History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 173

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 173

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I Tompkins' address at White Plains, October 28, 1845.

2 Coutant's " Reminiscences."

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NEW ROCHELLE.

punishment, were lashed to the heels of the soldiers' horses and the animals spurred into violent action, so that the prisoners were dashed about at the peril of their limbs and lives. After this cruel treatment they were compelled to kneel down in the road and repeat after their brutal eaptors a profanc bnrlesque on the Lord's Prayer. This ceremony ended, they were stripped of their coats, hats and shoes, and left to find their way home as best thicy could, or, if they preferred it, to return to their merriment in the tav- ern.

During the War of 1812 a panic took place among the militia who had been stationed upon Davenport's Neck as a gnard against the possible landing of a force from the British men-of-war which were cruis- ing in the Sound. It was a false alarm, but their fright was such that they fled in every direction, taking refuge in the neighboring woods and swamps, and some of them failing to report themselves until many hours had elapsed. This was not a victory to be proud of, nor even a masterly retreat, but when we recall the history in more modern times, of the battle of Bull Run, we will not be too hard on the heroes of Daven- port's Neck. It requires time, dis- cipline and, above all, active ser- vice to make soldiers ont of the raw material of farmers, mechanics and business men. The ront was not any more complete or disgraceful than at the battle of Camden, South Carolina, where Gates' new levies ran so fast and so far, that some think they are running still.

THE PAINE FARM AND MONU- MENT .- Writers npon the history of New Rochelle have nsnally re- ferred to the fact that the noted Thomas Paine lived here for some time, upon a farm bestowed upon him by the Legislature of the State of New York for his political services during the War of the Revolution. This farm, said to have consisted originally of about three hundred acres, was, at the commencement of hostilities, in the possession of one Frederic Deveau, called in the records of the Confiscation Act, Bevoe, by mistake, and styled " Yeoman." As the name in- dicates, he was doubtless a descendant of the Hngue- nots.

At the close of the war, being a Tory, his property was confiscated and given to Paine. It was called by some "The Paine Farm " and by others "Mount Paine." Thomas Paine came to live upon his property in New Rochelle during the first years of the present century (1801-2). In his " Field-Book of the Revolution," Benson J. Lossing, in referring to this monument, 65

speaks of the inscription, "Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense," as though no other words had been placed there. If he had taken the trouble to examine more closely, he would have ascertained that his ad- mirers have placed extracts from his work, "The Age of Reason," in the rear. If (as has been stated by those who ought to know) the likeness of Paine placed by his admirers upon the monument is a good one, the one given by Mr. Lossing is not so, for there is very little resemblance of the one to the other. A part of the house in which Paine lived still remains intact, and is thought to be one of the most ancient dwellings in the town.

As he died on the 8th of June, 1809, in New York, Paine could only have lived in New Rochelle four or five years. He was buried in a corner of the Paine

THOMAS PAINE'S MONUMENT.

farm ; but in the year 1819 the remains were disin- terred by William Cobbett, and conveyed to England. I once met with an aged man, who informed me that he was living a small boy at the time, in a house almost directly opposite the place where Paine was buried. At a very early hour one morning, when going to the pasture to drive up the cows for milking, he dis- covered several men hard at work digging near the road. He was alarmed and watched them from a dis- tance. They placed something contained in a box, in a wagon, filled up the empty grave and drove rapidly away. That was the last of the mortal rc- mains of the author of " Common Sense" ever seen in this country. What became of them is not known, and probably never will be. They are supposed, however, to have been taken by Cobbett to England.

690

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

At a much later period a monument was erected near the spot and facing the road to White Plains.

There, on the eastern side of the house, is the little sleeping-room, with its antique "Franklin fire-place, over which the arch infidel warmed his shivering limbs before returning to his bed of straw." During his abode here he was accustomed to make frequent excursions into the surrounding country, calling on the principal families and farmers of the neighborhoods of New Rochelle and East Chester, whose cellars in those days were well supplied with hogsheads of good old cider, which they never failed to serve up in bountiful libations, to the great pleasure of their dis- tinguished visitor.1 A late resident of New Rochelle stated that his grandfather ouce called on Mr. Paine to serve him with some legal paper or process. Upon discovering the nature of it, he was greeted with a perfect shower of imprecations from the aged, blear- THE PINTARD MANSION also has a pre-Revolu- eyed, little old man. But his wrath soon spent itself, i tionary history ; and yet, notwithstanding its antiq- and the visitor was invited in. They entered the sleeping-room above men- tioned. There was a fire burning in the Franklin fire-place. In the middle of the room stood a small pine table without a cloth or cover of any kind. Upon it were the remains of a loaf of rye bread, a pitcher of milk and a piece of butter, from which Mr. Paine had evidently recently made his frugal breakfast. Another visitor at another time found this table adorned with a cover of old newspapers. The Franklin stove has been removed from the place which it occupied for so many years, and is now (1885) exhibited as a curiosity in the show window of Messrs. Bell & Harmen, of New Rochelle. At the time of the interview above described Mr. Paine was clad in a most extraordinary- looking outer garment, being nothing less than a dressing-gown made out of an old THOMAS PAINE'S HOUSE. army blanket. The house was originally a small wooden building, one and a half stories in uity, it is one of the most desirable residences in New Rochelle. There are eleven rooms in the main build- height, with a kitchen attached to the south gable. The removal of the remains of Paine from their burial-place in New Rochelle had its effect, too, upon English literature, for it led to the famous but irrev- erent epigram of Byron, beginning,-

"Iu digging up your bones, Tom Paine, Will Cobhett has done well," etc.º

1 Coutant's " Reminiscences."

2 Note by Mr. Coutant,-" It is naturally supposed by many that the resi dence of Thomas Paine in New Rochelle must have exerted an injuri ons influence upon the moral and religious character of the inhabitants, and the presence of a public monument to his memory is calculated to confirm this impression. In so far as this relates to the contenupories of Paine, the majority of whom at the time in New Rochelle were of Hu. guenot descent, it must be acknowledged that the author of the 'Age of Reason' was not entirely destitute of followers aud admirers among them ; and it is possible, and even probable, that this evil iufluence might have become more extended and permanent than it ever has be-

OTHER HUGUENOT HOUSES .- The dwelling upon Centre Street formerly owned and occupied by the late Mr. Samuel Davis, and still in good repair, al- though it has been much altered and added to, is un- doubtedly one of the oldest in the town. It was the residence for thirty years consecutively of the Rev. Theodosius Bartow, pastor of the Protestant Episco- pal Church, who was settled in 1790, and died in New Rochelle, November 12, 1819. The venerable old tamarind tree at the east end of the house is said to have been planted by Mr. Bartow himself. The chimney jambs in this house, in the principal room, are ornamented with the Dutch titles inscribed with Scripture mottoes so much in vogue in the olden time. It is probable that Mr. Bartow was not the first occu- pant, and that the house dated from long before the Revolutionary War.

come, but for the counteracting power exerted hy the early Methodist Church, especially at Upper New Rochelle and along the entire extent of North Street. It is a remarkable fact, and might be regarded by some in the light of a special providence, that immediately subsequent to the death and burial of Paine in this neighborhood, and for over twenty years afterwards, the powerful appeals made to the hearts and consciences of the people by the early itinerant preachers of Methodism, as well as the combined efforts of the whole membership of that church, were attended with extraordinary results, producing a complete change in the religious views and feelings of the community, and dealing to infidelity of the Paine type a blow from which it has never recovered. Nor was this counteracting influence confined to the place where it originated, in the vicinity of the Paine monument, at Upper New Rochelle, but it spread to the adjacent towns of East Chester, Mamaroneck and White Plains. In a word, so general and so popular was this religious reforma- tion in all the localities ahove referred to, that, for a time, any man thereabouts who should have openly professed himself to he a disciple of Thomas Paine would have been (and in a few cases actually was) re- garded as a sort of a moral monster by the general community. This

691

NEW ROCHELLE.

ing, with two wings attached, one occupied as a kitchen. The ceilings of all the rooms on the ground floor are fully ten feet in height, and there is an open fire-place in every room in the house, but one. It stands almost directly opposite to the Presbyterian Church.

The front line of this old place, previous to the year 1800, extended through to Huguenot Street. The making of Main Street cut off from it a triangular piece of land, which, lying thus between the two streets, was giveu by the trustees of Lewis Pintard to the Presbyterian Church, in the year 1827, and forms part of the site of the present edifice.

In digging a deep drain along that portion of Main Street in front of the church, in the spring of 188-4, a copper coin was thrown up by the workmen from a depth of ten or eleven feet below the surface. How it came to be buried there is a matter of conjecture. It was in a good state of preservation. The head of George III., King of Great Britain, is faintly discern- ible. The date is almost obliterated, but seems to be 1780 or 1790.

OLD HUGUENOT HOUSE,

On Mr. Simeon Lester's Place, North Street, New Rochelle.

The grounds adjacent to the house consist of over twenty-three acres, and there is upou them one of the finest springs in the town of clear, cool water, the depth of which never varies at any season of the year. Coins issued before the Revolutionary War have been found there, while ploughing, but none of American origin. In the year 1884 an additional room was built over the front porch, and, while re- moving a part of the roof for this purpose, a number of papers and letters of Huguenot origin were discov- ered. The letters are addressed to Mr. Lewis Pintard, of New Rochelle, and some of the papers are in his own handwriting. There were also found a pointed shoe, of ancient make, and a small vial of olive oil, a few drops of which still adhered to the sides and bottom of the glass. One of these papers is a bill against John Pintard for " 7 Reemes of paper, and 1 p's Bukrom ; " dated " July 14th 1738 | £6 : 12: 2."

Another is a bill dated New York, January, 1774,- " Mr. Louis Pintard to Peter Goelet, Dr.

" To nails, hinges and other hardware, €8 0x. 8d.

This is signed, "Paid : Peter Goelet." All the bills are in English currency and are dated before the Revolutionary War. They had remained there undisturbed behind the ceiling, where they had accidentally fallen, for the greater part, if not the whole, of a century. The penmanship of some of these documents is of a superior kind. The writing of all of them is quite legible, and, while the paper is somewhat discolored by time, the ink is entirely un- changed.

It was not at first iny purpose to print auy of these old letters ; but, upon further consideration, I have de- cided to give a translation of the letter addressed to the French Church in New York, as a specimen of the very polite style of a French commercial corre- spondent of the last century, and also as showingt he communication which was kept up between the old French Huguenot Church in New York, and its sis- ter churches abroad. A copy of this letter may be found among the records of the French Church in New York (so Dr. Baird informs me) at the present time,-

[" Copy "] " AMSTERDAM, Oct. 5tlı, 1764.

" Messrs. Vallad, Daniel Bonnet, Jaques des Brosses and others, heads of the French Church of New York.

" Fearing that Mr. Daller may not be ablo to reach London in time to proceed thence to Falmouth and take advantage of tho packet which should sail from thence for your place on the 13th inst., I think it my dnty to communicate to you the preceding, which I have remitted to him and sunt yesterday to the Texel in order that yon may be informed of the departure from this place of my friend Daller, whom I continne to recommend to you as strongly as possible. lle merits it in every re- spect. Meanwhile, I remain unchangeably and withont any restriction whatever, Yours &c."

" Nov. 6th, 1764.

" Gentlemen :

"Since the preceding, which 1 had the honor to write to you on Oc- tober 5th, which letter I ho, e will have reached you by the Packet that sailed from Falmouth, Oct. 13th, of which your pastor, Mr. Jacob Dal- ler could not take advantage, but has since embarked at London, in the ship Thomas and Waddel, Capt. Chambers, sailing directly for your city. and which sailed October 29th ; hoping ardently that you will have had the pleasure of seeing him in good health before the receipt of this let- ter, which I send to London, whence I flatter myself that it will be for- warded in time to go by the Packet, which ought to sail the 10th inst- This, Mr. Daller will tell you that ho received from Messrs. Chabanel and Whithoff, in London, as per his receipt of October 23d,

€.

[the sum of ]

l'aid besides

which it seems

found it necessary

Provisions in London

sterling @ 37.

1 f66G

negotiating 4%

26.13

f602.13

f275

"to which I add the amount 1 remitted you and postage on your lettors and mine in London since March 28th, 1764, including several from Geneva, Switzerland &c., Cnrront money of Ilolland

42.7

317.7

f1010

statement is in no respect exaggerated. I am here speaking advisedly, and from my own personal knowledge of the state of things nt that time."-Unpublished Manuscript of Huguenot, New Rochelle.

1 Florins.

for permits C'apt. Chambers to procure

692

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

"Which I place to the debit of your account, and if I do not shortly advise you of my drafts on you, gentlemen, you will oblige me by remit- ting the amount, since I have but too frequently to make disbursements for my numerous friends on your place. Thus, instead of my making remittances to them, I have on the contrary to make drafts on them ; therefore oblige me by remitting the above sum in €100 sterling Draft on London, upon receipt of this, as, on reflection upon what I have stated to you, I will not draw upon you, Gentlemen, for anything I received, only on October 27th, via. Rotterdam, your above mentioned package of July 15th. I sent the same evening the iuclosure to the Church at Haar- lem. Mr. Magnet has acknowledged its receipt, and informed me that his church has written to ours, to the sexton of which I have myself just remitted your inclosure. With it I enclosed all the letters of the Sieur Menanteau which you have taken the trouble to copy. I postponed until to-day the delivery of your communication to our Consistory, inas- much as the second meeting of that body is at present in session. I wish that, at last, there might be due reflection, and that I might have the satisfaction to communicate to you in my next an agreeable result. In this expectation, I continue heyond all expression.

"Gentlemen, your very humble and very obedient servant, "JACOB HENRY CHABANEL."

While none of these documents are of any special historical value, they show that the merchants of a century and a half ago werc careful men. They used good stout paper, without ruling. Many of them wrote their own commercial letters in a clear and dis- tinct hand. There is no mistaking their signatures. The names of old Peter Goelet, Lewis Pintard and the others are their own, and well calculated to last another hundred years.

The lapse of a hundred and fifty years (one of these letters is dated 1738), though passed in a garret, -has not obscured a word, nor obliterated a signa- ture. It will be observed, moreover, that fashions revolve in circles of a century or more. The ex- tremely sharp-pointed shoe which came to light with these papers, and from the same hiding-place-is the very same which has been fashionable in recent years, although from its small size and coarse make, it secms to have belonged to a female servant of those ancient days. But the inquiry arises; if this was the pattern of shoe worn by the servants ; did not those of the inasters and mistresses of-say 1750-60 " coinc to the point " still more sharply? The oil found with the shoe may have been intended for "its lubrication," but fate willed it otherwise.

THE HUNTINGTON HOMESTEAD was perhaps the most venerable monument of Huguenot architecture in the town, and there were few, if any, older houses in the county. It is believed to have been built about the year 1690, by Alexander Allaire, one of the first settlers, who, as has been stated, landed at Bonnefoy's Point. It was therefore well on towards the completion of its second century. It was con- structed of unhewn stone. Its situation " was highly picturesque commanding a view of the varied scenery of marsh, and creek, and wooded point; and away to the eastward over the islets in the vicinity of Bonne- foy's Point. For a number of years past the wood- work of the interior had been decayed, and the house itself untenantable, until at length it was removed and replaced by a more modern structure. There can be little doubt that some houses built of wood, will

outlast others built of stone, because the former can be more readily altered and adapted to modern ideas." But sooner or later all must go.

" Ont upon Time ! he will leave no more Of the things to come than the things before ! Out upon Time ! who forever will leave But enough of the past for the future to grieve."

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS .- There is abundant evidence, that the early settlers of New Rochelle loved and valued the Protestant religion, for adhering to which they had suffered so much. Like the New England Puritans, whose situation and circumstances their own almost exactly resembled, -they soon found means in despite of all difficulties to erect a place for Christian worship. It was a harder task to support a preacher. When they had a pastor, the sacrament was administered four times a year. When without one they walked to New York for the sake of enjoying this privilege. Tradition relates that they often set out for the city on communion Sundays at a very early hour, reached the old French Church in Pine Street in time for the service, and returned to their homes on the afternoon or evening of the same day, the dis- tance by the road to New York being fully twenty miles.

Meanwhile, the religious instruction of the children was not neglected. Sabbath-schools, as now con- ducted, were unknown; but they were taught the catechism of their church, and often received script- ture lessons from the pictures upon the ancient Dutch tiles, which, in the better class of houses, ornamented the mantel-pieces and fire-places. Such were for- merly to be seen in the house where the writer of this sketch now resides, the old Pintard place. Unfor- tionately, in the progress of modern improvement ? they have now mostly disappeared, like the old stone church on Huguenot Street. But they may still be found in the house for many years owned and occu- pied by the late Samuel Davis, which stands near by.

The first church edifice was of wood, built in 1692. It stood a little west of the house now occupied by Mr. Stephen Carpenter, which is one of the most ancient dwellings in New Rochelle. The church fronted directly upon the old Boston post-road,-then the main street of the village, and was only a few yards distant from the triangular piece of ground which forms the site of the present Presbyterian Church. This church was burned in the year 1723, and afterwards rebuilt. This first church edifice was used by the Huguenots for many years as a place of worship, and continued to be occupied as such by a number of them, who protested against the transfer of their church and church property to Episcopacy, as without authority of law, and contrary to the wishes of the people. Such is the view still held by many of their descendants, large numbers of whom are now members of other churches. The views of the Rev. Dr. Baird upon this subject, who is one of the highest authorities in this country upon all matters pertain-

693

NEW ROCHELLE.

ing to Huguenot History, may be found, supported by documentary evidence (in the third volume of ) his new work, (two volumes of which have just been issued from the press), " The Huguenots in Amer- ica." Those of the Rev. L. J. Coutant, a descendant of the original settlers of New Rochelle, and who was personally acquainted with some of the uon-conform- ists are as follows : 1 It is reasonable to suppose, that a people so warmly aud conscientiously attached to the principles and forms of a religion for which they had suffered exile, confiscation and almost every imaginable form of persecution, would not willingly submit to be transferred by law, and to be swallowed up within the pale of a church, whose rites, ceremo- nies, form of government and mode of worship, were entirely dissimilar to their own. We are disposed to think, therefore, that the statement, 2 " All but two individuals of Mr. Boudet's congregation unanimously conformed to the Church of England," is misleading and calculated to convey the impression, (which is certainly a false one) that the entire body of the French settlers at New Rochelle, except two individuals gave their cheerful and willing assent to the change. This may be true, but it does not state the whole truth by any means.

" Mr. Bondet's congregation may have formed, as we have seen that it did, but a small part of the whole French Colony at the time, and on the occasion referred to ; consisting no doubt of the officials and principal men of the town, to whom had been committed in good faith the man. agement of church matters, and the religions interests of the colony in general. This class always bas existed, and does still exist in all church establishments ; men, who by their peenniary means and prominence in society, as well as by their official relations to the church and state, ex- ercise a controlling influence. But it is equally certain, that the acts and doings of this class of persons cannot always be held to represent the views and wishes of a majority of the people, or even the unanimous ap- proval of their own number, since even in the case we are considering, there were at least two dissenting voices. There were doubtless many more. But we have not now the means of ascertaining how many more would have voted against this transfer (which carried with it the whole of their valnable church property, as was proved by the event), bad they been allowed and encouraged to deposit their votes. That there would have been a considerable number of these protestants is probable, for this, among other reasons.

"John Contant, who died in the year 1848, at the age of 96, informed me several years before his death, that there was considerable dissatis- faction among the French Hugenot families in New Rochelle, and many complaints of nnfairness, in the course pursned by the conformists in this transaction. By it, not only was their church property taken away from them, under the new charter or grant of Queen Anne, and their ancient form of worship abolished by the adoption of that established in the English church ; but, as they could not conscientiously adopt the form of religious service and worship,-they [who decline to conform] were left withont any piace of worship, and deprived of the ministra- tions of their own chosen pastors." 3

Soon after this separation, a new church was built by those who had seceded from the French Hugnenot to the Episcopal Church, in the autumn of the year 1710.4

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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 173

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