History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 65

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 65

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).

"On my arrival at Tarrytown, I put up at a place purporting to be a Hotel ; but uulike anything I ever before visited ; and God forbid that I should ever ' see the like again.' It was towards sundown when I arrived. My small baggage I took to my lodgings, and coming down, 1 inquired of a young woman, a daughter of 'mine host,' the hour of tea. 'Oh,' said she, ' some time after dark, when the folks come in from picking apples.'

" This answer sounded rather queer and indefinite, but I let it pass. Appearances were much in favor of the house; it was ueat-the beds were comfortable, und everything around had an air of cleanliness. The next morning after breakfast, ' mine host' was repeatinga quarrel which took place between him and a lodger during the night. He said he would not entertain those d -- d Yankees ; he was rich enough to live without keeping a public house, and those who stopped with him must behave themselves and do as he wished them, or he'd kick them ont quicker than they came in. He was, however, very civil to me that day. In the evening, I called on a reverend gentleman, and returned abont nine, when I found the house closed and barred, and not the glimmer of a light to mark the mansion of the living. A few gentle taps, however, brought 'mine host,' in the condition so delicately and so graphically described by Tom (ringle. The door opened, and the mouth of 'mine host' at about the same time, in tones of correspond- ding harmony-(vocal and instrumental)-' What are you out so late for " said he. I made no reply, but took the light from the ' inimdent varlet's ' hand, and made my way to bed. The next morning I arose nt half-past seven, and seeing no indications of approaching breakfast, I sallied forth in pursuit of a barber, which not finding, I returned, and inquired if break- fast wus ready. 'We have been to breakfast,' said the hostess. 'Been to breakfast ! why didn't yon call me, madam?' said I. 'We have other business to attend to without calling folks up to breakfast,' said she. ' Well then,' said I, 'yon may attend to it, give me my bill, if you please, undam.'

"I paid my bill, two shilling and sixpence a meal, including boiled pork and cabbage, and esclusive of any thing else, sare und ercept potatoes, turnips, and onions, in one miscellaneous dish of sahungundi.

" I related my snfferings to the good people of Tarrytown, and excited no little connuiseration, and the most courteous and friendly proffers of kindness and hospitality ; but as I intended lowing town that day, 1 de- «lined the invitations. I found, however, that the host and his house were well known, and that scarce n traveller stopt there without having Amur difficulty with the ignorant booby who pretends to keep u hotel. Indeed, miny travellers go four or tive miles out of the way to avoid stopping at this house. I have related these circumstances for the benefit of your numerous subscribers in this state, and those who muy chance to pass through this place, and hear the name of Smith of the Turry- town hotel."-1.etters about the Hudson, pp. 30 .- 32.

The Martin Smith house is now rented and used as the office and headquarters of Brown, Howard & Co., contractors to build an important section of the new Craton Aqueduet. The long iron bars, the kerosene

barrels, the fragments of machinery and the great four-horse wagons that are seen around the premises, to say nothing of the ragged and dirty Italian labor- ers standing by the doors, are anything but attrae- tive to thic passer-by. But these can be exeused as a transient necessity which will soon be past.

After being in the Smith family for over sixty years, the house, with two and three-fourths aeres of land, was sold under order of John H. Baxter, ref- eree, by partition sale, to Mr. Frederick J. Kalden- berg, in November, 1882. Not long after, Mr. Kal- denberg sold what was formerly the Martin Smith garden to Mr. William L. Wallace, who erected upou it the imposing and commodious building now known as Musie Hall. It was completed in 1886, and is the largest publie hall in the village, being capable of seating twelve hundred persons.

There are other old houses having various points of interest in their history, but they can only be referred to here. They are such as the following : The Dean house, on the southwest corner of Main Street and Broadway, and directly opposite the Martin Smith house. John Dean, already mentioned in connection with those who captured Andre, occupied it in the early post-Revolutionary days as a publie-house, but it was afterwards enlarged by successive additions and finally converted by his son, the late Thomas Dean, into a store and dwelling-house. It was here that he kept, for so many years, the store to which Washington Irving referred in one of his let- ters from Spain, and herc, in the dwelling attached to it, he died on Sunday morning, January 7, 1873. The store is now kept by Mr. Homer R. Frost.

In this same class must be reckoned the Bayles house and place, on the north side of Main Street, at the brow of the hill. The half of the house west of the front-door was built about ninety years ago. The land was part of the premises owned by Jacob Couenhoven, and he conveyed it to Henry Couenlioven by a deed dated July 29, 1799, which specified "a plot of about two and three-fourths acres, with the ab- solute right, liberty and privilege to him, the said Henry Couenhoven, his heirs and assigns, to his and their families, workmen, servants, apprentices, or others whom he or they may authorize and appoint, to pass and repass the footpath leading from the above-described premises to the spring-well adjoin- ing, and to bring from or use the water of the same forever hereafter." The same right, in regard to the spring, was guaranteed to two other property hoklers on the east, in common with Mr. Couenhoven, namely, to William Van Wart and to an old lady known as Grandmother Van Wart, though the two Van Wart families were not related. The spring which was then so highly valued was about in the middle of the lot, near an apple-tree, upon what are now the premises of Mr. Jacob B. Smith, and in the rear of his house on Washington Street. To a thirsty man a drink from that spring was onee like a drink

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of the water of the well of Bethlehem, " which is by the gate," to David; but now the spring is covered over and its deteriorated water is drawn forth for common nses by an insignifieant little pump. The late Nathaniel Bayles bought the house and lot, ou October 5, 1829, of John Beekman, of New York City, administrator of Abraham K. Fish, deceased. Mrs. Catherine B. Fish, widow of Mr. Fish, lived here with her two daughters for some time after her husband's death. In 1840 Mr. Bayles built on the whole of that part east of the present front-door. Previous to that time the door, which is now in the middle of the house, was on the extreme east end and opened into the wide hall, which still remains. Mr. Bayles was a great man to make improvements, and while thus engaged his men, in digging into the shallow earth by the ledge of roeks adjoining the Cliff House property, now owned by Mr. F. J. Kal- denberg, came upon the skeleton of a man, and along with his bones found the metal buttons usually worn by the militia in the Revolution. Abraham Mart-

HON. GEORGE CLINTON.

ling, father of the late Mrs. Julia Storms, then lived aeross the way, in the house now occupied by Dr. John J. Linson. Observing the workmen as they eommeneed, he went over and told Mr. Bayles that they would dig up there the skeleton of a man who was killed during the Revolution by a shot from a British ship of war lying in the river. It turned out as he had predieted. Familiar with the ineidents of that stormy period, he reealled at once an event that had left its deep impression upon his mind. Mr. Bayles was not only fond of making im- provements, but he took a great interest in all publie affairs. His son, Mr. Theodore F. Bayles, who now

owns and occupies his father's house, has kindly al- lowed the writer to examine many manuseript pa- pers of interest that belonged to his father's collection. Among them are autograph letters of Thomas Jeffer- son, George Clinton and Thomas Paine. The letter of the last-named notorious individual is interesting and peculiar, and, as it has never been published, it is here given entire, with the answer of Viee-President George Clinton, to whom it was addressed. It is as follows :

" NEW YORK, BROOME STREET, May 4th, 1807. " Respected Friend :

" Elisha Ward and three or four other Tories, who lived within the british lines in the revolutionary war, got in to be inspectors of the , election last year at New Rochelle. Ward was supervisor. These men refused my vote at the election, saying to me, ' You are not an Ameri- can citizen ; our minister at Paris, Governenr Morris, would not reclaim yon when you were emprisoned in the Luxemburg at Paris, and General Washington refused to do it.' Upon my telling him that the two cases he stated were falsehoods, and that if he did me injustice I would prose- cute him, he got up, and. calling for a constable, said to me, . I will commit you to prison.' He chose, however, to sit down and go no fur- ther with it.

" I have written to Mr. Madison for an attested copy of Mr. Monro's letter to the then Secretary of State, Randolph, in which Mr. Monro gives. the Government an account of his reclaiming me and iny liberation in consequence of it ; and also for an attested copy of Mr. Randolph's an- swer, in which he says: 'The president approves what you have done in the case of Mr. Paine.' The matter, I believe, is, that as I had not been gilliotined, Washington thought best to say what he did. As to Gover- neur Morris, the case is that he did reclaim me ; but his reclamation did me no good, and the probability is, he did not intend it should. Joel Barlow and other Americans in Paris had been in a body to reclaim me, but their application, being unofficial, was not regarded. I then ap- plied to Morris. I shall subpoena Morris, and if I get attested Copies from the secretary of State's office it will prove the lie on the inspectors.

" As it is a new generation that has risen np since the declaration of independence, they know nothing of what the political state of the country was at the time the pamphlet, 'Common Sense,' appeared ; and besides this, there are but few of the old standers left, and none that I know of in this city.

"It may be proper at the trial to bring the mind of the court and the Jury back to the times I am speaking of, and if you see no objec- tion in your way, I wish you would write a letter to some person, stat- ing, from your own knowledge, what the condition of those times were, and the effect which the work 'Common Sense,' and the several nuni- bers of the 'Crisis' had npon the country. It would, I think, be best that the letter should begin directly on the subject in this manner : Being informed that Thomas Paine has been denied his rights of citizen- ship by certain persons acting as inspectors at an election at New Roch- elle, &c.

" I have put the prosecution into the hands of Mr. Riker, district at. torney, who can make use of the letter in his address to the Court and Jury. Your handwriting can be sworn to by persons here, if necessary. Had you been upon the spot, I should have subpoenaed you, unless it had been too inconvenient to you to have attended.

" Yonrs in friendship,

" THOMAS PAINE

Addressed to " GEORGE CLINTON, " Vice- President, " Washington City."

To this letter Viee-President Clinton replied as follows :

"CITY OF WASHINGTON, 12th May, 1807. " Dear Sir :

"I had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 4th instant. yester- day ; agreeably to your Request I have this Day written a letter to Richard Riker, Esquire, which he will show to yon. I doubt much, however, whether the Court will admit to be read as evidence.

"I am indebted to you for a former Letter. I can make no other Apology for not acknowledging it before than inability to give you such

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Tel-

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great

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an Answer as 1 conld wish. 1 constantly keep the subject in Mind, and should any favorable Change take Place in the Sentiments of the Legis- lature, 1 will apprise yon of it.

"I am with great Esteem, " Your sincere Friend, " GEORGE CLINTON."

INTERIOR OF THE TOWNSHIP .- There are two vil- lages or hamlets already referred to in the interior of township, along the Nepperhan River, and on the line of the New York City and Northern Railroad. The first one reached as the traveler moves northward from the city of New York is now known as Ardsley, though until quite recently it bore the name of Ash- ford. It is fifteen miles from One Hundred and Fifty- fifth Street, the southern terminus of the Northern Railroad, and has a population of about two hundred and fifty. The Nepperhan River runs directly through the village, dividing it into two parts, with the larger part on the east bank, but the more growing part prob- ably on the west, as the Ardsley Railroad Station is on that side. The village is pleasantly situated in the Nepperhan Valley, with the hills gradually ascending on either side. It has two grocery stores, four saloons, a post office and several mechanical shops. The only church in the place is the Methodist Episcopal Church. Its edifice was erected in 1855, and the so- ciety incorporated in 1860. The congregation now numbers about one hundred and fifty, with from seventy-five to eighty communicants. Recently the church building has been thoroughly renovated and improved and the church is in a healthful and grow- ing condition. It has had eleven pastors and one supply since the church was organized. The present pastor is the Rev. Harvey C. Earl.

Ardsley was named as a compliment to the magni- ficent estate of Cyrus W. Field, which is in the im- mediate neighborhood.

As the claims of ancient magic are dwarfed into com- muonplace by the wonders of recognized science, so the might of the magician of former times is weakness when compared to that of the man whose power is felt alike under the sea, on the earth and in the air.

Cyrus W. Field, whose name is so closely associated with some of the greatest enterprises of modern times, was born at Stockbridge, Mass., November 30, 1819. Inheriting from his ancestry strong powers of mind and the tenacity of purpose which never abandons an undertaking while the slightest chance of snecess re- mains, he seemed early destined for the accomplish- ment of great aims. Leaving home at the age of fif- teen, he entered a mercantile house in New York and a few years after founded a prosperous establishment of his own. Retiring from business in 1853, he trav- led extensively in South America in company with Mr. Frederic E. Church, the artist.

At the time of his return, a company was engaged in the project of building a line of telegraph across Newfoundland, to connect with a line of fast steam- ers. Mr. Field boldly advanced the plan of extend- ing the cable across the Atlantic, to thus bring the Old

World in close telegraphic connection with the New. This enterprise, which he believed possible, must ever rank him among the foremost men of modern times.

To lay a telegraphic cable across the Atlantic was a task that might well be considered impossible, even by the most enthusiastic believer in the power of sci- ence, assisted by all the facilities of modern art. Yet to this apparently hopeless project Mr. Field devoted all his time and talent, buoyed up, while all others were discouraged, with an inward assurance of ulti- mate success. To give the history of the laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable, with its disappointments and success, would be inappropriate in this place, as it has long been a part of the history of the world. It is enough to say that while this is universally con- sidered the crowning triumph of American enterprise, the credit of its success is justly due to one man, and he is Mr. Field. The innumerable congratulations from all ranks of his fellow-citizens, the unanimous thanks of Congress, the gold medal, and other testi- monials to what was recognized as one of the most remarkable achievements of the nineteenth century, were a well-deserved but inadequate reward for the benefit conferred npon the world and the ceaseless labor aud anxiety of thirteen years. From that time to the present Mr. Field has been identified with ef- forts to extend the telegraphic system throughout the world, aud while thus engaged he has not beeu idle in other directions. The immense growth of the city of New York brought the subject of rapid transit prom inently before the minds of the people, and Mr. Field has devoted nich of his thought and of his capital to the building of the system of elevated railroads, which have supplied a long-felt want and proved an inesti- mable blessing to the city. The dream of the present honr is that electricity will soon supply the place of steam as the motive-power on these roads. In the feasibility of this plan Mr. Field is an enthusiastic be- liever, and in view of what he has accomplished, who shall say that the dream may not prove a glad reality? It is superfluous to say that in all plans of a benevo- lent nature, and enterprises which call upon the pub- lie spirit of citizens to bestow their means to the ac- complishment of good, none are more prompt to re- spond than Mr. Field. Of this a prominent instance is found in the fact that when President Garfield was struck down by the hand of an assassin, and the peo- ple called upon to mourn the loss of their chief mag- istrate, the sum of nearly four hundred thousand dol- lars was raised at his suggestion and securely invested in the bonds of the United States, which effectually placed the bereaved family of the late President in circumstances of comfort and security.

For many years Mr. Field has been an owner of ex- tensive real estate in Westchester County, and Ardsley l'ark, his place of residence, is one of the finest estates in this portion of the country. Embracing more than five hundred acres, it comprises within its limits a great diversity of hill and dale, and the higher points

The Hower Lee Bank, Vole ( V )

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NO. I BROADWAY ERECTED IN 1742,

"THE WASHINGTON BUILDING," NOS. 1, 3 AND 5 BROADWAY. NEW YORK.

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GREENBURGH.

command some of the finest views on the Hudson River. Here the hand of art has supplemented the power of nature, and both have combined to make this estate one of the loveliest features of the country round, and a pleasure alike to the owner and to the beholder who is blessed with a mind which can ap- preciate the picturesque and the beautiful.

The late John E. Williams, who was a highly honor- able citizen of Greenburgh, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, April 28, 1804. He was early trained to the banking business, and after holding various posi- tions in Newport, New Bedford, Tallahassee and Bos- ton, he removed, in 1851, to New York, to take the position of cashier in the Metropolitan Bank. At that tique country bank-notes circulated at a discount iu New York, and the Metropolitian Bank had just been organized to effect the redemption of such notes at lower rates than those exacted by brokers.

Mr. Williams' previous experience in the Suffolk Bank in Boston, peculiarly fitted him to undertake this work, and for several years he waged persistent warfare against those who had been levying a heavy tax on the merchants, and against the banks which had been sending "wild-cat-bills" to New York.

In 1857 he became president of the bank and con- tinued to fill that office till his death.

In the financial panic of 1857 he suggested the plan that the city banks should deposit with a com- mittee a portion of their assets, and that certificates should be issued on the security of such assets guar- anteed by the associate banks, which certificates should be receivable iu the settlement of balances by the banks, until the panic was over. This plan, with some modifications, has been resorted to several times since to allay a panic, and always with satis- factory results. Under Mr. Williams' skillful manage- ment the Metropolitan Bank maintained a high rank among moneyed institutions and he was everywhere recognized as one of the leading bankers in the city. He published several pamphlets on financial topics which had a wide circulation, and were marked by much originality and vigor. At the beginning of the War of the Rebellion he strenuously urged the banks to make loans of money to the government, and at all times gave a hearty support to the war measures of Mr. Lincoln's administration. He was also widely known on account of his active interest in charitable and benevolent works, and especially through his long connection with the Children's Aid Society, of which he was treasurer during the last twenty-five years of his life. The love of giving amounted in him to a passion, and his enthusiastic generosity inspired others to follow his example. While he was treasurer of the Children's Aid Society, more than two million dollars passed through his hauds. All the accounts were inspected by him and all expenditures were subject to his approval.

In his occasional visits to the many Industrial Schools belonging to the society, his genial presence

always carried sympathy and encouragement to the teachers.

Mr. Williams was an ardent believer in the doctrines of the Unitarian faith, and his active support was always given to that denomination. During his resi- dence in New York he was a member of the Church of All Souls.

His conuection with Westchester County began in 1857, when he married and removed to Irvington. His public spirit always prompted him to take au active part in local affairs, and his happy and hospit- able home will long be remembered by the mauy friends he loved to collect under its roof. He died , September 20, 1877, and his remains were interred in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. In an address to the news- boys after the death of Mr. Williams, Mr. William Culleu Bryant said of him: "One virtue was his strict and scrupulous regard for truth. There was not a shadow of a promise that he failed to keep. Truth he held to be the basis of a noble and manly character. He was also strictly just, rendering to every man his proper due. . He was ever the friend of the friendless, the protector of the out- cast. But besides all this, he was a man who walked humbly with his God."

Three miles north of Ardsley is Elmsford, formerly known as Greenburgh and Hall's Corners. It is on the east bank of the Nepperlian River, and on the line of the New York City aud Northern Railroad, eighteen miles from One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street. It is rather a hamlet than a village, with a population such as is usually found in a well-settled country place, It has a post office, a hotel and a depot, at which all the traiusstop in going to and from New York. It is the seat of one of the older churches of the county, which has a history of considerable in- terest. Its records have somehow been lost or de- stroyed, but from the best data attainable it seems to have been organized as far back as 1788, and to have been originally a Congregational Church. It after- wards became Presbyterian, and while in that rela- tion the Rev. Thomas G. Smith, pastor of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, near Tarrytown, supplied the pulpit a part of the Sabbath from 1812 to 1820. It was not until 1850 that it formally entered into its present relatiou as a Reformucd Dutch Church, though it had been that virtually for well-nigh forty years. Since that time it has had a succession of nine pastors, or stated supplies, sometimes jointly with the church at Hastings, at Unionville and at Greenville, and sometimes having the whole service of the incumbent to itself. The congregation is small, being composed of about twenty-two families, and hav- ing less than twenty members in its communion. Its present pastor is the Rev. William E. Turner, who assumed the duties of the office about May 1, 1879, but was not installed by the Classis of Westchester until May 20, 1885.

About thirty-five yards south of the church, across

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the intervening space, between the building and the grave-yard, that used to forin the bed of the old White Plains road, stands the monument erected nearly in the middle of the grave-yard. by the citizens of West- chester County, on June 11, 1829, to honor the mem- ory of Isaac Van Wart. It was completed a little over a year after he died, and the occasion was cele- brated by a large gathering of people near the spot, on the day just mentioned, to whom General Aaron Ward, of Sing Sing, delivered an eloquent address. It is correctly stated in Lossing's "Field-Book of the Revolution," that "Mr. Van Wart was an efficient officer of that church for many years, and acted as chorister up to the time of his death."

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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 65

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