Cadwallader Colden

by Seymour I. Schwartz

  The house in which Cadwallader Colden and his family lived for four decades, was replaced by a stone mansion by Cadwallader, Jr. Over the centuries, the elegant structure gradually disintegrated. The remaining stone elements at the junction of Route 17K and Stone Castle Road between the town of Montgomery and the city of Newburgh, New York, are identified by a sign that reads “SITE OF COLDEN MANSION/ BUILT OF STONE IN 1767/ BY CADWALLADER COLDEN JR./ ESTATE ESTABLISHED IN 1727/ AREA SINCE, COLDENHAM.” In the vicinity, in front of the elementary school, another historical marker was erected in 1998. It states, “JANE COLDEN/ 1724–1766. BOTANIST. HER/ RESEARCH, ILLUSTRATIONS AND/ MANUSCRIPT AT THE BRITISH/ MUSEUM ARE INVALUABLE TO HORTICULTURISTS TODAY.”

  Figure 12. A map of Coldengham, January 4, 1811, designating the segments allocated to Cadwallader Colden's children, Alexander, Cadwallader, Jr., Jane, Alice, Catherine, and David. Courtesy of Robin Assenza, a living relative.

  The reconstruction of the stone mansion, which has received National Historical Landmark status, is currently an issue of contention. In Montgomery, the Coldengham Preservation & Historical Society, which consists of about twenty-five members, meets monthly on Sundays. The members are dedicated to sustaining a remembrance of the estate.

  The family of Cadwallader and Alice Colden has been the subject of two genealogical works. In 1873, Edwin R. Purple, a member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, had an edition of fifty copies of Genealogical Notes of The Colden Family in America privately printed. Recently, The Coldengham Preservation & Historical Society published online an updated genealogy of the family (www.coldenpreservation.org).

  Alexander, known familiarly as Sandy, the oldest of the Colden children, was born on August 13, 1716, in Philadelphia. He married Elizabeth, the second daughter of Richard Nicholls of New York City. Nicholls was a distant relative of a seventeenth-century governor of the province of New York. Alexander was appointed ranger of Ulster County in 1737. At an early age, he operated a store in the area of Coldengham. Within six years, he expanded to ownership of a store in Newburgh, a wharf on the Hudson River, a fleet of sailing ships, and a mill on Quassaick Creek. He operated the first ferry from Newburgh to New York City and a ferry to Fishkill across the Hudson River. He accumulated great wealth. Following the solicitation of Governor Clinton by Cadwallader,6 in 1751, Alexander was appointed joint surveyor general of New York, and he became acting surveyor general when his father became lieutenant governor in 1761. He also became postmaster of New York and a vestryman of Trinity Church. In 1773, he resigned his office of surveyor and searcher of New York in favor of his son, Nicholls.7 Alexander died on December 12, 1774; his wife had died at Spring Hill nine months previously. Both were buried in the family vault in the courtyard of Trinity Church. Two of their sons and three of their sons-in-law served with the British Forces during the American Revolution. A grandson, Richard Nicholls's son, was editor of the U.S. Sporting Magazine from 1835 to 1836.

  The Colden's second child, who was named David, died in infancy. Their first daughter, Elizabeth, was born in New York City on February 5, 1719. On January 7, 1738, she married Peter, third son of Stephen and Ann (Van Cortland) Delancey. Peter owned an extensive estate, and represented the borough of Westchester in the New York Colonial Assembly from 1750 to 1768. Peter died on October 17, 1770. Elizabeth died in 1784. They had twelve children.

  The Delancey's oldest son, Stephen, became clerk of the city and county of Albany in 1765. After the war, Stephen's family moved to Quebec. The Delancey's second son, John, represented Westchester in the New York Assembly from 1768 to 1775, when he was elected to the Provincial Congress. A third son, Peter, was a collector under the Stamp Act, but resigned under pressure from the Sons of Liberty. He was killed in a duel on August 16, 1771, in Charleston, South Carolina, by an eminent local physician, Dr. John Haley. The oldest Delancey daughter, Ann, married John Cox of Philadelphia, and had no children. Her younger sister, Alice, to whom along with Ann, Cadwallader had offered advice,8 married Henry Izard of South Carolina on April 27, 1767. After living in France during the American Revolution, the family returned to America, and Mr. Izard served as a delegate from South Carolina to Congress from 1780 to 1783. He next served as a senator from that state from 1789 to 1795, and, for a brief period, was president of the Senate. One of the Izard children, George, became a major general in the Army, aide-de-camp to Alexander Hamilton, and, later, governor of the Arkansas Territory. Another of the Izard's sons, Ralph, was a naval hero at Tripoli during the first Barbary War. A World War II ship was named in his honor.

  Another of the Delancey sons, James, was high sheriff of Westchester County until the Revolutionary War began. He became a colonel in the British forces, and, after the war, moved to Nova Scotia, where he became a member of the council. His younger brother, Oliver, was an officer in the British Navy, but resigned his commission. He continued to live in Westchester, where he died. The youngest son, Warren (see fig. 11, p. 154), distinguished himself while fighting for the British at the Battle of White Plains as a fifteen year old, and was made a coronet. After the war, he continued to reside in Westchester.

  Another of the Delanceys' daughters, Suzanna, married Thomas H. Barclay, a New York City lawyer, on October 2, 1775. He joined the British Army as a captain. After the war, he moved to Nova Scotia, where he became speaker of the Provincial Assembly. In 1796, he was appointed commissioner of the province. Suzanna's younger sister, Jane, married James Watt, Jr., also on October 2, 1775. Watt became one of New York's leading citizens, serving in the State Assembly from 1791 to 1793 and as speaker from 1792 to 1795. He also represented New York in Congress from 1792 to 1795

  Cadwallader, Jr. (Cad), was born in New York City on May 26, 1722. When he was seven years old, Coldengham became his permanent home. In time, the management of the estate became his responsibility. In 1746, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Ellison of New Windsor, New York. He occasionally acted as a deputy surveyor for his father. In 1747, he was appointed commissary of the musters by Governor Clinton for his region. Throughout the conflict with the French, Cadwallader, Jr., was an active member of the local militia. He remained a participant until 1775 and rose to the rank of colonel. In 1767, the Coldengham estate was deeded to him by his father, and shortly thereafter he built the stone Colden Mansion. The furniture from one of the rooms is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1768, he was elected first superintendent of Hanover Precinct, now the town of Montgomery. At the onset of the Revolutionary War, as an outspoken loyalist, he was arrested and spent a brief time in jail. He was never formally charged and none of his property was confiscated.

  Cadwallader, Jr., and Elizabeth had nine children; two of their sons died in infancy. His four sons, Cadwallader, III, Thomas, Alexander, and David remained in the region of Coldengham and were farmers. Cadwallader, III, was born in 1745. Thomas, was born a year later and died in 1826. He became sheriff of Ulster County in 1774, and served as a captain in the British service during the war. Cadwallader, III, and his brother Alexander, who was born in 1757 and died in 1845, vehemently opposed their father's view and served in the militia in support of the revolution during the war. The youngest son, David, was born in 1762 and did not participate in the war. He inherited part of the estate and also became a respectable farmer. The older daughter, Alice, was born in 1746. She married Dr. Lewis Antill on November 30, 1771. They had two daughters who were raised by her parents after she died in 1776. Alice's younger sister, Jane, lived at home until her father died, after which she married Alexander Murray when she was forty-eight. Cadwallader, Jr., died on February 18, 1797, and is buried in the Colden cemetery on the estate. Elizabeth Colden died in 1815.

  Cadwallader Colden's daughter Jane previously has been considered in detail. Her younger sister, Alice, was born in New York City on September 27, 1725. She became the second wife of Colonel William Willet and gave birth to four children, one of whom died in infancy. The Willets' younger dau
ghter, Alice, married Thomas Colden, Cadwallader, Jr.'s son and, therefore, her uncle.

  David Colden, the youngest child of Cadwallader and Ann Colden, was born November 23, 1733. At age fourteen, he was afflicted with severe scoliosis which limited his physical activities. In 1761, he moved to his father's farm at Spring Hill and served as Cadwallader's personal secretary. In 1767, David married Ann Willet, the daughter of his Flushing, Long Island, neighbor, on February 27, 1767. In 1775, he succeeded his brother Alexander as surveyor general. David inherited the Spring Hill estate. In 1784, he went to England to gain compensation for the loss of his property that was confiscated at the end of the war. He died in England on July 10, 1784, and was buried at St. Anne's Church, Westminster, where a monument was erected in his honor. His wife died at Coldengham in August 1785.

  David was the most intellectually curious of Cadwallader's children. In 1755, his father wrote to his London correspondent Collinson, “I am most concerned for my youngest son David because he is of a weak constitution of body & thereby unfit for any business which requires strength of body & fatigue, tho' at the same time is superior to any of my other children in his intellectual faculties….”9 David's major scientific interest was electricity, and he was a staunch defender of Franklin's theory of electrical polarity. David conducted his own experiments and defended Franklin's theory against the scientifically revered Abbéx Nollet, who had cast doubt on Franklin's experiments and conclusions. The respect that David enjoyed as a scientist is evidenced by the fact that Nollet sent one copy of his own works to Franklin and another to David by way of Franklin. Franklin wrote Cadwallader from London on December 3, 1760, “He [Nollet] sent me a Copy, and another for your Son Mr David Colden. I take the Freedom of forwarding it under your Cover, with my best Respects to that very ingenious young Gentleman, whose valuable Work on the same Subject I am Sorry has not yet been made publick.”10 David's paper was probably published in 1759 in the History of the Academy of Science at Paris.11

  David and Ann Colden had nine children, five of whom reached adulthood. The most distinguished was Cadwallader David Colden, who was born at Spring Hill on April 4, 1769. He studied and practiced law. In 1798, he was appointed district attorney of New York. After an illness, he was reappointed in 1810 and served for one year. He was given the rank of colonel at the time of the War of 1812, during which he directed the fortification of New York City. In 1818, he was elected to the Assembly and that year he became mayor of the city. In 1822, he was elected to Congress and, in 1824, to the State Senate. He prepared an elaborate book, which commemorated the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825.12

  The names of Cadwallader Colden and his grandson Cadwallader David Colden were among the fifteen names on an engraving (fig. 13), which recognized those who played a role in the development of the Erie Canal.

  Cadwallader's name headed the list, above that of George Washington, because a century earlier he had proposed a canal across the Iroquois lands. It is ironic that the name of the most reviled political leader in the colonies would preempt that of the name of the most revered person of the time. On the other hand, it was not unreasonable to recognize Cadwallader Colden, who sustained leadership roles for a period of time unmatched by any other individual in the colony, which would become one of thirteen original states, at a time when the opening of a waterway would initiate the transformation of that state. The Erie Canal was the major factor in the evolution of New York City into the commercial capital of the United States and the state's designation as “The Empire State.”

  In October 1852, Frances Colden, the wife of the great-grandson of Cadwallader Colden, Sr., presented the Colden papers to the New York Historical Society.

  An assessment of Colden's legacy is challenging because of the multiple facets of his long life and diverse interests, which merit incorporation in a summation. Among the elements to be evaluated are: his role as a family man, his relationships with friends and associates, his medical contributions, his inventions, his stature as a cartographer and historian, his esteem as a botanist, his reputation as a philosopher and scientist, his aptitude as a politician, and his effectiveness as a colonial executive and leader.

  Figure 13. “Early Canal Advocates,” an engraving celebrating the 1825 opening of the Erie Canal. From David Hosack. Memoir of De Witt Clinton; with an appendix, containing numerous documents, illustrative of the principal events of his life. J. Seymour, New York, 1829. Cadwallader Colden's portrait is at the top of a group of fifteen men who were regarded to be contributory to the development and building of the canal. His grandson, Cadwallader David, is at the bottom of the group represented.

  Cadwallader Colden, as pater familias, was beyond reproach and his record as a husband, father, and grandparent is praiseworthy. Cadwallader and Alice Colden enjoyed a mutually satisfying marital relationship of more than forty-six years. Each participated in the social and intellectual development of a large number of children who survived beyond infancy. Among their extensive correspondence, a consequence of Cadwallader's frequent and prolonged absences, there is a persistent pattern of support and concern for each other.

  There is no evidence of friction between Colden and his children as they were growing up. Samuel Bard, who joined the household briefly as a child, later expressed appreciation for Colden's guidance. It is apparent from the correspondence that, after the Colden's children left the home, Cadwallader maintained a concern for each of them, and exerted efforts to further their careers and financial security. His familial involvement extended into the next generation as he comfortably offered his grandchildren advice about their education and comportment.

  A casual acquaintance pointed out that Colden “had no close friends but a few personal ones, and no enemies but a few public ones.”13 James Alexander stands out as the closest of his colleagues. Most of Colden's persistent personal relationships were epistolary and, rarely, was there any expressed sentimentality. A Scottish authoress, who met him when she was a young girl and described Colden as “of short stature and squared shoulders,” wrote in her memoirs that he neither sought to be feared nor loved, but merely to be esteemed and trusted.14 By contrast, those who visited Coldengham, including, the Bartrams, Alexander Garden, and Peter Kalm, indicated that he was a most congenial host and this attribute continued into his later years at Spring Hill when he entertained.

  Colden left no legacy in the realm of medicine. Although he was among the earliest of university trained physicians in the American colonies, he made only a vain attempt to practice his profession during his early days in Philadelphia. In New York he made no attempt at a medical presence. Despite this detachment, Colden maintained an interest in medicine. He continued to purchase and read medical works and contributed to the literature on diverse issues. Although his Treatise on Wounds and Fevers continued to be referred to for a while, his writings were admittedly and obviously those of a dilettante. He can be credited with initiating the first public health measures and regulations for the practice of medicine in the colonies.

  Colden's attempts at invention came to naught. The quadrant, to which he applied the mechanism and precision of the screw in order to improve surveying, could not “answer expectation when reduced to practice.”15 Colden's conception of the process of stereotyping as a technique for printing was deemed to have little practicality, and, although Colden had no knowledge of it, had been proposed previously in Europe.

  Colden's one venture into cartography, over and above the fact that it was the first map to be printed in New York, is of significance. It provides the first graphic representation of the locations of each of the five nations of the Iroquois confederation and depicts multiple places of portage. It also placed several forts, which had been recently established and would become critical during the French and Indian War, on the map for the first time.

  By contrast, The History of the Five Indian Nations, the most widely read of Colden's narratives, added no new knowledge. It is, in essence, an extra
polation of previous published books. Colden's intimate association with several of the tribes and the personal knowledge that he gained during his surveys throughout the region is unfortunately not expressed. Although the book has been identified as “an important part of the corpus of colonial literature,”16 it provided no new information or interpretation.

  Colden's name was permanently engrained in the annals of botany by Linnaeus, who designated a specific genus Coldenia in 1753. Colden merits recognition as the first to introduce Linnaean floral taxonomy in the North American colonies. But once he developed an interest in Newtonian science and, particularly, gravity, he passed the botanical baton on to his daughter Jane in the early 1740s. For the last three decades of his life there is no evidence of his interest in the field in which he had been so intimately involved.

  Riley included Colden in his compendium of American Philosophy; The Early Schools, and referred to him as “the first and foremost of the early American materialists.”17 Others considered Colden to be “a downright materialist in philosophical conviction”18 and “the only important American materialist of the eighteenth century prior to the Revolution.”19 However, as a corpus, Colden's printed works were regarded by a critic to be “of no Philosophical concern.”20 Colden's philosophical contributions were merely an incidental byproduct of his attempt to expand Newtonian science and explain the cause of gravity. Colden's unpublished manuscript, “The First Principles of Morality,” preceded his “scientific contributions” and regarded the body as machine whose actions are effected by man, and pleasure was a final goal.

  His attempts to expand Newton's contributions to physics, optics, and, most critically for Colden, to provide an explanation for the cause of gravitation, were purely literal expressions, devoid of mathematical references and equations. His words presented what was considered to be philosophical ruminations on matter, which he considered to be active and unintelligent, and mind, which he proposed as being extended, active, and intelligent. Colden was a Deist, but the Diety or Spirit did not nor could it act in opposition to the actions of material beings. Colden's writings along these lines were diffuse and his “philosophy” is now rarely invoked.