Jesse Merwin
| Jesse Merwin | |
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Jesse Merwin(Ichabod Crane) From an old photograph, first printed in Collier's 'A history of old Kinderhook from aboriginal days to the present time'; (1914)
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| Born |
April 3, 1783 Durham, Connecticut |
| Died | November 8, 1852 (aged 68) Kinderhook (town), New York |
| Occupation | Schoolmaster, Attorney, Farmer |
Jesse Merwin (1785 – 1865), called the 'pattern' or 'original' of Ichabod Crane was a rural Schoolmaster in Upstate New York, and a friend of Martin Van Buren and Washington Irving. He taught school at a single-room schoolhouse in Columbia County, New York.
Jesse Merwin, a 19th century schoolmaster in Kinderhook, New York, was described in a well-known longhand script letter by President Martin Van Buren, as the "pattern" for author Washington Irving's character of Ichabod Crane in his story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. .
According to a notation by Irving and a certification written in long hand by Martin Van Buren—who was friends with both the author and the schoolteacher—the 'pattern' (Van Buren's words) for the character of Ichabod Crane was based on the original Kinderhook schoolmaster named Jesse Merwin, whom Irving became friends with in Kinderhook, New York, in 1809. The two friends continued a pen-pal correspondence for thirty years. The Columbia County Historical Society (New York) owns the original Kinderhook Schoolhouse named after the Irving character based on Jesse Merwin, the town's first schoolteacher. The Kinderhook town school district (Ichabod Crane Central School District) is also named for the Irving character. Because a member of the Van Tassel family was a lieutenant alongside another man in Tarrytown, Samuel Youngs, according to an 1894 article in The New York Times, "it [was] claimed by many in that town (Tarrytown) that Samuel Youngs was the original from whom Irving drew his character of Ichabod Crane". Author Gary Denis asserts that while the character of Ichabod Crane is loosely based on Kinderhook Schoolmaster, Jesse Merwin, it may possibly include elements from Samuel Youngs' life.
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