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 The Old Senate House. 
 
 OLD KINGSTON: NEW YORK'S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 By Mary Isabella Forsyth. 
 
 IT was old Kingston a hundred years 
 ago. Even then it had felt for the 
 greater part of two centuries the ebb 
 and flow of history. Founded when the 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew was still 
 fresh in the world's memory, and when 
 the terrible persecutions under Louis 
 XIV. were already ablaze, Huguenot and 
 Hollander here joined forces, married 
 and intermarried, until the inhabitants 
 of to-day show the names and charac- 
 teristics of both races. Blended with 
 these is a strain of Norse blood, too 
 limited to carry with it the vigorous 
 energy of the Vikings ; but the quick, 
 vivacious motions of eye or hand, the 
 ready gesticulation of the Gallic race, 
 have come down to our day, in marked 
 contrast to the phlegmatic methods of 
 thought and action derived from Dutch 
 ancestry. 
 
 Perhaps to its lack of enterprise is due 
 much of the attractiveness of the old 
 town. A certain dreamy atmosphere 
 still pervades it. The activities of the 
 present pale before the suggestions of the 
 past. The whistle of the locomotive, the 
 whir of machinery, the growing number 
 
 815 
 
 of shops, houses, churches, — none of 
 these seem to the sojourners in Kingston 
 its greatest interest. That lies in the back- 
 ground of record and tradition. New- 
 comers, indeed, are here. There is a city 
 hall : a union depot, where three railways 
 meet; electric cars whirl through the city 
 of twenty-three thousand inhabitants ; 
 new industries are creeping in, where 
 formerly farms and quarries were the 
 main sources of income ; iron bridges 
 span streams long crossed by means of 
 dark wooden tunnels ; gas and electricity 
 replace the dim lanterns formerly seen 
 bobbing about the ancient streets, along 
 footpaths wandering through wayside turf. 
 But the old streets are the same, laid 
 out, it is said, by the cows of the early 
 inhabitants ; many of the old houses are 
 still standing ; and an intangible some- 
 thing pervades the whole, — an aroma 
 of antiquity, subtly but strongly felt. 
 
 Early records show that in 1614 a 
 fort and trading-post were established 
 by the Dutch at the mouth of the Ron- 
 dout, at the same time that similar forts 
 were built at New Amsterdam and at 
 Castle Island, near Albany. This post is 
 
346 
 
 OLD KINGSTON: NEW YORK^S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 alluded to in Ccarly documents still m 
 possession of the Holland government as 
 one of the strongholds of the Dutch m 
 America. But the first permanent settle- 
 ment was made in 1652. 
 
 We cannot wonder at the selection of 
 this lovely site by the pioneers of that 
 date, who, indeed, called it "an exceed- 
 ingly beautiful land." The high table- 
 land now known as Upper Kingston 
 (formerly " Atkarkarton," " Esopus," and 
 "Wiltwyck") descends abruptly, on the 
 north, to the valley of Esopus Creek, 
 with its rich meadows. Beyond this rise 
 first the foothills, then the Catskills, in 
 their satisfying beauty. Some two miles 
 away Rondout Creek rolls its deep flow 
 along the southern boundary of the pres- 
 ent city, while the Hudson sweeps majes- 
 tically the eastern line. On the western 
 horizon lies the strangely marked outline 
 of the Shawangunk Mountains, broken by 
 Lake Mohonk and "The Gaps." Like 
 London, the little city is formed by the 
 ingathering of adjacent villages or ham- 
 lets, continuing to bear their distinctive 
 names. These are separated, in some 
 
 white man a negro." Indeed, the gen- 
 eral removal of the big barns that, like 
 the houses, with their cozy old stoops, 
 fronted close upon the streets, is compar- 
 atively recent ; and the number of colored 
 inhabitants is still noticeable. 
 
 There is an unusual mingling of edi- 
 fices, antique and modern, elegant and 
 plain, oddly significant of the relation- 
 ships and associations of the inhabitants. 
 Next to a mansion of colonial size and 
 proportions may be some modest little 
 dwelling or shop ; all, even in the newer 
 portions of the town, seeming as if 
 dropped down by chance. 
 
 The first building usually noticed by 
 the stray tourist to the Catskills, who by 
 chance spends a night at Kingston, is 
 a beautiful church of native bluestone 
 standing in a long-unused graveyard 
 shaded by magnificent elms. Strolling 
 beneath these, the traveller finds much of 
 interest. The musical bell in the high 
 tower surmounted by a graceful spire 
 came from Amsterdam in 1795. When 
 moved to its present location, the clapper 
 was found to be worn flat. The first 
 
 The Jansen House 
 
 parts, by wide stretches of green fields 
 and rolling hills. 
 
 A newcomer has said of the town, 
 " Every street has a character of its own, 
 each totally difi"erent from every other." 
 An earlier common saying was, " Every 
 other house is a barn and every other 
 
 bell, also from Holland, was transferred 
 to the court house and finally broken. 
 
 The names and dates on the tomb- 
 stones deserve attention. The oldest 
 stone is a narrow bluestone slab, resting 
 acrainst a cedar stump, and rudely marked 
 by the initials " D. W." and the date 
 
OLD KINGSTON: NEW YORK'S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 347 
 
 "1710." Previous to this date, it is said, 
 interments were made beneath the church, 
 — not the present structure, but one 
 nearly on the same site. The names 
 De Witt, Ehiiendorf, Wynkoop, Ten- 
 broeck, Oosterhoudt, Van Gaasbeek, etc., 
 betoken Holland ances- 
 try ; Severyn Bruyn tells 1 
 of Norwegian origin ; 
 while Dumond, DuBois, 
 Hasbrouck, commemo- 
 rate French progenitors. 
 
 The first glance 
 within shows, above the 
 pulpit, a memorial win- 
 dow of rare beauty and 
 value, recently present- 
 ed to the church by Mr. 
 David H. Houghtaling, 
 of New York. The sub- 
 ject is the Presentation 
 in the Temple. 
 
 Passing through the 
 church, of noble pro- 
 portions and severe Ro- 
 man architecture, we 
 find much to inspect. 
 In the pastor's study, in the belfry, is 
 an oaken chest, bearing the date 1676. 
 Its massive key is attached to an im- 
 mense iron chain. This chest contains 
 the records of the church, in the Dutch 
 language, — a full register of her bap- 
 tisms, communicants, and marriages. In 
 antique French are preserved the ac- 
 counts of business connected with her 
 early history. Among the many names 
 perpetuated on tablets on the walls is 
 that of Gilbert Livingston. He was 
 the third son of the original patentee 
 of Livingston Manor, and is deserving 
 of more than the simple mention here 
 given, as he was the first person in the 
 State who manumitted his slaves. Two 
 noticeable monuments are to the memory 
 of Rev. John Cantine Farrell Hoes, D. D., 
 whose long ministry is also recorded 
 on the pastors' tablet ; and of A. Bruyn 
 Hasbrouck, LL. D., formerly president 
 of Rutgers College, who returned in his 
 later years to the home of his boyhood 
 and his ancestors. On the left of the 
 pulpit are the names of the pastors, as 
 follows : Hermanus Blom, 1660—67 ; Lau- 
 rentius Van Gaasbeek, 1678-80; Jo- 
 
 hannes Weekstein, 1681-87; Laurentius 
 Vander Bosch, 1687-89; John Petrus 
 Nucella, 1 695-1 704; Henricus Beys, 
 1706-8; Petrus Vas, 1710-56; George 
 Wilhelmus Mancius,i 732-62 ; Hermannus 
 Meyer, D. D., 1763-72; George Jacob 
 
 The Old Academy. 
 
 Leonard Doll, 1 775-1808 ; John Gosman, 
 D. D., 1 808-35 ; John Lillie, D. D., 1 836- 
 41 ; John Hardenburgh Van Wagenen, 
 1841-44; John Cantine Farrell Hoes, 
 D. D., 1845-67 ; David Newland Van- 
 derveer, 1867-76 ; John Garnsey Van 
 Slyke. 
 
 The church was organized in 1656, by 
 a lay reader named Van Slyke or Van der 
 Sluys, an ancestor of the present pastor. 
 He was called the "comforter of the 
 sick," who " spoke the words of the 
 Lord " to the little colony. The ancient 
 communion service tells of the close ties 
 binding this church, in its early days, to 
 that beyond the seas, — two tall, curiously 
 wrought silver beakers, having been sent 
 over as gifts from the Holland church. 
 One is marked 1683 ; the other, — meet- 
 ing the needs of an increasing number 
 of communicants, — 1711. Duplicates of 
 the older one have recently been added 
 as memorial gifts. 
 
 Beneath the church are buried many 
 whose names meet our eyes upon the 
 marbles upon the interior walls. Many of 
 these names are still borne by members 
 of the present congregation, and are 
 
348 
 
 OLD KINGSTON: NEW YORK'S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 familiar sounds among the simple people 
 who still meet and mingle with little 
 thought of social differences, and are 
 all united in deep loyalty to the " old 
 church," as it is commonly called through 
 
 house (rebuilt after the Revolution) in 
 which the State Constitution was framed 
 on April 20, 1777, was torn down in 1856 
 to make way for a modern dwelling. But 
 diagonally opposite still remains, as a 
 
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 the vast stretch of country once forming 
 its parish. 
 
 Until 1808, its services were con- 
 ducted, either wholly or in part, in the 
 Dutch language. Indeed, to the present 
 generation it was formerly a matter of 
 course to hear kindly greetings exchanged 
 in the Holland tongue, as the congrega- 
 tion passed out through the vestibule. 
 This was especially the case after Christ- 
 mas and New-Year services, when hearts 
 drew closest together. 
 
 Nearly opposite the churchyard — 
 through which, as a thoroughfare, pass 
 the busy feet of the present generation — 
 is the court house, inscribed with the 
 date of its erection, 181 8. This build- 
 ing, too, replaces a much older one al- 
 luded to in some of the earliest accounts 
 of national events, which had above its 
 doorway the following inscription, cut in 
 stone : " This town was burned by Brit- 
 ish cruelty on Oct. 16, ITJJ.'' 
 
 Not far away, yet on the " East Front" 
 of what was formerly the village, — earlier 
 the " fortje," enclosed by its stockade, — 
 is the Senate House, where the first 
 Senate of the State of New York held its 
 sessions. This was built by Wessel Ten- 
 broeck, in the latter part of the seven- 
 teenth century. It is now owned and kept 
 in repair by the State. The old stone 
 
 residence, what was in Revolutionary 
 times the tavern of Conrad Elmendorf, a 
 noted place for political gatherings. 
 
 The Constitution having been adopted 
 in an evening session of the convention, 
 the public proclamation was made at 
 the court house at eleven o'clock the 
 following morning. Under the Constitu- 
 tion an election for governor was held, 
 and, on the 30th of July, George Clinton 
 was declared duly elected. It was then 
 ordered " that the said proclamation be 
 made and published by the sheriff of 
 Ulster County, at or near the court house, 
 in Kingston, Ulster County, at six o'clock 
 in the afternoon," — a sensible hour for a 
 midsummer day ! It was also " resolved 
 and ordered that Capt. Evart Bogardus 
 and Capt. John Elmendorph do cause the 
 companies of militia under their respec- 
 tive commands to appear at the Court 
 House in Kingston at six o'clock this 
 afternoon properly armed and accoutred, 
 at which time and place His Excellency, 
 George Clinton, will be proclaimed Gov- 
 ernor of this State." 
 
 Owing to the unsettled condition of the 
 State, then in the throes of the national 
 struggle, the Senate could not obtain 
 a quorum until the 9th of September. 
 It then met in the Old Senate House, 
 as it is now called. The Assembly 
 
OLD KINGSTON: NEW YORK'S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 349 
 
 met in Capt. Bogardus's inn, where the 
 Constitution had been adopted. At the 
 court house, the Senate and Assem- 
 bly met the governor; and there the 
 Supreme Court was or- 
 ganized, on Sept. 9, by 
 Chief Justice Jay. In his 
 charge to the grand jury 
 (given in full in Schoon- 
 maker's History of King- 
 ston) occur these words, 
 among many worthy of 
 memory : — 
 
 " The Americans are 
 the first people whom 
 Heaven has favored with 
 an opportunity of deliber- 
 ating upon and choosing 
 the forms of government 
 under which they should 
 live. . . . You will know 
 no power but such as you will create ; no 
 authority unless derived from your grant ; 
 no laws, but such as acquire all their obli- 
 gation from your consent. . . . Let virtue, 
 honor, the love of liberty and of science 
 be and remain the soul of this Constitu- 
 tion, and it will become the source of 
 great and extensive happiness to this and 
 future generations." 
 
 The Legislature continued in session 
 
 Assembly and Senate ; and their formal 
 meetings gave way to a convention com- 
 posed of members of both houses, and 
 presided over by Pierre Van Cortlandt. 
 
 The De Wall House. 
 
 until Oct. 7, when news arrived of the 
 capture, by the enemy, of Fort Mont- 
 gomery. At this crisis, military service 
 claimed many members of both the 
 
 The Masten House. 
 
 It passed resolutions to continue the 
 committees formed in September for the 
 protection of the town. A Council of 
 Safety was also formed, and most active 
 measures were resolved upon in prepara- 
 tion for any attack from the enemy along 
 the river-front. It was ordered that 
 vessels should be loaded with provisions 
 and other supplies stored near the river, 
 and sent to Albany. Cattle were to be 
 driven into the interior. 
 " ■ If the owners should 
 I refuse consent to this, 
 the animals should be 
 killed. State papers, 
 too, were to be removed 
 to a place of greater 
 safety. But when this 
 was finally accom- 
 plished the foe was at 
 hand, firing the town. 
 
 Many houses now 
 standing were rebuilt on 
 the ruins left smoking 
 at the close of that 
 awful day, the i6th of 
 October, 1777. Their 
 massive stone walls and 
 solid beams were not 
 in every case destroyed, 
 though blackened and broken down. 
 Some of these restored dwellings are 
 one-storied, with high-pitched roofs and 
 dormer windows; others, large, square, 
 
350 
 
 OLD KINGSTON: NFAV YORK'S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 and dignified as an old burgomaster. 
 The quaint old church, a sketch of which 
 is here given through the courtesy of Mr. 
 Marius Schoonmaker, was laid waste ; and 
 
 *iUsi 
 
 The Tappan House. 
 
 only one house within what were then the 
 village limits was spared. That still 
 stands on Wall Street, just as when 
 originally built. It was saved from de- 
 struction by the faithfulness of a slave, 
 who hid near at hand until the foe had 
 ])assed on and then returned to extin- 
 guish the fire. 
 
 One old lady had a feast prepared 
 in hope of softening 
 by this hospitality the 
 hearts of the British 
 officers, who enjoyed 
 the good cheer and 
 then, alas ! burned the 
 house. \V h e n Mrs. 
 Elmendorf, this ancient 
 dame, was told of the 
 burning of her family 
 mansion, one of her 
 slaves exclaimed : " No, 
 Missus, that can't be, 
 for I have the key in 
 my pocket ! " 
 
 Through these very 
 precincts rang the cry 
 (familiar still to the old 
 Kingstonian), "Lope, 
 younge, lope ! die roode 
 komme 1 " (Run, children, run 1 the red- 
 coats are coming I) This summons sent 
 the inhabitants (chiefly women and chil- 
 
 dren, the able-bodied men being in the 
 Continental army) fleeing for refuge to 
 " New Uorp," now Hurley. The turn in 
 the road whence was seen the glitter of 
 the British muskets as the 
 r - little party struggled on its 
 P?4 way is still shown. And in 
 
 ''' Old Hurley, three miles 
 
 away, stand solidly the 
 stone houses that opened 
 then for refuge, and that 
 mark to-day the line of the 
 same street that saw the 
 Indian massacre of 1662, 
 when Hurley and Wiltwyck 
 ( Kingston) were both burned 
 by the redmen. Indeed, 
 Kingston has been a very 
 phoenix, not only repeatedly 
 laid in ashes by hostile 
 hands, but suffering seriously 
 at various times from acci- 
 dental fires. In the Has- 
 brouck family record, which carries its 
 accounts of the Huguenot family back 
 of the date of the Edict of Nantes, 
 this quaint mention is made of such 
 an occurrence : " My dwelling-house in 
 Kingston took fire by accident in the 
 roof of the house — none knows the cause 
 of how it took fire, it being the twenty- 
 third day of October in the year of our 
 
 The Hoffman H.„-. 
 
 Lord 1776 at three of the clock in the 
 afternoon, being a violent wind that very 
 day, it consumed the house in a very 
 
OLD KINGSTON: NEW YORK'S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 351 
 
 short time. Lost most of my household 
 furniture, groceries in my store or shop, 
 and all my goods, linen, clothes, etc. 
 Books, book-case, clock, and all the 
 goods that were on the garret or loft, were 
 all consumed, to a great \alue. The loss 
 I sustained that day, at a modest compu- 
 tation is computed to at least three thou- 
 sand pounds. But thanks be to the great 
 
 there until May the first 1777, and then 
 I moved into my own house, which I had 
 built some years before. (All the time I 
 was at Egbert Dumont's, I was laid up 
 with the above mentioned lameness, I had 
 when my house was burned down.) God 
 grant me to live now the remainder of my 
 days in his fear and walk in the paths of 
 righteousness and all my family, all the 
 
 Library in the Hasbrouck House. 
 
 and good God, I and all my family got 
 out of the house unhurt, though I was 
 then unable to help myself. I lay in bed 
 lame in most all my limbs, so that I could 
 not go or walk as little as a first-born 
 child, and I through God's mercies have 
 saved all my deeds, mortgages, bonds, 
 notes, books, most part of my money then 
 by me, except between £^i\^o and ^50 
 then in my counter's drawer was lost and 
 burnt. My neighbor Abraham Van Keu- 
 ren's widow's house took fire, also black- 
 smith's shop, Abraham Low's house, 
 barn, barrack, Johannis Masten's house, 
 Petrus Eltinge's house and barn, where 
 David Cox then lived in a small house 
 where John Carmen had his silversmith's 
 shop. Jacobus S. Bruyn's house and barn 
 all took fire and consumed, and several 
 other houses in great danger. The loss 
 was very great on the sufferers. Thank 
 God, no lives lost, nor any body hurt. I 
 with my family, with what was saved of 
 my goods and bedding got into the house 
 of Mr. Egbert Dumont, and remained 
 
 days of our lives, and live in peace and 
 quiet, and that God, of his infinite good- 
 ness, will be pleased to bless me and all 
 my family, both spiritually and temporally 
 all the days of our lives, is my ardent 
 prayer in the name of Christ Jesus, my 
 only Saviour and Redeemer. Amen and 
 Amen." 
 
 Two other items may be quoted in this 
 connection : " May the first and second 
 days in the year of our Lord Christ 1777 
 I and my family moved into the house I 
 had bought about eighteen years ago of 
 Mr. Robert G. Livingston wherein I now 
 live. I pray God to preserve me and 
 all my family and my dwelling-house." 
 ^^'ithin six months came the memorable 
 1 6th of October, less than a year from 
 the fire recorded above. "Then the 
 enemy under the command of General 
 Henry Clinton and General Vaughan came 
 to Kingston in Esopus and burnt my 
 dwelling-house," etc. The detailed account 
 is full of interest, and closes with the state- 
 ment, " I have lost since the fire in New 
 
3.-) 2 
 
 OLD KIXGSTON: NEW YORK'S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 \«)rk I 776 until this time between ^9,000 
 and X' 1 0,000. Thanks be to (lod for his 
 great goodness, I, my wife and children 
 escaped and unhurt out of the enemy's 
 hancls. \'et my sons, Jacobus, Abraham 
 and 1 )aniel were in the opposing of the 
 enemy from landing and to oppose them 
 to come to Kingston, and showers of shot 
 flew on every side of them. I pray the 
 Lord will support me under so heavy a 
 trial and must say with Job, ' The Lord 
 hath given and the Lord hath taken, The 
 Lord's name may be praised.' " 
 
 Passing through the older ])art of 
 Kingston, once trodden by feet long ago 
 at rest, we seem taken back to earlier 
 times. On North Front Street still 
 stands the immense De \V'all house, 
 where were the Assembly Rooms fre- 
 quented before and long after the Rev- 
 
 irregularly placed on the western side of 
 the building was a loophole, before the 
 rebuilding. 
 
 North of the De Wall house is the gam- 
 brel-roofed mansion of Col. Bruyn, who 
 raised and equipped at his own expense 
 a company for the Continental army, 
 led them to the seat of war, and was 
 among the few survivors of the "Jersey" 
 prison-ship, whose martyrs have recently 
 been recalled to mind. This home was 
 noted for its genial hospitality, extended 
 even to strangers passing through the 
 town. Just back of this, on Crown Street, 
 we come to an old-time inn, with its oval 
 sign supported by a high pole. Another, 
 "The Black Horse Tavern," on Wall 
 Street, remained, as a tenement house, 
 until a few years ago. 
 
 The whole western extremity of the 
 
 The First Reformed Church. 
 
 olution by the elite of the town and of the 
 surrounding country, who met there at 
 intervals for social intercourse and en- 
 joyment. Farther down is the Hoffman 
 house, which stood at the northwest cor- 
 ner of the stockade raised to protect the 
 first settlers after "fire-water " had begun 
 its favorite work. At first the relations 
 with the Indians here, as in other Dutch 
 settlements, were so cordial that no such 
 precautions were taken. A small window 
 
 village is marked by quaint houses, 
 among which are the homes of Beekmans, 
 Hasbroucks, Van Burens, Wynkoops, etc., 
 of past generations. The Tappan house 
 IS especially noticeable, standing upon a 
 point formed by the junction of Greene 
 and Crown Streets. Its large, well-lighted 
 rooms and pleasant garden made it in 
 earlier days a delightful family dwelling. 
 Very near it, once its next neighbor, "is 
 the long, low stone house where John 
 
OLD KINGSTON: NEW YORK'S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 353 
 
 Vanderlyn, the artist, resided for some 
 years before his death in 1850. This 
 was previously the Van Keiiren home- 
 stead, and bore its part in the tragedies 
 that threatened the early life of the town. 
 On the same street stands a similar 
 dwelling, formerly a watchmaker's, marked 
 until quite recently by a large watch hung 
 from the overhanging stoop-roof. Here 
 the first Methodists of King- 
 ston used to gather, to the _ ' 
 wonder and astonishment of 
 the village children, who would 
 crowd around the low win- 
 dows and peer curiously with- 
 in while services were being 
 held, — services quite different 
 from either the more formal 
 mode of worship of the Dutch Church 
 or the catechetical instruction given by 
 the dominie to the children. Indeed, 
 they were probably equally different from 
 the Methodist meetings of the present 
 day, notably so in point of the dress of 
 the people, which was almost Quaker-like 
 in its sobriety. 
 
 A stone's-throw away, on 
 opposite coiners, are four 
 old buildings close upon the 
 street. Repairs re- 
 cently made upon 
 one of these, 
 -v^ owned by Hon. 
 
 tutions of learning in State or nation, 
 where were educated De Witt Clinton, 
 Stephen Van Renssalaer, Edward Liv- 
 
 T 
 
 The Church burned by the British. 
 
 Augustus Schoonmaker, brought to light 
 charred timbers, which told the story of 
 that October day of 1777. 
 
 Another of the buildings is old King- 
 ston Academy, one of the earUest insti- 
 
 Church as Rebuilt after the Revolution. 
 
 ingston, and many other noted men of 
 early times. Uninjured by the lapse of 
 years, it stands precisely as in its palmy 
 days, except for the loss of cupola and 
 bell. The present academy is the suc- 
 cessor of this, and has recently been 
 altered and enlarged into a handsome 
 building, serving for the higher de- 
 partment of the graded schools. On its 
 campus was gathered, in 1861, the first 
 New York regiment offered to the gov- 
 ernment, — the "Old Twentieth," as it 
 has since come to be called. Here the 
 citizens gave a farewell breakfast to their 
 defenders, and, moved at once with sor- 
 row and exaltr.tion, followed them to 
 Rondout, where on a memorable Sunday 
 morning they embarked for the seat of 
 war. 
 
 Just opposite is the home of Gen. 
 Sharpe, who went with the Twentieth 
 as captain, and later enlisted and led to 
 the field a second Ulster County regi- 
 ment, — the Hundred and Twenti- 
 * eth. In his house, which bears the 
 
 /-., date of its erection (1828) upon 
 its antique hall mantel, are to be 
 '('/"•^ ' ■ found many relics of the past and 
 many treasures of art. 
 Many of these ancestral homes con- 
 tain carved furniture of rare beauty and 
 value, and exquisite silver and china 
 that have come down from generation to 
 generation. Here, in one instance at 
 least, is china, evidently of Japanese 
 make, which must have been brought 
 over by the way of Holland, when only 
 
354 
 
 OLD KINGSTON: NEW YORK'S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 the Dutch had commercial relations with 
 Japan. The silver is frequently traced 
 with armorial bearings. In the Schoon- 
 maker family are a full dozen of "Apos- 
 tle " spoons, with flat, shallow bowls sur- 
 mounted by figures of the Apostles. A 
 similar spoon of some peculiar metal, 
 found buried in the garden of the old 
 Bruyn mansion, was doubtless brought 
 from Norway by the first of the Bruyn 
 family who came to this country. A fac- 
 simile of this was in the Norwegian de- 
 partment at the Centennial Exhibition. 
 
 There are many old portraits, — some 
 by skilled and well-known artists, of 
 Revolutionary heroes ; " dominies," whose 
 names and lineaments are familiar to 
 generations far later than their own ; 
 stately dames in dainty attire ; lawyers 
 in legal robes long discarded by the bar. 
 Most of them are evidently lifelike, and 
 seem following with ghastly eyes the life 
 and customs of their remote descendants. 
 Tall clocks stand erect as a century ago, 
 still faithful in marking lunar changes, 
 still sounding each hour with sedate, 
 silvery stroke. A "Kas," or wide-shelved 
 wardrobe, in handsome West India wood, 
 fitted together without nail or iron hinge, 
 is usually found in some branch of every 
 family of Holland descent, as are many 
 other articles that would drive bric-a-brac 
 collectors wild with enthusiasm. Among 
 these are andirons of fine brass or mas- 
 sive iron, huge cranes, and Dutch ovens, 
 warming-pans, ancient kitchen utensils 
 in copper and brass, deep, narrow fire- 
 buckets, and toys of solid silver, daintily 
 made and of early date. 
 
 Bibles bound with dark leather, clasped 
 with brass or silver, contain memorial 
 records of progenitors whose forms have 
 long since crumbled into dust; also, in 
 some cases, of slaves born in those by- 
 gone households. During the childhood 
 of the writer, it was not uncommon to 
 be asked to search such records for the 
 convenience of these colored friends, who 
 wanted to know their ages. Some of 
 these names, then too familiar to be 
 noticeable, would now seem odd indeed, 
 such as Mimbo, Gomez, Csesar, Laukie, 
 and Cobe. 
 
 The first Sunday school in Kingston 
 was started by members of the old 
 
 church, for the colored people. Out of 
 this grew the present Sunday school of 
 the First Dutch Church. To this day, 
 cordial and affectionate relations exist 
 with these descendants of what was once 
 a dependent race, who still designate 
 their employers as "our family." 
 
 We must not fail to notice in our wan- 
 derings the Masten house, on the western 
 outskirts of the town, which has its big 
 old stoop still standing, in harmony with 
 its substantial low walls. A similar house, 
 — formerly the Ingraham homestead, — 
 though enlarged, still shows its original 
 shape, and is supposed to have been 
 built by Thomas Chambers, an English 
 colonist, on his manor, soon after the 
 town was settled. It is generally known 
 as Komoxen, the Indian name for the 
 locality ; probably derived from " ko- 
 moke," a spring. A genuine secret 
 closet (which once concealed a young 
 bride, fleeing from an angry father dis- 
 pleased at her marriage) remained within 
 its massive walls until some alterations 
 unfortunately destroyed it, about thirty 
 years ago. 
 
 A short distance beyond Komoxton, 
 "Manor Place" leads to the site of the 
 manor-house proper, torn down at about 
 the same date. On the way we pass 
 other old-fashioned residences. The 
 wing of one bears the marks of great 
 antiquity. The whole vicinity is known 
 as Foxhall, the name of the manor. It 
 has been a question whether this was not 
 a corruption of Vauxhall ; but this must 
 remain unsolved in the mists of the past. 
 
 Our sketch would indeed be incom- 
 plete should it fail to introduce the 
 reader to some of the families who still 
 form the very fibre of "old Kingston." 
 
 To one long familiar with the old resi- 
 dents it is easy to recall many an anti- 
 quated form no longer visible. We see 
 once more the old surtout, with its many 
 litde capes. Old ladies pass before us 
 arrayed in shoulder-shawls, trim short- 
 waisted gowns, just long enough to cover 
 the ankle, neat " buskins," and with 
 " fronts " of dark, unnatural hue covering 
 their soft gray locks. Some of these 
 shadowy presences seem to say, in the 
 odd vocabulary scarcely yet discarded : 
 " Come into the room" (/. e., the parlor. 
 
OLD KINGSTON: NEW YORK'S FIRST CAPITAL. 
 
 355 
 
 or best room) ; "Take off, and sit by " ; 
 or, by way of consolation for some acci- 
 dent, " It don't make " (a literal transla- 
 tion of Maakt neii) . 
 
 Much that was distinctive is passing 
 away. The Dutch accents so common 
 
 Kingston was the third place in impor- 
 tance in the State, and when her heart 
 beat with every early throb of our nation's 
 young life. Without are the youth of the 
 nineteenth century. Strangers in these 
 later days come, take root, and thrive. 
 
 J^//t- 
 
 Kingston in 1819. 
 FROM A TAINTING BY VANDERLYN. 
 
 twenty years ago now rarely fall upon the 
 ear. Many changes have come ; many 
 must still come. But as we are welcomed 
 into the homesteads of earlier generations 
 we find often, even in the simplest, a re- 
 finement that has accumulated through 
 centuries of reverent faith, kindly thought, 
 and mutual sympathy ; while in some 
 there is added to this the culture given 
 by literature, travel, and wide social in- 
 tercourse. Yet there is also perceptible, 
 even among those most in the outside 
 world, a certain simplicity (an unworldli- 
 ness we might call it) that gives an added 
 grace to the genial warmth of welcome. 
 And so we linger from day to day, or 
 week to week, sharing the hospitable fare 
 (olykoeks and crullers, it may be) spread 
 upon fine old damask woven in the days 
 of our great-grandparents, or sleeping in 
 a canopied four-poster under its home- 
 spun linen and flannel. 
 
 And when the old letters, full of his- 
 toric interest, are brought out, as we sit 
 by the blazing fire on a winter evening, 
 we seem to be ourselves of the past, be- 
 longing to the remote days when old 
 
 The quaint old dame may spread out her 
 skirts and add to her antique garb some 
 of the present fashions ; but she is still, 
 and must remain for many a long day, a 
 lady of the old school, both in appearance 
 and in character. And in this is found 
 her ineradicable charm. It is this that 
 draws homeward her sons and daughters, 
 when, "life's long battle won," they yearn 
 for their familiar place kept unfailingly in 
 her heart. It is this that adds so much 
 to her natural beauty. It is a place of 
 much comfort — very rarely of wealth ; a 
 home rather than an inn, whose inmates 
 constantly come and go ; and it is, of all 
 the principal towns in the State, the one 
 most indelibly marked by its past. Even 
 Albany is yielding her original traits to 
 the pressure of the times. But " Festina 
 lenh',''' which might fittingly have served 
 as the motto of the earlier State capital, 
 has kept Kingston intact until it has be- 
 come the fashion of the day to value and 
 venerate the tokens of antiquity. May 
 she remember and obey the divine in- 
 junction, " Remove not the ancient land- 
 marks which the fathers have set" ! 
 
MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOLS BEFORE THE 
 REVOLUTION. 
 
 By George H. Martin. 
 
 THE founders of Massachusetts, in 
 their theory of education, were in 
 hne with the foremost of the re- 
 formers ; and this hne was far in advance 
 of the existing practice at the time of 
 their expatriation. Universal opportunity 
 for education was the utmost that even 
 the charitable founders of the endowed 
 schools aimed to secure by their gift. 
 The Massachusetts Puritans went further, 
 and decreed universal education ; but 
 when they came to provide the means 
 for such education, they set up such 
 schools as they had been familiar with. 
 Bryce has said : " Everything which has 
 power to win the obedience and respect 
 of men must have its roots deep in the 
 past." As the student of our pohtical 
 institutions is struck by the fact that their 
 founders broke with the past so little, 
 the student of our educational history 
 observes the same fact, and finds that the 
 early schools of New England are studied 
 best in Old England. When the law- 
 makers of 1647 spoke of grammar schools, 
 they meant such schools as they had 
 already started, and these were such as 
 they had been educated in at home. 
 
 Winthrop came from Groton, in Suf- 
 folk. At Bury St. Edmunds, close by, 
 was a free grammar school founded by 
 Edward in 1553; at Eye, in the same 
 county, was one founded before 1556; 
 while at Sudbury there was another, 
 founded by one \Villiam Wood, a year 
 before Columbus discovered America. 
 John Cotton came from Old Boston. 
 There was a free grammar school, and 
 Cotton, a few years before, had been one 
 of a committee to select an usher for it. 
 Endicott, of Salem, came from Dor- 
 chester. There was a school founded in 
 1579 : "A free school with a learned 
 master, for children of all degrees." 
 Dudley, of Roxbury, came from North- 
 ampton. There was a school founded 
 
 350 
 
 in 1 541, to teach boys who desired to 
 learn, freely. Hooker, of Cambridge, 
 who led his flock through the wilderness 
 to the Connecticut, came from Chelms- 
 ford, in Essex. There, too, was one of 
 the good Edward's free grammar schools, 
 founded in 155 1. At Halstead and 
 Colchester, too, in the same county, were 
 similar schools. From the neighborhood 
 of these came most of the early settlers 
 of Cambridge. 
 
 In view of these facts it is amusing to 
 read in Mr. Douglas Campbell's book on 
 the Puritans, that in the absence of any 
 schools the Massachusetts Puritans must 
 have educated themselves and their chil- 
 dren. 
 
 The statement is frequently made that 
 Massachusetts, by its law of 1647, estab- 
 lished a system of free public schools, 
 the first in the world. However gratify- 
 ing such statements might be to our local 
 pride, and our pride of ancestry, candor 
 compels us to declare that it is not true. 
 Our fathers did establish a system of 
 schools ; they were public schools, and 
 many of them were free schools ; but, 
 paradoxical as it may seem, there was at 
 first no system of free public schools. 
 
 Schools had been begun in nearly all 
 the towns before 1647, and after that 
 date new schools were added as the 
 necessity arose. With perhaps a single 
 exception, these were all public schools 
 — the people's schools. The initiative 
 was taken by the people as citizens — 
 taken in town meeting, and recorded in 
 the town records. 
 
 The town voted to have the school ; the 
 town determined the grade of the school ; 
 the town chose the master and fixed his 
 compensation ; the town, through its offi- 
 cers, inducted him into office and arranged 
 all the details of the school econony. 
 
 This was all done as a matter of con- 
 venience, not of right ; not at all with