RICHARD VARICK,

MAYOR IN 1789-90-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-1800.

THE Common ancestor of the family of that name in this State, was the Reverend Rudolphus Van Varick, minister of the Dutch Reformed Church at Jamaica, Long Island, who died in the year 1694; the following year his venerable widow followed him, leaving four children-Joanna, Marinus, Rudolphus, and Cornelia.

Immediately after the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, the subject of this sketch, then a young lawyer of this city, tendered his services to Major General Schuyler, commanding the Northern army, and was appointed his military secretary. In February, 1776, he was appointed, by Congress, Deputy Commissary General of Musters for the Northern army, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and joined the army in that capacity in the spring of the same year, and continued attached thereto after the command of that army was conferred upon the late Major General Gates. He was present at the memorable battles of Stillwater and Saratoga, (15th of September and 7th October, 1777,) and with others reaped the reward of those actions in the surrender of the British army, commanded by Gen. Burgoyne, to General Gates, on the 16th day of October, in the same year. After Burgoyne's surrender, Colonel Varick was stationed at West Point, and performed the duty of Inspector General of the troops of that post and its vicinity until after the treason of General Arnold, to whose family he was for some time attached as Aid-de-camp. After the desertion of Gen. Arnold, Colonel Varick was attached to the military family of General Washington, in which capacity he was, by him, appointed his Recording Secretary, until near the close of the Revolutionary War, and possessed his esteem and confidence in an eminent degree.

After the evacuation of this city by the British troops, on the 25th of November, 1783, and the restoration of the civil government of this State, Col. Varick was appointed Recorder of the city. In the year 1789, he held the office of Attorney General of the State, and the following year was appointed Mayor of the city, which office he held for twelve years.

Upon his retirement from public office, he devoted himself to charitable and benevolent pursuits. He was President of the Society of the Cincinnati for nearly thirty years.

Mr. Varick died at an advanced age, in the year 1831.

In the latter part of his mayoralty, the city contained about 50,000 inhabitants,

EDWARD LIVINGSTON,

MAYOR IN 1801-2.

MR. LIVINGSTON was born in the year 1764, at Clermont, (Livingston's Manor,) in Columbia county, in the State of New York. He went to school at Albany, and then at Kingston, Ulster county. In 1779, he entered an advanced class of Princeton College, where he took his degree of A. B. two years afterward. Having selected the law for a profession, he pursued the study of it at Albany; and upon being admitted to the bar in 1785, established himself in the city of New York. There, before he had attained the age of thirty, he had acquired a high reputation for his attainments as a jurist and ability as an advocate. In 1794, Mr. Livingston was elected a member of Congress from the district of New York, and remained a member of that body for six years, being then in the opposite ranks to the government of Mr. Adams. Shortly after retiring from Congress, he was appointed by Mr. Jefferson to the office of United States Attorney for the district of New York; and in the year 1801-2, held the office of Mayor of the city of New York. Having become involved, through the misconduct of persons intrusted with collection of debts for the United States, Mr. Livingston thought proper to resign his office, and removed to Louisiana, with the design of availing himself of the rising fortunes of that newly acquired territory, to retrieve his pecuniary condition: a design in which he was suc cessful; and he ultimately paid the obligations which he had incurred, both principal and interest.

He was appointed by the Legislature of Louisiana, one of the Commissioners to prepare a system of Judiciary for that State. This gave rise to the civil code of Louisiana, justly considered as a work of great merit, and reflecting the highest credit upon its framers. In 1821, he was appointed sole commissioner to prepare a system of criminal law, which still further extended his reputation as a man of profound mind and great learning. It attracted the attention of the public in Great Britain and France; and as a work, deserving the consideration of the world at large, was reprinted in London, and translated into the French language at Paris. A biographer of Mr. Livingston remarks: "The beauty of its arrangement, the wisdom of its provisions, and the simplicity of its forms, have never been surpassed, probably never equaled, in any similar work; and it is not without entire justice that this admirable production has contributed, perhaps more than any other of his labors, to secure to Mr. Livingston that eminent place which he holds among those who are regarded not merely as distinguished jurists, but as eminent philanthropists."

In 1823, Mr. Livingston was elected a member of Congress from the State of Louisiana; and in 1829, was appointed by the Legislature to a seat in the Senate. In 1831, he was appointed by President Jackson (whose Aid he had been at the battle of New Orleans,) to the office of Secretary of

State. In the year 1833, he was appointed Minister to France, in a time of peculiar importance, and conducted his mission in the most satisfactory

manner.

On his return to America, in the spring of 1835, he retired to his seat at Rhinebeck, on the Hudson river, where he died on the 23d of May, 1836. In the time of his mayoralty, the city contained about 60,000 inhabitants.

DE WITT CLINTON,

MAYOR IN 1803-4-5-6-8-9-11-12-13-14.

DE WITT CLINTON was born March 2, 1669, at Little Britain, in Orange county, New York. His father served with great distinction during the Revolutionary War, and became a Major General in the army of the United States. His mother was a De Witt, a member of the distinguished Dutch family of that name. He was educated at Columbia College, where he highly distinguished himself. He then commenced reading law with the Honorable Samuel Jones, and in due time was admitted to the bar. But before he was able to acquire any practice of importance, he was appointed Private Secretary to his uncle, George Clinton, and continued in this office until the end of his relative's administration, in 1785. In the interim, he had been chosen Secretary to the Board of Regents of the University and to the Board of Fortifications of New York. In 1797, he was elected a member of the Legislature, at the time when the two great parties which afterward divided the country were organized, and embraced the republican or democratic side. In 1800, he was chosen by the Council of Appointment, of which body he was a member, to support their cause in a controversy between them and Governor Jay. The same year he was chosen a member of the United States Senate, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of General Armstrong, and continued a member of that body for two sessions. After that period, he was chosen Mayor of New York, and remained in this situation, with the intermission of two years, until 1815, when he was obliged to resign on account of the violence of party politics. In 1817, he was elected, almost unanimously, Governor of the State of New York-the two great parties having combined for the purpose of raising him to that dignity. This harmony continued until the distribution of offices, when discontent was excited, and an opposition commenced to his administration. He was re-elected, however, in 1820, notwithstanding the great exertions of the opposite party, who had induced Daniel D. Tompkins, then Vice-President of the United States, and, from his popu larity in his native State, emphatically termed the Man of the People, to become his opponent. After his re-election, great resistance was made to

his measures; but, fortunately, the Canal scheme, of which Mr. Clinton was one of the prime movers and most efficient advocates, had been so firmly established that it was secure from attack. In 1822 he declined offering himself again as a candidate, and retired into private life. He was then acting as one of the Canal Commissioners, of which office he was deprived in 1823. This act of his opponents occasioned a reaction of public feeling with regard to him, and his friends brought him forward in 1824 as a candidate for Governor, to which office he was elected by a large majority over the late Colonel Young. In 1826, he was again elected by a large majority over Judge Rochester, but he died before his term was completed. His decease was in consequence of a catarrhal affection of the throat and chest, which being neglected, occasioned a fatal disease of the heart. He expired almost instantaneously, while sitting in his library, after dinner, February 11, 1823. His son was writing near him, and on being informed by him of a sense of oppression and stricture across the breast, immediately called in medical aid, but before the physician could arrive Mr. Clinton was dead. Mr. Clinton was tall, firmly proportioned, and of a commanding aspect. In his domestic relations he was cheerful and kind; in his friendships, warm and sincere. He was an early riser, and extremely laborious. Mr. Clinton was twice married; his first wife was Miss Maria Franklin, the daughter of an eminent merchant of New York, by whom he had seven sons and three daughters. His second wife was Miss Catharine Jones, daughter of Doctor Thomas Jones, of this city.

In the time of his mayoralty, the city contained about 70,000 inhabitants.

MARINUS WILLETT,

MAYOR IN 1807.

COL. WILLETT was the great great grandson of Thomas Willett, the first mayor of New York. He commenced his military career at the time of the old French war, and was present at the battle of Lake George, where the first Lord Howe was killed. He became distinguished, in the times of the revolutionary war, as one of the most efficient officers in the American army. His principal theatre of action lay in the middle and western part of this state, in the country of the Five Nations, then friendly to the British cause. The history of the Revolution exhibits the opening of the year 1781 as one of the gloomiest periods of the war. The army was greatly distressed for provisions, and several regiments of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey lines had actually revolted. In the mean time, Brandt, the eader of the Indians, was extremely active in the Mohawk country, and a

common sense of the desperate condition of the American cause seemed to prevail among the inhabitants of that section. There was, however, one officer whose name, among the people, was a tower of strength. This was Col. Willet, who, about this period, was induced, by Governor Clinton, to take the command of all the militia levies, and state troops, that might be raised for the protection of the country. He arrived at Fort Rensselaer, (Canajoharie,) where he established his headquarters, toward the close of June. His forces were very small, but were represented by himself as "keen for revenge, and properly determined." His first essay against the savage enemy was about the first of the following month. The smoke of a village on fire was reported by his scouts, who also tracked the savages, and discovered their encampment. These being reported to Willett, he collected his levies, and moved towards the enemy, with the design of taking them by surprise. The encampment was in a thick cedar swamp, five or six miles north-east of Cherry Valley, and, of course, to reach it through the woods, during an exceedingly dark night, and without any better road than a bridle-path, was no small undertaking. It had been ascertained that the Indians numbered between two and three hundred, commanded by a tory, named John Doxtader, in connection with an Indian chief, named Quackyack. Col. Willett's strength, levies and militia included, did not exceed one hundred and fifty men. The plan of falling upon the enemy while asleep, did not exactly succeed, in consequence of the difficulties of the march--occasioned by the darkness, the thickness of the woods, and, worse than all, by the losing of his way by the guide. It was therefore nearly six o'clock when he arrived in the vicinity of the encampment; and, instead of falling upon the enemy by surprise, he found them occupying a more favorable situation, and awaiting his reception. Immediate dispositions were made to engage the enemy, with a view to which a stratagem was laid, to draw him from the advantageous position he had chosen. For this purpose, before the Indians had become fully aware of Willett's near approach, a lieutenant, named Jacob Sammons, was detached, with ten resolute men, to steal as near to them as possible--give them one well directed fire, and retreat. The ruse succeeded. Sammons and his men turned their backs on the first yell of the Indians, and the latter sprang forward in pursuit. They were soon met by Col. Willett in person, advancing at the head of his main division. The enemy did not wait an attack, however, but, with great appearance of determination, advanced with their wonted shouts and yells, and began to fire. The onset of the Indians was furious, but they were received with firmness, and in turn the Americans advanced upon them with loud huzzas, and such manifestations of spirit as soon caused them to give way. The Indians now betook themselves to their old game of firing from behind the trees; but Willett's men understood that mode of fighting as well as them