History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 137

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 137

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" Zachariah Roberts, Sr. . . . 3

Joseph Palmer

Coll. Jacobus Van Courtland,

John Hohns, Jr. 2

Bought of John Dible. . . . 8

Richard Scofield, l'eter Denil, 1

John Copp 2

John Wascot 1

Zachariah Roberts, Jr. 1

Richard Wascot. 1

Richard IIolines. 1

John Holms, Sr. Given to his

son, Joseph Holms . 1

John Miller, Jr . 1

Cornelius Seely, Sr. Given to

Cornelius Seely, Jr I

Joseplı . 1

Robert Williams 1

To Sarah. 1

Hezekiah Roberts. 1

David Holms.

Daniel Jones 1

Jonatban Holme

.Joseph Hunt.

The proprietors " then proceeded to draw ye lot aforesaid," and the names and numbers are recorded. No further division was made until August 3, 1725, when the proprietors met and appointed John Copp, Nathan Clark and David Holmes a committee to lay out and divide by lot all the undivided lands remain- ing. They found it a vexatious undertaking. They availed themselves of their power " fully to determine all matters and things respecting the same." They first " made additions to such of ye proprietors whose aforementioned lots lay convenient for such additions to be made to them," and then, April 18, 1736, called a meeting of the proprietors and reported that there were eleven men to whose lots they could not make additions, as done in other cases, and asked these

1 Katonah, Wackemane, Aratoma, Simon, Cacaroca, Mangakom.

2 Where Aaron Sutton now resides.

ii .- 51

Nathan Clark. 1

.Jonathan Miller. 1

David Mead. 1

Abraham Wead I

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

eleven to draw lots for other allotments, which was done. But there was one tract of about nine hundred aeres bounded northerly by " a highway that passes under Noname's Hill, anciently ealled Frederick's Path,"' of which they say,-" In viewing of the sd Last-mentioned and Described Tract of Land, we found it Exceeding Rough, Hilly, Mountanous, Rockey, and the most part mean and unprofitable Land, and So much out of proportion with the other lands we had before Viewed, That it seemed beyound our skill to Determin upon any Equal Equivalent between the one and the other."

The succeeding allotments give the names of many new proprietors, and by the time the last of the new purchase was divided, in April, 1738, it is probable | came from Colonel Jacobus Van Cortlandt to his

that the new tract was well settled and occupied.

There are but meagre accounts of the division and settlement of the later purchases. The northwest corner, bought by Jacobus Van Cort- landt and Zachariah Roberts, was apparently a speculation of their own.

The patentees of the Dibble purchase, on June 24, 1736, appointed Vin- cent Simkins, John Hohnes and Richard Holmes to divide that tract, and the division was made by lot April 22, 1737. The same three men had been selected on May 28, 1736, to divide the land lying north of the Cross River, constituting the last pur- chase. This division they made June 23, 1736. Both traets were owned by the same twenty-nine men, and the surveys were made by Samuel Purdy. In 1735 and 1737 meetings were held by the owners of the first two purchases, and a committee appointed to divide all undivided lands. This "committee was continued, and succeeded by others, until all the lands were allotted. The last scattered remnants of " the common land " were thus disposed of as late as 1772.

Years before this, doubtless, the town had become fully settled throughout. The Indians had become a memory of the past, farms had been well improved,

Henry Srobertson

the necessary manufactures and facilities for comfort- able living had been established, and the town had almost accomplished the first century of its history.

The record of the allotments of land by the various committees and of the subsequent deeds and bills of sale by individuals is entire, from the earliest time down to the close of the last century, when these doc- uments began to be recordedin the office of the county clerk. The boundaries of the land are in most cases indefinite and cannot now be traced except where streams form partial bounds. The oldest titles known to the writer are that of the farm of the late Henry Robertson, which his grandfather, William, bought of Daniel Merritt in 1744, and the Jay estate, which

daughter Mary, wife of Peter Jay, after his death, in 1743. Van Cortlandt was one of the largest purchasers of land from the Indians (and from the settlers as well), and in the later years of his life consolidated his pur- chases in the north part of the town.

The ancestors of the Robertson family of Bedford were of Scotch origin. They were among the carly settlers of Fairfield County, Connecticut, John Rob- ertson being mentioned in the records of Green- wich in 1677, and Wil- liam Robertson removed from that town to Bed- ford in 1744, having bought of Daniel Merritt the farm at Cantito, which is yet in possession of the family. He had several children, some of whom died unmarried, and one removed to Saratoga County, where his descendants still live. The home- stead remained in the ownership of his son Jabez, who was twice married. By his last marriage he had three daughters-Rachel, Betsey and Catharine-and three sons-Jabez, Lawrence and Henry, the last two being twins, familiarly called Harry and Larry. The old friends of Henry Robertson well remember his humorous way of relating that he was one of a pair of twins, of whom one was born in November and the other in December, which was a fact, their births having occurred half an hour apart. He was born December 1, 1791. His boyhood and early education were like those of other boys of the vicinity. He taught school for some time, and for several years

1 The road from "the four corners" to New Castle Corner. It is not known why it was called " Frederick's Path,"-not unlikely after an Indian who had nssnmed that name.

591

BEDFORD.

kept a store in a part of the house now owned by B. I. Ambler, in Bedford village, then the property of Benjamin Isaacs. He was also for a time in partner- ship with his brother Jabez, near the Baptist Church, in the same business. On April 4, 1822, he married Huldah H. Fanton, daughter of Hull Fanton, of Weston, Connecticut. They had five children-Wil- liam H. ; Elizabeth, wife of the late A. F. Dickinson; Sarah, wife of J. F. Sherwood, who died in 1850; Marietta, wife of John C. Holmes, of Lewisboro'; and Emma, wife of Joseph Barrett. After his marriage he lived on the farm, and for more than thirty years, before the days of railroads, he ran a market-wagon to Tarrytown and Cos Cob. In this business his ge- nial disposition and upright dealings gave him a suc- cessful trade.

In politics he was first a Federalist, and after- wards a Whig, and al- ways took a leading and active part. In early life he held minor town of- fices. Between 1830 and 1850 he was supervisor of Bedford for fifteen years. His fearless inte- grity, sound sense, ready wit and courteous man- ner combined to make him a candidate whom none cared to oppose. After his withdrawal from the office he did not aban- don his interest in poli- tics. From the formation of the Republican party he was in its ranks, and for the last few years of his life, though nearly ninety years of age, he made it a matter of pride to be the first to offer his vote at the polls at sunrise of election day.

JABEZ ROBERTSON.

Mr. Robertson was connected with the Bedford Baptist Church for more than fifty years. During all that time he was one of its most influential and valued members, active in its work and liberal in its support. He was plain in his tastes and manner of life, sincere in his opinions and prompt in expressing them. Possessed of strong good sense, thorough honesty and great elements of popularity, he only lacked the ambition for it to have achieved high station in public life. As it was, he had the respect and esteem of all who knew him.

He died April 10, 1881, on the place where he was born, and in the house which had been his home for nearly three-quarters of a century.

Jabez Robertson, the brother of Henry, was the

second of six children-three sons and three daugh- ters-of Jabez and Rachel Robertson. He was born August 22, 1787, at the Robertson farm, in Cantito, which his grandfather, William Robertson, previously of Greenville, Conn., bought in 1743, and which is still owned by the heirs of his younger brother Hen- ry. His boyhood was spent there, and was occupied with the usual industries of a farmer's life in those times. His education was the best that could be imparted by the schoolmasters of the neighborhood, and if it was better than that of most boys of his day, it was because he was above the average in abil- ity and application. He taught school near his home_ for several winters, residing with his father, working on the farm during the remainder of the year, and finding abundant opportunity for the employment of the mechanical skill and ingenuity which he pos- sessed in an unusual de- gree.

He was married, March 26, 1815, to Miss Betsey Smith, daughter of Mat- thias Smith, then deceas- ed, and after that time lived at the house of his wife's mother, which af- terward became his own property, and was his home for the remainder of his life. About the time of his marriage, in partnership with his bro- ther Henry, lie started a store near he Baptist Church, continuing the business there for some years, and afterward in Bedford village. Not long after this time he was ap- pointed by the Governor a justiec of the peace. That office first became elective in 1830, and he was elected in 1831, his term of appointment pro- bably expiring at that time. He was re-elected every four years after, and was still a justice at the time of his death, having held the office for over fifty years. In 1831 he was also chosen town clerk, and held that position, with the interruption of but one year, till 1857. From 1824 to 1843 he was one of the commissioners of schools for the town. In all these positions his long continuance testifies to the satis- faction of his constituents. As town clerk he suc- ceeded Benjamin Isaacs, who had held the office twenty-seven years, and discharged the duties of the place with the systematic care which was habitual to him. As a justice of the peace he acquired great familiarity with the subjects which came to his atten-

592

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

tion, and it is related that during the half-century of his service no decision of his court was ever reversed. His advice was constantly sought, and, as it was his practice to discourage litigation, his prudent counsel often averted lawsuits and led to peaceable settle- ments.

Mr. Robertson was from an early.period of his life a leading member of the Baptist Church, and was for many years one of its prominent officers. His devo- tion to its welfare was proverbial, and his influence in its counsels cannot be measured.

It is not too much to say that among the citizens of this town who have become prominent in its quiet history, none has "borne a fairer character," or been more sincerely honored, than Jabez Robertson. Gen- tle and affectionate in his family, faithful and sin- eere in his friendships, dignified and affable in publie, diligent and accurate in business and upright in every habit and action, he combined those characteristics which produeed a well-ordered life and have left after his death a blessed memory.

He died December 15, 1872. Of his eight ehildren three only-Milton, William N. and Catharine-sur- vive him.

The earliest eensus of Bedford was taken in 1712 when the whole population was one hundred and seventy-two, that of the county being two thousand eight hundred and fifteen. Of this number, three hundred and thirty-three were slaves, but none were owned in Bedford, the people here being too poor at that early date to indulge in such luxuries. These figures are taken from the Documentary History of New York, but their aeeuraey is questionable, as it would appear that a colony of thirty-five inhabitants, mostly, if not all, heads of families, must have attained a larger number than one hundred and seventy-two in the first thirty years of their settlement, making no account of new-comers.

In 1784 "the people were numbered," the record informs us, " in the township of Bedford, and there were males under 16 years old, 196; over 16 years old and under 50 there were 153, and over 50 there were 32. In all the male inhabitants there appeared to be,-male inhabitants, 381 ; female inhabitants under 16, 176 ; over 16 and under 50, 164; and over 50, 36; in all female inhabitants, 376,-total, 757. Recorded 28th of Oetober, 1784, Philip Leek, town clerk." These figures strike us as being too small, and they are ; for on a slip of paper, three by four inelies, loose in the book, are the above figures, in Philip Leek's handwriting, headed " on fleming's Role there is"-and on the other side of the paper, on "Leek's Role, there are 200 boys under 16 years old; 137 over 16 and under 50; 35 over 50-372 in all. One hundred and ninety-one girls under 16 : 144 over 16 and under 50; 35 over 50 years-330 in all."

Evidently, Leek forgot to record his own district enumeration after recording Peter Fleming's, and he must have forgotten to record others also, for these

two lists give but thirteen hundred and fifty-nine, while the next enumeration, made by order of Con- gress only six years later(in 1790), shows a population of twenty-four hundred and seventy-eight, larger than that of any other town in the county.1

These are the printed figures, but this is the way the record gives it : 2

" This census taken by Samuel Finley, Ass't Marshall for the State of New York.

" 6th Decr .. 1790.

" No. of Families. 422

" No. of Males. 1237

" Females 11:3

" Free blacks 10

" Slaves 37

" Total No. of souls 2407

" Recd. March 22d, 1791.

" ELIAS NEWMAN, T. C."

In 1814 the population was twenty-six hundred and seventy-five, of whom eighteen were slaves.

The gradual freeing of the slaves was provided for by an aet of the Legislature, about 1804, and it be- eame necessary that birthis of slave children should be filed with the overseers of the poor. There are many of these records extending over a period of twenty years, and also several instances of the volun- tary manumission of slaves owned by eitizens, among whom are Aaron Read, John Jay, Elisha Clark and others.

In 1826 the population was twenty-five hundred and eight. This was sixty years ago. To show the changes in our manner of living sinee that time, it may be stated that there were "manufactured in the domestie way, in families," during the previous year, thirty-four hundred and seventy-eight yards of fulled eloth, thirty-three hundred and fifty-five yards of "other woolen eloth fulled" and twelve thousand four hundred and seventy-six yards of linen eloth.

The population by the eensus of 1875 was thirty- seven hundred and fifty, and in 1880, thirty-seven hundred and thirty-one.

The town contains many of the representative men of Westchester County. Among them may be men- tioned :

Edwin Snyder who was one of nine children of John Angustus Snyder, who came to this country from Halle, in Prussian Saxony, about the beginning of this century. His mother was an American lady, Miss Sarah Wood of Elizabeth, N. J. He was born at No. 73 Maiden Lane, New York City, October 17, 1814. His edu cation was obtained at private schools in New York, one of which, kept by a Mr Pickett, he often referred to. At the age of eighteen, and after the death of his father, he went to Augusta, Georgia, and obtained employment as a elerk. So

1 North Castle was next in size, with two thousand four hundred and seventy, and Morrisania, the smallest, had only one hundred and thirty- three.

% Vol. 3, p. Is5.

Marou? Kay aufindul

593

BEDFORD.

well adapted was he to the occupation he had chosen that before many years he established himself in business as a cotton merchant and was exceedingly successful. In 1845 he returned to New York, and after that time carried on business in both cities, in partnership with his brother, under the firm-name of E. & J. A. Snyder, the latter-named being in charge of the Augusta branch. This was for several years one of the most prominent and best known houses in the neighborhood of Hanover Square, the head- quarters of the cotton trade. The head of the firm was especially conspicuous for his energy and sagacity, and was known among his associates as " The Cotton King."

During this period Mr. Snyder made many invest- ments in real estate, pur- chasing lots and erecting buildings thercon in dif- ferent parts of the city. These ventures were di- rected with the good judg- ment and foresight which characterized him. In 1856, having acquired a large fortune, he retired from active business, and in 1858 bought the farm now known as Undercliff, which was his residence during the remainder of his life. Here he lived quietly, occupying him- self with improving and beautifying his place, and was esteemed by his neighbors as a cordial, kind-hearted man. Pos- sessed of a dignified and handsome presence, he made an agreeable im- pression upon strangers, 6, Awin Owydsm and was popular among his acquaintances and Mr. Raymond is well known in social and bus- iness circles, being one of League Club, and the Chamber of Commerce. In polities he is a steadfast Republican. friends. He was widely known and beloved for his great and unostentatious benevolence. Gifted by ' the oldest and most prominent members of the Union nature with a strong constitution, he lived to celebrate his seventieth birthday, although for many years he had suffered with rheumatism, and for the last eight years had not left his house. He died May 15, 1885, and was buried in Greenwood.

Mr. Snyder was twice married-the second time, in 1873, to Miss Emily Robinson, of Detroit, Mich., daughter of the late Charles Robinson, of Rochester. She survives him and is his sole heir. He had no children.

The only surviving members of his father's large family are his brother Henry, and his sister Eliza,

widow of Richard Williamson, president of the Bull's Head Bank, both of whom reside in New York.

Aaron Raymond, another representative citizen of Bedford, is of English and Scotch descent. His fathi- er, who married Miss Tyler, was a farmer, residing at Bedford, Westchester County, where Aaron, the second of four children, was born February 20, 1834.

After finishing his education at the Bedford Acad- emy, he, in 1852, moved to New York City, where he was employed as a clerk in the wholesale eloth and clothing house of D. C. Otis & Perry. Five years later he founded, with P. L. Rogers, the well-known clothing store at the corner of Nassau and Fulton Streets. In 1864 Mr. Rogers died, leaving Mr. Ray- mond the sole proprietor in an already large and rap- idly increasing business. For a few years heremain- ed alone, after which he associated with him, as partner, his youngest brother, Augustus Ray- mond, who is still a mem- ber of the firm.

By perseverance and close attention to the mi- nutest detail of his busi- ness, Mr. Raymond has succeeded in placing his house among the first in New York City. During the course of his mercan- tile career he has, from time to time, invested largely in real estate and has now in his possession the building, on Nassau and Fulton Streets, oceu- pied by his store, to- gether with other prop- erty in New York City, New Jersey and West- chester County.

In 1859 he married Sarah E. Olcott. They have five children,-Jesse, Edgar O., John M., Madeleine, and Genevieve. By his well-known character for in- tegrity and his genial manner, Mr. Raymond has won for himself the respect and esteem of all who have been brought into contact with him, and his remarkable success as a business man adds lustre to the name of a family which has been long and honorably con- nected with the history of Westchester County.

PATENTS AND PRESENT BOUNDARIES,-For a

594

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

few years after the settlement the pioneers gave them- selves no concern about their title to their domains further than to satisfy the Indians and render proper allegiance to the Colonial government of Connecticut. But the discussion which soon arose respecting the boundary Ied Connecticut to insist. in 1685, that the towns should obtain patents and thus have lawful evidence of their titles and rights. As we have before seen, the people of Bedford were only too glad to avail themselves of this invitation, and after full con- sideration, doubtless, on May 14, 1687, it was voted that " there shall be money raised to pay for a pattin, and that every right of land in the town shall pay an equal proportion." A committee of nine, "or any five of them," was empowered to collect the money and to use it if need be. Of this committee Captain Theal was the head. Though they were directed to report to the town a true account of their action, nothing more is found in the records about the matter for nearly ten years. The delay was no doubt due to the hesitation felt by Connecticut authority to grant a patent during the unsettled condition of the bound- ary question. The controversy was a long and angry one, carried on by the Governors of both colonies with considerable hostile feeling, and participated in by the residents of each with a spirit which was at times even warlike. Our people did not remit their efforts, however, and in 1692 Zachariah Roberts, of Bedford, and Mr. Underhill, of Rye (the two towns acting together in the matter) went to Hartford to urge the General Court to action in their favor. On January 11, 1697, the "town by vote doth choes Zachariah Roberts for to go to Governor Treat, to see if they can be settled under Coneticut: & the town is to allow him three shillings a day for himself and his hors in ye town's rate, for every day he is out : & what he expends in money, the town is to allow half his expense." On January 26th, a fortnight after, came the annual town-meeting for the election of offi- vers and other business. Whether Roberts had per- formed his mission to Hartford in the mean time is not quite certain, but it would seem that he had ; for at this meeting, with his never-failing thrift, he se- cured the adoption of this resolution : "The town by a maiger vote doth agre, that every man in the town yt is in the list & yt hath land in ye town, shall pay to Zachariah Roberts, sen'r, two pounds of flax for his money expenses for going to Coneticut; & yt town doth desire Jonathan Pettit to geather it." On May Ist of the same year, the town still urging the matter, voted to petition the General Court " y they may have the pattent granted them for their town- ship, teen milds long from ye north end of Stamford bounds ; to rune teen milds northward in to the woods, and aight milds wide." In this same month Roberts wrote a pathetic letter to Governor Treat and the General Court, describing the troubles which

" proved ahnost our undoing for severall years, "refer- ring to the fact that in January of that year the col- ony had taken them under its protection,' and re- questing " for what favor we can have from the Honrd Court at this time for our growth and increase, as we may be beneficial to the honour of God and the good of the country." This final appeal must have settled the question, for the patent was issued May 21, 1697. The persons named as grantees are "John Miller, Senr., Daniel Simkins, Zachariah Roberts, Cornelius Seely, Jeremiah Andrews, John Westcoate, John Miller, Junr., John Holmes, Junr., and the rest of the present proprietors of Bedford." The traet is de- scribed : " All those lands boath meadows, swamps and uplands, within these abuttments, viz : Southerly on the bounds of the Township of Stanford : Westerly on the wilderness, Northerly on the wilderness, and easterly on the wilderness, or land not yet laid out ; Every of which sides is six miles in length, to witt : from the east side westerly, and from the South side northerly, and is a township of six miles square, or six miles on every side, which said lands have been by purchase or otherwise lawfully obtained of the Indian native proprietors." The Connecticut author- ities very prudently declined, in view of the compli- cations existing, to grant the request of the people for a tract eight by ten miles in size.

To the disappointment of our people, the boundary question was finally settled, in 1700. against their wishes, as we have before seen, and they were again left without any legal warrant to their lands from the colony of which they now formed a part. Aceord- ingly, they lost no time in taking steps to have ratified to them by their new government what the former one had granted.2

On November 4, 1700, " the town by a maiger vote doth desire and impower Mr. John Tomson and Zach- ariah Roberts to go to New Yorrek and clear up our rits and priveledges in order to ataine a patten to con- ferme to us our rits, titles and privileges & theyr charges to be paid out of the above said bargen." $

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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 137

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