History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 166

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 166

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).

As respects their civil condition, 352 were single, 171 married, 11 were widowers and 23 widows. In 1875 the population had dropped to 529, including a colored population of 35. The foreign born numbered 131 and the natives 398, of whom 344 were natives of the State, and 226 of the county. The males in the town numbered 244 and the females 285 and their civil condition was : single 346, married 153, widowers 13, widows 17, the number of familics in the town being 91.

In respect to the finanees of the town, the first reeord in relation to them is dated 1788, and is

entered in the book of town records. It reads thus- "This may certify that on the 9th day of Deeember, 1788, William Fisher, Collector of the Town of Sears- dale for the year 1788, produced a receipt from John- athan G. Tompkins, in behalf of Abijah Gilbert, County Treasurer, for the sum of ten pounds, twelve Shillings and six pence, to bring the Town's propor- tion of money towards the Completion of the Court- House. Bearing date of October 4th, 1788. Entered by Benj. Cornell, clerk."

The taxes for the previous year, 1787, had amounted to £61 35s. 1d., but there is no record of the valuation upon which those taxes were assessed. In 1875 the town valuation amounted to $588,850, and the town debt was $29,109, of which $3689 had been eontraeted on the account of war bonds and bounties, and $25,500 for roads.

In 1880 the town valuation was $620,084, of which $560,284 was real and $53,800 personal property. Thirty years ago there were in the town sixty-two dwelling- houses, valued at $84,550. ' Ten years after, in 1865, the dwellings numbered cighty-four and their valua- tion was put at $163,910. The next ten years wit- nessed a decrease in the number of the dwellings, but at the same time more than a doubling of the valua- tions. Thus the number of houses was seventy-seven, while their valuation was $438,230. It is hard to understand this apparent confliet of the returns under any other supposition than that the figures given by the census takers in respeet to values are entirely erroneous. The owners of land in 1855 numbered forty-five; in 1865, sixty-one; and in 1875, eighty- four.

In regard to a problem which has agitated many a town deeply, the care of the poor, Searsdale has had little anxiety. The number of paupers has been inva- riably small and the poor tax correspondingly low. Apparently this was greatest in the early days of the county, when Searsdale's proportion of the poor tax amounted to £28 10s. This was in 1789. In 1785 overseers of the poor had been chosen for the first time, and the positions were afterwards filled at each annual election. In suceeeding years the amount raised by the town for the support of the poor was mueh diminished, $25 being voted for this object in 1800, and $35 in 1804. This amount reached $100 in 1818, $130 the next year and $150 in 1822, but in the intervening years it was much less. Of late years the amount has been hardly noticeable, $50 being voted in 1876, while in 1882 the overseers of the poor were limited in their expenditures for the benefit of vagrants and tramps for that year to $15.

SLAVERY .- It is of considerable interest to note the conditions in which slavery has existed in the town, our first information dating baek to 1712. This was eleven years after the formation of the Manor of Scarsdale; so it is probable that the figures apply to the whole inanor, and not to the town in its present extent. At this date the inhabitants numbered only

660

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

twelve, of whom four were whites, all being males and over ten years of age; the remaining eight were slaves, of whom two were females over sixteen years of age, two males under sixteen and the remaining four males over sixteen.

Our next information is forty-three years later, and is gained from a "list of slaves taken April ye 5th, 1755, by Joseph Sutton, Captn." This information is, of necessity, inaccurate, as the names given are chosen from a list including inhabitants of other places beside Scarsdale, to which some of them may belong, although these names are all familiar in Scars- dalc,-David Barker, one male slave ; Richard Palmer, one female slave; Jonathan Cornell, one male and one female slave ; Jonathan Griffin, one male and one female slave; Richard Cornell, two males and one female slave; Richard Cornell, Jr., one male and one female slave; Benjamin Griffin, one female; and Wil- liam Griffin, one male and three females, giving a total of sixteen. Thus, in nearly half a century the num- ber of slaves in the town (or manor) had but just doubled. In the town records are many interesting records of inquiries in accordance with the law into the age and condition of certain slaves, to determine whether they should support themselves or rely on the town. The following bears the date of August 10, 1791 : "To all whom it may concern, this certifies that a negro man named Prime and a negro woman named Bell, belonging to Ferris Cornell, of the town of Scarsdale, in Westchester County, appears to us to be under the age of fifty years, and of sufficient abil- ity to provide for themselves." This is signed by Jonathan Griffin Tompkins and Benjamin Cornell, poor masters. In another such document, dated three years later, a negro woman named "Sibb," the property of Abigail Cornell, was adjudged capable of maintaining herself without the assistance of the town. Accord- ing to the census of 1800, the total number of slaves in the town, which then only included Scarsdale proper, was twenty-four, showing even a smaller ratio of increase than before for the half-century, while there were at the same time in the town twenty free colored persons.

About this time, 1799, the Legislature took steps for the gradual abolition of slavery, and shortly after- wards the following document appears in the town records, followed by others of a similar nature: "I, Bartholomew Ward, of the town of Scarsdale, County of Westchester, farmer, in conformity to an Act of Legislature of the State of New York, entitled An Act for the gradual abolition of slavery, do hereby certify to the town clerk of said town that I am now possessed of a female negro child named Doroty, being now of the age of five days, and born of a slave since the fourth of July, 1799. Bartholomew Ward, Scarsdale, October 27, 1801." From this time onward the slaves in the town slowly diminished until, in 1820, there remained but seven, while the free colored pop- ulation numbered thirty-five souls. This was nearly

the end of slavery in the town, and in 1835 not a slave remained.

INDUSTRIES .- Although Scarsdale has never con- tributed largely to the supply of the markets, the chief industries of the town have always been agri- cultural. There are no statistics in relation to agri- cultural products in the early days of the town, but from the records of the town-meetings we may in- fer -- from the number of times the animals are men- tioned --- that much of the farm live-stock consisted of swine, and also that they caused considerable trouble. The following one of many instances sufficiently in- dicates: "Also it is the vote of this town-meet- ing that it shall be lawful, if any hogs are found on the highway not ringed or snouted, to drive them to pound, and the owner of said hogs shall pay the poundage." This appears on the minutes of the meeting of April 6, 1784, and was followed by many similar votes, as well as others in respect to the fenc- ing of the roads to guard against the straying of swine. In the town-meeting of 1790 it was voted that all fences must be four feet six inches high and that they were "not to exceed six inches under the bottom rail, except well underpined with stones, nor to exceed six inches betwix rails until it comes to the fift rail." Even as late as 1837 we find that the office of " Hog Howard" was continued, the duties of the office presumably relating to the management of roving swine. By the State census of 1835 there were 3039 acres of improved land in the town and on the farms were 472 neat cattle, 84 horses, 624 sheep and 464 hogs. This is all we know of the agri- cultural interests of the town until 1845, the census for this year giving full and interesting particulars. The improved land aggregated 4391 acres, the inhabit- ants numbering 341 at this time. The acreage de- voted to the principal products, together with the amount of the crops, was as follows: Buckwheat, 75 acres, 784 bushels; corn, 229 acres, 8200 bushels ; oats, 186 acres, 4495 bushels; rye, 119 acres, 1452 bushels; potatoes, 104 acres, 5265 bushels. The same year 262 yards of homespun cloth were made and the dairy products amounted to 18,635 pounds of butter. The live-stock on farms consisted of 78 horses, 420 neat cattle, 416 swine, 386 sheep, yielding 730 pounds of wool. No returns are given in respect to the value of farm stock or of farm produce, but the latter, so far as the outside market is concerned, was proba- bly inconsiderable, most being devoted to home con- sumption.

In 1855, when the next State census was taken, the population numbered 445, of whom 45 were land- owners. The valne of farms was estimated at 8427,140 and the acreage of the town was classed thus : Im- proved, 2801 acres ; unimproved, 1132 acres ; pasture, 977 acres ; and meadow-lands, 786 acres. The yield of hay was 1225 tons. The amount of the principal crops was as follows : Corn, 5982 bushels; oats, 2376 bushels ; wheat, 1054 bushels ; potatoes, 2080 bush-

661

SCARSDALE.

els; turnips, 1395 bushels. The dairy prodnets were: 17,339 pounds of butter and 19,540 gallons of milk, the latter being exclusive of that consumed at home ; 435 pounds of honey were gathered this year, and poultry were sold to the value of $1853. The farm stock consisted of 116 horses, 375 neat eattle (in- cluding 213 milch cows and 68 working cattle), 325 swine and 261 sheep, yielding 636 pounds of wool.

The census for 1865, some of the statistics, however, referring to the previous year, gives the following figures : The population amounted to 557 persons, of whom 61 were land-owners. The farm valuation was $712,800, and the acreage divided thus: Improved, 3168 acres; nnimproved, 948 acres; pasture, 1264 acres ; meadow, 993 acres. The yield of the prinei- cipal crops was as follows : Hay, 1436 tons ; corn, 6435 bushels ; oats, 4898 bushels; rye, 1850 bushels ; potatoes, 7872 bushels ; turnips, 2570 bushels. In the orchards were 5512 apple-trees, giving a yield of 13,663 bushels, and the cider produet aggregated 450 barrels. The honey gathered amounted to 730 pounds, and the value of poultry and eggs sold was $1325. The dairy product was: Bntter made, 12,143 pounds, and milk sold, 2800 gallons. The live-stock consisted of 142 horses, 322 neat cattle (inelnding 190 milch cows and 60 working oxen), 219 swine (199 being slaughtered and yielding 32,440 pounds of pork), and 214 sheep giving a clip of 363 pounds.

The last State eensns, that of 1875, gives the follow- ing statistics, which, in general, show a falling off from previous figures. The population was 529, of whom 94 were land-owners. The farms of the town were pnt at a valnation of $630,500, and the acreage was described, thus : Improved, 2566 acres; unimproved, 875 acres : woodland, 531 acres ; pasture, 503 acres; and meadow, 1207 acres. The crops were as fol- lows : Hay, 1635 tons ; corn, 5145 bushels; oats, 2490 bushels; rye, 2668 bushels ; potatoes, 5275 bushels. The apple orchards contained 9950 trees and yielded 37,975 bushels of fruit. Grapes were produced to the amount of 6375 pounds. The valne of poultry and eggs sold was $3358, and the dairy produet was 9790 pounds of butter made and 4925 gallons of milk sold. The live-stock consisted of 131 horses, 259 neat cattle (including 149 milch cows), 177 swine (140 slaugh- tered and yielding 28,360 pounds pork), and 67 sheep giving a clip of 321 pounds. The gross receipts from farm produce during the previous year amounted to $32,945.

Although these figures are the latest official returns in regard to the agricultural interests of the town, it is very probable that the decrease in farm prodnets inentioued for 1875 has been eontinned with little in- terruption ever since, and that the capital invested in farming in the town is not as large as in former years.

The figures in relation to the raising of sheep show the most marked decline. In 1835 there were six hundred and twenty-four sheep owned in the town, but in the ensuing ten years the number had de-

creased to three hundred and eighty-six. It is very probable that before the first-mentioned date the num- ber was even greater; but the decrease has been steady, and at the present date the industry is practically extinct. The principal reason for this has been the havoc made by stray dogs. No exact figures are to be had in relation to their depre- dations among the flocks until the year 1874, when they killed at least twelve sheep. By 1884 they had thinned down the flocks so that they were but a small fraction of their original size, and in that year twenty sheep fell victims to them, thus practically putting an end to this branch of farming.

The following extracts relate to the number and size of the farmns existing at the time of the last State census : The farms in the town aggregated forty ; of these, two contained from three to ten acres, two from ten to twenty acres, five from twenty to fifty aeres, eighteen from fifty to one hundred acres and thirteen from one hundred to one hundred and fifty acres.

MANUFACTURES AND OTHER ENTERPRISES .- Manufacturing has always occupied a very secondary place in Scarsdale, but little capital being devoted to it and almost all capital going to farmning. Just above and a short distance to the west of Scarsdale Station, on the Bronx River, and within the limits of the Popham estate, are the ruins of a grist-mill and its dam. This was built prior to the Revolutionary War and was used as a grist and saw-mill, a dam abont fifteen feet high intercepting the river at this point and furnishing good water-power. This belonged to the estate of the Honorable Richard Morris, whose house was not far distant, and one Crawford by name was employed as miller. Here was the timber sawn out of which the Morris honse and several others of the old mansions were built, but the mill has not survived as long as they. For many years it was put to its original por- poses, but some time previons to the War of the Re- bellion it was used for the manufacture of axles, and in 1862 it was converted into a mannfactory of shoddy. As no mention appears to have been made of it in either the town records or censns reports its ontput in either capacity was probably not great. Within a year from this time, in 1863, it took fire and was burned to the ground and has never since been rebnilt.

Nothing but a few ruins and several fragments of machinery remain to mark the site of this venerable mill, which was probably one of the first in the county. The dam, also, has almost entirely disap- peared, having slowly fallen into rnin.

The building now known as " The Scarsdale Opera- House," bnt formerly the "Fox Meadow Chapel," was originally nsed as a carriage factory, but only for a comparatively short time, as in 1856 the building was added, together with the neighboring property, to the Fox Meadow estate and converted into a chapel. There are no figures to show the extent of the mann- facturing interest carried on here, but it was doubt-

662

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

less of very limited proportions. Almost opposite this building, and about four hundred rods to the north of it, on the bank of the Bronx River, formerly stood a powder-mill, the property of a German named Hau- bold. This was erected about the year 1847, wheu the Hudson River Railroad was in process of con- struction, and furnished much powder for this work. Near the main building stood a magazine and a cooper-shop and other outbuildings. Although the manufacture of powder was successfully carried on here for a time, it was finally abandoned, as the works were ruined by several destructive explosions. Both the magazine and the cooper-shop were thus destroyed at different times, and although the mill has been partially repaired and used for other purposes, no- thing remains of either cooper-shop or magazine.

About the year 1880 this property came into the hands of Mr. Leggo, who has erected several small buildings there and started an establishment for the manufacture of lithographic stones and plates, which is now most successfully carried on.

POLITICAL HISTORY .- The present township of Scarsdale was organized on the 7th of March, 1788, but previous to this meetings had been annually held for the election of town officers, under the acts of the Legislature as early as 1783, and before that even, by the terms of the royal patent granted to Colonel Heathcote, though no records are extant so far as we know of meetings or proceedings of the town prior to the latter date. The first entry in the town records is as follows, given verbatim :

" By order of the Council of Appointment, by the Act of the Legislature, Intitled an Act to provide for the temporal government of the Southern parts of the State, whenever the enemy shall abandon or be dispossessed of the same, and until the Legislature can be convened,-Passed Oct. 23d, 1779. And by virtue of direction, Jesse Hunt, Esq., Sheriff of Westches- ter Connty, Appointing Jonathan Griffin Tompkins, Thomas Cornell and Stephen Cornell to Superintend the town-meeting att the Manner of Scarsdale, on the 22d Decr., 1783, then and there to choose town officers until the next annual meeting. The town met on the said day at the house of Jonathan Griffin, near the usual place of holding said meetings ; then and there the inhabitants proceed to choose town officers by a ma- jority of votes,-Benjamin Cornell, clerk ; Jonathan G. Tompkins, supervisor ; Stephen Cornell and Thomas Cornell, assessors ; Israel Her- riott, constable and collector ; Ferris Cornell and Samuel Fisher, over- seers of highway ; Ferris Cornell, pounder ; John Compton and Thomas Cornell, fence and damage viewers. Extracted from the Original by Benjamin Cornell, clerk."

The second meeting was held on the 6th of April, 1784, "att the School house in Said Manner, near Capt. Jonathan Griffin's," this probably being the usual place for the town-meetings to be held, referred to in the minutes of the previous year. In 1785 the offices of overseers of the poor were instituted, John Barker and Francis Secor being the first incumbents. In the town-meeting of 1789 it was enacted that the " Fence and Damage Viewers" should receive for their services at the rate of six shillings per diem, this being the first mention of any remuneration for town officers. The next year three "Commissioners of Highways " were chosen in addition to the other officers, Jonathan G. Tompkins, John Barker and

John Cornell being selected to fill the positions. In 1792, nine years after the first recorded town-meeting, the following officers were chosen : Caleb Tompkins, town clerk ; Jonathan G. Tompkins, supervisor ; J. G. Tompkius, John Barker, John Cornell and Wil- liam Popham, commissioners of highways; William Popham and Jonathan G. Tompkins, poor masters ; Elijah Cudney, constable and collector ; John Barker, Caleb Tompkius and Thomas Cornell, assessors ; Benjamin Underhill and Caleb Angevine, overseers of highways ; Ferris Cornell and Elijah Purdy, Jr., fence and damage viewers; and Bartholomew Griffin, pounder. Up to this year Jonathan G. Tompkins and Benjamin Coruell had held the offices of super- visor and town clerk respectively since the first meet- ing. On April 5, 1796, commissioners of schools were chosen for the first time, as before mentioned. In 1801 and for several succeeding years Caleb Tompkins was chosen to the offices both of supervisor and of town clerk, thus being created a precedent which was fre- quently followed in subsequent town elections. In 1809 he was succeeded as town clerk by his brother Enoch, and held no local office of importance until 1822, when he was for the third time chosen super- visor, and that year Enoch Tompkins was succeeded in the town clerkship by Richard M. Popham. In 1823 William A. Popham held his first towu office, that of school commissioner, and in 1825 he was chosen town clerk to succeed his brother Richard, hold- ing the office for the next five years. In 1829 we find that the meeting was held on April 7th at " the house of James Varian, Innkeeper in said town," now known as the " Wayside Cottage." In 1830 the town clerk was Samuel Tompkins, and he was in turn succeeded, in 1831, by Caleb Tompkins, of a younger generation than the former one of that name. In 1832 the first mention is made of the election of justices of the peace in town-meeting, the following being chosen : Nathaniel Brown, Elijah Purdy and John Bennett, Jr., and in 1835 the first tax was laid upon the owners of dogs. For the next succeeding years the office of town clerk was held by the following persous : 1838, Francis Losee ; 1839-40, Caleb Tompkins; 1841-42, George B. Varian ; and 1843, Elias A. Travise. In 1848 the town-meeting was held for the first time in the "Fox Meadow " school-house, which had re- placed the old building which had been burned early in the century.

In 1860 the following were chosen officers of the town : Francis Secor, supervisor (for the tenth time) ; James F. Palmer, town clerk ; David Underhill, as- sessor ; Elijah Tompkins, James F. Palmer, Lawrence Dobbs and Elias G. Drake, path masters ; James Wil- letts, James D. McCabe and Elias G. Drake, pound masters; James Willetts, commissioner of highways ; James F. Palmer, justice of peace ; Richard Palmer, and Lawrence Dobbs, overseers of the poor ; Richard Palmer, James Willetts and Jonathan G. Tompkins, inspectors of elections ; Orrin A. Weed, constable

663

SCARSDALE.

and collector ; and William H. Boda, constable. At the next town-meeting it was voted "that the Rail Road depot, the School-House and the apple tree near and West of - house, in the town of Scarsdale, be and hereby are designated as proper places for posting legal notices."

During the years of the Rebellion a number of measures were passed in relation to the encourage- ment of volunteering and the payment of substitutes. In September, 1863, it was voted to pay three hun- dred dollars eaeli to those citizens that were con- seripted or to their substitutes, and early in the next year it was voted to raise thirty-two hun- dred dollars for this purpose, this amount being afterward raised to four thousand dollars. In Janu- ary, 1865, at a special meeting of the town, it was voted that seven hundred dollars should be paid for each substitute or volunteer, of which, in the ease of substitutes, the town provided six hundred dollars and the person conseripted the remainder.

In 1867 an attempt was made to eliange the south- ern boundary of the town so as to inelude a part of the township of East Chester, but this was unsueeess- ful, and, although subsequent attempts to obtain this have been made, the boundary of the town remains unchanged. The next year the place of meeting was changed from the " Fox Meadow School-House" to the residence of James F. Palmer, near the centre of the town, on the Mamaroneck road, and this eontin- ued to be used for town-meetings, and, after 1872, for general elections, until the town voted, in 1879, to occupy the basement of the new school-house for town uses, which has sinee been known as the " Town Hall."

In 1870 the following town-officers were elected: Francis Secor, supervisor ; James F. Palmer, town elerk; Benjamin Areher, Francis Seeor, John Read and Elias G. Drake, pound masters; Oliver A. Hyatt, assessor ; Elijah S. Tompkins, commissioner of high- ways; Alexander Taylor, collector; Robert C. Pop- ham and Hiram K. Benedict, justiees of peace; Benj. Archer and Gilbert Ward, overseers of poor; Alexander Taylor, Stephen Disbrow and John For- kle, constables ; and Peter M. Dobbs and James F. Palmer, inspectors of election. In 1870 and the next succeeding years the town was obliged to put itself under a great burden of debt on account of the so- ealled improvements in the post road. Extensive and unnecessary alterations were made then under the management of the "ring" which was then in power in New York, and the debt of the town was thereby largely increased. In 1872 it was voted to raise four thousand and sixty-five dollars to pay principal and interest on the town road bonds, thus reducing the town indebtedness in part, and also to raise $569.30 to pay principal and interest on the town bounty bonds issued during the war. The next few years were very quiet in respect to the history of the town, the building of the new school-house being the

chief object of interest. In 1880 the town met for the first time in the basement of this building, in ac- cordanee with the vote of the preceding year, and the following officers were chosen : Oliver A. Hyatt, supervisor; Gilbert W. Dobbs, town elerk ; Charles Carpenter, assessor; George J. Willetts, commis- sioner of highways; John G. Sweet, collector; Chauncey T. Seeor, Charles Griffin and Lewis C. Popham, justiees of the peace ; George H. Morse, Daniel Dows, John MeNulty and William Drewry, constables ; John H. Carpenter and Charles V. Mc- Nulty, inspectors of elcetion; Lawrence Dobbs and Charles Griffin, overseers of poor; Franeis Seeor and Isaae Lepugy, town auditors, and C. Bayard Fish and Benj. J. Carpenter, commissioners of exeise.

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 166

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