Matthew Vassar (April 29, 1792 – June 23, 1868) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

and philanthropist. He founded

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

, a women’s college, in 1861. He was a cousin of

John Ellison Vassar John Ellison Vassar (1813–1878) was an American lay preacher and missionary. Early life John Ellison Vassar was born January 13, 1813 and named for his maternal uncle. He was the son of Thomas Vassar of Norfolk, England. Originally named "Vasse ...

. The city of

Vassar, Michigan Vassar is a city in Tuscola County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Founded March 1, 1849. The population was 2,727 at the 2020 census and 2,697 in 2010 (an increase of about 1.1%). The city is located on the western edge of Vassar Township but i ...

, is named after him.

Early life

Matthew Vassar was born on April 29, 1792, in East Dereham,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, to James and Ann Bennett Vassar, farmers of

French Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...

ancestry (Vasseur) who emigrated from England. In 1796, they arrived in

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

and settled on a farm along Wappinger's Creek on land that had been part of the 1685

Rombout Patent The Rombout Patent was a Colonial era land patent issued by King James II of England in 1685 sanctioning the right of Francis Rombouts and his partners Stephanus Van Cortlandt and Jacobus Kip to own some of land they had purchased from Native ...

near Manchester Bridge in Dutchess County. While the farmhouse was being built, the family lived on the Filkintown Road, at what is now the intersection of Main and Church Streets. In 1801, James Vassar brewed ale with barley grown from seeds his brother Thomas brought from Norfolk. Demand for the ale was such that, in 1801, James Vassar sold the farm and bought a lot between Main and Mill Streets in the village of Poughkeepsie from Baltus Van Kleeck to build a brewery. When Vassar was 14 years old, his parents had him

apprenticed Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

to a tanner."Matthew Vassar", Vassar Encyclopedia
/ref>

Business career

One day before he was to begin his apprenticeship, he ran away and crossing the Hudson River on the ferry at High Point made his way to Balm Town, just north of

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...

. There he found a job working in a store. He subsequently took a better paying job with another local merchant before returning to Poughkeepsie in 1810, where he joined the family brewing business as bookkeeper and collector. By this time the family had most of the brewing trade in the river towns from Newburgh to Hudson. In 1811, a malt-dust explosion destroyed the family brewery on Vassar Street. His older brother John died in the explosion, and his father was devastated by the loss. Matthew, then only 18, took over management of the business which was then conducted out of part of an old dye house belonging to George Booth, husband of Vassar's sister Maria. Booth, an immigrant from Yorkshire, England, was the first manufacturer of woolen cloth in Dutchess County.Daniels, Elizabeth Adams. "More Than a Brewer", Vassar Encyclopedia, 2011
/ref> During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, Vassar joined the local fusilier's company as a sergeant, but saw little action. He spent his days at the brewery and his evenings working at an oyster saloon and restaurant he had opened in the basement of the county courthouse. In 1813, he married Catherine Valentine of Fishkill. In 1814, Vassar opened M. Vassar & Company and rebuilt the brewery on Vassar Street across the street from the family townhouse. At the time, it was the largest brewery of its kind in the United States. He served as a Poughkeepsie village trustee in 1819. He spent the winter of 1822 in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. In September 1824, he was among those welcoming the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...

to Poughkeepsie on the occasion of the General's visit to the United States. In 1831, Vassar took an active part in the incorporation of the Poughkeepsie Saving Bank and the following year became a shareholder in the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company, for which he built a large dock. In 1836, he built a larger brick brewery on the waterfront just above the Main Street Landing. The waterfront facility had a brewing capacity of 60,000 barrels annually. Both the malt and the hops were produced locally. M. Vassar & Co. owned a fleet of sloops to transport its ale to market. The company expanded to include two facilities in Poughkeepsie, one in New York City, and one in Lansingburgh, near

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...

. He brought John Guy Vassar and Matthew Vassar Jr., sons of his deceased brother John, into the business, who later founded Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie. In 1837, he took over the bankrupt brickyard of his brother Charles, which made bricks at what later came to be known as Brickyard Hill on the east side of town. He joined the board of the Farmers and Manufacturers National Bank and, in 1835, was elected president of the village of Poughkeepsie on the "Improvement" ticket. In the 1850s, Vassar was president of the Poughkeepsie Lyceum of Literature, Science and the Mechanical Arts. He opened the 1852 season with the presentation of an address by

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

. Bruno, Maryann and Daniels, Elizabeth A., ''Vassar College'', Arcadia Publishing, 2001
In 1851, John A. Bolding, a fugitive slave from South Carolina was working as a tailor on Main Street, when he was seized by a U.S. Marshall under the terms of the

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act was one of the most co ...

. When members of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

fell short of the amount necessary to buy Bolding's freedom, Matthew Vassar was among those who made up the difference. Matthew Vassar died in his seventy-seventh year on June 23, 1868, while delivering his farewell address to the Vassar College Board of Trustees. His funeral was held in the Baptist Church on Lafayette Place. Vassar had donated the land and half the cost of erecting the church. He was buried in the

Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery The Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery is a rural cemetery located in Poughkeepsie, New York and includes the gravesites of several notable figures. It also has a crematory. The forty-four acres of land used for the cemetery were purchased by Matthew Vass ...

Legacy

Springside

Springside was the estate of Matthew Vassar, located just off US 9 on Academy Street in Poughkeepsie. It lay across the road from "Woodside", the estate of retired manufacturer G.C. Burnap.

Andrew Jackson Downing Andrew Jackson Downing (October 31, 1815 – July 28, 1852) was an American landscape designer, horticulturist, and writer, a prominent advocate of the Gothic Revival in the United States, and editor of ''The Horticulturist'' magazine (1846–5 ...

designed the grounds, and with

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...

, the main house, which was never built. Springside was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1969 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Portrait of Matthew Vassar by Charles Loring Elliott

Vassar, Michigan

, was founded on the Cass River in 1849 by James M. Edmunds. Its main industry was lumbering. Edmunds was a nephew of Matthew Vassar. Edmunds named the settlement after his uncle, who put up the seed money for the project.

Vassar College

Vassar's niece, Lydia Booth, a teacher who ran the "Cottage Hill Seminary" out of a building Vassar owned on Garden Street, encouraged him to establish a

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...

in Poughkeepsie. In January 1861, the

New York Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official t ...

passed an act to incorporate

, one of the first women's colleges in the U.S. On 26 February 1861, at the Hotel Gregory in Poughkeepsie, Matthew Vassar presented the college's

Board of Trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

with a tin box containing half of his fortune, $408,000 (approximately $9,700,000 in 2008 dollars) and a

deed of conveyance In common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed. It is commonly associated with transferring ...

for of land to establish the campus."Matthew Vassar", Vassar College
/ref> In 1864, Vassar purchased the art collection of Elias Lyman Magoon, a noted collector of

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, ...

paintings. Vassar's diary entry for June 16, 1865 states, "Sick and tired of College business, no one to help me Except "Scow", Doct Raymond and Swan." In a bill enacted on 15 July 1870, the U.S. Congress waived any tax claim(s) to the donation to the college.

USS ''Matthew Vassar''

The USS ''Matthew Vassar'' was a wooden centerboard schooner. It was purchased by the U.S. Navy in New York in September 1861 and commissioned in January 1862. The ship was assigned to a Mortar Flotilla guarding the approaches to New Orleans. In November 1864, it was assigned to the East Coast Blockading Squadron. After the war the ship was decommissioned and sold at auction.Mooney, James L., "Matthew Vassar", ''Dictionary of Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'', Volume 1, Government Printing Office, 1970

Vassar Home for Aged Men

In 1880, Matthew Vassar's nephews, John Guy Vassar and Matthew Vassar Jr., converted the site of their uncle's mansion at 9 Vassar Street into the

Vassar Home for Aged Men The former Vassar Home for Aged Men is located at Main and Vassar streets in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It is just across the street from the architecturally similar Vassar Institute, and both buildings are credited to architect J.A. ...

. It remained a senior citizen's home through much of the 20th century. The Vassar Home was added to the NRHP in 1972.

Vassar Institute

In 1882, Vassar's nephews converted the site of the old brewery at 12 Vassar Street into the

Vassar Institute The Vassar Institute building is located at Main and Vassar streets in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, across from the architecturally similar Vassar Home for Aged Men. It is a late-19th century building combining the Italianate and Second ...

. The first floor contained a natural history museum and the second a library, as well as offices for the Poughkeepsie Literary Society and Poughkeepsie Society of Natural Sciences. Vassar Institute was added to the NRHP in 1972.

Vassar Hospital

Vassar Brothers Hospital was endowed by John Guy Vassar and Matthew Vassar Jr., sons of Mathew Vassar's deceased elder brother, whom he helped to prosperity by bringing them into his thriving brewing business.

References

Sources

* Gregg Smith, ''Beer in America: The Early Years—1587-1840'' (Boulder, CO: Siris Books, 1998) *

External links

"Vassar Triad", ''Life'', December 30, 1940 - distant relatives of Matthew Vassar flee war torn Europe for safety at Vassar College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vassar, Matthew 1792 births 1868 deaths American brewers English emigrants to the United States People from Dereham Businesspeople from Poughkeepsie, New York Vassar College University and college founders Educators from New York (state) 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American educators Burials at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery