Cheering an election victory in song

Sing along with me to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne” in this stanza from an antiquarian parody song celebrating a political victory:

 

There’s Samuel G. and Enoch E.
With Buell at their heels,
And Ira A. and Pappy Wells,
Who hoisted Joey’s sails.
Who hoisted Joey’s sails,
Who hoisted Joey’s sails,
And Ira A. and Pappy Wells,
They hoisted Joey’s sails.

 

Samuel G. Skinner was owner of the Union Hotel in Glens Falls, and Enoch Ellis was a wagon maker and the operator of a stagecoach line who was nicknamed “Enoch the Express.”
Ira A. Paddock was a local political leader, Nathan Wells was a lawyer from the town of Luzerne (now Lake Luzerne), and Horatio Buell was a Dartmouth University-trained lawyer who had significant political influence in Warren County.

The five men backed Joseph Paddock, who was Ira Paddock’s brother, in a three-way state Assembly race in 1826 for a seat representing Warren County — a race Paddock lost to William Hay Jr.

In the early 19th century, there was a tradition of penning lyrics to sing at the victory celebrations of local political candidates. The songs provided comedic relief after a general election, which, in that era, was held over three consecutive days.

When Hay defeated Paddock in the 1826 Assembly race, the honor of being wordsmith for Hay’s victory song went to Truman B. Hicks of the town of Caldwell, now Lake George.
Hicks himself later served two one-year terms in the Assembly, in 1828 and 1835.

A five-verse fragment of the original lengthy ode was published on March 22, 1861, in the Warren County Times and is preserved in the Austin W. Holden scrapbooks in the archives of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls.

Hay, a lawyer and newspaper publisher from Glens Falls, had a reputation for being thoughtful and kind.

“With a heart as gentle as a girl’s, he was a man among men, a philosopher among philosophers, and may be justly regarded as one of the bright spirits who adorned every walk of life, always defending the right, fearless of consequences,” H.P. Smith wrote in his 1885 “History of Warren County.”

So it might seem surprising to learn that Hay was at the center of multiple libel suits associated with the three-way Assembly race in 1826, in which he defeated incumbent Assemblyman Norman Fox as well as Paddock.

“Personal rivalry ran so high as to lead to lawsuits, which, however, did not result seriously to anyone,” Smith wrote.

It was an exception to the generally civil tone of Warren County politics in the early 19th century.
Controversy spilled over from the 1824 presidential race between John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay, all members of the Democratic-Republican Party, the only national party at the time.

With no candidate receiving more than 50 percent of the electoral vote, the election passed to the U.S. House of Representatives, which elected Adams, even though Jackson won the popular vote and had the most electoral votes.

This led to a split in the Democratic-Republican Party, with Adams’ supporters forming the National Republican Party, later known as the Whigs, and Jackson’s supporters forming the Jacksonians, later known as the Democratic Party.

Hay ran on the National Republican line.
Hay was born in Cambridge, in Washington County, in 1790, and moved with his family to Glens Falls around 1800. William Hay Sr., the assemblyman’s father, operated a lumber business and store at the corner of Glen and Warren streets.

The son opened a law practice at Lake George in 1813, and in 1814 organized a rifle company, which was en route to Plattsburgh when the Battle of Plattsburgh, from Sept. 6 to 11, ended the War of 1812 in favor of the United States.

In 1813, Hay purchased the Warren County Patriot and published and edited the newspaper from Lake George for about a year before he resold it. In 1823, he served as Warren County district attorney.

Hay had moved back to Glens Falls by the time he ran for Assembly.

Fox, the incumbent, was a lumberman and later Baptist preacher from the town of Chester. He ran on the “opposition” line, presumably the Jacksonian party.

Fox had previously represented Warren County in the Assembly in 1819 and 1820, and later in 1830. He was the focus of a couple of verses in the 1826 victory song:

 

In Warren County lived a Fox,
And he was wonderous wise.
He ran against a load of Hay
And scratched out both his eyes.

 

Joseph Paddock, a wealthy lawyer from Luzerne and later a lumber dealer in Albany, was the third candidate, running as an independent “Jackson man.”

Paddock, whom Smith later described as “one of the leading minds of the county,” was considered the early front-runner.

 

For three long days, Joe stemmed the tide;
At length, he slipped his keel.
For Cronkhite with his Hadleyites
Were towing at his heels.

 

John Cronkhite, a lawyer from the Saratoga County town of Hadley, had significant political influence in the western portion of Warren County – and was supporting Hay.
John A. Ferris rallied support for Paddock among fellow Quakers at a time when the denomination was the predominate one in Glens Falls and the town of Chester.

 

The Quaker men were marshaled out,
All headed by John A.
With long-tailed coats and broad-brimmed hats,
A-fighting Billy Hay.

 

Hay won “by a large plurality,” according to Smith, presumably because Fox and Paddock split the Jacksonian vote. He served one year in the Assembly and then returned to his law practice.
In 1837, Hay opened a main law office in Ballston Spa while keeping a satellite office in Glens Falls. In 1840, he changed his residency from Glens Falls to Ballston Spa.

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star of Glens Falls for 21 years before retiring in 2017. He now is a freelance writer focusing on the history of politics, labor and media in the region.