Notes: The Final Sale of the Relics of General Washington

The last book I received through ILL and the one I was most excited about was "The Final Sale of the Relics of General Washington." It's essentially a catalog listing all of the items that were available during in auction in 1891. I knew that there was reference to a Kissam in it but I didn't know which Kissam or why. I was sort of hoping their might be a letter or something similar from 1776 when General Washington stayed on Pearl Street in NYC. There is reference to Benjamin living on Pearl Street as well hence why I thought there might be a connection.

As it turns out, and after flipping through every page of the auction catalog, the only reference to Kissam is item number 548 on page 99 which is listed as:

GENERAL COMMITTEE. The following persons were mentioned in the committee of Observation, as proper to be elected for a General Commitee for the City and County of New York, in the present alarming exigency. Together with the "Names of Persons mentioned in the Committee of Observation, as Deputies for the City and County of New York, to meet Deptues of other Counties, in Provincial Congress, on Monday the 22d of May next, [1775].

With the further note from the auctioneer:

This rare Broadside containes the names of one hundred patriotic citizens of New York City during the Revolution. Amonth the names of historical and genealogical interest, are those of Isaac Low, Philip Livingston, James Duane, John Jay, Isaac Sears, Abraham Duryee, Comfort Sands, Robert Benson, Samuel Jones, John De Lancey, James Beekman, Issac Roosevelt, Peter Goelet, Lewis Pintard, Gerardus Duyckinck, Gerret Keteltas, Benj. Kissam, Abraham P. Lot, Lindley Murray, Alexander McDougall, Richard Yates, Samuel Verplanck, Henry Remsen, Jacobus Lefferts, etc.

It's interesting to note that the list contains two men who were law clerks for Benjamin (John Jay, Lindley Murray) and one man who would be the future father-in-law (Isaac Roosevelt) to his son, Benjamin.

I've found two broadsides printed at the time which are very similar to one another as well as similar to the item noted in the auction catalog. They're broadsides nominating people to be a part of the Committee of One Hundred which was to replace the Committee of Sixty on May 1, 1775. The vote must have happened sometime between April 28, 1775 when these were printed and May 1, 1775 when the new Committee took over.

The first (larger version) is the longer of the two and includes several paragraphs from Isaac Low who was the chair of the Committee of Sixty. The second (larger version) states that is is from the "Sons of Liberty." Benjamin is listed for the Committee of One Hundred on both but only nominated as a representative for the Provincial Congress on Isaac Low's broadside. Does this mean that Benjamin wasn't patriotic enough for the Sons of Liberty? Benjamin is number 66 on the Low broadside and number 56 on the Sons of Liberty broadside. I would love to know if the numbering meant anything.

Benjamin's Letter to Congress, July 1776

In June 1776 General Washington and Congress were worried that cattle on western Long Island would, in the event of an invasion which was imminent, fall into British hands.

Congress. June 28, 1776. In answer to advice from Gen. Washington, it was ordered that a conference be had with him as to removing or securing the cattle and stock from those parts of Nassau [Long] and Staten Islands that are most exposed to invasion. [Capt. Thomas] Wickham and [Thomas] Tredwell were on the Committee of Conference. pg 692. The Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut

On July 3, 1776 a letter was sent from Jeromus Remsen to Col. Sands, Esq. stating:

Sir:— I have this day waited upon his Excellency, Gen. Washington, relating to removing the cattle, horses and sheep on the south side of Queens county, according to the resolve of Congress and the general officers of the army. His opinion is that the commanding officers and committees of the county, order it immediately done. He further declared that in case the Tories made any resistance, he would send a number of his men with orders to shoot all the creatures, and also those who hindered the execution of said resolve, within -the limits therein prescribed. The Commissary of the army engaged to me that he would pay the full value for the fat cattle and sheep to the owners, provided they would drive them within Gen. Greene's lines, in Brookland. Proper care will be taken as to valuing said creatures. Time will not permit us to make any delay. I am, sir, your very humble servant, JEROMUS REMSEN pg 74-75 Documents and Letters Intended to Illustrate the Revolutionary Incidents of Queens County

Jeromus Remsen was a member and clerk of the county committee. Later he was appointed colonel over half the militia of Kings and Queens counties and joined forces under the brigade of General Greene in Brooklyn. These American forces were routed at the Battle of Long Island and after their retreat Colonel Remsen was forced to flee to safety in New Jersey; where he resided until the war's end.

At some point during July Benjamin writes from Cow Neck to the President of Congress about the situation:

SIR : — I have been some days, and am still, in the execution of the order of Congress for removing the cattle, horses and sheep in this county, and expect to finish it in a day or two more. From the best computation that can be made, there are not less than 7000 horned cattle, 7000 sheep and 1000 horses in this county, comprehended in the above order, and to be removed in pursuance of it. A number so large, it is conceived, cannot possibly live long where they are to be driven. On the Brushy Plains they will be entirely destitute of water, besides having other very scanty means of subsistence.

By attending myself on this business. I have had an opportunity of knowing the extreme distress to which the rigid execution of this order must expose many people with their families ; so that some among the poorer sort, for aught I know, must be left to starve. The cattle which many people have turned off to fat for the use of their families, will be lost as to all the purposes of such provision, and their families be destitute of that necessary supply for winter. In several parts of the county there was last year a distemper among the horses, which swept off such numbers of them that many people have been obliged since to depend entirely upon oxen. These being now taken away, they are deprived of the only means they had of carrying on any labor upon their farms, that requires a team of horses or oxen. The consequence of which must be, that they can neither secure their present harvest, nor till the earth for a future one.

I find the people in general are willing to enter into obligations, that (in case of immediate danger) they will drive their stock to any place of greater safety on the island, pursuant to the direction of the Congress or county committee. And considering the danger there is under the present regulation of losing a great part of the stock for want of sustenance, and the hardships to which people are reduced, I thought it might not be amiss to mention this circumstance, supposing that the Congress, in concurrence with the General, might perhaps, fall on some method, in this way, for securing the stock on an emergency.

The difficulty of keeping the stock within the limits prescribed, will be so great that I doubt it will be out of my power to effect it. A considerable number of men will be necessary for the purpose — more than I can possibly keep on that duty when harvest is so near at hand. In short I do not see but that for the present at least, I shall be obliged to leave them to take their chance. I am, sir, your very humble servant,

Cow Neck, July, 1776. BENJ. KISSAM.
pg 74-75 Documents and Letters Intended to Illustrate the Revolutionary Incidents of Queens County

So as of July 1776 Benjamin was working with Congress (I assume NY 4th Provincial Congress and not Continental Congress) but it's unclear to me in what capacity. Was he part of a committee in the county or had he been asked by a friend to help? But his letter may have had some effect on Congress:

Convention. July 20, 1776. After several days of debate, it was Resolved that it was not for the public good, even if it were practicable, to remove the stock from Nassau [Long] Island, except such cattle, sheep and hogs as were fit for the use of the Army; that the stock should be driven to the interior of the Island in charge of'the troops — the commanding officer to leave three milch cows to each large family, two to a middling family, and one to a small family; that the commanding officer might destroy the stock to prevent its capture by the enemy; that owners of stock thus destroyed would be compensated if they were loyal to the American cause; that the troops to carry out this order should consist of a draft of one fourth of the Minute Men and Militia in the Counties of Suffolk, Queens and Kings; that the said troops should have Continental pay and rations and serve until Dec. 3ist next, unless sooner discharged; and that Col. Josiah Smith should be the first Col. of the said troops, Col. John Sands, the second Col., Abraham Remsen, the Major, and Col. Rcnjn. Birdsall, the Commander of one company on the South side of Queens Co. A letter was also addressed to Gen. Washington asking him to purchase the stock for the Continental Army. pg 692. The Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut

On August 27 1776 the Battle of Brooklyn started and the British captured Queens County and, shortly thereafter, captured New York City. Interestingly, the act of moving the cattle by Gen. Woodhull may have opened the door for the flanking maneuver by the British. If Woodhull had been stationed at Jamaica Pass like he was supposed to be than the outcome of the battle may have been different.

Benjamin's Bookplate

This is Benjamin Kissam's bookplate by Henry Dawkins. It can be found on page 51 of the bookplate reference book, American Book-plates. The description of the bookplate follows:

Armorial. Chippendale. Motto, Honestum Praetulit util [Ed. note: He has preferred honesty before profit.] Signed, H. Dawkins. Invt. et Sculp. This is in the happiest vein of this engraver. At the left a young lady in the low-necked, hooped dress of the period, carrying a shepherd's crook, and at the right the shepherd himself, but having his crook, is seated. By his side a very docile, even weakly appearing lamb, listens while he plays the flageolet. A prominent lawyer in New York in the middle of the last century. (desc. from pg. 234, ibid. translation from pg. 329)

I believe the coat of arms it that of the Whiteheads. It closely matches this one and another bookplate book notes that the coat of arms are taken from an ancestress. I'll have to dig up that reference.

More info on the particular Chippendale style:

Dawkins used three distinct varies of the Chippendale style. The plates of Benjamin Kissam, the Ludlow and Roome plates, the Whitehead Hicks and the James Duane are examples of the debased Chippendale. pg. 129, ibid.

This is one of my favorite finds so far. You can also see a bigger version of the image.

ILL Overload

A number of books arrived via inter-library loan yesterday. Unfortunately not all at the same time so I had to make several trips but it's nice to get my hands on some more research material. The following books arrived:

• Colonial Flushing : a brief history of the town of Flushing - fragile so it'll be the first one going back. A short history produced for a bank.


• John Jay, colonial lawyer - details of his early apprenticeship with Benjamin


• Denizations, naturalizations, and oaths of allegiance in colonial New York - haven't peeked at this one yet

Along with that I had a meeting at the Law School so I popped down to their library and picked up:

• Essays on New York Colonial Legal History - same author as the John Jay book with a short essay on John Jay but it provides more of a background into colonial law in NY (obviously)

Very interesting library.

What's probably the best parts of these books beyond family history info? The bibliographies! Tons of pointers to more information. Especially the two John Jay books. One of the more interesting notes in the books is that Benjamin's ledger was lost. Which, as we now know, is untrue. Can't wait to get to Charlottesville, VA. Probably in the summer.

Still waiting on two items from ILL:

• Lists of inhabitants of colonial New York : excerpted from the Documentary history of the State of New-York


• The final sale of the relics of General Washington owned by Lawrence Washington, esq., Bushrod C. Washington, esq., Thos. B. Washington, esq., and J.R.C. Lewis, esq., embracing the most important collection ever brought together, of letters, deeds, leases

Notes from "Genealogical Data From Colonial New York Newspapers"

My first book from my latest batch of inter-library loan books came in. It's entitled Genealogical Data From Colonial New York Newspapers by Kenneth Scott. Came so fast because it had a short trip up I-79 from Fairmont State University. Most of the book can be read online but it's nice to have a physical copy. Ok, so to the info we find in the book...

For Benjamin Kissam, Esq. (whom we're in search of) we have two entries. The first entry is:

Rutgers, Petrus, dec'd--three houses at North River to be sold by Adrian Rutgers, Richard Sharpe, John Morin Scott and Benjamin Kissam (from New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury on Jan. 10, 1774) pg. 182, ibid.

Benjamin was married to Catherine Rutgers. Petrus and Adrian were her brothers. Richard Sharpe and John Morin Scott, a lawyer in New York City and who worked with Benjamin on a number of cases, were her brother-in-laws married to Anna and Helena Rutgers respectively. It appears that another book by Kenneth Scott, Rivington's New York Newspaper, has similar information.

The second entry is:

Kissam, Benjamin, Esq., of NYC, attorney--died Oct. 25 in NYC and was buried Oct. 26 in the family vault in the New Dutch Church Yard (from New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury on Oct. 28, 1782) pg. 238, ibid.

Trinity Church, where Benjamin served as a vestryman, has a record of his death in their burial records. The disease listed is "mortification" which, for the time, generally refers to death via gangrene of necrotic tissues. Catherine died in 1772 and was buried in the New Dutch Church Yard. Possibly in the Rutgers family vault and hence why Benjamin is buried there as well?

The other Kissam with an entry in this book is Daniel.

Kissam, Daniel, Esq., Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Representative for many years in General Assembly--died, as result of a fall from his horse, on Aug. 4 at his seat at Cow Neck, Long Island (from New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury on August 19, 1782) pg. 237, ibid.

Unfortunately I can't provide much info on Daniel as I really don't know a whole lot about him.

Update from Toby K.: The Daniel who fell off his horse is a cousin, Daniel Kissam III. He had a 400 acre farm on the Cow Neck Peninsula (now Port Washington) on Long Island and was a loyalist. His son John was actually a major in the British army. Daniel's farm was one of two confiscated after the war and sold at auction. His widow bought it. I do have more info on that branch of the family, but I'll have to dig it out.

It's getting late so I'll stop for now. A lot of other family lines are listed and I'll post their entries though, like Daniel, with almost no extra information.