Chronicle of a border town : history of Rye, Westchester county, New York, 1660-1870, including Harrison and the White Plains till 1788, Part 4

Author: Baird, Charles Washington, 1828-1887. 2n
Publication date: 1871
Publisher: New York : A.D.F. Randolph and Company
Number of Pages: 616

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 4

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).

THE ISLAND.

jacent shores, and completing their purchases of land, they could quietly gain a foothold, and wait for accessions to their numbers.

But apart from these considerations, the planters could scarcely have lighted on a more inviting spot, had they sailed along the coast as far as the Manhattoes. Their island was about a mile long. It lay on the eastern side of Peningo Neck, only separated from it by a narrow creek. Westward, a broad expanse of sedge land, or salt meadow - much valued by the early settlers as yield- ing food for their cattle - intervened, almost hiding this channel in its winding course, and seeming to connect the island with the main. On the other side, toward the sea, a wide beach bordered its entire length. An Indian village had formerly stood on the southern part of the island ; perhaps some of the deserted wigwams yet remained ; and the upland, like the salt meadows, presented that appearance of cultivation, which, as we have seen, drew the white man to the places that had been improved in some measure by the natives before his coming.

Looking southward, our planters had in prospect an almost un- broken wilderness. The only spot between them and New Am- sterdam, where Europeans had yet attempted to establish them- selves, was a point of land, ten miles below, known to the Dutch as Ann's Hook. Here, eighteen years before, the famous Mother Hutchinson had been slain by the Indians, in one of their risings upon the Dutch. This point had since been bought by Thomas Pell of Fairfield, who was now endeavoring under authority of Connecticut to form a settlement there, in spite of Governor Stuy- . vesant's remonstrances. Across the Sound, which is here about five miles wide, the shores of Long Island were already in great part possessed by the English. Hempstead,1 just opposite ; Oyster Bay and Huntington, to the east, had been settled some years be- fore ; the first with the consent of the Dutch themselves, the other two under patent from the New Haven Colony. It was at Hemp- stead Harbor, directly across the Sound, that the dividing line, agreed upon in 1650, between the Dutch possessions on Long Island and those of the English, terminated.

Manussing Island 2 comprises about one hundred acres of upland

1 The most distant point of land to be seen from Manussing Island, looking up the Sound, is Eaton's Neck. West of this point is Huntington Bay. Oyster Bay is the next inlet ; and nearer still is Hempstead Harbor.

2 Traces of several dwellings have been found on the southern part of the island, where they appear to have formed a cluster, a few rods apart. The summer-house on Mr. Win. P. Van Rensselaer's grounds, indicates about the spot where this little village stood. Thirty or forty years ago, the walls of a small stone house were still

PLANTERS OF HASTINGS.

with as many more of sedge or salt meadow. The first business of the settlers was to apportion the land among themselves, and erect some temporary habitations. A home-lot of two or three aeres was assigned to each. These lots were probably contiguons to each other, and the houses built upon them soon presented the appearance of a small village. The first houses built were noth- ing better than log-cabins. The timber was cut on Peningo Neck. More comfortable dwellings soon replaced these ; the materials being brought down from the older settlements.

The island village took the name of Hastings. There is no reason to doubt that it was so called after the famous seaport on the British Channel. And it is fair to infer that some one at least of the settlers came from Hastings in Sussex, England.1 Part of the mainland received this appellation, together with the island. ' The bounds of Hastings,' extended, we have seen, about as far north, on Peningo Neek, as the present village of Port Chester. But some time elapsed before any improvements were attempted in this direc- tion. For two or three years certainly, the planters confined them- selves to their insular home.

The three purchasers of the island, Disbrow, Coe, and Studwell, were soon joined by other adventurers, if indeed they were not accompanied by them at the outset. The following are the names of all the planters of whom we have any record, as be- longing to the island settlement : -

Peter Disbrow, Richard Vowles, Thomas Applebe,

John Coe, Samuel Alling, Philip Galpin,

Thomas Studwell, Robert Hudson, George Clere,

John Budd, John Brondish, John Jackson,

William Odell, Frederick Harminson, Walter Lancaster.

Two other names, which are undecipherable, stand connected with these, making seventeen in all. The last three do not ap- to be seen at this end of the island, - perhaps a part of the ancient house of Richard Vowles.

1 Old names were given to new places, in these early days, for reasons very different from those which have produced the absurd nomenclature of many of our modern towns. The feeling which prompted this custom is touchingly expressed in the pre- amble of an act conferring the name of New London, in the year 1657 : ' Whereas it hath bene a commendable practice of ye inhabitants of all the Collonics of these parts that as this Countrey hath its denomination from our dear natiue Countrey of England, and thence is called New England, soe the planters in their first setling of most new Plantations have given names to those Plantations of some Citties and Townes in England, thereby intending to keep up and leane to posterity the memoriall of senerall places of note there, as Boston, Hartford, Windsor, York, Ipswitch, Brantree Exeter, - This Court,' etc. (Public Records of the Colony of Conn., prior to 1665; p. 313.)

THE ISLAND.

pear until the third year of the settlement. The others may not improbably have been associated with it from the first.

Eight of these names are permanently connected with the his- tory of our settlement. We shall have occasion, further on, to trace the descent of several of the oldest families of the town from these persons. The other seven, in the list given above, were but transient members of the plantation. Their names soon disappear from its records. Of Samuel Alling, Thomas Applebe, and Fred- erick Harminson, we know scarcely anything. Robert Hudson was living at Rye some years later. George Clere remained long enough to obtain a home-lot in the new village, on the main. John Jackson and Walter Lancaster removed to the town of East Ches- ter, New York, of which place the latter became one of the pro- prietors and leading men.

It may be interesting just here to pause and consider who these men were, and with what views they had come to this spot. With perhaps one exception, they were Englishmen by birth, and doubt- less also Puritans in faith. They were, most of them, the sons of men who had sought refuge on these shores, among the ear- liest companies of emigrants to New England. There are grounds for believing that they were men capable of appreciating the ben- efits and obligations of civil freedom. Some of them at least, as we shall see, were men of religious principle and conviction. It is not unreasonable to suppose that they were in sympathy with the great movement which brought the Pilgrims to this hem- isphere, a movement influenced, as we believe, by the highest. motives that ever led to the founding of a state. It is far from true, that all who came out with the early colonists of New Eng- land were men of this stamp. Unworthy and disorderly char- acters appear to have thrust themselves among them from the first. But there is presumptive evidence that the founders of this planta- tion were of a different class.

The earliest document that has come down to us from these times, gives us certainly a very favorable impression of the planters. It is a declaration of their purposes and desires, drawn up about two years after the commencement of the enterprise. A word should be said here as to the occasion of this document. The Restoration had just occurred in Great Britain. On the accession of Charles the Second to the throne, it was expected that the American Colonies would profess their allegiance in the usual form of an address and petition. The colonies were somewhat slow to do this. Connecticut, however, was the first to offer these professions of

THE ISLAND.

pear until the third year of the settlement. The others may not improbably have been associated with it from the first.

Koppling July 26 166 2

know all mon whom it may Concern that

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si tham not hother to live without goverment aby

harfor this land

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THE SETTLERS NO OUTLAWS.

submission. The address of the General Court at Hartford to the King was ordered to be drawn up on the 14th of March, 1661.1 It had probably come to the knowledge of the settlers at Hastings. They unite in expressing their concurrence in that address. And they also take the opportunity to define their true position, as those who, though dwelling in the wilderness, ' remote from other places,' are loath to be viewed as outlaws. And while proclaiming their reverence for constituted authority, they reserve their rights of conscience and private judgment. They will yield subjection only to ' wholesome laws, that are just and righteous, according to God and our capableness to receive.'

' HASTING, July 26 1662

' Know all men whom this may concern that [we the] inhabitants of Minnussing Island whose n[ames are here ] vnder writtne, do declare vnto all the true [th] we came not hither to live withovt goverment as pr[etended,] and therfore doe proclayme Charles the Second ovr lawful lord and king: and doe voluntaryly submit our selves and all ovr lands that we have bought of the English and Indians : vnder his gratious protection : and do expect according to his gratious declara- tion : unto all his subjects which we are and desiore to be subject to all his holsom lawes that are just and Righteous according to God and our capableness to receive : where unto we doe subscribe.

' The mark of

SAMUELL ALLING,

PETER DISBROW, JOHN COE,

The mark of THOMAS STEDWILL, The mark of WILLIAM ODELLE.

The mark of

ROBERT HUTSONE, JOHN BRONDISHI,

The mark of

FREDERICK HARMINSONE,

The mark of THOMAS APLEBE.'2

It would appear from the language of this document that some suspicion had been cast upon the enterprise. The motive of these planters in going beyond the limits of previous settlements had been impugned. Hence their declaration that they 'came not hither to live without government.' There is evidence, too, that they felt themselves in danger from lawless and disorderly men, who were but too ready to join a new adventure. For at the same

1 Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1636-1665, p. 361.

2 For the fac-simile of this document which is here presented, I am indebted to Mr. Bolton, who made a careful tracing of the original. The volume that contained it is unfortunately lost.

THE ISLAND.

time with the above statement, our settlers drew up the following compact, which they signed in the same manner : -

' We do agree that for our land bought on the mayn land, called in the Indian Peningoe, and in English the Biaram land, lying between the aforesaid Biaram river and the Blind brook, bounded east and west with these two rivers, and on the north with Westchester path, and on the south with the sea, for a plantation, and the name of the town to be called Hastings.

' And now lastly we have jointly agreed that he that will subscribe to these orders, here is land for him, and he that doth refuse to subscribe hereunto we have no land for him. HASTINGS, July 26, 1662. The planters hands to these orders.

SAMUEL ALLIN,

ROBERT HUTSON, JOHN BRONDISH, FREDERICK HARMINSON,

THOMAS APPLEBE.

' August 11, 1662. These orders made by the purchasers of the land with our names.

PETER DISBROW, THOMAS STEDWELL,

JOHN COE,

WILLIAM ODELL.'

While thus endeavoring to maintain good order in their little commonwealth, our settlers were anxious, as they had good reason to be, about their political situation. Great uneasiness was now felt throughout New England, regarding the designs of Great Britain. The king, whose restoration the colonies reluctantly proclaimed, was thought to be not a little inclined to curtail the liberties of his subjects across the sea, and to repress the spirit of independence for which they were already becoming noted. Con- necticut, however, by the skilful management of its agent, the celebrated John Winthrop, had obtained a royal charter confer- ring most valuable privileges : constituting that colony, in fact, a self-governing state, and reaffirming its claims to a wide extent of territory. The news of this success spread joy throughout the colony. The General Court at Hartford hastened to apprise the towns, and require their submission to the new order of things. Notice even was sent, to Governor Stuyvesant's great displeasure, as far as Oostdorp, or Westchester Village in New Netherland, where Connecticut men had settled some years before under grants from the Dutch. The Hartford government informed them that by the terms of the new charter they were included in the colony limits ; and enjoined upon them, 'at their peril,' to send deputies to the next meeting of the Court. Perhaps it was the

LETTER TO THE GENERAL COURT.

very same messenger, riding ' post-haste' to the Dutch village, who turned aside from his course along the Westchester Path, as he reached Peningo Neck, and came down to the little island settlement with the good news of the charter. At all events, a message of like import reached the inhabitants of Hastings ; and they gladly took steps to place themselves at once under the pro- tection of the Colony, and seek the rights and privileges of a fully constituted town. A meeting was called, and Richard Vowles was chosen to go to Fairfield, and there be qualified as constable for the plantation. Shortly after, the settlers addressed the following letter to the General Court : -

' FROM HASTING THE 1 MTH 26: 1663.

' MUCH HONNORED SIRES, - Wee the inhabitance of the towne of Hasting whose names are heer vnder writne : being seted upon a small tract of land lying betwixt Grinwich and Westchester : which land wee have bought with our money : the which: wee understand doth lye within your patant : and where as you have allredy required our sub- iection : as his maiesties subiects, which we did willingly and red- ily imbrace and according to your desiour : we sent a man to Fairfield who have there takne the oathe of a Constable : we have now made choyse of our nayghbar Jolin Bud for a deputi and sent him up to your Corte to act for us as hee shall see good : it is our desiour : to have [some] settled way of goverment amongst us : and therfore we do crave so much favor at the hands of the honnorable Cort : that whether they do make us a constable or aney other offesere that they would give him povr to grant a warrant in case of need because we be som what remote from other places : thus leaving it to yovr wise and judicious consideration we remayn yours to command :

PETER DISBROW

RICHARD FFOWLES GEORGE CLERE

PHILIP GALPINE

JOHN COE WILLIAM ODELL JOHN BRONDIG JOHN JAGSON

THOMAS STEDWELL his mark

WALTER LANCASTER his mark.'

This is ouer desier In the name of the Rest.

The modest request of the men of Hastings was granted, after

THE ISLAND.

some delay. At the session of the General Court in Hartford, on the eighth of October, 1663, -

' Lnt John Bud' makes his appearance, and 'is appoynted Commissioner for the Town of Hastings, and is inuested with Magistraticall power within the limits of that Town.' Moreover, ' Rich : Vowles is appoynted Constable for the Town of Hast- ings, and Mr. Bud is to give him his oath.'

Connecticut at the same time reasserted its claim to the terri- tory west of this place, the General Court declaring that " all the land between West Chester and Stamford doth belong to the Col- ony of Connecticut.'

Budd and Vowles had both been admitted, the year before, to the privileges of freemen ; the former as an inhabitant of South- old, and the latter as an inhabitant of Greenwich. Perhaps Hast- ings, which had not yet been recognized as a plantation, was at that date considered to lie within the bounds of the latter town.

Our little village now rejoiced in something like a well-ordered social state. It had a magistrate ' commissionated to grant war- rants,' and also in case of need 'to marry persons.'1 It had a grave and discreet constable, with full power to apprehend . . .

' Such as are ouertaken with drinke, swearing, Sabboath break- ing, slighting of the ordinances, lying, vagrant persons, or any other that shall offend in any of these.'

With these safeguards and immunities, our settlers remained for another year or two upon their island. Meanwhile, however, cer- tain changes had been going on, betokening the removal of some, at least, of the inhabitants from the island to the main. On the twenty-eighth of April, 1663, the four purchasers -Disbrow, Coe, Studwell, and Budd - by a deed of sale conveyed the island, to- gether with the land on the main, to the following planters : Sam- uel Allen, Richard Fowles, Philip Galpin, Thomas Applebe, Wil- liam Odell, John Brondig, and John Coe. According to the terms of this transfer, the planters were to pay forty shillings a lot, in cattle or corn, between the above date and the month of January ensuing.2

1 Public Records, etc., 1678-1689, p. 5.

.2 Rye Records, vol. A., quoted by Bolton, History of Westchester County, vol. ii. p.

19. The second of these names Mr. Bolton gives as Richard Lowe. As no such name occurs in any of our records now extant, I judge the above to be the correct reading.

CHAPTER IV.

BUILDING THE VILLAGE.

1665-1672.

' And now begins the toil

The first loud axe alarms the forest's shade ;

And there the first tree falls, and falling wide,

With spreading arms that tear their downward way,

Strips the adjacent branches.

' Now marks each laborer his future home.'

J. B. REED, The New Pastoral.

TWO or three years passed over the island settlement, before an attempt was made to occupy the opposite shores. It is no unlikely that the settlers meanwhile began to appropriate some part of their purchase on the Neck, dividing it into allotments, and per-

Rye in Sussex, England.

haps beginning to clear and improve the soil. They continued however to make the island their home. There is a tradition that in those early times the farmer would spend the day in toil on his rough plantation, and then at sundown return, for safety from wild beasts and savages, to the village across the creek.

But about the year 1664, the colony was joined by several new

BUILDING THE VILLAGE.

families. The names of Thomas and Hachaliah Browne, George Lane, George Kniffen, Stephen Sherwood, and Timothy Knap, first appear about this time in our Chronicle. Their coming may have been due to an event which had long been anticipated and eagerly desired. In September, 1664, New Amsterdam was surrendered to the English, who soon made themselves masters of the entire province. This circumstance might lead some to seek a home here, who would hesitate to do so while the Dutch still claimed the soil. The new settlers brought considerable strength to the little colony. Thomas and Hachaliah Browne are known to have been men of substance ; and so perhaps were their associates. There was no room for them, however, on the island. Fourteen or fifteen families already occupied its narrow limits ; and indeed it no longer seemed necessary or desirable that the settlement should confine itself to this spot. It was now strong enough to push into the wilderness.

The new-comers, therefore, were appointed their home-lots on the coast. But they appear to have settled as near as possible to their comrades. The first houses were built at no great distance from the ford, at the southern end of Manussing Island. Hachaliah Browne - according to a family tradition - built his first house on the bank which overlooks the Beach, in a field now belonging to the heirs of the late Newberry Halsted. Others settled near by. ' Burying Hill,' 1 an elevated point of land beautifully situated at the eastern extremity of the Beach, was doubtless occupied very early as a building spot.2 These houses formed a suburb, so to speak, of the village on the island. They were probably slight and rude habitations, - ' log-cabins,' - of which every trace has

1 ' Burying Hill ' is supposed to have derived its name from the fact that the In- dians anciently used it as a burial-place.

2 This conjecture is favored by the following deed. The persons who appear as proprietors of Burying Hill in 1715, had probably acquired the rights of early settlers, who had home-lots there : -

'June 29, 1715.

' We whose names are hereunder written do freely and voluntarily give to Roger Park and his heirs for ever all our right title and interest of or to a certain pareell of land commonly called the burying hill situated and lying at the northerly end of the flats or horse-race.

SAML. KNIFFIN JO. PURDY NATIIAN KNIFFIN

R. BRUNDIGE FR. PURDY CHARLOTTE STRANG DANIEL STREING ROBERT BLOOMER PETER DISBROW.'

The original is in the possession of the Brown family at Rye.

THE OLD TOWN AND THE MILL.

long since disappeared. But the fact of such a settlement on the coast was long retained in memory. The inhabitants of Rye used to speak of 'The Old Town,' meaning the island, together with the neighboring shore. And the road leading to the Beach was anciently known as 'ye highway that goeth to ye Old Town Plat.'

One of the first buildings erected on the mainland, was undoubt- edly the mill. It stood at the head of the creek, or the mouth of Blind Brook, on the opposite side of Peningo Neck, and within half a mile of the Beach. Mr. John Budd was the proprietor ; and no doubt the inhabitants of Hastings felt themselves greatly in- debted to him for its establishment. A grist-mill was indeed an important institution in a new settlement. The Indian corn upon which the white man, like his savage predecessors, depended chiefly for food, must needs be ground into meal by some readier appliance than the stone pestle and the mortar. Hence great anxiety was always shown for the erection and support of the mill. Special grants and privileges were often conferred on the proprietor. He was generally regarded as a leading member of the community. And the mill itself was likely to be the nucleus of the starting settlement. The settlers would naturally prefer those locations which were of easy access to it. This would be the case es- pecially while the means of transportation continued to be very rude, and the highways were mere paths through the forest, or among the stumps and decaying trunks of recent clearings.

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Chronicle of a border town : history of Rye, Westchester county, New York, 1660-1870, including Harrison and the White Plains till 1788, Part 4

Author: Baird, Charles Washington, 1828-1887. 2n Publication date: 1871 Publisher: New York : A.D.F. Randolph and Company Number of Pages: 616

Author: Baird, Charles Washington, 1828-1887. 2n
Publication date: 1871
Publisher: New York : A.D.F. Randolph and Company
Number of Pages: 616