History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 70

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 70

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Previous to 1835, there was not even the nucleus of a village where North Tarrytown now stands. By 1840, however, it had made quite a little beginning, though its growth was exceedingly slow. But about the time wheu the Hudson River Railroad was com- pleted to Tarrytown, in 1850, thus opening a new and more rapid communication with New York City, North Tarrytown received a marked impulse, and thenceforward continued to grow. The Lev. George Rockwell, already quoted, in referring to this period, says : " Mrs. Beekman died about that time, and her extensive farm, stretching along the Hudson River for nearly two miles, I think, and perhaps a mile wide at some points, was put into market and sold in par- cels. The old farmers generally, and I know my father thought the land brought a price far beyond its value. But they did not foresee how near New York was to come to Tarrytown in a few years."

In this present year, 1886, North Tarrytown has a population probably of nearly three thousand souls. It had a population of two thousand six hundred and eighty-four by the last census, six years ago, and it has had since then a manifest increase, which gives promise of continuing in the future.

INCORPORATION OF NORTH TARRYTOWN .- A pub- lic meeting of the citizens of North Tarrytown was held on May 6, 1873, at which it was decided by a large majority that measures should be taken to incor- porate the village. A committee, consisting of seveu gentlemen, was appointed to carry out the wishes of the people. An election was ordered to be held on May 20, 1874, with a view to ascertain the public sen- timent and preference iu regard to the corporate limits

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proposed. Before that date arrived, however, an in- junction was issued by the Supreme Court, the effect of which was to prevent the election from taking place at the time appointed. This injunction, after argument, was at length dissolved, and the causes of delay having becu removed, the elcetion was finally held on December 17, 1874. The result was over- whelmingly in favor of the plan prepared, the vote standing three hundred and four in favor of incorpora- tion and ninety-two against it. On March 16, 1875, Josiah F. Kendall, Esq., was elected the first presi- dent of North Tarrytown.

FIRE DEPARTMENT .- On July 17, 1876, a petition was presented to the board of trustees, asking that a fire patrol be organized for the village. The presi- dent having been authorized by the board, proceeded on August 7, 1876, to appoint twenty men to act as a fire patrol for North Tarrytown. This company having taken the necessary steps, were duly organized as a fire patrol on September 13, 1876, with J. Oscar Jones as captain.

For further protection in case of fire, the board of trustces, on September 23, 1878, resolved that a hook- and-ladder company be organized and cquipped for service. The " Pocantico Hook-and-Ladder Company, No. 1," was accordingly formed on September 30, 1878, and the requisite number of officers were chosen. Matthew Glenn was elected foreman.

THE CHURCHES .- There are six church edifices within the corporate limits, though one of them is not often used. It is the famous old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, which is preserved as a relic and memorial of the past. Its history is full of interest, and deserves a larger commemoration than the limits appointed for this record will allow.

It is much to be regretted that there are no data which enable us to fix the exact year either when the church cdifice was built or when the ecclesiastical body was organized. In the old minutes of the church, which, however, do not go back beyond No- vember 3, 1715, translated from Dnteh into English by Jacob Brinkerhoff, in 1876, there is a reference to Margaretta Hardenbroek Philipse, the first wife of Frederick Philipse, as a benefactress of the church and congregation, and thanks are expressed for what she had donc in their behalf. The precise date of her death is not known, but two things are quite certain : She was alive in 1679,1 and Frederick Philipse mar- ried his second wife, Catherine Van Cortlandt in 1692. The first wife, Margaretta, must have died therefore, be- tween these two dates, probably not later than 1690. As the service for which the congregation expressed its gratitude must have been rendered by her before that time, it is clear that the congregation itself must also have previously existed.

The church record further says. "To show in what manner these first Christians seemed to have lived

there in heathenism or among heathen, as true Chris- tians, they " thought it very necessary to meet together on the Lord's day at a convenient place to pray to God with the whole heart, and to praise and bless him with psalnis and hymns." This state of things, without a minister, seems to have continued till 1697, when the congregation, already having some organized existence, obtained the services of the Rev. Guillaume Bartholf three or four times a year. It is stated distinctly in the record that he agreed to come "in accordance with the prayer of the inhabitants and congregation of Philipsburgh, A.D. 1697." This shows the congregation to have existed as sueli before 1697, though without a regular minister, and lends some probability to the local tradition that the church was ereeted in the same year in which the bell was ordered and cast in Amsterdam,-that is, in 1685; for on the bell are cast the words: " Amsterdam, 1685, ' Si Deus pro nobis quis contra nos ?'" "If God be for us, who can be against us?" The inscription was peculiarly appropriate to the condition of the church and congregation at that time. Living "in the midst of that heathenism," as they expresscd it, it was just the motto they might have been expected to adopt. If the prospeet was discouraging when they looked toward man, it was hopeful when they looked toward God. The very motto on the bell therefore tends to confirm the unvarying tradition that the bell was east to order, and so must have been ordered before 1685.

In his historical discourse delivered in 1866, the Rev. Abel T. Stewart (afterwards Dr. Stewart), for fourteen years pastor of the church, who had made himself familiar with all its history and traditions, said: "The bell that still rings out so shrill was cast according to order in Holland in 1685." Bolton says, in the new edition of his history, volume i. page 527 : "The bell of this church was cast to order in Holland and presented by Frederick Philipse." This is the one uniform statement. But how could it have been "cast according to order in 1685," unless the building of the church had either been com- meneed or had been contemplated at or before that date? It is incredible that the bell should have been east "according to order in 1685," and that the church should never have been built until fourteen years afterwards, in 1699. As Frederick Philipse re- ceived from the King his royal grant to buy and to hold land from the Indians in 1680, it would have given him a period of five years in which to prepare the way for the building of the church. It is a ques- tion, however, whether he did not have a foothold in the place, as many other settlers certainly had, living or trading among the Indians a good while before the date of his actual purchase under the grant of the King. Washington Irving gave as the date of the erection of " Wolfert's Roost," 1656. Brodhead says in his history that permanent agricultural colo- nization was begun along the Hudson River as early

1 See Bolton i. 512.

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as 1623. The site of Yonkers was bought from the Indians in 1639, and De Vries in 1641 was opposed to making war on the Wequaesqueek Indians, who owned and inhabited the country around Tarrytown, because the Dutch settlers were all scattered among them aud their cattle were running wild in the woods.I

As may be scen in the account of the Old Dutch Church-yard furnished by the careful and painstaking superintendent of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, who now has that yard in charge, it is believed, judging from the best data that can be obtained, that the inter- ments in the Old Dutch Church-yard began between 1645 and 1655. This would agree with the date which Mr. Irving assigned to the erection of " Wol- fert's Roost " in 1656. How long was the grave-yard set apart to its purpose before the erection of the church? If we say that the church was not built until 1699, it would lengtheu out the period on this computation to about fifty years or more. But even taking the statement that Frederick Philipse did not begin to purchase from the Indians under the royal grant until 1680, and assuming that the church was not built until 1699, it involves the astonish- ing and alınost incredible con- sequence that nineteen years passed away after his first purchase before he built the church. This can hardly be reconciled with the vote of thanks adopted by the church and congregation and recorded on their minutes to the "Hon. Lord" Philipse, in connection with his first wife, Margaretta, who must have died before 1692 (when he married for his second wife Catharine Van Cortlandt), for the many blessings enjoyed by the church through their instru- mentality.

On several occasions, one of which is referred to by the Rev. Dr. Stewart in his Historical Discourse, it has been found necessary to take up the church floor in order to make repairs. At such times an opportu- nity has been afforded to look into the crypt below, and it is said that there are, or were, coffins there bearing dates as far back as between 1650 and 1660. In an- swer to his inquiry, the writer has been favored with a statement by Mrs. Pierre Van Cortlandt, mistress of the Van Cortlandt Manor-House at Croton Land- ing, which is of peculiar interest in counection with this inquiry. Referring to a statement made by

General Van Cortlandt, father of her late husband, Col. Van Cortlandt, she says : " When General Pierre Van Cortlandt was living, he told me that there were several coffins under the church bearing old dates, and, as near as I can recall it, one which he saw of a child, covered with green eloth or baize, and the date in brass-headed nails, somewhere among the fifties,"- that is, between 1650 and 1660. This fact, about which there can be no question, leuds support to the idea of earlier dates generally than those so often accepted without examination, and even without thought.

It is true the stone tablet built into the wall on , what is now the front, or west end of the church, men- tions 1699 as the date of its erection, but that tablet is known to have been put there at a comparatively re- cent date, probably not earlier than 1837, when the

OLD DUTCH CHURCH, SLEEPY HOLLOW.

building was renovated and the entrance changed from the south side to the west end toward the road. After diligent inquiry, no one has yet been found who remembers to have seen it over or near the old door on the south side. It has long been thought to be erroncous.

Two faets go to show its recent origin. The first fact is that the inscription is in plain modern English and in English letters. But the old Dutch settlers were very tenacious of the Dutch language. If there was anything in the world that was sacred, it was that. They talked and wrote and read and sang in Dutch. The minister preached in Dutch, and the church records down at least to April 28, 1777, were all kept in Dutch. As far down as September 25, 1785, the ordinances were all administered iu Dutch. On that day the Rev. Stephen Van Voorhees baptized

1 See accountof Wolfert's Roost under Greenburgh.

ii .- 27

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

the little girl, Lovine Hauws, in English, and it raised a small tempest in the congregation. The people were deeply offended, and they hardly con- sidered the child baptized at all. The Rev. Mr. Van Voorhees was a good man and a good preacher, yet he remained here only three years. It is not unlikely that his too decided disposition to substitute the Eng- lish for the Dutch language had a good deal to do with his early removal. With such a tenacious spirit among the people, it is morally certain they would never have tolerated such a thing as an inscription in Eng- lish. Everything else was Dutch, and that would have been Dutch also.

The second fact is that the red bricks around the door on the west end of the church belong evidently to the same mould and set of bricks as those with which the tablet above it is masoned into the wall, and as those with which the old door on the south side, having been closed up, was couverted into a window. No one who examines them can doubt it. But the old south door was closed up and the new west door was opened in 1837. The indications and the probabilities growing out of the eurrent tradi- tions all point to that date as the time when the tablet was put up. Every one knows how casy it is for a mistake to occur in such inscriptions, especially when written long after the event. The writer when in Dublin went to visit the birth-place of Thomas Moore, the Irish poet. Knowing that Moore was born in 1779, he was surprised to read on the white marble tablet, inserted into the front brick wall of the build- ing, this inscription : " In this house, on the 28th of May, 1778, the poet Thomas Moore was born." Ile thereupon went into the house, and asked the pro- prietor how they happened to make that mistake. He said that it was not a mistake, that the inscription was correct, and, in response to the inquiry for a " Life of Thomas Moore," he took down the volume and pro- ceeded to prove it. The volume stated that Thomas Moore was born May 28, 1779! The proprietor frankly owned up, and declared that he could not ac- count for it. He was amazed that he had never noticed the mistake himself. Many similar illustra- tions of the fallibility of tablets might easily be given. We are all familiar with the story of the church building committee, who, desiring to put over the church entrance the inscription, " My house shall be called the house of prayer," referred the stone-cutter, for the sake of exactness, to Matthew xxi: 13, where the passage occurred. They were horrified to find over the door, when the work was donc, the inscrip- tion, " My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."

But the date is not the only doubtful point in the inscription, which altogether reads thus: "Erected and Built by Frederick Philips and Catharine Van Cortlandt his wife, in 1699." Some considerations have already been adduced to show that the church was probably built a number of years before Catha-

rine Van Cortlandt became the second wife of Frederick Philipse, and that excellent lady herself, in her last will and testament, seems to confirm the opinion. In her will, dated 7th January, 1730, she bequcaths the beaker and table-cloth-these are her words copied from the original manuscript will- "in trust to and for the congregation of the Dutch Church, erected at l'hilipsburgh, by my late husband, Fred'k Philipse, dec'd, according to the discipline of the Synod of Dort." According to her, then, it was erected by him, and not by him and her. The phraseology seems to indicate that she had nothing to do with its erection, and there is no record nor documentary evidence of any kind to show that she had. Bolton gives a story, it is truc, about her riding up from New York with her brother on "moonlight nights " to superintend the ercction, but on what authority no one knows. It was a pretty long ride to be taken at night, and why she came up on "moonlight nights" to superintend the work, rather than in the day-time, as one would suppose she would, is not stated. The whole story is very doubt- ful, to say the least. The second Lady Philipse was evidently a noble Christian woman, who did a great deal for the church and the cause of religion after she became the mistress of the manor. She may have aided very largely in completing the church, or in rendering it more comfortable and attractive, but that she, jointly with her husband, erected the church, the facts, so far as we have them, do not show. Her own testimony on that point secms decisive.

The preface to the church minute-book is itself a valuable contribution to the history of the church and of those early tincs, and as it has never been published iu full, it is here given in Mr. Brinkerhoff's translation from the Dutch. It breathes a reverential, pious spirit, such as might be expected from real Christians, But its tone of extreme deference toward the lords and ladies of the Philipse family is specially noteworthy, as indicatiug the grandeur of the feudal lord, and the respectful homage of his tenants and retainers. Both the language and the spirit take ns back for three or four hundred years into the past, and stand in the brondest contrast with the self-reliant individualism and independence of our American citizenship at the present time.

In reading the preface it must be remembered that the church, then ealled " The Christian Church of the Manor of Philipsburgh," had never kept any records of its ecclesiastical affairs up to 1715. It was then de- termined to supply this deficiency, so far as the facts could be " discovered really and truly," and Abraham De Rovicre was chosen to perform the task.

The summary statement just preceding the prefarc, and the preface itself, were probably written by Abraham De Reviere, and adopted by the church au- thorities as correct and proper to be entered upon the records. They are the following, as given in Mr. Brinkerhotl's translation

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" The Minnte-Book of the Christian Church of the Manor of Philips- burgh, comprised in Eight particular books, the last being a summary recapitulation of the preceding Seven Books, with pages noted for the convenience of the gracious reader.

" Book I. Contains tho stated observance of the Word of God and the Iloly Sacraments. Also, the compensation for each service, with the year and date.

" Book 2. Contains the names of the Members of Jesus Christ, who, after a Christian examination, united with the Church and were admit- ted to the table of the Lord.

" Book 3. Contains the names, from year to year, of the Elders and Deacous who have been approved and ordained, as also the year and date, together with the names of tho retiring Elders and Deacons after having served two years.

"Book 4. Contains the names of tho baptized Children, with their respective Parents and Sponsors or witnesses, and also the year and day when baptized.

" Book 5. Contains the names of those who, in tho sight of God and his Church (after heing published three times), were nnited in honorable wedlock, and also the year and day.

" Book 6. In this is noted the expense account, and Receipts of the Deacons, according to a former Resolution, to show the balance in their hands.

"Book 7. In which is (are) noted the receipts and expenses of the Poor fund ; also, to whom and for what expended.

"Book 8. Is the conclusion or Recapitulation of all the preceding books.

". PREFACE to lay before the Gracions reader why and when this Church Record or particular Minute has been made according to the order of the Christian Church and to the satisfaction of all, to wit :

"First. Since in hehalf of his Royal Majesty of England, Scotland. France and Ireland, Defender of the faitli, it has pleased him, about the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1680, to grant, by prerogative, consent and license, to the Hon. Frederick Philips to freely buy, in a certain sale of estate, a certain tract of Land and Valley situate in the County of West- chester, in America, Beginning at Spuyten Duyvels Kill, going North along the River to and on the Kill of Kitchawong, as in the license and patent contained, called Philipshurgh.

"And, further, to show in what manner these first Christians seemed to liave lived there in heathenismi, or among heathen, as true Christians.

" First. Ilaving thought it very necessary to meet together on the Lord's day at a convenient place, to pray to God with the whole heart, and to praise and hless him with Psalmns and Hymns, &c.

" Secondly. It was thought necessary to find a Reformed Minister of the Gospel who would come three or four times a year to preach and ad- minister the Iloly Sacraments, that thus the Church of God may he the better made partakers of the grace of God and the Covenants of the Holy Sacraments according to the Christian Religion of the True Ref. Church. And since the Hon. Servants of the Church find that until this time (be- ing the third day of Nov., A.D. 1715) no minntes have been kept of any Ecclesiastical doings, it was deemed necessary hy ns to record what has been done, as far as we can discover really and truly ; and continue to note down in a book kept for that purpose hy some one of our Members, a servant of Jesus Christ whom wo may deem competent and of suffi- cient knowledge, to note down continnally and truly whatever may come to our notice as matter worthy of record according to truth.

" And, in conclusion, it has also seemed good to your servants to take in hand and complete this small, yet necessary, Resolution, as far as possible, thus to show thankfulness for the many mercies received by your servants (our Parents of hlessed memory), but especially to us, your present servants, and our wives, as from time to time conferred hy your llon, Lord and Father of blessed memory ; as also from your Ilon. Mother of like blessed memory, Lady Margaretta ; as also by your Lord Father's last wedded wife, Lady Catherina ; as also by your right llon. and noble, very wise and provident, our Lordship, Lord Adolphins Philips, for the many benefits done to us, your faithful servants and women servants by various favorable means and good instruction, we therefore pray with all reverence that your Honorable Lordship will re- ceive and accept these onr humble thanks according to our small desert, and we, your honorable, obedient servants, will remain obligated, and will ever be your honorable and very obedient humble servants."

Mr. Brinkerhoff adds,-

" Ilere follows a very brief recapitulation of the design of the several hooks, as we have already noted on Page 3, with only a single additional fact in these words, viz. :

" The very learned and pious Rev. Guilliam Bartholf, Minister of the Gospel at llackensack and Aquackenonk, N. J., has accepted our invi- tation to Minister to us four times a year.

" Book 1. Of Church Minntes. We find in this book a minute of Mr. Abraham D. Reviere that the learned, pious Rev. Guilliam Bartholf has consented, in accordance with the prayer of the first inhabitants and Congregation of Philipshurgh (A. D. 1697), to come here three or four times a year to preach the Iloly Word of God, to teach and to administer the Holy Sacraments, which, by the especial grace of God, have been continued among us to this present date, the 24 of Nov., 1715. And wo have paid the afore-mentioned Minister his Salary, to the satisfaction of both parties, as in duty bonnd. We have also paid Mr. Teunis Van Honten for his services in bringing and returning said Minister to and from llackensack that which was his just due. And we hope that it may please the Almighty and merciful God to grant him a continuance with us for many years.

" In continuation, A. D. 1716. On the 18th and 19th April the Rev. G. Bartholf again performed religious service in this Christian Church, for which hoth he and Tennis Van Houten, who conveyed him to and fro> were both paid satisfactorily according to mntnal agreement. And for all this we are hound to show special thankfulness for the usual liber- ality of the very provident Lady Madame Catherina Philips.

" Book 2. Of Church Minutes. We here note that it las heen Re- solved by common consent between the Inhabitants of Philipsburgli o11 the one part, and the respective Inhabitants of the Manor of Mr. Van Cortlandt, that the afore-mentioned Church shall be hound, without moving any exception against it, to pay and deliver over a just fourth part yearly for the religious service in the Church at Philipsburgh, in order that the Blev. Minister of the lloly Gospel may receive his reward to his entire sitistaction for his faithfully performed services. And, on the other part, the Church of Philipsburgh shall be hound for the other three parts, whereby fully to satisfy the aforesaid Minister for his sor- vices. And they shall henceforth blend together as members of one and same Christian Church, and it shall be so noted down in the Church ' Book of Minutes,' as is right and proper.

"In this 2d Book of Church Minutes, Anno 1697, on the Manor of Philipsburglare noted down the names of all personsrespectively, who, after Christian examination and admonition, have been received as mem- hers of the Church of Jesus Christ, and allowed to appear at the table of the Lord and partake of the Holy Sacrament. First, and before all, the Right Ilon., pious, very wise, provident Lady Catherina Philips, widow of Lord Frederick Philips, who very praiseworthily did here advance the canse of Religion."

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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 70

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