History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 167

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 167

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SETTLEMENT .- The settlement of this town took place in 1664, by the immigration from Fairfield County, Coun., of ten of its families, which, within a year or two, were joined by others, making the fami- lies of the original colony in all twenty-six. The adventure was made under the auspices of Mr. Thomas Pell, a fellow-townsman, who, some years before, had purchased the land from the aboriginal inhabitants. But it is strongly suspected that an im- pelling motive in seeking in this direction their new home was the further practical assertion of the right of the "Colony of Connecticut " over the territory as far " south " as " the sca," which included West- chester County. This claim had already been made in the settlement of Westchester town, and Thomas l'ell was in each case the moving spirit. The colo- nists of East Chester, however, so soon as they realized their position, deemed it expedient to secure them- selves beyond question in their rights and property, and this they did, first by conciliating with acceptable payments the natives and then by obtaining from the Royal Governor of New York, Richard Nichols, a patent which confirmed and granted unto them, in definite form and bounds, their " plantation." In this

721

EAST CHESTER.

State paper the town is said to be " commonly called man according to privilege ; and, at the same time, it was ordered that "every lot of land" should be " bounded as the same was first laid out, although it may contain or comprehend more or less acres than it was granted or laid out for." and known by ye name of ten farms or East Chester," by which latter name it is further ordered henceforth to be " distinguishicd." The patentees in this import- ant document were Philip Pinckney, James Eustis and William Haiden, who very shortly after in due In 1704 John Drake, Heury Fowler, Joseph Drake, Edmund Ward and Jeremiah Fowler are authorized form passed over the grant unto themselves and the following, their associates: John Hoitte, Richard | to act for the freeholders of the town, with Colonel Shute, David Osborne, Samuel Drake, John Embury, John Jackson, Moses Jackson and Moscs Hoit. This paper also evidently serves the further purpose of assigning also equal A Draft of the lands in controversy between the inhabitants of West Chester Ornella bound & the inhabitants of East Cheater joyned with William Peartree &C Surveyed & laid down by Angus. Graham 8 Ell rights in the patent to the fol- lowing more recent settlers, who joined with those already mentioned in an agreement bearing date 1665 : Thomas Shute, Nathaniel Tompkins, Joseph Joans, Daniel Goodwin, William Squire, John Goding, A scale of chains 2.0 40.68 89 198130 140 1 be John A. Pinkney, Samuel God- acnes win, Richard Headley, Henry 8 miles €, Fowler, John Drake, John Clarke, Nathaniel Whitc.1 from point

The covenant here referred to covered the varied interests of the settlers. A few of the points in it, which are in all twenty-seven, are presented,-

"7. That non exed the quantety of 15 akres untell all have that quantity.

" 9. That every man build and inhahet on his home lot before the next winter.

" 8. That every man hath that meado that is most convaniant for him.

"21. That;one day every spring ,be im- proved for the destroieng of rattellsnacks,

" 26. If any mans meado or upland be worse in quality that be consedered in quantity."

The selection of land and meadow seems to have been made by each man almost im- mediately after these determi- nations, and sales and ex- changes of the land thus chosen soon followed. Several divisions of the remaining land, in course West Chester of time, as in 1672 and in 1682, took place.2 The official record of these important transactions, it is evident from the town books, was not made until a much later date.

In 1729 a conunittee of ninc was appointed to find out the common or undivided land of this " old patent of East Chester," and to lay out the same to every

The Funds Pretended To be variant continue, 9308 trum Morkes Nick "

Falls south live from & wording plus

New Rochelle

Kysteris Still

Draw

"Hutchins

Kalt

Hutchinson,

Meadow's

The Sound

os Heathcote's Mill

Hulehman's

Peartree, Colonel Van Cortlandt and Mr. Van Horne (Mr. funhorn), in procuring a patent for "all the lands without the northeast line," without and within-that is to say, all the lands. This patent was granted, but not issucd until 1708. In 1715 the sum of fifty pounds, to pay the necessary charges, was levied by rate upon the frecholders according to each man's privilege or interest in it, which amount being raised, 1

1 Town Minutes, p. 75.

2 Town Minutes, pp. 5 and 11, 1st vol.

Brink's Rines

Gravelly Bronx

Gast Cheater

- Nitelunar's Pure-

Paul

722

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

it is determined at a town-meeting that Justis Noah Barton and Robert Sneadon, Treasurer of East Ches- ter, "should go down to New York to make up ye aec" of ye town with ye Yorkers in pardnership with ns, and also ye ace's of ye lawyers."1 The delivery of the patent to the frecholders was not made until 1729, when, in view of a dispute as to the northeast and southwest line between the old and new patents, the freeholders agreed "that whereas there is a certain Chestnut-tree and the Stump of another Chestnut- tree by a rock, + feet high, which stands by the road that goes by the White Plains by James Morgan's field," which is adjudged to be in the line aforesaid, that the said line shall begin at said tree and so run northeast to Hutchinson's River, and from the said tree to run a straight line to the rock marked with the letter p, near unto Moses Hunt's house, which is to be forever deemed the partition line between the old and new Patents of East Chester, or Long Reach, commonly so called.2

In the following spring it was determined that the land of this second patent be laid out at eight shil- lings per aere to those persons that have debts due on said new patent for services that they have therein done. A special meeting, however, had to be held in the month of June to levy a rate " by proportion to sink ye quit-rents due on the said new Pattent to this present year and also to discharge ye money that Mr. Henry Fowler Sen', is arrested for, with the charges thereby acrned."

In February, 1731, John Ward, Roger Barton, Ed- ward Ward, Nehemiah Palmer and Joseph Fowler were appointed a committee, with the assignees, one of whom was Captain John Drake and another, in all likelihood, Henry Fowler, to lay out the land of this patent and to make such prudent rules and orders as shall seem fit. Some years, however, elapsed before the difficulties which arose in obtaining this patent disappeared. One unfortunate suit-at-law at least, besides that against Henry Fowler, viz., Moses Fowler es. John Hewstis, was caused by these complications.

SETTLEMENT NEAR TUCKAHOE .- Upon the opening of the marble quarries near the Bronx, just above Bompo's Bridge, now Tuckahoe Station, on the Har- lem Railroad, a large number of small homes for the workmen were erected, and a sensible increase in the population of the town is visible, and this influx and addition of houses went on for a number of years, and the several villages of Waverley, Lakeville, Sebasto- pol have sprung up.

SETTLEMENT OF MT. VERNON .- But the most im- portant subsequent event in the development of the town occurred in the settlements in the southeast part of it in the year 1851. It would seem that the exorbitant rents which were asked at the time in the City of New York, for dwellings of even moderate ac-

commodation, drove to combined movements, for the purchase of land, somewhere within forty minutes' ride by rail from the business quarters. One of the earliest of these assmned the name of "The New York Industrial Home Association, No. 1," and set up as qualifications for membership good moral ehar- aeter, industrious habits and desire to promote the common purpose,-protection against the unjust power and influence of capital and against land monopoly as the efficient cause of poverty. It is generally con- eeded that the founder of this project and the largest contributor to its success was a tailor in the city by the name of Stevens, who afterwards became a man of much influenee and usefuluess iu the town. It must also be mentioned that the Honorable Horaee Greeley, editor at the time of the New York Tribune, was an officer of the Association and gave it his best support. Within six months the required number of members, oue thousand, was obtained and the land secured.

Of the one hundred farms offered, five in the town of East Chester, belonging severally to Colonel Johu R. Hayward, Sylvanus Purdy, Andrew Purdy and his two sons, John and Andrew Oscar, and containing three hundred and sixty-nine and one-half acres, were deemed the most suitable.3 The name first given to the place was Monticello, but for post-office reasons that of Mount Vernon was afterwards chosen.

The interest of the members of the Association in the welfare of the town was soon felt. This ap- pears in a protest forwarded in 1851, by the Associa- tion, to the Commissioners of Land, against granting to Jolin Schuyler, of Pelham, the privilege of con- structing a doek out from his land into East Chester Creek. The Association met during the year, receiv- ing its dues, giving orders for the payments for the land, for surveys of it and plans for laying it out, for contracts for the grading of the avenues and streets; also arranging for the distribution among the men- bers of the one thousand quarter-acre lots into which the village was divided. A depot was also ereeted and given to the New Haven Railroad Company. Four school-lots of half an acre each were set apart for eventual use. On the third Wednesday in Octo- ber a Jubilee over the success of the movement was observed in the new village. On the 12th of Deeem- ber the president, Jolm Stevens, reported that fifty- six or fifty-eight houses were building, aud on the 6th of August, 1852, the Executive committee declared that three hundred had been erected or were uuder way. One of the causes of this rapid progress was the reversionary clause in the deeds given, which re-

3 11 is said that Mr. Ebenezer Burling, of the firm of Burling & Sacchi, having been applied to for a sile for the new village, consulted MIr. Henry Monroe, who, remembering a remark of Gouvernent Morris, after The settlement of Morrisanin, that The next settlement should be between the two railroads, as being a desirable location, communicated this say- ing lo Burling : und so Morris, Monroe, Burling and stevens went up 10 sve the place offered, which was approved by the committee and soon adopted by the association.

t Town Minales, Vol, fi., 1717.

2 Town Minnter, Vol. in., p. I ..

723

EAST CHESTER.

quired this erection within three years or a forfeiture of the land. This provision in the deed undoubtedly was not legally binding, but effected the purpose for which the inembers of the Association freely placed themselves under its seeming risks. The lots not im- proved, as so required, were, however, in a few years relieved from this incumbrance by releases freely given. The village thus settled was, on the 10th of December, 1853, incorporated, having at the time within its bounds 1370 inhabitants, of whom 564 were parents, 623 children and the remainder unmarried adults and apprentices.

The following are the names of the petitioners to the court in this action : Thomas Jones, Stephen Bogart, John B. Brennan, Enoch Douglass, Amızi Hill, Henry Biggins, John Davolls and William Wis- dom, only one of whom, Mr. Douglass, resides in tlie neighborhood. Stephen Bogart was elected the Presi- dent of the village, and the following citizens have since hield the position : Joseph S. Gregory, M.D., Thomas Jones, Cornelius Cooper, Richard Atkinson, George L. Baxter, John B. Brennan, John Stevens, David Quackenbuslı, William H. Pemberton, Ed- ward Martin, Azro Fowler, George R. Crawford, Henry Huss, John Van Santvoord, William J. Collins, and the present incumbent, Jared Sandford. Contemporary with the settlement just described was that of West Mount Vernon, under the direction of the Teutonic Homestead Association, which was composed mainly of Germans, five hundred in number, who purchased 1317827 acres, and rapidly established themselves in the town. The land settled lays between the Bronx River and the road formerly called Road to Bedford and Vermont and the Milc Square Road as it nears Hunt's Bridge. Several other appropriations of land adjoining these villages, made in consequence of their success, as East and Central Mount Vernon, Washingtonville, Fleetwood and Chester Hill, have also added to the growth of the town, though more slowly and less perceptibly, but pointing out some of the best sites in it.

West Mount Vernon and Central Mount Vernon were incorporated as one village in 1869, with Christ- ian Ross as the first president, and the following gen- tlemen were his successors: Joseph Bellesheim, Hor- ace Loomis and John Van Santvoord. During the term of office of the last-named, West Mount Vernon was, by an act of the Legislature, united to Mount Ver- non, the concurrence of a majority vote of the citizens of each village first being had. This took place in 1878. In the same manner an adjoining portion of the town, called East Mount Vernon, had been at an earlier date annexed to the original village of Mount Vernon.

The following is a list of the Clerks of the two Incorporations :

West Mt. Vernon .- Isaac A. Farrington, Jolın Zillig, H. C. Bissell.

Mt. Vernon .- P. L. McClellan, W. P. Sleight, Chas. T. Hathaway, George Stevens, James H. Jenkins.

It is an interesting point in the history of this vil- lage that its improvement was from the first a matter of ardent consideration with its inhabitants. It must be coneeded, however, that the original intention of these settlements-home ownership-has, as might have been expected, been for a long time entirely ignored.

INDIANS .- This town was no doubt more a hunt- ing-ground of the Indians than their place of resi- dence. Wigwams, indeed, are found indicated far np on the banks of the Aqueanounek, or Hutchinson's River, but the marks are not of permanent occupation. The territory, however, is full of the accessories of the chase, which have in these later years come to the surface. The tribes identified with this immediate region are the Sewanoys and Weckquaesgeeks, the former of whom had their abodes nearer Long Island Sound, and the latter along the shores of Hudson River. In the Indian deeds of the town occur the names of Woriatapus, Ann Hook (whose earlier name was Wampage), Porrige (or Hopeseoe), Gramatan, Pathune, Sagamore and Elias.

The aborigines were sometimes found dangerous neighbors. As early as 1675 it was deemed a wise precaution by Pinkney, Haiden and their fellow-set- tlers to build a fort for defense against possible as- sault. This was at the time when Deerfield and other villages in Massachusetts had been attacked, and there was fear that the ill-will had become general. The Indians appear to have remained in the vicinity up to a late period, and in the War of the Revolution to have taken sides with the colonists.

CHURCHES.

The original settlers of East Chesor seem without delay to have endeavored to make provision for their spiritual interests. In the nineteenth of the articles of agreement among them in 1665 they resolved to "give new encouragement to Mr. Brewster each other week to give us a word of exhortation, and that when we are settled we meet together every other week one hour, to talk of the best things." The Rev. Nathaniel Brewster, here referred to, was serving at the time at Westchester, who thereupon took charge of the relig- ious welfare of East Chester for several years. The Rev. Ezekiel Fogge, the Rev. Warham Mather and the Rev. Morgan Jones next ministered in this town. In 1692 it was determined to build a meeting-house, which, however, was not fully accomplished until 1700, at which time the services of the Rev. Joseph Morgan were secured. The consent to his induction was sought from the Governor, but refused, upon which applica- tion was made to the General Assembly for a separa- tion of the town from the Parish, in which it had been combined with Westchester, Pelham, Yonkers and New Rochelle, by an Act in 1693. The request was an- swered by an Act establishing East Chester as an inde- pendent religious state organization, by the name and style of " the Parish of East Chester, in the County

721

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

of West Chester." This Aet, however, was not ap- proved by the Home government, for reasons offered by the Bishop of London, and, by order of Her Majesty the Queen, was disallowed. 1 It would seem that up to this time the support of these ministries was paid by voluntary offerings, an attempt in 1674 to impose a rate being resisted. The following from the town minutes illustrate the anxiety of the inhabitants on the subject of obtaining religious advantages : In Ju- ly, 1674, a resolution was passed " by reason we hear that Mr. Fogge did express himself to be de- sirons and also willing to live and settle among us in East Chester, in consideration whereof we are willing to manifest our acceptance to embrace his good com- pany, and shall provide for his present comfort and likewise for his future livelihood." In 1677 a house and land and forty pounds a year is determined upon for a minister settling in the town. The next year twenty pounds is subscribed to carry on Sabbath day services, by the following: William Haiden, Richard Shute, Nathaniel and John Tompkins, John Pin ck ney, Richard Headley, Samuel and John Drake, Will Squier and -- Greay.

In 1692 several of the inhabitants "promised to contery bute unto Samuel Casting, he being ehosen to Read in the bibell and other good sermon-books, and so to carion the Sabath days Exersises as according to our Honorabell Col. Heathent's order unto us. Henry ffowler promises to give one Bushell of good winter wheat.

8. d

" John Tompkins . 3

John Clark . 2

0 John Pinckney, five 0 pecks of Indian corn,

William Gray. 2 Joseph Drake. 4 0

Thomas Pinckney. 3

0 0 Benjamin Taylor 2 John Drake 0 Thomas Shute 4 6 11

The order here referred to was that of which Col. Heatheote writes in his letter in 1704 to the Venerable Society for Propagating the Gospel, in which, after describing the demoralization which had taken place since the settlement of Westchester County, he says, " having then the command of the militia, I sent an order to all the Captains requiring them to call their men under arms and to acquaint them in case they would not in every town agree among themselves to appoint readers and pass the Sabbath in the best manner they could till such times as they could be better provided, that they should every Sunday call their companions under arms and spend the day in exercise."

The meeting-house erected in 1700 for divine wor- ship is described as a frame building, twenty eight feet square and about eighteen feet to the eaves, the sides ns well as roof being shingled. The interior was wainscoted and had a gallery.

The following plan of the sittings and the names

of their oeenpants is found in the Second book of Town Minutes, p. 34:

" Mr. Justis Pink.

Henry Fowler, Snr.

Richard Shuto.

John Pink.

Thomas Shnte.

Moses Ilort, Snr.

John Shute.

Moses Hurt, Jnf.

John Lanc.

Robert - -.

John Lankste.

(The north side below to this.)

(East to this. )

Capt. John Drake,

Isac Taylor.

- Drake.

Isac Lause.

John Tomkins.

Edward Hancok.

Nathaniel Tomkins.

Thomas Veall.

Jeremia Fowler.

Isac Odell. John Gee.

Joseph Gee.

(South side to this.)

(W'est to this. ) "

This building stood on the "Green," and the site is now marked as between the two locusts which are farthest apart in the row of trees that so grace this interesting locality.

The Rev. Joseph Morgan seems to have spent some seven or eight years in the town. At the time of his settlement thirty pounds a year was agreed upon for his salary, " to be raised upon " the " rateable estates," and a house and home-lot and orchard were also fur- nished him, But Mr. Morgan, not liking this provi- sion, instead of the house and land offered, twenty acres were granted, him with a twenty-five pound privilege, which he aeeepted, a portion of which land afterwards was wanted for highway purposes, and an equal quantity at the rear of his estate given him in exchange. In 1701 the town provides a committee to set persons to work for the use and service of Mr. Joseph Morgan, and in the next year the use of a piece of meadow for ten years is voted him. In 1703 an obligation for a year is ordered, but the committee to obtain subscriptions for the payment encounter difficulty in persuading their neighbors to contribute. Mr. Morgan, in 1708, moved into New England, and in 1709 went to Monmouth County, N. J., to minister to the Dutch Churches, and continued there at least twenty-two years.2

Nothing could be more elear than that the indue- tion, on the 19th of November, 1702, of the Rev. John Bartow, a missionary of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, into the Rectorship of the combined Parish already named, was eventually the eanse of Mr. Morgan's removal. Here was a case calling for forbearance, and yet firmness. The build- ing used for worship had been erected at publie ex- pense and was by hw in possession of the Rector of the parish, and yet Mr. Bartow, by not resisting Mr. Morgan in the use of it ordinarily, thought his own visits would be the more welcome and his claims as the representative of the Established Church would be more calmly weighed. Of course at first the amount

2 Town Record of East Chester, Bk. 2, pp. 20, 24, 29, 46, 49. Romeyn's Disc, at Ref. Dutch Ch., Hackensack, May 2, 1869, p. 40.

IN Y. C.J. MSS., vol. iv., pp. 1026- 1038.

Mates Vollen.

Mr. William Chaterton.

John Shute , 3 Isaac Taylor 2

725

EAST CHESTER.

levied was regarded as objectionable, but it was soon seen to be inconsiderable by the side of what was required for an entire support. Passion, which was no doubt at first aroused, subsided. Mr. Bartow, in a letter of May, 1703, says: " East Chester used many means to prevent and disturb my settlement, but all their attempts were frustrated by my Lord Cornbury, and now they begin to come into better tempers, many of them, having left their minister, are joyned with us, nay, the minister himself talks of coming to England for Episcopal orders." 1

In a petition from East Chester to Governor Corn- bury, John Drake, Jos. Drake and Wm. Chadderton, for the inhabitants of East Chester, say : " we assure your Excellency that 'tis our earnest desires to come under the Regula- tion of the Church of England as by law established, as so is our minister, Mr. Morgan, for which reason we are desirous to continue him amongst us," etc.2

It would appear from this and other indications that after a few years of di- ininishing dissatisfaction with the con- stituted order of things and increasing esteem for Mr. Bartow, ecclesiastical matters were placed on the footing in which they continued till the Revolution.

Mr. Bartow was succeeded in 1727 in the Rectorship by the Rev. Thos. Stand- ard, A.M., M.D., who for thirty-three years faithfully ministered in the different congregations of his extended parish. At first he resided at Westchester, but during the latter half of his connection made his home at East Chester, opposite the church. He died in 1760.

The Rev. John Milner, in February, 1761, eame to the charge of the Parish of Westchester. He was a native of the County and a graduate of Princeton Col- lege. His ministrations brought together crowded congregations. The administra- tions of baptisms .were large, and a re- markable increase in the number of communicants is observed. In 1764, the old building being much decayed and in winter found very cold for use, the foundation of a new church was laid. Mr. Milner resigning and removing to Virginia, the Rev. Samuel Seabury, in December, 1766, succeeded him. The creation of the church was continued until it was inclosed, at which time work upon it was suspended. Mr. Seabury speaks of it as well built, the truth of which remark its strength one hundred and twenty years afterwards attests. The services of the church were maintained in the old building until October, 1776. During the war it was torn down and con- sumed as fuel in the new church, then in use as a

British hospital. Full four years were allowed to pass after the war before any attempt was made to resume services. The Rev. Elias Cooper, who had also the Rectorship of St. John's Church, Yonkers, was in charge of this Parish from 1789 to 1801. Hisunbounded popularity in Yonkers had its counterpart on this side of the Bronx. He was ordained to the Priesthood in the church at East Chester, and for more than sixty years afterward were his praises upon the lips of the people of this town. Under Mr. Cooper the Parish, which had been organized in 1787 under the General Act of 1784, was, in 1795, under the provisions of the | Act for the relief of the Protestant Episcopal Church of

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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 167

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