USA > New York > Westchester County > Rye > Chronicle of a border town : history of Rye, Westchester county, New York, 1660-1870, including Harrison and the White Plains till 1788 > Part 19
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JONATHAN F. VICKERS, who taught school at ' Saw Pit' for some years toward the close of the last century, was familiarly known as ' lawyer' Vickers, and was engaged to some extent in the practice of the law.
DANIEL HAIGHT, Esq., attorney and counsellor-at-law in Port Chester, was admitted at the bar in 1850, and has pursued his pro- fession in this town since that time.
AMHERST WIGHT, junior, Esq., was admitted at the New York bar in 1849, and came to Port Chester to reside there in 1859. His father, Amherst Wight, Esq., is one of the oldest members of the bar in New York, having been admitted to practice in that city in 1816. He is still, though eighty years of years, in active busi- ness, going daily to his office in New York from Port Chester. Mr. Wight was born in Bellingham, Mass., where his father and grandfather lived and died. He came to this place in 1862.
1 Information communicated by Dr. O'Callaghan.
CHAPTER XXI.
SCHOOLS.
U NDER the old Connecticut laws, every town of fifty house- holders was required to ' appoint one within their Towne to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to write and read.' The wages of this teacher were to be paid either by the parents or by the inhabitants in general. When any town should have increased to the number of one hundred householders or families, ' they shall sett vp a Grammer Schoole.' The instruction im- parted at this school must be such as would fit youths for the university. These provisions were made to the intent -in the quaint language of the times - ' that Learning may not be buried in the Grave of our Forefathers.' 1
As the population of Rye scarcely reached the lowest of these figures while the town belonged to Connecticut, these regulations were never enforced here. If anything was done for the educa- tion of the young, it was by voluntary effort.
The first mention of this matter that we find, however, implies that the people had not been very successful in such endeavors. At a meeting of the town held April 22, 1690, ' Captain Horton, Joseph Theall, and John Brondige, are chosen to procure a min- ister, and if possible a schoolmaster.'
Nothing more appears on the subject till Jannary 29, 1711. when ' at a meeting held by the Proprietors of Peningo Neck, the said Proprietors agree by a vote to build a schoole house upon their owne charge and to sett the said house nere Tom Jeffers hill 2 below Joseph Kniffens. Sargt Merrit, Richard Ogden and George Kniffen is chosen to stake out the ground where the said school house shall be sett and allso to mark out a quater of an acre of Land to be joining to the said schoole house to lye for a garden for
1 Public Records of Connecticut, vol. ii. pp. 554, 555.
2 ' Tom Jeffers Hill ' probably took its name from one Thomas Jefferies, an early settler. November 22, 1686, the town gave to Benjamin Collyer a certain house-lot, which was formerly Thomas Jefferies'. There are grounds for believing that this site is identical with that occupied until within twenty or thirty years by the district school-house in Rye, in front of the Episcopal Church.
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SCHOOLS.
the use of the schoole master as the said Proprietors shall see cause.'
It was also agreed that 'any person or persons that will bear his or theire proportion of moneys in building the schoole house shall have an equall privilege of the said house for schooling with the Proprietors.' 1
There were other schools about this time in different parts of the town, of which we know but little, and that little not greatly in their favor. In 1716, one Elizabeth Shaw appears before the Court of Sessions at Westchester, and complains that 'a travelling woman who came out of ye Jerseys, who kept school at several places in Rye parish, hath left with her a child eleven months old, for which she desires relief from the parish.' 2
' As to schools,' writes the Rev. James Wetmore in 1728, 'there are several poor ones in different parts of the parish. Where a number of families live near together, they hire a man and woman at a cheap rate, subscribing every one what they will allow. Some masters get &20 per annum and their diet : but there is no public provision at all for a school in this parish.' 3
There was no respect in which Rye lost so much by its annexa- tion to New York as in the matter of common school education. Connecticut, like Massachusetts, showed from the first great care for the instruction of the young. Hartford established a town school as early as 1642, and in 1643 a vote was passed that 'the town shall pay for the schooling of the poor.' In 1670, it was said that one fourth of the annual revenue of the colony was laid out in maintaining free schools. In New York, no provision was made for a general system of education before the Revolution. Whatever was done for this interest was done by individuals or by religious bodies.
The society in England for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, supported a schoolmaster at Rye for a great many years. This was done originally at the instance of the Honorable Caleb Heathcote, who was active in establishing a school. here about the year 1706. In 1707, Mr. Joseph Cleator 4 began teach-
1 Town Records.
2 County Records ( White Plains), vol. D. p. 68.
8 Bolton, History of the Prot. Episc. Church in Westchester County, p. 250.
4 At a meeting held April 27, 1708, ' the town granted unto Mr. Cleator ten acres of land in the White Plains purchase; that is to say, if any of the said Cleator's family come over, then the said land is to be the said Cleator's proper right, and if not, to remain to the school.' (Town Meeting Book, No. G. p. 32.)
Mr. Cleator lived at one time in a house that stood south of the present Methodist Episcopal parsonage. (Rye Records, vol. D. p. 88.)
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SUNDAY-SCHOOL AT RYE.
ing and continued to keep a school until his death, which occurred in 1732. For the last eight or ten years of his life, however, he was blind, and could only give instruction in the catechism. ' While he had his sight,' says Mr. Wetmore, ' they tell me he kept a constant and good school.'
In 1714 a Mr. Huddlestone was also engaged in teaching, under the Society's care, in some part of the parish of Rye. The parish, it should be said, included Bedford and Mamaroneck as well as the town of Rye ; and the town itself comprised Harrison and the White Plains as well as its present territory.
From 1734 to 1745 Mr. Flint Dwight taught school under the same auspices at the White Plains. At Rye, Mr. Cleator was suc- ceeded in 1733 by Mr. Samuel Purdy,1 who continued in charge till 1749, when he removed to the White Plains, where he died in 1753. Timothy Wetmore, a son of the Rev. James Wetmore, succeeded him at Rye, and taught the school till 1769. His brother James, after a short interval, took charge of it, but gave it up at the outbreak of the Revolution, being an active supporter of the British cause.2
The number of children attending the Society's school at differ- ent periods is stated as follows : -
In 1719, Mr. Cleator taught 50 pupils.
In 1739, Mr. Purdy taught 41 ; Mr. Dwight 46.
In 1776, Mr. Wetmore's school numbered 71.
The Society's schoolmasters at Rye acted as readers or assist- ants to its missionaries who were stationed here. They appear to have been humble but zealous and laborious men. Under one of them, Mr. Huddlestone, Rye may be said to have possessed a Sunday-school twenty years before the birth of Robert Raikes, the supposed founder of that useful institution. In 1714, we find that ' on the morning of the Lord's days, not only his own scholars, but several of the young people of the town, of both sexes, come wil- lingly to be informed.' 3
1 Mr. Samuel Purdy was justice of the peace in Rye for more than thirty years, antl was a man highly respected. His . home lot of five acres,' which he conveyed in 1753 to his two sons Samnei and Caleb, comprised the present rectory grounds. (Rye Records, vol. D. p. 88.)
2 The facts here given relative to the Gospel Propagation Society's schoolmasters at Rye, are gleaned from Mr. Bolton's ecclesiastical history of the county, passim.
3 The common impression, however, that the Sunday-school originated with Robert Raikes about the year 1781 is a mistaken one. The germ of this institution appeared at the Reformation in every one of the great Evangelical Churches. Luther founded a Sunday-school at Wittenberg in 1527. Calvin, in 1541, published his Catechism, divided into portions for each Lord's day, when the children were to be instructed and catechized in the afternoon. Knox, in 1560, carried out the same system in Scotland.
176
SCHOOLS.
This school was probably held in the building mentioned first in 1738 as ' the school-house near the Church.' It stood close upon the cross-road, and a few rods back from the post-road, in front of the Episcopal Church in the village. Here, as we have already seen, the town meetings were held for forty years or more. As to the kind of instruction given, we learn from a distinguished visitor who spent a night at Rye in 1774, ' They have a school for writing and cyphering, but no grammar school.' 1
The year after John Adams's visit the Rev. Mr. Avery, minister of the Episcopal Church in this place, announced his purpose to establish a school of a superior kind. His advertisement appeared in the 'New York Mercury,' of April 3, 1775 : -
' RYE, 13 March, 1775.
' TO THE PUBLIC. 7
' Ephraim Avery, A. M., Rector of the Parish of Rye - Intends opening a school the 18th day of April next, at his house in Rye ; any gentlemen in city or country, that will favour him with the care and instruction of their children, may depend upon the utmost dilligence and attention. He will teach the reading of English properly ; writing, arithmetic, the Latin and Greek languages, geography, surveying, trigonometry, &c. Particular care will be taken of their morals, and religious education, as he proposes boarding in his own family eight or ten ; and in order to give them an acquaintance with the first principles of the doctrine of Christianity, he will set apart half a day in every week, to instruct them in the catechisms, and other fundamental branches of the Christian religion.
' Board, washing, lodging and tuition will be 22£ per annum, and one guinea entrance : one load of wood will likewise be expected, and four pounds of candles, for the use of the scholars in the winter even- ings.
' He begs it as a particular favour of his friends to encourage his scheme, as they must be sensible a country clergyman, with a large family, can very indifferently subsist upon their small livings. .
' Those that will be kind enough to promote the above design, will please to give notice of their intention before the day prefixed, that he may be provided accordingly.'
The place where Mr. Avery proposed to keep this school was probably the parsonage, across Blind Brook. It is uncertain
1 President Adams's Works, vol. ii. p. 345.
Rye was no exception among the towns of the province in the meagreness of its educational advantages. 'Our schools,' wrote William Smith, the historian of New York, about the year 1760, ' are of the lowest order - the instructors want instruction.' ( History of New York, vol. i. p. 328.)
177
RYE NECK AND SAW PIT.
whether his plan was carried into effect. His death, by violence, occurred November 5, 1776.
There was a certain George Harris who taught the school more or less of the time from 1762 to 1776. He was not in the employ of the English Society, and the fact which tradition establishes that he here ruled the rising generation, would lead us to suppose that the school at that period was controlled by the town, and was no longer of a denominational character. This Harris is said to have been a man of a most violent temper, exceedingly harsh and crnel in his treatment of the scholars. Some of the punishments he inflicted are described as truly barbarous. One redeeming trait he seems to have possessed, in his strong republican sympa- thies. According to his own account he stood in this respect alone at Rye, ' faithful among the faithless.' In 1776, he addressed a petition to the Convention of the State of New York, then in session at Harlem.
He writes from prison, having been the victim, as he says, of a conspiracy to ruin him, instigated by one Wetmore, who had been a competitor with him for the school, and had done what he could to injure him in his business. He complains that his school has been taken from him, and the use of the school-house denied him, by James Wetmore, ' the brother of that arch tory, or enemy to his country, Timothy Wetmore, who has and does yet keep up the spirit of toryism in Rye.' 1
On Rye Neck, or Budd's Neck as it was then called, there was a school-house as early as the year 1739.2 It stood not far from the spot where, thirty years ago, there was a little building which some of our citizens well remember as the place where they ac- quired the rudiments of knowledge. This was on the west side of the post-road, below the farm-house belonging to Dr. Jay. From this spot the school was removed a few years since to its present site on Barry Lane. This is now one of the most flourishing and well managed schools in the town.
There was a school in the neighborhood of Saw Pit some time before the Revolution. The school-house stood on King Street, upon land now owned by Mr. Charles White. 'The fire-place and chimney were of stone, and occupied one entire end of the building. There was no school within its walls during the Revolu- tion. Jonathan Vickers, sometimes called 'lawyer Vickers,' taught the school during the closing years of the last century. He
1 New York Revolutionary Papers, p. 159.
2 Rye Records, vol. C. p. 265 ; vol. D. p. 39.
12
178
SCHOOLS.
was succeeded by Henry Kelly about the year 1800, and he by a Mr. Chichester about the year 1802. In 1803, the old house was demolished, and a new one was erected in the course of the fol- lowing year, on the east side of the street. As there was no church in the place, this was intended to serve the double purpose of church and school-house. The house was removed to what is now called King Street Square, probably about the year 1810. The present house was built in 1853, remodelled and enlarged in 1867 and 1868.' 1
There was a school-house a few years since on Regent Street, where a small office now stands, not far from the corner of Pur- chase Avenue. Here one Evans B. Hollis taught school, some fifty years ago. He was an Englishman, and is said to have been an excellent teacher. He came to Rye from Sing Sing, and taught first for a while at the school near ' Saw Pit.' The school on Re- gent Street had existed, I am told, long before Mr. Hollis's time.
On the whole, we can say but little to the advantage of Rye in olden times, as to the vital interest of education. All we have been able to learn of the schools themselves, and the state of edu- cation among former generations, inspires us with the greatest sat- isfaction and thankfulness in view of the advantages which the town now possesses, in its numerous and generally excellent insti- tutions of learning. As to the past, we fear that the remarks of President Dwight, early in the present century, relative to the moral and religious condition of the people of Westchester County, applied to Rye as much as to any other portion of the county : -
'Neither learning nor religion has within my knowledge flourished to any great extent among the inhabitants. Academies have been established at New Rochelle, Bedford, and Salem, but neither of them has permanently flourished. The ancient inhabitants had scarcely any schools, at least of any value. A few gentlemen are scattered in vari- ous parts of this county, possessing the intelligence usually found in that class of men, but the people at large are extremely stinted in their information.' 2
Our common school system, in the State of New York, has been in operation for less than sixty years. The first act which con- templated a permanent system of common schools was passed by the legislature in 1812. It created the offices of trustee, clerk
1 Annual Report of the Port Chester Union Free School, District No. 4 of the Town of Rye, for the Year ending October 1st, 1869, p. 5.
2 Dr. Dwight's Travels, vol. iii. p. 490.
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COMMON SCHOOLS.
and director, for school districts, which were to be formed by the division of towns into convenient sections. Each town was re- quired to elect three commissioners of common schools, whose first business was to form the school districts. They were the financial officers of the schools, to whom was paid the public money for dis- tribution to the districts, and to whom the trustees were required to report. The office of State Superintendent of Common Schools was also created at this time.
In 1814, certain amendments were passed. The former act had left it to the discretion of the inhabitants of towns whether they would vote for the appropriation of money for the support of schools in addition to the State school moneys. It was now made compulsory upon boards of supervisors to levy on each town a sum equal to its distributive share of the State school moneys. The act also authorized the levy of a like sum, in addition to this, if voted by the town. The act of 1812 required trustees to have a school kept for at least three months in the year. By the amended act, failure on the part of the board of supervisors to levy the requisite sum of money, wrought a forfeiture of the school money for the county.1
In the town of Rye, action was taken upon the subject at the first meeting of the town after the passage of the school law. On the sixth of April, 1813, ' a vote was taken, agreeably to notice from the County Clerk that the School Fund was to be distributed ; and it was carried in the affirmative, to accept of the money allot- ted them.' At the same meeting, school commissioners and in- spectors were chosen for the first time. Messrs. Samuel Deall, Ezrahiah Wetmore, and Jared Peck were elected commissioners ; and the Rev. Samuel Haskell, and Messrs. John Guion, Charles Field, and John Brown, were chosen inspectors of schools.
The division of the town into school districts was commenced in 1814. Three districts and two 'neighborhoods' were formed. A fourth distriet was added in 1826. According to this division, District No. 1, on Rye Neck, comprehended that part of the town south of the house of Sylvanus Lyon (now Mr. Benjamin Mead's). No. 2 lay north of this point, extending as far as Thomas Brown's house (Mr. Charles Park's, lately Mr. Allen Carpenter's). On the east side of Blind Brook, it included that part of the town
1 I am indebted, through Mr. W. H. Smith, of Port Chester, to the Superintendent of Public Instruction at Albany, for these facts relative to the present common school system of the State. He refers to a Special Report on Education, by Super- intendent Rice, in 1867, pp. 80, 81.
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SCHOOLS.
which lies south of Ezrahiah Wetmore's and north of Philemon Halsted's (now Mr. Daniel Budd's). No. 3 lay north of this, comprising the village of Saw Pit, now Port Chester, and the upper part of the town. No. 4 included the whole of Peningo Neck below Philemon Halsted's. This arrangement has been somewhat modified. At present, there are five school districts in Rye - the fifth comprising the upper part of the town, above Port Chester. Rye Neck, commencing at Dr. Jay's, forms a separate district (No. 1), and No. 2 includes Peningo Neck, below Mr. Anderson's, with the west side of Blind Brook, below Mr. Mead's.
CHAPTER XXII.
SLAVERY IN RYE.
1689-1827.
A MONG the institutions of the olden time, slavery must not be left out of the account. It is in fact little more than forty years since this unhappy system ceased to have a legal existence in our State. The Dutch had introduced it during their possession of the province of New Netherland. As early as the year 1629, we find the West India Company complaining that their planta- tions could not compete with those of Spain, for want of slaves, and of means to obtain a supply of them.1 Before the year 1647, the slave-trade had been opened with Brazil ; 2 and by the time the English acquired New York, its villages and ' bouweries' were amply stocked with black laborers. The English governors of the province gave all encouragement to the traffic. The Duke of York himself was at the head of a company chartered in England for the purpose of carrying it on.
In New England, slavery never prevailed very extensively. Our first settlers appear to have brought a few negroes with them from Connecticut. But for a considerable length of time the num- ber of slaves in Rye was very small. A census taken in 1712 - fifty years after the founding of the town - showed but eighteen negroes of all ages within its limits, which then included Harrison and the White Plains.3
The first mention of slavery occurs in our records in 1689. Jacob Pearce, one of the original planters, left among his goods and chattels -
' A negro woman called by the name of Rose, which is not inven- toried, because 'twas proffered to be proved upon oath that her master Jacob Pearce did give her her freedom after his wife's decease.' 4
1 Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. i. p. 39.
2 Ibid. p. 244.
3 Papers relating to Westchester County, in Documentary History of New York, vol. iii. p. 949.
4 Records of Deeds, Westchester County, vol. B. p. 183.
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182
SLAVERY IN RYE.
In the same year, James Mott of Mamaroneck sells, alienates, and makes over to Humphrey Underhill of Rye -' A sartain neger named Jack aged about fortene yeres or thareabouts.' 1
' Slaves from sixteen years old and upward,' are mentioned in a rate of assessment, April 2, 1703. They are valued at the same rate with 'all Christian male persons' of the same age -at £12 per head.2
The people of Rye were called upon in 1711 to pay taxes under ' an act for raising one shilling on every chimney, and two shillings on every Negroe or Indian Slave.' 3
With the growth of the town, the number of slaves increased very considerably. From eighteen, - according to the census of 1712, -it had risen in 1755 to one hundred and seventeen. A list of the families owning slaves at that period,4 shows that they were distributed very widely throughout the town. Neither lay- man nor ecclesiastic appears to have entertained scruples as to this kind of proprietorship. The names even of several members of ' the Society of Friends' are on the list. It is noticeable, how- ever, that few families owned more than two or three negroes. Mr. Jay, Colonel Willett, and Mr. Thomas 5 were the largest owners. 6
A few passages from our town records may serve to illustrate
1 Rye Records, vol. B. end.
2 Town and Proprietors' Meeting Book, No. 3 or C. p. 3.
" The New Receipt Book, Westchester County, 1714-15, p. 75.
4 Documentary History of New York, vol. iii. p. 855.
5 ' Run away from John Thomas, Junr at Rye, in Westchester County, about the middle of November last : A negro man called Joe, about thirty-fiveyears of age ; he is near six feet high, of a yellowish complexion, has had the small pox, but hardly visible, has some scars on his breast, was born in Jersey, but since lived with Messen- ger Palmer, near Stanford, in Connecticut : Had on when he went away a brown Cloath jacket, a woolen shirt; a pair of leather breeches, a pair of white woolen stockings. Whoever takes up said negro and secures him so that his master may have him again, shall receive three pounds reward, and all reasonable charges, paid by me JOIN THOMAS JUN.'
' Rye, January 9, 1765.' (N. Y. Gazette and Weekly Post-Boy, Jannary 17, 1765.)
6 Cornelius Flaman, one of these owners, had been in trouble about his slaves. The New York Gazette of October 3, 1734, contains his statement concerning 'two negros, to wit, one negro man called Jaek, and one negro woman named Rose,' belong- ing to him. These servants were claimed by Mr. William Roome, who had posted up a notice at Rye, to the effect that Mr. Francis Garabrant, deceased, father-in-law to Flaman, had made them over to him in June, 1731. Flaman denies this claim. From the advertisement, it appears that he had been apprentice, from 1707 to 1722, to Garabrant, who lived in New York, where he had a house and lot. Flaman lived at ' Saw Pit.' He had deceased in 1758, when Cornelius, his 'eldest son and heir,' sold his land to Daniel Hawkshurst. (Rye Records, D. 121.)
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PUBLIC WHIPPER.
some of the workings of the 'peculiar institution,' about the time when it had become so extensively prevalent here : -
In 1739, George Kniffin gives to his loving and dutiful son David, fifty acres of land on King Street, 'together with two negro children commonly called and known by their names, viz., Abel and Doll.' 1
In 1741, Benjamin Merritt appoints his ' true and trusty friend Joshua Brundige, to be my lawful attorney to recover all my debt due to me in Connecticut, and likewise to bring back my servant George Egit, and dispose of him according to his discretion.' 2
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