Person:Robert Bogardus (1)

BIOGRAPHY: From Fort Tilden Records Colonel Bogardus: According to National Archive records, Colonel Robert Bogardus (born in 1771) of the 41st Regiment U.S. Infantry (organized in 1813) served from July 29, 1813, until his honorable discharge on June 15, 1815. He was later promoted to General and died on September 12, 1841. Colonel Bogardus was the Regimental Commander of the 41st Infantry, composed of eight Companies, and was stationed at New Utrecht, Brooklyn in 1814. It is believed that he is the same Robert Bogardus that served on the New York State Senate in 1827.

From Reminiscences of New York by an Octogenarian (1816 - 1860) By Charles H. Haswell In consequence of the growing frequency of Sunday excursions in steamboats, the clergy of the city entered upon a crusade against them. At a meeting by them at the City Hall, for the purpose of expressing the sense of the community, it was declared there were fully five thousand persons present, and upon the clergy essaying an organization, they were voted down. General Robert Bogardus was elected chairman and William T. McCoun (late Vicechancellor) secretary. The meeting then expressed its disapprobation of the interference of the clergy.

Background note: General Robert Bogardus was a leading member of the New York Bar, a Colonel in the Regular Army during the war of 1812, and toward the close of the war held the responsible position of Commandant of the defences of the city. It is believed that he is the Robert Bogardus who served in the State Senate in 1827.

He was a third cousin to Governor De Witt Clinton through his great grandmother on his father's side, Rachel De Witt.

From: Diary of a Little Girl in Old New York, by Catherine Elizabeth Havens; 2nd edition (1920)

Some of the girls who went to school with my mother had awfully funny long names. One was Aspasia Seraphina Imogene and her last name was Bogardus. She had ten brothers and sisters, and these were some of their names: 

Maria Sabina, Wilhelmina Henrietta, Laurentina Adaminta, Washington Augustus, Alonzo Leonidas Agamemnon, Napoleon LePerry Barrister.

There were eleven children, and their mother named them after people she had read about in novels. It must have been funny to hear their nurse call them all to come to dinner.