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 37
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
Though there had been more or less of Methodist preaching in the town of Rye, and a large and growing society had been or- ganized at White Plains, and possibly another at King Street, yet it does not appear that any permanent society was organized here until 1804 or 1805.1 According to common report, Methodism was introdneed into this part of Rye about the year 1802. The marriage of Esther, widow of John Griffen of Mamaroneck, to Ezekiel Halsted of Rye, in that year, was the occasion of this. About two years before this, Mrs. Griffen had been converted, and had joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. She immedi- ately established family worship, conducting the services herself, and invited all in her employ, though most of them were irrelig- ious men, to be present. Mr. Halsted was an active member of the Congregational Church in Greenwich, and after his marriage was accustomed to hold prayer-meetings with his wife, at various points, as North Street, Saw Pit, now Port Chester, Purchase, and King Street. Not long after his marriage, Mr. Halsted identi- fied himself with the Methodists.
The Presbyterian Church of Rve, which had been rebuilt upon its present site in the year 1793, was at this period occupied but occasionally for public worship by ministers of that denomination. The use of this building was now obtained for the Methodists, who held religious services here more or less regularly for a num- ber of years after this, and made various improvements at their own expense.2
In May, 1821, the number of members reported by the preach- ers of the New Rochelle Circuit was five hundred and eighty-eight. At that time, Upper and Lower New Rochelle, White Plains, Greenburgh, Tuckahoe, East Chester, West Chester, Mamaroneck, Rye, Port Chester, King Street, and Mile Square, were numbered as societies in this circuit. The entire salary for the support of two preachers and their families, including house rent and moving
1 It must have been as early as 1805, from the testimony of Tamar Parker and James Purdy, who both joined the society in 1806. Mr. Underhill Halsted distinctly remembers that his father directed him to inform the families on his way to school that Mr. Redstone from England - ' not Redfield, nor Redwood, but Redstone' - would preach that evening at the Rye school-house. Mr. Halsted thinks this was some time previons to Mr. Redstone's appointment to the cirenit.
2 The following preachers succeeded Mr. Redstone on the circuit : B. Hibbard, M. B. Bull, Z. Lyon, E. Canfield, L. Andrns, P. Peck, N. W. Thomas, H. Eames, E. Smith, J. Lyon, S. Arnold, N. Emery, C. Carpenter, D. Ostrander, MI. Richardson, and S. Bushnell.
356
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF RYE.
expenses, was eight hundred and twenty-five dollars, a little more than four hundred dollars for each family. The amount raised by Rye society to meet these expenses was sixty dollars.
The work within this circuit had now inereased to such a de- gree, that three preachers were required to fill the appointments. These alternating with each other were able to preach at Rye once every other Sabbath.1 In 1821, under the labors of E. Woolsey 2 and W. Jewett, there was a revival of religion in Rye, and many were converted and added to the church.
At a quarterly meeting conference held at the ' Rye Meeting House' October 2d, 1824, Stephen Remington was recommended for admission to the New York Annual Conference. The follow- ing persons were also recommended for admission : John Lefever, December 27th, 1823 ; S. U. Fisher, October 1st, 1825; William Gothard, April 8th, 1837 ; R. C. Putney, March 9th, 1844 ; and Robert Codling, April, 1845. All of these persons were received into the Conference, and became successful ministers of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At a quarterly meeting conference held at Rye, September 12th, 1829, a constitution was adopted by which the Conference formed itself into a Missionary, Bible, Tract, and Sunday-school Society.
In 1829, the Presbyterian congregation of Rye was reorganized, and now used the church jointly with the Methodists, who alone had occupied the house for sixteen or eighteen years.
In March, 1831, a ' four days' meeting' was held in Rye. Rev. J. N. Maffitt preached. 'Many were converted, of whom about thirty joined the Methodist Church.' 'Mr. Maffitt's labours in- duced the society to invite his assistance in a four days' meeting, appointed in the spring of the ensuing year.' Differences, how-
1 From 1821 to 1832 the preachers were the following : E. Woolsey, W. Jewett, R. Seney, H. Bangs, R. Seaman, S. Martindale, L. Andrus, P. Rice, P. P. Sandford, J. Bowen, S. Cochran, E. Hibbard, D. Devinne, E. Washburne, and J. Ferris.
2 The Rev. Elijah Woolsey was born July 26, 1771, in Marlborough, Ulster County, New York. He entered the itinerant ministry of the M. E. Church in 1794, and vol- unteered for Canada. Here he labored with diligence and sneeess for two years, en- during privations and fatignes which he recounts with great simplicity in a little volume entitled, The Supernumerary ; or, Lights and Shadows of Itinerancy ; published in New York in 1845. Mr. Woolsey continued in the regular work of the ministry until the year 1829, when his name was placed on the 'supernumerary ' list. He eame in 1834 to Rye, where his widow still resides. Here ' he endeared himself to the people,' ' preaching when able, assisting in the various social means of grace, and uniting in affectionate Christian intercourse. His decease was preceded by a long and gradual decline, during which he exhibited Christian resignation and cheer- fulness.' He was a man of sincere piety, great benevolence of character, and amenity of manners. He died January 24, 1850. (Minutes of Conference, 1850; and private information.)
357
REVIVAL IN MILTON AND RYE.
ever, between the two congregations, who had for a while occupied the same house of worship, now led to a separation. From March, 1832, the Methodist Society ceased to meet in the church, and took immediate measures to build for themselves. In May, 1832, Phile- mon Halsted, Elisha Halsted, and David H. Mead, were appointed a committee to buy a lot and build a church. A lot, comprising half an acre, was bought, and a house of worship erected.
In 1832 the circuit was again divided, so as to embrace in this portion only Upper and Lower New Rochelle, East Chester, Mamaroneck, Rye, Port Chester, and King Street, with two preachers. These divisions, by increasing the amount of minis- terial service in each society, involved enlarged contributions from the societies, without materially increasing the salaries. After the division in 1832, the number of members on the circuit was four hundred and twenty-one. In May, 1845, it was five hun- dred and ten.1
In the summer of 1838, under Osborn and Chamberlin, 'a re- vival commenced in Milton and extended to the centre of Rye.' About thirty were added to the church. In 1843, under Lefever and Andrews,2 there was an extensive revival at King Street and Port Chester, in which ninety persons were added to the church at the former place. In 1844, under the same pastors, the revival extended to Rye, resulting in the addition of more than fifty per- sons to the church. In 1845, the circuit was again divided, by mak- ing King Street and Port Chester a separate charge, leaving the following societies in the old circuit, namely, New Rochelle, Mam- aroneck, Rye, East Chester, and City Island, having three hun- dred and fifty members.3 The number of members reported June,
I The preachers from 1833 to 1845 were B. Selliek, H. Husted, D. Ostrander, P. L. Hoyt, B. Daniels, P. R. Brown, T. Sparks, E. Osborn, P. Chamberlin, C. Ocham- pangh, C. F. Pelton, S. U. Fisher, J. W. Lefever, E. Andrews, and W. Gothard.
2 The Rev. Elisha Andrews is remembered with peculiar interest at Rye. His ministry here was very successful; and very soon after leaving this place, his earthly labors closed. He was drowned in the Hudson River, September 3d, 1844, when on his way to a camp-meeting at Sing Sing. The year before, his wife, a very estimable lady, died at Rye, in the parsonage on the post-road.
3 The preachers up to 1852 were II. F. Pease, R. C. Putney, J. Hunt, C. B. Sing. D. Devinne, V. Buck, and W. F. Collins.
One of these, Jesse Hunt, was taken away in the midst of his usefulness by death, after a short illness, November 5th, 1848. He was born in Mamaroneck, July 22d, 1787 ; joined the itinerancy in 1811 ; and for thirty-seven years - until the division of the New York Conference in 1848 -labored with fidelity and snecess within the bounds of that body. In June, 1848, he was appointed to the New Rochelle Cirenit, within the bounds of the New York East Conference, and brought his family to Rye, where they resided in the parsonage on the post-road below the village. Mr. Ihunt
358
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF RYE.
1852, was three hundred and seventy-six, at which time Rye was made an independent station, and W. F. Collins appointed pastor. There were a number of conversions under his pastorate, and he reported at the close of his term one hundred and four members.
The school-house in Milton had been used for prayer-meetings and occasional services for many years ; but as objections had been raised against the use of the property for religious meetings, the Methodists in June, 1852, bought a lot and built a house of wor- ship.
In 1853, a house and four acres of land, situated on the Turn- pike, about half a mile from the church, were bought for a parson- age. In January, 1855, the trustees bought eight acres of land for a cemetery. To this nearly seven acres were added by subsequent purchases.
Rev. G. S. Gilbert succeeded to the pastorate in May, 1853. He was followed in May, 1855, by Rev. D. Osborn, ' whose labours were accompanied by a revival in which twenty were received on probation.' 1 George Taylor succeeded him in 1857 ; in 1859 B. Pillsbury was pastor, and in 1860 2 C. T. Mallory.
In November, 1855, the trustees sold the parsonage, which was too remote from the church; and in April, 1860, they bought land directly opposite the church, where they built a pleasant par- sonage. In March 1864, the church was remodelled, at an expense of four thousand dollars.
The next pastors were T. D. Littlewood in 1862, W. Ross in 1864, and L. P. Perry in 1866. During Mr. Perry's term, the property adjoining the church, containing about two and a half acres, was bought for ten thousand dollars. A Sunday-school room died at Rhinebeck, while on a visit to some friends in that place. Ile was a man of unfeigned piety, and an carnest, practical preacher. ( Minutes of the Annual Confer- ences of the M. E. Church, for the Year 1846 ; pp. 335, 336.)
1 Some of the happy effects of this revival were felt in the town of Harrison, where a small M. E. congregation existed. Rev. H. A. Mead, local elder, had begun to preach there as early as 1843, in a school-house and in a private dwelling. A monthly service was maintained in this place for some years ; during the revival in question, the work increased ; and shortly after, the church near the Purchase post-office was built. This church is connected with the village M. E. Church of White Plains. Mr. Mead continues in charge.
2 On the twentieth of January, 1861, the Rev. Benjamin Griffen, a venerable min- ister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, died at Rye. He was born in Mamaroneck in 1792; united with the church at the age of nineteen, and soon after joined the New York Conference, of which he remained a member for nearly fifty years. 'Few men have performed more unrequited labor for the Church. He rendered his services with the strietest fidelity, and without any compensation.' ( Cyclopedia of Bibl. Theol. and Eccl. Literature : New York, 1870.) Mr. Griffen spent his last days in the old ' Halsted House.' See page 271.
359
THE CHURCH REMODELLED.
was built, a house on the premises was altered for a parsonage, and other improvements were made, at a cost of about five thousand dollars. To aid in meeting these expenses the former parsonage was sold. In January, 1869, a revival commenced, resulting in the addition of thirty to the church on probation. The present pastor, N. Mead, was appointed to the charge, April, 1869.
CHAPTER XLI.
THE FRIENDS.
' The long, low building,
Gray with the touches of a century,
A house of meditation and of prayer.
There meets the calm community of Friends.'
T. B. READ, The New Pastoral.
THE religious community known as Friends, or ' Quakers,' first appeared in England towards the middle of the seventeenth century, and had an early share in the colonization of our own country. Its founder and first preacher, George Fox, visited America, and announced his message, as he himself relates, to a ' willing people.' But the converts to his doctrines, especially if they attempted to spread them, met violent persecution almost everywhere.1
FLUSHING, on Long Island, was the scene of some of their ear- liest and most successful labors. The first settlers, though not Quakers, - for the society had not risen when that town was founded, in 1645, - entertained views of religion that differed from those held by the New England colonists generally, and that prepared them to receive the tenets that were soon to be pro- claimed among them. Francis Doughty, their minister, became a convert to the system of the Friends, upon its introduction in 1657, and with him a number of the inhabitants of Flushing embraced it.2 These persons, like many of the same persuasion in other Long Island towns, were the subjects of intolerant and cruel treatment at the hands of the Dutch.3
From Flushing, probably, the Society of Friends spread at a very early day to this place.4 Rye was in regular communication with Long Island, almost from the first settlement of the town. Possibly, the individuals whom the Hartford government repri-
1 Religion in America, by Rev. Robert Baird, D. D., Glasgow, 1844 : book vi., chap. xvi.
2 Ilistory of Long Island, by Nathaniel S. Prime, D. D. New York, 1845 : p. 297.
8 History of Long Island, by B. F. Thompson. New York, 1843 : vol. ii. pp. 285- 297.
4 It is not likely that they came from Connecticut. 'There are 4 or 5 Seven day men in or colony, and about so many more Quakers,' wrote Governor Leete, in 1680. (Public Records of Connecticut, vol. iii. p. 299.)
361
EMIGRATION FROM LONG ISLAND.
manded in 1669 as ' persons unsownd and heterodox in their judg- ments,' and ' sowing the seeds of error among the people ' at Rye, may have been of this persuasion.1 In 1706, there were ' some Quakers' in the town.2 Mr. Muirson, missionary of the Gospel Propagation Society, tried to win them over to his faith, but failed. Mr. Bridge, his successor, reported '7 families of Quakers' in his parish in 1710, 'and 4 or 5 families inelining to them.' 3 One of these, probably, was the family of Captain John Clapp,4 who came to Rye as early as 1705. In 1718 he was styled ' a reputed Quaker.'
From Mr. Bridge's account, it seems that in the winter of 1710, an attempt was made by certain persons to 'form themselves into a society ' in the neighborhood of his parish. He calls them ' Cates' followers,' or 'ranting Quakers.'5 They were, doubtless, Keithians, members of a party that separated from the Friends of Pennsylvania in the year 1691, but retained many of their pecul- iarities. Mr. Bridge, in 1712, records his success in disputing with these people. They 'have never since held a public meeting in these parts.' Five years after, however, he writes, ' The Qua- kers . . .. come frequently in great numbers from Long Island and other places, to hold their meeting in the out parts of my parislı. It is my constant care,' he adds, 'to watch ' their ‘ mo- tions, and to prevent their seducing any of my parishioners.' 6
It was probably in the lower part of Mr. Bridge's parish that these gatherings occurred, - between Mamaroneck and New Rochelle.7
HARRISON'S PURCHASE, we have seen in a previous chapter, was settled chiefly by members of the Society of Friends. Samuel Haight, of Flushing, one of the five patentees of that tract in 1696, was a Friend. When, after a lapse of twenty years and inore, a considerable emigration from Long Island to the Purchase
1 Sec ante, p. 273.
2 Bolton, History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the County of Westchester, pp. 166, 175.
3 Ibid. p. 196.
4 Sce ante, p. 120.
6 Ibid. p. 205.
5 Bolton, Hist. of the Prot. Episc. Church, pp. 199, 202.
7 The doctrines of the Friends seem to have met with much acceptance at Man- aroneck. The ' people dissenting from the Church' were ' chiefly Quakers' at that place in 1728. (Bolton, p. 249 ; where, by an error of punctuation, this statement appears to be made respecting Rye.) The Friends' meeting-house at Mamaroneck was built about the year 1739, on land bought from Sylvauns Palmer. It stood nearly opposite the Munro place, where there is still a Friends' burying-ground. About the year 1774 this meeting-house was removed to its present site. (Informa- tion from Mellis S. Tilton.)
362
THE FRIENDS.
took place, it consisted mainly, almost wholly, indeed, of families of Friends. 'We have a new settlement amongst us,' writes Mr. Jenney, July 1, 1723, ' in the woods, which began about the time of my predecessor's death, 1719. The inhabitants are very loose in their principals [principles] of religion, inclining rather to the Quakers than any other sect.' 1 This refers evidently 2 to the settlement in Harrison, or ' Rye Woods,' as it was then frequently called.
The first Meeting-house built in Westchester County, existed as early as 1723. In that year, mention is made of ' the Quaker meeting-house in Westchester Village.' 3 A ' Monthly Meeting ' 4 was appointed by the Yearly Meeting of Friends at Flushing, Long Island, to be held at Westchester, N. Y., on the 'ninth day of Fourth Month ' (April), 1725. Not long after, we hear of occasional meetings held at Mamaroneck and Rye, in private houses. Such a meeting was appointed, May 13, 1726, to be held every other month, at the house of James Mott. Another, in 1727, was at Robert Sneathing's, apparently in Ryc.5
The PURCHASE MEETING-HOUSE was built in 1727.6 It is said that the land upon which it stands was given by Anthony Field, who had removed hither two years before from Flushing, and who owned the adjoining farm." The ' half-year's meeting' 8 of Friends in this region had been held of late at Mamaroneck. A proposi- tion was made, on the eighth day of Twelfth Month (December)
1 Bolton, Ilistory of the Prot. Episc. Church, etc., p. 225.
2 The date, 1719, shows that this ' new settlement ' was not ' North Castle, a new settlement in the woods ' in 1728 (p. 248), nor ' New Castle, a new settlement in the woods' in 1729 (p. 255).
3 ' Entering of Highways,' a book of records in the County Clerk's office, White Plains : p. 3.
4 ' There are four grades of meetings for discipline ' among Friends in the United States : ' first, preparative, which prepare discipline for the second or monthly meet- ings, in which the executive power is chiefly lodged ; then the quarterly meetings, con- sisting of several monthly meetings, and exercising a supervisory care over them ; and lastly the yearly meetings, which include the whole society within a prescribed dis- trict, possess exclusively the legislative power, and annually investigate the condition of their subordinate meetings.' New American Cyclopedia, vol. xiii. app. (' Article prepared under the authority of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.')
5 Records of the Society of Friends in Harrison. For these and other extracts I am indebted to the courteons recorder of that society, Mellis S. Tilton.
6 ' It was built last year by the Quakers, in the township of Rye, about seven miles from the church, towards North Castle.' - Rev. James Wetmore, February 20, 1728. (Bolton, p. 249.)
7 Rye Records, vol. B. pp. 227, 230.
8 In new settlements a 'half-year's meeting' sometimes takes the place of the 'quarterly meeting.'
363
RAPID SPREAD.
1727, to remove that meeting to ' Rye Meeting House,' and dis- continue the meeting at Robert Sneathing's. This was done.1
Great excitement seems to have attended the efforts of this religious body to spread their creed here. 'Where any of them settle,' writes Mr. Wetmore, rector of Rye in 1730, ' they spare no pains to infect their neighbourhood.' Where they meet with any encouragement, they hold meetings day after day. Celebrated preachers are procured from a distance; and 'a great fame ' is spread before them, ' to invite many curiosities.' 'Our people of credit,' says he, ' will often go to their meetings, especially their great and general meetings,' which, he thinks, are very pernicious, and ought to be suppressed.2 It is difficult to realize that these things were written concerning ' the calm community of Friends.' Such a stir reminds us of early Methodism, and of the fervid zeal of Makemie and the Tennents, among the Presbyterians. But it is well known that the religious movement which commenced with George Fox was characterized in its earlier phases by great enthu- siasm, and by active exertions to propagate the principles of its members. The Friends who settled in Harrison appear to have been of this spirit. 'Swarms of them,' complains the troubled rector, 'make frequent visits hither.' They 'hold their yearly meetings, monthly, quarterly and weekly meetings, yea, and some- times daily.' They scatter books all over the parish ; and Mr. Wetmore, who is a ready writer, feels constrained to write and print two letters and three dialognes, in refutation of their argu- ments. These, he hopes, will be of great service to 'stop the growth of Quakerism in these parts.' 3
In 1742, on the ' eleventh day of First Month ' (January), the Monthly Meeting was transferred from Mamaroneck to the 'Meet- ing House in Rye Woods.' This meeting was now held at three places on the main : alternately, at Westchester, Mamaroneck, and Purchase ; and subject to it, meetings had by this time been estab- lished at New Milford, the Oblong, and Nine Partners.4 And in 1744, on the 'eighth day of Ninth Month' (September), a propo- sition was made to establish a Quarterly Meeting ' on this side,' i. e., on the main.' Accordingly, the Yearly Meeting, still held at
1 Friends' Records.
2 Bolton, History of the Prot. Episc. Church, etc., p. 254.
3 Ibid. pp. 256, 257. These publications were entitled, Two Letters in Answer to the Quakers, 1730; and Dialogues in Answer to the Quakers, 1732. Ibid. p. 287.
4 A meeting was commeneed at North Castle, in 1764, and was held once a fort- night, in winter. The North Castle meeting-house was built in 1798.
364
THE FRIENDS.
Flushing, on the thirteenth of Fourth Month (April), 1745, ap- pointed a Quarterly Meeting to be held at the Purchase.1
Little remains to be said of the external history of this commu- nity. In 1745, on the eleventh day of Fifth Month, the Meeting appointed Thomas Franklin ' to get seats to be made rising in the upper part of the Meeting House at ye Purchase.' In 1778, the Monthly Meeting was held in King Street, at the house of Thomas Clapp, on the thirteenth day of Eighth Month (August). The reason for this change was, ' the Meeting House at Purchase being made use of for a hospital for the sick of the Army.' September 10th, ' the Meeting House is not yet to be had.' October 8th, the meeting is held as formerly in the Purchase meeting-house.
On the eleventh of February, 1779, it is represented at the Monthly Meeting, that 'Several young men of the Society are now prisoners, and are likely to be brought under great suffering by refusing to bear arms and do other military service.' 'Those in authority are willing to release them, providing they can make it appear that they are members.' A committee is appointed to assure the authorities of their membership.
In 1782, a record is made concerning the sufferings of Friends connected with this Monthly Meeting, in consequence of their testimony against war. The total amount of loss on this account is stated to be fourteen hundred and forty-five pounds.
In 1784, on the fourteenth of Tenth Month (October), the fol- lowing action was taken : 'The Meeting House in the Purchase having been used for a Court of Judicature, and being likely to be used for that purpose again, a committee is appointed to apply to those in authority to prevent such use.'
In 1797, the meeting-house was enlarged to its present size by an addition on the east side.
In 1827, a separation took place in the Society of Friends in this country. Two distinct bodies were formed, each claiming the name of Friends. The one party, however, became known as the Orthodox, and the other as Hicksites, from Elias Hicks, whose opinions they were understood to approve. In the town of Harri- son, the separation occurred the next year, in 1828. The ' Ortho- dox' Friends erected a meeting-house near the old building, which is held by the other branch. The latter, I believe, is the larger body.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.