History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 11

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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. II > Part 11

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).

AI No. 423 Broux River Road.

At No. 66 Hawthorne Avenue.

At No. 253 Sonth Broadway.

At No. GI Orchard Street.

At No. 11 North Broadway. At No. 15 Riverdale Avenne.

At No. 62 Warburlon Avenue.

In addition to all these telegraphie arrangements, the police office has a telephone, and by courtesy the permission to call upon any house in the city that has telephonie connections.

The brick building in the City Hall grounds, be- tween the Hall and Warburton Building contains the police stables. It was built in 1873-74, the work be- ing accepted by the city on the 9th of February in the latter year. Its cost was $6,338.60. Its arrange- ments are model in every respect. A new building for the police headquarters within the City Hall grounds was under contemplation in 1875. Plans were invited and the common council even went si far as to adopt certain plans on the 10th of May, 1875. But nothing further was ever done.

The present force is composed of the following of- ficers and men :

Sammel Swift, M.D., surgeon, appointed September 17, 1881.

lohn Mangin, captain, on the force from Is66, and appointed captain April 10, 1871.

George W. Osborn, sergeant, appointed July 15, 187.

James Me Laughlin, sergeant, appointed December 22, 1881. Frederick 11. Woodruff, roundsman, appointed August 18, 1873. Houry J. Quinn, roundsman, appointed November 21, 1x71. George Shuler, hostler.

Thomas Nolan, doorkeeper, appointed March 30, 1876.

John Carey, doorkeeper, appointed May 8, Iss5. John T. Redding, patrolman, appointed April 29, 1871.

YONKERS.

William Carroll, patrolman, appointed July 21, 1873, Gideon C. Reynolds, patrolman, appointed July 21, 1873. Joseph E. Johnstone, patrolman, appointed Angust 18, 1873 ; detailed acting roundsman at Bronxsville sub-station December 27, 1876.

Richard E. Wilcox, patrolman, appointed November 21, 1874; detailed acting roundsman at headquarters December 21, 188). James McGowan, patrolman, appointed March 30, 1876. James Nolan, patrolman, appointed Jannary 13, 1877. James G. Tice, patrohuan, appointed July 2, 1879. Peter McGowan, patrolman, appointed Angust 7, 1880. lIenry Cooley, patrolman, appointed Angust 12, 1880. William Conklin, patrolman, appointed October 13, 1880. William II. Lent, patrolman, appointed November 19, 1880. George Cooley, patrolman, appointed April 12, 1881. George E. Dinsmore, patrolman, appointed June 7, 1882. Andrew J. llenly, patrolman, appointed June 7, 1882. August Dietzel, patrolman, appointed October 3, 1883. Howard Esmond, patrolman, appointed February 11, 1885. Edward Murray, patrolman, appointed February 11, 1885. Richard M. Jolistone, patrolman, appointed May 1, 1885.

No term of office is assigned to the Captain, and all the other men hold their office during good behav- iour.

The cost of the police protection of the city for the year ending Dec. 1, 1884, was $36,564.91. The record of the foree under the direction of Captain Mangin has been excellent always. The following table will give some idea of its labors in compelling obedience to the laws and in the enforcement of good order. It comprises the arrests by it during the year covered by the latest report.

Males.

Females.

Total.

Assault

Assault and battery

Assault, felonious

Abandonment .

Attempted rape

Abduction

]

Burglary

Bigamy

Cruelty to children

Disorderly conduct

Forgery .

llabitual drunkenness

Insanity .

Intoxication

215

236

Intoxication and disorderly conduct . .16

Larceny, grand .

Larcency, petit .

Malicions mischief

Malicions trespass.

Misdemeanor

Suspicions persons

Till-tapping

Vagrancy

.17

Violation of corporation ordinances ..

669

740

In addition to arrests the police are under orders to examine every store and place of business at night and see that it is secured, report street lamps un- lighted, &e., &e. And when citizens mean to be ab- sent from town for a season, if they inform the po- lice of the faet, special vigilance is given to their premises till they return. Of hundreds of premises intrusted to their eare in this way, but one has ever yet been molested, and in that case, the thieves were arrested and the property recovered.

Captain John Mangin, the present (1886) chief of the police of the city of Yonkers, was born in Tipper- ary, Ireland, January 10, 1828. His father, Thomas Mangin, who married Mary, danghter of Martin Eagan, was a land steward on the estate of Mr. Friend. The educational opportunities of young Mangin were very limited, and pursued under great difficulties. He was obliged to walk five miles to a school, which was kept in a shoemaker's shop, and his father was compelled to pay the sum of seven shillings and six- pence a quarter. It is perhaps owing to this fact that Captain Mangin has so strong an admiration for the American system of public schools.

At the age of twenty Captain Mangin married Mary, daughter of Michael Purdy, and soon after emigrated to America, landing in New York in August, 1848. His first business in the New World was working on the Hudson River Railroad, at the rate of seventy-five cents a day. His faithful per- formanee of duty attracted attention, and when trains commenced running he was appointed station agent at Manhattanville. In this position he remained eight years, and was then appointed agent at Yonkers, where he remained from 1857 to 1860, in which year he joined the New York police force, and, having shown his ability and intelligence by making several important arrests, he was, at the end of ten months, made roundsman, and two months after was promoted to sergeant. In the draft-riots he took a prominent part, and was severely injured. After this he was sent, with Captain Walling, to Staten Island, in antic- ipation of a riot which was threatened, owing to the establishment of a quarantine station. In August, 1866, he was sent, with Sergeant James Flandreau and twelve patrolmen, to Yonkers, and remained stationed there as sergeant till the Metropolitan Police District was abolished, in 1870. In 1871 he was made captain of police in Yonkers, and remained there with four of his former companions. Of these, two, George W. Osborne and James MeLaughlin are now sergeants, and two, Charles W. Austin, who was also sergeant, and John H. Woodruff, are dead.

During his whole career of twenty-five years as police officer Captain Mangin has ever won the re- speet of the community by his strict regard for duty, and an impartiality which is not influenced by any motives of national or religious affiliations, and his well-known integrity and honesty of purpose render his example worthy of imitation. In company with the more intelligent of his race, Captain Mangin is a warm supporter of the public-school system, and he is well known as a man of liberal and enlightened views.

Captain Mangin has four children,-Thomas H., who is sergeant of police in New York ; Michael J., a clerk in the employ of the Erie Railroad Company, and two daughters, Theresa and Mary F., who are now at school in the city of Montreal.

THE POLICE COMMISSION .- The law under which

Violation of excise law.

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

the Yonkers police was organized in 1871 directed that the commission should consist of the president of the village, the supervisor of the town, the senior justice of the peace, the city treasurer and the re- ceiver of taxes. Made up in this way the first Board consisted of Messrs. Robert P. Getty, Ethan Flagg, Angustus Vau Cortlandt, George W. Cobb and Wil- liam W. Woodworth, who held those offices respec- tively in the order named. As their sneeessors, Mes- srs. James C. Courter, Thomas Smith, Lyman Cobb,

be injured or killed while in the discharge of their duty. We notice in the last detailed financial re- port of the Commission that the growth of this fund during the year was made up of annual two per cent assessments voluntarily borne by the men on their salaries, of the proceeds of sales of unelaimed goods, of special fees for sealing weights and measures, of the yield of an entertainment, of donations by a number of citizens, of fines, of interests on deposits in the Savings' Banks and on loans on bond and Jr., and Kellogg Francis were members of the police | mortgage. The fund at the time of the report commission. In June 1872 however, when Yonkers had become a city, the method of forming the Board was changed. It was provided that its members should be appointed by the Common Council. Now they are ap- pointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Council.

At present the Commis- sion thus appointed consists of the following gentlemen :

Charles R. Dusenberry, President. George W. Cobb, Secretary and Treasurer.

Jeph Perne. Arthur 1. Burns,

Twice in the history of the Commission, both times within the city period, effort has been made to establish against it or certain mem- bers of it a charge of mal- feasance in the administration of its funds, once in the summer of 1876, and again in the summer of 1885. Both times the proceeding originated in the common Council with a resolution or resolutions of- ered by an Alder- man. Each of these efforts excited the profoundest interest through- | ily, emigrated to America in 1824. ont the city. Each proved wholly futile, and left the Commission strengthened in the general confidence. It is quite evident that the Yonkers . public believes both in its police commission and in its police.

The Department has what was originally termed a "Widows and Orphans Fund," but is now called a " Police Pension Fund," the object of which is to render assistance to the families of officers who may

amounted to $8593.44.

Robert Parkhill Getty, who was a member of the first Board of Police Com- missioners and who has been so long identified with the business interests of Yonkers, was born near Londonderry, Ireland, May 1, 1811. His ancestors are said to have lived ucar Dundee, Scotland, and his grandfather, Robert, was one of the Scotch Cove- nanters. His father, Sam- nel, married Mary Parkhill. Their children were Nancy, wife of Richard McCotter; Eliza, wife of Robert Rals- ton ; Mary, wife of Hugh Downs; Jane, Robert P. (the subject of this sketch), Matilda, wife of Thompson Morrison ; Eleanor and Samnel. The father of this family was a mer- chant, and traded in West India goods ; was a pro- minent man in his native place and an elder in the church for twenty nine years. Ow- ing to severe re- verses he wascom pelled to retire from business, and, with his fam-

Robert Parkhill Getty was intended by his father for the ministry, a plan which was defeated by his financial misfortunes. When he, with his father, came to this country he was thirteen years old, and first obtained employment in the grocery-store of James Cleland, in New York. Hlere he remained till 1828, when he went into business with Sylvanus Scher- merhorn, with whom he was afterwards a partner.

YONKERS.

He set up a groeery and liquor-store on his own ac- eount, but was induced to give it up by the advice of friends, who were opposed to the liquor traflie. He served a regular apprenticeship at the cooper's trade, and was thoroughly acquainted with the provision- packing business and the inspection laws of the State. His opportunities for attending school ended in 1823, and about this time he became acquainted with Pro- fessor Parker (an ex-professor of Harvard), who took so great an interest in his welfare that he offered to instruet him evenings gratuitously, an aet of kindness which was terminated after one meeting by the sud- den death of the venerable professor. In 1835 he commenced business with Jeremiah Robins, in which he was successful. His first speenlation, which was in city lots in Buffalo, was disastrous. Soon after he was chosen superintendent of the Association of In- spectors of Beef and Pork,

an association which en- joyed peculiar facilities for making money, and when this came to an end he went into business with Martin Waters, and then with Drake B. Palmer. In 1844 he was appointed inspector by Governor Bouck, and re-appointed by Governor Wright. In 1861 he received the ap- pointment of United States government inspec- tor, and, during his contin- nance in office eight hun- dred and fifty thousand packages went through his hands, which repre- sented a value of twenty- nine million dollars. He wasthe first to send Amer- iean baeon to England, and his brand commanded ever after a premium in the market. He was also largely engaged in building in the city of New York. In 1849 he came to Yonkers and built his present residence. He built the "Getty House," now the principal hotel in Yonkers, in 1851, and also erected the buildings on the southwest corner of Main Street and Broadway; these were sold to John T. Waring in 1868. Very few men have held more local offices than Mr. Getty. In 1848 he was alderman in New York, and, in 1847 and '48, a mem- ber of the Board of Education. He was for many years one of the trustees of the village of Yonkers, and was president in 1859 and 1860, and also in 1871 and 1872.

A few of the many positions he has held may be mentioned: Director of the Hudson River Railroad, director of the Bank of North America, of the Youk-

ers Bank, Merchants' Insurance Company, Corn Ex change, president of the Cumberland Coal and Iron Company, vice-president of Produce Exchange, di- rector of West Side Elevated Railroad. He filled many ofliees of a fiduciary character, and in every one his business eapacity and integrity have been conspic- nous. In polities, Mr. Getty was early among the opponents of slavery, and he was a member of the first Republican Convention. Mr. Getty married Re- becca, daughter of Douw Van Buren, of Schodack Landing. Their children are Sammuel E., Harriet, wife of William A. McDonald; Douw V. B. (de- ceased), Rebecca M., Robert A., Moses D., William F. H., John, Mary M., Elcanor C. and Emma.

Mr. Getty is the present eity treasurer of Yonkers, and has held the office for several years. Thronghont. his entire life he has been distinguished for the utmost promptness in all busi- ness matters, and in every position of trust has been thoroughly faithful to his charge.

THE EDUCATION DE- PARTMENT. - What were the schools existing with- in the colonial period we can not now ascertain. Allusion has already been made to two public school- honses at the beginning of the present century, both worn out and aban- doned, and both without donbt dating baek as far at least as the time of the Revolution. It is fortu- nate for us in taking up this subjeet, that we have still living in Yonkers, a veteran Yonkers teacher of wonderfully retentive memory, who has been identified either practically, or through lively interest, with the Yonkers schools for more than fifty years. From him we have drawn ont much of what we are able to relate respecting the early public schools of the town. We are permitted to introduce our subjeet with a portrait and a brief sketch of this interesting man.

John Hobbs, one of a large family of children, was born June 17, 1801, in the town of Princeton, Mass. When old enough to go, he was sent to the district school, which was generally tanght for ten or twelve weeks in the summer by a female, and for about the same length of time in the winter by a male, teacher. After reaching ten or eleven years of age and becoming able to work, he was sent to school in the winter only, and kept at home in the summer to help on the farm.

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

In 1819 and 1820, during a small part of each year, he attended an Academy at New Salem, Massachu- setts. In November, 1820, riding for six successive days on the back of a colt but three and a half years old, he made a journey of three hundred miles into the State of Maine, where he taught a district school at Lincolnville during the following winter. In the spring, he returned to his home, accomplishing the travel by the same mode of conveyance, and in the same length of time, and devoted the following sum- mer to farming. The next winter he taught a public school in Hubbardston, a town adjoining that of his home. The following summer and fall he was a clerk in a country store, and the next winter he again taught the Hubbardston school. In April, 1823, re solved on making teaching his life work, he set out from home with all his extra clothing in a handker- chief, and a few dollars in his pocket, to look for a school in need of a per- manent teacher. Roads were bad and public con- veyances were untrust- worthy. Mostly on foot therefore, he traveled as far as the State of Pen- sylvania. Not finding what he desired, he re- traeed his way to New York, walked up to Dobbs Ferry, and there learning from a farmer, with whom he stopped over night, that a public school was without a teacher, en- gaged himself at once, boarded round and had for about four months a successful school. Atthe end of these months, he received and accepted : eall to the public school of White Plains, which he eon- ducted for the next three years. Being called from the public school of White Plains to that of Tarrytown, he labored in the latter village for two years more. At this point in his career, being solic- ited by a White Plains lawyer to enter his office and study law, the lawyer offering him twenty dollars a month during his course of study, he complied. But soon finding the study of law uncongenial, and re- (riving a call at the time to a school in the western part of Greenwich, Connectient, he resumed the teaching work, and taught in that place two years. After this he came to Westchester county again and opened a private school in Portchester. Six months after, however, he gave up this undertaking at the solicitation of the Rector of Trinity church, New

Rochelle, who invited him to associate with lin- self in an effort to establish a boarding and day I school in that place. It was after about a year and a half in that association, that he at last received a call to the public school of Yonkers, upon the charge of which he entered in the beginning of April, 1832. The trustees of the school at the time were, Major Ebenezer Baldwin, John Bashford, and Jonathan Lawrence.

The Yonkers school, when he took it, had been waiting several weeks for him to close his engage- ment at New Rochelle. During this time, two private schools had been opened here by ladies, and had together collected fifty-two pupils. Mr. Hobbs opened the public schools with about twenty, but be- fore the end of his quarter, had drawn away from the private schools all of their pupils but six. The ex- isting school house soon becoming too small, he made the fact known to the trustees, who referred him to Mr. Lemuel Wells, the owner of the property. After some delay that gentleman determined to ereet a new school build- ing, and turn the old one into a tenement house. When the new house was finished, Mr. Hobbs en- tered it with his school. In it he taught twelve years, performing all the duties and labors of the establishment, from those of janitor upward. Dur- ing part of the same pe- riod, also, he was inspee- tor of schools and teach- ers for the town of Youk- ers.

JohnHobbs

In 1843 the Supervisors of the County, wholly on their own motion, appointed him Sup- erintendent of the Public Schools of the county, at the time one hundred and fifty in number. Throughout the first year of his superintendency, he employed an assist- ant at his own expense, and retained his headship of the Yonkers school, paying but one visit to each of the county schools. At the end of his first year, how- ever, he resigned his own school, and gave his whole time to the superintendeney. His official term in due time ending, he was unanimously reappointed. In 1847 the system was changed, and with the change the office of Superintendent was abolished. One of the duties it had devolved on its incumbent had been examination of the district libraries and weeding out of musuitable books. Mr. Hobbs having proved him-

YONKERS.

self thorough in his work, his reputation had gone abroad, and he was now urged by many persons in Westchester and Rockland Counties, and even by some in parts of Duchess County to make a specialty of selecting books for the libraries. Compliance with this solicitation gave turn to the cutire remainder of his public and active life. It brought him into contact with publishing and book firms, with whom he en- tered into permanent engagements. From 1849 to 1875, twenty-five years, he gave himself to the scru- tiny, selection and furnishing of school books, from which work, after having achieved in it au honorable and a substantial success, he retired upon a courpeteu- cy about eleven years ago. His residence, with ample grounds, is at No. 65 Ashburton Avenue. Over eighty five years of age, he still enjoys vigorous health, is of erect and manly form and figure, retains his memory of the past to a remarkable degree, keeps up an interest in passing things, delights to mingle in assemblies of teachers and to be present at school examinations and exhibitions, aud never seems hap- pier than when questioned about the schools of the past. He is a man of the first character for business integrity, for decision of judgment and promptness in action, and as might be expected, for fondness for what is stable, and aversion to change. Asa church- man he was a worthy member of St. John's Church for forty years. He is now a member and strong sup- porter of Christ Church. We have taken pleasure in committing to permanent record these notes of the life of one who has long been one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Yonkers.

Mr. Hobbs says the school house to which he came in 1832 was a very old building indeed. He thinks it may have been the first public school house ever erected in the town. But we have already spoken of two that had been abandoned long before. Yet the date of the erection of Mr. Hobbs' school-house must have been very far back. We have no clew to it. It was a small one story frame building of about 15x 30 feet. It stood directly north of the Broadway Methodist Episcopal church, on what is now the northeast corner of North Broadway and Ashburton Avenue. Of course in 1832, Ashburton Avenue had not been formed. The old country road to the Saw Mill River then passed on the south side of the Meth- odist Church (at the time but four years old) instead of on the North side, as Ashburton Avenue does now. This arrangement made the lay of the land such that the lot of the church and the lot of the school ad- joined, instead of being separated as now, by a street coming in between.

Mr. Hobbs' immediate predecessor in the school had been Mr. Lewis H. Hobby, who subsequently became a teacher in the primary department of the University of New York, and finally, after many years of teaching, died at Greenwich, Conu. The names of Mr. Hobby's predecessors are lost. The two private schools mentioned in the sketch of Mr.

Hobbs as once started by ladies, were located, one on Mechanic (at present New Main Street), where Mr. John Bashford's carriage shop. now stands, and the other in Broadway, on the site now occupied by Thompson '& Fowler's store.

In regard to the erection of the new school-house by Mr. Wells, and the disposition of the old one, we learn the following particulars : Mr. Wells first agreed to erect the wood-work of an additional room to the old building, if others would prepare the foundation. This was done, but Mr. Wells, after putting up a por- tion of the addition, changed his mind, and erected instead a new and more commodious house on the same lot, a little further to the north. It was about twenty by forty feet in size. The school-room was divided into two sections by a sliding door. The boys were seated in one of the sections, and the girls in the other, while the teacher occupied a position between the two and commanding both. This build- ing was first occupied in 1833.

The old building, which in 1833, gave way to the more commodious house, was eventually demolished, after having been used at different times, first as pri- vate school quarters, and subsequently as a tenement house. And the building erected in 1833, after in its turu becoming too small for the needs of Youkers, was sold to Mr. David Stewart, Sr., who bought a large surrounding tract of land with it. Another story was added to the building by him. It has just been sold by Mr. Stewart's descendants to the Yon- kers Club. The club will build a house for itself upon its site.

In 1845, when Mr. Hobbs, after having held his superintendency of the county schools for one year, resigned his position as principal of the Yonkers public school, Joseph Denslow, sou of Oliver Den- slow, a well-known citizen of Youkers, became his successor. Mr. Denslow continued with the school till 1846, when the school was removed to a new house on School Street, which formed the nucleus of the present Yonkers public school No. 2. Of this we shall speak below. Mr. Deuslow afterwards became a physician, settled and practiced in New York City, and died therc.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 11

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286