Sunday, May 18, 2014

April 3, 1897, Mail & Express, Little Child Buried Near the Great Hero,

April 3, 1897, Mail & Express, Little Child Buried Near the Great Hero; An Account of the Tomb Erected at Claremont in Memory of St. Claire Pollock, "an Amiable Child," and Some Facts as to the History of the Site; Historic Facts Which Completely Prove the Identity of the Little Boy Gathered from Records. A Curious and Interesting History, by James Richards,


Extract from Randall's Map, 1819







-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ephemeral New York, Riverside Park's tomb of the Amiable Child

Not far north of Grant’s Tomb, at the edge of some woods near 125th Street on Riverside Drive, lies another tomb that’s much more modest.





It's the tomb of the Amiable Child, a monument marking the grave of 5-year-old St. Claire Pollack.

Little St. Claire lived on a vast estate here in the 1790s. In 1797, according to one account, the boy fell to his death from the cliffs overlooking the Hudson River. His body was recovered on the rocks below.

His family chose to bury him on the property where he lived. When the estate was sold, they asked that the monument be kept "always enclosed and sacred."

Eventually the land was absorbed into the neighborhood known as Claremont; then it was the site of Riverside Park.

The original monument had to be replaced a few times, most recently in 1967, after falling victim to the elements.

The back of the monument includes this from the Book of Job: "Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not a bad likeness...


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Hudson River, From Ocean to Source, Historical - Legendary - Picturesque, by Edgar Mayhew Bacon,
(New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons/ The Knickerbocker Press, 1902)










The Apthorp Mansion, Residence of Charles Ward Apthorp, Merchant and Member of Governor's Council in New York, 1763-1783. Erected in old Bloomingdale district, south side of Ninety-first street, west of Ninth Avenue, 1764. Torn down 1891
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, May 1885 to October 1885, Volume 30 (New York and London: 1885) page 911, Riverside Park, by William A. Stiles,

December 28, 1878, New York Times, page 8, "Riverside Improvement,"

May 8, 1880, New York Times, page 8, "Tearing Down Barricades,"

July 1884, Manhattan, pages 60-61, "Riverside Park: The Fashionable Drive of the Future,"

July 28, 1885, New York Times, page 1, "Different Sites for the Tomb,"

August 1, 1885, New York Times, page 1, "Good Progress on the Tomb,"

August 8, 1885, New York Times, page 8, "Gen. Grant's Monument,"

August 8, 1885, Harper's Weekly, page 519, "The Burial Place of General Grant,"

October 6, 1885, New York Times, page 5, "The Memorial Grounds,"

March 14, 1897, New York Times, page 7, "Mausoleum to Grant,"

April 18, 1897, New York Times, "Gen. Grant's Body Removed,"

The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted: The Early Boston Years, 1882–1890, Vol. VIII, by Frederick Law Olmsted, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Upon the high promontory overlooking the Hudson, on the south side of Manhattanville, is Jones' Claremont Hotel," states an 1866 Hudson River guidebook.







-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

God Bless David Rumsey...and Barry Lawrence Ruderman while He's at it too...



The missing text at the bottom of the article is nettlesome, but James Richards did publish his essay in a book form, according to Google Books.

Little Child Buried Near the Great Hero - Google Books
books.google.com/.../Little_Child_Buried_Near_the_Great_Hero.html?id...
books.google.comhttp://books.google.com/books/about/

The alternating effect seen below for the reposting of the Deering v. Riley adjudication reminds us of the limitations of scrapbooking.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reports of Cases Heard and Determined in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Vol. XXXVIII. by Marcus T. Hun, Reporter, (Albany: Banks & Company, 1899) page 164, James A. Deering, Plaintiff, v. William Riley and Others. Defendants. First Department, March Term, 1899.




















----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks again Barry....






No comments: