Published: November 23, 2008 11:05 pm         

FARLEY: ‘Father of the canal’ funeral

DeWitt Clinton, the “father” of the Erie Canal, died suddenly in Albany on Feb. 11, 1828, at the age of 59. The funeral services were held four days later with thousands of mourners standing in the streets, heads bowed in honor to the life of a remarkable state leader. Eyewitnesses said the funeral cortege was impressive enough to be the procession for a fallen pesident. Among the marchers were units of the Army and the Navy, high-ranking officials from all the levels of government and representatives from many of the communities that had benefited so much from Gov.Clinton’s Ditch.

New York gave Clinton an impressive farewell, but political realities soon set in as the legislature attempted the painful job of determining the amount of the severance payment that should be given to the family of the late governor. The eloquent words of his eulogy and all the praises had come without cost, but the legislators tightened the purse strings when it came to the death payment.

The sad fact of the matter was that the amount of the payment mattered a great deal to Clinton’s family. The renowned Clinton, after a lifetime of public service, had left his family in poor financial condition. As a politician, Clinton had not made a lot of money, but apparently it wouldn’t have made a large difference if he had. While Clinton was a fine administrator in government, he had handled his own financial affairs rather poorly. He had been an easy touch for friends looking for money, and besides lending his own money, he also had co-signed on a number of debts. In several cases, the borrowers reneged on their payments and Clinton had to assume the debt.

The Clinton family was badly in arrears and had no means of support after the governor’s death. One creditor alone put in a claim for $6,000. Fearing that he might not get his money, the creditor obtained a judgment that resulted in a public sale of most of the Clinton family possessions. Among the personal items of the late governor that were auctioned off was a magnificent set of silver that had been presented to Clinton by a group of merchants from New York City. Although these merchants at first opposed the Erie Canal, the canal later proved extremely beneficial to their businesses and they offered the silver set as a token of their appreciation.

Enough money was realized from the sale of the property to satisfy the judgment, but nothing was left to help the Clinton family (a widow and four minor children) through the difficult years ahead. Several measures of state aid were introduced. One measure offered to pay for the services that Clinton had refused payment for as a canal commissioner for more than a decade. However, the governor’s old adversary, General Peter Porter of Black Rock, objected. He argued that because Clinton had not been willing to accept the compensation in his own lifetime, he probably would be opposed to it in his death. In a compromise, Porter introduced a bill that would provide the governor’s surviving children a grant of $10,000, plus the remainder of the salary due the governor for the rest of 1828. That arrangement, as it turned out, was as far as the state of New York cared to go in extending financial help.

Another irony in the final scene of the Clinton drama was that even though the governor received the grandest of state funerals, when it was all over, the family had no place to bury him. His widow was completely without funds to purchase a suitable gravesite. As a result, Clinton’s remains were placed in the family vault of Dr. Stringer, an old friend from Albany. Sixteen years later, enough money was collected to provide a suitable burial. On June 21, 1844, a newspaper in Albany printed this small announcement: “The remains of DeWitt Clinton, which had been deposited in the cemetery in Swan Street, were removed to New York for interment under a monument created by the family.”

Clinton at long last was laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. In later years, a great bronze statue of him was placed at the gravesite. But Clinton was one of the few men who really did not need a formal monument. The great Erie Canal that he helped build was legacy enough for this exceptional statesman.

Doug Farley is director of the Erie Canal Discovery Center in Lockport. The ECDC is now closed for the season but will open for any group. Call (716) 434-7433 for details.