Barclays of New York

Records of East New Jersey.
in the words of Mr. George L. Rives, in his work entitled "Cor-
respondence of Thomas Barclay" (New York: Harper &
Brothers, 1894), wherein he has edited sundry letters of the first
British Consul General in New York, who was a grandson of
Rev. Thomas Barclay of Albany.
"About 1685," writes Mr. Rives, without, however, giving
any authority for the selection of such year, "he (John Barclay)
" married a lady whose name alone is sufficient evidence of her
" descent. She was Cornelia Van Schaick" (citing Holgate's
American Genealogies, published 185 1, where not even the sug-
gestion of an authority for such alleged marriage is given), "a
" member, it would seem, of the extensive Van Schaick family of
" Albany." Mr. Rives then refers to John Barclay's conversion
to the Church of England as having occurred prior to 1702, and
states that an English clergyman, Rev. Thorowgood Moore, had
officiated in Perth Amboy sometime between 1702 and 1707, and
that, prior to his appearance in Perth Amboy, Mr. Moore had
been a missionary at Albany and among the Indians.
"We may well suppose," Mr. Rives thereupon argues, "that
" he (Moore) did not fail when he found a likely young man
" with a vocation for the ministry, to urge the noble work that
" might be done on the wild frontier about the head waters of
" the Hudson River. Whether Mr. Moore did indeed find such
" a young man at Perth Amboy, and whether he did influence the
" course of his career, must remain a conjecture ; but certain it is,"
Mr. Rives asseverates, "that Thomas Barclay, a son of John Bar-
" clay, went early in the eighteenth century to England, took
" orders, and was in due time sent, in his turn, by the Society as
" Missionary at Albany and among the Indians. He seems to
"have reached Albany in 1707 or 1708."
Mr. Rives next seems to think that the fact that the church
at Albany bore the same name as the church at Perth Amboy,
"St. Peters," is possessed of some significance in view of Rev.
Thomas Barclay having been the first rector of the Albany parish.
But Mr. Rives has evidently overlooked the fact that the patent
was issued for St. Peter's at Albany in 17 14, while St. Peter's at
Perth Amboy was not chartered until 171 8; and the name of the
former church, consequently, could hardly have been selected out
of any sentimental regard on the part of its rector for the Perth