One visit I made to the Philipses at Garrison's is especially fresh in my memory, as Eleanor Jones Duer, a daughter of President William A. Duer of Columbia College, who subsequently married George T. Wilson of Georgia, was their guest at the same time. She was a woman of much culture and refinement, and in every way a delightful companion. A great intimacy existed for many years between the Gouverneurs and Philipses of Garrison's and the Duer family of New York. The Philipses, who at this time lived very much in the old-fashioned style, were the last of the old families with which I was familiar to have the cloth removed after the dessert was served; and in doing this an elegant mahogany table always kept in a highly polished condition was displayed. Upon it were placed the fruits, nuts and wine. Another custom in the Philipse family which, as far as I know, was unique in this country was that of having four meals a day. Breakfast was served at eight, luncheon at one, dinner at six and supper at nine o'clock.
During another visit I made at The Grange I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sheaffe Hoyt (Frances Maria Duer), who were house guests there and who had just returned from an extended European tour. She was another daughter of President Duer of Columbia College and died not long ago in Newport, R.I., at a very advanced age. Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer, a daughter of Mrs. Archibald Gracie King (Elizabeth Denning Duer), is her niece.
Before leaving the banks of the Hudson River I must speak of my former associations with Newburgh. From my earliest life we children were in the habit of making frequent visits to my mother's relatives, the Roe family, who resided there. We all eagerly looked forward to these trips up the Hudson which were made upon the old Thomas Powell and later upon the Mary Powell. My mother's relative, Maria Hazard, married William Roe, one of the most highly respected and prosperous citizens of Newburgh. They lived in a stately mansion surrounded by several acres of land in the heart of the city. Mrs. Roe was a remarkable woman. I knew her only as an elderly matron; but, like women of advanced age in China, where I spent a number of years of my early married life, she controlled everyone who came within her "sphere of influence." I remember, for example, that upon one occasion when I was visiting her, Thomas Hazard Roe, her elder son, who at the time was over sixty years of age and a bachelor and who desired to go upon some hunting expedition, said to her: "Mother, have I your permission to go to the Adirondacks?" She thought for a few moments and replied: "Well, Hazard, I think you might go."
About the year 1840 Newburgh was recommended by two of the earliest prominent homeopathic physicians of New York City, Doctors John F. Gray and Amos G. Hull, as a locality well-adapted to people affected with delicate lungs, and upon their advice many families built handsome residences there. In my early recollection Newburgh had a fine hotel called the Powelton, which bade fair to become a prominent resort for New Yorkers. In the zenith of its prosperity, however, it was burned to the ground and was never rebuilt. I hardly think that anyone will have the assurance to dispute the healthfulness of this place when I state that my cousin, Thomas Hazard Roe, of whom I have just spoken, died there in 1907 after having more than rounded a full century of years. He was in many ways a remarkable man with a mind well stored with knowledge, and he retained all of his mental faculties unclouded until the end of his life. His sister, Mary Elizabeth, the widow of the late William C. Hasbrouck, a prominent Newburgh lawyer and a few years his junior, also died quite recently in Newburgh at the age of ninety-seven. Her son, General Henry C. Hasbrouck, U.S.A., also died but a short time since, but her daughter, Miss Maria Hasbrouck, whose whole life has been devoted to her family, still resides in the old homestead. The third and youngest member of this interesting trio, Miss Emily Maria Roe, is now living in Newburgh at an advanced age, surrounded by a large connection and beloved by everyone.
One of the most prominent families in Newburgh in years gone by was that of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Powell, from whom the celebrated river boats were named. Mrs. Powell's maiden name was Mary Ludlow, and she belonged to a well-known New York family. Her brother, Lieutenant Augustus C. Ludlow, who was second in command on board the Chesapeake, under Captain James Lawrence of "Don't give up the ship" fame, is buried by the latter's side in old Trinity church-yard in New York. Mrs. Powell took great pride and pleasure in the boat named in her honor, the Mary Powell, and I have frequently seen her upon my trips up the Hudson, sitting upon the deck of her namesake and chatting pleasantly with those around her.
Newburgh was also the home of Andrew Jackson Downing, the author of "Landscape Gardening," "Cottage Residences," and other similar works. I received my first knowledge of horticulture from a visit I made to his beautiful residence, which was surrounded by several acres. It was my earliest view of nature assisted by art, and to my untutored eye his lawn was a veritable Paradise. Some years later, when I was visiting the Scotts in Washington, Mr. Downing called and during our conversation told me that he had come to the Capital, upon the invitation of the government, to lay out the Smithsonian grounds. His wife was Miss Caroline De Wint of Fishkill, New York, a granddaughter of Mrs. Henry William Smith (Abigail Adams), the only daughter of President John Adams who reached maturity. After spending some months in Washington, Mr. Downing was returning to his Newburgh home when the Henry Clay, a Hudson River steamboat upon which he had taken passage, was destroyed by fire and he perished while attempting to rescue some of the passengers. This was in 1852.
There are some persons still living who will readily recall, in connection with social functions, the not uncommon name of Brown. The particular Brown to whom I refer was the sexton of Grace Episcopal Church, on the corner of Broadway and Tenth Street, where many of the soi-disant crème de la crème worshiped. He must have possessed a christian name, but if so I never heard it for he was only plain Brown, and Brown he was called. He was born before the days when spurious genealogical charts are thrust at one, nolens volens; but probably this was lucky for him and the public was spared much that is uninteresting. In connection with his duties at Grace Church he came in contact with many fashionable people, and was enabled to add materially to his rather small income by calling carriages from the doorsteps for the society folk of the great metropolis. In this and other ways his pursuits gradually became so varied that in time he might have been safely classed among the dilettanti. The most remarkable feature of his career, however, was the fact that, in spite of his humble calling, he became a veritable social dictator, and many an ambitious mother with a thousand-dollar ball upon her hands (this being about the usual sum spent upon an evening entertainment at that time), lacked the courage to embark upon such a venture without first seeking an interview with Brown. I knew but little about his powers of discrimination, as we as a family never found his services necessary, but when requested I know he furnished to these dependent hostesses lists of eligible young men whom he deemed proficient in the polka and mazurka, the fashionable dances of the day. Strange as it may appear, I can vouch for the truth of the statement that many an exclusive hostess was glad to avail herself of these lists of the accommodating Brown. The dances just mentioned were, by the way, introduced into this country by Pierro Saracco, an Italian master who taught me to dance, and who was quite popular in the fashionable circles of his day. Many years later, when I was residing in Maryland, he came to Frederick several times a week and gave dancing lessons to my two older daughters.
Brown was a pleasant, genial, decidedly "hail-fellow-well-met" man, as I remember him, and was in a way the precursor of Ward McAllister, though of course on a decidedly more unpretentious plane. One cannot but express surprise at the consideration with which Brown's protégés were treated by the élite, nor can one deny that the social destinies of many young men were the direct result of his strenuous efforts. I remember, for example, one of these who at the time was "a youth to fortune and to fame unknown," whom Brown took under his sheltering wing and whose subsequent social career was shaped by him. He is of foreign birth, with a pleasing exterior and address and, through the instrumentality of his humble friend who gave him his first start, is to-day, although advanced in life, one of the most conspicuous financiers in New York, and occasionally has private audiences with presidents and other magnates. Moreover, I feel certain that he will welcome this humble tribute to his benefactor with much delight, as the halo which now surrounds his brow he owes in a large degree to his early introduction into the smart set by the sexton of Grace Church. The last I ever heard of Brown, he visited Europe. After his return from his well-earned holiday he died and was laid to rest in his own native soil. Peace to Brown's ashes—his work was well done! It cannot be said of him, as of many others, that he lived in vain, as he was doubtless the forerunner of the later and more accomplished leader and dictator of New York's "Four Hundred."
A poetaster paid him the following facetious tribute:
Oh, glorious Brown, thou medley strange
Of churchyard, ballroom, saint, and sinner,
Flying by morn through fashion's range
And burying mortals after dinner.
Walking one day with invitations,
Passing the next at consecrations,
Tossing the sod at eve on coffins,
With one hand drying tears of orphans,
And one unclasping ballroom carriage,
Or cutting plumcake up for marriage;
Dusting by day the pew and missal,
Sounding by night the ballroom whistle,
Admitted free through fashion's wicket,
And skilled at psalms, at punch, and cricket.