Part 8 (1/2)
In the old pamphlet from which I have already quoted, edited in 1845 by Moses Y Beach and co infor the status of New York citizens to banks,description of George Douglas: ”George Douglas was a Scotch merchant who hoarded closely His wine cellar was e used to see people speculating and idle it distressed hiet too many _idees_ in their head Why don't they work?' What a blessing he is not alive in this s” Mr Beach apparently was not capable of appreciating a thrifty Scotchives an account of a picturesque character whohly proe was involved in mystery, and has remained so until this day I refer to Mr Preserved Fish, the senior member of the firm of Fish, Grinnell & Co, which subsequently became the prominent business house of Grinnell, Minturn & Co Sustained by the apparel peculiar to infants, he was found floating in the water by some New Bedford fishermen who, unable to discover his identity, bestowed upon hily, he bore until the day of his death He and the other inally from New Bedford, one of the chief centers of the whale fisheries of New England, and came to New York to attend to the oil and candle industries of certain merchants of the forhly respected for indority than Mr
Fish He became President of the Tradesmen's Bank, and held other positions of responsibility and trust He represented an ideal type of the self-in and a ridiculous na hand
In connection with the Douglas fa reception which, as well as I can remember, took place in the aututon, then a suburb of New York The bride was fanny Monroe, a daughter of Colonel Jalas of whose ball I have just spoken The grooeous autumn day when the votaries of pleasure and fashi+on in New York drove out to Fanwood, where grooreet the guests and conduct them to the side of the newly uest in Houston Street at the ti as no invitation had reached her My presence reminded Mrs Monroe that Mrs Scott was in New York, and she iave the reason both Colonel and Mrs Monroe seely annoyed It seeton but had not been forwarded to her in New York In those days Mrs Scott's distinguished presence and sparkling repartee, together with the fact that her husband was Commander-in-Chief of the Are The Army ell represented at this reception and it was truly ”the feast of reason and the flow of soul” Colonel ”Jireat favorite with his forenial, whole-souled and hospitable gentlearet and I were accompanied to Fanwood by an army officer, Colonel Donald Fraser, a bachelor whom I had met some years before at West Point The paths of the bride and ain It was only a few years ago, while she was residing teton She was then, however, aand was living in great retirement She is now deceased
When we alighted fro at Fanwood a young man whom I subsequently learned was Mr
Samuel L Gouverneur, junior, a cousin of the bride, walked over to roomsman inquired whether I would allow him to present me to the bride I was particularly impressed by his appearance, as it was unusually attractive He had raven-black hair, large bluish-gray eyes and regular features; but what added to his charm in my youthful fancy was the fact that he had only recently returned from the Mexican War, in which, as I learned later, he had served with great gallantry in the 4th Artillery I had never seen hi the matter over a few days later I remembered that I had met his ain until five years later, when our paths crossed in Washi+ngton, and in due time I became his bride
To return to the New York assembly in 1841 Henry Delafield, whose naed to a well-known falishman by birth, settled in New York in 1783 and is described in an early city directory as ”John Delafield, Insurance Broker, 29 Water Street” The Delafields were a large fahly prosperous I re Dr John W Francis say: ”Put a Delafield on a desert island in the middle of the ocean, and he will thrive and prosper” Henry Delafield and his brother Willialy alike in appearance General Richard Delafield, USA, for many years Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point, was another brother, as was also Dr Edward Delafield, a physician of note, who lived in Bleecker Street and in 1839 hter of Willianers
About thirty-five years ago three of the Delafield brothers, Joseph, Henry and Edward, all advanced in life, died within a few days of each other and were buried in Greenwood Ce place from old Trinity Church On this occasion all the old custoany
[Illustration: SAMUEL L GOUVERNEUR, JUNIOR]
John Swift Livingston lived in Leonard Street, and I recall very pleasantly a party which I attended at his house before the hter Estelle to General John Watts de Peyster The latter, together with his first cousins, General ”Phil” Kearny and Mrs
Alexander Macorandfather John Watts, as one of the most prominent men of his day and the founder of the Leake and Watts Orphan House, which is still in existence John G Leake was an English without heirs, left his fortune to Robert Watts, asurvive his benefactor Upon his death the Leake as contested by his relatives, but a decision was rendered in favor of the nearest kin of the boy, as his father After gaining his victory John Watts established this Orphan House and with true nanimity placed Leake's name before his own Jacob R LeRoy lived in Greenwich Street near the Battery, which at this time was a fashi+onable section of the city
His sister Caroline, whom I knew, becahter Charlotte enius, Reginald de Koven Henry W Hicks was the son of a prominent Quaker merchant and a member of the fir business until its suspension, about 1847, owing to foreign business eenial and most hospitably inclined He owned a handsome country-seat near Tarrytown, and every now and then it was his pleasure to charter a steauests thither; and I recall several pleasant days I spent in this manner When we reached the Tarrytown home a fine collation always awaited us and in its wake caed to an old New York family and was one of the executors of the Vanden Heuvel estate His niece, Mary McEvers, hted by Queen Victoria William Starr Millermany excellent traits of character As far as I can remember, she was the only divorced person of those days ell received in society, for people with ”past histories” were then regarded with marked disfavor
CHAPTER VI
SOME DISTINGUISHED ACQUAINTANCES
In close proxi my early life on Hubert Street, there resided a Frenchman named Laurent Salles, and I have a vivid recollection of a notable roohter, Miss Louise Stephanie Salles, but the young and pretty bride survived her e for only a few years She left two children, one of whom is Mrs
Frederick Grahaton, where with her husband she spends her winters
When playing in St John's Park in this saaret Tillotson Kehters of Willia on Beach Street, opposite that Park Mr Kemble was the son of Peter Kemble, member of the pro merchants of New York, which traded with China and other foreign countries This firm, the senior members of which were the brothers Nicholas and Isaac Gouverneur, was bound together by a close family tie, as Mrs Peter Kemble was Gertrude Gouverneur, a sister of the two Gouverneur brothers
My intiaret Tillotson Kemble, forhout life She was a second cousin of my husband and etown, DC, faood works Her sister, Mary, married Dr Frederick D Lente, at one ti, NY, and subsequently a distinguished general practitioner in New York and Saratoga Springs Ellen Kemble, the other sister, of whom I have already spoken, never married She was eely devoted to works of charity
The Kemble house on Beach Street was always a social center and I think I can truthfully say it was more than a second hoaret Chatham Seth of Maryland, was a woman of decided social tastes and ahospitality Gathered around her hearthstone was a large fahtness to the household Mr Kemble was a well-known patron of art and his house became the rendezvous for persons of artistic tastes It was in his drawing-roo of Washi+ngton, whose portraits are so well known; John Gadsby Chapman, who painted the ”Baptism of Pocahontas,” now in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washi+ngton; Asher B Durand, the celebrated artist; and Mr Ke, who at the time was Secretary of the Navy under President Martin Van Buren Mr Kemble was one of the founders of the Century Club of New York, a life e of twenty-one, in conjunction with his older brother, Gouverneur Ke period received heavy ordnance contracts frouns were manufactured there Captain Robert P Parrott, their inventor and an army officer, married Mary Kemble, a sister of Gouverneur and Williaarded as a beauty Mr William Kemble, apart fro which was a Sappho by a Spanish randfather of the late Rear Admiral Richard W Meade, USN When the Kemble family left Beach Street and moved to West Twenty-fifth Street this picture was sold to Gouverneur Keallery at Cold Spring
Mrs William Kemble was a woman of marked ability and an able _raconteurse_ Early in life she had been left an orphan and was brought up by her maternal uncle, Dr Thomas Tillotson of the Eastern shore of Maryland, whose as Margaret Livingston, a daughter of Judge Robert R Livingston and a sister of Chancellor Robert R Livingston Another sister of Mrs Tillotson was theof General Richard Montgomery, of the Revolutionary War, who fell at the battle of Quebec The Tillotsons, Livingstons and Montgomerys all owned fine residences near Hyde Park on the Hudson; and a close inti to the fact that Mr Kemble's first cousin, Emily Gouverneur, ston Tillotson Williaer brother, Richard Frederick, hter of James Morris of Morrisania, NY
The surove of trees at Cold Spring and life under its roof was indeed an ideal existence I was their constant guest and although it was a simple life it teemed with beauty and interest Our days were spent principally out of doors and the sources of amusement were always near at hand As all of the Kembles were experts with the oar, we frequently spentsource of pleasure was a frequent visit to West Point to witness the evening parade As we knew many of the cadets they frequently crossed the river to take an informal meal or enjoy an hour's talk on the attractive lawn Lieutenant Colonel (subsequently General) Willia time was Commandant of Cadets at West Point, I knew quite well Later in his career he was ordered to Washi+ngton, where as a er he beca hihter of General Lewis Cass His career in the Confederate Army is too well known for ain, as he lived in the South During one of my visits at the Kembles General Robert E Lee was the Superintendent of the West Point Military Acade the cadets whoinia, an officer as subsequently highly estee out of the Civil War, followed the fortunes of his native state and became a Major General in the Confederate Army; Innis N Palton when he had attained the rank of General; and Cadet Daniel M Beltzhoover of Pennsylvania, a reat pleasure to us but whose career I have not followed
At this period in the history of West Point Cozzen's Hotel was the only hostelry within the military enclosure A man named Benny Havens kept a store in close proxiovernment territory no cadet was allowed to enter the preh liquor was his principal stock in trade he kept other articles of merchandise, but only as a cover for his unlawful traffic The cadets had their weaknesses then as now, and as this shop was ”forbidden fruit”
many of theht there ”after taps,” the punish selections from a dozen verses written by Lieutenant Luciusobien, USA, and others, which I re, were set to the tune of ”Wearing of the Green”:
Colasses, fellows, and stand up in a row, To singing sentio; In the ar our reminiscences of Benny Havens, oh!
Oh, Benny Havens, oh!--oh! Benny Havens oh!