History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 115

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 115

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The building was erected in the style so generally appoved by Methodism at that early date. It was thirty feet wide, forty feet in length and one story in height, which was some years later increased to two and one-half stories. On three sides was a gallery which would accommodate as many persons as the body of the church. At the north end of the room was a high, narrow, inclosed pulpit, which has given way to the more modern and lower platform. The seats were plain, narrow, high and straight-backed. These have also been changed. The building was erected by Micajalı Wright, who was a carpenter and farmer, and resided immediately across the highway west of the church. He afterwards removed to Somers village, three and a half miles distant, where, in 1810, he kept an "inn," and in which place he died November 4, 1811, aged forty-eight years. He is buried in the Union Burying-Ground in the village.

When this church was organized Somerstown Plain was the most important point in this section of the county. For this reason the society located their house of worship but a short distance from this point, and near the high road to Peekskill, which passed through what was afterwards known as Teed's Corner and now as Somers Centre. The building is in good condition and is beautifully located on the point of one of the ridges of the town, fronting the south and commanding an extensive view southward and east- ward over the cultivated farms and wooded hills of Bedford and Lewisboro', the adjoining towns. Im- mediately in front and on either side is inelosed the burying-ground attached to the church. About two

aeres of ground are thus occupied by thickly-placed graves, the inscriptions on the headstones covering a period from 1797 to the present time, the ground hav-' ing been enlarged and is still in use as a burial-place. Regular services have been held in this church and regular pastors have been in charge since its organi- zation, in 1794. The oldest decipherable headstone in the church-yard is that of

" Anna Teed.

daughter of John and Ilannah Teed, who was born in the year of our Lord 1703, Nov'r, and departd this Life June the 4th, 1797."

Some twenty-five years ago Cortlandt Circuit, as sueli, was broken up and Mt. Zion became a sepa- rate charge, as did the other remaining churches com- prising the circuit. The membership of this church has averaged some sixty names, while the number of families in the charge is as many more. Owing to the peculiar system of the itinerancy of the Methodist ministry, it is a difficult matter to obtain the dates of ministry of the different pastors who have regularly occupied this pulpit. Among the earliest, however, we find the historie names of Revs. Elijah Woolsey, Stephen Remington, Barney Mathias, Cyrus Foss, Samuel Weeks, Elbert Osborn, John Reynolds, Jesse Hunt, Henry Hatfield, Alonzo Selleck, Horace Bart- lett, D. Stoughton, Nicholas White, W. Mckendree Bangs, Joseph Bangs, Thomas Edwards, E. Andrews (drowned in Hudson River) and Bradley Selleck.

In later years we find some of the dates of ministra- tion, as follows :

1835-36. Rev. S. Vandusen.

1834, '45-46 . Rev. A. F. Selleck.

1841-12

Rev. Denton Keeler.

1848-49.

Rev. A. N. Molyneaux.

1849

Rev. G. W. Knapp.

1849

Rev. Elbert Osborn.

1850, 'G3.

. Rev. D. W. C. Van Gaasbeck.

1851-52.

Rev. C. F. Pelton.

1853

Rev. A. K. Sanford.

1853-54 .

Rev. W. Stevens.

1853-54

. Rev. James Rusk.

1854, '59-60

. Rev. II. B. Mea.l.

1855-56

. Rev. G. D. Townsend.

1857 . Rev. C. Fuller.

1850-51

. Rev. M. M. Curtis.

1853-54

Rev. Richard Keeler.

1858-59 Rev. J. II. Lent.

1855

Rev. D. Gibson.

1861-62.

Rev. If C. Humphrey.

1863-64

Rev. W. E. Ketcham.

1$65-66.

1867-68

1870-72.

Rev. Thomas S. Lenl.

1873

. Rev. C. R. North.

1874-76

Rev. N. O. Lenl.

1877

Rev. E. Ashion.

1878-79 Rev. U. Symonds.

1881-83

Rev. T. S. Lont.

1884-15

Rev. R. L. SIrler.

The various pastors have held services at different points in the town in school-houses, and thus formed a nucleus for churches of the future.

At one of these points, Yorktown Station, on the New York City and Northern Railroad, n church has

495

SOMERS.

already been formed, through the efforts of Mt. Zion Society, and in the year 1885 a enureh building was completed and dedicated, at which regular ser- vices are held by the pastor in charge of Mt. Zion. At another point, one and a half miles north of the old church at Somers Centre, a station on the Ma- hopac Braneli of the New York and Harlem Railroad, a chapel was erected in 1882 which is also auxiliary to and under the supervision of Mt. Zion Methodist Epis- copal Church. In the old grave-yard at the church are to be found the names of many of the old families of Somers. About sixty feet south of the church en- trance is a plain headstone, upon which is inscribed,-

" Sacred to the Memory of Abraham Golding, who departed this life the 15th of Dee., 1810, aged 69 years and 1 day."

Mr. Golding was one of the original founders of the church, after whom was named the station of Gol- den's Bridge in the adjacent town of Lewisboro.' Another of the original board of trustees is buried in a family ground on the Oliver Todd estate, about one mile and a quarter south of the church, whose head- stone bears the following inscription :

"In Memory of Jolın Stedwell, Who Died June 3, 1822, Aged 84 Years, 4 months & 4 days."

Near the grave of Abraham Golding is that of the second wife of Enoch Crosby, who was the well- known "Spy " of Cooper's novel,-

" Margaret, wife of Enoch Crosby, Esq., formerly the wife of Colonel Benjamin Green, deceased, Died March 22, 1825, Aged 64 years, 3 months and 20 days."

On the east side of the church and near the build- ing itself is, -

" The Grave of John Tyack, Born in New London, Connecticut, Mareh 3, 1788. Died in the City of New York, June 15, 1841, Aged 53 years."

This gentleman was one of the first importers of mill-stones into America. He was a half-brother of Joshua Culver, who was the owner of the farm ad- joining the church property on the west, which he purchased in the early part of the present century. On the same side of the grounds and inelosed with a neat iron fence, is a large plot belonging to the family of Samuel Teed, whose monument occupies a central

position in the burial-plot. Upon its sides is in- scribed,-

" Samuel Teed, died Sept. 7th, 1857, Aged 72 years, 10 mos. and 7 days.

Mary, Wife of Samuel Teed, died Dee. 15, 1858, Aged 71 years, 3 mnos. and 8 days."

These were among the early residents of the town, having been born within its limits, and continued to reside on a large farm half a mile north of the church- until their death. At the death of the parents an unbroken family of fifteen children attended the funerals, and at the present time but three of the children are deceased. One of the sons, James P., is the present supervisor of the town, a position held by his brother, Wm. E. Teed (deceased), for a number of years. The father of Mary Teed, wife of Samuel Teed, was the first town clerk of the town. Memorials of the Teeds, Varisis, Reynoldses, Weekses, Turners, Kniffens and Nelsons are to be seen on all sides as we pass through this old burial-place.

The congregation which now comprises the mem- bership of St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church of Somers formerly united in the services held by differ- ent denominations at the Union Meeting-House, hav- ing, in common with other branches of Christian people in the town, a pecuniary interest in the church build- ing. Occasionally the service of the Episcopal Church was conducted by ministers of that denomi- nation in the old meeting-house; but, about 1835, a separate organization was agitated, and in that year the present parish was formed, through the instru- mentality of the Rev. Alexander Fraser. Steps were now taken to dispose of the Episcopalian interest in the old church building and property, and to secure a site and erect a house of worship for themselves. In this undertaking the members of the society were ably seconded by many of the residents of the town who had no particular affiliation with any body of Christians. The incorporation of the parish took place on the 28th of February, 1835, and the building was completed in 1842, the consecration services being conducted by the Right Rev. Benjamin Tredwell Onderdonk, on the 19th of January of that year, with Isaac Purdy and Fred. J. Coffin as church wardens, and Thad- deus Barlow, Aaron Brown, William Marshall, Gerard Crane, Edwin Fineh, Charles Wright, William Clock and Ray Tompkins as vestrymen. The church building is a plain, substantial edifice of wood, stand- ing on a basement of dressed stone, located centrally in one aere of ground, which was purchased of Horace Bailey. Its location is near the junction of the West or Peekskill road with the Croton turn- pike or Sing Sing road. The front of the build- ing presents a fine portico, with dressed stone floor 1

496

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

and steps, and roof supported by four lofty Ionic columns. Upon the top is a square belfry. The in- terior is neatly frescoed and ornamented with appro- priate Scriptural texts. The chancel window is of stained glass, rich and chaste, and was presented to the church by Mrs. Elizabeth Vail, of Purdy's Sta- tion, a daughter of Isaac Hart' Purdy, of North Salem. The chancel is beautifully decorated in blue and gold and contains two memorial tablets, one on either side of the window, on one of which is in- scribed the Lord's Prayer, on the other a portion of the Decalogue. The decoration and tablets were a gift to the church by the Rev. C. E. Selleck, of Nor- walk, a minister of the Episcopal Church, and princi- pal of a private school for boys and young men at the latter place.

The gift was in commemoration of Willie Crane, a son of Thaddeus Crane, who, while a lad and attending Mr. Selleck's school, was accidentally drowned. The church is in a flourishing condition and numbers among its members some of the oldest and most prominent names of Somers, North Salem and Lewis- boro. On one occasion, during the late war, the rector, Rev. Mr. Murphy, refused to read a special prayer for the soldiers and sailors and for those who had friends in the army, which prayer was ordered by the church. For a short time there was considerable agi- tation, but the matter reached the ears of the Right Rev. Bishop Potter, who at once removed the cause of complaint by removing the rector. The present rector, Rev. R. C. Russell, has officiated during the past sixteen years. He resides in North Salem, the two parishes being under one pastoratc, but distinct in other matters. There is no regular burial-place connected with the parish, the members maiuly being plot-owners in Ivandell Cemetery, and the vari- ous interments take place therein. Of the original vestrymen all are deceased save two-Thaddeus Bar- low and Ray Tompkins. Mr. Barlow is still an officer of the church (being one of the wardens). He came into the town from Vermont in 1828, and has resided here since. He is the oldest living ves- tryman, being eighty-two years of age. Mr. Tompkins is still a resident of the town, although not connected with the congregation. His family are active members and strong supporters of the church. The present board of officers are Thaddeus Barlow, James Hyatt, wardens ; Isaac Hart Purdy, Thaddeus Crane, William N. Todd, Isaac Purdy, William R. Strong, Thomas R. Lane, Richard Crilly, Isaac Brown, vestrymen.

Following is a list of the rectors:

1842-11 Rev. David H. Short.

1844-46.

Rev. Samuel C. Davis,

1847-50

Rev. Alfred 11. Partridge.

1851-54

Rev. John W. Moore.

1855-60

. Rev. Benj. Webb.

1861-62

Rev. Chas. Douglass.

1863-66

Rev. Wm. Murphy.

1868-69

Rev. Jacob Moore.

1869

. Rev. R. Condit Russell. 1

The number of communicants in 1842 was 13; present number, 61.

SCHOOLS .- The educational system of the town is conducted on the same basis as in all the country towns of the State. There is no especial school fund save that which is levied and collected as a tax. There are six full districts within the limits of the town, each having its school building, while four par- tial districts are to be found, the school buildings, with one exception, being located in adjoining towns. These buildings are of the usual order of country school architecture, as a rule,-plain, unpainted struc- tures, generally placed on the verge of the highway, with but small or no grounds for recreation, and com- pletely devoid of auy tasteful or convenient arrange- ments.

The attendance is not large on the average at these schools, as the population of the town of school age is limited. From time to time districts have been consolidated, so that in some instances a large terri- tory of two miles in length and nearly two in width is comprised within the boundaries of a district. One of the oldest, as well as the most important, of these districts includes the territory adjacent to and occupied by Somers Village or Plaiu. There was a school building on the site of the present house in 1800. Previous to this the school-house was situated half a mile farther northeast, as is mentioned in au old deed given by Andrew Brown to Benjamin Jessop on the 15th day of April, 1803. But few of the rec- ords of the district have been preserved, but some time in the early part of the present century a new building was erected on the site now occupied by the school, where it has since remained. The present house is located adjoining the grounds of the Presby- terian Church. It is a neat, two-story edifice sur- mounted by a cupola and bell. There are two class- rooms and accommodations for one hundred and fifty pupils; but one of the rooms, however, is in use, with an average attendance of forty-five pupils. The building is located some rods back from the street, with a large play ground, inclosed by a neat fence, in front. The interior of the school-house is completely furnished with the educational requisites of the age. About ten years ago the entire refurnishing of this building took place, and the olden style forms gave place to desks and seats of modern construction. Half a century ago the attendance at this school was much larger than at present and it then partook more of the character of an academy. Both upper and lower class-rooms were in use and the usual academic studies of those days were conducted. At present but little more than the rudiments are taught, thie education being completed at some of the many sem- inaries and colleges of the country. The present teacher is Miss Amy Brown, a lineal descendant of one of the first settlers, Hachaliah Brown.

St. Joseph's Normal College is also located in the town of Somers, in a basin or bend of the Muscoot

1 P'resent Incumbent.

497

SOMERS.

River, at a point formerly devoted to the manufacture of the Empire Sewing-Machines and denominated Empireville. It is in the southern central part of the town, about one and a half miles from the mouth of the Muscoot River. Here, in an inelosed valley, with but a narrow opening to the southeast, through which flows the rapid Muscoot, are the buildings and grouuds of this institution. The farm consists of three hundred acres. The buildings arc of brick and were used by the sewing-machine company as factor- ies, foundrics and tenements. In March, 1882, the members of the Catholic Society, known as "The Brothers of the Christian Schools," purchased this property and at once began to remodel and improve it. The main building received the addition of one story (making it three stories in height) and a Man- sard roof. This building fronts a beautiful lawn on the south and a high tower in the centre of the front denotes the principal entrance. The building is two hundred feet in length with an L one hundred and fifty feet long. The interior is divided into rooms for study, private rooms for the heads of the institute, and dormitories. At the east end of this building is the chapel, covering the entire width of the building and extending from the third floor to the roof. The ceil- ing is gracefully arched. The whole house is plain, simple and durable. To the west of this building were formerly standing six two-story brick cottages, which were the homes of the employees of the sewing- machine company. The houses were some twenty- five feet apart and formed a short street. These have been joined together into one long building sur- rounded with a broad veranda and used as one de- partment of the college. A large, square, three-story and basemeut edifice, built of wood, and formerly used as a hotel, has also been converted into a de- partment of the institute. All these buildings are of the most substantial character and are heated by a system of hot-water pipes. The river at this place has a fall of some seventy feet in one-eighth of a mile, and describes a half-circle around the plateau on which these buildings are located, thus furnish- ing abundance of water and power for all the purposes required. The society operating this college was es- tablished in France over two hundred years ago by John Baptist de la Salle.

It is under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church. Its object is the education of youth, and to this the members give their undivided attention. They live in community and lead lives of celibacy. The members number nearly fourteen thousand aud are to be found in nearly every country in the world. They conduct institutions of learning in almost all the principal cities of the United States. In the Interna- tional Exhibition at New Orleans, in 1884-85, they received the Grand Diploma of Honor, the highest award for school work, The college at Empireville received from the Exposition the Diploma of Honor for Normal Manuals, Appliances, Free-hand Draw- ii .- 43}

ings, Linear and Architectural Maps and Studies from Nature. Brother Junian Peter, professor of botany at this college, received a Diploma for Collec- tions of Plants and Woods, formed by him and his students for the museum.

The society is republican in form, the superior-gen- eral and his assistant being elected by the members. The general resides in Paris and the vice-general in Rome. St. Joseph's College includes three depart- ments, viz .: the preparatory novitiate, the novitiate and the scholastic. In the first are boys from fourteen to sixteen years of age. Every possible care is taken of their physical, intellectual and moral training. Two years in this department qualifies them for the sceond or novitiate, where the studies are mainly religious, a special study of the rules, etc., of this society being made prominent. After passing a full year in this department they are admitted to the scholastic or final department. Here the attention of the student is directed to the theory and practice of teaching. The students give lessons in turn and are then criti- cized by both professors and their fellow-studeuts. They are retained in this department until they re- ceive a certificate of competency to teach, after which they are employed in teaching the primary classes in schools directed by members of the society. The pre- paratory novitiate occupies the long building formerly used as tenement-houses; the novitiate, the main building before described; and the scholastic depart- ment, the frame building formerly used as the hotel. The total number of pupils, including the three de- partments, in the St. Joseph's Normal College is one hundred and twenty.

The habit of the society gives them the appearance of ecclesiastics, consisting as it does ot a long, black cassock, with a cloak over it, fastened by iron clasps, a falling collar and a black hat with wide brim; but they are not clergymen, their sole object being in- struction. The institution is under the directorship of Brother Edward, a slightly-built, middle-aged gen- tleman of pleasing address, evidently of French ex- traction and of a high order of intelligence. His manner is frank and pleasing and he has evidently been appointed to the office he so ably fills on account of his exceptional qualifications.

The town received the following sums of money from the apportionment allotted by the State for school purposes : 1813, $114.40; 1814-15, 897.42; 1816-18, 8109.47; 1819-21, 8144.89; 1822-26, $112.90; 1827-31, $123.67; 1832-34, $109.51; 1835, 8203.15; 1836-37, $101.22; 1838-39, $253.09 ; 1840, 8262.25 ; 18 11. $248.10.

In 1855 the town contained eight school districts, with a population of one thousand seven hundred and twenty-two, and received in that year $659.78; in 1865, $1169.78; in 1875, 81642.50; and in 1885, $1304.51.

498

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

BIOGRAPHY.

FERDINAND T. HOPKINS.

Ferdinand T. Hopkins is a descendant of one of the oldest families in Westchester County, the gen- ealogy of which we append.1 His great-grandmother was a sister of Enoch Crosby, the spy, famous as the " Harvey Birch " of Cooper's story.

Mr. Hopkins was born at Lake Mahopae, Putnam County, January 19, 1834, and continued to reside in that county till his twentieth year, when he removed to New York City. He has since followed a success- ful mercantile life, in connection with which he lias been largely interested in real estate transactions. His early life was passed upon his father's farm, where he received a praetieal education, conibined with a very · thorough Christian training, which he has never for- gotten and the principles of which he has not forsaken amid the sterner duties of his business career.

Mr. Hopkins first engaged in public affairs at the

) Stephen Hopkins, of London, England, came to this country on the " Mayflower," in 1620, and settled in Plymouth, Mass. Ile brought with him, to his new home, his second wife, several children (includ- ing Oceanus, who was born on the voyage) and two servants. The fol- lowing is the pedigree :

1st. Stephen, of London, and Plymouth, Mass. ; born in 15- ; married, first, - -, who died in England. By her he had Giles aud Constance. He married, second, Elizabeth -, in England. By her he had Damaris, Oceanus, Deborah, C'aleb, Rull and Elizabetha. Mr. Stephen Hopkins died at Plymouth in 1644.

2d. Giles, born

; married Catharine Whelden, of Yarmouth, October, 1639. Ile was born in England and was a little boy when he came to America, with his father. He lived, for a time, in Yarmouth, Mass., and then removed to Eartham (Cape Cod), where he died in 1690. Children : Mary, Stephen, John, Abigail, Deborah, Caleb, Ruth, Joshua, William, Elizabeth.

3d. Stephen, born in Yarmouth, September, 1042; married, first, Mary Myrick, of Eartham, May 23, 1667. She died and he married, second, Bethin Atkins, in 1701. After the death of his first wife he removed to Ilarwich, Cape Cod, where he died October 10, 1718 or 1719. Ilis chil- dren (all by his first wife) were Elizabeth, Stephen, Ruth, Judah, Samuel, Nathaniel, Joseph, Benjamin and Mary.

4th. Joseph, born 1688, in Harwich ; married Mary Mayo, daugh- ter of Hou. John and granddaughter of Rev. John Mayo, of Eartham, April 17, 1712. Ile lived in Harwich all his life and died there April 24, 1771. She died Jammary 15, 1771, aged seventy six years. Their tombstones are still standing in the old (now) Brewster Church- yard. Children : Isaac, Joseph, Mary, Jonathan, Ilannah, Nathan, Prince (Ist), Elizabeth, Prince (2d), Nathan (20), Elizabeth, Solomon." 5th. Joseph, born in Harwich May 10, 1715; married Mary (or Mercy) | on staying, when Mr. Hopkins reluctantly became Berry, September 16, 1736. They both joined the church August 29. 1742. They were dismissed to the church in "the Oblong " (now l'ut- nam County, N. Y.), under the pastorate of the Rev. Elisha Kent, Sep- tember 3, 1719. They probably removed some years previous, quite likely as early as 1745 or 1716. He died Jannary, 1762. She died De- cember, 1798, Children : Solomon, Isaiah, Edward. Berry, Joseph, Jr., Mary, Freeman, Hannah, Eli. The first three named were born on the Cape, the others in Putnam County.

Gth. Solomon, born in Harwich, May 31. 1739 ; married Elizabeth Crosby. She is said to have been the sister of Enoch Crosby, the Har- vey Birch of Cooper's " The Spy." Mr. Hopkins was a captain in the Continental army, and at the close of the war became an extensive purchaser of confiscated lands. He died September 22, 1792. She died January 5, 1>01. Their tombstones are both standing in the old Gilead Cemetery in Carmel. Children : JJeremiah, Bethia, Reuben, Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth.

7th. Jeremiah, born in Carmel, N. Y., August 16, 1762 ; married Thankful Stone about 1783. lle was a major of militia and was always known by that title. lle died October 17, 1829, she died April Is, 1×33, aged seventy. Both buried in the oll Gilead Cemetery. Children (probably not arranged in the order of birth) Joseph, Solomon, Enos, Naoma, Iluninh, Abraham, Mirah, Nathaniel, Jeremiah, Reuben, Thomas.

sth. Nathaniel, born Jannary 26, 1797 ; married Theresa Travis, about 1-21-22. lle died April 20, 1860. She died April 29, 1878. Children Phebe Anu, boru Nov. 2. 1:22 ; Mary Inne, born Sept. 2, 1824 . Char- otte, boru Aug. 22, 1831 , Ferdinand T , boru Jun 19, 1834.

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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. II, Part 115

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