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 28
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CHAPTER XXX.
AFTER THE WAR.
1783.
T! THE Revolution virtually closed with the surrender of Cornwallis, on the nineteenth of October, 1781. New York, however, was held by the British until November 25, 1783, though hostili- ties had ceased nearly two years before. In the mean time, great changes were going on in the population, both of city and of country. Families that had fled from their homes during the war, were re- turning ; and persons who had rendered themselves particularly obnoxious to the new powers, were removing from the place. Connecticut had been the refuge of many of our inhabitants, as of those in other localities exposed to the enemy's visits during the war. Worthy Colonel Gilbert Budd brought his family back from New Milford to the homestead in Mamaroneck. Dr. Ebenezer Haviland's widow, with her three children, returned from Walling- ford, where her husband had died during their absence from Rye, to dwell again in the ' Square House ' on the post-road. Not a few of our people, on the other hand, were obliged to leave. They were the 'loyalists,' now the 'refugees,' who had clung to the British cause through the war. Many of them were thoroughly conscientious in this adherence. They sided with the parent coun- try because principled against rebellion, and unable to approve the course which the colonies were taking. They were men to be re- spected for their consistency and fidelity to their own convictions. Others there were, however, who well deserved the reprobation of public sentiment, and the infliction of political disabilities. They had been active partisans of the British cause, carrying the miseries of war into the midst of neighborhoods and families, abetting, and often excelling the British troops in acts of vindictive cruelty.
Numbers went from this place to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The western counties of the latter province are peopled chiefly by the descendants of loyalists from the United States, who went thither at the close of the war. The remaining inhabitants
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RETURN OF SOLDIERS.
of Rye must have read with interest the following items, which appeared in the New York papers of April and May, 1783 : -
'The number of inhabitants going to Nova Scotia, in the present fleet [April 26], consists of upwards of nine thousand souls ; exceeding by more than one thousand the largest town in Connecticut.'
' Yesterday [May 18], arrived a vessel from Halifax, by which we learn that the fleet with about six thousand Refugees, which lately left this City, were safely landed at Cape Roseway, after a six days passage.' 1
Many of our people had neighbors and relatives among this com- pany of emigrants. Some of these returned after a few months' absence, and quietly settled down in the place. Others were ex- patriated for life.
There were painful circumstances connected with these social changes. The families that returned to their homes after a long absence found their farms and houses in a deplorable condition. The cultivation of the soil had long ago ceased, except so far as was required for the bare subsistence of those who remained in the town. Many of the dwellings were in decay. The churches had both been burned ; the 'old ruins' of the church on the hill were a conspicuous memorial of the fact for many years. Some estates had been forfeited by reason of the 'tory ' character of their owners. Others had been preserved from confiscation by the care of neighbors, who held them for this purpose during the war. But the saddest feature of those times was undoubtedly the return of the Continental soldiers to their homes. Some of them came back to find their families beggared, or dispersed, parents and friends dead and buried. Many returned with habits of idleness and dis- sipation, that rendered them useless to society. And many came back in want and misery, discharged from the army without their full pay, and suffering from disease and wounds. These are said to have been the most pitiable scenes after the war. Persons who had become so hardened by the sight of misery as to shed no tear when pillaged and abused by marauding troops, were overcome at the sight of the wretched bands of ten and twenty or more, that came straggling along our highway, stopping at night in some barn, where in the morning two or three perhaps would be left who had expired during the night from exhaustion or disease.
The effects of the war were felt for years in the distracted and demoralized state of the community. Frequent outrages were com- mitted in our neighborhood, sometimes from motives of revenge, or to gratify party animosities, and sometimes for mere purposes of
1 Gaine's New York Gazette, April 26, May 19, 1783.
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AFTER THE WAR.
plunder. Occurrences of this kind are still remembered with a painful interest as great as that surrounding the memories of the war itself.
Our Town Records show a blank from April 7th, 1772, to April 1st, 1783. This long interruption, for the space of eleven years, is explained by the following statement which precede's the record of the first town meeting after the close of the war : -
' It may be thought strange why a Town Meeting in the Town of Rye has not been held for so many years. The war coming on and put the Town in such great confusion, and Many of the principal People left their Habitations that no Law could take Place amongst them untill this time.'
At this first meeting John Thomas, Esq., was chosen supervisor of the town.
The people of Rye had held that part of their lands known as Peningo Neck - or the tract between Blind Brook and Byram River - by a charter from the British crown, granted in the year 1720. For this tract, estimated at four thousand five hun- dred acres, they were required, according to the terms of the char- ter, to pay a Quit Rent of 28. 6d. per hundred acres, every year to the State. In 1787, the arrears of this rent, which were claimed by the government of New York, were paid by Mr. Jesse Hunt, supervisor of the town, to the public receiver. They amounted to £99 3s. 5d. The whole system of quitrents was soon after abolished.
The territory of the town was reduced to its present size by an act of the legislature, March 7, 1788. White Plains and Harrison, which had previously formed a part of Rye, as ' precincts,' or dis- tricts of the town, were then constituted as distinct towns.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE VILLAGE OF SAW PIT.
THE settlement at the mouth of Byram River was known as SAW PIT early in the last century. This name sprang from the fact that a spot on Lyon's Point, now a part of the village of Port Chester, was anciently occupied for the building of boats. There was a landing here, known as the 'Saw pitt landing,' as early as 1732 ; I and in 1741, we hear of ' some small lots lately laid out at the Saw pits so called.' These lots, it seems, were distributed among ' the ancient Proprietors of Peningo Neck,' and the appor- tionment was one of the last that took place under the proprietary system. But until near the period of the Revolution it can scarcely be said that a village existed here. The farmers of King Street and Hog-pen Ridge brought their produce down to the market sloops which made their weekly passage from this point to the city, and a tavern or two, with a few boatmen's houses, were built in the course of time. Abraham Bush, who for many years sailed from this port, had his father's home-lot ' near Saw-pit land- ing,' in 1745. Isaac Anderson and Samuel Lyon, 'mariners,' lived here some years earlier. But the maps of a century ago indicate no more than half a dozen houses between Regent Street and Byram Bridge ; and even twenty years later, there were not more than sixteen or eighteen.
LEWIS MARVIN's house was the most noted of these. It is now the residence of Mrs. Moseman, on Willett Street, near the rail- road arch, and remains a good specimen of the solid and comforta- ble dwellings of the better sort in olden times. The old country road ran along the northern side of this house, where a lane is yet to be seen. Lewis Marvin, ' merchant,' lived here as early as 1758, and his house appears on the military map of 1778. He died in the latter part of the war, and was buried, with his wife Martha, near the Episcopal Church at Rye. The house passed into the possession of Samuel Marvin, who kept a tavern here for
1 Records of a highway opened in 1732, in Book of Records at White Plains.
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THE VILLAGE OF SAW PIT.
some years. Reuben Coe, father of Mrs. Moseman the present occupant, bought this place early in the present century.1
At the outbreak of the Revolution there was one ISRAEL SEA- MAN, who kept a tavern on the southeast corner of Main Street and the street leading to Lyon's Point. This was a noted resort of the farmers and boatmen in ancient days. Seaman, like many others, sided with the British in the war, and went away. In 1779 the tavern was known as LAWRENCE'S.
Across the road from Seaman's stood the house of GILBERT BUSH. It was a stone building, on the site of the house where Mr. Gershom Bulkley now lives. This spot has been in the possession of one family for no fewer than six generations. It was the ' house-lot ' of JUSTUS BUSH, 'merchant, of the city of New York,' who in 1726 purchased proprietary rights in Rye. His will is dated 1737. His widow, Anne Bush, in 1745, gave to her youngest son Abraham " one half of the home-lot near Saw-pit landing,' bounded on the east by the country road, and on the west by the road leading from Saw Pit landing towards Bloomer's mill.
Within the memory of Gilbert Bush, whose daughter, Mrs. Bulkley, is still living, there were Indian wigwams on Lyon's Point, now a part of Port Chester ; and several Indians used to resort thither, at certain seasons of the year, for the purpose of fishing in Byram River, and along the neighboring shores.
The Westchester turnpike road, which was laid out in the year 1800, made a considerable change in the aspect of the village of Saw Pit. A particular account of the alteration has been given in our chapter on 'The Boston Road.'
ADAM SEAMAN's grist-mill, formerly Richard Ogden's, stood in 1743 near the point where the railroad bridge now crosses Byram River. This was the wading-place known as the 'lower going over.' Adam's farm of fifty acres lay between this and King Street, above the country road, including much of what is now covered by the village of Port Chester. This property may very likely have been confiscated after the Revolution ; for Adam, like Israel Seaman, was a ' tory.' In 1776 he appears as one of the ' disaffected persons,' whom the Committee of Safety at the White
1 In 1806 Reuben Coe built the house on Main Street, long known as The Pavil- ion. It was first kept by a Dr. Brewster, who was succeeded by Richard Willis. During the war of 1812, Willett Moseman took charge of this hotel, and kept it for many years. He was succeeded by Alexander Ennis. ('Saw-pit : a Sketch of Port Chester Sixty Years Ago, by Caleb Dunn ;' an article in the Portchester Monitor, October 29, 1864.)
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LOCATION OF OLD BUILDINGS.
Plains are concerned to know what they should do with, and ask permission to release, as they are mostly ' considerable .farmers,' whose services are much needed at home. At the close of the war, we find this land in the possession of three brothers named BOWNE. THOMAS, who was justice of the peace in 1793, lived in the house now Mr. Leander Horton's, at the railroad crossing. His farm of one hundred acres stretched from King Street to the river on the south and east, and northward to the farm now owned by the Misses Merritt. JACOB BOWNE's house stood on the east side of the road, near the railroad embankment, and Daniel's directly above. The old mill, known as Squire Bowne's, was still standing in 1800.
Between the old country road and the water there were no houses in 1800. Opposite Mr. Gershom Bulkley's the tide came up to the road-side. Where Adee Street intersects Main Street, there was a channel which Moses Crooker's sloop used to sail up ; and the fields beyond this were often overflowed at high water.
The Saw Pit school-house stood anciently on the west side of King Street, about forty rods from the railroad. There was but one other building on that street, south of the Merritt farm. This was GILBERT MILLER's house, which is still standing, close by the railroad, on the west side of the arch. On the other side of the country road was the house of Dr. JONATHAN COE, the father of Reuben. The only house on Purchase Street, near the village, stood on the site of Mrs. Moore's dwelling, a few rods from the railroad, on the west side of the street. On Main Street, nearly opposite Seaman's tavern, was a house anciently known as the 'old stone end.' Here ROGER MERRITT lived in revolu- tionary times. JONATHAN F. VICKERS, who taught school at Saw Pit toward the close of the last century, and was something of a lawyer also, lived in a house which stands on Fountain Street, east of the rear end of J. Lounsbery's store, and opposite was the house of SAMUEL MORRILL, a boatman.
Between Seaman's tavern and the western end of the village there were three or four small houses, one of which stood directly in front of the present residence of Mr. Drumgold, and belonged to Israel Seaman.
Robert Merritt lived in the house recently Isaac Carpenter's ; Sylvanus Merritt, where Dr. Sands now lives ; Samuel Merritt, where the Union Free School stands.
On the triangular lot west of the school-house, and near the Roman Catholic Church, stood, anciently, a building known as
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THE VILLAGE OF SAW PIT.
' the Haunted House.' It was torn down some forty years ago. Here a certain Captain Flood, who is said to have ' sailed the first market sloop out of Saw-pit,' lived at the time of the Revolution. ' John Flood the boatman' was one of the persons examined by the Committee of Safety in 1776, in connection with the trial of certain tories concerned in the spiking of cannon at King's Bridge. In this house, tradition states, a daughter of Captain Flood was murdered; and the neighborhood was thought to be haunted by her ghost.1 Timid persons were long unwilling to pass over the road approaching this house after dark; and there were stories afloat of strange flickering lights that had been seen moving over the meadows near by in the night. Wiser heads, however, knew of the ' Will o' the wisp ' or the ' Jack o'lantern,' which frequents low marshy grounds like those around this spot; for here, just in front of the Haunted House, were the ' upper hassocky meadows,' now comparatively dry and salubrious, but once, doubtless, a dis- mal and unwholesome swamp.
We have spoken in a previous chapter, of 'Saw-pit ' as a scene of Revolutionary events. Bloomer's Hill, then called Sniffen's Hill, is the spot around which most of the associations of that period cluster. Doubtless there are many other localities in this neighborhood which were invested with a similar interest, to the minds of generations that have now passed away.
1 Flood was an active patriot. His ' spirited conduet in apprehending William Lounsbery, a notorious enemy to the cause of America,' was mentioned approvingly by the New York Convention, August 29, 1776. (American Archives, fourth series, vol. i. p. 1555.) Lounsbery, a tory of Rye Neek, was taken, with four others whom he had persuaded to enlist in the British service as Rangers. The militia ' were under the necessity of killing him, as he would not surrender.' (Ibid.) The murder ot Flood's daughter may have been a retaliation for this affair.
1-1
Halsted House.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE CHURCHES : WITHOUT A MINISTER.
1660-1674.
THE foregoing chapters have recounted some of the social and political changes incidental to the position of a ' border town.' It is much more, however, in the religious history of our commu- nity, as we observed at the outset, that the effects of such a position may be marked. Rye was the latest and remotest plantation of Connecticut. It remained longer than any other plantation of that colony without the benefits of a settled ministry and a well consti- tuted church. And when these benefits had been secured in a measure, the transfer of the town from the government of Con- necticut to that of New York was followed by religious differences and divisions that could not but be greatly prejudicial to the high- est interests of the people. These facts, whilst they infer a low state of religion compared with that which existed in other and more favored towns, render the history of the churches here all the more instructive and worthy of record and remembrance.
The settlers of Connecticut were English Puritans. Their doc- trinal belief was Calvinistic, and their ecclesiastical system was a
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WITHOUT A MINISTER.
modified Presbyterianism. A large proportion of those who came over from England were avowed Presbyterians; the principal friends and patrons of the colony in England belonged to that religions persuasion ; and the standards of faith and practice to which the Connecticut churches held were much more nearly akin to those of the Presbyterians of Great Britain than to the ways of the Independents. They were therefore with propriety called, and were accustomed to designate themselves, not unfrequently, by this denominational name.1
The first care of the founders of Connecticut was to provide every town with religious ordinances and a competent ministry. Indeed, ' the General Court' of the colony ' would not suffer any plantation to be made which would not support an able orthodox preacher.' 2 And if they saw anything like indifference or neglect with regard to this matter, they were not slow to speak in terms of decided rebuke.
Nine years have passed since the commencement of a plantation at Rye ; and in October, 1669, the General Court are 'informed that the people of Rye are yet destitute of an orthodox minister.'
1 ' Our people in this Colony are, some strict Congregationall men, others more large Congregationall men, and some moderate Presbeterians ; and take the Congre- gationall men of both sorts, they are the greatest part of people in this Colony.' W. Leete, Governor, Hartford, July 15, 1680. (Public Records of Connecticut, vol. iii. p. 299.)
' The Puritans were not all Congregationalists. The contrary impression has indeed become very general, from the fact that the Puritans settled New England, and that Congregationalism there became the prevalent form of church discipline. . . . It is commonly taken for granted that all who, as Puritans, emigrated to this country to avoid the persceutions which they suffered at home, were Congregationalists. The truth, however, is that as the great majority of Puritans in England were Presbyte- rians, so no inconsiderable proportion of those who came to America preferred the Presbyterian form of church government. . Many of' the Puritan emigrants who came to New England during the reigns of James I. and Charles I. brought with them 'a preference for Presbyterianism. . The colony of Connectient, in writing at.an early period to the lords of trade and plantations, tell them " the people here are Congregationalists, large Congregationalists, and moderate Presbyterians, the two former being the most numerous." This form of expression evidently implies that the latter class bore a large proportion to the former. The principal friends and patrons of this colony in England were Presbyterians, particularly lord Say, an original patentee of the colony, to whom they often express their obligations, and to whose influenee, and to that of the earl of Manchester, another leader of the Presby- terian party, they were in a great measure indebted for the restoration of their char- ter.' -' The churches of Connecticut appear to have had, from the beginning, more of a Presbyterian influence among them than those of Massachusetts.' - The Consti- tutional History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. By Charles Hodge, Professor in the Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey. Philadelphia : 1839. Part I. pp. 22, 30, 31, 33, 34, 38.
2 Ilistory of Connecticut, by Benjamin Trumbull, D. D. : vol. i. p. 287.
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LAY PREACHERS.
It appears too that ' they doe not take due care to procure such a one as might carry on the work of the Lord on the Sabboth.' 'This is not owing solely to the weakness of the settlement. Rye now numbers some fifty families, and is considerably stronger than Greenwich, its neighbor. In some of the new plantations, says Trumbull, thirty families supported a minister, and commonly there were not more than forty when they called and settled one.1 What is the matter with the planters at Rye ? They do not show an utter indifference to religion, but they are getting into loose and disorderly ways. 'John Coe and Marmaduke Smith,' per- sons who are represented to this Court as unsownd and hetero- dox in their judgments if not scandolous in their lives,' are un- dertaking to teach or to conduct religious services among them. Their labors too are acceptable, it would appear; for the people 'seem to rest satisfyed without' a lawful pastor, 'in the approne- ment' of these teachers ; who are thus ' put in a capacity more to prejudice then farther the edification of the people there.' The court, therefore, ' upon these considerations, doe anthorize and im- power Mr. Nathan Gold and any three of the Commissioners ' of Fairfield County, ' to require the aforesaid persons, John Coe & Marmaduke Smith, or any others of that towne to appeare before them, and if upon examination things doe appeare to them as they are represented to this Court, they are desired to take effectnall course that the persons afoarsayd may have no oppertunety af- foarded them to sowe the seeds of eror among the people there ; . and allso they are to informe the people of Rye that this Court are resolued, if the sayd people's prudent considerations do not moue them to make such provisions of a suitable person, sownd & ortho- dox in his principles and apt to teach, (so approued by Mr. Bishop, Mr. Handford, Mr. Wakeman & Mr. Eliphalet Joanes, ) the Court will themselves procure and setle a preaching minister amongst them, and take sufficient order that he be mayntained by them, at their next session.' 2
1
Who Marmaduke Smith was, we have been unable to learn. One Arthur Smith, of Sonthold, L. I., had been dealt with a few years before by the magistrates of New Haven, for teaching ' the opinions of the Quakers.' 3 John Coe, as we have seen, was one of the founders of the town of Rye. He came from Newtown, L. I., where the Society of Friends counted a number of adherents at an
1 History of Connecticut, by Benjamin Trumbull, D. D. : vol. i. p. 287.
2 Public Records of Connecticut, vol. ii. pp. 120, 121.
3 Ibid. pp. 291, 292.
18
*
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WITHOUT A MINISTER.
early day. It is possible therefore that these persons may have been of the Quaker persuasion, and that for want of a settled pas- tor, the inhabitants may have listened with favor to their teach- ings.
This order of the General Court was followed by another, the next October, more stringent and definite. The matter of the religions destitution at Rye is referred to the county court of Fair- field. The magistrates there are recommended ' to take an effect- uall course to setle an able and orthodox minister in the towne of Rye, and to order dne and competent mayntenance for such minis- ter in a proportionable way among all the inhabitants, with coer- tion of payment according to lawe, upon complaynt and evidence against any that shall neglect : and the well affected of the sayd towne to a setlement of such a mercy among them, are appoynted to adres themselves to the sayd County Court at Fayrefield to that end.' 1
This measure seems to have had the desired effect. At a town meeting held in Rye, November 17, 1670, the inhabitants made choice of Joseph Horton, Thomas Brown, and John Brondig, ' who are to do their endeavour to procure a minister.' It was also agreed to allow ' two-pence in the pound for the maintenance of a minister amongst us ; that is to say, an orthodox minister.'
A minister, however, it was not easy to get in those days. Either the committee met with poor success, or the people showed no great alacrity in ' making out a call.' Six months pass, and in May, 1671, the General Court appoints certain persons to go to Rye, and besides other business, ' to lend their endeavoures in the procuring of an able and orthodox minister to setle in that place.' ' If the people of Rye shall not concur with their endeavoures in procuring a minister, and comfortably setleing of him' among them, then these persons are empowered ' to agree with a suitable man for that worke in that place ; ' and they are to ' insure to him a mayntenance to the value of forty pownds pr annum, which the treasurer, by warrant to the constable of sayd Rye, shall order the gathering and payment thereof, with the Country Rate.' 2
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