History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 160

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 160

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The church was now "greatly deeayed," and in need of speedy repairs. In view of this neeessity, a number of the inhabitants united in a petition, which was presented to the Lieutenant-Governor of the province, on November 16, 1764, asking for an aet of incorporation. They allege that the interests of the church are suffering for the want of "some persons legally authorized to manage " its affairs, and that they and others who are disposed to provide funds for its support, and for the better maintenance of the ministry, are discouraged from contributing to the re- pair of the church, lest the moneys given for that purpose may be misapplied. This petition was granted on December 19. 1764. The petitioners, and the rest of the inhabitants of the parish of Rye in communion with the Church of England, and their successors, with the reetor of the said parish for the time being, were constituted by royal charter a "body corporate and politick." by the name of the "Rector and inhabitants of the parish of Rye, in comuunion with the Church of England." The charter provides that they shall meet at the church on Tuesday in Easter week in every year, and choose two of their members to be chnreh wardens, and eight others to be vestrymen for the ensuing year.

Mr. Punderson's suceessor-the last rector of the parish before the Revolution-was the Rev. Ephraim Avery, A.MI., who was called by the vestry on Angust 27, 1765. Mr. Avery was a native of Connectient, the son of a Congregational pastor, and, like his predeces- sors, Wetmore and Panderson, a graduate of Yalc. Hle was only twenty-four when he came to Rye. He was indueted as rector September 9, 1765. For a time lis relations to his congregation were har- monions. But in the disputes between the colonies and the mother country, which culminated finally in the Revolution, Mr. Avery sided with Great Britain, and thus became estranged from many of his parish- The congregation remained without a pastor for more than two years. On the 15th of December, 1790, the vestry called the Rev. David Foote, who ioners. Ile was subjected to insults and indignities at the hands of the Whigs, which, following elose upon the death of his wife, affected his health seriously. | had been officiating for some weeks, " to act as reetor

He died November 5, 1776, after a ministry of more than eleven years.

Graee Church appears to have been standing in 1779, but was destroyed by fire probably soon after- wards. No meeting of the vestry was held, so far as the records show, for nine years, from 1776 to 1785, and no mention is made of any publie religious ser- vice after Mr. Avery's death. At the elose of the war Rev. Andrew Fowler collected the congregation at Rye and the White Plains and held services on alternate Sundays for six months, beginning in April, 1784. Services were held in Rye at the old parsonage house, on the west side of Blind Brook. On the 27th of April, 1785, the eongregation met at the house of Mrs. Tamer Haviland and selected trustees " to take charge of the Temporalities of the Church." These trustees hired out the church lands at a very low rent. In May, 1786, the congregation held another meeting, and deeided to send delegates to a convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, to be held at St. Paul's Church, New York. On the 8th of September, 1787, a eall was extended to the Rev. Richard C. Moore at a salary of one hundred and twenty pounds. Mr. Moore, then recently ordained, aeeepted, and began his labors in the ministry at Rye. During the year he remained the congregation took steps toward re- building their church. They deeided to build it "upon the Hill, at or near the Place where the old ruins were standing." It was to be of wood, fifty feet in length and thirty-eight feet in width, with galleries on the west and south sides, and without a steeple. The contract for the ereetion of the church was made April 16, 1788, with James Ford, of New York, for one hundred and twenty pounds. The corner-stone was laid in June of that year, apparently, and the edifice was probably completed by the 1st of Novem- ber, the time fixed in the contraet. Meanwhile the congregation eontinned to worship in the parsonage house, on the west side of Blind Brook. In May "a sufficient number of benches to accommodate " the people were to be procured.

Mr. Moore resigned the charge of this parish on the 1st of August, 1788, having been called to the rector- ship of St. Andrew's Church, Richmond, on Staten Island. At the request of the vestry, however, he consented to continue his labors here until the 1st of October. It is probable, therefore, that he officiated in the new church, which must have been completed by this time. Mr. Moore was rector of St. Andrew's Church for twenty-one years. In 1809 he aeeepted the charge of St. Stephen's Church, in the city of New York, and in 1814 he was called to the office of bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Vir- ginia. lle died November 11, 1841, at the age of seventy-nine.

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of this parish," agreeing to pay him a salary of one hundred pounds, with the profits of the glebe for one year from November 7th. Mr. Foote accepted, and re- mained as rector nearly three years. He died at Rye on the 1st of August, 1793, aged thirty-two.

The church, though opened for service in Novem- ber, 1788, remained in an nnfinished state for several years. At a meeting of the vestry, May 4, 1791, a subscription was ordered to raise money to complete the building. The floor was to be laid anew, three windows were to be added, and the walls were to be lined with boards as high as the windows, above which they were to be plastered. Subscribers were to be entitled to pews, the highest valne of which was seven ponnds. Two square pews were built next the chancel, one of which was taken by Peter Jay, and the other appropriated to the widow of Josiah Brown, in consideration of his " forwardness in promoting the building of the church."

On the 5th of December, 1793, the vestry ealled the Rev. John Jackson Sands to the rectorship. He resigned the charge May 4, 1796, in consequence of some dissatisfaction. It was during his pastorate that the name of the church, for some reason which does not appear, was changed from Grace to Christ Church. In the winter of 1794 the parsonage house, on the west side of Blind Brook, was destroyed by fire. The vestry at first inelined to rebuild on the same site, but finally determined to purchase the rec- tory grounds, of which mention has already been made.

The Rev. George Ogilvie, of Norwalk, Conn., was called to this parish October 26, 1796. He came, but was here for less than six months. He died April 3, 1797, and was buried in the little graveyard opposite the church, on the west side of Blind Brook. His successor, the Rev. Samuel Haskell, was called August 7, 1797. He was born near Boston in 1762; served in the American army toward the elose of the war ; pre- pared himself for Yale College, where he graduated in 1790, and was ordained to the ministry of the Epis- copal Church in 1794. He was rector at Rye for three years and a half, resigning his charge in April, 1801 ; bnt he returned to this parish after an interval of eight years, in 1809, and continued here nntil May, 1823. The intervening period was occupied by the ministry of the Rev. Evan Rogers, a native of Penn- sylvania, and for some years a " zealous and laborions itinerant preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and afterwards an Episcopalian minister." He was called to Rye October 8, 1801, and remained nntil his death, January 25, 1809. He was buried in the cem- etery near Milton. During the pastorate of his suc- cessor, Mr. Haskell, the parish was divided. That portion of the people that worshipped at White Plains now became a distinct congregation. On the 8th of June, 1815, it was decided that "Divine Ser- vice be celebrated every Sabbath day in the church at Rye." On the 18th of March, 1824, the vestry

determined that the church should " be opened for Divine Service twice every Sabbath, except on the third Sabbath, in the afternoon, when Service is to be held in the school-house at the Saw Pitt." The office of parish elerk was extant in Rye as late as 1807, when Nathaniel Nelson was employed as assistant clerk to conduct the singing in the absence of the other clerk.

Mr. Haskell was followed by the Rev. William Thompson, a native of Ireland, who commeneed his labors at Rye on the 1st of October, 1823. He died at Ryc on the 26th of August, 1830, after serving the parish acceptably for seven years. The Rev. John M. Forbes was rector in 1830, and the Rev. William M. Carmichacl in 1832. On the 8th of September, 1834, the Rev. Peter S. Chauncey was called to this parish, where he continued for fifteen years. Mr. Channeey's memory is cherished warmly by the peo- ple among whom he spent so large a part of his able and successful ministry. His labors were not con- fined to the congregation at Rye. For the first two years he had charge also of St. Thomas' Churchi, Mamaroneck. This he relinquished, by wish of the vestry, November 14, 1836; but in December of the same year he commenced holding services at Saw Pit, soon after called Port Chester. Mr. Channeey re- signed the rectorship of Rye in 1849. He removed to Hartford, Conn., and thenee to Yorkville, N. Y., and died, greatly regretted by many to whom he had ministered, in 1866.

He was followed at Rye by the Rev. Edward C. Bnll, whose ministry here began May 13, 1849, and lasted ten years,-until May 1, 1859,-when the vestry, in accepting his resignation on account of impaired health, testified to the faithfulness, earnestness and ability with which he had discharged the duties of his office. During Mr. Bull's inenmbency the wood- en church, built in 1788, was replaced by a beautiful edifice of stone. The first steps toward this work were taken September 9, 1852. Plans for the build- ing, by Messrs. Wills & Dudley, architects, of New York, were accepted January 21, 1854. The church was consecrated Thursday, March 15, 1855, by Bishop Wainwright. The cost of the erection, nearly cigh- teen thousand dollars, was entirely paid by the 1st of October, 1857.

Rev. John Campbell White was called to the rec- torship May 5, 1859. He resigned on the 1st of April, 1864, and was snceecded by the Rev. Reese F. Alsop, November 27, 1864. A neat Sunday-school room was erected in this year near the church, and soon after this the church itself was enlarged and embellished at con- siderable expense. But on the evening of December 21, 1866, the church was destroyed by fire. Within two years a new and larger edifice arose on the site, and was consecrated by Bishop Potter June 19, 1869. It is in the early Gothic style, from the designs of Mr. Florentin Pelletier. It will seat six hundred persons. The ground plan consists of chancel, nave and aisles,

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with organ and robing-rooms. The chancel is twen- ty-six feet deep by twenty fect wide, separated from the nave by a bold chancel arch, and raised two feet above the floor of the nave and aisles; these are nine- ty-three feet long by forty-eight feet wide inside. The extreme length is one hundred and thirty-five feet. At the southwest angle of the gable and aisle walls is the tower, from which are carried up four buttress piers, forming an open belfry, and surmounted by a stone spire, which is crowned at one hundred feet by an iron cross. The exterior walls are of rubble stone, quarried on the site, with dressings wrought of Con- necticut brown stone. The aisle and gable walls are strengthened with buttresses marking the bays.

The roofs are covered with slates, banded in differ- ent shades, and laid alternately plain and pointed; all the ridges are surmounted with ornamental iron cresting. Over the nave the open roof rises forty-five feet, and is divided into six bays by moulded arches, with principals, tie-beams and open tracery; and be- tween the nave and aisles is a colonnade of short octagonal posts with moulded caps, from which spring moulded arches with pierced quatrefoil circles in the spandrels. There is no clere-story; but the pitch of the roof is broken over these arches. Twelve small trefoil windows light the roof, one in the centre of each bay on either side. These windows are hung to open for ventilation, and filled with stained glass of rich colors, as are all the windows of the church, most of which bear appropriate emblems. At the west end of the nave, overhanging the porch and lobbies, is a gallery carried on strong trusses; this, together with the roof-timbers, is of pine, stained and varnished. The ceiling between the rafters is plas- tered and colored a light blue; below the window- sills the side walls are wainscoted with narrow ash ; otherwise, the walls are painted a plain light gray color, contrasting with the seats, which are of ash. In the chancel the furniture, with the reredos and chancel-rail, is of chestnut, oiled.

Rev. Reese F. Alsop resigned the charge of Christ Church February 17, 1873, after a ministry of more than eight years. He was succeeded by Rev. Chanu- eey B. Brewster, who was called to this church May 29, 1873, and who remained in charge nearly nine years, resigning February 12, 1882. In April, 1882, Rev. Walter Mitchell was called to be rector, and continned in office until April 25, 1886.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH .- Methodism was introduced into Westchester County in 1771 by Jo- seph Pihnoor, theu stationed in New York. Francis Asbury, afterwards bishop, preached in the same year at Rye and neighboring points. The Revohi- tionary War compelled the preachers to leave New York. The first family of this religious persuasion known to have resided in this town was that of Hachaliah Brundage, a local preacher, who came to Rye about the year 1790, and hell religious services in his own house. Though some despised and de-

rided, others were attracted by his fervor, and a few were profited. No permanent society, however, was organized until 1804 or 1805. Esther Halsted, wife of Ezekiel Halsted, of Rye, established family wor- ship, conducting the services herself, and invited all in her employ to be present. Mr. Halsted, who was an active member of the Congregational Church at Greenwich, identified himself, not long after his mar- riage, with the Methodists. The use of the Presby- terian Church was obtained, and religious services were held more or less regularly for a number of years by the Methodists, who made various improve- ments at their own expense. In May, 1821, the so- ciety at Rye formed part of the New Rochelle Cirenit. In this year, under the labors of E. Woolsey and W. Jewett, there was a revival of religion at Rye, and many persons were converted. At a Quarterly Meet- ing Conference held at the Rye Meeting-house, Octo- ber 2, 1824, Stephen Remington was recommended for admission to the New York Annual Conference. The following persons were also recommended for admission : John Lefever, December 27, 1823; S. U. Fisher, October 1, 1825; William Gothard, April 8, 1837; R. C. Putney, March 9, 1844, and Robert Cod- ling, April, 1845. All of these persons were received into the Conference, and became successful ministers. At a Quarterly Meeting Conference held at Rye, Sep- tember 12, 1829, a constitution was adopted by which the Conference formed itself into a Missionary, Bible, Tract and Sunday-school Society. In 1829 the Pres- byterian congregation of Rye was re-organized, and now used the church jointly with the Methodists, who alone had occupied the house for sixteen or eighteen years. In March, 1831, a four days' meeting was held in Rye. Rev. J. N. Maffitt preached. "Many were converted, of whom about thirty joined the Methodist Church." Differences between the two congregations which occupied the same house of worship finally led to a separation. From March. 1832, the Methodist Society ceased to meet in the church, and took measures to build for themselves. In May, 1832, Philemon Halsted, Elisha Halsted and David H. Mead were appointed a committee to buy a lot and build a church. A lot comprising half an acre was bought, and a house of worship erected. In June, 1852, Rye was made an independent station, and Rev. W. F. Collins appointed pastor. At the close of his term, during which there were many conversions, he reported one hundred and four men- bers. In 1853, a house and four acres of land, sitn- ated on the turnpike, about half a mile from the church, were bought for a parsonage. In January, 1855, the trustees bought eight acres of land for a cemetery. To this nearly seven aeres were added by subsequent purchases.

Rev. G. S. Gilbert succeeded to the pastorate in May, 1853. He was followed in May, 1855, by Rev. D. Osborn, "whose labour- were accompanied by a revival in which twenty were received on probation."

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George Taylor succeeded him in 1857; in 1859 B. Pillsbury was pastor, and in 1860 C. T. Mallory. In November, 1855, the trustees sold the parsonage, which was too remote from the church ; and in April, 1860, they bought land directly opposite the church, where they built a pleasant parsonage. In March, 1864, the church was remodeled, at an expense of four thousand dollars. The next pastors were T. D. Littlewood in 1862, W. Ross in 1864, and L. P. Perry in 1866. During Mr. Perry's term the property ad- joining the church, containing about two and a half acres, was bought for ten thousand dollars. A Sun- day-school room was built, a house on the premises was altered for a parsonage, and other improvements were made, at a cost of about five thousand dollars. To aid in meeting these expenses the former parson- age was sold. In January, 1869, a revival commenced, resulting in the addition of thirty to the church on probation. The ministers of this church succeeding Mr. Perry have been the Rev. Messrs. N. Mead, 1869 -71; George Stillman, 1872-74; W. H. Wardell, 1875-77 ; A. Hill, 1878-80; C. E. Glover, 1881-83. Mr. Glover died while in charge, October 2, 1883. He was followed by the Rev. G. Stillman, the present in- cumbent. .

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES .- Within the limits of the town of Rye there are at present three Roman Catholic places of worship,-one, of which an account will be given in the following chapter, in Port Ches- ter; another on Rye Neck, at the southern end of the town; and a third, recently established, in the village of Rye.

Rye Neck, with Mamaroneck, was formerly com- prehended in the parish of New Rochelle, and relig- ious services were held more or less frequently for the benefit of the Roman Catholic inhabitants of these localities by the priests of that parish. But in 1864, through the efforts of the Rev. Thomas McLoughlin, " the church of the Most Holy Trinity, of Rye Neck and Mamaroneck," was built, and was dedicated by the Archbishop of New York. The district was erected into a separate parish in 1874. The first resi- dent priest was the Rev. Christopher A. Farrell. The present rector is the Rev. Isidor Meister. The new edifice, of which the corner-stone was laid in 1885, is of Gothic architecture ; the material, Byram blue- stone trimmed with Newark stone. It will accommo- date eight hundred persons.

The first steps toward the establishment of a Rom- an Catholic Church in the village of Rye were taken in 1875, when the Rev. John McEvoy commenced to hold religious services in a hall known as the "Ar- mory," near the railroad station. Later, the house formerly the residence of Mr. William Smith, at the junction of the post road and Purchase Street, was bought, and was altered to meet the immediate wants of the congregation. The lower part of the building now serves as a place of worship and the upper floor is used for the purposes of a parochial school. It is ii .- 61

proposed to build a church upon this eligible site, to bear the name of the Church of the Resurrection. The Rev. Michael Lane is the rector.

THE FRIENDS .- The Society of Friends was repre- sented in Rye at a very early period. In 1706 there were "Some Quakers " in the town, whom the Church of England minister, Rev. Mr. Muirson, attempted, without success, to win over to his faith. His snc- cessor, Mr. Bridge, reported seven families of Quakers in the parish in 1710, " and 4 or 5 families inclining to them." In this year an attempt was made by a party of "ranting Quakers," according to Mr. Bridge, to form themselves into a society, but two years later Mr. Bridge records his success in disputing with them, and adds, they " have never since held a public meet- ing in these parts." Five years afterwards, however, he writes, "The Quakers . . come frequently in great numbers, from Long Island and other places, to hold their meeting in the out-parts of my parish." Harrison's Purchase was settled chiefly by members of the Society. About 1726 occasional meetings were held in private houses at Rye and Mamaroneck. Such a meeting was appointed May 13, 1726, to be held every other month, at the house of James Mott. Another, in 1727, was at Robert Sneath- ing's, apparently in Rye. The Purchase Meeting- house, which stood "about seven miles from the Church (Grace Church), towards North Castle," was built in 1727. The land was given by Anthony Field. The "half-year's meeting of Friends" in this region had been held of late at Mamaroneck. A proposition was made, December 8, 1727, to remove the meeting to " Rye Meeting-House," and discontinue the meet- ing at Robert Sneathing's. This was done. In 1742 the Monthly Meeting was transferred from Mamaro- neck to the meeting-house "in Rye woods." The subsequent history of the Friends of Rye will be found in the chapter on the town of Harrison, with which they were more closely identified.

SCHOOLS. - Under the old Connecticut laws every town of fifty householders was required to appoint a person to teach all the children who applied to him for instruction to read and write. As the popula- tion of Rye scarcely reached this figure while the town belonged to Connecticut, no provision of this kind was ever made. If anything was done for the education of the young, it was by voluntary cffort. At a meeting of the town, held April 22, 1690, Cap- tain Horton, Joseph Theall and John Brondige were chosen to procure a minister and, if possible, a school- master. Nothing more appears on the subject until January 29, 1711, when the proprietors of Peningo Neck decided, at one of their meetings, to build a school-house, at their own charge, near " Tom. Jef- fers' hill," below Joseph Kniffen's. There are grounds for believing that this site is identical with that occu- pied, until within some forty years ago, by the dis- trict school-house in Rye, in front of the Episcopal Church. "Sargt Merrit, Richard Ogden and George

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Kniffen " were chosen to stake out the site and also to mark out a quarter of an acre adjoining for a garden for the use of the schoolmaster. Any person who contributed in like proportion to the building of the school-house was to have an equal share with the proprietors in its privileges. There were other schools about this time in different parts of the town, of which but little is known. " As to schools," writes the Rev. James Wetmore in 1728, " there are several poor ones in different parts of the parish. Where a number of families live near together, they hire a man and woman at a cheap rate, subscribing every one what they will allow. Some masters get £20 per annum and their diet ; but there is no publie provision at all for a school in this parish."

There was no respect in which Rye lost so much by its annexation to New York as in the matter of com- mon-school education. Connecticut, like Massachu- setts, showed from the first great care for the instruc- tion of the young. Hartford established a town school as early as 1642, and in 1643 a vote was passed that " the town shall pay for the schooling of the poor." In 1670 it was said that one-fourth of the annual rev- enue of the colony was laid out iu maintaining free schools. In New York no provision was made for a general system of education before the Revolution. Whatever was done for this interest was done by indi- viduals or by religious bodies. The Society in Eng- land for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts supported a schoolmaster at Rye for a great many years. This was done originally at the instance of the Hon. Caleb Heathcote, who was active in es- tablishing a school here about the year 1706. In 1707 Mr. Joseph Cleator began teaeling and continued to keep a school until his death, which occurred in 1732. For the last eight or ten years of his life, however, he was blind, and could only give instruction in the cat- echism. "While he had his sight," says Mr. Wet- more, "they tell me he kept a constant and good school." In 1714 a Mr. Huddlestone was also en- gaged in teaching, under the Society's care, in some part of the parish of Rye, which then included Bed- ford and Mamaroneck, as well as the town of Rye. Mr. Cleator was succeeded at Rye, in 1733, by Mr. Samuel Purdy, who continued in charge until 1749, when he removed to White Plains. Timothy Wet- more, a son of Rev. James Wetmore, suceceded him at Rye, and taught the school until 1769. His broth- er James, after a short interval, took charge of it, but gave it up at the breaking out of the Revolution, being an active supporter of the British cause. In 1719 the school numbered fifty pupils; in 1739, for- ty-six ; in 1776, seventy-one. Under one of the Soci- ety's teachers, Mr. Huddlestone, Rye may be said to have possessed a Sunday-school twenty years before the birth of Robert Raikes, the supposed founder of that institution.

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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 160

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