Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.
Edward Riggs - Schoolmaster
Cadwallader Colden paid £15:12:10 cash to Edward Riggs on this day, 250 years-ago. That sum was the equivalent of two months wages for an experienced tradesman. Did Riggs command a higher wage as the British-educated head of the Colden Academy?
As mentioned in a prior blog, Riggs was the recent replacement for William Adams as the master of the Colden Academy, a country boarding school for "Young Gentlemen" which is believed to have been headquartered in the old Colden Homestead in Coldengham.
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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.
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This DayBook entry was the last of twenty-six for Riggs. Perhaps this marked the end of the school year or perhaps the permanent closing of the academy. No further advertisements for the academy appear in the New York City newspapers after 1767.
The McClaughry family website states that Edward Riggs (b. 1743) came from Ireland to America in 1763 without his wife, Mary Ann McClaughry (b. 1745). He taught Latin in Kingston (Esopus at the time) until she joined him in 1765. She sailed with her parents, Thomas and Margaret (Swift), and several brothers. They stayed with Edward in Esopus until 1766 when they moved to a farm in Little Britain owned by George Monell [see this blog on Monell] . This location was close to farms of the survivors of the Clinton Company immigration of 1729. Several of Mary Ann’s uncles and aunts were on that ship, the ancestors of Colonel James McClaughry of Revolutionary War fame (James McClaughry married Catherine Clinton who died in Little Britain in 1762).
In 1768, Thomas and Margaret McClaughry moved to a farm in Salem, Washington County, New York. Did Edward and Mary Ann join them later that year? And what did Edward do during the Revolutionary War? He does not appear in any war records and he is not in the 1779 tax assessment for Hanover, New York. Sometime between his time at the Colden Academy and the end of the war, his wife, Mary Ann, died.
On November 25, 1782, Edward married Lydia Belknap (of the Belknaps of Newburgh?) [Ruttenber’s History of Newburgh p. 270] Around this time they removed to New York City.
On March 24, 1785, Edward Riggs advertised his newly published "The New American Latin Grammar" in the New York Packet and the New York Morning Post. He gave his address as No. 59 Water Street.
On May 5, 1785, The New-York Packet announced that Mr. Rigg's Grammar-School had moved to No. 23 John St. Mrs. Riggs Boarding-School had moved to No. 46 William Street. Lydia advertised again on May 19 and May 26.
The New-York Packet of September 22, 1785 indicated that Lydia had moved her boarding school for young ladies again, and was now located at No. 3 Maiden Lane in New York City. She was teaching "proper reading, spelling, and a variety of needlework, and with Mr. Rigg's assistance the English grammar according to the best and newest plan ..." Perhaps Edward used the Grammar Book he purchased at the Colden Store in 1768?
Edward Riggs “Schoolmaster” executed his last will and testament in New York City on August 29, 1786. [Record of Wills, 1665-1916; Index to Wills, 1662-1923 (New York County); Author: New York. Surrogate's Court (New York County); Probate Place: New York, New York. Wills, Vol 039, 1784-1786.]
An obituary appeared in the Saturday, September 2, 1786 edition of the New York Daily Advertiser. “DIED, On Thursday morning [August 31, 1786], Mr. EDWARD RIGG [sic], a native of Ireland, and many years a teacher of a grammar school in this City.”
His will was proved in New York City on November 13, 1786. His executors were his son, Edward, and Thomas McClaughry of Cambridge District in the County of Albany, Yeoman (his brother-in-law from first wife). He left his property to his second wife Lydia and his children, Eleanor, Edward, Thomas, Matthew, and Mary Ann.
Ruttenber wrote that “Lydia [Belknap] ... subsequently removed to Newburgh where she died Jan 9 1824. Mrs. Riggs was a school teacher and it is said that she taught DeWitt Clinton his letters. She was present at the inauguration of Washington at the old Federal Hall, corner of Wall and Nassau streets, New York. She was a woman remarkable for her piety, education, and virtue and it is said of her that she maintained that distinction under a democracy which a regal government would confer upon rank.” [History of Newburgh]
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