William Christian Bouck was born on the cusp of a new year, January 7th, 1786, but also at the cusp of a new nation emerging on the world stage. Until his death in April of 1859, Bouck was the quintessential “salt of the earth” farmer turned politician and bureaucrat – a man of the new republic.
Born in Fultonham, Schoharie County on lands settled by his Palatine German great-grandfather, Bouck emerged early in life to be devoted to labor. First, manual labor on his father’s family farm, toiling sunrise to sunset or beyond. This limited his education to that of only the local common school, but it’d be noted later in his career that his education was that of experience and observation. [Read more…] about Gov. William C. Bouck and the Erie Canal: A Friend of Labor