As I Remember
married Lydia Blackwell at her home on Blackwell's Island, which her
father, Jacob Blackwell, had inherited from his father, Jacob Blackwell,
the son of Robert Blackwell, who was the progenitor of the family in
this country and gave his name to the island upon which he resided.
Several years later Captain Hazard was heard to remark that matrimony
was a lottery, and that he had drawn two prizes. I have in my possession
an old letter written by Miss Blackwell to my grandfather previous to
their marriage, which is so quaint and formal that I am tempted to give
it in full:
Miss Blackwell's compliments to Captain Hazard and desires
to know how he does--and if well enough will be glad to see
him the first leisure day--as she has something of
consequence to communicate and is sorry to hear that he has
been so much indisposed as to deprive his friends of the
pleasure of his company for this last fortnight--May you
enjoy every happiness this imperfect estate affords is the
sincere wish of your friend,
L. B.
Let me see you on Sunday.
Burn this.
Captain Hazard brought his new bride to the old home on the Rockaway
Road where I was subsequently born, and she immediately took under her
protecting wing my mother, who was then but little more than an infant.
The babe grew and thrived, and never knew until she was a good-sized
girl that the woman who had so lovingly nurtured her was only a
step-mother. She learned the fact from a schoolmate who told her out of
revenge for some fancied wrong; and I shall always remember my mother
telling me how she hurried home feeling all the time that the cruel
story was untrue, only to have it confirmed by the lips of the woman who
had been as affectionate and unselfish as any mother could possibly have
been to her own child. In subsequent years, when my mother gathered her
own children around her, she held her step-mother up to us as the
embodiment of all female virtue and excellence, all of which is
confirmed by my own recollection of her remarkable character and
exemplary life.
On the farm adjoining us lived a crusty old bachelor by the name of
Martin, who in his earlier life had been professionally associated with
Aaron Burr. No human being was allowed to cross his threshold, but I
recall that years after his death I saw a large quantity of silver which
he had inherited, and which bore a martin for a crest. He was a terror
to all the children in our vicinity, and it was his habit to walk on the
neighboring roads clad in a dressing gown. More than once as I passed
him he accosted me with the interrogative, "Are you Nancy Hazard's
brat?"--a query that invariably prompted me to quicken my pace. Mr.
Martin kept a fine herd of cattle, among which was an obstreperous bull
whose stentorian tones were familiar to all the residents of the
adjoining places. When the children of our household were turbulent my
mother would often exclaim, "Listen to Martin's bull roaring!" This
invariably had a soothing effect upon the children, and strange to say
this trivial incident has descended among my kindred to the fourth
generation, for my mother's great-grandchildren are as familiar with
"Martin's bull" as my sisters and brothers and I were in our own
childhood.
Malcolm Campbell, my paternal grandfather, left Scotland subsequently to
our Revolution, accompanied by his wife and son James (my father), and
after a passage of several weeks landed in New York. His wife was Miss
Lucy McClellan. His father, Alexander Campbell, fought in the battle of
Culloden, and I have heard my father say that his grandfather's regiment
marched to the song of:
"Who wadna fight for Charlie?
Who wadna draw the sword?
Who wadna up and rally,
At their royal prince's word?
Think on Scotia's ancient heroes,
Think on foreign foes repell'd,
Think on glorious Bruce and Wallace,
Who the proud usurpers quell'd."
It is said he had previously been sent to Italy to collect arms and
ammunition for the "Young Pretender," the grandson of James II. The
battle of Culloden, which was fought on the 16th of April, 1746, and
which has often been called the "Culloden Massacre," caused the whole
civilized world to stand aghast. The order of the Duke of Cumberland to
grant no quarter to prisoners placed him foremost in the ranks of
"British beasts" that have disgraced the pages of history, and earned
for him the unenviable title of "The Butcher of Culloden." It has been
suggested in extenuation of his fiendish conduct that His Grace was
"deep in his cups" the night before the battle, and that the General to
whom the order was given, realizing the condition of the Duke, insisted
that his instructions should be reduced to writing. His Grace thereupon
angrily seized a playing card from the table where he was engaged in
gambling, and complied with the request. This card happened to be the
nine of diamonds, and to this day is known as "the curse of Scotland." A
long period elapsed before those who had sympathized with the Young
Pretender's cause were restored to the good graces of the English
throne, and it was Scotland that was compelled to bear the brunt of the
royal displeasure. The sins of the fathers were visited upon their
children, and it is not at all unlikely that the sympathies of Alexander
Campbell's son, Malcolm (my grandfather), for the last of the House of
Stuart developed a chain of circumstances that resulted, with other
causes, in his embarkation for America.
During the early period of my childhood I became familiar with the
Jacobite songs which my father used to sing, and which had been handed
down in the Campbell family. I was so deeply imbued during my early life
with the Jacobite spirit of my forefathers that when I read the account
in my English history of George I, carrying with him his little
dissolute Hanoverian Court and crossing the water to England to become
King of Great Britain, I felt even at that late day that the act was a
personal grievance. Through the passage of many years a fragment of one
of these Jacobite songs still rings in my ears:
"There's nae luck aboot the hoose,
There's nae luck ava [at all];
There's little pleasure in the hoose
When our gude man's awa."
Even now some of those songs appeal to me possibly in the same manner as
the "Marseillaise" to the French, or the "Ranz de Vaches" to the Swiss
who have wandered from their mountain homes, or as the strains of our
national hymn affect my own fellow countrymen in foreign lands, whose
hearts are made to throb when with uncovered heads they listen, and are
carried back in memory to the days of "auld lang syne."
My grandfather, Malcolm Campbell, received the degree of Master of Arts
from the University of St. Andrews, the great school of Scottish
Latinity, and his diploma conferring upon him that honor is still in the
possession of his descendants. Before leaving Scotland he had formed an
intimacy with Andrew Picken, and during the voyage to America enjoyed
the pleasing companionship of that gentleman together with his wife and
their two children. Mrs. Picken was the only daughter of Sir Charles
Burdette of London, whose wife was the daughter of the Earl of Wyndham.
She and Andrew Picken, who was a native of Stewarton, in Ayrshire, a
younger branch of a noble family, four years previously had made a
clandestine marriage and, after vainly attempting to effect a
reconciliation with her father, resolved upon emigrating to America.
Their daughter, Mrs. Sara Jane Picken Cohen, widow of the Rev. Dr.
Abraham H. Cohen of Richmond, Virginia, wrote the memoirs of her life,
and in describing her parents' voyage to this country says: "It was one
of those old-time voyages, of nine weeks and three days, from land to
land, and a very boisterous one it was. There had been a terrific storm,
which had raged violently for several days." This friendship formed in
the mother country was naturally much strengthened during the long
voyage, and when the two families finally reached New York, Mrs. Cohen
writes: "Here we settled down our two families, strangers in a strange
land. But the lamp of friendship burned brightly and lit us on the way;
our children grew up together in early childhood, and as brothers and
sisters were born in each family they were named in succession after
each other." It is pleasant to state that this friendship formed so many
generations ago is still continued in my family, as my daughters and I
frequently enjoy in our Washington home the pleasing society of Mr. and
Mrs. Roberdeau Buchanan, the latter of whom is the great granddaughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Picken.
Soon after his arrival in New York Malcolm Campbell established a
classical school at 85 Broadway nearly opposite Trinity Church. He
edited the first American edition of Cicero's orations and of Caesar's
commentaries, and also revised and corrected and published in 1808
l'Abbe Tardy's French dictionary. His first edition of Cicero is
dedicated to the "Right Reverend Benjamin Moore, D.D., Bishop of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New York, and President of
Columbia College," and another edition with the same text and imprint is
dedicated, in several pages of Latin, to the learned Samuel L. Mitchell,
M.D. He and his wife were buried in the graveyard of the Wall Street
Presbyterian Church. It may not be inappropriate in this connection to
refer to another instructor of an even earlier period which has come
within my notice, who taught reading, writing and arithmetic "with
becoming accuracy." In _The New York Journal Or The General Advertiser_
of the 30th of April, 1772, appears the following advertisement:
THE RESPECTABLE PUBLIC is hereby informed that, agreeable to
a former advertisement, a Seminary of Learning was opened at
New Brunswick, last November, by the name of _Queen's
College_,[1] and also a Grammar School, in order to prepare
Youth for the same. Any Parents or Guardians who may be
inclined to send their Children to this Institution, may
depend upon having them instructed with the greatest Care
and Diligence in all the Arts and Sciences usually taught in
public Schools; the strictest Regard will be paid to their
moral Conduct, (and in a word) to every Thing which may tend
to render them a Pleasure to their Friends, and an Ornament
to their Species.
Also to obviate the Objection of some to sending their
Children on Account of their small Proficiency in English, a
proper Person has been provided, who attends at the Grammar
School an Hour a Day, and teaches Reading, Writing and
Arithmetic with becoming Accuracy--It is hoped that the
above Considerations, together with the healthy and
convenient Situation of the Place, on a Pleasant and
navigable River, in the midst of a plentiful Country; the
Reasonableness of the Inhabitants in the Price of Board, and
the easy Access from all Places, either by Land or Water
will be esteemed by the considerate Public, as a sufficient
Recommendation of this infant College, which (as it is
erected upon so Catholic a Plan) will undoubtedly prove
_advantageous_ to our new American World, by assisting its
SISTER SEMMINARIES to cultivate Piety, Learning, and
Liberty.
_Per Order of the Trustees_,
FREDERICK FRELINGHUYSEN, Tutor.
N.B. The Vacation of the College will be expired on
Wednesday the 6th of May, any Students then offering
themselves shall be admitted into such Class, as (upon
Examination) they shall be found capable of entering.