Voice of the People: Life in the Antebellum Rural Delaware County New York Area

Reform/Conflict


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Reform/Conflict Introduction | Letters/Diaries/Newspapers etc.

Reform/Conflict: The Anti-Rent Movement: Letters/Diaries/Newspapers etc.

1810: William Cooper publishes A guide in the wilderness. Books such as this provided useful information for settlers. 

ca 1845: Excerpt from John Burroughs Talks by Clifton Johnson, Houghton-Mifflin, 1922. Recollections of the Anti-Rent conflict

1845: May 7: Anti-Rent newspaper: Albany Freeholder: Affairs in Delaware County

1845: July 2: Anti-Rent newspaper: Albany Freeholder: Poem: The Farming Men (by the Forest Minstrel)

1845: July 23: Anti-Rent newspaper: Albany Freeholder: Poem: The Afflicted Tenant's Appeal (by the Forest Minstrel)

1845, July 25: Matthew Griffin Diary, p 460 --  Long summary of Anti-Rent "difficulty"

1845, July 25-29: Matthew Griffin Diary, p 461 -- Summary of Anti-Rent "difficulty" (continued)

1845: July 30:  Anti-Rent newspaper: Albany Freeholder: Letter to the editor from Lumen Searle, Middletown

1845: August 6: Anti-Rent newspaper: Albany Freeholder: Song: The Contest (by the Forest Minstrel)

1845, August 6-8: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 463   -- Anti-Rent difficulty: murder of Undersheriff Steele

1845, August 8-9: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 464  -- More on the murder of Steele; bark fire presumably set by Anti-Renters; description of Anti-Rent Indians

1845, August 9-12: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 465  -- Anti-Renters stick together; Steele buried; talk of Steele's murder

1845, August 12-19: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 466  -- The search for Anti-Renters begins; find 10 Indian dresses in a chest;  Sheriff and a posse of 40 men come to Middletown

1845, August 19: 1845 letter from Orrin Griffin to Sheriff Moore: send 60 to 80 men including 15 riflemen

1845, August 19-21:  Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 467 - Sheriff and posse armed with muskets and bayonets hunt down more Anti-Renters

1845, August 22-27:  Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 468   -- More Anti-Renters arrested; Delaware County in a deplorable condition; men in hiding; crops not harvested; women and children morn loss of  husbands and fathers

1845, August 27-29:  Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 469  -- Posse follows Anti-Renter into woods and captures him; Delaware County to be declared in a state of insurrection in a few days

1845, August 29 - September 1: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 470  -- Governor Wright declares Delaware County in a state of insurrection; troops are marching from the Capitol

1845, September 3-7: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 471  -- Griffin joins posses; great fear of the posses by many

1845, September 8-12: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 472  -- Fear of posses; few men now come into his store

1845, September 13-18: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 473  --  Griffin goes with posse in search of Anti-Renters--learn they have a den 1/2 mile from Griffin's house; Town Supervisor resigns

1845, September 22-25: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 475  --  Anti-Renter's trials begin in Delhi; Vansteelburgh found guilty; Brisbane and Squires plead guilty

1845, October: 6 -25: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 476  -- Anti-Renter's trials: O'Connor convicted of murder; indictments for rioting, kidnapping, being armed and disguised; sentencing begins

1845, October: 25: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 477  -- Vansteelburgh and O'Connor found guilty of murder--sentenced to be hung from the neck until dead; others sentenced; Anti-Renters threaten to act if Vansteelburgh and O'Connor are hung

1845, November:  Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 479  -- Election: Anti-Renters nominate one Whig and one LocoFoco

1845, November 18-20: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 481  -- Upcoming execution of Anti-Renters much talked about; Anti-Renters threaten to burn the village of Delhi if the execution takes place; Governor commutes sentence from death by hanging to life imprisonment

1845, November: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 482  -- Griffin's views on the rent issue differ from that of his neighbors; Griffin believes merchants are not replenishing stock due to the "Nonpaying portion of Community (I E Anti-Renters)"

1846 Broadside: The Spring Campaign or the Tory Exploits

1846 Broadside: Thirteen good reasons why no honest Whig should vote the "Equal Rights" or Anti Rent ticket

1846: January 14: Letter from F. A. Morgan to Apollos Cook Edgerton in Delhi, NY: "leave that Mountainous and Rocky Anti-Rent hole"

1846, February: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 485  -- Anti-Rent excitement has subsided; Griffin is of the opinion the courts are corrupted

1846, April 17: Summons: Trespassing (Anti-Renters)

1846, April 22: Subpoena: Trespassing (Anti-Renters)

1846, July 4:  Equal Rights 4th of July Ribbon

1847, February: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 496  -- Anti-Rent prisoners pardoned by Governor Young

1847, February: Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 497  -- Mentions fuss made over the return of Anti-Renter Edward O'Conner from prison

1847, April:  Matthew Griffin Diary, p. 502 -- Anti-Rent difficulties in Columbia Co: Indians tar and feather a man

1847, June 1: Anti-Rent newspaper: Voice of the People: Front page masthead: Hard to read: for overview purposes only

1847, June 1: Anti-Rent newspaper: Voice of the PeopleCandidate choices: Anti-Rent logo

1847, June 1: Anti-Rent newspaper: Voice of the People: Advertisement: Cloth Dressing

1847, June 1: Anti-Rent newspaper: Voice of the People: Advertisement: Empire Equal Rights Store

1847, June 1: Anti-Rent newspaper: Voice of the People: Advertisement: Persecution Defeated: McDonald's Grocery

1847, June 1: Anti-Rent newspaper: Voice of the People: Advertisement: War, War, War: Dry Goods

1847, June 1: Anti-Rent newspaper: Voice of the People: Editorial: Facts Worth Remembering

1847, June 1: Anti-Rent newspaper: Voice of the People: Editorial: Into Column, Wheel!

1847, June 1: Anti-Rent newspaper: Voice of the People: Editorial: Delaware Battle Fields

1847, June 1: Anti-Rent newspaper: Voice of the People: Poem: Wake, Brothers, Wake!

ca. 1850: Albany Freeholder: Song: "Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be"

1850: US Agricultural Census, New York: Portion of the Town of Andes (Adam Akerly, Samuel Gregory, Thomas Gregory, Charles [Men]derix, [][Men]derix, Aaron A. Shaver, Jacob [] Shaver,Peter Shaver, Elias Burroughs, Abraham Palmati[], F[] Shaver, Daniel Wilson, Moses W. Earl, James [], Isaac Coh[]t, Moses Earl, Solomon Earl, Andrew Munson, Archibald McNair, George Fletcher, William Schmitt, John Rooney)

1852: March 8: Bloomville Mirror: The Object of Anti-Rentism

1853: Excerpts from the diary of John Champlin: Mention of "Down Rent", description of living conditions


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