Life sketches of Father Walworth

Front matter

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Contents

CHAPTEES. PAGES.

I. BOYHOOD.— His Father's Influence. 1

II. COLLEGE DAYS.— In Prospect and in Retrospect — Old Time Culture at Williamstown and Albany 15

I. Boyhood

His Father's Influence.

Clarence A, Walworth was born May 30, 1820, at Plattsburg, N. Y., where the Saranac River issuing from the Adirondacks sinks to rest in the bosom of Lake Champlain. He lived through eighty memorable years of the I^ineteenth Century and was fully alive to its swift currents of thought. He died September 19, 1900, in the Hudson Valley at old Albany, beloved of his fellow citizens. He lies buried in the village cemetery of Saratoga Springs, under whose lofty pines he grew to the full measure of a man.

'No son of ^ew York State ever loved better its beautiful valleys and their inhabitants. Few can have given more thought than he to their history and their destiny, interlinked as they are with the heart's life of the I^ation. If he looked " before and after,'' it was never to '^ pine for what is not " in idleness or discontent. He only w^anted to understand better what was yet to be done in the service of God and man. Then, as far as in him lay, he did it forthwith, and got others to follow his lead. He w^as indeed a strong lover of truth and of the common weal, as will be proved later on. And why not? To him and his^ " the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress '^ was written all over the Green Mountains to the east of him, in myriad shadows moving along ilieir slopes. Bullets ploughed up on the Saratoga Battleground found their way into his juvenile pockets. When the Fourth of Jnly guns were fired to rouse the villages between Stillwater and the Adirondacks, way back in John Quincy Adams' administration, the boys he knew and with whom he played marbles were accustomed to sing out with every blast, ^' Shoot Burgoyne ! " The spirit of patriotism was in the air, and so, too, was piety, and the fear of the Lord. On Wednesday nights he carried a foot-warmer to the Saratoga meeting House in Church Street, for his mother's comfort whilst at the place of worship. He was happy in being with her, his own little feet nestled close to hers. It was not always easy to sit still in that high-backed, cushioned pew, but the sound of her voice was always sweet to him in the singing; nor did he ever forget how the deacons came gravely in of a Sunday morning, and laid down their best hats on the communion table. It was time then for him to sit very straight and be on his best behavior.

If he and another naughty boy broke most of the plain little church windows one day, it was an ebullition of human nature with which a wise father knew how to deal. He promptly paid for the glass and took strenuous measures to make his young son realize its value. I have heard Father Walworth say in later life that if fathers v/ere obliged to pay for the damage their boys do, it would tend to the observance of law and order and be better for all concerned.

Another incident does not come amiss in this connection. Peter Bullions, author of a grammar ouce used in many schools throughout the United States, was the presiding genius in a Latin room at the Boys' Academy in Albany, where Clarence took up that study. "' Old Cyclops,'' the boys called him, he being blind in one eye. The sight in the other was keen enough, however, to enable him to catch Clarence at some of his capers. A sudden blow on the head with a ruler raised an ugly looking welt. School over, the boy hastened to his mother, whose sympathies were much excifed. Soothing remedies were quickly applied. As soon as Judge Walworth came home she showed him the hurt and told who inflicted it. Clarence looked for further sympathy as his father carefully examined the head and listened to every detail from the boy and his mother. What then was his surprise when his father drew himself up very straight, and looking at him, sternly said : " See here, young man ! If you ever come from school in that condition again I will give you a punishment that you will not soon forget." Thus did justice tread close to mercy in his bringing up.

Some further understanding of influences that were brought to bear upon his early life may be gathered from the following budget of facts and letters pertaining to his parentage and childhood.

Clarence was the fourth child and oldest son of Reuben Hyde Walworth, the last chancellor of the State of :N'ew York, born October 26, 1788, at

4 Life Sketches or Father Walworth.

Bozrah, Conn. ; and who died, JSTovember 28, 1867, at Saratoga Springs, l!^. Y.

He was the grandson of Benjamin Walworth, born E^ovember 11, 1746, at Groton, Conn., who came over from ^ew England to the Hudson valley in time to serve with ISTew York volunteers at White Plains and Minisink. In 1793, Benjamin, with his wife, Apphia Hyde,* and their young family — Beuben being then four years old — established his home at Hoosick, N. Y., in a house which was occupied in 1896 by the Geer family. There Benjamin died, February 26, 1812.

'Clarence was the great-grandson of John Walworth of Groton, Conn., born on Fisher's Island, 1696; died, 1748. He was a prosperous farmer and shipwright, who served the colonies as a cornet and captain of dragoons, belonging to the 8 th Regiment, in the days of Governor Law.

His father and the great-great-grandfather of Clarence was William Walworth, the first settler on Fisher's Island, who emigrated from England to 'New London county. Conn., in 1689. After dwelling for a time alone on the island — a veritable Robinson Crusoe — he became one of the sturdy group of Groton pioneer farmers, whose descendants are scattered far and wide over the United States. They form no small part of the bone and sinew of our nation's life, both on land and sea, as may easily be seen by turning the leaves of their multitudinous genealogies. ,'

It was as easy and natural in their declining

* See Hvde Genealogy, and Chancellor Walworth's Address, in 1859, at tlie " Norwich Jubilee."

years for Reuben to prepare the ponderous Hyde Genealogy and for Clarence to gather up the Walworth Family History as it was for St. Matthew to begin his gospel with a pedigree. The people of Groton, like the children of Abraham, were well trained to write up their birth records. To be sure the promised Messiah had already come to fulfill the prophecies before their ships e\ev touched America, but here was a vast new promised land opening before them. As their sons and daughters moved westward to take possession, where there was as yet no vestige of church, court or college records to which to refer, well-bound bibles were thrust into their hands by their elders with these emphatic words : ''Read this, and he sure to ivnte up the Family Record/' Very faithful to this injunction for the most part were the Walworths.

The mother of Clarence was Maria Ketchum Averill, born at Plattsburg, JST. Y., December 31, 1795, of Puritan ancestry. Conscientious as Hawthorne's Hilda, with a tender love for little children and the poor, yet quick to drive a drunken Indian from her kitchen with lusty blows of the tongs, hers was a fine type of moral and physical beauty, peculiarly American. At the early age of fifteen she was wooed and won bv Reuben. He was then a promising young lawyer of northern ISTew York, just beginning with masterful strides to hew a path for himself to legal prominence. He had gone from his father's farm at Hoosick, where a love of learning had been instilled into him by his scholarly half-brother, Mr. Cardell, to study law in the office of John Russell, Esq., at Troy; and, later, selected

Plattsburg as a place to begin practice. It would be yet many years before he could grow up to the great task before him, that of moulding the unwieldly chancery business of the Empire State into shape for coming generations. In the War of 1812 he showed manly courage at the battles of Plattsburg, September 6 and 11, 1814, in which he was acting as adjutant-general under Major-General Mooers. He was also a colonel of militia. An inkling of how he won his very young bride is not without interest. It is told of him that a young relative of hers raised a laugh at the lover's expense by telling how he overheard these words, in an earnest tone : " Do say yes ! Do say yes 1 " He had come unexpectedly upon Reuben, who, on one knee before the rosebud of a girl, was gaining a slow assent to his suit. He was, from the first, a successful pleader. Having secured the maiden by his persistence, Reuben waited patiently, in deference to the desires of her relatives, for her to complete a course of study, directing meantime, however, by the force of his own superior intellect and will-power, the improvement of her mind along certain channels of his own choosing. They were married January 16, 1812, and went to live in a country house he had planned for her near Plattsburg. Soon after their first child was born he came riding home one day from a long round of duties to find that his house had been burned to the very ground. In great distress he sought far and near for tidings of his young wife. Finally he found her a mile away at a neighbor's home with her babe. She had hastily left her bed and run that far for shelter. 'No wonder he improvised a water bucket brigade soon thereafter, and in the years to come served at Saratoga Springs as an amateur fire chief of the village. Its present model fire department was preceded by a '^ Walworth Hose Company." His son Clarence, too, was a volunteer fireman, when he was practising law at Canandaigua. In pioneer days, it was the man of many resources who amounted to something. Every boy was expected to handle a variety of tools and weapons. The era of specialists was yet to dawn in the valley towns of ^ew York.

After the fire Reuben moved into Plattsburg and lived just a few blocks to the northwest of the Fouquet House. It was a comfortable, pleasant home, which has since been used as a rectory by the Episcopal clergyman. In that house Clarence was born. May 30, 1820, and there the family dwelt till he was three years of age. It was Avhilst a resident of Plattsburg that Reuben H. Walworth served the people as a member of Congress.

In 1823 he was appointed circuit judge of the Fourth Judicial District of the State of I^ew York, and removed to Saratoga Springs, living at " Pine Grove," on Broadway, in a substantial mansion of wood interlined \vith brick, which he purchased from Judge Walton. The latter built himself a new home at Woodlawn, north of the village, in what is now often called Hilton's Park.

The grove of tall, lithe pines about Judge Walworth's Saratoga home, that rocked in the breezes and sang songs to his children and grandchildren, was a beautiful one. It has dwindled to a few giant trunks. Bereft of most of their branches, and yet majestic, holding their sparse clumps of needles 13 p a hundred or more feet from tBe ground, they still cast their long afternoon shadows across Broadway between Walton and Van Dam streets. The latter was named for Rip Van Dam, a Dutch settler who sold " Pine Grove '' to Judge Walton, having secured his own title to it from the Indians. The contour of the mansion under the pines has been much changed. The early morning sunshine still slips through, however, between newer houses opposite, and sends cheering rays as of old under the great street elms. At breakfast time it lights up the north wing office and courtroom, that can still be quaintly entered by three inside steps. It also finds its way into the old south parlor, with its stately fireplace. This has been set apart with other rooms as a separate apartment or cottage, with access through a modern front door. One large central room and a broad hall subdivide the space between these wings, making up the ample seventy feet front of the old homestead. There were originally two floors in the central part, the wings being but one story high, with an airy basement kitchen and large cellars under all. It was a white house, with green shutters and several delightful piazzas, with colonial columns. An ornamental fence, of wood — cut like the rest from ^' the forest primeval " — with heavy posts and curved gates, secluded the place from the street. But the hospitality of early days kept their hinges on the swing.* It was after a residence of five years at Saratoga

♦See Reminiscences of Saratoga by W. L. Stone.

ithat Clarence's father became chancellor of New York State, an office that he held over twenty years. This promotion came in the month of April, 1828. It was said of him about this time by Captain Joshua Harris : ^' He is before Daniel Webster for pleading law, although he has got above that." This tribute was found entered, in 1829, in Mr. J. J. Walworth's diary by Mr. Arthur Clarence Walworth, of Boston and JSTewton Centre in Massachusetts.

In the autumn of 1829 the chancellor removed his family to Albany. There he dwelt until 1833, w^hen he returned to Saratoga Springs, making that his residence thenceforth throughout the year till the time of his death, ^N'ovember 28, 1867.

In Albany he occupied at first a house in Park place, and later his home there was northwest of the capitol on Washington avenue, in a house that •afterward became the residence of Amasa J. Parker, Esq. It was within pleasant walking distance both of courtrooms and academies. Clarence's sisters, Mary, Sarah and Eliza, who were older than himself, attended the Eemale Academy, then in Pearl street north of Maiden lane. His brother Mansfield, a native of Albany, was not born until December 3, 1830. Clarence himself came at once under Dr. T. Pomeyn Beck's excellent management at the Boys' Academy. This man's character won his undying love and respect. Several years of study in English, Latin and French were spent at this academy, interspersed with wrestling matches, dancing lessons and '^ tag in the mound."

10 Life Sketches of Fathek Walwoeth.

Clarence was sent to a boarding-school in tlie Berkshires in 1830.

There he received a long letter from his father. It shows what care and thought was bestowed on this lively, intelligent boy of ten years. The eager and happy recipient of this important epistle we must also picture to ourselves as well developed physically, and fair to behold. This first letter was fully understood and appreciated, as may be gathered from the fact that Clarence treasured it to his dying day. It was directed to

'^' Claee]s[ce Augustus Walwoeth " Williamstown " Mass.

" Care of Mr. A. Clark."

It is here given in full:

Albany, September 6, 1830.

My Dear Son — Having arrived at an age when you must begin to think and act for yourself, it now becomes your duty to apply yourself diligently to obtain an education which will fit you for usefulness hereafter. Removed for the first time from beneath the paternal roof, you should now begin to look forward to the day which is not distant, when you will be permanently separated from the parents who have hitherto M'^atched over you in the helpless years of infancy. I now write to you as a young gentleman commencing his education, and who intends to make himself useful and respected through life. If you commence with that determination you will certainly succeed. If you improve the opportunity now offered for the attainment of useful knowledge and the cultivation of your mind, and continue to preserve a character for industry and sobriety, you cannot fail to be honored, beloved and respected after you arrive at manhood. But if you waste the next ten years of your life in idleness, or neglect of your studies, the season for improvement will have passed by, and for the residue of your life you will be neglected or despised. Recollect therefore that everything depends on your present exertions and upon the use you now make of your time. I shall be able to give you very little besides the necessary expenses of your education. And when you become of age you must expect to provide for yourself. But wealth and honor are within your reach and may be obtained by your own exertions. Strive to be first in your class, first in your school, first in every situation in which you may be placed. If you do this you will be the favorite of your instructor, an ornament of the school and the pride of your parents, as you may hereafter hope to be the pride and ornament of your country. If you wish to be a gentleman be careful always to conduct yourself like one. Scorn to tell a lie on any occasion, or to be guilty of any mean or dishonorable action. Be civil to your fellow students and kind and obliging to all if you wish to be beloved and respected by them. Never wrangle or quarrel yourself, nor interfere with the quarrels of others except for the purpose of preventing or settling disputes. Never remain in ignorance of anything which you can learn by examining your books or by inquiring of your preceptor. Be civil and obliging to Mrs. Sloane and follow her directions as to your clothes etc., and she will be as a kind mother to you. Pray to God to keep you from everything that is evil, that you may be loved and respected thro' life, and enjoy the society of the blessed in Christ, hereafter.

I shall go to Saratoga for your mother and Mary on Wednesday. Sarah and Eliza are here already. Your letters for your mother must therefore be directed to Albany in future. The news of the recent revolution in France, produced by the arbitrary and tyrannical acts of the king, you have probably already seen in the paper.

Your affectionate father,

R. H. Walworth.

Master Clarence Augustus Walworth.

Could such words, from such a source, fail of their effect in forming character?

This was followed by a second letter equally instructive and no less valued. There are two copies of it extant. One is in the chancellor's own handwriting and the other in that of Clarence. He was often asked for his father's autograph. If he ever had a thought of yielding this original letter to some biographer or collector, he must have changed his mind. After his death it was found, with the copy he had made of it, among his private papers. It is worded as follows:

My Deak Son : — Since my letter of the 6th. of September, I have been most of the time in New York attending the court of Errors which has prevented my writing sooner. I met Mr. Clark there last week and had the pleasure of learning from him that you were making good progress in your studies, particularly in Arithmetic. That is an important branch in education in whatever situation you may hereafter be placed in life. By it you will learn to compute the value of time and the great waste that the loss of a single hour each day may produce in the few years allotted to you to prepare for a life of usefulness and honor. It will also teach you the necessity of prudence and economy, by showing the aggregate of your daily expenses at the end of each year, and you will also see that a single shilling saved each day and placed at compound interest will make a man wealthy and independent in the course of a few years. Arithmetic is absolutely necessary in all the ordinary businesses and pursuits of life, and the study of the higher branches of mathematics tend to enlarge the powers of the mind, and produce habits of thinking and reasoning from causes and effects which are calculated to make you useful and respected in the world. I hope therefore you will not be contented with obtaining a mere superficial knowledge of this most important branch of science and education. Converse freely with your preceptor upon everything you do not fully understand and never rest satisfied until you are fully acquainted with the use of figures as applied to every subject which may hereafter be useful to you either in the study of other sciences or in the business of life.

Be also vigilant and attentive to your other studies and let no branch of your education be neglected. The study of Latin is dry and uninteresting but it is very important in giving you a thorough knowledge of our own language, and the proper meaning and application of words derived from the Latin. And the Greek is also important in this respect although you may never have occasion to look into a Greek book after your education is finished. Recollect also that you may be placed in a situation where a knowledge of these dead languages may afford you the means of support and may even place you at the head of some of our most distinguished colleges or other seminaries of learning. Study mineralogy and botany for your amusement in your leisure hours to expand your mind and increase your store of general information, but learn writing, arithmetic, English grammar, Greek, Latin, French, composition and declamation, or the habit of public speaking, as the foundation and only sure means of making yourself great and respected and useful in after life. Write frequently to your mother and other members of the family as this will tend to improve your talent in composition; and be careful always to run over your letters after they are written to see that there are no grammatical errors, and if you find you have not expressed your ideas in the best language correct the letter and recopy it before it is sent.

And before closing this letter, let me again remind you that all your hopes and prospects of wealth, honor and respectability in life depend on your own exertions alone. Although your father occupies a high and responsible station in society, that cannot make you respected unless you improve the advantages which you now have to cultivate your mind, and preserve those habits of honesty, sobriety and industry which alone can raise you to honor among your fellow citizens hereafter. By industry, study and perseverance you may reasonably hope for the most exalted situations, but without this you can be nothing. Finally look to God for his blessing in all your endeavors to acquire knowledge and may he keep and preserve you from every bad habit and evil way.

Your affectionate father,

R. H. Walworth.

Master Clarence Augustus Walworth.

P. S. Preserve my letters and all others of any importance which you receive from your friends and fold and tie them up together, as you may find it beneficial to refer to them hereafter when, perhaps, death may have separated you from them forever. If there are any words in my letters you do not understand, look in the dictionary and find their meaning, so that you will fully comprehend what I intend to say.

II. College Days

In Prospect and In Retrospect — Old Time Culture at Williamstown and Albany.

Some details to be liere set forth may at first seem disconnected or out of place. Furtlier investigation will show, however, that they belong in one w^ay or another to a continuous trend of thought. Xot one of them but throws its share of liffht on the training and motives of the character to be herein dwelt upon in many varying phases. Since interesting developments come later on, it may prove no loss of time to linger thoughtfully about the trickling sources of a great river; or, to study the soil wherein some sturdy acorn has been coaxed to shoot forth its latent energies, as well downward toward cool welling water as upward into blazing sunlight.

The boy who received the two interesting letters addressed to Williamstown by Chancellor Walworth in the autumn of 1830 was living in the Sloan house. Later it w^as the home of three presidents of Williams College and it is now owned by a college society. It was the most beautiful mansion that could then be approached through the broad avenues and over the grassy lawns of that mountain-girt town. Even yet it dravrs the eye of the stranger with a charm all its own, as to a center of quaint elegance and good taste, standing as it does in the very midst of an ever-increasing cluster of costly university buildings. How wise they have been at Williams College whilst keeping abreast of the times to let no ancient beauty of architecture or landscape gardening escape them! How shortsighted were they at Albany to allow the students of a college society to carry over the state line to Berkshire county the grand old manor house built for the Patroons of Rensselaerwyck ! To let it go from the bank of the Hudson for Williamstown vines to clamber over and caress ! There it stands on a wellkept lawn, with new mortar between its bricks, but every brick in place, its old contour intact. When it stood in the northern part of Albany, Father Walworth used often to pilot his friends from St. Mary's rectory through Steuben street and Broadway to visit it.

'^ Historically, it is the most interesting building in Albany," he would say, " and a fine piece of architecture, as you see. When it passes from the hands of the Van Rensselaers, the city should own it as a museum."

His taste in more ways than one was doubtless formed by early contact with the scholarly atmosphere of Williams College. Hence, his speech on " School Education," before a great convocation in the Albany Capitol, in July, 1887, when he received his degree of LL. D. from the Regents of the University of the State of N'ew York, begins thus:

^' I would be something more or less than human did I not feel deeply honored in being invited to address a body so dignified and learned as the Regents and scholars that compose this convocation. I feel that here I am breathing the atmosphere of a true university. According to my view, a university cannot be created by a mere charter, by any amount of money, nor in any short period of time. It is not some building with spreading wings and high towers; it is not a name; it is not a place; it it not a mere college, incorporated by law, with power to confer degrees; it is something more even than a union of colleges with different departments devoted each to special studies. It is a certain center of learning and thought, the healthy growth of many years, the child of many combining graces. It is a traditionary atmosphere, an influence, a breath, a soul, an inspiration that hovers about a locality where learned men have once lived, and thoughtful learners still love to gather. God grant a long life to the University of the State of !^ew York! And long may its yearly convocations assemble in this city !'' These words, together with the masterful yet winning presence of the speaker, sharpened the edge of interest to closest attention. All in the Senate chamber seemed to listen and applaud as one man, whether they had come from ^ew England or the Rocky Mountain States, from Virginia or Michigan ; or, on the limited " flyers " through the wheat zone and western plains from our younger giant cities whose new-fledged seats of learning are just fluttering into notice.

Some, at least, of this audience must have been familiar with the unique campus of old Williams. How gently it is curved by the subsiding rolls of the Green Mountains, while not yet dipping into the fair narrowing valley southward, across which Mount Greylock peers through the Hopper and over Berlin mountain far into ISTew York State. Have you who have read these pages ever delved in the library of that college, deciphered the professors' tombstones, and rested by the Hay^ stack monument in Mission Park? Have you wondered at the quaint observatory, the first of many that crown American hilltops, now abandoned as outgrown, perched on the rocks, emptied of all its equipments, and worthless save to arouse thought? Have you recognized the names of her Alumni on the backs of library books and noticed not only the generous gifts of her prosperous sons, but the thoughtful faces of some of her courteous undergraduates ? Those, who blush not to work their way to classic honors, by humble and uncongenial tasks during the vacation time, while with laudable pride they show strangers their Alma Mater? If so, can you, thus knowing Williams, with all its whispering memories, reflect for a moment on Father Walworth's description of a university, and not read between the lines his vivid recollection of the spot where he first awoke to the life of a scholar ? '^' Surely his Avords fit it well, though he doubtless had no intention of excluding from his thought other seats of learning both ancient and beautiful. I myself never saw him happier in sightseeing abroad than when ramb-