History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 169

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 169

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CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION (UP- PER EAST CHESTER) .- In and after 1850, as was possible and expedient, Mass was celebrated for the Roman Catholics of this portion of the town. Fathers ()'Reilly and Kinsella, of Westchester, and Baldorf, Mt. Vernon, came up for this purpose, and the house of Thomas Dunn was used for the sacred office. Father Mclaughlin, of New Rochelle, succeeded to the oversight and ministrations in this neighborhood, and, in 1857, erected the church in which, since en- larged, the largest portion of the population of the upper part of the town offer up their worship to God. Father Mclaughlin continued the care of this con- gregation until October, 1865, when, shortly after, Father MeEvoy became the priest in charge. Father John A. Keogh, the present incumbent, succeeded him in 1878, und under his wise supervision a hand- some rectory has been built, and Holy Mount Ceme- tery, a mile above the church, a most desirable loca- tion, has been laid out for its important uses.

SCHOOLS.

The Fourteenth Article of the "Agreement " made between the carly settlers of Enst Chester is as

follows: "That provision be endeavored for edu- cation of children, and then encouragement be given unto any that shall take pains according to our former way of rating." In this language, uo doubt, reference is made to the mode to which they had been accustomed, in their old Connecticut home, in providing for the collective instruction of their children. How far they were successful at the first in carrying out their desires does not appear. The erection of a school-house was not determined upon until 1683. The encouragement then given to Mr. Morgan Jones to be their school- master did not, it would seem, add any more to his haste to comply with their wishes than the call, three years previous, to be their minister.

In 1696, whoever may have been his predecessor, " Mr. Benjamin Collier " is admitted "to live in this town as seolhaster amongst us." Mr. Collier, from 1688 to 1692, had been high sheriff of Westchester County, and a resident of the town of Rye. In the following February an acre of land for a home-lot is voted him. At the meeting, however, which author- ized this gift, the language, in which "a place for a school-house is excepted " from the order forbidding any more land being laid ont half a mile above and half a mile below the country road, rather shows that a school-house had not yet been built.

The next record bearing upon the school history of the town is the appointment, in 1713, of Captain Joseph Drake and Jeremiah Fowler as "overseers of ye school in ye town." The Rev. John Bartow, writing to the Propagation Society in 1814, makes the suggestion that a youth, with an allowance of five pounds, be sent over to teach the children sometimes at Yonkers, sometimes at East Chester, and asserts that he knew the inhabitants would allow him twenty pounds more.1

In 1726 it was agreed to vote at the publie town-meet- ing (January 26th), " that there should be a lott of land laid out " " for to build a school-house thereon " "out of the comon " "which lyeth between the " " which goeth from the house wherein James Betty now lives in to Joshua Tompkins, from thence an- other road runs up to Isaac Treecheels, and from Isaac Treecheels another road down to James Bettys," " to be layed between the roads," "in length six rods and in brendth three rods." "Also, that on the lot " " should be a house built for the use aforesuid, twenty foot long nnd fourteen foot wide, and seven foot be- tween joyntts in height." It was to be completed by the Ist of May next, und the expense to be paid by " Rate." Here, for upwards of one hundred and fifty years, with brief intervals excepted, the children of this portion of the town have attended school.

Two years afterward a Mr. Delpech, who is men- tioned by the clergyman of the parish (Dr. Standard)

1 N. Y. MISS. from Archives at Fulham, vol. I., p. 473-47-1,

731

as " very well adapted and fitted for that business, and as well spoken of as being diligent in it," is the schoolmaster in East Chester. His income from this engagement was " what the parents of the children taught do give."

In this same ycar (1728) public provision is made for the instruction of the young in the upper part of the town. A lot is " layed out for a school-house in the woods, near the land of John Vail's," of six rods in length and four rods in breadth. On this lot a building, constructed for the purpose by private cffort, was already standing, but how long before this we vainly seek. The action of the next year, in order- ing that five pounds be paid "to those men which Buill ye School-House in ye woods by John Vail's, towards paying for ye Building said School-House," shows that the erection was of late occurrence, and was met by the prompt consideration of the town, es- pecially after appropriating sixteen pounds towards the cost of the school-house in the village. These payments, however, were made feasible by the offers of Benjamin Drake and Edmund Ward to purchase certain lands for these sums, perhaps largely with a view to assist in this good work. Between this period and the Revolution a number of sums of money, coming in from rents and sales of land, are applied to school purposes.

It would appear 1 that the school-house in the lower part of the town was destroyed during the War for Independence, and that it was first determined (in 1787) to erect a new one on the Green, but that this resolve was changed three years afterward, when it was resolved that it should be built where it formerly stood, with the moneys obtained by subscription for that purpose, and placed first in the care of - Havi- land, and, upon his decease, in the hands of Charles Guion.

As a matter of interest, the resolution of the town in 1795 is referred to, in which it is ordered " that the ground opposite Wm. Crawford's is not to be leased out, but to be left for an Academy."

By act of the Legislature, April 9, 1795, provision being made for the education of the children by an annual appropriation for five years, and for the elec- tion in each town of school commissioners, in the spring of 1796 William Crawford, Benjamin Morgan, Gilbert Shute, John Tredwell and Daniel Searing were chosen, who were, with the exception of Mr. Craw- ford, continued in the position until the expiration of the five years, Mr. James N. Rosevelt taking the place of Mr. Crawford. On a map of the town, of 1797, there is represented the locations of four schools in the town. The lower one is near Charles Guion's tavern; the middle one, on the White Plains road, near the corner of the road that sets off to New Ro- chielle, adjoining the present Infant Asylum grounds; the upper one, on the same road, half a mile below

Scarsdale ; and the fourth, on the Bedford and Ver- mont road, near Hunt's Bridge. In 1800 it seems to

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732

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

land of Marian Workmau," which is presumed to have been a matter of but few feet.

We are without record of any action as to the schools of the town during the next twelve years. In the year 1812 the school trustees are allowed the money coming from the lease of the ground belong- ing to the lower school-house, and which had been heretofore paid to the Overseers of the poor. The trustees are henecforth to receive the rent of the same. In 1×13, in compliance with the act of the Legislature of 1×12, three School Commissioners aud six Inspectors of schools are elected at town-meeting, and a resolution passed "to raise the sum equal to that the Commissioners receive for the Schools." In the aet of 1795 an amount, one-half of that eoming from the State, was raised. The act of 1812 now calls for an equal amount. The election of commis- sioners and inspectors was aunually made at town- meeting until 1844, when a Superintendent of common schools was chosen instead. The following persons deserve mention for years of service, at this period, in behalf of the schools of the town: James Somer- ville, Dr. Peter Moulton, Benjamin H. Underhill, Augustus Lawrence and Israel Hunt.

At what time a division of the town into three dis- triets took place can only be eonjeetured-probably under the provisions of the act of 1812, when, be- sides the Commissioners and Inspectors chosen by the town, there were also Trustees to be elected in charge of these divisions. In 1815 we have the reports of these trustees of the three districts up to the 1st day of April. It appears that the sum appropriated by the State to the town was $126.74, and that the num- ber of children in the town at the time (between the ages of five and fifteen ) was two hundred and fifty-four, of whom one hundred and nine had been under in- struetion. In 1820 an improvement in the attendance is perceptible. In the report of the commissioners to the County Clerk the number of children in the town is two hundred and sixty-eight and the atteudance one hundred and seventy.

Our school history will now be pursued under the headings of the titles of the several districts.

DISTRICT NUMBER ONE .- The school-house in this district, erected shortly after the Revolution, was re- placed in 1×36 by a new one, but on an adjoining site in the old school lot. An exchange of land with the town was made for the purpose. In 1852 a portion of the district was set off as a new one and named Dis- trict Number Four. In 1855 the inhabitants of the district organized themselves under the provisions of the Union Free School Act. In 1878 a new school- house of brick was built on the road which is an ex- tension of Fifth Avenue of the village of Mount Vernon. The building is ample and well planned and furnished. The old structure and site were sold. The present principal is Beekman Van Gaasbeck, who has held the position for seven and one-half years. The following are called to mind as his pre-

decessors: James Armstrong, Horace Martin, Orrin Sumner, Mr. - Smith, Moses F. Secord, William Dawson, Charles Pieree, - Woodbeek, Alexander Lane, - Hastings, James Crawford (1843-0, in- elusive), Josiah C. Balsden, Edward S. Keeler (18.55), Dexter E. Wilbur, James A. Purdy, A. O. Morrill, Mrs. - Webb, John Hauptman, Coleman Hazen, D). O. Quimby, N. W. Haight, I. S. Williams and L. Reynolds. The school library contains four hundred and sixty-five volumes. The present members of the Board of Education are Nathan Johnson. Fred- erick Hart, John G. Fay, John H. Davis, Thomas R. Hodge.

DISTRICT NUMBER TWO .- The cdueational interests of this district were carefully watched by Moses Drake, Caleb Morgan and Sheriff Townsend for the first twenty years of its separate existence, and ser- eral of the best instructors in the State were here employed. In or about 1835 the old framc sehool on the corner gave way to a pretty marble structurc. erected on the west side of White Plains road, and immediately adjoining the property of Thomas Law- rence. The following persons are believed to have taught in the old school-house : B. Barnum, 1784, 1789 ; Henry Barry, 1786 ; John Rich, 1790; Samuel Young, 1790; Andrew Dean, 1792; Daniel Sniffen, 1794; John Thompson, 1799, 1807 ; James Forsyth, 1803; Mr. Warne, 1806; Elijah Horton, 1811; Sam- uel Powers, 1813; Seth Martin, Lewis Il. Hobby (afterwards of the New York University Grammar School), 1818, 1819; Martha Boyd, 1819; Harry Finch, 1820 (Mr. Fineh afterward took holy orders, and was for many years reetor of Christ Church, Shrewsbury, N. J.) ; Joseph Jeffrey, 1821; Thomas Carroll, Mr. Martin, Mr. Stephen Remington.

In the marble school-house the following teachers are remembered : Joseph Perkins, Josiah Charles Balsden, Mr. - Jackson, Mr. Francis Meeker, Mr. Briggs, Mr. William C. Howe, Samuel Jellitf, Miss Hale, Mr. Marsh, Beekman Van Gaasbeck, Mr. Alby, Miss Sarah Odell, Miss Blair, Cornelius J. Dumond, David Tyson.

After the settlement of West Mount Vernon the trustees provided a small school-house for that neigh- borhood, and here for several years Mr. Lewis N. Clark taught with much acceptablencss. In March, 1856, the district was divided, and a new one organ- ized as Distriet Number Five. On the 7th of De- cember, 1867, District Number Two was formed into Union Free School District. In the spring of 1869 the marble school-house was removed to Union Corners. The teachers at this school were Mrs. Sarah S. Lane, Miss Edith A. Merritt, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Merritt. In the following spring a site at Bronx- ville was presented by the Messrs. Dewitt, and a school-house therc also erveted. Mrs. Grace N. San- ford was placed in charge of this school which posi- tion she continues to hold with great favor.

In the fall of 1879 a school was started by the

733

EAST CHESTER.

trustees, in a rented house on Chester Hill, to meet the wants of that growing neighborhood. It has been sinee found advisable to erect ou the White Plains road, not far from the original site, " near Vail's," a new and very beautiful school-house of briek and wood. The location is at about the same distance from Chester Hill and Uniou Corners, and will obviate the necessity of schools at those points.

Mrs. Edith Merritt was made principal of this school, in which she has just been succeeded by Miss Nettie Smith. Mr. Francis Bacon was secretary of the board from 1872 until 1885. The present mem- bers of the Board of Education are George J. Bus- teed president, William H. Archer, Dr. Robert Taylor, F. W. Chivvis.

DISTRICT NUMBER THREE .- The number of chil- dren taught iu this district in 1815 was twenty-three. It was at this time, and for a number of years subse- quently, united with a portion of New Rochelle. John Bates, Isaae Burpo and Ransom Burtis appear to have taken much interest in the school interests of their neighborhood. They were assisted by fellow- trustees of New Rochelle, from which the largest num- ber of the scholars eame. Reports from the trustees of the district to the town commissioners are ou file in the town clerk's office for the years 1822-34 inclusive with the exception of 1829, and give the impression that the school was regularly conducted, and that the ehildren in the district though few in number, had excellent advantages. It would seem not at all un- likely that the sessions of the school, which were at first held in the school-house in East Chester, near Bates, were afterwards, for a while, condneted in the school-house near .Cooper's Corner, New Rochelle. Mr. Horace Martiu (in 1822), Mr. Charles Stewart (in 1827), Mr. Sanford (in 1830), Mr. Stewart, Mr. Carpenter, Mr. Charles Feeks, Mr. Daniel Little and Mr. - Spicer are remembered as having taught at this time. In 1858 or 1859 the district was organ- ized into a Free Sehool Distriet. A school-house of marble from the quarries had just beeu built in the lower part of the district. The land was the gift of Fisher & Bird, New York. An upper and a lower school were from this time forward sustained.

The names of the following teachers of the two schools have been obtained :

Upper School.

Lower School.

Mr. Welsh.

Thomas Clark '71

Mr. Quinlan.

Bourke Cochran 173

Mr. Frederick Elliot.

Daniel McGlory 175

Mr. Jenning.

- Cleveland '80

George W. Stewart '82

Benjamin Black 183

Mr. Gamewell.

Martin W. Griffin 184

C. A. Barnett '83

Mr. Webster פדי

Mr. John S. Brown *81

MIr. Martin Lovering.

Mr. Charles V. Morgan was at one time sole trus- tee of this sehool. The following are at present the

members of the Board of Education, Ralph Coates president, John Fisher, James S. Young, Edward O'Reilly and Michael O'Reilly.

DISTRICT NUMBER FOUR .- This district was set off from Number One in the spring of 1852 by the action of the Supervisor, Town Clerk and Town Superinten- dent. Its first meeting was held on the 10th of June, when Egbert S. Manning was elected Distriet Clerk and James W. Comstock, Samuel Munson and Ed- mund Hoole, Trustees. A second meeting was held in the same month, when the trustees were directed immediately to hire suitable apartments for school purposes and procure a teacher. Mr. John A. Graves was employed, and the school at first located on the second floor of the unfinished house of Mr. J. L. Guerin, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Third Street, Mt. Vernon. In the fall it was removed to Journeau's Hall, Fifth Avenue and Fourth Street.

Mr. Graves is now a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, residing in Washington, D. C. His wife assisted him iu the instruction of the children. In the early autumn of 1852 the erection of the new school-house was commenced. It was placed on the lot on Fourth Avenue, near Fourth Street, Mt. Vernon, which had been set apart for the purpose by the Industrial Asssociation. By the 1st of January it was inclosed. In the spring of 1853, the upper floor beiug finished, the school was removed into the new building. At a meeting of the district, held in the winter, it was determined to obtain a special aet of iucorporation, which, on the 8th of June, was passed. It was entitled, " An Aet to establish Free Sehools in School District No. 4, in the town of East Chester, West Chester County." On the 15th of July, at a district meeting, the following persous were duly elected members of the Board of Education as re- quired by the act: John F. Luther, John Stevens, William Hathaway, Samuel T. Jennings, F. C. Beschorman, David Demarest, James C. Stevens, Amos Cheeny and William H. Priee. Mr. Stevens was elected president of the board. Not long after this organization the sehool building was completed, and better arrangements were securcd.

On the 19th of December, 1859, a primary sehool, which was deemed necessary, was opened in hired apartments on Twelfth Avenue, and was placed under the eare of Mrs. William Atkinson. In 1862, at an expense of one thousand dollars, the old school building was greatly enlarged. Another change, giv- ing additional accommodation, was made in 1869. In the spring and summer of 1870 two new buildings were put up-one on Tenth Avenue for the primary school in that neighborhood; the other, also for younger children, at Washingtonville. Each school has two rooms, and will aeeommodate about one hundred pupils. In 1873 an amendment of the aet of 1853 was secured. In 1877 it was determined to build a new school-house, and lots were obtained on Fifth Ave- nuc and Second Street for the purpose. The building

Mr. Cook.

Mr. Trowbridge

MIr. H. S. Young.

734

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

is of three stories, with a frontage of ninety fect and a depth of one hundred and thirteen feet, and was creeted at a cost of fifty-five thousand dollars. The rooms are ample, and have all the modern school ap- pliances.

The following citizens have been Presidents of the Board since Mr. Stevens : George W. Cooper, J. Q. A. Butler, R. S. Hatfield, Jacob Labagh, Noah S. Whit- lock, David Quackenbush, Sammel T. Jennings, John HI. Zabriskic, J. S. Gregory, M.D., Thomas M. Taylor, who is the present presiding officer. Mr. Zabriskic for seventeen years occupied the position. A list of the principals of the school is also presented : John A. Graves, June, 1852; John Oakley, September, 1853; W. L. V. Bard, April 1, 1857 ; J. F. Wright, July 1, 1857 ; W. H. Bailey, January 1, 1859; John A. Nichols, September 1, 1861 ; Beekman Van Gaas- beek, January 1, 1864; Joseph S. Wood, January 1, 1865 (Mr. Wood's protracted labors were attended with marked success); MI. L. Cook, October, 1875; and Charles E. Nichols, the present excellent in- eumbent, April 1, 1876. Mr. Nichols is assisted by twenty female teachers. It will show the steady growth of this school by stating that the average attendanec in 1859 was 239; in 1880, 550; in 1884, 734; in March, 1885, 850. The school is possessed of a library of two thousand seven hundred and seventy-cight books. As a matter of interest in the history of this school, it may not be amiss to state that the celebrated Adelina Patti was at one time a pupil of this school. At a trustee meeting, in a de- bate over a school examination, the following language was used: "It is said that there was not time! Why! a young Italian opera girl (Miss Patti) was there, and took up a large portion of the time play- ing on the piano."1 The following citizens of this distriet are now members of the Board of Edneation : John Irwin, S. B. Carlisle, Henry Huss, A. F. Geseheidt, J. R. Johnson, J. II. Jenkins, B. W. Til- ton, W. MeD. Halsey.

DISTRICT NUMBER FIVE .- At a meeting in March, 1856, of the inhabitants of School District Number Two, residing in West Mount Vernon and vieinity, it was resolved to form a new school district, which, being accomplished, an organization under the Union Free School Act was determined npon, and the fol- lowing persons elected trustees of the district, henee- forth to be called Number Five: George Archer, Benedict Stern, C. Gunther, E. Cappelman, George A. Cassabeer and F. Selchow. From this time the school seems to have prospered under its varions teachers, and with the increase of the population, several additions were made to the old school-house. These, however, failed to meet the growing want of room, and accordingly, in 1876, a large brick school- house was built, which was finished and opened with appropriate exercises in February, 1877. Iu

this building, which is eighty fect front by fifty feet. deep and two stories high, with two extensions, each ten feet by twenty-five, there is space for nine elass- rooms, each twenty-one feet by twenty-five, with a large hall, eighty feet in length, all well veutilated and with proper provision for heating. The building cost seventeen thousand three hundred and fifty-nine dollars. The following arc the names of those who have been Presidents of the Board of Education and of those who have been Principals of the school :

Presidents.

George Archer.

Thomas Oakley

1867

11. Trede 1868

Bernard Hufnagel .

1869

John Zillig . 1870-77

George E. Fuecliscl 18,9

John L. IInss 1880

George C. Apel . 1882

George HI. Brown 1883

James L. Morgan 1884

Otto Hufeland

1885

Principals.

Theodore Bradley 1×56

George llyde. . 1856

William C. Smith

1856

S. G. Mead.

1857

R. E. Paddock

1859

II. T. Duensing . .

1859

Ilenry Christman

December, 1862

Mary E. Spinning.

December, 1868

Oran Baxter

November, 1868

L. Reynolds.

. June, 1869

II. T. Dnensing

September, 1869

Charles O. IlurIburt November, 1871

James Ilall

1872

Ilenry C. Apel 1875

A. Il. Ilart 1875

B. Frank Taylor 1876

There are seven hundred books in the library. The average attendance last year was three hundred and fifty; in 1881, three hundred; in 1886, three hundred and eighty-five.

The following gentlemen, beside Mr. Hufeland, are the present members of the Board of Education : Henry Rudolph, W. C. Wilkin, James L. Morgan, George C. Appell and John Zillig.

The account thus presented of the instruction of the children of the town under public auspices must now be supplemented by a brief notice of the private schools which, in their day, have been useful and prosperous.

MR. JOHN OAKLEY'S SELECT BOARDING AND DAY SCHOOL, for boys and girls, was established by him, April, 1857, at his residence on Tenth Avenne, near Second Street, in the village of Mt. Vernon, and for more than twenty years enjoyed a high degree of popularity. Mr. Oakley was a scholar of large and varied attainments. An excellent instructor himself, he also engaged, from time to time, the most competent assistants, both male and female. Mr. Oakley survived his retirement from his profession barely a year. His death occurred in 1880.

CHESTERTHORPE .- An English, French and Ger- man boarding and day-school for young ladies was

1 Mt. Vernon Gazette, September 29, 1855.

735

EAST CHESTER.

started in Ninth Avenue, Mount Vernon, in 1871, by Mrs. Anne Vermilye, and for several years was conduct- ed with marked ability and great advantage to the neighborhood.

The Misses Lockwood's school, which has within a year or two been started, and which has met withi marked success, is also here noticed, with the full con- fidence that the promise of increasing usefulness which is indicated by its present flourishing condition will be more than realized.

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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 169

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