Part 1

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MEMOIRS

OF

AN AMERICAN LADY.

WITH SKETCHES OF

MANNERS AND SCENERY

IN AMERICA,

AS THEY EXISTED PREVIOUS TO THE REVOLUTION.

BY THE AUTHOR OF “LETTERS FROM THE MOUNTAINS.”

NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY GEORGE DEARBORN 38 GOLD-STREET.

1836.

NOTICE.

AMONG the scenes of peculiar interest the American traveller is, as it were, under a patriotic obligation to visit while abroad, may be mentioned the birth-place of Columbus near Genoa, Cave Castle, the mansion of the Washington family in the Wolds of Yorkshire, and the abode at Edinburgh of the venerable authoress of “Letters from the Mountains.” In acknowledgment of what we all owe to her, and as a heartfelt tribute of admiration, and affection for her talents, and virtues, the present work being out of print, the opportunity of republishing what so much identifies Mrs. Grant of Laghan with our country, is gladly seized upon by one who since one of those pilgrimages has long enjoyed the benign influence of her society and correspondence. The simple circumstances she relates of herself, and the gentle spirit of the whole work render it unnecessary to deprecate criticism; and the praise of Southey who pronounced the “description of the breaking up of the ice in the Hudson,” as “quite Homeric,” must bespeak for it a favourable perusal. As a picture, taken at the dawning of the Revolution, of the clouds which then passed along to have vanished otherwise forever, and as one in a series of works shedding light upon that momentous period of which the “Pioneers” is its natural successor, its reappearance must be a welcome event in the marshalling of American literature now in progress.

H.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

SIR WILLIAM GRANT, K. N. T.

MASTER OF THE ROLLS.

SIR,

IT is very probable that the friends, by whose solicitations I was induced to arrange in the following pages my early recollections, studied more the amusement I should derive from executing this task, than any pleasure they could expect from its completion.

The principal object of this work is to record the few incidents, and the many virtues which diversified and distinguished the life of a most valued friend. Though no manners could be more simple, no notions more primitive than those which prevailed among her associates, the stamp of originality with which they were marked, and the peculiar circumstances in which they stood, both with regard to my friend, and the infant society to which they belonged, will, I flatter myself, give an interest with reflecting minds, even to this desultory narrative; and the miscellany of description, observation, and detail which it involves.

If truth, both of feeling and narration, which are its only merits, prove a sufficient counterbalance to carelessness, laxity, and incoherence of style, its prominent faults, I may venture to invite you, when you unbend from the useful and honourable labours to which your valuable time is devoted, to trace this feeble delineation of an excellent, though unembellished character; and of the rapid pace with which an infant society has urged on its progress from virtuous simplicity, to the dangerous “knowledge of good and evil:” from tremulous imbecility to self-sufficient independence.

To be faithful, a delineation must necessarily be minute. Yet if this sketch, with all its imperfections, be honoured by your indulgent perusal, such condescension of time and talent must certainly be admired, and may, perhaps, be imitated by others.

I am, sir, very respectfully,

Your faithful, humble servant,

THE AUTHOR.

London, Oct. 1808.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. Page

Introduction 2

I. Province of New-York—Origin of the 19 settlement at Albany—Singular possession held by the patron—Account of his tenants

II. Account of the Five Nations, or Mohawk 22 Indians—Building of the Fort at Albany—John and Philip Schuyler

III. Colonel Schuyler persuades four sachems 27 to accompany him to England—Their reception and return

IV. Return of Colonel Schuyler and the 30 Sachems to the interior—Literary acquisitions—Distinguishes and instructs his favourite niece—Manners of the settlers

V. State of religion among the 34 settlers—Instruction of children devolved on females—to whom the charge of gardening, &c. was also committed—Sketch of the state of the society at New-York

VI. Description of Albany—Manner of living 37 there—Hermitage, &c.

VII. Gentle treatment of slaves among the 41 Albanians—Consequent attachment of domestics—Reflections on servitude

VIII. Education and early habits of the 46 Albanians described

IX. Description of the manner in which the 52 Indian traders set out on their first adventure

X. Marriages, amusements, rural excursions, 62 &c. among the Albanians

XI. Winter amusements of the Albanians, &c. 68

XII. Lay-brothers—Catalina—Detached Indians 73

XIII. Progress of knowledge—Indian manners 79

XIV. Marriage of Miss Schuyler—Description of 87 the Flats

XV. Character of Philip Schuyler—His 92 management of the Indians

XVI. Account of the three brothers 96

XVII. The house and rural economy of the 98 Flats—Birds and insects

XVIII. Description of Colonel Schuyler’s barn, 104 the common, and its various uses

XIX. Military preparations—Disinterested 108 conduct, the surest road to popularity—Fidelity of the Mohawks

XX. Account of a refractory warrior, and of 112 the spirit which still pervaded the New-England provinces

XXI. Distinguishing characteristics of the 115 New-York colonists, to what owing—Huguenots and Palatines, their character

XXII. A child still-born—Adoption of children 118 common in the province—Madame’s visit to New-York

XXIII. Colonel Schuyler’s partiality to the 122 military children successively adopted—Indian character falsely charged with idleness

XXIV. Progress of civilization in 126 Europe—Northern nations instructed in the arts of life by those they had subdued

XXV. Means by which the independence of the 133 Indians was first diminished

XXVI. Peculiar attractions of the Indian mode 137 of life—Account of a settler who resided some time among them

XXVII. Indians only to be attached by being 142 converted—The abortive expedition of Mons. Barre—Ironical sketch of an Indian

XXVIII. Management of the Mohawks by the 147 influence of the christian Indians

XXIX. Madame’s adopted children—Anecdote of 152 sister Susan

XXX. Death of young Philip Schuyler—Account 159 of his family, and of the society at the Flats

XXXI. Family details 167

XXXII. Resources of Madame—Provincial customs 172

XXXIII. Followers of the army—Inconveniences 177 resulting from such

XXXIV. Arrival of a new regiment—Domine 182 Freylinghausen

XXXV. Plays acted—Displeasure of the Domine 187

XXXVI. Return of Madame—The Domine leaves his 192 people—Fulfilment of his predictions

XXXVII. Death of Colonel Schuyler 197

XXXVIII. Mrs. Schuyler’s arrangements and conduct 201 after the colonel’s death

XXXIX. Mohawk Indians—The superintendent 205

XL. General Abercrombie—Lord Howe 210

XLI. Total defeat at Ticonderoga—General 216 Lee—Humanity of madame

XLII. The family of madame’s sister—The death 219 of the latter

XLIII. Further successes of the British arms—A 223 missionary—Cortlandt Schuyler

XLIV. Burning of the house at the 227 Flats—Madame’s removal—Journey of the author

XLV. Continuation of the Journey—Arrival at 232 Oswego—Regulations, studies, and amusements there

XLVI. Benefit of select reading—Hunting 241 excursions

XLVII. Gardening and agriculture—Return of the 244 author to Albany

XLVIII. Madame’s family and society described 24

XLIX. Sir Jeffery Amherst—Mutiny—Indian war 256

L. Pondiac—Sir Robert D. 262

LI. Death of Captain Dalziel—Sudden decease 268 of an Indian chief—Madame—Her protégées

LII. Madame’s popularity—Exchange of 275 prisoners

LIII. Return of the fifty-fifth regiment to 278 Europe—Privates sent to Pensacola

LIV. A new property—Visionary plans 282

LV. Return to the Flats 292

LVI. Melancholy presages—Turbulence of the 295 people

LVII. Settlers of a new description—Madame’s 301 chaplain

LVIII. Mode of conveying timber in rafts down 309 the river

LIX. The Swamp—A discovery 312

LX. Mrs. Schuyler’s view of continental 318 politics

LXI. Description of the breaking up of the 321 ice on the Hudson river

LXII. Departure from Albany—Origin of the 325 state of Vermont

LXIII. General reflections 331

LXIV. Reflections continued 338

LXV. Sketch of the settlement of Pennsylvania 344

LXVI. Prospects brightening in British 351 America—Desirable country on the interior lakes, &c.

INTRODUCTION.

To ——

DEAR SIR,

OTHERS as well as you have expressed a wish to see a memoir of my earliest and most valued friend. To gratify you and them I feel many inducements, and see many objections. To comply with any wish of yours is one strong inducement. To please myself with the recollection of past happiness and departed worth, is another; and to benefit those into whose hands this imperfect sketch may fall, is a third. For the authentic record of an exemplary life, though delivered in the most unadorned manner, or even degraded by poverty of style or uncouthness of narration, has an attraction for the uncorrupted mind.

It is the rare lot of some exalted characters, by the united power of virtues and of talents, to soar above their fellow-mortals, and leave a luminous track behind, on which successive ages gaze with wonder and delight. But the sweet influence of these benign stars that now and then enlighten the page of history, is partial and unfrequent.

Those to whom the most important parts on the stage of life are allotted, if possessed of abilities undirected by virtue, are too often

“Wise to no purpose, artful to no end,”

that is really good and desirable.

They, again, where virtue is not supported by wisdom, are often, with the best intentions, made subservient to the short-sighted craft of the artful and designing. Hence, though we may be at times dazzled with the blaze of heroic achievement, or contemplate with a purer satisfaction those “awful fathers of mankind,” by whom nations were civilized, equitable dominion established, or liberty restored; yet, after all, the crimes and miseries of mankind form such prominent features of the history of every country, that humanity sickens at the retrospect, and misanthropy finds an excuse amidst the laurels of the hero, and the deep-laid schemes of the politician:

“And yet this partial view of things Is surely not the best.”—_Burns._

Where shall we seek the antidote to this chilling gloom left on the mind by the bustling intricate scenes, where the best characters, goaded on by furious factions or dire necessity, become involved in crimes that their souls abhor?

It is the contemplation of the peaceful virtues in the genial atmosphere of private life, that can best reconcile us to our nature, and quiet the turbulent emotions excited by

“The madness of the crowd.”

But vice, folly, and vanity are so noisy, so restless, so ready to rush into public view, and so adapted to afford food for malevolent curiosity, that the small still voice of virtue, active in its own sphere, but unwilling to quit it, is drowned in their tumult. This is a remedy, however,

“Not obvious, not obtrusive.”

If we would counteract the baleful influence of public vice by the contemplation of private worth, we must penetrate into its retreats, and not be deterred from attending to its simple details by the want of that glare and bustle with which a fictitious or artificial character is generally surrounded.

But in this wide field of speculation one might wander out of sight of the original subject. Let me then resume it, and return to my objections. Of these the first and greatest is the dread of being inaccurate. Embellished facts, a mixture of truth and fiction, or what we sometimes meet with, a fictitious superstructure built on a foundation of reality, would be detestable on the score of bad taste, though no moral sense were concerned or consulted. It is walking on a river half frozen that betrays your footing every moment. By these repulsive artifices no person of real discernment is for a moment imposed upon. You do not know exactly which part of the narrative is false; but you are sure it is not all true, and therefore distrust what is genuine, where it occurs. For this reason a fiction, happily told, takes a greater hold of the mind than a narrative of facts, evidently embellished and interwoven with inventions.

I do not mean to discredit my own veracity. I certainly have no intention to relate any thing that is not true. Yet in the dim distance of near forty years, unassisted by written memorials, shall I not mistake dates, misplace facts, and omit circumstances that form essential links in the chain of narration? Thirty years since, when I expressed a wish to do what I am now about to attempt, how differently should I have executed it. A warm heart, a vivid imagination, and a tenacious memory, were then all filled with a theme which I could not touch without kindling into an enthusiasm, sacred at once to virtue and to friendship. Venerated friend of my youth, my guide and my instructress; are then the dregs of an enfeebled mind, the worn affections of a wounded heart, the imperfect efforts of a decaying memory, all that remain to consecrate thy remembrance, to make known thy worth, and to lay on thy tomb the offering of gratitude?

My friend’s life, besides being mostly passed in unruffled peace and prosperity, affords few of those vicissitudes which astonish and amuse. It is from her relations, to those with whom her active benevolence connected her, that the chief interest of her story (if story it may be called) arises. This includes that of many persons, obscure indeed but for the light which her regard and beneficence reflected upon them. Yet without these subordinate persons in the drama, the action of human life, especially such a life as hers, cannot be carried on. They can neither appear with grace, nor be omitted with propriety. Then, remote and retired as her situation was, the variety of nations and characters, of tongues and of complexions, with which her public spirit and private benevolence connected her, might appear wonderful to those unacquainted with the country and the times in which she lived; without a pretty distinct view of which my narrative would be unintelligible. I must be excused too for dwelling, at times, on the recollection of a state of society so peculiar, so utterly dissimilar to any other that I have heard or read of, that it exhibits human nature in a new aspect, and is so far an object of rational curiosity, as well as a kind of phenomenon in the history of colonization. I forewarn the reader not to look for lucid order in the narration, or intimate connection between its parts. I have no authorities to refer to, no coeval witnesses of facts to consult. In regard to the companions of my youth, (in which several particulars relative to my friend’s ancestry must necessarily be included,) I sit like the “Voice of Cona,” alone on the heath; and, like him too, must muse in silence, till at intervals the “light of my soul arises,” before I can call attention to “a tale of other times.”

MEMOIRS OF AN AMERICAN LADY.

CHAP. I.

Province of New-York—Origin of the Settlement at Albany—Singular Possession held by the Patron—Account of his Tenants.

IT is well known that the province of New-York, anciently called Manahattos by the Indians, was originally settled by a Dutch colony, which came from Holland, I think, in the time of Charles the Second. Finding the country to their liking, they were followed by others more wealthy and better informed. Some of the early emigrants also appear to have been people respectable both from their family and character. Of these the principal were the Cuylers, the Schuylers, the Rensselaers, the Delanceys, the Cortlandts, the Tenbroeks, and the Beekmans, who have all of them been since distinguished in the late civil wars, either as persecuted loyalists or triumphant patriots. I do not precisely recollect the motives assigned for the voluntary exile of persons who were evidently in circumstances that might admit of their living in comfort at home, but am apt to think that the early settlers were those who adhered to the interest of the Stadtholder’s family, a party which, during the minority of King William, was almost persecuted by the high republicans. Those who came over at a later period probably belong to the party which opposed the Stadtholder, and which was then in its turn depressed. These persons afterwards distinguished themselves by an aversion, almost amounting to antipathy, to the British army, and indeed to all the British colonists. Their notions were mean and contracted; their manners blunt and austere; and their habits sordid and parsimonious. As the settlement began to extend they retired, and formed new establishments, afterwards called Fishkill, Esopus, &c.

To the Schuylers, Cuylers, Delanceys, Cortlandts, and a few others, this description did by no means apply. They carried about them the tokens of former affluence and respectability, such as family plate, portraits of their ancestors executed in a superior style, and great numbers of original paintings, some of which were much admired by acknowledged judges. Of these the subjects were generally taken from sacred history.

I do not recollect the exact time, but think it was during the last years of Charles the Second, that a settlement we then possessed at Surinam was exchanged for the extensive (indeed at that time boundless) province of Manahattos, which, in compliment to the then heir apparent, was called New-York. Of the part of that country then explored, the most fertile and beautiful was situated far inland, on the banks of the Hudson River. This copious and majestic stream is navigable one hundred and seventy miles from its mouth for vessels of sixty or seventy tons burthen. Near the head of it, as a kind of barrier against the natives, and a central resort for traders, the foundation was laid of a town called Oranienburgh, and afterwards by the British, Albany.