History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 161

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 161

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The school at Rye was probably hekl in the buikl- ing mentioned first in 1735, as " the school-house near

the church." It stood close upon the cross-road, and a few rods back from the post road, in front of the Episcopal Church in the village. Here, as we have already seen, the town-meetings were held for forty years or more. As to the kind of instruction given, we learn from John Adams, who spent a night at Rye in 1774, "They have a school for writing and cypher- ing, but no grammar school." The year after John Adams' visit the Rev. Mr. Avery, minister of the Episcopal Church, announced his purpose to establish a school of a superior kind. His advertisement ap- peared in the New York Mercury of April 3, 1775. The place where Mr. Avery proposed to keep his school was probably the parsonage across the Blind Brook. It is uncertain whether his plan was carried into effect. His death occurred in the following year. A certain George Harris taught the school more or less of the time from 1762 to 1777. He was not em- ployed by the Society, and it may be inferred that during his incumbency the school was controlled by the town and was no longer of a denominational character. Tradition avers that he was a barbarous pedagogue, inflicting cruel punishments upon his scholars. He was an ardent Whig, and was cast into prison through the machinations, as he claimed, of James Wetmore, "brother to that arch tory, or enemy to his country, Timothy Wetmore."

On Rye Neck, or Budd's Neck, as it was then called, there was a school-house as early as the year 1739. It stood near the spot occupied by a later school-house, on the west side of the post road, below the farm-house belonging to Dr. Jay. From this spot the school was removed some years ago to its present site on Barry Lane. There was also a school in the neighborhood of Saw Pit some time before the Revolu- tion. It stood on King Street, upon land now owned by Mr. Charles White. Jonathan Vickers taught the school during the closing years of the last century. Ile was suceceded by Henry Kelly about the year 1800, and he by a Mr. Chichester about the year 1802. In 1803 the old house was demolishe l, and a new one was erected in the course of the following year, on the east side of the street. As there was no church in the place, this was intended to serve the double purpose of church and school-house. The house was removed to what is now called King Street Square, probably about the year 1810. The present house was built in 1853, remodeled and enlarged in 1867 and 1868.

There was a school-house a few years since on Re- gent Street, where a small office now stands, not far from the corner of Purchase Avenue. llere one Evans B. Hollis ianght school some fifty years ago. He was an Englishman, and is said to have been an excellent teacher. He came to Rye from Sing Sing, and taught first for a while at the school near "Saw Pit." The school on Regent Street had existed long before Mr. Hollis' time.

Shortly after the passage, in 1812, by the New York

RYE SEMINARY, RYE, N. Y.

695

RYE

Legislature, of an act for the establishment of connnon schools, steps were taken in Rye to carry its provisions into effect. On April 6, 1813, " a vote was taken, agree- ably to notice from the County Clerk, that the School Fund was to be distributed ; and it was carried in the affirmative, to accept of the money allotted them." At the same meeting school commissioners and in- spectors were choseu for the first time. Messrs. Samuel Dcall, Ezrahiah Wetmore and Jared Peck were elected commissioners, and the Rev. Samuel Haskell and Messrs. John Guion, Charles Field and John Browu were chosen inspectors of schools.

The division of the town into school districts was commenced iu 1814. Three districts and two "neigh- borhoods" were formed. A fourth district was added in 1826. According to this division, District No. 1, on Rye Neck, comprehended that part of the town south of the house of Sylvanus Lyon (now Mr. Ben- jamin Mead's). No. 2 lay north of this point, ex- tending as far as Thomas Brown's house (Mr. Charles Park's, lately Mr. Allen Carpenter's). On the east side of Blind Brook it included that part of the town which lies south of Ezrahiah Wetmore's aud north of Philemon Halsted's (now Mr. Daniel Budd's). No. 3 lay north of this, comprising the village of Saw Pit (now Port Chester) and the upper part of the town. No. 4 included the whole of Peningo Neck below Philemon Halsted's. This arrangement has been somewhat modified. At present there are five school districts in Rye-the fifth comprising the upper part of the town, above Port Chester. Rye Neck, com- mencing at Dr. Jay's, forins a separate district (No. 1) and No. 2 includes Peningo Neck, below Mr. An- derson's, with the west side of Blind Brook, below Mr. Mead's. Provision for higher education was also made during the period of growth which followed the acquisition of railroad facilities. Some attempt had already been made, between the years 1820 and 1830, to establish an academy of a superior order. In 1831, Mr. Samuel U. Berrian took charge of this institution. He had been associated in New York with the emi- nent grammarian Goold Brown, and came to Rye from the Livingston County High School, of which he was for a time principal. Mr. Berrian taught first in a building on the post road, below the bridge, and afterwards in the "Square House," in the village. In 1834 he opened a boarding-school in the house which he had just built north of the village. This school, known as the Chrestomathie Institute, was maintained with great success for a number of years.

In 1869 Park Institute-a school for boys-was established and opened for the admission of students, in the school-building ereeted by Mr. Berrian, and enlarged and greatly improved by Mr. Joseph Park, whose name it bears. The building and grounds, and the furniture and apparatus of the school, have been generously provided by him. Park Institute was con- ducted from 1873 to 1884 by Henry Tatlock, A.M. The present principal is the Rev. Scott B. Rathbun, A. M.

Rye Female Seminary, a boarding and day-school, was established in 1869 by Mrs. S. J. Life, principal. This school, now in its seventeenth year, has become widely known as an institution of great excellence.

On the same elevation with Park Institute and Rye Seminary, near the village of Rye, and overlooking it, stands the district school (No. 3), a neat and com- modious structure, erected in the year 1868. The conspicuous position of these three buildings, de- voted to the cause of education, is indicative of the intelligent and liberal interest with which that cause is regarded by the people of the place, and assures the visitor, in search of a country home, of excep- tional advantages for the training of the young.

PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS .- Rye appears to have been without a resident physician for the first sixty years. The people depended, doubtless, for medical aid, as for many other conveniences, on the neigh- boring town of Stamford. Dr. Devaney is the first physician whose name is on record at Rye. It occurs in the vestry book under date of 1724. Dr. Worden is next on the list. He practiced in Rye about 1738. Dr. William Bowness practiced in 1739, and Dr. Wil- liam Alleson in 1747. Dr. John Smith was a prac- ticing physician at Rye in 1747. This was the Rev. John Smith, for nearly thirty years pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Rye and the White Plains. He was settled here in 1742, and died in 1771. Ac- cording to some of his desceudants, Dr. Smith was distinguished for his medical skill, particularly in the treatment of the insane. His recipes are said to have been kept in the family and followed with great success long after his death. Dr. William Hooker Smith is mentioned frequently from 1753 to 1771. He was the oldest son of Dr. John Smith and appears to have practiced with his father and to have succeeded him at Rye. He was also a surgeon in the Conti- mental army, serving with credit throughout the war. Dr. Peter Hngeford practiced in Rye as early as 1753, and continued until near the commencement of the Revolution. Dr. Nicholas Bailey, who is first men- tioned iu 1758, practiced medicine in Rye for a num- ber of years previous to the Revolution. Dr. David Daton also practiced in Rye about the year 1768 ; Dr. Nathaniel Downing in 1763 ; Dr. Robert Graham in 1771 and 1775. Dr. Downing was a resident of Rye, and his name occurs in connection with a sub- ject which was agitating the community-inocula- tion for small-pox. This method of preventing that dreadful disease awakened the liveliest fears of the ignorant everywhere, and in some places inoculation was absolutely forbidden, and physicians performing it were rendered liable to severe penalties. In Rye it appears to have been permitted under certain regu- lations, which betray the same prejudices and misap- prehensions that prevailed elsewhere. April 4, 1763, James Wetmore, in Rye, on the post road, " acquaints all persons that are disposed to be inoculated that hey may be well accommodated" at his house,

696

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

" where constant attendance will be given by Doctor Nathaniel Downing (as he boards at said house), who has inoculated a Number of persons there that have had the Small Pox nncommonly light." September 23, 1763, " The pleasant situated house at Rye Ferry, where inoculation was carried on last fall and Winter with great success," is advertised as " now provided with genteel accommodations for all those who are inclined to be inoculated for the Small Pox the ensu- ing season at a very moderate price; and as the greatest care and attention will be given by the Doc- tors and Nurses provided for the patients, it is hoped that the usual success and encouragement will be con- tinued."

But the inhabitants watched these proceedings with an evil eye. Their alarm and displeasure found vent before long " at a lawful town-meeting," which was held at the school-house in Rye, April 2, 1765. At this meeting it was resolved "that wharas sum per- sons have, in said town, in their own houses, tacken percons from other places into their familes, and sum of the Inhabitents of said town and their hath ben anocelated with the Small pox, whereby it hath pnt maney of the inhabitents in fear of cetching of the same," no person should be permitted to receive per- sons for inoculation, except in such honses as should be designated by two justices of the peace and the supervisor of the town.

Dr. Ebenezer Haviland was a physician in Rye in 1766, and appears to have had an extensive practice. He entered the Continental army, and served through the greater part of the war as surgeon.

Dr. Clark Sanford, of Vermont, who commenced the practice of medicine in Greenwich, Conn., about 1790, had many patients in Rye.

Dr. Sanford was noted for hisskill in the treatment of a fearful epidemie known as the " Winter Fever," which prevailed extensively from 1812 to 1815. He was widely known to the profession as one of the first who manufactered pulverized Peruvian bark. This preparation was sold under the name of "Sanford's Bark." He had a mill at Glenville for grinding drugs, one of the first establishments of the kind in the country. He died about the year 1820, aged over sixty years, leaving three sons-Josephus, John and Henry-and two daughters. Dr. Benjamin Rockwell commenced practice in Saw Pit (now Port Chester) abont the year 1809. He was born in Lewisboro or South Salem, N. Y., about the year 1786, and was a son of Judge Nathan Rockwell, of that place. Dr. Rockwell practiced medicine here for twelve or fifteen years, and was regarded as a very skillful phy- sician. Ile removed to the city of New York, and died there. He had a son William, who was also a physician. Dr. David Rogers, after practicing for many years in Fairfield, Conn., removed to the town of Rye about the year 1808. He remained there until the time of his death. He was the father of Dr. David Rogers, Jr., who commenced practice in Mamaroneck

before the year 1800, and removed about 1820 to the city of New York, where he died about the year 1844, aged nearly seventy. Dr. David Rogers, Jr., had two sons, also physicians,-Drs. David L. and James Rogers, of New York. Dr. Charles MeDonald set- tled in the village of Saw Pit in 1808. In his younger days he had served in his professional capacity in the army of the Revolution, and was a warm and devoted patriot. His professional career in this town covered a period of abont a third of a century, and was highly creditable for its skill and success. He was a portly man, weighing not less than two hundred and fifty ponnds. His countenance always wore a genial smile, and he was the particular favorite of the juvenile por- tion of the community. Dr. McDonald died, respected and beloved by a large circle of friends, September 12, 1841, aged eighty-two years.

Dr. Elisha Belcher, a native of Preston (now Lebanon), Conn., joined the Continental army, and was stationed as surgeon at Greenwich, where he continued to practice medicine until within the year of his death. He died December, 1825, in his sixty- ninth year. He had two sons, both physicians, one of whom, Dr. Elisha R. Belcher, settled in Saw Pit in 1816, and engaged partly in the exercise of his profession and partly in mercantile pursnits. He remained here about four years, and then removed to New York. Dr. James Willson was a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of New York. He practiced in the city for some years and removed to Rye about the year 1825. He was a man of fine professional education, marked and de- cided in character and successful in practice. He died in 1862. Dr. Thomas Close was a native of Greenwich, Conn. He commenced the practice of medicine in Port Chester about the year 1830. He was much estecmed as a physician. He removed to Brook- lyn in 1862. Dr. William Stillman Stanley was a gradnate of Brown University, Providence, R. I., and received the degree of M.D. from that institution in 1828. He became a resident of Mamaroneck in that year, and in 1837 removed to Rye Neck, where he resided for many years. Dr. D. Jerome Sands gradu- ated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of New York in 1840. Soon after he came to Port Chester, and has practiced here ever since. Dr. John H. T. Cockey was a native of Maryland, and graduated at the University of Maryland in 1832. He engaged in the practice of medicine first in Frederick County, Md., then in Litchfield County, Conn .; and after practicing in New York for four years, came to Rye in May, 1855. He died May 21, 1881. Dr. Seth Stephen Lounsbery, son of Phineas Lounsbery, of Bedford, N. Y., was born in that place September 11, 1837. He entered Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., in 1855, and after two years' study began the study of medicine under the super- vision of his uncle, Dr. William Miner, of New York. Ile commenced practice in that city, and in 1862

697

RYE.

entered the army as assistant surgeon of the One Hundred and Seventieth Regiment New York Vol- nnteers. He was promoted to be surgeon of the One Hundred and Fifty-sixth New York Volunteers, remained till the close of the war, and was mustered out of service in Angust, 1865. He commenced practice in October, 1865, in connection with Dr. William S. Stanley, at Rye Neck. He died in Bedford April 26, 1872. Dr. Edward F. Mathews graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons New York, commenced practice in Port Chester, his present loca- tion, in 1856. Dr. Norton J. Sands graduated at the same institution in 1868, and is now engaged in the practice of his profession in Port Chester. Dr. S. L. Hall and Dr. T. C. Elmendorf, of the homeopathic school of medicine, were both gradnated at the New York Homeopathic College in 1875, and eame soon after to Port Chester, where they have been in prac- tice ever since. Dr. Elizabeth Bates was graduated at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1854. Dr. J. Lewin, a native of Germany, is a grad- ute of the Jena Medical College. In the village of Rye, Dr. Frederick Eugene Bassett, a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York (1878), is established in the practice of medicine.

The legal profession was not largely represented in early times in the town of Rye. The single name of Timothy Wetmore appears as that of an attorney-at-law living in Rye before the Revolution. Mr. Wetmore was licensed April 26, 1770. He was the son of the Rev. James Wetmore, and held a position of commanding influence in the community.

Jonathan F. Vickers, who taught school at "Saw Pit " for some years toward the close of the last century, was familiarly known as "Lawyer " Vickers, and was engaged to some extent in the practice of the law.

Daniel Haight, attorney and counsellor-at-law in Port Chester, was admitted at the bar in 1850, and has pursued his profession in this town since that time.

CEMETERIES .- The oldest cemetery in Ryc is the little burying-ground by Blind Brook, at the turn of the road above Milton. The oldest legible inscription is that on the tomb of Nehemiah Webb, son of Rev. Joseph Webb, of Fairfield, who died at Rye, April 24, 1722, in his twenty-eighth year. The oldest legible inscriptions on other graves are these:

"In Memory of Mr. Elisha Budd, who died Sept. ye 21st, 1765, in the 60th year of his Age."

"In memory of Mrs. Anne Budd, wife of Mr. Elisha Budd, who died Dec. 6th, 1760."

"Mr. Joseph Lyon, who died Feb. 21, 1761, iu the 84th year of his Age."

"Saralı Lyon, wife of Joseph Lyon, died Jan. 26, 1769."

" In Memory of Godfrey Haius who departed this Life July 22, 1768 aged 93 years."

"In memory of Anne wife of Godfrey Mains who departed this Life Fehry 19, 1758, aged 68 years."

"In Memory of Jouathan Browu, who deceased June 15, 1768, aged 62 years."

Four tombstones in this grave-yard bear the name of Ezekiel Halsted,-

"In Memory of Ezekiel llal-ted who Deseased in Rye 30th October 1757 in the 49th year of his Age."

"lu Memory of Ezekiel Halsted who departed this life Febrs 20th 1805, in the 67th year of his Age."

"Sacred to the Memory of Ezekiel Halsted who died April 18 1829 aged 68 years 2 months and 13 days."

"Sacred to the memory of Ezekiel Halsted jr. who died Angust 26, 1828, aged 41 years and 13 days. Having been a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church 22 years."

One of the tombs in this cemetery was erected- " In memory of Martha, wife of Dr. David Rogers, and daughter of the Rev. Charles Tennent, who died April 12, 1813, aged 62 years."

Two of the rectors of Christ Church lie buried here; their graves are near the entrance of the grave-yard, -the Reverend Evan Rogers who died January 25, 1809, in his forty-second year; and the Reverend William Thompson, whodied Angust 26, 1830.

The earliest mention of this burying-ground in the town records occurs in a deed dated 1753. It speaks of " ye boring [burying] place in Rye neck," opposite a certain tract of land on the west side of the mill creek, which Samuel Purdy conveyed to his sons, Samnel and Caleb.

In 1761, "Jonathan Brown iuner is aloud" [al- lowed] by the town " the priviledge of pastring the Buring yard upon the Conditions that he mackes a Geat and Cuts the Brush and Keeps it Clear." This permission was renewed yearly until 1770.

It seems likely that the Blind Brook Cemetery was laid out about the year 1750. An aged person in- formed the writer that the land was given to the town for this purpose by Joseph Lyon, who lies buried here, and who died in 1761. The fact that older in- scriptions, like that of Mr. Webb, are to be found, may be accounted for by the supposition that bodies were removed to this place from other localities after the opening of a common burying-ground. In early times the practice of maintaining private or family places of interment prevailed in Rye, as it did else- where.

The small cemetery on the west side of Blind Brook, opposite Christ Church in Rye, is well known as the spot where several of the rectors of that church lie buried. This, however, was not one of the more ancient places of sepulture in the town, having been set apart for the purpose probably about the year 1760. Previous to that time the rectors who dicd while in charge of this parish were buried underneath the church. Interments were also formerly made, it is said, to some extent in the grounds adjacent to the Episcopal Church.

One of the most beautiful and interesting localities in Rye is the cemetery of the Jay family, on their estate. To this spot, in 1807, the remains of various members of that family were removed from their vault in New York. Here a monument stands "to the memory of JOHN JAY."

698

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

The burying-ground known as " The Union Ceme- tery of Rye" originated in 1837. In that year James Barker and David Brooks, of Rye, bought from Ben- jamin Mead three aeres of land, which they gave to the authorities of Christ Church, Rye, " with a view to secure to the said church a suitable burial-place." This gift included the front part of the ground on North Street or the White Plains road. In convey- ing this property to the church, the donors stipulated that certain plots should be reserved as burial-places for the ministers of the three churches of Rye, and their families ; and also that two strips on the eastern and western sides of the ground should be appropriated as a publie cemetery. In January, 1855, the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Rye bought eight acres contiguous to this tract ; and in 1864-68, they added more than six aeres, making fourteen and a quarter in all. The grounds thus owned by the two congregations have been graded, in- closed and laid out uniformly, with no visible separation between them ; and they form one of the most beau- tiful cemeteries in this part of the country.

To the southwest of the Union Cemetery lies the "Colored Ceme- tery," a plot of one acre, the title of which is vested in the trustees of publie lands. In olden times the colored people of Rye had a place of interment in the Town Field, on the present Anderson estate, and another on Budd's Neck, nearly opposite the house of Mr. Benjamin Mead. The latter spot is no longer recognizable as a place of sepulture, having been for years ploughed over with the surrounding field. The former contains a number of humble, unchronicled graves.

two, with a few boatmen's houses, were built in eonrse of time. Abraham Bush, who for many years sailed from this port, had his father's home-lot "near Saw Pit landing " in 1745. Isaae Anderson and Samuel Lyon, " mariners," lived here some years earlier. The maps of a century ago, however, do not indicate more than half a dozen houses between Regent Street aud Byram Bridge, and even twenty years later there were not more than sixteen or eighteen. The taverns were Samuel Marvin's and Israel Seaman's. Marvin's tavern was the house on Willett Street, near the rail- road areh, still standing-a good specimen of the solid and comfortable dwellings of the better sort in olden times. It passed into the hands of Reuben Coe early in the present century. Seaman's tavern stood on the southeast corner of Main Street and the street leading to Lyon's Point. It was a noted resort of boatmen and farmers in aneieut days. During

JOHN JAY.

PORT CHESTER .- This village, THE JAY CEMETERY, RYE. at the mouth of Byram River, was known early in the eighteenth century, and until ! the Revolution Seaman sided with the British and within the last fifty years, as "Saw Pit." That went away. In 1779 the tavern was known as Law- renee's. very inelegant name had its origin in the fact that a spot on Lyon's Point, now part of the village of Adam Seaman's grist-mill, formerly Richard Og- den's, stood in 1743 near the point where the railroad bridge now crosses Byram River. This was the wading-place known as the "Jower going over." At the close of the Revolution the mill was the property of one of the Bowne family. The old mill, known as Squire's Bowne's, was still standing in 1800. Between the old country road and the water there were no houses in 1800. Opposite Mr. Gershom Bulkley's the tide came up to the road-side. Where Adee Street intersects Main Street there was a channel which Moses Crooker's sloop used to sail up, and the fields beyond this were often overflowed at high-water. The Saw Pit school-house stood on the west side of King Port Chester, was ocenpied in ancient times for the building of boats. There was a landing here, known as " Saw Pitt landing," as early as 1732; and in 1741 we hear of "some small lots Intely laid ont at the Saw Pits, so called." These lots, it appears, were dis- tributed among " the ancient Proprietors of Peningo Neck," and the apportionment was one of the last that took place under the proprietary system. Until near the period of the Revolution it can scarcely be said that a village existed here. The farmers of King Street and Hog-Pen Ridge brought their produce down to the market-sloops which made their weekly passage from Saw Pit to New York, and a tavern or

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 161

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