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NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

FOR

1858;

CONTAINING

STATISTICAL, POLITICAL, AND OTHER INFORMATION
RELATING TO THE STATE OF NEW YORK,
AND THE UNITED STATES.

ALSO, A COMPLETE LIST OF

STATE OFFICERS, COUNTY OFFICERS, ATTORNEYS, ETC.

THE

NATIONAL REGISTER

CONTAINS A LIST OF

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OFFICERS, ETC.

TOGETHER WITH OTHER

USEFUL INFORMATION.

New York:

PUBLISHED BY JOHN DISTURNELL,

No. 333 BROADWAY.

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In order to secure the annual appearance of the NEW YORK STATE REGISTER, at the subscription price ($1 25), it will be necessary that the names of patrons be given in advance of publication, either to the publisher or his agents, for one or more yearsthus giving the public an opportunity to subscribe for the ensuing year, when desired. By adopting this plan the continuance of the REGISTER from year to year may be relied upon to a certainty, if duly patronized. The price to non-subscribers will be $150 for single copies.

Additions and corrections, in regard to Institutions, names, etc., are earnestly requested, so as to enable the compiler to make the future editions of this work a reliable record of all public matters relating to the State of New York. The appearance of the REGISTER, hereafter, will be on or before the First of May annually. NEW YORK, May, 1858.

J. D.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by

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In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

J. J. REED, PRINTER & STEREOTYPER,

43 Centre Street.

PREFACE.

In presenting to the public the NEW YORK STATE REGISTER for 1858, after its discontinuance for ten years, the publisher has no better mode of illustrating its scope and usefulness than by extracting from the Preface to the first edition of 1843, hoping that the numbers, wealth, and intelligence of the citizens of his native State may sustain him in preparing a similar work from year to year, thereby increasing its value and usefulness as a work of reference. Feeling conscious of having labored faithfully to promote the convenience of professional and business men, as well as the seeker after useful knowledge, in various ways, the compiler and publisher now hopes for a liberal patronage from an intelligent and discerning public. The proper design of a publication of this kind is to furnish a comprehensive and detailed account of the actual condition of the State, embracing its civil divisions, population, institutions, and resources; its public works, its means of general intercourse, and its principal local improvements; its wealth, revenue, and expenditures; the organization of its government, with a record of the persons to whom the administration of that government, throughout its various departments, is committed -in short, a picture of the living, acting, growing commonwealth, with the manifold means and agencies by which its affairs are conducted, its resources unfolded, the business of its people transacted, and the good order, comfort, improvement, prosperity, and happiness of the community secured and advanced.

The multiplied relations and connections that exist between the different portions of the State, and their continually increasing importance to each other as their intercourse extends, all combine to render such a publication not merely interesting to the general or occasional inquirer, but eminently convenient and practically useful, especially to those who are engaged in the professional employments of the community, in the various branches of active business, or are in any way connected with the administration of the laws, or with the management of the more important public and local institutions.

A simple reference to the Table of Contents will show that this Register has been compiled and arranged on the plan and according to the design above indicated; and to all persons employed in public offices, whether of general or local jurisdiction—to professional men—to merchants, bankers, manufacturers, and men extensively engaged in business of any description, or in the management of important institutions-to all who have occasion to transact affairs at a distance and by correspondence with public officers, or with professional men or agents-this Register will be

found an exceedingly valuable manual of information of many kinds constantly at hand, and which they can procure in no other way at so small a cost of time, money, or trouble.

The value of the work is, it is believed, very much enhanced, in this and other respects, by the National Statistics, and other important matter which it embodies in relation to the National Government and the organization of its various departments. Indeed, in reference to all matters of ordinary interest and convenience, this work may be regarded as constituting a NATIONAL as well as a STATE REGISTER.

In respect to the range of matter embraced in the work, it is believed to be as comprehensive, in reference to the topics, and as minute in point of detail, as its patrons will desire; and as to the accuracy of its statements, it may be truly affirmed that they have been made as exact and reliable as several months of assiduous labor and vigilant care could render them.

There is one more topic which is regarded as particularly important in this connection, and on which a remark may, it is hoped, be found serviceable both to the publisher and his patrons. The value of such a work is materially enhanced by being regularly and punctually continued from year to year. A single volume, or a Register for only one year, is of little use; it is, in truth, not worth publishing. But if it can be continued punctually and regularly, every successive volume rises in intrinsic value. To the transient convenience of each number for a single year is gradually added the permanent value of a connected series, till, in the lapse of time, the annual publication becomes a great work of perpetual reference, of the most authentic character and of peculiar interest, from its combination of the two features of cotemporaneousness and connected succession. Its Tables of Statistics and Institutions, compiled at first for the transient purposes of the flying year, are by-and-by converted into the solid materials of everlasting history, and its lists of familiar names, collected for the temporary convenience of current business, are soon transformed into the undecaying records of a departed generation, and muster-rolls of leading men of their times.

Considerations like these, it will be at once admitted, enter into the very essence of the value of compilations like this Register; and they are suggested in the belief that they will be regarded as legitimate grounds of appeal to the public for that patronage which is indispensable to secure the regular continuance of the publication. If such patronage shall be afforded, the annual continuation of this Register may be depended on; and as its compiler shall become more familiar with the sources of information and the wants of the public, he will be enabled to render his work more and more acceptable and useful.

The assistance of the Hon. GEORGE FOLSOM and others, in the compilation of the present edition of this work, is thankfully acknowledged by the publisher.

NEW YORK, May, 1858.

J. DISTURNELL.

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