History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 159

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

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turned to New York City, where he afterwards rc- sided.

Henry Ward Beecher, the great pulpit orator and author, has made his summer home at Peckskill for many years. Mr. Beecher comes of a remarkable family. His father, Lyman Beccher, was one of the famous divines of his day, and of his four sons cach rose to eminence in the ministry, while his two daughters were equally prominent in literature, one of them, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, achieving a world-wide reputation as the author of " Uncle Tom's Cabin." Henry Ward Beecher was born in Litch- field, Conn., June 24, 1813, graduated at Amherst College in 1834, and studied divinity at the Lane Theological Seminary at Cincinnati. He first had charge, as an ordained minister, of a Presbyterian congregation at Lawrenceburgh, Ind., whence he re- moved in 1839 to Indianapolis. In 1847 he left the latter city to accept the pastorate of Plymouth Con- gregational Church at Brooklyn, N. Y., which he has rendered famous throughout the land as the church in which he preaches. Mr. Beccher has been equally successful on the lecture platform, and has long occu- pied an undisputed position as one of the leading orators of the country. He has been a voluminous contributor to the press, and assisted in founding two religious newspapers-The Independent and The Chris- tian Union, both of which achieved a large circula- tion and commanding influence. He has published a number of essays, lectures, etc., in book form, which have been read by many thousands of people, and his published sermons have long commanded a host of readers. In April, 1865, Mr. Beecher, at the request of the federal government, delivered an oration at Fort Sumter on the anniversary of its fall, and on the occasion of the formal restoration of the national flag by Major Anderson. Besides his other literary labors, Mr. Beecher edited "The Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes," a work largely used by churches that practice congregational singing. In 1867 he wrote for the New York Ledger, for which he had pre- viously contributed a series of papers teaching the art of profit and enjoyment in familiar objects-a novel entitled, " Norwood; or, Village Life in New Eng- land," which was afterwards published in book form. In 1872 he published "The Life of Jesus Christ : Part I .- Earlier Scenes," of which the introductory " Overture to the Angels," had appeared iu 1869. In the same year he accepted the " Lyman Beecher Lec- tureship on Preaching," then recently founded in the theological department of Yale College. Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher has also contributed to the press, and in 1859 published anonymously a work of fiction, "From Dawn to Daylight : A Simple Story of a West- ern Home, by a Minister's Wife." Her "Motherly Talks with Young Housekeepers " appeared in 1873.

Alexander H. Wells was born January 18, 1805, at Cambridge, Washington County, N. Y., to which his father, Daniel, son of Edmonds Wells, had emi-

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

grated from Hebron, Tolland County, Conn., about the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Edmonds Wells was one of six patentees of the tract twelve miles square now embraced in the townships of Cam- bridge, White Creek and Jackson, Washington Coun- ty. On his mother's side Alexander H. was descended frem Rev. Elijah Lothrop, a stern Whig, who was the Congregationalist minister at Gilead, Tolland County, Conn., during the Revolution. Gilead was also the residence of Rev. Dr. Peters, the historian, who was roughly treated by his patriotic neighbors and finally driven out of the town, whence he escaped to England. Hannah, the daughter of Dr. Lothrop, married Daniel Wells. When a girl, she saw the people riding Peters on a rail, and when he returned to this country the reminiscence was renewed in con- versation between them. Alexander H. was the youngest son and sixteenth child of his parents. He graduated at Cambridge Academy and devoted his life to politics and journalism. In 1840 Governor Sew- ard appointed him surrogate of Westchester County, and in 1848 he was appointed warden of Sing Sing prison by David D. Spencer, Isaac N. Comstock and John B. Gedney, the first inspectors under the con- stitution of 1847. In the fall of 1848 he was himself elected to Gedney's place in the board. He was edi- tor of the Weekly Times, Haverstraw, Rockland County, four years ; of the Hudson River Chronicle, Sing Sing, three years; and of the Daily Times, Troy, three years. As a journalist he possessed much force and facility, but his headstrong disposition carried him into fre- quent situations from which he was forced to retreat. As usual with men of his combative temperament- for he was happiest in a controversy-he had warm friends and bitter enemies.

In 1829 he married Mary Collins, of Bloomfield, N. J., and they had two children, one of whom, Mary Elizabeth, was born January 3, 1838, and died Au- gust 7, 1848. Margaret, the oldest daughter, married Horace Stone, a St. Louis merchant, and died in 1881, leaving one son, Hamilton Stone.

Mr. Wells died at Sing Sing December 21, 1857, and is buried in Dale Cemetery, beside his youngest daughter and his wife. The latter survived him fifteen years, dying October 21, 1872.

Mr. James Wood has contributed largely to the lit- erary development of Westchester County by his writings, his lectures and his earnest efforts to pro- mote intellectual activity and especially historical re- search. He is the author of two chapters in this work -that on the Indians of Westchester County and another on the Early Explorations and Settlers of the County, and has aided the compiler in many ways- by suggestions, by correcting manuscripts and read- ing proof and by lending his valuable support in var- ious directions to the promotion of the enterprise. He is justly regarded as one of the most intelligent and public-spirited gentlemen in the county and as ne of its most cultured and useful citizens.

James Wood was born November 12, 1839, at the place where he now resides, and where his father and grandfather lived before him, one mile north of the present village of Mount Kisco, in the town of Bedford. He bears his grandfather's name. His father's name was Stephen. He died in 1876. His brothers were Henry, Charles and John J., of whom the first alone is now living. There were three sisters. James is the youngest of the family.

The family came from Long Island early in the last century. They are descended from Jonas Wood, who came from Halifax, in England, in 1635, and was named in the patent of Hempstead in 1644. He was connected with the family of Lord Halifax.

Mr. Wood's mother was Phoebe, daughter of Caleb Underhill, of Yorktown, a descendant of John Un- derhill, who came from Ettington, in Warwickshire, England, and settled at Oyster Bay, Long Island, in 1667. The Underhill mansion and buildings are still standing at Ettington, while numerous brasses and monuments to members of the family remain in the old parish church. The estates are now in the pos- session of Lord Frere's family-the Shirleys-with whom the Underhills intermarried. Another John Underhill of this family was chaplain to Queen Eliz- abeth, and was made Bishop of Oxford in 1589.

Mr. Wood married, June 7, 1866, Emily Hollings- worth Morris, daughter of Henry Morris, of Phila- delphia. They have three children,-Ellen M., Caro- lina M. and Levi Hollingsworth.

Mr. Wood attended the Reynolds Academy, at Bedford, in 1850 and '51, Westtown School, Pa., in 1851 and '52, and entered the sophomore class in Haverford College, Philadelphia, in 1853. From this college he has the degree of Master of Arts. He is now a member of the corporation of the college and of the board of managers.

Mr. Wood has never held any political office except that of supervisor of his. native town in 1862 and '63. He has never allowed his name to be used in connec- tion with a political nomination.

Mr. Wood has taken a great interest in the cultiva- tion of his farm and in importing and breeding fine sheep. He has been a frequent contributor to the agricultural press, has delivered many agricultural addresses, has taken au active part in the discussions of the Bedford Farmers' Club and has held official po- sitions in the New York State Agricultural Society.

He was one of the original incorporators of the Westchester County Historical Society, and has been its president since 1879. He has read a number of papers before the society. He has taken especial in- terest in local Indian history and has an extensive collection of Indian implements and remains.

He has also taken an active interest in the West- chester County Bible Society, which has long been an important auxiliary to the American Bible Society. He has been its treasurer since 1878.

Mr. Wood is a member of the religious Society of

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LITERATURE AND LITERARY MEN.

Friends, as were also his father and grandfather. He has been the clerk (presiding officer) of their Yearly Mecting for the States of New York and Vermont and is now clerk of the Representative Meeting. He is a member of the Missionary and Educational Boards of that denomination.

Mr. Wood has frequently appeared upon the lecture platform, with a variety of subjects, in aid of various institutions and charities. In this way he has largely sustained the Mount Kisco Lyceum and Free Library Associatiou, of which he has been the president since its organization, in 1880.

Besides the management of his farm and personal affairs, Mr. Wood's most active business connections have been with a number of estates as their trustee. He is the president of the Genesee Salt Company, whose works are at Pifford, in Livingston County, New York, and have the capacity for producing five thousand bushels of salt per day. He is also presi- dent of the Oakwood Cemetery Associatiou.

Mr. Wood's family have been unfortunate in hav- ing their homesteads destroyed by fire. A new house, built by his father, was burned in 1819. The one built upon the same site, and in which Mr. Wood was born, was destroyed in 1869. Upon this site Mr. Wood, in 1870, built the large stone house in which he now resides. The farm buildings are largely of stone, and, with the green-houses, grapery, museum of curiosities, vineyards and orchards of many kinds of fruits, combine to make an attractive country home.

Mr. Joseph Barrett, author of the town histories of Bedford, North Castle and New Castle, in this work, is a gentleman of cultured literary taste and a clear and interesting writer. He was born in Bedford, May 25, 1840, was prepared for college at the old Bedford Acadamy and graduated at Lafayette Col- lege, Easton, Pa., in 1861. He was school commis- sioner, i.e. Superintendent of Schools, for the third school district of Westchester County from 1867 to 1875 inclusive and occasionally prepared and read papers before teachers' societies, and once before the State Association of Superintendents and Commis- sioners. On the 4th of July, 1876, he read an histor- ical address on the town of Bedford. Mr. Barrett was one of the original members of the Westchester County Historical Society and in 1878 read a paper before the Society on " Enoch Crosby, the Spy of the Neutral Ground." For many years years he was sec- retary of the Bedford Farmers' Club, being then a farmer, and has written a number of articles on agri- cultural topies. From July, 1881, to Jnly, 1885, he was special deputy collector in the New York Cus- tom House, and from November, 1884, to July, 1885, cashier of that institution.

William Allen Butler, the noted author of " Noth- ing to Wear," and of a number of other poetical and prose compositions, is a resident of Yonkers. He is the son of the eminent lawyer and politician, Benja-

min F. Butler, of New York, who was a member of the cabincts of Jackson and Van Buren. William Allen Butler was born in Albany, in 1825. After a course of study at the University of the City of New York, hc read law in his father's office and then went abroad, where he remained a year and a half. Al- thongh since 1855 engrossed with the practice of his profession in New York City, Mr. Butler has devoted much time to literature. Among his writings arc some spirited translations from the German poet Uhland, a series of biographical and critical sketches of the old masters, some pleasant descriptions of Old World localities, and a number of poems, including clever satires on social follies. Of these the most successful was " Nothing to Wear," which was printed anonymously in 1857. Many editions were published in England as well as in this country and the poem was translated into both French and German. In 1871 Mr. Butler published "Lawyer and Client," a valuable exposition of the relations, rights and duties which ought to exist between the two. In the same year appeared a volume of "Poems," containing the translations from Uhland, "Nothing to Wear," poems of travel and other verses. Other published works of Mr. Butler are " The Bible By Itself," an address b( -- fore the New York Bible Society, 1860 ; " Martin Van Buren, Lawyer, Statesman and Man," 1862, a compre- hensive though brief biography of that eminent statesman.

Mr. Butler has lived in Yonkers nearly a score of years, and his family by their culture and taste, to- gether with the accessory advantage of wealth and liberality in the use of it, have been one of many who have made themselves felt in the city socially and in many varieties of useful work.

Frederic S. Cozzens, author of the "Sparrowgrass Papers," etc., was a resident of Yonkers. He was born iu New York City, March 5, 1818, and died at Brook- lyn, December 23, 1869. Mr. Cozzens' occupation was that of a wine merchant, but he early evinced a taste for literature, and contributed a number of pop- ular sketches to the Knickerbocker and Putnam's Magazines. In 1853 he published a volume of sketches in prose and verse, entitled "Prismatics, by Richard Hayward." It was illustrated by Darley, Hensett, Elliott and others. His "Sparrowgrass Papers," de- scribing a cockney's residence in the country, were first written for Putnam's Monthly, but in 1856 were published in book form. He also published, in connection with his business, a pleasant miscellany, entitled The Wine Press, which he continued to edit for seven years, relinquishing the publication on the breaking out of the Civil War. A collection of essays on gastronomic and kindred topics from its pages was published, in 1867, with the title, "Sayings of Dr. Bushwhacker and Other Learned Men." Another book, " Acadia; or A Sojourn Among the Blue Noses," had been published nine years before, in 1858, and one year later, in 1868, his last work, a

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

" Memorial of Fitz-Greene Halleck," was published by the New York Historical Society.

The twin brothers, Willis Gaylord Clark and Lewis Gaylord Clark, were born at Otisco, Onondaga Coun- ty, N. Y., in 1810. Willis, on the completion of his education, went to Philadelphia and commenced the publication of a weekly paper, similar to the New York Mirror, which was soon discontinued. He then associated himself with Rev. Dr. Brantley, a Baptist clergyman, as assistant editor of the Columbian Star, a religious publication, from which position he retired to take charge of the Philadelphia Gazette, the oldest daily newspaper in that city. He became its proprietor and remained at its head for the rest of his life. Mr. Clark died in 1841. He was the author of a number of short poems and of a series of short cssays, anecdotes, etc., entitled "Ollopodiana," which were published in the Knickerbocker Magazine, then edited by his brother Lewis. The latter conducted the Knick- erbocker for many years, and became widely known by his monthly "Editor's Table," a selection from which was published with the title, "Knick-knacks from an Editor's Table," in 1852. He died at Pier- mont-on-the-Hudson, November 3, 1873.

The noted naval commander, Matthew Galbraith Perry, whose claim to literary distinction rests upon the notes which he furnished for an interesting ac- count prepared by F. L. Hawks and George Jones, of lis naval expedition to Japan, resided at one time in Mount Pleasant, on the Sing Sing road. Commodore Perry was born at Newport, R. I., in 1794, and was a brother of the famous Oliver Hazard Perry, who fought the battle of Lake Erie. As commander of the "Cyane," he fixed the first settlement of Liberia, and in a cruise in the schooner "Shark," in 1821-24, he captured several pirates. He took an active part in the Mexican War, and in 1852-54 commanded the expedition to Japan, with which country lie negotiated an important treaty, March 21, 1854.

Another great naval hero, Admiral D. G. Farragut, was a resident of Westchester County (Hastings, in the town of Greenburgh) in 1861-62.

Jolın Orde Creighton, another commodore of the United States navy, who was born in New York City, died at Sing Sing, October 13, 1838. Commo- dore Joseph B. Hull, of the United States navy, was also born in Westchester.

by the explosion of a shell from the "Merrimac" upon the eyehole of the pilot-house. In the command of the ironclad "Montauk," of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, he engaged Fort McAllister, January 27, 1863, and on February 28th attacked and destroyed the privateer steamer "Nashville," under the guns of that fort. He was in the attack of Charleston, under Dupont, April 7, 1863, and on De- cember 1, 1869, was appointed superintendent of the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis.

Rev, David Cole, D.D., has been a Yonkers pastor since 1865, and is the oldest of eight children of Rev. Isaac D. Cole and Anna Maria Shatzel. On his father's side he is of unbroken Holland descent. The original spelling of the family name was "Kool." His mother's parents were John M. Shatzel, Jr., and Barbara Wood. The former was a son of John M. Shatzel and Anna Maria Tremberin, both born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and the latter, a daughter of Ebenezer Wood, of Welsh, and Margaret Hubbard, or Hoeber, of Holland descent.

On preserved New Amsterdam (New York) records, the name " Kool " first appears with official papers of 1630 and 1633. Lenart Kool, as Director Minuit's deputy secretary, signed the famous patent to Kiliaen Van Rensselaer for a tract of land on the Hudson River, August 13, 1630, and Barent Jacobsen Kool, as an officer of the West India Company, with six others, signed a " Condition and Agreement " between Jacob Van Curler and certain Indian chiefs on the 8th of June, 1633. Whether these were related is not known. The latter was the earliest American ancestor of Rev. Dr. Cole. The form of his name in- dicates that he was a son of Jacob Kool. The father is not known to have come to America. The son, in an affidavit made in January, 1645, and still preserved, represents himself as then thirty-five years old, whichi shows that he was born (of course in Holland) about 1610.

The prominent position lie occupied in 1633, at twenty-three years of age, proves that he must then have been in New Amsterdam and with the West India Company a considerable time. Without doubt he came to the colony with Minuit and his suite about 1625 or 1626. He retained his connection with the company till the surrender of 1664, occupying even to that date one of its houses for its officers on Bridge Street. After this he followed some of his children to Ulster County, where his name appears on a list of male inhabitants as late as 1689. The date of his death is not known.

John Lorimer Worden, who commanded the iron- clad " Monitor " in the famous engagement with the ironclad "Merrimac," in Hampton Roads, March 9, 1862, was born at Mount Pleasant on March 12, 1817. He was appointed a midshipman in the United States The line from him to Rev. Dr. Cole is in hand without a break. It is widely represented by de- scendants in different States of the Union, but it is especially to be noted that from its earliest appear- ance in America it has never failed to be represented by resident families in the city of New York. navy on January 12, 1835; licutenant, November 30, 1846; commander, May 27, 1862 ; captain, February 3, 1863; and commodore, May 27, 1868. In April, 1861, he was sent with dispatches to Fort Pickens, and captured by the Confederates, and kept in prison seven months. In the engagement with the " Merri- 1. Barent Jacobsen Kool and Marretje Leenderts mac," Captain Worden's eyes were severely injured had nine children, viz .: Jacob Barentsen, Aeltje,

Boef

David Cole

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LITERATURE AND LITERARY MEN.

Dievertje, Apollouia, Leendert, Arent, (1st) Theunis Arent, (2d), and Pieter.

2. Jacob Barentsen Kool (born before 1639) and Marretje Simons had eight children, viz .: Barent (1st), Barent (2d), Simon, Arent, Marretje, Barent (3d), Claartje and Jacob.

3. Jacob Kool (baptized at Kingston, N. Y., Janu- ary 1, 1673) and Barbara Hanse settled at Tappan, N. Y., about 1695, and united with the New Reformed Church, organized the year before. They had six children born in Tappan between 1695 and 1707, viz .: Geertje, Jacob, Jr., Tryntje, Jan, Barent and Abra- ham. This family first introdueed the Kool line iuto the lower part of Orange (now Rockland) County, where its representatives have been numerous and prominent ever since.

4. Abraham Kool (baptized at Tappan November 2, 1707) and Annetje Meyer had cight children, viz .: Jacob, Ide (1st), Ide (2d), Isaac, Johannes, Rachel, Abraham and Audreas.

5. Isaae Kool (born January 21st and baptized at Tappan February 15, 1741) and Catharine Serven (born at Tappan August 28, 1747) were married at Tappan by Rev. Samuel Verbryk, pastor of the Tap- pan Reformed Church, October 15, 1764. They set- tled at New City, in their native eounty, and had fif- teen children boru there, viz .: Abraham, Breghje, Rachel, John, Jacob, Auna, Elizabeth, David, Isaae, Jr., Mary, Margaret, Philip, Cathariue, Andrew aud Sarah. In 1794 the parents removed to Broadalbin (or Fondabush), in Fulton County, where the father died and was buried iu Oetober, 1800. The mother, after his death, returned to Rockland County, where she died in 1832. It was in this generation that the spelling of the family name was changed to " Cole." The pronunciation under its earlier and later forms was the same. The change in spelling was adopted to protect the name against mispronunciation by an incoming people not acquainted with Hol- land forms and sounds.

6. David Cole (boru at New City September 26th and baptized at Clarkstown, by Rev. Nicholas Lan- sing, October 5, 1777) married Elizabeth Meyer, at Kakiat, January 11, 1798, the ceremony being per- formed by Rev. George G. Brinkerhoff. The wife was a daughter of Johannes Meyer and Tryntje Van Hou- ten, both born in the county, but of Holland descent. These had three children-Isaac D., Catharine and Eliza. The last died unmarried in 1831. The second, Mrs. Thomas Lippineott, who died September 23, 1881, is represented numerously by descendants in New York City and elsewhere. The first was the father of Rev. Dr. Cole.

7. Rev. Isaae D. Cole was born at Spring Valley, Rockland County, N. Y., January 25th and baptized at Kakiat by Rev. Geo. G. Brinkerhoff, Mareh 25, 1799. He was a resident of New York City with brief intervals, from 1801 to 1826, and was married, November 3, 1821, by Rev. Christian Bork, to Anna

Maria Shatzel, born in the city November 3, 1797. His history is given with fulness of detail in the " History of Roekland County," published in 1884, under the editorial direction of his son. After sev- eral years of teaching in New York City he entered the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, N. J., in 1826, and having been licensed to the missionary in 1829, at once became pastor of the Reformed Church at Tappan, in which his ancestors had wor- shipped from its beginning, more than a century and a quarter before, and continued in his pastorate, with an interval of one year, till his retirement from the active duties of the ministry in 1864, at sixty-five years of age. Subsequently and until his death, on the 30th of August, 1878, he lived at Spring Valley upon the family home-ground of more than a hun- dred years, which he had inherited from his father. His sterling charaeter, his remarkable gifts as an in- struetor, his special life-work in the ministry, the valuable influence of his precept and example and the preciousness of his memory are so fully put on reeord in the history mentioned above that they need no reproducing here. The children of Rev. Isaac D. Cole and Anna Maria Shatzel were eight, viz .: David, Caroline, Elizabeth, Juliana (1st), Juliana (2d,) Cathar- ine Amelia, Margaret Ann, Benjamin Wood and Isaae D., Jr. Of these children, Juliana (1st), Caro- line Elizabeth (Mrs. Dr. James J. Stephens), Catha- rine Amelia (Mrs. Benjamiu L. Disbrow) and Isaac D., Jr., late president of the Knickerbocker Fire In- suranee Company, of New York City, have passed away.

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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 159

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