THE OLD MERCHANTS OF NEW YORK CITY
        Second  Series

By  Walter Barrett, Clerk
     1863

     MERCHANT  DESCRIPTIONS

       CHAPTER  34



THOMAS  EDDY

      Thomas Eddy was one of the commissioners appointed March 26, 1796, to
build one of the State prisons in New York. His associates were John Watts,
Matthew Clarkson, Col. Isaac Stoutenburgh and John Murray. They went to work
soon after their appointment, and November 27, 1797, they had completed,
ready to receive prisoners., the New York Prison, known as Newgate. Eddy and
his associates surrendered their powers to the Inspector February 15, 1799.
A portion of the old prison is still standing. It was found totally
inadequate to the purpose for which it was erected, the reform of offenders,
and for which Thomas Eddy___his heart overflowing with humanity___was
anxious. It was crowded. In 1816, a new prison was commenced at Auburn. It
worked so well, that on the 9th of March, 1825, a new set of
commissioners___Stephen Allen, George Tibbits and Samuel M. Hopkins___were
appointed to build a new prison at Sing Sing, and sell the old one in New
York, to defray the expenses of the new one.

      Mr. Eddy commenced buisness as a merchant about 1780. His parents were
Irish. His father was largely engaged in the shipping business until 1766,
when he died. Young Eddy was born in Philadelphia in 1728. Four years after
the death of his father, his mother apprenticed him to the tanning business
at Burlington, N.J. He only remained there a couple of years,  and then went
back to Philadelphia. When the British evacuated the city, he came to New
York, 1779, whence his brother Charles had just sailed for London. He was
then twenty-one years old, and had $96 capital in his pocket.

      Mr. Eddy when he reached this city, boarded at the house No. 57 Wall
street, that I have described as the residence of Daniel McCormick, in the
chapter where I spoke of that celebrated merchant. Mr. Eddy commenced
business in this city in a funny way; he had not the first rudiments of a
mercantile education; he knew nothing about it. However, with his little
capital, he used to go down into Coffee House Slip, where most of the
auction sales were conducted. There he would buy a small lot and resell it;
or first get a sample of the goods the day previous to a sale, and with this
sample he would go to merchants and dealers and ascertain what they would
give him for such an article. If the offer was more than the goods sold for
at the auction, he would become the purchaser. Where there is a will, there
is a way. He used to advise, too, with the shrewd old fellows who boarded
where he did. He made the most of his ninety-six dollars' capital. Money
never produced such an interest before. It was living by mercantile wit and
many thousands of persons have got on the same way. It is about as genteel a
mode of getting a living as collecting advertisements from merchants for a
newspaper.
      He had not been many months in New York, doing the business of buying
at auction and selling again, before he fell in with another smart young man
named Benjamin Sykes. His brother, Charles, returned from Ireland in 1780,
where he had made many business connections, and large consignments of
provisions, linens, etc., were sent over with him by merchants in Cork and
Belfast. The three then formed a house under the firm of Eddy, Sykes & Co.
Sykes was an Englishman ; and although he was not very active, yet he
brought to the new house many valuable connections, and the concern did a
large business.  The two brothers Eddy belonging to this house, had another
brother in Philadelphia whose name is George.
      They made a splendid thing after Lord Cornwallis surrendered at
Yorktown, by agreeing to supply him and the British and other foreign troops
who had been captured, with money. This was done with the consent and
approbation of General Washington. It was a sort of kiteing business. George
Eddy, in Philadelphia, drew drafts on Eddy, Sykes & Co. in New York. These
drafts he got cashed, and paid the proceeds over to the paymaster of the
British forces for use among the British prisoners at Lancaster, Pa. He put
drafts on the British paymaster in New York into the hands of George Eddy,
who remitted the same to Eddy, Sykes & Co. On these transactions, amounting
to millions of dollars, Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander, paid them
six per cent. commission. This was so good a start in one partnership, that
Thomas Eddy determined to try another partner He had loved a pretty girl
named Hannah Hartshorne. In 1782 he married her. The ceremony was performed
in the old Quaker meeting house that stood in Crown street, north side, half
way between Broadway and the little alley back of Nassau street. Grant
Thornburn used it afterwards as a seed store. He bought it, and the deed for
the premises speaks of it as being "outside the wall of the city," meaning
of course. Wall street. Many will remember that when the Manhattan Company's
pipes were laid, and the men were digging in Broadway, at the junction of
Wall, they dug up the posts of the city gate. It was built in 1696 was this
old Quaker meeting house. Mr. Eddy was a Quaker. So was his father, the
Irishman, who came over, being the first Irish Quaker I ever heard of.
      The result of this marriage with the pretty Quakeress, Hannah
Hartshorne, was a son, who was born on the 14th of March, 1783. He was
named John Hartshorne Eddy, after the father of his mother. Another son was
Thomas Eddy, Jr.

      Previous to 1783, and before the Americans got possession in November
of that year, Mr. Eddy went to Philadelphia, and went into business with his
brother George. Charles had gone to Europe and settled in London, where he
did a very heavy business, until Thomas & George Eddy bought tobacco
largely, and ruined themselves and their brother in London. It was a general
smash up.
      In 1790 he came on to New York, and opened business as an insurance
broker, being about the first of that kind that started. He made money
rapidly. In 1791, when the public debt of the United States was funded, he
speculated heavily and coined money. At that time he lived at 184 Queen
street (277 Pearl.) He left off operating as an insurance broker, but he
took risks as an underwriter, and was very successful. In 1792, he was
elected a director in the Mutual Insurance Company, of which I have said so
much. Many of our principal men were in it. I am inclined to think it was
the first time he ever had his name figuring in the papers as an officer of
a corporation. It was seen often enough afterwards, and for many years,
until he died in September, 1827, lacking one year of threescore and ten.
Whereever Mr. Eddy could do any good, he went to work with all his heart and
soul. In 1793, he was one of the members to receive donations for "The
Society for the Relief of Distressed Prisoners." That year, too, he was
elected one of the Governors of the New York Hospital. In 1794, he was made
Secretary to the Board of Governors; he held it eleven years. He was
treasurer of the same from 1808 to 1818__ten years. He was vice-president to
1822___four years; and he was president of the Board of Governors until he
died in 1827___five years more. He was thirty-four years in harness, and
died in the harness. But for him the Hospital would have been dead broke a
dozen times . He could out-lobby at Albany any other man alive. Members
respected him, and what he proposed was listened to and acted upon.

      Of course, he was one of the very first to form the "Society for
Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and for protecting such as have been or
may be liberated," and of which John Jay was president in 1786. In 1797, Mr.
Eddy became chairman of the corresponding committee of that society.

      He was one of the directors of the Western Inland Navigation Company,
a corporation that broke down. He was very active in the great work of the
Erie Canal. He was also one of the originators of the savings banks of this
city. Few of the old school merchants were more useful. He died in 1827.

THE  WALTONS

      This is the first opportunity that I have had to correct a few items
in reference to an article about the Waltons that appeared in the first
series. The family came from Norfolk, in England, and settled at first on
Long Island. I spoke of Robert Walton, who was a mayor. I got it from
Goodrich's Pictures of New York, generally a very reliable book. He so
states it, page 48. He meant Robert Walters. The first of the Walton name
of note was William Walton. He married Mary Santford, in 1698, and died in
1747, aged 82. His wife died in 1768, in the ninetieth year of her age. It
was this William Walton who purchased the property in Pearl street, running
to the water, and established the ship yard. His name appears in the
subscription list for finishing the steeple of Trinity Church, in 1711, and
for enlarging the church in 1736. He had two sons, Jacob and William. Jacob
married Mary Beekman, and had a large family. One of the daughters married
David Johnston, of Annandale, Dutchess Co., N.Y. Another married Lewis
Morris, Jr., of Morrisania. Jacob died in 1749, aged 46 years. His wife died
in 1782.

      William Walton, the old New Yorker, called Boss Walton, was not a
bachelor. He married Cornelia Beekman, a sister of Mary, but had no
children. He died in 1768, at the age of 62. His wife survived him several
years, and died about 1780. The number of his house was 328, and not 326. He
devised it to his nephew, William, for life, with remainder to his eldest
son in fee.

      The printer made me say that the ship yards existed in 1796. I wrote
1696. They could not have existed in 1796, because the land from Water to
Front streets was filled up long before that. The old store at 243 Front
street was built about the commencement of the present century. William
Walton (3) died in the family mansion in 1796, in the sixty-fifth year of
his age. His nephew William succeeded in the possession under the will of
his great uncle. He never married, and died in 1806, in his forty-seventh
year. He was social and hospitable, and much regretted by his many relatives
and friends. His father founded the Marine Society.

      James DeLancy Walton, his brother, was very far from morose. He was
genial with those who knew him, and liked to talk of old times. He had a
large circle of relatives and old friends, by whom he was much esteemed,
and, not being in business, he confined himself to them. He was a vestryman
and churchwarden for many years of St.  George's Church, and a warm friend
of its rector, the late Dr. Milnor. He died in November, 1834, in the
seventy-third year of his age.

      Gerard Walton was never in the British Navy. He lived at No. 328 Pearl
street, and died in 1821, in his eightieth year. He was a bachelor.

      The family vault was in Trinity churchyard, and the interments have
generally been made there. Mrs. Roosevelt was the daughter of Abraham
Walton, the brother of William, Jacob and Gerard.

       Jacob Walton was the youngest of the children of William Walton. He
entered the British navy when twelve years old, and saw some hard fighting
in the West Indies, in 1780, as a midshipman in the "Intrepid," 64. In his
subsequent services he saw every quarter of the world. He attained the rank
of Rear Admiral of the Red, and died in this city (where he had resided for
upwards of twenty years) in April, 1844, having very nearly completed his
seventy-seventh year. He had a numerous family. The Rev. Dr. William Walton,
who married a daughter of Dr. Seabury, is a son. One daughter married
Sylvester L. L.  Ward, and another is married to John G. Storm.

      I mentioned John S. Winthrop, Jr., as  a clerk with Prime, Ward &
King, and as having married a lady in North Carolina. I should have
mentioned that he was dead. James and Edward N. Strong, who are aids to
General Foster, with the Burnside expedition, mention in their letters home
that they saw Mr. Winthrop's house in Newbern, N.C.

PHILIP  DATER

      Philip Dater, one of our old, respected merchants, and of whom I gave
a lengthy sketch, died about two weeks ago, of congestion of the lungs. He
was well and attended to his business on Thursday, but was taken sick on
Friday, and never left his room after that day. Mr. Dater was one of the
oldest merchants of New York, having been in the wholesale grocery trade
upwards of thirty-five years. He was esteemed as an honorable and upright
man. His benevolent and charitable disposition will cause his loss to be
severely felt by many who were recipients of his bounty.

      I have received this following letter:

                                                    New York, April 2, 1862

Walter Barrett:  In reading your "Old Merchants" in the Leader of Saturday
last, I was much struck by your story of the decayed merchant, now enjoying
the hospitalities of the alms-house. On inquiry I find that I know the man,
and that it is even so.

      You argue justly, I think, in this matter: the soldier, the sailor,
the shipmaster, the mechanic, all have a harbor, a home, a rest, for their
days of poverty___and provided, too, by their class; but the poor merchant
must find his bread among the very scum of society___the depraved, the
debauched, the vagabondized. This should not be; he is intelligent,
educated, refined; in fact, has all the attributes that drive the sting of
poverty deeper into his heart of hearts, and makes his existence a daily
death compared with the suffering of the hundry hod carrier, who eateth and
is satisfied.

      The merchant has made this city great, and more than any other, our
country strong. Though he may be in the alms house, he has done his work,
and it remaineth to our benefit. The work he failed in, he suggested,
started, and it is being carried out by other hands. Surely, the debris of
the "man on change," the "merchant prince" we talk of, may in his reverse of
fortune have something better than city charity and a pauper's grave.

      We have unquestionably in this large city a great many most excellent
men who are anxious to do good, and to spend a portion of their gifts in the
amelioration of the sufferings of their fellow creatures; these men only
need to know, to do. I think, Mr. Barrett, I can point my finger to at least
a dozen such, whom, some third of a century ago, in the days of
down-townism, were the active, now the retired, merchants of our city___and
its glory, too, let me tell you___for the article has, I fear, depreciated
in the market.

      A Merchant's Home___it sounds well. A few thousands would start it; a
yearly contribution (with right of access) keep it alive. The hard times I
consider no bar; the liberal are more so in times of adversity. I would
suggest a plan, but think it best to hear what others think first; and
perhaps you may elicit information from them by printing this; if otherwise,
consign it to your waste paper basket.  Yours &c.,

      The name of the above merchant has been left with me. He is one of the
most respectable in this city.



Source:  The Old Merchants of New York City
Author:  Walter Barrett, Clerk           Second series
Publisher:  Carleton, Publisher, 413 Broadway
Entered according to the Act of Congress 1863
             _____________________________________

    Researched, Prepared and Contributed by Miriam Medina
                  For the Brooklyn Information Page


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