History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 68

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 68

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The recent and final opening of the New York City and Northern Railroad, built by Mr. Roberts, and which has a station within his grounds, it is safe to say, would not have occurred if it had not been for his energy and far-sighted policy. It has already been of great advantage to Westchester County.

In a time of great business depression, after the former projectors of the enterprise had failed and portions of the rights of way had reverted to their orig- inal owners, Mr. Roberts undertook the entire work, obtained the rights of way, built the bridges, stations, rolling stock, and, in fact, constructed the road, taking his pay wholly in the securities of the company, which had, and could have no value till the capital invested through his efforts made the enterprise a success.

The end fully justified his judgment and he may well be rewarded with praise for venturing upon what many of his friends thought at the time an extremely hazardous undertaking.

Mr. Roberts was formerly connected with many literary, social and business organizations and corpo- rations, among which were the Union League Club and the Home Life Insurance Company, of which he was an incorporator. He is- at present a trustee of the University of Rochester, and is also a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, of the Down- town Club, and of the Exchange Club of New York City, recently organized.

He is a Republican and during the Civil War was an ardent supporter of the government, sacrificing his whole Southern trade, which was large, for the purpose of maintaining the principles which he so warmly espoused. He is a member and a trustee of the first Baptist Church of Tarrytown, in the Sab- bath-school of which he has been actively engaged

A.BROWN Se

"THE ORCHARDS." RESIDENCE OF LEWIS ROBERTS, TARRYTOWN HEIGHTS, N. Y.

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GREENBURGH.

for years, and the handsome building at present in the possession of the congregation is in a large mea- sure due to his liberality:

Mr. Roberts married, June 7, 1849, Miss Harriet G. Burbank, of Rochester. He has four daughters and three son's.

REMINISCENCES OF TARRYTOWN AND WESTCHES- TER .- In response to a request for his recollections of Westchester County, and especially of Tarrytown and its neighborhood, General Alexander Hamilton, now living in Tarrytown, a grandson of General Alexander Hamilton, of the Revolution, has kindly furnished the following pages. They touch upon many topics of interest, and will be read with avidity by those familiar with the names and localities men- tioned.

"TARRYTOWN-ON-Ilunsox, November 15, 1885.

" Rev. Dr. John A. Todd, Tarrytown :

" Rev. & Dear Sir :- In reply to your flattering request I will state that my earliest recollections of Westchester County are when a child, residing with my grandmother, Mrs. General Alexander Hamilton, at her country-seat, 'The Grange,' near Manhattanville, New York Island, now in New York City, bounded by 7th and 10th Avennes and 140th and 145th Streets, a place of great natural beauties, with extensive views, com- manding the Hudson River, Harlem River, Long Island Sound and its beautiful shores, selected by General Hamilton that he might be a neighbor to his friend, Ilon. Gouverneur Morris. This property is now owned by the family of De Forests, who preserve it in its original state, the house having been very substantially built on a liberal, elegant plan. "In company with my Grandmother, I frequently visited the neigh- bors, all of the old regime. Among them, the family of the celebrated Gouverneur Morris, the steadfast supporter of General Washington and .intimate friend of my grandfather, Alexander Hamilton. Ile was with him in his last hours after being shot by Colonel Aaron Burr, and delivered the funeral oration, rarely equaled in pathos and eloqnenee.

" Ilis widow and her son, Gouverneur, were residing on his estate, which contained upwards of 2000 acres, bounded by Harlem River on the South, East River on the East and running North many miles, and West to the Manor of Fordham.

"Mrs. Morris was the sister of the famons John Randolph, of Roanoke, a gentleman whom I was privileged to know well in my early yonth. lle was very fond of children. Taught me, when a boy of bnt 10 years of age, at Congress Hall, Saratoga Springs, to cut with pen-knife chains of wood and to make Feather Fans, the plumes phicked from numerons flocks of Geese, which then wandered through those valleys, now dotted with palatial residences.

" While this work was going on, he regaled me with rare stories of boyish adventures and exploits, not forgetting the romance of his an- cestress the princess Pocahontas and lier times.

"When the present Gouverneur Morris, their son, was born, in the ad- vanced age of his parents, and a name discussed, his uncle, John Ran- dolph exclaimed, 'Oh call him 'Kutusoff,' after a famous Russian General of that day, as the new-comer was 'cutting off' many expectant heirs in collateral branches.

"The young Morris inherited much of the talent of his father and maternal uncle, but with the traits belonging to his family and all great natures, he coukl not believe in the broad charges made in the will of his Grandfather against the sons of Connecticut as recorded in N. York City, 1762, in words as follows :

"' It is my will and desire that every son of Gouverneur Morris may have the best education that is to be had in England or America. But my express will and directions are, that he be never sent for that purpose to the Colony of Connecticut, lest he should imbibe in his youth that low craft and cunning, so incident to the people of that Country, which is so interwoven with their constitution that all their art cannot disguise it fro.n the world, though many of them, under the sanctified garb of Relig- ion, have endeavored to impose themselves upon the work as honest men. '

"Not observing these injunctions, though his mother had been scru- pulously careful in his education and the intimates he made, the only son of Gouvernenr Morris, in his confidence, had his vast fortune serionsly

impaired by the artsand machinations of some New England Brokers in Wall Street, who were the first to ' water ' Rail Road Stocks, namely, the New Ilaven Rail Road. This 'fashion,' so prevalent in our day, was then held to be a Criminal offense, the perpetrators being compelled to flee the Country.

" While at the Grange I frequently visited the Hon, Robert Morris, of the Manor of Fordham, his wife, sister of Major Popham, of Scarsdale, an Aide to General Washington ; one danghter, Mary, the wife of my uurle, Colonel James A. Hamilton, of Nevis, Dobhs Ferry, Greensburg, West- chester County, N. Y.

" To his son, Colonel Lewis G. Morris, the manager of his estate, a prosperous gentleman, who married Miss Lorillard, I was indebted for many happy hours and vahable Counsels.

"Mr. Robert Morris, his Father, tokl me that the day General Alex- ander Ilamilton was shot by Burr, Mr. Mathew L. Davis, Biographer of Burr, stopped him at the Tontine Building, Wall St. and Water St., New York City, and said, " Robert, Hamilton is a dead man to-day. Ile and Col. Burr went to fight a duel at Weehawken Heights this morning and Burr will kill himu." This proved too true. Burr and his friends were determined to get Ilamilton out of their way.

" Mr. Robert Morris was a gentleman of the old School, of fine Stature, commanding presenee, very stately and dignified, of large experience in the affairs of the Country and the County of Westchester, very high- toned, lond-spoken against the follies of the European Capitals and those of his Countrymen who aped them, universally respected and beloved, as were all his children. One son, Robert, was Mayor of the City of New York, a high honor in those days, an exemplary Magistrate. One James, a distinguished officer of our Navy. One Richard, an influential citizen of New Jersey, his home near Newton, in Sussex Co.

" Lewis G., the youngest mentioned above, was always at the front in the advancement of Fordham and the material interests of Westchester County.

" His daughter Julia was wife of William Indlow, of Claveraek, Col- nmbia County, a public-spirited eitizen ; Mary married Colonel James A. Hamilton my uncle; Fanny, the youngest, was wife of Thomas W. Ind- low, at one time President of New York Life and Trust Company, New York City. All famous for their personal beauty, proudly sustaining the heritage of their great names, and universally beloved for their amiable qualities.

" When I wasa boy, my uncle, James A. Ilamilton, my God Father, not only in name but in deed, bought about 300 acres of land at Dobbs Ferry. The site was Commanding with beautiful views of the noble Hudson up and down the river, but no Trees, except 'One Old Chest- nut ' still standing.

"Mr. Washington Irving had his home near by-' Wolferst's Roost" now 'Sunny Side'-and was a frequent visitor. A nan, for this new home was now discussed. 'Oh,' said Mr. Irving, in his peculiar jocose way, his face wreathed in smiles, 'call it 'Single Tree Ilall." The joke passed around and it was decided to call it ' Nevis' after the Island in the West Indies, the birth-place of Col. Hamilton's Father. Here he erected what was then considered a fine house, and where, with liberal heart and hand, he entertained 'troops of friends,' among them the great men of the day, both of our own and foreign lands, while his intimate neigh- bors were the Cottinets, Sinclair, Constants, Danforths. Shonnard, Creigh- tons and others. Ilis was always a bright, a happy home ; my Annt, his wife, and his lovely daughters, by their rare personal and mental attrac- tions and accomplishments, making every one at ease, and with their father's generous, genial nature, made all visits too short.

" Ile was a very effective speaker, sought for on all public occasions, and an anthority in Westchester. His only son Alexander, a few weeks my junior, and my life-long Companion, in the War of the Rebellion Colonel and aide-de-camp to Major-General Wool, has rebuilt his paternal home, now surrounded by a beautiful grove set out by his father's hand, encasing it in brick, with extensive additions, making it a fitting Deposi- tory for the Treasures of our Grandsire. Ilere may be seen a full length portrait of General Washington by Stuart, and a large solid Silver Tan- kard, both presented by General Washington to General Hamilton ; the Library of General Ilamilton, Portraits of his wife, our Grandmother, Miss Elizabeth Schuyler, fit consort for such a mind, a lady eminent for her charities and Chief Founder of the New York Orphan Asyhim ; many Portraits of her Father's (Major-General Philip Schuyler) family and mementoes presented him and his Son, Colonel James A. Hamilton, who was especially distinguished by General Andrew Jackson, when Presi- dent, to whom, when he was first elected, he acted as Secretary of State, until Martin Van Buren, then Governor of State of New York, conld arrange his affairs to assume the office.

"Colonel Hamilton was then appointed United States District Attor-

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Dey for the Southern District of New York, which was held for many years.

" When he subsequently visited France, he told me upou his return, that he was consulted while in Paris as to the Constitution of United States and points of Law of interest to the new regime of France.

" Colonel llamilton lived to a great age, upwards of 94, and was in- terred in his Family Burial Plot in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where lie the cartlily remains of his wife, three daughters, two sisters and his son- in-law, Col. George R. J. Bowdoin, once aide-de-camp to General Scott, and several Grandchildren.

" A few years before, his eldest brother, Alexander, had attained about the same great age, and subsequently his junior brother, Colonel John Church Hamilton, my Father. He was selected by his mother and brothers as author of the life of Alexander llamilton. He also wrote the History of the Republic and other works of historical value to our Country, aud was employed by a Committee of Congress to edit the Works of Hamilton, the Manuscripts of which had been purchased by Congress frout his mother at the time they purchased Washington's, Madison's and others.

" My Father was the valued friend and Counsellor of Lincoln, Chase, Seward, Lt .- Geu. Scott and General Graut during and after the great War of the Rebellion.

" He, with our dear Mother, sent three sons to the field, all attaining high rank, all severely wounded, while the fourth, a skillful Engineer, built the monitor ' Keokuk,' &c., for our Country's service.

"The youngest brother Laurens, Assistant Treasurer of Saint Luke's llospital, in July, 1858, lost his life at Richmond, Virginia, by an accident, when a member of the 7th Regiment, escorting President Mon- roe's remains to their last home. My Father also died within three weeks of his Ninetieth Year, July 23, 1882, just nine years after our denr Mother, the light and comfort of our lives, was called to her higher service.

"The last and youngest brother, Philip, died in June, 18$4, aged 82 years-the result of a full. llis vigorous health had promised him his 90th year. lle was au able Lawyer, innch sought Counsel in cases of Admiralty, frequently consulted in Washington by the authorities dur- ing the Rebellion, where I coustantly met him when I was on duty there, particularly at the time, May, Istl, when the Union Army crossed over into Virginia, and 1, a volunteer Aide to Major General Charles W. Sandford, commanding army of occupation, was ordered by Lt .- General Scott to the command of Arlington House, with Sth Regiment N. Y. S. N. Gnard, nuder Colonel Lyons, and Captain Varian's Battery of Light Artillery, where I remained until reli ved by Major-General McDowell, who, when appointed to command the Army of Virginia, mode Arlington House his headquarters. 'Uncle Phil' was a great favorite with all who knew him, withmy brother-in-law, Major General Halleck, general- in-chief, and other distinguished officers of the Arnty and Navy. Hle was netive with Captain Worden, at Brooklyn Navy Yard, in getting the ' Monitor' to sea in March, 1862, and advancing the country's interests. He married the danghter of Hon. Lonis Me Lane, Secretary of Treasury under Gen. Jackson, and he and Anut Rebecca, who most worthily bore this name, lived to mourn the loss of their eldest son, Captain Lonis Mlc- Lane llamilton, who, after serving through the whole war of the Re- belliou in the Regular Army, lost his life in the Indian War under General Custer. Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton, the distinguished spe- cialist in insanity, is their only surviving Son.

" While n boy, with my grandmother at the Grange, ouly 8 miles from the city, usually from Saturday night until Monday morning, the journey being made in an old-fashioned stage which started from the corner of Bayard Street and the Bowery, she frequently toll une anee. elotes of her early days.

"Of her distinguished Father, Major-General Philip Schuyler, who never had justice done him, who, in fact, won the Battle of Saratoga by his masterly engineering feat, destroying und obstructing the ronds from Lake Champlain to Schuylerville, thus depleting and exhausting Burgoyne's Army. When Burgoyne, surrendered und parolel, asked General Schuyler to recommend him to some quiet family in Albany where he conbl find a comfortable home, General Schuyler called up an Aide-de L'ump and toll hun to escort General Burgoyne to a Mrs. Van Rensselaer's. The uide did so and a few days after General Schuyler rode down and welcomed General Burgoyne, though he had destroyed his mills und property, as his guest, entertaining him liberally. Ilis wife being a Miss Van Rensselaer, had taken the hint.

"I visited this Schuyler mansion in August. 1885, the day of General Grant's obsequies, In Albany, -a grundl old house In fair preservation, palatial iu its proportions, magnificent hall awl rooms, with lofty ceil- ings, richly wainscoted, and a singularly rich stalr-euse and rails.

" General Schuyler was an able engineer, a firm, decided soldier, pro verbial for his integrity and expected every man to do hisduty. A strict disciplinarian, he was not popular with the New English sobliers, who recoiled against restraint, as in the War of the Rebellion. It was long before our men submitted to control, our army being an army of minds, not mere machines.

" On one occasion, after breakfast at a tavern, the hostess complainel to General Schuyler that she had lost some silver tea-spoons. The gen- eral told her to give herself no anxiety that he would find them. He ordered all who had breakfasted to return and take their seats at the table. Ile sent for soute straw, cut it in pieces, one for each man pris- ent, and said, 'Now, gentlemen, this lady has lost some spoons ; take each a straw, and he who has the longest will prove to have the spoons. I shall keepone myself.' Each took a straw. The general walked around the table and measured each by his, and, coming to one shorter, he ex- claimed, ' You have the spoons ; you have bitten off your straw ; they were all of the same length.' The culprit, dismayed, surrendered the spoons and was dismissed the service.

"On another occasion his household slaves were guilty of theft. he had a white rooster blackened with charcoal placed in a cellar, and he ordered each slave to desceml siugly, saying that when the guilty one went down the rooster would crow. At length, after several had gone down and returned, n scuffle and fluttering was heard ; the rooster crowed and Mr. Darkey, with blackened hands, came up aud owned the theft, he having caught the rooster to prevent his crowing.

" General Schuyler had his nmny trials, but lighteued his heavy hours by his jokes, as did our Lincoln, he who, at all times, declarel God's Iloly Word the Rock on which he founded what he did, lenving a monumental umue that shall endure unto eternity.

"On many occasions I visited Mr. Washington Irving. I never -hall forget the suriles that illumed his genial face as he told amusing anec- (lotes. lle delighted in having young people about him, and, as the life-long friend of my mother, he and the poet, Fitzgreene Ilalleck, his intimate friend, being among her beaux, he always welcomed mue. Ile told me of her bright and sparkling ways, so full of grace and life. lle used to delight in walks with her to the Battery, then, and until quite in my mauhood, the fashionable resort of New York citizens ; for, until 1850, the dwellings about Bowling Green and those facing the beautiful harbor were the residences of New York's first families. He told me how he used to walk with mother to the 'Kissing Bridge, then Broadway nud Canal Street, the famous trysting-place of New York's belles and beaux, and guthered wild-tlowers in those green fields upon the banks of the strenm, or watched the tiny fish darting about as they threw them crumbs, delighting to recur to those pleasures in which his pure nature dwelt even until his last hours.

" He told me once, when sitting by his side at ' Wolfert's Roost,' that when he was in London, Forrest, the tragedian, first made his appear- unce there ; that the people flocked to the theatre to see the great wouder; his magnificent appearance and his steutorian Inngs were some- thing new. That they went to see him in crowds ns they would a 'Grand Animal.' Forrest, a poor boy, was a protege of my nucle, Colonel James A. Hamilton, who, with Mr. sumnel Gouverneur and Mr. Price, at one tinte postmasters in New York, and other gentle- men, erected the Bowery Theatre.

"On une occasion, my uncle and his family being in Europe, I went up on the steamboat ' Telegraph, ' Captain Odell, to look after ' Nevis, ' and on bonrd of the boat were Mr. John Jacob Astor and his servant ailing up to visit Mr. Irving. There being no carriage for him at the Doble Ferry Landing, I conveyed him to Mr. Irving's, where a most hearty welcome greeted Mr. Astor and a kimlly invitation detained me. Mr. Astor was mich attached to Mr. Irving aud wade him a substantial re- membrance in his will, and with Mr. Irving's counsel fouwled and endowed 'The Astor Library.'

"A day or two after this I took a taudem drive with my nucle's horses traiuel to this manver of driving. From loug rest they were very spirited, and driving ont without attendant towards Tarrytown, Mr. Irving aud his nieces drove ont of their lane with his favorite white horse, just as I approachel. Hle cheered me as I came by him and cracked his whip in thoughtless glee. My hopes started and I lind all 1 conbl do to guble them ; to check them In their speed I found was beyond my strength. At length, as I approached the black-uuth shop opposite Squire See - store, at the junction of Whiteplains, Sleepy Hollow aud Albauy Post Ronl, where they were accustomed to be shod, they slackened their speed and aml I drove them into the shop. Larry and Bob recovered from their excitement at Mr. Irving's joke. He sovu after rode up, auxious lest his merriment had Injured me, though he su.l while he feared I was endangered, he saw I retained my self-possession.

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"A very aged gentleman, a Mr. Lyons, then residing on Bedford Road, near 'Mile Square,' wow Armonck, told me, many years since, that when a boy, Andre, just before his capture by Paulding, Williams and Van Wart, stopped at a Mr. See's, ou Sleepy Hollow Road, and asked for a drink. That Andre dismounted, and he took his horse to water, a Sorrel Roan, with burs in its mane and tail, Andre having 'made a swap' in the field, leaving his weary horse and taking this one. 'All is fair in love and war,' but fatal to a spy.

" Washington's pen has left his record of the captors' great service to their country.

"Only the grateful hearts of their conntrymen and posterity and all lovers of freedom can fill the measure of their fame.

" Not long after this, through the encouragement of my dear mother and cousin Eliza, eldest daughter of Colonel James A. Ilamilton, a lady of remarkable attractions, mentally and socially, one of the originators of the Mt. Vernon Association, which preserved to our country the home and burial-place of our Washington, wife of Colonel George L. Schuyler, Aide de camp to General Wool in the War of the Rebellion, a gentleman of rare kindliness of heart and generous nature, I was induced to com- pose several "Dramas." One, the tragedy of "Thomas A. Becket," met the approval of the poets Fitz Green Halleck, General George P. Morris, of the New York Mirror and Home Journal, and Lewis Gaylord Clark, of the Knickerbocker Magazine, for which I wrote some trifling pieces.

Here in Tarrytown, the home of so many of my early days, I find, among kind friends of my youth, a repose after an anxious and event- ful life, guided and guarded through all by a Merciful Providence.

"Respectfully, " ALEXANDER HAMILTON."

CHAPTER III.

MOUNT PLEASANT.

BY REV. JOHN A. TODD, D.D., Pastor of the Second Reformed Church, Tarrytown.

THE township of Mount Pleasant is a division of Westchester County, fronting for about three miles upon the Hudson River from Tarrytown toward the north, but widening out into much ampler dimen- sions as it leaves the river and extends into the inte- rior of the county. Its southwestern point, at Tarry- town, is about twenty-five miles by the Hudson River Railroad from the Grand Central Depot in New York City. As its name would indicate, it is a hilly region of variegated aspect, characterized by woodland, cul- tivated valley farıns, and small fertile plains in pleas- ant contiguity and proportion ..

It was erected into a township by the Legislature of the State on March 7, 17SS, but its territorial lim- its were somewhat abridged when the Legislature erected its northwestern portion, along the Hudson River, into the new and separate towuship of Ossining, on May 2, 1845. As now constituted, it is bounded on the west by the Hudson River and the township of Ossining, on the north by Ossining, New Castle and North Castle, on the east by North Castle, and on the south by Greenburgh. It was embraced

among the several purchases made from the Indians by Frederick Philipse, beginning in 1680, and it com- prised a part of the original Manor of Philipsburgh, established by royal letters patent, issucd to Fred- erick Philipse under date of June 12, 1693.1

In the early part of the year 1680, the Indian Sachem Ghoharius, in connection with his brother Weskora, sold to Frederick Philipse a tract of land lying on each side of the Pocantico River, extending along its entire course from its source to the Hudson River, and upon each side of the Pocantico a distance of four hundred rods. The royal charter gives as the date of this transaction October 24, 1680, but it is shown to have occurred in the early part of the . year by the fact that the transfer was ratified at Fort James, in New York City, by Sir Edmund Andros, the Governor of the province, on April 1, 1680. The Governor's ratification was given in the following terms :

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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 68

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