granting loo Pounds to Clear Everet, sheriff, for the estate of John Jones ``who absconded leaving debts."26 In the years that followed he established close friendships with many of the community leaders. These included: storekeeper Hendrick Schenck, Ward Supervisor Bartholomew Cranell, Surveyor Charles LeRoux, Judge Matthew Dubois, Sr., Abraham Swartwout, and the Brinckerhoffs.27 He combined these responsibilities with his roles as a physician. For example, alongside his preceptor and/or fellow physician Isaac Marks, he treated British Foot Soldier John Lane. Together they received twelve Pounds nine Shillings for their services in October 1756 [General Sessions 8., p. 59]. On February 6, 1759, three Pounds were paid to Dock Osborn" alone for again doctoring "John Lean". Later that year he worked in an official capacity for Governor Colden, subsequently and mysteriously losing his horse, wagon and tackle. As a result, the following record appears for June 10,1760, in Colden's P¢pers:

34

``An act for paying and discharging several Sums of money claimed as

Debts of this Colony and other purposes therein mentioned. ``. . .Unto Doctor Comelius Osbom for a Horse and part of a Wagon and

the Tackling Lost in one thousand seven hundred and fifty nine the sum of six Pounds."

The same record notes that John Brinckerhoff received five Pounds for losing one horse and Francis Way received one Pound for losing a wagon.28 In the years that followed, Osbom continued to be of service regarding legal matters29. These records illustrate the roles that he played in the community, not only as a physician and surgeon, but also as a community leader. He would continue to perform these duties throughout his Ire.

1768 -THE MANUSCRIPT By the 1760s, Dr. Osbom was one of the most important and influential physicians in Dutchess County. in 1768 he wrote his manuscript, a description of how he learned and practiced medicine. h it he describes the causes and effects of twentyeight disorders or diseases that were presumably prevalent to the locale at that time and how to treat them. He begins by dedicating it to his oldest son James: ``August 281768

To

James Osbom For his Prusiel in Physick a Short Scetch on Disorders Insedent to human body by Cors Osborn"30

Dedication page for Dr. Cormelins Osborn's manuscript, dated August 28 ,1768 . He dedicates the work to his oldest son, James. Courtesy of the Adriance Memorial Library, Local History Collection, Greater Pougivkeepsie Library District.

35

The introduction to his manuscript appears on the next page and indicates that he had a formative working knowledge of apothecarian and therapeutic skills. He states ``As to Come To Criticise on Disorders would take too much room a way in

So Small a volm which is not the Intention but to Cut as Short as posabel if you would Look into Disorders and and (sic) Their nature you must Look to you Authors as HBoorH3] James Shaw or Sidenham which Treats large upon Such Cases more butifall than I am Capebel of Doing and Their fore refer my reader to them and at the Same Time am your most humble Servant Cors Osbom."

In this, he is referring to Robert James, M.D. (1705-1776), Peter Shaw, M.D. (1694-1763) and Thomas Sydenham (1624- 1689), all of whom wrote books that

were probably contained in his preceptor's library, and later his own.

The works of James and Shaw covered the basic skills that Cornelius needed to understand chemistry and pharmacy. Robert James is often considered a ``quack" by today's historians. He was appointed M.D. by royal mandate and

invented Dr. James's Fever Powder, a popular patent medicine that contained Antimony and phosphate of lime. His best known book is PJz¢r77tflcopocz.a Universalis: or, a new universal English Dispensatorv ..., puELshed ±n London in 1747.

Peter Shaw was also appointed physician by royal mandate. He received his training in England where he remained to practice medicine and publish medical texts. He is best known for translating the fd!.7iz7z/r7Jz PJz¢r77z¢copoez.a (1727)

from Latin to English, although he also published numerous other works on the philosophical principles of science and medicine. Examples of these works include books written by Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Robert Boyle, and Dr. Hermann Boerhaave, all of whom studied the influences of ``chymistry" on the human body and the mechanisms for disease. Their beliefs are what led Shaw, and later Dr. Osborn, to make use of the £7ts z7c7cc7'z.s, a remedy left over from the

alchemical era for treating feminine disorders. Shaw's own works include A Nczu P7'¢cfz.cc of pJzysz.c (1726), re-published several times due to its popularity as

a medical text. Many of Osborn's recipes resemble those recommended by Shaw, although lacking the same details and complexity. By reading the works of Thomas Sydenham (also edited and re-published by Shaw), Cornelius Osborn learned the clinical skills he needed to practice medicine. Sydenham was highly respected during the 17th-century for his beliefs and therapeutic regimens. He ignored the current theories of medical practice, stressing bedside manners instead. Many 17th-century practitioners felt that direct contact with the patient was not necessary. Sydenham took the opposite approach, paying heed to the patient's condition, diet, bed rest and the use of simple remedies. (He later came to accept the use of many powerful remedies such as Peruvian bark for fevers.)

Later in the manuscript, Osborn makes reference to several other chemists, apothecarians, physicians and surgeons, notably Nicolas Lemery (1645-1715), Samuel Sharp (1700-1778/1780), Daniel Turner (1667-1741), and Dr. John Huxham (1692-1768). Lemery was a French chemist whose works included A Course of Chemistry (1675) aind A Dictionary or Treatise on Simple Druas (1716). He

defined the ``three Kingdoms of Nature" - Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal -

36

and focused on the use of acids and salts as medicines. ELs works represent classic presentations of 17th-century chemistry and pharmacy with tenets left over from the age of alchemy. Samuel Sharp was an 18th-century oculist and surgeon who practiced medicine and surgery in England. Among his most prominent works is a book entitled A T7ie¢£z.se o7t flee Operzzfz.o7zs of S#rgrny (1739). The second

surgeon Dr. Osbom refers to is Daniel Turner who received his training at Yale University. His works include Tfec Arf of S#rgery (1722), and A Dz.sco#rsc Co7tcer77z.7cg Fez7crs (1727). From this we can deduce that Osbom learned the ski]1s

of surgery, although his manuscript does not indicate whether or not he made frequent attempts to perform it.

The most prevalent disorders for that time were often accompanied by fever, and Osborn covers these in exquisite detail. For a better understanding of fevers, he refers the reader to John Huxham who wrote A7t cssoy o7i /gz7crs . . .zoz.fJz dz.sser£¢fz.o77s o7c #zc s777¢JZ-pow. ¢77d o7t z7Je#rz.sz.cs .... (First published in Latin in 1739, it was

later translated and published in English in 1750). Along with Turner's work, this surely was required text for 18th-century physicians as they learned to deal with Consumption, measles, and small pox epidemics.

Dr. Osborn was familiar with therapeutic regimens found in other writings as well. The techniques of blood-letting, cupping, blistering, and suffumigation he made use of are centuries old. His recommendations for a proper diet through the use of diet drinks, beers, West India Rum, and wine are found in most of the standard medical texts for that time. Of particular interest is his use of ``waxt Cork or a ring made of whail bone" for treating ``The Barring Down of ye Matrix."32 This was described by William Smellie (1697-1763) in A sef of ¢77¢fo77cz.cal tables. .and an abridgement of the Practice of Midwifery. 2ed., (T76I) e[nd is the

only example of a surgical procedure given by Osborn, although he does allude to others that he may have written about in a later manuscript.

Dr. Osborn also had a proficient working knowledge of botanicals, suggesting that he was exposed to the herbals. His use of unofficial remedies such as ``Ducks meet" in a fomentation for St. Anthony's Fire, and the name ``Clowns heal all" for a local herb, are found in the 17th-century herbals by John Gerard and John Parkinson. At times, the names that he used for his medicinal plants were hard to trace due to their local origins. This suggests that he grew up in their locality. Examples include: ``Stink Seder", a form of Juniper that grows plentifully in New Jersey; and ``rose wilo", the Red Osier or Swamp Dogwood of New York and New Jersey.

Medicinal virtues for many of the local herbs were introduced to the colonists by American Indians. They were subsequently heavily depended upon due to a limited supply of the more traditional medicines being shipped from abroad. Historians have led us to imagine local herbalists coming into the village with bunches of herbs flung over their shoulders or carried on horseback. Although these herbalists are not mentioned on the lists of occupations put together from town records,33 they most certainly existed. Furthermore, historians are now beginning to recognize the role of women as herbalists, as well as their services as matrons, nurses and midwives. The record of one 18thcentury botanist and herbalist, Jane Colden, strengthens this premise. Colden may very well have provided Dr. Osborn with some of his medicinal herbs, for it is known that she supplied other botanists, including naturalist-botanists

37

John and William Bartram, with dried specimens and seeds of Dutchess County flora for their herbarium collections. She also wrote one of the earliest guides to New York plants and their medical uses.34 Local historian Henry Booth has already written about some of the herbs used

by Dr. Osborn.35J36 It should be noted that his list was incomplete; forty more med-

icinal herbs are needed to complete this list, making a total of one-hundred and eleven. Many are well-known and can be found in a well-stocked kitchen or herb garden, which is perhaps why Booth omitted them. They are as follows (those native to Dutchess County are indicated by an asterisk) Lesser Centaury Aloes Licorice Root Asafoetida * Ninebark * Balm/Bee Balm

Nutmeg Opium Poteriun

Barley Malt Burnet

Camphor Cardamom * Celandine Poppy

* Rose Willow

Quin Qui Radish

Chamonrfue Colocynth

rhubarb Saffion Sage Scabious * Scouring Rush

Cubebs Flaxseed Galingale Garlic

Serma

Ginger Holy Thistle Hyssop Jalap Lavender * Leather Bark

* Sundew Tormentil Virginia Snakeroot * Vvhite Ash

Zedoary

Dr. Osborn also mentioned seventeen plant derivatives such as gums, resins, essential oils, tinctures, balsams, and salts obtained from plant ashes. These include: Gutta Gamboge Balsam Peru Balsam Tolu Oil of Anise Oil of Terebinth Marma Myrrh Dragon's Blood Galbanum (gun) Olive Oil Sal Absinthe Oil of Sweet Almond Oil of Juniper Gun Guaiac Gun Styrax Sal Juniper

Oliban- (gun) Many of these herbs can still be found growing in Dutchess County, for example: Bloodroot, Elder, Flowering Dogwood, Juniper, Maidenhair, Prickly Ash, Sassafras, Water Lilies, and Yarrow, some of which may have escaped from the early herb gardens. Others, such as the Balsams and Gums, were shipped from

38

countries as far away as Africa and the Middle East. Several of Osborn's applications for these herbs are worthy of discussion.

Like most 18th-century physicians, Osborn incorporated strong laxatives such as Rhubarb and Jalap roots into his routines. In addition, he made use of blistering agents such as the locally occurring Leatherwood. Once applied to the skin, he felt it would draw fluids to the surface and away from any disease-related swellings occurring deep within. Osbom's recommendation of powerful aromatics, like Lavender oil and 01 Succin (Oil of Amber) for the treatment of hysteria and menstrual problems, relates to a theory based on the flow of the vital force through the proper channels in the human body. His choices of herbs may also be reminiscent of the Doctrine of Signatures - a popular theory written about in 17th- and 18th-century herbals that states a medicine ought to resemble the diseased organ or tissue it is used to treat. Take for example Dragon's Blood, a red resin found oozing from cuts made in certain palm trees; it was used for the treatment of ``ye Overflowing of the Terms".37 Another example is Bloodroot: its orange-red rhizome was once considered to be an effective treatment for ``Spiting of Blood" and Jaundice The other medicines Osborn made use of were animal products, ashes, salts, minerals, mineral spring waters, clays, metals, acids, official recipes, and proprietary medicines. Examples of the animal products included hog's lard, spermaceti, coral, ``Crabs eys'', hart's horn/cornu cervi (elk/deer antlers), partridge feathers, and ``the blood of a cat". Most of the time these had simple applications. For example, hog's lard and spermaceti were used for making lotions, creams, and unguents, whereas others such as crabs eyes, hartshorn and coral were often powdered or burnt to an ash to be used as an astringent or diuretic. Partridge feathers and comu cervi were burned slowly to produce a foul, sulphurous aroma. For example, in his treatment for ``The Barring Down of ye Matrix" Osbom recommends to the patient that she stand over burning ``pateridge fethers...as hot as you Can bare and Do So 2 Tines a Day keeping your Coats tite round the pot or Else the Steem will fly away."38 Alchemists and early 18th-century practitioners felt that this brought on the flow of stagnated ``humours" or the ``vital force" in the human body. Therefore, they recommended it for treating a number of disorders that were ascribed to weak tissues or organs.

Another interesting use of an animal product is found in the treatment for St. Anthony`s Fire (Erysipelas). Dr. Osbom writes: ``Take the blood of a Cat and besmare the whol inflamed part and Skin to be

Stript of and the besmared to be Cuvered with the Skin and Do so 3 or 4 Times and when the Skin begins to Stink repeat."

In this recipe Osborn is probably referring to the Civet-cat. In 1671, travelerwriter Arnoldus Montanus wrote in his letter ``A Description of New Netherland" about the presence of the Civet-cat or ``musk- cat."39 The Civet-cat is known for a gland located between its hind legs that produces an oily secretion with a powerful aroma. Known as Civet or ``musk", this secretion was in high demand for its use in perfumes and medicines and was often adulterated or replaced with a counterfeit oil. An 18th-century French apothecarian, Monsieur Pierre Pomet, notes in his book A Co77tpze¢f Hisfony of Drags (1748) that ``It com-

forts the Spirits, and is good against all Diseases of the Head, Brain, and

39

:i f3rf eS. . . 1 -*+i.-* .

trot:cj„;„z;[.I

€ rlf,zc C;vcr C.ffr.

_-_=S--=F-i:=`-_:.-_::---`-:`_±se The Civet~Cat, or locally occuring ``M:uskecat" (dapicted here by 18th-century writer Pierre Pomet) was probably Osborri.'s source for the medicine used to treat St. Andhony' Fire. From the John Wilson Room collection, courtesy of M:ulinomah County Library, Portland , Oregon.

Womb...it prevails against hysterical Fits and Vapours .... " He considered the best Civet to be white to yellow in color and warned that counterfeit Civet, made by adding dyes to oil, often reached the marketplace. As an example, he notes ``Guinea Civet'', a product made by counterfeiters, who, by producing its red-

dish color, ``serve only to cover their Knavery .... " With this in mind, it is easy to see how Dr. Osborn may have thought that the medicine he was getting was indeed cat's blood. One of Osborn's favorite medicines was a drink for treating ``a Stopage of ye Terms". He writes:

``Ens veneris 8Gr in peroyal water whare rusty Iron has red hot and squencht in 4 or 5 Times Take a half Jill of this water 3 Times a Day...its Excelent"

This is essentially in agreement with the regimen that was recommended by Shaw. £77s z7c7tc7`z.s is Latin for ``the entity of Venus" and refers to certain forms

of copper and iron compounds, especially rust of iron during the 18th-century.

Due to their reddish color, alchemists felt that these compounds served as valuable medicines for the blood. In earlier writings by astrologers, copper was also felt to be ruled by the feminine planet Venus. Only later were the reddish flakes produced by heating copper plates replaced with rust made from iron plates. Osborn next mentions the ``peroyal water" in his recipe. This was also described by alchemists who used the term ``pyrrol" to refer to the energy of

40

fire or heat. To make pyrrol water, a rusty piece of iron is heated until it becomes red hot. Then it is quenched in water, thereby heating the water and turning it red as the rust falls off. Resembling blood and having received the energy of fire and iron, alchemists believed that this potion had become a sure cure for many women's disorders. It is important to note that although this recipe was developed by astrologer-alchemists, it does not suggest that the use of £7ts z7c7€e7'z.s during the 18th-century was based on the same philosophy. New

theories were emerging for the effectiveness of ancient medicines. In fact, all Osborn did was to produce a drink rich in iron that helped sufferers of anemia, chlorosis, and other problems brought about by iron-deficiency. Osborn also used £77s z7e7€crz.s to assist in Labor or Delivery, an application Shaw did not

mention in his text.

Not only did Osbom make his own medicines, he also noted Epsom Salts and Glauber Salts, made from their respective mineral springs, and a number of official and patent medicines. Several of these recipes were invented centuries earlier, such as Theriac Andromachi (a sacred Roman medicine), Elixir of Propriety (invented by the 16th-century alchemist Paracelsus), Diascordium Electuary (a 16th-century plague remedy), Balsam Lucatelli (a 17th-century plague remedy), and Emplastrum De Minio (plaster of Lead). Their formulas were often so lengthy that the medicines had to be bought already prepared in Europe where adequate supplies of ingredients were available. The patent medicines Osbom prescribed included Ferdinand's Powder, Haarlem oil, Huxham's Tincture, Hooper's Pills, Mcleen's Electuary, Morrison's Pills, Tulley's Powder, and Dr. Hill's Formula for Pleurisy. The formulas for these were often kept secrets, necessitating the buyer to purchase the box of pills or bottle of elixir as offered. On occasion, Osborn tried to reproduce these patent medicines (i.e. the very popular Turlington's Balsam). This probably forced him into compounding his own cheaper equivalents at times, and unknowingly depending upon counterfeit dnigs.

The doctor's manuscript closes with several pages of recipes that are important to note, recipes for what are perhaps his own versions of ``Doct. Ferdinand for the Consumtion (sic)," ``Doct Hills Rx for Pleurisy", and a treatment for ``The Epilepticks". These are presented in a penmanship that is cleaner and more stylish than that of the previous 78 pages. This suggests that they were written by a more skillful scribe, perhaps one of his sons. a personal friend, or someone that he paid for this service.

In the years that followed the first composition of the manuscript, Osborn became quite successful in the community. As a result, he was wealthy enough to grant a mortgage of 250 Pounds to his friend and business associate, Dirck Brinckerhoff, Esquire, [April 28, 1770; Liber C, p. 12], and another to Charles Le Roux, yeoman, for 300 Pounds Uune 11, 1770; Liber C, p. 18]. He was later witness to a mortgage for James Freeke, Trader, of ``Brookland, King's County",

granted by Charles LeRoux, yeoman, for 600 Pounds on February 3, 1772 [Liber C, p. 152]. Once the Revolutionary War began, only one document was recorded with Dr. Osborn's name in it: a will for Daniel "Suthern" (Southard) on December 12, 1779, noting ``Cor- Osborn" as one of the Witnesses [Liber AA, IV]. Due to his prestige, we can assume that he was quite busy, serving not only as a minuteman but also as a Field Surgeon for a major military hospital near Fishkill Vinage. Other records of his activity during the Revolutionary War sug-

41

For treating a `` Spiting (sic) of Blood," Osbom inchaded the locally occuring Bloodroot in his recipe. Courtesy of the Adriance Memorial library, Local History Couection, Greater Pougivkeepsie Lf orary District.

gest that he may have had close ties to other field hospitals located in New Windsor, West Point, and Haverstraw.

TIIE REVOLUTIONARY WAR On April 19, 1775, the Revolutionary War officially began, and on the 15th of August, ``A return made. . . at the house of Jacob Griffen, of persons who signed the Association" was signed by ``Cornelius Osborne" and his son ``James Osburn''. 40 Two months later, Cornelius Osborne enlisted as a Surgeon to serve as a minuteman.41 His sons, James (28 years old) and Peter (17 years old), were also enlisted, as privates in Van Wyck's and Brinckerhoff `s Regiments, respectively.42

As acting Field Surgeon, Dr. Osbom's role was to ensure that adequate medical facilities were established, proper sanitation procedures were carried out, and proper treatment was given to the patients. During the early months of the Revolutionary War, sources for food and clothing were in great demand. On May 3rd, 1776, ``A Bill of Sale of Crops on the Ground" involving ``Cor] Osburn" and Matthew Dubois, was made. Twelve Pounds were ``hand paid" by George Clinton to Osborn and Dubois for the purchase of ``One Equal Third Part of Twelve Bushels, sowen of Wheat, now standing and Growing on the Ground it being on the farm of Stephen Peit" from David Harmon of New Windsor.43 In the months and years ahead, similar transactions would follow, including the purchase of numerous medicines and hospital goods.

42

By mid-summer, Osborn's experience and expertise was enough to secure him a position as Field Surgeon for the Second Regiment. On July 25, 1776, a letter was written and dispatched to the New York Convention by Colonel Jacobus Swartwout. In this letter he makes his recommendation:44 ``GENTLEMEN: In these times of distress and danger, when the lives and of the soldiers are daily exposed, and, for want ofloudly good doctors, are • health often rendered incapable of doing the publick services, calls upon

every well-wisher to the cause now embarked in, to recommend such persons whose skill and abilities are known and can be depended upon; and as the bearer hereof, Dr. Osbom hath for many years resided near me, and hath been respected as a person having skill and abilities in that profession, I humbly pray the honourable Convention of the State of New-York will take the matter into their consideration, and if they think Dr. Osborn capable, that they will appoint him Doctor to my Regiment. I am, gentlemen, with great respect, your very humble servant.

Jacobus Swartwout"

Two days later, Dr. Osborn was in White Plains attending a meeting of the Convention where he was assigned the position of Field Surgeon for his regiment. The convention's record states:45 ``A Certificate of Dr. Samuel Bard, dated this day, was read and filed. He

thereby certifies that he has examined Dr. Comelius Osbome, respecting his knowledge in Physick and Surgery, and thinks him qualified for the office of Surgeon to a Regiment. ``Resolved. That the said Cornelius Osbome be, as is hereby, appointed

Surgeon to the Regiment of Militia, now in continental Service under the command of Comelius Swartwout, of Dutchess county."

This was followed by the oath of Samuel Bard: ``1 hereby certify that I have examined Dr. Cornelius Osborne respecting

his knowledge in Physick and Surgery, and that I think him qualified for the office of Surgeon to a Regiment.

Samuel Bard, M.D."

Doctor Osborn then returned to Fishkill where the encampment site was already established and the Trinity Episcopal church was being readied for use as a hospital. Osbom was one of forty ``Physicians" to sign orders for this facility.

In late 1776, shipments of medicines came to Fishkill, including several salts, Sulphur, cantharides, Opium, Myrrh and Guaiac gums, Balsam Copaiba, Chamomile, Senna, Aloe, bark of Canella alba (White cherry), and roots of Gentian, Jalap, Rhubarb, Licorice, and Ipecac. Also ordered and received were 100 ``cotts'', surgical instruments, and food and drink items, including molasses and vinegar. Barley and wine were ordered in exceptionally large quantities.

(Beer and wine were considered important for the preparation and adnrinistration of many medicines, for food preservation, and, perhaps most importantly, for morale).46

43

By the end of that year, more than one-third of the enlisted men had become sick and many more were recovering at home. Problems due to dysentery, fevers, and small pox were on the rise. Popular remedies for these included the laxatives calomel, jalap, and extract of buttemut. For treating fevers, Dr. Osbom relied heavily upon Peruvian bark. In order to meet the increased demand for fever medicines due to a sman pox epidemic, he placed an order on December 28,1776, for ``sal cathartics and lb ss Cort Peruviana" (saline cathartics and onehalf pound of Peruvian bark, respectively) for the price of 360 Pounds.47 0n April 11, around the time that a second epidemic occurred, ``The committee for the Detection of conspiracies" allowed one of their prisoners, Doctor Jonathan Prosser, to be ``permitted to go & remain at house of Doct: Osborn, & be under his Care & Direction, on Parol till the further Order of this Board." In the same meeting they consigned to Osborn, for the sum of 5 Dollars, ``a Number of Doctor's Instruments lying in the closet...lest they might be lost.''48.49

Various accounts have told us that as a Field Surgeon Dr. Osborn would have a great deal more to deal with in the years to come. Small Pox and fever epidemics would continue, so much that in January and April of 1777 they nearly paralyzed the tactical value of the regiments in Fishkill. The ``Pox" and other common diseases killed more soldiers than the battles they fought. In addition to the few who were ``wounded," a large number of patients suffered from ulcerous lesions and feverish conditions, primarily putrid fever and bilious fever.

Those remaining suffered from other problems not directly associated with the war including malnutrition, dizziness, spitting of blood, cirrhosis, pleurisy, ascites, rheumatism, sores, scabies, tabes, and diarrhea.50 The increased occurrence of these diseases was due to the poor sanitation and improper health conditions, brought about by placement of crowded encampment sites alongside stagnant pools and common waterways like the Fishkill Creek. Soldiers had to also contend with fevers brought on by the ``miasma" of swamps, and dysentery born of the use of the same water for drinking and for bathing. Yet, due to their just cause and determination, the Revolutionary War ended on November 3, 1782. The patriots won.

Comelius Osbom is listed amongst those who received land as a reward for their patriotic services.51 It was determined that each private was to receive a one-quarter section (160 acres) or more ``in different sections of the country where the Goverrment had public lands."52 Those in the second Regiment each received rights to two 500-acre plots. As a Field Surgeon, Dr. Osborn was due the rights to three of these plots.53 However, no record of land acquisitions in his name could be obtained.54 Nor is his name included in the Hst of ``Surgeons and surgeon's mates who have received pensions ..., "55 the ``List of Pensions & Applicants for Pensions,''56 or the ``List of Persons with Service evidenced by manuscripts on file in comptrollers office."57 (His sons James and Peter were omitted as well.)

On August 23, 1782, just after the fighting had ceased and before the AngloAmerican Peace Treaty was written, Dr. Osborn died without leaving a will. His Letter of Administration, dated March 18th, 1786, is signed nearly four years after his death by his son James, with Arthur Langharn, apothecarian, and Stephen Smith, hatter, serving as bondsmen, and Nathaniel Tredwell and

44

Thomas Tredwell, Esquire, serving as witnesses [N.Y. Liber 2, 1784-1786, p.

4357].58 No public notice regarding debts has been found in any newspapers.

Dr. Osborn's obituary appears on page 3 of the Nczt7-Yo7'k P¢ckeF9 (then being

published in Fishkill) and states: ``DIED. On Friday, the 23d instant, DOCTOR CORNELIUS OSBORN, in

the sixtieth year of his age, who for many years was a practitioner in medicine & chirurgery in this place, with great success & reputation. He was remarkable for charity to the poor, and generosity to the distressing refugees, to whom he was sympathizing and ready friend in their sickness, imparting his skill and medicine for their relief, gratis. in his death the poor have lost a valuable friend, his wife a tender husband, his children an effective parent, and his country a zealous and persevering friend. As his death is esteemed a public loss, it is much regretted by all who knew him."

POSTSCRIPT

The end of the war signalled the beginning of a new era. The Osborn family would continue to play an important role in local history. Comelius's wife outlived him but we cannot tell with certainty for how long. She is probably one of the women accounted for in James Osbom's family in the 1790 U.S. Census. 60 To date, the burial site of Comelius and Helena Osborn has yet-to be found.

Their sons, James, Peter and Thomas, were soon active again. All became physicians, performing important civic duties as well. They were later joined by their nephew Comelius Remsen, who, following the footsteps of his grandfather, served as a military doctor in the War of 1812. Together, the Osbom and Remsen families would help bring the community back together during the post-war depression, serving not only as physicians but as exemplary citizens as well.

Their influences would reverberate for generations to come.

ENDNOTES \ Dr. CorneHius Osfoome, A Short Scetch on Disorders Insedent to human body. August 2:8, T768.

Local History Room, Adriance Memorial Library. Also available: transcription of the manuscript copied faithfully by Henry Booth. November 1909. Poughkeepsie, N.Y. An extended transcription with interpretation is being prepared by the author.

2 Henry Booth. "Dr. Osbom -His Book''. Yearbook of the Dutchess County Historical Society (Y.D.C.H.S.), (1918) Vol. 4, 3945.

3 Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, ``Physicians and Medicine in the History of Dutchess county."

Y.D.C.H.S. (1940) Vol. 26, 78-88.

4 Gnp CaLlheton Bayley, An historical address: with records of the medical profession of Dutchess Co#71ftyfro" 1740 £o 1906. January 10,1906. (Poughkeepsie, New York 1906) 5 James Smith, Hz.sfor/t/ of D"fchess CozJ7th/..1683-1882. Syracuse: (D. Mason & Co.,1882) 513-517.

6 Gay Ca.rleton BayLey; Frank Hasbrouck, The History of Dutchess County, New York.

(Poughkeepsie: S.A. Matthieu, 1909) Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, 1940.

7 Rev. David Cole, D.D., Hz.sfon/ a/ Rockha7!d Co#7tft/. (New York: J.B. Beers & Company, 1884

Appendix: Tappan Church Baptism Records.

8

Myrte Jacob Osborn, T7ze OsZ7or7zs of E7tczJfl7!d. (Hopkinton, Mass.). January,1938.

45

9 Samuel Loudon's Tire Nczt7-York P¢ckef, and the A7#erz.ca7t Adz7erfz.ser. No. 279. August 29, 1782.

p.3, col. 2. Rare Book Room, New York Public Library.

10 I:Ither I_o_star_Halsey_, The Revolutionary Worthies Of the Medical Staff. Society o£ Cinciru\at± fro the State of New Jersey. July 4, 1980, 60.

T1 ?`..I . aLnd P. _I. Wa±Iis, Ej!ght.eentf a C_e_I ttuny N±edics. 2ed., (subscriptions, licences apprenticeships).

(Newcastle Upon Tyne: Project for Historical Biobibliography) 1988.

12 One possible relative is James Osbom of Haverstraw, who later served and practiced during the Revolutionary War. Other evidence suggests that Cornelius's uncles and other relatives were physicians as well, for example Peter Osbom, Surgeon, of the Levies, New York Line, and Peter Osborn, surgeon's mate, New York Regiment (Berthold Fernow. Ngzo York I.7t £Jzc Revolution.257,5&9).

13 Prentiss Glazier, Pazm¢£ier-Parme#£!.er Fa7ftI.Zy. (Dutchess County, New York.) ``Leentja

Palmentier" and ``Comelis Osbom" are first seen listed together as sponsors for the baptism of Helena, daughter of Marcus Van Bommel and Saartje Palmentier, ``Sep. 22 1765''.

14 F.e.cords of th.e .Refi.ormeq I?utch ?:!ii!r_ch of Pouahkeepsie.N.Y.. (Moritgomery Courty DepalEmen+ o£

History and Archives), June, 1947.

15 (:I) . Bgok of Supervisors of Dutchess County, Now York. A.D .1718-1722; Old Miscellaneous records 9f P¥tcf res_s_E_o`uplp (_t±E Second Book of Supervisors and Assessors).(Pou8:Iikeepsie.. ValssaLI Brothars Institute 1909) 151-152.

16 Helen Wilkinson Reynolds ,Y.D.C.H.S. 1940.

17 Guy Carleton Bayley, 1906

T8 R`ev. .A.P. Tar:_Gies.op, D.P.,_4::_n`ipe.r_sary Discourse and History of the First Reformed Church of Poz!gfrkeapsz.c. (Poughkeepsie 1893) 117.

I9 (_FraTcis F_j]]¢ip.) Ac?o_pr!! B_o_ok of a Country Storekeeper in the 18th Century at Pouqlckeepsie. (Vassar Brothers Institute,1911).104 20 Win. Willis Reese & Helen Wilkinson Reynolds (eds.), £z.gJ{fec7cffe Ce7zfcny Reco7.ds a/ fJze P_ortion gf_Py.t?f aes£ C_o¥rty N_ow York_ !f at xpas _in_ctuded ip trie Rombout Precinct and the ortiginal ToztJ7I of Fz.sJzkz7J. Dutchess County Historical Society Vol. IV. (Dutchess County Historical Society), 1938.

21 CIfford M. Buck, Taxlists.. Poughkeepsie,. Rhinebeck; Northeast. (Salt Point, NI.Y. .. Buck:) n.a.

22 Win. Willis Reese & Helen Wilkinson Reynolds (eds. ), 33.

23 Cnfford M. Buck.

24 (Livingston). Fishkill Map (of pal.t of the Rombout Precinct). 1798. Local History Room, Blodgett Memorial Library, Fishkill, N.Y. 25 Supervisors Records, Tax Lists. Volume E, 1753-1757. Microfilm Film 141, Records Office, Dutchess County office Building.

26 vym. Mc_PerrTot± (e_a._)_, Eighteenth Century Documents of the Nine Partners Patent. Dutchess Co#73fty, NeztJ Yo7*. Collections of the Dutchess County Historical Society. Vol X. (Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc., 1979) Deed 122, p. 150.

46

27 Dutchess County Wills of: Jacob Brinckerhoff [Liber 21, p. 416]; William Teller (May 16, 1759) [Liber 21 p. 380]; James Cochran (August 26, 1759) [Liber 21, p. 390]; and Matthew Dubois (September 13, 1763) [Liber 5, p. 124] Z8 ]a]ones 8. lyon, Colonial Laws on Ne'w York from the Year 1664 to the Revohtiion. OaLmes 8. Tryo"

Albany, 1894) Volume IV, 440.

29 See Mortgages involving; Obadiah Copper, merchant, for Matthew Dubois, Junior, ``Brewer of Fishkill", [September 13, 1763; Liber V, p. 124]; and Peter Bogardus for Francis Brett, Esquire [August 26, 1765; Liber IV, p. 427]

30 Transcribed: August 28, 1768. To James Osborn for his Perusal in Physick, a Short Sketch on Disorders Incident to the Human Body. By Comelius Osbom. NB: ``Physick" is synonymous with medicine.

31 "IIBoorH" stands for `'His Blessedness (or `'Beatitude") of our Royal Highness''.

32 0sborn manuscript. "For The Barring Down of ye Matrix" is synonymous with prolapsed uterus.

33 Win. MCDermott (ed.); Win. Willis Reese and Helen Wilkinson Reynolds (eds.).

34 0ane Colden.) Boffl7iz.col M¢7z"scr!.pfs of /a7zc CoJde/1,1724-1766. The Garden Club of Orange and

Dutchess counties. New York. 1963.

35 Heny Booth.

36 An extensive coverage of these medicines is being prepared by this author for publication.

The reader is also referred to the popular Madame Grieves Herbal, available at most public libraries.

37 ``The Terms" is synonymous with ``the menstrual period".

38 0sborn manuscript, ``The Barring Down of ye Matrix".

39 E. 8. O'CallaL8han, M.D.(ed.), The Documentary History of the State of New York. (AIbary.. Charles Van Benthuysen, 1851) Vol. IV, 75-83.

40 Philip H. Smith General History of Dutchess County; from 1609 - 1876. inclusive. (Philip H. Smith: Pawling, 1877), 481482.

41 Berthold Femow (ed.), Nezu York I.7z #ze Rez)oJ#£z.o7z. (Albany: Weed, Parsons and Company, Printers) 1887, 285.

42 Femow, 439.

43 Hugh Hastings, State Historian (ed.), Pztz7Jz.c Pacers of George CZz.7£fo7t. (Albany, New York:

Wynkoop, Hallenbeck, Crawford & Company,1899) Volulne I. [No. 89], 230~231.

44 Peter Force, A77zerz.co7z Archz.I)cs .... (Washington) April 1848. Vol. 1, 1450.

45 Force, Vol. 1, 1452.

46 Erastus C. Ichight, New York (State) comptroller's Office. Nezt) York I.7t #ze Reuoz„fz.o7t fls Cozony ¢7IcZ Sfflfe. S#ppJe"e7zf.(Albany, N.Y.: J.B. Lyon Co., 1904) 4445.

47 right, 578.

47

48 Coflect±ons of the NIew York Historical Society, Minutes of the Committee and of the First Comndssion for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies in the State of New Yorlc. December 11.1776 Scpf. 23.1778. (NY: Printed for the Society,1924-5) Vol.1, 236.

49 Frank K. Doherty, TJze Se££Jers of fJzc Beeke7!¢7! Paferzf. (Historical Records: Pleasant Valley, 1990)

595-597.

50 New York Historical Society, Rez7oJttfz.07!fln/ M#sfcr ROJJs, VoJ. H.1775-1783. Collections of the

New York Historical Society. Vol. 47. (New York) 1915. 488-491.

51 ]a]:]t\es S. Ttoberts, Co"ptrdiel, Now York in the Revolution as Colony and State. (A1:bany, N.Y...

Brandow Printing Company, 1898) 221-268. Land Bounty Rights.

52 Halsey, 60-61.

/

53 James S. Roberts, Comptroller. pp. 7-15.

54 National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C., N.A.R.S. notes that many records were lost in a fire on November 8, 1800.

55 Halsey p.p. 60-61.

56 James S. Roberts, 270-271.

57 Roberts, 270-271.

58 Dr. T<e:i[ilreth Scott, Genealogical Data from Adrvinistration Pacers from the New York State Court of AppcczJs I.7! AJbe7ty. (National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York), 236.

59 Samuel Lond )n.

60 Fz.rs£ Ce7cs#s of fJzc Lr.S.,1790, N.Y. (Baltimore: Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Company, 1971). Dutches County, 81.

48

49

Viggo Beck Ranbusch heard stories of Edvard Beck on many long wal.ks with his grandfather, Danish Consul General Georg Beck,who was born in 1876, three years after Edvard Bech:s death. Mr.Ranbusch is the leader of his fandy's firm which has been creating and restoring American archi±ec~ tural decorative arts since 1898. He has written articles on stained glass, decorative painting , lighiing f ixtures and various buildings. Mr. Ra:mbusch and his famdy reside in New Yorlc Cdy.

Poughkeepsie counted as one of its citizens during its zenith - the Civil War Era - a Danish immigrant, Edvard Bech.1 He made his contribution in the iron business. Initially, his New York City trading firm was the agent for the ``raw iron" produced in Poughkeepsle. The raw iron was transported to Manhattan and Brooklyn foundries where it was turned into cast iron stoves, horseshoes, building parts, and ships. Seeing the growing potential for iron in the future, he became more involved with Poughkeepsie's iron business, investing money commencing 1848.

BECH'S BACKGROUND

Edvard Bech came from a Danish family,which, in its two previous generations, had enjoyed great success as merchants and businessmen. His father and grandfather both served on Copenhagen's ``Council of 32". His father -|orgen Bech -was a friend of Crown Prince Frederik who became regent in 1784, then ascended the throne as King Frederik VI in 1808, and ruled until 1839. Jorgen Bech's home, across from Frederik's Christiansborg Slot, at Nybrogade 19/22, was known for its sophistication and hospitality.2,3 Edvard was born May 4,1812.4 Edvard Bech was sent to Copenhagen Uhiversity5 and then for commercial education to a Hanseatic city - Lubeck. At the age of 26 he sailed for New York, arriving there in 1838. He worked as a commercial agent for others and started his own firm in 1842.

He became Danish Consul in New York in 1842, a position of honor which he held until 1858 for the demands of the job cost him more money than he was paid. As Danish Consul he was asked to render reports from as far away as Cuba, Nicaragua, Santo Domingo and Mexico. He also was asked to obtain prices relative to New York and American sales of farm produce and commodities, such as grain; the potato crop failure in 1847; American prison practices; mail service; river traffic, etc. In his normal course of work, he helped Danish business men, sailors, and shippers, and aided when Danish citizens died here.

For his efforts he was knighted by the Danish King on October 5,1854. The consulate activity grew strongly in the mid-1850s and he asked at that time for a vice-consul in Key West and another in New York to help him. In 1858 he asked to be replaced, as he was too busy with his own business to be able to handle the consulate affairs in a timely manner.6 He married a widow, Charlotte Elizabeth Mccarty Hossack (b. March 12, 1812; d. May 29,1900), and lived at one time at 24 Clinton Street, New York City.

Edvard Bech founded his own trading firm in New York City in 1842 and it continued for 47 years in New York City until the death of his son, George Bech. The firm, whose addresses were on Wall Street and Hanover Square, bought and sold

50

wine as well as iron. It was through these commercial transactions of trading ``pig iron'' that Edvard Bech became involved with the iron trade, and especiany

with Poughkeepsie's iron foundryman, Joseph Tuckerman. Edvard Bech moved to 57 Market Street, Poughkeepsle, before 1852 and lived there about ten years.7 BUILDING POUGHKEEPSIE'S IRON BUSINESS

Edvard Bech's father, a wealthy merchant in Copenhagen, Denmark, had left his children large sums which they started to invest after his death in 1846.8P In 1853 Edvard Bech provided the money for Tuckerman & Bech iron Company to build a second furnace,]° and in 1854 bought out his partner, Joseph Tuckerman, and the company became known as Bech's Furnace.11.12ng

Top: View of Fallktll Iron Works, Upper Landing, foot _9f Foffinan Street, Pougldeepsie, from Rosenhand, signed Albert Insley,1877; private couection Bottom: Bech:s Furnace; Lower Landing, foot of Union Street, Pouglckeepsie, view from the south, signed E. Rjchardi 1855; private collection.

51

Three major developments in the production of iron d=rin\g these years 1848 through the Civil War -created opportunities, often with the resulting need for additional capital.

First: The fuel - originally wood-charcoal - gave way to anthracite coal, available from the Pennsylvania fields thanks to the developments of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. At first the canal (1820s) was pushed through to the mouth of the Rondout Creek just below Kingston, to bring the coal to the Hudson Valley and New York market. Then, a railroad, one of the country's first, was built, allowing year-round delivery - i.e., no freezing over problem - and great quantities could be moved continuously. The coal was brought by barge from Rondout to the Poughkeepsle waterfront. and stored by the furnaces in great piles. This railroad grew to become the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.14

Second: The new Bessemer process developed in England in 1855 was such an advance that new furnaces were required. Griswald, upriver in Troy, tried to build the first Bessemer- type furnace in America, closely followed by Peter Cooper at his Trenton iron works.15 Bech bought more land, a few hundred yards up river, and in 1859 started to build two new furnaces which became known as the ``upper furnace" at the foot of Hoffrnan Street, as differentiated from the two older ones, the ``1ower furnace" at the foot of Union Street.16,18 During the

process, he became over-extended financially (mainly because of ``the panic of 1857") with resulting losses in his investments in shipping, especially the New York-Hamburg Steamship Line failure.19 In 1861 Bech took in local partners and created two companies, one named the Poughkeepsle Iron Company (lower landing) and the other named the ``Fallklll Iron Works," (upper landing), with basically the same owners.20 He also

borrowed capital in Europe, mainly in Denmark from his brothers and family, which he repaid in full in 1864 in gold.21 The lower furnace made its last ``pour" in July 1885 and then was closed and torn down,22 its assets being merged into

the second company (upper landing), the surviving company being called the Poughkeepsie Iron Company.23 The ``upper furnace" was still operating when one of its furnaces was rebuilt in 1905 -so that it alone could produce more iron than the original four.24

Third: The ore, which at first came from the hills behind Poughkeepsle, especially Sylvan Lake, was replaced by ore which was barged down from Lake Champlain. This ore was said to be only exceeded in purity by the mines in Sweden.25 Edvard Bech bought heavily into these mines, investing his capital, and at the time of his death he was President of the Port Henry Iron Ore Company of Lake Champlain as well as his original New York City trading firm, Edvard Bech and Company, which continued until George Bech's death in 1890.26J27 Edvard Bech left an estate valued at $1,837,342.28

In 1863 Bech bought ``Hickory Grove," a farm on the Hudson River just north of the city with a Greek Revival main house,29 and renamed it ``Rosenlund." He had great dreams for its development, and his friend and fellow countryman, the famous architect Detlef Lienau, designed a main house and a series of other buildings. All the drawings are in Columbia University's Avery Architectural Library Collection.30 The realization of Detlef Lienau's plans for a new main house was interrupted by Edvard Bech's death, but three of the out buildings

52

were built: the gatehouse, gardener's cottage, and carriage house. These buildings survive, and have (1991) been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.31 Rosenlund, after the death of Edvard Bech's widow in 1900, was sold and in 1908 was purchased by the founders of Marist College.32,33 Edvard Bech's home was a gracious one, known for its hospitality. Among others, he had as a guest at his home at 57 Market Street in 1859 a ``man of color" - a Haitian diplomat.34 Among his friends was General Fremont, the explorer who liberated Calfornia from the Spanish. He patronized the arts. Several of the

paintings of his furnaces and mines he commissioned still exist, one at the Yale Ganery of Art.35

Edvard Bech remained as business manager and treasurer of the Fallkill Iron Works Company as well as the Poughkeepsle Iron Works until his death in 1873.36,37

About 1861, the superintendent of the works, Albert Tower, began to buy into the business and he succeeded Bech as head after the former's death in 1873.

Bech's stepson succeeded him as treasurer of the company,1873-1899.38# It is interesting to note that his stepson, Henri M. Braem, also became a Danish Consul. Edvard Bech's great-nephew, George Bech, the author's grandfather, later served as Danish Consul General in New York from c. 1914 to 1946. His father, Carl Bech, Edvard's brother's son, was educated at Harvard for one year at Edvard Bech's expense and he then worked at a private Wall Street bank, Duncan, Sherman & Company for one year.40 BECH'S AFTERGLOW

After Edvard Bech's death, we know that his son, George, lived in style. He had a house in New York City, a steam yacht built in Poughkeepsie at Polk's Shipyard near the foundry which was launched with fanfare on May 10,1881,41 and the fast sailing yacht, Reindeer.42 George's wedding to his second wife, Julia May, in 1887 was a major social event in Baltimore as reported in T7zc Nezo York Tz.777es.43 He owned the Edgehill Farm in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and was a founding subscriber of the ``Casino" in that town.44 He was an owner of the ``Forests of Dean," an iron ore mine behind West Point. After the death in 1890 of Edvard Bech's son, George, the company was again reorganized.45 His

mother kept up and developed Rosenlund and particularly its gardens so that they were well known in the 1890s as especially beautiful. They included 65 acres, sylvan landscapes, ``modern artistic gardening", greenhouses, and a fine gardener 's cottage.46

Edvard Bech's daughter, Sophie Bech-Oxholm, married a Danish nobleman and lived her life there until her death in 1935. She was born in 1848, the year of the Danish Revolution. Edvard Bech, her father, was raised in a family where the king was the control point for politics, society, wealth, and religion. It was a time

of great liberating influences - literany the walls came down everywhere, not just those around Copenhagen. Sophie, on the other hand, was raised in the democratic American tradition where humanistic ideals burned strongly. She helped in every way she could to improve society, the family, and the life of those around her.47 Chamberlain and Madame Oxholm were frequent guests at the American Embassy in Copenhagen, especially during the Ambassadorship of Maurice Francis Egan; for example, at a dinner during the visit of Theodore

53

Roosevelt to that city.48 She founded the Edvard Bech Legacy which still exists in Denmark for Bech family members.

Sophie's older sister, Elizabeth, married the Count Carl Heiurich von Linden who was Master Chamberlain of the Court of King Wilhelm of Wurttemberg.49

They also had no children and they founded the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.

Edvard Bech and his wife lie in a beautiful mausoleum built in 1862 by Detlef Lienau in the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.50 They are buried near her mother, their two sons, Edward (who died in 1862), and George, George's first wife, Mary Stevens Strong Bech, who died in childbirth in 1880, and their son, Edward Henri Peter, who died at birth in 1880. Thus, there are four generations. They were originally members of Christ Episcopal Church, Poughkeepsie,51 and later The Church of the Holy Comforter.52,53

The deaths of the four ironmasters of the Hudson, Edvard Bech ironmaster of Poughkeepsie, and within the same three-year period, the deaths of Coming, Griswald, and Burden, ironmasters of Troy;54 the growth of Pittsburgh with its natural access to coal and iron ore; and the great fiscal amalgamations and machinations in the steel business of J. P. Morgan brought a gradual end to The Poughkeeps'ie Iron Works.55

BECH'S CONTRIBUTION

Edvard Bech's contribution was his vision, his dream of building up the iron industry in Poughkeepsie. He saw Poughkeepsie as the hub, the center of a fourspoked industry with coal coming from the west, iron ore from the north, both reasonably transported mostly via water, with the processing done in the center

- the hub- along the river in Poughkeepsie. Then the product was delivered downriver to the south to New York and Brooklyn, and to the east to New England and Boston. Others saw the same dream, for they caused a great bridge to be built at Poughkeepsie. Pricing was on his side until the price wars of J. P. Morgan - i.e., U. S. Steel - manipulated the economics of steel so that logical cost advantages of the Poughkeepsle Iron Company were lost.

He saw the potential and made a total commitment. He moved himself and his family to Poughkeepsie. He invested his entire inherited fortune into the enterprise, funding the capital-starved iron works` growth. Finally, he contributed his management abilities to the creation and growth of the industry - an the way from the mines on Lake Champlain, through the creation of the raw iron in Poughkeepsie to its marketing in New York City, Boston, and elsewhere.

ENDNOTES 1 Census registration card file - Adriance Library, Poughkeepsie, New York 2 Th. Hauch-Fausboll, and H.R. Hiort-Lorenzen, Pflfrz.c!.skc SJacgfcr (Patrician Families) Danish Genealogical Institute,1911

3 Edvard Bech, Strandboulevarden, Copenhagen, Denmark, correspondence and conversations 1989-1991

4 Th. Hauch-Fausboll, and H. R. Hiort-Lorenzen,1911

54

5 Estimation of the Student, Edvard Bech, 1832, University of Copenhagen Archives 35.20.03; National Archives 6 Edvard, Bech, letters 1842-1858; Forgz.g77 0#.ce Correspo7!c!e7cce, National Archives, Copenhagen,

Dermark 7 Census registration card file (5 cards) Adriance Library, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. 8 Th. Hauch-Fausboli, and H. R. Hiort-Lorenzen,1911 9 Edvard Bech, correspondence and conversations 1989-1991 10 TJzc fngJe, Poughkeepsie, April 2, 1853 \1 Jeffrey A. Alons, Pong:hl<eepsie tron Won:ks (Bech{ s Furr\aLce); Dutchess County Historical Society Ycflrz7ock, (1982-Vol. 67)

12 Edmond Platt, ``Tfec fngzc's Hz.sfony a/ Pozfg7zkecpsz.e" from the earliest settlements 1683 to 1905, 143

13 James H. Smith, Hz.sfor/I/ of D#£cJzcss Coz/#fr/, D. Mason & Co.,1882; 388 and 389

14 Alvin F. Harlow, OJd ToztJpfl£Jzs, D. Appleton & Co., 1926; The Delaware & Hudson Canal, 185-194

\5 PaLul F. PaLskof£, ed., ``Iron and Steel in the 19th Century; Encyclopedia o£ American Business

History 16 Edmond Platt, 157, 158 18 James H. Smith, 388, 389

19 Diary of Matthew Vassar, ]r., for 1861, January 17, as published in Pong7zkeepsz.e Da!.ky fagJe on February 27, 1906

20 Valbygaard Archives, Danish National Archives, Valbygaard, Denlnark 21 New York Advertiser

22 P|att, Edmond, 158

23 Valbygaard Archives, Danish National Archives, Valbygaard, Denmark, letter from H. Braem to J. Bech, June 29, 1888

24 P|att, Edmond, 233, 234 25 Nezt7 York, A G#z.c!e fo fJ!e £77zp!.rc S£4zfc, W.P.A., N.Y.S. Historical Assoc: (Oxford Univ. Press,

1940), 537 2:6 N.Y. Advertiser

27 Neai7 york Tz.777cs (obituary Edvard Bech), July 12, 1873

28 Co#rz.er, (obituary of Elizabeth Bech, Poughkeepsie -June 3, 1900), 5, 8 29 Lz.Z7gr 123 of I)eeds, ``Conveyance from Thomas Clegg to Edvard Bech," April 30,1863, 645-647

30 Eller\ KraL:rnel, "The Domestic Architecture of Detlef Lienau, A Conservative Victorian" N.Y .H .

Ph.D. 1958, esp. pp. 224, 225, 226 31 Elise M. Barry, Rose7zZ"77cZ fshafc BJdg., No"z.#a£!.o# I/3/91, National Registry of Historic Places;

U.S. Dept. of the Interior 32 Elise M. Bany

33 In an interesting parallel, Edvard Bech's two brothers each built a very large county ``Manor

House" in Denmark - August Villard on his farm at Valbygaard where Edvard Bech took his family for a year during the Panic of '57 when he shut down the works in Poughkeepsie and the older brother, Jorgen, at Kruusesminde. It is interesting to note that Jorgen's greatgreat-grandchildren still have a fond memory of Edvard Bech. One of them who raises racing

55

horses as a hobby in Denmark names his best ones ``Poughkeepsie" and his horse so named won the Danish Derby a few years back (from Bech, Edvard; Strandboulevarden, Copenhagen, Denmark, correspondence and conversations 1989-1991 ) 34 (Obituary Edvard V. Bech), Ngzt7 York AdzJerfz.sex

35 Jeffrey A. Arons

36 Valbygaard Archives, Danish National Archives, Valbygaard, Denmark 37 (Obituary Edvard Bech), NeztJ York Tz.„zcs, July 12,1873

38 Valbygaard Archives, Danish National Archives, Valbygaard, Denmark 39 James H. Smith,388, 389

40 Th. Hauch-Fausboll and H. R. Hauch-Fausboll 41 Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, May 10, 1881

42 (Obituary of George Bech) PowgJzkecpsz.c D¢z7y fagJc, April 18, 1890 43 (Wedding of George Bech), Nezt7 York T].77!cs, February 17, 1887

44 Meeting of Board of Directors, Stockbridge Casino, April 2, 1887, Stockbridge Public Library, Sto ckbridge, Mass achusetts

45 Valbygaard Archives, Danish National Archives, Valbygaard, Denmark 46 Co„rz.er, Poughkeepsie, October 7, 1900, page 7, `Rosen]und for Sale"

47 Sophie Bech-Oxholm funded within the Danish RIfle Association the still existing annual shooting competition. Her liberal, suffragette, education for women"s position, motivated her

to help field workers - small farmers and peasants - hired hands (expecially their living conditions) - to reach up and find their own kind of nobility. If they shot well, there would be '`awards." The top ``shot" got to be ``king" for a year - an award with an enamel chest panel on chains that she had had made. In her mind she was helping ordinary people to gain respect for themselves in this special society - the shooting society - very important in those times in a farming economy such as Denmark had (from Knud Salicath, Edvard Bech Legacy, Helsingor, Denmark, and Erik Tillisch Rosenfeldt, Denmark, correspondence and conversations 1989-1991).

48 Maurice Francis Egan, ``Te7z Ycflrs 7zGHr £Jze Ge777z¢7i Fro7z£!.er, (George H. Doran, 1919)

49 (Obituary, Marie Elizabeth Bech von Linden) BcrJz.7igske Tz.de7tcze, January 26,1910,

Copenhagen, Dermark 50 Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery records 51 Christ Church records; 1862 contribution to organ fund, pages 202-203; 1870 pew holder, page 208

52 (Elizabeth Bech obituary), CoHrz.er, Poughkeepsie 53 (Obituary of George Bech), PongJzkeaps!.e Daz.ly fagJe, April 18, 1890 54 (Obituary Edvard V. Bech), Nezt; York Adz7erfz.sex

55 Paul F. Paskoff

56

Vassar Brickmaking in the State of New York Robin Lucas Architectural Historian and librarian for Art and Archeology, Norfdrk, England

Robin Lucas, a doctoral degree candidate at the University of East Anglia in England, resides in a house lcnown to have belonged to the Vassar Jam-

dy in East Tuddenha:in, Norfolk, England. Mr. Lucas has researched the Vassar famdy on both sides of the AIlantic in the course of his studies on brickmaking.

SETTING

The fact that many migrants from Europe to North America have brought with them the trades in which they were practiced is not remarkable: hardly less surprising is the fact many tradesmen have consciously sought the opportunities resettlement would bring to the development of their skills and business. What is less expected, however, is that trades firmly rooted in the land of their origin, making use of the geography and soil of the region and shaped by local social and economic conditions, should also have been transported. For practitioners of environmentally-conditioned trades the changes involved in resettlement were considerable.

Amongst the number of such environmentally-conditioned trades brought from the Old World to the New was brickmaking. There can be no question that brickmaking was not a valued industry within the new settlements of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, being fundamental to the creation of what is currently and fashionably termed the community infra-structure. Included in a list of tradesmen which the Virginia Company sought to obtain in 1609 were four brickmakers. Broadsides were issued, twice in 1610 and once in 1617, with the intention of recruiting brickmakers for Virginia. The situation there was not unique. Writing of New England in 1634, William Wood commented that the trades ``most fit for these plantations' are those of ``and ingenious Carpenter, a cunning Joyner...and a good brick-maker, a Tyler and a Smith." A number of brick shipments were made from the Netherlands and England to their colonies

in North America but the notion that the new European colonial settlements were constructed from imported bricks has long since been.dispelled. In general it was the brickmakers who were imported from Europe, not the bricks.1 The beginnings of brick manufacture and brick use along the Eastern Seaboard reflected this influx of brickmakers. It is recorded that kilns were operative in New Amsterdam from 1628 and Rensselaerswyck from 1630. Somewhat later the settlements in New England were burning and using bricks.2

57

One part of England which sent brickmakers in considerable number to the new American colonies, which became self-governing states after the American War of Independence, was East Anglia. East Anglia, comprising the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex, was a region which had witnessed the development of brickmaking from the late twelfth century onwards and it was a region which, from the seventeenth century through to the nineteenth century, was exporting its population to North America, and particularly to New England and the colonies, later states, of New York and Pennsylvania.3 The history of one family of Norfolk, involved in brickmaking within the county between the mid eighteenth century and the early twentieth century, may illustrate both craft continuity and functional adaptation operative in the translation of an industry to the other side of the Atlantic. For in 1796 some members of this family, called Vassar, emigrated to the state of New York and it was in the Hudson Valley, then still very much under-developed as a major brickmaking district, that they settled. In an age when industrial enterprise was organized around family life the history of a brickmaking family, with its reference to matters which were local and specific, must serve as a practical and illuminating approach for understanding how manufacture proceeded and how skills were disseminated.

VASSAR BRICKMAKING IN TIIE COUNTY OF NORFOLK, ENGLAND The involvement of the Vassar family with bricks can be documented from 1751 for when in that year William Vassar received a licence from the bishop of Norwich to marry Martha Guy in the parish church of Saint Mary, East Bradenham, he was described in that licence as `forickmaker.``4 The activity of Thomas Vassar (1734-1808), brickmaker at Shipdham and younger brother of William Vassar, and of William Vassar the younger (1751-1826), brickmaker at East Tuddenham and eldest son of William Vassar, could be taken as characteristic of rural brickmaking in Norfolk in the second half of the eighteenth century.

East Bradenham, Shipdham and East Tuddenham are villages sited within half a dozen miles of the mid Norfolk market town of East Dereham. The governing situation was one in which self-employed or master brickmakers produced for demand, financed production from income and combined industrial activity with farming. Brickmaking plant comprised a kiln, a pug-mill for mixing the clay, and drying sheds: besides these, there was little investment in equipment other than in carts, draught horses, barrows and handtools, most of which were also serviceable in farming operations. No navigable waterways served the district of East Dereham and the distribution of brickyard wares was confined by the distance a cart could travel laden and return empty the same day, about five miles from the brickyard. The economy of such enterprises was in every way diverse, for labour and investment funds were interchangeable, making it possible, provided setbacks were not coincident, to survive interruptions in demand or bad harvests in the field. This kind of arrangement allowed a sensible use of limited resources and provided protection against variation in trade: it did, however, set limits to the extent to which master brickmakers could experiment and expand their industrial activity. It is unlikely that production at the Vassar brickyards in Norfolk exceeded half a million bricks a year: indeed, production levels may have been well short of such totals. Shipdham remained a site where the

58

Vassars were involved in brickmaking up to 1854, when the brickyard was sold.

The East Tuddenham brickyard may have ceased the production of bricks before 1826, the year in which William Vassar the younger died. Later Vassars were, as hired brickmakers, employed at Hevingham in north-west Norfok in the middle years of the nineteenth century. The last Vassar to have operated a brickyard of his own in Norfolk was Eli Vassar (1835-1913), who for the final three decades of the nineteenth century combined brickmaking with the raising of fruit and vegetables at Walsoken, in the extreme west of the county.5

EMIGRATION T0 AND SETTLEMENT IN TIIE STATE OF NEW YORK In the autumn of 1796, representatives of a number of the Vassar families of central Norfolk left in a group to start a new life the the United States. Amongst the number of those emigrating were the brothers Thomas (1756-1849) and James Vassar (1761-1840), the wife and family of James Vassar, and two young men also called Vassar, each from separate but related families: James Vassar, junior (circa 1780-1859), and Elijah (Eli) Vassar (1792-1819). Thomas and James Vassar were

younger brothers of William Vassar (1751-1826), brickmaker of East Tuddenham, and James Vassar it can be discovered was previously the tenant of a farm of 36 acres straddling the parish boundary between Scarning and East Bradenham.6 One reason why the account of the emigration and early Ire of these settlers in the United States can be told in more than the ordinary details furnished by official documents is that amongst the emigrants was the four-year-old Matthew Vassar (1792-1868), later to be celebrated as the founder of Vassar College, which was made possible by his vision and accumulated wealth. Memoirs and journals, biographical, autobiographical and financial, which concern Matthew Vassar and his business enterprises, inumine the Vassar story.7 An early act of the Vassars upon reaching the United States was, as aliens, to apply for the right to purchase land in the state of New York. Applications collectively submitted by Thomas Vassar, James Vassar and James Vassar, junior, were approved by act of the New York legislature on 3 April 1797.8 In that year the two brothers Thomas and James Vassar reconnoitered the Hudson Valley9 and, after some delay, purchased from Smith Thompson a tract of 260 acres in the small inland Caravanse Valley lying some four miles east of the Hudson River on the western bank of the watercourse known as Wappinger Creek in Dutchess County.10 The portion of this land, where there is now the village of Manchester Bridge,11 is shown on a map of the settlement of Poughkeepsie and its vicinity which was made in 1798.]2 It appears that the land was farmed, but for no more than three years. The land, or part of it, was sold in 1800 and in the following year James Vassar and his family moved into Poughkeepsie itself where James Vassar had set up a brewery which was to provide employment for himself and his descendants for the next eighty years.13 There can only be speculation regarding the true reasons for Vassar emigration to the United States. Matthew Vassar's account written in 1854 mentions the desire by the family to escape the restrictions on worship which they, as non conformists, were obliged to endure in England, as well as the irritation aroused at the payment of church tithes. Given as a positive reason was the desire to expand their farming activities which, it was thought, the freer conditions obtaining in the New World would make possible.14 There may have been some

59

substance to both these reasons but there was also a third reason, never mentioned. That is, that the Vassar family - all of whom, because of their connections, had experience of brickyards - saw the possibility of building a fortune in the New York brick-trade. Surveys of buildings raised in Dutchess County and other counties of New York show that brick was used sparingly in house constmction before the War of Independence, but that soon afterwards brick became a common walling material.15 Yet the growth of the brick-trade was related to more than the building needs of the local community. The last decade of the eighteenth century saw a quickening pace in the expansion of the city of New York, which was soon to became America's largest port: it was not unconnected that the Hudson Valley, which is where the Vassars chose to settle, was soon to be celebrated as America's most extended brickfield.16 Already, in 1790, John Copeland was advertising his bricks and this was eight years before the Vassars established themselves in Dutchess County. The brickyard of John Copeland, at the side of the Filkintown road,17 was worked up to his death in 1805.]8 JAMES VASSAR (1761-1840)

The scene, therefore, was set and it is not surprising to learn that, sooner or later, one of the Vassar immigrants to New York State was making bricks. Just who was the first to do so, and in what circumstances, is not clear. James Vassar, the younger of the immigrant brothers to settle in Poughkeepsie, is normally thought to have been a brewer and a farmer but the survival of a letter written to hin in 1816 makes it apparent that James Vassar did, at some time in his career in the United States, make bricks. Thomas Purser, a merchant who in this instance was acting as a broker, wrote to James inforining him of a client who would pay $14 a thousand for 40,000 bricks delivered to the dock in New York according to samples and descriptions already provided.19 Purser's letter suggests that James Vassar did realize what potential profit there existed in the supply of bricks to the city of New York; but in the absence of other information it may be concluded that his involvement with the brick-trade was casual.

THOMAS VASSAR (1756-1849) AND WILLIAM VASSAR (1805-1886)

Matthew Vassar recorded that his uncle, Thomas Vassar, was involved in making bricks at the ``Roger Farm" on the outskirts of Poughkeepsie from 1811 until shortly before his death in 1849.20 Benson John Lossing in his biography of Matthew Vassar suggested a different chronology, for he stated that Thomas Vassar took to brickmaking following the abandonment of the farm at Wappinger Creek: from Lossing's text it could be concluded that Thomas Vassar was involved in brickmaking from 1801.21 Of the two accounts, that of Lossing is the more plausible, for James Vassar's brewing accounts do not indicate that Thomas Vassar followed his brother to Poughkeepsie.22 It is, however, possible that Thomas Vassar shared in the hoprearing and brewing activity of his brother James, which may have been pursued by Thomas at the same time as his brickmaking business. What Matthew Vassar may have intended, when writing that Thomas Vassar took to brickmaking after 1811, was simply that from that year Thomas Vassar concentrated on brickmaking. The matter cannot, however, be proved either way. It had, nonetheless, been a characteristic of brickmaking prac-

60

tice back in Norfolk to run brickmaking side by side with other activities, a tradi-

tional adaption - as has been mentioned - to a situation in which the demand for brickmakers' wares was unpredictable, and this practice may well have been transferred to the United States.

The ``Roger Farm" where Thomas Vassar worked was a tract of land belonging firstly to Elizabeth Rogers and then to her heir, Charles P. Rogers: it was situated immediately west of Caspar Creek, approximately half-way between the original Vassar landholding at Wappinger Creek and the then limits of the settlement of Poughkeepsie. The area was later called Arlington and the site, at one time named as Brickyard Hill,23 can be more precisely defined today as the point at which the Manchester road (Mount View road) branches south from the Dutchess turnpike (Eastern road) shortly after the three-mile marker. Because the Rogers site was three miles inland from the Hudson River, it is likely that a large part of the business of Thomas Vassar was the supply of bricks and tiles for local needs. It is known from a bill delivered to Matthew Vassar, treasurer for the village of Poughkeepsie, and receipted 1835, that 63,100 hard bricks supplied by Thomas Vassar at a cost of $378-60 were used in the construction of a reservoir.24 Thomas Vassar may well, however, have had larger markets than the local community. A downhill slope by road (Main Street) from his brickyard to the Hudson, and the possibility of using Caspar Creek itself as a navigable waterway, meant that he had access to the New York brick market.

But the Vassars were not the only English settlers to have a mind for making bricks and before following up further the Vassar brickmaking story in the United States, it may be instinctive to cast a sideways glance at the career of yet another immigrant English brickmaker so as to put into context Vassar brickmaking activity in these years. Shortly after the Vassars arrived there came to New York State, in April 1801, James Wood, a brickmaker from Ardleigh, near Colchester, in Essex. After some attempts to establish the business in different parts of the state, Wood in 1815 set up a yard at Haverstraw in Rockland County, on the west bank of the Hudson. The brick he produced was one in which a firing material, in this case coal-dust, was - in Essex fashion - mixed with the clay prior to moulding.25 Both Wood and the Vassars can be seen responding to the same need, that is, the manufacture of building materials to serve the New York urban area, the population of which (excluding New Jersey) stood at 79,216 in 1800 but which grew to five times that number by 1841.26 As it happened, it was the down-river brickyards of New York which from the mid nineteenth cenfury eclipsed those of the up-river counties: the consequence was that brickyards like those at Haverstraw and Tarrytown in Westchester County, both of which had been developed by James Wood, were to outlive those at Poughkeepsie and most other parts of Dutchess County which were established in the same period.

Four towns alone in Dutchess County were stated to be supplying the New York and New Jersey conurbation with bricks in 1910, and these were all situated in the southern districts of Wappinger and Fishki||.27 Thomas Vassar is presumed to have been a tenant at the ``Roger Farm." It was in 1833, whilst he was working there, that the site was purchased by his nephew, Charles Vassar, a younger brother of Matthew Vassar. The deed of punchase stipulated that parcel leases granted to Thomas Vassar, William Vassar, Robert Tyson, Isaac Viles and Abraham Rider to prosecute their brickmaking

61

business are to be respected.28 In its early years this area, Arlington, appears to have been worked by a number of small, independent brickmakers. At the end of the 1830s Winiam Mather investigated the brickyards of the Hudson Valley on behalf of the New York Geological Society and found east of Poughkeepsie, at the site of the ``Roger Farm," a number of brickyards producing as many as 4,500,000 bricks a year.29 By 1845 Thomas Vassar, who was by now almost ninety

years of age, had retired from brickmaking and was listed by Lockwood's Directory for the village of Pouglckeepsie, pu"ished in that yeaLr, as a. priva`te resL dent at 282 Main street.30 William Vassar (1805-86), who was working with Thomas Vassar at the ``Roger Farm" in 1833, was Thomas Vassar's eldest son.

John Ellison Vassar (1813-78), his other son who was later to become a Baptist

preacher, is also known to have worked in the brickyard for a time, beginning at the age of twelve years.31 By 1847 William Vassar may have left the Rogers site: in that year he was resident in Smith street, Poughkeepsie,32 and there is the

possibility that he had changed the location of his work to a brickyard which had previously been in the ownership of Charles Vassar, the brickyard lying between Water street and Lower Main street. From 1850 the site of that brickyard was occupied by the New York Central and Hudson River railroad station.33 More will be said later regarding the Water street brickyard. The fact of railway development makes it likely that I./ William Vassar did work in the Water-street brickyard, by 1850 he had moved on again. From 1847 to 1859/60 William Vassar, ``brickmaker," was, according to the Po#gJzkecpsz.c cz.fy cZ!.recto-

7.I.cs,34 resident at Clinton street, although a directory in another series has stated that he was, in 1853, resident in Pine Street Poughkeepsie.35 It may be assumed from the absence of directory references to him after 1860 that William Vassar no longer dwelt in Poughkeepsie.

CHARLES VASSAR (1797-1861)

This is as much as can be discovered regarding the brickmaking activity of Thomas and William Vassar. A fourth Vassar brickmaker in the state of New York was Thomas's nephew, Charles Vassar (1797-1861), born in the United States, the son of Thomas's brother James. It may be surmised that Charles Vassar in his youth leamed the trade from his father or perhaps from his uncle, with whom he was clearly involved later at the ``Roger Farm." Information regarding Charles Vassar is principally obtained from property deeds relating to the five known or suspected brickmaking sites in the vicinity of Poughkeepsie with which he is associated. Unlike his uncle Thomas, Charles Vassar appears from the first to have been an investor as well as a tradesman, with an eye open for profit. One suspects that the motive behind at least some of his property deals was not the desire to acquire brickmaking sites, but rather to realize capital gains on land that was appreciating in value. Nevertheless, there is a marked association between a number of his sites and brickmaking activity.

The first brickmaking site with which Charles Vassar may have been associated was the Water Street brickyard in Poughkeepsie, which was purchased by him from Gurdon Miller in the late 1820s or early 1830s. Unfortunately, no conveyance survives so that all that is known of the transaction appears in a deed of sale when Charles Vassar disposed of the site to his brother Matthew in 1843.36 The site was measured at la 2r 31p when Charles Vassar took possession: there is

62

no information that at that time it contained a brickyard. The text will return to the Water Street brickyard.

After the Water Street purchase, Charles Vassar's interests and outgoings widened considerably. In 1833 he acquired the ``Roger Farm" which was occupied, as has been seen, by Charles Vassar's uncle, cousin, and three other brickmakers. The site, which comprised 93a 3r 24p and cost $8,451,37 appears to have remained in Charles Vassar's possession longer than any other. His ownership was recorded by a map of Dutchess County by John E. Gillette in 185038; however, when Gillette published a revised map in 1858 the site was labelled ``Reynolds brickyard."39 In later years the brickyard was worked by a succession

of owners including Herman Ferguson, Abel Adams, Bedell, and Flagler and Wing.40 Flagler and Allen were working the site in 1910 when an article appeared in the PongJzkeepsz.c £¢gJc reminiscing over the past sights of the town.41 In the first years of his ownership the ``Roger Farm" can only have been an investment for Charles Vassar. It appears that Charles Vassar did not, on his own account, work the ``Roger Farm" for the purposes of brickmaking until the late 1840s, that is, until after the departure of the lessees, which included his uncle and cousin.42 The ``Roger Farm" purchase was quickly succeeded by other purchases of Charles Vassar. In partnership with Richard Nelson of the city of New York, an unspecified amount of land was acquired from Isaac and Sarah Newcomb in 1834, just north of Poughkeepsie, beside the Post Road to Albany. Richard Nelson's share of the land was bought by Charles Vassar in the following year, from which transaction it may be learned that a mortgage had been raised so as to effect the original purchase. When the land was purchased in 1834 it carried with it a lease to Charles Vassar's close relatives, James and Matthew Vassar: the purposes of the lease are unknown but they may have permitted brickmaking in the same manner as the leases at the ``Roger Farm.43 When in 1867 Frederick Beers published a map of Poughkeepsie in his AfJczs of Nezo Yo7.k, he showed at a

spot on or near the Newcomb land the site of a brickyard, which at that date was occupied by Austin rang.44 Charles Vassar was in the market for other sites. In company with John Richards of the city of New York and Warren Kinner of Poughkeepsie he acquired, in 1836, in one transaction, land in both Ulster County, lying north of Dutchess County, and in Poughkeepsie itself. The landholdings were divided into one-eighth shares, and by purchases which were effected in 1837 and 1840, Charles Vassar was able to buy up the shares, firstly of John Richards and later of Warren Skinner. The land in Ulster County extended to approximately 1321/2 acres. The Poughkeepsie site was a portion of the Water Street brickyard, a part of which had been acquired by Charles Vassar at a earlier stage, as has been described above. It is of interest to note that the conveyances of 1837 and 1840 both included with the sale ``all the kilns, edifices, sheds and improvements thereon being the premises long used as a brick yard.''45 With the purchase of these shares it appears that Charles Vassar completed the acquisition of the Water Street brickyard. In William Mather's reports relating to the years 1836 through to 1841 it is stated that in the yards of Charles Vassar, one of three brickmasters or brickyard owners in Poughkeepsie itself, there were produced annually 1,600,000 stock bricks.46 The ``stock" bricks were, in fact, pressed bricks and

these commanded a ready sale on the New York brick market. They passed, so it

63

was said, under the name of "Poughkeepsie stretchers."47 More than any other yard owned by Charles Vassar, the Water Street brickyard was well sited to serve both local urban needs and the needs of the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area. It may be legitimate to speculate as to whether James Vassar, junior, Charles Vassar's cousin and one of the first Vassars to be permitted to own land in the United States, had a hand in transporting the bricks to New York for James Vassar, junior, otherwise called James William Vassar, was a boat-owner with interests both in Poughkeepsie and Long Island and earned his living from the Hudson river-trade.48 Charles Vassar's partnerships with Richard Nelson in acquiring the Newcomb site, and with John Richards and Warren Skinner in acquiring the Ulster County land and Water Street brickyard, suggest that he was following a deliberate policy of sharing the burden and risk of investment. The policy, if policy it was, was extended into his leasing arrangements. In company with John van Amringe of Rhinebeck, Charles Vassar leased, for a peppercom rent, a brick-

yard at Hyde Park, six miles north of Poughkeepsie, in 1837. The Hyde Park site, which contained a brick-kiln, lay next to the Hudson River and was served by two approach roads. A feature of the leasing contract was that Charles Vassar and John van Amringe bound themselves to produce bricks to be sold on the New York brick market by the lessor, Augustus van Amringe, and to employ their industry and the land leased to them for no other purpose. The construction of a dock was envisaged. The lessees were free to make use of clay heaps and equipment available at the site.49 The Hyde Park arrangement must have proved to be impractical, for it turned out to be short-lived. The authorized copy of the lease contained within a bound volume in the Surrogates' Court in Poughkeepsie has been annotated to the effect that an article cancelling the lease in question was recorded in a succeeding volume.50 Charles Vassar's expansive career did not pass without checks and at times he found himself in severe financial difficulties from which he was extricated only by timely assistance offered by his brother, Matthew Vassar, the successful brewer and dealer in real estate whose business acumen seldom faltered. In 1842 Charles Vassar was said to have lost much money on the building development he had been promoting in Market Street, Poughkeepsie.51 This may have been a device to utilize spare productive capacity at his brickyards which went badly wrong. As a consequence Charles Vassar was obliged, in 1843, to sell to Matthew Vassar that part of the Water Street brickyard he had acquired from Gurdon Miller and from the conveyance it may be learned that there were on the site `forick kilns, brick sheds, fixtures and machinery."52 The inventory of an 1842 sale

of equipment to Thomas Mcvail and Matthew Vassar included three brick-carts, seven wheel-barrows, and a quantity of materials found in the brickyard, including burnt bricks. 53 In the early 1850s Charles Vassar was in trouble again and it was at this time that he made over to Matthew Vassar his remaining brickyard at the ``Roger Farm," which Matthew Vassar appears to have resold.54 Charles Vassar's ultimate misfortune should not be attributed to his business style alone.

Lack of prudence may have been but one of the reasons for the failure of his brickyard. It can be imagined that, as the 1850s advanced, profits fell short of what was anticipated owing to a combination of competition from other yards and reducing demand. The Poughkeepsie brickyards were, as has been seen,

64

early suppliers of bricks and tiles to the New York conurbation but their competitive position was soon to be undermined by other brickyards with greater reserves of clay which had opened downstream from Poughkeepsie: these were on the waterfront, as Charles Vassar's Water Street brickyard had been. The new yards, more favorably endowed and more favorably placed, could only take business away from Poughkeepsie. At the same time, there occurred a weakening in the market for bricks and tiles around Poughkeepsie itself which was almost certainly a consequence, both directly and indirectly, of falling incomes amongst farmers who were being displaced as suppliers of foodstuffs to the population of New York and New Jersey by the developing agricultural enterprises of the Midwest.55 Following the collapse of his enterprise, Charles Vassar passed

the remaining period of his life as an annuitant, residing in the Northern Hotel, Poughkeepsie, where he died in 1861.56

COMPARISONS AND CONTRASTS

Not enough is known regarding James, Thomas and William Vassar to make sensible comparisons with the scale and mode of brick production back in Nor folk. James Vassar appears to have been aware of the possibility of an extended trade presented by the New York brick market but there is no evidence that he took advantage of it. Thomas and William Vassar did, it seems, operate exclusively as lessees or journeymen brickmakers and in such a capacity their ability to affect modes of working was minimal. As skilled operators they were themselves the product of a craft tradition, but a craft tradition which did not survive them. Regarding Charles Vassar there is, however, more information which allows a modicum of broad comment, even if detailed analysis remains inappropriate. There are a number of features regarding the scope and methods of Charles Vassar's brickmaking which mark it out as being different from that determined by conditions back in Norfolk.

Brickmaking in Nor folk was directly related to the modest, only slowly increasing demands of the local market, the character of which was determined by limited transport facilities and by the fact that much of the material required was not for new construction but for repairs and rebuilds of an existing stock of buildings. The inability to sell increased production meant that not only were output levels pegged but that there was also little, if any, incentive to try methods which would multiply production and lower production costs. The Vassars in Norfolk were, like many brickyard owners, farmers as well as brickmakers.

The division of tine and investment between the brickyard and the farm must at times have acted as a restraint on industrial development.

Charles Vassar of Poughkeepsie did not encounter these limitations. His market was at the beginning seemingly without bounds, his ability to invest and experiment unhindered by competing demands on his time and resources.

Machinery, the key to industrial transformation, could be had for the asking: Charles Vassar was no different from other American brickyard owners in his recognition of the advantages of mechanized brick production.57 It is not surprising, therefore, that Charles Vassar may be seen as surpassing his English cousins in initiative and performance. The pressed bricks he produced were artifacts quite unfamiliar to his brickmaking forbears. The scale of Charles Vassar's enterprise would also have been unfamiliar in a Norfolk village. The turnover at his

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yards was made possible for himself, as well for numerous other reproducers who could use the Hudson River as a waterway, by the voracious demand for bricks from New York and New Jersey. Historically, it is possible to see that Charles Vassar belonged to a group of early industrial entrepreneurs in the United States who reached beyond the limitations of their craft background and aimed for a wider market than that provided by the local community, relying on growth to furnish the profits which would repay investment. This was, of course, the point at which Charles Vassar's enterprise was vulnerable. From the first it was evident that, to gain the necessary capital, as well as to mininrize risk, Charles Vassar had to resort to borrowing and partnerships to an extent which, it could be imagined, would have appalled his Norfolk kinsfolk, brought up never to venture borrowed capital, and never to venture capital against unknown odds. Ultimately, the expansive nature of Charles Vassar's operations proved his undoing. He counted on sustained demand, making no allowance for fall-back.

It may be surmised that a misguided attempt in the form of a housing development to stimulate local consumption of his products failed, leading to the forced sale of profit-making assets at a mid-point in his business career. The reason for his final withdrawal from the brickmaking scene is unclear but perhaps it occurred because, sensing that the market was in retreat with the turn of the half-century, Charles Vassar saw no prospects for staging a recovery. In the competition he faced, in the risks to which he exposed himself, as well as in the nature of his wares and the size of his potential market, Charles Vassar operated in an economic, social and aesthetic climate which could hardly have been more different from that obtaining in rural Norfolk.

ENDNOTES 1 ?tryli_p__Flex±ndeT Brace,_ Fcono_mic history of Virginia in the seventeenth century (INew York, MacMillan Company, 1895), vol. 2, pp. 13445. Abbott Lowen Cummings, The F7.#med fro%ses of M¢ssocJzwscffs Bay,1625-2725 (Cambridge, Mass., The Belknap Press,1979), pp. 40-44. Helen vy.Tlk.ins_oT per.rio+±_s: `Dutcq f ao_us_e5 _in _the Hudsqp Valley before 1776 (INew ¥-ofk, Payson aLnd

Clarke Limited, 1929), pp.21-2, 322. George Alfred Townsend, ``Houses of bricks imported from England," Records of the Columbia Historical Society, vof. 7 (1904), pp.195-210.

2 I_o_hT ±e?n±er Bishop, History of American manufactures from 1608 to 1860, third ed. (2 vofs., Philadelphia:London, E. Young & Co.:S. Low, Son & Co.,1868), vol.1, pp. 216-31. John Franklin Jameson, NflrrHfi.zJcs a/ Nezt) Nc#!erJ¢Jzd,1609-1664 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 190?), p.13±. Filgh Mordson, Early American architecture, from the first colonial settlements to the 7!¢£r.o77az z7crz.OCZ (New York, Oxford University Press,1952), pp. 71-5,103-118.

3 Thomas Eames, brickmaker and bricklayer from Essex, resided at Dedham, Mass., in or about 1640 before moving on to Medford. A. L. Cummings, p. 42. Also from Essex, but more than one century and a half later, was James Wood, brickmaker of Ardleigh, near Colchester, who settled at Haverstraw, NY, as is related later in the present article. Winiam Bun, brickmaker of Carleton in Norfolk, aged 17 years and already married, bound himself to serve the colony of Pennsylvania for four years prior to his departure in 1731. Jack & Marion Kaminkov, A Lz.sf of ej7zz.grfl7cfs fro77i £7zgJ¢7zcZ fo A77ccrz.ca,1718-1759 (Baltimore, My., Magma Charta Book Company, 1966), p.32.

4 Norfolk Archdeaconry Court, marriage licence bond, dated 10 March 1750/51 (Nor folk Record Office, ANF/12/14, No.138).

5 An article concerned with the brickmaking activity of the Vassar family in Norfolk is in the course of preparation. The subject is treated generally and briefly in Robin Lucas, ``Bric:kmak±n8," Norf elk historical atlas (Nowich,1992:).

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6 The land was situated in the hamlet called Dalwaite, or Daffy Green. Some farm buildings from the period survive today in what is now called ``Daffy Green Farm." Land-tax returns and poor-rate levies relating to the parishes of Scaming and East Bradenham show that James Vassar passed over his landholding to his younger brother Edward Vassar (1762-1845) when he emigrated in 1796. The extent of his farm (part of Lot 2) is indicated in the later Abstract of Title (No 1, 1859) which refers back to the transfer of the ownership of the holding estate from G.L. Strudwich to Leonard Dell in 1811 when Edward Vassar was in occupation (Nor folk Record Office, deposited papers of Hood, Vores and Allwood, solicitors of East Dereham, 4 March 1980, Box 44).

7 Matthew Vassar left two autobiographical sketches in is own handwriting which are preserved in the special collections of Vassar College Library. The first version, dated 1 June 1854 and extending to five sheets of full-scap, was headed `'A brief synopsis of the history of the Vassar' family by M. Vassar" (Vassar Box 1/1). The second version, untitled and dated 4 December 1866, took up eighteen pages in a bound notebook later embossed with the word `'Autobiography" (Vassar Box 1/2). This second version was published in 1916 by the Oxford University Press, New York, in a collection entitled T7ze fl#fobz.ogrqpky ¢7Id Jc££ers of Mflfffrezu

V#ss¢r that was edited by Elizabeth Hazelton Haight. Matthew Vassar's nephew, also called Matthew Vassar, compiled journals which are now deposited in the Adriance Memorial Library in Poughkeepsie. Two volulnes cover the period when the Vassars were involved in brick manufacture in Poughkeepsie: the Diary, 1837-1847, and Day memoranda, 1847-1857. A biography of Matthew Vassar published in his lifetime was that by Benson John Lossing, Vas-sar-Calllege and its founder (INew Yock, C. A. Aivord,1867).

8CalBayer,Shippassengerlisis:New¥grk_and_Ns!!l.Jersey,1`6.00-1325.(NI_fvyfa¥,_S^al:I^1.9.7F):P..?05.` Kenneth Scott, `'Resident aliens enabled to hold land in New York State, 1790-1825," Nflfz.o7t¢J Genealogical Society Quarterly, vof. 67 (1979), No 1, p. 45.

9 M. Vassar, ``Brief synopsis" and A#£obz.ogrHpky, pp. 22-3.

10 Information received from the late Eunice Hatfield Smith, resident of Poughkeepsie, NY. 11 M. Vassar, "Brief synopsis" and AttfozH.ogrxpJly, p. 22.

12 FLeprodrced in Edmund Plait, The Eqgle's history of Poughkeepsie from the earliest settlements, 1683 fo 1905 (Poughkeepsie,1905), p. 8.

13 M. Vassar, ``Brief synopsis" and Aczfobz.ogr¢pky, pp. 24-5. 120 acres were sold to Zephaniah

Platt. Information from E. H. Smith.

14 M. Vassar, '`Brief synopsis."

15 H. W. Reynolds, Di!£cfe Jzo#scs 1.7{ £fec Httdso7{ V¢JJci/, pp. 21, 322-4, 342. Tradition relates that the

double-pile house of Zaccheus Newcomb in Pleasant Valley, at the junction of Brown road with Route 44 was built with bricks made from the large flooded pit in its vicinity in much the same manner as comparable houses in England. The house, now known as Brick House Farm, is dated on stylistic grounds to cz.rca 1760.

16 First annual report of the New York Geological S_u.rvey_[by vyENIELT+.M*th.el,1.83§ (y.fy I.o=.k, 1887) , p. 64. dedog3j of New-York, Par_t 1, _-conpr.is!ng ine _a_eplo_gy_of_th.e.ft.rst .g?olggical dis`trTic`t Tby

W. W. Mather (Albany, Carrol & Cook, 1843), pp. 127, 141-5. Heinrich Ries and Henry Le±ghior\, History of th6 clay-working industry in i-he United States (INew York, lchn W5ley & Sons, 1909), pp. 10, 15, 150-52.

17 At the present-day junction of Main Street with Raymond Avenue.

18 Information from E. H. Smith.

19 Letter, Thomas Purser to James Vassar, 7 November 1816 (Poughkeepsie, NY, Vassar College Library, Special Collections, Booth Collection, Vassar Box 339).

20 M. Vassar, ``Brief synopsis."

21 8. I. LOssin8, p.26.

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22 Vassar Brewery account books 1801-05, 1810-11; and day books 1801-11 (Poughkeepsie, NY,

Adriance Memorial Library).

23 Henry Noble Maccracken, BJz.#zc Dz/fcJzgss (New York, Hastings House, 1958), p. 99.

24 Bill, Thomas Vassar to Matthew Vassar, receipted 7 August 1835 (Poughkeepsie, NY, Vassar College Library, Special Collections).

25Third__an_nu_alr.eporto.f_tpeNew_YorkGeologicalSurvey[byW.W.Mather|,1838(NewYock,1839), PP. ,79`~?. G€?loqu `of_N_ow Yor^k,_Par_t _1_, pp.14;f!=±. _I)tij±d_Sofp, History of Rockland County, Nerb York (New York, J. 8. Beers & Co, 1884), pp. 178-9, 184 Char.les Elley Hall, ``The story of brick," P3lildi`Itg T{?.4.€S. E1.xployers' 4±sqci_etio_n_Pull_etir} (New York), 1905, iiuly, pp. 36-7, 5i. Darfel ae Noyenes, Wz.%7£ #zese grfcs (Thiells, NY, 1982), pp. 1, 3, 7, 29.

26 S_ixteenth ce.n€u.s qf th± .Fni`ted §tqtes:__1940, Population (Washington, DC, United StaLtes Government Printing Office), vol. 1, p. 712.

27 The towns were Brockway (2 brickyards), Chelsea (2 brickyards), Dutchess Junction (7 brick-

yards) and Fishkill (5 brickyards. C. H. Hall, `The story of brick," p. 66. Brickmaking had, for a short period, taken place at Bamegat, otherwise called Clinton Point, on the east bank of the Hudson River and some five miles south of Poughkeepsie. Although the location of the Barnegat brickyard suggested the likelihood of substantial outpour to satisfy the needs of New York and New Jersey, production there was said to have been no more than occasional I.n^|9`37. Ja_I_I_es _H. Sn?±th, History Of D_ut_chess County, New York (SyraLcdse, r`{Y, D. Masor\ gc Co.,

+3F2:), `g. 8.71.. ^S_e_c`ond gppual report of the Now York Geological Sulrvey Tby W .-W . Matheri,183i (New York, 1838), p. 160.

28 Conveyance from Charles P. Rogers and others to Charles Vassar,1 October 1833 (Poughkeepsie, NY, Surrogates' Court of Dutchess County, Roll of land grants, Liber 51, p.

453).

2:9SecondanrmalreportoftheNewYorkGeologicalSurvey,p.160.GeologyofNew-York,Part1,p.143.

30 Directory f or the village of Pouglkeepsie (Pouglikeepsie, NY , I.ockwood,1845).

31 I_ho.Fas I_d_y±T VaL.ssaLI,_Un_cle_Jopn Vassar; or, the f ight of iaith (New York, ALmerican TraLct Society, 1879; London, R. D. Dickinson, 1879), pp. 24, 26. Thomas Edwin Vassar, PrezJai.Jz.ng prayer.: or tr.iuxpphant _fa_itp± as seen in the lif e of Joiiir E. Vassar (Sfer:ling, +18, Dmmirond: s TraLit Depot, no date), pp.18, 21.

32 Directory for the village of Poughkeapsie (Poughkeepsie, NY , Lockwood,1847).

33. E. Platt, Hisfor/t/ of Pongfrkeepsz.e, p. 136. "A notable landmark gone,'' Po%gfekeapsz.e fngJe, 12

February 1910. Wellington C. Lansing, "Ancient industries in Poughkeepsie,'' Po#gfrkeepsz.e Sunday Courier,11 Augiist 192:9.

34 Editions with a variety of imprints held in the Adriance Memorial Library, Poughkeepsie, NY. 35 I.on±= I ^Xfnech,:he Cit.ize`n±, f i...if¥4` and _s_tranger' s guide to the village of Pouglckeepsie, f or the years 1853-54 (Poughkeepsie, NY,1853), p. 31.

36 Conveyance from Charles Vassar and Almira Vassar to Matthew Vassar, 24 August 1843 (Poughkeepsie, NY, Surrogates' Court of Dutchess County, Ron of land grants, Liber 76, pp.

304-05).

37 Conveyance from Charles Vassar and Almira Vassar to Matthew Vassar, 24 August 1843 (Poughkeepsie, NY, Surrogates' Court of Dutchess County, Ron of land grants, Libel 76, pp.

304-05).

ae I`:;±=_E..hs^:::ette, Map of Dutchess County, New York, f rom original surveys, 57 in by 37 in (INow York, 1850).

39|.oo±o`E.G"ette,MapofDutchessCo.,NewYork,fromactualsurveys,58inky58in(P"aLdctphiaL, 1858)

40].H.Smith,HistoryofDutchessCounty,p.370.

68

41 ``A notable landmark gone," PowgJ!keepsz.e Engze, 12 February 1910.

42 I. H. Swath, History of Dutchess County, p. 370. "A notaLble laLndmack gone:' Poughkeepsie Eagle, 12 February 1910.

43 Conveyance from Isaac M. Newcomb and Sophia Newcomb to Charles Vassar and Richard Nelson, 3 October 1834 (Poughkeepsie, NY, Surrogates' Court of Dutchess County, Roll of land grants, Liber 54, pp. 164-5). Conveyance from Richard Nelson and Cordelia Nelson to Charles Vassar, 1 May 1835 (Liber 56, pp. 33-5).

44 Frederickw. Beers, Atlas of New York and vicinity, from actual surveys (£oho, NIew York,1867).

45 Conveyance from John Richards and Charlotte RIchards to Charles Vassar, 31 December 1837 (Poughkeepsie, NY, Surrogaites' Court of Dutchess County, Roll of land grants, Liber 61, pp.

316-17). Conveyance from Warren Skinner and Ann Skinner to Charles Vassar, 21 September 1840 (Liber 69, p. 314).

46 Second annual report of the New York Geological Survey, p.160. Geology of New-York, Part 1, p.

143.

47 E. Plait, IIistory of Poughkeapsie, p.136. W. C. Lansing.

48 I. Spotts MCDowell, ``Brief biography: William James Vassar (1827-1910)," D#£cJzess Co„7tfty Hz.sforz.caJ Socz.ef/I/ ycflrz7ook, 1976, p. 42. For riverside brickyards and the river-bone transport of

bricks at a somewhat later period see William E. Veaplanck and Moses W. Collyer, TJzc sJoaps of fJzc H"dso# (New York, 1908), pp. 14 (2 references), 16, 20 (2), 28 (2), 29 (2); and C. H. Hall, ``The story of brick," pp. 62-3.

49 Lease from Augustus van Amringe and Eleanor van Amringe to Charles Vassar and John van Amringe, 25 January 1837 (Poughkeepsie, NY, Surrogates' Court of Dutchess County, Roll of land grants, Liber 61, pp. 190-92).

50 Annotation (Liber 65, pp. 6125-16).

51 E. Platt, History of Poughkeepsie, p.136. W. C. Lansing.

52 Conveyance from Charles Vassar and Almira Vassar to Matthew Vassar, 24 August 1843 (Poughkeepsie, NY, Surogates' Court of Dutchess County, Roll of land grants, Liber 76, pp.

304-05).

53 Inventory of the personal property of Charles Vassar, sold to Thos M. Vail and Matthew Vassar, [1842] (Poughkeepsie, NY, Vassar College Library, Special Collections).

54 The estate of Charles Vassal in account with Matthew Vassar, 1852-6, credit entry for 1 May 1852 (Poughkeepsie, NY, Vassal College Library, Special Collections).

55 H. W . REyrroLds, Dutch Houses in the Hudson Valley, p. 32.4.

56 DaLvid 8. Leul, The Pouglkeapsie directory f or 1859-60 (Pougivkeepsie, NY,1859) , p.160.

57 The Gentleman's Magazine.. and Historical Chronicle, vcr. 80 (London, 1810), paLlt 2, August, p.

175.

69

Dutchess County Historical Society 1991 Officers and Trustees Toha A. Wolf, President

Pleasant Valley, New York Timothy Allred, Vz.cc Prcsz.dc7t£

Poughkeepsie, New York Katherine M. Feeks, Secrcfflny

LaGrangevine, New York Lany Diker, Tre¢s#7ier

Newburgh, New York

1991 Owen T.Clarke, Jr. Clare Graham Sheila Newman Dorothy Watson

Staatsburg, New York LaGrangevine, New York Poughkeepsie, New York Beacon, New York

1992 Lou Lewis Sam Firmerman H.Wilson Guernsey

Poughke epsie,New York Poughkeepsie, New York Clinton Corners, New York

1993 Arme Friedland E.Peter Krdewitch Barbara Muaphy Mary Arm Bruno

Poughkeepsie, New York New York, New York Millbrook, New York Poughkeepsie, New York

1994 David Greenwood Stephanie Mauri E. Richard O'Shea Lorraine Roberts

Millbrook, New York Hyde Park, New York LaGrangevine, New York Wappingers Falls, New York

STAFF Eileen M. Hayden, Acfz.77g Dz.7iccfor

Jane Begos, C#7i¢£or

TindaLL.Be&rty,Program/Mendership|Bockkeeper

70

1992 MUNICIPAL HISTORIANS of DUTCHESS COUNTY COUNTY HISTORIAN Vacant

CITY HISTORIANS Beacon, Joan Vanvoorhis, 82 North Walnut Street, Beacon, NY 12508 Poughkeepsie, Vacant

TOWN HISTORIANS Amenia, Kenneth Hoadley, Acting, RR1, Box 688, Amenia,12501 Beekman, Lee Eaton, Clove Valley R Clinton, William MCDermott, Clinton Corners, NY 12514 Dover, Mrs. Donald Dedrick, Nellie Hill Road, Dover Plains, NY 12522 East Fishkill, Everett Lee, Rushmore Road, Stormville, NY 12582 Fishkill, Willa Skirmer, Charlotte Road, Fishkill, NY 12534 Fishkill,(village) Rodney Koopmans, 17 Rapalje Road, Fishkill NY 12534 Hyde Park, Diane Boyce, 22 Russett Road, Hyde Park, NY 12538 LaGrange, Emily Johnson, Moore Road, Moores Mill 4, Pleasant Valley, NY 12569 Milan, Norma Ingles, 123 Lamoree Road, Rhinebeck, NY 12572 Millbrook,(village) David Greenwood, R.R.1, Box 277, Millbrook NY 12545 North East, Chester Eisenhuth, Simmons Street, Millerton, NY 12546 Pawling, Myrna Hubert, Old Route 55, Pawling, NY 12564 Pine Plains, Little Nine Parners Historical Society, P.O. Box 243, Pine Plains, NY 12567

Pleasant Valley, Olive Doty, R.D.2, Wigsten Road, Pleasant Valley, NY 12569 Poughkeepsie (town) Mona Vaeth, 24 Maclntosh Drive, Poughkeepsie, NI 12603 Red Hook, John Winthrop Aldrich,"Rokeby" Barrytown, NY 12508 Red Hook (vinage), Rosemary E. Coons, 34 Garden Street, RedHook, NY 12571 REineb eck, Vacant Stanford, Dorothy Burdick, Route 82, Standordville, NY 12581 Tivoli, Richard Wiles, 29 Montgomery Street, Tivoli, NY 12583 Unionvale, Irena Stolarik, N. Smith Road, LaGrangevine, NY 12540 I Wappingers Falls, Brenda VonBerg, 34 Prospect Ave., Wappingers Falls, NI 12590 Wappingers Falls (village) Viki Kolb, 31 Liss Road, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590 Washington, Carmine DiAapino, Dover Road, Millbrook, NY 12545

71

HISTORICAL SOCIETIES of DUTCHESS COUNTY Amenia Historical Society

Little Nine Partners

P.O. Box 22

Historical Society

Amenia, NY 12501

P.O. Box 243

Pine Plains, NY 12567

Bowdoin Park Historical and Archeological Society

North East Historical Society

85 Sheafe Road Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

Millerton, NY 12546

Beacon Historical Society

Historical Society of Quaker Hill and Pawling, Inc.

P.O. Box 89

P.O. Box 99

Beacon, NY 12508

Pawling, NY 12564

Beekman Historical Society

Pleasant Valley Historical Society

P.O. Box 165

P.O. Box 309

Poughquag, NY 12570

Pleasant Valley, NY 12569

Clinton Historical Society Clinton Corners, NY 12514

Egbert Benson Historical Society of Red Hook

The Town of Dover Historical Society Dover Plains, NY 12522

East Fishkill Historical Society P.O. Box 245

Fishkill, NI 12524 Fishkill Historical S ociety P.O. Box 133

Fishkill, NY 12524

Hyde Park Historical Association Bellefield, Route 9 Hyde Park, NY 12538

LaGrange Historical Society

P.O. Box 1813

Red Hook, NY 12571

Rhinebeck Historical Society P.O. Box 291

Rhiebeck, NY 12572 Stanford Historical Society Stanfordville, NY 12581

Union Vale Historical Society P.O. Box 100

Verbank, NY 12585

Wappingers Historical Society P.O. Box 974

Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

P.O. Box 412

Washington Historical Society

LaGrangeville, NY 12540

Millbrook, NY 12545

72

Adams, Abel, 63 Albany Committee Chamber, 20 Albany, New York, 8-10, 20, 63 Ambassador Hotel, 27 American Indians, 37 American Magazine, 25 American War of Independance, 58, 60 Anderson, Martin P.,10,11 Andrews, Samuel, 17 Anglican Church,16,17 Ardleigh, 61 Arlington, 62 Art of Surgery, 37 "Atlas of New York", 63

Bech's Furnace, 51 Bedell, 63 Beekman Precinct, 20 Beers,Frederick, 63 Bessemer, 52 Beverly Robinson's Loyal American Regiment, 14 Billings Road, 27 Boerhaave, Dr. Herman, 36 Bogad, Alice, 30 Bogad,Alfred, 30 Booth, George, 6

Booth, Heny, 37-38 Booth, Lydia , 8,10 Booth, Maria Vassar, 6 Boston, Massachusetts, 54 Boyle, Sir Robert, 36 Braem, Henri M., 53

Auchmuty, Dr. Samuel,19 Avery Architectural Library Collection, 52 Bacon, Sir Francis, 36 Balm Town ( Balmville ), 6 Baltimore, Maryland, 53 Baptist, 9,10, 62 Baptist Society, 8 Barclay Hotel, 27 Bard, Dr.Samuel, 43 Ba.rtram, John, 38 Bartram, William, 38 Beardsley, Barthomew, 21 Beardslee, John Jr., 15 Beardslee, Keziah, 15 Beardsley, Austin, 20, 21, 23 Beardsley, Charles, 21 Beardsley, Eunice, 21, 23 Beardsley, Jehiel, 20, 23 Beardsley, John, 20 Beardsley, Obediah, 20, 21, 23 Beardsley, Patience, 22 Beardsley, Paul, 21 Beardsley, Reverend John, 14-21 Bech, Carl, 53 Bech, Edvard, 50-54 Bech, Edward Henri Peter, 54 Bech, Elizabeth, 54 Bech, George, 50, 53 Bech, Jorgen, 50, 55 Bech, Julia May, 53 Bech, Mary Stevens Strong, 54 Bech-Oxholm, Sophie, 53

Brick House Farm, 67 Brickyard Hill, 8, 61 Brinckerhoff, 34 Brinckerhoff, Dirck, 41 Brinckerhoff's Regiment, 42 Brinkerhoff, John, 35 Brockway, 68 `Brookland, King's County", 41 Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, 12 Brown, 5 Brown Road, 67

Bush, General John, 7 Buffalo, New York, 27 Bun, William, 66 Burden, 54 Burton, Doctor, 20 Butterworth, 6 California, 53 Cambridgeshire, England, 58 Capolino, Keith G., 30 Caravanse Valley, 59 Caspar Creek, 61 Charge of Inoculation, 16 Charlotte( Nine Partners ) Precinct, 14 Chelsea, New York, 68 Christ Church, 14, 20 Christ Episcopal Church, 54 Church of England, 20 Church of the Holy Comforter, 54

73

Delaware and Hudson Railroad, 52 Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, 52 ``Description of New Netherland'', 39

Civil War,10, 52 Clapp, President,16 Clark, Myron,10 Clegg, Thomas, 55 Clinton, George, 42 Clinton, Governor, 20 Clinton Point, 68 Clinton Street, 50, 62 Cochran, James, 46 Colchester, 61

Dictionary or Treatise on Simple Dm8s, 36 Discourse Concerning Fevers, 37 Downing, Andrew Jackson , 9 Dr. Hill's Formula for Pleurisy, 41 Dr. James's Fever Powder, 36 Dubois, Matthew, 34, 42 DUBois, Judge Matthew, 34, 42 Duncan, Sherman & Company, 53

Colden, Governor, 34 Colden, Jane, 37 Colden's Papers, 34 Columbia College of Medicine, 33 Columbia University, 52 ``Committee for the Detection of

Dutchess County, 6,14,15,17-20, 27, 32-34, 38, 59-61, 63, 64

Dutchess County Colonization Society, 7 Dutchess Junction, 68 Dutchess Turnpike, 27, 61

Conspiracies", 20 Committee of Safety and Observation, 20 Complete History of Drugs, 39 Congdon, Mrs., 8 Conklin, N., 7

Eames, Thomas, 66 East Anglia, England, 5, 58 East Bradenham, 58, 59 East Dereham, 58 East Tuddenham, England, 58, 59 Eastern Road, 61 Edgehill Farm, 53 Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia, 36 Edinburgh, Scotland, 33 Edvard Bech Legacy, 54 Edvard Bech and Company, 52 Egan, Ambassador Maurice Francis, 53 ``Elisabet Cuyper," 33

Conkfin,J.M., 7 Cormecticut,15,19 Cooper, Peter, 7, 52

Cooper Union, 7 Copeland, John, 60 Copenhagen, Denmark, 50, 53 Copenhagen University, 50 Coming, 54 ``Cottage Hill Seminary", 8 ``Council of 32," 50

Councilman Leonard, 9 Course of Chemistry, 36 Cranell, Bartholomew, 21, 34 Cuba, 50 Cummings, A.L., 66

Ellison, Gabriel, 6 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 10 England, 5, 6, 8 Ens veneris, 36, 40, 41 essay on fevers...with dissertations on the small-pox and on, pleurises, 37

Daffy Green, 67 Daniels, John, 28 Danish Consul General, 50, 53 Danish Derby, 56 Danish Revolution, 53 Darwin, 12 Davies, Thomas,17 Dawes, Vice President , 27 Declaration of Independence, 20 Dedham, Massachusetts, 66

Essex, 58

Evening |ournal, 27 Everet, Clear, 34 ``Fallkill Iron Works," 52, 53

Farmers and Manufacturers National Bank, 8

Ferdinand's Powder, 14 Ferguson, Herman, 63

74

Fifth Avenue Hotel, 25 Filkin, Francis, 34 Filkintown Road, 60 Fire Company #3, 7 First Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie, 34 Fishkill Creek, 44 Fishkill, New York, 7, 14, 20, 32,

Harvard, 5, 53 Haverstraw, New York, 41, 42, 61 Hempstead, New York,17,18 Hevingham, England, 59 ``Hickory Grove," 52

Hoffman Street, 52 Hooper's Pills, 41 Hoosick, New York, 20 Hossack, Charlotte Elizabeth Mccarty, 50 Hotel Gregory, 11 Hotel Lexington, 27 Hotel Statler, 27

34, 44, 61

Fishkill Village, 34, 41 Flagler, 63 Florence, Italy, 11 Ford, Gertrude H., 25-30 Ford Tea Company, 25, 27, 29 Forest Hills, Long Island, 27 ``Forests of Dean," 53

IRII, Duke of Windsor, 27 Hudson Highlands, 9 Hudson RIver Railroad, 9, 62

Fort Erie, Ontario, 27 Fort Sumter, 11 Founder's Day, 12 Frederick, Crown Prince, 50 Frederick VI, rfug, 50 Fredericksburg Precinct, 15, 22 Fredericksburg, Virginia, 8 Freeke, James, 41 Fremont, General, 53 Fulton, Robert, 6

Hudson RIver, 6,18, 52, 59, 61, 64, 65 Hudson Valley, 52, 59, 62

Humfrey, Wimam, 20 Huxham, John, 36, 37 Huxham's Tincture, 41 Hyde Park, New York, 64 Improvment Party, 8 ``isques," 25

``James Hasben," 33

Garden Street, 8 Gerard, John, 37 Germond, Amanda, 10 Gillette, John E., 63 Glasgow, Scotland, 33

James Kent, 8 James, Robert, M.D., 36 Jewett, Reverend Milo P. ,10,11 Johnson, Reverend Doctor,16 Jones, John, 34

Glebe,17-19

Godey's Lady's Book, 12

Key West, 50 Kief, Ray I., 27 Ffug, Austin, 63 rfug's College,16,17, 33 RIngston, New York, 52 Kirmer, Warren, 63

Governor Tompkins, 7 Greek Revival, 52 Griffen, Jacob, 42 Griswald, 52, 54 Groton, Connecticut,16-20 Guy, Martha, 58 Guy, Thomas, 9 Guy's Hospital, 9

Lafayette, General, 8 Lafayette Place, 8 LaGrangeville, 27 Lake Champlain, 52, 54 Lambeth, England,17 Lane, John, 34

Haarlem Oil, 41 Hale, Sarah Josepha, 12 Hanover Square, 50 Harloe, William, 11 Harmon, David, 42

Langham, Arthur, 44 Lansingburgh, New York, 8

75

Le Roux, Charles, 34, 41 Lemery, Nicolas, 36 Leyden, 33 Lienau, Detlef, 52, 54

New Orleans, 7 New Practice of Physic, 36 New Windsor, New York, 20, 42 New York central, 62 .

Linden Museum, 54 Lockwood's Directory for Poughkeepsie, 62

New York City, 9,10,19, 20, 27, 52-54,

Long Island, 64 Lossing, Benson John,10, 60

New York-Hamburg

60, 63

New York Geological Society, 62

Loyalist, 14, 15, 20

Steamship Line, 52 New York Packet, 33, 45

Lubeck, 50

New York State,10,11,15, 59, 60, 65

New York Sun, 29 New York Times, 53 New York World Telegram, 28 Newburgh, New York, 6,19 Newcomb, Isaac and Sarah, 63 Newcomb, Zaccheus, 67

M.Vassar & Co., 6, 7, 8

Maccracken,13 Magoon, Reverend Elias, 12 Main Building, 11 Main Street, 8, 9, 61, 62 ``Man of the World," 10

Newhaven College (Yale),16 Nicaragua, 50 Norfolk Archdeaconry Court, 66 Norfolk, England, 58, 59, 60, 65, 66

Manchester Bridge, 59 Manchester Road, 61 Marist College, 53 Market Street, 53, 64 Marks, Isaac, 34 Mather, William, 62, 63 Maugerville, 15 Mcleen's Electuary, 41 Mcvail, Thomas, 64 Medford, Massachusetts, 66 Mexico, 50 Miller, Gurdon, 62, 64 Missionary Bond,17 Mitchell, Maria, 12 Montanus, Arnoldus, 39 Morgan, J.P., 54 Morrison's Pills, 41 Mt. View Road, 61

North America, 57 Northern Hotel, 65

Northunberland, 9 Norwich, Connecticut,16,17,19, 20 Norwich, England, 5, 58

Norwich,East Anglia, England, 5 Oath of Secrecy, 20 Observatory, 11 Old Post Road, 34 Orange County, 20, 33, 34 Origin of the Species, 12 0sborn, Dr. Cornelius, 32-44

0sbom, Helena, 45 0sbom Hill, 34 0sbom, James, 33, 35, 42, 44, 45

0sbom, Peter, 42, 45 0sbom, Thomas, 45 0xholm, Chamberlain and Madame, 53

Nash, Howard P., 14 National Register of Historic Places, 52 Nelson, Cordelia, 69 Nelson, Richard, 63, 64 Netherlands, 57 New Amsterdam, 57 New Brunswick, Canada, 15 New England, 54, 57, 58 New England, Province of,17 New Haven, Connecticut,16

Palmatier-Parmentier Family, 4 6 Palmentier, Saartie, 46 Paris, France, 33 Parish of Ripton, 15 Parkinson, John, 37 Parmentier, Helena (Leenja), 33

New Jersey, 61, 65, 66

76

Parmentier, Peter, 33 Peace Bridge, 27 Peckham Road, 27 Peit, Stephen, 42 Permsylvania, 58 Pharmacopoeia Universalis, 36 Pierre Hotel, 27 , Pine street, 62 I Polk's Shipyard, 53 Pomet, Monsieur Pierre, 39, 40 Port Henry Iron Ore Company, 52

Richard, Elizabeth A., 31 RIchards, Charlotte, 69 Richards, John, 63, 64 RIder, Abraham, 61 Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 27 Roaring Twenties, 28 Rockland County , 61 Roger Farm, 60-64 Rogers, Charles, P., 61 Rogers, Elizabeth, 61 Rolls Royce, 28 Poughkeepsie, New York, 6-10,11,14, Rombout Precinct, 14, 34

Rondout Creek, 52 Roosevelt, Theodore, 54

20, 21, 34, 50, 54, 59-62, 64, 65

Poughkeepsie Aquduct and Hydraulic Company, 10

``Rosenlund," 52, 53

Poughkeepsie Eagle, 63 Poughkeepsie Glebe House, 14 Poughkeepsie Hotel, 8 Poughkeepsie Iron Company, 52 Poughkeepsie Iron Works, 53, 54 Poughkeepsie Journal, 31 Poughkeepsie Lyceum of Literature, Science and Mechanic Arts,10 Poughkeepsie Precinct, 14 Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetary, 53 Poughkeepsie Savings Bank, 8 ``Poughkeepsie Stretchers," 8, 64

Rye, New York,18

Santo Domingo, 50 Scarning, England, 59 Schenck, Hendrick, 34 Seabury, Rev. Samuel, 17 Secker, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury,17 set of anatomical tables...and an abridgement of the Practice of Midwifery 2ed. , 37 Seymour, Horatio,10 Sharp, Samuel, 37 Shaw, James, 33 Shaw, Peter, M.D., 36 Shipdham, England, 58 Simcoe, Canada, 25 Skirmer, Arm, 69

Poughkeepsie Whaling Company, 8 Preston, Connecticut, 20 Prince of Wales, 27 Prohibitory Law of 1855,10 Prosser, Doctor Jonathan, 44 Punderson, Rev. Ebenezer, 16, 17 Punderson, Sylvia, 17 Purser, Thomas, 7, 60

Skimer, Warren, 63 Smellie, William, 37 Srfuth, Daniel, 6 Smith, Eunice Hatfield, 67 Smith, Governor Alfred E., 27 Smith, James, 33 Smith, Stephen, 44 Smith Street, 62 Smithsonian Institution, 11 Society for the Propagation of the

Ramsay, Mrs. Charles Stuart, 27 Ramsey, Clinton, 27 Rasbun, Doctor Cornelius, 34 Raymond, Reverend John, 11 ``Reindeer," 53

Remsen, Comelius, 45 Rensselaerswyck, 57

Gospel, 14-20 ``Springside" , 10, 12

Renwick, James Jr., 11 Revolutionary War, 20, 32, 41, 42 ``Reynold's brickyard," 63

St. Anthony's Fire (Erysipelis), 37, 39 St. Mary Church, 58 St. Patrick's Cathedral, 11

Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson, 14 Rhinebeck, New York, 64

77

United States, 5, 8, 25, 60, 64, 66

Staten Island Narrows, 7 ``Stink Seder," 37

U.S. Steel, 54

University of Rochester, 10 ``upper landing," 52

Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 53 Stonington, Connecticut,17, 20 Stratford, Connecticut,15,16 Stuttgart, Germany, 54 Suffolk, England, 58 Sunday Eagle Magazine, 26, 29 ``Suthern" (Southhard),Daniel, 41

Uptown Club, 27 vall, Thos. M., 69

Valentine, Catherine, 7 van Amringe, John, 64 van Amringe, Augustus, 64 Van Bommel, Marcus, 46 Van de Bogart, Helena, 34 Vanwyck's Regiment, 42 Vassar, Almira, 69 Vassar, Ann, 5 Vassar Brewery, 8 Vassar, Catherine Valentine, 7, 9, 12

Swan, Cyrus, 9 Swartwout, Abraham, 34 Swartwout, Cornelius, 43 Swartwout, Col. Jacobus, 43 Sweden, 52 Sydenham, Thomas, 36 Sylvan Lake, 52

Tappahannock, Virginia, 8 Tappan Church, 33 Tappan, New York, 33 Tarrytown, New York, 61

Vassar, Charles, 8, 61-66 Vassar College,10,12, 59 Vassar College Art Gallery, 12

Taylor, 13 Tea Association of the United States, 30 Tefft, Thomas Alexander, 11 Teller, William, 47 Thompson, Frederick Ferris,10

Vassar, Elijah (Eli), 59 Vassar Female College, 5, 11, 12 Vassar, James Jr., 59, 64 Vassar, James, 5, 6, 59, 60, 62, 65

Vassar, Edward, 67

Vassar, John Ellison, 62 Vassar, John Guy, 6, 8 Vassar, John Guy Jr. , 6, 8, 12 Vassar, Martha Guy, 58 Vassar, Matthew, 5-13, 59-61, 63, 64 Vassar, Matthew Jr. , 6, 7, 8, 11 Vassar Street, 6, 7, 9,10 Vassar, Thomas, 6, 58-62, 65 Vassar, Thomas Edwin, 68 Vassar, William the Younger, 58, 59 Vassar, William, 58-60, 62, 65 Versailles, 9

Thompson, Smith, 59 Toronto, Canada, 25 Tower, Albert, 53 Treatise on the Operations of Surgery, 37 Tredwell, Nathaniel, 44 Tredwell, Thomas, 45 Trenton, New Jersey, 52 Trinity Church, 14, 19, 20 Trinity Episcopal Church, 43 Troy, New York, 52 Tuckerman & Bech Iron Company, 51 Tuckerman, Joseph, 51 Tulley's Powder, 41

Viles, Isaac, 61

Villard, August, 55 Virginia Company, 57 von Linden, Count Carl Heinrich, 54 von Linden, Marie Elizabeth Bech, 54

Turlington's Balsan, 41 Turner, Daniel, 37 Tyson,Robert, 61

Wall Street, 50, 53 Walsoken, England, 59 Wappinger, 61 Wappingers Creek, 6, 59-61 Wappingers Falls, 30

Ulster County, 34, 63 Union Square, 8 Union Street, 52

78

Washington, D.C., 11 Water Street, 62-65 Way, Francis, 35 West Point, 41, 53

Wood, James, 61

West Side Tennis Club, 27 Westchester County, 61 Wilhelm, King of Wurttemberg, 54 Willialnsburg Deparinent of lrm and Lodge, Williamsburg Restoration, 27 Win8' 63

Yale, 5 Yale Club, 27 Yale College,15,16 Yale Gallery of Art, 53

Wood, William, 57 World War I, 13

79

Yale University, 36 Yorkshire, England, 6

Greetings Dr. Edward J. Shau9hnessy Minbrook, NI

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Phone:

(914) 454-1200 Fax:

(914) 45413315 Lou Lewis . J. Scott Greer . Michael J. Englert Kenneth F. Peshkin . Deborah A. Ryan Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2990, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

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8Bulhisdt#¥ tomormws.

EEPRE fflj TEFB:#heFTEson.

1 -800-YES-MONEY

Member FDIC

Gellert 8zL Cutler, p.c.

Attorneys 8L Counselors at Law 75 Washington Street Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

Sheldon Cutler Leonard Klein Arthur L. Gellert Stephen E. Ehlers Paul J. Goldstein

Lillian S. Weigert Carl P. Barone Stephen E. Diamond Raina E. Maissel David R. Wise Emanuel F. Saris Terry D. Horner

John A. Geoghegan Albert P. Roberts Poughkeepsie Rye

(914) 454-3250 (914) 967-6200 (516) 335-0905

Lake Success

82

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ALEX. BROWN & SONS INCORPORATED

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lNSUFIANCE AND BONDS

----

Our People Are Your Best Insurance

Marshall & Sterling, lnc.

ESTABLISHED 1800

Poughkeepsie 454-08cO

Wappingers Falls 2973701 K,ingston

AMERICA'S OLDEST NAME IN INVESTMENT BANKING

Midd|etorm 343-2138

338`t455

NewvvIndsor 567-1000

Grossmann Insurance George T. Whalen Insurance

300 Westage Business Center

Catskill

Millbrook

(518) 9433900

6773434

Suite 310 Fishkill, NY 12524

014) 897-4900

u.S. Virgin Islands.. St.Croix, St. Thomas

THE E. V. HOWARD AGENCY

500 CHUF3CH STF3EET POUGHKEEPSIE, NY 12601

Dedicated to Serving our Cormnunity since 1863...

Independent and Locally Owned...

IIighly Personalized Service...

Responsible and Experienced

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Banking...

___

moFEssloN^L INSURANCE

The Flshk±11 National Bank

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•mle I)at`k tlmt hawks }.our comrltun!ly"

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#AINHBUInE

PHONE: 914-471 -5820 Member F.D.I.C.

83

MEYER BUILDERS INC.

7J 7f= ife One of a hid

3 COLLEGEVIEW AVENUE POUGHKEEPSIE, NY 12603

Homes

(9]4) 471-3640

and

Restorations

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Books-Records Old Prints ArtAppraisais Old Issues of

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mtchess County Historical Society Yearbook

BUILDERS

mtchess County Histories

I N C a R P 0 FI A T E D

5 Charles St., Pleasant Valley, NY

635-1416

THE SETTLERS OF THE BEEKMAN PATENT 830 pages of authentic 18th Century history of the towns of Beekman, Pawling, Dover, Union Vale and part of LaGrange. The book is fully indexed, includes early maps and is case bound.

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H€niTH pinN OUR MosT VALurmLE

Vol. 2 due out soon.

PERSON IS YOU

Available for $85.cO plus tax

from Frank J. Doherty

385 South Road, Bcechwood Offlce Park Poughkeepsie, New York 12601

231 Freedom Rd. Pleasant Vaney, NY 12569

(914) 473-1762 (800) 666-1762

84

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The Dutchess County Historical Society is selling the

History of Poughkeepsie by Edmund Platt

and

Dutchess County A Pictorial History by John Jearmeney and Mary L. Jearmeney

- Upcoming Publj,cation CATHARYNA BRETT Portrait of A Colonial Businesswoman

For more information contact the Dutchess County Historical Society, P.O. Box 88, Poughkeepsie, New York 12602 or call (914) 471-1630

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