Letters from Gabriel P. Disosway to John Anthon

1832, 1849-1851

Gabriel P. Disosway was a merchant and politician in New York City. These letters from Disosway to John Anthon at New York discuss his efforts as a member of the New York State Assembly to secure the removal of quarantine and emigration facilities on Long Island to Sandy Hook, and to establish a marine hospital there. The letters which are written from Albany, New York, Trenton, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. describe his negotiations with members of the New York and New Jersey legislatures, the Governor of New York, the state land commissioners, members of Congress and of the federal government including President Fillmore. Disosway mentions bitter debate on the floor of the House of Representatives between William Duer of New York and Richard K. Meade of Virginia. The letters date from 1832 and 1849-1851