History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 170

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 170

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).

Third-Richard, born 1760; married 1st, Elizabeth Ange. vine ; married 2d, Ann Purdy.

Fourth-Ebenezer, born 1761, died 1794; married Elizabeth Purdy.

Fifth-Haviland, born 1764 ; married 1st, Mary Gale ; mar- ried 2d, Lavinia Storms-left several children.

IV. Joseph, born in Cowneck, 1708, died 1770 ; married, 1734, Phebe Ferris, daughter of Peter Ferris, and had :

First-Joseph, of Mamaroneck, who married Sarah Hadden and had : Susannalı, born 1757; married Newberry Fowler. Deborah, born 1760; married John Fowler. Richard, born 1762, died 1795. Jouatban, born 1764, died 1834 ; married 1st, Lydia Carpenter ; married 2d, Jemima Acker, and left several children. Willett, born 1770 ; married Mary Cocks, and bad a uumber of descendauts.

Second-Hannah, born 1736 ; married James Fowler.

Third-Richard, born 1738 ; died a child. Fourth-Sarah.

Fiftb-Mary, born 1741 ; married Jonathan Merritt.

The second son, Joseph, also left many descendants. The third son, John, lived to be sixty years old, bnt left no issne. The youngest son, Benjamin, above men- tioned, married in 1743, Abigail Stevenson, and, like

Sixth-John, of Mamaroneck, born 1743, died 1817 ; mar- ried Alice Williams, and left Isaac, born 1767, died 1832, who married Sarah Bennett, and had a number of chil- dreu ; and John L., born 1781, who married 1st, Marga- ret Williams; married 2d, Hannah Anderson, and left a family.

Seventh-Ferris Cornell, born 1748, whose name appears among the officers of the manor. He married 1st, Anne Cornell ; married 2d, lIannah Quimby ; married 3d, Sarah Cox, and left Thomas I., born 1779 ; married 1st, Amy Fisber ; married 2d, Gulielma Wood, and had sev- eral children-and Samnel, born 1782; married Martha Bonnett, and left a family.

V. Hannah, born 1711; married Joshua Quimby.

VI. Phebe, born 1715 ; married Ebenezer Haviland.

VII. John, born 1717 ; died 1781, without issue.

VIII. Rebecca, born 1718 ; married Edward Burling.

IX. Elizabeth, born 1720, died 1795; married 1st, Aaron Palmer ; married 2d, Aaron Quimby.

X. Benjamin, born 1723, died 1771; married 17th of 9th month, 1742, Abigail Stephenson, daughter of Stephen Stephenson,

of Rye, and Jane Clement, of Flushing, his wife, and had : First-Hannab, born 1774 : married John Burling. Second-Jane, born 1746; married Joseph Griffen.

Third-Stephen Cornell, of Mamaroneck, born 1749, died 1802. His name also appears among the officers of the manor about the time of the Revolution, and later. He married Margaret Haviland, and bad :

1st. William H., born 1776, died 1856 ; married Dorcas Carpenter, daughter of Joseph Carpenter, of Harrison, who represented the county iu the New York Legislature in 1796-97. William H. Cor- nell lived near Mamaroneck Meeting-house, in Scarsdale, and had :

(a.) Deborah, born 1809 ; married Henry M. Carpenter.

(b.) Mary, born 1812 ; married Jacob Miller.

(c.) Stephen, born 1815, died 1852; married Rachel Tompkins, and left William 1I., Jr., Charles W. and Albert.

(d.) William, born 1818 ; was supervisor in 1845-62 ; married 1st, 1842, Sarah The- all, who died, 1848, leaving: I. Wil- liam T., born 1845 ; married Lucinda V. Rushmore and has three children : Lily Rushmore, born 1880. Florence S., born 1883. Thomas R., born 1885. He lives in Mamaroneck, and is cashier of the Union Bauk in Wall Street. II. Edwiu T., born 1848 ; married Mary Robinson. William Cornell married 2d, Elizabeth Theall and has : III. Frank S., born 1857. 1V. Frederick L., born 1860. V. Ella Louise, and VI. Howard M., twins, born 1863.

2d. Richard, born 1781, died 1798.

3d. Stephen, born 1785. died 1815 ; married Anna Titus, and left Richard and Titus.

4th. Deborah, married John Schurman.

5th. Benjamin, born 1788 ; married Sarah Titus.

6th. Mary, married Henry Griffin.

7tb. Abigail.

8th. Samuel, born 1796 ; married Hannah Carpenter and left Richard, Stephen G., Henry, Rebecca, Jane and Elizabeth.

Fourth-Deborah, boru 1751 ; married Willett Browne. Fifth-Anne, born 1753 ; married Benjamin Haviland. Sixth-Pbebe, born 1755 ; married Jolin Gible. Seventh-Sarah, born 1755. died 1764.

Eightb-Abigail, born 1758, died 1834.

677

SCARSDALE.

his father, had ten children, three sons,-one of whom died in infancy, and seven daughters. His eldest son, Stephen, of Mamaroneck, is now represented by his grandson, William, who was supervisor of Scarsdale in 1845-46 and in 1862, and by William's son, William T. Cornell, of Mamaroneck, now cashier of the Union Bank in Wall Street. Benjamin gave to his youngest son, born in 1761, his own name, again the " youngest son Benjamin," of his father, and specially bequeathed to him the old clock of his grandfather. The younger Benjamin also inherited the ample farm, and the an- cient low-beamed shingled house of his grandfather, in which he had been born ; but in the early part of the present century he built the " new house " on the Mamaroneck road, where he lived in dignity and ease until indorsements for his friends left him poor in his old age. His name appears in early manhood as town clerk, about the time of the Revolution and for some years after, and then as supervisor. Like his father and his grandfather, he was in dress and manner a strict member of the Society of Friends, of high char- acter and fine personal appearance, nearly six feet in height, and bearing himself with grace and dignity. The only portrait of him is here copied from a pencil sketch, said to have been a good likeness at the time, made when he was eighty years old, in 1841, by his

Ninth-Benjamin, born 1760, died 1760.

Tenth-Benjamin, born 1761, died 1841 ; married Ist, 19th of 3d month, 1783, Alice Sutton, daughter of William Sutton and Dorcas Clapp ; married 2d, on the 9th of 5th month. 1804, Pameliu Farringtou, and had ten children, as follows :

1st. John, born 1783, died 1864; married Sarah Matthews; 2d, Mary Ann Porter, and had : William 1[., of Newtown, Elizabeth, Andrew J., Jesse, Arvin Alice, Anna Maria, Sarah and Emily and John H.

2d. Jesse, born 1785, died 1805.

3d. Jane, born 1787, died 18 ; married David Ar- nold.

4th. Silas, born 1789. died at Rochester, 1864 ; mar- ried, 1815, Sarah Mott, born 1791, died 1872, daughter of Adam and Annie Mott, and had : First-Thomas Clapp. of whom further mention is made in our account of Yon- kers, born 1819 ; married, 1850, Jane E. Bashford, born 1829, daughter of John and Esther A. (Guion) Bashford, of Yonkers.

Second-James Mott, born 1820, died 1868 ; married Eliza Leavens, of Kingston, Canada.

Third-Richard Mott, born 1822, died 1823. Fourth-Anna Mott, born 1824; married, 1847. Aaron Barnes, of White Plains. Fifth-Sarah Alice, born 1830, died 1874 : married, 1859, Ebenezer Walbridge, of Toledo, and left Carlton MI., Silas Cornell and Ebenezer Franklin Walbridge.

5th. Phehe, born 1791 ; married Stephen I'nderhill. Cth. Thomas, born 1794, died 1797.

Tth. Dorcas, born 1796, died 1878; married Joseph Arnold.

8th. Thomas Tom, born 1807, died 1823.

9th. Mary F., born 1809, died 1874 ; married Ed- und Field.

10th. Benjamin, born 1813, died 1814.

grandson, Thomas C. Cornell, now of Yonkers, to whom the old gentleman then promised the inheritance of the family clock, which had now come down to him from his grandfather ; and the old clock, now, for at least five generations in the family, has been standing for the past twenty years in Mr. Cornell's house in Yonkers.

The name of the Secor' family has been variously spelt Sicard, Secord and Secor. In 1690 Ambroise Sicard came to this country. He was a French Huguenot, and was forced to the step in consequence of the per- secution to which he was subjected at home. He married Jennie Perron, and the first entry upon the records of the Huguenot Church in New York City (now the French Church Du St. Esprit) is that of the baptism of a daughter of Ambroise Sicard, the exile.

Five children were named in his will, as follows : Ambroise, Daniel, Jacques or James, Marie, wife of Guillaume Landrian, and Silvie, wife of Francis Coquiller.

Ambroise Sicard settled with his sons at New Ro- chelle, N. Y., and on the 9th of February, 1692, pur- chased one hundred and nine acres of land in that place from one Guillaume Le Count, for which he paid thirty-eight pistoles and eight shillings, current money of New York, equal to about one hundred and fifty dollars in gold.

It is from the second son, Daniel, that Francis Secor is descended. How many children Daniel had is uot certain. James, his son, born in 1700, married Mary A. Arvon in 1724, and had seven sons and three daughters. Their fourth child, Francis, was born in 1732. He purchased the present homestead at Scars- dale in 1775, the original deed of which is still in possession of the family. He married Sarah Horton in 1761, and had three sons and five daughters. His oldest son, Caleb, born in 1763, married Anna Tomp- kins, sister of Daniel D. Tompkins, Governor of New York in 1806.

He had one son and three daughters. The son Francis, subject of this sketch, who was also the oldest child, was born June 5, 1810. He spent his early life upon the farmu, from which, as a result of his labors, he accumulated a considerable property. He was a man of fixed and unswerving principle, quick to decide, and ever ready to perform any labor to which his con- science pointed him as a duty. In 1849 he was elected supervisor of the town of Scarsdale, and the office re- mained in his hands for twenty-six years.

For thirty years he was an active and consistent member of the Presbyterian Church of White Plains, and the confidence of his brethren in his integrity was manifested by their election of him to the elder- ship. Ten years afterward, when the church adopted the rotary system, he was re-elected, but two years previous to his death, feeling that his strength would not admit of a longer service, he declined the honor

1 Prepared and inserted by the publishers.

678

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

which was for the third time proffcred him. His death took place at his home, May 8, 1885. He was connected with all the laudable enterprises of Scars- dale and was lamented by a large circle of acquaint- ances and friends.

His son, and only child, Chancey T. Sccor, still lives "at the old homestead and is its owner. He is a prom- inent Democrat, and was formerly justice of the peace in Scarsdale. For three years he has held the office of supervisor.

The family from which Green Wright 1 is descended were early settlers in Putnam County, N. Y. His grandfather, Caleb Wright, a resident of Carmel, mar- ried Mary Cunningham. Their children were Sarah, wife of David Travvis; Polly, wife of Budd Sloat; Eunice A., wife of Newell Bayley ; Green, Stephen T. and Gilbert. Gilbert married Eliza, daughter of Solomon Wright, and they were the parents of ten children-Green ; Eliza- beth, wife of Lewis Trav- vis ; David; Jackson, who married Sarah A. Hall, and is now living at White Plains ; Susan, wife of Ampclias Youmans ; Zil- phia, wife of David Par- ent ; Sinon, who married Eliza Hance, and resides in New York; Phcda, wife of Nathaniel Spring- steel; Amanda, wife of Fletcher Adams ; and Mary A., wife of Fields Hall, of Mount Pleasant.

Green Wright was born in Carmel, Putnam Coun- ty, N. Y., April 24, 1824. Until reaching his twen- tieth year he remained at home with his father, who was a farmer and contrac- tor. Seeking a wider sphere, he then went to Morrisania and commenced business as a contractor, and followed it for many years with great energy and success. In the prosecution of this pursuit he entered largely into the building of mason-work, grading streets, excavating rock and building sewers, having very extensive contracts with the Port Morris Company. A very large part of the grading of the streets of Morrisania was done by him. In 1854 he built the dam on Bronx River at West Farms, and, in addition to his public work, performed exten- sive contracts for private individuals, including im- provements on the estates of Colonel Richard M. Hoc, William Fox and many others. The grading

of Third Avenue was one of the most important of his works. About 1861 he became connected with the Morrisania Steamboat Company, and was made a director in 1876. This company ran freight and pas- senger boats to Fulton Slip, and in 1881 he purchased the boats and organized the North and East River Steamboat Company the following year. Of this company he was elected president, and still holds the position. The new company runs three boats-the " Morrisania," "Harlem " and "Shady Side "-and charters boats from other companies.

Mr. Wright became an extensive owner of real estate in Morrisania at an early date, his city resi- dence being at One Hundred and Fiftieth Street and Westchester Avenue, where he owns twenty-three lots. He is the possessor of extensive tracts in other portions of the Twenty- third Ward of New York. His country residence is an extensive farm, east of the post road and near the north bounds of the town of Scarsdale. It is a part of the estate form- erly owned by Thomas Cornell, and the old Cor- nell mansion stood very near the site of the pre- sent elegant residence which was erected by Mr. Wright in 1878. For picturesque elegance this is excelled by few places in the county. As a man of business he is well known and respected throughout this section of country, and his skill and ability are attested by his success.

Francis Lecor

He married Elizabeth, daughter of Moses Hall, of Mount Pleasant. They have five children-Moses G. (who married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. M. D. C. Van Gasbeeck), Sarah A. (deceased), Gilbert A. (who married Louise, daughter of John Prophet), Etta and Alma.

Solomon Wright, mentioned above, married Zilphia, daughter of Elisha Baldwin, whose family are very prominent in Putnam County. Their children were Baldwin, Eliza (who married Gilbert Wright). Mary, Emiline, Elisha, Cornell and William, who is now living in Putnam County. At the age of seventy, Solomon Wright, with three of his sons and one daughter, removed to Illinois and settled near Elgin.

THE HALL FAMILY .- William Hall, whose ances- tors are said to have been of Dutch origin, was an old resident of Mount Pleasant, and a tenant of a farm in

1 Prepared and inserted by the publishers.

Green light

679

SCARSDALE.

the Manor of Phillipsburg, which he afterwards pur- chased. His son, Isaac Hall, who married Elizabeth Fields, was the father of Moscs Fields, who married Mahala Fowler. Their children were Nathanich F., Tamar J., Sarah A., Aaron, Daniel, Mary A. and Elizabeth, who married Green Wright, as mentioned above. The old homestead of the Hall family is now owned by Fields Hall (brother of Moses Hall), and his son Jackson is now of the fourth generation on the inheritance.

About a half-mile from the northeru limit of the town, and just west of the post road, among a group of trecs, stands a pleasant old house dating from the end of the last century. This was formerly the resi- dence of George Washington Tompkins, a brother of Governor Tompkins, who built the mansion in 1799, and here was born his son, Warren Tompkins, after- ward a resident of White Plains. In 1802 the build- ing came into the possession of the Rev. George Don- ovan, elsewhere mentioned in connection with the public school. The homestead is now occupied by the venerable Mrs. McCabe, a daughter of the former, together with several of her family,-two daughters and a son, John D. McCabe, well known in the town. Mrs. McCabe has lived in the town, always occupying her present residence, since 1802, and although now in her eighty-fifth year, is possessed of an excellent memory and relates many events of interest connected with the early history of the town. Mr. McCabe has for many years been prominent in the affairs of the town, especially in connection with the mauage- ment of the school, of which he has for some years been commissioner, besides holding other offices. In the vicinity of this house have been found a few relics of the former Indian proprietors,-arrow-heads aud the remains of their primitive utensils-as well as some relics of the Revolutionary War.

About half a mile to the sontheast of the McCabe mansion, and at the top of Fish's Hill, on the Maul- aroneck road, stands another building of an even earlier date, having been erected prior to the Revolu- tion. For a short time during this war it was occu- pied by General Sir William Howe as his headquar- ters, and near by are the graves of several of the British who died at this time. Since the war the house has been successively occupied by Captain De Kay, a Mr. Sherbrooke and the late William H. Fish. The first-named lived here in the early part of the century, and met with a tragic end at the old mill near the station. A lover of fishing, he was accus- tomed to pursue the sport in that neighborhood, and on the day of his death he had wandercd to the old mill, and was sitting upon the dam with his pole, when, by some mischance, he fell from his position to the rocks below, dying shortly thereafter. After him came Mr. Sherbrooke, an eccentric old gentleman, whose constant companion in the ancient house was a fine large dog, who accompanied him everywhere. About the year 1850 the house passed into the hands

of Mr. Fish, who made his home there until his death, in 1875, and from that date till 1885 the mansion was occupied by his widow and family-now, however, no longer residents of the town.

On the crest of the hill just south of the school- house, and to the west of the old post road, stands the Sedgwick house, now the residence of Bernard Tone, but before the Revolution occupied by Jona- than Griffin, and celebrated as the place where was held the first town-mectiug under the new govern- ment of the country in the ycar 1783. The house has been changed very much of late years, but still preserves in part its original shape and appearance. It stands very near to the road, surrounded by tall locusts and in the midst of pleasant lawns, presenting a picturesque appearance. Upon the death of Jona- than Griffin, Jonathan G. Tompkins, his adopted son and father of Daniel D. Tompkins, moved thither from his old mansion, which was subsequently torn down, and made it his home until his death, when it passed into the hands of the Sedgwick family.

Just west of this, and within a stone's throw of it, stands " Maplehnrst," the residence of the late Ben- jamiu F. Butler, originally part of Fox Mcadow. The mansion, formerly known as the Travis house, was built about the year 1840. The original building was enlarged shortly after it came into the hands of Mr. Butler, in 1868, and again in 1873, wheu a large octagonal extension was added. Mr. Butler was one of the comparatively new residents of the town, having made it his home in 1867, and the only town office held by him was that of member of the committee on the new school building. Directly adjoining this residence on the south is the large estate of Charles Butler, au uncle of the preceding, known as the " Fox Meadows," which has so often been mentioned in the town's history. Mr. Butler first made the town his home in 1853, purchasing the original "Fox Meadows " from the heirs of Caleb Tompkins, and has since added largely to its extent by the purchase of the Travis farm on the north aud part of the Varian farm on the south.

Previous to this the Vail house, which stood in the midst of a locust grove about midway up the hill, and celebrated as the birth-place of Governor Tomp- kins, had been entirely dismantled and nothing but the foundations now remain to mark the spot, and they are almost gone from sight. The old roadway, however, still remains, now all grass-growu, and near it a small clear spring,-the scene of the death of one of the old-time school-masters. At the time of the purchase of the cstate by Mr. Butler the residence of Caleb Tompkins stood on the rising ground, just west of the site of the old Vail house. This mansion was almost entirely remodeled and rebuilt in 1869, and little remains of the original structure. The present cstate of " Fox Mcadows " includes nearly four hun- dred acres, and extends from the post road to the Bronx, and from the Sedgwick property on the north

680

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

to the Popham estates on the south. Much of the estate was swamp and marsh when Mr. Butler made his purchase, but nearly all has been reclaimed and the whole estate laid out and beautified with great taste. There are large lawns surrounded with many stately trees and for nearly a mile along the bauk of the river Bronx stretch many acres of woodland, through which run several small tributary streams, and a beautiful drive is thus afforded entirely within the lim- its of the estate. The " Fox Meadow Garden " occupies the low land facing the post road and is very pictur- esque, with its many long graperies and flower-beds and well-kept lawns and shrubberies. It is an inter- esting coincidence that the "Fox Meadows " should now be occupied by a brother of the late Hon. Ben- jamin F. Butler, Attorney-General of the United States under Presidents Jackson and Van Buren, who was one of Vice-President Tompkins' most intimate and valued friends. Just previous to the purchase of the estate, in 1853, the mansion of Caleb Tompkins was occupied by his son, Jonathan G. Tompkins, grandson of the former J. G. Tompkins, who, like his grandfather, was prominent in the town, occupying the office of supervisor during the years 1847 and 1848. Adjoining the "Fox Meadows " on the south is the "Locusts," for almost a century the residence of the late William Sherbrooke Popham and his youngest son, Lewis C. Popham, who now occupies the homestead. The mansion was built in 1784 by William Popham, Sr., who made it his home, with the exception of a few years spent in the city of New York, until 1835, since which date his son and grand- son have resided here. The mansion stands a few rods west of the post road, in a small valley surround- ed by a grove of locusts, being a few hundred feet south of the Varian tavern. The edifice is one of the most picturesque in appearance and location of any in the town, and, although it has passed its century of existence, still stands almost unchanged, an excel- lent example of the thorough building of the last century. Both within and without the old mansion is charming in its suggestions of the early days of our national life, and with its near neighbors, the Varian and the Morris homesteads, forms a picture vividly remindful of the past.

Adjacent to the Popham estate on the north, and ex- tending north along the old post road, as far as the southern line of the Tompkins farm, was, in former days, the property of the Varian family. The house, now known as the Wayside Cottage, is one of the oldest in the town, dating from a period prior to the Revolution, and, although considerable additions have of late years been made to it, the old part has changed in no essential particular. It stands in the shade of several handsome trees, close to the road, at the very southeast corner of the property, and was built and owned by a farmer, Haddon by name, from whom it passed into the liands of the Varians. During the Revolution it was occupied by James and Michael

Varian, who, with their brothers, Richard and Isaac, were actively engaged on the patriot side. When the British army moved towards White Plains, in Octo- ber, 1776, from their landing near New Rochelle, the Varians, hoping to secure some of their possessions from plunder, removed a favorite cow from her stable -on a level with the road and under the main roof- to the cellar for safe-keeping. When the British came up, those in search of plunder effected an en- trance into the house by hacking at the door with their sabres and afterward in the same way got into the cow-stable, only to find the cow gone. Tradition has it that at this moment the unfortunate cow "lowed," thus disclosing her hiding-place, but in point of fact, the cow, and the family Bible, which was likewise hid in the cellar, escaped observation and were preserved for their owners. It is an interest- ing fact that the sabre-marks of the British are still to be seen in the woodwork of both the front-door of the house and the door to the stable-vivid reminders of the depredations practiced in the Neutral Ground. After the war the house and estate passed into the hands of Colonel Jonathan Varian, who also brought credit upon the family by his services in the War of 1812, and for many years he kept there an inn. Just south of the house stood a large barn, under which was driven the mail-coach, while the stop was made on its way to the city. This tavern was the favorite resort of the drovers, who, with their cattle, made there the last stop on their journey from the Ohio towns to New York City. Arriving at the Varian farm, they would turn their droves of several hundred head of cattle out to graze and themselves would rest at the tavern for several days, making their sales with the dealers, who would drive out from the city and select their purchases. Then, after this interval of rest, the cattle, much improved after their long march, would be driven directly to their various destinations by their new owners. The pastures of the tavern ex- tended to the north and west of the house, and until of late years the barns, in which were stored large quantities of fodder for the droves, stood, as of old, to the west of the tavern itself.1

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 170

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