Ebenezer Foote

Miniature portrait of Ebenezer Foote. Present location unknown.

Impression from the signet ring believed to have belonged to Ebenezer Foote

Memoirs of Ebenezer Foote

Late in his life, Ebenezer Foote wrote a first hand account of his life. These memoirs were perhaps used for the pension application for his second wife, Matilda Rosecranz Foote, who may have moved to Illinois. You can read a transcription of the memoirs are Here

Foote Family Papers

Members of the Foote Family left behind letters. Lots of letters. Two small trunks of family papers are currently being transcribed for this website. In addition, there are numerous libraries and other repositories with letters from and to this family. Our goal is to transcribe a majority of historically pertinent information and reinterpret it in light of current research. There is a complete chronology here!

Genealogy

Ebenezer Foote,6 (Daniel,5 Nathaniel,4,3,2,1)

Ebenezer Foote was born at Colchester, Connecticut, 12 April, 1756 [Foote pp., Delhi;g.s., Foot Fam;1;93] to Daniel Foote and Margaret Parsons [“Ebenezer Foote Born on Monday 12th April, 1756” |Foote Family document, hand-lettered].

He died at Delhi, Delaware, county, New York, 28 December, 1829 [Foot Fam;1;93] and is buried at the Foote Family Cemetery, Arbor Hill, in Delhi [Deli;g.s., Foote Family pp., John D. Clarke, Congressman Thirty-fourth District, 1921–1925, Arbor Hill, 1797–1925, with pl. Reprinted from an article by Floyd H. Lincoln and published in The Walton Reporter, June 6, 1925.]

Ebenezer Foote married 10 October, 1779 at the Dutch Reform Church, New York City, New York Jerusha Purdy [Foote Fam Rec;1, Foot Fam;1;93], daughter of Abraham Purdy and Phebe Strang; she was born, probably at Rye, Westchester County, N. Y. 6 Dec., 1754 [Desc. Purdy;__]. Note from NYHS: “Jerusha Foote ob. 24 Nov., 1818, æ. 64 “A Dear & tender Mother.” Wh. Pub?

Children:

1. Frederick Parsons Foote, b. 15 March, 1783 [Foot Fam;1;93, “Frederick Parsons Foote Born 15 March mcccxxxiii” |Foote Fam. Rec;1].
2. Charles Augustus Foote, b. 15 April, 1785 at Crompound, Newburg, New York [“Charles Augustus Foote Born 15 April 1785” |Foote Fam. Rec;1]; d. at m. at 1808 Maria Baldwin daughter of Jessie Baldwin and Margaretta de Hart of Manhattan [Foot Fam;1;204]. Children: Frances, Catherine, Rensselaer, Charles, James.
3. Harriet Foote, b. 9 Nov., 1787 [Foote Fam. Rec;1, Foot Fam;1;94]; d. at ___; she m. John Foote, Esq. son of Judge Isaac Foote and Mary Kellogg [Foot Fam;1;198]. John Foote was an Attorney and Counsellor at Law, Solicitor and Counsellor in Chancery and District Court of the United States; d. July 1884, res. Hamilton, N.Y. Children [Foot Fam;1;199]
   1. Acsah Sophia Foote, b. 26 Oct. 1812, d. 19 Feb., 1891 [Foot Fam;1;199]
   2. Margaret Parsons Foote, b. 17 April, 1814, m. 11 Feb. 1834 William Hart Williams, son of Solomon Williams and Hepzibah Hart, he was b. Berkshire, Tioga county N.Y., 10 Dec., 1811 [Foot Fam;1;199]
   3. John Johnson Foote, b. 11 Feb., 1816, m. Mary Crocker [Foot Fam;1;199]
   4. Mary Foote, b. ___ “d. in infancy” [Foot Fam;1;199]
   5. Mary Kellogg Foote, b. 3 Jan., 1819
   6. Caroline Della Foote, b. 26 Aug., 1820, m. John Mitchell, Norwich, N.Y. [Foot Fam;1;199]
   7. Susan Foote, b. 2 April, 1822 m. 19 Aug., 1848 Rev. David A. Peck, Clifton Park, N.Y. [Foot Fam;1;199]
   8. William Johnson Foote, b. ___, d. æ. 3 [Foot Fam;1;199]
   9. Dr. Henry Cady Foote, b. 28 Aug., 1825, m. Ann Elizabeth McKee, daughter of ___, res. Galesburg, Ill. [Foot Fam;1;199]
   10. Frederick William Foote, b. 9 Aug., 1827, m. Esther Young.
   11. George W. Foote, b. 4 July, 1829, m. Harriet Morton [Foot Fam;1;199]
4. Margaret Parsons Foote, b. 9 March, 1790 [Foote Fam. Rec;1]; she died 1840 [Foot Fam;1;95]; she married Rev. Ebenezer Maxwell, son of ___ Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Delhi, N.Y.; he d. July, 1840 [Foot Fam;1;95]. Children, [Foot Fam;1;199]
   1. Ebenezer Foote Maxwell, b. ___; he lives in Delhi, on the place which belonged to his Grandfather Foote, and on which he died [Foot Fam;1;95].

Jerusha Purdy Foote died at Delhi, N.Y., Nov., 1818 and is buried in the Foote Family Cemetery, Arbor Hill, Delhi. [Delhi;d.r.?, g.s., “1818” |Foot Fam;1;93].

Ebenezer Foote married, 2d, 2 October, 1818 Matilda Rosencranz (Halsey) [Holland Society of New York; New York, New York; New York Marriages, Book 32, Foote Fam;1;93]. Said to be living in Illinois, 1849 [Goodwin, children listed in Foote Family by Abram Foote, and Foote Family records and papers.]

Hannah Foote, niece of Ebenezer, married Judge Elijah Miller

Frances Adeline Miller Seward (1805 – June 21, 1865) was born in 1805, the daughter of Judge Elijah Miller and Hannah Foote Miller. (She was the second cousin to Charles A. Foote.) She studied at the Troy Female Seminary (now known as Emma Willard School). She married New York attorney William Henry Seward on October 20, 1824 after meeting through his sister, a classmate, in 1821. In his lifetime, William served as a senator in the New York legislature, Governor of New York, a senator from New York and United States Secretary of State under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.

The couple raised five children:

1. Augustus Henry Seward (1826-1876),
2. Frederick William Seward (1830-1915),
3. Cornelia Seward (1835-1836),
4. William Henry Seward, Jr. (1839-1920)
5. Frances Adeline "Fanny" Seward (1844-1866).
6. Some years after his wife's death, in 1870, William formally adopted his companion Olive Risley Seward (1841-1908).

On April 14, 1865, her husband and two of their sons, Frederick and Augustus, and Fanny, were injured in an assassination attempt on her husband in their house. The man responsible for this ordeal was Lewis Powell a.k.a. Lewis Paine, an associate of John Wilkes Booth who had shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln the same day. The attack put Frances into a state of great anxiety about her family. She thought that Frederick would die of his injuries, although he survived. She died on June 21, 1865 of a heart attack. The events of April 14 undoubtedly hastened her death.

References Doris Kearns Goodwin. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (2005).

Biography

Foot Fam;1;93:

At Nineteen Ebenezer Foote was found with the Minute Men at Bunker Hill; made sergeant of the Second Conn.; was at Trenton and Valley Forge; taken prisoner at the battle of Fort Washington, and confined to the old Bridwell, managed to escape, and by means of a plank found on the shore swam the Hudson in the month of December, but the exposure brought on a severe illness, and he never again could engage in active service. His patriotism, however, would not allow him to remain an outsider, and we next find him in the Commissary Department at General Washington’s headquarters on the Hudson, where he remained until his health again forced his resignation just before the close of the war. He saw much of Washington; was temporarily on his Staff, and retired with the rank of Major. One of the most interesting events of his life is well related by Mr. Abbot, in his delightful work entitled “The crisis of the Revolution,” when Capt. Foote, in the early morning of Sept. 22, 1780, for a few moments held the fate of that gallant soldier, Major Andre, in his hands. As officer in command at Crompond, Capt. Foote scanned the pass produced by Andre, but knowing Benedict Arnold and his writing well, and seeing that his appended signature was correct, allowed the party to proceed. After the war Major Foote engaged in a large mercantile and shipping business at Newburgh, N.Y., with his brother Justin, who later married Marie Evertson, whose sister had just married Governor Smith of Conn. Major Foote, whose duties at headquarters caused him to ride much and far, had met and married the charming young Jerusha Purdy, of Yorktown, Westchester, N.Y., and from old tales and letter she appears to have remained a fascinator until her death. Mr. Foote was for a long time Member of Assembly from Ulster, and was largely instrumental in procuring the setting off of Delaware Co., where he came to reside in Aug., 1797. He was Co. Clerk for a number of years, conducted an extensive land agency, and three times was appointed First or Presiding Judge, as well as acting for a short time as puisne on the bench. He represented the old Middle District for four years in the Senate of the Sate; was nominated for Congress, but other duties forced him to decline; sat in the council of Appointment with Gov. Jay, and enjoyed his friendship and confidence. (See Jay Gould’s History) In 1798 the Co. town was erected, and Judge Foote, as chief citizen, was appointed by the Legislature to name it. Not particularly desiring the honor, he said to his intimate friends at Albany, the Patroon, Gen. Schuyler, etc., “I think I shall decline.” They all belonged to a small club, each member bearing some fanciful name; Senator Foote’s was “The Great Mogul,” and his fellow members said, “We shall name it for you, and call it after your city, ‘Delhi’,” which was done, to the great annoyance of Gen. Root, a prominent man and politician, who had also come to reside in the place, and wished much to have the privilege of giving the name. As Speaker of the House in 1801, he gained great credit for his “dignity and courtesy.” At Delhi he assisted in organizing St. John’s Church and an Academy, which for many years enjoyed a wide reputation; of the one he was made the first Senior Warden, of the other, the first President of the Board of Trustees. In the issue of Jan. 7, 1830, “The Commercial Advertiser,” New York City, (See Life of Samuel Foote) in an extended notice of his death, speaks of his integrity, of his prominence in the State, and of his beautiful mansion, Arbor Hill, on the banks of the Delaware, and of the long list of eminent men who enjoyed from time to time its hospitality. A man refined, honest and honorable in all his ways.

His niece, Roxanna, married Lyman Beecher, and became the mother of Henry Ward and Mrs. H.B. Stowe. A grand-niece married William Seward, Governor [of New York] and [United States] Secretary of State [during the Civil War].

“How it was Named Delhi,” Hist Dela;449: Judge Foote, who was in the Legislature of 1796–97 from Ulster county, was instrumental in the formation of Delaware county, and was much interested, with many others, in the location of its county seat. The judge was appointed, from his earnest support of the formation of the new county, to give a name to the town so soon to be brought forth, and the clique with which he boarded and was intimate requested him to allow them to suggest a name; he consented. His nick-name was “The Great Mogul,” and they, knowing he was to reside here, suggested the name of Delhi, that being the city of the Mogul, and he, agreeable to his promise, so named it. This is the proper account, and will explain why so singular a name appears among the many that followed naturally. A former history of this county gives a ludicrous scene that occurred among other warm friends of the new county, who wished the name to be “Mapleton.” General Erastus Root, who was an impulsive gentleman, and leader of those who insisted upon the latter name, when told that the name should be Delhi, said: “Del-hi—hell-hi! Better call it Foote high!” The name was thus given, and the town formed took rank among sister towns in the general work of the new county.

"It is a certainty that Major Foote had the esteem and respect of the public at large to such an extent as few men of his time could boast of. “Arbor Hill” was another word for hospitality and its guest over a period of years number many of the famous men and women of that age. The Van Rensselaers and the Livingstons were friends of the Foote family. General Schuyler, with whom Major Foote had formed a friendship while in the army, came on different occasions to visit at “Arbor Hill.” Martin Van Buren, already famous as a lawyer and state politician and beginning to be known nationally, was another who was entertained by Major Foote. DeWitt Clinton, the brilliant young statesman,destined to have his name permanently fixed in the annals of this country as the builder of the Erie Canal, was a guest of the Major’s. Aaron Burr, one of history’s most tragic figures, crossed the threshold of “Arbor Hill” on at least one occasion."

• Floyd H. Lincoln, Arbor Hill... 1925.

Letters

Letters transcribed here are either from the few still in family hands; letters received by Ebenezer, or letters from repositories, listed in the Foote Bibliography.

Delhi, New York, and the Naming of Delhi

A place’s name is not the place itself, but it can be a snapshot of its history, if it’s old enough to have one — and I’m not unaware of how peculiarly American it must seem to others, to have “places” too young to have a history. The standard local history of my hometown maintains that after a church was burnt down by a carpenter who wasn’t paid for his work, the town fathers were so embarrassed that they renamed the place in honor of a War of 1812 naval hero. The hero’s subsequent career didn’t add much to the village’s luster, but the name remains, pinning the town to the early 19th century. Around it is a welter of places named for home by the ex-New Englanders who settled the region: Sherburne, Mt. Upton, Afton, Coventry and places with names borrowed from a vague understanding of Indian languages, like Otsego, Otego, Otsdawa, Chenango and Susquehanna. When the interior of New York opened up after the Revolution, the state parceled out names as fast as Adam must have and the tracts given as pay to Continental Army soldiers drew a library of names from classical literature, then very much in fashion: Syracuse, Manilius (now Manlius), Clay, Cicero, Pompey, Apulia and many more. D.G. Rossiter of Ithaca posits that the names came from John Dryden's translation of Plutarch's "Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans." Whatever -- The stately architecture of the region’s oldest buildings echoes the theme.
Among my favorite origin stories, though, is that of Delhi, a county seat in the northern Catskills: When the time came to give the narrow valley and the township around it a name in 1802, politicians thought to honor Judge Ebenezer Foote, a landowner and state senator known as “the great mogul” to his buddies — for wealth, but also because he was short and fat. They offered “Delhi,” it being the Indian potentate’s home. Proponents of “Mapleton” grouched about the choice, and Erastus Root, a fellow politican who eventually became lieutenant governor (he was buried in Delhi for a while), quipped: “Dell-high, hell-high — better call it Foote-high!” The maple lovers got Maple Grove on the East branch of the Delaware River, but Delhi became the county seat — graced by a lovely, warm-brick French Empire courthouse and the ample homes of well-to-do 19th-century lawyers — while Maple Grove remains only in the bitter memories of onetime residents; it was lost under the Pepacton reservoir.
Now, you should take origin stories with a grain of salt. They’re no more provable than Homer’s (another Upstate New York placename) tale of the Trojan Horse, but they’re just as important to the town’s identity, and you question them at your peril.
"P." http://www.placeblogging.com/place_names retrieved 6 Feb, 2011.

Delhi, (1,370 alt., 1,840 pop.) home of a State School of Agriculture, is a neat, modern town. Shortly after the Revolutionary War Ebenezer Foote was so influential locally and as a member of the State legislature that he was nicknamed 'the Great Mogul.' At the suggestions of facetious citizens the community was named after Delhi, India, the capital city of the real Great Mogul. At Delhi is the junction with State 10, which follows the valley of the West Branch of the Delaware, locally known as Cat Hollow since 1843. At that time there was a lumber camp operating in the valley that was dominated by an Amazon of a cook. Not only did she knock out the bully who killed her cat but further punished the whole crew by serving the pet in a surprise meat pie.
New York, a guide to the Empire state. American guide series, US History Publishers, 1949.

Named through the influence of Judge Ebenezer Foote. The name "Mapleton" was suggested by several prominent citizens.
Delhi—was formed from Middletown, Kortright, and Walton, March 23, 1798. A part of Bovina was taken off in 1820, and a part of Hamden in 1825...
Gazetteer of Delaware County, New York, J. H. French, 1859.

Judge Foote, who was in the Legislature of 1796–97 from Ulster county, was instrumental in the formation of Delaware county, and was much interested, with many others, in the location of its county seat. The judge was appointed, from his earnest support of the formation of the new county, to give a name to the town so soon to be brought forth, and the clique with which he boarded and was intimate requested him to allow them to suggest a name; he consented. His nick-name was “The Great Mogul,” and they, knowing he was to reside here, suggested the name of Delhi, that being the city of the Mogul, and he, agreeable to his promise, so named it. This is the proper account, and will explain why so singular a name appears among the many that followed naturally. A former history of this county gives a ludicrous scene that occurred among other warm friends of the new county, who wished the name to be “Mapleton.” General Erastus Root, who was an impulsive gentleman, and leader of those who insisted upon the latter name, when told that the name should be Delhi, said: “Del-hi—hell-hi! Better call it Foote high!” The name was thus given, and the town formed took rank among sister towns in the general work of the new county.
"How it was Named Delhi,” History of Delaware County, p. 449.

Clippings

The Balance; and Columbian Repository, vol. 2; No. 16. Hudson, 19 April, 1803: "Resolved, That Ebenezer Foote, of the county of Delaware, and Jacob Ford, of the county of Columbia, be supported as Senators to represent the middle district in the Legislature of this State."

Abbreviations and Citations

• Dela;b.r., d.r., m.r., g.s: Delaware (county) Birth Record, death record, marriage record, grave stone
• Delhi;b.r., d.r., m.r., g.s.: Delhi, N. Y. (town) Birth, Death, Marriage Record, .grave stone
• fff: Frances Foote [Ford] pp., copies of Bible of other records of births and marriages poss. of Jane and Maynard Ford, photocopy of the ed.
• Foote Fam Rec. 1: Foote Family Record, in the form of a sampler showing the children of C. A. Foote, poss. of Jane and Maynard Ford, Fitchburg, Mass., 1996.
• Marv rec;1 Family records of Charles Marvine family apparently copied from a Bible, black edged letter stationary, provenance: Francis and Charles Marvine, Margaret Marvine Maynard, Frances Maynard Ford, Maynard and Jane Ford, David Ford II.
• Marv Bible;2: Bible belonging to Charles Marvine and family, dated in pen on end-papers, “Delhi, Jany 24 1853.” Collection, Ford Family.

References

• (Mr.) W. Abbot, “The crisis of the Revolution; the Story of Arnold and André.” New York. 1899.
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1744–1989, Bicentennial Edition, Washington, U S Government Printing Office, 1989 [alphabetical entries]
• John L. Brooke. Columbia Rising: Civil Life on the Upper Hudson from the Revolution to the Age of Jackson. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia Series. UNC Press Books, 2010.
• Abram W. Foote, The Foote Family, Comprising The Genealogy and History of Nathaniel Foote Of Weathersfield, Conn. And His Descendants..., two vols. Rutland, 1907.
• Ebenezer Foote. Papers. Library of Congress, MS Division.
• More Ebenezer Foote Papers, dealing with land dealings, leases, deeds, tax lists and inventories. Princeton University. http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/pdf?id=ark:/88435/6m311p35m
• Ebenezer Foote and Spencer, Letters, 1802, nypl *KF
• Katherine Adelia Foote, Ebenezer Foote, the Founder; Being an Epistolary Light on His Time as Shed by Letters From His Files; Selected by his Great Granddaughter... Delhi, 1927.
• Floyd H. Lincoln, Arbor Hill, Fraser, Delaware Co., N.Y., Residence of John D. Clarke, Congressman Thirty-Fourth District, 1921–1925, “reprinted from an article by Floyd H. Lincoln and published in The Walton Reporter, June 6, 1925.
• W.H. Munsell & Co. [publishers], History of Delaware County, N.Y., With Illustrations, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Some Pioneers and Prominent Residents /1797–1880/, N.Y.C., 1880. Index published by the Delaware County Historical Society.
• New York, a guide to the Empire state. American guide series, US History Publishers, 1949
• Jay Gould. History of Delaware County, and Border Wars of New York: containing a sketch of the early settlements in the county, and a history of the late anti-rent difficulties in Delaware : with other historical and miscellaneous matter. Keany & Gould. 1856.
• Floyd H. Lincoln, Arbor Hill, 1797–1925, John D. Clarke, Congressman Thirty-fourth District, 1921–1925, with pl. Reprinted from an article published in “The Walton Reporter,” June 6, 1925.
• http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/foote.html
• Dorman S. Purdy, “Descendants of Francis Purdy”, ms., New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
• Henry R. Stiles, History of Ancient Weathersfield, N.Y., 1904; page number.

Online

• Suny at Oneota Library
• The Delaware County, New York, History and Genealogy Site