USA > New York > Putnam County > Garrison > History of St. Philip's church in the Highlands, Garrison, New York, including, up to 1840, St. Peter's church on the manor of Cortlandt > Part 11
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The Affairs of the Loyalists goes on but slowly; these troublesome Elections have taken up the time & attention of the Commissioners for some time but they are going on again: they seem to take great pains and pay attention to our unhappy situation, but they have a troublesome and difficult task to go thro'. Many very Extraordinary Claims are given in, such as you would be astonished to see. I have not had my hearing yet & don't expect it in less than two months, so many there are before me; but what ap- pears very extra'y to me they will not enter upon Examination of any Claims given by Attorneys, but say every person who makes any demand on Govern- ment must apply in person. However they rec'd the claims into their office in order to keep them alive, that they may not be totally excluded according to the Act of Parliament, and the matter of hearing them by Attorneys will be determined hereafter, which they certainly must do, there are so many claims given in by Attorneys that it would be a very unjust thing to throw them out unless the principal came here. As the matter is like to be so very tedious, the Com-
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miss'rs have recommended, I believe, most that have applyed for a temporary support from £40 to £200 a year, which is the highest they can go. I have been under the necessity of asking for such a support and they have allowed me £200 a year 'commencing ye 5th of Jan'y last in addition to my half pay, which makes me nearly full pay.
I have the pleasure to tell you we are all hearty and well and join in our respects to you, and pray remem- ber us to Gen. Campbell & Captain Addenbough & believe me,
Your sin cere friend, &c,
Bev. Robinson. 1
The Royal Commissioners were confronted with the most difficult task of adjudicating on 5,072 claims totalling $50,411,000. Among the number of claims were fifty from Dutchess County, and the Loyalist losses in New York were estimated at $10,000,000. It was impossible to pay these amounts in full. The award of the Commissioners to Beverly Robinson is scheduled as follows:
Claim for loss of property £68,784
Sum originally allowed £25,900
allowed on Revision 24,764
Percentage to be deducted by Act of Parliament 1,476 8 0
Total sum to pay under Act of Parliament £23,287 12 02
To this must be added the sum of £800 allowed to Susannah Robinson presumably as compensation for personal losses.
1 Winslow Papers, p. 197-9.
2 American Loyalists, Vol. XI, p.
Cf. Flick, Loyalism in New York during the Revolution, 203-214.
154 The History of St. Philip's Church
Colonel Robinson lived but a few years after his arrival in England. There is reason to believe that after his affairs were settled, he and his family took up an abode in Bath, where he died on the 9th day of April, 1792, in the 71st year of his age. His remains were interred in St. James' Church of that city. Mrs. Robinson survived her husband for thirty years. After his death she, with those of her children who were with her in England, removed to Thornbury, Gloucestershire, where she resided until her death, which occurred on November 22d, 1822. Her remains were laid to rest in the body of the parish church. On the restoration of the church in 1847 they were re-interred in the churchyard. The following inscription is, by the courtesy of the Vicar of Thornbury, copied from a tablet on the walls of the church:
Sacred to the memory of COLONEL BEVERLY ROBINSON who died at Bath on the 9th day of April 1792 in the 71st year of his age and was interred in St. James'es Church of that City and of SUSANNA HIS WIFE who after a residence in this Town during her Widowhood of 30 years died on the 22nd of November 1822 And was interred in the body of this Church.
This Tablet is erected As a tribute of affection by their grateful Children.
CHAPTER VI ST. PETER'S CHURCH AND ST. PHILIP'S CHAPEL WARDENS AND VESTRYMEN
1770-1840
(CONTINUED)
A T the outset of parochial life the custom was in augurated of choosing one Warden from each section of the parish. Accordingly CHARLES MOORE (1770-71) of Peekskill was selected as colleague to Beverly Robinson, and at the first Vestry meeting he was entrusted with the Seal of the Corporation. This family of Moores in America was descended from Sir John Moore of Fawley, Berkshire, who was knighted by Charles I on the 21st of May, 1627. The fortunes of the house waned with the execution of the king, and some members migrated to America. The Hon. John Moore of Philadelphia married Lady Arabella Axtell. His son, also named John, was born in South Carolina in 1686 and married Frances Lambert in 1714. The latter became a man of considerable importance in New York He lived at White Hall, at the corner of Moore and Front Street, the house which Peter Stuyvesant had built for himself prior to 1661. His country seat was in the Highlands of the Hudson, on land which was acquired partly by purchase and partly by patent, and was after- wards sold to the Government as a site for West Point Military Academy. Colonel Moore filled many responsi-
156 The History of St. Philip's Church
ble positions in the colony of New York. He was an Alderman of the city; a member of the King's Council and of the Colonial Legislature. He also commanded his Majesty's New York City Regiment. To these civic and military duties he added that of Vestryman and Warden of Trinity parish from 1715 to 1728.1
Colonel Moore was blessed with eighteen children, thirteen of whom were sons. Thomas, the seventh son, was the father of Richard Channing Moore, the great evangelical Bishop of Virginia. Charles, the sixteenth child and Warden of the United Churches, was born in 1732, and served in the medical department of the War of 1756. He afterwards engaged in business at Peekskill as a miller and resided in one of the Moore houses at West Point. At the time of the British attack on Forts Montgomery and Clinton a party of seamen raided the house of Thomas Moore and "his family fled to Mr. Charles Moore's for protection."2 It is supposed that towards the close of the War of the Revolution, Charles, who favored the cause of the king, fled to North Carolina, where he spent the rest of his life.
DANIEL BIRDSALL (1772-3) became a member of the Vestry in 1771, and the following year succeeded Charles Moore as one of the Wardens. He was born on January 17th, 1734, and on December 20th, 1757, mar- ried Hannah, daughter of Jacob Mandeville, in whose
1 Six Centuries of the Moores of Fawley, by David Moore Hall, pp. 34-8.
2 Memoir of Rt. Rev. Richard Channing Moore. by Bishop Henshaw, p. 25.
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The Wardens and Vestrymen
house the first Church services in the Highlands were held. Mr. Birdsall was a prominent merchant of his
Mani Birojace
day and one of the founders of Peekskill, where he occupied the first store built in the village. He was a generous and ardent supporter of the American cause in the Revolution and was rewarded by many positions of honor and influence. In 1775 he was one of "The Asso- ciation," and served on the "Committee for the County" from Cortlandt Manor. Two years later he was appoint- ed Second Lieutenant of the Fifth Battalion of the New York Continental Regiment. The historic "Birdsall House" was a well known rendezvous for officers of the American Army. His brother-in-law, John Mandeville, kept an inn, and when no room could be found for the officers they migrated to the house of Daniel Birdsall, it becoming in turn the headquarters of Generals Mc- Dougall and Heath. He survived the Declaration of Independence for twenty-four years, and is buried in the churchyard of old St. Peter's, where the inscription on his tombstone reads:
In Memory Of DANIEL BIRDSALL who departed this life October 29th, 1800. Aged 65 years, 9 months and 13 days.
The last Warden to be elected before the stress of the War closed the Churches was JEREMIAH DRAKE
158 The History of St. Philip's Church
(1774), who was one of the members of the building com- mittee of St. Peter's in 1767, and served on the Vestry from 1770. Born in the year 1726, he was a Cortland- town farmer, and a soldier of the Revolution. From 1778 to 1781 he served in the Militia under Colonel Drake, and in the latter year his name stands on the pay roll of Ebenezer Boyd as a guard on the North river in Westchester County, for which he received £10-6-2.1 He died on the 6th of May, 1784.
From 1775 until 1790 there is no recorded election of Wardens and Vestry, but in the latter year the name of WILLIAM DENNING (1790-93) appears as senior Warden. After three years' service, owing to residence in New York City for the major part of the year, he retired from the Vestry until 1812, when he was elected a Vestryman and served until 1817. Mr. Denning hailed from Newfoundland and in New York became a prom- inent merchant and political leader. During the Revo- lution he served as a member of the Provincial Congress, the State Senate and the Council of Appointment. He was also a delegate to the Hartford Convention. His association with the parish was brought about in 1785 by his purchase from the Commissioners of Forfeiture of a considerable portion of the Beverly Robinson proper- ty, including the historic homestead.2 He succeeded not only to the estate but also to the parochial leadership. He donated an additional acre of land to St. Philip's
1 MSS. of New York in the Revolution, Vol. XIII, folio 179.
2 The records of the County show that on May 23d, 1785, David Graham, as Commissioner of Forfeiture, sold under an Act of 1784, 2 parcels of land on Lot No. 1, one of 3,346 and the other of 48 acres, the consideration being £337 8 0.
WILLIAM DENNING CHURCH WARDEN, 1790-1793
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The Wardens and Vestrymen
Church, and rendered invaluable service in the State Legislature which restored the glebe farm to the parish in 1792, besides being a large contributor toward the cost of restoring St. Philip's after its devastation in the War. Mr. Denning died on October 30th, 1819, at the age of eighty, and was interred in St. Paul's Church- yard, in the city of New York.
For several years it was the custom to elect one Warden from each of the two Churches, and CALEB WARD (1790-2, 1797-9) was chosen from the Manor of Cortlandt. The son of John Ward, he was born in East Chester on
Caleb Ware
November 11th, 1728, and was by occupation a farmer. He married Mary Drake, whose brother Jeremiah was Warden of the parish in 1774. Mr. Ward died at Cortlandtown on the 16th of May, 1802, in the seventy- fourth year of his age.
The election as Warden in 1793 of PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT (1793) links the parish with the Manor on which the old Church was built. The founder of the family, which has for its motto Virtus sibi Munus, was the Right Hon. Steven Van Cortlandt of South Holland. One of his descendants, Oloff Stephensen Van Cortlandt, was attached to the military service of the Dutch West India Company, and in 1637 "He comes to New York,"1 where he became a thorn in the flesh of Governor Peter Stuyvesant. His son, Stephanus, be- came the first American-born Mayor of the City of New
1 Bolton's History of Westchester County, Vol. I, p. 99.
160 The History of St. Philip's Church
York, and the first Lord of the Manor of Cortlandt. Major Pierre Van Cortlandt, a son of Philip by his wife Catharine De Peyster, was born on January 10th, 1721. He played a large and influential part in the Revolution, and in the upbuilding of the infant State of New York, and was Colonel of the North Battalion of Westchester County. Politically he held almost every office in the gift of the people. A member of the second, third and fourth Provincial Congresses, and of the convention of the State of New York, he was President of the Council of Safety in 1777 and Senator from the Southern District the same year, and for eighteen years he occupied the exalted position of Lieutenant-Governor of the State of New York.
On his death, which occurred at Croton River on May 1st, 1814, in the ninety-fourth year of his age, the follow- ing beautiful tribute was paid to his worth in the public press :
Pierre Van Cortlandt early took an active part against every oppression of the English Government upon the Colonies. He was chosen into the first Pro- vincial Congress, was a member of the committee which formed the Constitution of this State, and was honored by the suffrages of his county at the first elec- tion under the new government of the station of Lieutenant-Governor, and continued to be elected to that office for eighteen years successively. He was the friend and confidant of that great patriot, George Clinton. In the Revolution he shared the fate of the friends of their country; his family were obliged to abandon their homes in the Manor of Cortlandt, and take refuge in the interior. Firm and undismayed
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT CHURCH WARDEN, 1793
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The Wardens and Vestrymen
in adversity, the ill success of our arms was a stimulus to greater exertions. He was one of those who, rely- ing on the justice of their cause, put their trust in God and stood firm at the post of danger. In prosperity he was not too much elated but held a temperate and uniform course, having in view only the independence of the United States and the safety of his country.
In the Senate of this State he presided with dig- nity and propriety, nor ever suffered his opinion to be known until called upon constitutionally to decide; and his vote was then given with promptness, unin- fluenced by party feelings, and evidencing the con- victions of a sound and honest mind.1
SILVANUS HAIGHT (1795-6) entered the Vestry in 1790, served for four years, and in 1795 was chosen one of the Wardens. He was a son of Joseph Haight by his wife Hannah Wright, and was born at Rye, N. Y. He married Martha Nelson. In 1791 he was Treasurer of the United Churches. Haight was a strong Tory, and prior to 1778 lived on the Beverly Robinson place. Writ- ing from "Robinson's" to Governor Clinton on March 10th, 1778, General Parsons says, "Silvanus Haight has gone to ye enemy and left his family."2 For some time he was a prisoner in Fort Clinton, where Colonel Malcom says of him, "I apprehend Haight's case as a bad one." At the close of the War he was set at liberty and was active in parochial affairs, and was for a time the tenant of the Glebe farm. He died at Troy, N. Y.
1 Gazette, May 17th, 1814.
2 Clinton Papers, Vol. III, p. 15.
162 The History of St. Philip's Church
CALEB MORGAN (1795-6), a farmer of Cortlandtown, was first elected to the Vestry in 1772, and served at intervals for seven years. During the War of the Revolution he was a strong supporter of the British cause and his name appears in the list of Westchester Tories. On June 15th, 1776, together with Joshua Purdy
Caleb, Margin
and Peter Corney, he was arrested and imprisoned in White Plains Jail by order of the Commissioners for Detecting Conspiracies.1 He died at Yorktown, July, 1838.
JOSHUA NELSON (1797-9) was one of the original members of the Vestry from the Philipse Precinct. He served from 1770 until the Revolution and was again elected on the resumption of parochial activities in 1790, and seven years later he became one of the Wardens. The Nelsons were among the early settlers in what was then the Southeast part of Dutchess County. Joshua was the fifth son of Francis Nelson, who "came to ye
Joshuacselson
South part of Dutchess County in y® Highlands" from Scarsdale in the year 1736. He was born at Scarsdale on September 18th, 1726, and married Sarah, daughter of Jacob Mandeville, in 1754, thus becoming a brother-in- law of Daniel Birdsall. He lived in the Mandeville house at the "Four Corners," where the first Church ser- vices were held. He took a prominent part in public life.
1 Calendar of Historical MSS., 1664-1776, p. 341, 455.
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The Wardens and Vestrymen
In 1774-5 he was one of the Assessors for the Philipse Precinct, and the following year was elected Supervisor. An ardent Revolutionist, in 1776 he was chosen second Major of the Militia by the Committee of Public Safety. He died on December 14th, 1817, in his ninety-first year, and is buried in the churchyard of St. Philip's.
DANIEL WILLIAM BIRDSALL (1800, 1804, 1811, 1821-5, 1829) of Peekskill became a Vestryman in 1797, and Warden three years later, his service on the Vestry covering a period of twenty-one years. He was the fifth child of Daniel Birdsall, who was Warden in 1772, and was born on the 27th of October, 1767. He was one of
Sunice Mdistract
the Commissioners for laying out the first turnpike road, under an act of the Legislature of the State, in Putnam County, and in 1811 served as Supervisor for Cortland- town. For nineteen years he was Post Master of Peeks- kill, and Town Clerk for four years. He died May 11th, 1850, and, side by side with his four wives, lies buried in the churchyard of old St. Peter's.
JAMES MANDEVILLE (1801-3, 1805-7) was first elected to the Vestry in the year 1800, and, with an inter- val of two years, served until 1834. His ancestry was Dutch. The first of the family to settle in America was Yellis Jansen de Mandeville who came from Holland in the good ship "de Trouw" (the Faith) in 1659, and who owned a farm on the land now lying between Fourteenth and Twenty-first streets in New York City. James was a son of Cornelius, and a nephew to Jacob Mandeville.
164 The History of St. Philip's Church
He married 1st, Martha Westcott and 2nd, Hannah Stymes. He was a farmer and succeeded his brother John as an innkeeper in what is now the heart of Peek- skill. He was also a soldier of the Revolution, serving as a private in the Continental troops under Captain Daniel Williams. Born in 1758, he died December 21st, 1848.
MAJOR BERNARD HANLON (1808-10, 1812-20) served as Warden for ten years. For a man who occu- pied that position surprisingly little is known of him. His name appears in the electoral census returns of the town of Cortlandt in 1801 as certified by David Stanley, Jr.1; and in the census of 1807 "Bernerd Handlin" is returned as possessed of a freehold of the value of one hundred pounds. Prior to coming to Peekskill he lived in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. A body of men was raised in that State to serve the United States Govern- ment during the Pennsylvania insurrection of 1794, and the records show that, on September 13th, Bernard Han- lon was appointed Captain of a company of Light Infan- try. He served for three months and was discharged on December 24th.2
PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT (1827-1839) was first elected to the Vestry in the year 1820, and was Warden at the time the parish was divided. He was born the 29th of August, 1762, and married Catherine Taylor, subsequently, Anne Stevenson. In the year 1800 he was appointed a member of the Electoral College, and, with
1 Electoral Census MSS., 1801, Vol. VI, p. 1700.
2 Records of Officers and Men of New Jersey in Wars 1791- 1815, p 43.
GENERAL PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT CHURCH WARDEN, 1827-1839
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The Wardens and Vestrymen
the other New York electors, cast his vote for Thomas Jefferson as President in the famous contest, when Aaron Burr received an equal number of votes.1 He served as a member of Congress in 1811 and 1812 and died in 1848.
VESTRYMEN.
THOMAS DAVENPORT (1770-71) came of an English family who were among the earliest settlers of the southern portion of Dutchess County (now Putnam). Thomas Davenport, Sr., born in 1682, came from Eng- land about the year 1715, and later settled in the High- lands, occupying a large farm now covered by the village of Cold Spring. He died December 30th, 1759, aged seventy-seven years. His two sons, William and Thom- as, were men of considerable prominence in the commun- ity. In 1772 Thomas was a "fence-viewer" for the town of Philipstown, and also "Highway Master from Caleb Nelson's to his house and from thence through the woods to the Post road near Elijah Budd's."2 His will was dated September 29th, 1797.
JOHN JOHNSON (1770-73) is another of the members of the first Vestry of whom little is now known, beyond the fact that he lived in Peekskill, and that in the min- utes of 1772 he is called "Captain." He has, however, the distinction of being the first in the long line of Clerks of the Vestry, which at its earliest recorded meeting "proceeded to chuse Mr. John Johnson Clark for the ensuing year."
1 New York Civil List, 1878, p. 348.
2 Smith's History of Dutchess County, p. 461.
166 The History of St. Philip's Church
Another of the early Peekskill Vestrymen was HENRY PURDY (1770-1) who was a farmer on the Manor of Cortlandt. All the Purdys were strong Tories, and Henry paid the penalty of his devotion to the Royal cause by having his property sequestered and sold. He died in 1782.
PETER DRAKE (1772-4) lived in the Highlands on Lot No. 4, occupying a farm for which he paid a rent of £3 6 0 per annum, and his name appears in the tax list of the Philipse Precinct for 1777. He was Over- seer of the Poor in the southern part of Dutchess County in 1762. In 1774 Peter Drake was appointed by the Vestry "to go about the Manor of Cortlandt for sub- scription toward the support of the minister," and was guaranteed a commission of seven per cent.
DAVID PENOYER (1772-3) was of Huguenot de- scent and resided at Peekskill, and was employed by the Vestry to "do the carpenter work on the Citchen and Piazor of the parsonage" in 1773.
FRANCIS PEMART (1772-4) who was a pre-revolu- tionary Vestryman, was a substantial merchant in Peekskill, a large freeholder, and a man of wealth. He owned a farm of 195 acres on the Manor of Cortlandt together with five dwelling houses, two store-houses and a barn, and another farm of 26 acres in Peekskill which he purchased from Jeremiah Drake. To these he added a sloop of 113 tons burthen which he sailed from a dock known as "Pemart's dock." According to his own statement he was born at sea and for the first six years of his life resided in France. Pemart is a striking example of the many men who managed to serve on both
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The Wardens and Vestrymen
sides during the War of the Revolution. It is a matter of official record that in July, 1776, he associated himself with James Spock and William Penoyer in an application . to the Provincial Congress for leave to form a company of artillery in support of the American cause.1 We also have his own sworn statement to the fact that one of his farms was used as a forage camp for the American troops and that he himself served as forage-master at the pay of a dollar a day. There is abundant reason to believe that he was a British spy for he says that he occupied the position "with an intention of serving the loyalists." It is more than likely that he was in the pay of Beverly Robinson, who was then at the head of the British Intelligence department, and who had known Pemart on the Vestry.
In March, 1777, Colonel Bird arrived in Peekskill at the head of a detachment of 1000 British troops and several pieces of cannon and drove out General McDougal whose force numbered but 250 men. Pemart took ad- vantage of the opportunity to join the British forces and returned with them to New York where he remained until the declaration of peace. During the remainder of the war he was employed as a pilot for English ships on the North River. Upon the complaint of Captain James Cronkhite he was indicted for treason before the Grand Jury at a term of the Court of General Sessions held at the Meeting House in Upper Salem on the seventh of November, 1781. Pemart's property was confiscated, and his sloop was taken to Esopus Creek. In October, 1783, he set sail for St. John, N. B., to make arrangements
1 Calendar of Historical MSS. in the War of the Revolution, Vol. I, p. 473.
168 The History of St. Philip's Church
for the settlement of himself and family in that region. This accomplished, he returned to New York, arriving a few days after the British evacuation of the city. The American authorities had not forgotten the loss of their valuable stores on his Peekskill farm and he was promptly arrested and languished in prison for five months. On his release he again departed for New Brunswick where he arrived in the latter part of 1784. There he filed a claim on the British government for compensation for losses and services.1 His losses he estimated at £1621- 11-0, and he was eventually awarded the sum of £700.2
Another obstinate Tory was PETER CORNEY (1774), who hailed from Cortlandt. Corney was arrested, taken before the "Committee on Conspiracies" and permitted to remove to Long Island.3 The local committee of Westchester County stepped in and sequestered and sold his lands in 1777. At a subsequent date he returned to the parish, for the New York Packet of December 26th, 1785, contains the announcement of the marriage of "Peter Corney, Esq., of Peekskill to Mrs. Van Dam, widow of the late Isaac Van Dam of St. Eustatia, on Wednesday morning, December 21, 1785."
When the Vestry re-organized in 1790 the name of JAMES SPOCK (1790-6) of Peekskill appears as a
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