[Illustration: JAMES FENIMORE COOPER.]
JAMES
FENIMORE COOPER
by
MARY E. PHILLIPS
[Illustration: LEATHERSTOCKING.]
New York: John Lane Company
London: John Lane: The Bodley Head
Toronto: Bell and Cockburn
MCMXIII
Copyright, 1912
By Mary E. Phillips
The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A.
Dedicated To The Young Of
All Ages From The Years Of Ten
To Ten Times Ten
PREFACE
The intention of this simply told _personal_ life of James Fenimore
Cooper, the creator of American romance, is to have all material
_authentic_. The pictures of men, women, places and things are, as
nearly as possible, of Cooper's association with them to reproduce a
background of his time and to make the _man_--not the author--its
central foreground figure. From every available source since the
earliest mention of the author's name, both in print and out, material
for these pages has been collected. In this wide gleaning in the field
of letters--a rich harvest from able and brilliant pens--the gleaner
hereby expresses grateful appreciation of these transplanted values.
Much, precious in worth and attractive in interest, comes into these
pages from the generous and good among the relatives, friends, and
admirers of Fenimore Cooper. And more than all others, the author's
grand-nephew, the late Mr. George Pomeroy Keese, of Cooperstown, New
York, has paid rich and rare tribute to the memory of his uncle, with
whom when a boy he came in living touch. Appeals to Cooper's grandson,
James Fenimore Cooper, Esq., of Albany, New York, and also to his
publishers have been met in a spirit so gracious and their giving has
been so generous as to command the grateful service of the writer.
For rare values, in service and material, special credits are due to Mr.
George Pomeroy Keese, Cooperstown, N.Y.; James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.,
Albany, N.Y.; Mr. Francis Whiting Halsey, New York City; Mr. Edwin
Tenney Stiger, Watertown, Mass.; General James Grant Wilson, New York
City; Mr. Horace G. Wadlin, Librarian, Messrs. Otto Fleischner,
Assistant Librarian, O.A. Bierstadt, F.C. Blaisdell, and others, of the
Boston Public Library; Miss Alice Bailey Keese, Cooperstown, N.Y.; Mrs.
T. Henry Dewey, Paris, France; Mrs. Edward Emerson Waters, New York
City; and Miss Mary C. Sheridan, Boston, Mass.
Mary E. Phillips.
INTRODUCTION
A life of Cooper, written with some particular reference to the
picturesque village among the Otsego hills, where he so long lived and
in whose soil he, for some sixty years or more, has slept, has long been
needed. That such a book should have become a labor of love in the hands
of Miss Phillips is not more interesting than it is fortunate that the
task should have been accomplished so conspicuously well. Miss Phillips
has borne testimony to the resourcefulness and rare devotion with which
the late Mr. Keese assisted her in researches extending over many years.
None knew so well as he the personal side of Cooper's whole life story;
none so assiduously and so lovingly, during a long life spent in
Cooperstown, gathered and tried to preserve in their integrity every
significant and interesting detail of it.
The turning point in Cooper's life was reached when he went to
Cooperstown, although he was little more than a child in arms. Most
curious is it that his going should have resulted from the foreclosure
of a mortgage. This mortgage had been given in the late Colonial period
by George Croghan, and covered a vast tract of native forest lands in
Otsego. In these lands, through the foreclosure, Cooper's father, soon
after the Revolution, acquired a large interest, which led him to
abandon his home of ease and refinement in Burlington, New Jersey, and
found a new, and, as it proved to be, a permanent one in the unpeopled
wilderness at the foot of Otsego Lake. Except for this accident of
fortune, Leatherstocking and his companions of the forest never could
have been created by the pen of Cooper.
[Illustration: signature 'Francis W. Italsey']
ILLUSTRATIONS
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From Appleton portrait. By permission of owner,
James Fenimore Cooper, Esq., of Albany, N.Y. _Frontispiece_
THE ENGLISH FYNAMORE COUNTRY AND FAMILY ARMS.
COOPER'S BIRTHPLACE. Burlington, N.J. From a photograph by George W.
Tichnor
THE FENIMORE BOX. (Of light and dark woods, size 12-1/2 X 6-3/4 inches.)
From photograph by permission of owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.,
Albany, N.Y.
THE SUSQUEHANNA. By W.H. Bartlett
CHINGACHGOOK ON COUNCIL ROCK. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
COUNCIL ROCK. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
THE MANOR. From outline on _first_ map of Cooperstown, 1788-1790. By
permission of owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
ORIGINAL OTSEGO HALL. From outline on 1800-1808 map of Cooperstown. By
permission of owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
JUDGE WILLIAM COOPER. By Gilbert Stuart. By permission of owner, James
Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. From a portrait by Woods, 1812
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 1800. From "St. Memim's Gallery of Portraits"
TALLEYRAND. From a portrait by F. Gérard
POINT JUDITH. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
"EDGEWATER." By courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE POMEROY. By the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
THE OLD STONE HOUSE. By the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
COOPERSTOWN PRIOR TO 1835. From _The Family Magazine_, 1836-1837
DR. THOMAS ELLISON. By the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
ST. PETER'S CHURCH, ALBANY, N.Y. By the courtesy of Dr. Joseph Hooper,
Durham, Conn.
STATE STREET, ALBANY, N.Y., 1802. By the courtesy of Dr. Joseph Hooper
"NEAR SHORES" OF NEW HAVEN. From an old print
DR. TIMOTHY DWIGHT. From an old print
YALE COLLEGE, 1806. By the courtesy of Professor John C. Schwab, Ph.D.,
Librarian, Yale University
WILLIAM JAY IN YOUTH. By Vanderlyn. From Bayard Tuckerman's "William
Jay," etc. By courtesy of author and publishers, Dodd, Mead & Co., N.Y.
JUDGE WILLIAM JAY. From a crayon by Martin. Dodd, Mead & Co., N.Y.
SILHOUETTE OF JAMES COOPER WHEN A STUDENT AT YALE. By the courtesy of
Professor John C. Schwab, Ph.D.
OUTWARD BOUND.
GIBRALTAR. From "_Le Monde Illustré_"
SAILOR'S SNUG HARBOR. From _Frank Leslie's Weekly_, Vol. I
OTSEGO HALL GATES. By courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
BUFFALO BURNT. From an old woodcut in Spear's "United States Navy"
THE "VESUVIUS." From "Life of Fulton," by J.F. Reigart, 1856
ONTARIO FORESTS. By W.H. Bartlett
THE THOUSAND ISLANDS. By W.H. Bartlett
THE PORT OF BUFFALO. From an old print
CAPTAIN M.T. WOOLSEY. From Spear's "United States Navy"
THE PATHFINDER. By F.O.C. Darley
A BUBBLE OF A BOAT. By F.O.C. Darley
CAPTAIN LAWRENCE. From a portrait by Chappel
THE "WASP." From an old print
FRAUNCES TAVERN. By the courtesy of Dr. Joseph Hooper, Durham, Conn.
LIEUT. GOV. JAMES DE LANCEY'S SEAL. From Vol. I, M.J. Lamb's "History of
New York City"
HEATHCOTE ARMS. From an old print
HON. CALEB HEATHCOTE. From print by V. Belch
FRAUNCES TAVERN LONG-ROOM. From "History of New York," by Mary L. Booth,
1857 BURN'S COFFEE HOUSE. From an old print
HEATHCOTE HILL. By the courtesy of J.W. Clapp, editor _Richbell Press_,
Mamaroneck, N.Y.
TANDEM. From a rare old color-print. By the courtesy of George Samuel
Tucker, Peterboro, N.H.
COOPER'S FENIMORE FARM HOUSE. By the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy
Keese
ELIZABETH FENIMORE COOPER IN THE OLD HALL HOME. By the courtesy of
Elizabeth Cooper Keese
COOPER'S ANGEVINE FARM HOME. From "Homes of American Authors." G.L.
Putnam Sons, 1853
MAMARONECK CREEK SLOOPS. From Bryant's "History of the United States"
JUDGE JOHN JAY. From print of Trumbull portrait
BEDFORD HOUSE. From an old print
BEDFORD HOUSE LIBRARY. From Vol. II, Lamb's "History of New York City"
HARVEY BIRCH'S CAVE. By courtesy of Arthur B. Maurice, author of "New
York in Fiction"
THE LOCUSTS OF COOPER'S TIME. From Lossing's "Field-Book of the War of
1812"
THE LOCUSTS OF TO-DAY. By courtesy of the owner, Lawrence Durham, Esq.
TITLE-PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF "THE SPY."
ENOCH CROSBY. From "History of Westchester County, N.Y." By Spooner and
Shenard
LAFAYETTE THEATRE. From _New York Mirror_, Vol. V.
COOPER'S HEROINES. By courtesy of Rev. Ralph Birdsall and Miss Catherine
N. Duyckinck
WINDHURST'S NOOK, UNDER THE PARK THEATRE. From "History of New York
City," by Mary L. Booth, 1859
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, 1822. From a photograph of the J.W. Jarvis
portrait. By permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.,
Albany, N.Y.
FITZ-GREENE HALLECK. From print of Inman portrait. By permission of
owner, Gen. James Grant Wilson
JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE, From "Poems"
CRO' NEST. From "Poems," by Joseph Rodman Drake
SAMUEL WOODWORTH. From a rare lithograph
THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET. By F.S. Agate
CITY HOTEL AND WASHINGTON HALL. From Vol. II, "History of New York
City," by M.J. Lamb, and from "Valentine's Manual"
EARLY BROADWAY. Old prints
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. By B. Whitechurch
COOPER'S NEW YORK CITY HOME IN BEACH STREET. By the courtesy of General
James Grant Wilson
ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL. From _The York Mirror_
OLD LEATHERSTOCKING. From "The Pioneers"
NATTY'S CAVE. From an old print
GENERAL JAMES CLINTON. From an old print
CLINTON DAM. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
"TALES FOR FIFTEEN, OR IMAGINATION AND HEART." By permission of the
owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
CHARLES WILKES. From portrait by Thos. Sully
JOHN PAUL JONES. From portrait by C.W. Peale
LONG TOM COFFIN. F.O.C. Darley
BRYANT, WEBSTER AND IRVING. From sketch by Daniel Huntington by the
courtesy of owner, Mr. Day, Boston
THE LANDING OF LAFAYETTE, 1824. From "Complete History of Lafayette,"
1825 edition
LAFAYETTE. Portrait by Sully
LAFAYETTE'S BRANDYWINE VASE. From an old print
JOB PRAY. By F.O.C. Darley
THE BURNING OF CHARLESTOWN. From an old print
WHIPPLE HOUSE, AT PROVIDENCE, R.I. From an old print
MRS. JAMES MONROE. By the courtesy of General James Grant Wilson
PRESIDENT'S HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C., 1825. From an old print
SUNRISE AT SOUTH MOUNTAIN. Drawn by Harry Fenn for D. Appleton and Co.,
N.Y.
GLENS FALL'S CAVERNS. From "The Hudson," by Lossing
HONORABLE MR. STANLEY. Portrait by G. Harlow, 1833
GLENS FALL. By W.H. Bartlett
LAKE GEORGE, OR "THE HORICAN." By W.H. Bartlett
THE WAGER SEAL (1 X 1-1/8 inches). By permission of the owner, James
Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
BRYANT. Portrait by Barrett
"NATTY, THE TRAPPER." By F.O.C. Darley
HENRY CLAY. From a daguerreotype, engraved by Buttre
CHANCELLOR KENT. Portrait by Chappel
THE U.S.S. "HUDSON." By W.J. Bennett
WHITEHALL WHARF, 1826. From "Valentine's Manual"
KEEP OF CARISBROOK. By J. and F. Harwood, London, 1841
HAVRE, BY NIGHT. From "Meyer's Universum"
WINDMILLS OF MONTMARTRE. From an old French print
THE CONVENT ST. MAUR.
HOTEL DE JUMIÈGES. Found, verified and photographed for this Life of
Cooper by kindness of Mrs. T. Henry Dewey of Paris, France
SIR WALTER SCOTT. Portrait by G.S. Newton, 1824
MISS ANNE SCOTT. Portrait by W. Nicholson
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. After portrait by Madame de Mirbel, 1830
PIERRE JEAN DAVID D'ANGERS. Portrait by D'Aubrey. By courtesy of General
George T. Cruft
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a photograph of the bust by David d'Angers,
Paris, 1828. By permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
MRS. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a photograph of a drawing made at
Paris, 1890. By permission of James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a photograph of a drawing made at Paris,
1827. By permission of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
PROF. GEORGE WASHINGTON GREEN. By special permission of Mr. William Dean
Howells and Harper & Brothers
P.T. DE BÉRANGER. From a rare old print
TALLEYRAND. From an old engraving
DUCHESSE DE BERRI. From Soule photograph
CHARLES X of FRANCE. From Soule photograph
COOPER'S SUMMER HOME, ST. OUEN, 1827. Found, verified and photographed
by the kindness of Mrs. T. Henry Dewey, Paris, France
COOPER'S ST. OUEN TERRACE STUDY. Found, verified and photographed by the
kindness of Mrs. T. Henry Dewey, Paris, France
OLD MILL AT NEWPORT. From an old print
THE STRUGGLE. By F.O.C. Darley
THE NEWPORT BOX. By permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART. By Pickersgill
NATTY'S LAST CALL. From an old print
THE PRINCESS BARBARA VASSILIEWNA GALITZIN From print of portrait by Hein
Friedr. Füger
LA GRANGE, COUNTRY HOME OF LAFAYETTE. From an old print
LA GRANGE ARCHWAY ENTRANCE. From "Complete History of Lafayette"
HÔTEL DESSEIN, CALAIS, FRANCE. From a rare old print
CLIFFS OF DOVER. By C. Stanfield
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL CHOIR. From Soule photograph
GREEN GATE, CANTERBURY. From _Port Folio_, 1814
ST. JAMES PLACE, LONDON. From Thornbury's "Old and New London"
SIR FRANCIS CHANTREY. From _European Magazine_, 1822
SAMUEL ROGERS. Portrait by Thomas Lawrence
ROGERS' LONDON HOME. From "Bohn's Handbook of London"
ROGERS' BREAKFAST-ROOM. From _Illustrated London News_, 1857
CHARLES ROBERT LESLIE. From an old print
SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. Portrait by Thomas Lawrence
HOLLAND HOUSE. By Stockdale
LIBRARY OF HOLLAND HOUSE. By Charles R. Leslie. Used by permission of
the British Museum. From left to right, portrait of Addison, Lord
Holland, Lady Holland, Dr. John Allen, Librarian Doggett
GILT CHAMBER OF HOLLAND HOUSE. From lithograph by Richardson
ROGERS' SEAT. From Leichenstein's "Holland House"
LORD GREY. From a portrait by Thomas Lawrence
MRS. JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART. From a portrait by W. Nicholson
JOANNA BAILLIE. From "Life and Works of J. Baillie"
SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. From the Academy sketch, 1829
HOUSE OF THE GILLMAN'S, HIGHGATE, LONDON. From Hall's "Book of Memories"
BOOM KEY AT ROTTERDAM. From an old etching
MT. BLANC. By J.M.W. Turner
LA LORRAINE VIEW OF BERNESE ALPS. From Swiss print
NAHL'S MEMORIAL TO MADAME LANGHAN. From _European Magazine_, 1786
NARRA-MATTAH. By F.O.C. Darley
CONNECTICUT EMIGRANTS. From an old print
FALL OF THE STAUBBACH. From an old water color
THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE. By W.H. Bartlett, 1836
FERNEY, VOLTAIRE'S LAKE LEMAN HOME. From _European Magazine_, 1786
THE SIMPLON PASS. By Lory
FLORENCE, ITALY. From an old print
PALAZZO RICASOLI, FLORENCE, ITALY. From special drawing by G. Amightti.
By courtesy of Signor Agusto Ticci, Florence
HORATIO GREENOUGH. From portrait in Boston Athenaeum. By courtesy of Mr.
Charles K. Bolton, Librarian
BUST OF JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. By Horatio Greenough, in Boston Public
Library. By courtesy of the Librarian, Mr. Horace G. Wadlin, and
photographed by Arthur Pierce Truette
CHANTING CHERUBS. Detail from Raphael's Madonna del Trono
LEOPOLD II, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY. From Ballou's "Pictorial," Vol. XVII
PITTI PALACE, FLORENCE, 1828. From water color, 1830
COUNT ST. LEU. From "_La Jeunesse de Napoleon III_" by Stefane-Pol
LETIZIA BOUNAPARTE. From color print by de Delpech
MADAME MÈRE. From print of drawing by Princess Charlotte, in Vol. XX,
_L'lllustration_
CHURCH OF ST. ILLARIO AND NARROW LANE. From photograph obtained by Sig.
Agusto Ticci, Florence, Italy
VILLA, ST. ILLARIO. From special photograph obtained by Mrs. T. Henry
Dewey, Paris, France
CHARIOT RACES, FLORENCE. From an old print
GENOA. By Vocher
LEGHORN. From an old etching
NAPLES. From an old water color
CASA TASSO AT SORRENTO. From _"Vita di Torquato Tasso_" by Angelo
Solerti
CASA TASSO TERRACE-STUDY. From _"Vita di Torquato Tasso_," by Angelo
Solerti
ST. PETER'S, EXTERIOR, ROME. From an old print
ST. PETER'S, INTERIOR. From an old print
ADAM MICKIEOWICZ. From the "Life of the Poet"
PORTA RIPETTA. From an old etching
ROMAN FORUM. By Sargent
PORTA DEL POPOLO. From an old print
FALLS OF MARMORA AT TERNI. From an old print
ANCONA. By S. Prout
LORETO. From an old print
SCALLA MINELLI, VENICE. From an old print
VENICE. By J.B. Pyne
PIAZZA SAN MARCO. By Chilone
PALACE OF THE DOGE. From an old print
TASSO'S WELL. Special photograph by Marjorie Elizabeth Parks
THE BRAVO. By F.O.C. Darley
GLORY OF THE ASSUMPTION. By Titian
ABSOLUTION OF ANTONIO. By F.O.C. Darley
ALT MARKET, DRESDEN. From 1830 print by permission of owner, Mayor of
Dresden, and courtesy of Herr Rudolf Drescher, Hanau-on-Main, Germany
LAFAYETTE'S PARIS HOME, RUE D'ANJOU. From special photograph obtained by
Mrs. T. Henry Dewey, Paris, France
LAFAYETTE'S BED-ROOM. From "Complete History of Lafayette"
LOUIS PHILIPPE. From "_Galerie Napoléon_"
GENERAL LAFAYETTE. From lithograph by Delpech
QUEEN MARIE AMÉLIE. From an old print
S.F.B. MORSE. From _L'Illustration,_ Vols. XXXI and XXXII
N.P. WILLIS. By S. Lawrence
TUILERIES GARDENS. From an old print
TENIER'S WIFE. Portrait by Tenier. From photograph of original by
permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
MRS. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER AND HER SON PAUL. From a photograph of a
painting done at Paris, 1831. By permission of owner, James Fenimore
Cooper, Esq.
THE CHILDREN OF MR. AND MRS. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a photograph
(given by Mr. George Pomeroy Keese) of a drawing made in Paris by Miss
Susan Cooper. By permission of owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq. From
left to right, Caroline Martha (Mrs. H.F. Phinney), Susan [unreadable]
Fenimore, Anne Charlotte, Maria Frances [unreadable] Cooper
THE ANGELUS. By J.F. Millet
EUGÈNE-JOSEPH VERBOECKHOVEN. From a print
PETER PAUL RUBENS. Portrait by the artist
RUBENS' COLOGNE HOME. From Fairholt's "Homes and Haunts of Artists"
CONVENT OF NUNNENWORTH. By Tombleson
WATCH TOWER ON THE RHINE. From _The Art Journal_, 1880
HEIDELBERG AND CASTLE. From 1840 print
VEVAY SHORES OF LAKE LEMAN. From _New England Magazine_
FÉTE DES VIGNERONS. By courtesy of Mrs. Rufus A. Kingman
NOAH'S ARK VEVAY. 1833 By courtesy of Mrs. Rufus A. Kingman
HOSPICE ST. BERNARD. By Major Cockburn
BAY OF NAPLES. By James Hakywill
NEW YORK HARBOR. By W.H. Bartlett
COOPER'S OTSEGO HALL HOME. By courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
COPY OF COOPER'S GARDEN SEAT. From photograph by A.J. Telfer
COOPER'S LIBRARY AT OTSEGO HALL. From drawing by Mr. George Pomeroy
Keese
JUDGE NELSON. From photograph by A.J. Telfer
WILD ROSE POINT OR THREE MILE POINT. From a photograph by the courtesy
of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
COOPER'S NEW YORK CITY HOME, ST. MARK'S PLACE. From a print by the
courtesy of owner, General James Grant Wilson
HORACE GREELEY. From a portrait by J.C. Buttre
PARK BENJAMIN. From a portrait by J.C. Buttre
THURLOW WEED. From a portrait by C.B. Hall
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a daguerreotype by Brady. By permission of
owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
COLONEL JOHN TRUMBULL. From portrait by Waldo and Jewett.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. From a Paris print
COLUMBUS' FLEET. From an old print
THE GLIMMERGLASS. From photograph by courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
OTSEGO LAKE. Inset, Leatherstocking Falls and Natty Bumppo's Cave, from
photographs by A.J. Telfer, Cooperstown, N.Y.
JESSE D. ELLIOTT'S LAKE ERIE MEDAL. From Spear's "History of the United
States Navy"
MEDAL GIVEN TO JAMES FENIMORE COOPER BY JESSE D. ELLIOTT. From
photograph by the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
ISLAND OF ELBA. From an old print
ELBA HOME OF NAPOLEON. From Abbott's "Napoleon"
BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE. From painting by W.H. Powell
COOPER'S DIAGRAM OF THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE.
COOPER'S DIAGRAM OF THE BATTLE OF "BON HOMME RICHARD" AND THE "SERAPIS."
BATTLE OF THE "BON HOMME RICHARD" AND THE "SERAPIS" By J. Rogers
STUMP EXTRACTOR. From "The Hudson," by B.J. Lossing
THE CHÂLET FARM. From photograph by the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy
Keese
THE ESCAPE. From "Wyandotte." By F.O.C. Darley
MISS CAROLINE ADRIANCE FOOTE, AGE 13. From a daguerreotype by the
courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
MISS ALICE TRUMBULL WORTHINGTON. From a daguerreotype by the courtesy of
owner, Mrs. Alice Worthington Synnott
LIEUT. ALEXANDER SLIDELL MACKENZIE. From Duyckwick's "Cyclopedia of
American Literature"
HELL GATE. From "Pages and Pictures," by Susan Augusta Cooper
NIAGARA FALLS. By W.H. Bartlett
JUDGE BAZIL HARRISON OF KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN. From _Hearth and Home_,
1870
HON. GERRIT SMITH. From an old print
WILLIAM BRANDFORD SHUBRICK. From Lossing's "Field-Book of the War of
1812"
CHARLES MATHEWS. From "Memorials of Charles Mathew" by Mrs. Mathews
JAMES H. HACKETT. From "Modern Standard Drama"
STEWART'S MARBLE PALACE. From an old print
MISS SUSAN AUGUSTA COOPER, ABOUT 1850. From a daguerreotype. By
permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
OTSEGO LAKE PARTY IN 1840. By J.L. Pease
JOE TOM. From a photograph by the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
NATTY'S CAVE. From an old print
OTSEGO HALL--BACK VIEW. From "Pages and Pictures," by Susan Augusta
Cooper
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a daguerrotype by Brady. By permission of
the owner, [unreadable] Cooper, Esq., Albany, N.Y.
THE SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE (JENNY LIND). Portrait by J.W. Orr From Soule
photograph
JENNY LIND AT CASTLE GARDEN, NEW YORK CITY, 1850. From an old print
DR. JOHN WAKEFIELD FRANCIS. From portrait by J. Goldbruam
DR. FRANCIS' HOME IN NEW YORK CITY. By Richardson
CHRIST'S CHURCH, COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
FENIMORE COOPER'S SCREEN GIFT. From a print by courtesy of Miss Alice
Bailey Keese
BISHOP WILLIAM HEATHCOTE DE LANCEY. From Scharf's "History of
Westchester County, NY"
DE LANCEY COAT OF ARMS. From "A God-Child of Washington," by Katherine
Schuyler Baxter
THE NEW HOME AND THE OLD HOME.
INDIAN HUNTER. By J.Q.A. Ward
COOPER GROUNDS. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
THE CHILDREN'S TRIBUTE. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
LAKE OTSEGO. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
LEATHERSTOCKING FIGURE OF COOPER MEMORIAL. From a photograph by A.J.
Telfer
LEATHERSTOCKING MONUMENT. By R.E. Launitz, N.A. From a photograph by
A.J. Telfer
GEORGE POMEROY KEESE. From a photograph by permission of Mrs. George
Pomeroy Keese
BERRY POMEROY CASTLE. By courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
Acknowledgment is due The F.A. Ringler Company of New York City and
Messrs. John Andrew and Son of Boston, Mass., for the care and interest
they have shown in making the cuts used in this volume.
[Illustration: THE ENGLISH FYNAMORE COUNTRY AND FAMILY ARMS.]
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
[Illustration: COOPER'S BIRTHPLACE, Burlington, N.J.]
The light of this world fell on James Fenimore Cooper September 15,
1789. The founder of American romance was born in a quaint, two-storied
house of stuccoed brick which now numbers 457 Main St., Burlington, New
Jersey. It was then "the last house but one as you go into the country"
and among the best of the town. In a like house next door lived the
father of the naval hero, Capt. James Lawrence. These two houses opened
directly on the street and their slanting roofs were shaded by tall
trees rooted at the curbstones. This outline of Fenimore Cooper's
birthplace is from the text-picture in "Literary Rambles," by Theodore
F. Wolfe, M.D., Ph.D. The first of his father's family in this new
country was James Cooper, who came from Stratford-on-Avon, England, in
1679. He and his wife were Quakers, and with Quaker thrift bought wide
tracts of land in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Seventy-five years after
James Cooper stepped on American soil his great-grandson William was
born, December 2, 1754, in Byberry township, Pennsylvania.
On December 12, 1775, at Burlington, New Jersey, William Cooper married
Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Fenimore, whose family came from
Oxfordshire of Old England, and, at intervals, held office in her
provinces. James, the future author and named for his grandfather
Cooper, was the eleventh of twelve children. About 1807 Cooper, by
request of his mother, said he would adopt the name of Fenimore as there
were no men of her family to continue it. The change was delayed by the
untimely death of Judge Cooper, and also to make less difficult the
settlement of his large estate. But in 1826 James Cooper applied to the
legislature for his change of name to James Cooper _Fenimore_. This
request was not granted, but the change to "James Fenimore Cooper" was
made. Cooper's comment on this outcome is a graphic record and
"suggests," says an authority, that "the legislature would do well to
assume that a petitioner, in such a case, knew better than they did what
he wanted." The hyphen, at first used, was soon dropped. And so it was
for his mother's sake that he made world-wide his fame by the name of
James _Fenimore_ Cooper.
[Illustration: THE FENIMORE BOX.]
"The Fenimore Box" is an "English measure box, curious, and centuries
old, brought over by the first of the name." It descended to Cooper from
his mother, Elizabeth Fenimore, and is now treasured as a family
heirloom by his grandson, James Fenimore Cooper of Albany, New York.
[Illustration: THE SUSQUEHANNA.]
As the first James Cooper and his wife were Quakers, perchance the same
Quaker thrift influenced William Cooper to follow the lead of George
Washington, who, two years before, in order to find out the inland
waterways of our country, came from the Mohawk Valley to the headwaters
of the Susquehanna--this stream which Fenimore Cooper called "the
crooked river to which the Atlantic herself extended an arm of welcome."
Lake Otsego--the "Glimmerglass"--William Cooper saw first in the autumn
of 1785. "Mt. Vision" was covered with a forest growth so dense that he
had to "climb a tree in order to get a view of the lake, and while up
the tree" he saw a deer come down "from the thickets and quietly drink
of its waters near Otsego Rock." "Just where the Susquehanna leaves the
Lake on its long journey to the sea" this famous Council Rock "still
shows its chin above the water and marks the spot where Deerslayer met
Chingachgook the Great Serpent of the Delawares." Now "its lake margin
belongs to a grandson of the author, who also bears his name," is a
record found in Dr. Wolfe's "Literary Haunts and Homes." In the red
man's tongue Otsego means "a place of friendly meeting" of Indian
warriors. The author of "Deerslayer" has immortalized that
lake-country in the opening chapter of this book.
[Illustration: CHINGACHGOOK ON THE COUNCIL ROCK.]
Of this visit to his future home and lands William Cooper has written:
"In 1785 I visited the rough and hilly country of Otsego. I was alone,
three hundred miles from home, without food of any kind. I caught trout
in the brook and roasted them in the ashes. My horse fed on the grass
that grew by the edge of the waters. I laid me down to sleep in my
watch-coat, nothing but the wilderness about me. In this way I explored
the country and formed my plans of future settlement. May, 1786, I
opened a sale of forty thousand acres of land, which in sixteen days
were all taken up by the poorest order of men." Here William Cooper laid
out the site of Cooperstown, which, until 1791, when it became the
county-town, was at times also called "Foot-of-the-Lake." He built a
store for his sturdy pioneers, giving credit for their simple needs of
life, and traded settlement products for them. His tenants put up log
houses, and paid rent in butter, wheat, corn, oats, maple-sugar, and
finally in pork;--so much that rentals known as "pork leases" were sold
like farms. Money was scarce in those days,--when one John Miller, and
his father, coming to the Lakeland's point of the river, felled a pine,
over which they crossed to the Cooperstown site. Its stump was marked
with white paint and called the "bridge-tree" by Fenimore Cooper. His
sister Nancy's grandson, Mr. George Pomeroy Keese, from whom much will
appear in these pages, has all there is left of that stump.
[Illustration: COUNCIL ROCK.]
In a few years the town's growth gave such promise that William Cooper
began to build his own home. It was generally known as "The Manor," but
the patent of Cooperstown was not according to law a manor. It was
finished in 1788, when a few streets were laid out and the town's first
map was made. And October 10, 1790, he brought his family and servants,
some fifteen persons, and their belongings, from Burlington New Jersey,
to this early pioneer home. Mr. Keese says that "The Manor" was of wood
with outside boarding, unplaned; that it was two stories high, had two
wings and a back building added in 1791. It first stood facing Main St.
and Otsego Lake and directly in front of the later Otsego Hall, now
marked by the Indian Hunter. In 1799 it was moved down the street, and
was burned down in 1812. In its time it was the most stately private
house for miles around. The second home, Otsego Hall, built in 1798, was
of bricks which were made at the outlet of the lake. It had seventy feet
of frontage by fifty-six of depth, and had two stories with attic and
basement. The main hall measured twenty-four by forty-eight feet and the
rooms on either side were twenty feet wide. Otsego Hall is said to have
been of the exact, generous proportions of the Van Rensselaer Manor
House at Albany, New York, where Judge Cooper was a frequent visitor.
His own Hall home on Otsego's southern shore ever had "the air and
capacity of a mansion and a history of hospitality well deserved."
[Illustration: THE MANOR.]
[Illustration: ORIGINAL OTSEGO HALL.]
[Illustration: JUDGE WILLIAM COOPER.]
To a friend William Cooper wrote: "I began life with a small capital
and a large family, and yet I have already settled more acres than any
man in America; and I trust no one can justly impute to me any act of
oppression. Your good sense and knowledge will excuse this seeming
boast." He elsewhere said that he owed his success to "a steady mind, a
sober judgment, fortitude, perseverance, and above all, common sense."
And here he lived as a wise and kind landlord among his people. For nine
years he was First Judge of the County Court of Common Pleas, and he
served two terms in Congress. Of Judge William Cooper there are three
portraits,--Gilbert Stuart's of 1797-98, Trumbull's of 1806, and one by
an unknown artist. His kindly gray eye, robust figure, and firm
expression bear out the story of his life as told by these portraits.
James Fenimore Cooper, in a letter to his wife, dated Canajoharie, 1834,
wrote of his father: "I have been up to the ravine to the old Frey
house. It recalled my noble-looking, warmhearted, witty father, with his
deep laugh, sweet voice, and fine, rich eye, as he used to light the way
with his anecdotes and fun. Old Frey, with his little black peepers,
pipe, hearty laugh, broken English, and warm welcome, was in the
background. I went to the very spot where one of the old man's slaves
amused Sam and myself with an imitation of a turkey that no artist has
ever yet been able to supplant in my memory." This Heindrick Frey was a
noted character of the Mohawk Valley over one hundred years ago.
It was, however, to the first home on Otsego's shore that the future
creator of American romance was brought when a babe some thirteen months
old. Here, in the heart of the wilderness, his infancy was passed.
Otsego Hall sheltered his budding boyhood and young manhood. Grace and
refinement dwelt within the household; without, voices of the forest
awakened and nurtured his naturally active mind, which later on was not
less influenced by the mysteries of the sea. The Six Nations were yet a
power in the Mohawk Valley, then the highway to the land of the setting
sun beyond. And they are now remembered in the names of the principal
lakes and streams of the country that once was theirs. The boy was
face-to-face with the "grim warriors, braves, and chieftains that the
man, Fenimore Cooper, translated into his pages, with a touch true to
the red man's life," his instinct in trading, his friendly and hostile
intent. Here Nature was his first and unforgettable teacher. From "Pages
and Pictures," by his daughter, Susan Fenimore Cooper, much will be
given in this book. Miss Cooper has drawn some pretty pen-pictures of
her father's child-life. She writes: "From the first bow and arrow, kite
and ball, to later feats in fishing, riding, shooting, and skating, all
were connected with his highland home." He was "healthy and active; a
brave, blithe-hearted, impetuous, most generous and upright boy." Of his
childhood another record is: "A gray-eyed, light-haired, ruddy boy,
nimble as a deer and gay as a bird; on the lake, plying his oar lustily
or trimming his sail to the mountain breeze; and whenever he found a
wave high enough to lift his little boat, his veins would thrill with a
strange delight, and he would ask himself whether this was like those
ocean waves of which he had heard such wonders." The little lad's next
step in learning was taken under the gentle rule of his elder sister,
Hannah, who had her schooling in New York City, and afterwards improved
her leisure by extensive reading. She was a model of domestic virtues
and was greatly beloved, especially by the poor, to whom she was ever an
angel of mercy. She often went with her father on his official visits to
the seat of government, and when, in 1800, at the age of twenty-three
years, she lost her life by a fall from her horse, her early death was
widely and deeply mourned. Her memory was always cherished with peculiar
tenderness by her brother James, the special charge of her loving care.
[Illustration: GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.]
A letter, written by him in 1841 to his old "messmate," Commodore
Shubrick, reveals no wane of Cooper's love for and pride in this sister,
and his letter's "political discovery" reveals that Miss Cooper's
attractions were as fully appreciated by the eminent of her own country
as by those of foreign shores. So comes into these pages a youthful,
slender romance of the later hero of Tippecanoe and still later
President of the United States.
[Illustration: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 1800.]
OTSEGO HALL, COOPERSTOWN, February, 28, 1841.
I have made a great political discovery lately, which must not go
any further than Mrs. Shubrick and Mary. In 1799, when Congress sat
in Philadelphia, my father was a member, as was also General
Harrison. You know I had a sister killed by a fall from a horse in
1800. This sister passed the Winter in Philadelphia with my
father. Miss Anne Cooper [the author's daughter] was lately in
Philadelphia, where she met Mr. Thomas Biddle, who asked if our
family were not Harrison men. The reason of so singular a question
was asked, and Mr. Biddle answered that in 1799 Mr. Harrison was
dying with love for Miss Cooper, that he (Mr. Biddle) was his
confidant, and that he _thinks_ but does not _know_ that he was
refused. If not refused it was because he was not encouraged to
propose, so you see I stand on high grounds and am ready to serve
you on occasion. Don't let this go any further, however. I confess
to think all the better of the General for this discovery, for it
shows that he had forty years ago both taste and judgment in a
matter in which men so often fail. Mary will open her eyes at this
somewhat wider than ever, but she must not open her mouth until she
gives her allegiance to him who will know all her thoughts. With
best regards
_Yours as ever_,
J. FENIMORE COOPER.
NOTE.--Later light on the subject reveals Mr. Harrison's "dying of
love" as a hearty admiration and esteem for the rare grace and
charm of character, mind, and person possessed by Judge Cooper's
young daughter.
[Illustration: TALLEYRAND.]
During 1795 many distinguished exiles came to this new-country home, and
among those who found their way to Otsego Hall was the Marquis de
Talleyrand, who was pleased to write an acrostic on Miss Cooper, then
seventeen. The famous Frenchman's record, in part, of this visit was
"_Otsego n'est pas gai_." Compared to the France of Talleyrand's day
this record was true. The _Otsego Herald's_ motto of that time was
Historic truth our _Herald_ shall proclaim, The Law our guide, the
public good our aim.
In its issue of October 2, 1795, appeared the celebrated diplomat's
Acrostic.
Aimable philosophe au printemps de son âge,
Ni les temps, ni les lieus n'altèrent son esprit;
Ne cèdent qu' à ses goûts simples et son étalage,
Au milieu des deserts, elle lit, pense, écrit.
Cultivez, belle Anna, votre goût pour l'étude;
On ne saurait ici mieux employer son temps;
Otsego n'est pas gai--mais, tout est habitude;
Paris vous déplairait fort au premier moment;
Et qui jouit de soi dans une solitude,
Rentrant au monde, est sur d'en faire I'ornement.
In affectionate remembrance of Miss Cooper the hill just northwest of
Cooperstown was named for her, and "Hannah's Hill" commands one of the
town's finest views. In the quiet shades of Christ's Church yard "belle
Anna" rests beneath a slab bearing some lines by her father, but not her
name.
The August before this sad event Judge Cooper gave the first of the many
"lake parties" that floated over Otsego--"which no waters can rival." In
the fairness of her youth Miss Hannah was there with her little sister,
later Mrs. Pomeroy; and also, among the gay "five and twenty friends
from Philadelphia," were their brothers. Indian canoes and flat-bottomed
skiffs conveyed them to the eastern shore, where, at Two-Mile Point, a
frightened fawn, startled from its forest home by the dogs of Shipman
the hunter,--who later outlined "Leatherstocking,"--darted from the
leafy thicket and plunged into the lake. At once all were in motion to
rescue the little creature now swimming for life. It was successfully
brought to land and became a great pet with Judge Cooper's children; but
one day, frightened by strange, fierce dogs, it bounded into the forest
depths for refuge, and never returned.
The centennial anniversary of this first picnic was celebrated by the
third and fourth generation of Judge Cooper's descendants, who met at
Point Judith to honor the occasion. Of the verses written by Mr. George
Pomeroy Keese concerning this event two are:
[Illustration: POINT JUDITH.]
And one hundred years have come and gone
Since our country then was new,
And now we keep in memory dear
Our love for the good and true.
To one who came to his forest home
And gave to our village its name;
To the son, the touch of whose magic pen
Has lifted to world-wide fame.
In this summer of 1800 Richard, Judge Cooper's eldest son, built his
house of frame on "Apple Hill." It was the second villa-like home in the
village. Its site, now known as "Fernleigh," is the country-seat of
Stephen Clark, Esq. "Edgewater," overlooking Lake Otsego, is the land
that, after Judge Cooper's death in 1809, fell to his son Isaac. Here,
the following year, Isaac Cooper built his home of brick. Later, it
changed in form, use, and ownership, but again became a family
possession through the marriage of Mr. Theodore Keese with the daughter
of George Pomeroy and Ann Cooper. Renewing in all ways the charm and
grace of its early days, "Edgewater," as the home of Mr. George Pomeroy
Keese, the grandson of Fenimore Cooper's youngest sister Ann, commands
at the foot of the lake its length, breadth, beauty, and inspiration.
[Illustration: "EDGEWATER."]
The old stone house, known as the "Deacon Pomeroy's place," that stood
at the corner of Main and River streets, gives--in a quaint gable--an
enduring record of romance in this sister Ann's young-life. It was
built of stone in the peculiar herring-bone style by Judge William
Cooper for a wedding gift to his only living daughter, Ann, when she
married George Pomeroy, grandson of Gen. Seth Pomeroy and lineal
descendant of that Sir Ralph de Pomeroy who came to England with William
the Conqueror. In this quaint gable appear the intertwined letters
G.A.P.C.--the initials of the bridegroom and bride,--with the date 1804
beneath.
[Illustration: MR. AND MRS. GEORGE POMEROY.]
The Cooper room of this old stone house, now the home of Mrs. Benedict,
a granddaughter, shelters family portraits from William Cooper's time
down to the present day--five generations. What stories might it not
tell of the attractive originals? Many were the letters that Fenimore
Cooper wrote from Europe to this sister, Mrs. George Pomeroy, of the
old stone house.
Mrs. Benedict has also placed there many souvenirs of her sister,
Constance Fenimore Woolson, gathered during-her long residence in
Europe, including the author's writing-table and her chair.
[Illustration: THE OLD STONE HOUSE.]
"Master Oliver Cory kept the village school" in those child-days of
Fenimore Cooper, and long after. "He was well qualified for that post;
laborious, upright, firm, yet patient and kindly by nature. His
training of the boys was excellent. Saturdays were given to religious
lessons, and he paid careful but quiet attention to their morals and
manners." From his sister Hannah's teaching Judge Cooper's youngest son
went to Master Cory's school. It was kept in "one of those tasteless
buildings that afflict all new countries," and here was called the
"Academy." It served Cooperstown in timely ways for religious and
political meetings; public courts were held here, and a ball was given
now and then under its roof. As to the school, time and incident brought
out a taste for music in the pupils of Master Cory. It seems that Judge
Cooper had brought from Philadelphia a large upright organ of imposing
appearance and power, which he placed in his manor-house hall. Its
arrival in the village made a summer's sensation. When put up and
adjusted, a rehearsal of country dances, reels, and more serious music
came floating through the broad door and ample windows of Otsego Hall
into Master Cory's domain, the Academy, which stood in the adjoining
street. As, with magic effect the strains of "Hail Columbia" poured into
the schoolroom, Master Cory skilfully met a moment of open rebellion
with these words: "Boys, that organ is a remarkable instrument. You
never heard the like of it before. I give you half an hour's
intermission. Go into the street and listen to the music!"
[Illustration: COOPERSTOWN PRIOR TO 1835.]
These "Academy boys" were ambitious; each annual exhibition was crowded,
to listen to the speeches "of Coriolanus, Iago, Brutus, and Cassius" by
"raw lads from the village and adjoining farms," in all the bravery of
local militia uniform--blue coats "faced with red, matross swords, and
hats of '76." On such an occasion James Cooper, then a child of eight
years, became the pride and admiration of Master Cory for his moving
recitation of the "Beggar's Petition"--acting the part of an old man
wrapped in a faded cloak and leaning over his staff. It is recorded that
James had the fine, healthy pie-appetite usual to his age, for, says the
record, when his eldest brother "was showing the sights of New York to
the youngest, he took him to a pasty-shop, and, after watching the boy
eat pasty after pasty, said to him: 'Jim, eat all you want, but remember
that each one costs the old man a lot.'" Pasty then outbalanced property
for "Jim."
In due time the lad outgrew the Academy's instruction, but from boy
to-man he never outgrew Master Cory's affection, nor his own for the
dear home scenes on the shores of the "Haunted Lake," which he was so
soon to leave for his first important schooling. The books he wrote
later tell how he never forgot the howl of the wolf across the icy field
of Otsego on cold winter nights, the peculiar wail of the sharp-toothed
panther in the quiet wood roads, nor the familiar springs where the deer
lingered latest. One autumn day, while still a pupil under Master Cory's
charge, the future author of "The Pioneers" was at play in his father's
garden, when suddenly he was surprised by a deer which came leaping over
the fence from the street, almost brushing his face as it bounded away
into the pine woods at the back of the house. This incident he often
related to his children.
It was not long before this youngest son was sent from home. The
eventful journey to Albany was made in the care of a near and worthy
farmer, "who was carrying toward the Hudson a load of wheat from the
fields of Otsego." They went over the fine turnpike,--the great highway
of that day,--"just finished from the Hudson to Cherry Valley." The
child had heard much of this wonder of roads from the gentlemen at his
father's table who were interested in it, and he was eager to see its
toll-gates and stone bridges. After leaving "the corduroy tracks"
leading to it from Cooperstown, the famous turnpike burst upon the
gratified schoolboy's vision. As they trotted slowly along the farmer
pointed out, among-other marvels of the way, "a tavern for every mile"
of the sixty between Albany and Lake Otsego. A long-train of farmers'
wagons, filled with the precious wheat, was slowly rolling eastward,
passing-emigrant wagons of "growing families" and household gear moving
westward to the great lake countries. All this delighted the boy of
nine, who was finally set down at the door of St. Peter's Rectory at
Albany, New York. Here for four years he became one of the four young
pupils of the Rev. Thomas Ellison, rector of the church. Dr. Ellison was
an Englishman and a graduate of Oxford--a rare scholar and a king's man.
From him came Cooper's strong preference for English church government
and equally strong feeling against the Puritans of Old and New England.
While the Puritan's character was not pleasing to Cooper, he himself
was called a "Puritan of Puritans," and it was to them he referred in
the following: "Whatever else I may think of the Yankees,--a calmer,
firmer, braver people do not walk this earth." Of this sentiment "The
Wept of Wish-ton-Wish," published in 1829, gives ample proof.
[Illustration: DR. THOMAS ELLISON.]
The Rev. Joseph Hooper, author of the "History of St. Peter's Church,
Albany, N.Y.," related an incident of Cooper's old Rectory school days
there. The story came to Dr. Hooper from Mr. Edward Floyd de Lancy, son
of Bishop de Lancy of Western New York, and is as follows:
It was the custom of the Rev. Thomas Ellison when he became too feeble
to personally direct his workmen, to sit upon the stoop of the Rectory
and watch the removal of the sandbank which covered the chosen site for
the new church, corner of State and Lodge streets. Hundreds of loads had
to be carted away before the foundation could be laid, and some of the
carter's pay tickets on quartered playing-cards are preserved in St.
Peter's archives. But the great hole in the ground had a great
attraction for the boys of Albany, and they would leap into it to play
tag and leap-frog until the stern voice of the Dominie called them to
order, when they would scamper away or hide in some corner out of sight
of the piercing eyes of Dr. Ellison. Sometimes they would answer him
mockingly, to his great annoyance. He could not pursue them, but he
could, when his own pupils joined with the other boys, as they often
did, give them stern and severe lectures upon their conduct, for they
were playing on ground to be used for a sacred purpose. Even the rod of
correction was used without curing them of this habit. Young Cooper was
often a ringleader, and their pranks would often continue until darkness
concealed them from the watchful and angry Rector, to whom,
nevertheless, they gave due honor and respect.
[Illustration: ST. PETER'S CHURCH, ALBANY, N.Y.]
[Illustration: STATE STREET, ALBANY, N.Y., 1802.]