Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/282

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854
VAN SANTVOORD
VAN SCHAACK

gees, settled on the island. In the latter year he removed to Schenectady, and became pastor of the Reformed Dutch church there, in which place he remained until his death. His intimate friend, Theodorus J. Frelinghuysen, who came to this country from Holland two years after him, settling at Raritan, N. J., and arousing much opposition by his bold and earnest evangelism, found strong support in Mr. Van Santvoord, who published in his defence a small volume entitled " A Dialogue between Considerans and Candidus." He was a friend and had been a favorite pupil of the eminent Prof. John Marck, of Leyden university, two of whose works he translated — one a " Commentary on the Apocalypse," with added notes and reflec- tions, the preface being written by Prof. Wesselius of the same university (Leyden, 1736); the other "A Dissertation on the Slaughter of the Innocents at Bethlehem," designed to establish the literal interpretation of prophecy. — His great-grandson, Staats, clergyman, b. in Schenectady, N. Y., 15 March, 1790; d. in New Baltimore, N.*Y., 29 May, 1882, was graduated at Union in 1811 and at New Brunswick theological seminary in 1814, ordained to the ministry of the Dutch Reformed church, and was pastor of the church of Belleville, N. J., in 1814-'28, of the church in Schodack, N. Y., in 1829-34, and thence removed to New Baltimore, where he resided until his death. He retired after completing his fiftieth year in the active ministry of the Reformed Dutch church. In 1864 he was in the service of the Christian commission at Nashville, Tenn. His last public appearance was in his ninety-first year, when he attended the 200th anniversary of the Dutch Reformed church at Schenectady, of which his ancestor was pastor, delivering the benediction in Dutch. Union gave him the degree of D. D. in 1876. He published several sermons, and " A Spiritual Gift," a series of fifteen discourses (New York, 1851). — Staats's son, Cornelius, clergyman, b. in Belleville, N. J., 8 April, 1816, was graduated at Union in 1835, and studied at New Brunswick and Princeton theo- logical seminaries. He became pastor of the Dutch Reformed church in Canastota, N. Y., in 1838, sub- sequently filled charges in New York state, was chaplain in the U. S. army in 1861-'5, associate editor of the " Interior," Chicago, 111., in 1869-'71, and commissioner of schools in Ulster county, N. Y., in 1871-'6. Rutgers gave him the degree of D. D. in 1855. He was a special correspondent of the " New York Times " during the civil war, has pub- lished numerous magazine and newspaper articles, "Discourses and Miscellanies" (New York, 1856), and " Memoirs of Eliphalet Nott," with contribu- tions by Prof. Tayler Lewis (1876). — Another son of Staats, George, lawyer, b. in Belleville, N. J., 8 Dec, 1819 ; d. in East Albany, N. Y., 6 March, 1863, was graduated at Union in 1841, studied law in Kinderhook, and removed to Indiana, but re- turned to the former town and practised there in 1846-52, In 1852 and 1856 he was a member of the state assembly, and in 1860-'3 district attorney of Rensselaer county. He was killed in a railroad accident. He wrote for the " Democratic Review " lives of French revolutionists, and is the author of " The Indiana Justice " (Lafayette, 1845) ; " Life of Algernon Sidney " (New York, 1851) ; " Prin- ciples of Pleading in Civil Actions under the New York Code" (1852-'4; enlarged edition, with addi- tions, 1855 ; with appendix, notes, and references, 1858) ; " Lives of the Chief Justices of the United States " (1854) ; "Precedents of Pleading" (1858); and " Practice in the Supreme Court of New York in Equity Actions" (Albany, N. Y., 1860-'l).


VAN SATLEE, Antony Jansen, pirate, b. firobably in Holland about 1600 ; d. on Long sland, N. Y., in March, 1670. He was in New Amsterdam as early as 1630, and resided there till 1639, when he was banished for his crimes and un- ruly manner of life, having acquired the soubri- quet of the " Turk " from his cruel and fierce char- acter. He is found in the records under several aliases, that indicate that he engaged in the pira- cies on the coast of Morocco before coming to this country. When he was banished from New Am- sterdam he settled on the west end of Long Island, obtaining a patent for 100 acres of land.


VAN SCHAACK, Peter, lawyer, b. in Kinder- hook, N. Y., in March, 1747; d. there, 17 Sept., 1832. His ancestors were early settlers of New York state, emigrating from Holland. Peter was graduated at Columbia in 1768, studied law under William Smith the elder, and at twenty-six years of age was appointed sole reviser of the colonial statutes. He was conscientiously opposed to the Revolution, and, notwithstanding his personal popularity and intimacy with the most eminent men of the country, was summoned before the committee on conspiracies at Albany in June, 1777, and required to take the oath of allegiance to the Continental congress. He refused, was ordered to Boston within ten days, and from that time was constantly restrained, the authorities even refus- ing to permit him to take his dying wife to New York, as she entreated. In October, 1778, he was banished, went to England, and remained there till the summer of 1785. During his residence abroad he associated with the chief scholars and statesmen of Great Britain. When he returned to this country he was welcomed by his old asso- ciates and by people of all parties, and, resuming his profession, was eminently popular and suc- cessful. Prom constant study his eyesight became impaired early in life, and during his later years he was totally blind. He also devoted much time to his law-school, which numbered nearly one hundred pupils annually. Judge Van Schaack was well versed in polite literature as well as legal lore, a fine classical scholar, and a brilliant con- versationalist, and his residence at Kinderhook, which is still standing, was the resort of many eminent persons of both England and this coun- try. Columbia gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1778. He published " Laws of the Colony of New York " (2 vols., New York, 1773), and " Conductor Generalis, or the Duty and Authority of Justices, Sheriffs, Constables, etc., Revised and Adapted to the United States " (1788). See his " Life, Journal, Diary, and Letters," edited by his son, Henry C. Van Schaack (1842). — His son, Henry Cruger, lawyer, b. in Kinderhook, N. Y„ 3 April, 1802 ; d. in Manlius, N. Y., 16 Dec, 1887, received an aca- demic education at Hudson and legal instruction from his father, and at twenty-one years of age was admitted to the bar and began practice at Black Rock, near Buffalo. In 1827 he removed to Manlius, N. Y. During his sixty years of profes- sional life Mr. Van Schaack published the life of his father, already referred to, and several pam- phlets, including " Henry Cruger," an address read before the New York historical society (New York, 1859); "History of Manlius Village" (Fayette- ville, N. Y., 1873) ; " An Old Kinderhook Mansion " (New York, 1878) ; and " Captain Thomas Morris " (1882). He was a noted collector of manuscripts, and his collection of autograph letters — including those of most of the heroes and patriots of the Revolution — was one of the most extensive and valuable in the country.