Rheumatism strikes hard

October 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 1823 – [The first intimation of a serious affliction for Douglas]. When at Albany I was seized with rheumatism in my knees, which almost reduced me from being able to do anything. Here I became lame for two days I can never forget the attention paid to me by General Lewis and family. 

On Wednesday and Thursday I was able to crawl about a little. I went with Mr Lewis over the greater part of his estate. He pays great attention to agriculture and gardening; he has all the newest modes of tillage and many of the newest and most-improved implements.  [Douglas then goes on at great length about Gov. Lewis's garden, perhaps subconsciously repaying the kindly treatment he had received there]

 

This is Douglas's first serious bout of a malady which was to recur regularly throughout the rest of his life. With hindsight, and as a result of a retrospective diagnosis commissioned by Jack Nisbet from Doctors Meredith Heick and Jon Stevenson in the Pacific North West, we think it likely he was suffering from reactive inflammatory arthritis. 

The two doctors agreed that the sudden onset of Douglas’s knee problem, his age at that first incident, and the way it affected both of his joints makes some form of inflammatory arthritis a likely candidate. Further indications often include bouts of flu-like symptoms that can immobilize a patient. Depression is certainly a common side effect. With hindsight we can see elements of depressive behaviour in Douglas around New Year 1826 ["In all probability, if a change does not take place, I will shortly be consigned to the tomb."]

The many forms of the disease make it very unpredictable, and serious flareups can be triggered by anything from a sudden change in the weather to a bodily infection. It is possible he had Reiter's syndrome, characterised by sharp pain confined to one or more joints. Flare-ups in different areas of the body recur sporadically in about half of the patients affected. Almost 40 per cent of Reiter’s patients experience conjunctivitis in their eyes, with the inflammation ranging from mild to severe. 

Douglas, as is well known, had serious problems with his eyes from around 1827 onwards. As Jack has pointed out in his 2014 North Columbia Boundaries Column, we can identify all these features of Douglas's health. It makes it even more impressive that he achieved as much as he did while suffering from this debilitating condition.

Church, and an impending problem

Sunday, October 12th, 1823 - General Lewis in his country stands very justly high; his house is open and frequented by all denominations of people, and particularly by foreigners. we went to church to the forenoon service and returned at midday.

Douglas doesn't know it yet but he is about to have his first serious bout of something which will continue to plague him for the rest of his life.

Two Governors

Albany, Saturday October 11th, 1823 – Early in the morning [again!] I called on Jesse Bull, Esq., a friend of Governor Clinton’s, and formerly printer for the state of New York. He has now retired from a pressing business with an ample fortune, to his pleasing pursuit of farming and gardening, of which he is very fond and shows skill in both. His garden is yet in infancy, but laid out with taste and utility. His farm is large and all divided by hedges of Crataegus oxycantha from Britain. Hedging is a thing unknown in a general sense. 

Mr Bull offered to send me some things to New York as my time was limited. He was kind and very affable for the short space of four hours acquaintance. 

[In Albany]……I waited on Governor Clinton, who was to see me at New York after furnishing me with a letter of introduction to James Thomson Esq., of Elerslie, at whose house I was already used very politely, unknown to Mr Clinton. [This was on Douglas’s journey UP the Hudson, on September 5th] 

After making acknowledgement for the very great interest which he had taken for the furtherance of the Society’s views, I went on board the steamboat and at 10 at night arrived at the house of General Morgan Lewis. 

From Wikipedia we learn that…..Of Welsh descent, Morgan Lewis (October 16, 1754 – April 7, 1844) was an American lawyer, politician, and military commander. The second son of Francis Lewis, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Lewis fought in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. He served in the New York State Assembly (1789, 1792) and the New York State Senate (1811–1814) and was New York State Attorney General (1791–1801) and governor of New York (1804–1807).

 

 

Official Gubernatorial portrait of New York Governor Morgan Lewis (Public Domain)

Networking again

Albany, Friday October 10th, 1823 – I waited on Mr Tracy, who Governor Clinton said could and would feel glad to aid me. In the first place, he invited me to look at his herbarium, which was extensive and in a good state of preservation, arranged according to the Linnaean system. In it he had Pterospora. 

He informed me that a friend of his who was fond of plants but possessed no knowledge of botany, in his rambles through the adjoining woods found it three years since and placed plants in his garden in June. They continued to thrive throughout the season. The following year they made their appearance and flowered all the summer. This season it sprung again and equally vigorous, flowered and ripened seed. This information made me stare [!!].

I set out again for plants as they affirm it to be perennial. Every plant which I could see I took up, but found only one which had the least appearance of being perennial; however this had not flowered, therefore it is not perennial but either biennial or annual. On my calling on Mr Tracy again, he said that he would take me to his friend’s plants; accordingly, on examining the spot, we found the roots dead.

Mr. Tracy informed me that the Erythraea which was found on the Missouri by Mr. Nuttall had. been lately found 12 miles from Albany shortly since. We set out for it, but on our arriving at the spot we had the mortification to look at the spot but unable to get to it. It was on a rising spot in the middle of an extensive swamp which was completely Inundated by the late rains. Mr. Tracy expressed his extreme regret, but pledged himself to transmit plants to Mr. Hogg at New York for the Society next year on its showing itself.

On our way home…..Called on Stephen van Ransaleer [sic] Esq., who is the most wealthy man in the United States. He has a large garden and orchards, and a fine range of hothouses, chiefly filled with vines. The grapes were all cut and hung on strings in a fruit-room. Mr van Ransaleer, being of Dutch extraction, has many friend on the continent of Europe, who furnish him with different kinds of fruit; there were [grape varieties] Black Prince, Hamburgh, White Sweet Water, Grizzly Frontignan and Malmsey. No attention is paid to the native vines of North America.

His apples and pears are much the same as at New York and Philadelphia; plums thrive much better. He has a large space of ground occupied as pleasure or flower garden, which is a novelty in America, as little attention is paid to anything but what brings money or luxury to the table. His flower garden is kept in good order, under the direction and management of his daughters, with much taste. Roses from France, herbaceous plants from Germany, grace the plots, with annuals &c from London. 

I had a letter of introduction to him from Governor Clinton. Mr van Ransaleer is a man of taste. He used me with kindness and invited me to breakfast should I make it convenient.

 

It amuses me that Douglas casually mentions "On our way home....called on the most wealthy man in the United States".   

This is Douglas, 24 years old, son of a stonemason in Scotland. Clearly he is "working his network" and his letters of introduction as hard as he can.   Our man is of course very interested in his large garden and will doubtless be quietly comparing it with Scone, Valleyfield and Glasgow.

As to his host, Wikipedia tells us that Rensselaer (III) was Lieutenant Governor of New York and a member of the United States House of Representatives, as well as a soldier, businessman and landowner. The heir to one of the largest estates in New York, his holdings made him the tenth richest American of all time, based on the ratio of his fortune to contemporary GDP. He founded the institution which became Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. On his 21st birthday, Van Rensselaer took possession of his family's prestigious estate, close to 1,200 square miles (3,072 km²) in size, named Rensselaerswyck, and began a long tenure as lord of his family's manor.  Van Rensselaer desired to make money off of the land that was suddenly his, but was extremely reluctant to sell it off.

Instead, he granted tenants perpetual leases at moderate rates, which saved would-be landholders from having to pay all of their money up front. This meant that they could invest more in their operations, which led to increased productivity in the area. Over time, Van Rensselaer would become landlord over 3,000 tenants, and proved a lenient and benevolent landowner.

 

Stephen Van Rensselaer III (National Gallery of Art, Public Domain)