As a young man, his was a severe and unhopeful mind, and the tendency to despond was increased by circumstances.

There is a certain scale of duties […] which for want of studying in right order, all the world is in confusion.

Close enough but not too far / Maybe you know where you are / Fightin' fire with fire

He held the office as resident land agent of the Holland Land Company for twenty-one years. In this capacity he laid out the city of New Amsterdam, now Buffalo, gave its streets the jaw-breaking names of the Dutch proprietors and made it a flourishing town.