History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 190

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 190

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).

During the next five years Macomb purchased from Isaac Vermilye, John De Lancey, Isaac, John and

Matthias Valentine, Andrew Corsa and Augustus Van Cortlandt adjoining parcels, mostly salt meadow, mak- ing up nearly one hundred acres, bounded north by Van Cortlandt, east by the Albany road, south by the Harlem and Spuyten Duyvil, and west by Tippett's Brook. Having obtained from the mayor, etc., of New York, in December, 1800, a water grant extend- ing across the creek, just east of the King's Bridge (which reserved, however, a passage-way fifteen feet wide for small boats and craft), Macomb erected a four-story frame grist-mill extending out over the creek. Its power was supplied by the alternate ebb and flow of the tide against its under-shot wheel. Macomb's extensive real estate ventures proving dis- astrous, Paparinamin and the mill were sold under foreclosure in 1810, and purchased by his son Robert. By an act of 1813 the latter was anthorized to con- struct a dam across the Harlem from Bussing's to Devoe's Point, and to use the water for milling pur- poses, and erected at much expense the causeway and bridge known as " Macomb's Dam." Its gates admitted the flood tide from the East River, but obstructed its ebb, thus converting the Upper Harlem into a mill-pond, having its outlets under- neath the old mill and through a raceway made on the Westchester side into Spuyten Duyvil Creek at low tide. The race sup- plied power to a marble-sawing mill which stood on a quay between it and the creek, and of which Perkins Nicolls was proprie- tor. Robert Macomb becoming involved, the property was sold by the sheriff in 1818. Ten years later it was possessed by the " New York Hydraulic Manufacturing and Bridge Company," by which an elab- orate plan was put forth for mill-seats and a manufacturing village, based on a report of Professor James Renwick, of Columbia College, approved by Colonel Totten and General Macomb, chief engineers United States army. The enterprise proved abortive.2 The old grist- mill 3 stood idle during many years, and at length was made useless by the removal of Macomb's Dam. In 1830 Mary C. P. Macomb, the wife of Robert, acquired the Paparinamin tract, and during many years made the old stone tavern her home, ex- ercising therein a generous hospitality, of which Edgar Allen Poe was a frequent recipient. In 1847 Mrs. Macomb laid out the estate into streets and plots, which she afterwards disposed of. Several houses were erected, stores and shops were opened, a church

I Who purchased from the State in 1791 more than three million five hundred thousand acres in Northern New York, at &d. per acre. The Adirondack Mountains were long known as " Macomb's Mountains."

2 It was proposed, in an elaborate prospectus, to dam the Yonkers Riv- er (Tippett's Brook) near its month, and have gates opening down-stream only. The bed of the stream and the salt meadows through which it flowed were to form a reservoir for tail-water, which would empty itself into Spuyten Duyvil Creek at low tide. Fourteen mill-seats, each fifty by one hundred feet, bordered the race-ways, and an aggregate of at least two hundred and thirty-four horse-power was assured for them. 3 It fell down about 1856.

FMG

"CEDAR RIDGE."

RESIDENCE OF ALBERT E. PUTNAM, SPUYTEN DUYVIL, N. Y.

RESIDENCE OF FREDERIC GOODRIDGE.

"SPRINGHURST."

.. . ..

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KING'S BRIDGE.

built and a centre of population established, which has grown to several hundreds. There are now three churches, a grammar school, police station, numerous stores, shops, saloons and dwellings. Among the well-known residents are Joseph H. Godwin,1 William G. Ackerman, William O. Giles, George Moller, Wil- lian A. Varian, M.D., Benjamin T. Sealey, William H. Geer, John Parsons, M.D., Rev. William T. Wil- son and others.

SPUYTEN DUYVIL .- A village (and until recently a post office) located on the southierly end of Spuyten Duyvil Neck. The land was owned. by George Tip- pett, who died in 1761. He devised it in several parcels to his children and grandchildren. Soon af- ter the Revolution it belonged to Samuel Berrien, who had married Dorcas Tippett, daughter of George.2 He sold to Abraham Berrien, a nephew, in whose family it continued until about 1850 .. In 1852 thie tract was in three farms, which were purchased that year and next by Elias Johnson, David B. Cox and Joseph W. Fuller, of Troy, N. Y. They had surveys and plans made for a village to be called Fort Inde- pendence,3 but which was changed to Spuyteu Duyvil. Streets were opened and several houses erected on the hill, and a foundry was established at its base. The latter was afterwards bought and extended iuto a rolling-mill by Jervis Langdon, who was succeeded by the Laugdon Rolling-Mill Company. The Spuy- ten Duyvil Rolling-Mill Company, organized in 1867, next owned this property. A malleable iron foundry was established on adjoining premises by Isaac G. Johnsou and now employs several hundred hands. There are about thirty private dwellings on the ele- vated ground, including the residences of Mrs. D. B. Cox, Thomas H. Edsall, George C. Holt, Isaac G. Johnson,4 Elias Johnson, Gilbert Johnson, Henry R. Lounsbery, David M. Morrison, George H. Petrie, Albert E. Putnam, Joseph R. Sergeant, Mrs. Peter O. Strang, Warren B. Sage, Henry M. Smith and others.

Immediately northward is a tract of three hundred and fifty-six acres, also known as Spuyten Duyvil. Frederick Van Cortlandt purchased it in several par- cels between 1768 and 1788, and built his house on a commanding spot on the easterly side, approached by a private road leading up from the post road at Mo- sholu. He devised this property to his brother Au- gustus, by whose will it passed to a grandson, Augus- tus F. Morris, who assumed the name of Van Cort-

landt. From him Jaures R. Whiting bought the tract in 1836 and about 1840 erected a large stone mansion on the western side, overlooking the Hudson. Samuel Thomson, William C. Wetutore and Daniel Ewing became interested in Whiting's purchase in 1841, and they subsequently divided it into parcels stretching from the Hudson across the neck to Tip- pett's Brook. Thomson took the northerly parcel, on which stood a large stone house erected about 1822 on the site of the " Upper Cortlandts'," destroyed in that year by fire. Surrounded by well laid out and highly-improved grounds, it is now the residence of Waldo Hutchins. Near by is Hiram Barney's beau- tiful country-seat, "Cedar Knolls." The Whiting mausiou is occupied by James R. Whiting, Jr. Ad- joining is the house of James A. Hayden. The late General John Ewen's country-seat on this tract is now occupied by his widow.

HUDSON PARK was laid out in 1853, on the westerly part of Samuel Thomson's tract. A single house on the river-side was the only one erected for many years. There is now a cluster of small dwellings known as "Cooperstown," on this tract.

North of Hudson Park, aud extending across from the Hudson to the Albany road, was the old Hadley farm of two hundred and fifty-seven acres, of which William Hadley died seized in 1802. He purchased the southerly part, about one hundred and fifty acres extending up to the liue of the Manor of Phillips- burgh, from James Vau Cortlandt, in 1761, and the remainder from the Commissioners of Forfeiture, May 18, 1786. He lived in the old stone house yet stand- ing on this tract, just west of the post road. Joseph Delafield purchased the farm from Hadley's execu- tors in 1829, and it is now owned by Delafield's children and grandchildren. The residence of Maturin L. Delafield is on the west side of Riverdale Avenue. The house of the late Lewis L. Delafield stands on the brow of the hill overlooking the Hudson. Mr. William E. Dodge's country-seat is on this tract. On the west side of Riverdale Avenue is a uew fire-engine house, the first erected in the old Yonkers. Its tower contains a melodious old Spanish bell, cast in 1762 by Llonart.

RIVERDALE .- A village (and uutil recently a post- office) situated on part of Phillipsburgh Manor, which was sold by the Commissioners of Forfeiture to George Hadley, December 6, 1785. In 1843 William G. Ack- erman acquired about one hundred acres of this tract, part of which was purchased in 1853 by W. W. Wood- worth, H. L. Atherton, Samuel D. Babcock and C. W. Foster, and laid out as the village of Riverdale. In 1856 Henry F. Spaulding and others laid out the land adjoining on the south as " The Park, Riverdale." On these lands have since been erected a number of beau- tiful country-houses, including those of William H. Appleton, Samuel D). Babcock, Martin Bates, George H. Bend, Robert Colgate, William S. Duke, R. L. Franklin, George H. Forster, Frederick Goodridge,

1 Mr Godwin's residence is the old Macomb mansion, now altered and enlarged.

? A grandson of the first proprietor of the name. His wife was Dor- cas -. Ile had sons : George, William, James and Thomas (all of whom married and had issue), and daughters : Jane, wife of Charles Warner ; Phebe, wife of George Hadley; and Dorcas, wife of Samuel Berrien. The Rev. William Berrien, rector of Trinity Parish, New York, and its histo- rian, was a grandson of the latter.

8 After the Revolutionary fort, erroneously supposed to have occupied this hill.

4 Mr. Johnson resides in the old Berrien house, which he has enlarged and improved.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Laura Harriman, D. Willis James, Percy R. Pyne, Moses Taylor Pyue, Henry F. Spaulding, H. L. Stone and others. There are two churches and a school- house, but no places of business in Riverdale. 1

MT. ST. VINCENT AND THE SISTERS OF CHARITY. -In the northwest corner of what was formerly the town of King's Bridge, lying along the Hudsou River, and partly jutting over the northern boundary of the city of New York into the adjoining city of Yonkers, is Mount St. Vincent-the property of the Sisters of Charity-a picturesque tract of more than fifty acres of land, together with the convent and other build- ings which make the mother house of the Sisters in the Archdiocese of New York. The institution was founded here in 1856, when this site was still in Westchester County, Nearly a thousand Sisters, in more than a hundred subordinate houses, including asylums, hospitals, the Girls' Protectory in West- chester, the retreat for the insane at Harrison, iu- dustrial schools, academies and parish schools, are governed from Mt. St. Vincent. The many parish and other schools, under the Sisters of Charity from this house, and situated in Westchester County and in and ncar New York, include about thirty five thou- sand pupils, besides the hundreds of sick and infirm in their different asylums and hospitals.

The Sisters of Charity are a benevoleut corpora- tion of women only, formed under the general laws of the State of New York, and governed by their own trustees elected from among themselves, and are largely independent. The Mother Superior is the president of the corporation. Mother Angela Hughes, the youngest sister of Archbishop Hughes, was superior of the order when the Sisters, in December, 1856, bought this property of Edwin Forrest, with the farm buildings and the castle upon it, as he had built them for his own residence.2 The following year Mother Angela commenced the new building, which now forms the central part of the present convent, overlooking the Hudson, between two and three hundred yards distant. This first building, with a front of two hundred and seventy feet, has by later additions been enlarged to more than five hundred feet of frontage, making a handsome brick structure, three stories iu height, with high basement and attic and a lofty spire.

Mother Angela's term of office expired in 1862, since which date Mother Jerome and Mother Regina have successively ruled the order. Mother Angela died in 1866, Mother Regina in 1879 and Mother Jerome in 1885, since which date Sister M. Ambrosia,

who, twenty-five years before, had been in charge of the girls' parish school in Yonkers, then treasurer at Mt. St. Vincent, and subseqently the head of the Girls' Protectory at Westchester, and later assistant- mother at Mt. St. Vincent, has been the Mother Superior there.

The south half of the convent building contains the Academy of Mt. St. Vincent, a girls' school of the highest class, numbering between two and three hundred pupils, with the philosophical apparatus and the appointments of a college. The pupils are divided into many classes, each class under the imme- diate charge of a Sister specially selected for her natural endowments and careful training. Sister Maria (Mary C. Dodge)3 has long been the directress of the academy, subordinate to the Mother Superior. The academic course runs through four years, pre- ceded by a preparatory school for those who ueed it, and followed by a post-graduate coursc.

The north half of the conveut is the mother house of the Sisters, the residence of the Mother Superior and her assistauts, with the Sisters of the academy, as well as those at home from the outside missious for needed rest or in broken health, so that there are usu- ally a hundred Sisters or more in the house. At the extreme uorth end is now thespacious novitiate, built in 1885. The institution has a hundred novices in a two years' course of training and probation under the Mother of Novices, and there are usually a dozen or twenty candidates for the uovitiate awaiting ad- mission through three months or more of probation.

The convent chapel, as large as a parish church, is in an extension to the east, nearly in the middle of the convent, between the Sisters' department and that of the pupils. The convent has a large uumber of fine paintings and works of art, and everything about the building is admirable for its neatness and good order, and the extensive grounds are always well kept. The carriage drive from the convent to the easteru entrance at Riverdale Avenue is about half a mile in length, and to- wards the west, on the Hudson, a quarter of a mile from the convent door, is the Mt. St. Vincent Station of the New York Central and Hudson River Rail- road, on the Sisters' own grounds. The institution is supplied with gas and with water from the Yonkers works, and is under the protection of the New York City police. The picturesque stone castle of Edwin Forrest still stands between the convent and the railroad station, and a part is made the dwelling of the chaplain of the institution. The larger rooms on the first floor are occupied by the museum of natural history, the collection of minerals beiug unusually large and good,4 and there is also a fine cabinet of coins and medals.5

1 Between Riverdale and Mount St. Vincent is a part of the old Johu Warner farm, formerly owned by A. Schermerhorn, and another part owned by J. E. Bettner, E. F. Brown and others. Some fine stone country-houses have recently been erected on these tracts.

" The Forrest property was part of the large farm that Captain John Warner, of the Revolutionary army, bought at the sale of the confiscated estate of Colonel Frederick Phillipse .- Deed of Commissioners of For- feiture, Dec. 6, 1785.

3 Authoress of nn interesting history of the institution.

4 Presented by Dr. E. S. F. Arnold, of New York.

5 Forrest purchased this estate in 1847, and called it " Font Hill."

ACADEMY MOUNT ST. VINCENT, ON-THE-HUDSON, NEW YORK CITY.

761

KING'S BRIDGE.

On their own ground, on a side-street near River- dale Avenue, the Sisters, iu 1875, built, at a cost of over twenty thousand dollars, "St Vincent's Free School," a brick building sixty by ninety feet, where they continue to teach, at their own cost, a free primary school now numbering about one hundred and fifty boys and girls of the vicinity.

The residences of Edmund D. Randolph and Mr. B. Cuthbert adjoin this property on the south.

MOSHOLU1 is an old hamlet and post-office skirting the Albany post road, known early in the century as " Warner's," where many years ago there were a church (Methodist), school-house, store, blacksmith and wagon-shop and a cluster of dwellings.

WOODLAWN HEIGHTS .- A village (and until re- cently a post-office) on the Harlem Railroad, laid out in 1873 by George Opdyke and others on a part of the old Gilbert Valentine farm, in the Yonkers. E. K. Willard extended the village northiward the same year to the Mile Square road. on land formerly part of Phillipse Manor. A church and a uumber of small dwelling-houscs have been crected on these plots.

VAN CORTLANDT'S is a station on the New York City and Northern Railroad, located near the old Van Cortlandt pond and mills. Near by are the ice- houses and residence of George R. Tremper. The historic old mansion (1748), now the residence of Augustus Van Cortlandt, stands a few hundred yards northward, upon Van der Donck's ancient planting- field. Opposite to the car-houscs, beyond the station, is an ancient burial-place, probably that of the Betts and Tippett families in the seventeenth century.

OLAFF PARK is a name given to about one huudred acres of the Van Cortland's estate, purchased and laid out in 1869 by W. N. Woodworth, and so called after the name of the ancestor of the Van Cortlandts in America. No improvements have been made on this tract except to open streets and avenues.

WOODLAWN CEMETERY .- This beautiful " city of the dead " consists of about four hundred acres on the heights of the Bronx, extending westward to an au- cient road, whose line is now followed by Central Avenue The house of Abra- ham Vermilye stood on its easterly side in 1781. Early in this century John Bussing, Daniel Tier, William and Abra- ham Valentine owned the farms of which the cemetery is now composed. The cemetery was organized in December, 1863, and the improvement of the grounds commenced in April, 1864. The first interment was made Jauuary 14, 1865, since which time there have been upwards of twenty-six thousand burials thereiu.

RAILROADS .- The earliest was the New York and Harlem, along the easterly bounds, chartered May 12, 1831 ; opened to Harlem, 1837, and to White Plains,

1844. For nearly thirty years the nearest station was at Williams' Bridge. There is one now at Woodlawn. The Hudson River Railroad, chartered April 25, 1831, was opened along the westerly bounds of the district about 1850. Stations : Spuyten Duyvil, Riv- erdale and Mount St. Vincent. The Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad, chartercd April 24, 1867, was opened in 1871. Stations : Spuyten Duyvil and King's Bridge. The New York City and Northern Railroad was reorganized and opened in 1878. Sta- tions : King's Bridge and Van Cortlandt's.

AQUEDUCTS .- 1. The Croton aqueduct, begun 1837 and completed 1842, passes along the brow of Valentine's, Gun and Tetard's Hills. 2. The Bronx River water supply, determined upon in 1879 and opened September 9, 1884, is carried in a forty-eight- inch cast-iron conduit pipe along the west side of the Bronx to Woodlawn and thence to the top of the hill, half a mile west of Williams' Bridge Station, where a distributing reservoir is located and whence thirty-six inch pipes distribute the water to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards. 3. The new Croton supply, determined upon in 1884 and work in progress, will go ncar the old one, mostly through rock tunnel. 4. Mount St. Vincent, Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil have been supplied from Yonkers water-works since 1882.

SCHOOLS .- The most ancient was the French boarding-school of Dominie Tetard, opened in 1772. Early in the century there was a school-house near Warner's store and another on the Mile Square road, near Devoe's. The school-house at Mosholu (now Grammar No. 67) was erected about 1840. The one at King's Bridge (now Grammar School No. 66) was erected in 1872. The one at Spuyten Duyvil (now Primary No. 44) was erected about 1859. Primary No. 48, at Woodlawn, was established in 1880. The Riverdale Institute, a seminary for young ladies, and the boarding-school for boys at Hudson Park have been closed for several years. The academy at Mount St. Vincent is mentioned under that head.

Then Ay Edsally

BIOGRAPHY.

THE VAN CORTLANDTS OF YONKERS.

Right Hon. Stephen Van Cortlandt, the ancestor of the race, whose naure must ever remain illustrious in our history, was the father of Right Hou. Oloff Stevens Van Cortlandt, who married Annetje,

1 So called after the Indian name of Tippett's Brouk.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

daughter of Gouvert Lockermans, iu 1642, and died in 1669. The children of this marriage were Hon. Stephanus Van Cortlandt (the lord of the Manor of Van Cortlandt), Jacobus and Johannes, who dicd in 1667, leaving no descendants.

Jacobus Van Cortlandt, the second son, was born July 7, 1658, and on the 7th of May, 1691, was mar- ried to Eva Phillipse, the adopted daughter of Freder- ick Phillipse, lord of the Manor of Phillipsburgh, her parents being Peter Raudolph De Vries and his wife Margaret Hardenbrock ; the date of her birth was October 30, 1660.

The children of this marriage were Frederick; Mar- garet, wife of Abraham De Peyster ; Ann, wife of Hon. John Chambers ; and Mary, wife of Peter Jay, father of Hon. John Jay, the illustrious Chief Justice of the United States.

Frederick Van Cortlandt, the oldest son, was born in 1698, aud married Fraucina, daughter of Augustus Jay (the ancestor of the family bearing that famous name) and Anna Maria Bayard, his wife. The old family Bible, printed in Amsterdam in 1714, and uow in possession of Augustus Van Cortlaudt, of Yonkers, contaius the following record of this family, written in Dutch by Francina Van Cortlandt, which is of much interest as a relic of the times when that language was in general use throughout the county :

" Niew York, den 19 January 1723, ben Ick fran- cina Jay met frederick Van Cortlandt soou van Jac- obus Van Cortlandt, in den howelicke staet beve stight, door Dominie Antonidus."

" Niew York de 3 Mart. 172% is geboren myn soou Jacobus Van Cortlandt, zyn compear myn schon vader Jacobus Van Cortlandt, peet myn mouder Anna Marica Jay."

" Niew York de 3 Augustus 1728 is geboren myn twede soon Augustus Van Cortlaudt, zyn compear myn vader Augustus Jay, peet Marggrite De Peyster."

" Niew York de 28 Mart. 1730 is geboren inyn der- den soon Frederick Van Cortlandt, zyn compear Peter Jay, peet Judith Jay."

"Niew York de 28 Mart. 1732 is geboren myn dochter Eva Van Cortlandt, har compear Jacobus Van Cortlandt har grote vader, peet Anna Van Cortlandt. En is gestorven den 10 June 1733, en begraven in de helder by Gerardus Stuyvesants."

" Niew York de 22 May 1736 is geboren myn twede dochter Anna Marica Van Cortlandt, har compear Peter Valette, peet Marica Valette."

"Niew York de 5 November 1737 is geboren myn twede dochter Eva Van Cortlandt, her compear Abra- ham De Peyster, peet Marica Jay."

" Is gestorven den 12 February 1749-50, myn lieve inan frederick Van Cortlandt in zyn 51 jaer, en be- graven in de helder op de klyne Yonkers."

(Translation) New York, 19thi of January 1723 am I, Franciua Jay confirmed in the marriage state with Frederick Van Cortlandt son of Jacobus Van Cort- landt, by Dominic Antonidus.

New York, the 3rd of March, 1726 is boru my son Jacobus Vau Cortlandt; his godfather my father- in-law, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, godmother my mother Anna Marica Jay.

New York the 3rd August, 1728, is born my second son Augustus Vau Cortlandt ; his godfather my father, Augustus Jay, godmother Margaret De Pey- ster.

New York, 28th March, 1730, is born my third son, Frederick Van Cortlandt; his godfather Peter Jay, godmother Judith Jay.

New York, 28th March 1732, is born my daughter, Eva Van Cortlandt; her godfather Jacobus Van Cortlandt, her grandfather, godmother Anna Van Cortlandt, and died the 10th of June, 1733, and buried in the vault by Gerardus Stuyvesants.

New York, 22nd of May, 1736, is born my secoud daughter, Anna Marica Van Cortlandt ; her god- father Peter Valette, godmother Marica Valette.

New York the 5th November, 1737, is born my second daughter, Eva Van Cortlandt ; her godfather Abraham De Peyster, godmother Marica Jay.

Died the 12th of February 1749-50, my loved hus- band Frederick Van Cortland, in his 51st year, and buried in the vault at the Little Yonkers.

The record is continued in English by other hands, and states that Francina Van Cortlandt died August 2, 1780.

Of this family, Jacobus, the eldest son, better known as Colonel James Van Cortlandt, died without chil- dren, April 1, 1781; Frederick died in 1800, with- out issuc; Anna Marica was married to Nathaniel Marston, aud after his decease to Augustus Van Horn ; Eva married Henry White.

Augustus Van Cortlaudt, the second son, married for his first wife Miss Cuyler, and after her decease, Miss Catharine Barclay, of Santa Cruz, W. I. His children were James Van Cortlandt, born March 3, 1736, and died April 1, 1781 ; Helen, born January 4, 1768, and married James Morris, of Morrisania (whose son, Augustus Frederick Morris, assumed the name of Van Cortlandt, and inherited from his grandfather a part of his estate in Lower Yonkers); and Anna, born January 18, 1766, who married Henry White, son of Henry White and Eva Van Cortlandt.

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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 190

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