As I Remember
And Crugers and Carys, Barnewalls and Bronsons,
Delanceys and Dyckmans and little De Veaux,
Gouverneurs and Goelets and Mr. Picot,
And multitudes more that would tire me to reckon,
But I must not forget the pretty Miss Whitten.
No particular belle claimed the general attention,
There were many, however, most worthy of mention.
The lily of Leonards' might hold the first place
For sweetness of manner, and beauty and grace.
Her cousin Eliza and little Miss Gitty
Both danc'd very lightly, and looked very pretty.
The youngest Miss Mason attracted much notice,
So did Susan Le Roy and the English Miss Otis;
Of _Beaux_ there were plenty, some new ones 'tis true,
But I won't mention names, no, not even to you.
I was lucky in getting good partners, however,
Above all, the two Emmetts, so lively and clever.
With Morris and Maitland I danc'd; and with Sedgwick,
Martin Wilkins, young Armstrong and droll William Renwick.
The old lady was mightily deck'd for the Ball
With Harriet's pearls--and the little one's shawl;
But to give her her due she was civil enough,
Only tiresome in asking the people to stuff.
There was supper at twelve for those who could get it,
I came in too late, but I did not regret it,
For eating at parties was never my passion,
And I'm sorry to see that it's so much the fashion.
After supper, for dancing we'd plenty of room,
And so pleasant it was, that I did not get home
Until three--when the ladies began to look drowsy,
The lamps to burn dim, and the Laird to grow boosy.
The ball being ended, I've no more to tell--
And so, my dear Fanny, I bid you farewell.
In the old pamphlet from which I have already quoted, edited in 1845 by
Moses Y. Beach and compiled for the purpose of furnishing information
concerning the status of New York citizens to banks, merchants and
others, I find the following amusing description of George Douglas:
"George Douglas was a Scotch merchant who hoarded closely. His wine
cellar was more extensive than his library. When George used to see
people speculating and idle it distressed him. He would say: 'People get
too many _idees_ in their head. Why don't they work?' What a blessing he
is not alive in this moonshine age of dreamy schemings." Mr. Beach
apparently was not capable of appreciating a thrifty Scotchman.
This same pamphlet gives an account of a picturesque character whom I
distinctly remember as a highly prominent citizen of New York. His
parentage 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 him the uncouth name
which, willingly or unwillingly, he bore until the day of his death. He
and the other members of his firm were originally 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 former city. Few business men in New York in my day were more
highly respected for indomitable energy and personal integrity 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-made man, and in spite of an unknown origin and a ridiculous
name battled successfully with life without a helping hand.
In connection with the Douglas family, I recall a beautiful wedding
reception which, as well as I can remember, took place in the autumn of
1850, at Fanwood, Fort Washington, then a suburb of New York. The bride
was Fanny Monroe, a daughter of Colonel James Monroe, U.S.A., and
granddaughter of Mrs. Douglas of whose ball I have just spoken. The
groom was Douglas Robinson, a native of Scotland. It was a gorgeous
autumn day when the votaries of pleasure and fashion in New York drove
out to Fanwood, where groomsmen of social prominence stood upon the wide
portico to greet the guests and conduct them to the side of the newly
married pair. Mrs. Winfield Scott was our guest in Houston Street at the
time, but did not accompany us to the wedding as no invitation had
reached her. My presence reminded Mrs. Monroe that Mrs. Scott was in New
York, and she immediately inquired why I had not brought her with me. As
I gave the reason both Colonel and Mrs. Monroe seemed exceedingly
annoyed. It seems that her invitation had been sent to Washington 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 Army, added luster to
every assemblage. The Army was well represented at this reception and it
was truly "the feast of reason and the flow of soul." Colonel "Jimmy"
Monroe was a great favorite with his former brother-in-arms as he was a
genial, whole-souled and hospitable gentleman. My sister Margaret 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 myself diverged, and it was a very long time before we met
again. It was only a few years ago, while she was residing temporarily
in Washington. She was then, however, a widow and was living in great
retirement. She is now deceased.
When we alighted from our carriage the day of the Monroe-Robinson
wedding at Fanwood a young man whom I subsequently learned was Mr.
Samuel L. Gouverneur, junior, a cousin of the bride, walked over to me,
asked my name and in his capacity of groomsman 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 him before,
although in thinking the matter over a few days later I remembered that
I had met his mother and sister in society in New York. I did not see
him again until five years later, when our paths crossed in Washington,
and in due time I became his bride.
To return to the New York Assembly in 1841. Henry Delafield, whose name
appears on the card of invitation, belonged to a well-known family. His
father, an Englishman 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 family of brothers
and were highly prosperous. I remember once hearing 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 William
were almost inseparable. They were twins and strikingly alike in
appearance. General Richard Delafield, U.S.A., 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 married Miss Julia Floyd of Long
Island, a granddaughter of William Floyd, one of the New York Signers.
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 Cemetery at the same time, the
funeral taking place from old Trinity Church. On this occasion all the
old customs were observed, and the coffins were made of solid mahogany.
John Swift Livingston lived in Leonard Street, and I recall very
pleasantly a party which I attended at his house before the marriage of
his daughter Estelle to General John Watts de Peyster. The latter,
together with his first cousins, General "Phil" Kearny and Mrs.
Alexander Macomb, inherited an enormous fortune from his grandfather
John Watts, who was 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 Englishman who came to New York to live
and, dying without heirs, left his fortune to Robert Watts, a minor son
of John Watts. Robert Watts, however, did not long survive his
benefactor. Upon his death the Leake will was contested by his
relatives, but a decision was rendered in favor of the nearest kin of
the boy, who was his father. After gaining his victory John Watts
established this Orphan House and with true magnanimity placed Leake's
name before his own. Jacob R. LeRoy lived in Greenwich Street near the
Battery, which at this time was a fashionable section of the city.
His sister Caroline, whom I knew, became the second wife of Daniel
Webster. Mr. LeRoy's daughter Charlotte married Rev. Henry de Koven,
whose son is the musical genius, Reginald de Koven. Henry W. Hicks was
the son of a prominent Quaker merchant and a member of the firm of Hicks
& Co., which did an enormous shipping business until its suspension,
about 1847, owing to foreign business embarrassments. Thomas W. Ludlow
was a wealthy citizen, genial and most hospitably inclined. He owned a
handsome country-seat near Tarrytown, and every now and then it was his
pleasure to charter a steamboat to convey his guests 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 came
music and dancing. Charles McEvers, junior, belonged to an old New York
family and was one of the executors of the Vanden Heuvel estate. His
niece, Mary McEvers, married Sir Edward Cunard, who was knighted by
Queen Victoria. William Starr Miller married a niece of Philip Schuyler,
who was a woman possessing many excellent traits of character. As far as
I can remember, she was the only divorced person of those days who was
well received in society, for people with "past histories" were then
regarded with marked disfavor.
CHAPTER VI
SOME DISTINGUISHED ACQUAINTANCES
In close proximity to St. John's Park, during my early life on Hubert
Street, there resided a Frenchman named Laurent Salles, and I have a
vivid recollection of a notable marriage which was solemnized in his
mansion. The groom, Lispenard Stewart, married his daughter, Miss Louise
Stephanie Salles, but the young and pretty bride survived her marriage
for only a few years. She left two children, one of whom is Mrs.
Frederick Graham Lee, whom I occasionally see in Washington, where with
her husband she spends her winters.
When playing in St. John's Park in this same neighborhood, I made the
acquaintance of Margaret Tillotson Kemble, one of the young daughters of
William Kemble already mentioned as living on Beach Street, opposite
that Park. Mr. Kemble was the son of Peter Kemble, member of the
prominent firm of "Gouverneur and Kemble," shipping 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 intimacy with Margaret Tillotson Kemble, formed almost from the
cradle, lasted without a break throughout life. She was a second cousin
of my husband and married Charles J. Nourse, a member of the old
Georgetown, D.C., family. The last years of her life were entirely