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 50
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Augustus Jay was born March 23, 1665. 'He lived to the good old age of eighty-six, respected and esteemed by his fellow-citizens,' and died in New York, where he had pursued his calling as a merchant with credit and success, March 10, 1751. He had four daughters, and one son, Peter. His daughter Judith, born August 29, 1798, married Cornelius Van Horne, April 6, 1735, and died Angust, 1757 ; Mary, born August 31, 1700, married Peter Valette, June 27, 1723, and died June 5, 1762 ; Frances, born February 26, 1702, married Frederick Van Cortlandt, January 19, 1724; Ann, died young.
III. Peter Jay,3 only son of Augustus,2 was born November 3, 1704. Hle married Mary, daughter of Jacobus Van Cortlandt, January 20, 1728. Like his father, he was a merchant in the city of New York. ' Having earned a fortune which, added to the property he had acquired by inheritance and marriage, he thought sufficient, he resolved, when little more than forty years old, to retire into the country, and for this purpose purchased a farm at Rye.' For account of this purchase and notice of Mr. Jay, see pp. 209, 210. He died April 17, 1782 ; his wife had died April 17, 1777. They had seven sons : Augustus, James (died young), another James, Peter, Frederick (died young), John, and another Frederick; and three daughters : Eve ; Anna Maricka, born
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October 20, 1737 ; died September 4, 1791 (see page 209, note) ; and Mary, born November 10, 1748; died May 18, 1752.
IV. 1. Augustus Jay,4 eldest son of Peter,3 was born April 12, 1730. He was never married. He died December 23, 1801.
2. James Jay,4 third son of Peter,3 born October 16, 1732, became Sir James Jay, Kt. ; he resided for some years in England, and re- turned after the Revolution to New York, where he lived until the time of his death, October 20, 1815. On his return from England, in 1784 or 1785, Sir James Jay brought propositions from the Countess of Huntington to some of the States of the Union, for establishing settle- ments of emigrants among the Indians, with a view to civilizing them, and converting them to Christianity. General Washington, in a letter to him dated Jannary 25, 1785, expresses his entire approval of the plan, and suggests that it should be brought before Congress. (Writ- ings of Washington, by Jared Sparks, vol. ix. pp. 86-89.)
3. Peter .Jay,4 fourth son, was born December 19, 1734. He and his sister Ann Maricka were deprived of sight in infancy by the small-pox. (See page 209.) He married Mary Duyckinck in 1789. ' This gentle- man,' says Dr. Dwight, 'had the misfortune to become blind, when he was fourteen [four] years of age. It has not, however, prevented him from possessing a fine mind, and an excellent character ; or from being highly respected and beloved by his acquaintance. Notwithstanding the disadvantage under which ' he ' labors, he directs all his own con- cerns with skill and success; and often with an ingenuity and discern- ment which have astonished those by whom they were known.'*
* 'Some years since,' adds Dr. Dwight, ' Mr. Jay, having directed a carpenter to renew the fence which enclosed his garden, made a little excursion to visit some of his friends. Upon his return he was told that the posts on the front line of the garden were already set up. He therefore went ont to examine them; and having walked with attention along the whole row, declared that it was not straight. The carpenter insisted that his eyes were better gnides in this case than Mr. Jay's hands. Mr. Jay still persisted in his opinion, and pointed out the place where the row diverged from a right line. Upon a reexamination the carpenter found a small bend in the row, nt the very spot designated by his employer. - Several gentlemen were at Mr. Jay's on a friendly visit. In the room where they were sitting was a large stand. One of the company observed that so wide a board must have been furnished by a tree of remark. able size. Another doubted whether the board was single. It was examined ; no joint could be found ; and the generally uniform aspect of the surface seemed to prove that it was but one board. Governor [John] Jay, who had gone out, was asked when he returned whether the table was formed of one or two board -. Upon his declaring that it was made of two, a new examination was had ; but none of the company could find the joint. The Governor then observed that his brother would be able to show them where it was. Mr. Jay soon came in, and having moved his finger for a moment over the middle of the table, rested it upon the joint. It was barely visible, even when thus pointed out. When we remember that it was so nicely made at first, and that it had been waxed and polished for perhaps half a century, we shall be satis- fied that the touch, able so easily to deteet an object imperceptible to every eye in this company, must possess an exquisiteness of sensibility, which, antecedent to such a 31
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Mr. Jay died not long after Dr. Dwight's visit; his death occurred on the eighth of July, 1813. Mrs: Jay, born September 14, 1736, sur- vived her husband several years ; she died April 26, 1824. They had no children.
4. John Jay,4 sixth son of Peter,3 was born December 12, 1745. His boyhood was spent at Rye and New Rochelle. (See page 209.) On commencing his clerkship (in a lawyer's office in New York) he asked his father's permission to keep a riding horse. His father hesitated, and inquired, ' John, why do you want a horse ?' . That I may have the means, sir, of visiting you frequently,' was the reply ; and it removed every objection. The horse was procured ; and during the three years of his clerkship, Mr. Jay made it a rule to pass one day with his parents at Rye every fortnight. (Life of John Jay, vol. i. p. 21.) He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1768. April 28, 1774, he married Sarah, daughter of William Livingston, afterwards governor of New Jersey. He soon took a leading position in the politics of the country, and was prominent in the debates of the first and the second Continental Congress. In 1777 he was appointed chief justice of the State of New York. In 1778 he was elected president of Congress. In 1779 he was sent as minister to Spain, and from thence in 1782 went to Paris as commissioner to assist in the negotiation of a treaty of peace with Great Britain. He returned to New York in 1784, after an absence of five years, and was received with tokens of esteem and admiration. December 21, 1784, he was appointed by Congress secretary for foreign affairs, and held the office for five years. He was one of the contributors to 'The Federalist.' In 1789 he was appointed chief justice of the United States, - an office which he was the first to fill. In 1794 he was sent as special minister to London, upon a delicate and most important mis- sion, relating to difficulties growing out of unsettled boundaries and certain commercial complications. Ile discharged this duty with great ability, and upon his return to America in 1795, was elected by a large majority governor of the State of New York. At the end of three years he was reelected ; and at the expiration of a second term was solicited to become a candidate for election a third time. But he had determined to renounce public life ; and though nominated again in 1800 to the office of chief justice of the United States, declined the honor, and retired to his paternal estate at Bedford ; a property - part of the Van Cortlandt estate - which his father had acquired by mar- riage with Mary, daughter of Jacobus Van Cortlandt. There Judge Jay lived for twenty-eight years, a peaceful and honored life. In 1827 he was seized with a severe illness, and after two years of weakness and suffering, was struck with palsy, May 14, 1829, and died three days after. . His public reputation as a patriot and statesman of the Revo-
fact, would scarcely be credible.' (Travels in New England and New York : vol. iii. pp. 487, 488.)
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lution was second only to that of Washington ; and his private char- acter as a man and a Christian is singularly free from stain or blemish.'
Judge Jay had two sons, Peter Augustus and William ; and four daughters : Susan (died young) ; Maria, married Goldsborough Banyar ; Ann ; and Sarah Louisa, born February 20, 1792, died April 22, 1818.
5. Frederick Jay,4 seventh son of Peter,3 was born April 19, 1747. He married, first, November 17, 1773,* Margaret, daughter of Andrew Barclay, who died October 28, 1791, aged thirty-nine; secondly Euphemia Dunscomb, who died February 26, 1817. In May, 1776 Frederick Jay was a member of the Committee of Safety for Rye. (See page 228.) August 16, 1776, General Washington wrote from head- quarters, New York, to Frederick Jay, at New Rochelle [Rye ?] by persons going under a guard to Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, asking him to dismiss the guard and send them on under parole. These persons were Colonel Phillips, James Jauncey, and six others. (American Archives, fifth series, vol. i. p. 981.) Not long after this, Mr. Frederick Jay found it necessary to remove with his family from Rye to Bedford, for security. He died December 14, 1799, and was buried in the family vault in the Bowery.
6. Eve Jay,+ eldest daughter of Peter .Jay,3 born November 9, 1728, married Rev. Harry Munro, March 31, 1766, and died April 7, 1810. Mr. Munro, born in 1730, was ordained in 1757 a clergyman of the Church of Scotland, and as chaplain of a Highland regiment served in the ' French War,' 1759-1760. In 1765 he united with the Church of England, and was ordained and appointed missionary of the Gospel Propagation Society at Yonkers, N. Y. He was afterwards settled at Albany. In 1778 he went to England, and in 1787 to Scotland, where he died May 30, 1801. Mrs. Eve Munro was his third wife; their only child was Peter J. Munro, a prominent lawyer and citizen of New York. (Bolton, Hist. of the Prot. Episc. Church in Westchester County, pp. 494-504.)
V. 1. Peter Augustus,5 eldest son of John Jay,4 was born January 24, 1776. He graduated at Columbia College in 1794, and studied law under Peter Jay Munro. Ile married Mary Rutherford, daughter of General Matthew Clarkson. Mr. Jay became prominent in the legal profession, and in public affairs. He was a member of the State As- sembly in 1816; was recorder of New York in 1818 ; was a member of the Convention which framed the constitution of the State in 1821 ; and was for many years president of the New York Historical Society, trustee of Columbia College, etc. Ile received the degree of LL. D. in 1831 from Harvard, and in 1835 from Columbia College. He died February 20, 1843. Children : John Clarkson Jay, M. D .; Peter
* ' Last night was married Mr. Frederick Jay, merchant of this city, to Miss Bar- clay, daughter of Mr. Andrew Barclay, merchant in Wall Street.' Rivington's N. Y. Gazetteer, November 18, 1773.
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FAMILIES OF RYE.
Augustus ; Mary, who married Frederick Prime; Sarah, who married William Dawson ; Catharine Helena, who married Henry Augustus Dubois, M. D .; Anna Maria, who married Henry Evelyn Pierrepont ; Susan Matilda, who married Matthew Clarkson; and Elizabeth Clark- son.
2. William,5 second son of John Jay,4 born June 16, 1779, graduated at Yale College in 1807, and studied law at Albany ; but having injured his eyes by intense study, relinquished his practice and retired to Bed- ford. Upon the death of his father in 1820, he acquired the Bed- ford estate. His life was principally devoted to philanthropic labors. He married Augusta Mc Vicker. He died at Bedford, October 14, 1858. He had one son, John, and five daughters : Anna, who married Rev. Lewis P. W. Balch, D. D .; Maria, who married John F. Butter- worth ; Sarah Louisa, who married Alexander M. Bruen, M. D .; Eliza, who married Henry Edward Pellew, of England ; and Augusta. .
3. Maria,5 daughter of John Jay,4 was born at Madrid, February 20, 1782. She was married, April 22, 1801, to Goldsborough Banyar, who died June, 1806. Mrs. Banyar died November 21, 1856.
4. Ann,5 daughter of John Jay,4 was born at Passy, near Paris, August 13, 1783. She died November 13, 1856.
The names of these two sisters, rich in faith and in good works, are widely known through the published notices of their lives and death. The remains of both lie in the family cemetery at Rye.
VI. 1. John Clarkson,6 eldest son of Peter Augustus Jay, born Sep- tember 11, 1808, married Laura, daughter of Nathanael Prime. Dr. Jay is the proprietor of the estate at Rye. He graduated at Columbia College in 1827, and in 1831 took his degree as M. D. He has made a special study of conchology, and possesses the most complete and valuable collections of shells in this country. On this branch of natu- ral history Dr. Jay has written several pamphlets .* Sons : Peter Au- gustus, and John Clarkson, M. D., both of whom served in the war for the Union, the former as captain of a company, the latter as assistant surgeon. Rev. Peter A. Jay is now rector of Christ P. E. church, War- wick, Orange Co., New York. He married Julia, daughter of Alfred C. Post, M. D. Daughters : Laura, who married Charles Pemberton Wurts ; Mary, who married Jonathan Edwards ; Cornelia, Alice, and Sarah. He has lost two sons : John and Augustus (both of whom died young) ; and two daughters : Anne Maria, who died December 3, 1858, aged fifteen ; and Matilda Costar (died young).
2. John,6 son of Judge William Jay,5 married Eleanor Kingsland,
* Catalogue of Recent Shells, etc. New York, 1835, 8vo, pp. 56. Description of New and Rare Shells, with four plates. New York, 1836, 2d ed., pp. 78. A Catalogue, S.c., together with Descriptions of New and Rare Species. New York, pp. 125, 4to, ten plates. The article on Shells, in the narrative of Commodore Perry's Expedition to Japan, is by Dr. Jay.
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daughter of Hickson W. Field. Children : Eleanor, who married Henry Grafton Chapman ; William ; Augusta, who married Edmund Randolph Robinson ; Mary, who married William Schieffelin ; and Anna.
THE CEMETERY of the Jay family, of which a view has been given, is situated on the estate at Rye. To this spot the remains of several of the earlier members of the family were brought, in 1807, from the family vault in New York; and here a number of their descendants have been interred since.
The pointed shaft a little to the right of the centre is the tomb of Peter Augustus Jay and his wife Mary. Next on the right is the tomb of Ann Jay, daughter of John. The next monument is that of her illustrious father, and bears the following inscription : -
IN MEMORY OF JOHN JAY,
Eminent among those who asserted the liberty and established the independence of his country which he long served in the most important offices legislative, executive, judicial and diplomatic and distinguished in them all by his ability, firmness, patriotism and integrity, he was in his life and in his death an example of the virtues, the faith and the hopes of a Christian. Born Dee. 12, 1745. Died May 17, 1829.
The tombs of Peter Jay and his wife are near this ; and next to theirs is the grave of Eve Munro - the last but one towards the right of the vignette. The monument surmounted by an urn is to the memory of Harriet van Cortlandt, wife of Augustus F. van Cortlandt, and daughter of Peter Jay Munro. The obelisk in the foreground indicates the resting-place of Maria Rutherford, wife of Frederick Prime and daugh- ter of Peter A. Jay. Several children of Dr. John C. Jay lie buried in the southeast corner of the cemetery (at the left in the vignette) The tomb of the last of these bears this touching inscription : -
Miss Cornelia Jay. 1907- ild after child on earth
Cornelia Jay, the great-grand- as lived, and loved, and died :
r of Chief Justice Jay. and thel as they left us, one by one, r of John Clarkson Jay. one of re laid them side by side. iders of the New York Yacht Club,
her sixty-ninth year in her apart- n the Salamanca yesterday after ss of several months. Through- ut not in hope forlorn ;
e laid them down to sleep,
life she devoted herself to church laid them but to ripen here She was President of the Woman's ill the last glorious morn.' y Society of Zion and St. Timo- ! irch for many years. She took a iterest in foreign missions ... her residence, the Salamanca, 155 58th St., Oct. 18, Cornelia Jay, daugh- the late John Clarkson and Laura Jay, in the sixty-ninth year of her Funeral services will be held at Zion t. Timothy's Church. 334 West 57th t 12 o'clock noon, Monday, Oct. 21. jent in the Jay Cemetery at Rye. ar traln leaves Grand Central Station 5 P. M. Carriages walting at Harri- tation.
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Augustus ; Mary, who married Frederick Prime; Sarah, who married William Dawson ; Catharine IIelena, who married Henry Augustus Dubois, M. D .; Anna Maria, who married Henry Evelyn Pierrepont ; Susan Matilda, who married Matthew Clarkson; and Elizabeth Clark- son.
2. William,5 second son of John Jay,4 born June 16, 1779, graduated at Yale College in 1807, and studied law at Albany ; but having injured his eyes by intense study, relinquished his practice and retired to Bed- ford. Upon the death of his father in 1829, he acquired the Bed- ford estate. His life was principally devoted to philanthropic labors. He married Augusta Mc Vicker. He died at Bedford, October 14, 1858. He had one son, John, and five daughters : Anna, who married Rev. Lewis P. W. Balch, D. D .; Maria, who married John F. Butter- worth ; Sarah Louisa, who married Alexander M. Bruen, M. D .; Eliza, who married Henry Edward Pellew, of England ; and Augusta. .
3. Maria,5 daughter of John Jay,4 was born at Madrid, February 20, 1782. She was married, April 22, 1801, to Goldsborough Banyar, who died June, 1806. Mrs. Banyar died November 21, 1856.
4. Ann,5 daughter of John Jay,4 was born at Passy, near Paris, August 13, 1783. She died November 13, 1856.
The names of these two sisters, rich in faith and in good works, are widely known through the published notices of their lives and death. The remains of both lie in the family cemetery at Rye.
VI. 1. John Clarkson,6 eldest son of Peter Augustus Jay, born Sep- tember 11, 1808, married Laura, daughter of Nathanael Prime. Dr. Jay is the proprietor of the estate at Rye. He graduated at Columbia College in 1827, and in 1831 took his degree as M. D. He has made a special study of conchology, and possesses the most complete and valuable collections of shells in this country. On this branch of natui- ral history Dr. Jay has written several pamphlets .* Sons : Peter Au- gustus, and John Clarkson, M. D., both of whom served in the war for the Union, the former as captain of a company, the latter as assistant surgeon. Rev. Peter A. Jay is now rector of Christ P. E. church, War- wick, Orange Co., New York. He married Julia, daughter of Alfred C. Post, M. D. Daughters : Laura, who married Charles Pemberton Wurts; Mary, who married Jonathan Edwards ; Cornelia, Alice, and Sarah. He has lost two sons : John and Augustus (both of whom died young) ; and two daughters : Anne Maria, imong those who have signed the & subscriptions to the fund to guarante 1858, aged fifteen ; and Matilda Costar (died yoenses of building, a challenger and n American waters.
2. John,6 son of Judge William Jay,5 marrie
The programme for the Fall Regat * Catalogue of Recent Shells, etc. New York, 1835, Columbia University crews has been New and Rare Shells, with four plates. New York, ·n two instances. The sophomore elg of racing the Nassau Boat Club s ind the varsity will race the octoped Catalogue, S.c., together with Descriptions of New and Rarace a boat made up of Columbia 125, 4to, ten plates. The article on Shells, in the narratplace. Expedition to Japan, is by Dr. Jay.
Columbia Regatta Chan:
against the graduates, but Coach R the crow of last year's freshmen are as the varsitles of previous years. Ja Peters, ( by a
nal streak, came home in 35. Ive of the next six holes after · ind was 2 up at the fifteenth, l and won the next in 3 and ha seventeenth, but he lost the cl ring the match square at the h
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daughter of Hickson W. Field. Children : Eleanor, who married Henry Grafton Chapman ; William ; Augusta, who married Edmund Randolph Robinson ; Mary, who married William Schieffelin ; and Anna.
THE CEMETERY of the Jay family, of which a view has been given, is situated on the estate at Rye. To this spot the remains of several of the earlier members of the family were brought, in 1807, from the family vault in New York; and here a number of their descendants have been interred since.
The pointed shaft a little to the right of the centre is the tomb of Peter Augustus Jay and his wife Mary. Next on the right is the tomb of Ann Jay, daughter of John. The next monument is that of her illustrious father, and bears the following inscription : -
IN MEMORY OF JOHN JAY,
Eminent among those who asserted the liberty and established the independence of his country which he long served in the most important offices legislative, executive, judicial and diplomatie and distinguished in them all by his ability, firmness, patriotism and integrity, he was in his life and in his death an example of the virtues, the faith and the hopes of a Christian. Born Dee. 12, 1745. Died May 17, 1829.
The tombs of Peter Jay and his wife are near this ; and next to theirs is the grave of Eve Munro - the last but one towards the right of the vignette. The monument surmounted by an urn is to the memory of Harriet van Cortlandt, wife of Augustus F. van Cortlandt, and daughter of Peter Jay Munro. The obelisk in the foreground indicates the resting-place of Maria Rutherfurd, wife of Frederick Prime and daugh- ter of Peter A. Jay. Several children of Dr. John C. Jay lie buried in the southeast corner of the cemetery (at the left in the vignette) The tomb of the last of these bears this touching inscription : -
' Child after child on earth Has lived, and loved, and died : And as they left ns, one by one, We laid them side by side.
' We laid them down to sleep, But not in hope forlorn ; We laid them but to ripen here Till the last glorious morn.'
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FAMILIES OF RYE.
JANES, Michael, aged twenty-five, made deposition in 1711, before Court of Sessions. (Co. Records, White Plains, vol. D. p. 12.) 'Micah Jeanes,' 1812, owned property here (Brander's Book) ; witness, 1731.
KENNEDY, Robert, 1789-1813. 'Capt. Kenady's house and mill' are indicated on Webb's map of Rye, 1797 : the house on the upper, the mill on the lower side of Blind Brook, where Park's mill now stands. Robert Kennedy died February 6, 1826, aged seventy years, ten months, eleven days. His wife Sarah died July 29, 1821, aged sixty years, four months, eleven days. (Cemetery.) Their daughter, Martha H., married Jesse Park, junior.
KING, John, 1733, bought Jacob Hays' house.
LA COUNT (Le compte), Francis (of New Rochelle) ; a 'home-lot formerly laid out' to him, on Brown's Point, near White Plains, is mentioned in 1727. (Rec., C. 163, 163.)
LAMSON, 'Anna, daughter of John & Heph,' baptized February 1, 1793.
LAWRENCE. Jacob, ' of East Chester,' in 1710, bought a Byram River lot, and in 1714 the 'mowing meadow lot,' formerly Jacob Pearce's. Stephen, 'of Flushing,' in 1731 bought from Thomas Carle, of Rye, four hundred aeres in Harrison, between Mamaroneck River and the ' middle line'; and in 1738 conveyed his title to it to Joseph Haight. William, ; of Flushing,' in 1732, sold to William Marsh his farm of seventy-five acres in the White Plains purchase. John, in 1748, bought twenty-eight acres in Lame Will's Purchase.
LEWIS, Henry, witness, 1733 ; had property here, 1735.
MAN, Isaac, owned land on the north side of Joseph Sherwood's farm on Grace Church Street, about 1750.
MCCOLLUM, Thomas, married Sarah, daughter of Roger Park,3 and was living in 1799, on Grace Church Street. He is mentioned in 1801.
MARSH, William, 'of Flushing,' in 1732 bought a farm of seventy- five aeres in White Plains ; to which he added largely by subsequent purchases. He is mentioned last in 1740. Thomas, perhaps his brother, as early as 1735 owned land between Blind Brook and Purchase Street, near Park's mill. He is mentioned last in 1767, and as ' currier.' Thomas left his lands to the grandfather of Mr. Thomas Lyon, of Ridge Street, now living.
MARSELIS, Theophilus, of New York, was here for some years from about 1790. He lived at Rye Neek in the house by Davenport's mill- pond. Sons : Peter, Theophilus, John, Nelson ; daughters : Catharine, Hannah ; Jane, married Dr. Harris. John, son of Theophilus, was baptized at Rye, May 8, 1791, Peter Marselis sponsor. Last mentioned 1802.
MARVIN, Lewis, witness in 1739, called 'merchant, of Rye' in 1759, lived in Saw Pit. His wife Martha died February 5, 1767, in her thirty-ninth year, and was buried near the old Episcopal Church at
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MOLLINEX. - PINE.
Rye. (Bolton, IIist. P. E. Church, p. 349.) Her husband died during the war, and was buried in the same place. He is said to have been a native of Ireland. Samuel, probably his son, was living in Saw Pit in 1786. He was supervisor in 1805, and justice of the peace in 1804- 1806. ' Abigail and Edward Thomas, children of Samuel and Abigail Marvin,' were baptized February 1791, and Nancy Thomas, daughter of the same, October 25, 1792.
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