History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 126

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354

USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I > Part 126

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The general superintendent and the heart and soul of the enterprise is Mr. Frank S. Gannon, whose whole life has been identified with railroad manage- ment. Mr. G.tuuon was born in Spring Valley, Rock- land County, N. Y., but removed to Orange County when a boy. He became connected with the Erie Railroad in 1867, as telegraph operator and agent at various stations. In 1870 he became connected with the Midland Railroad where he remained till 1875, when he went to the Long Island Railroad as tele- graphic train dispatcher and master of transportation, and the value of his services were fully recognized by all who had auy connection with that road. Mr. Gannon became connected with the Northern Railroad in April, 1881, construction trains being the only ones then running. The bridge over Harlem River was finished May 1, and passenger trains began running to Brewsters on that day, and in the Fall of that ycar the road was finished and in good condition. The road was laid through a sparsely settled distriet and during the first year trains were run at a loss, but from that time to the present the business has been constantly increasing and has now reached large pro- portions. As an illustration, we may mention that in the Summer of 1881, five hundred eans of milk were brought daily to the city, and at the present time the number is one thousand and five hundred. The New York Central & Harlem Railroads did not at first consider the new road as a competitor, but soon had reason to change their views, and after a war of rates they were glad to make arrangements with the new company. The road has a lease of pier 44, New York City, and cars can now be rnn

482

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

from this road to all portions of the country without breaking bulk. When they first began transporting cars upon floats, three or four cars a day was consid- ered a good business, while thirty or forty are now carried in the same length of time. As one item wc may mention that three hundred tons of ore are daily brought from the Tilly Foster mine and other mines along the road, and coal is brought direct from the mines of Pennsylvania to the central portions of Westchester County without change of cars. Under Mr. Gannon's careful management the direction of trains has been so perfect that no accident from col- lision has occurred siuce the road commenced running, while the rapid increase of business both in freight and passenger traffic must continue to increase to an indefinite extent.

The value of these facilities for communication with the city, and of the towns and villages with each other, which these one hundred miles at least of rail coaching in the county affords can scarcely be estimated whether we look to the addition of inhabi- tants or the increase in the value of real estate. This has indeed becn attended by a great reduction in the amount of its agricultural productions. Taking the average of crops of the whole county the yield is found to be about two-fifths less than that of forty years ago-before this immigration. The following table will present to the eye the steady decrease which has taken place in this direction since the opening out of this region as a place of residence for business men :

1839.

1854.

1874.

1879.

Wheat

35,267

35,248

24,426

22,698

Rye .

99,574

51,404

57,029

55,130

Oats .

449,090

204,759

173,894

238,509

Corn.

318,028

402,2381/2

323,076

377,357

Potatoes

620,920

286,249

334,966

326,092

Hay .

77,873

90,49678

73,113

69,221

Buckwheat.

57,226

20,89034

13,364

Wool.

52,085

6,069

From this exhibit of decline we turn to mark the increase in the value of the real and personal estate of the county. In the year 1840 the aggregate valuc was $10,650.064; in the year 1860, $41,527,907, and in 1884 $73,860,487.

These values, if viewed by their proportions to the entire estate values of the State of New York in the three years named, show how much the County has kept up its relative financial conscqueuce, notwith- standing the immense growths of the great cities and the subtractions from 1874 of the values of the three towns of Kingsbridge, Morrisania and West Farms. The total cqualized estate value of the State in 1840 was $639,171,000, in 1860 $1419,- 297,520 and in 1884 $3,014,591,372, the proportion being to that of the county in 1840 as 60 to 1, in 1860 as 34 to 1 and in 1884 as 41 to 1. This it is believed could be even more strongly presented. But while thus noticing the great increase in wealth, it is more of a satisfaction to observe the accom-

panying advantages moral and intellectual. The schools of the county have been brought up to a standard which will compare favorably with the most approved. Institutions of an eleemosynary character have been organized and opportunities for mental culture, additional to those which proximity to the city affords, are devised and well supported. By the increase' of churches and of religious ministrations the spiritual necessities of the people are subserved. Reference also should be made to the newspaper of the county, which has had a usefulness which cannot but with injustice be undervalued. It is a pleasure to speak, with the confidence of due consideration, of the skill and ability which has been displayed in its man- agement, to which is added regret that the files of the more than fifty journals published in the county in the last seventy-five years have not been more care- fully preserved. Not only, in consequence, have in- teresting facts been lost, but the subjects from time to time moving the public mind are not so easily recalled or understood. The first known newspapers of this County were started in the same year, 1810,-the Somers Museum, published by Milton F. Cushing, and the Westchester Gazette, by Robert Crombie. It would appear that the Sing Sing Republican is the legitimate successor of this Westchester Gazette. The Eastern State Journal and the Highland Democrat, (formerly Westchester and Putnam Democrat,) both started in 1845, claim rank next for agc, succeeded by the two Yonkers papers, the Gazette (at first Herald) of 1852 and the Statesman (formerly Westchester News) of 1853. With reference to these newspapers, as also to the many others, which will be named in the history of the several towns it is but right to declare how well, for purposes of information, intellectual advant- age, and amusement, the wants of these localities and of adjoining ones have been met by these bene- factors.

POLITICAL HISTORY .- The period between the declaration of peace and the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1789 was marked in Westchester County by little of concerted and united action in reference to the politics of the State or National governments. In 1784 Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt, of the town of Cortlandt, was Lieutenant-Governor of the State, and Generals Lewis Morris, of Morrisania, and Stephen Ward, of East Chester, were in the State Senate. Gen. Thomas Thomas, of Rye, was in the Lower House, having as his colleagues Philip Pell, Jr., of Pelham, Abijah Gilbert, of Salem, Ebenezer Purdy, of North Salem, Zebediah Mills, and Samuel Haight, sterling men in the trying times just past. The next year's election substituted Ebenezer Bur- ling, of East Chester, and Ebenezer Lockwood, of Poundridge, in place of Messrs. Mills and Haight. In 1786 Jonathan G. Tompkins of Scarsdale, ancS amuel Drake were chosen instead of Burling and Purdy, and in 1787 Jonathan Rockwell, Joseph Strang, and Ebenezer Purdy, (who was again returned, ) took the

483

GENERAL HISTORY FROM 1783 TO 1860.

seats of Drake, Gilbert and of Pell, (who had become Surrogate.) The Hon. Richard Morris, of Scarsdale, had been Chief Justice of the State since 1779, and Jolın Thomas, of Rye, or Jesse Hunt, of Westchester, sheriff's since 1777. Richard Hatfield, of White Plains, was Surrogate froui 1778 till 1787. In the list of su- pervisors of the county from 1783 to 1789 occur at least half a dozen of the names of the county officials just given, and to these may be added the following conspicuous members of the Board: Benjamin Stev- enson, of New Rochelle, also one of the Judges of the County ; Gilbert Budd, of Rye; Abel Smith, of North Castle; Hachaliah Browne and Thaddeus Crane, both of Upper Salem; Daniel Horton, of White Plains; James Hunt, of East Chester; William Miller, of Harrison; James Kronkhite, of Ryker's Patent, or Cortlandt; and Philip Pell, of Pelham, who was, in 1787, also sheriff of the county. From these details may be gathered a conception of the leadership in the political affairs of the County during the period im- mediately succeeding the Revolution.

The first political differences of a serious nature which arose in the State sprang up as the generally realized insufficieney of the government by a Confed- cracy brought forth various plans for the increase of its powers and efficiency. It was felt that the union of the States was merely in name, when the credit which that uuiou established was at the mercy of the States in their capricious dealings with it.

To the disappointment keenly enough felt by the enthusiastic friends of the Revolution was added a mortifying sense of the appareut fulfillment of the predictions of the encies of the Republic, that the whole movement would prove a failure, not more from its own folly than from the incompetency of the uutaught and inexperienced uiovers in it. In speak- ing of John Hancock and Samuel Adams, one of the Loyalist newspapers says : "When the lunacies of the former are separated from the villanies of the latter, tlie deluge of destruction that is certainly, though slowly, rolling after them will rapidly come on and .overwhelm them and their infatuated votaries in pro- digious ruin." Here in this County, where the " West- chester County Farmer" had poured forth lis entreat- ies and forebodings in view of the uprising against the British authority, the anxiety for the success of the new government could not but be intensified by these recollections, and by the daily contact with the many who had anticipated disaster. But notwithstanding all this desire to avoid a failure, there was a deep feeling that the safety of the people's rights was and would be much better secured under the more readily invoked protection of the State than under the dis- tant care, with distracting-oftentimes contradicting -interests, of a General Government. The head of the State of New York at this time was George Clinton, its great war Governor, who, by his popularity, as much as by his office, was possessed of great influenee with the people. While professing a sincere desire

for the continuance of the then Federal compact, and for its usefulness, and that the General Government should inspire respect at home and abroad, Governor Clinton resisted with ardor and firmness the making of any concessions which should weaken the State au- thority or further abridge its powers. The influence of his position and arguments on the public mind can readily be scen. But still abler and more practiced pens and voices were showing into what a pitiable condi- tion public affairs were running. General Schuyler, Chief Justice Livingston, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton were setting forth and urging the necessity for a change. Another call, more commauding the country over, was heard from Virginia, suggesting that the powers of the central government be increased.

In the convention which met at Philadelphia this couuty shares indeed with the State at large iu the honor of being represented by General Hamilton, but it is a pleasure to remember that in the person of Gouverneur Morris (a distinguished and influential delegate from Pennsylvania), who was born on West- chester soil and who returned again to represent her in the United States Senate, and whose remaius are sacredly enshrined in her bosom, she was preseut to form that wise and beueficeut iustrument. The Con- stitution thus offered to the States for adoption met with the fiercest opposition. Not only were its fea- tures faulted, but the conduct of the Couveutiou in transcending, as asserted, its powers, was fiercely as- sailed. "Instead of ameuding the Constitution," said Mr. Joues, " it had framed one." In Albany the new Constitution was publicly burned. In the choice of delegates to a convention which was now ordered to meet at Poughkeepsie, to pass upon its adoptiou by the State, the greatest excitement prevailed, and the terms Federalist and Anti-Federalist, as applied to separate parties, began to be used. The result in Westchester County proved that a deep interest was felt in the maintenance of a uniou between the States. Thaddeus Crane, of North Salem, Richard Hatfield, of White Plains, Philip Livingston and Lewis Morris, of Westchester, Lott W. Sarles, of New Castle, and Philip Van Cortlandt were chosen over their Anti-Federalist opponents by very large majorities. The Convention met, and on the 26th of July, by a vote of thirty to twenty-seven, ratified the proposed Constitution. In the affirmative vote are found the names of all the Westchester delegates. At the election for members of Assembly the strong party feeling is manifested by a complete change in the representation, the following persons, stroug Federalists, being returned : Thaddeus Crane, of North Salem ; Jonathan Horton and Philip Livings- ton, of Westchester; Judge Nathan Rockwell, of Lewisboro ; Walter Seaman and General Philip Van Cortlandt. At the assembling of the Legislature in December, however, such was the political complex- ion of the two Houses that the five delegates to repre- sent the State in the Continental Congress were

484

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

chosen from the Anti-Federal party, one of the five being Philip Pell, of this county. The satisfactory working of the new Constitution, the popularity of Washington's administration and the great advan- tages which the proximity of the seat of govern- ment to this county was offering, were all favor- able to the Federal party. Majorities in its favor continued through the succeeding ten years, in which two of the elections held-those of 1792 and 1796- had a direct bearing on national politics. Washing- ton entered withont dissent upon a second term of of- fice, General Stephen Ward, of East Chester, being one of the electors of this State and in 1797, John Adams, with the twelve votes of the State of New York, was closen in opposition to Mr. Jefferson. At the elcc- tion in 1798 there were plain indications of a falling away of the strength of the administration party throughout the State, which, although not borne out by the result the next year, were more than realized at the Presidential contest of 1800. Among the elec- tors chosen by the Legislature was Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt, Jr., of this county, who liad married a daughter of ex-Governor George Clinton, still the leader of the Republican party in the State. General Thomas, of Rye, an active Republican, who had been out of the Assembly for some years, is again restored to it. The hold thus taken upon the popular vote was retained with much tenacity during the whole period of Mr. Jefferson's administration. The coun- try was on the high road of prosperity. All interests shared in the general thrift. The ruling party must naturally benefit from such favoring circumstances. Its leading men in Westchester County in these days of Jefferson rule, besides Judge Thomas and Colonel Van Cortlandt, were Senator Ebenezer Purdy, of North Salem ; Abijah Gilbert, of Salem ; and Jona- than Ward, of East Chester. The position of Senator Purdy was also a commanding one in the Republican party at large. Iu 1802 he was a member of the Council of Appointment, in whose hands was the po- litical patronage of the State. In 1803, as chairman of the caucuses of the Republican members of the State Senate, he exercised a commanding influence in securing the nomination of General Morgan Lewis and preventing that of Aaron Burr as the standard bearer of the Republican party in the State in the election for Governor. There is no doubt that the movement which forced his resignation of his seat in 1806 arose from the knowledge of his devotion to Governor Lewis, whose prestige and strength it was thought desirable to destroy. It would seem that General Thomas, who was transferred from the House to the Senate in 1804, was in perfect accord with Mr. Purdy, and being himself a member of the Council of Appointment in 1806, joined with his associates in removing De Witt Clinton, the pronounced oppouent of Governor Lewis, from the mayoralty of the city of New York.

An event of much pride to the county in 1806 was

the election of Daniel D. Tompkins to be Governor of the State. Mr. Tompkins, although never represent- ing Westchester County in official position, having in early life made New York City his home, was, never- theless, a native of it, having been born at Scarsdale, and being a descendant of one of the first settlers of the adjoining towu of East Chester. His father, Jonathan G. Tompkins, had represented the county in the legislative body, which adopted the first State Constitution in 1777, and also in the convention which framed the second in 1801. He was a member of the Assembly during the Revolution, and several years after the close of the war. He was also for a long period a Judge of the county, and at the time of his son Daniel's election as Governor he had been for twenty-one years a Regent of the University of the State. The opponent of Daniel D. Tompkins was Governor Lewis, the Federalists in this, as in the previous clection, not setting up any candidate from their own ranks. It is a gratification to record the promotion at this saine time to the State Senate of Jonathan Ward, of East Chester, a son of General Stephen Ward, of earlier fame and usefulness.

In the year 1807 questions arose which, in their bearings on political parties, involved more than personal considerations. The British government, with its usual total indifference to the rights of other nations when its own interests are involved, adopted an order by which trade between its enemies and neutral powers was forbidden. France, in its turn, issued decrees which had the same result. The United States having expostulated with these governments to no effect, Congress, at the instigation of Mr. Jefferson, passed an Embargo Act upon all vessels within the limits of the United States. No clearances were to be furnished, and vessels sailing from one port of the United States to another therein were required to give bonds that the goods with which they were laden should be landed in some port in the United States. The object of this bill, in the language of Mr. Madison, was to make it " the interest of all nations to change the system which has driven our commerce . from the sea." "Great Britain will feel it (this em- bargo) in her manufactures, in the loss of naval stores, and ... in the supplies essential to her colonies." " France will feel it in the loss of all which she has hitherto received through our neutral commerce, and her colonies will be cut off from the sale of their productions and the source of their supplies." "They have forced us into the measure by the direct effect on us of measures founded in an alleged regard for their own eventual safety and essential interests." "Tlie occan -presents a field only where no harvest is to be reaped but that of danger, of spoliation, and of dis- grace." 1 It will be readily understood that this mea- sure, bearing so hardly upon the interests of all classes

1 National Intelligencer, Dec. 23, 1807. Hist. Magazine, Nov. 1873, p. 315.

485

GENERAL HISTORY FROM 1783 TO 1860.

of the community must have called forth the most violent objection and put to the severest strain the devotion of the Republican party to their great Head, the President, and to his destined successor, the then Secretary of State. The Representative in Congress from this District, General Philip Van Cort- landt, voted against the Embargo, and was drawn into opposition to Mr. Madison's aspirations. It is certain also that the Vice-President, George Clinton, did not approve of the "Act." But notwithstanding their dissatisfaction, these gentlemen still adhered to their party affinities, and by their course, no doubt, greatly counteracted the tendency of these measures to pro- duce political changes among their followers in New York. So their columns scem not to have seriously wavered in Westchester County at the next Senatorial election, when the Southern District, which lay in New York City, Long Island, Staten Island and Westchester County, elected both the Republican candidates. In the selection of Presidential electors, which soon followed, the fact that the difference on this point in the party was regarded of no moment is apparent in the concession of six votes to George Clinton, one of whom in all likelihood was Mr. White, of Westchester County. The Embargo bill was re- pealed before the close of Mr. Jefferson's adminis- tratiou, aud in place of it was enacted what has been entitled " the Non-intercourse Law," which forbade both importation and exportation. This change, in connection with fresh evidences of English animosity, seems to have had the effect to intensify the national feeling, and the consequence was, in 1810, an over- whelming defeat of the Federalists in all portions of the State. But the divisions in the Republican party that succeeded this victory gave their opponents the opportunity in the Presidential contest two years after to decide to which of the Republican candidates should fall the vote of the State, and the suffrages were given to De Witt Clinton. Mr. Madison was, however, re-elected.

General Van Cortlandt ardently supported Mr. Cliuton ; but Governor Tompkins, though unwilling to be regarded as inimical to him, yet felt himself bound to support Mr. Madison as the representative not only of the national Democracy, but of the mneas- ures which Congress had adopted for the maintenance of the national honor. But Mr. Clinton would allow of no half-way support. The consequence was that the difference soon shaped itself in the State as be- tweeu these two favorite citizens, and it needed but little time to prove that the largest sympathies were with the farmer's boy, as the Governor was styled. Mr. Tompkins is described as a man of much more than ordinary intellectual strength and enlture, but is better remembered for a cordiality and kindliness of manner that gave him great acceptableness and influence in his public and private relations. In the year 1815 Mr. Jonathan Ward, who had represented Westchester County in the State Senate, was sent as

member of Congress to Washington, and there is little doubt that this election had much political signifi- canec, from Mr. Ward's known opposition to Mr. Clinton. When the Presidential choice was to be made of a successor to Mr. Madison, it was evident that the choice lay between Mr. James Monroe and Governor Tompkins. The preferences of Mr. Madi- son had much weight with the Republican party, and Mr. Mouroe was elected, with Governor Tompkins as Vice-President. With the removal of this gentleman to Washington, the fortunes of De Witt Clinton re- vived, and the Republicans naming him, he was, alınost without opposition, elected Governor of the State. But the truee in party dispute, so welcome, was but the precursor of a contest in the State, and in the County of Westchester, of uncommon bitter- ness. It might be right here to state that the cham- pionship by Mr. Clinton of the measures for the con- struction of the Erie Canal, the importance of which was the more evident as the work progressed, gave him an increased hold upon the confidence of the people. This however was more immediately felt in the neighborhoods to be benefited than in others, as Westchester County, where the influence could only be indirect.

" It was a deceitful calm," says the historian of " New York Politics," speaking of Mr. Clinton's all but unanimous election. The elevation of one so re- gardless of party restraints was a bitter realization to the extreme Democracy. The Federalists, in their turn, iu expectation of some advantage, were only too glad to revive the old controversies, and Mr. Clinton was inclined, in his party conduct, to draw the line as between his personal friends and opponents. In Westchester County the election for Senators, in the spring of 1819, was carried on with great animation. Mr. John Townsend, of East Chester, who had been, a year or two before, a member of the Lower House, was elected Senator in opposition to Pierre Van Cort- landt, the Clinton candidate. It was at this time that the significant name, "Bucktail," designating the opponents of Mr. Clinton, sprang into usc. To the Tammany Society, a secret political organization of New York City, this gentleman was particularly odious, and, as one of the insignia of this "order " was the tail of the deer worn in their hats, the other party soon applied the term to all who sympathized with them in their feelings and action. The buck- tail, an emblem of success in the chase, was gladly appropriated by the Anti-Chiutonians and became the favorite decoration in each political campaign. It must have been somewhere about this time that the following incidents, related in a Journal of a trip to visit Chief Justice Jay and General Philip Van Cort- landt, occurred : " We now found ourselves in the town of North Castle, the inhabitants of which were assembled at this time to choose their officers. We discovered that they were all Bucktails. My friend, whose enthusiasm counterbalances his prudence, ven-

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 126

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354