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Correspondence of Rhoda Waterbury and
G. W. Clinton |
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Correspondence of Rhoda Waterbury and G. W. Clinton 1865 - 1867 Edited
by P. M. P.O. Box 299, August 1866 Vol. 3. No. 123 [M 106]
Schoharie, Aug. 10th, 1866 My
dear I
think I must write you an old fashion letter I feel like it and if you have not
the time to read it now, just let it rest until you have. I have just
returned from I
have been out after plants and feel better as I knew I should. We found the Asclepias tuberosa which was
once wanting in the Herbarium and if I was sure it was still needed I would
make another journey to the top of the mountain for the specimen I have is
not fine, also Spiranthes gracilis,
Desmodium nudiflorum and
what I take to be a species of Polygala. I will send you a specimen. I
visited in company with Prof. D..., what they call the coal mine, about four
miles from here, they have gone, or rather followed a vein of something that
looks very much like coal, a hundred feet into the side of the mountain, but
I suppose it is not coal, and the company has been given up though they once
dreamed of immense revenues to be derived from it. I am going to ramble now
in right good earnest it will so soon be winter again. I shudder when I think
of it not that I fear the cold, but more than one sad winter has left its
impression upon me - but I will not think of it, it is not wise, I ask only
for that firm faith that both in storm and sunshine can be calm, hopeful,
trusting, assured that in the end “I shall be satisfied.” Your
former kindness assures me you will forgive, my second epistle before the
answer of the former, and will still allow me to subscribe myself
Your disciple,
Rhoda Waterbury Hon.
G. W. Clinton Should
the plant be misnamed I think it would be the surest way to call a
reply from you so I shall not hesitate to call it something Polygala verticillata, the two were found
in quite different localities are they the same
species. Recd
Aug.13 Wrote ... Sept 2[9] According to French (1860) the “Regents of
the University are required to visit and inspect all colleges and academies,
and report their condition, annually.” p. 125. Rhoda seems to hint at
an understanding, perhaps given to her, about her knowledge that the
“Regents hold their office during life, unless they resign or forfeit
their place by ... accepting a civil office the duties of which are
incompatible with their duties as Regents: but the members may be removed by
concurrent resolution of the Senate and Assembly. They receive no pay.”
p. 125. Footnote 2 elaborates: “What these offices are does not appear
to have been settled. On several occasions an appointment to the bench of the
Supreme Court has created a vacancy. Non-attendance at the meetings of the
Board during one year has also been construed to vacate the seat of a
Regent.” As of 1860, the Legislature had never removed a member of the
Regents. The Chancellor is the senior officer of
the Board of Regents. Her private meeting with the Governor was also
a private meeting with the Chairman of the special Committee for reorganizing
the State Cabinet. If she sought to damage Clinton’s or Hall’s
plans in any way, this was the perfect time to do it, when Hall had been made
Curator and Charles Peck seemed to be clearly maneuvered into the position as
botanist, or Curator of the New York Herbarium. Reuben E. Fenton became governor of
“... Mr. Hall had persistently urged upon the Board of Regents
and his friends in the legislature, plans for enlarging the scope of the [New
York State] Cabinet and in 1865, in response to a request of the Legislature,
they transmitted a most carefully elaborated project for such
reorganization.” (Clarke p383-4).
Dr. Samuel B. Woolworth was Secretary of the Board of Regents. Governor Reuben E. Fenton was Chairman
of the special Committee, the plan for augmentation of the State Cabinet. (p.
384-5). “Mr. Hall was made “Curator” of the State Cabinet
in January [1866, Clarke erroneously wrote 1865] and was authorized to carry
out the plan for a Museum as he had
proposed it and this action was supported by increased legislative
appropriations.” p. 385. “Mr. Hall was now in the saddle as the
official head of two reorganized State departments of science ...”
independent in responsibility. “... Charles H. Peck, an Reuben Eaton Fenton (1819-85) was born in Rhoda is now using the idea of withheld
information to lure
“And first I wonder how the Regents ever hit upon so happy a
plan to bring the different parts of our school or University system into
sympathy, it is just the thing and it is improving every year.” This
seems to imply that the various state education strata were being
reorganized, just as the New York State Cabinet was under James Hall. According to the website of the Board of
Regents (March 2006) “Established by the New York State Legislature on
May 1, 1784, the Regents of The University of the State of Rhoda chides If there was genuine fear that advanced
education should make a woman unfit for marriage, perhaps Rhoda would be a
good example, not for having been well educated (“educated like a
man”) but for being clever. Her intelligence is remarkable, but it is more
her aggression that resulted in the frustration of her ambitions with regard
to There was no exchange between Rhoda and
Clinton in September, when Rhoda was undertaking to teach school. |
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