History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 41

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 41

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The connections of the Van Cortlandt family, both in this country and England, during the colonial pe- riod, were very numerous and distinguished. It is a family which an honored State and country gladly recalls to memory.1

The first of the De Lancey family, Stephen, appears as early as 1686, having been compelled to flee from the religious persecutions which were then so bitterly going on in France. He settled in New York as a mer- chant, and married Anne, daughter of Stephen Van Cortlandt. Their oldest son, James, the Chief Justice and Lieutenant-Governor of New York, mar- ried Anne, daughter of Colonel Caleb Heathcote. James's brother, Peter, married Alice, daughter of

Governor Caldwallader Colden, and Oliver, another brother, held many positions of trust, among which were Receiver-General and meurber of the Governor's Council. He was also an officer in the French War, rising afterwards, in the Revolution, to the rank in the British service of Brigadier-General. This family, so marked for its political influence, became connected by marriage with the Allens of Pennsyl- vania, the Lloyds and Joneses of Long Island, the Waltons, Barclays and Crugers of New York.

Iu the contest with the mother-country, the De Laneeys unflinchingly adhered to the royal cause. Bishop De Lancey, of Western New York, who was a grandson of Governor De Lancey, sustained in his professional career the old reputation of the family for soundness of judgment, fidelity to convictions and trusts, cordiality and philanthropy.

The Morris family, of the county, has held its own under the earlier and later régime and offers a race of stalwart citizens of Westchester County as marked mentally as physically. In 1670, Richard Morris, afterward a merchant of New York, purchased a large tract of land in the lower portion of the east side of the county, since ealled Morrisania. His property went to his brother Lewis by reason of an agreement made between them, but at the decease of Lewis passed to his nephew of the same name, who afterwards beeame Chief Justice of New York, as also, in 1733, under eireumstances of excitement and self- defence already narrated, the Representative of West- chester County. The different limbs and branches of this ancestral tree are very numerous. The con- neetions of this family are with the Grahams, the Van Cortlandts, Wilkinses, Ludlows, Randolphs, Ogdens, Lawrences, Rutherfords, Governeurs and foreign families whom it is not necessary to detail. The old mansion is at Morrisania, near Harlem.

The Bartow family, of Hugueuot deseent, has oc- eupied a much respected position of influence and usefulness in the country during both the eighteenth and ninteenth centuries. The head of the family in this country was the Rev. John Bartow, who, in 1702, settled in the town of Westchester, and there reared a large family. His descendants have been among the most valued citizens of Westchester County, and indeed of the country North and South.

TRADE .- In the development of Westchester Coun- ty, its proximity to New York City was from the first an important element to its advantage. Here was a ready market for the products of the soil. The early settler entered upon his work of raising the supply for his family and neighbors with the knowledge of a sure and easy disposal of the surplus of his crop. There is no doubt that in a coasting trade much was sent both north and south, to Rhode Island and Boston and the Carolinas, direct from the villages of the County, but the vast bulk of what it had to sell went through New York City, the port of entry, to the mother country and various other lands at greater

1 A trustworthy and highly interesting history of the Van Cortlandt family, specially prepared from original family documents by Mrs. C. E. Van Cortlandt for this work, is given elsewhere

170

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

or less distances. At first, wheat, barley, rye, peas and Indiau corn were exported, but afterward live stock, hemp, flax, apples, onions, tobacco, cheese,1 pickled oysters prepared, and then other articles, as tar, bacou, butter, candles, linseed oil, iuferier cloths and, for a short time, hats.

During the war between France and England, in the reign of Queeu Anne, when there was a great scarcity of provisions in Europe, the farmer of the New York colony received a high price for his wheat, and was much encouraged. This effect was far from satisfactory to his kinsman beyond the seas. In that selfishness which borders on nervous jealousy, and which would suppress all industries that couflict with its own, the colonial planter and merchant found his enemy in his own household.

This petty interference was carried still farther, in the discouragement of even what was not known in the commercial dealings of the mother country. The trade with foreign ports and the production of what might be carried directly to the stranger and even to the fellow colonist was ordered to be discontinued. The blindness and injustice of such a policy is ob- vious. Gov. Clinton, seeing the stupidity of this pro- ceeding, in a letter to the home government, asks, " May not a Colony . of Freemen who con- sume a vast quantity of the Manufactures of Great Britain, tho' this Colony raise no staple which cau be imported directly into Great Britain, be more useful to her than a Colony which raises a considerable staple imported into Great Britain, and this Staple is entirely raised by the hands of Slaves, who consume very little or none of the Manufactures of Great Britain." ?? This narrow course with a people described by Dr. Bray as "so well versed in business as even the meanest planter seems to be,"3 produced much irrita- tion and remonstrance. But the colonist's labors went or, and under the services of his factor a large cn- richment took place. This is indicated in the addi- tions by purchasc to the estatcs of the settlers of the unappropriated lands of the several towns, the fre- quent changings of the boundaries and the multiplica- tion of mills, smaller roads and modes of conveyance.

MAILS .- There seems not to be any indication of a postal communication between New York and any point in this county earlier than 1672. Of course, letters were passing by private conveyance from the very first of the settlements. Expressions showing this occur again and again in the publie docu- ments. But in the year mentioned Governor Love- lace authorized a messenger or post to set forth from the eity of New York monthly, "and thence to travail to Boston, from whence within that month he shall return again to this city."4 This arrangement began

1 In the Post Boy of Feb., 1766, the society awarded the premium to Caleb Peil, of Pelham Manor, for largest and best cheese, weighing 8234 lbs., and we are informed afterward that the great cheese which gained the premium was sold at vendue for eight pence per pound.

2 N. Y. Col. Mans., vii. 7, p. 612 (1764).

3 Prot. Epis. Hist. Col., 1857, p. 103.

4 Baird's Rye, p. 72.

on the 1st of January, and letters or small portable goods were to be carefully carried to " Hartford, Boston, or any other points on the road," " by a sworn messenger and post purposely imployed in that Affayre," " All per- sons paying the Post before the Bag be sealed up." The postman was also directed to allow passengers to accompany him. In the "Instructions for the Post- man " are the following : "You are to comport your- self with all sobriety and civility to those that shall intrust, and uot exact on them for the prices, both of Letters and Pacquets ; " "you are likewise to advise where the most commodious place will be to leave the Letters out of your road, which, when having it once well fixt, you are not ouly to leave the Letters there, but at your return to call for answers and leave a pub- lication of your Resolution, the wch you must cause to be disperst to all parts, that so all may know when and where to leave their letters." " You shall doe well to provide yor selfe of a spare Horse, good Port Mantle, that soe ueither letters nor Pacquets re- ceive any damage under your hands.

" FFRAN LOVELACE.

" Ffort James, ye 22d of Jan'y 1672." 5

The following is a portion of the oath taken : "You do sweare by the Everlasting God, that you will truly and faithfully discharge the trust reposed in you as a Postmaster. . Neither directly nor indirectly detayne, conceale or open any Letters, Packetts, or other goods committed to your charge, but deliver, ctc." This arrangement lasted but a short time. But this project for a mail between New York and the more northeru British colonies-a favorite scheme with Lovelace,-it fell to the fortune of Gov- ernor Dongan, in 1685, to permanently establish. He had previously, however, conferred with the authori- ties " at home " and received their concurreuce. The Duke of York's secretary, Sir John Werden, on the 27th of August, 1684, writes " As for setting up Post Houses along the coast from Carolina to Nova Scotia, it seems a very reasonable thing, and you may offer the privilege thereof to any undertakers for ye space of 3 or 5 yearcs, by way of farme, reserving wt part of ye profitt you thinke fitt to the Duke (not less y" one- tenth)."6 The next February he fully determined upon the step, after consultation with Governor Treat, of Connecticut, and on the 2d of March ordered that, for the better correspondence between the colonies of America, a post-office be established and that the rate for riding post be per mile three pence ; for every single letter not above one hundred miles, three pence ; if more, proportionably. It must be stated however, on the authority of Governor Dongan himself, that at the very time this Government arrangement com- menced, this transferring of letters was "practiced in some places by foot and horse messengers."

5 " Valentine's Manual ; " Gen. Entries, iii. 252, Sec. office, Albany. 6 N. Y. Col. MISS., vol. iii. p. 349.

171

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

The following are noticeable indieations of the ex- istenee of this mail :

On the 16th of January, 1689, the mail having just left the house of Colonel Lewis Morris, in this eounty, was seized by Leisler's order and returned to New York and examined.1

The Earl of Bellamont, writing May 25, 1698, from New York, says : " the sure way of conveying letters to me is by the way of Boston, whence the post eomes every week to this place." 2

Lord Cornbury, in a letter to the Lords of Trade June 30th, 1704, writes : "The post that goes through this place, goes Eastward as far as Boston, but West- ward he goes no farther than Phila- delphia and there is no other post upon all this con- tinent." 3

In a letter des- cribing the effects of Her Majesty's proclamation as to the rates of coin, Governor Corn- bury writes as fol- lows : " It was on Monday the 5th day of February, 1705, the day the Boston Post sets ont from henee, several persons here sent away as much money by the Post as he could carry."

In 1704 we have from Madam Knight's journal an account of her trip from Bos- ton to New York herself, and the postman on horseback.4

Franklin

In 1705 Lord Cornbury, sending home for approval several bills passed by the | They were both of Stratford, Conn., and must have Assembly, speaks of one as " An Aet of absolute ne- eessity, for without it the Post to Boston and Phila- delphia will be lost." 5

1 N. Y. Col. MISS., vol. iii. p. 682. 3 N. Y. Col. MSS., vol. iv. p. 1113.

2 N. Y. Col. MISS., vol. iv. p. 317. + N. Y. Col. MISS., vol. iv. p. 1131. 5 N. Y. Col. MISS., vol. iv. p. 1168.

In 1708, Lord Cornbury states that "From Boston there is a Post by which we can hear once a week in summer, and once a fortnight in winter." 6

In the New York Gazette of December 9, 1734, is the following advertisement :

" On Tuesday the Tenth instant, at Nine O'clock in the Fore-noon. the Boston and Philadelphia Posts set ont from New York to perform their stages once a fort nite during the 3 Win- ter months and are to set out at 9o'clock on Tues- day Mornings. Gentle- men and Merchants are desired to bring their Letters in time. N. B. -This Gazette will also come forth on Tuesday mornings during that time." 7

With little vari- ation this through mail arrange- ment, from which doubtless the in- habitants of West- chester County derived the same advantages as others on the route, continued on for twenty years longer, when, Benjamin Franklin having been made Post -. master-General for the colonies, entered upon of- fiee with determi- nation to increase the postal facili- ties.& The weekly mail was soon started, through the winter months as well as summer, and letters leaving Philadelphia on Mon- day morning reached Boston by Saturday night. We have the names of two of the old mail- earriers, whose faees must have been very familiar and welcome at the various points along the post-road. started on their stirring careers about the same

6 N. Y. Col. MISS., vol. v. p. 55.

; Valentine's Manual, 1864, p. 710.

s" Franklin himself set out on a tour of inspection, and, traveling patiently over the routes, erected mile-stones (some of which are still standing)." Mrs. Lamb's Hist. of the City of N. Y., vol. i. p. 668.

172

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

time, 1728. The first was Deacon Thomas Peet, " employed as a Post-rider between New York and Saybrook for the last thirty-two years of his life, in which station he gave general satisfaction. He died of a Fever in the sixty-second year of his age."] The second was Ebenezer Hurd, who was forty-seven years, at least Post-rider and was iu the position at the commencement of the Revolution.2

NEWSPAPERS .- Although not one newspaper seems to have been published in Westchester County in ante-Revolutionary times, the city press found here its firmest patrons. The weekly mail brought out with it the just published Journal, and afforded for the instruction, amusement and excitement of the farmer, as of the citizen, not merely the events that were happening, but the stirring thoughts and pur- poses which were offeriug for examination and ad- vantage. In these city papers are found frequent advertisements and notes appertaining to the country, - farms to be disposed of; runaway slaves to be re- covered; stage-lines started ; vessels freighting for dis- tant points; wrecked vessels that will be restored ; rewards for recovery of stolen goods; prices of mer- chandise to be sold. Events occurring in the County are also noticed. The New York Post Boy, Febru- ary 6, 1758, has "the following most shocking and melancholy account from East Chester, N. Y., that, on Friday morning, the 27th of January, Mrs. Mary Standard, aged about seveuty years, wife to the Rev. Doetor Thomas Standard, of that place, was found dead on the chimney-hearth of one of the apartments in the house, having her head, the chief part of bothi lier breasts, with her left arm and shoulder entirely burnt to cinders. It appears that the unfortunate old gentleman and his more unfortunate old lady had, upon some uecessary occasion the evening before, agreed to lay separate ; and the doctor, taking his leave, went to bed, leaving his wife sitting before the fire, where, it is imagined, the poor old gentlewoman must either have been seized with a fit, or, in rising from her chair had fallen into the fire, and, being un- doubtedly rendered unable to move herself, she be- came the most moving spectacle imaginable to the most affectionate aud tender husband, who first dis- covered her in the morning." 3

The same journal, on the 14th of March, 1765, an- nounces that " last week was killed at Morrisania, at the farm of Lewis Morris, Esq., in the county of Westchester, where it was reared, an ox of six years old that weighed nineteen hundred and forty-seven pounds."

The following advertisements, of an earlier date, are given :

"Stolen, on Sunday night, the Sth of March, out of the Stable of John Ryder, at Philipsehorough, in the County of West Chester, a large

brown horse, about fifteen hands high. has a small star on his Fore- head and goes narrow with his Hams behind. he is branded in several Places, but not very plain, on his Foreshoulder with IH, and on his Left Thigh with I R. Whosoever takes up the said Horse and brings him to his said owuer shall have Five Pounds reward and all reasonable charges paid by

"JOHN RIDER." 4

" To BE SOLD,

" A very good Farm and Tract of Land thereunto belonging, contain- ing seventy-three acres or thereahouts, lying in New Rochelle, in the County of West Chester, on which is a good brick dwelling House, a well-bearing orchard and good Timber Land ; as also three acres of Salt Meadow, in the Township of East Chester, late belonging to Lewis Guion, of East Chester, deceased. Those that are intended to purchase the same may apply to Charles Johnston, of New York, schoolmaster, or Charles Vincent, of East Chester, Blacksmith, and the title thereto suf- ficiently warranted." 5

MODES OF TRAVEL,-There were no doubt from the very first intimate relations throughout the length and breadth of the County with New York City and the adjoining State of Connecticut. Business called to the one and ties of blood and friendship to the other. Of course, in a regiou devoted to agriculture the facilities of travel were in each family, and neigh- borly exchauges of opportunities were equal to the demand. So also the rivers on both sides of the county offered large advantages from the very first for trade and other interests. But the first knowu public conveyance, outside of postal arrangements, through this couuty was established in 1772, as appears by the following advertisement iu the New York Journal of July 9th :

"The Stage Coach between

New York and Boston

" Which for the first Time sets out this day from Mr. Fowler's Tavern (formerly kept by Mr. Stout) at Fresh Water in New York will continue to go the Course between Boston and New York, So as to be at each of those places once a fortnight, coming in on Saturday Evening and set- ing out to return by the way of Hartford on Monday Morning. The price to Passengers will be 4 d New York or 3 d lawful Money per Mile and Baggage at a reasonable rate.

" Gentlemen aud Ladies who choose to encourage this useful, new and expensive Undertaking, may depend upon good Usage, and that the Coach will always put up at Houses on the Road where the best Enter- tainment is provided. If on Trial the Subscribers find Encour- agement they will perform the Stage once a Week, only altering the Day of setting out from New York and Boston to Thursday instead of Monday Morning.

"JONATHAN and NICHOLAS BROWN."

As stages had been running for some years before this from New York to Philadelphia it appears hardly possible that communication eastward from New should be established so much later. However, very soou two and three trips were made every week be- tween thetwo cities.6 And next a stage for Westchester County, going as far as Rye, was started, with, how- ever, the very strange selection of six o'clock in the evening for the return trip on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

1 New York Mercury, Oct. 27, 1760.

2 Supplement to the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, April 10, 1775.

3 This occurred in the house of Dr. Standard, opposite the church.

4 Weekly Post Boy, March 23, 1747.

5 Weekly Post Boy, January 19, 1747.

G Frank's New York Directory, 1787.

173

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

It would seem that in 1785 the first stages between New York and Albany through this county began their trips. The stages were drawn by four horses, and the charge was four pence a mile.1

Philadelphia STAGE-WAGGON, and New-York STAGE BOAT performs their Stages twice a Week.

JOHN BUTLER, with his wag- gon, fets out on Mondays from his Houfe, at the Sign of the Death of the Fox, in Strawberry ally, and drives the fame day to Trenton Ferry, when Francis Holman meets him and proceeds on Tuefday to Brunfwick, and the paf- fengers and goods being fhifted into the waggon of Ifaac Fitzrandolph he takes them to the New Blazing Star to Jacob Fitzrandolph's the fame day, where Rubin Fitzran - dolph, with a boat well futed, will receive them, and take them to New-York that night. John Butler return- ing to Philadelphia on Tuefday with the paffengers and goods delivered to him, by Francis Holman, will again fet out for. Trenton Ferry on Thursday, and Francis Holman. &c. will carry his paffengers and goods, with the fame ex- pedition as above to New-York. Tcctf.

Beside the sloop advantages for reaching the city and points along the shores of the county, to which allusion has been made, there were also very early ferries between it and the opposite sides of the Hud- son and the Sound.

In 1739 a ferry was established between Rye and Oyster Bay,2 and as early certainly as 1743 one by periauger was running between Ferry Point, in the town of Westchester, and Powell's Point, near White- stone, Long Island.

Dobbs Ferry, in the town of Greenburg, was so called from a Swedish family of this name-early set- tlers, who kept a ferry from this place to the opposite shore of Rockland County. Again, in 1755, a public ferry between Ann Hook's Neck, or Rodman's Neck, and Cedar-Tree Brook, in Hampstead Harbor, was in operation, Samuel Rodman and John Wooley being the patentees.3 On a map of the road from Federal Hall to New Rochelle, passing over the Harlem River at Kingsbridge, and over the Bronx at Wil- liams' Bridge and through East Chester, there is laid down a side-road in that village, which is described as " road leading to Whitestone Ferry," which shows undoubtedly that water communication had been es- tablished through Hutchinson's River, East Chester Bay and the Sound with the shore at Long Island.

RISE OF CHURCHES .- The colonists of Westchester Connty, Dutch or English or French, gave their atten-

tion from the first to their religious interests, and held their assemblies for religious worship as soon as they took up their new abodes. We must imagine that for the most part these early services were held in their private residences, in turn perhaps, or at some house permanently by common consent. Their thoughts early turned to the subject of church-build- ing, which was accomplished in some localities sooner than others. In New Rochelle, in three years after its settlement by the Huguenots, a place of wor- ship was erccted. It took the people of East Chester thirty years before they were determined to build, although they had asked permission twenty years before, and after this resolve near seven years clapsed before the Meeting-house was ready for use. Bedford, which was settled about 1680, and which that very ycar expressed its determination to build, had a place of worship within a few years. The following is supposed to be the order in which the early church edifiees of the county were erected. The date of the first Quaker Meeting-house at West Chester is certainly mnch earlier than 1729, for Dr. Standard in that year speaks of it as then in use.+ Mr. Bolton seems to mark it out as 1747, but perhaps he refers to a second edifice.5

NO.

YEAR.

PLACE.

Westchester.

Independents.

1680-1704.

Bedford

Presbyterians.

1692-93.

New Rochelle

linguenots.

1699.

Mount Pleasant.

Reformed Dutch.

1700.

East Chester.

Independents.

1700

Westchester

Independents.

1706-8.

Fordham

Reformed Dutch.

1708.

Rye

1:10.

New Rochelle.

Church of England.

1721.

New Rochelle.

Reformed Protestant.

1727 *

White Plains.

Presbyterians.

1729 .*

Rve.

Presbyterians.

1732-40.

Cortlandt

Reformed Dutch.

1737.

Yorktown.

Presbyterians.

1730-40.

Harrison.

Friends.

1739,

Marmanwick

Friends.

1152.

Yonkers.

Church of England.

1752 .*

South Salem

Presbyterians.

1761.

New Castle

Church of England.

1763.

North Salem

Church of England.

1764.

East Chester.

Church of England.

1764.

North Salem

Presbyterians.

1766.

Peekskill

Church of England.

1750.

Poundridge.

Presbyterians.

* About this date.

The church at Mount Pleasant is the famous build- ing at Sleepy Hollow, and is still standing in ex- cellent preservation. Catherine Philipse, daughter of Oloff Stevens Van Kortlandt, and wife of Freder- ick Philipsc, seems to have taken great interest in its crection and to have been largely its benefactor.

INFLUENCE OF THE CLERGY .- Certain it is that no class of persons contributed more to influence the peo- ple of this county during its colonial existence than the Clergy of the various religious societies within it. The Connecticut Congregationalist, the Huguenot, the Reformed Dutch and the Church of England minister

1 Stone's " Hist. of New York, " p. 188.

2 Baird's " Rye," p. 78.

$ Bolton's " History of Westchester County," vol. i. p. 546.

4 Hawk's MISS. from Archives at Fulham, vol. ii. pp. 26-35.

5 Bolton " Hist. of Westchester Co.," vol. ii. p. 227

Westchester

Friends.

Church of England.

1747.

Westchester

Friends.

174

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

served, in his presence and labors, not merely to sup- ply the religious wants of the many who realized them, but to counteract the lowering tendency of the situation aud circumstances of the new settler. Wherever any demoralization appeared for the time, one can easily trace it to the absence of this exalting power for the common good. While it is fully allowed that the clashing claims diminished much then, as it does now, the result of professional efforts, it is yet apparent enough how, in the setting forth of the moral code, in the urgent use of ordinances and cus- toms, in encouraging calls to individual reform, in the exhibition of the results of good and evil, in the dis- countenancing-sometimes denunciation-ofbad men, inthe enforcement of rights, individual and magisterial, as well asthose Divine, in examples of domestic felicity and order,-in these and so many other ways the serv- ant of God and friend of the people filled up his mis- siou of usefulness. In a scattered population, growing in eighty years from one thousand one hundred to six- teen thousand, these clergy, never ten in number at one time, in some decades not more than three, held up in the most remarkable manner in the face of all opposing influences the moral tone of the various com- munities of the County. Of course, traditional senti- ments and healthy prejudices, still fresh, much assist- ed, and might be readily invoked ; for a very large pro- portion of the Westchester new-comers were relig- ious people. But the gratifying fact is the more con- spicuous, as, amid much to discourage them, the stand- ard under the care and efforts of godly men is again and again restored. No doubt a great source of their strength was the establishment of the Christian dogma by law. The assistance, too, of the Society for Propa- gating the Gospel in Foreign Parts could not but bear witness in the minds of thoughtful people to the value of Christian truth and duty felt by the devout and humane people of the mother-country in thus as- sisting in the support of the colonial clergy.

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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 41

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