History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 157

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 157

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Thrown upon his own resources, Poe turned to literature for support. In 1829, he had published in

1 Hist. Mag., Feby., 15;2.

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Baltimore a volume of poems, " Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems," which had been received with favor. He seems to have had but little difficulty in obtaining employment from magazines and newspapers, but the pay was meagre. In despair he enlisted iu the army and then deserted. Luckily for him, in 1833 he entered the competition for prizes offered by the Baltimore Saturday Visitor for a story and a poem. He was awarded both prizes but was subsequently excluded from the second prize and only given that for the story. His story was the "MSS, found in a Bottle" and his poem "The Coliseum." His produc- tions attracted the notice of John P. Kennedy, the novelist, who befriended him and finally sccured him employment on the Southern Literary Messenger. This may be said to have been the beginning of Poe's literary career. In 1835, he was made editor of

have sheltered Washington and some of his generals iu the days of the Revolution. The front windows command the Boulevard (formerly Bloomingdale Road) and the new Riverside Park. The Hudsou is seen through the trees, with the lofty Palisades be- yond, a view still meet for the poet, and far more picturesque and beautiful when Poe looked upou it. Poe was often seen walking aloug the banks of the river, aud he and his wife no doubt were wont to sit at the western window and watch the decline of the sun as it sauk to rest behind the embattled front of the Palisades. The room formerly occupied by Poe and in which " The Raven" was written, is an apart- ment of moderate size, on the second floor of the house. Its windows look out upon the Hudson. The mantel, a relic of by-gone days, is of wood, curiously carved and painted in imitation of ebony. Here, be-

THE HOUSE IN WHICH POE WROTE "THE RAVEN."

that publication at a salary of five hundred dollars per annum and removed to Richmond, where he mar- ried his cousin, Virginia Clemm.

In January, 1837, he left Richmond and returned to Baltimore, whence he proceeded to Philadelphia and New York. In Philadelphia he obtaiucd employ- ment as a contributor to the Gentleman's Magazine, and in May, 1839, was made its editor. In the fol- lowing year he took charge of Graham's Magazine. In the spring of 1843, he wrote "The Gold Bug," for which he received a prize of oue hundred dollars. He had previously written a number of critical pa- pers and stories, among them "The Mystery of Marie Roget." In the autumn of 1844 he removed to New York. His residence at first was on what is uow Eighty-fourth Street. The house, a large bleak structure, stands ou a rocky elevation. It is said to

fore the old fashioned fire-place, the poet sat and dreamed his wonderful dreams, the weirdest of which, perhaps, is embodied in " The Raven."

Poe's next place of residence was Fordham. In the winter of 1846, says one of his biographers, he was living in extreme destitutiou at Fordham. In the meantime he had been employed by Willis & Morris, as critic and assistant editor of The Mirror, a position which he retained about six months, and as associate editor with C. F. Briggs of The Broadway Journal. The latter publicatiou ceased in January, 1846, and Poe then began a series of papers, "The Literati of New York City," which were published in The Lady's Book. Their pungency aud personality created for him many enemies. His troubles now be- gan to thicken. His wife's health, which had always been delicate, was failing rapidly and Poe was sub-

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jected to the agony of seeing her fading, day by day, without the means at hand to minister properly to hier comfort. His necessities were finally made known by some friendly hand in the newspapers and a sub- scription was raised in his behalf. But, although his sufferings were extreme, he must have had many gleams of happiness in the little old-fashioned cottage at Fordham. It is a quaint little structure, a story and a half high, with a white shingled gable-end to- ward the street and a porch on one side. It is perched on the top of a hill and is surrounded by old fruit- trees, mossy stone walls and thiekets of brambles and flowers. In one of his papers on the Literati, Poe severely criticised Dr. Thomas Dunn English, who retorted in a personal article which was reproduced in the Evening Mirror. Poe thereupon sued for libel and recovered from the Mirror several hundred dol- lars, with which he refitted his cottage. His life at this time was one of singular domestic tranquillity and sweetness. His mother-in- law, Mrs. Clemm, who seems to have been much attached to him, watched over him with tender kindness and solicitude, and managed the affairs of the little household with great skill and prudence. Poe's affection for his wife and her mother is the one bright spot in his sombre life. In a tender letter of June 12, 1846, to his wife he speaks of Mrs. Clemm as "our mother," and declares that his " dear Virginia " is his "great- est and only stimulus now, to battle with this nncongenial, unsatisfactory and ungrateful life." Nearly all the personal reminiscences of Poe which tell of his life at Fordham are of a bright and pleasing character. One of his friends describes his wife as looking very young. "She had large, black eyes and a pearly whiteness of complexion which was a perfect pallor. The pale face, her brilliant eyes and her raven hair gave her an unearthly look. One felt that she was al- most a disrobed spirit, and when she conghed it was made certain that she was rapidly passing away." Mrs. Clemm, we are told, "was a tall, dignified old lady with a most lady-like manner, and her black dress, though old and much worn, looked really ele- gant on her." The same informant says, "the cot- tage had an air of taste and gentility that must have been lent it by the presence of its inmates. So neat, so poor, so unfurnished, and yet so charming a dwel- ling I never saw."

A short distance back of the cottage there is a rocky elevation, crowned with cedars. It overlooks

a pleasant landscape and the hills of Long Island in the distance. Tradition asserts that this was a favor- ite spot of Poe's, and here, perhaps, he wove in his brain the ideas which found expression in " Eureka," " Annabel Lee," " For Annie " and " Ulalume," all of which were written while he lived at Fordham. Another favorite resort was the Aqueduct pathway, leading from High Bridge to Fordham.

A recently published description of the cottage and its surroundings says : " Two years ago the place was sold at public auction, under foreclosure, and it was bid in for five thousand seven hundred dollars. The unpaid taxes and accrued interest amounted to some- thing more than that. From the railroad station the road winds up the Fordham hill to the cottage, with the native rock as a pavement. The cottage seems no more than a little paint-box, shingled on the sides as well as the roof, and covered with vines on whichi

EDGAR ALLAN POE'S HOME AT FORDHAM.

the foliage is now appearing. It is only a few feet from the road, but in summer is almost obscured by the trees. Within, the rooms are more spacious than they appear from the road. A cherry-tree planted by Poe, now vigorous and thrifty, shades a pleasant porcli. There are two good-sized rooms, a bed-room and a kitchen on the lower floor. In the front room Virginia, Poe's invalid wife, lay through her sickness, and died. On the upper floor there are three rooms, one of them quite large. The old-fashioned chimney passes through it, affording an old-time fire- place, which in winter, when filled with crackling wood, would be a cheerful place. It was a favorite room with the poet, and here he wrote " Ulalume " and " Eureka."

"Poe moved to Fordham from Amity Street. Washington Square was then the centre of the fine

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residences of the city, and his house in Amity Street, | bor, Mrs. Reuben Cromwell, then a young girl. She into which he moved when the ' Raven ' had brought said recently that the first time she saw Poe he was up in a cherry-tree picking the fruit, and his wife stood beneath the tree. ' He was a nice-looking young man,' continued Mrs. Cromwell, 'and soci- able.' His wife had come out here to get the good air, he said, and to dig in the ground and get well. But she was too thin and weak to dig. She soon be- came ill and never came out until she was buried. Her mother they called Muddie, and Mr. Poe they always called Eddic. They were awful poor ; poorer than I ever want to be. him a reputation, was only a short distance from the square. He had been engaged on the Evening Mir- ror at a salary of ten dollars a week, and in a suit against the paper for libel, after resigniug his posi- tion, he secured a verdict and obtained several hun- dred dollars. With this money he secured the Ford- ham cottage, at a rental of one hundred dollars a year, furnished it and removed there with his wife and her mother, Mrs. Clemm, who remained there until Poe's death in 1849. The grounds, comprising about two acres, are as interesting as the house, and have asso- " Mrs. Cromwell describes going over to the house the morning that she heard of Poe's death. Mrs. Clemm was packing his things, having received a letter from him the day before, in which he wrote of his intended ciations reaching back to Revolutionary times, wheu this neighborhood was a part of the 'neutral ground' and the field of Cooper's 'Spy.' The lawn slopes into a grassy hollow. A massive ledge of blue-" marriage to a Baltimore lady, and said that he would come on for her. She was overcome when informed of his death, and was sure that he would not have died had she been there to ' nurse him in his bad spell.' The neighbors raised money to enable her to go to Baltimore. Poe had not paid any rent for several months, and Mrs. Clemm afterwards returned and sold their few effects. Among these Mrs. Cromwell obtained the family Bible, a rocking-chair and a clock, which she still retained as relics of her distinguished but unfortunate neighbor."

In January, 1847, Poe's wife died and was buried in the church-yard of the old Dutch Church, on the King's Bridge road, about half a mile to the westward of the cottage. She was laid in the vault belonging to the Valen- tine family, who owned the cottage which Poe rented. In 1878 the remains were taken to Baltimore, to be placed beside those of her devoted " Edgar," and the vault itself has now disappeared. After the death of his wife, Poe's sister, Rosalie, came to live with him at Fordham. Poe continued to reside in the THE OLD DUTCH CHURCH, FORDHAM. - cottage until June, 29, 1849, when he started forth on the journey which terminated in his gray rock overlooks the valley at the height of a hun - death. Before leaving, he arranged his papers and instructed Mrs. Clemm as to what disposition to make of them in case he died. After spending some time in Richmond he started on his return to New York, but got no farther than Baltimore when he was taken ill, and died in an infirmary on the 7th of October, 1849, at the age of thirty-eight.

dred fcet and forms the eastern wall of the place. The site is said to have been occupied at one time by a British battery. Now a tennis club, composed of young men and women of Fordham, meets on the lawn in summer. The rocky ledge commands a view of the Long Island hills in purple background and against the horizon. In the growth of the city it is likely to become one of the choice sites for resi- dences.

"The place rents for four hundred dollars a year. For several years it has been occupied by Mrs. E. D. Dechert, the widow of an engineer who drew many of the plans of Central Park, and afterward most of the avenues aud drives of Fordham. A few of those who knew Poe and his family are still living in the neighborhood. One of these was his nearest neigh-

Rev. Daniel Curry, D.D., the clergyman and author, was born near Peekskill, November 26, 1809; gradu- ated from the Wesleyan University in 1837, and in the same year became principal of the Troy Con- ference Academy, at West Poultney, Vermont. In 1839 he became a professor in the Georgia Female College at Macon, and in 1841 entered the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He filled pastoral charges at Athens, Savannah and Columbus, and in 1844 was transferred to the New

Charles W. Baird

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York Conference where he continued to engage in pastoral work until 1854, when he was chosen presi- dent of the Indiana Asbury University, at Green- castle, Indiana. After three years he returned to New York and in 1864 was elected editor of the Christian Advocate, at New York. He was re-elected in 1868 and 1872, and in 1876 became the editor of the Ladies' Repository of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Dr. Curry has written much for the periodicals of his church in addition to the articles which he gave to his regular editorial work. He has pub- lished a "Life of Wyckliff," "The Metropolitan City of America," and a "Life of Bishop Davis W. Clark," and has edited the writings of the late Rev. Dr. James Floy, and an edition of Southey's " Life of Wesley."

Rev. Robert Baird, D.D., the author and philan- thropist, spent the closing hours of his busy life in Westchester County, dying at Yonkers on the 15th of

REV. DANIEL CURRY, D.D.

March, 1863. Born in Fayette Co., Pennsylvania, in 1798, he was graduated at Jefferson College in 1818. and received the degree of D.D. in 1842. From 1835 to 1843 he was the most part of the time in Europe, striving to revive the Protestant faith in the south of the continent, and to promote the eause of temperance in the North. He published a number of valuable works. His son, Professor Henry MI. Baird, D.D., LL.D., of Yonkers, professor of Greek in the University of New York, is a distinguished scholar and historian. He has published a book of travels entitled, " Modern Greece," and more recently a " History of the Rise of the Huguenots of France," 2 vols. Svo., which has taken rank among the more important historical works of the day.

Another son, Rev. Charles W. Baird, D.D., is the author of two chapters of this work, the histories ofthe the towns of Rye and Harrison, and is a distinguished literateur. He was born in Princeton, N. J., August 28, 1828, and was graduated at the University of the

city of New York in 1848 and at the Union Theo- logical Seminary in 1852. He was ordained for the ministry and in 1852-54 was the American chaplain in Rome, Italy. In 1859-61 he was the minister at the Reformed Dutch Church on Bergen Hill, Brook- lyn, N. Y., and since May 9, 1861, has been pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Rye, N. Y. Dr. Baird has written "Eutaxia: Historical Sketches," New York, 1855; "A Book of Public Prayer," New York, 1857; " History of Rye, N. Y.," 1870; "His- tory of Bedford Church," 1882; "History of the Huguenot Emigration to America," 2 vols., 1885.

Elias Cornelius, D.D., the educator and missionary, was born at Somers in 1794, graduated at Yale Col- lege in 1813 and died at Hartford, Conn., February 12, 1832. In early life he studied theology and in 1816 visited the Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians as a missionary. In 1818 he went to New Orleans in the employ of the Missionary Society of Connecti- cut. Iu July, 1819, he was installed with Dr. Wor- cester at Salem, but upon being appointed, in Sep- tember, 1826, secretary of the American Educational Society he was dismissed. He contributed to the Quarterly Journal and published the reports of his educational society.

His father was surgcon's mate of Colonel Angell's regiment during the Revolution, and at one time an inmate of the "Jersey " prison-ship. He died at Somers, June 13, 1823, aged sixty-five years.

Among the eminent men who, after having made high reputations for themselves in other localities, selected Yonkers as the home of their ad- vanced life, is Professor William Hohnes Chambers Bartlett. For more than forty years he was identified with the United States Military Academy at West Point, first as a cadet, and subsequently as Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy. The lead- ing particulars of his life, obtained in outline from Cullum's " Register of the Officers and Graduates " of the academy, with such details as we have been able to gather from other sources, are as follows :

Professor Bartlett was born in Pennsylvania in September, 1804, but as his parents removed imme- diately after his birth to St. Louis, Missouri, his childhood and youth were passed in the latter State, and it was from it that he was in due time sent to West Point. His parents were poor, and as there were then no schools at the West, he had no home advantages for education. Attracting, however, the notice of Missouri men who were able to command the influence of Senator Thomas H. Benton, an ap- pointment was procured for him as a cadet. He was received at West Point on the 1st of July, 1822, at seventeen years and eight months of age, stood at the head of his class through his whole four years of study, and was graduated at its head on the 1st of July, 1826, having served as Acting Assistant Profes- sor of Mathematics during the last two years of his "course. From August 30, 1826, to August 30, 1829,

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he continued to be employed at the academy, first as Assistant Professor, and later as Principal Assistant Professor of Engineering. In 1828 he took part as assistant engineer in the construction of Fortress Monroe, Va., and from 1829 to 1832 was engaged in the construction of Fort Adams, Newport Harbor, R. I. From 1832 to 1834 he was assistant to the chief engineer at Washington, D. C. In the latter year he returned to the Point, and became Acting Profes- sor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy. To the full professorship in this department he finally received an appointment from General Jackson in 1836, and continued to fill the position until 1871, when he resigned and was appointed colonel in the regular army on the retired list. The instril- ment by which he was appointed to his professorship in 1836 is still in his possession. It was forwarded to General Cass, and sent by him, through his son, to Professor Bartlett. It was as follows:

" I hereby appoint Second Lieut. William H. C. Bartlett, of the Corps of Engineers, Prof. of Nat. and Exper. Philosophy (vice Courtney resigned.

(Signed,)

ANDREW JACKSON.

During the student days of Professor Bartlett, as we have seen, he spent two years in teaching in the acad- emy. Many mncn, afterwards distinguished in United States history, and several who, on both sides, in our civil contest, became men of mark, were at the institu- tion. Leonidas Polk, a relative of James K. Polk, and afterwards Bishop of Louisiana, was his room-mate, and Albert Sidney Johnston, afterwards killed at the battle of Shiloh, was both his room-mate and class- mate. Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lec and Charles Mason (afterwards Judge Mason, of Iowa) were under his instruction, as were many others who in due time became widely noted.

While engaged in the construction of Fort Adams, between 1829 and 1832, Professor Bartlett contributed to Silliman's Journal a paper on "The Expansibility of Coping Stones," which has been frequently referred to by foreign writers. During his life in Washington (1832 to 1834), as first assistant to Chief Engineer (Gen- eral) Gratiot, he had a great deal to do with the engi- neering ou the Cumberland National road, and with fortifications all over the country. In 1840 he was ordered by President Van Buren, through his Secre- tary of War, Mr. Poinsett, to examine the European observatorics, with a view to improving the course of instruction in astronomy, practical and theoretical, in the Military Academy. In this work he was absent from the country about five months, and made many valuable acquaintances in Europe. On his returu he submitted to the War Department the report of his work, the receipt of which was duly acknowledged. It is a misfortune, however, that this valuable report lias in some way been lost. Frequent search has been made for it, but without success. It suggested a plan for an observatory to be located in Washington City.

In addition to these labors, the Professor, during his long service at the Point, prepared several text- books for the use of the cadets. In 1839 he pub- lished a "Treatise on Optics;" in 1858, one on "Synthetical Mechanics," and another on "Spherical Astronomy," and in 1859 one on "Acoustics and Optics " and another on " Analytical Mechanics." Before finally retiring from his professorship he also published an article entitled "Strains on Rifle Guns," which will be found in the Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume I. It was also sep- arately published. All this shows the years of his life at West Point to have been busy and productive. In 1847 Geneva College conferred upon the professor the degree of Doctor of Laws. The degree of Master of Arts had been conferred upon him as an honorary degree by the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, ten years before. He is a member of the Philosoph- ical Societies of Philadelphia and Boston, and is one of the original corporators of the American Academy of Science, incorporated by Congress.

His books and his writings in periodicals are a monument to Professor Bartlett's scholarship and industry. The value of his books may be inferred from the fact that they have passed through a succes- sion of editions. The ninth edition of " Analytical Mechanics " was published in 1874. We judge from a mere passing sentence in the preface to the second edition that, in the so-called conflict between scien- tists and the Bible, this eminent scholar and scientist has no sympathy with Anti-Theism. Speaking of a mathematical formula which he framed and which expresses the laws that govern the action and reaction of forces upon bodies, he says of this formula,-

" It embraces alike, in their reciprocal action, the "gigantic and distant orbs of the celestial regions " and the proximate atoms of the ethereal atmosphere " which pervades all space, and establishes an un- " broken continuity upon which its divine architect " and author may impress the power of His will at a " single point and be felt everywhere."

This, even iu an academy text-book, is a strong tribute to Theism, and when it is added as a fact that Professor Bartlett is a worthy member of the Episco- pal communion, [it may be safely taken as a tribute to Theism in its Christian phase.

In 1871, at sixty-seven years of age, Professor Bartlett was retired at his own request. On the 1st of July he removed from West Point to Yonkers, and took possession of a fine residence which he had purchased for himself on Locust Hill Avenue. Here he has since lived. At the time of his retirement from the Point he was elected actuary of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, and this posi- tion he still holds, faithfully fulfilling its duties day by day, even at eighty-one years of age. He has ren- dered exceedingly valuable service to the company. Among his labors have been the construction of tables to facilitate their office work, and the prepara

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tion of an elaborate report of thirty-one years of the working of their institution.

Professor Bartlett was married during his work upon Fort Adams, in Newport Harbor, February 4, 1829, to Miss Harriet Whitehorne, daughter of Sam- uel Whitehorne, a merchant of that place. He has had eight children, of whom four sons and three daughters are yet living. Mrs. Bartlett is also still spared. The professor, though somewhat infirm, is still both mentally and physically active, keeps up a deep interest in passing events, and is a fluent and sprightly conversationalist and companion, full of rem- iniscences of tlie country's history, and of an eventful and interesting personal life.

Rev. John A. Todd, D.D., pastor of the Second Reformed Church of Tarrytown, N. Y., who con- tributed to this work the two chapters on the history of the townships of Greenburgh and Mount Pleasant, is a native of Somerset County, N. J., and a graduate of Rutgers College and of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church, at New Brunswick, N. J. After completing his course at the Seminary, in 1848, he was settled towards the latter part of that year as pastor of the Reformed Church of Griggstown, N. J. His personal connection with Westchester County dates back to 1855, when he accepted the call of the Second Reformed Church of Tarrytown, and entered upon his duties as pastor. Having lived since then in the midst of the historical scenes of which he has written, and having enjoyed the friendship of many whose ancestors had long lived there before them and had borne a prominent part in the great revolutionary struggle, he has had peculiar opportunities of in- formation in regard to the localities described.

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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 157

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