History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 143

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 143

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The " parties of the first part " are twenty-one in number,-

First: Anne de Lancey, widow (danghler of Healhcote), and Lewis Johnson, of Perth Amboy, gentleman, whose wife, then deceased, was Martha Heathcote. These represented the Heathcote rights.

Second : Freeman Clarkson, David Clarkson, Matthew Clarkson and Levinus Clarkson, of The city of New York, gentlemen ; Matthew ('lark. son, of Philadelphia, merchant ; Gerardus Clarkson, of Philadelphia, surgeou ; Catharine llazzard, of the city of New York, widow; Sam- nel Finley, of Prince Town in New Jersey, clerk, and Aun, his wife.

(These alne persons, excepting, of course, the last, were grandchildren of Matthew Clarkson, The palentee ; the first four, children of David, son of Matthew, and the next four, children of Matthew, son of the palenlee. Alwood had died intestale and his sisters had sold Their interests to David Clarkson, son of The patentee, October 27 and 28, 1719, and be hind sold one-fourth each lo his brothers Matthew nud Levinns, and bis

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NEW CASTLE.

sister Anne. The two last-named were at this time living in Holland, and a separate deed was afterward obtained front them. The Clarksons therefore represent one-half of the Atwood and Clarkson shares.)

Third : John Ogilvie, of Montreal, iu the province of ('anada, clerk, and ('atharine, his wife, and Elizabeth Rosevelt, of the city of New York, widow. (These two ladies were granddaughters of Lancaster Symes.) .

Fourth : John Bard, of the city of New York, surgeon ; David Stout' of the borough of Lancaster and county of Lancaster and province of Pennsylvania, by the said John Bard, his attorney ; Peter Valleau, of the county of ('hester, in the province of Pennsylvania, hy the said Johu Bard, his attorney ; Lucus Lazier, of the city of New York, by the said Jolin Bard, his attorney ; Fauconnier Valleau of the city of New York, sadler ; Elizabeth Valleau, of the city of New York, widow. (These names represent the Fauconnier interest. Fauconnier had con- veyed all his right to Magdalen Valleau, April 10, 1745. John Bard was one of her executors. Stout and Lazier married Margaret and Aun, re- spectively, daughters of Magdalen Valleau. Peter and Fauconnier Val- leau were doubtless her sons, and Elizabeth, the widow of her other son, Theodorus. It is presumed, hut not known certainly, that Magdalen Valleau was a daughter of Fauconnier.)

Fifth : Catharine Pocklington, late of the Parish of St. George, Han- over Square, in the county of Middlesex, in the kingdom of Great Brit- ain, widow, hy Richard Nichols, of the city of New York, esquire, her attorney. (One of the two daughters of Thomas Weaver, representing one half of his share.)

The parties of the second part were " Benjamin Smith, Caleb Fowler and Joseph Sutton, of the county of Westchester, in the province of New York, Yeomen, and their associates." The consideration named in the deed was five thousand three hundred and eighty pounds. The deed conveyed "all the Estate, Right, Title, Interest, Trusts, Parts, Shares, Propor- tions, Claims and Demands Whatsoever, both iu Law and Equity, of them the said" parties of the first part.

The Depeyster interest was conveyed in 1738 by Cornelius Depeyster to his five children by a deed of gift. On August 8, 1763, four of thesc shares were secured by Smith and his associates by a deed similar in its provisions to that above mentioned.1 The con- sideration was eight hundred and twenty pounds. On the 10th of November, 1763, a deed was obtained from Levinus and Anne Clarkson, " both residing at Voorburgh, near the Hague," the son and daughter of Matthew Clarkson, the patentee, which finished the transfer of the Atwood and Clarkson interests as before explained.2 The consideration named in this deed was one thousand and twenty-five pounds. The remaining share of the Depeyster interest, consisting of " oue undivided fifth part of one undivided tenth part of the said tract " (the West Patent), was, ou June 25, 1764, couveyed to Smith, Fowler and Sutton by " Philip Hughes, Chaplain of a Regiment of foot, and Mary his wife ; Philip Van Cortlandt, of Jamaica in Queens County, Gentleman, and William Ricketts Van Cortlandt, of the City of New York," for the sum of two hundred and five pounds.3

Each of these deeds contains a clause varying slight- ly iu phraseology, but of the same purport, which ex- cepts from the provisions of the instrument "that Part of the said Tract of Land, being the Northeast- erly part thereof, which is now possessed, or claimncd or held by any person or persons under Bed-

ford New Purchase, supposed to contain about seven thousand acres." This is the land before described as erroneously included in the West Patent. When surveyed, a few years later, it was found to contain forty-one hundred and fifty-one acres. The deeds also recite,-

"And, Whereas, seven thousand acres of the above Tract of Land is now supposed to be in the possession of the Inhabitants of Bedford New Purchase, and isahove excepted out of this release, aud the l'arties to these presents, of the Second Part have before purchased the Rights of John Cholwell and Robert Walters and one-half of the Right of Richard Slater, three of the l'atentees, supposed to contain Eight thousand acres more, and of some of the other patentees, or others claiming under them, four thousand seven hundred acres more ; now therefore the said , for themselves and their lleirs, the said one full and equal- undivided Tenth part of the remaining Part of the Said Tract of Land and Premises in and by the said letters patent granted, supposed to con- tain about twelve thousand three hundred acres, + be it more or less, against them the said - and their leirs, . shall and will warrant aud forever defend by these presents."

This is copied from the Clarkson decd, but the others contain substantially the same exceptions and provisions.

By the Hughes deed of June 25, 1764, the owner- ship of the original grantecs in the West Patent dis- appeared forever, and the people were freed from the vexatious encumbrance which had so long re- tarded the growth of their town and impeded their prosperity. Titles were next perfeeted by Smith, Fowler and Sutton, conveying to the actual owners and occupants the interests they had acquired on their behalf, as above deseribed.

At this time of the division of North Castle by set- ting off this town,5 it was the second town in the

+ This computation indicates that the original West Patent was then estimated at thirty-two thousand acres. The grant describes it as " five thousand acres of profitable land," which recalls Coldlen's report, before referred to. As New Castle and North Castle togetl . contain about twenty-six thousand acres, this estimate, allowing seven thousand acres for the part in Bedford, was considerably too large.

From the Clarkson deed it appears that the price paid for an "undi vided tenth " was ten hundred and twenty-five pounds; the same is true in the Depeyster aud Hughes deeds, the first conveying four-fifths for eight hundred and twenty ponuds and the latter one-fifth for two hundred and five pounds, making one thousand and twenty- five. In the larger deed conveying five and a half shares, the consideration seems intended to cover fivo and a quarter shares instead of five and a half ; accurately five and a quarter shares would amount to fifty-three hundred and eighty- one and a quarter pounds. Possibly the deduction was made in the sliare of the Widow Pocklington, of England, though slie seemed to be entitled a one-half right.

It appears from these figures that it cost the settlers ten thousand two hundred and fifty pounds to free their lands of these old claims.

5 The act is as follows:

Laws of 1791, Chapter xxxvi.

" An Act to divide the town of North Castle, in the Conuty of West chester.

" Passed 18th March, 1791.

" Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in- Senate and Assembly, and it is hereby euacted by authority of the sanie

" That from and after the first Monday of April next, all that part of the town of North Castle, in the County of Westchester, that lies east and south of a line drawn from the southwest corner of the town of Bedford to the Head of Bronx River, where the same divides the town of Mount Pleasant from the town of North Castle, shall be one separate town by the name of North Castle ; and the first town-meeting for the said town of North Castle shall be held at the dwelling-house of Ilarri sou Palmer, And all the remaining part of the said town of North Castle that lies west and north of the aforesaid line shall be one other separate

1 Register's office, Liber H, p. 305. 2 1bid, 310. 3 dhid, 316.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

county in assessed valuation, ranking next to West- chester in that respeet, and the first in population. After the division the Board of Supervisors for several years regarded New Castle and North Castle as equal in assessed valuation, and laid the taxes for county expenses equally upon each. North Castle had for many years a little more than half the population, until ten or fifteen years past, when the increased growth of the villages along the railroad has given New Castle the larger uumber. Its population by the census of 1880 was two thousand two hundred and ninety seven.

The town of New Castle was first represented in the Board of Supervisors at the regular session held in the court-house in White Plains, May 31, 1791, by Isaae Smith, the first supervisor. There had been a queeting on the 23d of May, to eanvass the votes east for members of Assembly, but the supervisor of New Castle does not seem to have been present.

The reason which led to the separation of this town from North Castle, so far as the writer ean aseertain, was merely the matter of eouvenience. The town of North Castle, as it existed previous to the division, was awkward in shape and size. It stretched around the south and west sides of Bedford, reaching nearly to the eastern limit of that town, extending south along the Broux River for several miles, and to the mouth of the Crotou on the west. The distance from its western extremity to either the most southern or eastern point was too great for the convenient trans- aetion of town business, and it lay, like a pair of sad- dle-bags, in such shape as naturally suggestedan easy division. This was accordingly done by a line three miles in length, drawn from the southwest corner of Bedford, in a southwest direction, to the "head of the Bronx."

For similar reasons that part of the town which formerly belonged to Somers was annexed to this town. It comprises the traet ineluded between Bedford on the east and Yorktown on the west, the Croton on the north and the old Van Cortlandt Manor line, the present southern boundary of Yorktown and Somers, on the south. It is about two miles in length by uearly a mile in breadth, and contains some fifteen or twenty dwellings. After the formation of the Croton Lake, in 1841, the inhabitants 1 of that part of Somers began to agitate the question of annexation to New Castle, as they could not reaeli the upper part of Somers, where town-meetings were held, except by going through Yorktown or Bedford, in order to cross the lake by the bridges, and thus making a long de- tour. A bill was accordingly prepared, and taken to

Albany by Zopher Carpenter. Ezra Marshall, then meuiber of Assembly, secured its passage immediately in the House, and Saxton Smith, then Senator, did the same in the Senate. The Governor signed it at onee,2 and the next day Mr. Carpenter was on his way home, with a copy of the law.

The following is from the record of the first town- meeting :

" At a town meeting held for the town of New Castle, Aprit 5, 1791, was chosen the following officers : Abraham IIyatt, Town Clerk ; Isaac Smith, Supervisor ; Sutton Craft, Constable ; Benjamin Carpenter, Col- lector, und Caleb Carpenter, his security ; Caleb Ilaight, Nathaniel Smith, Henry Slawson, assessors ; Caleb Carpenter, Abraham llyatt, overseers of the l'oor ; Caleb Haight, Nathaniel Smith, Henry Slawson, Commissioners of Roads; James Underhill, Pounder ; Nathaniel Couk- lin, Jesse Brady and Isaac Powell, damage prizen and fence viewers."

Isaae Smith, Caleb Carpenter and Isaiah Green were appointed to meet "a committee from the town of North Castle, and to settle all disputes which may exist between the town of New Castle and the afore- said town, of any nature whatsoever ; also to settle the line between the two towns."3 The same com- mittee was continued the next year. "Doetor Isaae Smith " was re-elected supervisor. He died in May, however, and on the 21st of that month a special meeting was held, and Isaiah Greeu was chosen his successor. The town-meetings at this period were held at different publie-houses in the town. In 1796 four persons were licensed to sell strong liquors, at a fee of two pounds each. A year or two thereafter the lieense was fixed at five dollars, and iu 1803 the meeting voted that " Jesse Brady have the lieense for selling liquors free." Perhaps this favor was regarded as a return for his accommodating the town, as the meetings were frequently held at his house for several years. He was first ealled " Lieutenant " Jesse Bra- dy, then he was referred to as " captain ; " was elected town elerk, and afterward filled the office of supervisor for several years. His tavern was on the property lately owned by Azariah Carpenter, about two miles east of Merritt's Corners.

Other early supervisors were Stephen Carpenter, five years ; Caleb Kirby, eighteen years, from 1803 to 1820; James Fish, five years, from 1821 to 1825 ; Gilbert Brundage, ten years or more. Zopher Car- penter held the office for several terms, and his son, Franeis M. Carpenter, is now (1886) serving his twenty second year in the position, a length of term which has been exceeded but twice, so far as the wri- ter can aseertain, in the history of the county.ª

The Carpenters of Westchester County trace their descent from Ezra Carpenter, of Wilkshire, Wales, who was born in 1570. He had two sons, Richard and William, The latter died unmarried. Richard had several sons, one of whom, Timothy, was born in

town, by the name of New Castle ; and the first town-meeting for the town of New Castle shall be hell ut the dwelling-house of Hannah Leg- gett. And the snid town of North Castle, and the said town of New Castle, shall separately and severally hokl and enjoy all the privileges und immunities that the town of North Castle held and enjoyed by any former law of this State, andimmediately before the passing of this act." (The Second Section relates to the division of the poor of the towns.)

J Thomas Carpenter was the active mover in the mutter.

2 May 12, 1846.

$ The commissioners appointed by North Castle were Abel Smith, Gil- bert Palmer and Thomas Ferris.

+ Duulel Hnut, of Lewisboro, thirty-three years, and David Miller, of Iledford, twenty-six years.

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1665, eame to America in 1678 and settled in Hemp- stead, Long Island. He also had a number of sons, one of whom, John, of Oyster Bay, was born June 13, 1690. His son John, known as Jolin Carpenter the hatter, was born January 7, 1714, and removed to New Castle (then Northi Castle) in 1736, when the tide of Quaker emigration from Long Island, by the way of Harrison's Purchase, had fully set in. He es- tablished his home on the farm recently known as the Cary place, now owned by the heirs of the late E. C. Cowdin, and adjoining their residence. There he carried on his trade, and found his customers among the farmers of the vicinity. From him the different Carpenter families of New Castle and adja- cent towns have sprung. He had three sons-Abra-

ham, Jacob and Gilbert. Abraham was born De- cember 27, 1738. He married Lydia Totten, and lived for some time on a farm which he cleared, the dwelling- house standing where Halstead's store, in Mount Kisco, now is. Subsequently he owned the place where Daniel H. Hallock lately lived, and it is related that his house there was accidentally burned dur- ing the Revolutionary War.

His son James, the seventh in descent, was born January 3, 1773. His wife was Eliza- beth Totten. He resid- ed for many years on the place where his son Zopher, afterward lived, but spent the last of his life at the place which was formerly the site of Jesse Brady's tavern, and till lately owned by his grandson, Azariah Carpenter.

€

F. M. CARPENTER.

The next in the direet line is Zopher, who was born in New Castle, August 5, 1805, and has lived in that town for the greater part of his life. For several years past he has resided just across the line in the town of Bedford, iu the village of Mount Kiseo. He was several times supervisor of New Castle. Hc has been an energetic and successful business man, and at his present age, though retired from business, is aetive and capable. His wife, who is also living, was Phebe Marshall, daughter of James Marshall, whose family were old residents in this vicinity.

Their eldest son, Francis Marshall Carpenter, was born in New Castle, July 10, 1834. A year later his | tion.

parents removed to the farm on the Sing Sing road, which was their home for many years, and which had been also the home of his grandfather. There he spent his boyhood. His early cdueation was obtained at the district schools, and later at Union Academy, in Bedford, under the direction of Alex. G. Reynolds. At the age of nineteen he engaged as clerk in a gen- eral store at Mount Kiseo, in which he became part- ner the next year, in company with John T. Carpen- ter and H. Young, under the firm-name of Carpenter, Young & Co. After a time he continued the busi- ness alone, and later, in partnership with his brother, under the title of F. M. & J. T. Carpenter. Abandon- _ ing the store in 1862, he bought the farm where he was brought up, and was a farmer till 1873, when he sold the place. Sinee 1874 he has been engag- ed in the coal trade in New York City, with James H. Pettengill as partner, under the name of Carpenter & Petten- gill.

In 1863 Mr. Carpenter was elected supervisor of New Castle, and, with the exception of the years 1869 and 1870, has con- tinued in the position un- til the present time. He is now serving for the twenty-second year, a length of service which has been exceeded in only two instanee in the his- tory of the county. In 1872 and again in 1873, he was ehosen chairman of the Board of Supervisors. His course in public mat- ters has been marked by a judicious attention to the general interest. He is known throughout the county as one of the most capable and influential mem- bers of the board, and personally, he has won the re- spect and estecm of his associates, of whatever politi- cal party. His high character and wide acquaintance have repeatedly brought his name iuto prominence for higher political honors, but he has hitherto de- clined to be a eandidate.

It is a striking proof of the confidence reposed in Mr. Carpenter by the people who kuow him best, that for many years past he has been frequently called upon to act as executor, and appointed as guardiau or trustee to represent minor heirs. In the discharge of these trusts, as well as his publie oues, he has attained a well-deserved and honorable reputa-

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

In the community where he has long resided he is appreciated for his energy aud sagacity in busi- ness, his superior judgment, his unquestioned integ- rity, and for the various qualities which make a good neighbor and a sineerc friend.

He was married, November 24, 1859, to Miss Mary B. Miller, daughter of John A. Miller, of Bedford. She died in 1885. Of their four children, two only survive,-Carrie, wife of Charles F. Matthews, of Mount Kisco, and Zopher, a youth seventeen years of age, the tenth from his Welsh ancestor to bear the family name.

Abraham Hyatt was the first town clerk, and held that position for many years. The town records con- sist only of minutes of town-meetings, the acts of highway commissioners in reference to roads and certain town accounts. There are no records of deeds, either in this town or North Castle, from which it was taken,-such as were kept in some of the towns previous to the time when it became customary to record them in the office of the county clerk. There are various records of the freeiug of slaves in the manner provided by law. Among the persons so filing certificates were Abraham Hyatt and Gilbert Strang.

MILITARY HISTORY AND INCIDENTS,-The terri- tory now included in the town of New Castle, like all the surrounding region, bore its full share in the rigors of the war for independence. It was a part of the Neutral Ground, as it was called, "and was subjected, from its vicinity to the city, to be foraged by the royal forces, and plundered and insulted by Refugees and Tories. No part of the Union was more harried and trampled down by friend and foe, during the Revolution, than this debatable region." It lay in the direct track of some of the principal military movements of both armies. Expeditions which crossed the Croton at Pine's Bridge found their way through this part of North Castle. In November, 1776, a fortnight after the battle of White Plains, when the jealous and willful Lee, with a delay that bordered on insubordination, was holding his forces at North Castle, Washington wrote to him. "I recommend it to your consideration, whether your re- tiring to Croton Bridge may not be minore advisable than to run the hazard of an attack with unequal numbers. At any rate, I think all your bag- gage and stores, except such as are necessary for immediate use, ought to be to the northward of Croton River. You will consider the post at Cro- ton's (or Pine's) Bridge, as under your immediate care."

Washington left North Castle at eleven o'clock on the 10th of November, and arrived at Peekskill at sunset. His road was along by Wampus Pond to "North Castle Church," through where New Castle Corners and Mount Kiseo now are, up the hill west of the depot, across Kisco River, turning to the right, where George Knox now lives, and thenee to Pine's

Bridge.1 There is a tradition that on one of his journeys through this town he and his staff took dinner in the shade on a large rock in the door-yard of the old Kirby placc, at Kirbyville. The rock, at least, is still there; but as it probably was not an agreeable place to lunch on the 10th of November, some other date, if any, must be assigned to the occur- rence. Washington crossed the Hudson, and finding himself in peril, constantly besought Lee to come to his aid ; but not until the 30th of November did he arrive at Peekskill, marching, doubtless, by the same road. His command seems to have consisted of about two thousand men. Throughout the war this was an important road, connecting Peekskill and North Castle, the one commanding the entrance to the Highlands, the other a secure point convenient to the lower part of the county. On July 2, 1781, Washington advised Rochambeau, whose troops had been for a month scattered in various places, to "move to North Castle and concentrate his whole force. North Castle was selected as being in a direct route by which to receive provisions from Crompond, and also on the road for an advance to White Plains, if circumstances should warrant." 2

In August following, six weeks after the failure of the movement of the Allied Armics against New York, Washington's army, followed by Rochambeau's, both of which had in the mean time been encamped between Dobbs Ferry and White Plains, passed through this town on the march to Verplanck's Point by way of Pine's Bridge and Crompond.

The route is now uncertain, but it is likely that was the road running northward, through the central part of the town. The residence of Mr. Silas Tomp- kius, situated on that road, about a mile and a half west of Chappaqua, is said to have been for a short time Washington's headquarters, and this may have been the occasion. Whether it was or not, that march was doubtless the most notable instance of the " pomp and circumstance of war" which visited this town during the struggle. "All Westchester County," says Irving, " was alive with the tramp of troops, the gleam of arms, and the lumbering of artillery and baggage-wagons along its roads."

It is quite possible that some of the encampments and movements which are described as being in North Castle were in this town. The old St. George's Church was apparently a place of rendezvous for soldiers of both armies by turns. Tarleton's troops rested there without molestation on the night of July

1 This road passes over ('row Hill. "The intrenchments thrown np by the American Army right away after the Battle of White Plains, in 1776, are still to be seen each side of the Crow Hill Road, near Croton Lake, In the immediate vicinity a number of years ago, several knives and bayonets and some cannon balls were found by workmen who were digging the cellar for Sanford Weeks' house."-Mt. Kisco Weekly, April 9, 1586.

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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 143

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