USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900 > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66
Stuyvesant permitted the winter of 1654-55 to pass without offering to disturb the intruders in the enjoyment of the lands they had so unceremoniously seized. But in April he dispatched an officer, Claes Van Elslandt, with a writ commanding Thomas Pell, or whomsoever else it might concern, to cease from trespassing, and to leave the premises. Van Elslandt, upon arriving at the English settlement, was met by eight or nine armed men, to whose commander he do- livered the writ. The latter said: " I can not understand Dutch. Why did not the fiscaal, or sheriff, send English ? When he sends English, then I will answer. We expect the determination on the boundaries the next vessel. Time will tell whether we shall be under Dutch government or the Parliament; until then we remain here under the Commonwealth of England." Notwithstanding this do- fiant behavior, the Dutch director-general was reluctant to aet severe-
118
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
ly in the matter, and nearly a year elapsed before the next proceed- ings were taken, which were based quite as much upon considerations affecting the character of the English settlement as upon the desire to vindicate Dutch territorial rights. The director and council, by a resolution adopted March 6, 1656, declared that the English at Westchester were guilty of " encouraging and sheltering the fugi- tives from this province," and also of keeping up a constant corre- spondence with the savage enemies of the Dutch. On these grounds, and also to defend the rights of the Dutch against territorial usurpa- tions, an expedition, commanded by Captains De Koninck and New- ton and Attorney-General Van Tienhoven, was sent secretly to West- chester. On the 14th of March this party made its descent upon the village, and, finding the English drawn up under arms, prepared for resistance, overpowered them, and apprehended twenty-three of their number, some of whom were fugitives from New Amsterdam and the others bona fide English colonists. All the captives were con- veyed to Manhattan Island, where the Dutch runaways were con- fined in prison and the English settlers placed under civil arrest and lodged in the City Hall. The next day Attorney-General Van Tien- hoven formally presented his case against the prisoners. In his argu- ment he alleged as one of the principal grievances against the people of Westchester that they were guilty of the offense of " luring and accommodating our runaway inhabitants, vagrants, and thieves, and others who, for their bad conduct, find there a refuge." He de- manded the complete expulsion of the English from the province. This demand was sustained by the director and conneil, with the proviso, however, that the settlers should be allowed six weeks' time for the removal of their goods and chattels. At this stage the prisoners came forward with a decidedly submissive proposition. They agreed that, if permitted to continue on their lands, they would subject themselves to the government and laws of New Netherland, only requesting the privilege of choosing their own officers for the enforcement of their local laws. This petition was granted by Stuy- vesant, on condition that their choice of magistrates should be sub- ject to the approval of the director and council, selections to be made from a double list of names sent in by the settlers. Under this amicable arrangement, Pell's settlement at Westchester (called by the Dutch Oostdorp), while retaining its existence, was brought under the recognized sovereignty of New Netherland, in which position it remained until the English conquest.
The history of this first organized community in Westchester County is fortunately traceable throughout its early years. On March 23, 1656, the citizens submitted to Director Stuyvesant their
119
SETTLEMENT OF WESTCHESTER TOWN
nominations of magistrates, the persons recommended for these of- fices being Lientenant Thomas Wheeler, Thomas Newman, JJohn Lord, Josiah Gilbert, William Ward, and Nicholas Bayley. From this list the director appointed Thomas Wheeler, Thomas Newman, and John Lord. Annually thereafter double nominations were made, and three magistrates were regularly chosen. There is no indication in the records of New Netherland of any willful acts of insubordina- tion by the settlers, or of any further delinquencies by them in the way of harboring bad characters. The Dutch authorities, on their part, manifested a moderate and considerate disposition in their supervisory government of the place. At the end of 1656 Stuyvesant sent three of his subordinates to Westchester, to administer the oath of office to the newly appointed magistrates and the oath of alle- giance to the other inhabitants. But the latter objected to the form of oath, and would promise obedience to the law only, provided it was conformable to the law of God; and allegiance only " so long as they remained in the province." This modified form of oath was gener- ously consented to. Later (January 3, 1657), Stuyvesant sent to the colonists, at their solicitation, twelve muskets, twelve pounds of pow- der, twelve pounds of lead, two bundles of matches, and a writing- book for the magistrates. At that time the population of West- chester consisted of twenty-five men and ten to twelve women.
The Dutch commissioners dispatched by Stuyvesant to Westches- ter in 1656 left an interesting journal of their transactions and ob- servations there. The following entry shows that the colonists were typical New Englanders in practicing the forms of religious worship:
31 December .- After dinner Cornelius Van Ruyven went to see their mode of worship, as they had, as yet, no preacher. There I fond a gathering of about fifteen men and ten or twelve women. Mr. Baly said the prayer, after which one Robert Bassett read from a printed book a sermon composed by an English clergyman in England. After the reading Mr. Baly gave out another prayer and sang a psalin, and they all separated.
The writing-book for the magistrates provided, with other neces- sary articles, by Governor Stuyvesant, was at once put to use; and from that time forward the records of the town were systematically kept. All the originals are still preserved in excellent condition. The identical magistrates' book of 1657, with many others of the ancient records of Westchester, and also of West Farms, are now in the possession of a private gentleman in New York City.
In accepting and quietly submitting to Dutch rule, the English were merely obeying the dictates of ordinary prudence. Their hearts continued loyal to the government of Connecticut, and they patiently awaited the time when, in the natural course of events, that govern- ment should extend its jurisdiction to their locality. After seven and one-half years definite action was taken by Connecticut. At a
120
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
court of the general assembly, held at Hartford, October 9, 1662, an order was issued to the effect that "this assembly doth hereby de- clare and inform the inhabitants of Westchester that the plantation is included in ye bounds of our charter, granted to this colony of Connecticut." The Westchester people were accordingly notified to send deputies to the next assembly, appointed to meet at Hartford in May, 1663; and also, in matters of legal proceedings, to " take the benefit," in common with the towns of Stamford and Greenwich, of a court established at Fairfield. Readily attaching much impor- tance to the will of Connectient thus expressed, they abstained from their usual custom of nominating magistrates for the next year to Governor Stuyvesant. The latter, after some delay, sent to make inquiries as to the reason for this omission; whereat Richard Mills, one of the local officers, addressed to him a meek communication, inclosing the notifications from Connecticut and saying: "We humbly beseech you to understand that wee, the inhabitants of this place, have not plotted nor conspired against your Honor." This did not satisfy Stuyvesant, who caused Mills to be arrested and in- careerated in New Amsterdam. From his place of confinement the unhappy Westchester magistrate wrote several doleful and contrite letters to the wrathful director. " Right Hon. Gov. Lord Peter Stev- enson," said he in one of those missives, " thy dejected prisoner. Richard Mills, do humbly supplicate for your favor and commisera- tion towards me, in admitting of me unto your honor's presence, there to indicate my free and ready mind to satisfy your honor wherein 1 am able, for any indignity done unto your lordship in any way, and if possible to release mie or contine me to some more wholesome place than where I am. I have been tenderly bred from my cradle, and now antient and weakly," etc. The claims of Con- nectient to Westchester being persisted in, Stuyvesant made a jour- ney to Boston in the fall of 1663 to seek a permanent understanding with the New England officials about the delicate subject. But no conclusion was arrived at, and the Westchester affair remained iu statu quo until forcibly settled by the triumph of English force before New Amsterdam in the month of September, 1664.
The Duich-English controversy regarding the Westchester tract was one of the incidental phases of the general boundary dispute, which Stuyvesant, from the very beginning of his arrival in New Netherland as director-general, had in vain songht to bring to a deci- sion. In 1650, as the result of overtures made by him for an amicable adjustment of differences, he held a conference at Hartford with commissioners appointed by the United English Colonies; and on the 19th of September articles of agreement were signed by both
121
SETTLEMENT OF WESTCHESTER TOWN
parties in interest, which provided that the bounds upon the main " should begin at the west side of Greenwich Bay, being about four miles from Stamford, and so to run a northerty line twenty miles up into the country, and after as it shall be agreed by the two govern- ments, of the Dutch and of New Haven, provided the said line come not within ten miles of the Hudson River."
But these articles, constituting a provisional treaty, were never ratified by the home governments. In 1654 the States-General of the Netherlands instructed their ambassadors in London to negotiate a boundary line, an undertaking, which, however, they found it im- possible to accomplish. The English government, when approached on the subject, assumed a hanghty attitude, pretending total ignor- ance of their High Mightinesses having any colonies in America, and, moreover, declaring that, as no proposal on the boundary question had been received from the English colonies in America, it would be manifestly improper to consider the matter in any wise. Subsequent attempts to settle this issue were equally unsuccessful. Neverthe- less, it was always urged by Stuyvesant that, in the absence of a reg- nlarly confirmed treaty, the articles of 1650 ought to be adhered to in good faith on both sides, as embracing mntnal concessions for the sake of neighborly understanding, which were carefully formulated at the time and had never been repudiated. It will be admitted by most impartial minds that this was a reasonable contention. But the Westchester tract was not the only territory in debate. English settlement had proceeded rapidly on Long Island, and the onward movement of citizens of Connecticut in that quarter was quite as in- consistent with the terms of the articles of 1650 as was the presence of an organized English colony in the Vredeland. Thus whatever course might be suggested by fairness respecting the ultimate Eng- lish attitude toward Westchester, that was only one local issue among others of very similar nature; and with so much at stake, the policy of self-interest required a studied resistance to the Dutch claims in general, even if that involved violation of the spirit of an agreement made in inchoate conditions which, though in a sense morally bind- ing, had never been legally perfected. Finally, there was no concejv- able risk for the English in any proceedings they chose to take, how- over arbitrary or unscrupulous; for in the event of an armed conflict over the boundary difficulty, the powerful New England colonies could easily erush the weak and meager Dutch settlements.
It is not known to what extent, if any, the settlers at Westchester suffered from the great and widespread Indian massacre of 1655, which occurred before they had submitted themselves to the Dutch government and consequently before their affairs became matters
122
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
of record at New Amsterdam. On the 15th of September of that year sixty-four canoes of savages-" Mohicans, Pachamis, with others from Esopus, Hackingsack, Tappaan, Stamford, and Onkeway, as far east as Connecticut, estimated by some to amount to nineteen hundred in number, from five to eight hundred of whom were armed," -landed suddenly, before daybreak, at Fort Amsterdam. They came to avenge the recent killing of a squaw by the Dutch for steal- ing peaches. Stuyvesant, with most of the armed force of the set- tlement, was absent at the time upon an expedition to subdue the Swedes on the Delaware. A reign of terror followed, lasting for three days, during which, says O'Callaghan, " the Dutch lost one hundred people, one hundred and fifty were taken into captivity, and more than three hundred persons, besides, were deprived of house, home, clothes, and food." The Westchester people were probably spared on this occasion. It was a deed of vengeance against the Dutch, and, as the English pioneers had up to that time firmly resisted Dutch authority, the Indians could have had no reason for interfering with them. The reader will remember that when Stuyvesant's officer, Van Elslant, came to Westchester with his writ of dispossession in the spring of the same year, he was met by only eight or nine armed men; whereas one year later twenty-three adult males were made prisoners by De Koninck's party at that place. This demonstrates that the progress of the settlement bad at least undergone no retardation in the interval.
Thomas Pell, to whose enterprise was due the foundation of the first permanent settlement in the County of Westchester, was born, according to Bolton's researches, at Southwyck, in Sussex, England, about 1608, although he is sometimes styled Thomas Pell of Nor- folk. Ile was of aristocratie and distinguished descent, tracing his ancestry to the ancient Pell family of Walter Willingsley and Dym- blesbye, in Lincolnshire. A branch of this Lincolnshire family re- moved into the County of Norfolk, of which was John Pell, gentle- man, lord of the Manor of Shouldham Priory and Brookhall (died April 4, 1556). One of his descendants was the Rev. John Pell, of Southwyck (born about 1553), who married Mary Holland, a lady of royal blood. Thomas Pell, the purchaser of the Westchester tract, was their eldest son. As a young man in England he was gentle- man of the bedchamber to Charles 1., and it is supposed that his sympathies were always on the side of the royalist cause. It is uncertain at what period he emigrated to America, but Bolton finds that as early as 1630 he was associated with Roger Ludlow, a mem- ber of the Rev. Jolin Warham's company, who settled first at Dor- chester, Mass., and later removed to Windsor, Conn. In 1635, with
123
SETTLEMENT OF WESTCHESTER TOWN
Ludlow and ten families, he commenced the plantation at Fairfield, Conn. (called by the Indians Unquowa). In 1647 he traded to the Delaware and Virginia. Being summoned in 1648 to take the oath of allegiance to New Haven, he refused, for the reason that he had already subscribed to it in England, " and should not take it here." For his contumacions conduct he was fined, and, refusing to pay the fine, " was again summoned before the authorities, and again amerced."
Thus his early career in Connecticut was attended by circum- stances which, on their face, were hardly favorable to his subse- quent selection by the government of that colony as an agent for carrying out designs that they may have had regarding the absorp- tion of Dutch lands. It is altogether presumable that in buying the Westchester tract from the Indians in 1654 he acted in a strictly private capacity, although the settlers who went there may have been stimulated to do so by the colonial authorities. Pell himself does not appear to have ever become a resident of Westchester. He evidently regarded his purchase solely as a real estate speculation, selling his lands in parcels at first to small private individuals, and later to aggregations of enterprising men.
Of the more important of these sales, as of the conversion of much of his property into a manorial estate called Pelham Manor, due men- tion will be made farther along in this History. The erection of Pel- ham Manor by royal patent dated from October 6, 1666, Thomas Pell becoming its first lord. He married Lucy, widow of Francis Brew- ster, of New Haven, and died at Fairfield without issue in or about the month of September, 1669. the left property, real and personal, valued at £1,294 14s. 4d., all of which was bequeathed to his nephew, John Pell, of England, who became the second lord of the manor.
For some six years following Pell's acquisition of Westchester in 1654, there were, so far as can be ascertained, no other notable lanď' purchases or settlements within our borders. Van der Donek's patent of the " Yonkers Land," inherited by his widow, continued in force; but the time had not yet arrived for its sub-division and systematic settlement. The New Haven Colony's purchase from Ponus and other Indians in 1640, confirmed to the people of Stamford in 1655, which covered the Town of Bedford and other portions of Westchester County, also continued as a mere nominal holding, no efforts being made to develop it. No new grants of any mentionable importance were made by the Dutch after that to Van der Donek, and while in- dividual Dutch farmers were gradually penetrating beyond the Har. lem, they founded no towns or comprehensive settlements of which record survives.
124
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
But with the decade commencing in 1660 a general movement of land purchasers and settlers began, which, steadily continuing and increasing, brought nearly all the principal eastern and southern sections under occupation within a comparatively brief period.
The earliest of these new purchasers were Peter Disbrow, John Coe, and Thomas Stedwell (or Studwell, all of Greenwich, Conn., who in 1660 and the succeeding years bought from the Indians dis- triets now embraced in the Towns of Rye and Harrison. Associated with them in some of their later purchases was a fourth man, JJohn Budd;1 but the original transactions were conducted by the three. Their leader, Peter Disbrow, says the Rev. Charles W. Baird, the historian of Rye, was "a young, intelligent, self-reliant man," who seems to have enjoyed the thorough confidence and esteem of his colleagues. On January 3, 1660, acting by authority from the Colony of Connecticut, he purchased "from the then native Indian proprietors a certain tract of land lying on the maine be- tween a certain place then called Rahonaness to the east and to the West Chester Path to the north, and up to a river then called Moa- quanes to the west, that is to say, all the land lying between the aforesaid two rivers then called Peningoe, extending from the said Path to the north and south to the sea or Sound." This tract, on Peningo Neck, extended over the lower part of the present Town of Rye, on the east side of Blind Brook, reaching as far north as Por! Chester and bounded by a line of marked trees.
Six months later (June 29, 1660) the Indian owners, thirteen in number, conveyed to Disbrow, Coe, and Stedwell, for the consider- ation of eight coats, seven shirts, and fifteen fathom of wampum, all of Manussing Island, described as " near unto the main, which is called in the Indian name Peningo." A third purchase was ef- fected by Disbrow May 22, 1661, comprising a tract lying between the Byram River and Blind Brook, " which may contain six or seven miles from the sea along the Byram River side northward." Other purchases west of Blind Brook followed, including Budd's Neck and' the neighboring islands; the West Neck, lying between Stony Brook and Mamaroneck River, and the tract above the Westchester Path and west of Blind Brook, or directly north of Budd's Neck. This last-mentioned tract was " the territory of the present Town of Har- rison, a territory owned by the proprietors of Rye, but wrested from the town some forty years later." Baird describes as follows the
1 John Budd was a Quaker, originally from Sonthold, Suffolk County, N. Y .. and suffered persecution there on account of his religious antecedents. One of his daughters married Joseph Horton, also of Southold, who later re-
moved to Rye, and was the ancestor of the numerous Horton family of Westchester Coun- ty. For these particulars (not mentioned in previous histories) we are indebted to Charles 11. Young, Esq., of New Rochelle.
125
SETTLEMENT OF RYE
aggregate landed property represented by the several deeds: " The southern part of it alone comprised the tract of land between Byram River and Mamaroneck River, while to the north it extended twenty miles, and to the northwest an indefinite distance. These boun- daries included, besides the area now covered by the Towns of Rye and Harrison, much of the Towns of North Castle and Bedford, in New York, and of Greenwich, in Connectient; whilst in a north- west direction the territory claimed was absolutely without a fixed limit. As the frontier town of Connecticut, Rye long cherished pre- tensions to the whole region as far as the Hudson." The satisfae- tion given the Indians for all parts of the territory consisted chieily of useful articles, and for some of the section the recompense be- stowed was very considerable according to the standards obtain- ing in dealings with the Indians in those days. Thus, the value paid for Budd's Neck was "eightie pounds sterling," and for the Harrison tract twenty pounds sterling. These sums certainly con- trast quite imposingly with the value given by the Dutch in 1624 for Manhattan Island-twenty-four dollars.
Little time was lost in laying out a settlement. For this purpose Manussing Island was selected as the most available spot, and there a community was established which took the name of Hastings. 1u Disbrow's deed of May 22, 1661, to the lands between the Byram River and Blind Brook, mention is made of " the bounds of Hast- ings on the south and southwest," which indicates that at that early date the island village had already been inaugurated and named. The following list of all the inhabitants of Hastings (the second town organized in Westchester County) whose names have come down to us is taken from Baird: Peter Disbrow, John Cor, Thomas Studwell, John Budd, William Odell, Richard Vowles, Sam- uel Alling, Robert Hudson, John Brondish, Frederick Harminson, Thomas Applebe, Philip Galpin, George flere, Jolm Jackson, and Walter Jackson. It will be observed that all these, with one ex- ception (flere), are good English names. This settlement, only one how's sail from Greenwich, was too far removed from Now Amster- dam to excite the jealous notice and protest of Director Stuyvesant, although it lay considerably to the west of the provisional boundary line marked off in the articles of 1650. 1is founders apparently re- moved there with no other objeet than to secure homes and planta- tions, holding themselves in readiness, however, like those of West- chester, to come under the Connectiont government in due time. The oldest Hastings town document that has been preserved is a decla- ration of allegiance to " Charles the Second, our lawful lord and king," dated July 26, 1662. At the same period when the people of
126
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
Westchester were informed that their territory belonged to the Col- ony of Connecticut, and instructed to act accordingly, like notifica- tion was sent to Hastings. Early in 1663 the townsmen, at a public meeting, appointed Richard Vowles as constable, who went to Hart- ford and was duly qualified. John Budd was selected as the first deputy to the Connecticut general court, which body, on the 8th of October, 1663, designated him as commissioner for the Town of Hast- ings with " magistraticall power."
The Island of Manussing, only one mile in length, was in the course of two or three years found inadequate for the growing requirements of the colonists, and they began to build up a new settlement on the mainland. This was probably in 1664. Meantime other colonists had joined them, including Thomas and Hachaliah Browne, George Lane, George Kniffen, Stephen Sherwood, and Timothy Knap. They called the new village Rye, " presumably," says Baird, " in honor of Thomas and Hachaliah Browne, the sons of Mr. Thomas Browne, a gentleman of good family, from Rye, in Sussex County, England, who settled at Cambridge, Mass., in 1632." " The original division of Rye consisted of ten acres to each individual planter, besides a privilege in the undivided lands." The general court of Connec- tieut, on the 11th of May, 1665, ordered " that the villages of Hast- ings and Rye shall be for the future conjoyned and made one plan- tation, and that it shall be called by the appellation of Rye." Grad- ually the island was abandoned. The village of Rye became within a few years a very respectable little settlement. It lay "at the upper end of the Neck, along the eastern bank of Blind Brook, and the present Milton road was the village street, on either side of which the home-lots of the settlers were laid out. . The
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.