History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 154

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 154

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).

604

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

which framed the Constitution of the United States. President Madison bcars testimony to his exertions for the promotion of harmony, and states that the draft of the Constitution was placed in his hands to receive its finished form. In 1788 he sailed for France and in January, 1791, visited London by appointment of President Washington as a private agent to the British government to settle unfulfilled articles of the treaty of peace. During his stay in London he re- ceived his appointment as minister to France. During the troubled times of the Directory in Paris he con- ducted the affairs of his office with great tact and prudence. In August, 1794, he was succeeded by Monroe, his recall having been asked by the French government after the recall of Citizen Genet at the request of the United States. He next made a tour of Europe, and while in Vienna endeavored to secure the relcase of Lafayette from Olmütz. In October, 1798, he returned home. In 1799 he was choseu United States Senator from New York. He sided in the Senate and for the remainder of his life with the Federalists. His term closed in March, 1803, after which he resided at Morrisania. On Christmas day, 1809, he married Miss Anne Carey Randolph, of Vir- ginia. Mr. Morris delivered funeral orations on Washington, Hamilton and Governor George Clin- ton and an inaugural discoursc before the New York Historical Society on his election as president, and contributed frequently in the later years of his life to the New York Evening Post, the Examiner and the United States Gazette. He was an early advocate of the Erie Canal and chairman of the canal commis- sioners from their first appointment, in March, 1810, to the time of his death, which occurred November 6, 1816. His life, with selections from his corre- spondence and papers, by Jared Sparks, was published in 1822. In person he so closely resembled Wash- ington that he stood as a model of his figure for Houdon, the sculptor.

The association of Alexander Hamilton with the history of Westchester County is of a tragic char- acter, for it was at Weehawken that he lost his life in the duel with Burr, July 12, 1804. One of his best known productions-his description of the fate of Major Andre-also liuks him with the literary chron- icles of the county, and one of his strongest, political papers was his reply to Dr. Seabury's supposed " West- chester Farmer" pamphlets. Of Andre he wrote, "Never, perhaps, did any man suffer death with more justice or deserve it less." Of the famous Federalist, papers, Hamilton wrote fifty-one out of eighty-five numbers. His life and public services are too well known to require consideration here. His fame will chiefly rest upon his able adminstration of the Treas- ury Department. In the eloquent language of Web- ster, "he smote the rock of the national resources and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpsc of the public credit and it sprung upon its feet."

James A. Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, lived in Greenburgh, north of Dobbs Ferry, from 1835 until his death. He was the author of an interest- ing volume entitled "Reminiscences of Men and Events at Home and Abroad During Three-Quarters of a Century," published by Charles Scribner & Co., New York, 1869.

General Alexander Hamilton, grandson of Alex- ander Hamilton, lives in Tarrytown, Greenburgh. He has written tragedies, poems, prose, etc., and is a highly cultivated and accomplished litterateur.

David Humphreys, the soldier poet of the Revolu- lution, composed his " Address to the Armies of the United States of America" in 1782, while encamped at Peekskill, the foe being in possession of New York and Charleston. He was the son of a Congregational clergyman, Rev. Daniel Humphreys, and was born in Derby, Connecticut, in 1753. He was educated at Yale, where he formed a personal and literary friend- ship with Dwight and Trumbull. He entered the Rev- olutionary army, and became a member of Washing- ton's military family, with the rank of colonel. He wrote a life of General Putnam, and a number of poems and plays. After the war he resided with Washington at Mount Vernon, and when he became Presideut, traveled with him to New York. Among his poetical productions is "Washington's Farewell to the Army," in verse. He held the diplomatic post of ambassador to Lisbon, 1794-1797, and minister to Spain, 1797-1802. He died at New Haven, February 21, 1818.

Robert Rogers, the noted ranger and writer, nar- rowly escaped being captured by Lord Stirling's troops at Mamaroneck, so that his associations con- nected with Westchester County were not, perhaps, of the pleasantest character. He was then a colonel in the British service, commanding the Queen's Rangers. After the incident at Mamaroneck he went to England, and was succeeded in his command by Colonel Simcoe .. He was a native of Dunbarton, New Hampshire, and early achieved reputation as cominan- der of a company of Rangers during the French War. His name is perpetuated by "Rogers' Slide " on Lake George, so-called from the daring act of Rogers in escaping from the Indians by sliding down the steep facc of the mountain to the shore of the lake. After many romantic adventures in this country and in Europe, he figured in 1775 as an ardent patriot. Washington, however, suspected him, and in June 1776, ordered his arrest. He professed to be on his way to offer his services to Congress, which body ordered his return to New Hampshire. He soon after openly espoused the cause of the King. He was pro- scribed and banished by his native State, and his sub- sequent history is unknown. Rogers published in 1765, his "Journals," a spirited account of his early adventures as a ranger, and in the same year, "A Concise Account of North America." In the follow- ing year, he published a tragedy, "Ponteach," founded on scenes of frontier life.

605

LITERATURE AND LITERARY MEN.

Rev. Nathaniel Scudder Prime, D.D., author of a "Treatise on Baptism" and the "History of Long Island," died at Mamaroneck, March 27, 1856. He was born at Huntington, L. I., April 21, 1785 ; gradu- ated in 1804 at Princeton College, from which, in 1848, he received the degree of D.D., and was or- dained a Presbyterian minister October 24, 1809.

In the spring of 1830 the Rev. Dr. Prime eame to Sing Sing with his family from Cambridge, Washing- ton County, N. Y. He had been invited by the trustees of the Mount Pleasant Academy, in Sing Sing, to be its principal and had accepted the appoint- ment. Having been the principal of the academy in Cambridge, he brought several pupils with him, and a high reputation as a scholar and teacher.

Dr. Prime was a very remarkable man. His father and grandfather were men of learning, and he him- self had made great attainments in the ancient languages, philosophy and mathematics. There was probably no superior to him as a teacher in this country at that time. His two eldest sons, Alanson Jermain and Samuel Irenæus, were associated with him in the work of instruction.

The Female Seminary in Sing Sing, then under the eare of Miss Dawson, was soon purchased by Dr. Prime, and his danghters, Miss Maria M. Prime and Miss Cornelia Prime, conducted the school with great success.

The academy flourished and attracted students from distant parts of the country.

The Presbyterian congregation of the village invited Dr. Prime to take charge of the pulpit, and he preached in it as stated supply about three years. He identified himself with the improvement of the place, taking an active part in all public movements of a philanthropie and moral character. In addition to the sons and daughters already named, two sons more were trained in the academy, Edward D. G. Prime and William C. Prime, the first-named graduat- ing at Union College and the other at Princeton. The oldest son, A. J. Prime, pursued the study of medieine with Dr. A. K. Hoffman, and was for many ycars a successful physician at White Plains, where he died April 3, 1864, aged fifty-three years.

During the time of Dr. Prime's principalship of the academy, and almost entirely through his persever- ance and enterprise, the large and handsome stone building now occupied by the institution was built, and it stands as a monument to his memory.

In the year 1835 Dr. Prime and his family removed to Newburgh, N. Y., where they conducted a female seminary and also the Newburgh Academy.

His son, Rev. Samuel Irenæns Prime, D.D., who died in 1885, was for many years the editor of the New York Observer, and known throughout the country as a graceful writer of travels and religions works, as well as for his able editorial management of the Observer. Hc was born at Ballston, N. Y., November 4, 1812, graduated at Williams College in

1829, was ordaincd a Presbyterian minister and re- ceived the degree of D.D. from Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia. His brother, E. D. Prime, also of the Observer, and W. C. Prime, formerly of the New York Journal of Commerce, were also residents of Sing Sing in early life.

John Swinburne, A.M., the distinguished scholar and teacher, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Angust 11, 1803. His father was a native of England, and came to this country when a young man. His mother was a native of Ireland, and was brought to the United States by her parents in early childhood. After their marriage his parents settled in Brooklyn, where they had three children,-two sons and one daughter. John was the eldest of the thrce. When twelve years of age he lost his father by deatlı. His educa- tion, from its carliest stages until he entered on the duties of active life, was directed by an English gen- tleman of rare attainments as a scholar and eminent skill as a teacher, and the successful results of his training were finely illustrated in the subsequent career of his gifted pupil. After leaving school he turned his attention for a short time to mereantile pursuits, and was engaged as book-kecper by a large commercial honse in North Carolina. Not finding this sphere of effort congenial to his taste, he returned, after a year and a half, to Brooklyn, where he estab- lished, and snceessfully condueted for ten years, a select school. On October 5, 1825, he was married to Mary W., daughter of Isaac Scarles, of Brooklyn. A few years afterward he accepted an invitation to the position of principal of White Plains Academy, an incorporated literary institution under the care of the regents of the State. This position he filled with the highest eredit to his ability as an educator of youtlı. While principal of this academy he received, as an entirely voluntary tribute to his learning and skill, the honorary degree of Master of Arts from the Wes- leyan University at Middletown, Conn. The president, Rev. Wilbur Fiske, D.D., LL.D., in presenting this degree, said, in his letter to Professor Swinburne: "This honor is regarded by our Faculty and Board of Trustees as justly due to your superior seholarship, as proved by the fact that your scholars, who enter onr Institution, arc the best fitted of any we receive."

In 1841, Professor Swinburne, who desired a school which should be subject to his sole anthority, and in which he might carry ont practically and fully his views of the proper education of boys, established "The White Plains Institute," a boarding-school for boys. The reputation of its proprietor and principal, as an aceomplished instrnetor and as a Christian gen- tleman of the highest qualities, was so extensively known and fully established, that from its opening applicants for admission to the institute were more numerous than could be received. He now found himself in just the sphere of educational effort which he had long wished. His school was his own, was ad- mirably located, liberally furnished in every depart-

606

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

ment, and would rise or fall as his long-cherished ideal of such a school should find practical realiza- tion from his efforts. To say that his success was pre-eminent is only to state a fact testified to by all who know the history of the school. The prominent characteristic of its instruction throughout was thoroughness. Mastery of the study pursued, at every step of progress made, was the end aimed at and re- quired ; and in this feature it strikingly resembled the celebrated Rugby School of Dr. Arnold in England. His scholars who left the school to enter upon a col- legiate course uniformly took a high rank, and often the highest rank, in scholarship iu the institutions they joined; and those who pursued a course prepara- tory to a business life liave almost invariably been found among the most successful and honored in the circles of mercantile and commercial enterprise. The advanced years of the professor are often glad- dened now by visits from his former pupils,-gener- ally gray-headed men and distinguished in their sev- eral spheres of life, who approach their venerable teacher and friend with strong and often touching expressions of respect, gratitude and affection. The lapse of years and the changes of more than a gen- eration seem only to have strengthened and made more tender the ties which were created by the rela- tion that once existed. From his early youth the professor evinced a remarkable genius for mathemat- ics. While yet a young man he was a contributor to some of the ablest mathematical periodicals of the country. Even now, when more thau eighty years of age, he is often found engaged in mathematical in- vestigations, as a mere pastime. This natural capac- ity for and pleasure in this science, connected with a peculiar facility in simplifying to young minds its rules aud processes, enabled the professor to awa- ken in his school that fondness for mathematical studies, and secure that unusual advancement in them, which was one of the marked results of his teaching.

With the literature of ancient Greece and Rome he has rare familiarity. Many of the most elegant of the classic authors of antiquity in their original languages are to him as hand-books, and his transla- tions of a number of them into our vernacular tongue are among the permanent aud most valuable fruits of his scholarly labors. He is now just finishing a trans- lation of the works of Horace, which, in fidelity to the original text, and in perspicuity and elegance of expression, will, in the opiniou of classical scholars who have had the privilege of examining his work, be superior to any we now have. It is earnestly de- sired that he will give these translations to the world through the press, and that his health and strength will be continued, that he may personally superintend their publication.

Among the sciences to which he has successfully given his attention is mineralogy, and through more than half a century he has been engaged in collecting

specimens from different parts of the world, till he has now a choice and valuable cabinet.

In 1853 Professor Swinburne met with an irrep- arable loss iu the death of his wife. This most estimable lady, naturally active and energetic, pos- sessed of superior practical wisdom aud endowed with great tenderness of affection, had rendered invaluable aid in the administration of a school whose government was peculiarly parental. Even after the lapse of more than thirty years, the testimony borne to her watchful care and mater- nal kindness, by those once pupils of the school, is a most touching tribute to her memory, and furnishes pathetic proof of the great loss sus- tained by the school in her decease. The uninter- rupted prosperity of the institute had secured to its proprietor a handsome competency ; and having no longer the important aid of his wife, he decided to retire from the school to whose interests he had given the best years of his life. In the sphere of a teacher of youth for thirty years, Professor Swinburne had earned and received its highest honors, and he could now lay aside its labors in the gratifying conscious- ness that to the advancement of the cause of educa- tion, second in importance to none that can employ the human mind, he had given his best powers and most devoted efforts.

Since his retirement from teaching, he has contin- ued his residence in White Plains, and has often been honored by his fellow-citizens with positions of responsibility and trust. On the organization of the fire department of the town, he was made its first presideut, and continued such for a uumber of years. When the village was incorporated, he was elected its first president, and re-elected for several successive terms. He was made the first president of the White Plains Savings Bank, and president and treasurer of the Board of Commissioners of Westchester Avenue. At the opening of the War of the Rebellion, and through its whole progress, his influence was power- fully felt in support of the cause of the Union. In luis eloquent appeals at public gatherings to the pa- triotisin of those who could take the field, as well as by his liberal contributions of money to aid in the raising and equipment of military organizations and to meet the wants of the families of soldiers who werc absent at the seat of war, he rendered most val- uable aid and inspired hearts in many an anxious home with gladness and hope. Professor Swinburne is a firm believer in the Christian faith. For more than forty years he has been in communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church and a liberal supporter of its worship at home and of its benevolent efforts through the land. Although eighty-three years of age and laboring under the physical infirmities incident to his years, his mental faculties continue unim- paired, and he enjoys his literary labors as highly, and enters into the current affairs of the day as ear- nestly and welcomes the society of his friends as cor-

607

LITERATURE AND LITERARY MEN.

dially, as when in the prime of life. The circle of his friends is almost unlimited, and rarely has a man lived who could boast of those more devoted.

Robert Havell, an eminent English engraver and publisher, resided for many years in Sing Sing. Mr. Havell distinguished himself as the publisher, as well as the chief engraver, of that workdl-renowned and su- premely sumptuous work, Audubon's " Birds of Amer- ica." This work appeared in ten magnificent vol- umes, so large as to occasion the invention of the term elephant folio. They contained over five hundred plates, colored to the life, each bird being shown in life size, even to the extent of a large specimen of the wild turkey. The subscription price was one thousand dollars per copy. Mr. Havell spent fourteen long years in engraving, with his own hands, the most difficult portions of this work. He also employed a full force of assistants. Besides this work, Mr. Havell also published the grand work of Lord Kingsborough on the "Antiquities of Mexico," in nine quarto volumes, richly illustrated. The subscription price of this work was one hundred and seventy-five pounds per copy. To the above must be added Donnovan's " In- sects of India " aud " Insects of China," two exceed- ingly beautiful illustrated works in quarto, and a su- perb folio on "Lilies and Amaryllas." After the completion of " The Birds of America," Audubon in- duced Mr. Havell to accompany him to this country. He came to Sing Sing, one day, to enjoy the scenery, and while there made a bid on a parcel of land then being sold at auction, and had it struck off to him. This surprised him, as he had made his bid more in jest than in earnest. However, he accepted the bar- gain, and subsequently built a house on the grounds and ocenpied it as his residence for many years. He eventually removed to Tarrytown, where he died a few years since. The Havell mansion was situated on the high grounds nearly opposite the grand gate- way of Dale Cemetery. The little avenue leading to these places still bears his name.

That distinguished English writer on mental disor- ders, the late Dr. Forbes Winslow, resided in Sing Sing for several years during his boyhood. His moth- er, who was then a widow, and her two sons, Forbes and Octavins, both of whom subsequently became celebrated, one as a physician, the other as a divine, resided for several years in a house that then stood where the present mansion of Mr. Frank Larkin now s.ands.

Rev. Robert Bolton, anthor of Bolton's "History of Westchester County," was born in the city of Bath, England, April 17, 1814. He was the eldest of the fourteen children of the Rev. Robert Bolton and Anne, daughter of the distinguished Rev. William Jay, of Bath

The Bolton family is of ancient British stock, their genealogy being traced up to the time of the Con- quest ; resident, anciently, at Bolton and Blackburn, in Lancashire, and Wales, in Yorkshire. In the long

line of the Bolton ancestry the name of Robert is rarely without a bearer. A number of these were distinguished for their learning and picty. A Rob- ert, born in 1572, was noted at Lincoln and Brazen Nose Colleges, Oxford, for his varied accomplish- ments, and afterward as a divine. A Robert, born in England in 1688, became a prominent mer- chant in Philadelphia. His son Robert, born in 1722, was a merchant in Savannah, Georgia. His son Robert, born in 1757, became a very prominent merchant of Savannah, and the owner of much valuable real estate. His son Robert, born in 1788, in Savannah, became a merchant in Liverpool, Eng- land, afterward the rector of Christ Church, Pel- ham, Westchester County, and subsequently chap- lain to the Earl of Ducie, at Tortworth, in Glou- cestershire. His son Robert is the subject of this sketch.

Mr. Bolton and his four brothers became clergy- men in the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was ordained a deacon in October, 1868, and a presbyter in June, 1869. He was rector of St. John's Church, South Salem, at the time of his death.

His brother, William Jay, at the time of his death, was rector of St. James', Bath, England, and an au- thor of note; John is rector of Trinity Church, West- chester, Pa .; Cornelius Winter is rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Pelhamville, Westchester County; and James was the incumbent of St. Paul's Chapel, Kilburn, London. All of Mr. Bolton's sisters who survived youth achieved distinction in teaching, in literature or in art.

Robert Bolton was educated in England, and stnd- ied medicine there, but never practiced it as a pro- fession. He came to this country in 1836, and set- tled at Bronxville, in East Chester, becoming a farmer. From there he removed to New Rochelle and published his first book, "The Guide to New Rochelle." He then removed to Tarrytown and en- gaged in teaching, an occupation to which he gave attention for the remainder of his life. He there be- came principal of the Irving Institute, and enjoyed intimate relations with Washington Irving, who had long been a close friend of his father. He next re- moved to Bedford, taking charge of the Female Iu- stitute there, and afterward founded a school in Lew- isboro.

While preparing the " Guide to New Rochelle " he became interested in Westchester County history, and at once began the collection of the materials which he published in two volumes in 1848. The labor involved in this work, in the searching of collections of documents, the examination of papers and the personal visitatiou of every spot of interest and nearly every person of advanced age, was very great. His knowledge of the history of county localities was remarkable. He was actively engaged in the revi- sion of his history at the time of his death. He was also the author of the "History of the Protestant

608

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Episcopal Church in Westchester County," and of the " Memoirs of the Bolton Family."

In 1838 he married Elizabeth Rebecea, daughter of James Brenton, of Newport, R. I .; she died in 1852. In 1854 he married Josephine, daughter of Brewster Woodhull, of Patehogue, L. I., by whom he had eleven children.

Mr. Bolton's father founded the celebrated Bolton Priory, at Pelham, with which the family name has been so prominently connected. He purchased this estate, charmingly situated upon the shore of Long Island Sound, in 1837, and ereeted thereon a hand- some stone edifiee for a residence, and laid out the grounds with surpassing taste. This was afterward used for a young ladies' school, and under the man- agement of Miss Nanetta Bolton, became justly famous. Here Robert Bolton, the historian, died October 11, 1877.

Beside being a laborious, painstaking historian, a diligent teacher and an earnest minister, Mr. Bolton was accomplished in many ways. He was dexter- ous in wood-earving, apt with his peneil and skill- ful in painting. He had a passion for the antique, and was a man of peculiarly fine and cultivated tastes.

Rev. Cornelius Winter Bolton, brother of Robert Bolton, the historian, was born in Bath, England, June 3, 1819. He came to this country and studied divinity at the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Va .; was admitted to dea- con's orders in 1847, and was ordained priest in 1848. In 1850 he became assistant minister of Christ Church, Baltimore, and in 1855 rector of Christ Church, Pelham. In 1858 he was rector of South Yonkers Church, and he then became minister of St. George's Chapel, in New York City. He became rcetor of St. Mark's Church, New Castle, in 1867, and then of St. Stephen's, North Castle,and at pres- ent is rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Pel- hamville.

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.

History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 154

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