ctive daughters. Mr. Schmidt,
who came to this country as a bachelor, married Miss Eliza Ann Bache of
New York. Quite a number of years subsequent to this event, before they
had children of their own, they adopted a little girl whom they named
Julia and whom I knew very well in my early girlhood. As equestrian
exercise was popular in New York at that time, many of the young men and
women riding on the Bloomingdale Road would stop at the Schmidts'
hospitable home, rest their horses and enjoy a pleasing half-hour's
conversation with the daughters of the household. Among the fair riders
was Mary Tallmadge, a famous beauty and a daughter of General James
Tallmadge. During her early life and at a period when visits abroad were
few and far between, her father accompanied her to Europe. During her
travels on the continent she visited St. Petersburg, where her beauty
created a great sensation. While there the Emperor Nicholas I. presented
her with a handsome India shawl. She returned to America, married Philip
S. Van Rensselaer, a son of the old Patroon, and lived for many years on
Washington Square in New York.

Alexander Hamilton and family also owned and occupied a house in this
charming suburb called "The Grange." It was subsequently occupied by
Herman Thorne, who had married Miss Jane Mary Jauncey, a wealthy heiress
of New York. He lived in this house only a few years when he went with
his wife to reside in Paris during the reign of Louis Philippe. Mr.
Thorne became the most prominent American resident there and excited
the envy of many of his countrymen by his lavish expenditure of money.
His daughters made foreign matrimonial alliances. He was originally from
Schenectady, for a time was a purser in the U.S. Navy, and was
remarkable for his handsome presence and courtly bearing.

Jacob Lorillard lived in a handsome house in Manhattanville, a short
distance from the Bloomingdale Road. He began life, first as an
apprentice and then as a proprietor, in the tanning and hide business,
and his tannery was on Pearl Street. He then, with his brothers,
embarked in the manufacture and sale of snuff and tobacco, in which, as
is well known, he amassed an immense fortune. My earliest recollection
of the family is in the days of its great prosperity. One of Mr.
Lorillard's daughters, Julia, who married Daniel Edgar, I knew very
well, and I recall a visit I once made her in her beautiful home, where
I also attended her wedding a few ye