The New York genealogical and biographical record (Volume 63) online

assistant in the Belleville Mission, Paris.

It seems that there was no George Thomson (62) ; and that Archibald (63) was
the lawyer.

Lyall T. Adams (107), was not in the naval service with Farragut, but his brother,
La Rue P. A. (108) was. J

The New York History Company has in preparation, a Memorial History
of the City of New York, as editor of which it has been fortunate enough to
secure the services of our esteemed President, Gen. James Grant Wilson. It is to
be in four royal octavo volumes of about 600 pages each, illustrated with not less
than 1000 portraits, views of historic houses, scenes, statues, tombs, maps, and
facsimiles of autographs and ancient documents relating to the history of New York .
as far back as 1626. Many well-known writers and scholars will be contributors to
its pages, and it is hoped and believed that the work will lie accurate, complete and
trustworthy. It is to be sold by subscription only. The first volume is to be ready,
if possible, by October next, and the others will follow at intervals of six months.

The decision of the Prussian College of Heraldry ^Record, Vol. XXIL.
p. 107] that the particle "van" used in Dutch names is not a sign of nobility, is
perfectly correct ; it was simply used to designate the town, village, or neighborhood
irom which a Hollander comes : with Belgian-Xetherland families it was often differ-
ent, designating not a place but a quality or title, and thus nobility. This has
always been well understood among the sensible democratic descendants of the Dutch
in New York. G. w. \'an s.

Mr. George W. Van Siclen requests us to direct attention to the fact that the
Year Book of the Holland Society for i8go was given by him and not by a name-
sake of his to whom it is credited in the April Record, p. 114. We regret the
mistake and can only say, humanum est errare; the pens of scribes and the types
of printers do sometimes play strange tricks, and even the vigilance of editors cannot
always discover them.



1 6o Obituaries. [Jul \',



OBITUARIES.

Hon. Rufus King, a distinguished lawyer and prominent ciiizen of Cincinnati,
died at his home in that city, March 25, 1891, aged seventy-three. JMr. King's an-
cestry may be briefly given as follows :

Richard^ King, his great grandfather, born about 171S, died March 27, 1775, was
of .Scarborough, Maine, where he successfully engaged in business, and became a
large land owner. In 1745 he was appointed by Governor Shirley as Commissary of
the troops destined for Annapolis Royal. Richard King was twice married : first,
in 1753, to Isabella, daughter of Samuel Bragdon, of York, Me.; second, in 1762,
to Mary, daughter of Samuel and Dorcas (Bragdon) Black, of tlie same place.

Hon. Rufus- R^ing, LL.D., eldest son of Richard, was born at Scarborough,
March 24, 1755, and died in New York City, April 2g, 1S29. He was graduated at
Harvard in 1777, served in the War of the Revolution, was Member of Congress from
Massachusetts, United States Senator from New York State, and for eight years
Minister to England. He married Mary, only daughter of John Alsop, Esq., of New
York City, Member of the Continental Congress and President of the New York
Chamber of Commerce.

Edward^ Kittg, fourth son of Rufus preceding, was born in New York, March
I3j 1795- He emigrated to Ohio in 1815, and resided in Chillicothe until 1831, when
he removed to Cincinnati. He was an able lawyer, and was several times elected a
member of the Ohio Legislature. He was also Speaker of the House for two sessions.
Edward King married Sarah, eldest daughter of Hon. Thomas Worthington, member
of the Federal Convention, and Governor of the State of Ohio from 1814-18.

Rufus 4 King, of Cincinnati, the subject of this memoir, was the elder son of
Edward King just mentioned, and was born in Chillicothe, May 30, 1817. He
received his early education in the grammar school at Gambler, Ohio, and afterward
entered Kenyon College. From thence he was transferred to Harvard University,
where he was graduated. He then entered the Harvard Law School and completed
his legal studies.

Mr. King returned to Ohio in 1841, and was admitted to the Cincinnati Bar. In
1843 he married Margaret, daughter of Dr. Landon C. Rives, of Cincinnati. Mr.
King was a gentleman of the highest character in private and public life, and took
an active interest in all that related to the welfare of the city in which he lived. He
filled many positions of responsibility. In 1851 he was a Trustee of the Public
Schools of Cincinnati, and President of the Board until 1S66. He was largely instru-
mental in founding the Cincinnati Public Library, and was for many years President
of its Board of Alanagers. He was also one of the founders and supporters of the
Cincinnati Law Library. In 1871 Mr. King was elected President of the Board of
Directors of the University of Cincinnati. He was also Dean of the Law School, as
well as one of the founders of the city's Art Museum. In 1888 Mr. King wrote a
" History of Ohio," in the American Commonwealth series — an interesting and val-
uable account of the Slate's progress.

Mr. King's tastes inclining him to the practice of his profession and the quiet of
home life, he declined many positions of public prominence, among which was Gov-
ernor Brough's offer of a Judgeship of the Supreme Court of Ohio, made vacant by
the resignation of Judge Gholson.

.Mr. King was a member of the law firm of King, Thompson and Richards, and
continued in active practice until within a few years past. His wife survives him,
but he leaves no children. His will, which was admitted to probate in April, makes
bequests to various religious and educational bodies amounting, in the aggregate, to
more than one hundred thousand dollars.

Denning Duer died in his 79th year, at his house, Ilawkshurst, at Weehawken,
New Jersey, on Tuesday, March 10, 1891, and was buried on the I5lh in the pari.sh
churcRyard at Jamaica, Long Island. Mr. Duer was the oldest male representative
of a royalist family of standing and repute which settled in Antigua in Cromweil's
time. His great grandfather, John Duer, was a gentleman of fortune, who lived
partly in Antigua, partly in England. He married twice. By his first marriage he
had one son, Edward, a captain in the British army, who died unmarried. His second
wife was Frances, the daughter of Sir Frederick Frye, a general officer who had



1 89 1.] Book Notices. 1 61

a coinmand in the West Indies. The eldest son by this marriage was Rowland, a
clergyman, who inherited the estates in Antigua. The second son, \Villiam, married
Katharine, the second daughter of William Alexander, Lord Stirling. His eldest
son, William Alexander Duer, was the father of Denning Duer. It is unnecessary
to go again over the ground which has been traversed by Miss Jay in her account of the
" Descendants of James Alexander." The latter part of the pedigree will be found
set forth, with all necessary detail, in the Record, Vol. XII., p. 14-26, iii. Den-
ning Duer was educated at the Albany Academy, and at Dr. Allen's school at Rhine-
beck. At an early age he entered the banking-house of Prime, Ward & King, with
which he continued connected all his life, and of which he became the head after the
death of his father-in-law, Mr. King. Mr. Duer stood high in the confidence of Mr.
Chase, when the latter gentleman was Secretary of the Treasury, and to Mr. Duer's
valuable advice and assistance the Secretary was indebted, if not for the conception,
at least for the successful carrying out of the system of national banks. Mr. Duer
never sought nor accepted public office ; he was contented if his skill and wisdom in
matters of finance could be made useful, as they were in those trying times of the
civil war. Bearing a name honored and respected in New York for three generations,
Mr. Duer lived and died a Christian gentleman.

Among the well-known New Yorkers who have died since April are : Mrs. Mary
Mason Jones, eldest daughter of John Mason, and widow of Isaac Jones, in her
goth year ; Mrs. Catharine A. Bleecker, widow of Anthony J. Bleecker, who
died on the 17th of May, aged g6 ; Dr. Fordyce Barker, May 30th; and on
May 29th, at his home in Stockbridge, Mass., Dr. Charles A. Joy, Emeritus Pro-
fessor of Chemistry in Columbia College, who was appointed to his chair in the
college in 1858.



BOOK NOTICES.



A Contribution towards a Genealogy of all Torreys in America. Com-
piled by D. Torrey. 8vo. pp. 146. Ixi. Detroit, John F. Eby, 1S90.

This pedigree begins in England in 1535, and gives the male line of the descend-
ants of William Torrey, of Combe St. Nicholas, Somersetshire (d. 1557J, to Abner
Torrey, of Quincy, Mass., 1767-1809, and then traces the descendants of Abner Tor-
rey in both the male and female lines. The author defends this plan upon the ground
that children combine characteristics of all the lineages that have been blended in
their parents, which is true enough and well worth considering ; but his inference, or
suggestion, that a family name is only one of many hundred names to which men are
naturally entitled can hardly be accepted. When genealogy was less of a science
than it is at present, there was a question about combining patrilinear and matrilinear
descents in the same pedigree ; but the experience of later genealogists has led them
to think it wiser to treat of every family by itself. The other system leads to prolix-
ity and confusion. Of course the study of ancestresses and alliances is useful and leads
sometimes to surprising results, as may be seen by the study of such books as
Burke's " Royal Families." Mr. Torrey, however, seems to have overcome the diffi-
culties of his system. He is concise and clear.

Memoranda concerning the Family of Bispham in Great Britain and
THE United States OF America. Compiled and edited by William Bispham, of
New York. 8vo. pp. 348. 100 copies. No. 16. Privately printed. New York, i8go.

Certainly not only a love for family history but the means of gratifying it must be
increasing in America if a private person have the industry to write and the ability to
print so elaborate and sumptuous a volume as the one before us. No labor seems to
have been spared in the compilation, and no expense in the mechanical execution of
Mr. Bispham's book. Mr. Bispham's wish was to connect an ordinary American
pedigree, beginning with the settler in the colonies, with his English ancestors.
What jiains he took, what adventures and what discouragements he met with until he
found the records of which he was in search in the hands of an unsuspected cousin,
he has told us in a well-written and entertaining preface, from which we will not
quote, as Mr. Bispham has been good enough to give the book itself to the Society,
and we recommend our members to read it themselves.



1 52 Donaimis to the Library. [July, 1891.

Michael Hillegas and his Descendants. By his great granddaughter, Emma
St. Clair Whitney. Privately printed. Pottsville, 1891.

This is a well-written life of a Philadelphian of distinction, who took an active
part in the events which preceded and followed the establishment of the United States,
as a member of the Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania from 1765 to 1775. and after-
wards as Provincial Treasurer and Treasurer of the United States, under the title for
a year or two of Continental Treasurer, continuously from July 29, 1775, to Septem-
ber II, 1789. Besides a Life of Mr. Hillegas, remarkable for its completeness and
conciseness, and pleasant to read in these days of many words, the book contains
accounts of his descendants for five generations, appendices of letters and other doc-
uments, and an excellent index ; telling all that need be told, and condensed into a
volume of 118 pages.

The Monumental Inscriptions on the Church and Churchyard of St.
Mary's, Lewisham. Edited by Herbert Charles Kirby, and Leland Lewis
Duncan. Svo. pp. 86. 200 copies privately printed. Lee Charles North, 1889.

This is the second of the publications of the Lewisham Antiquarian Society, the
first being the Registers of St. Margaret's, Lee. The Society has in contemplation
the publication of all the wills relating to the county of Kent, from 13S4 to 1559,
and of such portions of the Registers of St. Mary's, Lewisham, as were saved from
the fire of 1830, which destroyed nearly all the older registers. Many of the entries
in them of the 17th and iSth centuries have now no other record than those printed
in this volume from the inscriptions. There is an index of names, another of places,
and a third, unusual perhaps, but useful, of the arms upon the monuments.



DONATIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Mrs. J. H. Lazarus. City Hall Recorder, 1816-1820. 124 numbers — Historical
Collections, Vol. I. New York Historical Society, New York, 1809 — Six Years
Residence in Hudson Bay, by Joseph Robson. London, 1752 — French Constitu-
tion of 1793. New York, 1817 — Travel; in England, France and Spain, by Morde-
cai M. Noah. New York, 1845 — Colden's Memoir, by Cadwallader D. Colden.
New York, 1825 — Caraccas, by F. Depons. New York, 1S06, and ten pamphlets.

Gen. James Grant Wilson. Two National Epochs, by the Rev. Cornelius B.
Smith. New York, 1891 — Report of the Trustees of the Astor Library. New
York, 1890 — Examination of the Subject of Street Cleaning in New York City.
N. Y., 1 891 — Education of Teachers in the State of New York, by Jerome Allen,
Ph.D. New York, 1891 — Report of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals. New York, 1891.

Frederick FJ. Westbrook. The Old Senate House. Kingston, by the donor.
Kingston, N. Y., 1883.

James Mortimer Montgomery. Constitution and Membership Roll National
Society Sons of the Revolution in the -State of New York. New York, rSgi.

Frederick Diodate Thompson. Memorial of General Plancock, U. S. Service
Institution. New York, 1891 — Roll of Membership Union Club, 1891 — Life of
Admiral Coffin, by Thos. C. Amory. Boston, 1886, and ten pamphlets.

Rui-us King. Pedigree of Elery. Boston, 1881 — Clergy List, 1883. London,
England, 1883.

Edmund Abdy Hurry. Register and Manual State of Connecticut. Hartford,
1883 — The Lives of the Governors of New York, by John S. Jenkins. Auburn,
N. Y.,1851.

Ellsworth Eliot. Life and Letters of Emily C. Judson, by A. C. Kendrick.
New York, 1861 — Life of Kagh-Ge-Ga-Gah-lSouh, by George Copway. New
York, 1861.

W^M. C. WiNSLOW. The Pilgrim Fathers in Holland, by the donor, Chicago, l8gi.

Wm. Seward Webb. Year I5ook of the Societies composed of the descendants of
men of the Revolution, by Henry Hall. New York, i8gi.

Eugene F. Bliss. Memorial of Elizabeth Ha^ en Appleton. Cincinnati, 1891.

Trustees Newberry Library. Annual Report. Chicago, 1891. ,

Buffalo Historical Society. Annual Report. Buffalo, 1891.

Gen. Theo. F. Rodenbough, U. S. A. The Bravest 500 of 1861, by the donor.
New York, 1891.



L



THE NEW YORK

^Genealogical anb §iograp|ical lecortr.



Vol.. XXII. NEW YORK, OCTOBER, iSoi. No. 4.



EXPLORATIONS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COAST PRE-
VIOUS TO THE VOYAGE OF HENRY HUDSON.*

One of the earliest Greek dreams, prominent in the classic literature,
was that of a beautiful island in the ocean at the far west. Perhaps,
nevertheless, we have been accustomed to think of the conception too
much as a dream, a piece of pure imagination ; for it is absolutely certain,
as Pliny and Strabo prove, that bold Phenician navigators passed far
beyond the Pillars of Hercules into the vast Atlantic, discovering and
naming the Canary Islands, pushing their observations far and wide.
Possibly, like Coluinbus on his first voyage, they sailed over tranquil seas,
smooth as the rivers in Spain, and through ambient air, soft as the air of
Andalusia in spring, until they reached the Edenic Cuba, and thus fur-
nished the foundation of that Greek conception of an exquisitely fair isle,
the home of the immortals, an Elysium on whose happy, fragrant shores
the shrilly-breathing Zephyrus was ever piping for the refreshment of
weary souls.

In the fifteenth century the islands in the west formed the object of
many a voyage, but even in 1306 Marino Sanuto laid down the Canaries
anew, while Bethencourt found them in 1402. The Azores and the
Madeira Islands appear in the chart of Pizigani in 1367, and the sail-
ors of Prince Henry the Navigator went to the Azores, the Isles of the
Hawks, in 143 1, as preparatory to those voyages which, beginning with
the rediscovery of the Cape Verde Islands in 1460, were destined to pre-
pare the way for the circumnavigation of Africa, and thus open the way
to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. Long before this, however,
the Spaniards were credited with the establishment of colonies in the
western ocean, and on the globe of Martin Behaim, 1842, may be seen
the legend crediting Spanish bishops with the founding of seven cities in
a distant island in the year 734. In 149S De Ayala, the Spanish ambas-
sador in I'^.ngland, reported to his sovereign that the City of Bristol had
for seven years sent out ships in search of the Island of Brazil and the
Seven Cities, which were commonly laid down in maps, together with the
great island of " Antillia, " by many supposed to refer to the American
Continent.

In the time of Columbus enterprise was generally active, and men
everywhere were eager to realize the prediction of Seneca, who declared
that the Ultima Thule (the e.xtreme bounds of the earth) would in due
time be reached. But Columbus would win something more than

* From advance-sheels of the forthcoming Memorial History of the City of N em
York, furnished by the courtesy of Cleiieral Wilson. The seven portraits which ap-
pear in this chapter are exauiples of some four hundred that will be included in this
important work.



164



Exphrafious of the North American Coast.



[Oct.,




beautiful islands. He aimed at a continent, and would reach the
eastern border of Asia by sailing west, in accordance with the early
philosophers, who had accepted the spherical form of the earth, not

dreaming that, instead of a few
islands, scattered like gems in the
ocean, a mighty continent barred
the way. Dominated by the an-
tique notions of the classic writers,
Columbus, after encountering and
overcoming every discouragement,
finally sailed towards the golden
West, finding the voyage a pleasant
excursion, interrupted only by the
occasional fears of the sailors, lest
the light breeze might prevent their
return to Spain by blowing all the
time one way. At a given point of
the voyage Columbus met with an
experience and made a decision that
perhaps determined the destiny of
North America, October 7, 1492,
Martin Pinson saw flocks of parrots
flying southwest, and argued that
the birds were returning to land,
which must lie in that direction. He
accordingly advised the Admiral to
change the course of the ship. Co-
lumbus realized the force of the
argument, and knew the signifi-
cance of the flights of birds, the hawk having piloted the Portuguese to
the Azores. He was now sailing straight for the coast of North Caro-
lina, and must inevitably have discovered our continent, but the parrots
were accepted as guides, the course was changed to the southwest, and
in due time the Island of San Salvador rose before their expectant eyes.
All his efforts, therefore, after this memorable voyage, were devoted to
the West Indies, and in the fond belief that he had reached fair Cathay.
Consequently John Cabot was left to discover North America at least one
year before Columbus sighted the southern portion of the western con-
tinent. Even then Columbus held that South America was a part of
India, and he finally died in ignorance of the fact that he had reached
a new world.

His error proved a most fortunate one for the English-speaking
people ; since, if he had continued on the western course, the Carolinas
would have risen to view, and the splendors and riches of the Antilles
might have remained unknown long enough for Spanish enterprise to
establish itself upon the Atlantic coast. This done, the magnificent Hud-
son would have become the objective point of Spanish enterprise, and a
Spanish fortress and castle would to-day look down from the Weehawken
Heights, the island of New York yielding itself up as the site of a Span-
ish city.

The mistake of Columbus, however, was supplemented by what, per-
haps, may properly be called a series of blunders, all of them more or less




r89i.]



Explorations of the A'or/h Aniericafi Coast.



i6'



fortunate, or at least in the interest of a type of civilization very unlike
that of Spain, especially as expanded and interpreted in Central and
South America. It is. therefore, to the series of nautical adventures fol-
lowing the age of Columbus, and extending down to the voyage of Henry
Hudson, the Englishman, in 1609, that this chapter is mainly devoted,
showing how this entire region was preserved from permanent occupa-
tion by Europeans, until

it was colonized by the /?,5oT~~~

Walloons under the
Dutch, who providen-
tially prepared the way
for the English.

First, however, it may
be interesting to glance
at voyages made during
the Middle Ages, consid-
ering whether they had
any possible connection
with the region now oc-
cupied by the City of New
York.

That Northmen
visited the shores of North
America no reasonable
inquirer any longer
doubts. Even Mr.
George Bancroft, who for
about half a century cast
grave reflections upon the
voyages of the Northmen,
and inspired disbelief in
many quarters, finally
abandoned all allusion to
the subject, and subse-
quently explained that in
throwing discredit upon the Icelandic narratives he had fallen into error.^'

The probability now seems to be that the Irish had become acquainted
with a great land at the west, and gave it the name of '"Greenland,"
which name was simply applied by Eric the Red to a separate region,
when he went to the country now known as Greenland in the year 985.
The next year Biarne Heriulfsson, following Eric, was blown upon the
North Atlantic coast, and in the year looo-i Leif, son of Eric, went in
quest of the land seen by Biarne, reaching what is generally recognized
as New England. Others followed in 1002 and 1005, while from 1006
to 1009 Thorfinn Karlsefne visited the same region, then known as
" Vinland the Good," and made a serious but abortive effort to found a
colony. Freydis, daughter of Eric the Red, visited New England in 1010
to 1012. Vague accounts in the Icelandic chronicles tell of a visit of one
Are Marson to a region called White INIan's Land \Hvitrammanalaiid) in
983, antedating Eric's appearance in Greenland. We also hear of Biorn
Asbrandson in 999, and of the voyage of Gudlaugson in 1027. Certain
* Letter addressed to the writer in 1S90.




1 66



Explorations of the North American Coast.



[Oct.,



geographical fragments refer to Bishop Eric, of Greenland, as searching
for Wineland in 1121, while in 1357 a small Icelandic ship visited
" Markland." the present Nova Scotia. The voyages of Asbrandson and
of Gudlaugson are generally viewed as standing connected with a region
extending from New England to Florida, known as White Man"s Land,
or Ireland the Great. In these accounts there is found no definite allusion
to the region of the Hudson, though Karlsefne's explorations may have
extended some distance southwesterly from Rhode Island ; while later
adventurers, who came southward and followed the course of Are Marson,
who was discovered in the country by Asbrandson, must have sailed
along our shores. Still no record of such a visit now remains, which is
not at all singular, since many a voyager went by, both before and after-
wards, with the same failure to signalize the event for the information of

posterity. " They had
no poet and they died."
Turning to the voy-
ages of the Welsh, who,
some think, reached
the western continent
about the year 1 170,
led by Madoc, Prince
of Wales, there is the
same failure to connect
them with this region.
Catlin, who visited the
White or M a n d a n
Indians, supposes that
the Welsh sailed down
the coast to the Gulf
of Mexico and as-
cended the Mississippi ;
although there is just
as much reason to hold,
if the Mandans were
their descendants, that
they entered the con-
tinent and found their way westward from the region of Massachusetts
or New York. The latter, however, might be favored, for the reason
that our noble river forms to-day the most popular and certainly the
most splendid gateway to the far West.

The voyages of the Zeno brothers, who are believed by most competent