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 12
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James Shoch
Vestryman. He was a miller at the Robinson mill, near Continental Village. During the War he served as a
1 American Loyalists MSS., Vol. XX, p. 95-106.
₡ Ibid, Vol. XI, p. 256.
3 Scharf's History of Westchester County, Vol. I, p. 290.
169
The Wardens and Vestrymen
private in the third regiment of the Westchester County Militia. A note in the Journal of the Rev. Silas Con- stant under the date of December 12th, 1798, says:
To Mr. Spock's-Married Joshua Nelson and Amelia Spock.
Born in 1740, he died in 1804, and with his wife, Mary, was buried in St. Peter's Churchyard.
RICHARD ARNOLD (1790-1) was a tenant on the Beverly Robinson estate, on Lot No. 1, before the War, for which he paid a rental of £2-0-0 per annum. The farm was in the immediate neighborhood of St. Philip's Chapel and adjacent to Jacob Mandeville's. He received compensation for damages to the amount of £249-10-0 about which he writes the following letter dated May 30th, 1786:
Sir,
Please pay to Benjamin Rose, or order, whatever certificates are due to me for the Rales and timber taken by the army of the United States from my farm during the late war,
Richard Arnold.1
JARVIS DUSENBURY (1790-93) was a son of Moses Dusenbury by his wife Elizabeth Mudge. In 1790 and 1791 he was one of the lay representatives of the parish
Jarvis Dusordery
to the Diocesan Convention. He was a business man, and served in Captain Lane's company of the West- chester County Militia. When the Parish was incor- 1 MSS. of New York in the Revolution, Vol. L, p. 100.
170 The History of St. Philip's Church
porated under the State laws in 1791 the Vestry "did ap- point Jarvis Dusenbury to appear before the Judge and git it acknowledged." He married Elizabeth Denton on May 29th, 1736, and came to Peekskill from Tarrytown soon after the War of the Revolution.
ISAAC DAVENPORT (1792-7) was elected to the Vestry from the Highlands. The son of Thomas Daven- port the 2nd, he was born on what is now the de Rham place on March 28th, 1748. He married Elizabeth Huestis, and occupied a farm where Cold Spring now stands. He died on the 18th of March, 1808.
Of BENJAMIN WARD (1793) nothing is known save that he lived at Peekskill.
HENRY ROMER (1794) came of a family that played a large local part in the Revolution. His father, Jacob Romer, kept the tavern at Greenburgh, where the captors of Major André breakfasted on the morning of September 23d, 1780. Henry was born on June 17th, 1755, and was baptized in the old Dutch Church at Sleepy Hollow. He married Mary Jennings. During the War he served as a private in the companies of Captains George Comb and Jonas Orsor. He died at Peekskill on November 5th, 1830, and was accorded a military funeral.
ISAAC MEAD (1793-5, 1808) kept a road house on the Post road, near Davenport's Corners. He was born in Westchester county on February 16th, 1751. His first wife was Sarah Huestis and his second, Mary Wright. He died April 13th, 1811. In 1793 he was appointed by the Vestry "to collect the Sallery for the Rev. Andrew Fowler in Dutchess County."
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The Wardens and Vestrymen
JOHN GEE (1794-5). Of him nothing is known save the interesting fact that at a Vestry meeting in 1793 it was resolved that "John Gee be appointed Chorister in the aforesaid Churches until Easter Monday next."
SMITH JONES (1795) the son of John, was a farmer of Cortlandtown. He married Susannah, daughter of Jonathan Ferris, and eventually removed to Delhi, N. Y.
Three members of the DOUGLASS family were on the Vestry: William (1795), James (1796) and Benjamin (1800-1). William was a delegate to the Diocesan Con- vention of 1795. Nothing is known of them save that Benjamin was a cabinet maker in Peekskill.
JUSTUS NELSON (1796) was the seventh son of Francis Nelson, one of the early settlers of Dutchess County. He was born in the Highlands on the 23rd of February, 1737. He married, in 1756, Mary Haight, and later Phoebe, widow of Nicholas Budd, by whom he had twelve children. His name appears on the tax records for 1771. Twice he held public office; once as "Poor-Master," and in 1773 as Commissioner of High- ways. When the property of Roger Morris was sold by the Commissioners of Forfeiture Justus Nelson pur- chased for a consideration of £1-12-0 eight acres of land "being part of the marsh or meadow lying near Consti- tution Island so called." The deed is dated October 20th, 1784. He died February 21st, 1803, aged sixty-six years, and is buried in St. Philip's Churchyard.
JOHN NELSON (1799-1810) was from the Highlands. A son of Joshua, he was born on April 23rd, 1766. He owned a farm of five hundred acres.
172 The History of St. Philip's Church
THOMAS HENYON (1799) was a tenant of the glebe farm in 1798-9.
JOHN JONES, JR. (1800-4) was a farmer of Cort- landtown. He married Sarah Swim, and removed to Tioga County, N. Y., where he died.
ISAAC PURDY (1801-11, 1813) was a farmer, who lived close by old St. Peter's Church. He was born in 1759, and died April 1st, 1838. He is buried in the old churchyard.
NICHOLAS NELSON (1808-11) was the tenth child of Justus, and married Mary, daughter of Captain John Haight. His second wife was Hannah Vermilyea. He was in business at Peekskill as a harness maker, from whence he removed to Wisconsin, where he died.
JACOB LENT (1809-10) was the school-master in the Highlands. When the parish was without a Rector he occasionally read the service in St. Philip's Church. He died on February 16th, 1857, and is buried in St. Philip's Churchyard.
WILLIAM NELSON (1811) was the son of Thomas and was born in the town of Clinton, N. Y., in 1752.
His name appears on the Attorney's Roll for Putnam County in 1813, and his office was at Peekskill. He lived in the house now used as the Town Hall. For some years he acted as legal adviser to the Vestry.
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The Wardens and Vestrymen
ELISHA COVERT (1811) of Philipstown was a de- scendant of Abraham Covert, who was a tenant on Lot No. 1. He was a farmer, and removed to Colchester, Delaware County, in 1815.
JOHN OPPIE (1812-17, 1820-7) was born at Six Mile Run, New Jersey, on April 8th, 1768. He came to Peekskill in 1795, where he practiced law. He was ad- mitted to the Bar of the newly formed Court of Putnam County in 1812, and was one of the Commissioners to lay out the Westchester and Dutchess turnpike. He married Phoebe, daughter of Isaac Bates, and died on September 1st, 1828.
CAPTAIN FREDERICK PHILIPS served on the Vestry from 1812 to his death in 1829. He was the son of Philip Philipse and his wife Margaret Marston, and was born in New York on the 3d of May, 1755. His first wife was his cousin, Mary Marston, whom he married on October 14th, 1779, and his second, Maria Kemble. By his first wife he had one daughter, Mary. On May 6th, 1782, he was made a Captain in George the Third's "King's American Dragoons," his commission bearing the signature of Guy Carleton. Captain Philips was the first male member of the family to reside in the High- lands, where he built "The Grange" in the year 1800. It was destroyed by fire sixty years later. He died on May 3rd, 1829, and was buried in the Marston vault in Trinity Churchyard, New York.
WILLIAM HENDERSON (1812) was the son-in-law and executor of William Denning He resided at what is now the Highlands Country Club.
174 The History of St. Philip's Church
MEPHIBOSETH NELSON (1812) was the youngest child of Justus by his wife Mary Haight, and was born December 1st, 1775. He married Elizabeth Baxter on December 8th, 1798. By trade he was a millwright and built the Arden and Philipse mills. He died on the 29th of March, 1830, and is buried in St. Philip's Church- yard.
JONATHAN FERRIS, (1814) a son of Jonathan by his wife Rachel Dean, was born in 1779. He married Jane Owens on February 13th, 1800. He lived at Putnam Valley and kept a store at Oregon. For some time he was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Westchester County, and in 1815 he became one of the Commissioners to build the Court House at Carmel. He died September 6th, 1838.
STEPHEN NELSON (1814-16) was a son of John, and grandson of Joshua Nelson. He married Mary, daughter of Daniel Haight, and died February 1st, 1835.
JAMES WILEY (1827-9) was a cabinet maker of Peekskill. He married the widow of Caleb Ward. In the years 1818-20 he served as Supervisor. He died April 30th, 1829, in the forty-eighth year of his age.
JOHN T. GOMIER (1828-35), the son of Nicholas, was of French descent. He owned a fuller's mill near Oregon.
ALLEN B. HAZEN (1829) was a miller of Peekskill.
RICHARD HOPPER (1831-33) of the Highlands was born on April 15th, 1777, and died October 13th, 1834. The Hoppers were amongst the early tenants of Beverly Robinson and occupied a farm of 200 acres on the boun-
CAPTAIN FREDERICK PHILIPS VESTRYMAN, 1812-1829
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The Wardens and Vestrymen
dary of Lots No. 1 and 4. The property was sold by the Commissioners of Forfeiture to William Denning, who re-sold it to Richard Hopper, Sr., on November 2nd, 1786. He received from the State £350 compensation for dam- ages to his property during the Revolution.
The election of GOUVERNEUR KEMBLE (1833) to the Vestry marks an interesting epoch in the develop- ment of the Parish. In the thirties, while the tie between St. Peter's and St. Philip's was weakening, a new tie was being formed northward by the commencement of ser- vices at Cold Spring. The election of Mr. Kemble was at once a tribute to his sterling worth and a recognition of the new development. Mr. Kemble was born in New York City on January 25th, 1786, and graduated from Columbia College in 1803. During a residence as United States Consul at Cadiz he became interested in the casting of cannon and established the West Point Foundry about 1814. For two terms he was a member of Con- gress, and was also one of the delegates to the Convention for the revision of the Constitution of the State of New York. At the age of eighty-nine he died on September 18th, 1875.
ISAAC SEYMOUR (1834-9) of Peekskill, was born in 1798 and married Sarah Scott. He was a leader in the business enterprises of the village, and in addition to serving a term as Supervisor in 1848 was Cashier and President of the Westchester County Bank. He died on September 3d, 1863.
SAMUEL MARKS (1834-9) was a printer and book- binder of Peekskill. He was born in the city of New York on October 14th, 1776, and married on January
176 The History of St. Philip's Church
15th, 1803. He was President of the village of Peekskill in 1829-30, 1834-5-6 and 7. He died April 7th, 1848.
ALFRED EUGENE WATSON (1834), the son of Marston and Lucy (Lee) Watson, was born in the city of Boston on November 15th, 1800. Twenty years later he graduated from Harvard. He married on September 23d, 1822, Louisa C. M. Stoughton of Boston, who died ten years later; second, Eliza Mellen of Cambridge, Mass. (October 8th, 1835), and third, Susan E. Ferguson, on March 25th, 1845. Together with his older brother, John Lee Watson, he purchased a farm of 355 acres from Mr. Wheelock. This property was part of the original Davenport farm on the Philipse Patent. There, on March 28th, 1830, the two brothers opened the "Highland School" for boys. In 1834 there were twenty- five boarders, and four masters. The school continued successfully for five years until John Lee Watson1 de-
1 John Lee Watson, the Headmaster of the Highland School, was born in Boston on August 27th, 1797, educated at the Latin School and graduated from Harvard in 1815. For some time before coming into the Highlands he taught school at Taunton and Northampton, Mass. On June 20th, 1828, he married Elizabeth West of Taunton. They had twelve children one of whom, the Rev. John H. Watson, is now a priest in the diocese of New York. During his attendance at St. Philip's Mr. Watson did admirable service as a lay-reader. The family physician, Dr. St. Croix, urged him to study for the ministry and the suggestion was warmly endorsed by the Rev. James Sunderland. He was ordered Deacon in Trinity Church on Sunday, October 11th, 1835, by Bishop Benjamin T. Onderdonk, and advanced to the Priesthood by the same Bishop in St. George's Church on May 8th, 1836. His subsequent parochial appointments were: Trinity Church, Fishkill, 1835-6; Associate-rector, on the Greene Foundation, of Trinity Church, Boston, 1836-46; Rector of Grace Church, Newark, N. J., 1846-53; and Rector of Burlington College, N. J., 1853-55. In the latter year he became
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The Wardens and Vestrymen
cided to enter the ministry. On December 15th, 1834, the property was sold to Henry Casimir de Rham and the school was closed the following March. Mr. Watson became a Paymaster in the U. S. Navy and died in 1876. He was interred in the family tomb on Boston Common.
Such were the men who through good and ill report safeguarded the temporalities of the United Churches.
They rest from their labors, but their works do follow them.
a Chaplain in the U. S. Navy. Mr. Watson died at Orange, N. J., on August 12th, 1884, and was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Newark.
CHAPTER VII. THE CHAPEL OF ST. PHILIP'S IN THE HIGHLANDS. 1770-1839.
T HE history of St. Philip's Church in the Highlands covers an unbroken period of one hundred and forty-one years; for seventy years it was a chapel in the parish of St. Peter's, on the Manor of Cortlandt, and for seventy-one years it has been an independent parish. The chapel stood in what was then the southern precinct of Dutchess County. Of this county one of the earliest historians of the State of New York writes:
This county adjoins to West-Chester, which bounds it on the south, the Connecticut line on the east, Hudson's river on the west, and the county of Albany on the north. The south part of this county is moun- tainous and fit only for iron works, but the rest con- tains a great quantity of good upland well watered. The only villages in it are Poghkeepsing and the Fish- Kill, though they scarcely deserve the name. The inhabitants on the banks of the river are Dutch, but those more easterly Englishmen, and for the most part, emigrants from Connecticut and Long Island. There is no Episcopal church in it. The growth of this county has been very sudden, and commenced but a few years ago. Within the memory of persons now living, it did not contain above twelve families; and according to the late returns of the militia, it will furnish at present above 2500 fighting men.1
1 Smith, The History of the Province of New York, Vol. I, p. 264.
Chapel of St. Philip's in the Highlands 179
Authorities differ as to when the county was created. Some put it in 1683; others in 1691. Official records, however, state that in 1693 "Dutchess County having very few inhabitants, is committed to the care of the county of Ulster."1 Even at that period the population must have numbered more than "twelve families." The first recorded census, taken in 1714, gives the total number of souls as 445; of these 22 were slaves. The names of 67 heads of families are recorded, and, with three or four exceptions, all the names are Dutch.2
By 1723 the inhabitants numbered 1040, and eight years later they had grown to 1727. In the years follow- ing there was a remarkable growth of population, as witnessed by the official returns:
1746
8,896
1756
13,289
1771
21,044
On the eve of the Revolution the population of Dutchess exceeded that of the city and county of New York, and, with the exception of Albany, it was the largest of any county in the Colony.
The whole of what is now Putnam County (exclusive of the oblong) was part of the extensive tract of land granted by William the Third to Adolphe Philipse in 1697. St. Philip's Chapel was situated in the Southern Precinct, which in 1788 became the town of Philipstown. Both chapel and town were named in honor of the Lord of the Manor. The immediate locality of the chapel
1. Documentary History of the State of New York, Vol. I, p. 201. 2 Ibid. p. 471.
180 The History of St. Philip's Church
was known as "Nelson's Landing," so called from Caleb Nelson, who came here prior to the Revolution. After- wards it was known as "Mead's Landing," from one Mead, who kept a tavern and store on the dock. Still later the name was changed to "Garrison" in compliment to the family of that name.
We may pause for a moment to outline the social and economic conditions which the Church had to face in the Highlands.
The population was small and widely scattered. On Major Villefranche's "Map and Plan of West Point,"1 made in 1780, he marks on this side of the river, Robin- son Frm., Mandevilles, at the "Four Corners;" the "Red Church" (St. Philip's), the "Nelson" house, which stood opposite "Woodlawn," on land now owned by Mr. Evans R. Dick, and Danfords (Davenports). Erskine's map of 1785 adds Thomas Davenport to the eastward of Con- stitution Island, and a ferry house on the east end of the island, but no other houses on the river front between Anthony's Nose and Fishkill Creek. It is worthy of note that all the men whose places were marked on these maps were connected with the Church. Beverly Robinson was Warden; Justus Nelson and Thomas Davenport were Vestrymen; and services were held in the house of Jacob Mandeville.
The Department of Commerce and Labor has recently published an analysis of the first census of the United States, which was taken in the year 1790. The total population, exclusive of slaves, was 3,231,533. A
1 Printed in Boynton's History of West Point, p. 86.
Chapel of St. Philip's in the Highlands 181
study of the returns-which include the names of the heads of families-for Dutchess County sheds a great deal of interesting light upon social conditions in the Highlands section of the parish towards the close of the eighteenth century. Philipstown then included what is now the town of Putnam Valley, and in that area there was a population of 2,079; the population of the town of Cortlandt, in which stood St. Peter's Church, was 1,932. A more detailed analysis gives for Philipstown :
Free White Males of 16 years and upwards, including heads of families 517
Free White Males, under 16 years 593
Free White Females, including heads of families 942
All other Free Persons 2
Slaves 251
Of this scanty and scattered population, prior to the Revolution, Beverly Robinson, owner, through his wife, of one-third of the Philipse Patent, was feudal chief. Roger Morris and Mrs. Ogilvie, owners of the remaining two-thirds, were non-resident, and Colonel Robinson was the sole representative of the holders of the Patent, which covered the entire southern part of Dutchess County. The Philipse family owned every rod of land in the Highlands. The substantial tenant farmers were few- the Mandevilles, Nelsons, Lancasters, Davenports and Haights. Amongst the slave owners were the following:
John Haight 2 Thomas Davenport 4
Sylvanus Haight 1 Joshua Nelson 12
1 Heads of Families, First Census of the United States, 1790, State of New York, p. 9. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1908. 2 Do Do pp. 89-90.
182 The History of St. Philip's Church
The people wrung a scanty pittance out of soil, much of which was unproductive. Parts of it were rocky and much of it covered with timber. For purposes of valua- tion the land was divided into two classes-"settled" and "unsettled;" the former cleared for cultivation; the latter wooded. Of Beverly Robinson's 60,000 acres, 29,595 were "unsettled," and on his own home farm of 1,500 acres, only 400 were under cultivation. One reason for this lay in the fact that "timber was looked upon as being more valuable than the soil." Mr. Robinson testi- fies that Lot No. 1 was "well timbered and convenient to several landings which made the timber valuable, being chiefly Oak, Walnut and Chestnut." He values the "settled" lands at £3 per acre and the "unsettled" por- tion at half that figure, but selected lands were more val- uable. This was especially the case with meadow land. The land near Martlaer's Rock (now called Constitution Island), was estimated to be worth £20 per acre, in addition to which the Robinsons had then spent £12 per acre "in banking out the tide."
Outside of one or two innkeepers the inhabitants were nearly all farmers. The acreage of the farms was small. On Lot No. 4 the largest farm was 300 acres; the smallest 50. On No. 1 Jacob Mandeville farmed 400 acres. Rents varied with the quality of the soil and the acreage. On No. 1 the highest individual rental in 1755 was £5; the smallest £1.10.0. On No. 4 only two tenants paid as much as £5, whilst on No. 7 Archibald Campbell's rent was £10.0.0. Beginning in 1768 the rent of most of the farms was substantially increased. The following figures will show how large the increase was in the ag- gregate:
Chapel of St. Philip's in the Highlands 183
1755.
1768.
1777.
Lot No. 1.
£ 26.15.0
£ 82. 5.0
£135.15.0
4. 131. 0.0 304. 9.0 353.15.0
7. 161. 0.0 404.15.0 767.14.01
In spite of this increase Mr. Robinson testifies that "the farms were very much underlet, and he has no scruple to say that the rents (had no troubles happened) would have been increased in a greater proportion than they had hitherto done."
Some of the rents were payable in kind-corn or wheat. Thus there was a lease dated August 5th, 1765, to John Hall "of 158 acres of land for one year at the rent of 25 bushels of clear merchantable Wheat." There is extant a list of twenty-two tenants whose aggregate rental was 442 bushels of wheat, which was valued at 6/s per bushel. The rent of one farm was as low as four bushels per annum. It is interesting to note that when by "temporary indulgence" these tenants were allowed to pay in cash rather than grain, Mr. Robinson estimates that he lost £32 by the transaction.
All the scanty records go to show that the tenant farmers were poor and unenterprising. For this there is a suggestive economic reason. They lacked the in- centive of ownership. There were no small freeholders until after the Revolution. With the exception of what was known as "the undivided portion," it was the settled policy of the Lords of the Manor to retain the ownership of the land. To this Beverly Robinson rigidly adhered. Once only did he depart from it, when he sold twenty acres on Lot No. 7 to Duncan Campbell "as a matter of
1 New York Currency.
184 The History of St. Philip's Church
favor and to encourage a settler of so respectable a char- acter." Moreover, the terms of the leases was very uncertain. Mr. Robinson was a considerate landlord, but the fact remains that they were tenants at his will. On Lot No. 1 there were no leases at all. On the other lots leases were short; some for one year, others for life. A man who had no guarantee of a term of years would not be likely to do more than live from hand to mouth.
Between poor land and short tenure it is not surprising that most of the tenants were in debt to their landlord. On the 1st of May, 1777, they owed him, in the shape of mortgages, bonds and notes, £7,191.17.4, on which they paid interest at the rate of 7% per annum. Seldom, on American soil, has the feudal land system been so perfectly exemplified.
Churches and ministers were strikingly scant in Dutchess county. In 1755 there was one Quaker meet- ing house and but very few settled ministers to meet the spiritual needs of more than thirteen thousand people. The majority belonged to the Dutch Church, but there were also many Lutherans in Beekman's Precinct and some Moravians. Forty-nine Quakers were divided between the Oblong and Beekman's Precinct.
To these various religious persuasions was added a little handful of communicants of the Church, who had migrated from the parish of St. George's, Hempstead, Long Island. In the strange country they yearned for the services and Sacraments of their mother church. Northward there was no rector nearer than Albany and
Chapel of St. Philip's in the Highlands 185
their thoughts turned to the Rev. Samuel Seabury,1 their old minister at Hempstead. Although it involved a journey on horseback of eighty miles, and Mr. Seabury was no longer a young man, he readily responded to the appeal of his former parishioners and between 1755 and 1762 made six visits to Dutchess County. On the first occasion he "staid six days, and preached four times to large assemblies." All told he baptized nine adults and ninety-nine children. There was some opposition, which found expression in an anonymous pamphlet entitled, A Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend in Dutchess County. To this Mr. Seabury replied under title, A Modest Reply to A Letter From a Gentleman to his Friend in Dutchess County Lately published by an anon-i-mous writer. In the course of the reply he states that "The places pro- posed for settling the Church are Rombout, Poughkeep- sie, and the South Part of Crom Elbow precincts So great is the encouragement for the settling of a Minister of the Church of England to serve in those
1 History of St. George's Church, Hempstead, by Rev. W. H. Moore, D.D., p. 91-2.
Rev. Samuel Seabury was born at Groton, Conn., in 1706. He married, first, Abigal Mumford who was the mother of Bishop Sea- bury and died in 1731; second, Elizabeth Powell who died February 6th, 1799. He graduated from Harvard in 1724. After preaching for a time amongst the Congregationalists he sought Episcopal ordination and on August 21st, 1730, was appointed Missionary of the S. P. G. at New London, Conn. In 1732 he became Rector of St. George's, Hempstead, and ministered also at Oyster Bay and Huntington (Annals of St. James, New London, Conn., by the Rev. R. A. Hallam, D.D.), The following notice of his death appeared in the New York Post Boy "Rev. Mr. Seabury died of a nervous disorder and an imposthume in his side, June 15th, 1764, aged 58; a gentleman of amiable and exemplary character, greatly and generally beloved and lamented."
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