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Note: 143-g6Le7 Thomas6 Bogart Leggett born May 27, 1823 at West Farms, (Manhattan, NY City, NY)
died April 1, 1895, buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY [NYC death cert. 11984]
married February 17, 1845 to Sarah Maria Huggins, at the church of Saint Bartholomeus, Lafayette Place by Dr. Balch in Manhattan, NY City, NY
born August 1, 1826 in Manhattan, NY City, NY
died February 13, 1902, buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY
Children (Leggett) 7: 4 boys, 3 girl
148-g7Le7 E. Howard7
149-g7Le7 Clinton7 H.
149a-g7Le7 Ellen7 B.
150-g7Le7 William7 T.
150a-g7Le7 Norton7 W.
151-g7Le7 Florence7 H.
151a-g7Le7 Maud7
1860 United States Federal Census Record
Name: Thos B Leggett
Age in 1860: 39
Birth Year: abt 1821
Birthplace: New York
Home in 1860: Morrisania, Westchester, New York
Gender: Male
Post Office: Mount Vernon
Value of real estate: $18,000
Household Members: Name Age
Thos B Leggett 39
Sarah M Leggett 33
Howard Leggett 14
Clinton H Leggett 12
Wm T Leggett 8
Bridget Burke 23
Ellen Tearney 20
Jno W Leggett 34
Mary E Leggett 33
Fanny Leggett 8
Image Source: Year: 1860; Census Place: Morrisania, Westchester, New York; Roll: M653_878; Page: 0; Image: 364.
LETTERS OF THOMAS BOGART LEGGETT TO HIS GRANDCHILDREN, 1892-93
and under which of Thomas's family members they have been placed:
Nos. 1-11 are omitted
No. 12 to Howard......14 May; below
No. 13 to Howard......21 May; below
No. 14 to Howard......28 May; son EHL
No. 15 to Howard.......4 June; EHL / daughter-in-law G(C)L / HCL
No. 16 to Mary..........11 June; daughter-in-law G(C)L
No. 17 to Mary..........18 June; MHL
No. 18 to Howard......25 June; son CHL
No. 19 to Mary..........25 June; daughter-in-law JL(M)L
No. 20 to Howard...17 August; JL(M)L
From 17 August 1892 to 18 February 1893,
other letters may have been written.
No. 21 to Mary...18 February; (missing)
No. 22 to Mary..........12 April; daughter FHL
After 12 April, there could be other letters.
Letters 12 and 14, describing Thomas's youth in New York City and the Rose Bank estate:
293 Lenox Ave.
New York
May 14, 1892.
My dear Grandson,
Howard C. Leggett, In this letter I propose to touch on many subjects, but what they will all be about I have not now the remotest idea, but trust words and matter will come to me as I write and all will prove not too dull, but on the contrary, interesting as well as instructive to you. I will commence by saying that I came into this world in the year 1823, now sixty-nine years ago. Andrew Jackson was then the seventh president of this country [actually, James Monroe, the fifth president, 1817 to 1825] since George Washington, our first president who served two terms from 1788[9] to 1796[7]. George IV was king of England from 1820 to 1830 and Louis XVIII, king of France from 1823 to 1824 [actually, 1814 to 1815 and 1815 to 1824, interrupted only by Napoleon’s brief return from Elba].
When I was seven years old, my father [William Haight Leggett, (1789-1863)] and mother [Margaret Peck Wright Leggett, (1794-1878)] moved from their city home at No. 521 Broadway (which I will allude to further in this letter) and lived on their beautiful country residence known as Rose Bank, of which I will speak fully in another letter. In this year of 1830 Andrew Jackson, who was born in 1767 and died in 1845, was serving his second [actually, first] term of four years, his terms running from 1824 to 1832 [actually, 1829 to 1837]. George the IV, King of England, having died in the year 1830 in his 68th year, his brother William IV succeeded him. William IV was born in 1765 and died in 1837. Louis XVIII, King of France, having died in 1824, Charles X became king and reigned from 1824 to 1830, when he was compelled to abdicate. Louis Philippe then reigned from 1830 to 1848, when he in turn abdicated and died in 1850. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte became emperor of the French in 1848 and died in the year 1873, when France became a republic.
That grand old man, the premier of England, William E. Gladstone, who was born in the year 1809 and is yet living at the great age of 84 years, one of England’s greatest statesmen, was 22 years old in 1830, and had already entered Parliament, and has been in active public life ever since. In the year 1837, when I was 15 years old (which is about your age now) William Henry Harrison [actually, Martin Van Buren, 1837 to 1841] was president of this country. He [William Henry Harrison, president 1841] was the uncle [actually, grandfather] of the present W.H. Harrison, who is now president. The present queen of England, Victoria, who was born in 1819, was in 1837 in her 18th year made queen of England on the death of her uncle, William IV. Queen Victoria, when 21 years old in 1840, married Prince Albert who died in 1861 in his 42nd year. Victoria yet remains queen of England, having been queen for 52 years, and is now in her 73rd year.
Now, Howard, all this history may appear very dull reading to you, but it has all occurred in my life time, and it is what you should know and get clearly in your mind. Then again, I wanted to show you what great changes had taken place in the world during my life to those of high rank in life, and to further show you how mysteriously and certainly nature works in all its wondrous ways. God knows no rich, no poor, no great, no humble, no king, no queen; all are the same and equal in his eyes, and all have to suffer and meet death in the same manner, passing away from this world forever, leaving all their greatness and great deeds behind them; for as they brought nothing into this world when they came into it, they can take nothing out of it when they leave it.
George Washington, the first president of our country was born in 1732 and died in 1799 in his 67th year. My father (your great-grandfather) [William Haight Leggett] was born in 1789 and died in 1863 at the age of 74. He was ten years old when Washington died, and his father, [Thomas Leggett] who was my grandfather and your great-great grandfather, was born in 1755, and died in 1842[3] in his 88th year. Consequently he was 44 years old when Washington died. Twenty four years after the death of Washington, I was born in 1823, the War of 1812 occurring but twelve years before my birth.
Now I mention all these many dull facts of history only to show you more clearly that our government was very young when I came into the world, having been in 1823 just forty-seven years since the Declaration of Independence and the throwing off of the English yoke of bondage and oppression. Again I will say that all this dull matter is written as a sort of preliminary of what I may write in future letters. So have a little patience and I may make myself more interesting and tell you of some few of the many things which we now enjoy as comforts and which were unknown to the world when I was a boy. Let us begin with the little friction match which is so common today, to be found in every household and which is so important to our comfort. It was unknown when I was a boy. The only manner of getting a fire was to strike a flint stone against a piece of steel and have the spark fall on a half burnt piece of linen, called tinder. By touching a small match dipped in sulfur to the glowing tinder we would get a small blaze of fire. This is the only way we could start our wood fire in the morning. The friction match now in use was unknown and not invented and used until about the year 1842. Many a time I have watched our old nurse strike a light in the manner I have described to start the wood fire in the nursery in the early morning. This flint, steel and tinder was kept in a small tin box with a lifting cover and was called a tinder box. In the year 1830 and in fact all the way up to 1840, wood was almost entirely used for fuel, with the exception of a soft coal known as Liverpool coal brought from England in small quantities and used only by a few city people as being a great luxury. Wood, which was usually small oak and hickory would be brought from Long Island and New Jersey by wagons and sloop. Many a time have I seen wood peddled about the streets of New York, piled on a small one-horse platform cart holding just a quarter cord of wood. Behind the cart would walk an old negro carrying a buck and saw on his back, willing to engage to cut the wood in any desired length and carry it in the cellar. Pine wood was also brought in from southern New Jersey and sold on the streets.
Coal was not mined in this country to any extent before the year 1840. It was then anthracite and so hard that people did not know how to ignite it and keep it burning. There were few open grates in houses in 1830 and those few in the city where a few well-to-do used Liverpool coal. There were no grates in country houses. Gas was just coming into use and most of the city street lamps used whale oil. [Samuel Leggett, (1782-1849), was first president of the New York Gas Company; his house, 7 Cherry Street, was the first to be lit with gas, in 1825.]
Wax candles and lamps in which whale oil was burned provided the illumination in houses. Kerosene oil and lamps in which to burn it were not then known. The sinking of wells for petroleum did not commence until 1858, and shortly after that the raw oil was refined into kerosene. I myself then paid $1.50 per gallon for it and was very glad to get it at that. The kerosene did away with all the burning of that nasty whale oil.
Cobble stones were only used for paving streets, no other kind of paving being used and there were plenty of streets unpaved. A ride over one of those streets paved with cobble stones in a cart without springs was enough to shake the teeth from your head.
The first steam engine built in the United States as in the year 1830 and that was a poor little thing of no size, weight or speed. The first railroad built in the state of New York was in 1831 and it had slats of wood for rails. The New York and Erie was not commenced until the year 1836 and the rails were flat strips of iron. I have, many a time, ridden on the Harlem road when it was only ten miles long and the rails were narrow strips of iron. The Hudson River road was not built until 1869 and the New York Central until 1853. I remember perfectly well when these roads were being built. The Pennsylvania Railroad in New Jersey was not completed until 1854 and the New Jersey Central not until 1864. In 1840, when I was 17 years old, there was not a steam railroad of any kind which entered the city of New York. There was not a horse railroad for some years later. There were but very few stages from 1830 to 1840 and they charged 10 cents a ride. There were no ice carts to make deliveries to the home. Since there were no furnaces in the cellars, they were always damp and cool. The postage on all letters was 25c each. There was no delivery service such as we now have, so each one had to go to the post-office for his mail. All the mail was carried by four-horse carriages and moved slowly. During the ten years from 1830 to 1840 there was little manufactured in this country compared to what there is today. We were largely dependent upon England and France. From England came our cotton goods, spool cotton, cloths, knives, carpenter tools and crockery. France sent us silks and velvets. Italy provided sewing silk. None of these things were made in our country when I was a boy.
Up to the year 1842 New York City was entirely dependent upon wells and pumps for drinking water, and cisterns in the back yards for washing water. The water from the Croton River was brought to the city in that year. A brick acqueduct forty miles long and wide and high enough for a small boat to navigate brings the water to the city. The aqueduct crosses the Harlem River by the high bridge and also by pipes 100 feet below the bed of the river. The Croton acqueduct is one of the greatest pieces of engineering skill in the world.
There were no steam fire engines until the year 1850. Before that time all fire engines were worked by hand power. The water to supply the engines was drawn from cisterns in the yards of private houses, or from public tanks built for that purpose. The gimlet screw which is now so universally used in carpenter work was not known when I was a boy. It was not until the year 1846 that it came into use. This, you know, is a screw that will make its own hole in wood. Previously we had to make a hole first in which to put the screw. When I was a boy all our pocket knives were made in England and so it was with many articles of common use which are so plentifully made now in this country.
Beautiful Central Park, said to be one of the most beautiful parks in the world and in which you have so often been, was in my early days, all in market gardens, farms and vacant lots, and was considered far out in the country. In 1858 the city bought up this land and after much labor and expense made into a beautiful park. That firm structure, the Museum of Art, which is now filled with so much to look at, admire and study, was not in existence when I was your age. It was not built until 1880, fifty-seven years after I was born.
During those years 1830 to 1840, most all the silver money in circulation was Spanish money, the Spanish dollar, two shilling, sixpence and the big copper penny. The money we use now, we did not then have as our country was young and poor, so had coined but little gold or silver money. I hope by drawing these contrasts of my boyhood with yours that you will be impressed and appreciate the tremendous and rapid changes made in this country and the many comforts you enjoy which were unknown to us sixty years ago. Yes you are living in a wonderful age, the most wonderful in the world.
I will now say a few words about New York when my father [William Haight Leggett (1789-1863)] and mother [Margaret Peck Wright Leggett, (1794-1878)] lived at 521 Broadway, between Prince and Spring Streets. Although I was very young, I remember the house, garden, stable and all the surroundings perfectly well. In the year 1830 New York had a population of but 300,000 and in this year 1892 it has grown to 1,800,000. Broadway in the year 1830 could show a goodly number of vacant lots as well as small wooden houses. From my father’s house to City Hall Park it was a very different looking street from what it is now. Not one of the fine buildings which adorn that fine street today were standing when my father lived there. His house was pulled down and the large St. Nicholas Hotel built there. His home was wide and deep, being what is known as two room width, with large extension, three stories high and basement and built of brick, pitched roof of slate, for there were no flat roofs at that time. There was a large yard running through the block to the street in rear called Union Street. On this street was a very fine brick stable with a dwelling house on the lot next to it, all of which comprised my father’s city home. At that time he had one of the most showy and stylish teams of black horses that appeared on the streets. So well matched were they, you could not tell one from the other, and when the colored coachman, John Cornell, drove my mother out in the carriage, they were universally admired by all who saw them. Although your great-grandfather’s house was a very fine one for the times, it would be considered very ordinary now in comparison to the many beautiful ones that are all about us. There was no furnace in it, nor a bath, closet wash tubs nor range, for they did not have those luxuries then. On the contrary there was in the kitchen a large open fireplace in which wood was burned and where the cooking was done. The sidewalks were generally of brick, usually wet and out of repair. The cobble stone streets were always in wretched condition. During the period about which I am speaking the city was very little built up above Union Square. I remember very well when the twigs of trees were planted in this square and a high, tight board fence was put around it to keep the bad boys out. Those busy retail streets 14th. and 23rd. Streets were garden plats in those days. I well remember seeing Trinity Church on Broadway as well as the Astor House being built. Pigs and geese were allowed to run at large and waddle and wallow in the streets and gutters, for all the slop water from the kitchens was thrown in the gutter. In 1830 there was not a daily paper published in the city. The Tribune, Herald, Times, World, Sun and all others have come into existence since I was a boy. When I was a clerk in a store in 1838, the mail was carried to Boston by mail coach. I have often seen the coach coming into the city with a few mail bags on the rack behind, and a few passengers inside, making a great time with the four horses and big horn blowing, for you must remember we had no railroads at that time. Some of these facts I give you are hard to get from books without a great deal of study and search. In my next letter I will tell you something about my father’s and my grandfather’s country places, where I and my brothers passed our boyhood days and the scenes and incidents of which I can never forget.
I am, your Grandfather
Thomas B. Leggett
293 Lenox Ave.
New York, N.Y.
May 21, 1892
My Dear Grandson
Howard C. Leggett, This letter I shall devote entirely to speaking of my younger years, from the year 1830 to 1840, a period covering ten years of my boyhood at that charming place "Rose Bank", the home of my father and mother, and the years when all my brothers were boys like myself. I shall be obliged to speak in connection with Rose Bank of those extensive woods and fields of my Grandfather’s [Thomas Leggett, (1755-1843)] from the fact his acres adjoined those of my father, [William Haight Leggett, (1789-1863)] making our continuous estates over ten thousand acres in extent. So extensive were these two places one might roam all day through the woods and fields without going off the property. The nearest village was some three miles away, and all the land from the river and between my father's and grandfather’s houses and this village of West Farms were within the boundaries of these two estates. My grandfather’s home, like that of my father, was situated close to the East River with equally good a view.
This [Rose Bank] was an old-fashioned double house, two stories and attic, with two extensions, piazzas on three sides. It was built many years before my time and when I was a boy was considered a very old home. It was built on a side hill which gave a larger space both under the main house and wings as well as the piazzas. All this part of the house was divided off into many rooms which were, in the olden times, used as quarters for the male and female slaves. My grandfather in 1830 had a large retinue of colored help, some of whom had been slaves to his father, [Thomas Leggett, (1721-after 1781)] and others who were children but were free now. [In New York, children born to slaves after 4 July 1799 were not slaves, but indentured to their mother’s master until age 28 for males, 25 for females; in 1817, slavery was set for final abolition, and was so abolished on 4 July 1827.] They were almost all born on the place, and looked upon it as their home. New York as well as New Jersey abolished slavery by emancipation about the year 1827, only three years before the time I am writing of and a few years after I was born. But as I have just remarked, in many cases the colored people remained with their former masters as free persons under wages. So it was with my grandfather. The old cook who was always called old "Aunt Rose" had been a slave up to the year 1827 but remained on the place as well as all her children and grandchildren up to the death of my grandfather in the year 1843, when my grandfather had provided for the support of the old ones so long as they should live. I will just say, that you may better understand of what I am writing that when I was a young boy in 1830, my grandfather was an old man of 75 years of age. His then coachman, [John Cornell] whom I remember very well, was a grandson of the old cook "Rose" and his head man in the stables was the oldest son of the old cook and a nice old fellow he was. I will also say my grandfather was very fond of horses and would never drive any but good ones and always had many good ones in his stable.
Although Rose Bank was but some ten miles from the City Hall, it was in the year 1830. In consequence of having no steam boats, roads, horse cars, stages, nor public conveyances of any kind, it was in fact equal to being fifty miles away in these days of fast travel. In the fall or winter months the roads were always bad and it was then considered a good day’s work to drive to the city and attend to any business and return the same day, whereas in these days of quick and rapid transit, that same journey of ten miles could be performed many times each day with perfect ease and comfort-so much for living in the age you are living in of railroads and fast traveling.
Your father [Edward Howard Leggett, (1845-1927)] was born in this Rose Bank house in the year 1845, but the original house as it was in my boy days, as well as the out-buildings and grounds had before his time been somewhat altered and changed, in fact it had been very materially altered. In my younger days it was very primitive and wild in its surroundings. I will now speak of the house that you may know somewhat how it looked and how it was situated in the year 1830, now sixty-two years ago. The house fronted on the beautiful East River and stood in the center of a fine lawn of some sixty acres which extended down to and along the river for quite a distance. The view from the house toward the river was just charming. There was no hour of the day but that sailing vessels of all descriptions were to be seen on this beautiful river, in fact it was an ever changing scene of beauty. On the lawn were noble trees and pleasant walks, large greenhouses filled with choice flowering plants, a garden larger than all your place, beautifully laid out in fancy beds and gravel walks. The house was a large double one, built of wood, filled in with brick and sheathed with shingles, which made it warm in winter and cool in summer, with a wide hall through the main building with front and back doors which opened into wide piazzas. From this wide main hall about halfway was a door that opened into another wide hall to the wing of the house which was almost as large as the main building. Under all this pile of buildings were many rooms, and for various purposes. There were two large kitchens, one for winter use, the other for summer. In the winter kitchen was one of those old time fireplaces, large enough for several persons to sit in. The great feature of this open fireplace was the enormous chimney with the long heavy iron crane that was firmly fastened to one side of the chimney and made so you could swing it out and hang on or take off iron pots for cooking purposes. There was always kept hanging on this iron crane a large iron pot for hot water, for that was the only way we could get hot water in those days. Next to this fireplace was a large oven built of stone. This oven was for the purpose of baking bread, pies and cakes for the large family, and heated by burning in it logs of wood until it was sufficiently heated, then brush it out clean and put in your bread, etc. This kitchen fireplace would be piled up with great sticks of wood as large around as a plate. The back log was often the trunk of a great sized tree cut to the length of about four feet. This back log was supposed to last for several months. As I have said before, we had no friction matches in those days, so were dependent on a spark from the flint and steel, which was slow, tedious work, therefore the great secret was never to allow the fire to go out. To that end, the last thing at night was to cover the live coals all over with the ashes. If you had a good lot of live coals and covered them nicely over, in the morning by taking away the ashes, you would then have a spark to start with.
In addition to these two kitchens there was a milk room, wash room, laundry, store room, wood room and others with closets without number. In the main building as well as in the wing were many rooms, some of which were very large. In those days the country houses of the gentlemen were like their families, very large. The family at Rose Bank was particularly large. I had besides myself, six brothers and one sister, with many uncles, aunts and a great number of cousins with many friends, some of whom were always with us. We, in fact, were never alone.
There were a great many out-buildings connected with the Rose Bank house, such as large barns, and small barns, winter stable and summer stable, carriage barn, horse sheds and wagon sheds, boat house and bath house, green house, ice house, corn crib, chicken house with yard, barn yard with cow sheds, work shop with tools, pigeon house, store house for farm tools, dog houses with many dogs, apple cellar, vegetable and root cellar, gardener's house and school house, saying nothing of the farmer’s house and the many outbuildings connected with it.
Good schools were not what they are now. My father, therefore, had a small schoolhouse on his own place for his children. We had a regular teacher for the English branches, including Latin; another teacher for French. For some time the children were all compelled, when at table, to ask for what they wanted in French. I they did not know the French name they could not have it. We also had a music teacher. Now all these people lived in the house and sat at the table. Father also had a coachman and cook who were colored people and had lived with him for over twenty years. There was also a waiter, chambermaid, nurse, seamstress, laundry woman, all provided for in this large house. There was a house near the garden used for seeds and garden tools, where the gardener and his family lived. The gardener had two boys, one helped in the garden, the other in the stable. I suppose you will think all this is very stupid to write to you, but I wanted to show you, although we were in a measure isolated and alone in the country, we had quite a number of people about us all the time. My father always had a number of horses in the stable. We boys were all brought up to know not only how to care for and harness a horse, but also to drive and ride them as well. Living on the water as we did, my father had a row boat and a sail boat, so we all knew how to row a boat as well as sail one. Having so much ground about us and extensive woods, we were all accustomed to the use of the gun, and the best manner to set a trap. In those days all the guns then used were what is known as flintlocks. The perfect and beautiful percussion cap gun of today was not then known. The percussion cap was not used in this country before the year 1840. I will say that during the war with Mexico, in the year 1845, the flintlock Springfield musket was the only kind of gun used by our government.
When I was a boy at Rose Bank, I have seen foxes on the hills and Eagles hovering above, and as for rabbits squirrels, minks, weasels, partridges, quail, wild geese, ducks and all sorts of large and small birds in great abundance. If we were not riding or driving, we were shooting in the woods, setting our traps, or fishing or sailing on the water, or perhaps crabbing up the creek or scalping for shrimps for the next day’s fishing. I will say here, our father and mother did everything in their power to make their home so pleasant and agreeable to their children that they had no desire to leave it. They made us a happy, contented family and I always look back with pleasure to my younger days and feel how much was done by my father and mother to make us all happy and contented with our home. I will say to you, we had an excellent father and good mother with a lovely home and they both did their full duty to their children. I can recall no unkind or unpleasant words from either of them toward their children, but on the contrary, all was love and happiness on their part, and they were fully remembered in their old days by the love, affection and attention shown them by all their children.
The thousand and one things we all have now, I knew nothing of then. We had no telegraph, for that did not come into use until 1850. We knew nothing of the telephone, for that did not come along until after 1880. The sewing machine was not invented until 1841. That little machine you cut the grass with, the mower, was not brought out until 1854. The photograph, not until 1847; before that we had the Daguerreotype, the typewriter was not used until 1868. I only mention these matters to show you what we did not have and which you do have; and yet we were a happy and contented people. Many a delightful day I have passed with my brother in the woods with dog and gun, cutting fish poles, setting traps for rabbits. Many a happy hour I have passed in the boat fishing when the sun was so hot, the seat of the boat would become so heated I would have to pour water on it to keep it from burning my sitting down place. I will not tire you by writing any more in this letter for you to read; perhaps my next may be more interesting when you forgive me for being so stupid in this.
Your Grandfather
Thomas B. Leggett.
The New York Times, 2 April 1895
DIED.
LEGGETT.-On Monday, April 1, 1895, Thomas B. Leggett, in his 72d year.
Notice of funeral hereafter. (No such notice found in this index, 17 March 2008.)
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<b>Thomas Bogart Leggett
</b>Birth 27 May 1823 Manhattan, New York County (Manhattan), New York, USA
Death 1 Apr 1895 (aged 71) New York County (Manhattan), New York, USA
Burial Woodlawn Cemetery Bronx, Bronx County, New York, USA
Plot Spring Lake Plots,
Memorial ID 137048817
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