"Loomings" locations, part 2

Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward.      - Chapter I, Loomings

Continuing a look at some of the locations mentioned in the first chapter of Moby-Dick. (See part 1.)

Coenties Slip — a surprising family connection

Coenties Slip, 1876 (original stereo view)

Coenties Slip area, 1841

Coenties Slip was a significant feature on the waterfront, cutting inland nearly two blocks. Sometime in the late 1800's it was filled in. Later, Front Street in this area was obliterated by office towers. Today Coenties Slip is largely covered by the New York Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, with a heliport at what was the slip's mouth.


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Coenties Slip today, looking south across Water St. toward the river

The name "Coenties" has a history. You won't find it in any telephone directory, U.S. or Dutch. It is a contraction of the Dutch "Coenraedt en Antje"—Coenraedt and Antje. Coenraedt Ten Eyck (alternately Conraet, Coenraet) was born in Germany in 1617, and worked in Amsterdam as a shoemaker's helper. He married Maria Boele; their first child, Jacob C., was born in 1645. The family immigrated to New Amsterdam around 1651. Sometime later, Coenraedt married Antje (no last name found), and "worked as a tanner and shoemaker near his home [...] on his sizable property on what [became] Coenties Slip." (nycgovparks.org)

Now follow me down the generations, using information from the New York State Museum website.

1. Coenraedt's son, Jacob C., followed his dad into the shoemaker's trade, moved to Albany, and married Geertje Coeymans, the daughter of Albany-area "landholder." Their children "married well, prospered, and established the Ten Eyck family in Albany and in the upper Hudson region." Their first son, Coenradt, was born in 1678.
2. Coenradt trained as a silversmith, worked in Albany and New York City, married Gerritje Van Schaick, and had ten children. Their first child, Jacob C., was born in 1705.
3. This 1705 Jacob married Catharina Cuyler. They had son Abraham in 1743.
4. Abraham married Anna Lansing, and had son Jacob A. in 1772.
5. Jacob A. Ten Eyck married a certain Magdalena Gansevoort at the Albany Dutch church in April 1795. (Yes, that Gansevoort!)

Magdalena Gansevoort was the daughter of "Albany mainstay" Leonard Gansevoort. Leonard had a brother, Peter, "the hero of Fort Stanwix." Peter had a daughter, Maria Gansevoort—mother of our man, Herman Melville!

In short: Herman's first cousin once removed (Magdalena) was the wife of the great-great-great-grandson (Jacob A.) of the couple who gave Coenties Slip its name [step-GGGgrandson of Antje].

I wonder if Herman or his mother was aware of this distant connection to what was, during the time the Melvill family lived in lower Manhattan, a prominent local enterprise. (They moved to Albany when Herman was eleven years old.) The fact is too insignificant to be included in any of the Melville biographies I have at hand.

The final post in this series will look at the Whitehall in the quote above—Herman's nod to his mother's family?

(Note: The full map of 1841 Manhattan can be found at this outstanding Boston Public Library site.)

"Loomings" Locations, part 1

Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward.      - Chapter I, Loomings

We hear them in the opening minutes of every Moby-Dick Marathon—Corlears Hook, Coenties Slip, Whitehall. In one sentence, Melville mentions three well-known locations along New York's working waterfront. He also slips in a shout-out to his mother's family back in Albany, and names a spot that is tied to her family in a way even he may not have known about.

Corlears Hook

What I learned in my researches was a revelation to me—sawmills on the Hudson; north of Coenties Slip bowsprits run in over street traffic so you could touch the figureheads; the ship-chandlery shops north of Market Street (halfway between the Battery and Corlears Hook).
      - Melville Biography, An Inside Narrative; Hershel Parker; p.13

Check Google Maps—Market Street is still there, leading right down to the East River. The dockyards long gone (mostly), replaced by the FDR Drive.

Corlears Hook, 1841

According to the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, "The Corlear family, 17th century Dutch landowners, controlled much of the property in this curving landmass." Jacobus von Corlaer (the original spelling) was the first Dutch owner of a "plantation" here (Wikipedia).

By Melville's time, the area had evolved into an isolated slum, frequented by seamen from the nearby waterfront, and prostitutes. Some sources claim that the term "hooker" derives from this neighborhood's name.

Today, Corlears Hook is memorialized by a small park.


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Corlears Hook Park, looking south toward the river

My next posts will look at the other locations mentioned in Loomings, Coenties Slip and Whitehall, and their (surprising) ties to Melville's family.

(Note: The full map of 1841 Manhattan can be found at this outstanding Boston Public Library site.)

Melville's Relations, Pt. 2: Siblings

Allan and Maria Melvill had eight children, all of whom survived to adulthood:

Gansevoort (1815-1846), a gifted lawyer and Democratic politician in New York City.  He helped Herman get his first book, Typee, published.  He died at age 31.

Gansevoort Melville at about age 21

Helen Maria (1817-1888), who married Harvard-trained attorney George Griggs (1814 or '15 - 1888).  Reputedly a bit of a curmudgeon, George had met Helen through his friend Lemuel Shaw (my pseudonymous namesake), who was in turn a friend of the Melvill family before becoming Herman's father-in-law.

Herman (born in New York City at 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 1, 1819; died in bed between 12:00 and 1:00 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 28, 1891).  I understand he was a writer of some sort.

Augusta ("Gus") (1821-1876), with Fanny, one of the two maiden sisters who lived with Herman and his wife at Arrowhead.  My sense is that Gus was one of life's Marthas; she helped to keep the family in touch as her mother aged.

Gus in her mid-30s

Allan (1823-1872), a lawyer who practiced with Gansevoort in New York and eventually became the wealthiest of the eight Melville children.  His first wife was Sophia Eliza Thurston (1827-1858); they had five daughters, of whom four survived to adulthood.  His second wife was Jane W. Dempsey (died 1890). 

Allan in his mid-20s

Kate (1825-1905), who became the second wife of John Chipman Hoadley (1818-1886) and bore him two girls.  The family lived in Lawrence, Mass., where John managed a locomotive-manufacturing business before he started his own business producing a portable steam engine he had designed.  He also became one of the original trustees of MIT. 

Fanny (1827-1885), Herman's other maiden sister.

Tom (1830-1884), who went to sea on a whaler at age 15 and thereafter rose to become a captain in the merchant service.  He married Catherine E. Bogart (1842-1928) relatively late in life. 

Tom Melville at about age 35

As you can see, this was an accomplished generation of Melvilles -- much more so than their father and his brother, Uncle Thomas.  

(The biographical data in this and related posts are drawn from Hershel Parker's 2-vol. Herman Melville: A Biography [Johns Hopkins Univ., 1996 & 2002], Laurie Robertson-Lorant's Melville: A Biography [Clarkson N. Potter, 1996], and Stanton Garner's Civil War World of Herman Melville [Univ. of Kansas, 1993].)

Pt. 1: Parents and Grandparents

Melville's Relations, Pt. 1: Parents and Grandparents

In looking for information on Melville's family circle, I have discovered to my surprise that no single on-line resource provides a ready reference to the biographical essentials of Melville's various forebears, siblings, in-laws, children, nieces, and nephews, with some of whom he maintained close contact throughout his life.   I will therefore undertake to provde such information here, in a series of cross-referenced posts.  We begin with his illustrious grandparents.

*  *  *  

Herman's paternal grandparents:  Major Thomas Melvill (1751-1832) and Patricia Scollay Melvill (1755-1833).  The Major participated in the Boston Tea Party and, during the Revolutionary War, served in the Massachusetts State Regiment of Artillery.  Grandpa Melvill died when Herman was about 13, in the same year that Herman's own father died. 

Major Thomas Melvill

Herman's maternal grandparents:  General Peter Gansevoort (1749-1812), the hero of Ft. Stanwix, and Catherine Van Schaik Gansevoort (1751-1830).  The Gansevoorts belonged to New York's old "Dutch aristocracy," immortalized by Washington Irving.  Grandpa Gansevoort died some seven years before Herman was born.  Herman was about 11 (and his mother about 39) when Grandma Gansevoort died.

General Peter Gansevoort

Herman's parents:  Allan Melvill (1782-1832) and Maria Gansevoort Melvill (later "Melville") (1791-1872).  Herman's father was a merchant in the Atlantic trade in New York City, until he fled to Albany in 1830 to escape his creditors.  He died before retrieving his fortune.  Herman was about 13, and his mother about 41, at the time of Allan Melvill's death.

Herman's father in his late 20s.  In Pierre, Melville describes a portrait
of the protagonist's far-from-perfect father very similar to this.

Herman's mother, in her late 20s

The train of deaths and disaster in the early 1830s:  Granny Gansevoort dies in 1830, father's business ventures fail for good in 1830, Grandpa Melvill dies in 1832, father dies in 1832, Granny Melvill dies in 1833.  Death and poverty together become realities to the teenaged Herman, as he, his mother, and his siblings are left without a protector or a source of income.