History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 44

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 44

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).

Jonathan Odell, living here, had a slave named Cæsar, who was hanged three times by the Hessians, because he refused to tell where his master had hidden away his hogs. But Cæsar managed to stand more hanging than most men of any color could, and finally came out alive after all. The last time they hanged him it would have put the finishing stroke to poor old Cæsar's career, had it not been for a neighbor's slave, who discovered him before it was too late. He delivered him from his terrible suspense and Cæsar resumed his place among the living.

Katrina Van Tassel lived in those days on the place now known as Washington Irving's. She was the happy possessor of a fine flock of geese that were led about under the guidance of a stalwart gander. She was very proud of them ; but the Hessians eneamped in the neighborhood viewed them with covetous eyes and in a different light, and several times attempted to steal them. Katrina's eye, however, was too watchful to permit their success. She warned off the marauders with a manaeing wave of her hand and the expression of a chilling, prophetie hope that the old gander would eat grass from the grave of any Hessian who dared to touch one of them.

An amusing incident of those early times is handed down by a tradition in the family of the Jewels. Cap- tain Buckhout's house, when the British were en- camped there, stood a little east of the Hudson River Railroad, on the Barney place, and the house of Mrs. John D. Mairs, just below it, now stands upon the ground then ocenpied by the British encamp- ment. There was a grave-yard for colored people on Captain Buckhout's premises, east of the house, and in the place where the orchard onee was. Old Aunt Betty, a colored slave, was coming home one night, and had to pass by the grave-yard. While walking by it alone, some weird idea seized her, and she said aloud, "Rise, niggers, and come to judgment." She had no sooner spoken than a flock of sheep lying quietly there, arose, and put themselves in motion. Aunt Betty, not expecting sneh a prompt compliance, was frightened half to death. Without stopping to

190

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

investigate in the darkness, she took to her heels, and fleeing across the brook to her house, opened the up- per half of the divided door, and sprang over into the room she hardly knew how, where she fell upon the floor fainting. Aunt Betty thought she had antici- pated Gabriel's trumpet.

Later, in 1817, Justus Dearman, of New York, bought of William Dutcher one-half of his farm, and lived on it until 1848, when he sold it to Gustavo F. Sac- chi, for twenty-six thousand dollars. During the same year it was sold to John Jay, who caused it to be laid out as the village of Dearman, and on Mon- day, April 25, 1850, at twelve o'clock noon, the lots were sold at public anction by Coles & Chilton, at the Merchants' Exchange, in New York. In 1848 a ferry-boat ran from Dearman to Piermont.

As there was no church of any kind in the new village, the Rev. William H. McVickar was, in the spring of 1852, appointed by Bishop Wainwright as a missionary to preach the gospel in Dearman. Ser- vices were accordingly held, and a congregation drawn together in connection with the Protestant Episcopal Church. In the same year, land having been given by John Jay for a church bnikling, ground was broken on August 10, 1852. The first spadefils of earth were turned up by young children. During the same month the corner-stone was laid by the Rev. William Creighton, D.D., of Tarrytown, and on May 29, 1853, the building was opened for publie worship by the Rev. William H. MeVickar. Some time after a rectory was built on land adjoin- ing the church, which was given by the Rev. John MeVickar, D.D. The parish was incorporated in Angust, 1858, under the title of " The Church of St. Barnabas, Irvington." The church prospered to such a degree that it became necessary to enlarge it. The work was completed in 1864, and on the Feast of St. Barnabas, June HIth, of that year it was conse- crated by Dr. Horatio Potter, bishop of the diocese. Mr. MeViekar remained as rector until the spring of 1867, when he resigned. The Rev. William H. Ben- jamin, of New York (now Dr. Benjamin), was called to succeed him, and entered upon his duties in Au- gust, 1867. The property is ont of debt, and the in- come more than meets the current expenses.

In 1863 the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D. D., so widely known as the rector of St. George's Church, in New York City, bonght the Stephen Coles place on C Street, Irvington, and after renovating the house gave it the name of "Cottage Home," and made it his summer residence. Upon retiring from the active rectorship of St. George's Church he lived here alto- gether, and here, on September 3, 1885, he died.

The Presbyterian Church traces its beginning to the winter of 1854. The first publie meetings were held in a barn on Main Street, upon the premises now owned and occupied by Mrs. William Orton. In the course of a year a stone church edifice was erected on Broadway, and in 1854 the Rev. Charles

K. MeHarg was called, though it was not till 1855 that he was installed as pastor. He resigned in 1864 and was sueceeded by the Rev. John De Witt, now professor in Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio. He entered upon his duties in 1865 and re- mained until 1869. He, in turn, was succeeded by the Rev. Rollin A. Sawyer, D.D., who remained from 1870 until 1879. The present pastor is the Rev. Washington Choate, who was called in 1880. The Presbyterian congregation, having erected a new and larger church edifice in 1868, sold the old one in 1872 to the Roman Catholics. The new church is built of stone and stands on the opposite or west side of Broad- way, a little farther to the north. The church reports a membership of one hundred and six.

The Methodists took steps for the establishment of their church in 1871. They held their first meetings during that year under the care of the Rev. Jndson Swift, in the old public-school building on Broadway. A commodions church edifice was erected on Main Street, which was finished and dedicated in the spring of 1872, under the title of " St. Paul's Method- ist Episcopal Church of Irvington." In 1881 a con- venient parsonage was erected adjacent to the church. The enterprise was largely indebted for its material success to the liberality and efforts of the Harpers, connected with the publishing house of Harper & Brothers, New York, and of the Wendels, of Irving- ton. The thetuations of the population have not allowed a large membership, rarely exceeding forty, and about that number in the Sabbath-school. There have been eight snecessive pastors, most of whom have remained for but one year. The last regular pastor, appointed in 1884, was the Rev. Silas Fitch, A.M. He died suddenly, October 26, 1885, aged seventy-two years.

The Roman Catholics, in 1872, purchased the stone building left by the Presbyterians after the latter had completed their new church edifice, farther north on Broadway. The Rev. Father Patrick McGuire was appointed to the pastoral oversight. The church is reported to have a membership of fourteen hundred.

In 1854 the name of the village was changed from Dearman to Irvington. It was mainly due to the influence of Mr. George D. Morgan and the Hou. Moses II. Grinnell. The former requested the late Governor Morgan, who was then president of the Hudson River Railroad, to permit the name of the railroad station to be called Irvington, and to be so given on the time-table, and the latter requested the Postmaster-General to substitute Irvington, in place of Dearman, as the name of the post-office. It was, of course, gratifying to Mr. Irving in one way, al- though he expressed his regret that so good a neigh- bor as Mr. Dearman should be thus supplanted, and he wrote to Mr. George D. Morgan a modest letter, conveying at onee his thanks and his regrets.

The village was incorporated under the name of Irvington in 1872.

FMG

"WOODCLIFF."

RESIDENCE OF GEORGE D. MORGAN, IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON

P.F. CAST.DEL.WLA.

ARDSLEY

الحمد

LÖP.

LAWOOD.

GUILFORD-HOUSE

HAMPTON - HUTTE

"ARDSLEY."

RESIDENCE OF CYRUS W. FIELD, IRVINGTON-ON-THE-HUDSON.

191

GREENBURGH.

The " Irvington Free Library " was founded in the winter of 1865. Its present number of books is two thousand. It owes its origin to the efforts of Messrs. Frederic E. Phinney, George D. Morgan and John E. Williams.

A new and finely-appointed public-school edifice was erected on F Street in 1872, the land and build- ing costing about forty thousand dollars. The school employs seven teachers.

The village is supplied with water by the Irving- ton Water-Works, completed May 1, 1884. The water is derived from an artesian well six hundred feet deep. The reservoir into which the water is pumped covers an area of almost an acre, and is twenty feet deep. The capacity of the reservoir is eight million gallons, equal to a supply for all the citizensof Irvington for two hundred days. It affords also the most effective pro- tection against tire through- out the village. The amount expended upon the water- works up to May 1, 1885, was $38,162.56.

Many beautiful houses have been erected in the village and around it, with grounds laid out at great expense. The well-kept lawns and gardens, the fine views up and down the Hudson River, and the charming drives, together with the good order main- tained in the place and the generally excellent moral character and habits of the people, render Irvington a very attractive locality in which to find a home.

GILBERT STUART.

It would be impossible to describe in detail all the fine residences and estates for which the neighborhood of Irvington is remarkable. A few of them, however, may be mentioned in passing.

As one leaves the corporate limits of Dobbs Ferry and enters into those of Irvington, a mile and a half south of the village proper, the first large estate to attract the attention is that of Mr. Cyrus W. Field. The domains of this gentleman extend for a consider- able distance northward on the east side of Broad- way, and from that thoroughfare stretch upward to the east, passing over the high ridge already referred to and thence down the other side to the Saw-Mill River Valley. Near the entrance stand some half- dozen cottages, which are rented. Farther up the slope is the large frame house occupied by Mr. D. A. Lindley, the son-in-law of Mr. Field, while still above it is the immense ornate stone edifice erected by Mr.

Field as a residence for his eldest son. Northward of this mansion and below it is the house occupied as a country residence by Mr. Field himself. He is the proprietor here of about five hundred and fifty acres, of which all belong to the one general estate that bears the name of " Ardsley."

Opposite to "Ardsley," and on the west or river side of Broadway, is the estate named "Nuits," for a long time owned and occupied by the late Mr. F. Cottinet. The name is said to have been given by him in compliment to "Nuits," a small town of the Cote d'Or, in France, on the Paris and Lyons Rail- way, of which Mr. Cottinet was a native. This fine, place is entered through a long avenue of maples. The house is situated near the river, and is a large structure of yellow stone, which is said to have

been brought from Nuits, in France, Mr. Cottinet's birth-place. The estatecom. prises about twenty acres, but owing to the absence of occupants for several years past, it is not now in such a condition as it was when the proprietor lived there.

Contiguous to "Nuits," on the north, are the shaded fields and the old family residence of Mr. Alexander Hamilton. This estate con- sists of about eighty-five aeres and bears the name of "Nevis," now historic as the name of the British West India island, e only about twenty square miles alto- gether, upon which Alexan- der Hamilton, of Revolu- tionary renown, was born on January 11, 1757. The estate extends west from Broadway to the Hudson River, and is undoubtedly, next to Sunnyside, rendered famous by Irving, the most interesting spot in this immediate vicin- ity. It was purchased from Stephen B. Tompkins about fifty years ago by the late Colonel James A. Hamilton, the son of General Alexander Hamil- ton, and the father of the present owner. The house is roomy and comfortable and contains various articles historically interesting, such as a picture of General Washington, said to have been painted by Gilbert Stuart, whose head of Washington has ever since been the accepted model. Washington him- self presented the picture to his friend, General Ham- ilton, as a token of his regard. He also presented to him a silver wine cooler, which is still retained as a family heirloom in the Hamilton mansion.

A few hundred yards north of " Nevis " is the mas-

192

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

sive stone house built and occupied by Mr. David Dows as a country residence. It is a two-story edi- fice, and the stone used in erecting it was quarried in the immediate neighborhood, on the property of Mr. Harriman. The situation is exceedingly pleasant, being near the river, toward which the well-kept grounds gradually descend. To a spectator from withont, the most remarkable feature about the house is its great solidity, combined with its great size. It was completed in the summer of 1870, and a short time after, the family moved in. The landed estate consists of abont thirty acres, and the place is known as "Charlton Hall," a name given to it by Mr. Dows in honor of his birth-place, Charlton, Saratoga County, New York.

Adjoining the grounds of Mr. Dows, on the north. is the somewhat smaller but very attractive residence of Mrs. John D. Mairs. The house, as already men- tioned, stands upon the site of the ohl British en- campment in the Revolution. The name of the place is " Lynwood."

The Barney estate, adjoining Lynwood on the north, extends from Broadway to the Hudson River, and is a beautiful domain, with large meadows and lawns and fine trees. The house is of yellow stone, and is commodious and pleasant. There are several cottages, also, on the estate.

Passing north from the Main Street of the village, the first estate of prominence is known as Titlany Park, the property of Mr. Charles L. Titlany. The family residence is an ancient frame house, beanti- fully situated upon an eminence, from which there is an extensive and charming view of the Hudson River and the hills of Rockland County beyond. There are also several cottages on the premises.

Between this place, on the south, and Sunnyside, once the home of Washington Irving, and Willow Brook, the country-seat of Mr. Edward S. Jaffray, just north of Sunnyside Brook and road, the dividing line between Irvington and Tarrytown, is the estate now owned, either in whole or in part, by Mr. James C. Fargo. It was formerly the residence of the Rev. John MeVickar, D.D., professor in Columbia Col- lege, New York. It is an attractive place, with fine shade-trees and an ample view of the river.

residence of the late Mr. John E. Williams, all de- serve a larger notice than the limits of this history will allow.

The enormous stone house erected by Mr. James Cunningham some years ago is a noticeable point of interest in this locality. Its situation is said to be the highest in Irvington, and the view from it is ex- tremely grand. The house, however, is now, as it has been ever since its erection, entirely unoccupied.

Lying nearly between the two estates of the late Mr. Cunningham on the north and of the late Mr. Williams on the south are the fine grounds and resi- dence of Mr. George D. Morgan, a relative of the late Governor Morgan and a long-time neighbor and friend of Washington Irving. Mr. Morgan, with his family, moved into the house he now occupies on April 29, 1853, and a day or two after, Mr. Irving called to give them a welcome to " Dearman," which was the name the village then bore. As already stated, it was largely due to Mr. Morgan's influence that the name of Irvington was substituted for it. The house and its surroundings are indicative at once of taste and comfort.

TARRYTOWN .- About three miles north of Irving- ton, and directly on the dividing line that separates the township of Greenburgh from that of Mount Pleasant, is the village of Tarrytown. It is distant from the Grand Central Depot of the New York Cen- tral and Hudson River Railroad, in New York City, twenty-four and seven-tenths miles, and on the New York City and Northern Railroad it is twenty-one miles from One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street, New York. The Hudson River Railroad enters the village by the river-bank on the west, and the Northern Railroad en- ters it from the opposite side, beyond the high ridge to the east. Tarrytown proper has a population at the present time of about four thousand five hundred, though including North Tarrytown, considered, in fact, a part of it, and the population within the cor- porate limits, the total population would amount prob- ably to about seven thousand.

The origin of the name is doubtful. Everybody knows the facetious etymology given by Washington Irving in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." In ref- erence to the name "Tarry Town," he says: "This name was given, we are told, in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market-days. Be that as it may, I do not vouch for the fact, but merely advert to it, for the sake of being precise and authentic." He thus places this piece of " history " upon the same level with the other historical statements of " the late Diedrick Knickerbocker."

To the cast of Broadway, and occupying elevated situations, there is a succession of beautiful homes that are suggestive of wealth and refinement. Among them may be mentioned Irving Cliff, so called from the fact that the cliff was a favorite resort of Wash- ington Irving for the fine view it commanded. It is now the residence of Mr. Eliphalet Wood, whose stone dwelling-house here is one of large dimensions. The massive, castle-like house of Mr. A. C. Richards, north of it, and the fine residence of Mr. Frederic A well-authenticated tradition says that there was a kindred saying, but of even stronger import, enr- rent among the housewives of the adjacent country, to the effect that the place ought to be called "Tarry W. Guiteau, affording a noble view of the river, and also that of Mr. J. II. Whitehouse and of Mr. E. C. Gregory, on the south, and the tasteful residence of Mr. William Barton, farther up Broadway, once the | Town," because their husbands went down there on

"RIDGEVIEW,"

IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON. RESIDENCE OF MR. A. C. RICHARDS.

RESIDENCE OF F. W. GUITEAU, IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON, N. Y.

193

GREENBURGH.

inarket-days, when the sloops sailed to New York, and stayed at the tavern till they got back. But this saying, as a matter of "history," has about the same value as the previous one just quoted.

Another etymology is given in Bolton's History, Volume I., page 294, where it is said : "Tarwetown, the old orthography of the Dutch word tarwe (wheat) ' the wheat town,' probably so called from the abun- dant culture of that grain in this vicinity." It is true, tarwe "is the old orthography of the Dutch word for wheat," and it is also the orthography at the present time. But there is no evidence that the place was ever famous or even remarkable for the culture of wheat, and it is very doubtful whether the name "Tarry Town " was given to it before the Dutch surren- dered the colony to the English. The name seems to have been given to it at some time after 1754. For David Williams, one of the captors of Andre, only about seven months before his death, August 2, 1831, while dictating an account of his life, said: "I was born in Tarrytown, then called Philipse's Manor, Westchester County, New York, October 21, 1754." According to him, theu, the place in 1754 was called Philipse's Manor, and the name "Tarry Town " was given to it at a later date. This statement of Mr. Williams agrees perfectly with the original manu- script minute-book of the "Town Clark for the Manor of Philipsburgh," from April, 1742, to April, 1779, in which there is no inention in the recorded minutes, from the beginning until 1778, of any such place as Tarrytown. In the record of " a town-meet- ing held as usual on the Manor the seventh day of April, 1778, and in the second year of our Indepency," (for Independency), the name of Tarrytown occurs for the first time, but spelled with one r. In the list of officers elected is the following : "George Monson, Overseer of Road In Tary Town." The name oc- curs three times after this, and in each case spelled with two r's, twice in 1779 and once in 1783. Else- where the place is always spoken of as Philipse's Manor or the Manor of Philipsburgh.

Perhaps there is a clue to the mystery of its origin in the fact that there is in the county clerk's office at White Plains the record of a deed conveying land at "Old Yonkers," adjoining "George's Point," from John Tarry to Jacobus Van Cortlandt in 1693. It is stated in the deed that John Tarry came from Long Island, and the records of the old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow show very decisively that there were intimate relations between the settlements at Tarrytown and along the Lower Hudson and those on Long Island, and also much moving to and fro and intercommunication with each other. In the rec- ord of marriages, for instance, beginning with Octo- ber 30, 1698 there are on two pages no less than six cases where one or the other of the parties married had removed from Long Island. That the name Tarry was quite common on Long Island is sufficiently indicated by the fact that in the book of military re- ii .- 19

turns for the Revolution, published by the State of New York, Volume I., page 61, the following return is given for Suffolk County, Long Island : 1

"List of men in Captain Josiah Lupton's Company, [Associations, etc., 30 : 178, 179.]

"Corporal, Isaiah Tarry. John Tarry, at ye wading River.

John Tarry, at yo Bateing Hollow. David Tarry, Jun.

Further ou in the same volume, page 179, there is a return for the "Philipsburgh Companies," including one from "Terrytown;" the name spelled with an e, and not with an a, a fact to be referred to hereafter. The same orthography occurs in the petition of Ste- phen Hogeboom to the " Honorable Convention of the State of New York," quoted on a later page, in which he says, "the navigation of the Hudson River was obstructed by two ships of war of the King of Great Britain sailing up as far as Terrytown." This substi- tution of the e for the a often occurs in old doch- ments. The record stands thus :

Philipsburgh Companies. [Military ret., 26 : 140.]

" Sir, we send you a list of the officers chosen on the Manor of Phil- ipsburgh in the County of West Chester, in the room of those who do decline :

" For Terry Town Company. East Company.

Gload Reqna, Captain. Benjamin Vermilya, Captain.

Cornelius Vantassel, Second Lient. Gilbart Dean, First Lieut.

Sibonrt Acker, Ensign. William Fushie, Second Do.

"Upper Company.

Jonas Arsor, Second Lientenant.

" We have likewise returned yon the commissions of those who do decline.

George Comb, Joseph Young, James llammond.

" Philipsburgh, October 23, 1775."

It should be remembered here that in the orthog- raphy of those early days the @ and the e, in both common and proper names, were very often inter- changed. Thus, we have the same name spelled Van Wart, Van Waert, Van Weert and Van Wert. Some- times a man's name is given as Acker and , some- times as Ecker. So we have to designate the same person Ackerman and Eckerman, Sec, Sie and Zie, Buys and Boyce, Juel and Jewel, Taller and Teller, Jurekse, Yerks and Yurkse. So, too, the name of the river is given as the Brunx and the Bronx. It is not surprising, then, to find a similar variation in the name of the place and to read at one time " Tarry Town," at another "Terry Town," as in the military return above. In the old town clerk's book of Mount Pleasant, about 1801 and later, occurs several times the name of George Terry, as overseer of the road, and as furnishing day's works on the road. It would not be strange if he were a descendant of the Tarrys or Terrys, from whom, by some connection that does not now lie upon the surface, the village of

1 The title of the two volumes containing these military returns is : "Calender of Historical Manuscripts, relating to the War of the Revo- lution, in the office of the Secretary of State, Albany, N. Y. Vol. 1. and II. Albany : Weed, Parsons, & Company, Printers. 1868."

194

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Tarrytown took its name. Such an origin seems much more probable than that facetiously given by Mr. Irving or that more seriously offered in Bolton's his- tory of the county.

TARRYTOWN FROM THE HUDSON.1

The situation of Tarrytown, on the east side of the Hudson, and at the point of its greatest width, known

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 44

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