USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900 > Part 31
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
ough of Westchester, where also a Tory mayor, Nathaniel Underhill, grandson of the " redoubtable " Captain John, presided. Against this powerful conservative combination stood the Morrises in the ex- treme sonthern part of the county, Judge Thomas, representing no landed estates but the simple yeomanry of Rye, Harrison's Pur- chase, and the central sections, and Pierre Van Cortlandt, the head of the great Van Cortlandt family. The popular side, therefore, comprised diverse clements. The Morrises were known chiefly as an aggressive polit- ical family, with a well-defined follow- ing. but hardly adapted to attract the normally conservative or as yet unde- cided classes. Thomas represented a constituency of sturdy settlers, mostly of New England antecedents and largely belonging to zealous religious sects. Van Cortlandt was in all re- speets a match for Philipse and the de Lanceys, to whatever elevation of dignity or social importance they pre- ISAAC WILKINS. tended; and it was his personality which gave to the Revolutionary movement in Westchester County a far different aspeet than that of a mere propaganda of agitators. His support of the cause stamped it necessarily as one demanding the most respectful consideration of honest and intelligent men; for it was beyond question that his attachment to it was wholly due to a conception of its singular righteousness and of his high duty. He was no new convert, but had stood for the rights of the colonies from the beginning. The arts of the tempter and briber had, moreover, been practiced upon him in the British interest. The late Mrs. Pierre E. Van Cortlandt, in her historical account of the Van Cortlandt family, tells how he nobly rebuked the royal Governor Tryon when approached by that personage with corrupt offers:
In 1774 Governor Tryon eame to Croton, ostensibly on a visit of courtesy, bringing with him his wife, Miss Watts, a daughter of the Hon. John Watts (a kinsman of the Van Cortlandts), and Colonel Fanning, his secretary. They remained for a night at the Manor llonse, and the next morning Governor Tryon proposed a walk. They all proceeded to one of the highest points on the estate, and, pausing, Tryon announced to the listening Van Cort- landt the great favors that would be granted to him if he would espouse the royal eause and give his adhesion to the king and the parliament. Large grants of land would be added to his estate, and Tryon hinted that a title might be bestowed. Van Cortlandt answered that " he was chosen a representative by unanimons approbation of a people who placed confidence in his integrity to use all his ability for their benefit and the good of his country as a true patriot, which line of conduct he was determined to pursue." Tryon, finding persuasion and
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EVENTS FROM 1765 TO 1775
bribes vain, turned to Colonel Fanning with the brief remark, " I find our business here must terminate, for nothing can be effeeted in this place " ; and after hasty farewells they embarked on their sloop and returned to New York.
After the appointment of the committee of correspondence by the meeting held in New York in May, 1774, events moved rapidly for- ward to a crisis. Boston, having received earlier news of the closing of her port, had taken action on the matter two or three days before New York, and at a public meeting presided over by Samuel Adams had adopted a resolution appealing for the united support of the colonies in a new Non-Importation Agreement. On the afternoon of Tuesday, the 17th of May, Paul Revere passed through Westchester County, along the old Boston Post Road, bearing dispatches from the Boston citizens to their brethren in New York and Philadelphia. New York responded immediately with a recommendation for a new colonial congress, which was adopted. The people of New York City on July 4 elected as delegates to that body Philip Livingston, John Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane, and John Jay.
John Jay, who on this occasion made his first appearance in a high representative capacity, was reared from infancy in Westchester County and began among us his career as a lawyer. His great- grandfather, Pierre Jay, a Huguenot of La Rochelle, France, emi- grated to England during the troublons times of Catholic persecu- tion, leaving a son, Augustus, who came to New York about 1686, married Anna Maria Bayard, daughter of Balthazar Bayard, and led a prosperous life as a merchant. Augustus's son, Peter, after ac- quiring a competeney in business pursuits in the city, purchased a farm in our Town of Rye, where he lived with his numerous family for the remainder of his days. He is described by Smith, the Tory historian of New York, as " a gentleman of opulence, character, and reputation," and by Baird, the historian of Rye, as "a man of sin- cere and fervent piety, of cheerful temper, warm affections, and strong good sense." He married Mary, daughter of Jacobus Van Cortlandt and granddaughter of Oloff Stevense Van Cortlandt and the first Frederick Philipse. Their eighth child was John Jay, born in New York City, December 12, 1745. He lived with his parents throughout his childhood and youth in the homestead at Rye -- " a long, low building, but one room deep and eighty feet wide, having attained this size to meet the wants of a numerous family." He was educated at King's College (now Columbia), taking the bachelor of arts degree in 1764, and, after being admitted to the bar, entered upon a professional career in which he soon gained a reputation as one of the most brilliant and intellectual men in New York. He
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
took a leading part in the public discussion of the questions between the colonies and the mother country, holding aloof from the radical and noisy politicians, but enjoying the unbounded confidence and admiration of the judicious friends of American independence. By the time matters had become shaped for the inevitable, he stood foremost among the well-balanced and sagacious patriots of New York. In 1774 he married Sarah Van Brugh Livingston, daughter of William Livingston. After the completion of his illustrious pub- lic career, he retired to an estate in the Town of Bedford, this county, where he died.1 He was the father of the eminent and beloved Judge William JJay, of our county bench, and the grandfather of the late dis- tinguished statesman, John Jay, also a prominent Westchester County character. One of the feat- ures of the Town of Rye is the cem- etery of the Jay family, in which stands a monument to the memory AUGUSTUS JAY. of the great chief justice.
The committee of correspondence in New York City, soon after its organization, opened comunication with the rural counties. A sub- committee of five (John JJay being one of its members) was appointed on the 30th of May " to write a circular letter to the supervisors in the different counties, acquainting them of the appointment of this committee, and submitting to the consideration of the inhabitants of the counties whether it could not be expedient for them to ap- point persons to correspond with this committee upon matters rela- tive to the purposes for which they were appointed." A circular let- ter was accordingly written, of which thirty copies were sent to the treasurer of Westchester County, with a request to distribute them among " the supervisors of the several districts." It is not known whether this was done. At all events, nothing resulted, as no re- plies from Westchester County appear among the records of the committee. But in July a second circular was sent, which met with a different treatment from this county. It communicated informa-
1 The Jay homestead at Bedford, says Bol- ton. " for four generations the residence and estate of the Jay family," descended to them
" from their ancestor, Jacobus Van Cortlandi. who purchased it of the Indian sachem Ka- loonah, in 1703." (Rev. (., i .. 77.)
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EVENTS FROM 1765 TO 1775
tion of the election of delegates to the approaching congress by the City and County of New York, and requested the other counties either to appoint additional delegates of their own or to signify their will- inguess that the delegates already chosen in the city should act for them alse, on the understanding that whatever number of repre- sentatives should appear from this province at the congress they would be entitled to but one vote. Pursuant to this second circular a Westchester County convention was called to meet in the court- house af White Plains, on the 22d of August, various towns and districts choosing local delegates to represent them. The Towns of Rye and Westchester held particularly well-attended meetings for that purpose and adopted rousing resolutions. The Rye delegation was headed by John Thomas, Jr., and the Westchester by Colonel Lewis Morris. It is noteworthy, however, that both the Rye and West- chester resolutions, although expressing the views of the two most radical political leaders in the county, were emphatic in the asser- tion of loyalty to the king-so far removed from the publie mind was the thought of rebellion. Upon this point the Rye people said: " That they think it their greatest happiness to live under the illus- trious House of Hanover; and that they will steadfastly and uni- formly bear true and faithful allegiance to His Majesty, King George the Third, under the enjoyment of their constitutional rights and privileges as fellow-subjects with those of England." And the West- chester citizens declared: " That we do and will bear true allegiance to His Majesty, George the Third, King of Great Britain, etc., ac- cording to the British Constitution."
The county convention at White Plains on Angust 22, 1774, was not a specially important body, at least from the standpoint of its proceedings. The most interesting thing in connection with it is that its presiding officer was Frederick Philipse, the Tory " lord," who, less than a year later, was to lead his tenant clans at the same place, though in very different circumstances and emergencies, in a vain protest against a repetition of the same political action for which he now stood the chief sponsor. There was no dissident ele- ment in the convention, and by unanimous consent the five men pre- viously elected by the people of New York City as delegates to the general congress were accepted as delegates for the County of West- chester likewise.
The general congress of the colonies, the first held since the Stamp Act congress of 1765, assembled in Philadelphia on the 5th of Sep- tember, 1774, and continned in session until October 26. It proved in every way worthy of the great occasion which called it into being, and the result of its deliberations was to immensely stimulate dis-
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cussion throughout the colonies and to strengthen the resolution and hope of the people. It prepared and issued a declaration of rights, advised the adoption of a third Non-Importation Agreement, and made provision for the election in each colony of delegates to an- other congress, which was appointed to meet on the 10th of May, 1775.
The citizens of Westchester County, having made a beginning in the matter of public action on the rising questions of the day, soon commenced to display a lively interest in their narrower considera- tion. This interest found expression in all the varying degrees of radicalism, moderation, timidity, and protest. The public prints of the times contain a number of communications from Westchester County, some of them in the form of avowals or disavowals, formally signed, and some in that of anonymous newspaper articles advocat- ing one set of opinions or another with more or less zeal and dex- terity. One of the earliest and most notable of these documents is a communication from Rye, dated September 24, 1774, and published October 13 in Rivington's New York Gazetteer. It is an emphatic pro- fest against the agitation of the period, as follows:
We, the subscribers, Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Town of Rye, in the County of Westchester, being much concerned with the unhappy situation of public affairs, think it our Duty to our King and Country, to Declare that we have not been concerned in any Resolu- tions entered into or measures taken, with regard to the Disputes at present subsisting with the Mother Country ; we also testify our dislike to many hot and furious Proceedings, in con- sequence of said Disputes, which we think are more likely to ruin this once happy Country, than remove Grievances, if any there are.
We also declare our great Desire and full Resolution to live and die peaceable Subjects to our Gracious Sovereign, King George the Third, and his Laws.
Then follow eighty-three signatures, headed by Isaac Gidney. Evi- dently some local pressure hostile to the Thomas interest was brought to bear upon the conservative element of the Rye people; and evi- dently, also, not a few of the signers had been overpersuaded, for in Rivington's next issue appears a Immble disclaimer, signed by fifteen of them, who say that, after mature deliberation, they are fully con- vinced that in indorsing the former paper they "acted preposter- ously and without properly adverting to the matter in dispute," and " do utterly disclaim every part thereof, except our expressions of Loyalty to the King and Obedience to the Constitutional Laws of the Realm."
A " Weaver in Harrison's Purchase" writes to Holt's New York Jour- nal of December 22, 1774, combating the sophisms of the Tory pam- phleteer, "A. W. Farmer"; and letters from correspondents in Cort- landt Manor, representing both sides, appear in Rivington's Gazetteer and Gaines's New York Gazette during the early months of 1775.
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EVENTS FROM 1765 TO 1775
Some of this newspaper discussion by Westchester contributors is conched in very strong terms. Indeed, there is abundant evidence that nowhere in America were stronger passions aroused by the un- fortunate divisions of the period than among the farmers of West- chester County. When the final conflict came, both parties in the county were ripe for the most bitter persecutions and the most re- vengeful reprisals, which frequently recognized neither neighborly considerations nor the sacred ties of blood.
CHAPTER XV
WESTCHESTER COUNTY IN LINE FOR INDEPENDENCE-EVENTS TO JULY 9, 1776
ITAT was destined to be the last session of the general as- sembly of the Province of New York convened on the 10th of January, 1775, in New York City. Although the general aspect of allairs had undergone no improvement since the adjournment of the Philadelphia congress-and, indeed, the tendency had been toward a further estrangement from Great Britain, espe- cially through the operation of the " Association " recommended by the congress,-the state of the public mind was rather that of expec- taney than of active revolt. Lexington had not yet been fought, and there had been no new overt act of any very sensational nature on the part of the British ministry. It was still the devout hope of good men that a reconciliation might eventually be accomplished. In these circumstances the conservative leaders of the New York assembly- among whom James de Lancey, Frederick Philipse, and Isaac Wilkins were conspicuous-had every advantage throughout the session, uni- formly commanding a majority against the proposals of the radicals. Resolutions extending thanks to the New York delegates to the Phil- adelphia congress, commending the New York merchants for their self-sacrificing observance of the "Association," and favoring the elec- tion of delegates from New York to the next general congress, were voted down. On questions involving a division the vote was usually fifteen to ton, Pierre Van Cortlandt and John Thomas being inva- riably among the minority. But the house framed and passed a state of grievances, petition to the king, memorial to the lords, and rep- resentation or remonstrance to the commons, to which little or no exception could reasonably be taken. These papers were respectful, bui comprehensive and firm, and did honor to the leaders of the ma- jority. The complaint made against the assembly of 1775 was not on the score of its positive transactions, but of what it refused to do. It utterly and in the most studied manner ignored the great and spontaneous manifestations of American sentiment, as expressed in such organized agencies of the times as departed from the regular channels of legislation and official administration. This was felt by the impatient people as a sore affront. The closing act of the assem-
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FROM JANUARY, 1775, TO JULY 9, 1776
bly was the appointment of a " Standing Committee of Correspond- ence," composed almost exclusively of conservatives, whose functions were strictly limited to observing the proceedings of the British par- liament and administration and communicating with the sister colo- nies thereupon. Of this committee Philipse and Wilkins were made the members for Westchester County.
The assembly having declined to assume the initiative as to the election of the provincial delegates to the approaching general con- gress, that duty reverted to the still surviving people's committee in New York City. The commitice decided that the delegates should be chosen this time not by the individual counties in an independent capacity, but by a provincial convention; and such a convention was called for the 20th of April, the counties being severally requested to send representatives to it. Circular letters to this end were dis- patched under date of March 16. There was at that time no com- mittee existing in Westchester County to take cognizance of the noti- fication and summon the necessary county convention or meeting. It hence became needful for some private person or persons interested in the cause to take the lead in the matter. The man for the occasion proved to be Colonel Lewis Morris, who, since the death of his father, in 1762, had been at the head of the Morris family of Morrisania. Colonel Morris was born in 1726, and was graduated at Yale in 1746. While inheriting the political temperament and abilities of his race, he had as yet taken little part in public affairs, preferring the quiet and un- ostentatious life of a country gentleman. Even in the first move- ment of protest against the policy of Great Britain organized in this county, resulting in the White Plains convention of August, 1774, he had not been specially conspicuous. But after the refusal of the assembly to identify itself in any manner with the prevailing senti- ment, he became profoundiy impressed with the importance of imme- diate and emphatic action by the people in their original capacity. The occasion now presented was one demanding energy and management. It was not to be doubted that the powerful conservative party would exert its influence to the utmost to prevent any radical expression by Westchester County. There was more than a suspicion that this had been done deliberately, though insidiously, in 1774, when Frederick Philipse, the head and front of the conservatives, had been chosen chairman of the county convention, and that representative body, the first of its kind to meet in the county, had adjourned without adopt- ing any aggressive resolutions or appointing a committee of corre- spondence to co-operate with the one in the city, or making any pro- vision for the calling and assembling of future conventions of the county. With the issues now more closely drawn by the unfriendly
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attitude of the provincial assembly, it was certain that Philipse, Wil- kins, the de Lanceys, and their friends would assume to again control the course of Westchester County and to keep it well within the former moderate bounds.
Principally through the efforts of Colonel Morris, a temporary com- mittee or caneus for the county was improvised, which on the 28th of March met at White Plains " for the purpose of devising means for taking the sense of the county " relative to the appointment of dele- gates to the proposed provincial convention. There were present Col- onel Lewis Morris, Thomas Hunt, and Abraham Leggeti, of Westchester; Theodo- sius Bartow, James Willis, and Abraham Gnion, of New Rochelle: William Sutton, of Mamaroneck; Captain Joseph Drake, Benja- min Drake, Moses Drake, and Stephen Ward, of Eastchester; and James Horton, Ir .. of Rye. A call was issued for a general meeting of freeholders of the county, to be held in the court house at White Plains on Tues- day, the 11th of April, and communications were sent to represen- THE THIRD FREDERICK PHILIPSE. tative persons in every locality, requesting them to give notice to all the freeholders, without exception, "as those who do not appear and vote on that day will be presumed to acquiesce in the sentiment of the majority of those who vote." 1
Because of the well-known radical views of Colonel Morris and most of his associates, this action at once became a subject of general discussion, causing much disquietude to the opposing faction. Of course no formal objection to the projected meeting could have been
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offered, for that would have been not merely a confession of weak- ness, but highly inconsistent with the professed motives of the con- servatives, who claimed to be quite as much devoted as the radicals to the liberties of the country, differing with them only as to methods. The challenge for a test of strength was promptly accepted, and steps were taken throughout the county to make as strong an antagonistic demonstration as possible at White Plains on the appointed day. This was made manifest by an address " To the Frecholders and Inhabi- tants of the County of Westchester," which appeared in Rivington's New York Gasetteer on the 6th of April, signed " A White Oak," it not being deemed politie by its author or authors to attach any names to it. It is very significant that, while the White Plains call appealed only to the freeholders-that is, to the legally qualified voters ex- clusively,-the counter-address comprehended the " inhabitants " as well. As a body, the tenant farmers of the Manor of Philipseburgh were not freeholders, but only non-voting "inhabitants"; and of course it would never do, in the coming struggle of the factions, to accept a basis of representation ruling out so considerable an el- ment of support for the programme of which the lord of that manor was the embodiment. The " White Oak " address earnestly recom- mended a full attendance of " the friends of government and our happy constitution," in order that the proposal to appoint delegates to meet in provincial congress-" a measure so replete with ruin and misery "-might be voted down so far as Westchester County was concerned. They were urged to " Remember the extravagant price we are now obliged to pay for goods purchased of the merchants in consequence of the Non-Importation Agreement," " and," it was add- ed, " when the Non-Exportation Agreement takes place, we shall be in the situation of those who were obliged to make bricks without straw."
Early on the morning of the 11th of April the rival forces began to gather at White Plains. The supporters of the announced busi- ness of the day made their headquarters at the tavern kept by Isaac Oakley, and the "friends of government" at the establishment of Captain Hatfield. About noon the former party proceeded to the court house, and, without waiting for the appearance of their friends of the other side, organized a meeting and elected Colonel Lewis Mor- ris chairman. Soon after the opposite faction entered in a body, headed by Colonel Frederick Philipse and Isaac Wilkins, and Mr. Wil- kins made a brief statement to the expectant Morrisites. He informed them that, " as they had been unlawfully called together, and for an unlawful purpose, they [ the friends of government] did not intend to contest the matter by a poll, which would be tacitly acknowledging
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the authority that had summoned them hither; but that they came only with a design to protest against all such disorderly proceedings, and to show their detestation of all unlawful committees and con- gresses." They then, according to the account of their transactions which their leaders furnished to the press, "declared their deter- mined resolution to continue steadfast in their allegiance to their gracious and merciful sovereign, King George the Third, to submit to lawful authority, and to abide by and support the only true repre- sentatives of the people of the colony, the general assembly. Then, giving three huzzas, they returned to Captain Hatfield's, singing as they went, with loyal enthusiasm, the good and animating song of-
" God save great George our King; Long live our noble King, etc."
The declination of the followers of Philipse and Wilkins to con- test the matter by a poll was an unexpected measure of tactics. In the address signed by " White Oak " the friends of government had been expressly solicited to rally at White Plains in order to give their votes on the vital question to be propounded there, and the conse- quences of failure to attend and declare their sentiments in control- ling numbers had been pictured in vivid words. Notwithstanding the organization of the meeting by the Morris party, the conservatives could, of course, have made its proceedings conformable to their will if they had been in the majority. Their preference to retire with nothing more than a protest, and convert themselves into a mere rump, was an act either of political petulance or studied discretion. The reasonable conclusion is that they were with good cause appre- hensive of the result of a vote, and that their experienced leaders de- vided upon the safer course of a dignified retreat.
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