Peter De Labigarre and the Founding of Tivoli

Photograph by Margaret DeM. Brown

Window in the homestead of the Fort family. The house stands on the east side of the King's Highway, about four miles south of Poughkeepsie. On one of the panes of glass an inscription, cut with a diamond, reads: Jane Fort 1778.

From a photograph made in 1928. Reproduced with the kind permission of the present owner, Frank Dickerson.

DUTCHESS COUNTY MEN

Philip J. Schuyler of Rhinebeck

Philip Jeremiah Schuyler was born in Albany January 21, 1768, the son of General Philip Schuyler and Catharine Van Rensselaer. He was only seven years old when the War of the Revolution began. He grew up in the midst of the continuous bustle and excitement of preparation from almost his earliest recollection until at the close of the war he was fifteen. Although Albany did not see any of the actual fighting and the only sight it had of any of the enemy soldiers was when they sojourned there for a while as prisoners of war after the surrender of Burgoyne's army at Saratoga, it must be remembered that it was the objective point of a powerful expeditionary force that was making its way down through the country from Canada and which was only stopped at Saratoga, a few miles away.

It was General Schuyler who had been commander of the northern army from the time of General Montgomery's expedition against Canada in 1775 until the very eve of the battles at Saratoga when, as so often happens through popular clamor for more hasty action, he was superseded by General Horatio Gates. But time and history have given to Schuyler the credit for the planning of the campaign and the disposition of the army in such a manner that Burgoyne and his Hessian and Indian allies were hopelessly entrapped.

While General Burgoyne with his army was making his way down through the state of New York General Schuyler was in command of the American army that was to oppose him. General Herkimer had given one division of Burgoyne's army a severe check at Oriskany. Another portion of the invading army was being held up by the brave defense of Fort Stanwix, where the city of Rome now stands, and General Stark had defeated and captured another at Bennington and, just then when everything seemed favorable for our army, its commander General Schuyler received orders from the Continental Congress to report to army headquar-

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ters under charges of neglect of duty and General Horatio Gates was sent to command his army. This was due to a petition of New England members of Congress and undoubtedly due to the lobbying of the friends of the ambitious General Gates, who even aspired to the position of General Washington as Commander-in-Chief. General Schuyler and his friends demanded a complete investigation, which was made, and the court of inquiry met at the Reed Ferris house at Quaker Hill, near Pawling, Dutchess County. The court was composed of many of the illustrious officers of the American Army, among them General George Clinton, Governor of New York, General Benjamin Lincoln and General Anthony Wayne and General Schuyler was acquitted with "the highest honor."

In spite of the fact that General Schuyler had been obliged to turn over the command of his army to General Gates, he was one of the first to appear at headquarters to congratulate his successor upon his victory. And, although he had lost very heavily through the burning of his country house, farm crops and mills at Saratoga, it was through his kindness and courtesy that the Baroness von Riedesel and her children, as well as General Burgoyne and his officers, were invited to visit the home of General and Mrs. Schuyler at Albany where they were entertained for some time after the surrender. The best account of this episode is given in the memoirs of the Baronness von Riedesel, wife of the Hessian commander, published a long time after her return to her home in Germany.

Chastellux, in his "Travels in America", tells the story that the little Philip one morning on entering the drawing room where the party was congregated, very much to the chagrin of his mother, who with a spirit of true hospitality had been trying her best to relieve the feeling of depression in her guests, laughingly remarked after surveying the group, "Well, you are all my prisoners."

General Schuyler after his honorable acquittal insisted that his resignation from the army be accepted by Congress

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and retired to his farm and flax mill. He served almost continuously in the state legislature and, after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, as member of Congress and United States Senator.

The young Philip grew up to manhood in one of the most interesting families of that most interesting period. He was as a boy and young man popular among his friends and family relations for his sunny and generous disposition, traits inherited from both of his parents. In the family Bible in General Schuyler's hand is written "b. January 21, 1768 Philip Jeremiah. May the Lord grant that he grow up for the glory of God and his happiness."

His mother had been "sweet Kitty Van Rensselaer," youngest child of the Patroon Johannes Van Rensselaer of the Manor and Philip Jeremiah had grown up with his five sisters no less noted than their mother for their beauty and social attainments. The General must have had rather severe ideas when it came to their love affairs, for three of them were obliged to elope with the men of their choice, Peggie with her cousin, the young Patroon, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Angelica with John Carter Church and Cornelia, who descended from her window by a rope ladder and drove with her lover, Washington Morton, across the country thirty miles to Stockbridge to be married.

The General was a philosopher as well as a loving parent for in each instance, as he wrote to a friend, "I frowned, I made them humble themselves, forgave and called them home." There was however one grand wedding at the Schuyler home that met wtih the General's full approval when "Betty" Schuyler married Alexander Hamilton.

As two of his mother's brothers, General Robert R. Van Rensselaer and Colonel Henry I. Van Rensselaer, had homes on the lower Van Rensselaer Manor at Claverack and there were in both families a house full of cousins, Philip was undoubtedly well acquainted with the social life down the river. It was there he met and married "Sally" Rutsen, daughter of Colonel John Rutsen of Rhinebeck and a great-

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granddaughter of the first Colonel Henry Beekman, the Patentee. She was also the niece of the wife of Philip's uncle General Robert R. Van Rensselaer. Philip J. Schuyler married Sally Rutsen in 1788 and in 1792 or 1793 he built the beautiful home just east of Rhinebeck where he lived the rest of his life—nearly half a century—the life of a typical country gentleman.

In addition to the estate of his wife, he purchased large tracts from the Beekman Patent which were divided into farms. The following list of tenants is copied from an old diary: Jacob Hendricks, Philip Pink, J. William Snyder, Andrew D. Traver, Daniel Lamoree, Thomas Lanclwood's widow, heirs of David Sippurly, Henry C. Near, Susannah Pink, Jacob Dederick, B. Westfall, Peter R. Ostrom, Peter I. Traver, George Shaver, John J. Lown, John S. Coles, Peter Traver, Aaron Camp.

In 1812 Mr. Schuyler and John C. Stevens entered into a partnership "to build mills upon the Clay Kill Estate on the road leading from Red Hook to the Pine Plains, at the Falls," "the said Philip Schuyler having purchased a falls on the Clay Kill." Besides these interests of his own he was agent for his mother who was owner of a large portion of what had been the lower Manor in Columbia County and another page in the diary is a list of her tenants' names, familiar at the present time in that locality: Wilhelm Feller, widow of Adam Ackert, Catharine Rikert, Adam Bean, Charles Neher, John Welch, Widow Die!, Abraham Westfall, Henry Traver, Adam Shufelt, John Cox, Jacob Mawl, Zachariah Traver, John N. Traver, John Welch, Jr., Francis Hendricks, Abraham Millham, John H. Traver.

Also while acting as agent for his mother the old diary reports the sale of thirty-six farms, aggregating 3,000 acres, from his mother's estate, Rensselaer Manor at Claverack, during the years 1799-1801.

He must certainly have held a warm sentiment for the home of his mother for Miss Gebhard in her story of "The Parsonage between Two Manors" tells how in 1789 the

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young Philip and his wife, Sally, brought their first baby, another little Philip, all the way from Rhinebeck when it was a month old, up to the old Claverack Church to be baptized by Domine Gebhard.

He was public-spirited and interested in politics and public affairs. He served in the militia of the state in his younger years, resigning in 1799 with rank of Major, and was succeeded by John Crooke. He was a member of Assemby from Dutchess County in 1798, at which date Dutchess was represented by ten members of Assembly in the state legislature. In the first legislature, 1777, Dutchess County was represented by seven members. Mr. Schuyler served in the 15th Congress, 1818, representing the fifth Congressional District which was composed of Columbia County and the towns of Rhinebeck and Clinton in Dutchess County (at present Clinton, Hyde Park, Pleasant Valley, Rhinebeck and Red Hook). The fourth Congressional District was the remaining portion of Dutchess County and Putnam County. At that date New York had twenty-one Congressmen. In the first Congress acting under the Constitution of 1789 New York had six representatives, Virginia had ten and Massachusetts had eight.

The news of the result of the Hamilton-Burr duel reached the family at Rhinebeck in a letter from Mr. Schuyler's sister Cornelia, wife of Washington Morton. It was addressed in •the manner of special delivery of that time: To Philip J. Schuyler Rhinebeck "The Postmaster at Rhinebeck will have an express to the Schuylers immediately on receiving this."

New York July 11 1804 General Hamilton has this morning been dangerously wounded by Burr. The ball entered his side, and it is feared has injured the Spinal Marrow—few are the hopes entertained—he may linger four or five days—An express went to Papa

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and a letter was to have gone for you, but the express forgot it,—had you not better go up and then accompany him to us, for he will certainly come and Kitty's situation is such that Malcolm cannot leave her Love to all at home Aff C. L. Morton

The "Kitty" referred to in this letter was Katharine, General Schuyler's youngest daughter who had recently married Samuel Malcolm, son of General Malcolm of the Revolution. After Mr. Malcolm's death she married Major James Cochrane of the U. S. Army and died at Oswego, N. Y., August 26, 1857, aged 76 years, the last surviving member of this family.

General Schuyler was devotedly attached to his son-inlaw Alexander Hamilton and, although his wife had died less than a year before and he was himself ill, suffering from a severe rheumatic gout, the family felt sure that he would make every effort to go to him. The General never recovered sufficient strength to visit New York again but died the following fall, November 18, 1804, Mrs. Hamilton and her children having spent most of the summer and autumn with him at Albany.

General Hamilton did not linger the four or five days predicted in Mrs. Morton's letter but died early the next day, long before any of the Albany or Rhinebeck family could reach New York, as they had to travel by pony express or on horseback, as this was several years before the first steamboat and nearly half a century before the Hudson River Railroad

Sarah Rutsen, wife of Philip J. Schulyer, died October 24, 1805, aged thirty-five years. The children of Philip J. Schuyler and Sarah Rutsen were: Philip P., who married Rosanna Livingston, John Rutsen, who died at the age of twenty-two, Catharine M., who married Samuel Jones, Sibyl, who died at the age of seven, Robert, and Stephen Van Rensselaer, who married Catharine Morris. Mr. Schuyler

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rhotograph by Margaret DelVI. Brown

Portrait by Sully of Philip J. Schuyler of The Grove, Rhinebeck, New York. At the right a portrait, also by Sully, of Mary Anna Sawyer, second wife of Philip J. Schuyler. The sideboard and Lowestoft china are Schuyler heirlooms.

From a photograph made in 1929. Reproduced with the kind permission of the present owner of The Grove, George N. Miller, M. D.

later married Mary Anna Sawyer of Boston who bore two sons, William and George L. Schuyler. The latter married, first, Eliza Hamilton, and second, Mary M. Hamilton.

Philip J. Schuyler died February 21, 1835 at the age of sixty-seven years and was buried in the private family burial ground at the Schuyler home in Rhinebeck but his body was later removed with those of other members of his family to the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, where there are stones inscribed as follows:

Philip J. Schuyler, son of General Philip Schuyler Jan. 21, 1768-Feb. 21, 1835, 67 yrs. 1 mo.

Sarah, daughter of John and Phebe C. Rutsen and wife of Philip J. Schuyler Oct. 24, 1805, 35 yrs, 3 m., 26 ds.

Catharine Van Rensselaer, wife of General Philip Schuyler 1735-1803

Philip P. Schuyler, May 6, 1829, 33 yrs., 1 mo.

Chancellor Samuel Jones, eldest son of Hon. Samuel Jones May 26, 1770-Aug. 9, 1853

Catharine Schuyler, his wife, daughter of Philip J. and Sarah Rutsen Schuyler Nov. 20, 1829, age 36 years

John Rutsen Schuyler June 22, 1813, age 22 yrs. His Sister

Sibyl Schuyler, Jan. 26, 1813, age 7 yrs.

Catharine Cornelia, wife of Rev. Isaac Peck daughter of Samuel and Catharine Schuyler Jones May 2, 1822-Nov. 3, 1893

Mary Regina Morton, youngest daughter of Washington Morton and Cornelia Schuyler, left an orphan, came to live at the home of her uncle Philip J. Schuyler in Rhinebeck. She afterward married William Starr Miller who, about 1850, purchased for her the old Schuyler residence. At her death she bequeathed it to her husband's nephew, Dr. George N. Miller, who has since made it his home. She was

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the same Mary Regina Miller who in 1871 erected in the Albany Rural Cemetery the beautiful monument to the memory of her illustrious grandfather, General Philip Schuyler.

It was several years later that the remains of Philip J. Schuyler and his family, including those of their grandmother, "sweet Kitty Van Rensselaer" the wife of General Schuyler, were removed from the family burying ground at Rhinebeck to the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery by two other grand-daughters of General Schuyler, Miss Louisa Lee Schuyler and Miss Georgina Schuyler. J. WILSON POUCHER.

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, PETER De LABIGARRE

And the Founding of Tivoli

The village of Tivoli, Dutchess County, New York, was founded and named under unique circumstances. No other community in Dutchess came into being in quite the same way. The story of the place and its founder is an interesting one and it is set forth here partly for its significance in general and partly because special researches, made lately in reference to it, have served to bring new facts to light and to show that some inaccuracies have been current in the past in connection with it.

That which made the beginnings of Tivoli unlike those of other places in the county was that they were undertaken by the deliberate intention of one person, whereas other communities in Dutchess grew gradually and unpremeditatedly as the result of local social and economic conditions. The founder of Tivoli was Peter De Labigarre and biographical material has recently been gathered about him in an amount sufficient to warrant presentation in these pages.

In part at least the story of Tivoli may be traceable to the fact that in the eighteenth century trade relations between this country and the West Indies were very close, as a result of which intercommunication many men bearing French names came from the islands to America in the last quarter of the century. Also there was an exodus from France to America in the 1790's, due to the French Revolution. These two circumstances explain the appearance in New York in the period mentioned of men of French descent and of families that were not represented in the French emigration to America in the seventeenth century.

In Dutchess County Francois Chandonet settled at Poughkeepsie and Richard DeCantillon (born 1745-6, died 1806) at Hyde Park. Charles Martin Jean Pierre DeVemont (usually referred to locally as: "John P. Vemont" !) lived many years at Poughkeepsie but died at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1811. Contemporaneous With Chandonet, DeCantillon and

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DeVemont were five men of French extraction in what is now the town of Red Hook: Pierre Joseph Preissac, Claudius G. Massonneau, Peter DeLabigarre, Claudius Gabriel Fontaine and Daniel (Brizac or Prizock.) M. Preissac' (a son of the Marquis de Cardillac, Chevalier de St. Louis, of the parish of St. Michael, San Domingo) came to Red Hook, married Catharine Livingston (whose parents, Robert G. and Margaret Hude Livingston, lived near the present Rock City) and died in 1794-1795. The will of M. Preissac was witnessed by Pierre Masson-Neau who was, presumably, the "Peter Massonneau of Santo Domingo" whose marriage in New York City in 1794 is on record. In this association of the names Preissac and Masson-Neau may lie some explanation for the fact that M. Preissac's widow (Catharine Livingston) married for her second husband Claudius G. Massonneau (born 1769, died 1846) , another of the Frenchmen Who lived in Red Hook.

The Federal Census of 1790 shows that Daniel "Prizock" was then a resident of the town of Rhinebeck and in 1797 Daniel "Brizac" occupied land2• near the village of Tivoli. Nothing more has been learned of him but it is possible that "Prizock" and "Brizac" were phonetic renderings of Preissac and that there was some family connection between this little known individual and M. Pierre Preissac. In 1802 Claudius Gabriel Fontaine3 purchased lots at Tivoli and the property remained in his family until 1864. In his will M. Fontaine stated that he was born at Lyons, France, in 1759. He died in New York City in 1828. The names Preissac and Fontaine have vanished from Red Hook but Claudius G. and Catharine (Livingston) Massonneau are represented there today by descendants, one of whom—William S. Massonneau— is vice-president of the Dutchess County Historical •Society.

1. Calendar of Albany Wills, page 311. 2. Mortgages, Dutchess County Clerk's office, liber 7, page 115. 3- Deeds, Dutchess County Clerk's offiice, liber 47, page 182; liber 126, page 400.

Wills, New York County Surrogate's office, liber 36, page 366. • 46

Of the five men of French extraction in the town of Red Hook, above listed, there remains for consideration Peter De Labigarre. The first reference to him, so far found, is under date of August 24, 1793, when he gave to Robert R. Livingston a mortgage4 on certain property at Red Hook. The mortgage described NI. DeLabigarre as "of the town of Rhinebeck" (the town of Red Hook was not set off from Rhinebeck until 1812) and from 1793 to 1802 there was recorded in the office of the County Clerk a succession of deeds and mortgages to and from DeLabigarre that witnessed to his activities in the vicinity of the present Tivoli.

Meanwhile, scattered items recorded at New York City from 1795 to 1806 reveal that Peter DeLabigarre was occupied there as well as in Dutchess County. At that time the annual directory for the city of New York included only the names of persons who paid for the entry. Omission of a name does not prove absence from the city and the evidence of residence in New York, as derived from the directories, is therefore incomplete. As far as it goes it is valuable and as regards M. DeLabigarre it affords the following items: 1795, Peter Delabigar, merchant, 17 Whitehall street 1796, Peter DeLabigarre, 17 Whitehall street 1803, Peter DeLabigarre, Liberty street, corner of Washington 1804, Peter DeLabigarre, 258 Greenwich street 1805, Peter DeLabigarre, Esq., 258 Greenwich street

Reference to M. DeLabigarre as a merchant coincides with the theory that the trade relations between America and the West Indies may have been one of the factors in his coming to New York. And successful business in New York may have provided the funds with which to speculate in real estate in Dutchess. The deeds and mortgages, recorded in the office of the Clerk of Dutchess County, in which DeLabi-

4. Mortgages, Dutchess County Clerk's office, liber 6, page 308. 47

garre was concerned, are numerous and they give his residence in different years as: 1793, of the town of Rhinebeck 1797, March, of New York City 1797, October, of the town of Rhinebeck 1798, of the town of Rhinebeck 1802, of the town of Rhinebeck

These mentions of him complement those in the city directories and it may be suggested, tentatively, that M. De Labigarre, arriving at New York at an unknown date (probably after 1790, as he is not mentioned in the Federal census of that year), had begun to have interest in Dutchess in 1793; lived in New York and did business there in 1795, 1796, and 1797; established in 1797 a home in the town of Rhinebeck (in the part later set off as the town of Red Hook) ; maintained the same until 1802; and was again of New York City in 1803, 1804 and 1805. It is of course possible that he continued in business in New York and had a house there in the years when the directory omits his name and in which he is elsewhere mentioned as "of Rhinebeck". Indeed, it is inherently probable that such was the case for at that time many merchants of New York were acquiring country homes in addition to their town dwellings.

Turning to the register of the Reformed Dutch Church of New York City it appears that on June 16, 1795, Peter DeLabigarre was married to Margaret Beekman and a notice of the marriage, printed in The New York Weekly Museum of June 27, 1795, agrees with the register and gives the additional information that the bride was a daughter of Gerard William Beekman. Gerard William Beekman (born 1718, died 1791) ,5- whose death occurred at Philadelphia shortly before his daughter's marriage, was at one time a rich merchant in New York City and had lived in a handsome house near Hanover Square. He had one son and several daughters. Of the daughters: Catharine married Isaac Cox; Johanna, Abraham K. Beekman; Margaret, Peter DeLabi-

5- Beekman Genealogy.

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