BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Alexander F. Vache; New York co., NY
surname: Vache, Roberts

submitted by Elizabeth Burns (burns at asu.edu) 
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Submitted Date: May 31,2005
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Author: Walter Barrett

Dr. ALEXANDER F. VACHE
Old Merchants, 1885, NY
Page 58

The celebrated Dr. Alexander F. Vache, who was an old New Yorker, married a 
daughter of William Roberts.  He was the son of the old John Vache, the first 
artificial flower merchant in New York. He commenced his business at 28 
Liberty Street in 1790 and he continued it there until he moved to Newark in 
1827.

I do not know where the old gentleman died but I believe his family resides in 
Newark. Yet, Alexander, the doctor, was born at 28 Liberty Street before this 
century. It was upon the old house, No. 28 that he mounted his first shingle 
in 1827 "Alexander F. Vache, M.D."  That was a proud hour for the young 
medical.  He had been a favorite pupil with the celebrated Dr. Mott.   He was 
a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of the 
City of New York.  He was also a great friend of the celebrated Professor 
Samuel L. Mitchell who thought the world of the young surgeon.  

He persuaded young Vache in 1821 to join a scientific expedition and sailed 
from New York for the Pacific Ocean in the U.S. ship Franklin under Commodore 
Charles Stewart. When the party got out to the coast of Chili, mercantile 
events arising out of the revolutionary condition of the country so limited 
the field of scientific observation by confining the ship to that immediate 
coast, that Dr. Vache joined the frigate Constitution and returned to the U.S. 
after an absence of two years.

In 1825 the young doctor again went to sea with Captain J.H. Clark, U.S. Navy 
in the capacity of messmate and surgeon on a voyage to the river Amazon.  The 
object was to ascertain its navigability and connections with the interior of 
the South American provinces. The Emperor of Brazil would not permit any 
outsider to do what he could not do himself and he ordered them off. On the 
return the ship stopped at several ports and places.

Dr. Vache was very much loved by all who knew him.  He was an active 
politician in the Sixth Ward. He was a great friend of William Leggett, 
Richard Adams Locke, Ulysses D. French and others. The doctor was one of the 
original Loco-Focos of 1835 and 1836.