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 9
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' Allowed, To John Doughty for fees of putting - - in ye Stocks, 6 shillings.'
The supervisor of the county in 1772 ordered an extra charge upon the town of Rye ' for Capt. Merritt's building stocks, and the money to be paid to Merritt.' 1
In the year 1720, the inhabitants of Rye took steps to procure a patent for their lands from the British erown. It appears that they had delayed to seek such a benefit until then, though twenty years had now elapsed since their unwilling return to the province of New York. We might infer from this delay that the people were not yet wholly reconciled to their lot, or at least that some of them were indisposed to ask for a charter from the New York gov- ernment, inasmuch as they already held one from Connecticut. However this may be, the formal action of the town was not taken until a few persons, apparently without the general consent, under- took to write to the Governor and Council on the subject. 'The Humble Petition of Daniell Purdy Son of John Purdy deceased Samuell Brown and Benjamin Brown Inhabitants of the Township of Rye in the County of West Chester in behalfe of themselves and diverse other Inhabitants of the said Township of Rye,' is dated
1 Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Westchester for the years 1772 to 1787 ; published with the Proceedings of the Board for 1869, p. 7.
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TOWN MATTERS IN OLDEN TIMES.
June 20th, 1720.1 They ask for letters patent for the tract of land lying between Blind Brook and the colony line, from the southern extremity of Peningo Neek to ' the Antient marked Trees of Limping Will's purchase.'
The Governor and Couneil very properly referred this petition to the people of Rye at large ; directing Joseph Budd, then super- visor, to ' call a town meeting of the inhabitants,' for the purpose of ascertaining their wishes on the subject. This meeting took place early in July, and Mr. Budd reports', 'New York ye 14th July, 1720, to the Hon. Peter Schuyler,' etc., 'in Council,' that the inhabitants of Rye ' unanimously have noe objection against Granting the said Lands to the said Petitioners, but only that the same cannot be Granted to them by the Express Limitts and Boundaries as pticularly Described by the said Petition by reason it would Interfere with Lands already Granted to other persons.' They suggest a somewhat different description, e. g., ' beginning at a certaine Rock lyeing on a point of Land cy known by the name of Town Neek point' .... ' together with a certaine Island Included known by the name of Monussing Island lyeing about Twenty Rodes from the maine Land.' 2
No little stir was caused in Rye by these measures relative to the patent. An old controversy which had been slumbering for some years, regarding the ownership of the southern part of Manussing Island, was revived. Samuel Odell, who claimed it, against Roger Park, remonstrated against the granting of a patent that should fail to secure him in his rights to that property.3 Depositions of various parties were taken on the subject before the Council. The Surveyor-general, Cadwallader Colden, surveyed the tract, exelu- sive of the island, and made his report August 11, 1720. And finally, July 28, the gentlemen of the Council to whom the petition of Rye had been referred, reported favorably upon it.
Letters patent were issued August 11th, 1720, to Daniel Purdy and Samuel and Benjamin Brown, for themselves and the other inhabitants of Rye, exclusive of Budd's Neck, that tract being held by another patent granted the month before.4
1 Land Papers, in the office of the Secretary of State, Albany : vol. vii. p. 171. ' To the honorable Peter Schuyler ye President of his Majesties Councill of the Province of New York and Territories thereon depending in America in Counsill.'
2 Land Papers, etc., vol. vii. p. 190.
Land Papers, etc., vol. viii. p. 5.
4 Both of these patents will be found in the Appendix.
Strang's Tavern.
CHAPTER IX.
MAILS ; NEWSPAPERS ; MODES OF TRAVEL.
1672-1812.
'This folio of four pages - that holds Inquisitive attention.'
The Task.
SITUATED so near the seaboard, and within thirty miles of the city, Rye has enjoyed from the earliest times whatever facilities existed for public communication. But it is difficult to conceive how rude and inconvenient these must have been, until a comparatively recent date. For at least fifty years after the foun- dation of the town, all travel by land was performed on horseback. Deputies rode their hired horses up to the sessions of the General Court. It was seldom, however, that the inhabitants ventured so far as Hartford, except on public duty. Their journeys were gen- erally short, and limited to the neighboring towns of Greenwich and Stamford. The sympathies and interests of the people then turned eastward - not as now toward New York.
In 1672, the government of Connecticut established a schedule of prices, to be paid to persons who should be employed for the
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MAILS, NEWSPAPERS, MODES OF TRAVEL.
conveyance of letters and other missives in the service of the colony. This was done in view of the great extravagance of people thus employed, ' by profuse spending at the ordinaries and other places on the road upon the country's account, and also by great delays on journeys.' According to the schedule, the charge was to be as follows, from the first of May to the middle of Octo- ber : ' From Rye to Hartford, the horses hyer twelve shillings, the man and expences twenty shillings ; all is one pound twelve shil- lings.' From October to April, the charge was to be eight pence more ' for every night they lye out.' 1
Postal communication between New York and Boston was first established in the year 1672, during the administration of Colonel Lovelace, the second English governor of the province. The fol- lowing order shows what facilities were thus afforded : -
' A Proclamacion for a Post to goe Monthly from this City to Boston and back againe.
' Whereas it is thought convenient and necessary in obedience to his Sacred Ma'ties Commands, who enjoynes all his subjects in the distinct Colonyes, to enter into a strict allyance and Correspondency with each other, as likewise for the advancemt of Negotiation, Trade and Civill Commerce, and for a more speedy Intelligence and Dispatch of Af- fayres, That a Messenger or Post bee authorized to sett forth from this Citty of New Yorke monthly, and thence to travail to Boston, from whence within that Month hee shall returne againe to this Citty. These are therefore to give notice to all persons concerned, That on the first day of January next, the Messenger appointed shall proceed on his journey to Boston : If any therefore have any Letters or small portable Goods to bee conveyed to Hartford, Connecticut, Boston, or any other parts in the Road, they shall be carefully delivered according to the Directions by a sworne Messenger and Post who is purposely imployed in that Affayre ; In the Interim those that bec disposed to send Letters, lett them bring them to the Secretary's Office, where in a Lockt Box they shall be preserved till the Messenger calls for them; All persons paying the Post before the Bagg be seal'd up. Dated at New Yorke this 10th day of December 1672. By order of ye Governor.' 2
According to the instructions to the post or messenger, dated January 22, 1672-3, he was to apply to the governors, especially Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, for ' the best direction how to forme the best Post Road ; ' to establish places on the road where to leave the way-letters, and ' to mark some Trees that shall direct Passengers the best way, and to fix certain Houses for your sev-
1 Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1665-78, pp. 242, 244.
2 Communicated by Dr. O'Callaghan.
73
JOURNEY OF MADAM KNIGHT.
erall Stages both to bait and lodge at.' The messenger was to allow persons who desired it to travel in his company and to afford them the best help in his power. He was to provide himself with ' a spare horse, a Horn, and good Portmantles.'
Such was the mode of travel and despatch for the next thirty years. Madam Knight's account of her journey from Boston to New York, and back, in 1704, agrees precisely with this descrip- tion. It appears that she availed herself when she could of the company and, protection of the messenger riding post. The fol- lowing extract gives us a life-like view of the good lady and her conductor : -
' Tuesday, October ye third, about 8 in the morning, I with the Post proceeded forward . . . and about 2, afternoon, arrived at the Post's second stage, where the western Post met him and exchanged Letters. . . . Having here discharged the Ordinary for self and Guide, as I understood was the custom, about 3, afternoon, went on with my third Guide, who rode very hard : and having crossed Providence ferry, we come to a River which they generally ride through. But I dare not venture ; so the Post got a lad and Canoe to carry me to the other side, and he rid through and led my horse. . . . Rewarding my sculler, again mounted and made the best of my way forward. The Road here was very even and ye day pleasant, it being now near Sunset. But the Post told me we had near 14 miles to ride to the next Stage, where we were to lodge. I asked him of the rest of the Road, foreseeing we must travel in the night. He told me there was a bad River we were to ride through, which was so very fierce a horse could sometimes hardly stem it : but it was narrow, and we should soon be over.' Late at night, the traveller after all these adventures ' was roused from her pleasing imagi- nations by the Post's sounding his horn, which assured me he was arrived at the stage where we were to lodge: and that musick was then most musical and agreeable to me.'
In the same year that this memorable journey was performed, the governor of the province of New York wrote home, 'The post that goes through this place, goes eastward as far as Boston, but westward he goes no further than Philadelphia : and there is no other post upon all this continent.' 1
As late as the year 1750, letters were carried in this same way by messengers riding on horseback from stage to stage,2 and there was but one mail each week for Boston and the intermediate
1 Letter of Lord Bellomont, in Documents rel. to Colonial History of New York, vol. iv. p. 1113.
2 On the twenty-fourth of January, 1755, the Post informed the publie that ' he was obliged before he left Albany, to send his Horse upon the ice over to the opposite
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MAILS, NEWSPAPERS, MODES OF TRAVEL.
places. Indeed, from the following notices it would seem that these accommodations were even diminished during the winter season :
' March 26, 1750. The Boston and Philadelphia Posts set out on Monday next, at the usual Hours, to perform their Stages Weekly.'
' Dec. 3, 1750. The Posts set out To-morrow to perform their Stages once a Fortnight during the Winter Season.' 1
On the third of February, 1755, Alexander Colden, postmaster of New York, issues the following notice : -
. It being found very inconvenient to persons concern'd in Trade that the Post from New York to New England, has heretofore set out but once a fortnight during the Winter Season : the Stages are now alter'd, by orders of the Post Master General ; 2 and the New England Post is henceforth to go once a week the year round, whereby correspondence may be carried on and answers obtained to letters between New York and Boston in two weeks, which us'd in the Winter to require four weeks. But to obtain this good end it is necessary, on account of the Badness of the Ways and Weather in Winter, to dispatch the Post some Hours sooner from New York : Notice is therefore hereby given that he begins his Weekly Stage on Monday next, being the 10 instant, and will be dispatched precisely at Nine o'clock in the morning, on that day, and every Monday following.' 3
The trusty messenger who made his weekly transit through the village of Rye, must have been very familiar to the inhabitants.4 A goodly number of them, doubtless, awaited his arrival at Haviland's inn, to receive not only their letters, but also the city
shore; and that in the afternoon of the same day, the weather being extremely moderate and giving, he was obliged to cross in a Ferry boat, the ice having broke away,' ctc. - New York Gazette and Weekly Post-Boy.
1 New York Gazette.
2 Benjamin Franklin, who had been appointed to this office two years before, and was vigorously endeavoring to improve and extend the postal system of the colonies. Five years later he surprised the people with a proposition to run stage wagons to carry the mail from Philadelphia to Boston, once a week, starting from each city on Monday morning, and arriving at the end of the route by Saturday night. Franklin was removed from this office in 1774.
3 New York Gazette and Post-Boy. Communicated, with several other items in this chapter, by Col. Thomas F. De Voe.
4 'Lately died at Stratford, of a Fever, Deacon Thomas Peet, in the 62 year of his age. He was employed as a Post-Rider between New York and Saybrook, for the last 32 years of his life, in which station he gave general satisfaction.' - New York Mercury, October 27, 1760.
' Run away, from Ebenezer Hurd, of Stratford, the old post-rider, which has rode post 47 years, from New York to Saybrook, a negro man about 25 years of age . . . Five dollars reward.
EBENEZER HURD.'
- Supplement to the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, April 10, 1775.
75
ADVERTISEMENTS OF OLDEN TIME.
papers fresh from the press- the 'Gazette,' the 'Journal,' the ' Post-Boy,' the ' Mercury ' - some or all of which had eager and interested readers at Rye.1
Besides the public post employed by the government, there were post-riders in the service of the newspapers. In 1762, the ' New York Gazette and Weekly Post-Boy' of March 18, boasts that its messenger ' brought the Boston papers a week later than the other post, who came in the Night before' with letters for the governor, though he had been 'hinder'd by the Snow, which in some places was prodigiously deep.' The post not only carried the papers, but also received subscriptions for them ; and delin- quents were occasionally reminded of their duty to pay their sub- scriptions in this way.
Our good people not only read the papers, but advertised in them occasionally. Here are some Rye advertisements of the olden time : -
' Oct. 23, 1749. Wm BURTUS, Hat-Maker, Now living at Harrison's Purchase, in Rye, carries on the Hatter's Trade there, and makes and sells as good Hats as any in the Province, for ready Money, or short Credit. WMI. BURTUS.'
' July 3, 1775. STOLEN out of the pasture from the subscriber at Rye the 21st June 1775, a sorrel mare, about 14 hands high, a natural trotter, marked with a ball face, her main hanging on the near side, four year old. Any person that will apprehend the thief and mare, so that the owner can have his mare again, shall be paid the sum of five pounds, and for the mare only three pounds paid by me.
WILLIAM LYON.'
' July 1, 1771. Capt. Abraham Bush, of Rye, in the province of New York, on a voyage from the eastward, bound home, coming out of Milford harbour, in Connecticut, Sunday morning the 14th day of last April, about three hours after his departure, saw (above half sound over towards Long Island) a wreck .... which he brought into Rye har- bour. Any person proving his property in said scow and boom, by applying to said Bush, in Rye, may have them again, paying him for his trouble and the charge he hath been put to.
ABRAHAM BUSH.'
' March 21, 1774. For sale at public vendue, on the premises Ist April, a house and lot of land in Rye, situated by the water side, very convenient for a boatman or merchandizing or any water business : the lot containing ten acres, a nice orchard and some meadow land. The
1 The New York Gazette was the first newspaper issued in New York, commencing October 23d, 1725. The New York Weekly Journal was published from 1733 to 1752. The New York Gazette and Weekly Post Boy was first issued in 1743.
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MAILS, NEWSPAPERS, MODES OF TRAVEL.
house is large with five rooms upon & floor. On the premises are also a barn, store house and doek. Apply to Ezekiel Flaster, [Halsted ?] or Jonathan Budd.'
Advertisements of stolen goods, at Rye, are frequent, the in- jured parties sometimes indulging themselves in the expression of their suspicions as to the persons who have committed the theft, naming and describing them.
' July 14. 1760. Last Thursday (July 10) night the wash-house of Timothy Wetmore, of Rye, was broken open and stole out of the wash- tub, three linnen shirts . ... a considerable number of linnen cam- brick and lawn handkerchiefs and eaps, a parcel of child's clothes, and sundry other articles too tedious to mention. It is supposed they were taken by Moll Rogers, and that she has or will make towards New York.
' Whoever will apprehend the thief, that the person may be bro't to justice. shall have 8 dollars reward, paid by the subscriber.
' This wretch has been a general plunderer and disturber of the repose of the honest people of this province. particularly the country, for a long course of time, and has actually been in the hands of the authority time after time, and yet is as daring as ever in her villainy.
TIMOTHY WETMORE.' 1
Mr. Timothy Wetmore lived in the house now occupied by his granddaughter, Mrs. Buckley. His brother, Mr. James Wetmore, · who proclaims his losses in the following advertisement, lived at the time in the ' Square House,' now owned by the family of Mr. D. M. Mead : -
' March 31, 1763. Stolen out of the house of James Wetmore, at Rye, on the 16th inst., in the night, by Mary Barrington, an Irish woman, three silver watches, and sundry other small articles. One of the watches is French make, and winds up on the dial plate : the second is an old-fashion'd frosted dial plate : the other is a common China dial plate. A reward of five dollars will be paid &c. by
JAMES WETMORE.' 2
It was not until 1772, just a hundred years after the establish- ment of Governor Lovelace's post system, that a better mode of travel was introduced. In that year, the first stage-coach 3 began to run between New York and Boston. The following advertisement appeared in Holt's ' New York Journal' of July 9 :-
1 N. Y. Mercury. 2 N. Y. Gazette and Weekly Post-Boy.
3 It is difficult to believe that until the date here mentioned, no publie conveyance of the kind existed on this route. Such however is the fact. Between New York and Philadelphia, stages had been running for some years.
77
TRAVEL BETWEEN NEW YORK AND BOSTON.
New- York, 24th June 1772. THE STAGE COACH BETWEEN NEW-YORK AND BOSTON,
W HICH for the firft Time fets out this Day from Mr. Fowler's Tavern, (formerly kept by Mr. Stout) at Fresh Water, in New-York, will continue to go the Courfe between Bofton and New-York, fo as to be at each of thofe Places once a Fortnight, coming in on Satur- day Evening and fetting out to Return, by the Way of Hartford, on Monday Morning.
The Price to Paffengers, will be 4d. New-York or 3d. lawful Money per Mile, and Baggage at a reafonable Rate.
Gentlemen and Ladies who choofe to encourage this ufeful, new, and expenfive Undertaking, may depend upon good Ufage, and that the Coach will always put up at Houfes on the Road where the beft Entertainment is pro- vided.
The Stage Coaches will next Trip arrive at New-York and Bofton, on Saturday the 11th of July, and will fet out from thence to Hartford on Monday the 13th, meeting at Hartford on Wednesday the 15th, where, after ftaying a Week, they will fet out again on Wednesday the 23d for New-York and Boston, where they will arrive on Satur- day the 25th, and fet out to return on Monday the 27th, &c.
If on Trial the Subfcribers find Encouragement, they will perform the Stage once a Week only altering the Day of fetting out from New-York and Bofton to Thurfday in- ftead of Monday Morning. 28-
JONATHAN and NICHOLAS BROWN.
This appears to have been the commencement of travel by pub- lic conveyance between New York and Boston. In 1787, the stages made three trips every week in summer, and two in winter. They set out from Hall's Tavern, No. 49 Courtlandt Street, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, arriving at Boston in six days. The fare was four pence a mile.1
In 1787, there was a stage every other day from New York to Rye, and the following advertisement, which appeared in the ' New York Journal,' intimates that such a special conveyance to this place had been running before : -
September 27, 1787. 'STAGE. - The subscriber informs the public, and his friends in particular, that he now runs the Stage from this to Rye, which Mr. Hall formerly run : which stage starts from Mr. (David) Osborn's at Peck Slip, No. 136 (138 Water Street) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at five o'clock in the morning, and returns on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, at six o'clock in the evening. As the subscriber has furnished himself with a very convenient new Waggon, and good horses, for the purpose, he flatters himself, that he shall be able to give those Gentlemen and Ladies, who please to favor him with their custom, universal satisfaction.
1 Frank's New York Directory for 1787 ( the first published in that city).
.
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MAILS, NEWSPAPERS, MODES OF TRAVEL.
' N. B. The subscriber likewise keeps a very genteel Coach, with a good pair of horses, to Lett: likewise, Horses and Chairs, and saddle horses. Any orders, left with Mr. Osborn, at Peck . Slip, or at his stable, Cortlandt-street, will be immediately attended to, by the public's most humble servant, OBADIAHI WRIGIIT.
' New York, Sept. 27, 1787.'
But the inhabitants of Rye had other means of communicating with the outside world, and they probably depended more upon water communication than upon that by land. The earliest men- tion of a dock or wharf at this place occurs under the date of 1679, when the town granted to John Ogden ' forty-eight or fifty acres of land by the water side at the Fishing Rock, for the purpose of building a house and wharf. The inhabitants of Peningo neck to have wharfage free.' 1
A great event for Rye was the establishment of a ferry in 1739 between this town and Oyster Bay, Long Island. The charter issned in that year for this purpose, sets forth that 'the principal freeholders and proprietors of the lands in the two patents called Budd's Neck and Penning's Neck' have made application for it.2 The inhabitants generally seem to have taken a deep interest in the enterprise. Messrs. John Budd, Hachaliah Brown, and Jona- than Brown were at the head of it. The list of subscribers toward the expense of obtaining the patent, embraces twenty-six names.3 Those who thus contributed were to 'enjoy a share of the privileges and emoluments of the ferry in proportion to the sums' subscribed. A meeting of the shareholders was appointed to be held annually, ' at some convenient place near the Church,' on the first Tuesday in April, when a committee was to be chosen,
1 Bolton's History of Westchester County, ii. 93.
' Francis Purdy's landing' is mentioned in a return for the division of vacant lands in 1718. (Town Meeting Book, No. G.)
2 Rye Records, vol. C. pp. 130-32, 178-81.
3 The list is as follows : -
Samuel Purdy, £3 00 0 Thos Howel, £0 11 3
Roger Park, £1 10 0
Samuel Brown, £3 00 0 David Kniffin, £0 15 0 Peter Tatlon, £0 15 0
James Wetmore, £3 00 0 Henry Strang, £1 10 0 Joseph Sutton, ££0 07 6
The same, in trust for Dan'l Purdy, Esq.£3 00 0
Edward Palmer, £0 15 0 Robert Palmer, £0 15 0
Lavinia, daughter of Joseph Galpin, £1 10 0
Henry Strange, £1 10 0 Thomas Lyon, £3 00 0 Hach. Brown, jr. £1 06 3
Monmouth Hart, £1 10 0 Samuel Wilson, £3 00 0 Gilbert Bloomer, £3 00 0 Sam' Crompton, £0 3 9
Benj. Kniffin, £0 11 3 Ebenezer Kniffin £1 10 0
Andrew Merrit £1 10 0 Jonathan Horton, £0 15 0 John Coe, £0 07 6
Sam1 Graves, jr. £0 15 0
79
FERRY TO OYSTER BAY, LONG ISLAND.
who should lease the ferry, and take charge of the profits that might accrue.1
This ferry continued in use till the latter part of the century. In 1786, Mr. Isaac Brown, of Rye, purchased the rights of the proprietors of Rye ferry.2 A map of Rye in 1797, shows the ' house at the Ferry,' near the mouth of Byram River. This house, about a century ago, was kept by a German who after- wards attained some distinction as an officer in the Revolutionary War. Frederick De Weissenfels advertises in the 'New York Mercury ' of April 30, 1759, concerning the
FERRY CALLED RYE-FERRY, TO OYSTER BAY ON LONG ISLAND.
' This is to give Notice, to all Travellers and Strangers, that at the place called Rye-Ferry. in the County of Westchester, and Province of New York, is a good regular and constant Ferry kept, from the above- mentioned Place to Oyster-bay, on Long Island. where there is good entertainment for Travellers : And by the subscriber hereof is also to be sold all sorts of Dry-goods, as Broad-Cloths. German Serges, Rat- teens, Half-thicks, Pennistons, Forrest-Cloth, mill'd Druggets, Bomba- zeens, Flannels of divers colours, Shalloons, Silverets, Burdoas, Irish- stuffs, Camblets, Everlastings, Worsted Damasks, Velvets, Taffaties, Persians, 3-4 and yd-wide Garlix, Irish Linnens, Checks, Millenets, Pistol and Tandem Lavins, Silesias, Ozenbrigs, Calicoes, Ribbands, Fans, Gloves, Necklaces, and other Dry-Goods too tedious to mention, as also an Assortment of Iron-mongery, Paint, Window Glass, Looking Glasses, Swords, Hangers, Guns, Powder and Shot, Nails, Lead, as also good West-India Rum, Molasses, Sugar, Cotton &c. by
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