History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 2

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 2

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In the times of the Dutch possession of New York, the question of boundary between that province and the colony of Connecticut arose. It grew out of the conflicting charters granted by the Dutch aud Eng- lish governments. The States-General of Holland on October 11, 1614, gave a three years' monopoly of trade between Virginia and New France, from fortieth to forty-fifth degrees of north latitude to the United Company of Merchants. This same year a trading port was established by Christiansen on Castle Island south of Albany. June 3, 1621, the Dutch West India Company was chartered with the exclusive privilege of traffic and planting colonies on the coast of America from the Straits of Magellan to the re- motest north. Under this charter settlements were made by the Dutch in what was then called New Netherland. In 1632 the arms of the States-General were erected at Kierit's Hoeck (now Saybrook), at the mouth of the Connecticut, which had been dis- covered by Adriaen Block in 1614, and called the Freshwater. The river had been periodically aud ex-

clusively visited by the Dutch traders for many years. Van Twiller, in 1633, purchased from the Indians an extensive tract of land, ealled the Connittelsock, lying on the west bank of the river and sixty miles from its mouth. At this point was established a trading post, called "The House of Good Hope." November 3, 1620, King James I. incorporated "The Council established at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering and gov- erning New England in America" (commonly called the Plymouth Company). The charter conferred upon them the territory lying between the fortieth and forty-cighth degrees of north latitude, and the At- lantic and Pacific Oceans. The Earl of Arundell, president of this company, in 1631 granted to Robert, Earl of Warwick, the country from the Narragansetts along the shore forty leagues, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. The Governor of Massachusetts Bay protested against the establishment of "The House of Good Hope" as an encroachment on English rights, and Van Twiller responded, October 4, 1633, that Connittelsock belonged to the Dutch by right of purchase. An expedition from the Plymouth colony had already landed about a mile above the Dutch trading post, and what is now Connecticut was soon settled at various points by the English.

Before the opening of controversy between the Dutch and English colonists, a similar one was going on on the other side of the ocean. The Plymouth Company complained to the privy council about "the Dutch intruders," and as early as February, 1622, we find the British ambassador at the Hague, Sir Dudley Carlton, claiming New Netherland as a part of New England and requiring the States-General to stay the prosecution of their plantation. To this remonstrance no attention was paid. May 5, 1632, the West India Company reported to the States-General that "the English themselves, according to their charter (of Massachusetts Bay), place New England on the coast between the 41st and 45th degrees of latitude. But the English began in the year 1606 to resort to Virginia, which is south of our Territory of New Netherland, and fixed the boundaries, accord- ing to their charter, from the 37th to the 39th dc- gree. So that our boundaries according to their own showing should be from the 39th degree inclu- sive to the 41st degree, withiu which bounds we are not aware that they ever undertook any planta- tion. What boundaries Your High Mightinesses have granted to your subjects, can be seen by the charter issued in the year 1615," which date appears to refer to the charter of October, 11, 1614, which went into effect January 1, 1615.

The remonstrance of New Netherland of July 28, 1649, maintains their right of possession by virtue of discovery made by the ship "de Halve Maen " belong- ing to the General East India Company, whereof Henry Hudson was master; and that its boundaries were "the ocean or great sea which separates Europe

THE BOUNDARY.

from America, by New England and Fresh (Connec- ticut) River, in part by the river of Canada (the St. Lawrence) and by Virginia."

England was equally pertinacious in her claim over Connecticut, resting it upon the discoveries of the Cabots in 1494 and 1497, and upon that of Gosnold in 1602, as well as upon the denial of the right of the . Dutch. Hudson never made any sale to the English. It was upon the validity of this sale, in connection with the voyage of the Dutchman, Adrian Block in 1614, through Hell Gate and along the coast of Connecticut to Fisher's and Block's Island, and Cape Cod that the claim of the Dutch to Connecticut rested.

The claim of the Dutch to the coast of Connecticut was maintained in 1646 by Governor Kieft, who threat- ened Governor Eaton, of Connecticut, with war if that colony did not respect Dutch rights. All offers to set- tle the dispute by arbitration were refused by the Dutch.

In 1650, Peter Stuyvesant, on behalf of the colony of New Netherland, had a conference with the author- ities of Connecticut at Hartford, which resulted in a provisional treaty on the boundary that the line should " begin at the west side of Greenwich Bay, being about four miles from Stamford, and so run a northerly line twenty miles up into the country, until it shall be notified by the two governments of the Dutch and of England, provided the said line come not within ten miles of the Hudson River." This agreement was never sanctioned by the home governments, and thirteen years later, on the 13thi of October, 1663, a second conference was held at which Connecticut proposed " that West Chester and all ye people and lands Between that & Stamford shall be- long to their colony of Connecticut till it be otherwise issued," which proposition was refused by the agents of Governor Stuyvesant, who proposed that "West Chester, with the land and people to Stamford, shall Abide under the government of Connecticut tell the tyme that the bounds and limits betwixt the Above- said collonij and the province of New Netherlands shall be determined heare [by our mutual Aceord or by persons mutually chosen, margin] or by his Royal Majesty of England and other high and mighty lords of the estates of the united provinces." 1

War breaking out between England and Holland, this agreement or treaty was never ratified by the home governments.

King Charles II., on the 23d of April, 1662, granted to the colony of Connecticut the following boundary :

" All that part of our dominion in America bonnded by Narraganset Bay, commonly called Naragonsit Bay, where the said river falleth into the sea, and on the north by the line of the Massachusetts plautation, and on the south by the sea ; and in longitude as the line of the Massa- chusetts colony, running from east to west ; that is to say, from the said Narragansett Bay on the east to the south sea on the west part; with the islands thereto adjoining, etc."

1 Colonial boundaries, llartford (31.S.), vol. ii., doc. 4, quoted in " History of Rye," by Rev. Charles W. Baird, D. D.

That most comprehensive grant not only covered the disputed territory, but took in the greater part of the Dutch elaim on the Hudson. King Charles granted to his brother, the Duke of York and Albany, on the 24th of March, 1664, all of New Netherland from the Delaware to Cape Cod. This grant embraced Connectieut east of the Connecticut River-with some variations of the boundaries-and also the whole of Long Island, " together with all the river called Hudson River, and the lands from the west side of Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay."

By the charter and patent issued within less than two years of each other, nearly all of New York was

MASS:

LINEOF

GİRİMASSACHUSETTS

LINE AGREED ON IN 1664

HUDSON RIVER

NEW YORK

·PO'KEEPSIE

EQUIVALENT TRACK

CONNECTICUT

I RIDGEFIELD ANGLE

HWILTON ANLLE

ISING SING

. DUKES

- TREES

Acl

BYRAM RY

L.I. SOUND

NEW JERSEY

MAMARONECKA RIVER

N.Y. CITY

LONG ISLAND

THE DIFFERENT BOUNDARY LINES BETWEEN COM. NECTICUT AND NEW YORK.2

granted to Connecticut, and most of Connecticut given to New York. On the 18th of September, 1664, Colonel Richard Nicolls, the representative of the Duke of York, received the surrender of the city of New Amsterdam, and the whole of the New Nether- lands accepted the situation of an English colony by the 12th of October following

Notwithstanding the charter of Connecticut was older than the patent to the Duke of York, no little alarm was taken when it was known that their boun- daries had been disregarded by the King in his patent to his brother. Delegates werc dispatched by the authorities of Connecticut to the Governor of New

" This map is copied by permission from Rev. Charles W Baird's " Ilistory of Rye," p. 105.

NEWBURGH,

WEST POINT

PEEKSKILL M. 20 MILES

UMLINE OF 1650

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

York for the purpose of congratulation and settle- ment of the boundary line. These delegates and the commissioners appointed by the Governor of New York met ou the 28th of October, 1664, and came to the understanding that the boundary limit between the two claimants should be fixed at a distance of twenty miles east of the Hudson River, aud running parallel with that river northward from Long Island Souud. This agreement was not signed, and a few weeks later it was ordered and declared, --

" That ye Creeke or ryver called Momoronock web is reported to be about thirteen myles to ye east of West Chester, and a lyne drawne from ye east point or Syde where ye fresh water falls into ye salt, at high water marke, north northwest to ye line of ye Massachusetts be ye westerne bounds of ye said Colony of Connecticut."1

The line thus establishicd proved fruitful of civil strife, which will find its fuller detail when the cvent- ful story of Rye comes to be written. The Connecti- cut officials induced Nicolls to believe that Mamaro- neck was twenty miles east of the Hudson. Nicolls trusted them and hence arose the trouble, the real distance of Mamaroneck from the Hudson being only about ten miles, instead of twenty. The intention was that this line, twenty miles east of the Hudson, should continue at that distance until it struck the boundary line of Massachusetts ; but being given a " North Northwest " direction, it intersected the Hnd- son River at West Point, and cut off a large part of New York west of that river. On the 24th of Novem- ber, 1683, negotiations were again uudertaken to fix the boundary line, and articles were concluded be- tween Governor Dongan and Council of New York, and the Governor and delegates of Connecticut, that the line should run as originally intended, twenty miles east of the Hudson River. But upon it becon- ing evident that such a line would deprive Connecti- cut of several towns which she had planted, it became necessary to vary the line in parts so that these towns should remain in Connectiont; heuce the zig-zag boundary line at the southern end between the two States ; and as an offset for the territory thus given to Connecticut, an "equivalent tract " was taken from Connecticut at the northern part of the line, and "The Oblong," of 61,440 acres, or a tract of land two miles in width and fifty in length, was given to New York from Ridgefield to the Massachusetts line.

The bonndary thus agreed upon began at the mouth of Byram River at a point thirty miles from New York, and following that stream as far as the liead of tide-water, or about a mile and a half from the Sonnd, to a certain " wading-place," where the common road crossed the stream at a rock known and described as "The Great Stone at the Wading-Place." From that stone the line was to run northwest till it should reach a poiut eight miles from the Sound; thence a line run- ning eastward parallel to the general course of the Sound, and twelve miles in length was fixed upon.

From its termination another line, eight miles in length, was to be run in a north-northwest direction, and from the end of that line the boundary was to extend north to the Massachusetts line, with the " equivalent tract " included.

The boundary line thus agreed upon remained as such for many years, recognized but not legally es- tablished by the concurrent action of both States. The Legislature of Connecticut, on the 8th of May, 1684, forurally approved the agreement and appointed a surveyor to lay off the line. In October following, Governor Dongan's officers met the surveyor of Con- nectient at Stamford, and the amount of land con- ceded to Connectient was ascertained, but their sur- vey termiuated with the line drawn parallel to the Sound as far as a point twenty miles from the river. Beyond this they simply indicated what they sup- posed would be the extent of "The Oblong " to be laid out as an "equivalent tract."

This condition of the boundary dispute remained nuchanged, when, on the 29th of March, 1700, King William III. approved and confirmed the agreement of 1683 and 1684, whereby Rye and Bedford were in - cluded in New York. The boundary dispute contin- ued nnsettled, and in October, 1718, commissioners appointed by the two governments met at Rye, but failed to agree upon a method of procedure-the New York commissioners refusing to go on with the sur- vey because those of Connecticut were not empower- ed to bind their government to any line that might be settled upon. In 1719, though Connecticut ap- pointed new commissioners with larger powers, they were still without power to agree upon a final and conclusive settlemeut. "A probationary act" by New York followed, providing for the appointment of a new commission by each colony, and requiring the New York commission to ruu all the lines in accord- ance with the agreement and survey of 1683 and 1684, and this duty was required to be performed, though no commissiou from Connecticut should be appointed. This act was conditional on the royal approbation. This proposition was not responded to by Connecti- cut until October, 1723, when a commission with full powers was appointed, and the two commissions met at Rye in April, 1725. Their work began at "the great stone at the wading-place," and extended to the " Duke's trees," at the northwest angle of the town of Greenwich, where three white oaks had been marked in 1684, as the termination of the survey of that year. Here want of funds suspended the work, which was not resumed nntil 1731, when the survey was com- pleted to the Massachusetts line ; the " equivalent tract " or " oblong " was measured and set off to New York, and the line designated by monnments along its course. This survey was ratified as to the oblong by both governments, and remained nnquestioned nntil May, 1855, when Connecticut opened the subject again, because "ranges of marked trees had long since disap- peared. Many of the heaps ofstones originally erected

1 Boundaries of State of New York, vol. i. p. 25.

TOPOGRAPHY.

had been scattered. Traditious were found inconsisteut and contradictory, varying the line in places to a con- siderable extent. Along the whole distance the great- est uncertainty existed, and a distrust and want of confidenee in all the supposed liues, rather than a dis- position to contend for any. Residents near the bor- der refrained from voting in either State ; while offi- cers of justice and collectors of revenue from both hesitated to exercise their authority up to any clearly- defined limit. These circumstances were takeu ad- vantage of by those who desired to evade the pay- ment of taxes or the severity of the law."

To this statement of facts New York responded by the appointment, in Jauuary, 1856, of Mr. C. W. Wentz, of Albany, an engincer of establishicd reputa- tion, to survey, ascertain and mark the boundary line. No difficulty intervened from the initial point at the "wading stone," to the Ridgefield angle, but from thence to the Massachusetts line a radical differ- ence interposed between the commissions.

The representatives of Connecticut contended for a straight line between the two extreme points, fifty- three miles apart, because the old inonuments and marks upon the line were generally removed, and the original line could not be traced with any cer- tainty by reference to them. On the other hand, the commissioners of New York considered their author- ity limited to "ascertaining " the boundary as origi- ually defined ; no agreement was reached, and in August, 1859, each State appointed new commis- sioners; but at their conference at Port Chester, on 13th September. of that year, the same differenee of views confronted the commission, and the conference resulted iu no practical work. Ou the 3d of April, 1860, New York passed an act empowering the com- mission formerly appointed to survey and mark with suitable monuments the "line between the two States as fixed by the survey of 1731." Under this author- ity the New York commission fixed and marked the boundary line between the two States, placing monu- ments along the line at intervals of one mile from tlie Massachusetts liue to the mouth of Byram River. The work was completed in the autumn of 1860.

The eastern bauk of the Hudson River affords a landscape of surpassing beauty, varying with undulat- ing hills and gentle slopes, where countless numbers of villas, cottages, palaces of wealth, clustering villages, and busy towns attest the residence of wealth and taste. Into the Hudson flow all the streams of the county whose water-slied treuds to the westward. The hills along the eastern bank of the Hudsou rise from three hundred and fifty feet near Hastings to one thousand two hundred and twenty-eight feet at Authony's Nose promontory, in the northwest corner of the county. The valley of the Bronx River, in the middle section of the county, shows a depression of surface extending from uear the centre of tlie county southward to the Sound. Still farther to the east the Mamaroneck River, emptying into the Sound, as well as the Bliud Brook Creek, show a succession of hills aud valleys throughout the southern and east- ern sections of the county. In the northern part of the county the Croton River and its tributarics, flowing in Still unsettled, the question came up by Connec- ticut threatening to contest her claims, and iu 1878 and 1879 both States appointed commissioners to es- tablish the boundaries. An agreement was made, December 5, 1879, whereby the western boundary of Connecticut was fixed as the ex parte liue survey- ed by New York in 1860, which was the old line of a southwesterly direction to the Hudson River, at Tappan Bay, mark another valley depression which extends oyer a large portion of the Northern part of the county. Tlicse depressions have in several places created small lakes, of which Croton Lake is entirely artificial. Byram Lake, in Bedford and North Castle, Rye Pond in Harrison (covers two hundred and ten 1731. Connecticut, therefore, gave up her claim to | acres), Cross Lake and North and South Ponds, in the twenty-six hundred acres in dispute, between the straight line and the line of 1731 as reached, in ex- change for her southeru boundary extended into the sound. That agreement was ratified by the Legis- latures of both States and confirmed by Congress dur- ing the session of 1880-81.

TOPOGRAPHY .- The topographical features of the

county present much that is strikingly beauti- ful in scenery, as well as useful in agriculture aud manufactures. The surface is broken by ranges of hills running in a direction generally parallel to the Hudson River, and separated by valleys. Of the two general ranges, one borders close upon the Hudson, and the other along the Connecticut boundary line; besides these, many minor ridges and hills diversify the surface, and give to the water-courses a general direction north and south. The heights of the hills range between two hundred and one thousand feet. The continuous valleys, extending north and south have been availed of by the railroads which intersect the county, while other roads in every direction have made the means of inter-coummuication easy and convenient. These features give to the roads running north and south a generally level character, while those extending across the country east and west are a constant succession of ascents and descents. Occasionally abrupt and rocky hills break the surface, and present obstacles to travel, sometimes inconvenient, but nowhere insur- mouutable.

Poundridge, Waccabuck Lake (covers two hundred and twelve acres), in Lewisboro', Peach Lake, in North Salem, Mohegan and Mohansic Lakes, in York- town, and smaller bodies of fresh water in other local- ities indicate a formation of surface rolling and broken in character, and picturesque and beautiful in land- scape. The largest body of water in the county is Croton Lake, artificially formed by the Croton Dam,

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

five miles from the mouth of the Croton River, for supplying the city of New York with water.

The Croton River, rising in Dutchess County, flows through Putnam County, and entering Westchester directly and through its tributaries drains Somers and part of Yorktown by the Muscoot branch, North Salem, by the Titicus River, Lewisboro', Pound- ridge and a part of Bedford by the Cross River, and portions of Bedford and New Castle by the Kisco River, and flowing southwesterly, enters the Hudson River at Tappan Bay. The Peekskill Creek, in the northwest corner of the county, flows among the many hills that stud that section and finds its outlet in the Hudson near Peekskill. Furnace Brook, in Cort- landt, is another small tributary of the Hudson. Pocantico River, rising in New Castle, forms the dividing line between Ossining and Mount Pleasant, and through Sleepy Hollow, finds its outlet in the Hudson at Tarrytown. Neperhan, or Saw-Mill River, rises in New Castle, and flowing through Mount Pleasant, Greenburgh and Yonkers, discharges its waters into the Hudson at the city of Yonkers. Tibbitts' Brook, a small stream in Yonkers, empties into the Spuyten Duyvil Creek.

The streams which find their outlet in the Sound are: The Bronx River, which rises in the hills of Mount Pleasant, and North Castle, and flow- ing southerly, drains a large portion of th southern-middle section of the county. The West- chester Creek, a tidal stream, drains a small part of the southern end of the county and empties into Westchester Bay, an estuary of the Sound. Hutchin- son River, rising in Scarsdale, flows southward into Eastchester Bay, on the Sound. Mamaroneck River, rising near White Plains and Harrison, flows into Mamaroneck Harbor, on the Sound. Byram River and Blind Brook are streams which also discharge their waters into the Sound, the former at Port Ches- ter, after draining portions of Bedford, North Castle and Rye, and the latter at Milton, after draining por- tions of Harrison and Rye. The Maharness, rising in North Castle, and Stamford Mill River, rising in Poundridge, flow into Connecticut and thence to the Sound.

The southern or Sound shore of the county is in- dented with bays and estuaries, of which Westchester or Pelham Bay and Mamaroneck Harbor are the largest. Peninsulas stretch out into the Sound, of which Throgg's Neck, Pelliam's Neck, Davenport's Neck and DeLancey's Neck are the most important. Islands are numerous along the shore of the Sound. The largest are City, Hunter's, David's, Huckleberry and Manaessing Islands.

The railroads that traverse the county are: The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, which extends along the eastern bank of the Hudson River through the whole length of the county, entering it at Spuyten Duyvil, and leaving it at Anthony's Nose, at the corner of Putnam. At Spuyten Duyvil

Creek the main line connects along the north bank to Harlem River Bridge, with the Grand Central Depot, at Forty-second Street. Riverdale Station, the first station in the present Westchester County, pre- sents a beautiful prospect of Yonkers on the north, the Palisades across the river, with the Ramapo range of hills in the distance. Yonkers, Hastings-on-the- Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Abbotsford, Irvington, Tarry- town, Sing Sing, Croton, Crugers, Verplanck and Peekskill, are the principal stations along the line of this road.

The New York and Harlem River Railroad extends through the central portion of the county, through Morrisania, West Farms, Eastchester, Scarsdale, White Plains, Mount Pleasant, New Castle, Bed- ford, Lewisboro and North Salem. Mount Vernon, White Plains, Pleasantville, Mt. Kisco, Katonalı, and Croton Falls, are the principal villages along its line.

At William's Bridge, the New York and New Haven Railroad branches and runs through Eastchester, Pel- ham, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck, Harrison and Rye.

The New York City and Northern Railroad enters the county in Kingsbridge, and diverging there from the Hudson River Road, passes through Van Cort- landt, South Yonkers, and North Yonkers, up the Neperan Valley through Odells, Ashford, Elmsford or Hall's Corners, and leaves the valley at East Tarry- town; thence by Tarrytown, North Tarrytown, Tarry- town Heights, Whitson, Merritt's Corners, Croton Lake South, Croton Lake North, Yorktown, Ama- walk, West Somers, Baldwin Place, Lake Mahopac, Carmel, Tilly Foster's, and terminates at Brewster, where connection is made, via Danbury, with the New England system.

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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 2

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