LETTERS: Correspondence to Martha Bradstreet.
Two 19th Century New York Women
Assert Their Legal Rights
Cochran, Catharine Van Rensselaer (Malcolm), and Martha Bradstreet Codd. Correspondence Archive. 1812-14; 1841-49; 1856.
29 letters, ranging from one to three pages each, on folded letter sheets, often with original address; occasional tears or splitting at folds; transcriptions present. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
An archive of letters between Catharine Van Rensselaer Cochran (and husband James) and Martha Bradstreet, illuminating the lives of two well-born post-Revolutionary era women, and the hurdles they overcame in attempts to raise their families, support themselves, and repossess usurped claims to property first secured by their ancestors. Twenty-one of the letters are from Cochran to Bradstreet, and four are from Bradstreet to Cochran. Cochran wrote an additional letter to John Bradstreet; and James Cochran wrote three to Martha Bradstreet (regarding social visits and subpoenas).
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Catharine Van Rensselaer (Malcolm) Cochran (1781-1857) was descended from one of the most illustrious families of Revolutionary America. Her father was military hero General Philip Schuyler who, after the American Revolution, became one of the largest landholders of upstate New York. Her godparents were the Alexander Hamiltons, and her second husband was a member of the House of Representatives. A close family friend was General John Bradstreet, who was also a large property holder in the Utica, New York area. His step-granddaughter, Martha Bradstreet (1780-1871) was a one-time Utica neighbor of Cochran, and a lifelong friend. This archive documents their friendship, sealed by mutual affection as well as common cause. Both were confronted daily with the tasks of child-rearing, household management, and marital relations. In addition, both were descended from wealthy American Generals; had fallen on hard economic times; and sought to regain their former status through the legal pursuit of land claims of “the Parellellogram of Worrells Patent” in Utica.
The letters begin in 1812, when Catharine Van Rensselaer was the wife of lawyer Samuel Bayard Malcolm and Martha Bradstreet was married to Matthew Codd. They continue to 1856, with great gaps—no letters appear from 1815-40, or 1850-55. Between the first letter and the last both women endured financial and emotional hardship. Bradstreet divorced and sued to regain her family name and land fortune. Van Rensselaer was widowed in 1814 in Stillwater, New York; returned to Utica; and in 1822 married her cousin, James Cochran. Their only child, a daughter, died at the age of two. In the fall of 1825 the Cochrans moved to Oswego, where they lived out the rest of their days.
The earliest letters are concerned primarily with the tribulations Cochran endured in moving from Utica to Stillwater: leasing property, selling property, conveying property; and what to do with the children in the midst of such activity. Life in Stillwater and Albany is observed, differences between it and Utica noted, and visits to her husband’s relatives in Boston described. These letters provide a fascinating glimpse into the business component of Cochran’s career as homemaker, housewife, and mother, as she discusses family finances, property values, and potential methods of generating income. (See especially letters dated November 20, 1812, and September 27, 1813.)
Her earliest letters are dominated by the strain of responsibility and the burden of debt. Early on she writes of a condition that would prove chronic: “As usual I am writing under the pressure of ten thousand cares which seem to have no termination” (October 18, no year, probably 1813). On March 30 (no year but probably 1914) Cochran writes that she has dissolved property and relinquished income to cover debts; and “with a spirit of independence so high as mine which will not stoop to be indebted even to brothers,” she has decided to tutor young ladies. She offe
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