USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900 > Part 62
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We have already noticed the political changes introduced by the State constitution of 1840, so far as they affected Westchester County. The further political history of the county to 1860 includes nothing of importance, aside from the party struggles on the great questions of the times. The presidential votes of Westchester County from 1848 to 1860, inclusive, were as follows:
1848 .- Lewis Cass (Dem.), 2,146; Zachary Taylor (Whig), 4,312; Martin Van Buren (Free Soil), 1,312.
1852 .-- Franklin Pierce (Dem.), 5,283; Winfield Scott ( Whig), 4,033; seattering, 61.
" From the narrative of an eye-witness. Allison's Hist. of Yonkers, IS7.
2 Smith's Manual of Westchester County, 35.
588
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
1856 .- James Buchanan ( Dem. ), 4,600; Millard Fillmore ( Whig), 4,450; John C. Fre- mont (Rep.), 3,641.
1860 .- United vote of Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge, and John Bell, 8,100; Abraham Lincoln ( Rep. ), 6,771.
The divided condition of the Democratic party in 1848 caused the county, for the first time in its history, to give a plurality for the opposition candidate for president, but this was only a transient tickleness. The generally conservative character of our population is capitally evidenced by the result in 1856, when the new Republican
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FMG
WESTCHESTER COUNTY COURT HOUSE.
party, organized on the issue of non-extension of slavery, made its first appearance, with John C. Fremont' as its candidate. Fremont received less than thirty per cent. of the total vote. In 1860, despite the great distractions from which the conservative forces suffered, they still rallied a united vote some 1,300 larger than that cast for Lincoln.2
1 General Fremout resided at one time at Mount Pleasant, In the house built by General James Watson Webb .- Scharf, 1., 599.
2 It is of interest to record the names of the delegates from Westchester County to the State conventions held for the purpose of
589
FROM 1842 To 1900
The congressional district to which Westchester County belonged was represented at Washington by William Nelson, of Peekskill, from 1847 to 1851; Jared V. Peck, of Rye, from 1853 to 1855; and John B. Haskin, of Westchester, from 1857 to 1861.
In 1847 the first division of Westchester County into assembly dis- triets was made, two districts being created, to which a third was added in 1858. The late Judge William H1. Robertson began his pub- Jie career as a member of the assembly from Westchester County in 1849 and 1850. He also served one form as State senator (1854-55), and in 1856 took his seat on the county bench, where he continued until 1868. He was one of the Lincoln presidential electors in 1860.
The total population of Westchester County in 1860 was 99,197-all' but reaching the hundred thousand mark.
So far in our narrative, whilst progressively noticing the principal aspects of local change and development, we have not devoted any formal attention to the minuter facts of conditions in the townships and their numerous localities severally; and as the year 1860 is a convenient one for such a detailed review, we shall now give the need- ful space to it, avoiding, however, unnecessary repetitions. We shall here take the townships in alphabetical order, including under each township head various pertinent particulars for the local communi- ties. The population statistics by towns are from the federal consus of 1860; most of the other facts (including village populations) are extracted from a valuable work published at Syracuse in 1860-the " Gazetteer of the State of New York," by J. 11. French.
THE TOWNS AND THEIR VILLAGES IN 1860.
Bedford .- Population, 3,639. Local partienlars :- 1. Bedford: contained a court house (still in use in 1860), two churches, the Bedford Academy, a Female Institute, and thirty houses. 2 Bedford Station, on the Harlem Railroad; contained ten houses. 3. Katonah; contained thirty honses. 4. Mount Kisco, a station on the Harlem Railroad; contained 200 inhabitants. 5. Whitlockville, " a station on the Harlem Railroad near the north border."
Cortlandt .- Population, 10,074. Loeal partienlars :- 1. Peekskill; an incorporated village; population, 3,538; contained ten churches, the Peekskill Academy, four boarding schools, a bank, newspaper office, six iron foundries (chiefly engaged in the manufacture of stoves and plows, and giving employment to 300 men ), two machine shops, two tobacco factories, a pistol and gun factory, tammery, and gin distillery; connected by a steam ferry with Caldwell's Landing and by a daily steamer and line of sloops with New York. 2. Verplanck's Point; population, 1,456; contained a church, steamboat landing, and important brick mannfactories, whose number in 1858 was thirty-four, giving employment to 1,350 men and turning out an-
selecting State delegates to the national con- ventions of the two parties in the historic yen 1860. The Westchester County delegates to the Democratie State convention were Thomas Smith, Gilbert S. Lyon, and Abraham Hyatt. William Radford. of Yonkers, was a contesting delegate from the 9th congressional district (embracing Westchester County) to the Charles- ton national convention. To the Republican
State convention, held at Syracuse In April. 1560. Westchester County sent the following delegates: Edward F. Shonnard, of Yonkers, and Harvey Kidd. of Westchester, from the Ist assembly district; Edward J. Porter, of New Rochelle, and John J. Clapp. from the 2d assemly distriet: and Odle Cluse, of North Salem, and J. H. Matt. of Ossining, from the 3d assembly district.
590
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
nally from 80,000,000 to 90,000,000 brieks. 3. Croton (formerly ealled Collaberg Land- ing); population, 400; a station on the Hudson River Railroad; contained four churches, a rolling mill, wire mill, and several brickyards. 4. Crugers 1 (Boscobel p. o.); a landing and railroad station. 5. Annsville; a small village, containing a church and wire mill. 6. Cort- landtville; contained a church, planing mill, and abont twenty houses. 7. Oregon, on the line of Putnam County; contained a rolling mill and wire mill. 8. Croton Point; devoted chiefly to vineyards. 9. Montrose's Point.
Eastchester .- Population, 5,582. Loeal particulars :- 1. Eastchester; population, 55] : con- tained two churches. 2. Mount Vernon; an incorporated village; contained " four churches and several private schools." 3. West Mount Vernon (630 inhabitants), 4. East Mount Vernon (275 inhabitants), 5. Waverly, and 6. Washingtonville, are described as " suburban villages, inhabited principally by mechanics and men doing business in New York." 7. Bronxville; a railroad station; contained a manufactory of carriage axles. 8. Tuckahoe; a railroad station near the marble quarries. 9. Fleetwood, and 10. Jacksonville, places projected by building associations.
Greenburgh .-- Population, 8,929. Local partieulars :- 1. Hastings; population, 1,135; a railroad station and a steamboat landing; contained two churches, steam marble works, lime- kilns, and a limited number of manufactories. 2. Dobbs Ferry; 2 population, 1,040; a rail- road station and a landing on the river; contained three churches. 3. Irvington;3 population,
SUNNYSIDE, WASHINGTON IRVING'S HOME.
599; a railroad station and a landing on the river; contained two churches. 1. Tarrytown ; population, about 2,000; a steamboat landing and railroad station; contained four churches and the Pawling Institute. 5. Hart's Corners (Morningville p. o.); a station on the Harlem Railroad. 6. Middletown; a settlement below Tarrytown. 7. Hall's Corners; a neighbor- hood in the northern part of the town, and 8. Ashford; a settlement three miles below. 9. Abbotsford; a loeality near Dobbs Ferry. 10. Greenville; a neighborhood in the southern part of the town.
Harrison .-- Population, 1,413. The only locality mentioned by French in this town is Pur- chase (Harrison p. o.), a bamlet in the northern part, containing two Friends' meeting houses.
Lewisboro .- Population, 1,885. Local particulars :- 1. South Salem; a scattered village, con- taining a church and fifteen houses. 2. Cross River; contained two churches, several manu- factories, and twenty houses. 3. Golden's Bridge; a station on the Harlem Railroad. 4. Vista; a small settlement. 5. Lewisboro; a postoffice in the southern part.
Mamaroneck .- Population, 1,351. Local particulars :- 1. Mamaroneck; contained two
1 So called for Colonel John P. Cruger, whose estate, including Oscawana Island, was ad- jarent. " Boscobel" (the original name) was the residence of Staats Morris Dyekman,
" So called for an carly family named Dobbs, who kept a ferry.
" So called for Washington Irving, whose homestead of Sunnyside was a short distance above. The village was formerly called Dear- man's, or Dearman's Landing.
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FROM 1842 TO 1900
churches and " several manufactories, not at present in operation." 2. Orienta,1 3. Washingtonville, 4. Chatsworth, and 5. Hickory Grove, are described as " village plats and prospective villages." 6. Kelloggsville, on the line of New Rochelle, had an extension tide- mill.
Morrisania .- Population, 9,245. Local particulars :- 1. Morrisania; population, 2,587; a railroad station; contained Saint Joseph's Ursuline Convent, an academy, and free school. 2. Mott Haven ;? population, 843; contained two churches and an extensive iron foundry. 3. Port Morris; 3 prominent for its harbor, sixty feet deep, where it was " proposed to land ves- sels that draw too much water to enter New York Harbor"; connected with Melrose by a branch of the Harlem Railroad two and one-half miles long. 4. Wilton, 5. Old Morrisania, 6. East Morrisania, 7. West Morrisania, 8. Sonth Melrose, 9. East Melrose, 10. Eltona, 11. Woodstock, 12. Claremont, and 13. ligh Bridgeville, are described as " suburban village plats."
Mount Pleasant .- Population, 4,517. Local particulars :- 1. Pleasantville; 4 population, 358; contained two churches. 2. I'mionville (Nepperhan p. o.); population, 97; a station on the Harlem Railroad. 3. Beekmantown; population, about 1,500; a suburb of Tarrytown; contained five churches and the Irving and Tarrytown Institutes. 4. Sleepy Hollow, S. U'p- per Cross Roads, and 6. Lower Cross Roads were hamlets,
New Castle .- Population, 1,817. Local particulars :- 1. Mount Kisco; a small village and railroad on the line of Bedford. 2. New Castle; a small scattered village near the Bedford line. 3. Chappaqua; a railroad station. 4. Sarlesville; a hamlet near the center of the town, where the town business was generally transacted.
New Rochelle .- l'opulation, 3,519. Local partienlars :- 1. New Rochelle; an incorporated village; population, about 2,000; contained six churches and several private schools; a portion of the village and the lands surrounding it were " occupied by elegant villas and country resi- dences of persons doing business in New York "; the steamboat landing was " half a mile southwest of the village, on a small island connected with the main land by a stone cause- way." 2. West New Rochelle, 3. Petersville, 5 and 4. Upper New Rochelle were scattered villages, mostly inhabited by Germans.
North Castle .- Population, 2,487. Loeal particulars :- 1. North Castle ; contained a church and a few houses. 2. Armonk; " contained three churches, a woolen factory, and twenty houses. 3. Kensico; ? population, 103; contained several manufactories. 4. Quarter Station; in the extreme southern part of the town, on the Harlem Railroad.
North Salem .- Population, 1,497. Local partieulars :- 1. North Salem; contained two churches, a paper mill, and thirty honses. 2. Salem Center ; a hamlet, the seat of the North Salem Academy. 3. Purdy's Station; a station on the Harlem Railroad; contained two churches and a small woolen factory. 4. Croton Falls; a station on the Harlem Railroad.
Ossining .- Population, 6,766. Local particulars :- 1. Sing Sing; an incorporated village; population, about 5,300; contained four churches, the Mount Pleasant Academy, a female seminary, and several other popular female schools. 2. Prospect Hill; & a scattered settle- ment on the southern border. 3. Spring Valley and 4. Sparta were hamlets.
Pelham .- Population, 1,025. Local particulars :- 1. Pelhamville; a newly surveyed village and station on the New Haven Railroad. 2. Prospect Hill; a locality near the center of the town. 3. Pelham Priory; the seat of a young ladies' seminary, "established by the late Rev. Robert Bolton, and conducted by his daughters."
Poundridge .- Population, 1,471. Local particulars :- 1. Poundridge; a small settlement with two churches. 2. Boretontown; a hamlet on the northern corner.
Rye .- Population, 4,447. Local particulars :- 1. Rye; population, about 300; a railroad station, and contained three churches and a private seminary. 2. Milton; a hamlet, with one church. 3. Ryebeach; "a place of resort during the hot season." 1. Port Chester; popula- tion, 1,695; a railroad station, containing five churches, several private seminaries, and ex-
' Formerly called Mamaroneck Point, Great Nock, and de Lancey's Neck.
: Named for Jordan L. Mott, principal found er of the iron works,
:Somethines called Morrisport. Named for Gouverneur Morris, the principal owner.
' Formerly called Clark's Corners.
. Formeris called New Jerusalem.
" Formerly Mill Square.
: Formerly Robbins Mills.
+ Formerly Long HIIL.
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
tensive manufactories, which included a foundry, edge tool factory, tide gristmill, and a last and shoe factory. 5. King Street; "a fine agricultural district, extending nearly seven miles north of Port Chester." 6. Glenville; a hamlet on the Byram River.
Scarsdale .- Population, 518. Local particulars :- 1. Scarsdale; contained a church and a few houses. 2. Scarsdale Station; a station on the Harlem Railroad.
Somers .- Population, 2,012. Local partieulars :- 1. Somers; contained two churches, a bank, and twenty houses. 2 Croton Falls; on the line of North Salem; a small village and station on the Harlem Railroad; had a good water power. 3. West Somers; a hamlet.
Westchester .- Population, 4,250. Local particulars :- 1. Westchester; population, about 1,000. 2. Bronxdale; population, about 400; had an extensive tape factory and a dye and bleach works. 3. Schuylerville; population, about 300; a scattered village on Throgg's Neck. 4. Integrity; near Bronxdale; had a tape factory, 5. Connersville, 6. Wakefield, 7. Centreville, and 8. Unionport, were " modern villages." Fort Schuyler, at the extremity of Throgg's Neck, was begun by the United States government in 1833, and was built to ac- commodate 1,250 men and to mount 318 cannon.
West Farms .- Population, 7,098. Local particulars :- 1. West Farms; a " large village," containing four churches, a carpet factory, molding mill, and gristmill. 2. Fordham; a rail- road station; contained four churches and Saint John's College. 1 2. Tremont,2 3. Cen- tral Morrisania, 4. Williams's Bridge, and 5. Fairmount, were " modern villages." 6. Claremont; a small village on the line of Morrisania.
White Plains .- Population, 1,846. The only locality mentioned by French is White Plains village, containing the "old and new county buildings, three churches, and several private seminaries," and having a population of about 1,000.
Yonkers .- Population, 11,848. Local particulars :- 1. Yonkers; an incorporated village; population in 1859, 6,800; contained nine churches, several private seminaries, two banks, two newspaper offices, and various manufactories 2. Spuyten Duyvil; the seat of several large foundries; inhabited chiefly by operatives. 3. Tuckahoe; a station on the Harlem Rail- road; lodgman's rubber goods manufactory employed about seventy-five hands. 4. Kings- bridge. 5. Riverdale; " a group of villas, and a railroad station." 6. South Yonkers; a post- office.
Yorktown .- Population, 2,231. Local particulars :- 1. Crompond (Yorktown p. o.), 2. Jefferson Valley, and 3. Shrub Oak, were hamlets. A rolling mill, wire factory, gristmill, and sawmill had been erected two miles west of Croton dam.
Intense partisan feeling characterized the discussion of political issues in Westchester County in the electoral campaign of 1860. At that time the leading newspapers of the county were the Eastern State Journal, of White Plains, the Highland Democrat, of Peekskill, and the Yonkers Herald ; and all three were aggressively Democratic. They took the election of Lincoln with very bad grace, and indeed never became entirely reconciled to it or to the prosecution of the war with the seceding States. Such a spirit in the County of West- chester, which had always been on the conservative side politically, was naturally to have been expected. It was a spirit conspicuously manifest in the editorial conduct of very able newspapers in New York City, which gave nearly thirty thousand majority against Lin- coln. The dominant political party of the metropolis had always been the dominant political party of Westchester County; and opinions which had been insisted on and stood the test of popular
1 This institution of the Roman Catholic Church was opened for students June 24, 1841. and incorporated April 10, 1846.
2 Formerly Upper Morrisania, South Fordham. Adamsville, and Mount Hope.
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1
593
FROM 1842 To 1900
appeal through all the years of the slavery agitation were not to be resigned when the long expected crisis arrived.
On the other hand, the sentiment in the county favorable to the national policies for which Mr. Lincoln stood at the election of 1860 was, even in the conditions of mere partisan strife then obtaining, not very seriously in the minority. There had been a remarkable growth in this sentiment since the campaign of 1856. Fremont re- reived only 28.7 per cent. of the total vote in Westchester County, but Lincoln's percentage was 45.5. Everywhere in the county the Republican organization had most influential supporters. At elec- tions in the " off " years it was formidable. In 1860 the most digni- fied official position in this county, that of county judge, was occupied by one of the leading Westchester Republicans, the Hon. William Il. Robertson. Even the member of congress for the 9th district, which included Westchester County, the Hon. John B. Haskin, had been elected mainly by Republican votes. Mr. Haskin's position was unique. First chosen to congress as a Democrat in 1856, he became disaffected toward the administration on account of President Bu- chanan's extreme pro-slavery bias in dealing with questions arising out of the organization of local government in Kansas. Consequently, when up for re-election in 1858, the regular Democratie organization repudiated him. He ran nevertheless, receiving the support of the Republicans and of Democrats who approved his course. The election was bitterly contested, but he won by a small majority, and again took his seat in congress as an avowed opponent of the Democratic administration. " An incident in congress, of a startling nature, in the early part of 1860, brings to notice the continued, determined, and ardent part taken, after his re-election, by the representative of Westchester County in the fulfillment of his duties. While address ing the house Mr. Haskin accidentally let fall from the breast pocket of his eoat a loaded revolver. On the question of the propriety of carrying this weapon into the house, not only in congress, but among his constituents and throughout the country, warmest discussions followed. The explanation given was preparation for self-defense in the unprotected neighborhood in Washington in which Mr. Haskin resided, in which much lawlessness prevailed. Many years have passed since this incident, but, taken in connection with the Rebellion which soon followed, and the tragic and dastardly scones in it, it illustrates the dangers in public life at the time and the unflinching determination of those called to mingle in the discussions introduc- tory to the strife." 1
1 Bev. W. . S. Coffey In Scharf, 1., 488.
594
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
The startling events which followed the triumph of Lincoln-the secession of the Southern States, the firing on Sumter, and the presi- dential proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers to put down the Rebellion-brought a prompt realization in Westchester County, as everywhere in the North, of the utter change in conditions which had come to pass since the presidential election. It was no longer a question of the supremacy of this party or that, but of the existence of the federal union. Whilst the views of the Democratic press on the merits of the tremendous new issnes were conservative, the in- stinetive feeling of the masses of the people, of every party, was devotion to the constituted government of the nation. Measures might be criticised, "coercion " of the South might be deprecated, and concessions, even very extreme, for averting an armed conflict or composing it after precipitated might be favored by individual opinion; but the prevailing spirit amongst the eight thousand citizens of our county who voted against Mr. Lincoln was one of unques- tioning loyalty to the government.
The president's proclamation calling for 75,000 militia volunteers was issued on the 15th of April, 1861. The period of service specified was three months. New York's quota was 13,280 men. The legislature im- mediately passed an act providing not only HIRAM PAULDING, 1 for furnishing that number from the State militia to the government, but for the en- listment of 30,000 volunteers more, to serve for two years; these 30,000 to be " in addition to the present military organization of the State, and as a part of the militia thereof," and to be " liable at all times to be turned over to the service of the United States, on the order of the governor, as a part of the militia of the State, upon the requisition of the president of the United States."
It appears that the first military body dispatched from Westchester County was a company organized in Yonkers as the result of a call for a public meeting issued on the 16th of April, the day after the president's proclamation. This call was signed by two hundred and fifty-four citizens. The meeting was held at Farrington Hall on the evening of the 18th, and a large number of men came forward as volunteers. The next day Mr. John T. Waring and Mr. Ethan Flagg made inquiries as to the circumstances of the families of the enlisting men, and found that sixty-five of them would need regular assistance
1 lfiram Paulding, an admiral in the United States Navy during the Rebellion, was a sou
of John Paulding, one of the captors of Andre. See p. 185.
1
1.44
595
FROM 1812 TO 1900
of various amounts. Mr. Waring therefore pledged his word that this aid should be forthcoming, a pledge which he faithfully kept. He was subsequently reimbursed by the town. The company left Yonkers on the 25th of April, and was incorporated in the West- chester Chasseurs. Its original officers were: captain, Charles H. Smith; lieutenant, Gardner S. Hawes; ensign, Romeyn Bogardus; orderly sergeant, George Reynolds; sergeants, John C. Coates, Thomas Hill, and George Andrews; corporals, Edwin Cumberbeach, C. Wigo French, Alfred Bowler, and W. J. Townsend.
Another village which gave an almost instantaneous response to the president's appeal was Port Chester. It contributed a body known as Company B of the 17th Infantry-the " Westchester Chas- seurs." This company consisted of seventy-eight officers and men. Its officers were: captain, Nelson B. Bartram; Ist lieutenant, John Vickers; 2d lieutenant, Charles Hilbert: 1st sergeant, James Fox; sergeants, Thomas Beal, Louis Neething, and August Dittman; cor- porals, William Crothers, John Beal, Joseph Beal, and Robert Magee. The response of the Port Chester company was to the call for two years' volunteers, and the men left on the 30th of April. Meantime several patriotic citizens of the place joined in a " Union Defense Committee," of which James Il. Titus, a prominent Republican, was president, and John E. Marshall, a prominent Democrat, was treas- urer, having for its object to raise sufficient money to forward the men to camp and to make weekly payments to such of their families as required help during their absence.
The 17th Infantry, or Westchester Chasseurs, to which both these first companies of Yonkers and Port Chester (together with the volun- teers from Westchester County) belonged, was a mixed organization, including troops not only from our county, but from New York, Rockland, Wayne, Wyoming, and Chenango Counties. The ladies of Yonkers presented it with seven hundred havelocks. Captain Nel- son B. Bartram, of Port Chester, ultimately became its lieutenant- colonel. "It left for the seat of war June, 1861, and participated in the siege of Yorktown and battles of Hanover Court House-where it captured the first cannon taken from the enemy by the Army of the Potomac,-Groveton (known as the second battle of Bull Run), where it lost thirteen officers and 250 men, killed and wounded, An- tietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. It was mustered out in the spring of 1863 after two years' service, was immediately roor- ganized for three years' service, and took the field in September. being the first of the thirty-nine old regiments to report for duty." The number of men lost by the regiment at the second Bull Run was almost half the whole mumber who went into the battle.
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