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(JforncU Uniocraita Slihrarg 
 
 3ti|ata, iStta ^atk 
 
 BOUGHT WrTH THE INCOME OF THE 
 
 JACOB H. SCHIFF 
 
 ENDOWMENT FOR THE PROMOTION 
 
 OF STUDIES IN 
 
 HUMAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 1918 
 
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THE PARSONAGE 
 BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
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REV. JOHN GABRIEL GEBHARD. V. D. M. 
 
 "Delineavit A. Phillips 1820." 
 
 From an Oil Paintine now owned by Rev. John G. Gebtiard, D. D. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
THE PARSONAGE 
 
 BETWEEN 
 
 TWO MANORS 
 
 ANNALS OF CLOVER-REACH 
 
 BY 
 
 ELIZABETH L. GEBHARD 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
 THE HUDSON PRESS 
 
 HUDSON, N. Y. 
 1925 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Copyright, 1909 
 
 By 
 
 ELIZABETH L. GEBHARD 
 
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TO MY FATHER 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM GEBHARD, M. D. 
 
 WHOSE TALES OF OLiD OLAVBRACK 
 
 WERB THE BEST BELOVED STORIES 
 
 OF MY CHILDHOOD 
 
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INTRODUCTORY 
 
 The publication of this, the third edition of "The 
 Parsonage Between Two Manors," has a two-fold 
 purpose. First, as a memorial to my sister's life 
 of unselfish devotion and helpfulness to others; a 
 life which entered into a higher service, February 
 thirteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty-four. Sec- 
 ond, to meet the steadily increasing demand for 
 this book, since the first and second editions were 
 exhausted. 
 
 The third edition is presented without alteration 
 of text, save for a few typographical and other 
 slight corrections, and the addition of "The Old 
 Parsonage Knocker", written by the author the 
 year following the publication of "The Parsonage 
 Between Two Manors". 
 
 During recent years, some have questioned wheth- 
 er Alexander Hamilton did actually appear at the 
 Croswell trial, at the Claverack Court House. Writ- 
 ing upon this question, my sister, in a newspaper 
 
 IX 
 
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INTRODUCTORY 
 
 article dealing with the controversy discussed at 
 some length, the various arguments advanced and 
 concluded with the following paragraph: "We, of 
 this generation, may never know through written or 
 printed proof, whether Alexander Hamilton was 
 present and spoke during the Croswell trial, or 
 Federal party meeting at Claverack, but our fore- 
 fathers knew, and they believed it." 
 
 My sister never lost faith in her belief that 
 Hamilton was present at the Claverack Court House 
 on that occasion, and so I prefer to leave it. 
 
 CORNELIA S. GERHARD, 
 
 Hudson, New York. 
 
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FOREWORD 
 
 It is unusual for one clergyman to serve a congre- 
 gation for fifty years, but it is still more exceptional 
 that those fifty years should have begun contempo- 
 raneously with the birth of a nation, and continued 
 over the first half century of its founding and 
 growth. 
 
 The position of the church which the Rev. John 
 Gabriel Gebhard served was unique, it being within 
 the bounds of one Manor and almost on the border 
 of a second. The Manor life for a hundred years or 
 more before the Revolution, and for many years 
 afterward, possessed features, political and social, 
 which give it special interest. The Lower Van Rens- 
 selaer Manor at Claverack, and the original Living- 
 ston Manor on its southern boundary, have had few 
 chroniclers outside of magazine articles treating of 
 individual homes or persons. It has been said that 
 we are a generation too late for the Manor stories, 
 but hidden in by-ways, treasured by lovers of the 
 
 XI 
 
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FOREWORD 
 
 past, to be read between the lines of sober facts and 
 records, are still golden threads of incident and 
 romance, and the aim of the compiler and writer 
 of this volume has been to gather together these 
 tales of a by-gone daj'', before they have slipped 
 away forever. 
 
 A net-work of accurate historical fact lies under 
 this story of fifty years of parsonage and Manor life. 
 Beyond that are the stories passed down through 
 pictures and letters and family possessions, which 
 being dumb yet speak a language of their own; and 
 more than all, the stories told at the fire-side, and 
 in the twilight, and along the country roads, of the 
 men and women and children of the long ago, who 
 were our next of kin, and whose lives bear a spec- 
 ial interest for their descendants. 
 
 There is still one more point which makes the 
 Claverack Church and parsonage life important in 
 itself. Though the parish of the Claverack Church 
 covered miles of territory, and though the Church 
 exerted an influence over a wide sweep of country, 
 and was the mother of many churches, its early 
 history is only recorded in its own parchment-bound 
 
 XII 
 
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FOREWORD 
 
 books of record, for through almost a hundred years 
 of its existence it was an independent organization. 
 
 It is the hope of the author, that these stories of 
 parsonage and Manors, the sweet and uplifting 
 memories of the past, may be like a cluster of 
 clover-blossoms from the old home of Clover-reach, 
 to the men and women of today whose ancestors 
 called Claverack home. 
 
 The information contained in this volume has 
 been gathered from many sources, that relating to 
 the Gebhard family coming through the inheritance 
 of letters and pictures, books and valuable papers, 
 by various descendants of Dr. Gebhard. Thanks 
 are due to Mr. M. D. Raymond for data pertaining 
 to the records of the Collegiate Dutch Reformed 
 Church of New York, and the unpublished cor- 
 respondence of George Washington; also to Rev. 
 Herman Hageman, Mrs. Anna Van Rensselaer Bar- 
 nard, Mrs. Caroline Van Rensselaer Hall, Mr. 
 Stephen Van Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Harold 
 Wilson, Mr. R. Fulton Ludlow, Mrs. Arthur T. Sut- 
 cliffe, Mrs. Edward Hoffman Lynes, and Miss 
 Georgiana Schuyler, through whose generous co- 
 
 XIII 
 
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FOREWORD 
 
 operation, records and stories of the Van Rens- 
 selaers, Livingstons, Fultons, and various Claver- 
 ack families have been obtained. 
 
 The books I have consulted are: Histories of Co- 
 lumbia, Greene, and Dutchess Counties; Historical 
 Sketches of Hudson, Documents relating to the 
 Colonial History of New York, Ecclesiastical Records 
 of the State of New York, Albany Chronicles, Maga- 
 zine of American History, Spark's Life of Gouvern- 
 eur Morris, Bacon's Hudson River from Ocean to 
 Source, Theodore Roosevelt's New York, Memoir of 
 Rev. Richard Sluyter, Life of Washington Irving, 
 Higginson's History of the United States, Manual 
 of the Reformed Church in America, Claverack Old 
 and New by F. H. Webb ; the Claverack Centennial, 
 Documentary History of New York, Annals of the 
 Van Rensselaers, Clarkson's Clermont or Livingston 
 Manor, Church Records of Claverack, Livingston 
 Manor, and the German Reformed Church of New 
 York; Catalogue of Washington Seminary, The 
 Posthumous Works of Ann Eliza Bleecker, Some 
 Colonial Homesteads, Catherine Schuyler, by Mary 
 Gay Humphreys, the Goede Vrouw of Mana-ha-ta, 
 
 XIV 
 
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FOREWORD 
 
 Mrs. Ellet's Women of the Revolution, Sketches of 
 Catskill, and The Early History of Saugerties. 
 
 XV 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 Pace 
 
 1—FROM WALDORF TO ESOPUS 
 
 Rev. John Gabriel Gebhard, a native of Waldorf, Ger- 
 many — Sailed for America— Pastor of the Churches of 
 Whltpain and Worcester, Pennsylvania — Married In Phil- 
 adelphia — Called to the German Reformed Church of New 
 York— Pronounced patriotic utterances— Driven to Bsopus 
 through Neiw York's occupation by the British — Called to 
 Claverack ----- j 
 
 II—CLAVERACK- IN THE LOWER VAN 
 RENSSELAER MANOR 
 
 Moving to Claverack — Situation of Church and parsonage— 
 Hendrick Van Rensselaer and the Lower Manor of Rens- 
 selaerwiok— Fort Craiio — First settlers of the Lower Man- 
 or — Building a Church— Pastorless years- Hendrlclc Van 
 Rensselaer's death — Colonel Johannes Van Rensselaer the 
 Patroon — Erecting Claverack into a Manor — Colonel Johan- 
 nes instrumental in building a second Church — The Domins 
 —The Domlne's wife. ---------- g 
 
 III— THE FIRST SERVICE— THE FIRST SUM- 
 MER 
 
 The Church— The "voorleser"— The singing of the Domine's 
 wife— The sermon— The first baptism— The baptisms and 
 marriages which followed— Life in the parsonage - - M 
 
 IV— WAR STORIES AT HOME 
 
 Signers of the Declaration of Independence— Committee of 
 Safety— The burning of Kingston and the Livingston 
 houses — General Burgoyne's surrender— Margaret Living- 
 ston's wager— Tradition of Washington's camp— Captain 
 Conyn— The Domine's patriotic sermon— The killing of 
 John Van Ness ------------ 3t 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 V— WASHINGTON SEMINARY 
 
 Youths sent to the parsonage for higher education — Re- 
 cords of first years of the Seminary — Old school books — 
 Teachers of Washington Seminary— L<etters of recommenda- 
 tion for students leaving Claverack — The educators of the 
 early days of the Republic. -------- 37 
 
 VI— THE MINISTRY TO THE WILDERNESS 
 
 Fear of Indians and Tories — An extensive pastorate— Dan- 
 gerous journeys — Description of Ghent and Schoharie 
 Churches — Baptisms and marriages in the wilderness — 
 Judge Brown the "fore-singer" — Courage in all walks of 
 life - ------ 50 
 
 VII— WAR HEROES OF THE MANORS AND 
 THE INAUGURATION OF GEORGE 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 Public appeal for funds from Governor Clinton — Colonel 
 Jeremiah Hogeboom's regiment — Captain John McKlnstry's 
 narrow escape from death by torture — Captain Brant's visit 
 to the Free Masons of Hudson — The Tories imprisoned in 
 a cellar— Brigadier-General Henry B. Livingston and the 
 capture of Andre — Marriage of Richard Montgomery and 
 Janet Livingston — Death of General Montgomery — Surren- 
 der of Cornwallis— Treaty of Peace with England — The 
 Morrises and the celebration on "Bob Hill" — Domlne Geb- 
 hard's letter to Washington — Inauguration of George 
 Washington ---------.... gg 
 
 VIII— THE MANOR ON EITHER SIDE 
 
 Colonel Johannes Van Rensselaer's visit to Claverack — 
 First Manor House in Claverack— Colonel Robert Rutsen 
 Van Rensselaer's home — ^Henry I, Van Rensselaer's home — 
 The Mills on the Manors— The quit-rent for the Patroon's 
 domain — Killian Van Rensselaer — Leases of land— Rent days 
 — ^Angelica Livingston, Colonel Johannes Van Rensselaer's 
 wife — Chancellor Livingston's home at Clermont — Last 
 Lord reigning on the Livingston Manor— Homes of the 
 Livingston Manor -------.-.. yj 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 IX— LIFE ON THE MANORS 
 
 Continuous building— Stocking the farm— Docks and Sloopa 
 — Many exports and imports — Guests of the Manors — Coetly 
 plate and rich furnishing— Scripture tiles — Lady of th» 
 Manor — Alternate residence in city and country - - - 81 
 
 X— VISITING SPONSORS 
 
 Sailing "ventures" — Travelers by stage — Catherine Schuyler 
 as sponsor — Parsonage relatives from Philadelphia — John 
 Barker Church and Angelica Schuyler as sponsors — 
 Baptism spoons _-_-------_. R7 
 
 XI— STORIES OF THE POST ROAD 
 
 Montgomery Place— Edward Livingston — Burning of LlT- 
 iDgston homes — Brave Margaret Beelcman— The "Hermitage'" 
 — "Teviotdale" — Original Livingston Manor House— Its chil- 
 dren and grandchildren — The Palatines — Flower-lined 
 roads to Claverack -- -- 97 
 
 XII— VISITS FROM JOHN JACOB ASTOR 
 
 Domlne Gebhard recalled to the New York Church— The call 
 declined — Tablet to Baron Steuben — Letter from Germany- 
 John Jacob Astor's visits to Claverack— His start In the fur 
 business — Tales of journeys after pelts— History of his early 
 life — Voyage to America — A member of the Consistory of 
 the German Reformed Church of New York - - - - 10« 
 
 XIII— CHURCH CUSTOMS ONE HUNDRED 
 YEARS AGO 
 
 Record Books of the Claverack Church— Building the 
 Church — Renting seats — Ministers' salaries— Domlne Geb- 
 hard preaches in three languages — A divided Church united 
 — Lists of members — Election of Consistory — BaptismB 
 through the week— William Van Ness leader of singing- 
 Church heating— Ministerial calls - 119 
 
 XIV— LIFE AT THE PARSONAGE 
 
 Time after 1800— Letter from Jacob Gebhard— The Dominie's 
 daughter— Samplers— The parsonage parlpi^—Boys' work- 
 Sunday morning at the parsonage— The slaves In the con- 
 gregation ..----------- 
 
 XIX 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 XV— LOVER'S LANES AND PARSONAGE 
 WEDDINGS 
 
 Sunday afterncKm marriages — Refractory brides — China seta 
 as gifts — Hudson Assemblies — The race on General Train- 
 ing Day - ------------- 138 
 
 XVI— DIVIDING THE MANORS AND THE 
 CLAVERACK COURT HOUSE 
 
 Columbia County — Dividing the Lower "Van Rensselaer 
 Manor — Dividing LiTingston Manor— Trials lield in tie Clav- 
 erack Court House — Alexander Hamilton at Claverack — ^Hifi 
 flrst speech in New York— Aaron Burr at Claverack — After 
 occupants of the Court House -------lis 
 
 XVII— HOMES OF THE LOWER VAN RENS- 
 SELAER MANOR AT CLAVERACK 
 
 Intermarriages with colonial families — Visiting relatives 
 during the war — Family treasures buried at Greenbush — 
 Furnishings of the homes of the Lower Van Rensselaer 
 Manor — China and silver — Adam and Eve table-cloth — ^Fam- 
 ily gatherings — Manor funerals --------155 
 
 XVIII— THE SCHUYLER ROMANCES 
 
 Homes of Catherine Schuyler's girlhood — Description of Mrs. 
 Philip Schuyler — Schuyler Bible records — Nursing during 
 the war — Building the Schuyler Mansion — ^Visits to Claver- 
 ack of the Schuyler boys and girls — Schuyler elopements — 
 Letter of Ann Eliza Bleecker. --------168 
 
 XIX— AN TI-REN T TR UBLES 
 
 Troubles over payment of rent — Boundary line between 
 New York and Massachusetts — Lords of Livingston and Van 
 Rensselaer Manors threatened — Boundary line settled — 
 Sheriff Cornelius Hogeboom shot by Anti-rent leader — Up- 
 rising of 1840— "Big Thunder" and "Little Thunder" ar- 
 rested — Victory for the Anti-renters under leadership of 
 Governor Young in 1852— War of 1812. ----- Igl 
 
 XX 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 Pace 
 
 XX— THE NEW CITY OF HUDSON 
 
 Presidential Electors at Hudson 1796-1813— Hudson became a 
 city In 1786 — Owned many vessels— Shipyards— Exports and 
 Imports — Contributions to useful arts — John Jay's visit to 
 Hudson— Death of General Washington. 198 
 
 XXI— THE MARRIAGE OF ALEXANDER 
 HAMILTON AND ELIZABETH 
 SCHUYLER 
 
 Claverack wedding outfits— Tories and Indians attack Gen- 
 eral Schuyler's house at Albany — Rescue ot baby — Marriage 
 of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler— Child of 
 Philip Jeremiah Schuyler brought to Claverack for baptism 
 —Return of children to old Claverack homes— Dutch toys EOO 
 
 XXII— ROBERT FULTON AND THE FIRST 
 STEAMBOAT 
 
 Robert Pulton and Chancellor Livingston — First trip of the 
 Clermont — Invited guests- Astonishment ot sailors — An- 
 nouncements of Chancellor Livingston — Youngest passen- 
 ger aboard— Time from New York to Albany— First voyage 
 with passengers — Thurlow Weed on Bomple's Hook — Re- 
 building Clermont— The "North River"- Robert Fulton's 
 marriage to Miss Harriet Livingston— JPulton's home— His 
 art— His death— His wife's death. 201 
 
 XXIII— THE LEGEND OF "SPOOK ROCK" 
 
 Hudson marriages at the Claverack Parsonage— Changes In 
 the parsonage family— Marriages ot sons and daughters— 
 The Ghent Church— The Hogeboom Blble--Claverack 
 Church Independent— Methods of raising Church support 
 —Parents sponsors in baptism— No death records— Iiegend 
 of "Spook Rock". 221 
 
 XXIV— HIS "HUIS VROUWE" 
 
 The Domlne's wife— The talloress and the shoemaker— New 
 Year's day and St. Nicholas— Paas and Paas cakes— Nursing 
 the Blck— Philadelphia wives— The first Unen-damaak— City 
 philanthropy and country nedghborliness. - - - - WS 
 
 XXI 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
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 XXV— CALLING AN EJ^GLISH COLLEAGUE 
 
 Change ot language among the Claverack people — Calling an 
 English associate — The Claverack Church joins the Clasals 
 of Rensselaer and Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church — 
 Rev. Mr. Sluyter accepts call to Claverack— Dutch call re- 
 mains unaltered — Domine Gebhard's sons — Painting of the 
 17th Congress — Divided ministerial labors — Grandchildren at 
 the parsonage — Monday morning ministerial meetings. - 241 
 
 XXVI— THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON'S 
 CHILDREN AND GRANDCHIL- 
 DREN 
 
 Diary describing ttie upper Hudson in 1769 — Price paid In- 
 dians for Livingston Manor — Size of Grant — Boundaries — 
 First Lord of the Manor— Buildiug a Cliurcli— Livingston 
 family at tlie Manor— Manor Houses — The second Lord of 
 the Manor and his children— The third Lord of the Manor 
 — Visiting relatives— Governor William Livingston of New 
 Jersey and his daughters — Liberty Hall — Letters from Miss 
 Kitty Livingston — Order from Nantes — General Washing- 
 ton's letter to Miss Kitty Livingston — Livingston Manor 
 Houses — Marriage of John Livingston and Mrs. Catherine 
 Ridley. -------------248 
 
 XXVII— MANOR lUNKETINGS 
 
 Building of Oak Hill — Furnishings of Livingston homes — 
 Pen portrait of John Livingston — Winter on the Manor — 
 Sloop journ-eys — ^Washington Irving's visit to Livingston 
 Manor — "Widow Mary" Livingston— The "Widovf Mary's" 
 snap dragon and Colonel Henry I. Van Rensselaer's buggy 
 — Livingston funerals — Livingstons vfho belonged to the 
 first fifty years ot the Republic. -------270 
 
 XXVIII— CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTON 
 
 Chancellor Livingston's marriage — Offices held — State Con- 
 vention to consider Constitution — Rejoicing over the ratifi- 
 cation of New York — Constitution drafted by Alexander 
 Hamilton — Illiunination of Schuyler mansion — Chancellor 
 Livingston appointed ambassador to France — Negotiated 
 purchase of Louisiana — Partnership with Robert Fulton In 
 the Clermont— Chancellor Livingston's Country life— Death 281 
 
 XXII 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 XXIX— EARLY RESIDENTS OF CLAVERACK 
 
 The Liudlows— Old portraits — The Mulders and the Court 
 Martial House — The Miller store — The family ot KllUan 
 Hogeboom — Daughter married General Samuel Webb — Old 
 Webb house — "The Night Before Christmas"— The Essel- 
 styn family — ^The Van Nesses — Samuel Ten Broeck and 
 Maria Van Rensselaer and the first Manor House — Fitz 
 Muzigh of Livingston — Tobias Van Deusen and his son 
 James — Intermarriages between Dutch and Quakers — The 
 women ot Claverack— Domine Gebhard's life in Claverack 287 
 
 XXX— MONTGOMERY, LAFAYETTE, AND 
 THE ERIE CANAL 
 
 Removing General Montgomery's body to New York— His 
 monument— Visit of Lafayette — Entertainment at Clermont 
 — ^At Hudson — Governor Clinton and the Erie Canal — Its 
 opening— Its success. ----301 
 
 XXXI— SHADOWS ACROSS THE SUNSHINE 
 
 The Domine's youngest daughter — Her engagement — The 
 lost gold piece — Her death. .__----- 312 
 
 XXXII— THE CROWN OF LIFE 
 
 President John Adams' call to fasting and prayer— Gov- 
 ernor Clinton's first proclamation for the observance of a 
 public thanksgiving — Withdrawal of Hillsdale from the 
 Claverack Church— Resignation of Domine Gebhard— Final 
 baptisms and marriages — Dr. Currie's description of 
 Domine Gebhard's last Church service — Death of Domine 
 Gebhard^Numbers ot those baptized and married— Re- 
 cords in family Bibles. --------- 31s 
 
 XXXIII— IN BLOSSOM TIME 
 
 Mr. Richard Morse's visit to Claverack— Interest in the old 
 Domine's library— 'Meeting with the Domine's granddaugh- 
 ter — Engagement — Marriage. - - ------322 
 
 XXIII 
 
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Page 
 Rev. John Gabniel Gebhard, V. D. M. - - - Frontispiece 
 
 University of Utrecht — An Unchanged Corner - - 4 
 
 Crailo -.-.-.-.._.___._ 12 
 
 Court Martial House ------------ 30 
 
 Claverack College ------------- 46 
 
 Old Church and Parsomaige and Washington Seminary 54 
 
 Schoharie Church ------------- 54 
 
 First Van Rensselaer Manor House in Claverack - - 72 
 
 Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler ------- 90 
 
 TIhe Stephen Miller "Homestead" ------- 104 
 
 Van Ness — Livingston House --------- 122 
 
 Claverack Church — "Van Rensselaer Kirk" - - - - 134 
 
 Court House --------------- 148 
 
 Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer Manor House - - - 156 
 
 HenTy I. Van Rensselaer Manor House ----- 174 
 
 The "Widow Mary" Livingston Manor House - - 174 
 
 "Spook Rock" --------------- 226 
 
 Mrs. John Gabriel Gebhard — The Domine's Wife - 234 
 
 Robert Livingston, 3rd Lord of Livingston Manor - 258 
 
 Margaret Beekman Livingston Manor House - - - 274 
 
 Chancellor Livingston's Home -------- 274 
 
 Ludlow Mansion -------------- 288 
 
 James Watso,n Webb's Birthplace ------- 292 
 
 Bay House ---------------- 312 
 
 Mrs. Richard C. Morse, and Two of Her Children - 322 
 
 XXV 
 
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1 ne Parsonage Between 
 X^vo Manors 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 FROM WALDORF TO ESOPUS. 
 
 In one of the colonial houses of Esopus, sat a 
 young clergyman in his middle twenties, with his 
 face bowed in his hands in deep thought. The ques- 
 tion before him was a momentous one. Five years 
 before he had left his native home in Waldorf, Ger- 
 many, and started, as many of the young men in 
 that day did, for the new land of opportunity across 
 the sea. 
 
 It was the eventful year of 1776, and Esopus 
 (Kingston) was full of refugees from New York, 
 which city being invested by the British, many of 
 her residents had fled to the smaller towns and vil- 
 lages further up the Hudson, that they might at 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 least find safety for their families in the dangers 
 which threatened. In the fatherland young John 
 Gabriel Gebhard had been trained, for his life work, 
 in the best educational institutions of the day. He 
 had received his earlier university education at 
 Heidelberg, and after a further course of theolog- 
 ical study at Utrecht, had been licensed to preach by 
 the Reformed Church of Holland. A son of a min- 
 ister of the Gospel, it would seem that he brought 
 with him to America special fitness for his calling, 
 and a promise of good things to come. In the five 
 years that he had been on American shores, this 
 was the second time he had been called to change 
 his home, and this time he had a wife still under 
 twenty, and two small children to consider. 
 
 The young clergyman, after his month-long voy- 
 age from Germany, during which storms had swept 
 the little vessel into the hollows of the sea and upon 
 the crests of the billows, washed her decks, and 
 even found the freight and luggage stored away in 
 cabins and holds of the ship, at last landed, it is 
 believed, at Philadelphia. For three years he had 
 served the two congregations of Whitpain and Wor- 
 
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FROM WALDORF TO ESOPUS. 
 
 cester, among the German portion of the population 
 of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. Here in the 
 first year of his pastorate, he met and loved Anna 
 Maria Magdalene Carver, a descendant of some of 
 the early settlers of Philadelphia. She was a charm- 
 ing girl of fifteen, and the customs of the time tend- 
 ing toward early maturity, in June of the following 
 year they were married. Succeeding years proved 
 the choice of the girl wife to have been one of the 
 wisest steps of the young man's life. 
 
 They had been married only a year when a call 
 came to Mr. Gebhard to become the pastor of the 
 German Reformed Church of New York. This 
 church had been formed, a few years earlier, from 
 a small body of the German-speaking members of 
 the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church in Nassau 
 St., who wished to hear the Gospel preached in the 
 High-Dutch tongue with which they were familiar. 
 In this desire they had the full consent of the moth- 
 er church. Indeed she ever gave her offspring a 
 fostering care, the pastors of the German Church 
 meeting in consistorial and classical gatherings with 
 the ministers of the Collegiate Church, and being in- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 stalled by the ministers of the older organization; 
 while the members who had gone out to form the 
 new church, also showed their attachment for their 
 previous place of worship, by requesting the privi- 
 lege of returning to the old fold in case their enter- 
 prise should fail, and to be allowed to bury their 
 dead with the Collegiate Church as formerly. 
 
 The call, to the New York church had been ac- 
 cepted, and the young couple had taken up their 
 abode in the city, the German Church being situated 
 at that time in Nassau St. between John St. and 
 Maiden Lane. Here two boys, Jacob and Philip, 
 came to bless the minister's home, and the two years 
 of his pastorate were full of activity in the growing 
 town and congregation, and rich in friendships with 
 men, who like himself, had left their old home and 
 friends, to make a new home and life on American 
 shores. Rev. Frederick Muhlenberg was at this 
 time in charge of the only German Lutheran Church 
 in the city, and the two young clergymen were fast 
 friends. Later Mr. Gebhard named a third son for 
 the friend from whom he was parted when New 
 York became no longer a safe place of residence for 
 
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THE UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT 
 
 A corner which has remained unchangred since Dr. Gebhard. and Dr. Livingston 
 
 — .w^re students 3t,the Univerfiity. 
 
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FROM WALDORF TO ESOPUS. 
 
 either of them, for both were patriotic and devoted 
 already to this new country for which they had 
 dared so much. Neither of them was bound by ties 
 of kindred to the British, who claimed the right of 
 taxing the American people, so their loyalty to the 
 Colonies knew no hindrance, and their words were 
 frank and warmly patriotic, their strictures on 
 English interference bearing no uncertain sound, 
 and it came to pass that the English felt that these 
 young German patriots would better magnify their 
 calling in some other town than one invested by the 
 British, and they were fortunate that they made 
 their escape in safety. Frederick Muhlenberg re- 
 tired from the ministry a few years later, and re- 
 turning to Philadelphia, became a member of the 
 Continental Congress of 1779. 
 
 The roads about New York looked at this time 
 like a perpetual moving day, for the active patriots 
 among the townspeople left the city, many of them 
 having already suffered from the confiscation of 
 much of their property, through the hands of the 
 Tory soldiers who plundered on every side. Every 
 horse and cart, sloop and sailing vessel, which could 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 be procured was pressed into service, many of them 
 carrying women and children, as well as furniture, 
 out of the city whose churches were soon to be 
 used as riding academies and prisons by the British, 
 and whose congregations were already scattered. 
 It was estimated that one third of the residents of 
 New York left the city at this time. 
 
 It was thus that the Rev. John Gabriel Gebhard 
 had come to Esopus. After a short time it became 
 known where the popular young German minister 
 from New York was to be found, and since the sup- 
 ply of clergymen was not great in the new country, 
 even though outside of the cities they usually served 
 three or four congregations, the New York minister 
 received at this time three calls to vacant churches. 
 It was over these calls that he was thinking so pro- 
 foundly. There was much to be considered, possi- 
 ble war behind them cutting them off not only from 
 the home across the sea, but also from the only 
 homes he and his wife had known in the new land. 
 There were the children to be thought of, and deej)- 
 est of all, was the seeking after Divine guidance as 
 he went forward like Abraham of old, "not knowing 
 whither he went." 
 
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FROM WALDORF TO ESOPUS. 
 
 The call from the Claverack church covered much 
 territory, and there was also another feature, — this 
 was a call to preach in the Dutch tongue. Mr. Geb- 
 hard's university training at Utrecht had somewhat 
 familiarized him with the Low Dutch, as it was 
 called, but Latin was so universally used in the uni- 
 versities of the old world, that the other languages 
 did not hold an even chance. Still the young man 
 was a linguist by education and inheritance, and he 
 answered, to the question of the committee from 
 Claverack, as to how long it would take him to learn 
 the Dutch language sufficiently well to preach in 
 it, that he would do it in three months, which prom- 
 ise was kept to the letter. This settled the matter, 
 and the Claverack call was given and accepted. 
 Once more the young minister went forth into a 
 strange land, a land which most surely the Lord had 
 given him for ministerial labors, as he gave the 
 broad acres of Canaan to Abraham for a possession. 
 The fifty year's pastorate which followed was the 
 proof and fulfillment of the wisdom of the choice 
 made in the fear of the Lord, in the tarrying-place 
 of Esopus, in the eventful year of '76, and to the 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 young minister's inalienable right to the V. D. M. 
 (Minister or Servant of the Word of God) which al- 
 ways followed the signing of his name in the early 
 days, as it did that of many of the clergymen which 
 the Old World sent to the New. 
 
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CHAPTER II. 
 
 CLAVERACK IN THE LOWER VAN 
 RENSSELAER MANOR. 
 
 A sloop carried the family and their belongings 
 from Esopus to Claverack Landing, for the town of 
 Hudson did not exist at that time, a hamlet at the 
 river connecting the great water-way with the 
 growing settlement of Claverack further inland. 
 The road from Claverack Landing to the parsonage 
 lay through a most beautiful and fertile tract of 
 country. There is a tradition that the name Clav- 
 erack, which is a Dutch term signifying clover reach 
 or field, was first applied to this country by Henry 
 Hudson and his followers, when they sailed up the 
 beautiful river which bears Hudson's name, in the 
 good ship, the "Half Moon." All along the eastern 
 bank of the river for miles, white clover sprang up 
 spontaneously, covering bare tracts of land which 
 had been burned over by the Indians, and giving the 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 whole section the appearance of blossoming fields. 
 
 The name Claverack was first given to the stretch 
 of the river including Kinderhook, Claverack Land- 
 ing, and Livingston Manor, a flowering land of 
 clover blossoms, covering three quarters of what is 
 now Columbia county. At a later date Kinderhook 
 and Livingston Manor were not included in the dis- 
 trict going under this name. 
 
 The wagon-road lay along Claverack creek which 
 was bordered by fertile flats. On either side of the 
 road were nut trees and wild plums, with wild 
 grape vines festooning the tree trunks, while 
 stretches of fields between were dyed red with wild 
 strawberries. Set down in the midst of these beau- 
 ties and gifts of nature, were farms and homesteads, 
 and great tracts of woodland inviting the settler 
 with their abundance of timber for building pur- 
 poses. 
 
 The sight of the red brick parsonage with its 
 gambrel roof behind the pear trees, must have been 
 a pleasant one to the little family driven out from 
 their late home. The parsonage was built near the 
 church and on the post-road, both church and par- 
 
 10 
 
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THE LOWER VAN RENSSELAER MANOR. 
 
 sonage overlooking a wide sweep of valley and up- 
 land, to the Hudson river and the Catskill mountains 
 beyond. Doubtless the extended view differed from 
 that of today, in that much of the present cleared 
 land and cultivated farms was then woodland, but 
 the stretch of woods and river, mountains and blue 
 sky and magnificent sunsets, held that day as now, 
 a grandeur seldom equaled in the location of our 
 early churches. But this was no ordinary church 
 situated in a convenient spot in a rural community. 
 No general was ever placed at a more strategic point 
 for wide-sweeping influence, than this young city 
 Domine, undertaking a country charge. The church 
 property of Claverack lay within the Lower Manor 
 of Rensselaerwick, and near the border of Living- 
 ston Manor. 
 
 This district was a part of the great purchase of 
 land made by Kiliaen Van Rensselaer in 1637, and 
 was subject to the rule of the Lord of the Manor. 
 But the Patroon of that day found it difficult to 
 control matters in this distant corner of his vast 
 estate, so in 1704, he conveyed to his younger broth- 
 er Hendrick, a large tract of land in the southern 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 part of the Manor known by the name of Claverack, 
 which covered one hundred and seventy thousand 
 acres, and also one thousand acres of the Upper 
 Manor on the east side of the river, including the 
 site of Greenbush. 
 
 Hendrick removed to Claverack with such of his 
 friends from the older community of Albany as he 
 could induce to join him, spending his time between 
 the Lower Manor and Fort Crailo, which stood on 
 the northern portion of his domain. 
 
 Fort Crailo, which was named after the family 
 estate near Amsterdam, Holland, had been built in 
 1642, a stone in the cellar wall containing the in- 
 scription "K. V. R. 1642 Anno Domini." The initials 
 stand for the first Patroon, and mark the date of 
 the arrival of the first Dutch minister. It was a 
 strongly built house with timbers eighteen inches 
 square, and a chimney so constructed that nothing 
 could be thrown down, and no one descend, a pro- 
 tection called for against the torches of the savages. 
 As it was intended originally for purposes of de- 
 fense, it contained nine musket or port-holes 
 through which to project a rifle. 
 
 12 
 
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FORT CRAILO 
 
 Erected ia 16-12 by Kiliaen Vau Rensselaer. 
 The home of the Patrooas of the Lower Manor of Rensselaenvick. 
 
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THE LOWER VAN RENSSELAER MANOR. 
 
 There is a tradition that the Ten Broecks, Muld- 
 ers, Hogebooms, Bensons, and Van Cortlandts came 
 with the Van Rensselaers from Holland, as neigh- 
 bors, not tenants, since they are not in the list of 
 those who took the oath of allegiance to the first 
 Patroon. That their children were named for the 
 Van Rensselaers who were their sponsors in bap- 
 tism, proves the friendly feeling existing between 
 the families, and that Cornells Stephense Mulder 
 purchased of Hendrick Van Rensselaer one thou- 
 sand acres in the town of Claverack as early as 1718, 
 would make it appear that this family might have 
 been among the Albany friends whom he persuaded 
 to settle in his "Lower Manor." 
 
 The greater part of the early settlers of Claverack 
 brought some pecuniary means with them from 
 Holland, and often were accompanied by servants. 
 These first comers also brought with them, house- 
 hold articles familiar in the home-land, "waffle- 
 tongs, pewter platters, high back settles, long 
 stemmed pipes, punch bowls, many utensils in brass 
 and copper, and Dutch Bibles. In some instances 
 they brought whole shiploads of bricks to build 
 
 13 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 houses after the pattern of those left behind," but 
 this latter feature of home reproduction does not 
 seem to have obtained at Claverack, where there 
 were brick kilns at a very early date, from the prod- 
 uct of which the brick houses in the vicinity were 
 built. The home-made bricks were of good work- 
 manship as was also the mortar, the making of the 
 latter being a lost art of today, for it is said that 
 a nail driven in between the bricks will break before 
 it can be drawn out again. 
 
 Hendrick Van Rensselaer did not exercise his 
 privilege as Lord of the Manor, but was active in 
 the establishment of a church and other measures 
 for the good of the settlers. Through the "upwak- 
 ing" of the Patroon, and "out of regard for the aged 
 and infirm, women and children," grew the desire 
 to build a church and secure a settled minister. 
 Their first attempt in this worthy cause failed, and 
 the good people of Claverack laid it to the fact, 
 "that because of their sins God was not pleased to 
 crown their efforts with success." During the time 
 that they were without a settled minister, Claver- 
 ack was a preaching station of the ministers from 
 
 14 
 
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THE LOWER VAN RENSSELAER MANOR. 
 
 Albany, who administered the Sacraments and 
 preached from time to time. 
 
 However, they did not give up with the first fail- 
 ure, for in 1726 a church was erected near where 
 the Court House stood at a later date. There were 
 only twenty-six pews in this primitive building, six 
 of them being long benches ranged along the walls 
 and occupied by the men, the remaining twenty, 
 which faced the pulpit, were set aside for the wo- 
 men, and each individual member had his own ap- 
 pointed seat allotted to him by a committee. So 
 high was the pulpit in this sanctuary, and so near 
 to heaven its elevated position, that it was reached 
 by a ladder. Jacob's dream, in which he saw the 
 angels ascending, and descending from heaven could 
 not but have been realistic to a people who saw 
 their pastor ascend this clerical ladder Sabbath by 
 Sabbath, before unfolding to them the Scriptures. 
 
 Fifty years had passed since the building of the 
 first church. During that time there had been a 
 short settled pastorate, and a long season of twenty- 
 eight years when the church was without a pastor, 
 and the men who occupied the elevated pulpit at 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 rare intervals were from the nearest churches, 
 which were not very near, Albany, Schenectady, and 
 Rhinebeck sending the most frequent supplies. But 
 in the year 1756 the Claverack flock again had a 
 shepherd. Rev. Johannes Casparus Fryenmoet. His 
 call was a joint one from Claverack, Kinderhook, 
 and Livingston Manor, and his pastorate continued 
 until 1770 when he withdrew to give his full service 
 to the churches of Kinderhook and Schodack. Dur- 
 ing his ministry had occurred the building of the 
 church of which Mr. Gebhard had become pastor. 
 
 Hendrick Van Rensselaer, the brother of Killian 
 the Patroon, had been gathered to his fathers, and 
 Johannes his son reigned in his stead. Hendrick 
 Van Rensselaer and his wife both died, and were 
 buried at Crailo, in the family burial plot. In the 
 annals of the day it is stated that news of the Pat- 
 roon Hendrick' s death was sent at once by messen- 
 gers to all his relatives. Considering their number, 
 and the wide district to be covered, one would infer 
 that there must have been many lone funeral mes- 
 sengers, traveling the post-road and unfrequented 
 bridle paths in many directions at this time. 
 
 16 
 
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THE LOWER VAN RENSSELAER MANOR. 
 
 Johannes Van Rensselaer added several extra 
 rooms to the Crailo, and erected Claverack into a 
 Manor, calling it the "Lower Manor," in distinction 
 from the Upper Manor of Rensselaerwick, and was 
 the first to exercise his lordly privileges. He was 
 known as the "Proprietor" of the town, and up to 
 March 24, 1772, when the civil government of Clav- 
 erack began, with its formation as a district in 
 the old county of Albany, the affairs of the people 
 were managed under the general direction of the 
 Patroon and some of the leading men selected for 
 the purpose. At a later period these were known 
 as a committee of safety or tithing-men. 
 
 Like his father. Colonel Johannes Van Rensselaer 
 was interested in the building of a church, and con- 
 veyed a tract of land to the trustees of the Re- 
 formed Church in Claverack, "for the building and 
 erecting of a Reformed Protestant Church, accord- 
 ing to the Articles of the Synod of Dordrecht," and 
 the church long went under the name of the "Van 
 Rensselaer Kirk." It is a tradition in the Van 
 Rensselaer family that it was built of Holland 
 brick which were first taken to Albany, and then 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 brought down to Claverack Landing on a sloop, the 
 Patroon taking great pride in having Holland brick 
 for his church. The building was dedicated No- 
 vember 8, 1767, the date of the erection still being 
 interwoven in the brick of the outer wall. The site 
 of the old cemetery at the side of the church was 
 set apart at the same time. 
 
 It was to this church, only a short distance from 
 the parsonage on the opposite side of the road, to- 
 ward which the young minister and his wife turned 
 their steps their first Sabbath in Claverack. The 
 beauty of the early summer was over all the land. 
 Birds sang in the tree-tops over their heads, and 
 wild flowers bloomed along their pathway. In the 
 opening vistas between the trees were fields of early 
 grain, while up the slight incline which led to the 
 House of God could be seen the worshippers winding 
 their way on foot or in springless wagons, father, 
 mother, and long lines of children, for the Sunday 
 school was still an undreamed-of church nursery. 
 The women wore mob caps and white muslin hand- 
 kerchiefs folded over their bosoms, while the men 
 of their families graced the occasion in suits of 
 
 18 
 
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THE LOWER VAN RENSSELAER MANOR. 
 
 homespun, with broad-brimmed hats and knee 
 breeches, ruffled shirts, and buckles on trousers and 
 shoes. 
 
 Many were the curious glances cast toward the 
 minister's young wife, for were there not special 
 interests connected with her being there? Young 
 and attractive, she had known something of life in 
 both Philadelphia and New York, a large portion of 
 experience thought these country matrons for so 
 young a woman. She was their Domine's wife also, 
 and that gave her a claim on the congregation, and 
 the little child she held by the hand insured her a 
 place in all the mother hearts. The tiny bell in the 
 belfry was tolling its last call, and the warm grasp 
 of welcoming hands had ceased, when she entered 
 the church door with the ingoing tide of worship- 
 pers. 
 
 Ctiyler Reynolds in the "Albany Chronicles" is authority 
 for three of the following motes : 
 
 "1630 — Patroon Kiliaen Van Rensselaer of Holland having 
 authorized Sebastian J. Crol to buy land for him," he does 
 so, "in extent there are about three Dutch miles." "July 27. ' 
 
 "1637 — ^An additional purchase places the Van Rensselaers 
 of Holland, interested in the Manor of Rensselaerwick, in 
 possession of a track twenty-four miles long, up and down 
 the river, and forty-eight miles broad, east and west, or 
 twenty-four miles inland on both sides of the river, an 
 
 19 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 area of about 700,000 acres, including therein the counties 
 of Albany, Rensselaer, and a large part of Columbia." 
 
 "April 13." 
 
 "1704 — Kiliaen Van Rensselaer conveys to his younger 
 brother Hendrick, the Claverack or Lower Manor, and one 
 thousand acreis of the Upper Manor on the east side of the 
 river, including the site of Greenbus'h." "June 1." 
 
 In the patent issued Nov. 4th, 1685, by Governor Dongan 
 to Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, grandson of Kiliaen, the first 
 Patroon, the Claverack purchase was described as follows : 
 
 "Beginning at the creek by Major Abraham Staats, 
 (Stockport), and so along the said Hudson river southward 
 to the soiutK side of Vastrix Island; by a creek called Wag- 
 han Kasick ; thence with an easterly line twenty-four Eng- 
 lish miles into the woods to a place called Wawanaquiasick ; 
 from thence northward to the head of said creek by Major 
 Abraham Staats." History of Coloimbia County 
 
 At later dates there was much .litigation and changing of 
 boundary lines. E. L. G, 
 
 20 
 
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CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FIRST CHURCH SERVICE— THE FIRST 
 SUMMER. 
 
 The church of that day was not very much more 
 than half its present size, nor had it a front tower 
 or wings. It was only an unpretentious square brick 
 building, with a tiny belfry on one end over the 
 entrance door, but it was not the exterior of the 
 church that would have held one's eyes fixed, and 
 attention riveted at that date, but the interior 
 where the Domine's wife sat in the high-backed pew 
 this early July Sunday in '76, on every side of her 
 the members of a congregation who had been six 
 years without a minister, and who waited eagerly 
 for a pastor's form in their pulpit, and a pastor's 
 wife in the minister's pew. 
 
 Above the heads of the congregation was a wood- 
 en ceiling with great rafters. The walls were plas- 
 tered a shade approaching white, while the wood- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 work was painted blue. The pulpit was shaped like 
 a wine glass and stood in the north end of the 
 church. That also was painted blue and surmount- 
 ed by a sounding board on which "Holiness to the 
 Lord," was appropriately inscribed, and at the 
 further end of the church was a large window cov- 
 ered with a red curtain. The elders and deacons 
 sat at the right and left of the pulpit, and Colonel 
 Johannes Van Rensselaer the Lord of the Lower 
 Manor, held an honored place in his elevated and 
 canopied pew among his army of lease holders. 
 
 As was the custom, a part of the service was un- 
 der way before the Domine entered. Beneath the 
 pulpit sat the "voorleser" who was almost as im- 
 portant as the minister himself in the appropriate 
 carrying on of the service. This dignitary began 
 the service by reading the Scriptures, including the 
 commandments, after which he gave out a psalm 
 and pitched the tune. Now attention was divided 
 between the Domine and the Domine's wife, for 
 as the music of the psalm arose, a clear voice joined 
 in the singing, whose flute-like notes were a joy 
 to the music-loving High and Low Dutch people 
 
 22 
 
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THE FIRST SUMMER. 
 
 about her. From the first Sunday in the Claverack 
 church the singing of the Domine's wife never ceased 
 to charm the congregation, and had there been any 
 withholding of allegiance to the new-comer up to 
 this moment, the opening psalm would have dis- 
 sipated the last doubt. 
 
 The Domine himself entered at this point. Of 
 medium height and slight of build, he advanced 
 lightly up the aisle, bowing courteously to the right 
 and left after the genial German custom, then 
 paused at the foot of the pulpit stairs with bowed 
 head for a moment of prayer. It was a pleasant 
 countenance which faced the congregation for the 
 first time that morning, his bright blue eyes sweep- 
 ing over the scene before him with an interest equal 
 to that of the people. It was a pivotal moment for 
 pulpit and pew, but they both stood the test. A 
 liturgy was used for the service as in'all the Re- 
 formed Churches on the continent. With a clear 
 voice and animated gestures the Domine began his 
 discourse. We have no account of that first sermon, 
 but have no doubt it was of the full length offered 
 at that period, a carefully written, scholarly dis- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 course, as proved by the time-yellowed specimens 
 still in existence, with their fine chirography and 
 minute marginal references. 
 
 Though the services of those days were lengthy, 
 there were blessed breaks in the hours, which gave 
 the children hidden away in the high-backed pews, 
 occasional relaxation from the serious aspect of the 
 remaining time. When the deacons stepped forth 
 with their money bays suspended from long poles, 
 and furnished with jingling bells, it is safe to affirm 
 that all the youthful eyes in the church followed 
 their course up and down the aisles, and childish 
 ears caught the sound of tinkling bells after the 
 deacons and their bags had passed from their sight. 
 
 Even on the first Sunday there seems to have 
 been a feature of the service which never failed to 
 hold the childish attention, or prayerful interest of 
 the parents in all the fifty years to follow. Cather- 
 ine Elizabeth Emerick, the infant daughter of 
 Frantz and Elizabeth Emerick was baptized at that 
 time, and for "Testium" as the old records have it, 
 there were "Peter Adam Smit and his vrouwe." 
 One can hardly grasp in these days of the over- 
 
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THE FIRST SUMMER. 
 
 churching of certain localities, and the possibility of 
 reaching a minister at a few moments' notice, the 
 privations of a God-fearing people stretching over 
 a wide reach of country, far from the ministrations 
 of a man of God. Baptisms were long deferred, 
 marriages were only possible at distant periods or 
 performed by civil officers, burials were often with- 
 out a word of prayer. There must have been many 
 heart burnings in the thirty-two pastorless years 
 of this church, out of the preceding fifty. 
 
 As if the people called first for the sacramental 
 duties of their minister, almost every Sabbath be- 
 came a baptismal day. Long lines of parents and 
 god-parents stood before him at the Sunday morn- 
 ing service, consecrating their children to God, 
 while the Domine's hand was laid in blessing on 
 numerous little heads. Thirteen children were bap- 
 tized during this first month of July, forty children 
 during the remainder of the first year, and in the 
 next thirteen years, one thousand one hundred and 
 twenty-four children received the rite of baptism, 
 and one hundred and sixteen persons united with 
 the church. Nor was this all. Communion Sunday 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 was once more observed, and the Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper was again celebrated. According to 
 the old Dutch custom, communicants left their 
 seats, and group after group surrounded the Lord's 
 table, where the elements were distributed to each 
 by the hand of the Domine himself. Christmas, 
 New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter, and Whit- 
 sunday were also feast days, and new spiritual life 
 began to show itself in the community, as the 
 church once more threw open its doors, and the 
 people went up to the House of the Lord. 
 
 The young people also grasped their opportunity. 
 It was a summer of love-making. The young farm- 
 er dreamed of his sweet-heart in the fields as he 
 planted and pruned and harvested, while maidenly 
 hearts beat quickly when the lover passed at sun- 
 rise or nightfall, for was not the Domine ready, 
 and the time of harvesting of crops was near. Why 
 longer delay the marriage day? 
 
 George Phillips and Genoa Ostrander were mar- 
 ried in July of this first year. In September, Con- 
 rad Petri and Anna Margretta Stall from the Manor 
 of Livingston drove over to the Domine's for the 
 
 26 
 
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THE FIRST SUMMER. 
 
 tying of the nuptial bands. Every month after this 
 had its marriage celebrations. Later, April, May 
 and August became favorite bridal months. In time 
 September and October and November sometimes 
 saw two, three, or more weddings in a day. In 
 fact all months were favorable for this joyful func- 
 tion, and no month passed without from two, to 
 eight or ten marriages, the Domine marrying four 
 hundred and twenty-eight couples before the year 
 1789. Baptizing the children, marrying the lovers, 
 burying the dead, meant something in this congre- 
 gation. They were not occasional events, but week- 
 ly, and often daily duties. 
 
 Meanwhile life in the parsonage had settled into 
 quiet lines and homely duties. The pastor's wife 
 spun and wove and cared for her little boys, giving 
 and receiving the hospitalities of a minister's house- 
 hold. Both she and the Domine were possessed of 
 a cultivated musical taste. • In crossing the ocean 
 from a music-loving German town, he had brought 
 with him, as seemed to be the custom of the times, 
 some form of merchandise whose ready sale in the 
 new country, would make the early days of the 
 
 27 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 stranger in a strange land financially comfortable. 
 In this case the merchandise imported from Ger- 
 many was composed of three pianos or spinets. Two 
 of these were destined never to reach American 
 shores, for the voyagers encountered a great storm 
 at sea, and the two pianos which had been given 
 special care in a place above decks, were, with 
 everything else within reach, thrown overboard to 
 lighten the ship. The third piano had been packed 
 in the hold, and was saved. It became a familiar 
 sight to the Claverack congregation to see the 
 Domine playing upon this piano, while his wife sang 
 from a thick old book of German chorals of eight 
 hundred pages. 
 
 28 
 
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CHAPTER IV. 
 WAR STORIES AT HOME. 
 
 There seemed to be peace and security in the 
 gambrel-roofed parsonage in the country, yet even 
 here there was reason for caution. No silver or 
 pewter were used on the parsonage table after 
 nightfall for fear of both Indians and Tories look- 
 ing in through the windows and discovering it. The 
 latter felt such a deep hatred for their Whig neigh- 
 bors, that some of them hesitated at no crime upon 
 opportunity. It became a custom of the times to 
 build triangular passage ways in the houses, with 
 three doors, one on either side, allowing of hiding 
 and escape in different directions. Silver was thrown 
 hastily under heaps of rags ,upon the unexpected 
 visits of Tories, and in some cases the rags were 
 pierced by bayonets without the silver being discov- 
 ered. 
 
 There was alternate gloom and rejoicing in the 
 
 29 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 country all about, which could not but be deeply 
 felt by both the pastor and his wife. In New York 
 and Philadelphia they had left friends whose wel- 
 fare in these turbulent times was an anxiety to 
 them. Philip Livingston the brother of their neigh- 
 bor of the near-by Livingston Manor, had been one 
 of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. 
 Lewis Morris, the brother of Richard Morris, a 
 member of the Claverack congregation, was another 
 Signer. Every set-back of the war put these brave 
 men's lives in jeopardy. The Domine and his wife 
 had left the Signers in Philadelphia and New York 
 only to find them again, or their families, in this 
 fair country place. 
 
 The Committee of Safety established and main- 
 tained a night-watch during the most troublesome 
 times, consisting of twelve men each night, serving 
 two by two for two hours and a half. Companies of 
 Claverack men were engaged in the war, and many 
 fears were entertained that the British might sail 
 up the Hudson, and find even this retired settle- 
 ment. 
 
 In 1777 this fear seemed about to be realized when 
 
 30 
 
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 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
WAR STORIES AT HOME. 
 
 General Vaughan landed at Clermont, and fired the 
 residence of Chancellor Livingston and the Manor 
 House occupied by his mother, in revenge for the 
 prominent part the Chancellor had taken in the 
 Revolution. The burning of Kingston had fallen 
 heavily on the hearts of the little family at the par- 
 sonage, who remembered with gratitude the kind- 
 ness they had received while tarrying there for a 
 time without home or near friends. It also seemed 
 to them that the destruction of war followed hard 
 after them. The Livingstons of Clermont were in 
 close touch with the Van Rensselaers of Claverack. 
 Colonel Johannes Van Rensselaer the Patroon of the 
 Lower Van Rensselaer Manor had married Angelica 
 Livingston, a cousin of Robert Livingston 2nd, the 
 first proprietor of the Lower Manor of Clermont, 
 and many of the members of the Claverack congre- 
 gation were Palatines from the neighboring Living- 
 ston Manor. 
 
 Like the weaving of a shuttle the news was car- 
 ried from farm house to farm house, and from 
 Manor to Manor along the Hudson. When it was 
 known that every vessel in the river was burned 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 or otherwise destroyed, that small parties landing 
 from the British ships had desolated neighborhoods 
 with fire and sword, and that at Clermont the family 
 had hastily buried silver and other articles of value 
 in the woods, placed books in a dry fountain and 
 covered them with rubbish, piled carts high with 
 articles necessary for immediate use, as well as 
 preservation, and had seen the smoke already rising 
 from their homes before they had ridden out of 
 sight, the consternation of the countryside knew no 
 bounds. Not even the Committee of Safety seemed 
 sufficient under these circumstances to protect 
 homes and property. 
 
 But hard on the track of the evil tidings came the 
 news of General Burgoyne's surrender to General 
 Gates at Saratoga, and the hasty retreat of 
 Vaughan's forces ; and trickling like a silver stream 
 through a turbid current of misfortune, came a bit 
 of gossip more pleasing to Claverack maidens than 
 war and rumors of war. It seemed that Margaret 
 Livingston, second daughter of Judge Robert R. 
 Livingston of Clermont, afterward Mrs. Tillotson, 
 had been knitting a long stocking for an old serv- 
 
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WAR STORIES AT HOME. 
 
 ant. There had been a wager connected with it 
 that she should finish it in one day, and she had 
 kept on with her work till near midnight, with a 
 laughing perseverance determined to complete it 
 and win the wager. She was nearing the end, when 
 black Scipio rushed in with the joyful news of Bur- 
 goyne's surrender. In a transport of joy, the patri- 
 otic young lady threw down the stocking, and the 
 wager was lost. 
 
 There was great rejoicing in Claverack also, and 
 from this time on the war interest settled in more 
 distant parts of the country. There is a tradition 
 that Washington once encamped with a division of 
 his army at Claverack on his march northward, but 
 the story has never been proven. 
 
 The Tories continued to be troublesome neighbors. 
 Captain Casperus Conyn, who held a commission in 
 the Continental army, had leave to visit his family 
 one night. The fact became known, and they awoke 
 about midnight to find the house surrounded. Every 
 window had a sentinel. The robbers, or Tories, car- 
 ried away everything available, and destroyed what 
 they could not remove. They emptied cream pots 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 upon the floor and feathers from the beds and 
 mixed them together, and helped themselves to all 
 they could find in the way of jewelry and money. 
 
 At last they took Captain Conyn and with a cord 
 from a drum hung him to a beam, but in jerking 
 the chair from under him the cord broke and his life 
 was saved. The family were all locked in the cellar 
 after that, where they were guarded till near morn- 
 ing, when hearing a horse passing, the Captain 
 broke open a door, and ran out to find a neighbor 
 near. At breakfast the following morning Captain 
 Conyn gathered his family around him, and offered 
 thanks to God that their barns were still full, but 
 it was not long after this that they were also 
 burned by the Tories. 
 
 In the light of such experiences, and others al- 
 ready past, it would seem that the young pastor of 
 the church showed both courage and patriotism, in 
 taking from the pulpit once more a public stand for 
 the Colonies against Great Britain. It is said that 
 on this occasion one half of the men of the congre- 
 gation arose and left the church. 
 
 Captain Conyn's experience had not been the only 
 
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WAR STORIES AT HOME. 
 
 one in the neighborhood which had incensed the pa- 
 triots. The Tories through this section of the Hud- 
 son river were collecting themselves together in 
 1777 to join Burgoyne's army. One division was 
 composed of men who lived in the neighborhood of 
 John Van Ness, between the villages of Maiden 
 Bridge and Chatham. A party from the Kline Kill 
 neighborhood discovered that Abraham Van Ness, 
 the old man's son, was home on a furlough, and 
 watched their opportunity to make him their pris- 
 oner. The Tories at this time considered the patriots 
 as rebels and outlaws, and organized bands to rob 
 and arrest any active Revolutionist. Whole neigh- 
 borhoods of patriots united to work each other's 
 fields, leaving a small guard at the house. It was 
 at a time like this that Abraham Van Ness was 
 overpowered and captured. The Tories at first sug- 
 gested that he be taken with them to Burgoyne's 
 army, but eventually he was shot. In both the at- 
 tempted murder of Captain Conyn, and the accom- 
 plished fact with Abraham Van Ness, the perpetra- 
 tors were discovered and treated to summary veng- 
 ance at the hands of the outraged Whigs. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 "Proclaim Liberty throughout the land, unto all 
 the inhabitants thereof," was the inscription on the 
 old bell in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and 
 when the boy who waited for the last name to be 
 signed to the Declaration of Independence, ran into 
 the street and called out "Ring, Ring," to the old 
 bell ringer, the bell rang, not only for the brave 
 "Signers," but for the men on the outposts, the men 
 in battle, the committees of safety who guarded the 
 homes, and the men in the pulpits who risked their 
 lives as well, standing publicly for liberty and right, 
 swaying public sentiment, counting themselves 
 bound by their calling and their leadership to "Pro- 
 claim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the 
 inhabitants thereof." 
 
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CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE WASHINGTON SEMINARY. 
 
 In the after records of times of war, it is often 
 forgotten that the paths of peace were still to be 
 trodden, homes were to be maintained, children were 
 to be trained and educated. Dr. Gebhard had hardly 
 settled in his new parish when he was called upon 
 to receive youths into his family, that they might 
 pursue classical and higher mathematical studies 
 under his direction. Some of these boys were sent 
 from Philadelphia and New York. Many also were 
 growing up about him, lacking even the elements 
 of an education. His own youth had been favored 
 in this respect. Before long he would have boys 
 of his own old enough to educate. These combined 
 reasons led to an effort, on his part, which resulted 
 in the establishment of Washington Seminary at 
 Claverack, in which project he was ably supported 
 by prominent members of his congregation. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 A record of the first years of this seminary is 
 still in existence. The whole account is kept in 
 Latin, as Dr. Gebhard was in the habit of keeping 
 other records committed to his charge. This is not 
 to be wondered at, considering the statement of 
 Dr. Livingston, who attended the University of 
 Utrecht at a time contemporaneous with Dr. Geb- 
 hard's residence there as a student. Dr. Livingston 
 says that at this period all the lectures were de- 
 livered in the Latin language, and before he left 
 the University he could speak Latin almost as read- 
 ily as his native tongue, "he thought, wrote, and 
 even prayed in secret undesignedly in Latin." 
 
 A translation of the title and preamble on the fly- 
 leaf of this ancient book, reads — 
 
 "The Seminary of Washington in North America, 
 founded in the first year after the Declaration of 
 Independence in the year of the Lord 1777, and 
 erected in the middle of the War 1779." 
 
 "Most learned Master and Trustees, Richard Mor- 
 ris, Chief Justice; Hendricus J. Van Rensselaer, 
 Petrus Weissmer, Jacobus Blattener, Jun, Stephanis 
 Hoogheboom, Georgius Monel, Walterus Vroman 
 
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WASHINGTON SEMINARY. 
 
 Wemple, Hendricus Wilhelmus Ludlow, and Johan- 
 nes Gabriel Gebhard having erected this Washing- 
 ton Seminary with greatest difficulty and unwearied 
 labor, have admitted Masters Dudley Baldwin and 
 Abraham Fonda, the first as teacher in the Latin 
 language, the last as teacher in the English lan- 
 guage, preceptors under the supreme jurisdiction 
 of Johannes Gabriel Gebhard." 
 
 These trustees, together with David Sherts and 
 Peter Mesick were large contributors toward the 
 establishment of the Seminary. 
 
 The Constitution of Washington Seminary pro- 
 vided that "A house should be built which should 
 accommodate Masters, Tutors, Ushers, and Profes- 
 sors; that Writing, Arithmetic, Latin, and Greek 
 should be taught, and such other branches of Litera- 
 ture as the Trustees should from time to time find 
 the means to support; 
 
 "The Seminary should be open to all persuasions. 
 "There should be eleven Trustees, of which the 
 Senior Minister of the Reformed Dutch Church in 
 the town of Claverack should always be one, the 
 Governor of the State for the time being always 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 one other, the Chief Justice of the State for the 
 time being always one other, the Senior Branch of 
 the Van Rensselaer Family holding the Claverack 
 estate always one other, and the remaining seven 
 elected annually by ballot. There were rewards for 
 learning, and fines for disobeying rules. The Su- 
 perintendent visited the school every day and re- 
 ported to the Trustees, and taught the senior class- 
 es in cases of death, sickness, or absence." 
 
 The records begin June 28th, in the opening term 
 in the new building, and continue through the fol- 
 lowing three years. The names of the pupils and 
 their fathers are given, and to what class they are 
 each assigned. Though the Academy was pre- 
 eminently designed for a classical, higher English, 
 and mathematical course, the elementary branches 
 were not neglected, and we find the kindergarten 
 here under the learned title of — 
 "A. B. C. darian children." 
 
 The "names of youth to be educated in the Latin 
 language and admitted to this Washington Semin- 
 ary in 1779," include John, Jacob, and Jeremiah 
 Van Rensselaer, sons of Colonel Robert Van Rens- 
 
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WASHINGTON SEMINARY. 
 
 selaer, and John, the son of Hendrick Van Rens- 
 selaer of Claverack, Henry, son of Walter Living- 
 ston, James, son of James Duane, and James Coch- 
 rane, the last three of Livingston Manor ; Alexander, 
 son of Gerhard Jacob Lansing of Albany, also Her- 
 man Ten Broeck, Charles Van Kleeck and John Dow 
 of Albany, John Huyck and John Ten Broeck of 
 Claverack, and John Thomas of Rhinebeck. 
 
 The "A. B. C. darian class" had among others in 
 it, Jeremiah and Elizabeth Muller, William Van 
 Ness, the Domine's eldest son Jacob Gebhard, Maria 
 Bay, Catherine Salisbury of Catskill, Elberta Hooge- 
 boom, Jacob Philip, and Volkert Whitbeck, and as 
 suggestive of the feeling of the period, Gabriel Es- 
 selstyn had sent his slave girl Anna to learn her 
 letters. 
 
 In 1780 Henry Bedlow of Nev? Winsor, and Rob- 
 ert Morris of Claverack were added to the Latin 
 class, also William Nichol and Killian Van Rensse- 
 laer of Albany. It would seem that the learned 
 languages were not deemed necessary to the educa- 
 tion of girls at this time, since we find none in the 
 Latin classes, but they abound in the earlier di- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 visions, including English and writing classes. Each 
 year discovers a younger child added from many 
 families, Maria Bay is now accompanied by her 
 brother, William, and Killian Hoogeboom by Anatji, 
 and the Domine's second boy Philip attends school 
 with his brother Jacob. 
 
 It will be seen that the Seminary drew pupils from 
 Albany to Rhinebeck, but Claverack showed its 
 pride in its seat of learning, and its desire to edu- 
 cate its children by sending pupils from nearly all 
 its prosperous families, even during this strenuous 
 war period. It is also worthy of note that having 
 begun their education, no one of the pupils seems 
 to have dropped by the way, but as long as the re- 
 cords lasts, the names repeat themselves. In a 
 number of instances, with the Domine as leader, a 
 father offers a term of schooling to some other 
 child beside his own. 
 
 The school books of the succeeding decades tell 
 stories between their covers. Books, even school 
 books, were valued in these early days of our Re- 
 public. A yellow-leaved, profusely illustrated copy 
 of Virgil has on the inside of its cover, and scat- 
 
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WASHINGTON SEMINARY. 
 
 tered through the book, the names of "John Geb- 
 hard, Cornelius Miller, Gabriel Gebhard, John Van 
 Rensselaer, Charles Gebhard and Robert Monel" 
 with varying dates, and the statement "his writing" 
 after each name as a sort of witness to the various 
 ownerships. The margins of some leaves are worn 
 far into the notes, which must have been a trial to 
 the later owners. Loose leaves are carefully sewed 
 together, and numbered in pencil, while at various 
 points through the book are statements, such as — 
 "Recited here the 10th of July, 1782," or "Thus 
 far has Lewis Gebhard rehearsed this Book, June 
 14th, 1808." 
 
 The blank sides of the historically illustrated 
 
 pages were utilized by the young America of that 
 
 day, to inscribe facts in their own youthful history. 
 
 The last of these blank page legends reads — 
 
 "Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer's 
 
 Property, New Haven, 
 
 And 
 
 Lewis P. Gebhard' s 
 
 Property, Claverack, 
 
 Dec. 6th, 1805." 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 "Ego Carolus Gebhardus" states in Latin that he 
 has mastered one-quarter of the book, giving date 
 and year in the same tongue, or, for the moment 
 forgetting themselves and their classical acquire- 
 ments, a margin passes the information down the 
 century, that their teacher, Andrew M. Carshore, 
 was a "poet and a philosopher." 
 
 That their classical learning was utilized to make 
 records still more erudite, though in boyish fash- 
 ion, is proved by a mixed Latin and English meter 
 of a young relative of the Gebhard family, which 
 is a type of the times. 
 
 "John Bausman's Book." 
 
 "Hie liber pertinet. 
 
 Who can it deny. 
 
 Ad Johannem cum Bausman, 
 
 That clever young boy, 
 
 In Baltimoriensem Collegiam, 
 • He is to be found, 
 
 Bed non morietur. 
 
 And laid in the ground; 
 
 Ab omnibus mails. 
 
 The Lord him defend, 
 
 44 
 
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WASHINGTON SEMINARY. 
 
 In vitam aeternam 
 
 World without end. 
 Amen." 
 
 In 1780 N. Meigs was appointed principal and 
 served until succeeded by Andrew Mayfield Car- 
 shore. The latter had come to this country with 
 General Burgoyne as an impressed British sddier. 
 After the surrender at Saratoga, he went to Kinder- 
 hook, where he opened an English school. Leaving 
 this he came to Claverack and entered the family 
 of Dr. Gebhard, where he acquired a knowledge of 
 Latin and Greek. Dr. Gebhard's superintendency 
 of Washington Seminary continued so long as it re- 
 mained a classical academy, and the duties of his 
 office were varied and unique. Beside an oversight 
 of courses of study, and the general management of 
 the school, he instructed its early teachers in the 
 higher branches, in which they were expected later 
 to teach their scholars. It is said that Mr. Carshore 
 easily kept ahead of his classes in this parsonage 
 night-school, but when, as occasionally occurred, 
 the translation of an intricate passage escaped his 
 memory, or the higher mathematical problems be- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 came too knotty for his lately acquired knowledge, 
 the pupil was dispatched to the parsonage with his 
 slate and book, or Virgil or Horace under his arm, 
 and the President of the Seminary laid aside theo- 
 logical studies, to turn his attention to the scholar 
 in a dilemma. 
 
 This plan of peripatetic education could not have 
 been wholly distasteful to a boy or girl on a warm 
 spring day, when nature in every age has invited 
 the boy shut up in the school-room to "come out," 
 and it is questionable if the call of Qaverack creek 
 and a fishing rod, did not many times conduce to 
 the infliction of the "fines" mentioned in the Con- 
 stitution. Winter storms and snow drifts could not 
 have been as pleasant, yet even these offered snow 
 ball bouts, and we may venture to believe that the 
 path from the Seminary to the parsonage was a 
 pleasant one, and that the Master's stumbling blocks 
 were eagerly watched for by the students. 
 
 In time Mr. Carshore became an able teacher, a 
 man of unusual genius and culture, and during the 
 twenty-five years of his connection with the Semin- 
 ary the institution became famous. Pupils contin- 
 
 46 
 
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Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
WASHINGTON SEMINARY. 
 
 ued to come from Albany, Poughkeepsie, New Ro- 
 chelle, Livingston Manor, Hudson and Claverack, 
 and at times Washington Seminary had more than 
 one hundred students. 
 
 Among those educated at this period were Gen- 
 eral John P. Van Ness, Attorney-at-Law and mem- 
 ber of Congress, Honorable William P. Van Ness, 
 Judge of the Southern United States District, Hon- 
 orable Cornelius P. Van Ness, Governor of Vermont, 
 Minister to Spain, and Collector of the Port of New 
 York, General Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer, Secre- 
 tary of State of New York, and often a Member of 
 Congress, General Jacob Gebhard, Senator of New 
 York State, Honorable John Gebhard, first Judge of 
 Schoharie county, and Member of Congress, and 
 Doctor Lewis Gebhard, for over fifty years a lead- 
 ing physician and resident of Philadelphia, Joseph 
 D. Monell, and the sons and daughters of the Philip 
 and the Miller families. These were all natives of 
 Claverack. Ambrose L. Jordan, Dr. William Bay 
 of Albany, Martin Van Buren and Robert H. Mor- 
 ris, and many others afterward prominent in public 
 life were also educated in their youth at Washing- 
 ton Seminary. 
 
 47 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Treasured among the old-time possesisons of some 
 of the Van Rensselaers, and other noted men who 
 once attended Washington Seminary, are the writ- 
 ten recommendations of Dr. Gebhard, attesting to 
 the integrity and ability of the young man about to 
 start out to make his way in the world, outside of 
 rural Claverack. The after career of some of these 
 men would go to show that the Domine was a read- 
 er of character, and the possessor of a prophetic 
 eye where youths under his charge were concerned, 
 as well as in larger matters. 
 
 The love of education had traveled from Heidel- 
 berg and Utrecht over the sea in the heart of a 
 young German clergyman and scholar, and out of it 
 had sprung a seedling from the older institution. 
 In a new land it had trained the rising generation 
 in the old world literature and the scholarship of 
 the day. A large part of the citizens of the Col- 
 onies fought bravely to win the country's independ- 
 ence. All honor to the men who risked their lives 
 and fortunes in so noble a cause! But when the 
 cause was won, the country called for trained men 
 for rulers, intelligent citizens to obey the laws, in- 
 
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WASHINGTON SEMINARY. 
 
 structed minds to meet new conditions. The old 
 world would no longer send America its leading 
 men. The United States would rise or fall as her 
 own citizens met the great summons, and the great 
 needs, and emergencies of an independent nation. 
 
 This was the work to which Dr. Gebhard and the 
 educators of his class consecrated their lives. With 
 prophetic vision they saw a future for this country, 
 and while other men fought on battle fields, they 
 were laying foundation stones in the education of 
 the youth of the land, for future senators and gov- 
 ernors, judges and foreign ministers, and also presi- 
 dents of the new Republic. They were training citi- 
 zens and moulding the men of a nation, and in this 
 work Washington Seminary bore a large share. 
 
 For more than a hundred years this Classical 
 Seminary, and its outgrowth, the Claverack Col- 
 lege and Hudson River Institute, continued a con- 
 trolling power in the educational life of Columbia 
 county, as well as drawing within its beneficient in- 
 fluence pupils from many States in the Union. 
 
 49 
 
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CHAPTER VI. 
 THE MINISTRY TO THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 Claverack did not suffer to the same extent that 
 New England did through the enmity of the In- 
 dians. No great massacres occurred in this region, 
 but there were occasional forays, and the carrying 
 off of women and children in the vicinity of Kin- 
 derhook as late as 1755. These hostile incursions 
 left, for many a month, a feeling of uneasiness and 
 fear behind them, but as a whole the Indians were 
 disposed to be friendly with the Dutch, who had 
 treated them with great fairness. Still there were 
 large numbers of them roving through the primeval 
 forests which covered a considerable part of the 
 State, and their lawless raids in other sections, and 
 their use by the Tories in acts of arson and pillage, 
 made their presence a source of dread and alarm. 
 
 The obligations of a pastorate which included 
 Schoharie on the north, and reached to Dutchess 
 
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THE MINISTRY TO THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 county on the south, was bounded east by Massa- 
 chusetts, and west by the Hudson river, required 
 long and lonely rides over portions of country in- 
 fested by both Indians and Tories. Such a field of 
 labor would have discouraged a man of less fidelity 
 and courage than Domine Gebhard. Over a wide 
 section of his extended charge, the land was still in 
 virgin wood, with here and there a small farm 
 house. The roads were wretched, often little more 
 than Indian trails. The Domine's liberty, and even 
 life, were sometimes in danger while passing the 
 secret haunts of the enemy, especially in the rocky 
 wildness of the country in the vicinity of Tagh- 
 kanic. Yet it is the church of Taghkanic, of which 
 we have the record, that at one of his quarterly 
 visits the Domine baptized thirty-six children at one 
 service. These, with their parents and god-parents 
 made a company of over one hundred. 
 
 So while danger lurked in the dense woods and 
 in the rocky fastnesses, the courageous minister 
 placed his trust in the Defender of the Faithful, and 
 took his way to these far off lonely outposts, that 
 the infants in these mountain homes might be sealed 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 to Christ, and the Sacrament might be administered 
 to their parents, and here, too, he oftimes found 
 couples waiting for the marriage ceremony. 
 
 The sense of pleasant stir in the farm houses 
 under the hills can easily be imagined as the Do- 
 mine's quarterly visit approached. From the home 
 of the leading man in the little settlement, where 
 the prophet's chamber was being prepared for the 
 visiting minister, and the housewife's store of good 
 things was being hospitably brought forth, to the 
 various homes where a little stranger had entered 
 since his last visit, the Domine's coming was eager- 
 ly anticipated. In some homes the tiny visitor had 
 been the first child of the house, in others the 
 twelfth or fifteenth, but in all, the christening robe 
 was brought forth and bleached, and the tiny em- 
 broidered cap, which had probably already served 
 its day with several children, was examined and 
 tried on the new baby's head. Then the nearer 
 family friends were invited to stand as sponsors, 
 and before long every house in the vicinity had 
 some part in the approaching great day. 
 
 Plain and rude though the little church may have 
 
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THE MINISTRY TO THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 been, it became a holy place to these country folk, 
 when they partook of the bread and wine of the 
 Sacrament around the Communion table, and re- 
 membered the Upper Room at Jerusalem. And 
 often before the day was done, the beginning of one 
 or more new homes was formed, when a sturdy 
 young farmer brought a blushing country girl, that 
 the Domine might make them man and wife. When 
 the Domine left on Monday morning, having added 
 many good counsels to his other labors, life had 
 taken a fresh start in the farm houses under the 
 mountains. 
 
 The fear of man was not the only danger lurking 
 in the path of the good man on these long clerical 
 trips. Wolves still roved the forest, and vast pit- 
 falls were dug near farmhouses on the edge of the 
 woods, to entrap the wild beasts. 
 
 Yet in spite of all and every danger, we find this 
 intrepid servant of God supplying the church of 
 Squampamock (Ghent) twelve miles distant, every 
 two months for five years. From 1777 to 1797 he 
 traveled four times a year to Taghkanic. From 
 1795 to 1814 once every seven weeks he preached 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 at the Krum church, twelve miles distant at Hills- 
 dale; and upon the death of Rev. Mr. Clough he as- 
 sisted in supplying the German church at the Camp 
 (Germantown), and at the request of their consis- 
 tory was instrumental in obtaining for them a min- 
 ister from Germany. 
 
 Of these various churches on the outposts, which 
 were preaching stations of Domine Gebhard, there 
 is only one, beside the well-known church in the old 
 fort at Schoharie, of which we have a full descrip- 
 tion. This is the Ghent church built in 1775. This 
 primitive edifice was clapboarded in the early days 
 and unpainted. Like the Claverack church, it had 
 the old-fashioned, high-backed pews and also pos- 
 sessed a "lofty gallery on three sides, and a wine- 
 glass pulpit reached by a winding flight of stairs. 
 Over the pulpit and the preacher hung the inevita- 
 ble sounding board, in this case suspended from 
 the rafters by ropes attached to its four comers. 
 The first records of the church were kept in Dutch, 
 though the leaves of the old book, which was bound 
 in vellum, and anti-dated the Revolution, bear a 
 crown, and underneath in water marks upon its 
 
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THE OLD CHURCH AND PARSONAGE AND 
 WASHINGTON SEMINARY 
 
 The view is taken Iroin the rear of the old parsonage, and g:ives 
 Washington Seminary in its earliest days. 
 
 Old Stone Fort, erected in 1772, and monument to David Williams, one 
 of the captors of Major Andre. 
 
Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
THE MINISTRY TO THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 pages, the initials G. R., besides a seal, in which the 
 lion rampant of England is a chief feature." 
 
 The first entry is March 28th, 1775, and records 
 the articles of agreement between the consistories 
 of Claverack and Squampamock. The next is a 
 call made upon the Rev. Dom. Johannes Gabriel 
 Gebhard, in which it is stipulated that he shall 
 preach once every two months, and administer the 
 Sacrament in the church of Squampamock, in return 
 for which the consistory promise, yearly and every 
 year to pay him the sum of twenty pounds New 
 York money." This call was signed by "Lawrence 
 Hogeboom" elder, and "Johannes Hogeboom" dea- 
 con. 
 
 The longest journey in this ministry to the wil- 
 derness took the Domine sixty miles over rough and 
 almost impassable roads, to administer the ordin- 
 ances and preach in the old stone church of Scho- 
 harie previously mentioned. In this church "Ger- 
 sina," a daughter of the celebrated Indian chief Jo- 
 seph Bryant, was christened while the chief and 
 his squaw were on a visit to the valley. 
 
 During the war small block houses were built in 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 the south-east and north-east comers of the church 
 and the whole enclosed by pickets, turning the sanc- 
 tuary into a fortress. Here many anxious nights 
 were spent by those seeking safety for their fam- 
 ilies from Indians and Tories. 
 
 The faithfulness of the men who upheld these 
 churches on the outposts was portrayed by the de- 
 voted service of one of the members of the old 
 Schoharie church. Judge Brown was for years the 
 "fore-signer, clerk and chorister" of this congrega- 
 tion. To perform his three-fold Sabbath duty, he 
 walked weekly from his home in Carlisle, fourteen 
 miles, to the place of worship, and the same number 
 of miles back again. It was not only the ministers 
 to the wilderness who were courageous and faithful 
 but also the members of their flocks, who vied with 
 them in upholding the worship of Gk)d in this new 
 country. 
 
 Courage was the watchword of the homes of the 
 day. It was required in every walk of life, from the 
 wife or maiden who bade husband or lover a brave 
 farewell, as he fared forth to fight for his country, 
 to the young wife in the parsonage door, watching 
 
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THE MINISTRY TO THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 these repeated trips into danger in the Lord's ser- 
 vice. Each pictured the way in the night watches, 
 one of the bloody battlefield, and possible victory 
 and honor, or death; the other of lonely winding 
 roads or bridle paths, with a painted face or a Tory 
 enemy behind some tree, and a slight form on horse- 
 back winding hi« way alone through the wilderness, 
 to come at last tired and travel-stained to some 
 farmer's home, and a little log church, in which 
 the light of the Gospel was ever kept trimmed and 
 burning, by these ministers of God in settlement 
 and wilderness, who like Paul "counted not their 
 lives dear unto themselves," but only for the service 
 and glory of God. 
 
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CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WAR HEROES OF THE MANORS AND THE 
 INAUGURATION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 The War of the Revolution was drawing to a close. 
 In the parsonage and the two Manors, and in the 
 farm houses scattered between, there was eager ex- 
 pectation of a new order of things. There had been 
 suffering and anxiety, privation and death in many 
 homes. Soon after the election of Governor Clinton 
 a public appeal had been made for funds from New 
 York State to carry on the war. To this War Fund, 
 Domine Gebhard and his congregation had sub- 
 scribed liberally. 
 
 Colonel Jeremiah Hogeboom's regiment had been 
 made up largely of Claverack men. In Lieutenant 
 Hendrick Van Hoesen's Company were Killian and 
 Peter Van Rensselaer, sons of Hendrick, a younger 
 brother of the Patroon Johannes, and through all 
 the Companies the familiar names of Ludlow, Dela- 
 mater, Philip, Harder, Hoffman, Esselstyn, Miller, 
 
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 Van Deusen, Van Ness, Groat, Mesick, Van Allen, 
 Pitcher and a host of others abounded. Colonel 
 Robert Van Rensselaer had seen service in the cam- 
 paign of the Mohawk, while Henry I. Van Rensse- 
 laer served as Commissary-General, and nearly all 
 the sons of Colonel Johannes, and his younger 
 brother Killian Van Rensselaer held some commis- 
 sion in the Continental Army. 
 
 Captain John McKinstry, of Livingston, in the 
 Regiment of Colonel John Patterson, had fought 
 bravely at the battle of the Cedars on the St. Law- 
 rence River, in the spring of '76, and had there met 
 with a narrow escape from death in a more terrible 
 form than battle. He had been captured by a party 
 of Indians under the leadership of the famous Cap- 
 tain Brant. The Indians were about to celebrate 
 their victory after their usual fashion, by killing 
 their captive by torture. The faggots and the stake 
 were ready, but Captain McKinstry remembered 
 in that supreme moment that Brant was a Free 
 Mason. He lost no time in giving the signal of 
 distress which the chief recognized at once, and 
 immediately directed his followers to liberate their 
 prisoner. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 In after years the two men were fast friends, 
 and the Indian chief is said to have visited the man 
 whose life he had saved, more than once in his own 
 home. In later years Brant, in company with Col- 
 onel McKinstry, visited the Masonic Lodge in Hud- 
 son, where he was most warmly welcomed, and 
 was an object of great interest to his fellow Mas- 
 ons. Charles Jenkins was less fortunate than Col- 
 onel McKinstry. He was taken prisoner by the 
 British and confined a year and a half in the sugar 
 house in New York, when he escaped and made his 
 way back to Claverack. 
 
 While the men of Claverack and the vicinity were 
 serving their country in the war, the women at 
 home sometimes had reason to discover an undaunt- 
 ed war-like spirit within their own breasts. One 
 day during the absence of the men of the household 
 one of the goodwives of Claverack opened her door 
 to two suspicious travelers. Their manner and 
 words proved them to be Tories. The wife of the 
 absent householder directed them to the cellar to 
 obtain for themselves a refreshing cup of cider. As 
 soon as they had reached the foot of the cellar 
 
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WAR HEROES OF THE MANORS. 
 
 stairs, she dropped the door in the floor and dragged 
 heavj'^ furniture upon it, effectually holding her 
 prisoners until the return of her husband. That par- 
 ticular drink of cider proved an expensive refresh- 
 ment to the Tories that autumn morning. 
 
 Brigadier-General Henry B. Livingston, a brother 
 of the Chancellor, was one of the most prominent 
 officers in the American Army during the Revolu- 
 tion from this section of the country. He served 
 in an assaulting column in the storming of Quebec. 
 "As Lieutenant-Colonel he commanded a regiment 
 in the battle of Stillwater and was present at the 
 surrender of Burgoyne," which was no doubt, in 
 part, the cause of his sister Margaret's pleasure 
 when she heard of the surrender of the British 
 General. The destruction of his mother's and broth- 
 er's homes he could not prevent, but further disas- 
 ters on the Hudson, were forestalled by the suc- 
 cesses of the army of the North. Colonel Livingston 
 served under Lafayette at Rhode Island and Valley 
 Forge, and became a fast friend of the French Gen- 
 eral. 
 
 He was also in command at Verplanck's Point 
 
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 at the time of Andre's capture, and with his single 
 four-pounder engaged the British ship "Vulture," 
 with so much vigor and effect that it alarmed and 
 delayed Andre, and in the end led to his capture, 
 and saved West Point. General Washington, writ- 
 ing of this event, said, "It is a great source of grati- 
 fication to me that the post was in the hands of 
 an officer so devoted as yourself to the cause of 
 your country." Lossing adds to this eulogy, 
 "Washington's confidence was not misplaced, for 
 there was not a purer patriot in that war than 
 Henry B. Livingston." At the close of the war 
 Colonel Livingston was made Brigadier-General and 
 spent the remainder of his life at his home near 
 Rhinebeck on the Hudson.f 
 
 No event of the war carried such gloom into the 
 allied homes along the upper Hudson as the death 
 of General Richard Montgomery. General Mont- 
 gomery had met Janet Livingston, the eldest daugh- 
 ter of Judge Robert R. Livingston some years ear- 
 
 tA descendant of Henry B. Livingston has offered the 
 correctian, "that it was General James Livingston, a rela- 
 tiive of Henry who was in command at Verplanck's Point 
 and therefore received the commendation of Washington." 
 Mr. Steele adds, "This mistake was made by Lossing some 
 time ago." 
 
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WAR HEROES OF THE MANORS. 
 
 Her, when he was a Captain in the British Army, on 
 his way to a distant post. It was love at first sight, 
 and though the meeting was brief, neither of them 
 forgot the impression made at that time. Mont- 
 gomery, at the end of the war went back to Eng- 
 land, sold his commission, and returned to America, 
 and the second meeting between him and Janet Liv- 
 ingston led to an early marriage. 
 
 They had been married only three years, when 
 his election by Congress to the office of Brigadier- 
 General cut short their dream of rural life on the 
 banks of the Hudson. General Montgomery accept- 
 ed the position offered him with a high sense of pa- 
 triotic duty to his adopted country. In this he had 
 the entire sympathy of his wife who was a woman 
 built in an heroic mould. Her love for him carried 
 her vv'ith him as far as the home of General Schuy- 
 ler at Saratoga, postponing the separation as long 
 as possible, yet no word of hers deterred him from 
 the path upon which he had set his feet. It was 
 at the parting of the two, who had not yet ceased 
 to be lovers, that Richard Montgomery uttered the 
 memorable words, "You shall never have cause to 
 blush for your Montgomery." 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Montreal surrendered to General Montgomery, 
 and on the last night but one of the year 1775 he 
 made his brave attempt to take Quebec, and was 
 killed while leading his men in an heroic charge up- 
 ward, through a pass filled with drifted snow and 
 ice, and in a blinding snowstorm. "Forward, men 
 of New York. You will not flinch where your Gen- 
 eral leads," he cried out, as he pressed forward in 
 advance of his men. They were his last words. He 
 was killed instantly by the discharge of a cannon 
 of a seemingly deserted battery. The attempt to 
 capture Quebec was unsuccessful, but General 
 Montgomery's brave act is the heritage of the 
 American people. 
 
 The surrender of Comwallis was an event of great 
 joy all over the country. Friends writing from 
 Philadelphia spoke of the watchman's cry in that 
 city after the glad news. "Past two o'clock and 
 Ckjrnwallis is taken," rang out his voice hour after 
 hour, and heartfelt prayers of thanksgiving fol- 
 lowed the re-iteration of the glad tidings. Congress 
 recommended the observance of a day of thanksgiv- 
 ing throughout the States, and Washington ordered 
 
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WAR HEROES OF THE MANORS. 
 
 the liberation of all prisoners, that they might join 
 in the general joy. 
 
 At last, when the news of the treaty of peace 
 with England was received, the rejoicing was simi- 
 lar to that evinced over the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence. The news was hailed with delight when 
 read in churches and courts, taverns and stores, and 
 many unique methods were adopted to celebrate the 
 event. At a later date there were a goodly number 
 of certificates of membership in the Society of Cin- 
 cinnati signed by General Washington, held by the 
 men of Claverack who had been his officers. 
 
 Richard Morris' family had come to Claverack 
 from New York during the early years of the war. 
 Having espoused the American cause, they found as 
 did many others, that New York invested by the 
 British was no longer a safe place of residence for 
 patriots. Richard Morris' brother Lewis was one 
 of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
 his brother Gouverneur was a prominent patriot, 
 and he himself held the offices of Judge of Vice 
 Admirality and Chief Justice of the State of New 
 York. It is little wonder that the outcome of the 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 war with England called forth special rejoicing in 
 this family. 
 
 When the news of the treaty of peace reached 
 Claverack, Judge Morris procured a barrel of tar 
 and made a great bon-fire on an adjacent hill. There 
 is little question that Robert Morris, his son, at that 
 time a student in Washington Seminary, assisted 
 most willingly at this form of celebration. Nor can 
 it be doubted, that Robert Morris' life-long habit of 
 firing off a cannon from the top of this same hill, 
 on Independence Day, giving the hill ever after the 
 name of "Mount Bob," was an outgrowth of this 
 joyous celebration of his boyhood. 
 
 Domine Gebhard was inspired to a different form 
 of celebration by the treaty with England. He was 
 a man of vision, as has been proved by his estab- 
 lishment of Washington Seminary. He saw before 
 him a call for new forms of government. The pres- 
 ent government was loose and feeble, as Washing- 
 ton said later, "We are one nation to-day and thir- 
 teen to-morrow; who will treat with us on these 
 terms?" 
 
 On September 13th, 1783, Domine Gebhard v^Tote 
 
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WAR HEROES OF THE MANORS. 
 
 his Excellency George Washington a letter, setting 
 forth his ideas in regard to the new government 
 about to be established, along the line of towns to 
 States, and States to the Central Government, based 
 on the government of the Netherlands. This let- 
 ter General Washington acknowledged in his usual 
 courteous fashion, and Domine Gebhard's commun- 
 ication is still preserved among the unpubhshed let- 
 ters and papers of General Washington. 
 
 Nearly six years later, April 30th, 1789, Wash- 
 ington was inaugurated President of the United 
 States. 
 
 Washington's journey from Mount Vernon to 
 New York was one of continual triumph. Addresses 
 and crowds met him at every town. At Philadelphia 
 he was received with distinguished honors. The 
 Schuylkill bridge was decorated with laurel wreaths 
 and triumphal arches of evergreens. "As he passed 
 over the bridge a civic crown was let down from 
 above on his head, and a great cheer went up from 
 twenty thousand people." 
 
 At Trenton there were similar demonstrations. 
 Here on either side of a sweeping arch bearing the 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 legend "December, 1776. The Defender of the 
 Mothers will be the Protector of the Daughters," 
 young girls dressed in white with baskets of flowers 
 in their hands, sang as they strewed his path with 
 flowers, 
 
 "Welcome, mighty chief, once more, 
 
 Welcome to this grateful shore, 
 
 Now no mercenary foe. 
 
 Aims again the fatal blow, — 
 
 Aims at Thee the fatal blow. 
 
 Virgins fair and matrons grave, 
 
 These thy conquering arm did save. 
 
 Build for thee triumphal bowers, — 
 
 Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers! 
 
 Strew your Hero's way with flowers!" 
 He was received in New York by Governor Clinton 
 and many distinguished persons, the Inauguration 
 taking place in the old Federal Hall. There were 
 religious and civil services, and processions through- 
 out the day, but its crowning feature was when in 
 the presence of a great multitude of old soldiers 
 and patriotic citizens from many States, he stood 
 on the balcony in front of the Senate Chamber, sur- 
 
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V/AR HEROES OF THE MANORS. 
 
 rounded by men important in the life of the nation 
 both then and later, and Chancellor Livingston ad- 
 ministered the oath of office, prescribed by the Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 At its close, the Chancellor stepped forward, wav- 
 ing his hand and exclaiming, "Long live George 
 Washington, the President of the United States/' 
 Flags were raised, cannons were fired, and the mul- 
 titude rent the air with their joyous exclamations. 
 The new Republic was fully organized at last, with 
 George Washington for its first President, the man 
 nii.'st beloved and honored in the young Nation. 
 
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CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE MANORS ON EITHER SIDE. 
 
 A few miles from the parsonage in either direc- 
 tion stood Van Rensselaer and Livingston Manor 
 Houses. Those of the Lower Van Rensselaer Manor 
 were the nearest, being a little more than a mile 
 from the church. The Patroon Johannes Van Rens- 
 selaer, who resided at Crailo in Greenbush, but who 
 had a summer home at Claverack, was living during 
 the Revolutionary War, and was still directing af- 
 fairs to some extent in the lower part of the Manor, 
 though he had several sons who had married, and 
 lived permanently at Claverack, who took charge 
 of the estate in his absence. 
 
 It had been the custom of the old Patroon to make 
 periodical visits to these Manor Houses of his sons 
 for many years past, at which time rents were col- 
 lected and much business was transacted. The house 
 now occupied by Mr. Charles Barnard, a lineal de- 
 scendant of the old Patroon, was occupied during 
 
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THE MANORS ON EITHER SIDE. 
 
 the Revolutionary war by Colonel Henry I. Van 
 Rensselaer, a son of Colonel Johannes Van Renssel- 
 aer. This house, the oldest building in Claverack, 
 v/as erected by Hendrick Van Rensselaer, the first 
 proprietor of the Lower Manor, in 1685. The first 
 couple to live in it were Samuel Ten Broeck and his 
 v/ife, Maria Van Rensselaer, the eldest daughter of 
 Hendrick, and each of Colonel Johannes' sons seems 
 to have taken his turn in living in the old house, 
 James, who married Catherine Van Cortlandt, 
 among the rest, though he eventually moved to 
 Belleville, New Jersey. Killian Van Rensselaer and 
 Peter, younger brothers of Johannes the Patroon 
 also took up their residence in Claverack, and Killian 
 built at an early date the house which was later 
 called the "Brick Tavern." 
 
 On what is now known as the Allen Miller place. 
 Colonel Robert R. Van Rensselaer, afterwards Brig- 
 adier-General, another son of the Patroon Johannes, 
 built a Manor House. The foundations of this house 
 were standing up to a recent date. The present 
 Manor House on this farm, to the left, going east, 
 was built by Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer, the first 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Robert Rutsen's son, as were also the "Red Mills" 
 on the same place. On a section of land given to 
 Henry I. Van Rensselaer by his father, the "Stone 
 Mills" were erected, and after the Revolution a 
 Manor House also. "Buttermilk Falls" was once a 
 busy manufacturing center, the Van Rensselaer 
 mills consisting of woolen mills, saw mills, satinet 
 factory, and flouring mills, all being run on the same 
 stream. Every farmer was said to have kept one 
 black sheep among his flock to make the proper pep- 
 per and salt mixture in cloth, the fleeces being sent 
 to the carding mills at Smoky Hollow or Buttermilk 
 Falls. 
 
 The Manors and the mills were contemporaneous, 
 their necessity being apparent to Patroon and farm- 
 er alike, and so important a feature of the Manor 
 life were these mills and the water-power which ran 
 them, that in the indenture concerning the old 
 Conyn farm near the "Stone Mills," sold by "John 
 Van Rensselaer of Greenbush" to Casperus Conyn 
 in 1765, "to him and his heirs forever" all rights to 
 pools, streams, rivulets, ponds, and creeks were re- 
 served to the Patroon, though if a mill was built up- 
 
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THE MANORS ON EITHER SIDE. 
 
 on Conyn's land, "John Van Rensselaer of Green- 
 bush" agreed to pay for the land so occupied. 
 
 "The Patroons had a monopoly of fishing and 
 hunting, and possessed the absolute title to the 
 soil." Their authority extended in judicial cases 
 even to the penalty of death, each tenant in the 
 Manor of Rensselaerwick agreeing not to appeal 
 from the sentence of the Patroon's court. It was 
 believed by these first great land-owners, that the 
 country could best be developed by dividing the soil 
 into large Manors, settled by tenants who paid for 
 their holdings a yearly rent in skins or the produce 
 of the ground, and who were often brought to this 
 country at the Patroon's expense, while the Patroon 
 himself paid a certain sum each year for the privi- 
 lege of holding and controlling his own conceded 
 territory, though it is surprising to read that the 
 "quit-rent" on the Patroon's part was "fifty bushels 
 of good winter wheat" for the whole Manor of 
 Rensselaerwick. The rents required from the ten- 
 ants were also ludicrously small in proportion to the 
 size of their farms, and the Patroons took many 
 obligations on their own shoulders which made life 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 possible in this unsettled country. The early church- 
 es, schools, mills, sloops, imported machinery, tools 
 and conveniences of many kinds, had their founder 
 and originator in the mighty hand of the Patroon. 
 
 It is said that Killian Van Rensselaer, the First 
 Patroon of Rensselaerwick, "was a nobleman not 
 only by chance but by nature. He exercised genuine 
 provincial sovereignty. By his direction civil offi- 
 cers were appointed to oversee the business depart- 
 ments of the colony and military agents were named 
 to fortify outposts, and make needful preparation 
 against Indian outbreaks." 
 
 It was Hendrick Van Rensselaer to whom Claver- 
 ack was given, and most of the leases of land in the 
 Lower Manor were acquired through him. The 
 terms of the rental were nearly alike in all the 
 leases, and stipulated for an annual rent of a cer- 
 tain number of "scheppels" (bushels) of wheat, and 
 in many cases "two or four fat hens," the month 
 of January being occasionally mentioned as the time 
 of payment in hens. With the depreciation in the 
 value of farm lands in recent times, there have been 
 instances where legal rents have long remained un- 
 
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THE MANORS ON EITHER SIDE. 
 
 paid, but, with a possible reversal to the ancient 
 customs of forefathers, two fat geese have been 
 presented at Christmas to the landlord as a kind of 
 quit rent. 
 
 Colonel Johannes Van Rensselaer who erected 
 Claverack into a Manor was born in 1708, and was 
 the Van Rensselaer best known to the people of his 
 own Manor, of whom it has been said, "He was a 
 most commanding figure in the military, social, 
 civic, and religious life of Claverack." Mrs. Ellet 
 adds a word as to his other characteristics, "He 
 was noted for his hospitality, and for his kindness 
 and forebearance towards the tenants of his vast 
 estate during the war." 
 
 In one room of the Manor House at Claverack, 
 Colonel Johannes held court and received rent, and 
 here many difficulties were adjusted, and much bar- 
 ter and some money changed hands on days when 
 renfs were due. Stored through the years with 
 deeds of property and other valuable papers, are 
 some of these old rent books. During Colonel 
 Johannes' lordship, dating back as far as 1744, these 
 rent books were written in Dutch, but the fact that 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 "15 scheppel of wheat" constituted a year's rent for 
 a farm in some cases, and that it was paid regularly, 
 is still apparent in these deeply yellowing pages. 
 Upon the payment of the year's rent, the Patroon 
 signed his name with his own hand, or on occasion 
 of it being signed by an agent, it was expressly 
 stated "For the Patroon." 
 
 Later, in his successor, John I. Van Rensselaer's 
 time, the records in these old account books are in 
 English, pounds and shillings having taken place of 
 "scheppels of wheat," and by 1795 Jacob Rutsen 
 Van Rensselaer occasionally signs his name to the 
 receipt. Nor is it only the sons of the family who 
 when needed stand in their father's place. The wife 
 of the Patroon, or sometimes the daughter, or the 
 daughter-in-law, affixes her name in acknowledg- 
 ment of rent paid. In 1776 Catherine Van Alen 
 acknowledges the reception of "eight scheppels of 
 wheat," Collec. for John Van Rensselaer Patroon." 
 Though the Patroon may have been the highest 
 court of appeal, with tenants spread over one hun- 
 dred and seventy thousand acres, even though far 
 separated, one might easily suppose that pay-day 
 
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THE MANORS ON EITHER SIDE. 
 
 would occur on many days in the year, and that any 
 responsible member of the household would often 
 be called upon to stand in the Patroon's place. 
 
 Colonel Johannes courted his first wife, and the 
 mother of his children at the home of Robert Liv- 
 ingston, Jr., nephew of the first Robert Livingston. 
 Angelica Livingston was a woman of pleasing and 
 dignified presence, and of great executive ability, as 
 behooved the wife of the Patroon of those days, and 
 the Lady of the Manor. She had lived her early 
 life in a home similar to that to which Colonel 
 Johannes had brought his bride, and the training 
 of the manorial homes was fitted to endow a woman 
 with capacity for the management of social and 
 business affairs, together with the rearing of a 
 house full of children, and the direction of a corps 
 of servants, which makes the strenuous life of today 
 seem pale and languid in comparison. 
 
 The family of Clermont, or the Lower Livingston 
 Manor was closely related to the original Livingston 
 Manor at Linlithgo, and this again with the Van 
 Rensselaers of the Lower Van Rensselaer Manor at 
 Claverack, tying the great houses along the river in 
 
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 a chain of family connection, community of inter- 
 ests, and much social intercourse. 
 
 The home of Chancellor Livingston, grandson of 
 the first Lord's youngest son Robert was at Cler- 
 mont, and all along the Hudson from Clermont to 
 Staatsburg were scattered the homes of his broth- 
 ers and sisters, men deeply and keenly patriotic, and 
 prominent in public affairs, through all the early 
 days of the new Republic, and women whose patriot- 
 ism and interest in the affairs of the nation ever 
 equalled that of their husbands and brothers. 
 Chancellor Livingston was already a prominent 
 patriot, and a man whose splendid intellectual equip- 
 ment was devoted to the upbuilding of the country. 
 He had been one of the committee who had drawn 
 up the Declaration of Independence. Fearless of 
 the consequences, he had identified himself with a 
 movement destined to revolutionize America, but 
 at that early date the results of the responsibility 
 assumed, did not always point toward victory, even 
 to the hopeful. He was also chairman of the com- 
 mittee who drew up the Constitution of the State 
 of New York, which had been read in front of the 
 
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THE MANORS ON EITHER SIDE. 
 
 old Court House at Esopus to a large number of 
 people. 
 
 At the old Livingston Manor at Linlithgo, the 
 third and last Lord was reigning. Robert Living- 
 ston had come into his baronial rights in 1749 on the 
 death of his father Philip, the second Lord. That 
 the families of both the Van Rensselaer and Living- 
 ston Manors should have been, with few exceptions, 
 noted for their intense patriotism through this crit- 
 ical period, is one of the noteworthy facts of history, 
 for with the dawn of the infant Republic, would 
 perish all dreams of New World baronies. 
 
 As with the Van Rensselaers and the Livingstons 
 of Clermont, the children of the last Lord of the 
 original Livingston Manor began building homes for 
 themselves. Walter Livingston, son of the last 
 Lord, erected a noteworthy mansion called "Teviot- 
 dale" prior to the Revolution. General Henry Liv- 
 ingston, another son, who had given valuable ser- 
 vice to his country during the Revolution, built a 
 house in that section of the Manor which was after- 
 ward called Johnstown. Here he kept bachelor's 
 hall for many years, dying in 1823. It was John 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Livingston the fourth son who built Oak Hill, and 
 who also gave the site upon which the Reformed 
 Church of Linlithgo was built, adding a further gift 
 of land. In recognition of this donation the village 
 was called Johnstown, and the name clung to the 
 growing settlement, to which in 1814 the Manor 
 church was moved, a Memorial Chapel at a much 
 later period, being built over the old Livingston 
 vault, where the first Manor church had stood for 
 almost a century, having been rebuilt in 1780. 
 
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CHAPTER IX. 
 LIFE ON THE MANORS. 
 
 Though the days of the baronial rights of the 
 Manors were fast waning, the life of the Manors re- 
 mained much the same for many a year. Saw mills 
 had been set up by the earlier Lords in the midst 
 of the forests, the machinery having been imported 
 from Europe. Continuous building went on in the 
 settlements, beginning with the felling of the trees, 
 and carried through all the stages of preparation, 
 until the work ended in a completed house, whose 
 beams and uprights, joinings and sidings, were of 
 that quality of material and labor which outwear a 
 century of use, and defy wind and storm. 
 
 Grist mills supplied flour and Indian meal to all 
 the Manor settlements, and to many others for 
 miles around. Great attention was given to stocking 
 the home farm, for beef and pork were needed in 
 abundance for the large families and many depend- 
 ents, and also for exportation. Large droves of 
 
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 sheep wandered over the grassy slopes on the edge 
 of the "Kills," forming pastoral pictures of great 
 beauty, but in the shearing, spinning, and weaving 
 time their practical value was fully apparent, when 
 the blankets to be used in the Manor household num- 
 bered scores, and the wonderful woven coverlids of 
 blue and white with the date of construction in the 
 corner, were counted by dozens, and whole pieces of 
 flannel, or linen in its own time, were laid away for 
 clothing or napery, not only for the Manor, but for 
 the poorer neighbors, to whom the mistress of the 
 Manor was always expected to be a lady bountiful. 
 On the Livingston estate were docks, and not far 
 away from the Lower Van Rensselaer Manor was 
 Claverack Landing, where, when the Hudson was 
 open, sloops came laden on their outward trips with 
 salted meat, grain, peltries and lumber, and return- 
 ing, brought cargoes of household necessities not 
 procurable nearer home. Nor were the imports al- 
 ways necessities. Many luxurious articles of home 
 embellishment were brought over the seas from the 
 older countries. The rude and the luxurious were 
 often blended in latter quarter of the eighteenth 
 
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LIFE ON THE MANORS. 
 
 century. West India sweetmeats and Dutch garden 
 seeds, sought for right of way in the cargoes of the 
 Silnops, with silks and laces, and articles of feminine 
 adnrnment. 
 
 The Lady of the Manor overlooked garden and 
 farm, preserved fruits, stored vegetables, and put 
 away meats in large quantities. Hospitality was a 
 manorial custom. The post-road lay past some of 
 the Manor doors and near others, and coming from 
 Albany, or arriving from New York, it was not only 
 the long-looked for letter that the stages delivered 
 at the Manors, but guests of State, refugees from 
 menacing danger in war times, and relatives or 
 friends bound on jaunts of necessity or pleasure. It 
 is said to have been the habit of the Manors of the 
 earlier days, to have beds and supplies of all sorts 
 ready for at least ten unexpected guests. 
 
 These manorial homes always contained, as did 
 most other homes of the date, only on a larger scale, 
 a number of relatives whom death or other misfor- 
 tunes had placed in a position of dependence. This 
 was a time when the solitpry were literally "set in 
 families." These relatives, together with the Lady 
 
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 of the Manor, made a superintending force, through 
 whom the many slaves, and the workman of all 
 kinds from carpenters to shoemakers, from tutors to 
 tailoresses, were kept in employment, the whole of 
 the great working-force conserving toward one end, 
 — the successful management of a great Manor. 
 
 Costly plate and rich furniture held their place 
 amid the homely employments of a large country 
 estate. There were wide halls and long drawing 
 rooms, panelled wainscoting, and mantels with beau- 
 tifully carved wreaths, and birds, and dancing maid- 
 ens, above the tile-bordered fire-places with Scrip- 
 tural scenes in blue and white. These fire-places 
 were often found in several rooms in the house, and 
 in front of these delectable picture-books, dark-faced 
 mammies warmed the tiny bare feet of numerous 
 Manor babies before the open fire, while they re- 
 hearsed to the wide-eyed, waiting children, the sto- 
 ries of Daniel in the lion's den, or Joseph and little 
 Benjamin and the piece of money found in Benja- 
 min's sack, or told the story, in the soothing cadence 
 of the musical negro voice, of Christ blessing the 
 little children, while the sleepy eyes closed, shutting 
 
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LIFE ON THE MANORS. 
 
 into dreamland the picture of the children clinging 
 about the Saviour's knees. 
 
 Beautiful solid silver and white napery adorned 
 the tables of the Manors, and although the ends of 
 the knives were broadened, that they might the 
 more effectually serve their purpose in taking the 
 place alternately of both fork and spoon, and there 
 were many other customs that would strike us as 
 uncomely to-day, the life was lived on a large scale, 
 and the conversation of a Manor table with the 
 guests of note in the time of the making of a nation, 
 might be envied in our own day. 
 
 Not only looking well after the ways of her 
 household was the commendation of the Lady of 
 the Manor, but she was also called upon to attend to 
 her husband's extensive business operations in his 
 long absences in Colonial councils, on journeys 
 abroad, and during service in the war. 
 
 That the training of the Manor life with its alter- 
 nate residence in city and country, its obligations, 
 responsibilities, and its hospitalities, was in many 
 ways fruitful of the best in manhood and woman- 
 hood, was proved in the fact that at one time during 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 the early days of our country, nine men of the Liv- 
 ingston family were holding responsible public po- 
 sitions at the same time in different States; and in 
 their service as officers, and soldiers in the ranks of 
 the patriot cause, in the upbuilding of church and 
 educational life, in positions of trust and honor, the 
 descendants of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer the first 
 Patroon of Rensselaerwick, have filled a large place 
 in the building of foundations worthy of the Ameri- 
 can Nation. 
 
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CHAPTER X. 
 VISITING SPONSORS. 
 
 Two thoroughfares carried the traveler north and 
 south past the Livingston and Lower Van Rensse- 
 laer Manors, and one of these passed the church and 
 parsonage doors. 
 
 Sloops sailed up and down the Hudson, stopping 
 at Clermont, and Claverack Landing, only four 
 miles from the settlement of Claverack. These sloops 
 brought and carried passengers and merchandise, 
 and the larger vessels sailed away to the Indies and 
 distant ports on commercial errands, called "ven- 
 tures" in those days. The "venture" might turn out 
 to be one of financial success to all who engaged in 
 it, or through adverse winds and storms at sea, a 
 loss of both lives and cargoes, and the ship itself. 
 These "ventures" were often as interesting to the 
 women of the family, as to the men of their house- 
 holds, for with the cargoes of merchandise of a 
 practical nature, came many a wedding dress and 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 tea-set, which were eagerly watched for in the 
 homes of Clover-reach. 
 
 The first mail-stages began running after the 
 Revolution in this part of the country, and mails 
 were delivered at Claverack as late as 1790 for the 
 city of Hudson. The travelers on the post-road 
 risked none of the dangers of the deep, but stage- 
 coach traveling had many drawbacks, as well as a 
 charm wholly lost in these days of rapid transit by 
 steam and electricity. However these obstacles to 
 a comfortable journey did not affect a group of 
 Seminary boys going home for vacation. Winter or 
 summer in vacation time, the stage that stopped at 
 the stage-house, where the post road intersected 
 the Columbia turnpike, dropped the weary and trav- 
 eled-stained occupants who had come a long dis- 
 tance, and with a change of horses took into its 
 capacious interior all the boys who could not bundle 
 up on top, and went on its way with a happy rollick- 
 ing crowd of human freight. 
 
 Pea-shooting was a form of youthful entertain- 
 ment indulged in at the time, and the number and 
 variety of targets to be discovered along a country 
 
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VISITING SPONSORS. 
 
 road by a fertile brain, then as now, was not sug- 
 gestive of brain fag. The boys who left the stage 
 first, carried with them a sense of miniature battle, 
 and themselves in the thick of the fight. 
 
 The stage brought many travelers to Claverack 
 beside the Seminary boys. Some of these stood 
 high in the counsels of the nation, or had served as 
 officers in the patriot cause. Others were friends 
 who had braved the dangers and discomforts of a 
 long coach journey to meet old friends and family 
 relatives. No one thought then, as we are apt to 
 forget to-day, that the Seminary boys on the top of 
 the stage, with their infectious laughter and pea- 
 shooters, and hair trunks packed with the varied 
 miscellany that only a boy knows how to collect, 
 were future representatives of the new Republic. 
 So the country-side watched those who emerged 
 from the stages, rather than those departing, and 
 their scrutiny was not in vain. 
 
 Perhaps no one event was the occasion of bringing 
 so many strangers into the town as the baptizing of 
 the babies. Since, as the years rolled by, this con- 
 tinued to be one of the Domine's most constant du- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 ties, and a common event at the Sunday morning 
 service, and since the god-fathers and god-mothers 
 who stood up with the children, were many times 
 those for whom they were named, the church ser- 
 vices came to have a special pleasure outside of the 
 sermon and the singing of the long-metre psalms. 
 More than once, when some little Catherine Van 
 Rensselaer was to be baptized, or a Philip Schuyler, 
 in the Van Rensselaer canopied pew sat General 
 Philip Schuyler and his Claverack wife, Catherine 
 Van Rensselaer, Colonel Johannes' daughter. 
 
 General Schuyler had won great fame since he 
 married "sweet Kitty Van Rensselaer," and "sweet 
 Kitty" herself had grown into a comely matron, 
 with the dignified air of a woman who had seen 
 much of life, and managed a household, and dis- 
 pensed hospitality to even a larger world than that 
 of the country Manor. There were those in the 
 congregation who had been guests at her wedding 
 twenty years before at Fort Crailo, and the whole 
 country-side had heard of its grandeur. Domine 
 Freilinghusen of the Reformed church of Albany 
 had performed the marriage ceremony, and Claver- 
 
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CATHERINE SCHUYLER 
 
 Daughter of Colonel Johannes Van Rensselaer, the Patroon, and wife of 
 General Philip Schuyler. 
 From an oil painting now owned by Mrs. Pnilip Schuyler. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
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VISITING SPONSORS. 
 
 ack had never ceased to feel the keenest interest 
 in Kitty Van Rensselaer and her young husband, 
 and his increasing military honors. The birth of 
 her children and their prospects in life, and their 
 various personalities, for the Schuyler children 
 often visited their grandfather at the Lower Manor, 
 were matters of neighborhood gossip. 
 
 Their mother had been beautiful as a girl, when 
 she won the name of "The Morning Star." Her 
 own daughters inherited her beauty. All this was 
 an old but never wearisome story, but when Gen- 
 eral Schuyler and his wife came to the Lower Manor 
 and served as sponsors for their nephews and nieces 
 after the war, there was an added element of in- 
 terest, for Mrs. Schuyler had not only proved her- 
 self a most courageous and capable General's wife, 
 but she had been a heroine as well. 
 
 Their home at Saratoga had been in the path of 
 the British army. The cruel murder of Jenny Mc- 
 Crea was in every one's mouth, but Catherine 
 Schuyler determined to save what she could of the 
 things which were dear to her at her country home. 
 Leaving Albany in her coach, in spite of persuasions 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 to the contrary, she started, with only one armed 
 escort, on her perilous journey. On the road she 
 met with fugitives who urged her to turn back, but 
 her answer had been, "A General's wife should 
 know no fear." 
 
 At Saratoga the summer harvest was ripe. The 
 fields presented a beautiful sight of waving grain. 
 General Schuyler had warned her not to let any- 
 thing of value fall into the hands of the advancing 
 army. With a pang at her heart she gave directions 
 to the tenants to fire their fields, and then went with 
 her negro servant through the broad expanse of the 
 home farm. It is said that the negro was afraid to 
 set torch to the fields, and gathering all her 
 strength Mrs. Schuyler threw the burning torches 
 herself into her own grain at different points, and 
 in a short time the fields lay shorn of their beauty, 
 a charred and smouldering stretch of country. 
 
 With such valuables as she could carry, she re- 
 turned to Albany where she arrived safely. Her 
 fearlessness in this exploit and her ability to obey 
 her superior in command in the face of great dan- 
 ger, won for her many encomiums, and the congre- 
 
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 gation at Claverack felt a special proprietorship in 
 her bravery. 
 
 At times it was the Domine's pew which was the 
 center of attraction at the opening of the service, 
 and when the time for baptism came, the Domnie's 
 wife held in her arms a little son, while at her side 
 stood the baby's Uncle John Roush of Philadelphia 
 for whom he was named, or at a little later date 
 Mr. Charles Seitz and his wife Charlotte Carver, 
 also among the early settlers of Philadelphia, had 
 come the same distance to be present at the bap- 
 tism of another of their sister's children, this child 
 also being named for a Philadelphia uncle. The 
 beautiful christening robes with their vines and 
 wreaths and flowers of the finest embroidery, the 
 blankets to be wrapped about the baby in the cold 
 church, the little caps, yellow with age, with their 
 inset lace and many shir-strings, and the most ex- 
 quisite of all the fine needlework of the day, — which 
 have come down to us, almost picture the dimpling 
 babies within their folds, and tell stories of the long 
 country afternoons, with the sound of bees and 
 rustling leaves, the odor of orchards and flower 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 gardens, the prattle of children playing in the hay, 
 and cows coming home through the meadows. What 
 a wealth of life experiences went into the fashion- 
 ing of the little garments, from the first stitch to 
 the christening day, and with what heart-throes 
 were they laid in the cedar chests, to wait for the 
 grandchildren ! 
 
 The procession of babies moved on week by week, 
 and year by year, till Catherine Van Rensselaer 
 Schuyler's eldest daughter, Angelica Schuyler, and 
 her English husband John Barker Church, came 
 down in Henry I. Van Rensselaer's sloop, the "An- 
 gelica" or their chariot, on a hazy September day, 
 to Claverack Manor, and on the following Sunday 
 stood up with little Angelica Van Rensselaer, the in- 
 fant daughter of Robert Van Rensselaer and Cor- 
 nelia Rutsen. It probably did not detract from the 
 attraction of this young Albany couple in the eyes 
 of the country youths and maidens, that they had 
 been the principal actors in a notable elopement, in 
 which they had evaded even the careful eye of 
 General Schuyler, until the nuptial knot was tied 
 at the house of the young Patroon of the Van Rens- 
 
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 selaer Manor at Albany. Morrises and Van Cort- 
 landts, DePeysters and Pattersons, Bayards and 
 Nichols, Gouverneurs and LeRoys and Alexanders 
 all came from the outer world of cities and affairs, 
 to stand up with the Claverack babies as the years 
 went by, while the Domine pronounced the blessings 
 of the convenant over the heads of the baptized 
 children, and the sponsors promised with their par- 
 ents, to see that the children were "piously and re- 
 ligiously educated." 
 
 These baptism days were also festival occasions, 
 and only second to the wedding days of the congre- 
 gation. The gathering of friends from far and near 
 witnessed wonders of culinary skill in great house 
 and farm house alike, and the feasts spread before 
 the visitors were long remembered by the departing 
 guests, as the incoming tide of story and adventure, 
 public affairs and family news, were valued by the 
 host and hostess, and their growing families of boys 
 and girls. 
 
 A tangible sign which has come down from these 
 happy reunions, is the baptism spoon which was 
 presented to the baby by the god-parent, in honor 
 
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 of the name the child bore. The baptism spoons 
 were smaller, but carried a greater charm in their 
 shallow bowls, than the larger funeral spoons or 
 the rings which were presented to the bearers at 
 funerals in those days. 
 
 It has been said of these times, that "marriages, 
 baptisms and funerals were celebrated with great 
 care and formality, and no more serious offence 
 could be given than to neglect to invite to them 
 anyone entitled to come, or a neglect of the invita- 
 tion." 
 
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CHAPTER XI. 
 
 STORIES OF THE POST ROAD. 
 
 The journey was a long one from Philadelphia or 
 New York either by land or water, but by sloop 
 there was the panorama of the beautiful Hudson, 
 New York and West Point, Newburgh and Kingston, 
 all of them important in the civil and military hap- 
 penings of the time, while by stage-coach one found 
 the stage-driver familiar with every rod of the way, 
 and stories of the whole post road, the latest mar- 
 riage in one great house and its grandeur, the 
 achievements in war or State of the men of another 
 Manor, and the beauty of its women, or (told with 
 lowered and sepulchral voice) the story of the ghost 
 that was supposed to haunt one of the Manor Hous- 
 es after the mysterious death of a beautiful young 
 wife. At Montgomery Place between Barrytown 
 and Rhinebeck, General Montgomery's widow had 
 built a beautiful mansion after her husband's tragic 
 death. At another place near the same village, 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 afterward occupied by his brother-in-law Peter R. 
 Livingston, the stage driver pointed out Montgom- 
 ery's willow, a large tree that had grown from a 
 twig playfully stuck in the ground by General 
 Montgomery on a visit to a neighbor, a day or two 
 before he started for Canada. As he planted the 
 twig, he had remarked, "Let it grow to remember 
 me by." 
 
 With a wave of his whip as the stage neared Cler- 
 mont, with special attention to the youth favored 
 with a place beside him on the driver's seat, the 
 genial Jehu would chuckle over the fact that Ed- 
 ward Livingston, the growing statesman, had been 
 a boy at home, owing to the closing of his school 
 at Kingston, when his mother's and Chancellor Liv- 
 ingston's houses were burned during the war, and 
 enjoyed the excitement, and go on to tell of his 
 eighteen mile walks to and from Kingston, Satur- 
 days and Mondays, while school was in session, 
 "short miles coming home, long miles going back," 
 he would shrewdly add. 
 
 Or, if at a little later date, the history of Edward 
 Livingston would pass that of growth into large 
 
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STORIES OF THE POST ROAD. 
 
 attainment, as the eminent lawyer and Judge of 
 the Supreme Court, and later Mayor of New York, 
 "He is the greatest statesman of his day, men say" 
 the stage driver would assert, and perhaps some 
 occupant of the stage would carry the information 
 further, for stage travelers were sociable on their 
 long journeys. "Livingston is a great linguist, and 
 his house in New York has become the gathering 
 place of many celebrated visitors to our country." 
 His personal qualities were also called in review 
 with feelings of pleasure, his keen sense of humor 
 which made him a delightful companion, and his 
 warm-hearted beneficence, and love of his fellow 
 men, which kept him in New York during the 
 scourge of yellow fever in 1803, doing everything 
 possible to prevent the spread of the disease, and 
 for the comfort of the sick and the poor under these 
 trying circumstances. At the close of his self-sac- 
 rificing devotion, he was taken with the disease him- 
 self, but owing to his strong constitution his life 
 was saved. 
 
 This was apt to be followed by a eulogy on brave 
 Margaret Beekman, Edward's mother, who would 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 take no help from the wounded Tory soldiers in her 
 home, and who, after they were safely disposed of 
 elsewhere, could still courageously laugh at the 
 ludicrous appearance of an old black woman, perched 
 on top of a cart full of family possessions, moving 
 away from the doomed house. As soon as the dan- 
 ger was over Mrs. Livingston rebuilt her house on 
 the old foundations. There was also the locust tree 
 still standing, which had been partly carried away 
 by the cannon ball fired at the house by the British 
 soldiers before they landed. 
 
 The "Hermitage" begun on a grand scale by 
 Peter R. Livingston before the Revolution and never 
 finished, but in one of whose quaint rooms the his- 
 torian William Smith, a brother-in-law of the owner 
 wrote a portion of the History of New York, at- 
 tracted the traveler's eye. Beautiful "Teviotdale" 
 stood on an elevation between Kleina and Roeloff 
 Jansen Kills, a massive building sixty feet square, 
 several stories high, and with dormer windows. 
 After a time they would reach a point opposite the 
 old Manor House to which the title really belonged 
 the road to which the post-road crossed. It was 
 
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STORIES OF THE POST ROAD. 
 
 situated on a grassy spot on the banks of the Hud- 
 son, environed with grape vines, bowers, and gi- 
 gantic trees, near the mouth and upon the north 
 side of Roeloff Jansen Kill, which is now usually 
 called Livingston creek. The original Livingston 
 Manor House was still standing in 1799, a hundred 
 years old, but it was taken down a few years later. 
 The tales of the lordly manner of life in the days 
 of the first Lord, that Philip the son of the second 
 Lord Philip, was a Signer of the Declaration of In- 
 dependence, and William, another son was the pa- 
 triotic Governor of New Jersey with many pretty 
 daughters, entertained many miles of the road 
 through the Livingston country. Patriotic Sarah 
 Livingston was also a daughter of the second Lord 
 of Livingston Manor, and she, too, had her story. 
 She was the wife of Major-General Alexander, (Earl 
 of Sterling) and accompanied her husband to camp 
 at White Plains. Later she made a visit to New 
 York accompanied by her daughter. Lady Cath- 
 erine Alexander. It was at this time that she re- 
 fused, even with the permission of Sir William 
 Clinton, to take so much as a box of tea out of the 
 
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 city, which was under the rule of the British. She 
 was also a loyal member of the Dutch Reformed 
 Church, and as benevolent to the poor and needy, as 
 she was patriotic. 
 
 As they approached Germantown the settlement 
 of the Palatines became the topic of conversation. 
 Many of these settlers had been drawn from Living- 
 ston Manor with its life leases, to the brighter pros- 
 pects of perpetual leases on the Lower Van Renssel- 
 aer Manor at Claverack. 
 
 For these people, refugees from the Lower Pala- 
 tinate in Germany, who had served in Queen Anne's 
 armies, and had asked her aid, being driven from 
 their homes by the ravages of the French, the 
 Queen of England had attempted to provide homes 
 upon her American possessions. 
 
 Governor Hunter had purchased a tract of land 
 for the Queen from Robert Livingston in 1710, and 
 the Palatines soon followed, settling on both the east 
 and the west sides of the river. These settlements 
 were in the nature of camps, which later gave them 
 the names of East and West Camp. The camps on 
 the east side which occupied the Livingston land, 
 
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STORIES OF THE POST ROAD. 
 
 were named "Annsberg, for Queen Ann, Haysberg, 
 for Lady Hay, wife of Governor Hunter; Hunters- 
 town for the Governor himself; and Queensbury 
 in still further honor of the crown." 
 
 The Palatines were not all an ignorant class of 
 people. Many of them had come, as one of their 
 descendants has said, with their Bibles and prayer 
 books, expecting from the contracts signed in Eng- 
 lang, to have a small separate tract of land for each 
 household, upon which they would be able to build 
 homes of their own, and support their families, this 
 land to be paid for at the end of seven years in lum- 
 ber, tar, hemp, and the yield of the ground. Instead 
 of this they had found themselves in the position of 
 vassals, "slaves" they called themselves, bound to 
 work at tar-making for life, and already the most 
 intelligent among them were suspecting that the 
 tar-making was a failure. At last their superiors 
 discovered it also, and the Palatines left free to 
 choose their own homes, scattered in large numbers 
 to Schoharie and Claverack, where the opportunities 
 offered to new settlers were a great improvement on 
 those of the "camps." The few remaining families 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 of the Palatines were allowed to settle on the land 
 as farmers, and East Camp was known in time as 
 Germantown. 
 
 If, for a time, his horses occupied the loquacious 
 stage driver, there were sights and sounds in plen- 
 ty to attract the travelers. Clover fields abounded 
 all along beautiful Claverack creek, and the apples 
 and plums and pears in their season filled the air 
 with an aromatic odor. 
 
 Dutch house-wives were fond of bordering their 
 vegetable beds with flower edges. Clove pinks and 
 marigolds, tulips and tiger lilies, larkspur and phlox 
 wound their way in serpentine lines about homelier 
 growths, while each side of the long path from the 
 swinging gate to the front door, syringas and spice 
 bushes, fiaxinella and lilacs drew the guest with a 
 breath of the gods, and generously swept their sweet 
 odors over the garden fences, to the passing way- 
 farer. And so the traveler was welcomed to Claver- 
 ack, in the church and the homes, by Domine and 
 congregation, and also in the pleasant sights and 
 mellifluous odors of Clover-reach, while the coaches 
 which passed the Claverack doors, bearing from city 
 
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^ Z 
 
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 5f -; 2 
 
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STORIES OF THE POST ROAD. 
 
 to city, the men of the day in their high hats and 
 the ladies in flaring bonnets and floating veils, with 
 the blowing horn of the driver, and the spurts with 
 other teams along the road, formed a large part of 
 the excitement of Claverack life. 
 
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CHAPTER XII. 
 VISITS FROM JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 
 
 With the close of the war the German Reformed 
 Church in New York of which Domine Gebhard had 
 been pastor, gathered once more its scattered con- 
 gregation, and with one accord sent a call to their 
 old minister at Claverack to return to his former 
 charge. But the life of the young clergymen had 
 sent out many tendrils since the day in which he 
 left New York city, not knowing where In the future 
 would be his abiding place. At that time he had two 
 children, now he was the father of five, four boys 
 and one little daughter, Charlotte, born four years 
 previous. There was the Seminary which he had 
 been the means of founding, the out-lying churches 
 which depended on his occasional ministrations, and 
 to whom his coming was as a torch that shed the 
 light of the Gospel into the weeks barren of re- 
 ligious service or Sacrament. 
 
 Besides all this, there existed his own extensive 
 
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VISITS FROM JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 
 
 congregation nearer home, with whom there had 
 been formed close ties in these years of anxiety and 
 danger. The parsonage and the glebe land were 
 dear to his Pennsylvania wife, and healthful for 
 his children, and once more as in the first instance, 
 he believed that God had called him, this time to 
 stay where his feet had been planted, and regret- 
 fully he declined the call to return to his old flock. 
 Yet though he decided to stay in Claverack, his 
 heart turned with eager interest toward the future 
 of his early charge. New members were being add- 
 ed to the New York church, with the changing popu- 
 lation of the town, and the greater facilities for 
 immigration now that the war was over. Baron 
 Steuben joined himself to the congregation so soon 
 as it gathered itself together once more, remaining 
 a faithful attendant on its services when in New 
 York, so long as his life lasted. At his death in 
 1795 a tablet was placed in the church to his mem- 
 ory, stating at the close of a long and impressive 
 inscription, that it was given by "An American who 
 had the honor to be his Aide-de-camp, and the hap- 
 piness to be his Friend." 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 In the many changes of location that this church 
 has undergone, in its more than a century of exist- 
 ence since his death, the tablet to Baron Steuben 
 has always been carried with them, and in the one 
 hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the church held 
 recently at its present location in East 68th St., the 
 tablet to Baron Steuben, America's friend of Revo- 
 lutionary days, vied in interest with the bell pre- 
 sented by Kaiser William in honor of the celebra- 
 tion. There was also another feature of this oc- 
 casion which connected with the past history of 
 the church. Rev. John G. Gebhard, D. D., a great 
 grandson of their old minister, participated in the 
 anniversary ceremonies, while in the audience were 
 Karl and John G. Gebhard, Jr., the fifth generation 
 in descent from the old Domine. 
 
 A still more important member, in the opinion 
 of the family at the Claverack parsonage, was add- 
 ed to the New York church about 1784, in the per- 
 son of John Jacob Astor, a young German from 
 Waldorf in the Duchy of Baden, the home town of 
 Domine Gebhard. 
 
 Letters had been few and far between during the 
 
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VISITS FROM JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 
 
 years of the war. Many a heart hungered for news 
 of friends bound to them by close family ties, though 
 the ocean rolled between. A year earlier a letter 
 from Germany had reached the Claverack parson- 
 age through the good offices of Benjamin Franklin, 
 the writer being the Domine's younger brother, 
 Ludwig. The letter referred to the Domine's loss 
 of property through the war, but his happiness, 
 nevertheless, in founding an institution of learning. 
 It also told of the marrying and scattering to Zelt, 
 Rotterdam, Frankfort, and Strassburg of the vari- 
 ous brothers and sisters and their children, and 
 their material welfare. 
 
 A touch of pathos blends with humor in the naive 
 remark of the young brother who writes, "Our 
 mother is still living. Do you remember, my dear 
 brother, when we took leave of each other in Bingen, 
 how our dear mother wept, and asked you what she 
 was to do with me. Now you can see that it is 
 never well to despair." There is a suggestion of 
 coming to America, when peace is declared, if the 
 mother gives her consent, with articles of merchan- 
 dise sent by German merchants, and a return cargo 
 
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 of American products. Such letters, taking one 
 back to the hearthstones of the faraway homes, 
 must have warmed the heart of the wanderer even 
 though the new home was becoming dearer each 
 year. With warm German affection the latter clos- 
 es, "Farewell to you and your dear family. I kiss 
 you all in spirit, and remain for all time. 
 "Your Faithful Brother, 
 
 "LUDWIG GEBHARD," 
 "Strassburg, Jan. 22nd, 1783." 
 
 But when John Jacob Astor raised the brass 
 knocker of the old parsonage door, he outstripped 
 the most vividly written letter, with his late per- 
 sonal contact with all that had been familiar and 
 dear in the Domine's youth. 
 
 Young Astor entered into the fur business imme- 
 diately on his arrival in New York, and in a short 
 time was making trips for his master to Montreal, 
 the chief fur-market of the country. With a pack on 
 his back he struck into the wilderness above Al- 
 bany, but going or coming he was quite sure to stop 
 off at Claverack Landing, or sometimes tramp along 
 the Albany road direct to the parsonage gate. 
 
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 Those were great visits, in which old and young 
 had their own favorite theme of conversation. The 
 boys were never late to supper the nights that John 
 Aster came. Neither fishing, swimming, nutting 
 nor gunning in its season, held a superior charm to 
 the stories of adventure in the fur-trade to the Geb- 
 hard boys. Logs were piled on the open fire in 
 the great fire-place on cool evenings, and bed-time 
 was ignored even by the practical mother, while the 
 boys' eyes grew large and starry, as the young fur- 
 merchant told of the dangers of the wild lands in 
 northern and western New York, where untamed 
 animals abounded, of meetings with Indian chiefs, 
 of baskets of toys or sometimes cakes, that would 
 buy valuable skins, of the bogs that had delayed his 
 journeys, or floating bridges with wide spaces be- 
 tween the logs, over which he and his pack must go 
 in safety. There were his canoe trips up Lake 
 George, and embarking again, on to the head of 
 Lake Champlain, which held the boys' undivided 
 attention. His companion on these occasions was 
 an Indian paddler and guide; and again when the 
 pelts were secured Indians transported them to the 
 
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 head of the Hudson where they were sent on sloops 
 to New York. 
 
 Sometimes the Gebhard boys knew of some skins 
 among the country lads, and young Astor picked up 
 even at Claverack, a small addition to his stock in 
 trade. 
 
 But the conversation did not always turn on the 
 American wilderness, or its fur-bearing animals, or 
 trade in skins. After the little ones were tucked in 
 their trundle-beds, the older boys and the Domine's 
 wife sat by, while the two men talked of the home of 
 their boyhood across the sea. Every man, woman, 
 and child in the little village of Waldorf was familiar 
 to them both, but Domine Gebhard had left home 
 twelve years before, so the younger man brought 
 with him a fund of information full of a living in- 
 terest. 
 
 John Jacob Astor had been the son of the village 
 market-man, while Domine Gebhard had been the 
 minister's son, though his father had died when he 
 was twelve years old, yet life in the German vil- 
 lage had presented many similar duties and pleas- 
 ures to each. Both boys had studied the catechism 
 
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 with great care under the village pastor, and after 
 being examined walked to church in a procession, 
 the girls in white and the boys in their best suits. 
 After this came the rite of Confirmation and the 
 Sacrament. This was both a solemn and a joyous 
 occasion which took place every two years, and for 
 which a girl or boy was supposed to be prepared, 
 at the age of fourteen years. Besides Confirmation 
 there were three other festival days. Baptism, Wed- 
 dings and Christmas. These were all religious 
 feasts, but the days ended in much sociability and 
 innocent merry-making. Both of these young Ger- 
 man lads also had younger brothers and sisters to 
 care for, which all their lives made them tender with 
 children. 
 
 After Confirmation the two boys' paths lay in 
 different directions. Young Gebhard's lay toward 
 school and college, but John Astor's father was not 
 able to meet the expense of apprenticing him to a 
 good trade. This however did not deter the boy. 
 He did not mean to carry on his father's business, 
 and kept his eyes open and his mind alert to find an 
 opening in life to his taste. Here again the two 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 young German youths had been moved by the same 
 impulse, the love of adventure, and the desire to see 
 the "New Land" across the sea. When young Geb- 
 hard left home, John Jacob was eight years old. 
 Doubtless he had seen many other youths depart 
 from the little German village. One of his own 
 brothers had gone to America, and another to Eng- 
 land. 
 
 John Astor meant to go too, and one day when 
 he was nearly seventeen he started. No matter how 
 uneasy a boy is at home, when he makes his first 
 attempt to leave it, its value enhances by the hour, 
 and a lump in his throat is quite sure to go with the 
 young traveler, and spoil the first part of the jour- 
 ney. So it was with John Jacob Astor when he 
 set out on foot one morning, a bundle of clothes 
 on a stick over his shoulder, a crown or two in his 
 pocket, to walk to the Rhine a few miles distant. 
 Instead of a joyous journey toward the desire of 
 his heart, it bid fair to be a dismal path of home- 
 sickness, until sitting down under a tree to rest as 
 the morning advanced, he made some resolutions 
 which gave him a grip on his melting feelings, and 
 
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VISITS FROM JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 
 
 no doubt later on, a firm grasp on tHe best things 
 of life. 
 
 These resolutions were three in number, "to be 
 honest, industrious, and not to gamble." At this 
 point he was likely to turn his eyes keenly on the 
 boys before him, knowing that these were good 
 resolutions for boys on both sides of the sea. 
 
 After this he went on with better courage. It was 
 the portion of the story which followed, which al- 
 ways held the Gebhard boys' most eager attention. 
 
 Part of the great Black Forest is in Baden. The 
 timber cut in the forest was formed into rafts, and 
 rowed by sixty or eighty men or strong boys down 
 the Rhine. These raftsmen were boarded during 
 the journey, and paid ten dollars in money at its 
 end. Many voyagers bound for the "New Land," 
 earned their way to the coast in this fashion. John 
 Jacob Astor resolved to do this and also earn his 
 passage to England, and though it was hard work 
 and three hundred miles to the coast, he accom- 
 plished his purpose. It required fourteen days to 
 reach a Dutch sea-port, but the days, and even the 
 nights, were made merry by songs and jests, from 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 the hopeful and adventrous young lumbermen. John 
 Jacob Astor reached port with a larger sum of 
 money than he had ever possessed before. Here he 
 took passage for London where an older brother had 
 preceded him, and was at that time engaged in man- 
 ufacturing musical instruments. 
 
 In London he worked hard and saved money, and 
 learned English at the same time, gaining all the 
 information possible about America, while he waited 
 for the war to be over. At last he set sail, after 
 word of the treaty of peace had reached London, 
 bringing seven flutes with him for sale, and his 
 savings for the years he had been in England, 
 which were about five pounds in money. Each step 
 of the way had called for courage and perseverance. 
 Even within a day of port the wind died away, and 
 the cold grew intense, so that the ship was frozen in 
 a field of ice for two months. 
 
 But this final misfortune was the means of start- 
 ing young Astor on his life work, and the after ac- 
 cumulation of his large fortune, for stranded in the 
 same ship was a young fur-dealer, and in the long 
 and wearisome days of waiting, while food gave out 
 
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VISITS FROM JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 
 
 and money grew scarce, the two young men formed 
 a friendship, during which time they confided to 
 each other their previous life stories. It was from 
 this ice-bound companion that Astor learned the 
 possibilities of the fur trade, and day by day a hun- 
 dred practical facts on hunting, bartering, curing, 
 keeping and selling skins. It was a two months' 
 schooling in preparation for his life-work, with an 
 enthusiastic teacher who had just successfully car- 
 ried through a sale of skins in England. 
 
 Small wonder that the young man with stories of 
 the Black Forest and lumber camps, Indian adven- 
 tures, wild animals, and successful feats of barter- 
 ing, was a welcome guest at the parsonage, or that 
 the boys were wont to scan the length of the Albany 
 road at nightfall, for a sturdy figure with a pack on 
 his back, many a day before the young German 
 came, counting his visits as festival occasions. Their 
 father had a still greater regard for these stops by 
 the way, adding to the mutual interests and sym- 
 pathies of the past, the fact that John Jacob Astor 
 soon became a member of the Consistory of the 
 New York church, and its former minister and the 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 new member of its governing body, found much in 
 common in discussing the growth and prosperity of 
 this well-loved organization. 
 
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CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CHURCH CUSTOMS ONE HUNDRED 
 YEARS AGO. 
 
 The oldest of the Record books of the Claverack 
 church, is bound in parchment, and tied with soft 
 skin cords, and bears on its cover the inscription, 
 "KIRK EN DORP BOEK, 
 KLAVERACK 
 1727-1789. 
 and on its title page, "Glory to God forever." 
 
 It records among other matters of note, that dur- 
 ing the building of the church in Domine Fryen- 
 moet's time, 1767, payment was made for seats 
 through previous work on, or for, the new building, 
 "breaking stone, riding stone, ditching the founda- 
 ments of the church, cutting fire wood, cutting tim- 
 ber," etc. So much a matter of heart-interest was 
 this building of the church by personal effort, that 
 the record of the first "stick of timber" contributed, 
 has been kept. As in many other instances, the 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 first offering did not come from the nearest mem- 
 bers, but over the road several miles away, from 
 what is now Greenport, Joris Decker wheeled his 
 "stick of timber," quite possibly prepared with his 
 own hands from the felling of the tree, to the final 
 delivery on the site of the new church building. 
 That others followed heartily in Joris Decker's foot- 
 steps, was proved by the finished edifice a little later. 
 
 Seats began to be rented for money in a few 
 months. Domine Fryenmoet's call was to the three 
 churches of Kinderhook, Claverack and Livingston 
 Manor, each of which had its separate consistory. 
 Although Domine Gebhard preached upon occasion 
 at Livingston, and baptized and married many of 
 that congregation in its pastorless seasons, the 
 Livingston Manor Church was not under the charge 
 of the pastor of the Claverack church at this time. 
 
 Ministers' salaries of those days were not large, 
 and the salary of the minister of the Claverack 
 church never exceeded one hundred and fifty pounds 
 a year, but with the aid of a small patrimony and 
 the assistance of a most capable wife, Domine Geb- 
 hard was enabled to give seven sons a classical and 
 
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 professional education. This was no doubt made 
 possible by the purchase of a farm near the Stone 
 Mills. Upon this place he erected a plant for ex- 
 tracting oil from the castor bean, for which he re- 
 ceived a patent. A little stream running through 
 the grounds was utilized to run the mill, and crops 
 of castor beans were raised here annually as well 
 as in the parsonage garden. 
 
 Some old papers give points as to the payment of 
 the minister's salary. The members of the congre- 
 gation were supposed to contribute pounds or shill- 
 ings according to their ability for seat rent, and 
 loads of wood or bushels of wheat additional, for the 
 parsonage use. It is noticeable in the accounts which 
 have been preserved, that the loads of wood were 
 generously given, but the bushels of wheat do not 
 appear, bushels of rye or corn sometimes taking 
 their place. Since wheat was already called for by 
 the Patroon, as rent, it is hardly probable that a 
 third division of small crops was compatible with 
 home consumption. 
 
 Domine Gebhard not only preached in Dutch in 
 his Claverack church, but also in German and occa- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 sionally in English. The English sermons, however, 
 were read from manuscript, while in Dutch and 
 German he preached extemporaneously. The record 
 of the text of the first English sermon has been 
 preserved as taken from Revelation 1:7. Since this 
 was the third language in which he had been called 
 upon to preach since landing in America, it was a 
 noteworthy text and sermon. 
 
 Upon his arrival in Claverack he found the con- 
 gregation divided over the erection of the new 
 church, and some of the members still worshipped 
 in the little old frame building, which stood near the 
 spot where the Court House was afterward built, 
 but by frequent calls and pacific intervention, he 
 poured oil on the troubled waters, and at last drew 
 the divided congregation together once more. 
 
 Sunday collections were recorded in columns de- 
 voted to "paper money," "silver," and "coppers," 
 and in this same connection were headlines portion- 
 ing space for "Money for the poor of the Kirk." 
 
 In these records names of Philip, Delamater, Har- 
 der, Snyder, Smith, Van Deusen, Stupplebeen, Mil- 
 ler, Gaul, Ten Broeck, Skinkle, Storm, Williams, 
 
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 Best, Moul, Ludlow, Van Allen, Van de Kar, Van 
 Rensselaer, Bay, Leggett, Kittle, Monel, Milham, 
 Sagendorph, Morris, Van Ness, Rowley, Mesick, 
 Hogeboom, Esselstyn, Schumacher, Lant, Hoffman, 
 and Rossman abound, often five, six or more heads 
 of families of the same name, or sons of one family 
 following each other in a line. 
 
 Seats in church were allotted to each family with 
 the number of sitting mentioned. "John Bay 7 
 seats ; Philip Harder No. 44, 2 seats ; No. 42 reserved 
 for Rev. Mr. Gebhard; Stephen Hogeboom 7 seats; 
 Stephen Miller 4 seats." 
 
 Two candidates were always presented in the elec- 
 tion of deacons and elders. Both were placed upon 
 record, and the number of votes received by each, 
 indicated by successive credit marks after their re- 
 spective names. When a member of Consistory was 
 absent without a reasonable excuse from Consistory 
 Meeting, he was fine one dollar. 
 
 A touch of brotherly kindness sometimes found 
 its way into the records, as proved by the statement 
 that the Consistory had made a "wood bee" for the 
 Domine. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Peter and Etje Hogeboom, twins, were baptized 
 August 30th, 1795 with two sets of sponsors. They 
 were apparently christened the day they were born. 
 Indeed, from some closely connecting dates, it would 
 seem that infants were often baptized at home, or 
 on the festival days of the church. It must have 
 been a usual sight to see the Domine sally forth, 
 prayer-book in hand, almost any morning of the 
 year, to the house of a member of his congregation, 
 where he was met by friends of the family ready 
 to stand as god-father and god-mother for the little 
 stranger. As these baptisms took place with great 
 regularity when the infant was two weeks old, or a 
 month at the latest, it would be inferred that the 
 failure to present the child in church, did not sug- 
 gest any negligence on the part of parents, or 
 friends. However, in the time of Domine Gebhard's 
 English associate, it was expressly "resolved that 
 infants shall be baptized in church, if both parents 
 are able to come, and the child. If not, one or more 
 elders shall attend." 
 
 For thirty-three years William Van Ness led the 
 singing of the Claverack church, a commentary on 
 
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CHURCH CUSTOMS. 
 
 the migratory nature of choirs to-day. In this same 
 connection it was also "resolved that the Clerk of 
 Consistory take his place immediately by the pulpit, 
 and pitch the tune and take the lead in singing the 
 Psalm, and that he ring the bell, keep the Deacon's 
 records, shut the church, and provide the water to 
 be used in baptism," for all of which he received 
 thirty dollars a year. 
 
 Divine service was to commence precisely at ten 
 o'clock A. M. and after one hour of intermission the 
 afternoon service began. The hour's intermission 
 gave opportunity for partaking of a hearty lunch, 
 and replenishing the little foot-stoves at the parson- 
 age fire. Every wagon driving to church on Sunday 
 morning, contained one or more of these little 
 stoves, with their wooden frames and metal sides 
 pierced with many holes. The door at one side al- 
 lowed of the slipping in of a small fire pan, while a 
 wire handle made it possible to carry the tiny fur- 
 naces safely. These little comforters traveled to 
 church not only in the wagons coming from the 
 farm houses, but also in coaches from the Manor 
 Houses, and women and maidens who walked over 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 the snow-trodden paths on foot, came swinging their 
 little foot-stoves in the icy air. It was considered 
 a great innovation when, after 1800, a tin plated 
 box-stove stood on its tall legs in the very center 
 of the church, its long pipe going out of the window. 
 This moderated the freezing atmosphere beyond the 
 radius of the foot stoves, but it was still common 
 to see one's breath in the air during the winter 
 months. 
 
 The sands of the hour glass on the pulpit desk 
 ran many races with Jack Frost as he nipped the 
 fingers and toes of both Domine and congregation. 
 Preaching and listening both required courage in 
 those days, and our fore-fathers surely did not ex- 
 pect to be "carried to the skies on flowery beds of 
 ease." 
 
 The Domine added teaching the catechism to the 
 children of the church, to his other duties, though 
 it is probable that this catechetical examination took 
 place on Saturday afternoon, and was not a part of 
 the Sunday service. 
 
 It seems to have been the custom of minister 
 and elders to make a round of calls on every family 
 
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 in the congregation prior to the Communion of the 
 Lord's Supper. On these visitations delinquents 
 were dealt with, new members gathered into the 
 fold, and occasionally votes were taken as to the 
 sense of the congregation on important matters, 
 members of the church signing their names with a 
 mark distinguishing them from those who were 
 simply supporters. 
 
 It was a custom of the times to add to each bap- 
 tismal record in the family Bible, the name of the 
 officiating clergyman, also the name of the minister 
 performing the marriage ceremonies recorded in the 
 same book. The Claverack Bibles, both Dutch and 
 English, for many years bore the name of Domine 
 Gebhard repeated many times down these long lists 
 of vital statistics. 
 
 So the years went by with a hundred aims and 
 occupations, secular and religious, but through them 
 all wove the golden thread of sacramental service, 
 claimed by the people and given freely by the pas- 
 tor, a drawing of heavenly things into the life of a 
 wide-sweeping territory. 
 
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CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LIFE AT THE PARSONAGE. 
 
 By 1800 the parsonage was full of children, and 
 some of them grown to young manhood had left 
 the home nest, and were writing back of the events 
 of the outside world. The eldest son Jacob, lately 
 admitted to the bar, wrote from Philadelphia in 
 1795 relative to the Connecticut claims on Susque- 
 hannah Lands, boundaries and titles and land 
 claims occupying a large amount of legal attention 
 in those days. In this case the charge of District 
 Judge Patterson, formerly Governor of New Jersey, 
 "was considered one of the most eminent ever de- 
 livered in this city," the young man wrote. "Titles, 
 and Charter, and the Indian deed upon which the 
 Connecticut claim rested, were esteemed as noth- 
 ing" — Mulenburgh, the Speaker in Congress, told 
 the young man that "there was little hope of Jay's 
 return till the following October, the expected treaty 
 
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LIFE AT THE PARSONAGE. 
 
 to be sent over, not having arrived before the rising 
 of Congress." 
 
 Matters of public interest were laid aside to speak 
 of a prescription sent to Claverack by the celebrated 
 Dr. Rush. The writer says he was told that it was 
 a simple medicine, but it would be well to let Dr. 
 Monell, the family physician, see it. Dr. Rush had 
 written with the prescription, that "he felt himself 
 very much honored by the application from so great 
 a distance." Those were evidently days in which 
 the home practitioner sat in judgment on the city 
 physician's advice, rather than followed with open 
 admiration the specialist's skill. There were family 
 remembrances to old and young, in which the Phila- 
 delphia relatives were each represented, ending with 
 the word from the child in the Philadelphia family 
 to the little girl in the parsonage. "Polly Seitz wants 
 to see Charlotte down very much," and ending with 
 the respect of the period. 
 
 "Your son and humble servant, 
 
 "JACOB GEBHARD." 
 
 For many years only one little girl had made 
 merry in the old parsonage, with seven brothers. It 
 
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 is small wonder that she was a great favorite with 
 her parents and the older children. The congrega- 
 tion named her affectionately "the Domine's laugh- 
 ing daughter," and the chronicles of the time speak 
 of her as "very active and sprightly with a vein of 
 mischief in her composition." It had been custom- 
 ary occasionally to name a baby in some of the 
 families of the church after the Domine or his wife, 
 for whom they were sponsors, and as Charlotte grew 
 up she was admitted into this form of spiritual 
 friendship. The name of Charlotte became a favor- 
 ite among the mothers, and the Domine's daughter 
 stood as god-mother to many little girls named after 
 her. 
 
 On his long rides to the outlying churches, her 
 father delighted to take her with him, and we can 
 imagine the dignified clergyman of the old school, 
 and his sunny-faced daughter as they rode through 
 the spring sunshine, over the wagon-roads and 
 through the woods, that led to the churches of the 
 tiny settlements. We know that she sometimes wore 
 a white-corded dimity, sprinkled over with purple 
 tulips, short waisted and low-necked, and it is not 
 
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 difficult to believe that the Domine on his country 
 rounds was doubly welcome when he brought his 
 fair young daughter with him. A busy and useful 
 daughter she needed to be also, with so many boys 
 in the family, and within a year a new baby had 
 come to gladden the home. After eighteen years, 
 there was a second girl in the parsonage, who proved 
 to be the last of the Domine's children. 
 
 Deft of finger and quick of motion, Charlotte was 
 her mother's right hand in all household matters. 
 Spinning and weaving were a constant part of the 
 day's work in such a home, or how would so many 
 boys have obtained their homespun suits of pepper 
 and salt. Knitting long stockings, too, was among 
 the day's tasks, but that could be done in the fire- 
 light, while the boys were studying their lessons 
 after supper, in front of the brightly blazing pine 
 knots. 
 
 There had been long patient hours in the chimney 
 corner, or out on the porch when she was a thirteen 
 year old girl, at which time she made her sampler 
 as all children did at that day. She learned in this 
 way to make perfect marking letters, with which 
 
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 the family linen had been marked ever since. Such 
 a sampler had woven into it a hundred experiences, 
 and some tears. It was not easy to sit still and 
 work her stint when the sun shone, and the birds 
 sang, and all the sweet voices and odors of spring 
 and summer invited her out of doors, nor yet when 
 the boys teased as boys always will at times. But 
 when her mother was making olekoeks in the kitch- 
 en, and the delicious smell was wafted in to her, 
 with a promise of a large round doughnut when her 
 stint was done, or when she and a neighbor's little 
 girl sat on the porch steps together, and ran a race 
 making a letter, even a sampler had its charms. 
 There was also the end to look forward to, when the 
 alphabet large and small was finished, and the num- 
 erals beside, and even her own name and age, and 
 the year the sampler was completed, and one might 
 fill out the remaining space with an imaginary 
 house, with chimney and doors, bedsteads and 
 chairs, and even trees in the door yard in front. 
 This was the reward at the end of hundreds of 
 painstaking stitches. 
 
 But at eighteen Charlotte could assist at the Sat- 
 
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 urday's baking, helping her mother and their slave 
 girl Nan make pies and cake and bread, a feast for 
 an army, it seemed, for the boys had great appe- 
 tites, and the parsonage kept open doors for its 
 many visitors. 
 
 Katee, the slave boy, was called in from the gar- 
 den on Saturday mornings to turn the spit before 
 the great oven, and lay the logs in the fire place in 
 the parlor, for the best room at the parsonage was 
 sure to be used on Sunday, no matter how carefully 
 it was kept closed on week days. This also was one 
 of Charlotte's duties, to dust the Chippendale chairs, 
 and set everything in the room very straight and 
 orderly. Many ships came and went from the near 
 by town of Hudson, which had grown out of the 
 hamlet at Claverack Landing, since the Quaker 
 settlers came from Nantucket, and nearly every 
 home was adorned with beautiful pink-lined shells, 
 and curios brought from distant ports by the sailors. 
 
 The heavy wooden bookcase, with its double 
 doors, and long narrow hinges, and wooden buttons 
 top and bottom, shut in the Domine's hoarded treas- 
 ures of books, — many of them brought from Hol- 
 
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 land, and Germany, and France, — ^away from any 
 contaminating contact. Charlotte sometimes opened 
 the doors and took a peep at some of the unread- 
 able volumes, part of them already one and two 
 hundred years old, relics of her German grandfath- 
 er's library, but she soon tired of so uninteresting 
 an occupation, and closed the doors again on the 
 odor of print and leather. 
 
 The large German mirror, with its rich gilt frame 
 and heavy glass, was much more interesting to the 
 young girl as she saw reflected there her own hazel- 
 gray eyes and flaxen head of hair, — home spun dress 
 and home-made shoes to be sure, — but beneath them 
 both the rounded grace of girlhood. The dust-cloth 
 was accustomed to many flirts at the girl in the 
 mirror, and even a dust-cloth may feel in some oc- 
 cult way, the difference between musty books, and 
 a pink-cheeked, laughing girl. 
 
 The German piano, on which their father played 
 when their mother sang German chorals, was also 
 in the room, but dearer to the hearts of the chil- 
 dren was the piano which their father had con- 
 structed with his own hands, which was kept in the 
 
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 living room, and upon which they were allowed to 
 try their own budding musical genius. There were 
 but few houses of this date which did not boast 
 some patriotic colored print, "Washington with His 
 Family," "Washington's Reception in New York," 
 or "Washington's Triumphal Progress Through 
 Trenton." The girls of Trenton scattering flowers 
 before the hero's feet, adorned the parsonage walls. 
 The boys, too, had their Saturday work weeding 
 the bean and vegetable gardens, churning, drawing 
 water from the well with the bucket hung to the 
 long well-sweep, milking, getting vegetables from 
 cellar or garden, bringing down hams from the gar- 
 ret, and perhaps, when all other duties were faith- 
 fully accomplished, there might be an opportunity 
 for a Saturday half-holiday, to take a tramp into 
 the woods with the sons of some neighbor to shoot 
 wild turkeys or duck which were plentiful, and con- 
 sidered a luxury fit to set before the most honored 
 guest. At night there would still be a trip to the 
 stage-house, two boys on the old horse's back, to 
 see if any mail had come, or guests expected, or 
 unlooked for, had arrived. 
 
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 One can imagine the long line of the Domine's 
 children walking up the wagon-path to the church 
 after the Sunday morning breakfast of suppawn and 
 milk, and quieted to a becomingly reverential be- 
 havior for the sanctuary. The Domine is said to 
 have reviewed his sermon as he walked up and down 
 the living room on Sunday morning, the room being 
 also filled by a half dozen children, with as many 
 occupations, and the natural hilarity of a group of 
 young people under such circumstances. The moth- 
 er was the governing force among her lively group 
 of boys and girls, and when the noise broke through 
 the Domine's meditations on the eighth or tenth 
 head of his discourse, his attention being violently 
 drawn from theology to the rising generation, his 
 disturbance is said to have found vent in the forceful 
 disciplinary remark, that "if they didn't behave and 
 make less noise, he would call their mother and she 
 would punish them all around," at which they set- 
 tled down for a short time into comparative quiet, 
 with half audible, though smothered chuckles of 
 latighter, knowing well that their mother would not 
 be called. 
 
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LIFE AT THE PARSONAGE. 
 
 Among the Sunday morning baptisms particularly 
 pleasing to the parsonage children and their young 
 friends, were those of the tiny little colored babies, 
 the children of the slaves held throughout the con- 
 gregation. There were many of these babies, often 
 named for their masters and mistresses, and their 
 sponsors some Pompey or Flora of a neighboring 
 farm, or occasionally their owners acted in this ca- 
 pacity for the little "niger," "nigra," or "nigri," as 
 the records read, according to the number, or sex 
 of the children. 
 
 These slaves were also the loving caretakers of 
 the white children in the Claverack homes, carrying 
 them about tenderly in their dark arms, or croon- 
 ing lullabies to them in the twilight. Occasionally 
 the well-beloved "mammy" was an Indian squaw, 
 and the baby was tied to her back instead of car- 
 ried in her arms, as she was accustomed to do with 
 her own pappoose. With their mistresses' babies 
 on their backs, these squaws often scrubbed the 
 floors in the houses, with long-handled brushes, and 
 in a hundred ways were indispensable to the life 
 of the times. 
 
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CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LOVER'S LANE AND PARSONAGE 
 WEDDINGS. 
 
 Sunday afternoon was the great time at the par- 
 sonage. All day there was an atmosphere of eager 
 expectancy. Sometimes the Domine was forewarned 
 as to the need of his services, but often the young 
 couples coming to be married at this time were 
 wholly unexpected, except through past experience. 
 Groups of young people would appear on pleasant 
 Sunday afternoons, following one another, or meet- 
 ing on the parsonage porch. All the roads which 
 led to the Domine's home were lover's lanes, and the 
 couples who met each other riding in a chaise along 
 the Albany road, or on the turnpike from Hudson, 
 or walking through some leafy bridle-path, looked 
 upon one another with interested eyes, the sym- 
 pathy of kindred aims creating mutual recognition. 
 
 Here also, the Domine's wife proved a god-mother 
 to many a young bride, with her wise counsel and 
 
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PARSONAGE WEDDINGS. 
 
 motherly interest. The knowledge that ere they 
 met the critical ordeal of the marriage ceremony, 
 they would see the benign face of the Domine'a 
 wife in its closely crimped cap, and her kindly eyes 
 would look into theirs, and her helpful hands would 
 come to their aid, smoothing rumpled finery, heart- 
 ening the timid, rejoicing with the dominant note 
 of happiness in the blushing brides and waiting 
 grooms, made the path to the marriage altar a less 
 awesome experience, than it might otherwise have 
 been. 
 
 As many as six couples were often joined in wed- 
 lock on one Sunday afternoon, and one is not sur- 
 prised that the old Dutch hymn book and liturgy 
 bound together, should show its marriage and bap- 
 tism pages deeply yellowed through much use, with 
 here and there a torn corner of a leaf neatly sewn 
 in place. A small marriage fee was required by 
 law, but was not always forthcoming. The story 
 of a young sailor who brought his sweetheart to 
 be married at the parsonage, immediately before 
 sailing for a distant port, suggests that the Domine 
 and his wife as the connecting bond in the life hap- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 piness of many, were remembered in the days of 
 prosperity. The young sailor is said to have re- 
 marked, that at that time his only riches lay in his 
 bride, but when he came back from his voyage he 
 would remember the Domine and his wife which 
 promise he faithfully kept, bringing them a barrel 
 of oranges on his return. 
 
 These festal occasions also had their thrilling epi- 
 sodes. Parental authority was exercised strictly 
 even over marriage contracts, resulting many times 
 in runaway matches. There were rooms in some of 
 the Claverack houses, which had seen a fair damsel 
 imprisoned on bread and water, until she had con- 
 sented to the choice of a husband, made by her fath- 
 er and mother. This form of selection of a life 
 companion did not always remain unchanged after 
 the imprisonment was over, as was probably the 
 case with the young woman who fled precipitantly 
 from the parsonage door, after coming to be mar- 
 ried, exclaiming hotly as she sprang into her chaise 
 and drove away, that "she would never marry that 
 man." There has also come down the decided re- 
 mark of an independent young woman of the period, 
 
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PARSONAGE WEDDINGS. 
 
 commenting on a fair prisoner who had yielded her 
 own wishes after such a course of persuasion. 
 
 "P was a goose. They could have locked me 
 
 up till doomsday before I would have married John 
 Smith, or John anything else, when I wanted Jere- 
 miah." 
 
 It was a time of gift giving and receiving. The 
 country and city exchanged their mutual luxuries, 
 and tropical fruits from Jamaica, Canton-ware from 
 China, and Staffordshire from England traveled 
 over the seas, as did also beautiful mahogany furni- 
 ture and tapestries from France, and many other 
 articles of value from distant ports. The town of 
 Hudson, four miles distant, being the head of navi- 
 gation at this time, brought a wealth of foreign 
 luxuries and conveniences into the lives of the peo- 
 ple. 
 
 It was customary to order sets of fine porcelain 
 from China, decorated with a center piece of ermine 
 drapery, on the foreground of which was a shield 
 bearing the owner's initials or family crest. Gov- 
 ernor Morris, whose son had been one of Domine 
 Gebhard's pupils at the parsonage, ordered on one 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO BdANORS. 
 
 of these voyages a set of fine china of three hun- 
 dred pieces, with a border in deep blue, starred with 
 gold, and decorated with the ermine and the initials 
 J. G. G. in a shield upon each piece. These he pre- 
 sented to Domine Gebhard, in grateful recognition 
 of his kindness to his son. A large proportion of 
 this set of china is still in existence, and one can 
 fancy it adorning the parsonage table on festival 
 occasions, and the pride of the Domine's wife as 
 dainty tea-pot and helmet pitcher, egg shell tea- 
 cups, and blue and gold-edged plates decorated her 
 board, with a background of snow-white linen, for 
 whose spinning and weaving and bleaching she was 
 famous. 
 
 There were apple-paring bees and quiltings, 
 sleighride parties and weddings in the country, but 
 even the minister's family sometimes looks with en- 
 vious eyes upon the gayeties of the world's people. 
 There is a story of Charlotte's going to spend a 
 night with some friends in Hudson, where she 
 found an opportunity to attend one of the Assem- 
 blies. These were scenes of much life and gayety, 
 also the opportunity for the display of most fascin- 
 
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PARSONAGE WEDDINGS. 
 
 ating costumes in the fashions of the day. The 
 young Patroon found the Domine's daughter addi- 
 tionally charming in this new light, not suspecting 
 that part of the sparkle in her hazel eyes, came 
 from the excitement of the stolen pleasure. When 
 he called the next day at the parsonage, prepared 
 to rehearse the joys of the previous evening, the 
 secret came out, and Charlotte attended no more 
 Assemblies, in Hudson at least, though Philadelphia 
 seems to have afforded an outlet in many ways for 
 the parsonage young people. 
 
 The young Patroon appears on the scene again, 
 with a request to the Domine that his fleet-footed 
 son Lewis might be allowed to compete with some 
 young Yankees in a New England town in the vi- 
 cinity, where races were to be run on General Train- 
 ing Day. Lewis had already made this request and 
 been refused, as the Domine did not consider it a 
 sport befitting the minister's son, but the young 
 Patroon pleaded well, pointing out that it would not 
 do to let their Yankee neighbors feel that they could 
 outstrip the students of Washington Seminary, 
 when they knew that they had the swiftest man in 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 a race the country round. The Domine yielded 
 through the pressure brought to bear on him, and 
 Lewis and the young Patroon went to the race ac- 
 companied no doubt by such students as stood for 
 the athletics of the day. They returned footsore 
 and weary, but jubilant, for the medium-sized, 
 slightly-built, swift-footed German youth, had far 
 out-stripped the long-limbed, boastful Yankee, and 
 they felt that Washington Seminary had won her 
 laurels. It was thought at the time that the Domine 
 evinced all the pride in his son and the Seminary, 
 compatible with his position. 
 
 The fleetness of foot of the youthful Lewis re- 
 mained to his life's end. When he died in 1875, 
 aged eighty-three, he was the oldest practicing 
 physician in Philadelphia, and a man whose light 
 tread and skillful fingers were renowned in the sick- 
 rooms of the Quaker city. It was his deft fingers 
 in 1808, which made a pen-picture of the church, 
 parsonage, and Washington Seminary, as they then 
 stood, which is the source of our knowledge of them 
 to-day. The boyish training of eye, and foot, and 
 finger served him well in after life. 
 
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CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DIVIDING THE MANORS, AND THE CLAVER- 
 ACK COURT HOUSE. 
 
 Three years after the close of the war the County 
 of Columbia was formed. It cut off a part of Al- 
 bany County and took Livingston Manor from 
 Dutchess County. Thus nearly three-quarters of 
 the new county was covered by the original Lower 
 Van Rensselaer Manor, Livingston Manor, and 
 Clermont. 
 
 A little more than a year previous, in 1784, Clav- 
 erack had been divided between the heirs of the Pa- 
 troon, Johannes Van Rensselaer, the heirs being his 
 grandson, John I., only child of the Patroon's eldest 
 son. Colonel John Jeremias Van Rensselaer and Ju- 
 dith Bayard, and his remaining children. General 
 Robert Rutsen Van Rensselaer, Colonel Henry I. Van 
 Rensselaer, and James, together with Catherine, 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 wife of General Philip Schuyler. Several of the 
 heirs already lived upon the land of the Lower Man- 
 or at Claverack, in homes of their own. John I. 
 who succeeded to the house at Crailo and the man- 
 orial rights, sold the latter out of the family, and 
 eventually they were owned by Mr. John Watts, a 
 long-time resident of Claverack, and grandfather of 
 J. Watts De Peyster. 
 
 After the Revolution, though not until 1792, Liv- 
 ingston Manor was also divided between the children 
 and grandchildren of Robert, its last Lord. In this 
 division Robert Thong, the eldest son of Peter R. 
 and Margaret Livingston, came into possession of 
 the old Manor House and the surrounding land as a 
 special bequest. Robert Thong built the house 
 which is occupied by his great grandson Alexander 
 L. Crofts to-day, the eighth in descent from Robert, 
 the first Lord of the Livingston Manor. The re- 
 maining sons, Walter, Robert C, John and Henry, 
 each received twenty-eight thousand acres, lying 
 along the post-road from New York to Albany. In 
 1716 the first Lord of Livingston Manor had taken 
 a seat in the General Assembly, and the succeeding 
 
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DIVIDING THE MANORS. 
 
 Lords represented the Manor in the same way. 
 Since 1772 Livingston Manor and Claverack had 
 each sent one delegate to the Provincial Legisla- 
 ture. 
 
 In a very short time after the formation of Co- 
 lumbia County, a Court House was in process of 
 erection at Claverack, which remained the county- 
 seat until 1805 when it was removed to Hudson. 
 There Elisha Williams, James Spencer, Francis Syl- 
 vester, the Vanderpoels, and other talented mem- 
 bers of -the bar engaged in far-famed legal conflicts. 
 In 1789 Henry McKinsey and Timothy Jackson 
 charged with horse-stealing were tried here. They 
 were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, — 
 "severally hanged until respectively dead," was the 
 language of Judge Robert Yates, and in eighteen 
 days they were executed in a field near by. 
 
 In 1804 Dr. Croswell was tried here before Chief 
 Justice Lewis of the Supreme Court, for a libel up- 
 on President Jefferson, published in his paper the 
 "Hudson Balance." It was an occasion of great pub- 
 lic excitement, both from the importance of the 
 question, and the well known legal ability of the 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 counsel on both sides. The people were represented 
 by Ambrose Spencer, Attorney-general, and the de- 
 fendant by William W. Van Ness and Alexander 
 Hamilton. The New York Evening Post describing 
 the trial, spoke both of the plea of Attorney-General 
 Spencer, and the defense of William W. Van Ness, 
 and then added, "After all came the great and 
 powerful Hamilton. No language can convey an 
 adequate idea of the astonishing powers evinced by 
 him. The audience was numerous, and althouigh 
 composed of those not used to the melting mood, the 
 effect produced on them was electric. * * * As a 
 correct argument for a lawyer it was very impos- 
 ing; as a profound commentary upon the science 
 and practice of government it has never been sur- 
 passed." 
 
 Dr. Croswell was found guilty notwithstanding 
 the brilliant defense, the case involving some fine 
 points of law, as to whether the truth might be giv- 
 en in evidence, which questions were taken before 
 the Supreme Court finally, and a new trial was 
 awarded. 
 
 Again in the last trial conducted in the Claverack 
 
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DIVIDING THE MANORS. 
 
 Court House, Alexander Hamilton appeared for the 
 Patroon in the case between him and his Nobletown 
 tenants, calling forth afresh the admiration of 
 those in attendance. Among the most brilliant men 
 of his time, and in the estimation of the American 
 people second only to Washington, he had a double 
 interest for the people of Claverack, for he had 
 married Elizabeth Schuyler, the old Patroon, Col- 
 onel Johannes Van Rensselaer's granddaughter, and 
 the daughter of Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler. 
 At the parsonage there were stories to tell also, 
 how during Domine Gebhard's pastorate in New 
 York, young Hamilton had been a student at King's 
 College, and had in the summer of 1774 made a 
 speech on the Common. He was not much more 
 than a boy, being at the time a youth of seventeen, 
 and at first he had faltered, seeing the sea of faces 
 before him, but soon his courage returned with the 
 thought of the wrongs and oppressions of the last 
 few years, and his youthful enthusiasm and elo- 
 quence had awakened exclamations of wonder and 
 approval from his audience. Already he was silver- 
 tongued, and it was not long before he had the op- 
 portunity to use his talent again. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 The following summer a young company of Mili- 
 tia, called "the Heart of Oaks," whose members 
 wore greqn uniforms, and leather caps with the leg- 
 end "Freedom or death" inscribed upon them, had 
 been occupied in moving cannon from the Battery 
 in New York. A British ship approached. One of 
 their number thoughtlessly fired at the vessel, and 
 they received in return a broadside which killed a 
 young militiaman. The Liberty Boys were greatly 
 excited, and part of them moved toward King's 
 College, intending to capture the President, Doctor 
 Cooper, a well known Tory. Hamilton, discovering 
 their destination, rushed ahead, and standing at the 
 entrance of the College, began an earnest speech, 
 intending that the President should have time to 
 escape. But in his excitement and fright, the Presi- 
 dent misunderstood, and leaning out of an upper 
 window cried out, "Don't listen to him, gentlemen, 
 he is crazy, he is crazy." 
 
 The laugh that swept through the crowd may 
 have been as beneficial to the President's cause as 
 Hamilton's continued oratory. At all events the es- 
 cape was effected, and a company of youthful pa- 
 
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DIVIDING THE MANORS. 
 
 triots were prevented from doing some rash act in 
 the heat of their anger. John Jacobie of Claver- 
 ack had been one of these Sons of Liberty also, 
 and had assisted in destroying the leaden statue of 
 King George in 1776, which statue was later made 
 into bullets for the American army. 
 
 In the early part of the nineteenth century, Alex- 
 ander Hamilton's fame was wide-spread, the 
 achievements of his brilliant intellect and honorable 
 political career were acknowledged by all, even by 
 those politically antagonistic to him. Though Alex- 
 ander Hamilton and Aaron Burr did not meet in 
 Claverack, they both visited this celebrated village. 
 Judge William P. Van Ness was Burr's intimate 
 friend, and Stephen Hogeboom, son of Jeremiah 
 Hogeboom of Revolutionary fame, was a member of 
 the Constitutional Convention in 1801, at which time 
 Aaron Burr was President of the Convention. It 
 was probably about this time that Colonel Burr, 
 traveling by the post-road, stopped in his journey 
 to Albany at a road-house later belonging to Robert 
 Esselstyn. He was warmly welcomed, and hospit- 
 ably entertained, but the language which formed 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 the medium of communication between them was 
 inadequate, for Dutch was the common speech in 
 use in this section of the country, and Burr spoke 
 English. Colonel Burr called for a napkin. The 
 request brought about a family conference between 
 the good hostess and her husband, which, two heads 
 being better than one, ended in the triumphant pro- 
 duction of a "kniptong" which proved to be a pair 
 of pincers. 
 
 The tragic ending of the duel between Hamilton 
 and Burr had cast a shadow over Burr's memory, 
 but in many of the acts of his life he was heroic and 
 patriotic, and used his great talents for what he 
 deemed to be the good of his country. There are 
 those still living who remember his personal charm, 
 and speak regretfully of the final clouded years of 
 his life. In 1804 Columbia County gave Colonel 
 Burr a majority in his contest for the office of 
 Governor. 
 
 Following the removal of the seat of justice to 
 Hudson, the Claverack Court House passed through 
 various uses, being utilized both as a school and a 
 hall for social gatherings. One of the descendants 
 
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DIVIDING THE MANORS. 
 
 of Washington Seminary's most noted teacher, An- 
 drew Mayfield Carshore, has painted a picture in 
 rhyme of this latter occupation. 
 
 "The stately minuet's begun 
 
 In fashion's best array, 
 
 There's mischief in the twinkling glance 
 
 At every step's delay; 
 
 In clasping hands with blushing swain. 
 
 Full-robed in lace and velvet vain. 
 
 The lass can scarce from smiles refrain. 
 
 Throughout the measures of the dance. 
 
 All sort of terpsichorean play. 
 
 The hornpipe, reel, and jig are done; 
 
 But not before the risen day. 
 
 In ruddy blushes, looks askance. 
 
 That two (in parting almost one) 
 
 Should waste the hours in pleasure's prance 
 
 To swaying wand of Stephen Gunn." 
 After several years the building was transformed 
 into an attractive and spacious residence, the home 
 of Mr. Peter Hoffman. Under the summer house in 
 the garden was once the dungeon where malefactors 
 were confined ; at the east of the Court House stood 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 the jail and pillory, and up to a recent date the old 
 whipping-post held its place in the cellar. The trans- 
 formation was a pleasing one, covering the gi-uesome 
 features of the past with a host of enjoyable asso- 
 ciations and recollections, and only retaining the 
 memory of the old Court House in its glory. Charm- 
 ing social events have taken place in this building, 
 both in the olden times, and at a later date. It is 
 at present owned and occupied by the Misses Crane, 
 daughters of Mr. Hiram Crane, for many years a 
 resident of the town. 
 
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CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HOMES OF THE LOWER VAN RENSSELAER 
 MANOR AT CLAVERACK. 
 
 The sons and grandsons of the Patroon of the 
 Lower Van Rensselaer Manor had intermarried with 
 the colonial families of Rutsens, Douws, Van Cort- 
 landts, Schuylers, Livingstons, DePeysters, Wen- 
 dells, Bayards, and Watts, bringing much inter- 
 course with the active men of affairs of the outer 
 world, into this rural community. 
 
 Into some of the Manor Houses families of rela- 
 tives and friends were received during the war, af- 
 fording as they did, a safe retreat from the dangers 
 that threatened places more directly in line with 
 the advance of the contending armies. The old 
 church books record the names of more than one 
 infant, born while sheltered at the Manor, and bap- 
 tized by Domine Gebhard, faring forth again to 
 Homes at varying distances when the war was over. 
 General Burgoyne's advance toward Albany sent 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Leonard Gansevoort and Hester Cuyler, his wife, 
 to Claverack, where their daughter Magdalena was 
 born in one of the Manor Houses, and baptized the 
 day of her birth by Domine Gebhard. 
 
 In after years her great granddaughter was mar- 
 ried to the Domine's great grandson who bore his 
 name and served in the gospel ministry. 
 
 It was against this same advance of Burgoyne 
 that "Poor's Brigade" marched, enUvening the way 
 by singing psalms, and in their service in the cam- 
 paign covei'ed themselves with glory. 
 
 On the death of Johannes Van Rensselaer, the 
 Patroon, his many possessions were divided between 
 his children and heirs, and some of the most in- 
 teresting stories of those days grow out of old 
 chests and barrels stored away in attics for thirty, 
 forty, or fifty years. A large part of the valuable 
 china and silver owned by the family of the Lower 
 Manor was buried at Greenbush during the Revolu- 
 tion. It is possible that this early need of caution 
 was partially responsible for many relics being kept 
 under lock and key in strong chests for years. We 
 have one picture of a chest broken open by later 
 
 156 
 
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HOMES OF THE LOWER V. R. MANOR. 
 
 descendants, to discover within a Lafayette platter 
 picturing the landing at Castle Garden, with the 
 Bay full of ships and small craft, and soldiers stand- 
 ing at attention on the wharf, the deep blue color 
 and glaze still uninjured. Side by side with the 
 Lafayette platter were rolls of home-woven blankets 
 and delicate china cups with a thread-like border 
 and a spray of flowers at the side, dating back to 
 Holland and a century earlier than the Lafayette 
 platter. 
 
 Another scene gives a family gathering at a 
 cleaning-house time, that opportunity for the family 
 historian, when the spectators sat about, as paper 
 after paper was drawn from an old barrel, read and 
 preserved, or thrown aside for a bon-fire as the sub- 
 ject interested or palled upon the listeners. From 
 the same attic which discovered the Lafayette plat- 
 ter, and Holland cups, there traveled down stairs 
 after many years, a half dozen old Van Rensselaer 
 chairs with the date beneath the seats, giving them 
 a place in Colonel Johannes' home, probably inherit- 
 ed from his father Hendrick Van Rensselaer, since 
 they date back two centuries. The tall carved backs, 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 and high carved legs, and small leather-covered 
 seats, give an idea of the interior of the first Van 
 Rensselaer home at Claverack, as do also the tapes- 
 tries and the old mahogany desk at which the Pa- 
 troon sat on many a rent day. 
 
 Among the many heirlooms of value which have 
 passed down the generations of the Van Rensselaer 
 family of the Lower Manor, only one seems to be 
 lacking. No portraits of Hendrick, or Colonel 
 Johannes Van Rensselaer, the Patroons of the Clav- 
 erack Manor have been discovered, or are at pres- 
 ent known to have existed. At a later period in 
 Henry I. Van Rensselaer's time, a prejudice existed 
 among the Van Rensselaers with regard to family 
 portraits, founded on a visit made to a manorial 
 home, where an ancestral portrait was being used 
 as a fire-board before a fire-place. 
 
 Though we have not the pictured faces of either 
 of the Patroons who shaped the life of the Claver- 
 ack of the past, we have a record of them both as 
 promoters of the religious life of the community, 
 as church builders and supporters. Their propri- 
 etorship also of the Lower Van Rensselaer Manor 
 
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HOMES OF THE LOWER V. R. MANOR. 
 
 is a history full of honor, in which their care for the 
 best interests of the town and the well-being of 
 their tenants was a prominent feature. A beautiful 
 bit oi hair-v/ork, — a mourning ring marked "John 
 Van Rensselaer," — is still owned by one of his de- 
 scendants, an old-time memorial of a man who 
 served well, and was an honor to his day and gen- 
 eration. 
 
 The numerous brass and silver candlesticks, and 
 the many brass andirons, all suggest that light and 
 heat were considered carefully and artistically, even 
 though it was not after modern fashion. There 
 were always footstools in these homes, dainty ma- 
 hogany aflfairs with curved sides and bars at the 
 ends, and often carved, telling of consideration for 
 the comfort of the old, and as age and childhood 
 often meet, the pleasure of the toddler as well, who 
 could not reach up to a chair. 
 
 The pipe of the Patroon or his sons, corresponded 
 in size with his broad acres, suggesting that the 
 founders of early clay kilns might have had the 
 Dutchman's taste in mind. Surely an evening's 
 smoke in those days would remind one of a modern 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 chimney in active use. The muff and ample bon- 
 net of the Patroon's wife were quite as pretentious. 
 Since the skins of animals were plentiful, the fur 
 used in a muff was not skimped. It is said that 
 these winter comforts were large enough at times to 
 hold a baby inside. 
 
 The old Dutch Van Rensselaer Bible owned by 
 the descendants of the Alexander Hamilton Van 
 Rensselaer branch of the family, and published in 
 1744, is a heavy and ponderous volume, strengthened 
 and ornamented by corners and clasps of openwork 
 brass. In the front is an atlas of the world as it 
 was known at that period. From time immemorial 
 children have enjoyed the pictures in old Bibles, and 
 this profusely illustrated copy must have made the 
 lagging hours of Sunday afternoon pass quickly for 
 many little Van Rensselaers, with its multitude of 
 small square pictures of Bible scenes, portraying the 
 elephant, and goat, lambs and horses, oxen and gi- 
 raffe standing about in friendly fashion with Adam 
 and Eve, or Adam and Eve dressed in skins of ani- 
 mals, driven out of Eden by an angel with a fluted 
 sword, while the snake, with head raised, looked 
 saucily on. 
 
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HOMES OF THE LOWER V. R. MANOR. 
 
 The family Bible and the fire-place tiles in the 
 Claverack houses, afforded the children much en- 
 tertainment, and impressed Bible history on their 
 youthful minds. 
 
 Beside the old carved chairs and the Bible, we 
 have a picture of Colonel Henry I. Van Rensselaer's 
 home at the old Manor House during the war and 
 the early years after it, through the wonderfully 
 preserved relics of the family of Henry I. Van Rens- 
 selaer 2d. 
 
 On the old Manor walls among other pictures, 
 hung exquisite paintings on glass, wrought in bril- 
 liant colors. Four actresses, three of whom were 
 Mrs. Brooks, Lady Johnson, and Kitty Fisher looked 
 down upon the gazer, with arch glances of coquetry, 
 even the transparent shawls of some filmy material 
 about their shoulders, showing the delicate tracery 
 of scattered flowers. 
 
 In cupboards and closets was a wealth of china, 
 the pearly blue tint, with deep blue and gold- 
 starred border, twisted handles, and acorn-top point- 
 ing to their oriental origin, tall beer mugs decorated 
 in the same fashion as my Lady's tea cups and little 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 tea caddy, with two birds on a twig, surmounting 
 a shield enclosing a spray of flowers. 
 
 There were great center and side platters, plates, 
 punch bowls, and other dishes ornamented in the 
 thorn and rose pattern, rose-wreathed English china 
 and blue Cantonware in large numbers. Old Imari 
 dishes. Delft, and Wedgwood also found a place in 
 this large collection. Surely the Ladies of the Low- 
 er Manor lacked no china with which to set forth 
 their hospitable board, be their guests ever so num- 
 erous. 
 
 The silver service of these Van Rensselaer Manor 
 Houses was also of the finest. Besides the more 
 pretentious sets bearing the Van Rensselaer and 
 Schuyler coat-of-arms, and even a piece or two 
 dating back to Catherine Van Brugh, the wife of 
 Hendrick, the first proprietor of the Lower Manor, 
 there were dainty little pitchers and salt shakers 
 with slender handles, and one tea-pot has a history 
 familiar in the trials of housekeeping. After Colo- 
 nel Johannes Van Rensselaer's death, his grand- 
 daughter Anna, who had taken her mother's place 
 in her father, Colonel Henry I. Van Rensselaer's 
 
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HOMES OF THE LOWER V. R. MANOR. 
 
 home, visited Crailo to look after affairs at the 
 Manor House, and found the slaves down in the 
 kitchen having a tea drinking, with a silver tea-pot 
 on the coals. Left to themselves they were enjoy- 
 ing a social time, giving no thought to their mas- 
 ter's possessions, since no master was near. The 
 tea-pot was rescued and is still in existence. The 
 teak-wood knife boxes and the gracefully shaped 
 spoon urns also tell stories of the wealth of knives 
 and spoons necessary for the large numbers who 
 surrounded the Manor tables. 
 
 Back to the home of Colonel Henry I. Van Rens- 
 selaer came the widowed children and the orphan 
 grandchildren, as to the other Manor Houses. There 
 were few homes, Manor or farm houses in those 
 days, which did not shelter three generations, and 
 often aunts, nieces, and cousins as well. 
 
 The beautiful china and silver did not always re- 
 main in china closets, and cupboards over the man- 
 tels each side of the chimney, or even on the old 
 mahogany sideboard, but graced the Manor table, 
 with its large family and many guests, and there 
 were special occasions when the candles lighted up 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 not only silver and glass and china, but also the 
 heirloom table linen beneath them. 
 
 Carefully treasured in one of the Claverack homes 
 was the large Adam and Eve table cloth, which 
 had come down from Myndert Schuyler, who was 
 born in 1672. It was before the days of exquisitely 
 woven damask, and the artist had exerted his skill 
 in producing a remarkable design. Two soldierly 
 looking persons representing Adam and Eve, stood 
 on either side of a tree laden with apples, and one's 
 imagination was required to do the rest in adjust- 
 ing the scene to the personalities of our first pro- 
 genitors in the Garden of Eden. 
 
 It was to a home such as this that Catherine 
 Schuyler and her husband came when she visited 
 her brothers at Claverack, or when the brothers 
 and sister visited together at their father's house at 
 Greenbush, where open house was kept, and prince- 
 ly entertainments were given. Washington and 
 Lafayette and many other noted men of the day 
 were guests of honor in this hospitable home. We 
 can see the fair women of the family in their bro- 
 cades and laces moving about these candle-lighted 
 
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HOMES OF THE LOWER V. R. MANOR. 
 
 rooms, and the men in their flowered waistcoats 
 and short clothes, buckles at knees, and shoes, and 
 many times in officer's uniform, for out of the eigh- 
 teen males in the Van Rensselaer family of the Up- 
 per and Lower Manors, fourteen served in the army 
 during the war, most of them holding commissions, 
 the children and old men only being excepted. 
 
 Their talk was of war and statecraft, of tenant 
 troubles, and the rising men of the day, of the pros- 
 pects for their children, and their hopes for the na- 
 tion, of the cultivation of rare varieties of fruits and 
 of crops, while the ladies left to themselves found a 
 hundred topics of home, and family interest, the ed- 
 ucation and marriages of their children, and the 
 fashions of the day, — over which to carry on an 
 eager conversation. The Schuyler boys and girls 
 often came down to Claverack, and the mothers re- 
 hearsed the doings of their respective children, 
 Catherine Schuyler telling after the war was over, 
 of the entertainment of General Burgoyne and his 
 suite, who were so numerous that she had been 
 obliged to order beds made upon the floor of the 
 General's room, and how one of her younger boys, 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 running about, opened the door in the morning, and 
 called in, "You are all my prisoners," to the chagrin 
 of his mother. 
 
 Nor was all the visiting one way. To be sure 
 Catherine Schuyler's daughters did not afford the 
 Van Rensselaer family many weddings to attend, 
 since four of them took their marriages into their 
 own hands but there were other festal occasions, 
 and when Alexander Hamilton and Betsey Schuyler 
 were married, there was a great wedding in the 
 Schuyler mansion at Albany, and the Claverack rela- 
 tives were a part of the joyous occasion. 
 
 Not since her mother's marriage at Crailo had 
 there been so grand and joyous a family gathering, 
 for the families of the Patroons gathered mightily 
 on less festal occasions. When the Lord of the 
 Manor died, his relatives from far and near, and 
 most of his tenants attended the funeral, and not 
 only a religious service was the order of the day, but 
 also the attempt to entertain the great concourse 
 of people. Every slave on the estate, and every 
 helper of any sort, was called out to meet the needs 
 of the great number of guests gathered to do honor 
 
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HOMES OF THE LOWER V. R. MANOR. 
 
 to the Lord of the Manor. In a way the Patroon 
 was a sovereign over his wide domain, and always 
 had a representative in the Assembly, and in this 
 Republican country was more remarkable than in 
 the older civilizations. Small wonder that, as Mrs. 
 Lamb says, "Whenever it was announced in New 
 York that the Patroon was coming to the city by 
 land, the day he was expected crowds would turn out 
 to see him drive through Broadway with his coach 
 and four with postillions behind, as if he were a 
 prince of the blood." 
 
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CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE SCHUYLER ROMANCES. 
 
 Catharine Schuyler had been the oldest girl and 
 youngest child in Colonel Johannes Van Rensselaer's 
 family, and as such was greatly beloved by her 
 brothers, who viewed her life with pride and affec- 
 tion. Crailo, at Greenbush, was the half way house, 
 where the Albany and Claverack families assembled, 
 the Van Rensselaer and Schuyler grandchildren 
 often meeting under their grandfather's roof. A 
 young British officer seated on the curbing of the 
 old well at Crailo wrote the words of Yankee Doodle. 
 In the same place many a Van Rensselaer boy and 
 girl sang them. As Colonel Johannes had a summer 
 home at Claverack, Catherine Van Rensselaer in 
 her girlhood, was accustomed to the close proximity 
 to Albany of her Greenbush home, and also the 
 familiarity of the Claverack home, in a community 
 of Manor Houses occupied by her older brothers and 
 their families. 
 
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THE SCHUYLER ROMANCES. 
 
 Lossing describes her as "delicate but perfect in 
 form and feature; of medium height, extremely 
 graceful in her movements, and winning in her de- 
 portment; well educated in comparison with others, 
 of sprightly temperament and possessed of great 
 firmness of will." The early years of her married 
 life had been most eventful. With her soldier hus- 
 band continually going and coming, and in constant 
 danger abroad, her little family of children increas- 
 ing almost yearly at home, she found her hands 
 filled with the cares of a large household, and many 
 public calls as well. She had inherited many of her 
 father's fine characteristics, and also his executive 
 ability. Mrs. Ellet says of her, "At the head of a 
 large family, her management was so perfect, that 
 the regularity with which all went on, appeared 
 spontaneous. Her life was devoted to the care of 
 her children; yet her friendships were warm and 
 constant, and she found time for dispensing chari- 
 ties to the poor. Many families in poverty remem- 
 bered with gratitude the aid received from her, 
 sometimes in the shape of a milch cow or other 
 article of usefulness. She possessed a great self 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 control, and as the mistress of a household, her 
 prudence was blended with unvarying kindness. Her 
 chief pleasure was in diffusing happiness in her 
 home." 
 
 The family Bible in this household never failed 
 to record each added child, with its benedictory 
 prayer in the father's handwriting. "Elizabeth, 
 Born Aug. 9th, 1757, Lord do according to thy will 
 with her." 
 
 "John Bradstreet, Born July 20th, 1763, Do with 
 him according to thy will Lord. Be with him liv- 
 ing or dying." 
 
 "Philip Jeremiah, Born Jan. 20th, 1768, May the 
 Lord grant that he grow up for the glory of God 
 and his happiness." 
 
 After the defeat of Ticonderoga, Catherine Schuy- 
 ler had turned her barn into a hospital, tearing up 
 table-linen and sheets into bandages, while she and 
 her nieces Catherine and Gertrude Schuyler, and 
 the daughters of Mayor Cuyler, united in nursing 
 the wounded soldiers, her slaves being utilized mean- 
 while in cooking for the barn full of men, in the 
 improvised hospital. 
 
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THE SCHUYLER ROMANCES. 
 
 During the year her husband had spent in Eu- 
 rope, Mrs. Schuyler had finished building the Schuy- 
 ler mansion at Albany, possibly with General Brad- 
 street's advice and assistance, though the women of 
 that day showed quite remarkable architectural 
 talent in the construction of their own homes. It 
 was a large square house built of yellow brick, with 
 thick walls suitable for defense, and with spacious 
 halls sixty feet long, divided in the center by fan 
 and side lights with their delicate tracery. There 
 was the long drawing room with its handsomely 
 carved colonial mantels, and its deep window seats, 
 where many a youthful confidence was given and 
 received, and where General Schuyler and his wife 
 received guests of great political and social prom- 
 inence. 
 
 Sometimes the Schuyler coach brought the boys 
 of the family to Claverack, which event was hailed 
 with joy by their cousins of whom there were boys 
 in plenty, John R., Jacob Rutsen, Jeremiah, Henry 
 and James in General Robert R. Van Rensselaer's 
 family, and John H., Volkert, Jeremiah H. and 
 Robert Henry, in Colonel Henry I. Van Rensselaer's 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 household. There were a hundred pleasures of field 
 and stream which kept the boys occupied and happy 
 in each other's company. The Schuyler, as well 
 as the Van Rensselaer boys, were wide awake chil- 
 dren, full of pranks, and with their minds stored 
 with incidents and excitements of soldier life with 
 which they had come in close contact in both Sara- 
 toga and Albany. Rensselaer Schuyler's visits to 
 Claverack were reckoned doubly pleasant through 
 the absence of a hated penalty which he was accus- 
 tomed to pay for his mischief, which consisted in 
 writing pages of William Smith's History of New 
 York. 
 
 When Betsey and Peggy Schuyler's bright faces, 
 in their flaring, flower-lined bonnets, looked out of 
 the coach windows as it drove up to the Manor 
 Houses of their uncles, a flutter of excitement ran 
 through the girls of either household, for there 
 were girls as well as boys at the Lower Manor. At 
 General Robert Van Rensselaer's there were Alida, 
 Catherine and Angelica. In Colonel Henry I. Van 
 Rensselaer's home were Angelica, Anna, and Mag- 
 dalene. 
 
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THE SCHUYLER ROMANCES. 
 
 There were comparisons of gowns and needle- 
 work, and fashions, walks in the garden between 
 flower beds, and under the old trees, and candle- 
 light talks at night while they brushed their hair 
 before the mahogany dressing-tables with their 
 glass-handled drawers, and mirrors which reflected 
 fair girlish faces and bright eyes shining with the 
 interest of the story they were telling. The histor- 
 ies continued in hushed whispers after the candles 
 were snuffed out, and the pale rays of a new moon 
 crept in at the windows, and the high-post, chintz- 
 covered bedsteads cast dark shadows in the great 
 bed rooms. 
 
 What more exciting tale of romance than each 
 Schuyler girl brought in turn, as one after another 
 of her four sisters conceived of some new form of 
 entertaining into the marriage relation! In the 
 case of Peggy's elopement, there was the double in- 
 terest, since both Peggy and Stephen Van Rensse- 
 laer, the young Patroon of the Upper Manor, were 
 cousins of the Claverack young people. Peggy's hus- 
 band must have quieted greatly in his later years, 
 for it is said of him that "the elder Stephen was 
 
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THE SCHUYLER ROMANCES. 
 
 very rich, very benevolent, and very hospitable, but 
 no matter how distinguished a guest was beneath 
 his roof, when nine o'clock came he took his flat 
 silver candle-stick and went to bed." 
 
 But no tale of them all, produced such delicious 
 thrills of excitement as the story of Cornelia, who 
 had attended the wedding of Elizabeth Morton in 
 New Jersey, who had married Josiah Quincy of Bos- 
 ton. After the wedding the bride and groom had 
 departed in a coach and four, accompanied part of 
 the way by their bridesmaids and groomsmen. As 
 in many other cases one wedding had bred another, 
 and here Cornelia Schuyler had met the bride's 
 brother, Washington Morton, noted as a young ath- 
 lete, he having walked to Philadelphia on a wager, 
 accompanied by admirers and sustainers on horse- 
 back and in carriages. Naturally he had been the 
 popular man of the occasion, and he and Cornelia 
 had been immediately attracted to one another. 
 
 But, alas ! Cornelia's father was not pleased with 
 the form of the young man's notoriety, and upon be- 
 ing approached upon the tender subject, refused his 
 consent, the General even going so far as to see 
 young Morton started on a sloop toward home. 
 
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COLONEL HENRY I. VAN RENSSELAER MANOR HOUSE 
 
 Built soon after rhe Revolutionary War. 
 Of late years the residence of Morris Miller. 
 
 THE WIDOW MARY" LIVINGSTON MANOR HOUSE 
 
 KEiisiiizeel b^Miarceaft® sister. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 But love's young dream was not to be so easily 
 blighted, and Cornelia confided to her cousins that 
 she and her father had had a stormy scene, but she 
 had not given up her lover. 
 
 There had been some fears and tears in the wait- 
 ing time, but at last a letter had reached her, and 
 it was not long after, that waiting at her window 
 one night, her heart beating like a trip-hammer, she 
 had heard a low whistle, and saw in the shadows 
 below two muffled figures. Opening the window 
 softly, a coil of rope was thrown up, which she rap- 
 idly drew in and found at the end a rope ladder. It 
 required only a few minutes to fasten it securely, 
 then the girl, too excited to remember to be afraid, 
 stepped swiftly down from the high second-story 
 window to the ground. 
 
 No longer separated, the lovers drove to the river 
 and crossed, a coach and pair meeting them on the 
 opposite side. Across country they hastened for 
 thirty miles to Stockbridge, to the home of Judge 
 Theodore Sedgwick, an old friend of the Morton 
 family, and not unknown to the reciter or listeners, 
 for he had been connected on the Massachusetts 
 
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THE SCHUYLER ROMANCES. 
 
 side with the troublesome boundary questions, with 
 which all Colonel Johannes' children and grandchil- 
 dren were only too familiar. The Judge sent for a 
 minister and the runaway couple were married. It 
 was thought by those giving breathless attention 
 to the exciting story, to have been the crowning 
 episode of all the Schuyler romances, and it was 
 many a night before the beat of horses' hoofs on 
 the road, failed to bring to mind the escapade of 
 their cousin Cornelia, and a wonderment whether 
 a similar runaway match was taking place along the 
 moonlit post-road in Claverack. 
 
 As for the uncles and aunts, the interest of the 
 recital did not prevent cautions to their own young 
 people, not to follow the example of their headstrong 
 cousin, and some prophecies of the probable unfor- 
 tunate results of such a course. But all signs failed 
 in this, as in the other cases where the Schuyler 
 girls' elopements were concerned, the marriage prov- 
 ing to be a happy one, and the young man becoming 
 in time a rising young lawyer of New York. 
 
 Ann Eliza Bleecker was a poetess of that day 
 much read by the young ladies of the Manors. In 
 
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THE SCHUYLER ROMANCES. 
 
 a collection of poems and letters published after her 
 death, is one humorous epistle, written to her sis- 
 ter, chiding her for her long delay in answering her 
 letters, which gives between the lines, some idea 
 of the life of a young lady of fashion of the day. 
 "To Miss S T E 
 
 "No, I can admit of no excuse. I have written 
 three letters in folio to my Susan, and have received 
 no answer. After various conjectures about the 
 cause of so mortifying an omission, I have come to 
 this conclusion, that you have commenced a very, 
 very, fashionable lady — (you see my penetration) — 
 and though I am not in possession of Joseph's divin- 
 ing cup, I can minutely describe how you passed the 
 day when my last letter was handed you; we will 
 suppose it your own journal. 
 
 "Saturday Morn. Feb. 12. 
 
 "Ten o'clock. Was disturbed in a very pleasant 
 dream by Aunt V. W., who told me breakfast was 
 ready, fell asleep and dreamed again about Mr. S. 
 
 "Eleven. Rose from bed : Dinah handed my shoes, 
 washed the cream poultice from my arms, and un- 
 buckled my curls ; drank two dishes of hyson ; could 
 not eat anything. 
 
 "From twelve to two. Withdrew to my closet; 
 
 perused the title page of Pilgrim's Progress ; R 
 
 came in, and with an engaging address, presented 
 me with a final billet-doux from Mr. S. and a mon- 
 strous big packet from sister B. Laid the packet 
 aside; mused over the charming note until three 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 o'clock. Could not read sister's letter, because I 
 must dress, Major Arrogance, Colonel Bombast, and 
 Tom Fustian being to dine with us; could not suit 
 my colors ; fretted — got the vapours ; Dine, handing, 
 me the salts, let the vial fall and broke it; it was 
 diamond cut crystal, a present from Mr. S. I flew 
 up in a passion — it was enough to vex a saint — and 
 boxed her ears soundly. 
 
 "Four. Dressed; Aunt asked me what sister had 
 wrote. I told her she was well, and had wrote noth- 
 ing in particular. Mem. — I slyly broke the seal to 
 give a colour to my assertions. 
 
 "Between four and five. Dined. Tom Fustian 
 toasted the brightest eyes in the company — I red- 
 dened like crimson — was surprised to see M 
 
 blush, and looking around saw P blush yet deep- 
 er than we. I wonder who he meant. Tom is called 
 a lad of judgment. Mr. S. passed the window on 
 horseback. 
 
 "Six. Visited at Miss 's; a very formal com- 
 pany ; uneasy in my stays — scalded my fingers, and 
 stained my changeable by spilling a dish of tea ; the 
 ladies were exceedingly sorry for the accident, and 
 Miss V. Z. observed that just such another mis- 
 chance had befallen the widow R. three years before 
 the war. 
 
 "From six till three in the morning. Danced with 
 Mr. S. — thought he looked jealous — to punish him 
 I coquetted with three or four pretty fellows, whis- 
 pered Colonel Tinsel, who smiled and kissed my 
 hand ; in return I gave him a petulant blow on the 
 shoulder. Mr. S. looked like a thunder gulf; then 
 
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THE SCHUYLER ROMANCES. 
 
 affected to be calm as a stoic; but in spite of phil- 
 osophy turned as pale as Banquo's ghost. M- 
 
 seemed concerned, and asked what ailed him? I 
 
 don't like M ; I wonder what charm makes 
 
 everybody admire her; sure, if Mr. S. was civil to 
 her it was enough, he need not be so very affection- 
 ate. I flew in a pet to a vacant parlour, and took 
 out sister's letter to read; I labored through ten 
 lines, contemplated the seal, chewed off three cor- 
 ners, and folding the remains elegantly, put it in my 
 pocket. I suppose it was full of friendship and such 
 like country stuff. However, sister writes out of a 
 good heart to me, and I will answer it. Mr. S. and 
 
 I were reconciled through the intercession of P , 
 
 whose lovely humanity everywhere commands es- 
 teem. We passed the hours very agreeably. On my 
 retiring, Dinah attended, and having no paper han- 
 dy, I gave her sister's letter to put my hair in 
 buckle, while I read some verses. 
 
 "Well, Susan, you see that in the Arctic wilds of 
 America your secret actions are brought to light, so 
 I hope you will pay more respect to this epistle. 
 
 "Mr. B begs me, at this very instant, to pre- 
 sent his very humble regards to you, and has made 
 three solemn bows to your ladyship before I could 
 
 write a sentence. Polly S is here, and making 
 
 sad execution among our beaus. We live here, a 
 merry kind of a laughing, indolent life; we suffer 
 no real evils, and are far from regretting the ele- 
 gant amusements that attend a city life; all that I 
 want, my sister, is your company. This constant 
 repetition you must permit (without repining) in 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 all my letters. I never walk in that angle of my 
 garden where your flowers are planted, but I heave 
 a sigh, as if it were a painted monument to your 
 departed body. Can you never come to us ? Tell my 
 sweet cousins I love them all tenderly; recollect me 
 
 with affection to Aunt V W , and permit 
 
 my Peg and Hannah to salute you. 
 
 "ANN ELIZA BLEECKER." 
 "Tomhanick, March 29, 1785. 
 "This day fourteen years ago, Susan, I was mar- 
 ried; repent and take a husband." 
 
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CHAPTER XIX. 
 ANTI-RENT TROUBLES. 
 
 Troubles over the payment of rents to the Lords 
 of the Manors, and later to their descendants, had 
 existed for a full century before the final settlement 
 of the matter. The disputed boundary line between 
 New York and Massachusetts which had caused a 
 border warfare among the inhabitants of the con- 
 tested districts, was probably occasioned as much by 
 the discontent of the Manor tenants, as by the con- 
 troversy between the provinces. 
 
 The Government of New York claimed that its 
 eastern line was the Connecticut River, on the basis 
 that the Dutch actually possessed this river before 
 any other European people knew of its existence, 
 that they had a fort and garrison there, had traded 
 with the Indians, and purchased of them nearly all 
 the land for a hundred miles on both sides of the 
 Connecticut. Massachusetts set up rival claims, 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS, 
 
 setting the boundary lines of her possessions west- 
 ward at least as far as the Hudson River, although 
 she confessed that she "had for a long time neglect- 
 ed the settlement of the West Bounds; they lying 
 very remote from Boston." 
 
 About the middle of the eighteenth century, ten- 
 ants who had neglected to pay their rents until they 
 had reached a considerable amount, became defiant, 
 deciding in future to hold their lands as owners and 
 no longer tenants, under authority to be secured 
 from the government of Massachusetts Bay. This 
 was the beginning of long hostilities between the 
 provinces. During the controversy houses were 
 burned, wheat was cut down and carried away in 
 wagons, and acres of corn were destroyed. Acts 
 of retaliation were committed by both parties. Se- 
 cret surveys were made by New England men, and 
 possession of land surveyed in this way, was taken 
 by the construction of tree-fences. 
 
 Tenants refusing to leave farms after being or- 
 dered to go, found their crops harvested and carried 
 away by their landlord and his assistants. Hun- 
 dreds of trees were destroyed and crops ruined by 
 
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ANTI-RENT TROUBLES. 
 
 the rioters, and arrests followed, both parties grow- 
 ing more and more bitter as the trouble continued. 
 
 There were threats to take the Lords of both the 
 Livingston and Van Rensselaer Manors dead or 
 alive. Organizations of military companies intend- 
 ed for protection against the Indians, were used in 
 this tenant-warfare, representing tenants or land- 
 lord, according to the composition of the company, 
 the Captains of the Anti-rent party holding their 
 commissions from the Governor of Massachusetts, 
 while Robert Livingston, Jr., and Dirck Ten Broeck 
 held theirs from the Governor of New York. The 
 disaffection began on the Livingston Manor, but 
 spread to that of the Van Rensselaers. 
 
 Robert Noble, a tenant of Rensselaerwick, held 
 one of these Massachusetts commissions, and trans- 
 formed his house into a kind of fort, with loop- 
 holes for muskets, and garrisoned by about twenty 
 men under his command, claiming to hold their land 
 under the Boston government. Some of their neigh- 
 bors were taken prisoners unlawfully by the com- 
 pany, and upon a visit from the Sheriff he too was 
 made prisoner, and confined in the Sheffield jail. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 The rescuing party led by John and Henry Van 
 Rensselaer found the Noble house deserted, and be- 
 fore their return a tenant named Riis, an Anti- 
 rent sympathizer was killed upon the Livingston 
 Manor. 
 
 For this event each party accused the other, one 
 pleading self-defense, and the other unprovoked as- 
 sault. Further arrests followed, and the bitterness 
 became intense, particularly against the Lord of 
 Livingston Manor, who in the end ejected many 
 tenants who refused to pay rent. Serious riots en- 
 sued, resulting in several killed and wounded. Un- 
 der Governor De Lancy's authority, a number of 
 the rioters were arrested and held in prison for 
 about two years, with the effect of quelling the 
 Anti-rent disaffection for a considerable time, and 
 the proprietors and Manors settled down to a peace 
 long destroyed by the Anti-rent disturbances. 
 
 A partial settlement of the boundary line was 
 made at this time, but it was not until the spring 
 of 1773, that the partition line of the jurisdiction 
 of the two States, was entirely established, which 
 made the dividing line as nearly as possible, twenty 
 
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ANTI-RENT TROUBLES. 
 
 miles from the Hudson River. The commission ap- 
 pointed to decide upon the matter was composed of 
 John Watts, William Smith, and Robert R. Living- 
 ston on the part of New York, and John Hancock, 
 Joseph Hawley, and William Brattle for Massachu- 
 setts. The agreement of the commissioners re- 
 ceived the approval of the Governors of both States. 
 
 The settling of the Boundary line between the 
 two States however, did not entirely do away with 
 the tenant uprisings. Twice in the next thirty-five 
 years the Anti-renters took the war path, repeating 
 each time the lawless acts of arson, destruction of 
 grain, and taking of human life. 
 
 The Revolutionary War for a time quieted the 
 more turbulent spirits, though it was often sus- 
 pected that the so-called Tories were at times those 
 actuated by a desire for personal vengeance. 
 
 The Anti-rent feeling arose again strongly in 
 1790, not only in Columbia but in adjacent counties. 
 The farmer-tenants on the Manors held that they 
 and their ancestors had already paid in rents, far 
 more than the worth of the land, even including the 
 buildings and improvements which they themselves 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 had made, that the system of perpetual lease-hold- 
 ing was degrading and inconsistent with the prin- 
 ciples of Republican government, or with self re- 
 spect. On the banks of the Hudson river they were 
 subjected to a system of land tenure which had 
 been overthrown in England in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 These opinions circulated freely through the 
 press awakened the old feeling of resentment, and 
 being fanned to a white heat, some of the people 
 of Nobletown (Hillsdale)) threatened the deputy 
 sent to hold an auction, by reason of an execution 
 against a man named Arnold, and the auction was 
 postponed till the following Saturday. On that day 
 Sheriff Cornelius Hogeboom attended the execution 
 himself, and after waiting till late in the afternoon 
 for the arrival of his deputy, the people in the mean- 
 time having become more and more excited, post- 
 poned the sale once more, and with his two com- 
 panions started for home. Young Arnold, an Anti- 
 rent leader, seeing the officers of the law about to 
 depart, fired a pistol, at which a number of men 
 dressed and painted like Indians, suddenly appeared 
 
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ANTI-RENT TROUBLES. 
 
 and followed the Sheriff and his companions, firing 
 as they advanced. Part of the bullets passed be- 
 tween the two men, but Sheriff Hogeboom refused 
 to spur his horse, saying that he was "vested with 
 the law, and they should never find him a coward." 
 
 Soon after this the Indians dropped off, but young 
 Arnold and a companion mounted one horse and 
 caught up with the Sheriff, when one of them lev- 
 eled his gun and lodged a bullet in the heart of 
 Mr. Hogeboom. With the exclamation, "I am a 
 dead man," the Sheriff fell from his horse, and was 
 carried into a house near by. 
 
 The feelings and sympathies of the whole com- 
 munity were deeply stirred by this atrocious mur- 
 der. Though twelve men supposed to have been 
 implicated in the proceedings were arrested, Jona- 
 than Arnold was never captured. After a long trial 
 held in Claverack in February 1792, those arrested 
 were acquitted for lack of evidence. 
 
 The widow of Cornelius Hogeboom died wholly of 
 grief three months later. Everything possible was 
 done to quell the lawless spirit after this tragic 
 event, and for nearly half a century no further 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Anti-rent troubles of any magnitude arose. But the 
 spirit of Anti-rentism was only smouldering, and 
 broke out again in 1840. Secret societies were 
 formed extending through several counties, pledg- 
 ing themselves to protect tenants from arrest or 
 eviction, and to guard their property from sale. As 
 soon as a Sheriff came in sight, a band of men in 
 calico dresses with faces painted as Indians, armed 
 with pistols, tomahawks and guns, appeared on 
 horse back and warned him away, threatening him 
 if he proceeded to perform his duty. Again there 
 was lawlessness and tragedy until the leaders "Big 
 Thunder" and "Little Thunder" were arrested. 
 Sheriff Henry C. Miller attempted to serve papers 
 on the property of an Anti-renter, and was taken 
 prisoner by "Big Thunder" and six other chiefs of 
 his tribe, and his papers burned amidst the war- 
 whoops of "Big Thunder's" followers and sym- 
 pathizers. This event awakened the deepest indig- 
 nation. 
 
 It was known that "Big Thunder" was to speak 
 to the Van Rensselaer tenants in Smoky Hollow 
 in the town of Claverack on a particular day. He 
 
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 was surrounded by a body-guard in costume, and 
 in this spectacular setting addressed a large audi- 
 ence of Anti-rent partisans, and others interested 
 in the subject. It was his most brilliant as well 
 as his last speech, for during the excitement of the 
 day, a young man named Rifenburgh was shot and 
 killed. It was said to have been an accident, but 
 the authorities felt it was time to prevent more ac- 
 cidents of the same sort, and "Big Thunder" was 
 arrested on the night of his greatest triumph. He 
 made a desperate effort to escape but failed, and 
 was lodged that night in the Hudson jail. So great 
 was the excitement over the threats of his followers, 
 who, a thousand strong, had sworn to rescue the 
 prisoners and burn the city of Hudson, that guards 
 were stationed at the jail, and Hudson was patrolled 
 at night for a month, while other arrangemnts were 
 made for defense. At the end of this time the 
 danger was believed to be past. Without a leader, 
 and as the result of frequent arrests, the Anti-rent 
 rioters had again quieted down. 
 
 "Big Thunder" was tried and sentenced to life im- 
 prisonment in Clinton prison. "Little Thunder" 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 was never brought to trial. There were no more 
 attempts to resist the execution of the law in Co- 
 lumbia County, but in 1846 the Anti-rent party- 
 elected their governor (Young) and one of his first 
 official acts was to pardon the Anti-rent convicts, 
 including "Big Thunder." The final triumph of the 
 Anti-renters came in 1852, when in the test case 
 of De Peyster against Michael (De Peyster having 
 purchased of Van Rensselaer interest in land), the 
 court was unanimous in its decision in favor of the 
 defendant. This case closed the Anti-rent contro- 
 versy in favor of the Anti-renters, after a century of 
 repeated bloodshed and riot, and since then "the 
 entire soil of the Lower Van Rensselaer Manor has 
 been held in fee simple by it occupants." 
 
 "In the war against Great Britain in 1812-1815 
 Columbia county furnished a large number of troops, 
 though few of them saw active service under hos- 
 tile fire." A military organization under Brigadier- 
 General Samuel Ten Broeck existed prior to the war, 
 and was still under his command at this time. 
 Among the commands mentioned as composing the 
 brigade, was that of a "regiment of infantry com- 
 
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ANTI-RENT TROUBLES. 
 
 manded by Major Robert T. Livingston, having at- 
 tached to it the troop of cavalry commanded by 
 Captain Walter T. Livingston, and a regiment of 
 infantry under command of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer attached to which was 
 a troop of horse, commanded by Captain Killian 
 Hogeboom." 
 
 "The Light Infantry Battalion of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel (afterwards promoted to Colonel and Briga- 
 dier-Geheral) Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer, was 
 ordered to the defense of the city of New York, 
 September 1st, 1814, and remained on that duty 
 during the whole term of service." 
 
 William A. Spencer, a son of Judge Ambrose Spen- 
 cer, for many years a prominent resident of Colum- 
 bia County, was a participant in the naval battle 
 fought on Lake Champlain under Commodore Mc- 
 Donough, and was wounded in the fight. The young 
 man made a name for himself for gallantry as a 
 midshipman in the Commodore's fleet. 
 
 " 'Big Thunder's' trial was conducted by the late Judge 
 Theodore Miiller as Distrkt-Attorney, a grandson of 
 Stephen Miller of Claverack. He was assisted by "Prince" 
 John Van Buren^ the son of Martin Van Buren, at that 
 time the Attorney-General oi the State. This was one of 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 the most celebrated cases in the history of the country, 
 taking place as it did, in a period of greater excitement 
 than has ever existed in Columibia County." 
 
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CHAPTER XX. 
 THE NEW CITY OF HUDSON. 
 
 The Presidential Electors, by an act of the Leg- 
 islature, met at Hudson from the year 1796-1813, 
 after which the Electoral College met at Albany. 
 In many ways the growing city of Hudson was 
 superseding Claverack, but although Hudson offered 
 certain advantages in affairs of importance, the not- 
 able housewives of Claverack, and mine host of the 
 stage-house still held their own in matters of hos- 
 pitality and comfort for the inner man. The Presi- 
 dential Electors cast their votes in Hudson, but 
 they rode over the turnpike to Claverack in order 
 to dine at Gordon's tavern, noted at the time for 
 a generous and satisfying hospitality. 
 
 It is noticeable also that the Presidential Electors 
 of the succeeding seventeen years included Claver- 
 ack names, and in some cases residents, John Bay, 
 Robert Van Rensselaer, Peter Van Ness, Stephen 
 Miller, John C. Hogeboom, together with Thomas 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 and Robert Jenkins of Hudson, forming the Presi- 
 dential Electors from this section until 1813. 
 
 In 1785 by the act of incorporation Hudson be- 
 came a city, the third in the State. The city bounds 
 extended from the line of the town of Livingston 
 on the south, to Major Abraham's (Stockport) creek 
 on the north, and Claverack creek on the east. By 
 this act "Claverack Landing," no longer existed, 
 but it was another quarter of a century before the 
 old name ceased to swing from the sign on the 
 steamboat docks. The same year Ezekiel Gilbert 
 moved his law office from Claverack to Hudson, be- 
 coming Hudson's first lawyer, and as such, was of 
 great service to the new city in its early days. He 
 was Representative in Congress in 1795, and it was 
 through his efforts that Hudson was made a port of 
 entry. 
 
 Many of the "Proprietors" who settled Hudson, 
 brought ships with them from Providence and Nan- 
 tucket, and in 1786 twenty-five of the vessels on the 
 river were owned in the newly settled town. In 
 1813 two hundred and six sloops were running to 
 New York, many of them owned at Hudson. 
 
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THE NEW CITY OF HUDSON. 
 
 Ship-yards were soon opened, and as many as five 
 large ships were often on the stocks in the five dif- 
 ferent yards at the same time. Launching days were 
 holidays, when schools were dismissed, and the peo- 
 ple from adjoining towns came in to witness the 
 launching and christening of the "Lively Polly," 
 "American Hero," "Ajax," or "Columbia." Booths 
 were built and refreshments sold, principally card- 
 gingerbread, the holiday dainty of that date. Crowds 
 would wait patiently for hours for the eventful 
 moment when the boat first trembled, then began 
 to move slowly on the ways. As it touched the 
 water, guns were fired, and cheers arose from the 
 gathered citizens and guests. 
 
 In 1802 on the first day of March, two thousand 
 eight hundred sleighs entered the city. A contin- 
 uous line of teams often stood the full length of 
 Front Street, extending into Main Street, while they 
 waited to unload at the different freighting houses, 
 and fifteen vessels bearing heavy freight were 
 known to set sail upon the same day. The season 
 of the year and condition of the country roads no 
 doubt controlled the exports that left the Hudson 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 wharves in such stupendous quantities. Beef, pork, 
 shad, pickled herring, lumber, leather, and country 
 produce generally, formed the outgoing cargo. Re- 
 turning, there came a great variety of fruits from 
 the West Indies, and rum, sugar and molasses. 
 Some ships sailed to Charleston, the Windward 
 Islands, Brazil, and Mediterranean ports. Once dur- 
 ing these years a ship arrived from Holland con- 
 signed to William Wall, reloaded with lumber and 
 returned to the Dutch port. The Dutch people of 
 Claverack and those at the "Landing" made the 
 vessel frequent visits during its stay, delighted with 
 a voyager from the fatherland, and a crew who 
 could speak their own tongue. 
 
 Whale and seal fishery were both carried on to a 
 considerable extent, bringing from Falkland, and 
 other islands in the South Atlantic, large numbers 
 of fur and hair seal skins, and quantities of sea 
 elephant's oil, while the whale ships returned from 
 the Pacific ocean with cargoes of sperm oil. When 
 Tallyrand was traveling in America he stopped at 
 Hudson, examining with keen interest the oil works 
 of Thomas Jenkins, and the details of the manu- 
 facture of sperm candles. 
 
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THE NEW CITY OF HUDSON. 
 
 In the closing years of the eighteenth century pro- 
 gress of all kinds was in the air, the building of 
 towns, establishment of educational institutions, 
 great commercial traffic between our own and other 
 lands, whisperings of scientific feats to come, and 
 like a leaf of the tree of progress, a yellow slip of 
 paper dated 1799 floats down through the years, a 
 receipt for a contribution made by Rev. John G. 
 Gebhard "to promote the progress of the useful 
 arts." This contribution was made in conformity 
 to an act of Congress dated 1793, and suggests that 
 advance along all lines was the order of the day. 
 
 In 1792 Claverack and Hudson united in paying 
 honor to John Jay who had been making a visit to 
 Kinderhook. A company of two hundred Hudson 
 men met him at Claverack, where they were re- 
 ceived by Mr. William H. Ludlow, who hospitably 
 entertained his guest of honor and the visiting citi- 
 zens from Hudson, while at his home. Mr. Jay was 
 escorted to Hudson, where he was met by a salute 
 from Frothingham's Artillery, and after a proces- 
 sion through the principal streets was taken to 
 Kellogg's tavern upon the present site of "The 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Worth." This tavern was the stopping place for 
 the stages, and swung out a patriotic sign of George 
 Washington in full uniform on horseback. Here a 
 bountiful entertainment had been provided, the 
 Mayor of that date, Seth Jenkins, presiding. Toasts 
 were drunk to the "Prosperity of Hudson" and to the 
 "Man of the Day" to which the Mayor and Mr. Jay 
 responded respectively. A reception of citizens was 
 held during the evening, and the following morning 
 the distinguished guest set sail on the sloop Pompey, 
 for the home of Governor Lewis, amid the enthusi- 
 astic demonstrations of the citizens of Hudson. 
 
 The river was closed to navigation in December 
 1799, and the sad tidings of the death of General 
 Washington were sent by post-riders to Albany. By 
 this means of communication the event was not an- 
 nounced in that city till nine days after it occurred. 
 Claverack and Hudson, owing to the shorter dis- 
 tance, heard of the sorrowful occurrence a day or 
 two earlier. 
 
 Grief was widespread in hamlet and village, and 
 in the Manor Houses on the Hudson, as well as in 
 the cities. In Albany, by order of the Common 
 
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THE NEW CITY OF HUDSON. 
 
 Council, the bells tolled from three to five hours, 
 and aldermen wore crape on their arms for six 
 weeks. But far deeper than any outward sign could 
 indicate, was the sorrow of a people who felt their 
 independence had been won through the leadership 
 of the man who had just passed away, who had been 
 their first President, and without whom it seemed 
 for a time impossible to go on. 
 
 The break was keenly felt and deeply deplored, 
 and then younger shoulders were placed under the 
 heavy load of building a new nation, and life went 
 on, but the "Father of His Country" has been more 
 honored and appreciated through every year of the 
 succeeding century. 
 
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CHAPTER XXL 
 
 THE MARRIAGE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON 
 AND ELIZABETH SCHUYLER. 
 
 The Schuyler girls, with their thoughts on matri- 
 mony, owing to the epidemic of marriages in their 
 family, found in Claverack much to interest them in 
 the stories of the weddings of an earlier generation, 
 the marriage outfits of their Aunt Rachel Douw, the 
 wife of Colonel Henry I. Van Rensselaer, and their 
 Aunt Cornelia Rutsen, General Robert's wife, and 
 also that of Anna Schuyler, wife of Johannes De 
 Peyster, and daughter of that Myndert Schuyler 
 through whom descended the Adam and Eve table- 
 cloth. There were towels, sheets, pillow cases, hemp- 
 sheets, handkerchiefs, neckerchiefs, and table cloths 
 in large numbers, beside spreads and quilts, in the 
 outfits of these Manor brides, which practical house- 
 hold furnishings were expected to cover the necessi- 
 ties of large families and many guests. 
 
 Beside these, was the wedding finery, delicate 
 
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AN ALBANY WEDDING. 
 
 yellow and blue satins and brocades, flowered silks 
 and fine laces, and even their uncle Henry's wedding 
 waistcoat drew a few moment's attention from the 
 merry-hearted girls, till exquisite pearl handled 
 fans with groups of dancing maidens, drew their in- 
 terest back to articles of feminine adornment once 
 more. 
 
 It was before Peggy Schuyler was married and 
 before the war was over, that Angelica Church came 
 home with her first baby. She had taken a danger- 
 ous time for her visit to her old home, for an at- 
 tempt was made by the Tories and Indians during 
 her stay to capture her father. Other efforts of the 
 kind had been made, and the house was guarded 
 by six soldiers. Their guns were stacked in the 
 hall. Childlike, the little Philip had hung about the 
 dangerous playthings, and no peril seeming immi- 
 nent, his mother had removed the guns to a safer 
 place out of the baby's reach. At the alarm of the 
 approaching enemy, the soldiers rushed for their 
 weapons only to find them gone. The family fled 
 precipitantly up stairs, when the baby was suddenly 
 remembered to have been asleep in one of the rooms 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 below. Margaret Schuyler dashed back, grasped the 
 sleeping child in her arms, and shielding it with her 
 body, gained the stairs, when an Indian flung a 
 tomahawk at her head. It missed its aim, but bur- 
 ied itself in the wood of the stairs, where the mark 
 is still visible. 
 
 The Van Rensselaer girls might listen with thrills 
 of excited pleasure in the moonlight, to tales of the 
 elopements of their Schuyler cousins, but Margaret's 
 brave act in saving the life of her little nephew, won 
 the generous admiration of her boy cousins. 
 
 Full of interest as were these stories of hair- 
 breadth escapes, and runaway matches, to all the 
 Van Rensselaer young people, the gathering of the 
 clans of the Upper and Lower Manors of Rensselaer- 
 wick, in the great Schuyler drawing room, when 
 Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler in 
 her own home, was an occasion of family pleasure 
 without alloy. 
 
 The deep window-seats had seen much of the 
 love-making of the young diplomat and this daugh- 
 ter of the Schuylers, and offered inviting shadows to 
 the many young people present. It was a grand oc- 
 
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AN ALBANY WEDDING. 
 
 casion, drawing together those prominent in the 
 social and political life of the new Republic, for a 
 large portion of which guests, it was not necessary 
 to go outside of the family relationship. The rich 
 brocades and glistening satin gowns, and dainty 
 high-heeled slippers to match, the coquettish young 
 eyes peering over the tops of ivory handled fans, 
 as they bowed and courtesied in the minuet or 
 money-musk, in the spacious upper hall which was 
 used as a dancing hall in the Schuyler mansion, 
 charmed the young scions of the diifirent branches 
 of the Van Rensselaer and Schuyler families, and 
 their friends the young bloods of the day who were 
 present. 
 
 Never had Betsey Schuyler's dark eyes shone so 
 gloriously, or her cheeks flushed more bewitching- 
 ly, than when she stood beside her brilliant young 
 husband, receiving the good wishes of her friends, — 
 merry wishes from the cousins and younger people, 
 more earnest ones from the older relatives. It was 
 possible for all the guests to gather in the broad 
 halls below, divided by a glass partition with fan 
 and side lights. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 The sweep of the staircase, with its fine spindled 
 balustrade, seemed made for the descent of so dis- 
 tinguished a groom, and so charming a bride. There 
 was a glance of pride and protection in Hamilton's 
 fine face as he appeared on the half-way landing be- 
 side Elizabeth Schuyler gowned in the quaint and 
 charming fashion of the period, with a witching 
 smile on her always sunny face. As they descended 
 into the merry waiting gathering below, they made 
 a beautiful picture in the old hall, not easily forgot- 
 ten among the many scenes of note which trans- 
 pired there. 
 
 Catherine Schuyler's children were scattering, and 
 grandchildren drew her heart in many directions, 
 but still back to old Claverack among the rest. Philip 
 Jeremiah, one of the younger among the Schuyler 
 children, who had often visited and loved the home 
 of his mother's girlhood, married Sally Rutsen a few 
 years later, a relative of his aunt, Mrs. Robert R. 
 Van Rensselaer, and when a son, Philip, named for 
 both father and grandfather was born in April 1789, 
 the young couple waited for the beautiful month of 
 May, when the youthful Philip was baptized in the 
 
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AN ALBANY WEDDING. 
 
 old Claverack church by Domine Gebhard, the par- 
 ents themselves acting as god-father and god-moth- 
 er on this occasion. 
 
 Bringing back the children of the new generation 
 to the old Claverack homes had many pleasant fea- 
 tures. There are no toys in childhood equal to the 
 quaint playthings of by-gone days, and in the Van 
 Rensselaer homes of Claverack were wooden cradles 
 with hooded canopies at one end, and little goose 
 feather beds and home-woven covers, and high-post 
 doll's bedsteads with blue and white chintz curtains. 
 The dolls that looked out between the curtains, 
 were most attractive, if we may trust a family 
 saying of the Domnie's daughter, Charlotte. "As 
 beautiful as a Holland doll," was her highest form of 
 praise of a child, telling one how beautiful the chil- 
 dren's Dutch dolls must have seemed to their youth- 
 ful eyes. Tiny leather trunks, brass-nailed and 
 hairy, held the doll's wardrobe, while little rush- 
 bottomed rocking chairs invited the small mothers 
 to rest awhile and rock their doll-babies. 
 
 For the boys, the old flint-lock guns, and spy- 
 glasses, the pleasures of Claverack creek and a fish- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 ing rod, and the remnants of Revolutionary uni- 
 forms never lost their fascination, nor yet the Spitz- 
 enberg apples to be found on the top of the "kas" 
 in many of the houses. The hollow tops of these 
 old linen chests afforded a safe hiding place for the 
 spicy winter apples during the mellowing time, until 
 the lengthening of boyish legs revealed their pres- 
 ence to the eyes on a level with the edge of the 
 "kas," when the climber felt as rich as though he 
 had discovered a gold mine. 
 
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CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 ROBERT FULTON AND THE FIRST 
 STEAMBOAT. 
 
 To a man as full of mechanical genius as Domine 
 Gebhard, and to sons growing up with the same 
 tastes, the stories of a forth-coming boat on the 
 Hudson run by steam, could not but produce eager 
 expectation and intelligent interest. The fact that 
 this new venture was the combined effort of Chan- 
 cellor Livingston and Robert Fulton, made it doubly 
 attractive to the section of country which Chancel- 
 lor Livingston called home. The subject was under 
 discussion at every stage-house and tavern, and the 
 skippers of the sloops on the Hudson, looked forward 
 with ill-concealed disdain to the attempt to run a 
 boat irrespective of wind or tide, and they, in com- 
 mon with those who looked on at its building, joined 
 in calling the new steamboat "Fulton's Folly." 
 
 Fulton, as he says himself, "accomplished his 
 great purpose without a single word of encourage- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 ment, or of bright hope, or a warm wish crossing 
 his path." Yet had he but known it, there were 
 men of vision holding a hope of success in their 
 hearts for the young inventor and his project, and 
 bearing in their turn the ridicule of the doubters. 
 But the great discoveries of science have never 
 waited for the demise of the incredulous before 
 pouring their benefits upon mankind, and neither 
 did the new steamboat "Clermont," named for Chan- 
 cellor Livingston's place on the Hudson, await that 
 long delayed day. 
 
 On the 17th of August, 1807, the Clermont started 
 on its first trip up the Hudson, carrying a party of 
 invited guests. All along the river crowds gathered 
 on the wharves and along the shores waving and 
 cheering, and the skippers and sailors on the sloops 
 and river craft watched with astonishment the gro- 
 tesque-looking vessel moving rapidly forward 
 against wind and tide, without the usual means of 
 locomotion. And indeed it was an awe-inspiring 
 sight, especially at night. From the smoke-stack 
 arose a volume of fire-streaked smoke, made still 
 more luminous with flying sparks when the wood 
 
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THE FIRST STEAMBOAT. 
 
 fires were stirred from below. The noise of paddles 
 and machinery was deafening at a near range, and 
 some of the foreign sailors on the sloops are said 
 to have dropped to their knees with a prayer that 
 they might be protected from so horrible a monster, 
 which came swiftly on its way, belching fire and 
 smoke. 
 
 A farmer part way up river hastened home to in- 
 form his family that "he had seen the devil going 
 up river in a saw-mill." No doubt the ludicrous ap- 
 pearance of the oddly-formed vessel awakened hu- 
 morous remarks as well as astonishment, neverthe- 
 less the power of the little steam engine, caused the 
 Clermont to overtake sloops and schooners beating 
 to windward, and leave them far behind in the race. 
 
 The invitations for this first trip of the Clermont, 
 had in some cases been accepted with a degree of 
 hesitancy, for the voyage was an experiment, yet 
 there was a sense of fascination in the untried ex- 
 perience. There were several ladies on board, among 
 them Miss Harriet Livingston, daughter of Walter 
 Livingston of "Teviotdale" in the Livingston Manor, 
 and several of her cousins. The Manor families 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 were also represented by John R. Livingston and 
 John Swift Livingston, beside the Chancellor. As 
 the voyage proceeded, apprehension was disarmed 
 by the successful passage of the boat through the 
 water, and the relief from previous doubt showed 
 itself in merriment and song. 
 
 "Ye banks and braes o' bonny Doon," being Ful- 
 ton's favorite song, was sung by the young people 
 in the stern, in compliment to the man who had 
 made this great effort and won this great success. 
 
 Just before the boat reached Clermont, Chancel- 
 lor Livingston made two memorable announcements, 
 one in the form of a prophecy, "that the name of 
 the inventor would descend to posterity as a bene- 
 factor of the world," the other of special interest 
 to all present, which was the betrothal of Robert 
 Fulton to his young relative Harriet Livingston, 
 
 While the boat lay at the Clermont dock on the 
 night of August 18th, Captain Brink, who was in 
 command, rowed across the river to Saugerties for 
 his wife, whom he had promised to "take to Albany 
 in a boat driven by a tea-kettle." 
 
 The youngest passenger on the Clermont that Au- 
 
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THE FIRST STEAMBOAT. 
 
 gust day was Mr. Daniel Gantley, afterward of Ath- 
 ens, N. Y., who lived to be nearly ninety-four years 
 old and never forgot the peculiar sensations of dan- 
 ger and elation experienced by this novel form of 
 locomotion, nor the amazement the steamboat oc- 
 casioned along the path of its progress. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact, that in the Hudson-Fulton 
 Celebration just passed, John Sanderson Elliott, 
 great-grandson of Daniel Gantley, a High School 
 boy of Catskill, made the address of the occasion, 
 speaking of the great achievements of both Hudson 
 and Fulton, and closed by introducing Governor 
 Hughes to the assembled people. 
 
 The boat left New York at one o'clock on Monday, 
 and arrived at Clermont at one o'clock on Tuesday, 
 steaming over one hundred and ten miles in twenty- 
 four hours. She left the Chancellor's dock again at 
 nine o'clock the next morning, and arrived at Al- 
 bany at five in the afternoon, having made the one 
 hundred and fifty miles in thirty-two hours. On her 
 trial trip the Clermont passed up river through the 
 Athens channel, but on her return, pleased the citi- 
 zens of Hudson by steaming down the Hudson chan- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 nel, the return trip settling any lingering doubts as 
 to the future success of steam-navigation. 
 
 On the 4th of September the Clermont made her 
 first trip as a passenger boat. Every house-top and 
 wharf in New York which commanded a view of 
 the water, was filled with people eager to gain a 
 sight of the wonderful invention, meanwhile warn- 
 ing their friends not to go aboard so dangerous a 
 vessel. The boat made a circle three times. By this 
 time incredulity had given place to surprise, and as 
 the steamboat moved toward the north, ten thou- 
 sand people cheered vociferously. Fulton stood with 
 flashing eyes erect on the deck. It was a moment 
 of supreme victory, worth years of effort. At Tarry- 
 town they left a passenger, and again at Newburgh, 
 each town giving the boat and the party aboard an 
 ovation. At West Point the whole garrison turned 
 out and cheered. It was a voyage of triumph. 
 
 As the Clermont passed Catskill, on a little island 
 in the river called Bompie's Hook, (now Catskill 
 Point) the passengers saw six boys eagerly watch- 
 ing the approach of the steamboat. One of these 
 boys was Thurlow Weed, in later years the celebrat- 
 
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THE FIRST STEAMBOAT. 
 
 ed politician. Catskill mainland not being connected 
 with the Point in those days, the boys had made a 
 connection for themselves, by stuffing their clothes 
 in their hats and placing the hats on logs pushed 
 ahead of them as they swam toward Bompies. When 
 the first streak of smoke appeared on the horizon 
 the boys were ready for their sight of the first 
 steamboat. 
 
 The residents of Claverack and the citizens of 
 Hudson watched the vessel steam toward Albany 
 even more keenly alive to its value in navigation 
 than their neighbors further south, for Hudson was 
 a port of entry, and steam would reconstruct her 
 chief industry. A good sloop made the journey 
 from Albany to New York in forty-eight hours. The 
 new steamboat had been able to cut off eighteen 
 hours from this lengthy voyage on its return trip. 
 
 The Clermont continued to make trips till the 
 close of navigation of that year, making Poughkeep- 
 sie, Esopus, and Hudson stopping places. Shortly 
 after her first voyage she made a record-breaking 
 trip from New York in twenty-seven hours, landing 
 at Hudson with one hundred and twenty passengers. 
 
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 One of the resultant benefits of such rapid naviga- 
 tion was made public about this time through a 
 unique advertisement in the Hudson Bee. 
 
 "Here's Your Beauties of Lobsters." 
 "These, with sea bass, cod and black fish, jump- 
 ing and alive in Hudson market, afford quite a 
 dainty to an epicure, one hundred and twenty 
 miles from the ocean. They are brought here 
 on the steamboat, and sold in the brick market, 
 fresh and in good order, every time she arrives 
 from New York." 
 
 A year later the following curious explanatory 
 note was added to the advertised time-table. 
 "As the time at which the Boat may arrive at 
 the different places above mentioned, may vary 
 an hour, more or less, according to the advan- 
 tage or disadvantage of wind or tide, those who 
 wish to come on board will see the necessity of 
 being on the spot an hour before the time." 
 Going north the boat stopped at West Point at 
 four o'clock in the morning. Returning, a landing 
 was made at Poughkeepsie at midnight, and at New- 
 burgh the same hour as at West Point. The night- 
 
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THE FIRST STEAMBOAT. 
 
 watches spent on the docks while waiting for the 
 new steamboat, must have given would-be pas- 
 sengers excellent opportunities to study the stars 
 at various hours of the night. 
 
 During the winter the gallant little Clermont was 
 placed on the ways in the bay south of Tivoli (then 
 called Lower Red Hook), where she was rebuilt and 
 re-modeled by ship-carpenters from Hudson. Her 
 size being much Increased, she offered accommoda- 
 tions to a larger traveling public. May 1st, 1808, 
 she was re-launched and re-christened the "North 
 River," and in charge of Captain Samuel Jenkins of 
 Hudson, was taken to New York, and at the dock at 
 the foot of Dey St. the carpenter and cabin work 
 was completed. Also at this time the machinery 
 was put on board, but proving inadequate to the 
 strain put upon it, in a few weeks the boat was 
 supplied with a boiler of heavy sheet copper. "Com- 
 modore" Wiswall was now in command, and once 
 more Chancellor Livingston and a party of friends 
 made a trial trip, this time on the "North River." 
 
 Livingston had made unsuccessful efforts toward 
 steam navigation before he met Fulton in Paris. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Fulton in his turn, had failed to secure the requisite 
 amount of political and financial support in his ex- 
 periments to insure success, but the combined ef- 
 forts of the two men, gave to the world of their 
 day, one of the wonder-working results of applied 
 science. In 1810 the steamboat "North River" made 
 her record trip from New York to Albany in nine- 
 teen hours, and a century later the world is still 
 reaping the benefits accorded it by two courageous 
 and inventive minds. 
 
 While Fulton's success was at its height he mar- 
 ried Harriet Livingston, grand-daughter of the last 
 Lord of Livingston Manor, whose engagement had 
 been announced on the first trip of the Clermont. 
 She was a beautiful and accomplished woman with 
 a charm beyond others to a man of inventive genius. 
 Her belief in his talents and ability are said to have 
 amounted almost to a passion. Their married life 
 was an exceedingly happy one, their union being 
 blessed with four children, a son and three daugh- 
 ters. Fulton's love for art had continued in con- 
 junction with other engrossing pursuits. His paint- 
 ing of his friend Joel Barlow and the illustrations of 
 
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 Barlow's Columbiad, had been the result of his warm 
 friendship, and his love for the artistic. 
 
 An odd conceit was the painting of his wife's 
 mother, Mrs. Walter Livingston, on one side of a 
 panel, and her grandson, little Robert Barlow Ful- 
 ton, on the other. Grandmother and grandchild 
 were never more closely united, — the high-bred face 
 of the descendant of the Schuylers, and the delicate 
 face of the child with only the panel between them. 
 
 Their home contained much that was of special 
 interest. The dining table of solid mahogany, stand- 
 ing upon claw feet, and formed of two half circles 
 large enough when complete to seat a dozen guests ; 
 the set of china consisting of three hundred and 
 sixty-five pieces, presented to Fulton by Thomas 
 Jefferson, and bearing the Coat-of-Arms of the 
 United States, which often graced the festal board, 
 were both a part of the furnishing of the inventor's 
 home. 
 
 It is in keeping with the family picture to see Mrs. 
 Fulton playing the melodies of the day on the harp, 
 while her husband and children pursued their art, 
 efch in their respective way, for all of the children 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 inherited a degree of artistic talent from their fath- 
 er, as well as a love for outdoor life, the charm of 
 the waterways, and the delights of horse-back riding 
 across the beautiful Livingston Manor. A childish 
 effort of Julia Fulton in pencil, portrays a little girl 
 and a boy in colonial costumes, clinging close to 
 each other under a large umbrella. The quaint child- 
 ish figures in long pantalets, full skirt, and boyish 
 jacket of early date, with the hair of both curling 
 to their shoulders, is irresistible in its outlines, even 
 though only the backs are visible. 
 
 There is an engraving of Fulton's boyhood in ex- 
 istence, with short trousers buckled at the knee, and 
 low shoes also with their broad buckles, ruffled 
 shirt and old time coat, which is most attractive, but 
 the immaturity of the face in no wise compares with 
 the manly beauty of the portrait painted by his 
 friend and master Benjamin West. It would seem 
 that the love of the master for the pupil was the 
 motive power that swayed the talent behind the 
 brush. Every brown lock on his forehead, every 
 curve of the features, the transparent honesty of 
 the direct gaze of the blue eyes, and even the full 
 
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THE FIRST STEAMBOAT. 
 
 grasp of the gifted hands, bespeak an affection for 
 the subject which shines through the beauty of the 
 physical outlines. As a final thought, — an insignia 
 of office, — in the plain background of the painting 
 is traced in faint outlines a torpedo blowing up a 
 tiny war-ship, to the successful invention of which 
 Fulton had given much time. 
 
 Beautiful as was this home life, it was destined to 
 be short-lived. Robert Fulton died on February 
 24th, 1815, at the age of fifty years. In him was 
 lost an ingenious and notable inventor, and a benefi- 
 cent spirit, whose future efforts might have blessed 
 the world still further, had he been given length of 
 days in companionship with a wife fitted to inspire 
 and encourage the talents of his fertile brain. 
 
 After her husband's death Mrs. Fulton lived for 
 a time in New York, then brought her children home 
 to her father's house at "Teviotdale," where she 
 died herself a few years later. 
 
 The body of Robert Fulton's wife and the mother 
 of his children rests to-day under the century-old 
 trees in Claverack cemetery, while in sweeping view 
 to the west from this quiet spot, the Catskills guard 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 the river as of yore, running like a ribbon of glisten- 
 ing blue at their feet, where the steamboats never 
 cease their tireless journeys north and south, and 
 Fulton's name and fame are honored by thousands 
 of summer pilgrims from every land. His name will 
 ever be interwoven for the American people, and 
 for the voyagers from across the sea, with the ex- 
 quisite beauty of the Hudson, and "lest we forget" 
 the Hudson Day Line has named its last and most 
 beautiful floating palace after the inventor of the 
 steamboat, and hung his portrait painted by his 
 grandson Robert Fulton Ludlow, where all may 
 see. 
 
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CHAPTER XXIII. 
 THE LEGEND OF "SPOOK ROCK." 
 
 It might be inferred, that with the city of Hudson 
 peopled by New Englanders, the Dutch Domine of 
 the Claverack parsonage would have little connec- 
 tion with the town, outside of the interest aroused 
 by so great progress and commercial activity on the 
 site that had once been Claverack Landing, but as 
 in other cases, the new roads from Hudson led to 
 the parsonage door. 
 
 In the earlier years of the "Proprietors" settle- 
 ment, the Friends' Meeting Houses were the only 
 places of worship in Hudson. When that time had 
 passed, the road to Claverack had become familiar, 
 and perhaps for the brides and grooms traveling to- 
 ward the marriage altar, there was a trace of ro- 
 mance in riding along the beautiful banks of Claver- 
 ack Creek, when the road on either side was lined 
 with trees and bushes white with spring blossoms, 
 or in June when buttercups and daisies sprung up 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 in their pathway, and wild roses turned their deli- 
 cate petals to the summer sun, or yet later on, when 
 the forest trees were festooned with wild grapevines 
 hanging lush with their heavy purple fruit. 
 
 From the time of the settlement of Hudson, the 
 names in the Claverack marriage records were no 
 longer entirely High and Low-Dutch, but Silver and 
 Fairchild, King and Arnold, Pennyman and Hamil- 
 ton, Skinner and Burck, Clark and Ray, Bingham and 
 Hathaway, and others of New England birth took 
 their places among the long lists of the hereditary 
 names of the occupants of the Manors, and the 
 Dutch burghers of the country side. It was a day 
 also when marriages were often arranged irrespec- 
 tive of parental knowledge, and on the pages of the 
 yellowing records of one hundred years ago, stand 
 some names prominent in the public life of the time, 
 whose youthful escapade in this direction, awakened 
 great surprise when copied by their descendants. 
 
 In 1812 the parsonage family had greatly changed. 
 Three sons, Jacob and Philip, who had come with 
 their parents from New York, and John, who was 
 born in Claverack, had all been admitted to the 
 
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LEGEND OF "SPOOK ROCK". 
 
 bar, and were living in Schoharie and Catskill. Philip 
 having married Eleanor Demarest, of the Van Berg- 
 en family of Catskill, and John being also married, 
 had families of their own. Charlotte, for many 
 years the only daughter of the parsonage, had mar- 
 ried William H. Davis, a merchant of Catskill, who 
 had been aide-de-camp to Washington. John Gabriel 
 and Lewis, younger sons, were attending the Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania, fitting themselves for the 
 medical profession. About a year previous, a son, 
 Charles, had died in his early manhood, and this first 
 loss among their children had proved a great grief 
 to his parents. At the date mentioned it would 
 seem that only the baby Annamaria, who had now 
 grown to be a girl of thirteen, was left to make 
 sunshine in the rooms of the old parsonage, which 
 had once been so full of children's voices and laugh- 
 ter. 
 
 Domine Gebhard still occasionally preached in the 
 Ghent church, though he no longer held regular 
 services there at stated periods as in former days. 
 Until some time in 1790 he seems to have had charge 
 of this church. After that for a long period of 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 the little clapboarded sanctuary was dependent 
 on occasional services held by the ministers of adja- 
 cent churches, till at length in 1822 it became a sep- 
 arate church, and called to its pastorate Rev. Peter 
 S. Wyncoop who served the congregation for many 
 years. 
 
 In the family Bible of John C. Hogeboom, whose 
 first entries were made during Domine Gebhard's 
 charge of the Ghent church, and continued through 
 many years, are the births of a large number of 
 children and grandchildren. 
 
 "On the 5th day of July, 1789, my daughter Cyn- 
 thia was born, on Sunday about two o'clock in the 
 morning. (Peter Hogeboom my brother, and Ally 
 Hogeboom, my sister Godfather and Godmother) 
 was baptized by Mr. Gebhard," was one entry. 
 
 The death of the same Cynthia already mentioned, 
 is recorded in 1813. "Dec. 7th at about two o'clock 
 in the afternoon my daughter Cynthia died of a dis- 
 tressing illness of many years, which she bore with 
 Christian fortitude, anxiously awaiting her depart- 
 ure from this world of trouble and affliction." 
 
 The great care given to the hour of birth and 
 
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LEGEND OF "SPOOK ROCK". 
 
 death, grew from the prevalent belief that the hour 
 of death would correspond with the hour of birth. 
 Nearly every entry records some event or comment, 
 which turns these early Bible records into a family 
 history. One brief entry carries with it a touch of 
 special grief, as one of the tragedies connected with 
 the Anti-rent uprisings. It reads — 
 
 "My father, Cornelius Hogeboom, died the 22d 
 day of October, 1791. He was killed in Nobletown, 
 (Hillsdale) about three o'clock in the afternoon." 
 
 Various proposals were made by Domine Gebhard 
 that the Claverack church be given an opportunity 
 through the votes of its male members, to unite with 
 the Classis of Rensselaer, but the opinion of the 
 Consistory was for many years against it, and the 
 church remained an independent organization until 
 the time of Domine Gebhard's English colleague. 
 Rev. Richard Sluyter. 
 
 A direct method was employed to protect the 
 church from debt. An entry in the church books 
 under this head, reading "Resolved, that a magis- 
 trate call on those persons who do not pay their 
 subscriptions." When money promised was not 
 paid, it was collected by suit if necessary. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 In these years parents had begun to act as spon- 
 sors in some instances for their own children, and 
 not only parsonage grandchildren were brought to 
 the old church in Claverack for Baptism, but also 
 those of many of its earlier members. It is said 
 that Domine Gebhard, in a number of instances, bap- 
 tized the great-grandchildren of those whom. he had 
 united in marriage. 
 
 In all the carefully kept records of his long pas- 
 torate, there is no official account of deaths or fun- 
 erals, yet in the busy pastor's life these must have 
 intersected the seasons of joy and thanksgiving, 
 opening wide the gates of eternal life to the aged 
 pilgrim and the youth cut off in his prime, as the 
 new doors swung open for the entering generation. 
 Could we but see the paths trodden by the faithful 
 pastor's feet in these errands of consolation, stretch- 
 ing over these fifty years, they would make a net 
 work of golden sympathy winding and counter- 
 winding into every lane and wagon-road and turn- 
 pike over his wide field of labor, ending with their 
 tender ministrations at the door of Manor and farm 
 house, leaving there the comforting words and heav- 
 
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- T) 
 
 o 
 
 - 5 
 
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LEGEND OF "SPOOK ROCK' 
 
 enly promises, for this world and the world to come, 
 of this devoted man of God. 
 
 For the rest, the multitude of white stones in 
 God's acre which lies by the old church, bearing date 
 of this half century, tell their own story, and are 
 silent witnesses of the sorrows of the people, and 
 the labors of consolation of their minister. Even 
 the corner where the slaves are buried carries its 
 own legend of those years when slavery was com- 
 mon in this section of the country, but when death 
 came, these dependents were given a quiet resting 
 place, and in some cases a stone was placed at the 
 head of the grave, telling of the simple faithfulness 
 and devotion of one of these dark-faced servants. 
 
 Once only is there a record on this subject. This 
 entry states that "the church yard is to be furnished 
 with lock and key, and for opening lock and break- 
 ing ground one dollar is to be paid, two shillings for 
 ringing the bell." 
 
 As the custom of tolling the bell at the passing 
 of a life, or the hour of burial, was in force in 
 those days, it probably gave rise to a curious old 
 legend, founded on a still earlier Indian legend, both 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 of which are still told with interest along the banks 
 of Claverack Creek. For many years the Becraft 
 family were members of the Claverack congregation, 
 and between Claverack and Hudson a rocky forma- 
 tion of lime and slate of some considerable extent 
 still goes by the name of Becraft mountain, though 
 the spelling is changed. Under its overhanging 
 ledges grow a wealth of ferns and wild flowers, and 
 between the mountain and the creek from time im- 
 memoiial, there has been a wagon-road. At one of 
 the most picturesque spots in the creek under the 
 mountain, lies a great boulder, unmoved by spring 
 freshets or winter storm, for it is not always sum- 
 mer under Becraft. The winter snows powder the 
 evergreens and the young saplins that cling to its 
 sides, and the ledges of grey rock stretch between 
 the green and the white, defying heat and cold, while 
 the creek at its base is a frozen sheet of ice, and a 
 white blanket of snow covers alike the ferns, the 
 wild flowers, and the wagon-road. 
 
 Long before the first white settler had discovered 
 beautiful Claverack, a tribe of Mohican Indians had 
 a village here called "Pot Koke." On more than 
 
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LEGEND OF "SPOOK ROCK' 
 
 one farm have their battle axes, arrow heads, and 
 hammers been unearthed by the husbandman, while 
 engaged in the peaceful occupation of tilling the 
 soil. 
 
 There is a tradition connected with the Chieftain's 
 daughter, that would lead us to believe that the In- 
 dian colony was not only strong and numerous, but 
 that its young squaws were also charming in the 
 eyes of neighboring tribes. The Chief of the Mohi- 
 cans had his wigwam on the summit of Becraft 
 Mountain, a safe vantage ground in case of hostile 
 attack, for the arrows of his followers aimed at an 
 enemy skulking along the trail below, would have 
 been fatal, while the Mohicans were quite able to 
 defend themselves behind the mighty fastnesses of 
 the slate rocks. 
 
 But the Chief had a daughter whose soft dark 
 eyes and raven locks, and nut-brown skin were a 
 bewitchment, and whose slender moccasined feet 
 were swift upon the trail. Alas, that her lover was 
 the son of an enemy who forgot the tribal hatred, 
 when, hiding from tree to tree one day, he had 
 worked his way to the top of Becraft in order to 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 discover the weakness of the Mohican camp, and 
 saw instead the graceful form of the Princess flit- 
 ting between the wooded aisles at the top of the 
 mountain. It was useless to plead with the Chief 
 of the Mohicans, though the daughter made the ef- 
 fort, and equally useless to fight for the maid, for 
 the tribe of the young brave was far outnumbered 
 by that of the Princess' father. The lover's only 
 hope was in strategy. 
 
 A swift runner brought her a tiny roll of birch- 
 bark wrapped in a rabbit skin with a love message 
 inside. She found it within the flap of her tent, and 
 trembling donned her doe-skin robe, and waited till 
 the night shut down, and the tribe slept, and only 
 the glow of the camp fire was left, then sped over 
 the trail, and down the rocks to the shadows of the 
 overhanging cliffs. Among the ferns and lichens 
 and wild flowers she met her lover. The night air 
 swept their cheeks, and the music of the stars sung 
 their happiness. The moments sped swiftly by. 
 
 A low rumble in the distance, a flash of light 
 across their path, a moment's terror of discovery, 
 and they drew close within the shadow of the over- 
 
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LEGEND OF "SPOOK ROCK' 
 
 hanging rocks, shielded by bushes and young trees 
 from the big drops of rain. The crash of the thun- 
 der rolled over their heads, the forked lightning 
 played over the water and fields of maize, and they 
 clung to each other in the midst of the tumult. 
 Then quicker than thought, more sudden than fear, 
 came a heavy crash, a blinding light, and the great 
 boulder rolled into the stream, carrying the lovers 
 with it. 
 
 It was all over in a few moments, the noise and 
 commotion, the flash and the downpour. One by one 
 the stars came out again, the young trees shook oflf 
 the rain drops, moved by a gentle breeze, a whip- 
 poor-will cried in the night, while the creek skirting 
 the trail lay quiet in the starlight, and the over- 
 hanging rock had found a new resting place for all 
 time in the winding stream, becoming a monument 
 to two lovers, a son and a daughter of Indian Chiefs 
 of alien tribes. This is the Indian legend of "Spook 
 Rock," but for many a year the story that has been 
 oftenest told as connected witli this rock, is that it 
 turns over every time it hears the Claverack church 
 bell toll, and though the great rock has no ears to 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 hear, or power to turn in the winding stream, if 
 sound is carried to remote distances, affecting the 
 formation of rocks and mountains, the impress of 
 almost two centuries of the tolling funeral bells of 
 Claverack must have left their mark, though un- 
 seen, on the hard and rugged sides of "Spook Rock." 
 
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CHAPTER XXIV. 
 HIS "HUIS VROUWE." 
 
 In the old church records the name of the man 
 who stood as sponsor in baptism came first, followed 
 by the full maiden name of his wife with the added 
 explanation "his vrouwe," with two exceptions. One 
 of these was the wife of the Patroon, and the other 
 was the minister's wife, which were written "his 
 huis vrouwe." 
 
 This latter title was one of respect to the La- 
 dies of the Manor and the parsonage. Though the 
 worldly possessions differed in the two homes, they 
 each called for marked executive ability, an almost 
 boundless hospitality, a power of leadership and di- 
 rection equal in many cases to that of their hus- 
 bands, and an habitual life of culture and refinement 
 which served as an example to all about them, and 
 made them prominent in the social life of the coun- 
 try. 
 
 The Domine's "huis vrouwe" was a notable 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 housekeeper. Any departure from absolute clean- 
 liness and neatness was abhorent to her. Her quilt- 
 ing bars, with their edges of homespun, were worn 
 into furrows through the extra peg-holes bored that 
 more and more quilts might be rolled up tightly, 
 making the quilting a work of art in its exquisite 
 neatness. The wonderful white counterpane on her 
 guest-room bed, with its thousands of fine stitches, 
 etching the smooth surface into a beautiful design, 
 with its artistic center and border of roses, and deer 
 in all four corners, attested to her skill with a 
 needle. No linen after the spinning and weaving, 
 was whiter than that directed in the bleaching, by 
 the Domine's wife on the parsonage lawn. 
 
 Each spring the tailoress went from house to 
 house, cutting and fitting clothing for the boys and 
 men from the pepper and salt cloth made from the 
 wool of their own sheep. Seven boys were always 
 waiting for new suits at the parsonage, with the 
 proclivity of boyhood to wear holes in elbows 
 and knees. The tailoress was followed by the shoe- 
 maker, and dyeing was also a part of the home 
 work. The parsonage, in common with the farm 
 
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MRS. JOHN GABRIEL GEBHARD. 
 
 THE DOMINIE'S "HUIS VROUWE." 
 ■nelineAvit A. Phillips 1820." 
 From an Oil Paintino now owned by Rev. John O. Gebtiard, D. D. 
 
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HIS "HUIS VROUWE. 
 
 houses, had a cool lean-to for the making of butter, 
 while the cooking for such a family was a daily bur- 
 den. Olekoeks, liverwurst, rollejes, bolletjes, pan- 
 lash, — to the Philadelphia woman all these articles 
 of food were familiar before she came to reside in 
 the Lower Manor of Claverack, and she delighted in 
 keeping the old home atmosphere in this northern 
 parsonage. 
 
 There were two days in the year that the children 
 dearly loved. One was New Year's when St. Nich- 
 olas and his vrouwe always remembered good chil- 
 dren, upon the eve of which they stood in a row 
 before the great roaring fires, and hand in hand 
 sung, — 
 
 "Santa Klaus, goedt heilig man, 
 
 Knopyebest van Amsterdam, 
 
 Van Amsterdam aan Spanje, 
 
 Van Spanje aan Orange, 
 
 Een brang deze kindjes eenige graps." 
 
 The translation of which is — 
 
 "Santa Glaus, good holy man. 
 
 Go your way from Amsterdam, 
 
 From Amsterdam to Spain, 
 
 From Spain to Orange, 
 
 And bring these little children toys." 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Some of the gifts on the following morning took 
 the form of seed-cakes, representing almost every 
 animal on the farm. At a later date, after the 
 keeping of Christmas had become a custom, there 
 were children who descended from these old Dutch 
 families, who found themselves rich in two gift- 
 giving days only a week apart, and the seed-cakes 
 still continued to celebrate New Year's day. 
 
 The second of these happy festival days was Paas 
 or Easter. Every boy and girl watched the hens' 
 nests with jealous eyes as Paas approached, for the 
 great attraction of this day was a special kind of 
 Paas-cakes of which the children were very fond. 
 They were made of eggs and flour alone, beaten 
 very light, often in a mixing bowl made from the 
 knot of a tree, which bowls withstood the wear of 
 time and much beating. The batter was expected 
 to entirely cover the long-handled spider or pan- 
 cake shovel. The making and baking of these cakes 
 was a special feat of the slaves in most of the 
 households. When the cake was browned on one 
 side, the pan was shaken dexterously and with a 
 quick move of the long handle, and a toss of the 
 
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HIS "HUIS VROUWE." 
 
 spider, was thrown into the air, and turning came 
 down on the opposite side. There was a great rival- 
 ry among the colored people as to which could throw 
 the Paas-cakes the highest and still successfully 
 catch them. The children of the families surround- 
 ed the great open fire places on these occasions, 
 holding their breath with excitement and expecta- 
 tion, and the safe return of the Paas-cake to the 
 spider was the signal for cheers and exclamations 
 of delight. 
 
 In the competition over tossing the cakes, the 
 stories reached large proportions, it having been 
 told on good authority that one Paas-cake had been 
 seen going out of the top of a chimney only to turn 
 in the air, and descend through the chimney's wide 
 mouth on its right side in the spider. Nan, the 
 slave-woman at the parsonage, was a past-master 
 with Paas cakes, both at tossing them, and piling 
 them up with melted butter and sugar between, till 
 she had a great platter full, when she would cut 
 them down in many triangles ready for the Paas 
 breakfast of the Gebhard children. 
 
 Trained nurses were unheard of in 1776 or for 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 many a decade afterward, but the Domine's wife 
 knew all who were sick in the congregation and just 
 what might be done to help them. She had the firm 
 capable hands of the born nurse, and there were 
 few houses in the congregation who had not known 
 the sense of relief which flowed through tired bod- 
 ies, when the Domine's wife came to nurse, or "sit 
 up" with those who were ill. There were troubles 
 not easy to carry to the minister, but with the min- 
 ister's wife it was different. The mothers in the 
 congregation knew that in her they were sure to 
 find sympathy, courage, and strength. It was not 
 strange that the congregation adopted the custom 
 of calling her "Mere." 
 
 With all the fullness and happiness of her Claver- 
 ack life, she never forgot the home of her girlhood, 
 and she was able to imbue her children with a simi- 
 lar affection. All of her sons who married except one, 
 took to themselves Philadelphia wives, from among 
 the descendants of the early settlers of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and it grew to be a familiar saying in the 
 family, that Philadelphia was a good place for 
 wives. Hon. John Gebhard of Schoharie, married 
 
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HIS "HUIS VROUWE. 
 
 his cousin, Mary Seitz. Dr. Lewis Gebhard married 
 Mary Ann Halberstadt and settled in Philadelphia. 
 Dr. John Gabriel Gebhard married Margaret Swart- 
 wourt, and after some years of medical practice in 
 Troy, his first wife having died, brought his second 
 wife, Elizabeth Snyder home to Glaverack. 
 
 It was a great pleasure to the old lady of the par- 
 sonage to have her Philadelphia daughter-in-law 
 bring with her, as a part of her wedding outfit, 
 beautiful damask table-linen, the first imported to 
 this country, by her father, John Snyder, and Ste- 
 phen Girard. There were a hundred subjects to 
 talk over of past and present interest. Philanthropy 
 had an early birth in the Quaker city, and Eliza- 
 beth Snyder's mother had been among the first la- 
 dies interested in the Blind Asylum and other chari- 
 ties. 
 
 Old-fashioned neighborliness and city philanthro- 
 py are not far apart at their root, and it would have 
 given the capable old Domine's wife a thrill of 
 pleasure to have seen her daughter-in-law at a later 
 date, wrap a great unbaked batch of bread in a 
 warm blanket, and drive with it over several miles 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 to a suffering neighbor's, where she nursed the sick 
 and baked her bread, sending it back to her family 
 at night. Elizabeth Snyder's grandfather had been 
 an elder in Domine Gebhard's church in Worcester, 
 making a tie with the old gentleman also. 
 
 Sometimes the family coach drove down from 
 Schoharie with the cousin-wife, and at other times 
 Philip and his wife, and Charlotte and her husband 
 drove up from Catskill, and for them all the mother 
 had a warm and hospitable welcome. Life was full 
 in the old parsonage. 
 
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CHAPTER XXV. 
 CALLING AN ENGLISH COLLEAGUE. 
 
 Many changes had gone over the wide reach of 
 Domine Gebhard's pastorate since the beginning o± 
 his ministerial service in Claverack, not the least of 
 which had been the slow but sure alteration in the 
 prevailing language. At the start it had been 
 necessary for him to become proficient in a tongue 
 not his own, and at least partially unfamiliar, that 
 he might preach acceptably to his people, the ma- 
 jority of whom were of Low-Dutch or Holland 
 origin. 
 
 At the end of forty years, the Dutch language 
 was falling into disuse, except among the older por- 
 tion of the congregation, who were still strongly 
 attached to their mother tongue. The influence 
 of Washington Seminary in their midst, which had 
 trained a generation of English-speaking men and 
 women, the close contact with the Nantucket set- 
 tlers of Hudson, as well as the going and coming of 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 the citizens of the large cities, where English had 
 in a great measure superseded other languages, had 
 all borne their part in effecting a change more per- 
 ceptible each year. It was apparent that the young- 
 er part of the congregation had become American- 
 ized, and was beginning to feel impatient of a lan- 
 guage almost obsolete, and which they only par- 
 tially understood. 
 
 That Domine Gebhard, long the shepherd of this 
 flock, understood and cooperated in the desire of the 
 younger members for a colleague who could preach 
 and perform his pastoral duties in English, is ap- 
 parent from a letter written by him as the Presi- 
 dent of Consistory, to the Rev. Richard Sluyter, in- 
 viting him to preach in the church of Claverack in 
 September, 1815, to which he added this sentence, 
 "It may be an advantage to you finally." 
 
 It was also at this time that the church of Clav- 
 erack came under the care of the Classis of Rens- 
 selaer and the Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church, 
 having existed previous to this date as an independ- 
 ent body. Quoting again from a letter from Domine 
 Gebhard to Mr. Sluyter, "All efforts which have 
 
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CALLING AN ENGLISH COLLEAGUE. 
 
 hitherto been made to bring this congregation un- 
 der the Classis have proved abortive; but this is 
 the first and most favorable opportunity to effect 
 that purpose. The present Consistory are not 
 averse to it. I am confident that the high opinion 
 which the whole congregation entertains of your 
 person and talents, will readily overcome the caprice 
 of a few individuals. This circumstance is another 
 argument in our behalf, to give our call a favorable 
 consideration, and finally to accept it. You alone 
 will then be entitled to the merit of having brought 
 this congregation under the Classis. May the Lord 
 incline your heart to see the necessity of bestowing 
 your labors in this vineyard among us." 
 
 The call was finally accepted by Mr. Sluyter, with 
 the stipulation that he should preach "three-fourths 
 of the Sabbaths of each and every year in the Re- 
 formed Dutch Church of Claverack," and that the 
 other "fourth of the Sabbaths" be given to Hills- 
 dale, which united in the called, and later another 
 "fourth" was given to the church of Ghent. About 
 this time it was estimated that Claverack alone 
 numbered five hundred families. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS, 
 
 As an addition to a "resolution to call an English 
 speaking colleague to assist Domine Gebhard," there 
 went on record one sentence, which stands boldly 
 forth for the unalterable attachment of the older 
 element in the congregation to the customs of their 
 youth, and the tongue of the home-land. "The 
 Dutch call shall remain unaltered, integer, as it now 
 stands." 
 
 With this change the more active labors of the 
 church devolved on Mr. Sluyter, but preaching 
 every fourth Sunday, and often the second also, 
 visiting the Dutch-speaking members, baptizing the 
 children, marrying the young people, visiting the 
 sick, and occasionally administering the Sacrament, 
 went on with the senior pastor as before, while the 
 more strenuous labors of the pastorate, its new 
 endeavors, the work of the outlying districts espe- 
 cially of a revival nature, fell to the charge of the 
 younger minister. 
 
 Life had begun to pour some of its fruits into 
 Domine Gebhard's hands. His eldest son, General 
 Jacob Gebhard, one of the first attorneys of Scho- 
 harie County, had served several terms as Senator 
 
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CALLING AN ENGLISH COLLEAGUE. 
 
 of his State. Also following his father's example, 
 he with nine other men interested in educational 
 advancement, formed themselves into a body cor- 
 porate for the establishment of Schoharie Academy. 
 
 Honorable John Gebhard, a younger son, was the 
 first Surrogate of Schoharie County, and later was 
 elected a member of the Seventeenth Congress from 
 the same section. This Congress has been perpetu- 
 ated in a unique and wholly personal fashion, the 
 portraits of the entire Congress having been paint- 
 ed by Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, later of tele- 
 graph fame. Both General Gebhard and his broth- 
 er John, were men of large political influence, an 
 unusual feature of their public life being their lead- 
 ership of two opposite political parties. To the 
 Schoharie branch of the Gebhard family our State 
 owes its first geological survey, as well as the earli- 
 est classification of its native flora. 
 
 Two younger sons. Dr. Lewis Gebhard and Dr. 
 John Gabriel Gebhard were at this time practicing 
 medicine in Philadelphia and Troy. 
 
 Sorrow had visited the absent members of the 
 family, and the parsonage was once more full of 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 children. In the year following the death of the 
 Domine's young son Charles, his elder son Philip, 
 a prominent lawyer of Catskill, had died, leaving a 
 wife and three young children. Charlotte, for many 
 years the Domine's only daughter, was also a widow 
 with three children, and their grandfather and 
 grandmother opened the doors of the old parsonage 
 to the widow and the orphan. For a time the par- 
 sonage once more rang with childish voices, and 
 the grandmother made olekoeks, and rocked the 
 grandchildren in the twilight, singing the old Dutch 
 songs again to the little ones as she had sung them 
 to her own children, while in the long hours of 
 sunlight she taught the girls to spin, and weave, 
 and bleach linen, to sew in finest stitches, and to 
 make the rich preserves, and candied and dried 
 fruits, for which the Dutch were famous. 
 
 One of these grandchildren, William H. Davis, in 
 his old age, remembered weeding the beans in the 
 parsonage garden in his childhood, and passing up 
 bricks to the masons who were building the vesti- 
 bules and new steeple to the old church. Another 
 of these boyish recollections paints a picture pecu- 
 liar to its day and generation. 
 
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CALLING AN ENGLISH COLLEAGUE. 
 
 Monday was the minister's rest day, then as now. 
 Whether it was the Dutch Domine's blue day in the 
 usual significance, it was surely so in a peculiar 
 sense. By this time there were ministers settled 
 in many of the outlying districts, which had been 
 only preaching stations in the early days. Many 
 of these men were of Dutch or German extraction, 
 with the music-loving, pipe-smoking tastes and cus- 
 toms of their race. On Monday morning the roads 
 to the Claverack parsonage saw different ministers' 
 gigs, or at times only a Domine on horseback, draw- 
 ing toward one center. When they had all gath- 
 ered in Domine Gebhard's living room, and the air 
 was blue with smoke, they turned the occasion into 
 a musical symposium as well, as they took their 
 turns at the little German piano, playing favorite 
 tunes or long remembered melodies of the home- 
 land. It is not quite our modern idea of a minister's 
 club, but if theology were given a second place in 
 these Monday morning ministerial assemblies, at 
 least they were a homeopathic remedy for a min- 
 ister's blue Monday. 
 
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CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON'S CHILDREN 
 AND GRANDCHILDREN. 
 
 An account of a voyage taken in 1769 by the pro- 
 prietor of a wide tract of land called Smith's pat- 
 ent, in the middle of New York State, gives some 
 interesting facts concerning the Manors and the 
 Manor life along the upper Hudson, from an observ- 
 er's standpoint. It says: 
 
 "May 8th. — We went on shore to Two Stone Farm 
 Houses on Beekman Manor in the County of Dutch- 
 ess, the Men were absent and the Women and chil- 
 dren could speak no other Language than Low 
 Dutch, our Skipper was interpreter. One of these 
 Tenants for Life, or a very long Term, or for lives 
 (uncertain which) pays twenty Bushels of Wheat in 
 Kind for 97 acres of cleared Land, and liberty to get 
 Wood for necessary Uses anywhere in the Manor — 
 12 eggs sold here for six pence, Butter 14 d per 
 pound and 2 shad cost 6d. One Woman was very 
 Neat, and the Iron hoops of her pails scowered 
 bright, the Houses are mean. We saw one Piece of 
 good meadow which is scarce hereaway, the wheat 
 was very much thrown out, the Aspect of the Farms 
 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 rough and hilly like all the rest and the Soil a stiff 
 Clay. One Woman had Twelve good countenanced 
 Boys and Girls all clad in Homespun both Linen and 
 Woolen, here was a Two-wheeled Plow drawn by 3 
 horses abreast, a Scythe with a short, crooked 
 Handle and a Kind of Hook both used to cut down 
 Grain, for the Sickle is not much known in Albany 
 County or in this part of Dutchess." 
 
 "9th. — We arose in the Morng opposite a large 
 Brick House on the East Side belonging to Mr. Liv- 
 ingston Father to Robert R. Livingston, the Judge 
 in the Lower Manor of Livingston. Albany County 
 now on either Hand, and sloping Hills here and 
 there covered with Grain like all the rest we had 
 seen, much thrown out by the Frost of last Winter. 
 Landing on the West Shore we found a number of 
 People fishing with a Sein, they caught plenty of 
 Shad and Herring, and use Ctinoes altogether, hav- 
 ing long, neat and strong Ropes made by the people 
 themselves of Elm Bark. Here we saw the first In- 
 dian, a Mohicon named Hans, clad in no other Gar- 
 ment than a shattered Blanket, he lives near the 
 Kaatskill and had a Skunk Skin for his Tobacco 
 Pouch, the Tavern of this Place is most wretched — 
 Trees are cut in Leaf, Cattle and Sheep nothing 
 different from ours, are now feeding on the Grass 
 which is nearly as forward as with us when we left 
 Burlington, the Trees quite as forward, and the 
 White Pine is common. One Shad taken with the 
 rest had a Lamprey ell about 7 inches long fastened 
 to his Back. I was informed here by a Person con- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 cerned in measuring it, that the Distance from 
 KaatsKill Landing to Schoharie is 32 1-2 miles reck- 
 oned to Capt. Eckerson's, a good Wagon Road and 
 Produce brot. down daily from thence to Cherry 
 Valley half a Day's Journey, that People are now- 
 laying out a New Road from Sopus Kill to Scho- 
 harie which is supposed to be about 32 1-2 miles, 
 Sopus Creek is about 11 Miles below KaatsKill 
 Creek, and a Mile below where we now Landed, they 
 say that 7 or 8 Sloops belong to Sopus — ^the Fish 
 are the same in Hudson's River above the Salt Wa- 
 ter as in the Delaware — the Skipper bought a Par- 
 cel of Fish here cheap, these Fishermen draw their 
 Nets oftener than ours, not stopping between the 
 Draughts. At three ocloc we passed by the German 
 Camp, a small Village so called, having Two Church- 
 es, situated on the East Side of the River, upon a 
 rising Ground which shows the Place to Advantage, 
 some Distance further on the same Side of the 
 River we sailed by the Upper Manor House of Liv- 
 ingston, a quantity of low cripple Land may be seen 
 on the opposite Side, and this reaches 4 Miles to the 
 Kaats Kill called 36 Miles from Albany; off the 
 Mouth of this Creek we have a view of the large 
 House built by John Dyer the Person who made 
 the Road from hence to Schoharie at the Expense 
 of 400 Lbs. if common Report may be credited — Two 
 Sloops belong to KaatsKill, a little beyond the Mouth 
 whereof lies the large Island of Vastic — there is a 
 House on the North Side of the Creek and another 
 with several Saw Mills on the South Side but no 
 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 Town as we expected. Sloops go no further than 
 Dyer about a Half a Mile up the Creek, the Lands 
 on both sides of Kaats Kill belong to Van Berger, 
 Van Vecthe, Salisbury, DuBois and a man in York, 
 their lands, as our Skipper says Extend up the 
 Creek 12 Miles to Barber the English Gentleman his 
 Settlement, the Creek runs through the Kaats Kill 
 Mounts said hereabouts to be a Distance of 12 or 
 14 Miles from the North River, but there are Falls 
 above which obstruct the Navigation (these par- 
 ticular enquiries were made because this was sup- 
 posed to be the nearest Port to our newly purchased 
 Territory) . We landed in the Evening on the Kaats- 
 Kill Shore 4 Miles above the Creek, but could gain 
 no satisfactory Intelligence, only that the Dutchess 
 of Gordon and her Husband Col. Staats Long Mor- 
 ris were just gone from Dyer's House for Cherry 
 Valley and Susquehanna with Two Wagons, they 
 went by the way of Freehold by the Foot of the 
 Mountains on this Side, and so over them to Scho- 
 harie, guessed to be about 32 1-2 miles as was said 
 before." 
 
 "10th. — We passed by Sunday Islands where of 
 Scutters Island affords a good low Bottom fit for 
 Meadow and some of it is improved. Bear's Island 
 said to be the beginning of the Manor of Rensselaer- 
 wic which extends on both Sides of the River, the 
 Lords of the Manors are called by the common Peo- 
 ple Patroons, Bearen Island or Bear's Island just 
 mentioned is reputed to be twelve Miles below Al- 
 bany— Cojemans Houses with Two Grist Mills and 
 Two Saw Mills stand a little above on the West 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Side and opposite is an Island of about Two Acres 
 covered with young Button Wood Trees which Is- 
 land, our Skipper says, has arisen there to his knowl- 
 edge within 16 years and since he has navigated 
 the River — more low bottom Land is discovered as 
 we pass up, generally covered with Trees, being 
 cleared might be made good Meadow by Banking or 
 Improvement to which the Inhabitants are alto- 
 gether Strangers, the upper End of Scotic's Island 
 is a fine cleared Bottom not in Grass but partly in 
 Wheat and partly in Tilth, however there was one 
 rich Meadow improved, we saw the first Batteaux 
 a few Miles below Albany, Canoes being the common 
 Craft. One Staats House is prettily fixed on a rising 
 Ground in a low Island, the City of Albany being 3 
 Miles aHead we discovered for the first Time, a 
 spot of Meadow Ground Plowed and Sowed with 
 Peas in the Broad Cast Way, the Uplands are now 
 covered with Pitch Pine and are sandy and barren 
 as the Desarts of New Jersey, as we approach the 
 town the Houses multiply on each Shore and we ob- 
 serve a Person in the Act of Sowing Peas upon a 
 fruitful Meadow on an Island to the right. The 
 Hudson near Albany seems to be about a Half Mile 
 over. Henry Cuyler's Brick House on the East Side 
 about a Mile below the Town looks well, and we 
 descry the King's Stables a long wooden Building 
 on the left, and on the same side Philip Schuyler's 
 Grand House with whom at present resides Colonel 
 Bradstreet (since Deceased and Schuyler is now a 
 major Gen. in the service of the United States) Col. 
 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 John Van Rensselaer has a good House on the East 
 Side. At Half after 10 oCloc we arrived at Albany 
 estimated to be 164 Miles by Water from N. York 
 and by land 157. * * * Stephen Van Rensselaer, 
 the Patroon, or Lord of the Manor of Rensselaer- 
 wick his House stands a little above the Town, he 
 is a young man (since deceased)." 
 
 The foregoing journal gives some idea of the life 
 of the tenants of the Manors of the upper Hudson 
 a few years prior to the Revolutionary War. Every 
 decade after that brought changes not only on the 
 farms, but the life of the Manors themselves 
 changed with each succeeding generation. When 
 Robert Livingston bought the first tracts of his 
 Manor land, the price paid to the Indians was in 
 "guilders. Blankets and Child's Blankets, large 
 shoes and small, large and small stockings, guns, 
 powder, staves of lead, caps, tin kettles, axes, 
 adzes, two pounds of paint, twenty little scissors, 
 twenty little looking glasses, one hundred fish 
 hooks, one hundred pipes, nails, tobacco, knives, 
 rum, and beer, and four stroud coats, and two duf- 
 fel coats." 
 
 Upon the payment of this price the lands were to 
 be "delivered free and unburdened to Robert Liv- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 ingston," save only "that the previous Indian own- 
 ers should have the right of fishing in the Kill and 
 hunting deer, provided they brought the head to the 
 new owner." There was a marginal note added to 
 this document by Tamaranachquae an Indian wo- 
 man, who stipulated before signing the contract, 
 that she should have the privilege "to plant for 
 four years a little hook of land." 
 
 This first grant, 1683, was for two thousand acres 
 on Hudson's River, and on both sides of Roeliff 
 Jansen Kill. In 1685 there was another purchase 
 of land, and both tracts were erected into a Manor, 
 with the right to "One Court Leet and one Court 
 Baron, to hold and to keep at such time and times, 
 and so often yearly as Robert Livingston or his 
 heirs should see meet." Eventually Robert Living- 
 ston's grants of land reached "sixteen miles long 
 and twenty-four broad" for which he paid the 
 Crown a yearly rent of "eight and twenty shillings. 
 Currant money of this country." 
 
 The boundary lines of the Manor were drawn by 
 distances from the spot where "the Indians have 
 laid several heaps of stones together by an ancient 
 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 custom used among them," along "kills" and 
 "mountain sides" and "runs of water" to other 
 stones, and on to "five lime trees marked by Saint 
 Andrew's Cross." On the old maps of Livingston 
 Manor a certain point is marked "Manor Rock" 
 which is presumably one of these old piles of stones 
 which the Indians had thrown one upon the other. 
 The earlier maps of 1714 also contain a print of the 
 group of five lime trees, marking one corner of the 
 estate. 
 
 In 1721 through the influence of the first Lord 
 of the Manor, a church was built, to which an "able 
 and pious Dutch Reformed Protestant minister 
 from Holland" was to be called, and in his will exe- 
 cuted the following year, he willed a number of 
 acres of land for a parsonage glebe, and still further 
 acres for a sustaining fund for the church. Al- 
 though Robert Livingston had been instrumental 
 in erecting a church, it seems to have been largely 
 for the benefit of the tenants of the estate for the 
 first fifty years, except in case of death, when the 
 members of the Livingston family were brought 
 home to be laid in the vault beneath the Manor 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Church. The Revolutionary War effected a change 
 in this respect. This patriotic family being driven 
 from the cities, the Manor Church, as well as the 
 homes at Livingston, took on greater importance, 
 and the church books began to bear record that 
 many Livingston babies were baptized here, and 
 older members of the family were married in the 
 Manor Houses, while the noted Dr. Livingston who 
 had been compelled to flee from New York took 
 charge of the Manor Church during eighteen 
 months of these troublous times. The old Manor 
 Church and the first Manor House were only a mile 
 and a half apart, the church being at Staatje, (little 
 village) . 
 
 In this same old record book, whose entries begin 
 in 1723, there is a page written by John H. Living- 
 ston in finest script, under date of 1781, the lan- 
 guage employed being Low Dutch. An entry is also 
 to be found here of the baptism of "Johannes, son of 
 Hendrick Van Rensselaer and Elizabeth Van Brug, 
 Oct. 20th, 1744," which took place in the Manor 
 Church at a time when the Claverack church was 
 without a pastor, this Hendrick being a younger son 
 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 of Hendrick Van Rensselaer the first Proprietor of 
 the Lower Manor of Rensselaerwick, and among the 
 early settlers of Claverack. 
 
 The first Manor House was very different from 
 those which followed. The walls, as in all well built 
 houses of that period, were built for protection, and 
 were so thick that the windows looked like mere 
 indentations. It was low ceiled and heavy raftered, 
 and an old story connected with it, affirms that the 
 first Lord Robert Livingston kept his money on the 
 floor of his bedroom. It was literally his "pile," 
 and a place of untold wealth in the eyes of the chil- 
 dren and servants who passed his door, and looking 
 in caught fleeting glimpses of heaps of Spanish 
 coins upon the floor. In later years an occasional 
 rusty coin has been unearthed near the site of the 
 old Manor House, which has been thought to be one 
 of these first rolling Spanish doubloons. This primi- 
 tive bank had no Board or bank officials connected 
 with it, and its President, and day and night guard 
 was the Lord of the Manor himself, whose strong 
 personality seems to have been its only safety and 
 defense. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 The second Lord of the Manor, Philip the eldest 
 son of Robert, did not live permanently at Linlith- 
 go, but came and went as the business of the estate 
 called him. However there are records of parties of 
 children and grandchildren, and occasional friends 
 in need of country air, coming to the Manor for long 
 stays during the summer months, or a bride and 
 groom spending a honeymoon there. One of these 
 happy honeymoons spent at Livingston Manor was 
 that of Sarah Livingston, Philip Livingston's 
 daughter, who chose her country home even in 
 windy March for a wedding trip, on her marriage 
 to William Alexander. There was no hint of spring 
 in the air at this time of year, but like a host of 
 later dwellers along the banks of the Hudson, they 
 probably saw that yearly marvel, the ice moving 
 down the Hudson to the sea. 
 
 The marriage of "Sally Livingston" seems to 
 have been pleasing to her family. On the birth of 
 a daughter a year later, a humorous letter from 
 Robert, her eldest brother, to his brother-in-law, 
 says: 
 
 "I congratulate you on the increase in your fam- 
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ROBERT LIVINGSTON 
 
 Third aad last Lord of Liviogston Manor. 
 After a Portrait owned by Richard Montgomery Callendar Livingston. 
 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 ily, and hope in the future my sister will beget a 
 more masculine kind, and not spoil the family with 
 such Lilliputians as your daughter." 
 
 Upon the death of Philip, the Manor again had a 
 resident proprietor in the person of this same 
 Robert, Philip's eldest son, who married Mary 
 Tong. 
 
 Sons and grandsons had built Manor Houses on 
 sightly locations in every direction before the year 
 1800, but during the war, and for several decades 
 afterward, Robert Livingston, the third Lord, lived 
 in the old Manor House while at Livingston, for 
 nearly all the family had winter homes in New 
 York or Albany, as well as on the Livingston Manor. 
 
 Governor William Livingston of "Liberty Hall" 
 New Jersey, wrote his brother Robert from Tren- 
 ton in December of 1781 in reference to the visit 
 of one of his daughters to the Manor. 
 
 "Dear Brother: I hear that your very numerous 
 family is going to be increased by one of mine. I 
 fear Susan will be troublesome to a house so over- 
 run with company as yours. But my poor girls are 
 so terrified by the frequent incursions of the refu- 
 gees into Elizabethtown, that it is a kind of cruelty 
 to insist on their keeping at home, especially as 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 their mother chooses rather to submit to her pres- 
 ent solitary life, than to expose them to such dis- 
 agreeable apprehensions. But she herself will keep 
 her ground to save the place from being ruined, 
 and I must quit it to save my body from the Pro- 
 vost in New York, so that we are all scattered 
 about the country. But by the blessing of God, and 
 the instrumentality of General Washington and 
 Robert Morris, I hope we shall drive the devils to 
 old England before next June." 
 
 This letter tells the story of a house full of guests 
 at the low-browed old Manor House at Linlithgo, 
 and not a summer party, but at a time when the 
 roads were white with snow, and the river was a 
 pathway of ice. We may imagine that there were 
 merry sleighride parties, and that the slaves who 
 lived in the outhouses near the Manor House kept 
 the fires roaring in the great fire-places, and warm- 
 ing-pans ready for the Manor beds, in the effort to 
 keep out the one unwelcome guest. Jack Frost ; that 
 the apples and cider stored away in the cellars be- 
 neath the house, were greatly enjoyed by the 
 guests, and that Susan Livingston did not regret 
 that the troubles of war sent her to her uncle's for 
 a genuine Manor Christmas. 
 
 To a friend Governor Livingston speaks again of 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 his daughter, when it was the gayeties of the city 
 life which were giving her pleasure: 
 
 "My principal Secretary of State, which is one of 
 my daughters, is gone to New York to shake her 
 heels at the balls and assemblies of a metropolis, 
 which might as well be more studious of paying its 
 taxes than of instituting expensive diversions. * * 
 My secretary is as celebrated for writing a good 
 hand as her father is notorious for scribbling a bad 
 one. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 "WILLIAM LIVINGSTON." 
 
 This same William Livingston, the patriotic Gov- 
 ernor of New Jersey, had much mechanical talent, 
 and was fond of entertaining his leisure hours with 
 tools. He said to his daughter one day, "Come with 
 me, my dear, and see how many houses I own, and 
 how rich I am in real estate." She followed him, to 
 find in his study and workshop a large number of 
 wren houses, which he had made with great enjoy- 
 ment, and afterward put up on his piazza, and in 
 trees all over his place. He was also very fond of 
 children, and delighted in the visits of his sons 
 and daughters and their children. A letter writ- 
 ten to his son-in-law Mr. Ridley evinces this pleas- 
 ure to a marked degree. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 "Suppose, in reality, that you, and — and Mr. and 
 
 Mrs. Jay, and should come to Liberty Hall next 
 
 cherry time ; why then, with my romping with some 
 upon the piazza, and shooting robins with others 
 out of the mazzard trees, and talking and romping 
 with the elder boys and girls, and their fathers and 
 mothers around the table, I protest, as some ladies 
 say, that I would not exchange such a scene of hap- 
 piness for any gratification of the Grand Seigneur." 
 
 William Livingston's daughters were as welcome 
 guests at their uncle Robert's at Livingston Manor, 
 as the Schuyler girls were at the Lower Van Rens- 
 selaer Manor. In the maps of 1798, previously re- 
 ferred to, the old Manor House waves a flag or pen- 
 nant from its highest gables, and in the imagina- 
 tions of the Livingston girls of Liberty Hall, a flag 
 always waved from this happy country home. In 
 the spring time the breath of the trailing-arbutus, 
 blossoming under the leaves in the woods, and in 
 the fall the spicy odor of the Chancellor's rare 
 fruits, drew them toward the Livingston country. 
 
 During the war. Liberty Hall was open to much 
 hostile attention from the British, but the patriot- 
 ism of their father only bred greater loyalty to the 
 Colonies in the hearts of his children. In a letter 
 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 written by one of the Governor's daughters to a 
 friend in 1777, we gain a glimpse of the state of 
 things which sent Susan on a visit to the Manor 
 at a later date: 
 
 "K. has been to Elizabethtown, found our 
 
 house in a ruinous situation. General Dickenson had 
 stationed a Captain with his artillery company in it, 
 and after that it was kept for a bullock's guard. 
 
 K waited on the General, and he ordered the 
 
 troops removed the next day, but then the mis- 
 chief was done. Everything is carried off that 
 mama had collected for her accommodation, so that 
 it is impossible for her to go down to have the 
 grapes and other things secured, the very hinges, 
 locks and panes of glass are taken away." 
 
 A couple of years later her father wrote to his 
 daughter Catherine visiting in Philadelphia: 
 
 "I know there are a number of flirts in Philadel- 
 phia equally famed for their want of modesty, as 
 want of patriotism, who will triumph in our over- 
 complaisance to the Red Coat prisoners lately ar- 
 rived in that metropolis. I hope none of my con- 
 nections will imitate them, either in the dress of 
 their heads, or the still more Tory feelings of their 
 hearts." 
 
 "I am your affectionate father, 
 
 "WILLIAM LIVINGSTON." 
 
 In her eighteenth year Sarah Livingston married 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 Hon. John Jay, and to the same daughter as in the 
 previous letter, a few months later Governor Liv- 
 ingston wrote concerning them: 
 
 "I am obliged to Mr. Morris for his promise of 
 giving me the earliest intelligence of their arrival 
 in France. I hope his business with the four quar- 
 ters of the globe will not efface it from his memory. 
 I have already suffered more anxiety on their ac- 
 count than I should have imagined I could be affect- 
 ed by on any account. The tenderness of a parent's 
 heart can never be known till it is tried." 
 
 Miss Susan Livingston, who was her father's sec- 
 retary, proved her kinship to her patriotic parent, 
 when she saved his papers from the British on one 
 of their raids. Governor Livingston, being warned, 
 had left home at an early hour to escape capture by 
 the Red Coats, entrusting his valuable papers to 
 Susan's keeping. She placed the papers in a car- 
 riage box, and took them to a room in the upper 
 story, then climbed out of a window to watch the 
 approach of the soldiers. An officer, seeing her 
 there, warned her to go within, for she was in dan- 
 ger of being taken for a man and fired upon. She 
 turned to obey, but found it impossible to return 
 by the window, through which she had found so 
 easy egress. 
 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 Seeing her plight, the young officer entered the 
 house, and sprang up the stairs, lifting her in 
 through the window. With this vantage, she asked 
 his name, and upon its being given as "Lord Cath- 
 cart" with a sudden inspiration she appealed to him 
 for protection for a box of her own personal pos- 
 sessions, offering to open her father's library to the 
 soldiers. Her request was complied with, and the 
 box was guarded, while her father's library was ran- 
 sacked, with no results detrimental to the patriot 
 cause. 
 
 Mrs. Ellet gives a spicy letter from Kitty Living- 
 ston to her sister, Mrs. John Jay, in which many of 
 the members of the Manor families of the upper 
 Hudson, are mentioned. 
 
 "May 23rd, 1780." 
 "Lady Mary and Mrs. Watts have rented Mrs. 
 Montgomery's farm for two years; cousin Nancy 
 Brown is one of their family. Colonel Lewis has 
 purchased a house in Albany; one of the girls lives 
 there with Gittey. He and Robert have each pre- 
 sented Cousin Livingston with a granddaughter. 
 The Chancellor's is a remarkable fine child. Mrs. 
 Livingston never looked so well as she did the last 
 winter, and was so much admired in Philadelphia. 
 She and Mrs. Morris are inseparable; she was also 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 a first favorite of Mr. Morris. His esteem I think 
 very flattering. Robert is in Congress, and I believe 
 is at present there ; she is to accompany him in the 
 fall. General and Mrs. Schuyler are at Morristown. 
 The General is one of the three that compose a 
 Committee from Congress. They expect to be with 
 the army all summer. Mrs. Schuyler returns to 
 Albany when the campaign opens. Apropos : Betsey 
 Schuyler is engaged to our friend Colonel Hamilton. 
 She has been at Morristown, at Dr. Cochrane's since 
 last February. Morristown continues to be lively." 
 
 It was this same Kitty Livingston who married 
 Matthew Ridley of Baltimore, and who sent the fol- 
 lowing order to Nantes. In a return letter from 
 John Jay dated Madrid, Jan. 21st, 1782, he hopes 
 that at least one of the parcels may reach its des- 
 tination : 
 
 "Be pleased to send for Miss Kitty W. Livingston, 
 to the care of Hon. R. Morris, Esq., at Philadelphia, 
 by the first three good vessels bound there, the 
 three following parcels, viz. 
 
 "No. 1 to contain 2 white embroidered patterns 
 for shoes; 4 pair of silk stockings; a pattern for a 
 Negligee of light colored silk, with a set of ribbons 
 suitable to it; 6 pairs of kid gloves; 6 yards of cat- 
 gut and capuire in proportion ; 6 yards of white silk 
 gauze." 
 
 "No. 2 to contain the same as above, except the 
 silk for the Negligee must not be pink colored, but 
 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 of any color that Mrs. Johnson may think fashion- 
 able and pretty. The shoes and ribbons may be 
 adapted to it." 
 
 "No. 3 to contain the same as above, except that 
 the silk for the Negligee must be of a different col- 
 or from the other two, and the shoes and ribbons 
 of a proper color to be worn with it." 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting of the incidents con- 
 nected with the patriotic Kitty Livingston's career, 
 was the letter General Washington sent her, from 
 Valley Forge. 
 
 "General Washington having been informed late- 
 ly of the honor done him by Miss Kitty Livingston 
 in wishing for a lock of his hair, takes the liberty of 
 inclosing one, accompanied by his most respectful 
 compliments." 
 
 These girls, among the other cousins, continued 
 to come and go at the Livingston Manor, and in 
 time their children came also. The journey on the 
 sloop up river was of itself a great pleasure. The 
 sloops often sailed in little fleets, with possibly 
 friends and acquaintances on the neighboring white- 
 winged vessels. Sailing through the beautiful 
 Highlands by day, and anchoring at night under 
 some craggy shelter where the whip-poor-will, or 
 some splashing fish, made eerie noises in the shad- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 ows, and the sky above their heads swept in a great 
 dark circle spangled with countless stars, was an 
 experience to look forward to with joy. 
 
 All along the wharves of the upper Hudson were 
 waiting relatives. The Chancellor's, Madam Liv- 
 ingston's, and John Livingston's houses were all 
 near the river, and on the days when sloops were 
 expected, there were sure to be some members of 
 the Manor families awaiting merchandise, and oth- 
 ers with an eager welcome for the expected guests. 
 
 On the Manor road which ran further inland, 
 lived the "Widow Livingston," Henry W. Living- 
 ston, and General Harry Livingston in his bachelor 
 hall, while at the crossing of the Manor-road and 
 the postroad was the home of Walter Tryon Liv- 
 ingston, youngest son of Peter R. Livingston. This 
 house at the crossroads held one son and six daugh- 
 ters who added a large share to the life and interest 
 of the Livingston country. Surely Livingston 
 Manor was a place of which one might dream, and 
 toward which the traveler would turn joyful and 
 willing feet. 
 
 Out of the happy visits to the Manor in the early 
 
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THE FIRST ROBERT LIVINGSTON. 
 
 days, we have the printed record of a romantic out- 
 come. Mrs. Lamb writes: 
 
 "The newspapers in November, 1796, chronicle a 
 marriage and reception at the Governor's mansion, 
 as follows : 'Married on the 3rd, at his Excellency's 
 John Jay, Governor, Government House, John Liv- 
 ingston of Livingston Manor, to Mrs. Catherine 
 Ridley, daughter of the late Governor William Liv- 
 ingston.' The bride was Mrs. Jay's accomplished 
 and piquant sister, Kitty Livingston, who in 1787 
 became the wife of Matthew Ridley of Baltimore, 
 and after a brief wedded happiness was left a wid- 
 ow." 
 
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CHAPTER XXVII. 
 MANOR JUNKETINGS. 
 
 John Livingston, a son of Robert, had built his 
 house at Oak Hill in 1798. The walls, like those of 
 the old Manor were very thick, and built of brick 
 made on the estate, the woodwork also was con- 
 structed from trees hewn from the Manor forests. 
 The old Lord's wide acres provided for all the needs 
 of a household from the foundations to the roof. 
 Within were deep window-seats, the stairs with old 
 fashioned comfortable landings, and high mantels 
 decorated with the beautiful putty-work figures of 
 the past. 
 
 There were variations in the building of the vari- 
 ous Manor Houses, but in each were the furnishings 
 of the colonial period, Chippendale chairs, high- 
 post, elaborately festooned bedsteads, pier glasses, 
 and inlaid tables, beautiful little sewing tables 
 which held the embroidery of the lady of the Manor 
 in its tiny drawers, and many times some rare toy 
 
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MANOR JUNKETINGS. 
 
 for the pleasure of the child who hung about its 
 mother's knees, as she traced the fine stitches in 
 her needle work. Embroidering chair-seats was a 
 favorite occupation of the Manor ladies and their 
 guests. One of these pieces of needle-work made by 
 a daughter of Chancellor Livingston is still pre- 
 served. There were treasures in silver and china 
 also, much of the silver being inherited from the 
 first Lord Robert, and marked with the family crest. 
 There is a pen portrait of John Livingston written 
 by one of his descendants, which almost brings the 
 genial and courtly proprietor of Oak Hill into our 
 presence, after the passing of over a century. "His 
 style of dress was that worn by all the courtly gen- 
 tlemen of the olden time, — a black dress coat with 
 knee breeches fastened over his black silk stockings 
 with silver buckles; similar buckles of a larger size 
 were in his shoes. He had a high forehead, beau- 
 tiful blue eyes, a straight nose and very determined 
 mouth. His hair was carefully dressed every morn- 
 ing, the long queue was rewound, the whole head 
 plentifully besprinkled with powder, and the small 
 curls that had remained in papers during breakfast 
 time, adjusted on each side of his neck." 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 The Livingstons were still buying land and build- 
 ing saw-mills and flour-mills, and managing iron 
 works as in earlier days of the Manor, only the 
 purchases were made now in distant parts of the 
 State, and in western lands. 
 
 There were dinner parties in those days where 
 one great house entertained the guests of another; 
 evening gatherings of neighbors dropping in unex- 
 pectedly on moonlight nights, "water picnics" in 
 summer, and sleighride and skating parties in win- 
 ter, with laughter and frolic. When the river was 
 a glare of new ice after three zero nights, the ven- 
 turesome spirits among the young people might 
 stray down to its banks and embark on some swift- 
 flying ice boat, skimming over the surface of the 
 black ice before the wind hearing the resounding 
 noises of cracks in the new ice, avoiding air holes 
 where groups of wild birds quenched their thirst 
 in a circle about the open water, sweeping on with a 
 thrill of excitement and pleasure over the wide ex- 
 panse of the frozen river, while the cold winds blew 
 down from the north, and the sky hung a half circle 
 of steely blue over their heads, and the sun in tht 
 
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MANOR JUNKETINGS. 
 
 west sent comforting rays of warmth through their 
 chilled bodies. 
 
 Less exciting, but still having the form of novel- 
 ty, were the river sleigh-rides, when the fallen snow 
 had turned the Hudson into a great white thorough- 
 fare, and a sleigh-ride party, on a starry night drove 
 up or down the river to their destination, wrapped 
 in warm robes with soap stones at their feet, and a 
 tingle of joy in the air, yet glad to reach the door 
 thrown wide open into the night, flooding the snow 
 with a cheerful light, where warmth and welcome 
 awaited them. Often they danced till the small 
 hours in the long drawing-rooms, where the chill 
 in the distant corners sent the dancers back to the 
 nearer circles about the crackling log fires in the 
 great fire places. At Oak Hill alone there were nine 
 sons and daughters, and the many groups of cous- 
 ins of the different Manor Houses with their 
 guests, made a merry company of almost any neigh- 
 borhood gathering. 
 
 All the Livingstons were ship-owners, and the 
 sloops at the docks were a perpetual temptation on 
 the blossoming days of spring, or in the balmy 
 summer time, or during the glorious autumn days. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 "Our two voyages" (to New York and back) "oc- 
 cupied nine days and seven hours," wrote one of 
 the voyagers, "and we were received at Oak Hill 
 with as hearty a welcome as if we had performed 
 the journey around the world." 
 
 The Manor servants were still negro slaves, and 
 
 the slaves on John Livingston's estate lived in the 
 
 basement of the great house. They had a happy 
 
 and an easy time, if we may trust a humorous 
 
 sketch in a newspaper of later date: 
 
 "At Oak Hill, John Livingston resided, and owned 
 a whole flock of negroes, the fattest, and the laziest, 
 and the sauciest set of darkies that every lay in the 
 sunshine. They worked little and ate much, and 
 whenever there was a horse-race or a pig-shave at 
 the 'Stauchy' (Staatje), the negroes must have the 
 horses, even if the master should be obliged to go 
 about his business on foot. When they visited Cats- 
 kill in tasseled boots and ruffled shirts, they were 
 sure to create a sensation, and it was not unusual 
 for the 'poor whites' to sigh for the sumptuous hap- 
 piness of John Livingston's slaves." 
 
 Washington Irving gives a graphic account of a 
 
 visit to one of the Livingston Manor Houses in a 
 
 letter written in the early part of 1812 to his friend 
 
 Henry Brevoort: 
 
 274 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
^^M 
 
 
 1 miUHSfSKfi^-^'i^ti^ ' iS-JBSKm 
 
 i^W'*'*' »' ' '^"^if*. 
 
 IJJ^rlM.J 
 
 rolj'* 
 
 i"^^ "^ 
 
 CLERMONT OR THE "LOWER MANOR" 
 
 Built in 3730, and burned by tUt British during the Revolution. Rebuilt 
 by the State under the direction of "Brave Margaret Beekman," 
 the widow of Judge Robert R. Livingston. 
 Present Residence of John Henry Livingston. 
 
 jS£9& *V'-<^w'%A^ 
 
 M 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 ■pys 
 
 ^iS.mll/S^ 
 
 j|BjfcJjffi|HHi 
 
 pi 
 
 "pK^i! 
 
 -^PH 
 
 
 _ , 
 
 
 " 
 
 "j^yl^^^^B 
 
 
 
 . - -awmmKi 
 
 CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTONS HOME 
 
 This house was built by Chancellor Living.?ton after the Revolution. 
 Otvned by Mrs. John Henry Livingston. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
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MANOR JUNKETINGS. 
 
 "From the Captain's I proceeded to the country 
 seat of John R. Livingston where I remained for a 
 week, in complete fairyland. His seat is spacious 
 and elegant, with fine grounds around it, and the 
 neighborhood is very gay and hospitable. I dined 
 twice at the Chancellor's, and once at old Mrs. Mont- 
 gomery's. Our own household was numerous and 
 charming. In addition to the ladies of the family, 
 there were Miss McEvers and Miss Haywood. Had 
 you but seen me, happy rogue, up to my ears in "an 
 ocean of peacock feathers,' or rather 'like a straw- 
 berry smothered in cream!' The mode of living at 
 the Manor is exactly after my own heart." 
 
 "You have every variety of rural amusement 
 within your reach, and are left to yourself to occupy 
 your time as you please. We made several charm- 
 ing excursions, and you may suppose how delightful 
 they were, through such beautiful scenery, with 
 such fine women to accompany you. They surpassed 
 even our Sunday morning rambles among the groves 
 on the banks of the Hudson, when you and the di- 
 vine H were so tender and sentimental, and you 
 
 displayed your horsemanship so gallantly by leaping 
 over a three-barred gate." 
 
 The "Widow Mary" or "Lady Mary Livingston," 
 both of which titles belonged to her, was a marked 
 personality in the Manor life of the early years of 
 the nineteenth century. She had been a Miss Allen 
 of Allentown when she married Henry W. Living- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 stone, whom she survived forty-five years. Like 
 Margaret Beekman of Revolutionary fame, and 
 Catherine Schuyler, she built a mansion upon a com- 
 manding eminence, whose substantial elegance, has 
 withstood the march of time, and whose beauty has 
 never been excelled in any of the Manor Houses. 
 
 The "Widow Mary" Livingston was a woman of 
 strong character who conducted her vast estate, 
 brought up her family, built houses for her sons, 
 and entertained widely and hospitably, as did all 
 the Livingston wives before her. An old lady of 
 Claverack who made her an afternoon call as a 
 child, never forgot the grandeur of the great hall, the 
 dignified "Lady Mary," with her high Swiss cap, 
 which she was in the habit of carrying from place 
 to place in a basket when traveling, the dark-faced 
 butler in swallow-tails, with his mammoth silver 
 tray, which he lowered hospitably before the child 
 and her father, offering them cake and wine at 
 his mistress' command. 
 
 The "Widow Mary" loved a garden, and from 
 some far-away place imported the snap-dragon of 
 our fields today. In neighborly kindness she pre- 
 
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MANOR JUNKETINGS. 
 
 sented a portion of her yellow-blossoming plant to 
 the wife of Colonel Henry I. Van Rensselaer at the 
 Stone Mills, and the hardy little flower showing 
 wild instincts when planted in a box-bordered flower 
 bed, wandered all over the Livingston and Van 
 Rensselaer Manors, and crept through all the Manor 
 fences into the farm-yards and flelds, till the "Wid- 
 ow Mary's" golden blossom is one of the best known 
 wild flowers of Columbia County today. 
 
 It was this same neighbor. Colonel Henry I. Van 
 Rensselaer, who aspired to have the first buggy in 
 this part of the country, so placed his wood in the 
 mill-pond to season for a year, at the end of which 
 time the buggy was constructed, and presumably 
 had the same durable qualtities as the "wonderful 
 one-horse shay" of New England fame. 
 
 Four Henry W. Livingstons have descended in a 
 straight line from the first Henry W. Livingston, 
 the husband of "Lady Mary." At the death of one 
 of them in the long ago, a whole ox was roasted to 
 entertain the great gathering of people who attend- 
 ed the funeral. These were also the days when the 
 minister and pall-bearers attended funerals clad in 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 long pleated scarfs of white linen, fastened with 
 black rosettes, and wearing black gloves. 
 
 To the first fifty years of the Republic belonged 
 Robert, the last Lord of Livingston Manor; his 
 brother, Peter Van Brugh, a merchant of New 
 York, and active in the Provincial Congress; John, 
 also a merchant of New York ; Philip, the "Signer ;" 
 Henry; William, Governor of New Jersey, and 
 father of Brockholst Livingston, Judge of the State 
 Supreme Court, and Assistant Justice of the United 
 States Court; Sarah, wife of Major-General Alex- 
 ander, Earl of Stirling; Alida (Mrs. Martin Hoff- 
 man) ; Catherine (Mrs. John L Lawrence) . 
 
 Of the children of the last Lord Robert who be- 
 long to this same period, was Peter R. Livingston, 
 who was President of the Convention of the State 
 of New York in 1776; Chairman of the New York 
 Committee of Safety ; Colonel of the 10th Regiment 
 from Albany County in 1775, but was detained from 
 leading his men to the field by his duties to the 
 State at that time, his younger brother, Henry, 
 leading the Regiment as Lieutenant-Colonel. Peter 
 R. began to build before the war, what he had in- 
 
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MANOR JUNKETINGS. 
 
 tended to be his grand Manor House. The Revolu- 
 tion doing away with the entail brought his hopes 
 to an end, and the house, with its solid foundation 
 was never finished, simply a roof being placed over 
 the first story .It has ever since gone under the 
 name of the "Hermitage". At a later date his 
 nephew and namesake held the office of Judge of 
 the Court of Common Pleas of Columbia County. 
 
 Walter Livingston, the second son of the last 
 Lord of the Manor, was a member of the Provincial 
 Congress, and first custodian of the United States 
 Treasury. His home was at "Teviotdale," which 
 later came to be called "Fulton House," after the 
 marriage of Walter's daughter Harriet to Robert 
 Fulton, and their residence in this beautiful coun- 
 try home during many of the summers of their 
 early married life. Robert C. was a merchant of 
 New York and Jamaica, "C." standing for Cam- 
 bridge University, where he was educated, and to 
 distinguish him from the many other Roberts. 
 John, for whom Johnstown was named, and who 
 built Oak Hill, and General Harry, of Revolutionary 
 fame, completed the sons, to whom were added 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 Maria, who married Judge James Duane ; Alida, the 
 wife of Valentine Gardner, and Mrs. John Patter- 
 son. 
 
 The life of Livingston Manor a century ago be- 
 longs to the picturesque past, when great political 
 service and large land and mercantile enterprises 
 were combined with a home life, whose junketings 
 and visitings, "water-picnics" and sloop journeys, 
 and coaching parties, ended around the festal board 
 of some Lord of the Manor, whose hospitality was 
 as far-famed as were the beauty and grace of the 
 Lady of the Manor, and the hearty welcome of his 
 sons and daughters. 
 
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CHAFER XXVIII. 
 CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTON. 
 
 While Claverack's nearest neighbor, the town of 
 Hudson, was progressing so rapidly, the quiet Dutch 
 village and country-side were not forgetting their 
 older neighbors and friends in Livingston and Cler- 
 mont. 
 
 Chancellor Livingston's residence held a promi- 
 nent place among the important homes of the up- 
 per Hudson. He had married a daughter of that 
 John Stevens who owned the most of the site of 
 Hoboken, and who was also a sister of the second 
 John Stevens, the builder of the first ocean-going 
 steamer. Her charming presence in the home add- 
 ed to the luster and renown of its hospitalities. 
 
 Each step of the Chancellor's advance had been 
 watched with interest, from his selection as the 
 Secretary of Foreign Affairs, to the appointment 
 of Chancellor of the State of New York, and when 
 the State Convention met at the old Van Kleeck 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 house at Poughkeepsie to consider the Constitution, 
 with the Chancellor, Philip Livingston, Hamilton, 
 Jay, and Philip Schuyler among its warmest advo- 
 cates, no section of the State was more alive to its 
 outcome, than that along Chancellor Livingston's 
 own stretch of the river, on the east side of the 
 Hudson. 
 
 During the six weeks in which the debates con- 
 tinued, the subject was equally, if not as learnedly 
 discussed through the country-side, and at last, 
 when it was known that New York had uncondi- 
 tionally ratified the Constitution, the friends of its 
 advocates, both personal and political, in Claverack, 
 Livingston and Clermont, were jubilant, and the 
 publication in the newspapers of the Constitution 
 of the United States in full, found most earnest and 
 interested readers in the men of the upper Hudson. 
 
 At the Lower Manor of Claverack, there was a 
 double reason for rejoicing. Part of the Constitu- 
 tion had been drafted by Alexander Hamilton in 
 one of the rooms of General Schuyler's house at 
 Albany. As in other cases, it was a family as well 
 as a State affair, and on the evening of the an- 
 
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CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTON. 
 
 nouncement of the ratification, the Schuyler man- 
 sion was brilliantly illuminated in celebration of 
 the great Federal victory. 
 
 In 1801 Chancellor Livingston was appointed, by 
 President Jefferson, as ambassador to the Court of 
 France during the First Napoleon's reign, and his 
 negotiations for the purchase of Louisiana, the suc- 
 cessful conclusion of which doubled the extent of 
 the country, giving the United States the whole val- 
 ley of the Mississippi, the Rocky Mountains, the 
 great plains, and a large stretch of the Pacific 
 slopes, could not but excite intense interest in his 
 fellow countrymen. 
 
 He returned from his stay in France to enter 
 heartily, with Robert Fulton, into the plans for the 
 first steamboat, proving himself an ideal friend, as 
 well as an able coadjutor in the great project. In 
 the absence of public encouragement in their ven- 
 ture, Fulton and Livingston found in each other a 
 mutual inspiration, which carried them on a wave 
 of courage and hope toward their great final achieve- 
 ment. 
 
 Though prominent in so many events of national 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS. 
 
 importance, the Chancellor's interest in country life, 
 its possibilities and improvements, gave his estate 
 at Clermont a warm place in his regard, and his 
 opinions in agricultural matters a value with the 
 farmers of the section. He was keenly alive to all 
 of nature's blessings, delighted in producing rare 
 varieties of fruit, and was instrumental in intro- 
 ducing the race of Merino sheep into the United 
 States. He himself owned at one time a flock of 
 one thousand sheep of this breed, and a neighbor 
 of his, Beriah Pease, who kept a flock on the "Fon- 
 da Hill Farm," gave the name, "Mount Merino," to 
 the sightly elevation at the south of the city of 
 Hudson. 
 
 His own home at Clermont was eloquent of the 
 Chancellor's love of nature and the charms of a 
 country life. The spacious mansion which he built 
 a little south of the one which was burned during 
 the war of the Revolution, had a river front of over 
 one hundred feet and was almost as deep, built in 
 the form of the letter H. In one of its wings the 
 Chancellor is said to have had a fine library of over 
 four thousand volumes, and the house itself was 
 
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CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTON. 
 
 furnished with beautiful tapestry and furniture spe- 
 cially imported from France by its owner. The 
 silver service was also among the most magnificent 
 of its time. Outside of the house were wide-sweep- 
 ing lawns on three sides, skirted by the virgin for- 
 ests, and the beguiling water-view of the Hudson 
 river and Catskill mountains. 
 
 There were long planted avenues of favorite trees, 
 favorable to a study of the Chancellor's views on 
 the subject of tree-culture, and offering his guests 
 enticing walks in the early dew-crowned morning, 
 and the hours of sunset, or the witching hours of 
 moonlight. These vistas of tree-planted avenues 
 could tell stories of lengthy discussions of a political 
 nature, between statesmen who found at the Chan- 
 cellor's home a place of relaxation from the strain 
 of the jarring world, or of younger people who 
 met there at house parties, and found the dignity 
 and charm of their surroundings conducive to the 
 play of fancy, and the growth of sentiment. This 
 house of history and story, with its past association, 
 was still standing at the time of the Hudson-Fulton 
 Celebration, but was burned the month following. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 So courtly were the Chancellor's manner, so up- 
 right his integrity, so full of honor the acts of his 
 public life, it is not strange that his presence at 
 Clermont was most highly esteemed. A student of 
 men and of books, a man keenly interested in scien- 
 tific pursuits, his life was a broad one, carrying 
 through all its manifold activities a strong faith in 
 God, as the guide and director of the lives of men. 
 
 Under Chancellor Livingston's name and the date 
 of birth in the family Bible, one reads the prayer, 
 "The Lord bless and be with him. Amen." 
 
 His friendships were strong, one of the closest 
 being that with John Jay, who was his law partner 
 for a short time in his early life. The correspond- 
 ence of the two great men is among the gems of 
 literature. 
 
 The Chancellor often ended his letters to his 
 friends with "God bless you," as his ultimate wish 
 for their well-being. When he died in 1813 the 
 grief along the Clover-reach of the Hudson held a 
 peculiar quality, in which respect and proprietor- 
 ship, pride and eflfection, were equally mingled. 
 
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CHAPTER XXIX. 
 EARLY RESIDENTS OF CLAVERACK. 
 
 The perpetual leases given by the Van Rensse- 
 laers of the Lower Manor were considered equivalent 
 to a sale, and brought to Claverack a class of men 
 whose distinction gave the town a reputation be- 
 yond that of the settlements of the neighboring 
 Manors, and whose family residences compared 
 favorably with the Manor Houses. 
 
 William Henry Ludlow came to Claverack from 
 New York some years before the War, and opened 
 a grain store. As the raising and selling of crops 
 was the business of farms for miles around, and 
 Claverack was the place of exchange between the 
 country and the "Landing," this business was of 
 great importance. All traces of this first grain depot 
 have passed away, but the fine colonial mansion 
 which Mr. Ludlow built in 1786 still stands, and 
 hanging upon its walls are the portraits of many of 
 the early settlers of Claverack, and the branch of 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 the Livingston family with which they intermar- 
 ried, for back and forth between these two great 
 estates came the sons and grandsons of the Lords 
 of the Manors, seeking wives among the daughters 
 of those who had bought farms, and built homes 
 in this section of the country. 
 
 The first owner of the Ludlow mansion and his 
 wife with their high-bred faces, the merchant of 
 that day in ruffled shirt and with lace dropping 
 over his hands, look across the room into the faces 
 of Robert Morris, the son of Chief Justice Richard 
 Morris of "Bob Hill" fame, a prominent man of his 
 day, and his wife, a sweet old lady in dotted-net cap, 
 with kerchief and lace shawl below, and the taper- 
 ing fingers of her time. The two families intermar- 
 ried after the War, and later again with the family 
 of Robert Fulton, whose portrait by Benjamin West 
 holds an honored place among the rest ; and all these 
 pictures of the Claverack families of the past show 
 gentle blood and courtly bearing. 
 
 Most of these earlier families built a second 
 house, which is the one which stands today. This 
 was the case with the Millers who descended from 
 
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EARLY RESIDENTS OF CLAVERACK. 
 
 Cornelius Stephense Muldor who bought his thou- 
 sand acres from the first proprietor of the Lower 
 Manor. This family sent its branches into as many 
 important positions in life at its acres were broad. 
 The old Race homestead in Claverack occupies a 
 portion of the old Miller estate. Here Court Mar- 
 tials were held during the Revolution. Cornelius 
 S. Miller was a member of the Vigilance Committee, 
 appointed to arrest Tories who were often confined 
 in the cellar of his house, as were also delinquents 
 of the Claverack regiment under the command of 
 Colonel Robert Van Rensselaer. Killian Miller was 
 Member of Congress and County Clerk, Stephen 
 was a Presidential Elector and Member of Assem- 
 bly, Hon. John I. Miller was Judge of the Court 
 of Common Pleas in 1808 and Senator in 1821-22. 
 They held military commissions, and were promi- 
 nent in political life, both at that time and in later 
 years. "On one occasion according to the late 
 Joseph D. Monell, after a sharp political contest in 
 which Cornelius S. Miller was successful, the young 
 men of the town attached ropes to his gig and drew 
 him home in triumph, Mr. Monell participating." 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 This branch of the Miller family continued to use 
 Dutch in its family intercourse long after English 
 was in common use, which would lead us to infer 
 that they were among those lovers of the tongue 
 of the home-land, who stipulated that the "Dutch 
 call should remain unaltered, integer, as it stood," 
 when an English colleague was called to assist 
 Domine Gebhard. 
 
 Stephen Miller of this family, carried on a store 
 of similar importance to that of Mr. Ludlow from 
 1790-1834 known as the "old store" which was said 
 to have been "a central point of trade and barter, 
 where the farmers for miles around gathered to 
 obtain their supplies." Previous to the time of 
 railroads, transportation was carried on by wagons 
 and sloops, and the country roads were never quiet 
 or untraveled even in unpleasant weather. A store- 
 keeper of Hudson, who was interested in this travel- 
 ing wagon-trade, tells in his journal written in 1816 
 of a ride to Austerlitz, a distance of twenty miles, 
 on which trip he counted seventy-two farmers go- 
 ing, and seventy-six returning. A country-store on 
 the road to the "Landing" held an important place 
 in those days. 
 
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EARLY RESIDENTS OF CLAVERACK. 
 
 Killian Hogeboom emigrated from Holland, bring- 
 ing an infant son Jeremiah with him, soon after 
 Hendrick Van Rensselaer came into possession of 
 the Lower Manor. His son Johannes was born in 
 Claverack, and was the father of eleven children. 
 There seems to have been room for any number 
 of children to grow and prosper on the Claverack 
 farms, some of the Claverack families numbering 
 among their relatives one hundred own cousins. 
 Cornelius Hogeboom, one of Columbia County's first 
 Sheriffs, who was killed by Anti-renters in 1791 
 was a son of Johannes. Judge John C. Hogeboom 
 his grandson, was said by his contemporaries in po- 
 litical life to have been "one of nature's great men," 
 who, while rendering marked political service to his 
 State, won the respect and admiration of both 
 friends and opponents. 
 
 Jeremiah Hogeboom was prominent in public life, 
 as was also Stephen, his son, who was often Member 
 of the Assembly and of the Constitutional Conven- 
 tion in 1801, also serving as State Senator. One of 
 his daughters married General Samuel B. Webb who 
 came to Claverack to reside after the Revolutionary 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 War. General Webb had a most distinguished mili- 
 tary career. "Hearing of the battle of Lexington he 
 went to Boston in command of a company of light 
 infantry, was engaged and wounded at Bunker Hill, 
 was subsequently aide to Gen. Putnam, and private 
 secretary and aide-de-camp to General Washington. 
 He was engaged in the battle of Long Island, wound- 
 ed at White Plains and again at Trenton, and was in 
 action at Brandywine. In 1777 he raised the third 
 Connecticut regiment, which was captured by the 
 British fleet. Colonel Weblj was not exchanged till 
 1780, when he took command of the light infantry, 
 with the brevet rank of Brigadier-General." Soon 
 after he made Claverack his place of residence, he 
 made an important journey to New York. This was 
 at the time of the Inauguration of George Washing- 
 ton as President of the United States, upon which 
 occasion he held the Bible upon which the Presi- 
 dent took the oath of office. 
 
 General Webb lived in one of the houses built by 
 the Hogebooms after an ancient Dutch model, about 
 the year 1760. Here in 1802 the General's son 
 
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EARLY RESIDENTS OF CLAVERACK. 
 
 James Watson Webb was born, and until the house 
 was burned in 1890 it was considered one of Clav- 
 erack's most interesting landmarks. While holding 
 important historical prominence, it possessed at a 
 later day an interest forever connecting it with the 
 glad Christmas season, for it was in one of its old 
 fashioned rooms, that a descendant of the Hoge- 
 booms wrote that time-honored Christmas rhyme, 
 "The Night Before Christmas." The picture paint- 
 ed of the silent house, the broad chimney accommo- 
 dated to the descent of St. Nicholas, and the sleep- 
 ing children, all took place beneath its Dutch roof, 
 and the prancing horses bringing "St. Nick" and his 
 Christmas toys, were supposed to have been gallop- 
 ing over the gambrel roofs of Claverack. A ride 
 with children at a later date always embraced the 
 road past the Webb house and its Christmas story. 
 The Esselstyns came from Holland in 1659, and 
 Marten Cornelise Ysselsteyn was one of the four- 
 teen original proprietors of Schenectady, but the 
 charms of Claverack drew him away from his orig- 
 inal purchase, and in 1668 he sold his farm for three 
 hundred and thirty beaver skins, and ultimately 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 settled in Claverack, where he leased a large tract 
 of land, and to the seventh generation, Claverack 
 still holds his descendants residing on the ancestral 
 estate. We have no record as to whether the "beav- 
 er skins" paid for the new purchase, but the change 
 of residence from Schenectady to Claverack does 
 not seem ever to have been regretted. Military 
 honors were plentiful in this family. Richard E. 
 was a Captain and a Major in the Continental army, 
 while his son Jacob, following in his father's foot- 
 steps, went forth at fifteen to fight for his country, 
 and was a Major in the war of 1812. "The Essel- 
 styns and Millers have at various times held nearly, 
 if not all, the public offices in the county." 
 
 The Van Nesses, than whom no family stood high- 
 er in social and political life in the first fifty years 
 of the Republic, have been already mentioned in the 
 fruitage of eminent men who gave renown to Wash- 
 ington Seminary. This family was one of the earli- 
 est of those who built their homes along the Kolder- 
 berg (Post hill) ; and who gave to that beautiful 
 thoroughfare the name of being a very aristocratic 
 section of Claverack. 
 
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EARLY RESIDENTS OF CLAVERACK. 
 
 The descendants of Samuel Ten Broeck, who mar- 
 ried Maria Van Rensselaer, the eldest daughter of 
 Hendrick, and who, with his wife, were the first to 
 live in Hendrick Van Rensselaer's new Manor 
 House, remained in Claverack to the third and 
 fourth generation, owning a tract of land now di- 
 vided into four farms. Samuel Ten Broeck was 
 one of the committee appointed to erect the first 
 church in 1726. Adam Ten Broeck served seven 
 years in the War, and William Ten Broeck of this 
 family was one of the "voorlesers" of the old Dutch 
 Church. 
 
 Like Captain Conyn, Fitz Muzigh of Livingston 
 was hung up in his own cellar by the Tories, and 
 was most fortunately rescued by a neighbor. His 
 son Hendrick acquired "a tenth lease" of one Wil- 
 liam Snyder of Claverack, with the consent of Colo- 
 nel Johannes Van Rensselaer, agreeing to pay him 
 "one-tenth of all the produce and four fat hens 
 annually." Upon this farm he built a house in 
 1770. This house is still the property of his de- 
 scendants, but the purchase in 1809 of the summer 
 home of Hendrick Van Rensselaer, and their long 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 residence there, has associated the Mesick name in- 
 delibly with this quaint old house, whose high ridge 
 and sloping roof still remain, though the gambrel 
 roof of the Van Rensselaer Manor days at the back 
 has undergone change. This family have also held 
 military commissions and filled civil offices, the 
 first Lieutenant's commission being signed by Cad- 
 wallader Golden in 1764. 
 
 The Tobias Van Deusen house was built in 1742 
 with gambrel roof, and its gable end to the road 
 once bore the date 1742 in figures over a foot long. 
 Tobias 1st married a Scotch lady of Linlithgo, and 
 his son James, a daughter of Robert Hathaway, one 
 of the early settlers of Hudson, who was a ship 
 owner who sent "ventures" to the West Indies. This 
 couple seem to have been among the pioneers of 
 the Dutch residents of Claverack who entered into 
 marriage with the New Englanders of Hudson. 
 
 Steadily in the early years after the "Proprietors" 
 from Providence and Nantucket, bought land for a 
 town from Peter Hogeboom and the Widow Hardick, 
 one house after another was built by the Quakers 
 on the turnpike road to Claverack. Equally as 
 
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EARLY RESIDENTS OF CLAVERACK. 
 
 steadily Claverack poured her citizens into the new 
 town of Hudson, till eventually there came to be the 
 mixed Dutch and Quaker race which are residents 
 of this section today. 
 
 Time would fail to tell of the Rossmans and Hoff- 
 mans, the Philips and Russells, the Delamaters and 
 Le Roys, Leggetts and Schumakers and Flemings 
 and many others who have wrought large deeds for 
 the well-being of Claverack, and often for their 
 native State as well. Are they not all written in 
 the County and State records and in every history 
 of Claverack? 
 
 It is the women of these families who raised 
 housefuls of children, who saw their sons occupy 
 positions of honor generation after generation, and 
 their daughters marry and repeat their mothers' 
 lives, of whom it is difficult to find the records, yet 
 these were a mighty factor in the life of Claverack. 
 We read it best in the quaint household utensils 
 that tell of their daily labors, in the work of their 
 hands in quilts and spreads, woolen sheets and wov- 
 en coverlids made by their industrious fingers, by 
 the beautiful embroideries of dress and furniture, 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 the samplers with their virtuous rhymes, and the 
 more impressive picture samplers, whose subjects 
 were wont to be of tomb-stones and weeping wil- 
 lows, and wooden-armed mourners, hiding wooden 
 features through the handkerchiefs held before 
 their eyes. 
 
 Occasionally there are favorite books to be found, 
 very grave treatises on manners and personal piety, 
 with a pressed leaf or flower between the leaves, or 
 a worked card-board book-mark of as serious a de- 
 sign as the samplers. 
 
 There are tender family stories laid away as it 
 were in lavender, by some lover of her ancestors; 
 or some ludicrous incident of the long ago held fast 
 in a humorous memory. Sometimes one hears of a 
 merry group of girls, the village beauties, and how 
 many proposals they each boasted, giving their de- 
 scendants the impression that proposals of mar- 
 riage were as common and constant as the gen- 
 tleman's attentions to his lady, and that the chosen 
 wife at last, had she known, must have felt like the 
 end belle of a long line. 
 
 After all this, — from which we picture the woman 
 
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EARLY RESIDENTS OF CLAVERACK. 
 
 of the past, — there are still occasional portraits so 
 charming and characteristic, that one may read be- 
 tween the lines, and see the haughty dame whose 
 head was carried high, the gentle matron whose 
 heart is shown in her face, the sunshiny eyes and 
 humorous curves to the lips in another frame, the 
 serene faces of the women who were mothers at 
 sixteen, the sad and the glad, — and we gain a fresh 
 insight into the personalities of our fore-mothers. 
 
 Thus we come to know the women of yesterday, 
 who are in no records, yet who graced the homes 
 of Claverack and of other colonial towns, who visit- 
 ed each other, rejoicing and weeping with their 
 friends in turn, who filled their days with earnest 
 labors, who walked the village streets, and were 
 driven over the roads, and tripped across lots as 
 their descendants do today, pleased with the first 
 wild flowers, tending their gardens, planting tiny 
 trees that now shade us from the heat of the sum- 
 mer sun, watching the glistening icicles that hung 
 to the pine-needles, and the snow drifts that blocked 
 the road and hid the fences, owning and loving the 
 world they lived in, and their husbands and chil- 
 dren in that time of long ago. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 Through this Claverack world of men and women 
 and children, Domine Gebhard walked for fifty 
 years, social and vivacious, but always dignified and 
 courteous, his personal amiability making him a 
 peacemaker in the congregation, and as a pastor a 
 most welcome visitor, carrying with him to his out- 
 skirting churches a genial fellowship as well as a 
 clerical blessing. Dr. Currie says of him, "He was 
 a learned and a good man, and in the fullest sense 
 of the term a gentleman. He was distinguished for 
 his sagacity, his knowledge of human nature, his 
 prudence, and his self-control." One of the de- 
 scendants of these families of the past has written 
 of him, "For nearly half a century Domine Geb- 
 hard filled a large place, albeit a man of small 
 statue, in the religious, social, and educational life 
 of Claverack. His memory is a shrine at which even 
 the descendants of those who lived under his min- 
 istry never cease to worship." 
 
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CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 MONTGOMERY, LAFAYETTE, AND THE 
 ERIE CANAL. 
 
 A dramatic event took place on the Hudson dur- 
 ing the summer of 1818. For forty years the body 
 of the brave General Montgomery had lain in Cana- 
 dian soil. Janet Livingston Montgomery had only 
 been allowed three years of happy married life with 
 her soldier husband. Her years of bereavement had 
 been many. When the request was made for her, 
 to the Governor-in-Chief of Canada, Sir John Sher- 
 brooke, that General Montgomery's remains be re- 
 moved to New York, it was courteously granted. 
 
 An act had been passed in a recent session of 
 the Legislature of New York, recommending that 
 a commission be sent to Quebec on this important 
 errand, and Governor DeWitt Clinton appointed 
 Lewis Livingston, a son of Edward Livingston, to 
 receive the remains and direct the formalities in- 
 cident to the removal. On July Fourth a military 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 escort under the Adjutant-General and Colonel Van 
 Rensselaer accompanied the body from Whitehall 
 to Albany where there were impressive ceremonies. 
 After resting in state in the Capitol over Sunday, 
 the body was taken down river in the steamboat 
 Richmond, the following day. The greatest respect 
 was paid the passing boat by the citizens of the 
 towns along the river, in many places minute guns 
 breaking the silence. There were old soldiers and 
 officers of the Revolutionary war still living and 
 many a tear-dimmed eye and lifted hat, watched the 
 silent movements of this unique funeral bier, which 
 brought the brave General back to his own after 
 nearly half a century. 
 
 The Governor had acquainted Mrs. Montgomery 
 of the hour in which the Richmond would pass 
 Montgomery Place. Alone she waited on the veran- 
 dah in front of her house as the hour approached. 
 Since the good-bye spoken at General Schuyler's 
 house at Saratoga, she had lived half a lifetime, al- 
 ways cherishing the memory of "her soldier," made 
 doubly precious through the early tragic parting. 
 As the wheels ceased to move, and the boat stopped 
 
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MONTGOMERY, LAFAYETTE, ETC. 
 
 in front of Montgomery Place, over the water came 
 the muffled music of the "Dead March," played by 
 the band on board. A salute was fired and the 
 Richmond proceeded on its way, leaving behind the 
 grey-haired woman who had given her all for her 
 country, and could still say, as she had written from 
 Ireland some years earlier, where she was visiting 
 General Montgomery's family, "When I return home 
 I hope to find my dear country for which I have 
 bled, the envy of her enemies and the glory of her 
 patriots." The events of this July day were the 
 crown of her great sacrifice and grief of years, and 
 the glory of a country whose army had held such a 
 soldier as General Montgomery. 
 
 General Montgomery's monument in front of St. 
 Paul's chapel. New York, bears this inscription — 
 
 "This monument is erected by order of Congress, 
 January 25th, 1776, to transmit to posterity a grate- 
 ful remembrance of the patriotism, conduct, enter- 
 prise, and perseverance of General Richard Mont- 
 gomery, who, after a series of successes in the 
 midst of the most discouraging difficulties, fell in 
 the attack on Quebec, 31st December, 1775." 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 After the removal of General Montgomery's body 
 the following inscription was added — 
 
 "The State of New York caused the remains of 
 Major-General Montgomery to be conveyed from 
 Quebec and deposited beneath this monument the 
 8th of July, 1818." 
 
 The War of the Revolution was still leaving its 
 aftermath in many ways, and it was not all sor- 
 rowful. 
 
 Hudson is said to have been one of the first cities 
 in the Union, which sent a committee of invitation 
 to Lafayette in New York, on his last visit to 
 America, offering the hospitalities of the town. 
 
 In September 1824, he embarked on the steamer 
 James Kent, commanded by Captain Samuel Wis- 
 wall, the "Commodore," to make a tour of the Hud- 
 son, stopping along the way to meet old friends and 
 to accept invitations which had been tendered him. 
 He spent a morning with General Morgan Lewis and 
 his wife, Gertrude Livingston, at Staatsburgh, and 
 after leaving their hospitable home, asked for his 
 old friend Colonel Harry Livingston. A little later 
 the steamer stopped at Kingston Point, and Colonel 
 
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MONTGOMERY, LAFAYETTE, ETC. 
 
 Livingston, who had crossed the river in a row 
 boat, came aboard. Lafayette's joy at the meeting 
 was unmistakable. The two old friends rushed into 
 each other's arms, giving one another a hearty kiss 
 in true French fashion, to the surprise of the 
 Americans aboard. Their close association in army 
 experiences had made a tie of warm comradeship 
 between them, not easily forgotten through the in- 
 tervening years. 
 
 Chancellor Livingston's two daughters lived at 
 this time in the Livingston homes at Clermont. 
 The eldest had married Edward P. Livingston, a 
 grandson of the Signer of the Declaration of In- 
 dependence. He had been private secretary to 
 Chancellor Livingston during the latter portion of 
 his ministry to France, and at this time lived in 
 the older of the two Manor Houses, the one rebuilt 
 by Margaret Beekman, widow of Judge Robert R. 
 Livingston, during the Revolution. In the Chan- 
 cellor's home lived Robert L. Livingston who had 
 married the younger daughter. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the James Kent at Clermont, 
 with General Lafayette on board as the guest of 
 
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 honor, word was sent to the city of Hudson, when 
 a "committee of citizens consisting of Rufus Reed 
 Esq., Mayor Dr. John Tallman, and Colonel Strong, 
 accompanied by two military companies, the Hud- 
 son Brass Band, General Jacob R. Van Rensselaer 
 and suite, and Brig.-General James Flemming and 
 suite, proceeded upon the steamboat Richmond, 
 Captain William J. Wiswall, to meet Lafayette at 
 Clermont, and escort him to Hudson." 
 
 The reception given Lafayette at Clermont was a 
 most brilliant social event. The lawn of the Chan- 
 cellor's old home was beautifully illuminated, and 
 for half a mile crowded with guests, while the water 
 in front was dotted white with vessels bringing 
 guests from the towns in the vicinity. The cups, 
 plates, ladies' gloves, and slippers, bore the like- 
 ness of Lafayette. It was a distinguished gathering 
 including among its numbers many of the most 
 prominent citizens of the State. 
 
 Lafayette reached Hudson on the following day, 
 and it is said, "met with a reception the most heart- 
 felt and joyous ever bestowed on man." The pro- 
 cession through the streets was a notable one. As 
 
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MONTGOMERY, LAFAYETTE, ETC. 
 
 it stopped a moment before Mayor Tallman's resi- 
 dence (now the Graceland) his little boy, a very 
 beautiful child, ran to the carriage to see Lafayette. 
 The General was so pleased with the bright face of 
 the irttle fellow, that he lifted him into the car- 
 riage with him, and the child reached the acme of 
 boyish aspiration, as he rode through the streets of 
 the town under the arches, and between the cheer- 
 ing lines of people, seated beside the visiting Gen- 
 eral. 
 
 The carriage in which Lafayette rode was drawn 
 by four black horses, and attended by four grooms 
 in livery. Following was a lengthy procession of 
 military organizations and citizens of Hudson and 
 Claverack, and other nearby places. The streets 
 were crowded with people, all anxious to gain at 
 least one look at the man America delighted to hon- 
 or. The procession passed on its way through 
 arches of evergreens, bearing inscriptions of wel- 
 come to America's friend, bowing cordially to the 
 hosts which lined the thoroughfare on either side. 
 At the head of the street surmounting one of the 
 arches stood a colossal figure of the Godess of Lib- 
 erty, bearing the stars and stripes in her hand. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 At the Court House Lafayette was received by 
 the ladies of the town, and welcomed by the Mayor, 
 to whom he responded in a brief speech. Here he 
 met sixty-eight veterans of the Revolution and had 
 a kindly word for each. It had been expected that 
 he would dine in Hudson, but the beautiful and 
 elaborate decorations of Allen's tavern, and the 
 sumptuous feast provided, were a lost labor of love, 
 since the delays of the journey made it necessary 
 that the guest of the day should leave without par- 
 taking of the banquet. He did alight, however, at 
 this point, and admire the efforts made in his be- 
 half, which included a wreath suspended over the 
 chair designed for him, and contained an appropri- 
 ate poetical welcome. After partaking of some light 
 refreshment, he bade the multitude farewell, and 
 embarked for Albany. 
 
 The beautiful waterway of the Hudson was the 
 medium of transmitting the great public events 
 of the day in this quarter of the World. One other 
 spectacle of momentous import occurred the follow- 
 ing year. Governor Clinton's dream and ambition 
 had been to cut a canal through New York State, 
 
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MONTGOMERY, LAFAYETTE, ETC. 
 
 and thus unite the Great Lakes and the Hudson. 
 Clinton met with similar experiences to those of 
 Robert Fulton in his great project, and his political 
 antagonists called his design, "The Big Ditch," and 
 ridiculed his scheme, hampering him at every step. 
 However, during at least a part of the long waiting 
 time, he had the encouragement of Gouverneur 
 Morris and Robert Fulton on his committee, able 
 coadjutors and courageous friends. 
 
 After fifteen years of hard work, and many dis- 
 couragements, on October 26th, 1825, the canal, 
 which was four hundred and forty miles in length, 
 was finished, and everything was in readiness to let 
 the waters of Lake Erie into the channel. There 
 being no telegraph, the news was carried to distant 
 points by means of a chain of cannon placed all 
 along the route, to give notice of the event. The 
 first gun was fired at ten o'clock; at eleven Albany 
 ran out her salute of joy, and from then on all the 
 way down the Hudson the flashes told the story. 
 It is easy to imagine the interest of the crowd on 
 Round House Hill at Hudson that October morning, 
 and the villagers and farmers of Claverack were 
 
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 said to have gathered in large numbers at the 
 Landing. At eleven o'clock and twenty-one min- 
 utes, New York city heard the glad tidings. 
 
 Nor was the fire-flash message all. Four canal 
 boats, with the Seneca Chief in the lead, followed, 
 having started from Buffalo with a distinguished 
 company on board. The canal boats did not travel as 
 quickly as the flashes, but their progress was tri- 
 umphant. People gathered at every available place 
 along the route to welcome the little fleet. Some of 
 the citizens of that day thought the whole State had 
 turned out to rejoice. There was a special celebra- 
 tion at Albany, where Ambrose Spencer, formerly 
 of Claverack, was then Mayor. Sloops and steam- 
 boats saluted the whole length of the river, in 
 which ovation the whistles and flags of the Hudson 
 boats joined most heartily. 
 
 When the four canal boats reached New York, 
 there were great processions on water and land. 
 The boats moved down the bay beyond Sandy Hook 
 amid greetings from the Forts, and here Governor 
 Clinton lifted aloft a keg of Lake Erie water, and 
 poured it into the ocean, thus mingling the two 
 
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MONTGOMERY, LAFAYETTE, ETC. 
 
 waters. The completion of the Erie Canal opened 
 up a vast area in the central and western part of 
 the State, paving the way to great cities, and in- 
 creased commercial prosperity, almost past compu- 
 tation in its beneficial effects. 
 
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CHAPTER XXXI. 
 SHADOWS ACROSS THE SUNSHINE. 
 
 The later years in the Claverack parsonage held 
 both tragedy and romance. Annamaria, the last 
 of the Domine's children, was little older than the 
 grandchildren who had come to make the parsonage 
 their home. The charm of her fair young woman- 
 hood appealed greatly to her nephews and nieces, 
 and they seem to have looked upon her with wide- 
 eyed admiration. Her engagement in her seven- 
 teenth year to John Bay, a rising young lawyer of 
 the village, wove around her a romantic interest 
 in the eyes of the younger members of the family. 
 
 When she started one fair spring day for Hudson, 
 to buy her wedding dress, with the consciousness 
 that her wealth for the purpose lay in a veritable 
 gold piece safely stowed away until she had reached 
 her destination, it is probable that the fancies of 
 the young, which in the spring time "lightly turn to 
 thoughts of love," were hers in a large measure, 
 
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 and that they wove threads of gold through the 
 dreams of flowered silks and silvery satins, which 
 formed the goal toward which she traveled. Al- 
 ready she could see the salesmen in the shops of 
 Hudson, gathering breadths of silk in their hands, 
 as they threw out the folds of soft sheeny material, 
 descanting on the relative beauty and merit, of 
 trailing green vines or rose-bud figures, while An- 
 namaria told herself that there never had been such 
 a beauty before, as she would select for her wed- 
 ding gown. 
 
 The birds sang love-songs among the blossoms, 
 or built new nests in the tree tops, wind flowers 
 along the roadside bent their delicate heads to the 
 gentle breezes, and the slender green branches of 
 the willows mirrored themselves in the clear waters 
 of Claverack Creek. Everything in nature spoke 
 of renewal in the spring of 1816, but no part of it 
 all exceeded the joy that sang its own song in the 
 young girl's heart as she drove to Hudson to buy 
 her wedding dress. 
 
 Where or how it happened no one knows today, 
 or who in the long after time, found a tiny gold 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 mine in some clump of cow-slips, or just under the 
 edge of some sheltering rock, or among the pebbles 
 in the purling brook beside the road, but Annamaria 
 lost her gold piece that fair spring day, and the 
 wedding dress waiting for her, was never cut from 
 the piece. 
 
 Her grief came down in the annals of the boy 
 who helped build the church steeple, and the deep 
 pity of his childish heart, led him to his grandfather 
 to plead that his Aunt Annamaria be given another 
 gold piece for the wedding dress. That gold pieces 
 of considerable value were not plentiful in a country 
 parsonage, where the fatherless and motherless 
 were also being cared for, was not discernible to the 
 child, only the sad look of the old man as he gently 
 said, "Go away, child. Go away, child," remained 
 in his memory. 
 
 Whether the mother's Philadelphia wedding dress 
 of long ago, with its soft satin stripes, and hair 
 lines of green on the corn-colored backgrounds, was 
 substituted for the gown that was to have been 
 chosen by the young bride herself, or whether the 
 disappointment brought on a decline, history is 
 
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SHADOWS ACROSS THE SUNSHINE. 
 
 silent, but before the next springtime had brought 
 birds and flowers and apple blossoms, Annamaria 
 had died of "a consumption," aged seventeen years 
 and seven months. 
 
 In the days when the joys of earth were slipping 
 away, she copied in her own hand and signed with 
 her own initials, in the family Bible, that record 
 book of vital events of the past, "The Bride's Fare- 
 well," a tender and touching good-bye to the loved 
 members of her family. In the rhythmical meas- 
 ures, we are led to believe it was originally intended 
 as a farewell to her girlhood's home from a bride 
 about to leave it for the home of her husband, but 
 it was at this time used as a last farewell. In such 
 lines as — 
 
 "I in gems and roses gleaming. 
 On the eternal sunshine dreaming. 
 Scarce this sad farewell may speak." 
 the poetess, all unconsciously, had inserted lines of 
 double meaning, fitting them to this unforeseen use. 
 
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CHAPTER XXXII. 
 THE CROWN OF LIFE. 
 
 It is a significant fact that in 1799 in the zenith 
 of his labors and influence, there hadi come to 
 Domine Gebhard the "Proclamation of the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, John Adams, calling for 
 'a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer'," while 
 in the closing months of his ministry, October 18th, 
 1825, Governor Clinton issued his first proclama- 
 tion for the observance of a public thanksgiving. 
 The fullness of days and of labors called for thank- 
 fulness both in church and State. 
 
 In April 1825, the original large parish over 
 which Domine Gebhard had presided, was reduced 
 still further in size by the withdrawal of the Hills- 
 dale church, to which Claverack agreed. A few 
 days later the old Domine passed in his resignation 
 as the senior-pastor of the church, and the Dutch 
 call which had "remained unaltered, integer, as it 
 stood" for nearly fifty years became null and void. 
 
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THE CROWN OF LIFE. 
 
 The years were sapping the strength of the in- 
 trepid Domine of the past, yet the letter to the 
 Classis of Rensselaer asking to be relieved of his 
 charge on account of advancing age and infirmities, 
 rang also with a touch of the old undaunted spirit 
 in its closing sentences which asked "that he might 
 still be held a member of the Classis of Rensselaer, 
 and be permitted to preach occasionally when in- 
 vited, or administer the Holy Sacrament when his 
 strength would permit" and was signed, 
 
 "Yours in the love of the Gospel, 
 "J. G. GEBHARD." 
 
 The last of the grandchildren to be born in the 
 old parsonage, and to be baptized by the old Domine 
 in December, 1824, was Charles William Gebhard, 
 M. D., the writer's father. Nine other children of 
 the congregation received the rite of baptism at 
 the old Domine's hands the same year. In the year 
 of his resignation he performed twenty marriages, 
 and two in the last year of his life, for that the life 
 of this godly man was drawing to a close, was be- 
 coming apparent to his old parishioners. Preemin- 
 ently a minister of the Sacraments, it is fitting that 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 the last word that we have of an act of his on earth, 
 should have been the administering of the Holy 
 Communion. 
 
 Dr. Currie, a child of the old church, writes, "I, 
 who was kindly taken by the hand and encouraged 
 by Mr. Gebhard when I resolved to devote myself 
 to the work of the ministry, cannot forbear to re- 
 vert to one scene in which that venerable servant 
 of God was an actor, and which is vividly impressed 
 on my mind. 
 
 "It was the Sabbath, and the church had come 
 together to remember Christ in the 'ordinance of 
 the Holy Supper.' Just before the elements were to 
 be distributed, Mr. Gebhard came into the church, 
 it is believed, for the last time. As he opened the 
 door every eye was directed toward him. His gait 
 was erect, but his countenance was wan. He took 
 his seat in the front of the pulpit and at the right 
 of the table. And as he sat there contemplating 
 the scene before him, and doubtless anticipating 
 with confidence and joy of heart the arrival of the 
 moment, when he should be welcomed home to 
 glory with the plaudit, 'Well done, good and faithful 
 
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THE CROWN OF LIFE. 
 
 servant,' the peace within was shadowed forth in 
 the heavenly serenity which was depicted on his 
 brown. 'He ate of the bread, and drank of the wine 
 in remembrance of Christ.' He arose in his place 
 amid a profound silence, and delivered the last ad- 
 dress which he ever made at the Communion table, 
 or to the church to which he had ministered for 
 more than half a century. 
 
 "He spoke in the Dutch language, with earnest- 
 ness, yet with deliberation, and in a manner such 
 as became him, standing on the borders of eternity. 
 He seemed like one from the other world, who had 
 just appeared to deliver a message from God and 
 return. And when I looked on him standing forth 
 as the 'ambassador of Christ,' and remembered how 
 often he had said, 'I would rather wear out than 
 rust out,' and saw the lamp of life then evidently 
 flickering in the socket, I experienced sensations 
 which for the time were overpowering, and cannot 
 be described." 
 
 On August 16th, 1826, this faithful servant of 
 God passed to his reward. The church books re- 
 cording his demise, add this resolution, "Resolved 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 that the present minister and consistory of this 
 church wear the usual badge of mourning on the 
 left arm for eight weeks, and that the pulpit be 
 draped in mourning for six months." 
 
 In the childhood of the author and compiler of 
 these records, she often heard elderly people speak 
 of having heard Domine Gebhard preach, or his 
 having married or baptized them or their ancestors, 
 as a matter of self-congratulation, an honor at- 
 tained. Within the past year, two persons, one an 
 old lady over ninety, another a granddaughter of a 
 Quaker resident of Hudson, speaking for her grand- 
 mother, have made this same claim in the same 
 manner, but with an explanatory sentence. "We 
 heard old Domine Gebhard preach in our girlhood. 
 Of course we did not understand a word, but people 
 went to hear him as they went to hear Beecher in 
 later years." That, then, was the clew to this ap- 
 parent attainment, but with a difference. Men 
 went to hear Beecher that they might enjoy the 
 brilliant thoughts of a mighty intellect. Men and 
 women went to hear the Dutch Domine of Claver- 
 ack, that they might see and hear a man whose 
 
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THE CROWN OF LIFE. 
 
 personality had dominated nearly a whole County, 
 for over fifty years. 
 
 The great work of his life may be read in the 
 records of hundreds of family Bibles of Manors and 
 farm houses, not only scattered through the old 
 Claverack congregation and Columbia County, but 
 carried to the large cities, and over the prairies to 
 the far west, and into the sunny south, and with 
 sailors across the sea. He pleaded for heavenly 
 blessings in baptism over the heads of five thousand 
 children save seventy-six, and solemnized nearly two 
 thousand marriages. Besides this, hundreds were 
 welcomed to the communion of the church. 
 
 Who can tell how far Domine Gebhard's influence 
 counted in the making of this nation, in heavenly 
 blessings called down by this minister of the Sacra- 
 ments, and also in the educational advantages 
 brought with him from an older country, and show- 
 ered generously on the infancy and youth of our 
 new Republic! The closing note of such a life is a 
 glad one, with its obituary written long ago: — 
 
 "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet 
 of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth 
 peace, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." 
 
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CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 IN BLOSSOM TIME. 
 
 "Thus it is our daughters leave us, 
 Those we love, and those who love us! 
 Just when they have learned to help us, 
 When we are old and lean upon them, 
 Comes a youth with flaunting feathers, 
 With his flute of reeds, a stranger. 
 Wanders, piping through the village. 
 Beckons to the fairest maiden, 
 And she follows where he leads her. 
 Leaving all things for the stranger." 
 
 Like a sunbeam slanting in at the half -closed door 
 of the old parsonage, there appears one final scene 
 connected with the old home, full of a romantic 
 interest and youthful happiness. The Domine's 
 wife and daughter, and the grandchildren wha com- 
 posed the parsonage family, had moved into a 
 house on the Kolderberg with one of the old 
 Domine's sons. Dr. John G. Gebhard, and his Phil- 
 adelphia wife, while they awaited the building of 
 a new home near by, and the Rev. Richard Sluyter, 
 the English minister, occupied the parsonage. 
 
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MRS. RrCHARD C. MORSE AND TWO OF HER CHILDREN 
 
 After a painting by Samuel F. B. Morse. 
 Now owned by Gilbert Colgate, Esq. 
 
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IN BLOSSOM TIME. 
 
 The following spring, Mr. Richard Morse, a son 
 of Jedediah Morse of geography fame, was traveling 
 through the country obtaining subscribers to the 
 New York Observer, a religious weekly lately estab- 
 lished in New York city. He bore letters of intro- 
 duction to the clergy, and among them was one to 
 the Rev. Richard Sluyter with whom he stayed over 
 a Sabbath. Being a linguist himself and a book 
 lover, he was attracted by a bookcase in Domine 
 Sluyter's parlor, containing volumes in many lan- 
 guages. It proved to be Domine Gebhard's library 
 which had not yet been removed from the parson- 
 age. Upon enquiry, he was told that the old Dom- 
 ine's wife held the key, and would be very willing 
 that he should examine the books. 
 
 He lost no time in taking the walk over the Kol- 
 derberg. It was just at sunset, and the beauty of 
 the magnificent view which swept off to the Cats- 
 kills, over fields and woods and orchards, sunk deep 
 into the New Englander's soul. The Old-Man-of- 
 the-Mountain was sinking to sleep beneath a pink 
 coverlid of clouds, and for a wide half circle the 
 sky was ablaze with a mass of brilliant colors. 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 Thoughts of sunset and spring-time were woven 
 through the young man's thoughts, as he ap- 
 proached his destination. He found his host, the 
 son of the old Domine, upon the porch, enjoying the 
 rest and quietness of the close of the day, and seat- 
 ing his guest in this pleasant out-door gathering 
 place, the two men entered into a conversation of 
 marked interest to both. Long ago Jedediah Morse 
 had written in his geography, that "the Dutch were 
 an honest, industrious, and enterprising people," and 
 his son was very willing to make their acquaintance. 
 The bright clouds faded while they talked, and 
 the gathering twilight hung a mist about them full 
 of the odor of the blossoming trees. Sweetly, out 
 of the twilight there sounded a girl's voice. She 
 was evidently somewhere within the house. What 
 she said we do not know, or what vibrant quality 
 thrilled through her words. Perhaps it was the in- 
 herited musical charm of the grandmother's sing- 
 ing, which touched an answering chord in the young 
 man's heart. Perhaps the sunset and the blossoms 
 had created a hush in his soul which waited for 
 the voice of the maiden to fill it. From this time 
 
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IN BLOSSOM TIME. 
 
 his host held only half his attention. With all his 
 heart he was listening for the musical voice again, 
 and when at last he left, with the promise of the 
 key to the library on Monday morning, the books in 
 many languages had become a secondary interest, — 
 he was in love with a voice. 
 
 A little discreet questioning at the parsonage 
 brought out the fact that the old Domine's grand- 
 daughter, Louisa Davis, lived with her mother in 
 her uncle's home on the Kolderberg, and the young 
 man resolved to stay in Claverack till he had made 
 her acquaintance. 
 
 Eagerly he looked forward to the hour of church 
 service, and the opportunity to behold the maiden 
 whose voice had charmed him, but disappointment 
 was in store for him. All unconsciously she had 
 stayed at home that spring day. 
 
 Her absence but fanned the rising flame in the 
 visitor's heart. There is time for much quiet medi- 
 tation and the formation of many plans and pur- 
 poses through a long church service, and piety and 
 love alternately swayed one worshiper that morn- 
 ing. Before the close of the service he had re- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 solved to search the church records and discover 
 whether the Domine's granddaughter was a mem- 
 ber of the church, his New England conscience re- 
 fusing its consent to an affection unblessed by re- 
 ligious experience. 
 
 Here again he was doomed to disappointment, for 
 the eighteen-year-old maiden was not yet a church 
 member, but between the pages of the church re- 
 cords he found the entries of the many marriages 
 performed by the old Domine. It was a poor 
 source from which to strengthen his resolution to 
 forget the beautiful voice, if he could not prove its 
 owner's piety. And so, disappointed once more, his 
 heart only grew fonder, and on Monday morning, 
 instead of fleeing from the enchanted spot back to 
 his city home, or to breathe the air of his native 
 New England, he took his way once more over the 
 Kolderberg in the dewy morning, a path already 
 rich with the thought of love. 
 
 At the end of his walk, a vision burst upon his 
 sight, which made his heart start, and then stand 
 still with awe. Etched against the masses of white 
 and pink blossoming trees, with pools of blue sky 
 
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IN BLOSSOM TIME. 
 
 between, stood a young girl holding in her hands 
 a mass of filmy white material. The gentle breezes 
 blew the white film, her dress, and hair in the sum- 
 mer sunshine. Her beautiful arms, dimpled at the 
 elbows, waved in the air as she tried to throw the 
 lacey goods out straight in front of her, before 
 placing it on the hillside grass. Her motions as 
 well as her voice were full of grace, her long swan- 
 like throat, the escaping tendrils of her hair, the 
 liquid depths of her blue eyes, and the pink of her 
 wind-swept cheeks, making a picture a painter 
 might long to capture, and before which a lover 
 worshiped. 
 
 The young girl was sent with the key and the 
 guest to the parsonage, and once more the Kolder- 
 berg seemed a road of light to the young man's 
 feet. They looked over the books together, her 
 sweet voice offering many happy comments as he 
 handled the old volumes, and at length, thirsty with 
 the walk and the morning's occupation, they strolled 
 down to the old well in the garden. Perhaps the 
 young man planned to stray beyond ear-shot of the 
 parsonage family, for it was not only a cup of cool 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 water he offered the maiden at the parsonage well, 
 but his heart, and his hand, and his life. There 
 is no chronicle of her answer, but we may reason- 
 ably suppose that she said it was "very sudden," 
 
 In the end she asked her lover to wait a year for 
 his answer, which he consented to do, writing regu- 
 larly, letters which breathed his passion on every 
 sheet. As for the Domine's granddaughter it 
 would seem that she was somewhat of a coquette, 
 for she never answered the letters, till at last being 
 expostulated with by her mother, she acknowledged 
 that she cared for her ardent suitor. 
 
 He is said to have sailed toward Claverack for 
 his answer one year to a day from the time that 
 was set. By some means the letter with the crown 
 of his hopes reached him upon a steamboat on the 
 Hudson, while he was traveling northward, and 
 his joy knew no bounds. 
 
 In the fall of the same year they were married 
 in the uncle's new home, and the maiden of the 
 sweet voice rode over the Kolderberg, that path- 
 way of beautiful sunsets and love, to the town of 
 Hudson, where she set sail for New York, and a 
 
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IN BLOSSOM TIME. 
 
 life in the wide world little dreamed of in the days 
 before a stranger fell in love with her voice in the 
 twilight. 
 
 The couple whose union commenced in so roman- 
 tic a manner, were blessed with five sons and five 
 daughters, nine of whom grew to manhood and 
 womanhood, and have been warmly interested in 
 the educational and philanthropic movements of 
 their own time. Two of these children, those pic- 
 tured in the illustration at the opening of this chap- 
 ter, became later the mothers of ten boys, six of 
 whom bore the name of Colgate, and following in 
 the path of the generation before them were gradu- 
 ates of Yale, the remaining four, with the name of 
 Hodge, graduated at Princeton, all of them carrying 
 into the Twentieth Century the loyalty to learning 
 and education of the founder of Washington Sem- 
 inary. 
 
 The mechanical and professional talents which 
 Domine Gebhard possessed in a rare degree, were 
 inherited by the different branches of his family to 
 the fourth and fifth generations, several of these 
 later descendants being prominent in the expert- 
 
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THE PARSONAGE BETWEEN TWO MANORS 
 
 mechanical and professional world, while seven of 
 the sons of the Nineteenth Century have followed 
 in the footsteps of their revered ancestor, and be- 
 come ministers of the Gospel. 
 
 The Manors with their Court Leet and Court 
 Baron and their old world grandeur are gone. The 
 tenants no longer pay rent in "scheppels" of wheat, 
 but own their own farms. The old Domine is gone 
 to his reward, and the parsonage with its gambrel 
 roof and its past associations is no more, but tales 
 of them all still hang low over Clover-reach, like 
 sunset clouds edged with gold and rose color, mak- 
 ing it a land of legend and story, of a romantic in- 
 terest and dream-like charm, equalled by few sec- 
 tions of our home-land. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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Tke Old 
 Parsonage Knocker 
 At Clover-Reacli 
 
 BY ELIZABETH L. GEBHARD 
 
 To the ministers in Modern Parsonages, who give 
 the same loving service, and carry the same message 
 of "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men", as did their 
 predecessors, the Domines in the Old Parsonages, 
 behind the brass knockers. 
 
 Copyright 1910 
 By ELIZABETH L. GEBHARD 
 All rights reserved 
 
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THE 
 
 OLD PARSONAGE KNOCKER 
 
 AT CLOVER-REACH 
 
 They came in their chaises, with blushes and 
 
 graces, — 
 In gowns made of homespun, and satin brocade, — 
 With youths, whose short breeches were locked with 
 
 gold stitches; 
 The glow of the love-light in each undismayed. 
 Straight forth twixt the borders of sweet-scented 
 
 flowers, 
 They walked up the steps to the portico floor. 
 Then lifted the knocker, the little old knocker, 
 That joyously rang on the Old Parsonage door. 
 
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In mischief the children reached up to the knocker, 
 By balancing high on their tiny tip-toes; 
 There were Jacob and Philip, and Henry and Char- 
 lotte, 
 The two Johns and Lewis, and Charlie in rows; 
 While high on the shoulder of Clover-reach's 
 
 Domine, 
 Sat baby Maria, who added one more. 
 To lift up the knocker, the little old knocker. 
 And gleefully bang on the Old Parsonage door. 
 
 Sometimes 'twas the stage-coach all filled to reple- 
 tion, 
 With passengers jocund and passengers glum; 
 That rocked down the post road, — its trumpet 
 blown gaily, 
 In happy announcement, — "Your visitor's come." 
 And cold though the weather, and icy the tree-tops, 
 The welcome awaiting quite warmed their heart's 
 
 core. 
 As they lifted the knocker, the little old knocker, 
 And happily rapped on the Old Parsonage door. 
 
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The Academy boys eyed the knocker at morning, 
 And prayed for a problem most deep and obscure, 
 To tangle the brain of the teacher, in numbers. 
 And thus their release from the class to procure. 
 With books in one hand, and their slates in the 
 
 other. 
 Hard down on the parsonage they eagerly bore. 
 And lifted the knocker, the little old knocker, 
 Then hammered and thumped on the Old Parsonage 
 
 door. 
 
 Ofttimes 'twas a messenger sent in the dawning. 
 Who called for the Domine to christen a child. 
 Or seated on horseback, and clad in deep mourning. 
 They summoned him forth over trails through the 
 
 wild. 
 The call of rejoicing, the summons to weeping. 
 Came either in sunshine, or stormy downpour. 
 And lifted the knocker, the little old knocker 
 With glad tap, or sad, on the Old Parsonage door. 
 
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The sexton and chorister, clerk and bell-ringer, 
 The members of boards, and consistories grave, 
 The Patroon and his tenants, the poor and the 
 
 stranger. 
 The soldier in trappings most brilliant and brave ; 
 The Quakers from Hudson, the skippers off schoon- 
 ers, 
 In numbers that reached into many a score. 
 All lifted the knocker, the little old knocker. 
 That told their approach to the Old Parsonage door. 
 
 And so the old knocker, whose ring is ancestral, 
 Stores up in its clanging, the heart of the past. 
 And out q£ the light of a vision celestial. 
 Brings us the sweet sound of a note that will last; 
 The tale of a ministry rich and outgiving. 
 Stretched out into paths where our thoughts cannot 
 
 soar; 
 And we lift the knocker, the little old knocker. 
 With joy that it hung on the Old Parsonage door. 
 
 Hudson, N. Y. 
 
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