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 22
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' New York, June 13: 1715. Then Receiv'd of Samuel Hunt Col- lector of Rye by ye Hands of Jofiah Hunt Efq" for ye Town of Rey in Weft-Chefter County ye fum of five Pounds nine fhillings and two pence halfpenny and for ye Treafurer's falary two fhillings and nine- pence halfpenny being on ye firft Paym't of ye £10,000 Tax weh was Payable the Laft Day of May 1714, I fay Received by me
A. D PEYSTER, Treasurer.'
The next English governor, Robert Hunter, was a better man than most of those who had been sent over to rule the province. But though personally liked, he was regarded with much of the distrust that the people had learned to feel toward the agents of a government jealous of their liberties. Between the Assembly and himself a bitter controversy was waged as to the public revenues. They would make no appropriations for the support of the govern- ment except year by year. The public debt, however, had increased to such a degree as to demand some action. A whole session of the Assembly was devoted to its consideration. ‘In- credible were the numbers of the public creditors : new demands were made every day. Their amount was nearly £28,000.' To
205
THE EXCISE.
pay this large sum, recourse was had again to the circulation of bills of eredit. The receipt given above has reference to the first payment on this charge. Ten payments were made in all, the last of which was made by ' Jonathan Haight, collector of Rye,' in July, 1723, amounting to £14 68. 9d.
' NEW YORK 12 Jany 1715-16
' Then Recª of Mr Jofeph Budd Commiffr of Weft-Chefter County for letting ye Accys [Excise] ye Sum of fixteen pounds two fhillings and twopence farthing being in full of laft Years Accys weh was feaven- teen pound eighteen fhillings and ninepence three farthing I fay recd as above by mee A D : PEYSTER treasurer'
' New York 12 June 1722. Received from M' John Stevenfon for acct of Mr Jofeph Budd Deceafed late Commiffr of Weftchefter County ye Sume of thirty pounds three fhillings and eight pence, being on account of ye Excife beginning from primo November 1720 to primo November 1721 I fay received by me
A D PEYSTER Jun" treasurer '
The quarrel between the Assembly and the governor continued ; the latter insisting on the appropriation of a permanent revenne, the former refusing to grant money for a longer period than a year. In 1715 Governor Hunter achieved a partial victory over the popular branch of the government. He prevailed on the Assembly to grant a revenue for a term of three years. This measure made the administration, for the time being, independent of the people, an object which the English governors kept in view with unswerving pertinacity. At the same session the Assembly passed ' an Excise bill on strong liquors,' which continued in force until the Revolution, and which was said in 1762 to bring into the public treasury an annual sum of about one thousand pounds. Mr. Joseph Budd of Rye, the patentee of Budd's Neck, and grandson of the original purchaser of that tract, was commis- sioner of the excise for the county of Westchester.
' New York 2 April 1723 Received from Benjamin Heaviland Coll" of Ry in Weft-Chefter County ye fum of nine pounds feven fhillings and one penny purfuant an act of ye General Affembly of this Prov- ince entituled an act for Raifing ye sum of five hundred pounds to Encourage and promote a trade with ye remote Nations of Indians and for fecuring ye five Nations in his Mties Intreft As alfo ye fum of three hundred and twenty pounds three fhilling two pence farthing advanced by ye feveral perfons therein named for repairing ye fortificans on ye Frontiers I fay received by me A D PEYSTER ju" Treas" 1
206
TAXES AND IMPOSTS.
Governor Burnet, who succeeded Hunter, was by far the best of the governors assigned to this province. And the measures referred to in the above receipt are among the most honorable of his administration. 'Of all our governors, none,' says the histo- rian William Smith, 'had such extensive and just views of our Indian affairs. He gave attention to this subject from the first, endeavoring to alarm the fears of the Assembly in view of the daily advances of the French, their possessing the main passes, seducing our Indian allies,' etc. To counteract their influence, he recommended the establishment of trading-posts along the northern frontier ; a measure that led to the opening of the fur traffic, which became a source of such vast wealth to the city and the State of New York. The appropriation of five hundred pounds above referred to, was another measure procured by this sagacious governor.
We have not room to continue our extracts from the 'New Receipt Book,' nor to extend our notices of old provincial times.2 The contest of which we have had glimpses, between the Assem- bly or the people and the British governors, was waged from time to time until within a few years of the Revolution ; the governors seeking to control the public revenues, the people, more and more watchful against all attempts to curtail their liberties, persisting in their refusal.
1 A previous payment of £4 4s. 2d on this tax is acknowledged in 1722.
2 In the single year 1725, Rye paid .£8 19s. 6d. on the first payment, and £8 18s. 0d. on the second payment of ' thic 5350 Ounces of Plate tax.' Also £16 16s. 4d. on the first payment of 'the £6630 tax.' The county rate paid for the same year was £13 19s. Od. In all £48 12s. 10d.
From 1721 to 1724 the town paid in addition to other taxes £43 19s. 4%d. in five instalments, 'toward building a Court house and Gaol [at Westchester] for the County of Westchester.'
The county rate was generally much higher than the above. In 1721 it amounted to £62 6s. 9%d.
Horse Rock.
House by the Ferry.
Rye Ferry.
CHAPTER XXVI.
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. - RYE IN 1770-71.
A BOUT One of the Clock in the Morning of Sun- day the firft of April Inftant, the Dwelling Houfe of Major Hachaliah Brown in Rye, took Fire, and burnt down ; the Family being afleep, before they awaked the Fire was fo advanced, that their Lives were en- dangered, and had not Time to fave but a very few Arti- cles above Stairs, and a Part of the Goods below. Major Brown had the Misfortune to have his Houfe, and almoft all his Furniture burnt about ten Years ago ; at which Time his Lofs was judged to be upwards of One Thoufand Pounds. Altho' his fecond Lofs is not fo great as the firft, being about Five Hundred Pounds, a Circumftance attending it makes it more melancholly, viz. His fuppofing, and there being little or no Reafon to doubt, its being fet on Fire by fome wicked Perfon, who feemed to have a particular Malice at the Major, the Fire being fet to the Corner of the Houfe where he flept ; but had not the Smoke awoke him as it did, his two Sons and two Grand Children, and a young Woman in the Chamber, who were all in a found Sleep in that
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A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
dead Time of Night, and with fome Difficulty, awaked by him, in a few Minuets must have all perifhed in the flames, with a Number of Servants. It is a dreadful Confideration not only to him, but to the Neighbour- hood, that there fhou'd be a Perfon in it, undifcovered, fo utterly loft to all Humanity, as to be guilty of an Attempt to deftroy not only the Eftate but the lives of Men, Women and innocent Children.1
This sad event was undoubtedly the great theme of comment for months in our village a hundred years ago. Major Brown's house stood on the site of the house where his grandson, the late Hachaliah Brown, died in 1861. The present building, now the residence of C. V. Anderson, Esq., is said to have been erected four years after the fire - in 1774.
ROGER PARK was one of the notabilities of this place a century ago. His farm of two hundred and forty acres lay north of Major Brown's, in the old Town Field. Part of it is now owned by Mr. Greacen, and a portion of his house is still standing in the rear of Mr. Greacen's residence. Mrs. Park was a daughter of John Dis- brow, and brought her husband a considerable fortune. She is said to have owned one of the only two carriages - it was a two- wheeled chaise - that had yet been seen in Rye.
Next to these gentlemen, perhaps the largest proprietor on Peningo Neck at this time, was PHILEMON HALSTED. He lived in the house which is still standing on the corner of the Milton Road and the road to the Beach, and owned the farm on both sides of the latter road, now the Newberry Halsted estate. His nephew Ezekiel, who had lately sold this property to Philemon, bought in 1771 the land further south, now Mr. George L. Cornell's and Mr. Underhill Halsted's. South of this, the greater part of the Neck was owned by David Brown, third son of Hach- aliah. The little village of Milton had not yet sprung up. Lyon's mill had probably ceased to exist, and not more than two or three houses stood along the creek below. Sloops landed on the oppo- site side of the Neck from the present dock, at 'Kniffin's Cove,' where there was still a dock, and where formerly there had been a ' warehouse ' or store.
Another large proprietor, JOSIAH PURDY, had now been dead some years. His son, Seth Purdy, had succeeded to his estate. He owned the lands on both sides of the post-road, above the vil-
1 The New York Journal, or the General Advertiser. Printed and published by John Holt, near the Exchange, Thursday, April 19, 1770.
209
THE JAY MANSION.
lage, from ' the Cedars' to Blind Brook. Josiah Purdy's house stood a few rods north of the Park Institute, close upon the road.
JONATHAN KNIFFIN's farm in 1770 bordered upon the post- road above Regent Street, and extended northward to Purchase Avenue. Regent Street was then called ' Kniffin's lane.' It led to his house, which stood on the west side of the lane, opposite Mrs. A. Sherwood's barn ; the old well still remains. This farm included the land now owned by Mr. Quintard. It was Jonathan Kniffin's daughter who was so cruelly murdered on the highway near Rye, in 1777.
Mr. PETER JAY was living at this time on the estate which he had bought twenty-five years before, at Rye, from John Budd's grandson. The Jay mansion stood nearly on the site of the present house. It was a long, low building, but one room deep, and eighty feet in width, having attained this size by repeated additions to suit the wants of a numerous family. Here John Jay, now a young man of twenty-five, had spent his childhood ; going from this pleasant home when eight years old to school at New Rochelle, and when fourteen to King's College, in New York. He was now a rising young lawyer in the city, having been ad- mitted to the bar two years before, in 1768. John was the eighth of ten children. Two of these, an older brother and sister, were blind, having been deprived of their sight by the small-pox. It was for the benefit of these children that Mr. Jay had removed to the country. Here Peter and his blind sister spent their days. She died in 1791;1 her brother in 1813. When Dr. Dwight visited Rye in 1810 he saw this gentleman, of whom, in his pub- lished Travels, he has given a most interesting account .? Some of our aged people retain vivid recollections of the wonderful in- genuity and sagacity which he displayed, notwithstanding his blindness.
Mr. Jay, the father, must have exerted a marked influence in our little community. He is said to have been a man of sincere and fervent piety, of cheerful temper and warm affections, and of
1 The following appeared in the New York Daily Advertiser, September 9, 1791 : ' On Sunday evening last (Sept. 4.), departed this life, in the 54th year of her age, at her brother Peter Jay's seat at Rye, Miss Anne M. Jay, a Lady whose excellent understanding, and uniform beneficence and piety rendered her very estimable. Altho' she enjoyed a handsome income, far beyond her wants, and was frugal ; yet she never added to her estate, but constantly employed the residne in doing good. Among other legacies dictated by humanity and benevolence, she has bequeathed one hundred pounds to the Episcopal Church at Rye.'
2 Travels in New England and New York, by Timothy Dwight, S. T. D., LL. D. New Haven, 1822 : vol. iii. p. 487.
14
210
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
strong good sense ; 'a shrewd observer and admirable judge of men ; resolute, persevering, and prudent ; an affectionate father, a kind master, but governing all under his control with mild but absolute sway.' Mrs. Jay was a lady of cultivated mind. 'Mild and affectionate, she took delight in the duties as well as the pleasures of domestic life ; while a cheerful resignation to the will of Providence, during many years of sickness and suffering, bore witness to the strength of her religious faith.' 1
The upper part of Budd's Neck was owned, a century ago, chiefly by the Purdys and Thealls. Captain JOSHUA PURDY lived in the house now owned by Mr. William Purdy. He was highly esteemed by his fellow-townsmen. Like many of them, he adhered to the government side in the great struggle which soon followed ; and in 1776 was a prisoner at the White Plains. The chairman of the Committee of Safety wrote, August 20, recom- mending his release, as ' a man of influence, toward whom lenity would be advisable,' though he had ' never been friendly to the American cause.' 2 Mr. Purdy lived until near the close of the last century. At his funeral, the brief eulogy was pronounced over him, ' A kind husband, a faithful master, a father to the poor, a pillar to the Church.'
CHARLES THEALL was living at the time in the house now Mr. B. Mead's, where probably his grandfather, Captain Joseph Theall, had lived eighty years before. Charles owned a farm said to have measured 'a mile square.' This he divided, before his death eight years later, among his four sons. Gilbert, the eldest, was living on the west side of the brook, opposite the house where Mr. Corning resides. North of his farm lay the new parsonage land, ' a part of the late Rev. James Wetmore's farm, which he had left eleven years earlier for this use. James Wetmore, his son, lived north of this, where Mrs. Buckley lives ; and Timothy Wetmore, now a leading man in Rye, lived in the old Square House.
In Harrison's Precinct, as it was called, on the border of Budd's Neck, Mr. DAVID HAIGHT, one of the largest proprietors, was liv- ing in 1770. His house stood, its gable close to the road-side, on North Street, by the gate to Mr. Josiah Macy's place. He was now almost seventy, and lived to be nearly a hundred years old.
In the northern part of the town, JUDGE THOMAS was the most prominent personage. His estate in ' Rye Woods' was large,
1 The Life of John Jay, by his son, William Jay. In two volumes. New York, 1833 : vol. i. pp. 10, 11.
2 American Archives, fourth series, vol. i. p. 1524.
211
YEARLY FAIR AT RYE.
and furnished with a goodly number of slaves. His eldest son, John Thomas, junior, was at this time supervisor of the town, as well as justice of the peace, and farmer of the excise for the county. The dwelling of Judge Thomas - from which a few years after the venerable proprietor was to be dragged by a party of British troops, to die in prison in New York - was a home of comfort and hospitality. This family, with the Jays in the lower part of the town, held a commanding position among the inhabit- ants of Rye. Both families espoused the patriotic side in the con- test of the Revolution ; and during the earlier years of the war, at least, their influence was greatly felt in its behalf.
Among the topics of village talk in 1770, perhaps the chief was the plan for establishing a FAIR at Rye. We have a striking proof of the change that a century has wrought in men and manners, in the interest which this scheme awakened. An old English cus- tom, of which we know scarcely anything at present, was so highly appreciated by the Browns and Halsteds, the Parks and Pnrdys of those days, that they joined with many others in a petition on the subject, addressed, ' To his Excellency the Right Honble John Earl of Dunmore, Commander in Chief in and over the Province of New York.' This petition purports to come from 'a great Num- ber of the Principal and other Inhabitants in the Town of Rye ; ' and it 'humbly shows' that by an act of the Assembly passed many years before, Rye had been declared entitled to the benefit of holding a fair once in every year. It was to be held in the month of October, and the object was 'for selling of all Country Produce and other effects whatsoever.' The inhabitants represent that they have never before applied to have the fair held, as they had a right ; ' but now, believing the keeping of a Fair as afore- said in said Town of Rye would be of general service to said Town,' they humbly pray his Excellency that he ' would please to appoint DOCTOR EBENEZER HAVILAND of said Rye to be Gov- ernor, and to have full power according to said Act of Assembly, to keep and hold a Fair in said Rye in the month of October next.' This petition was signed by fifty-seven inhabitants, and was duly presented to Governor Dunmore in April, 1771. His Excellency gracionsly appointed Dr. Haviland to be governor of such a fair, to be kept at Rye on the second Tuesday in October, yearly, and to end the Friday next following, being in all four days, and no longer.
The act to which the petitioners referred was passed in 1692,
212
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
and was entitled ' an act for settling Fairs and Markets in eachı respective City and County throughout the province.' It provided that in the county of Westchester there should be held and kept two fairs yearly ; the one in the town of Westchester on the sec- ond Tuesday in May, and the other at Rye on the second Tues- day in October. Such fairs had been held from time immemorial in England, as in other countries ; indeed they are still maintained to some extent. We do not know how far the English custom was carried out here ; but there is reason to suppose that a con- siderable amount of traffic was carried on at these times.
A hundred years have wrought great changes in the outward appearance of our town. But in the character of the population, their manners and customs, their habits, ideas, and convictions, a far greater change has taken place. A century ago the inhab- itants of Rye had few interests that reached beyond the limits of their own town. Most of them, probably, had never extended their travels further than the city of New York. The first stage- coach had not as yet made its appearance on our post-road upon its way to Boston, though doubtless the proposal to run such a vehicle next year was already the talk of the neighborhood. RYE FERRY was still in operation. The road leading to it past Strang's tavern, and up the hill by the church, was more frequented than any other. Oyster Bay and other towns on Long Island were in easy and frequent communication by this route. 'Friends ' from Harrison, and other farmers from King Street and the Plains, made use of it not unfrequently ; and the store kept at the House by the Ferry seems to have been the resort of their wives and daughters as well, in pursuit of ' Calicoes, Ribbands, Fans, Gloves, Necklaces, Looking Glasses,' etc., which were kept there for sale.
A century ago, RYE BEACH was a favorite resort for pleasure- seekers of a different class from those who mostly congregate there at present. A New York paper of April 6th, 1775, contains the following item of news :-
' On the 11th day of March laft, there came on, before Peter Guion, Efq ; at Befley's Tavern, at New Rochelle, a trial about a dif- puted Horfe race that had been run on Rye Flats ; one of the parties demanded a Jury, and the Juftice accordingly iffued a Procefs for the Purpofe - A number of the inhab-
213
FRENCHI AND INDIAN WAR.
itants were fummoned and appeared, but unanimoufly refufed to be fworn, declaring, that as Horfe racing . was contrary to the Affociation of the Congrefs, they would never ferve as Jurors in any fuch caufe, and that if the Juftice thought proper to commit them, they would go to gaol. - In fhort, the Juftice was obliged to try the caufe himfelf.' 1
A hundred years ago the events of the FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR were fresh in the recollection of our people. That struggle had closed only ten years before. A number of persons from this town had served in it. The muster-rolls of companies raised in Westchester County in 1758 and 1759,2 contain the names of thirty-four or thirty-five men whose 'place of birth ' was Rye.3 Most of these were very young men, some of them mere boys. Un- doubtedly, many others went from this town in the course of that war ; but the muster-rolls for the earlier campaigns do not specify the place where the recruits belonged. Not a few of the returned soldiers afterwards settled in the neighborhood of Lake Champlain and Lake George. The conquest of Canada in 1760 was followed by a considerable emigration, encouraged by the large grants of land which the government made to parties applying for them. Among these applicants were some eighty families, mostly from Westchester County, New York. Dr. William Hooker Smith, son of the venerable Presbyterian minister of Rye, was among the leaders of the enterprise ; and several others were from Rye.4 How many of these petitioners actually removed 'to the northern frontier,' we do not know ; but it is a matter of tradition that sev- eral families from this town emigrated 'after the French war' to
1 Holt's New York Journal, April 6, 1775. The Continental Congress had dis- countenanced horse-racing and gambling, with other practices conducive to extrava- gance and dissipation.
2 Communicated by Dr. O'Callaghan.
3 These were Ezekiel Brundage, aged 27; Abr. Lyon, 22; Jonath. Merrit, 23 ; Ezekiel Merrit, 23; Arnold Slaughter, 17; John Taylor, junior, 21; Thomas Tay- lor, 21 ; Sam. Lane, 22; Peter Rickey, 28 : Arthur Veal, 20; Isaac Brigg, 19; Silas Sherwood, 36 ; Jos. Diekens, 19 ; Jon. Loundsbury, 20 ; Val. Lonndsbury, 21 ; Jas. Gue, junior, 31 ; Jacob Rock, 23 ; John Budd, 27 ; Thos. Daniels, 29 ; Abr. Hoight, 17 ; Peter Dusenberry, 19 ; Reuben Lane, 16; Nath. Hair, 17; Thos. Paldin, 20 ; Jer. Ricker, 28 ; Caleb Sherwood, 19 ; Jos. Haight, 20 ; Elisha Merrit, 18; Cato Thomas, 21 ; Jon. Merrit, 48 ; Peter Merrit, 19; David Kniffen, 44; Jos. Williams, 18; Amos Quarters, 16; Jos. Merrit, 24.
4 Petition of Win. Hooker Smith and others for a grant of 51,000 acres near Lake Champlain, March 5, 1760. (Land Papers in Office of Secretary of State, Albany, vol. xv. p. 163.)
-
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A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
that region. An old inhabitant remembers hearing in his youth that ' a good many went from Rye as recruits at the time of the French war, and afterwards settled about Lake Champlain.' He tells me also that when a boy he once accompanied a relative upon a journey on horseback, 'all the way up to Warren County,' to obtain the interest upon certain mortgages which he held on prop- erty there.
The French War constituted a memorable period in the history of our land. It brought upon the colonies a burden of debt which would seem to be one of the heaviest calamities that a new and poor country could experience. And the very exertions put forth by the Americans to carry on that war, and to meet their liabilities for its support, led the British government to impose still heavier burdens on a people whose resources appeared to be so great. But this contest also taught the colonies a most salutary and indis- pensable lesson. It inured many of our people to the scenes, and gave many of them some knowledge of the science of warfare, . which proved invaluable to them in a time of need, now near at hand.
Sniffen's Hill.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE REVOLUTION.
1774-1776.
' The hearts Of all his people shall revolt from him, And kiss the lips of unaequainted change.' King John.
THE revolutionary history of Rye deserves to be written. Not a few events of interest occurred here and in the region round about. At several periods in the course of the war this place was occupied by British or American forces, while at other times it lay between the opposing armies encamped 'above ' or ' below.' And from the fact of its proximity to New York, and its position on the highway to Connecticut, Rye was exposed through- out the whole war to inconveniences of which we can but faintly conceive at the present day.
It is well known that no part of our country suffered more dur- ing the Revolution than the southern portion of Westchester County : ' the Neutral Ground, as it was called, but subjected,' says Mr. Irving, 'from its vicinity to the city, to be foraged by the royal forces, and plundered and insulted by refugees and
216
THE REVOLUTION.
tories.' ' No region,' he adds, ' was more harried and trampled down by friend and foc,' than this debatable ground.1
These troublous times ought to be remembered. Perhaps it is within the narrow scope of a local history, giving particulars for which the general historian cannot find room, that we may gain some of the most definite views of those hardships which were a part of the 'great sum' with which our fathers obtained their freedom.
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