History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 141

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 141

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Union Academy was established by Alexander G. Reynolds, who was its principal for many years. He enumerates many prominent men among his former pupils. The academy has now been closed for several years.

Bedford Female Institute was incorporated with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars in 1856, and the building erected the same year. It was managed by several persons with varying success for about twenty years. Its best known and most successful principal was Rev. Robert Bolton. It has recently been sold and the property is now in private hands. In addition to these, there have been at various times, and in different quarters of the town, private schools conducted by capable teachers, and well patronized by those who preferred them to the public schools. In 1813 the town voted to comply with the State law providing for common schools, electing as commis- sioners Aaron Read, Benjamin Isaacs and David Olm- sted, and for inspectors Ebenezer Grant, Peter Flem- ing, Jeremiah Lounsbery, William Jay, William H. Sackett and William Isaacs. Since that time the public schools have been maintained with suitable

liberality. There are fifteen school districts in. the town, one of which, that in the village of Mount Kisco (lying partly in New Castle), has been organ- ized as a Union Frec School. It has a convenient and attractive building. Those at Katonah and Bed- ford Station are also worthy of notice, and of only two or three in the town can it be said that they are not up to the requirements of the times.

CEMETERIES .- It has been stated that the " Green," or old common in the village of Bedford, and the land near by, where the old burying-ground now is, was an Indian burial-place. This is in all probability an er- ror. It is not likely that the early settlers would have. selected a spot of that character, for their common, or pleasure-ground. Still less likely is it that they would have used it for their own place of burial, where the making of a grave would disturb the repose of the sleeping warriors whose descendants were even then living in the neighborhood, and on friendly terms with the new-comers. Nor have any relics such as are usually found in Indian graves ever been discov- ered either here or, so far as the writer can ascertain, anywhere in the town.

The ancient graveyard referred to above, overhung by the "rock called Bates his hill," was the first bur- ial-place of the white men, and there without doubt the " forefathers of the hamlet sleep." The first min- ister, Rev. Thomas Dunham, died in 1689, and was buried there. The earliest graves, unmarked by any inscribed stone, long ago passed beyond recognition, and many of the quaint tombstones of later genera- tions have fallen into decay. Many years ago it was not unusual, in making a grave, to disturb one long forgotten, and for a long time past burials there have been rare. Occasional notes in the towni records re- fer to repairing the fence by setting new posts, etc. In 1802 the care of it was made over to the Presby- terian Society. This continued three years, when the town voted to build a stone wall about the ground. Afterwards it was thic practice to allow it to be used "for the pasture of sheep and calves only."

The next oldest graveyard is probably that near the house of the late Peter K. Buxton, and hence usually known as Buxton Cemetery. It consisted of but little more than one acre of ground until about thirty years ago, when it was enlarged by the addition of some four or five acres and lots regularly sold to individual owners. There is also an old burying-ground a short distance north of Mathew's Mills, encompasscd about by the farm of Jere Miller. It has been chiefly used by families in the neighborhood. Others are at St. Mat- thew's. Church, at Katonah, adjoining the property of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; on the road from Hoyt's Mills to Cross River, and on the road from Ste- plien Knowlton's to New Castle. There were also, some forty years ago, many family grave-plots situated on the farms of the respective owners. But this practice has largely gone out of favor, and on the sale of farms such burial-places have disappeared, the remains be-

1 Baird's " History of Bedford Church."

608

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

ing removed to public grounds. Some, however, still remain. The largest cemetery in the town is the Bedford Union Cemetery, situated on the "Great Northe Plain," half a mile southeast of the Baptist Church. It was established in 1866, by several resi- dents of the neighborhood, who bought a suitable tract of land, some twenty-five acres in extent, and sold plots to individuals. It is neatly laid out, and adorned with many handsome monuments. It is not incorporated.

Joseph Barrilly

CHAPTER XII.

NEW CASTLE.

BY JOSEPH BARRETT, ESQ., Of Katonah, Bedford.

THE town of New Castle is thirty-five miles north of the city of New York, and is bounded north by Cortlandt, Yorktown and Somers, east by Bedford, south by North Castle and west by Ossining and Mount Pleasant.

It was set off from the town of North Castle, and given its present name, March 18, 1791. Its territory was increased by the act of the Legislature, May 12, 1846, which annexed to it all that part of Somers lying south of the Croton River.

EARLY HISTORY AND BOUNDARIES,-Although there are references, more or less obscure, to lands extending eighteen or twenty miles north of the Sound, said to have been bought of the Indians in 1660, by John Richbell, who purchased at Mamaro- neck in 1661, there is no definite record of the transfer of the lands now comprised in the town of New Castle, until Col. Caleb Heathcote bought of Wampus and his associates the tract lying west of the Byram River and Bedford, and within the angle formed by the boundaries of the Van Cortlandt and Philipse Manors, in 1696. It is probable that the Richbell purchase was understood to affect this tract, for Colonel Heatlicote thought it prudent, before taking title, to obtain from Mrs. Anne Richbell, widow of John Richbell, permission to purchase from the Indians lands which might have been in- chided in grants previously made to her husband. It was not unusual, even where the first grants were well defined, and their bounds traceable, and the grantors still in possession, to obtain a second or confirmatory deed.' In this case thirty-six years had elapsed and -

a new generation, perhaps a new dynasty, so to speak, had come into power, and the land was evidently still occupied by them. Wampus was apparently the ruling sachem, as his is the leading name in the body of the deed, though others sign it with him .? It has been supposed that he lived near the little lake still called Wampus Pond, which lies on the boundary between this town and North Castle, but it is prob- able that liis wigwam was farther north, perhaps in the neighborhood of Kirbyville.3

The deed is as follows :

" This indenture, made on the 19th of october, in the eighth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, William the Third, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, &c., and in the year of our Lord Christ, 1696, between Wampus, Indian Sachem, and others, whose names are herennto set and seals affixed, native proprietors of all that tract of land sitnate, lying and being in the county of Westchester, in the province of New York, in America, bounded north by Croton River, easterly by Byram River and Bedford line, sontherly by the land of John Ilarrison and his associates, and the line stretching to Byram River, aforesaid. and westerdly by the land of Frederick Philipse.

" Now know all men that Wampns, Cornelius and Coharnith, Indian Sachems and others, whose names are hereunto subscribed and seals affixed, the native proprietors of the aforesaid tract of land, have, for and in consideration of the sum of €100, good and lawful money of New York, to them in hand paid by the said Caleb lleathcote, at and before the en- sea'ing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof they do here- by acknowledge, and themselves and ench and every of them to be there- with fully satisfied, contented and paid, and thereof, and every part and parcel thereof, they do by these presents forever acquit and discharge the said Caleb Heathcote, his heirs, executors, administrators, &c., having given, granted, bargained and sold, aliened, enfeoffed, released und con- firmed, and do by these presents clearly and absolutely give, grant, bar- gain and sell, alien, enfeof, release and confirm nuto the said Caleb lleathcote, his heirs and assigns, forever, all that the before-mentioned tract of lend within the county of Westchester, bounded as above ex- pressed and set forth, together with all and singular the messnages, tenements, gardens, orchards, arable lands, pastures, feedings, woods, underwoods, meadows, marshes, lakes, ponds, rivers, rivulets, mines, minerals (royal mines only excepted ) fishing, fowling, hunting and hawk . ing, rights, privileges, hereditaments and appartenances to the same, he- longing or in any way appertaining, and all the estate, right, interest. claim, possession, property and demand of the said Wampns, Cornelius and Coharnith, sachems, and the other Indians whose names are here- unto subscribed, and each and every of them in and to the premises, in and to every part and parcel thereof, to have and to hold the before- mentioned tract of land, and all other the above-granted premises to him, the said Caleb Heathcote, his heirs and assigns to the only proper bene- fit and behoof of him, the said Caleb lleathcote, his heirs and assigns forever.

"In testintony whereof the parties to these presents have herennto set their hands and affixed their seals, the day and year first above written.

" Sealed and delivered in presence of William Lawrence and Joseph Sammel.

" PATTIUNUK.

" CONVENI -.

" BETTY PATHI NOK.

4. WILLRO C'ONARNUS'S wife.

" WACAPO X her mark.

" WAMIY's, Indian, O his mark.

" CORNELIUS, S Ils mark.

" ROE ROE, J his mark."

2 " Sometimes the grant is of the land that belonged to such an lo- diant by nante, or is bonnded by such an Indian's land, but to prove that any particular spot belonged to any particular Indian, or to show the hounds of any particular ludian, I believe is beyond human skill, so as to make it evident to any indifferent man."-t'olfen's Report, 1732.

3 In 103 the town of Bedford voted to give Captain Peter Matthews a tract of land " on the south side of the road that goeth from Bedford to lintson's ltiver, and so by the place where Wampus's wigwam was." The road referred to did not pass within two or three miles of Wampas Pond.

1 " This was no uncommon occurrence in denlings with the natives. Their Ideas of proprietorship were notoriously imperfect, and the set- tlers of New England often fonud it necessary, in order to pacify them, to repeat the purchases of the very same hands."-"Baird's History of Rye."

609

NEW CASTLE.

This deed includes all of the present town of New Castle except the strip at the northeast corner which was taken from Somers in 1846, and also that part of North Castle which lies west of the Byram River, or about half of that town. It is more elaborate in form than is usual in Indian deeds, which are mostly mere memorandums of sale, in which not even the consid- eration is stated. Other decds to Colonel Heathcote are full and formal like this, a circumstance which is probably due to Heathcote's business habits.1 The boundaries were apparently ascertained with proper care, and correctly described the tract intended to be conveyed. When the patent was issued certain changes were made in the description, which will be referred to hereafter.

Having satisfied the Indians, the next step was to obtain the grant or patent from the government. Patents were issued by the Governor of the province, with the approval of his Council, and were the only recognized title to lands. It was the established principle that the petitioner for a patent should show that he had purchased the land of the Indians, and satisfied them, before his claim could be considered. The petition was then usually referred to a commit- tee of the Council, who examined and reported on it for the action of the Governor. The Council at this time, and down to the end of the colonial period, con- sisted of twelve men, of whom five were a quorum. They were appointed by the Governor.

" In an executive capacity they acted as a privy council to the head of the government in civil matters, who was generally present when the executive council was in session. They were consulted in the grant of patents, which could not pass the seal without their advise ; they had also a voice in the appointment to most of the civil offices in the colony. . . . They constituted the second branch of the Legislature, co-or- dinate with the Senate of the present day. . . . A councillor's title was ' The Ilonorable.' Ile held his office during pleasure, and served without salary. His position, nevertheless, was such that he was enabled to secure for himself, his family and friends, large grants of lands which indemnified him for whatever time and labor he lost. " 2

1 Caleb Heathcote was of an old English family. Ile had been a mer chant in London, and left his native land, it is said, on account of being supplanted by his brother in the affections of the lady whom he expec- ted to marry. He came here in 1692, at the age of twenty-seven, and his ability, ambition and fortune soon gave him a prominent place in the affairs of New York and Westchester. The very year of his arrival he was selected as one of the Governor's Council, a position of consider- able political power, in which hecontinued till 1697, and which he again held from 1702 to 1720. He was for many years judge of the court of the county, and colonel of its militia, and mayor of New York City from 1711 to 1713. Ile was a most conspicuous and zealous promoter of the work of the Church of England in this county, through the Gospel Propagation Society, who found him a faithful adviser and diligent cor- respondent. Like most of those who had a strong interest with the goverament of the province, he soon caught the land fever. Besides his rights in the West, Middle and East Patents, und his " Lordship and Manor of Scarsdale " (see Scarsdale), he had interests in Richmond and Ulster and was the leading spirit iu the "Great Nine Partners' " tract in Dutchess County.

2 New York Civil List, 1881, page 238. Among the honorable Council- ors whose names are conspicuous as grantees of land in various parts of the province were William Pinhorne, William Smith, Caleb Ilcathcote, Peter Schuyler, Abr. Depeyster, Samuel Staats, R. Walters, James Graham, Thomas Weaver, John Bridges, Roger Mompesson, William Peartree and others.

The land grants of some of the early English Gov- ernors gave rise to serious scandals.

" The most extraordinary favors of former governors wore but petty grants in comparison of his (Fletcher's). He was a generous man. and gave the King's lands by parcels of upwards of one hundred thousand acres to a man, und to some particular favorites, four or five times that quantity ; but the King was not pleased with him, as I am told, and he was recalled in disgrace. The Earl of Bellomont, who succeeded, having orders to use all legal means for breaking extravagant grants of land, joined with the assembly in vacating several of the extravagant grants made by Coll. Fletcher, but as this act was carried thro' with spirit of party in the assembly, it passed with much less impartiality than might have been expected from the Justice of the Legislature. For some of the most extravagant grants were passed over, whilo others were declared extrav- agant and vacated that no way deserved that character. . . After his death the administration fell into Capt. Nanfan's hands, then Lieut .- Govr. It appears that the grants made in his time passed in a hurry without any previous Survey, but upon very uncertain infor- mations of the natural Boundaries, which the Grantees took in their Grants, so that some of them are become a sort of ambulatory Grants, the Patentees claiming, by virtue of the same Grant, sometimes in One part of the country, sometimes in another, as they are driven from one place to another by others claiming the same lands with more certainty. In other Grants, we find the same personsjoined in several grants with others, which Grants were intended for different Tracts, and in uppear- ance seem to be so, and yet by their present claims they take in the same Lands within the bounds of their several Grants. . The Earl of Bellomont was succeeded, after Queen Anne's accession to the throne, by her cousin, the Lord Cornbury.

" The Grants of large tracts upon trifling quitrents, that were made during his Lordship's administration at least equaled those of all bis predecessors put together. Indeed, his Lordship's inclinations were so evident to every body at that time, that two Gentlemen (as I am well as- sured) liad agreed with his Lordship for a Grant of all the lands in the Province, at a Lump, which were not at that time granted, and that the only thing which prevented the passing of that grant was, that those Gente apprehended that the Grant would of itself appear so extravagant and would create so many enemies, that they would not be able to hold it. . . . No quantity of Land or number of Acres for the most part arc mentioned in any of these Grants, nor is it possible to discover the quantity by inspection of the Patents, as it may be done in those Grants which are founded on a previous Survey ; and where any quantity is ex- pressed it seems to be done more with design to hide the real quantity (if their present claims be truly conformable to their original bounds) than to set forth the truth, for I have heard of one instance at least, where the patent Grants 300 acres, and the patentee now claims upwards of sixty thousand acres within the bounds of his Grant. Others, suspecting that such disproportion between the real quantity and the quantity expressed in the Grant might invalidate the Grant, got the quantity of Land to be expressed in the following manner : Containing for example, Que thou- sand acres of profitable Land, beside wood Land and Waste ; and yet, when these Lands were Granted, perhaps there was not ten acres that was not woodland, or One Acre that at the time of the Graut yielded any profit, or one acre that by improvement might not be made profita- ble. . . It is evident that in many of these the Governor who granted them was deceived as to the quantity ; but that the King was deceived in all of them. The Governors who granted these large tracts, if they knew their extent, were guilty of a notorions breach of trust, and as it cannot be supposed that they did this merely in the gayety of their heart, they must have had some temptation, and this must be sup- posed to proceed from those that received the Benefit of it. That there- fore the Grantees are equally guilty with the Govr in deceiving the King, and likewise of defrauding all the adventurers or settlers in the Colony, of their equal chance of obtaining the most improvable and convenient lands, and of preventing the improvement and settling of the Colouy, for which purpose only the Lands are supposed to be granted." 3

After reading these extracts any one who has formed the impression that the public servants of former generations were superior to those of these days in purity of purpose and honesty of acts, or

3 From Surveyor General Cadwallader Colden's " Report on the Lands in the Province of New York," 1732.

610

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

that political "rings" are a modern device, may properly revise his opinion. The sehemes of the land-grabbing adventurers of the colonial period, if they could be fully known, would rival in villany, if not in the extent of their plunder, the most successful jobs of the present day. There were then no magnifi- cent publie buildings to erect, and not much money in the treasury to steal ; the public lands were about all there was in sight, and the virtuous representa- tives of the "prerogative royal " raided them with- out eompunetion.

When Heathcote made the Indian purchase, as already stated, it was probably his expectation to make the traet a part of his individual possessions, all to be erected into a manor like those of Van Cort- landt and Philipse. When he first discovered the difficulties surrounding this enterprise it is not possi- ble to say. He had agreed to take out a patent with- in six months after the Indian purchase, but had ap- parently discovered hostility to him among the Hon- orable Conneilors, and had, at least for the time, abandoned his plan and waited for developments. Thus matters stood until the month of February, 1702, a period of five years. It is not too much to infer, in the light of subsequent events, that the Honorable Councilors had caused Heatheote to be informed that there was a method by which his patent could be made to pass the Couneil. To suggestions of this kind, Heathcote, confident in his ability to make his way in what he had begun, seems to have refused to listen. But on the 9th of February, 1702, the " strikers," to use a modern term, in their desire to bring matters to an issue, called to their aid Lieu- tenant-Governor Nanfan, whose character and meth- ods have been so well outlined by Colden, and in due form presented to him the following petition :

" To the Honorable John Nanfan, Esqr, flis Majesty's Lieutenant- Governor and Commander-in-chief of the Province of New York, and the Ilonorable Councillors ;- The humble petition of Matthew Clarkson, Lancaster Syms. Robert Walters, Richard Shter, Cornelius Depeyster, Leigh Atwood, Barne Cosens and [erasure] Showeth,

" That Coll. Caleb leuthcoute, by his petition to Coll. Benjamin Fletch- er, late Governor of this province, in Council preferred the 12th day of October, 1636, prayed liberty to purchase of und from the Indians a par- cel of land in the County of Westchester between Seroton River and the north bounds of Mr. Harrison's purchase, which petition was granted, provided that Col, Heathcote sned forth a patent for the same within six months then next to come, and

" That on the 23d of the said month of October the said Heathcote alledging to the said Governor and Council that he had purchased the said land of the Indiane on the 19th of the said month, and producing the said pretended purchase thereof to the council board, it was ordered that i warrant should issue for surveying the said land. That the said Col. Heathcote, not having, within the time mentioned, procured either patent or survey for the same, and the said land having hitherto laln withont any manner of improvement and yielded no rent or other profit to the Crown ; mny it please your honors, that your petitioners may be allowed to be the first discoverers, and in case no purchase hath been made from the Indian proprietors, that your petitioners may have a license to pur- chase the anine. But In case that the said Col. Heathcote hath made any real purchase, he not having complied with the said proviso, that your petitioners, paying the paid Col. Heathcote his purchase money may have a patent for the sald land, under such reasonable quit-rent as to your honors shall srem fit, and that in order thereunta a precept may inane to his majesty's solicitor to Inquire Into the premises, and that npon

return of athidavit found for his Majesty, and after that the bounds of the premises shall have been ascertalned and the purchase made by your petitioners, if occasion shall require, or otherwise tender of the provided purchase money, that your petitioners may have a patent thereof and your potitioners will ever pray."

It will be of interest to inquire who these men were. Matthew Clarkson was seeretary of the prov- inee, an office corresponding to that of Seeretary of State now, and all patents were eountersigned by him. Symes was a large land-holder in several counties. Robert Walters1 was a merchant with a taste for politieal life. He had been a member of Governor Leisler's Assembly, an associate judge of the Supreme Court, and was, at this time, a member of the Governor's Couneil. Richard Slater was a " dummy," representing Thomas Weaver, who was a member of the Council and was also the solicitor- general, by whom warrants for patents were prepared. Cornelius Depeyster and Leigh Atwood were near relatives of Abraham Depeyster and William Atwood, who were both in the Couneil. Barne Cosens was clerk of the Couneil.

It is not surprising that a petition, signed by these men, had a convincing effeet, not only on the Gov- ernor, but also on Colonel Heatheote. Within the ' next five days the thing was arranged. Heathcote, who had bought the land from the Indian proprietors in good faith, and had a valuable property, came to terms and took the " ring" into partnership, to pre- vent them from driving him out entirely. It was clearly what modern slang defines as a " divvy." On the 14th of February, Nanfan issued the warrant to the solieitor-general (who was represented in the partnership) to prepare letters patent. The warrant is as follows :

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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 141

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