the head of Lydius street, now in whole or part Capt. Taylor's place. An acre nearer the city, devoted to humbler uses, was purchased of Solomon Southwick, April 12, 1815, at a price of $4,500. This was apparently an enormous price for an acre of ground on the top of a clay hill outside the city limits, but when speculation in west end lots was rife, just after the war, even more astonishing transactions occurred. Mr. Dudley Walsh offered James Caldwell $60,000 for four acres, and the offer was declined; upon the settlement of Mr. Caldwell's estate, years afterwards, the four acres were sold for $1,400. A house lot at the mile post on the Schenectady turnpike, whose speculative value had once been $16,000, was subsequently sold for $161. The Orphan Asylum property was sold for $35,000 by Matthew Gregory to Wm. Stead. Between the houses of John and Spencer Stafford (afterwards Staffords, Spencer & Co.) and that of John Spencer & Co., there always existed an active but generous rivalry. Geo. B. Spencer (of Stafford, Spencer & Co.) was a son of Thomas Spencer before mentioned, and consequently a nephew of the Staffords, while John Spencer was a cousin (?) of Geo. B. Spencer. The firm of John Spencer & Co. formed about 1808, occupied the adjoining store to the south, built for his own use by Thomas Gould, a hardware merchant. At a later period the Delavans (H. W. and E. C.) conducted a similar business on the corner below. On this small frontage on the east side of South Broadway, between State and Beaver streets, long known as the Hardware Row, the heaviest business in this line, north and west of New York, was transacted for a series of years. Spencer Stafford, it is believed, was the first to engage in the casting of stoves in Albany. We have already alluded to his sign; that, as we remember it, was a great improvement, in appearance at least, on the nine plate, box stove, the first one manufactured, and which became so common in the north and east in the early part of the century. Mr. Stafford's stove trade was heavy, and the same may be said of that of John Spencer & Co. The latter firm, in connection with Warner Daniels, afterwards built the Eagle foundery on Daniels street. Still later, the Townsend furnace was built upon its present site. Thus was laid the foundation of a business which to day exceeds the then combined trade of the city. At the close of the war which assured the fortunes of the brothers, John left the firm and then were admitted Hallenbake, son of Mr. Stafford, and Lewis Benedict, his son-in-law. A temporary removal to No. 5 Hudson street, occurred while the new store was being erected, but in 1814 the firm entered their new quarters, known as 387 South Market street, which, until 1825, was as has been remarked the theatre of an extensive and prosperous business. During this decade, Spencer, Jr., and Joab, other sons, were for brief periods members of the house. Lewis Benedict withdrew from the firm in 1825, and soon after Mr. Stafford gave up his business, and within two years closed other business relations (Stafford & Co.). He then subsided into the quiet citizen, although his sons, Hallenbake and Spencer, resumed the hardware business and continued it at the old stand until they were bought out in 1831 by Benedict & Roby. Mr. Stafford was essentially a practical business man. Self-reliant, industrious, enterprising, he possessed in a great measure the qualities essential to mercantile success, and his energy enabled him to secure for his family the comforts which their social position demanded. To those who invoked his aid he gave not only sound advice, but also a helping hand. He was a man of more than average mental endowments, and of considerable culture; fond of scientific works, a constant reader of the English classics as well as the journals and debates of the day. Politically an ardent democrat, he was a great admirer of Andrew Jackson and his policy. In manners polite and courteous, his house was for years the seat of generous hospitality, and during the ascendancy of the republican party, early in the century, it was the frequent resort of such political leaders as Judge Ambrose Spencer, Sol. Southwick, the Barbers, Benj. Knower, Martin Van Buren, Citizen Genet and Gov. Clinton. * Lewis Benedict, born in Milton, Saratoga Co., N. Y.. Nov. 7, 1785, came to Albany in 1805, and in 1806 was taken into the firm of Uriah Marvin and Uriah Benedict, his father. The firm of Marvin, Benedict & Co. became Marvin & Benedict upon the death of his father in 1813. This business, wholesale grocery, etc., was closed in 1814-15, when Mr. Benedict entered the hardware firm of Spencer Stafford, his father-in-law. See Munsell's Hist. Coll., vol. II, p. 114. Mr. Stafford never held any prominent civil office, although in 1816 he served as assessor of his ward and 1817 as alderman, honorable positions half a century ago. He was active in procuring the charter of the Mechanics and Farmers' Bank, and was one of its first directors in 1811. Mr. Stafford requested Gov. Tompkins to reinstate him as director, he having been displaced the following year by the appointment (by governor and council) of a federalist. He says: "I now for the first time intrude myself on the council; the office I ask is in your gift, it is an honorable office without profit or emolument. I ask it as justly due me as a republican, I ask it as a descendant of a revolutionary officer, who fought and bled in his country's cause at the battle of Bennington, I ask it as being the originator of the Albany Volunteer Regiment, which I am proud to say saved Sackett's Harbor in our late struggle, and lastly, and perhaps not least, I ask it as a stockholder to a large amount." During the war of 1812 Mr. Stafford partly equipped a regiment of volunteers, a fact which he refers to in the letter just quoted, and he also wrote to a member of the cabinet at Washington under date Jan. 6, 1822, "the exertions and contributions made by me towards carrying on the late war are well known here (Albany), and were such as to entitle me to the confidence of the government." In 1820 he was one of a committee who projected an Apprentices' Library, and in 1824 he was made a director of the Merchants' Insurance Company. Mr. Stafford gradually declined in health, and his last years were necessarily spent in great retirement. He was a member of the Episcopal Church. He died Feb. 12, 1844. The Albany Argus thus alludes to his death: "Spencer Stafford expired at his residence in this city on Saturday. He had attained literally a good old age. For more than forty years he was engaged in mercantile pursuits, and although he retired several years since from the active cares of business, took a deep interest in the prosperity and advancement of the city. He was an enterprising merchant and a citizen of intelligence and high respectability. He leaves a numerous body of relatives and friends to mourn his death, with whom our citizens generally will unite their regards." Mr. Stafford was buried by the side of his first wife in the Hallenbake burying ground. Subsequently his remains were removed to the Albany Rural Cemetery. His second wife, Harriet, died July 5, 1849. 4 X. SPENCER 5 (Col. Joab, Thomas,3 Samuel, Thomas 1), had: II. HALLENBAKE", born at Deerfield, Oneida Co., N. Y., Jan. 27, 1793, and married Aug. 30, 1824, Maria, daughter of James Gibbons of Albany, who was born Oct. 19, 1800, and died April 17, 1851. He entered his father's store as a partner in 1815, and was subsequently connected with one or more of his brothers in the hardware business in Albany and Utica. He died of consumption, April 17, 1851. Hallenbake and Maria had: i. Anna, born June 23, 1825, and married William McCoy, ii. Spencer Robinson, born March 20, 1828; died Feb. 23, 1847. 7 iii. Mary Robinson, born Jan. 27, 1830; died Feb. 20, 1860. III. SPENCER JR., born at Albany, N. Y., June 22, 1798, and married June 21, 1821, Sarah Sanger, daughter of John Eames of New Hartford, Oneida Co., N. Y., who was born 1803. Spencer was also a partner of his father, and of his brother Hallenbake, and was at one time a dry goods merchant in New York. He died at Robbins Nest, Ill., Oct. 26, 1866. They had : i. Spencer Hallenbake, born at Utica, April 7, 1822, and married Esther Dudgeon of New Hartford, April 7, 1853. He is a lawyer, and was Col. during the rebellion. ii. John Eames, born at Utica, Feb. 1, 1824, and died at San Francisco, Cal., Aug. 10, 1860. iii. Jedediah Sanger, born at Albany, June 22, 1826; died there Feb. 24, 1828. iv. Emelia Anthon, born at Albany, Jan. 21, 1829; died there Feb. 4, 1829. v. Walter Sanger Eames, born July 10, 1830; lives in California. vi. Sarah Maria, born at New Hartford, May 22, 1833, and married Rev. Thomas Newcomb Benedict (Epis. church), Nov. 14, 1854. vii. Cornelia Winne, born at New Hartford, May 21, 1836; lives 6 there. Mrs. Stafford is living at New Hartford, Oneida Co., N. Y. IV. ELEANOR, born June 22, 1798, and married June 22, 1819, Jacob Lansing, lawyer, and some time judge of the Albany county court. V. JOAB, was born Aug. 2, 1802; married Sept. 27, 1827, Amelia, daughter of James Gibbons of Albany, born July 1, 1809, and died March 7, 1843. Mr. Stafford was a partner of his father and brothers at Albany and Utica in the hardware business. His life as a merchant closed at Niles, Mich. He died at Albany, Dec. 8, 1854. They had: i. Louisa Esther, born Feb. 4, 1829; married March 2, 1848, Spencer, son of Jacob and Eleanor Lansing, born March 29, 1820. ii. Arthur, born Jan. 22, 1831, and died at Albany, July 13, 1849. iii. Amelia Elizabeth, born June 9, 1834. iv. Emma Sterling, born April 24, 1836; married at Niles, Mich., April 1, 1856, Wm. P. Barrows of Kalamazoo, Mich. SPENCER by his second wife, had: VI. JAMES ROMEYN,6 born at Albany, April 9, 1808, and married Augusta Cooke, June 20, 1831. In 1824 he entered the South American navy, and was under Simon Bolivar, the Liberator. He was the inventor of many useful things, and the discoverer of several valuable processes. A kind of stove, olive-tar, a process for refining oils and a device for drying corn meal, were among his inventions. He was, also, the author of an instructive pamph let, entitled Observations on the production, manufacture, transportation and preservation of Cereal Grains. They had: i. ii. iii. iv. V. vi. Harriet Romeyn, born Dec. 9, 1832. Anna Mary, born Feb. 10, 1835. Clara Augusta, born March 25, 1837. Susan Monroe, born March 1, 1839; died Oct. 9, 1846. vii. Lilly Gertrude, born Oct. 20, 1846; married Oct. 25, 1863, viii. Blanche Andrews, born Aug 15, 1850. ix. Guy Romeyn Beekman, born May 20, 1853. X. Harry Willard Raymond, born Sept. 26, 1860. James Romeyn moved in 1850 to South Brooklyn, and died there Nov. 8, 1867. VII. HARRIET, born at Albany, Aug. 31, 1811, and married Stephen B. Gregory, crockery merchant, Nov. 23, 1830; she now resides at Bergen, N. J. VIII. MARIA, born April 13, 1818, and married, May 2, 1842, Edwin ii. Louise Bancker, born July 24, 1860. Mr. Stafford graduated in medicine, but forsook its practice for merchandise. He resides in Brooklyn, and does business at No. 218 Pearl St., New York. VIII. JOHN (Col. Joab, Thomas,3 Samuel, Thomas 1), born Oct. 16, 1768, removed with his parents to Albany, where he probably was apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Thomas Spencer, as he seems to have early conducted a business in copper, brass, pewter and tin. He is mentioned as a merchant in 1793, and probably occupied the store adjoining his brother Spencer. In 1797 John and Spencer Stafford were partners, carrying on the above branches very extensively at 45 Court street. Jan. 18, 1798, John Stafford advertises for sale at 33 Court street, oils, codfish, tar and steel. Mr. Stafford was residing in Greenbush when he married, June 24, 1793, Margaret, daughter of Hugh Denniston, of Albany. After her death, April, 1799, he gave up business and went to sea. Exactly how long he was absent is not known. He suffered shipwreck and lived upon a barren island, sleeping under an upturned boat, and subsisting upon seals. In December, 1802, he appears, as has been before stated, as a partner of his brother, with whom his connection continued until 1815. Thereafter until his death he was of the firm of Stafford & Weed, the latter, Edward Weed, being his brother-in-law. His first wife, Margaret, died April 17, 1799, aged 29 years 8 months, leaving one child, Margaret, born Jan. 16, 1799. In 1804 he married for his second wife, Margaret White of Ballston, Saratoga Co., N. Y. She |