History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 120

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 120

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).

There were two horsemen approaching, and through some noise made by the party on foot, they discor- ered their danger and turned to flee. One of them jumped from his horse and took to the wooded ridge in the rear of the house; the other kept on up the hill the way he had come. The pursuing party fol- lowed closely, ordering the horsemen to halt, but without avail. They thereupon divided, one part of them following the single horseman, while the other party turned their attention to the man on foot, whom, after a sharp chase, they captured, returning with him to the house. The lights were then brought in and the man was recognized as a Tory sympathizer, well- to-do and well known. He was asked to give the name of his companion, but refused, whereupon he was informed that if he would do so he would be re- leased, but if not he should be at onee hanged on one of the oak-trees standing in front of the house. He still refused and a rope was prodneed. He was taken out to the tree and here he was given another chance, but to no purpose, and the rope was put around his neck, the end thrown over a projecting limb and sturdy arms soon swung his feet clear from the ground. After a short time he was let down and immediately sank to the ground unconscious. Ile soon revived, however, but still refused to divulge his comrade's name. Again he was drawn up, and some of the party were strongly in favor of ending the matter and leaving him hanging, but wiser counsels prevailed and after a third hanging, with the same

result as before, the man was released in a terribly weakened condition and with an admonition to leave the country. The other party in the mean time had traced the horseman to Somers, as it is now known, where he left his horse and, procuring a pair of women's shoes in place of his own, proceeded toward the west on foot. He was tracked to the banks of a small stream running through the lands of Stephen Brown at present, where he eluded the search by wad- ing a long distance in the water. Not long after this some of the noted Tories left this section. Hon. Joshua Purdy, later one of the associate judges of the county, son of Joseph and the uncle of the present Isaae H. Purdy, was an eye-witness of this incident, he being a boy at the time and residing at home with his parents. He afterwards eame into possession of the property by inheritance, and died in this house. Isaae Purdy then owned the property and the present proprietor was born here. I. Hart Purdy was the originator of Purdy's Station, and his family are of the oldest and most prominent of the town. He has oeeupied positions of trust and eminenee in the town for many years and lives in quiet, surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries of life. Hle and his sons, Isaac and Thomas 1 .. , are large property owners in North Salem, and are prominent in social and polit- ical cireles. On his grandmother's side, Philena Grif- fen married James Hart in 1764. Their daughter, Anna Hart, married Isaac l'urdy. From this family Mr. Purdy reecives the name of Hart. He is also connected by marriage with the families of Howe, Perry and Keeler, of Salem, and Brown and Crane, of Somers. A sister of Isaae Purdy married Daniel Quick and the Quick estate joins the Purdy home- stead on the north. The house is a fine, large, old- fashioned farm-house, with an air of comfort and prosperity, standing in a large yard and surrounded by tall locust and other trees. Attached to the Quick homestead is a large farm extending across the Cro- ton River and into Somers. The Harlem Railroad also passes through this farm, under the hill a few rods west of the house. Isaac Quick, the son of Daniel, succeeded to his father's estate. The names of both father and son are prominent in the early annals of the town. After the death of Isaac the estate passed into the hands of one of the Slawson brothers, business men of New York, who married a dangh- ter of the house. North, on the same highway, and near Croton Falls, is an old house standing at the junction of the highway, and directly opposite a small mill-pond. It is at present used as a tenement for farm laborers. It is a one-story and basement house, with sloping roof and low ceilings, and a long piazza in front. In this house was born, eighty years ago, another member of the Purdy family. This place was owned by William Purdy, who was the son of Daniel, son of Hachaliah. In this house was born, in 1807, Joel Purdy, who inherited his father (William's) property, and whose handsome residence, command-

517

NORTH SALEM.

ing a bcantiful view of the Croton Valley to the sonth and west, is located but a few rods from the old honse. Joel Purdy was engaged in business in New York for many years and amassed a competence, after which he returned to his native town and erected the fine residence above mentioned; also fac- tory and store bnikdlings at Croton Falls, where his son is engaged in mercantile life. He has been and is an active man in the community, was one of the orig- inal organizers of the Baptist Church and occupies a prominent official position therein. He is also a large owner of real estate in the vicinity. There was an- other Purdy family in early Salem-that of Judge Ebenezer Purdy, prominently mentioned in connec- tion with town and academical interests. This was a separate and distinct family, having no connection, so far as is known, with the same-named branches men- tioned.

It has long been known that Harvey Birch, the hero of Fenimore Cooper's novel of " The Spy," was

Enwoh Crosby

a real personage, and that his true name was Enoch Crosby, and a most accurate description of the man and his exploits was made in an address delivered be- fore the Westchester County Historical Society, at Peekskill, on January 21, 1879, by Mr. Joseph Bar- rett, who confirmed his place in history. The facts were mainly derived from ex-Chief Justice John Jay, to whom Cooper was also indebted for the sketch which he developed into the romantic figure of "The Spy."

Following Mr. Barrett, however, we find that Judge Jay erred in his notion that Crosby's operations ever took him into New York City ; on the contrary, they were confined entirely to the country districts along the Hndson.

Crosby was born in Harwich, Barnstable Connty, Mass., January 4, 1750, and at the breaking out of the Revolution was a shoemaker at Danbury, Conn. He had previously been a tanner and currier. He was an ardent patriot, and enlisted before the battle of Lexington in Benedict's company, of Waterbury's

regiment, which was attached to that branch of the Canada expedition of August, 1775, commanded first by Schuyler and then by Montgomery. His termn of enlistment expiring, he returned to Danbury after the occupation of Montreal, and then traveled over Dntchess and Westchester Counties as a peripatetic shocmaker. Thns he not only acquired that intimate knowledge of the country that was to prove so valua- ble to the American cause, but also was brought into contact with the Whigs and Tories, the bummers, raiders, Cowboys and Skinners who infested the neu- tral ground between the lines of the opposing armnics.

His first work as a spy was accidental. Determin -- ing to re-enlist, he tramped sonthward toward the American forces, throngh Westchester County, in September, 1776, and on the way met a Tory, who fell into the belief that Crosby was one of his own stamp. Crosby did not undeceive him, and, as the stranger had a loose tongue, the young American was soon put in information of all the Tory secrets in that part of the country. Having learned so much, it occurred to him that he might as well prosecute the adventure which fortnne had placed in his hands, and asked to be taken to a meeting of Tories, which his compan- ion had told him was to be held near by, to raise a company for the King's service. He must have played his part admirably, for he gained audience with all the important royal sympathizers of the neighborhood, including the secret enemies of the patriots, and laid a most admirable plot for their dis- comfitnre.

Learning that a meeting of the Tory band was to be held on a certain night, he slipped away on the pre- vions morning and by a forced march across the country reached at midnight the house of a Mr. Young, eight miles from White Plains, whom he knew to be a trne American. Prevailing on this man to accompany him, they aroused Messrs. Jay, Duer, Sack- ett and Platt, the Committee of Safety at White Plains, and Crosby gave them the news which he had gath- ered with so much daring and adroitness. They or- dercd out Captain Townsend's company of mounted rangers, who swept across the country under Crosby's lead, surprised the assembled Tories, and ere daylight dawned had every man of them prisoners and on their way to White Plains.

The fame of this exploit went everywhere through the American lines. Crosby, then a strapping fellow of twenty-seven years, nearly six feet tall, broad and mnsecular, talked to Mr. Jay about re-enlisting, but that sagacions gentleman represented to him that in no way could he do so much for his country as by continuing in that line of duty for which this one achievement seemed to mark him as specially fitted. "Our greatest danger," said Mr. Jay to him, " is onr secret foes. We know how to guard against our ene- mies in the field, but we have no defense against se- cret enemies, who profess to be friendly to ns and plot their treason in midnight cabals. One who can coun-

ii .- 46

518

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

teract these influences is entitled to more eredit than he who fights in the ranks." Crosby demurred at first, but finally accepted the employment of a spy on the condition that if he should die in their service, the committee would see that his name was vindicated, With much feeling Mr. Jay and his associates gave him this solemn assurance, and Crosby conseerated himself to his dangerons and ardnous task.

Carrying a pass from the committee, which was to be nsed only in eases of extreme necessity, and dis- gnised as a traveling cobbler, he set ont on his secret mission to discover and entrap the bands of Tories forming under cover. This was in the late fall of 1776. Very shortly he applied for a shoemaker's job at a farm-house, and discovering that a Royalist eom- pany was being enlisted in the vieinage, professed a desire to enlist, but deelined to give his name beeanse the roll might fall into the hands of the rebels. He gained the confidenee of the Tory leaders so complete- ly that he was allowed to examine the roll, and was shown an immense haystack in a meadow near the captain's house, which proved to be a framework cov- ered with hay and capable of concealing forty or fifty men. A meeting of the company having been arranged for the next evening, he left his bed in the captain's honse during the night previous, reported to the eom- mittee at White Plains, and was back in his bed be- fore the family were stirring. The band was duly surrounded and captured, Crosby among them, by Townsend's rangers, and marehed to confinement in the old Dutch Church at Fishkill, where they were examined by the committee. By collusion, Crosby escaped from the church, but was compelled to rush past the sentinels in the dark. They fired at him, but he escaped unhurt.

By agreement with the committee he was known as John Smith. Twelve miles northwest of Marlbor- ongh he wormed ont of a Tory farmer the information that an English eaptain was hiding in a eave near by, and trying to recruit a company. Repeating his ruse of a desire to enlist, the spy discovered that a meeting was to be held on Tuesday, November 5, 1776, at a barn on Butter Hill. Suggesting to the captain that they had best leave the cave separately, he departed and sent word to the committee. Crosby arrived at the barn in due time with the Tories and laid down with them in the hay. Presently he heard a cough outside, the signal agreed upon, which he answered, and the barn was quickly filled with the rangers. Colonel Duer, of the Committee of Safety, had come with them for the express purpose of pro- teeting Crosby, and, indeed, had given the signal. The English captain was ordered to call his roll, but Crosby did not respond to his name. Townsend, who was not in the seeret, prodded him ont with a bayonet from the hay, and, recognizing the man who hrad escaped him at Fishkill, promised to load him with irons. He shackled the spy, took him to his own quarters and confined him in an upper room.

But when Townsend had drunk after dinner plenti- fully of wine which the maid, instructed by the Com- mittee of Safety, had enriched with a gentle opiate, and was sleeping soundly, she nnloeked the door with the key which she took from Townsend's poeket and led Crosby forth to freedom.

By such methods Crosby was instrumental in the capture of many Tory bands. He spent several weeks in the family of a Dutchman, near Fishkill, where he was known as Jacob Brown. He had numer- ous fictitions names, of which Harvey Birch was one. In December, 1776, he was sent to Benning- ton, Vt., by orders of the committee. The objeet of his journey was aecomplished, for, besides apprehend- ing a number of secret enemies of the country in that region, he obtained such information as enabled him to surprise a company of them much nearer home. This was at Pawling, Dutchess County, and, fearing to trust himself again to the vengeance of Captain Townsend, he arranged with Colonel More- house, a Whig of the neighborhood, to raise a body of volunteers and capture them. When their ren- dezvons was surrounded, Crosby, he having again made a false enlistment, was dragged out from under a bed, where he had taken refnge, and complained that his leg was so much injured that he eonld not walk. The accommodating colonel took him on his horse, and, of course, he soon got away.

For three years Crosby continued in the employ of the Committee of Safety, but at last the Tories, marvel- ing much at the detection of their eovert undertak- ings, fixed snspieion upon him. A band traeed him to the house of his brother-in-law in the'Highlands, and beat him until they left him for dead. They were followed by a company of Whigs, who pursued them to the Croton River, where some were killed and others driven into the stream. It was months before Crosby recovered, and it was then plain that his days of nsefulness as a spy were past. He joined Captain Philip Van Cortlandt's company, and was appointed a subordinate offieer. While on duty at Teller's Point, in the spring of 1780, he decoyed a boat's erew from a British ship in the stream to the shore by parading on the beach a soldier dressed in Lafayette's nniform. He had his ambuseade set for them and captured them all. In the following fall his enlistment expired and he retired to private life. His whole pay from the government was bnt two hundred and fifty dollars, so that any remuneration he received from the Committee of Safety must have been very little. In October, 1781, in partnership with his brother Benjamin, he bought three hundred and seventy-nine aeres of the forfeited Roger Morris estate, near Brewster's. A part of this tract is now covered by the Croton Reservoir. He erected a frame house on the east branch of the Croton River, a short distance east of the upper iron bridge at Croton Falls, where he lived a quiet life many years. The proper- ty is now owned by Joel B. Purdy. Later, Crosby

519

NORTH SALEM.

built the house now owned by his grand-daughter, Mrs. S. E. Mead, of Golden's Bridge. It stands north of the old house. In this house Crosby passed the later years of his life, and died June 25, 1835. He was interred in the old Gilead burying-ground, near Carmel, Putnam County. He married the widow of Colonel Benjamin Grecn. Colonel Green was also a soldier of the Revolution, and after the close of the war settled near the present Somers Centre depot. After the colonel's death his widow remained in the house until her marriage with Crosby, which was brought about by Dr. Ebenezer White. In the course of conversation on one occasion, Crosby asked the doctor if he would not find a wife for him. The doc- tor promised to try and do so. He finally bethought him of the Widow Green in her lonely state. The widow was apparently pleased with the recommenda- tion of his friend Crosby, as set forth by the doctor, and an introduction took place, followed shortly af- terwards by marriage.

He was a justice of the peace nearly thirty years. His exploits became known to the public through the Astor trials and the publication and dramatization of Cooper's novel. When it was produced at the Lafayette Theatre, Laurens Street, N. Y., he was induced to sit in a stage box. The crowd rose and cheered him with great enthusiasm, to which he responded with a bow. He was so modest that the world would never have known from him of his services to his coun- try.

Near Croton Falls, and about two miles northeast of the village, is the large, handsome residence and productive farm of Gilbert F. Bailey. This estate has been in the family since the early settlement of the town, and different members of the family have been prominent residents of the town and active in its councils. The present owner was supervisor in 1859. His great-grandfather was one of the officers elected at the first town-meeting in 1790. His father, Solomon Bailey, was at one time the heaviest tax-payer in the town. Mr. Bailey is a plain, unassuming farmer, about fifty-two years of age, warm-hearted, generous and a public-spirited citizen. He is a graduate of Yale, of the class of '56, and numbers among his class- mates some of the bright lights of the time, in literary and political life. He is one of the earnest members of the Baptist Church at Croton Falls and prominent in its councils. With all his accomplishments, not the least of which is a genuine poetical taste, Mr. Bailey chooses a quiet, practical farmer's life and loves his comfortable home and its surroundings.

VILLAGES AND POST-OFFICES .- The town has four hamlets and post-offices, viz .: North Salem, Salem Centre, Croton Falls and Purdy's. The two latter are situated on the extreme eastern boundary, and are stations on the line of the Harlem Railroad. The first named is in the northeastern section and is a small hamlet, surrounded by a farming community. North Salem and Salem Centre are the oldest villages

of the town They are contiguous to each other, being only about two miles apart and both lying on the banks of the Titicus River. North Salem contains two stores, a mill and a number of comfortable dwell- ings, while in the immediate vicinity are the Method- ist, Universalist, St. James' Protestant Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches. In this vicinity also are to be found some of the handsome residences of tlie wealthy townsmen and of strangers who have come from the city and purchased property here.

At Salem Centre there are a store, mills, some twenty dwellings and the old North Salem Academy, which was incorporated in 1790, and is one of the oldest - in the State. This village composes the centre of a large farming community and, so recently as 1850, was one of the most important points in the town. In recent years trade has tended toward the railroad centres. Both these villages have mail facilities each day from Purdy's by stage. Along the highways leading froin the centre in every direction are located the solid, old-fashioned houses of the farmer or the more pretentious dwellings of the man of larger means.

Purdy's Station, or Purdy's, as it is now called, came into existence with the advent of the New York and Harlem Railroad in 1845. The land upon which this village and station stands was part of the farm of Isaac H. Purdy, after whom the place was named, and whose large, plain, substantial farm-house, over a cen- tury old, stands a few rods northeast of the station. The place consists of a Methodist Episcopal Church and parsonage, the works of the American Condensed Milk Company, saw and grist-mills, lumber and coal yard of Teed & Hunt, hotel of Eli Reynolds, a pub- lic hall, also owned by Mr. Reynolds, a disnsed Presbyterian Chapci, now occupied as a dwelling, a marble yard conducted by George Godwin, five dry- goods and grocery stores, one jewelry establishment, two tin shops, a harness shop, one wagon and two blacksmith shops, a market and some fifty dwellings, some of them large and comfortable residences, built in the modern style. The Titicus River runs along the north side of one of the main streets, passes under the railroad bridge immediately north of the depot and empties into the Croton a few rods west of the place. The works of the milk company give this hamlet an air of business importance and prosperity. Croton Falls, two miles north, the next station on the railroad, is situated in the extreme northwestern cor- ner of the town and about six miles from North Salem. It was formerly known as Owensville and was the seat of the mills of John Owen. It lies on both sides of the main branch of the Croton River, which furnishes a fine water-power for manufacturing purposes, which power, however, has been of little use to the progress of the place, owing to the high price at which it has been held by its owners, and the here- tofore exorbitant rates of transportation charged by the railroad company. After the coming of the rail-

520

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

road the uanie of Croton Falls was substituted for the older one and is still retained, although an effort was made by James Owen to have the place named Kitehewan, after the Indian name of the river. This was, however, unsneeessful and, although there is nearly a total absonee of any "falls," save short rapids for a few rods, Croton Falls was the adopted appellation. The village is built in an irregular form, along the shores of the river by the side of the railroad, and upon the steep bluffs on the east side of the track. Some handsome residences may be found here, indicating a cultivated taste and an abundance of means. Perhaps the most eonspieuous is the house of Odle Close, supervisor of the town. The residenee of Joel Purdy, near the village, is also attractive. In the village proper the Baptist Church edifice is the most notable.

The place contains one manufacturing estab- lishment, built for and onee nsed as an auger- factory, a feed-mill, large lumber and eoal yards, three general stores, one groeery, one wateh-making establishment, one hotel, the Croton House, one harness-shop, a large drug-store, blaeksmitli-shop, extensive green-houses (for a small village), a large hall and a Masonic building, together with various small shops and about eighty dwellings. Croton Falls also possesses a newspaper offiee, from which is issued a weekly paper, of which more will be said in its proper place. The site of a portion of Croton Falls was originally a burial-place for the families of the northern part of Westchester and the southern por- tion of Putnam Counties, the old grave-yard covering the hill on which are now placed the lumber yard and store buildings of A. B. Whitlock. The north- western portion of the village was the seat of business activity previous to the coming of the railroad, and as Owensville was known for its paper-mills and clothier's works throughout the entire county. Just north of the place stands the Crosby mansion, now in partial decay, but still a handsome dwelling, situated on an elevation overlooking the narrow valley of the Croton, and surrounded with extensive grounds. Darius Crosby was its late owner. Near the village, to the sonth, stands the Roman Catholic Church, which was erected with the advent of the Harlem Railroad. A large proportion of its members are residents of the near vieinity.

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

North Salem possesses seven elnirches at present, in which religious services are regularly held, viz. : St. James' Protestant Episcopal, the Presbyterian, two Methodist Episcopal-one at North Salem, the other, with parsonage, at Purdy's,-a Universalist, a Baptist and the Roman Catholic. There was also a separate class of the Methodist Episcopal Church organized at Croton Falls, and, for a time, distinet services were held in Union Hall, at that place, but, after a few years, this was given up and the class organization

merged into the church society at Purdy's. The Presbyterians, also, of Somers and the vicinity of Purdy's for a few years maintained services in a build- ing ereeted for a eliapel at Purdy's, but it was found that a division of services and congregations weaken- ed the church and the chapel was abandoned. The building was used for some time as a publie school, but was finally converted into a dwelling with a small hall in the second story, which is occasionally used for social gatherings.

ST. JAMES' PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL PARISH is the oldest church organization in the town. The present church edifiee is a handsome Gothie structure built of wood and located on an elevation on the north side of the highway leading from Salem Centre to North Salem, and about midway between the two villages. It was commenced in 1868 and finished the following year, costing about six thousand dollars. This is the third ehureh building ereeted by this parish.

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 120

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