Mrs. Charles M Bouck This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. New York's Farmer Governor

   www.schohariehistory.net/Revie - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/1/2003   Last Visited: 1/25/2008

   One of Timothy Murphy's granddaughters married Charles Bouck, a son of the governor.
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   In the spring of 1807, at 21 years of age, Bouck was chosen clerk of Middleburgh and for the two following years he was elected its supervisor. In 1811, he was nominated by the Republican[4] convention for sheriff, which was then filled by appointment of the governor and council, but he declined. The next year, he was a delegate to the senatorial convention held at Onondaga, and took an active part in its proceedings. In the same year of 1812, he accepted the office of sheriff and was duly appointed by Governor Tompkins and the Republican council. He was removed from office by the Federalists when they took power in the Council of Appointments in 1813.
   
   Bouck had now become a leading politician in Schoharie. Immediately after his removal from the office of sheriff in the Spring of 1813, he was elected a member of the assembly by the Republicans of Schoharie. He was twice re-elected to the same position, in 1814 and 1815, and returned a fourth time in 1817. At the April election in 1820, he was chosen one of the senators from the then middle district of the state, and he was returned the following year.
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   In the legislature, Bouck was not distinguished as a debater. It is said he was rarely seen upon the floor. But in the committee room and in the private consultations of members, his judgment and discernment were highly prized and were often of great service to his constituents. His shrewdness and tact, his prudence, and his address in the management of men were invaluable to his party.
   
   By an act of the legislature passed in 1821, provision was made for the appointment of an additional canal commissioner. The people of the interior counties thought they were entitled to a commissioner. Bouck received the unanimous nomination of the Republican legislative caucus and was chosen to fill the office.
   
   Assigned to the western section of the Erie canal, he superintended its construction from Brockport to its termination at Lake Erie, including the passage at the Mountain Ridge at Lockport, the most difficult part of the entire line. I quote from History of the Holland Purchase:[5]
   
   Who, at the west, who had cognizance of those times and their local events, does not remember how faithful and indefatigable he was in the discharge of his duties? Or, almost imagine that they can see him now, as they saw him in those primitive canal times, traveling the forest on horseback and on foot, from the log shanties of one contractor to those of another; sleeping and eating where emergency made it necessary, in quarters no matter how rude or humble; or in his room at the old ‘Cottage' in Lockport, coolly and good-naturedly resisting the fierce importunities of the dissatisfied contractor; yielding to exigencies here and there, when public interest demanded it or strenuous and unyielding when it did not; pressing on the difficult work upon the Mountain Ridge, amid great difficulties preserving to the end, until he had seen the barrier removed that prevented the flow of the waters of Lake Erie through their long artificial channel.
   
   It was not until the fall of 1825 that the barrier of the Mountain Ridge was finally overcome. This was the last obstacle between the Hudson and Lake Erie. On September 29, Bouck was able to announce to the president of the canal board that the unfinished parts of the canal would be in readiness to admit passage of boats on the 26th of October.
   
   The work at Mountain Ridge was completed on the evening of October 24, the guard gates were raised, and the filling of that level commenced.
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   Besides superintending the construction of the western section of the Erie Canal, Bouck was also selected by his associates to take charge of the work on the Cayuga and Seneca, the Crooked Lake, the Chemung, and the Chenango Canals. All of these canals were constructed under his supervision.
   
   The Chenango Canal, which extended from Binghamton to Utica, crossed the Cherry Valley Turnpike at McClure Settlement. Although Schoharie County has done little to perpetuate the name of Governor Bouck, this small community changed its name to Bouckville in honor of canal commissioner Bouck.
   
   Bouck became convinced the canal was not large enough to handle the business of the growing west and was one of the first to suggest enlarging the canal.
   
   For nineteen years, Bouck continued in office as canal commissioner. When the Whigs secured a majority in both branches of the legislature in 1840, it was proposed to remove him. Political consideration decided the question and he was removed during the legislative session that year.
   ...
   Removal of "the Old White Horse," as Bouck was called in reference to a favorite animal he rode for many years, was widely regretted. Public sentiment was strongly in his favor and the sympathies of his party were so warmly aroused that he was regarded as the prominent candidate for the gubernatorial nomination long before the convention in the fall of 1840. When the convention met, he was unanimously nominated as the Democratic candidate for governor.
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   His opponent, Governor William H. Seward, was seeking re-election and defeated Bouck by a little over 5,000 votes.
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   Despite his defeat, Bouck continued to be the prominent candidate for the next gubernatorial nomination.
   
   Bouck and Dickinson were unanimously nominated at Syracuse on Oct. 7, 1842.
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   Bouck was a Hunker.
   
   Bouck won the election by about 22,000 votes over Luther Bradish.
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   His private secretary was busily aiding him in completing his correspondence, arranging his papers and turning over the business of the state to Governor Bouck. Governor Bouck had not yet come to town. He would find trouble enough before he got through his first term.
   
   "Governor Bouck arrived here on Saturday; on Tuesday he called upon me," said Seward on Dec. 23, 1842.
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   Mrs. Bouck came to town a day or two since. I call upon her tomorrow."[7]
   
   Governor Bouck took the oath of office and Governor Seward congratulated him on the high distinction conferred on him by the people of the state.
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   From the Schoharie Patriot, Jan. 6, 1842: "Governor Bouck has appointed Lyman Sanford Esq., his son-in-law, Adjutant General of the State; James M. Bouck is his Private Secretary; C.W. Bouck his Military Secretary; and his nephew had been appointed Messenger.
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   It was being run by his son Charles.
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   C M Bouck
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   Bouck
   
   At his residence in the 74th year of his age at 5 o'clock AM the 19th inst.