History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 83

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 83

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I Since the above was written renewed efforts have been made with very hopeful prospects of success.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Alexander McLean, 1876; Rev. James H. Hawxhurst, 1877-78; Rev. Nehemiah O. Lent, 1879-81 ; and, last of all, the Rev. Williamu D. Fero, 1882-85.

In addition to the original cost of the church, sub- sequent alterations and the building of a parsonage involved an expenditure of several thousand dol- lars more. The church in January, 1871, reported to the Conference seventeen members and twenty-seveu probationers. In April, 1884, there were eighty- seven members. The Sabbath-school connected with this church has one hundred scholars and twenty officers.

ST. AUGUSTINE'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHI .- During the building of the Croton Aqueduct through Sing Sing religious services were conducted for the laborers, who were mostly Irish Roman Catholics, by a priest. A plot of ground was purchased on the Post road, and a rude frame building, resembling a barn, was hastily erected, and used as a house of worship. It was situated where now is the lawn of Daniel D. Mangam. It was entirely inadequate to contain the large numbers who attended upon the services, and the sight of the brawny laborers kucel- ing ou the grass outside of the house was one which some of Sing Sing's old residents still remember. It was the intention of the Catholics to establish a cem- etery on the ground about the church, and a couple of bodies were actually interred there, but the trus- tees of the village refused to allow any further burials inside the corporation limits. The property after- wards passed out of the hands of the Catholics, and for several years thereafter there was no mect- ing place in the town for persons of the Catholic faith.

About the year 1844 Father Cummisky, of Phila- delphia, was in Sing Sing and its neighborhood for about six months and held several services. The next priest to enter the field in Sing Sing was the Rev. John Hacket, the pastor of the Roman Catholic Church at Verplanck's Point. The first place of meeting under his auspices was in the house of John O'Brien, located in the angle formed by the junction of Cedar Lane with the Post road. This was about the year 1845 or 1846. Removals were then made successively to a little building on the Post road, le- cated where the foundations of the new Methodist Church have been laid, and formerly used as a Dutch Reformed Church, the Rev. John Alburtes being the minister, to the old Franklin Academy buikling, l'o- cated where the parsonage of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church now stands, to Vance's Hall, on Spring street, near the corner of Main, and to a building on the dock owned by Dr. Benjamin Brand- reth, which is at present used by the Porous Plaster Company ns a store-house. In 1853 Father Hacket bought the lot on which the present Catholic Church stands. He was shortly afterwards settled over a Catholic Church in Tarrytown, in which village he ‹lied in June, 1863. His body was interred on Ver-

planck's Point, beside the church which had witnessed so much of his labors.

The successor to his work in Sing Sing was the Rev. Patrick Phalen, by whom, in 1856, the front portion of the present church was built. Father Phalen was an Irishman by birth, and came to Sing Sing from the Bermuda Island». He was a delicate man, and died while on a trip to the South for the benefit of his health, by taking, it is said, a strong medicine by mis- take.

He was succeeded by the Rev. Edward McGean, who was pastor for five years, and died March 18, 1861, in the thirty-eighth year of his age. Father McGean was born in Downpatrick, County Down, Irelaud, and worked for some time as a mechauic before becoming a priest. He was ordained in America. His death was very sudden, being occasioned by heart-diseasc. During his time the vestry-room and chaucel were added to the church.

Father MeGean was succeeded by the Rev. William MeClellan, who was born in Scotland, May 9, 1816, and was the son of a Presbyterian minister. He was converted to the Catholic faith when sixteen years of age, and three years later entered St. John's College to study for the Roman Catholic ministry. He was pro- fessor of Greek in that institution for four years, and afterwards upon his ordination to the priesthood was placed in charge of the Church of the Transfigura- tion in New York City. St. Augustine's Church in Sing Sing was the next church presided over by him. He died suddenly, of apoplexy, on the 9th of May, 1871. His theological library, which contained about four thousand well-selected volumes, was rich in fine editions of the classies, and the early fathers of the church, passed into the possession of St. Joseph's Provincial Roman Catholic Seminary, in Troy, N. Y. During his incumbency the parsonage, located in the lot adjoining the church on the south, was built. Father Mcclellan was a man of superior intellectual attain- ments and was much beloved.

He was succeeded by Rev. James Hasson, a native of Londonderry, Ireland, who was born February 15, 1821. He received his education in All Hallow's College, Dublin, and was ordained in that country at the age of twenty-five years. Coming to the United States, he served as a brigade chaplain in the War of the Rebellion. After the war he was priest, succes- sively, in St. Stephen's Roman Catholic Church in New York, in the Roman Catholic Churches at Ver- planek's Point and Peekskill, in the Church of the Transfiguration on Mott Street, New York, and in St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church of Sing Sing. He died in Brooklyn, May 28, 1880, having gone to the residence of his nicec, Mrs. John McCormick, after a vain endeavor to recruit his health at the sea- shore. The primary cause of his death was bron- chitis, contracted during the war.

He was succeeded on the 25th of June, 1880, by the present pastor, the Rev. Patrick W. Tandy, an

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Irishman by birth. Father Tandy was educated in this country, finishing his studies in Fordham. He was the first priest in charge of St. Joseph's Provin- cial Seminary, in Troy, New York, where he entered upon the discharge of his duties in November, 1864. After remaining in charge for two years he became an assistant in the Church of the Transfiguration in New York City, and subsequently took charge of a parish in Amenia. From this last place he came to Sing Sing. In 1884 he was assisted by the Rev. James P. Byrnes, a native of Ireland, and educated at Seton Hall, New Jersey He came to Sing Sing from the Church of the Immaculate Conception, on Fourteenth Street, New York City.

In 1884 St. Augustine's Church had approximately. fourteen hundred members and a Sunday-school which was attended by about four hundred scholars. A Young Men's Literary Union was organized in 1880 by Father Tandy, for the literary and social eul- ture of its members, which is in a flourishing condi- tion. There are three sodalities, also established by Father Tandy, the object of which is to promote church work and social intercourse. They are as follows : The Sodality of the Sacred Heart, composed of the young and old of both sexes ; the Sodality of the Children of Mary, composed of young ladies ; and a sodality of boys under eighteen years of age, who are not old enough to become efficient members of the Young Men's Literary Union.

St. Augustine's Church is a modest structure. In the rear of the lot occupied by it is a public school, which was started by Rev. Father William McClellan as a parochial school, but afterwards, by arrangement with the school trustees, was converted into a public school. It is attended by about one hundred and twenty-five children.

ALL SAINTS' P. E. CHURCH .- The following facts concerning the history of All Saints' Church were furnished by the Rev. A. F. Tenney, rector in 1884:

All Saints' Church, in Briar Cliff, in the town of Ossining, near the village of Sing Sing.

The late John D. Ogilby, D.D., a minister of Trin- ity Parish, New York City, and professor of ecclesi- astieal history in the General Theological Seminary in New York, bought and occupied, during the sum- mer months, the property now owned by Charles W. Woolsey, Esq.

He began the construction of a ehapel to provide services for the neighboring people, but died before lie had completed the edifice. The work was finished by Henry McFarlan, Esq., aided by his brother, Mr. Francis McFarlan, and the opening services were held on the 13th of December, 1854.

The following elergymen took part on this occa- sion : The Rev. Dr. Morton, of Philadelphia ; the Rev. Dr. Higbee, of New York ; the Rev. W. H. Wil- liams, of Ridgefield, Connecticut ; the Rev. W. F. Halsey, rector of St. Paul's Church in Sing Sing ; the Rev. A. B. Carter, of Yonkers; and the Rev. Mr.

Johnson, of New Jersey. The Rev. Frederick Ogilby preached the sermon.

The Holy Communion was administered by the Rev. Dr. Creighton, of Tarrytown. At this service the building was entirely furnished. It was built of stone, in Gothie architecture, after a design furnished by an architect of New York, and was a copy of an English chapel.

The interior was finished in pine, oiled and var- nished. All of the windows were of stained glass. A. Beresford Hope, Esq., of England, a friend of Dr. John Ogilby, gave the chancel windows in memory of the founder. The font was given by a lady friend; _ the communion serviee by a family of St. James' Church, in Philadelphia, through the Rev. Dr. Mor- ton. Sir Robert Ogilby gave a sum of money for all the windows, excepting those in the chancel.

The Bible for the desk was given by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The prayer-books, the altar linen and the surplice were also contributed by friends ; also the carpets and the alms-basin. Afterwards a bell was given by friends of Mr. Mulholland, a silver paten by the Brinckerhoff family, a silver chalice by Rev. Dr. Creighton, of Tarrytown, and a lecturn by Mrs. Adrian Knowles, also of the Brinckerhoff family.

Other parts of the interior fittings of the church, except the pews and altar, have been from time to time supplied or renewed by members of the Brinck- erhoff family.

From 1854 until the present time continuous ser- vices have been held in the church, and there never has been any debt incurred by the parish. The build- ing and the work connected with it were offered at one time to St. Paul's parish, in Sing Sing, but the offer was declined. The work was sustained from its beginning until 1874 chiefly by the efforts of the Brinckerhoff family and their relatives. Sinee that date it has been supported by different individuals who have given the larger contributions, and by the regular offerings at the morning service on Sundays. The seats have always been free. Various clergymen were ministers in charge until 1869, among whom were the Rev. A. H. Gesner, Rev. Dr. Stocking, Rev. Reuben Howes, Rev. Mr. Grannis and Rev. Dr. Post.

In 1869 the parish was incorporated under the title of "The Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of All Saints' Church, in the town of Ossining, County of Westchester, New York."

The rectors since the incorporation have been the Rev. Dr. J. B. Gibson, for many years rector of St. John's School in Sing Sing, the Rev. A. H. Gesner and Rev. A. F. Tenney, the present incumbent. The vestry consists of the rector, the wardens and five ves- trymen, whose names are now, 1884, as follows : Ree- tor, the Rev. A. F. Tenney ; Senior Warden, C. C. Clarke, Esq., first vice-president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad ; Junior Warden, Mr. Charles F. Ogilby, of New Brunswick, N. J., a son

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of the founder. The number of communicants is about forty. The Sunday-school has thirty children.

In the winter of 1884 a Sunday-school, long sus- tained at the Scarborough school-house, by the Rog- ers family, became a mission of this parish, thus add- ing about twenty children to the care of the rector.

In 1866 an old farm-house was · purchased, altered and repaired by Miss Harriet McFarlan, with the help of friends, and by her presented to the parish for a rectory. This house was sold in 1882.

Robert Oliver, in 1859, gave to the parish a lot of two acres, east of the church, to be used as a site for a rectory. A house was built upon this property iu 1882, at an expense of nearly four thousand dollars, of wood and stone. The largest contributors to the building fund were C. C. Clarke, Esq., the Brineker- hoff family, President Morton, of Stevens Institute, Hoboken, Miss Patterson, and Mrs. Churchill.

Mr. Charles W. Woolsey, at the same time, besides superintending the construction of the rectory, gave a fund of one thousand dollars, the interest of which is to be used for the care of the rectory.

Mr. Henry W. Brinckerhoff, who died in 1880, also left a legacy of one thousand dollars, to be used as the vestry should determine. In 1882 a stained-glass window was added to the church, on the south side, in memory of Miss Harriet McFarlan, and a handsome oak door to the porch, in memory of Mr. Henry MeFarlan. In 1884 the church was repaired in its interior, and furnished with handsome lamps. The chancel is lighted by a beautiful antique bronze hanging lamp, the gift of Mr. Woolsey, in 1882. It may be said that this little edifice, seating only about one hundred, has always been a great attraction to the people in its vicinity, and to many of the village of Sing Sing, and the work which has been connected with it bids fair to be the nucleus of as fine a rural parish as may be found about the metropo- lis. It has been planted and fostered by earnest and pious people, who have been characterized from the first by sound churchmanship. It has also af- forded a place of worship for the humbler people, who were too far from the village to attend service there. It has drawn from all denominations, and has maintained a liberal and catholic spirit, consis- tent with its peculiar mission.

THE CAMP-MEETING GROUNDS NEAR SING SING. -One of the special attractions for many past years, which this town has presented to a certain class of persons, is the Camp-Meeting Grove, situated about a mile cast of the centre of our village. Under an act of incorporation passed by the Legislature of the State of New York, a meeting was called on the camp-ground, Monday, April 21, 1834, at which timean organization was formed under the title of " The Incor- poration of the Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Camp-Meeting Society." Robert Knowlton and Mar- garet, his wife, on May 1, 1834, deeded eight acres of ground to the trustees, for a consideration of one

thousand two hundred dollars. Some years after- wards David McCord, Jr., and William McCord deeded to the trustees the ground, on which there is a very fine spring of pure water, from which it is said that General Washington was fond of drinking at the time his army was encamped in the valley near by.

April 19, 1867, a second act of incorporation was passed by the Legislature, the society being styled " The Camp-Meeting Association of the M. E. Church of the City of New York." This association now owns the grounds, buildings and all the appurte- nances belonging to the Sing Sing Camp. It was authorized to hold and sell real estate, but not to hold property at any time of more than three hundred thousand dollars in value, and restricting the annual income to a sum not exceeding fifty thousand dollars. The grounds are now nicely fitted up with gravel walks, regular streets and avenues, abundant seats, comfortable cottages and a preachers' house, the front of which is the rostrum or pulpit, from which the preaching is done. When the camp- meeting is in full working order, hundreds of family. tents are erected, great prayer-meeting pavilions are opened, boarding or hotel tents are lined with tables ; grocery, bakery, butchery and barber tents are re- splendent with useful and ornamental garniture. The camp occupies a beautiful grove, which is cheerfully lighted at night, and order and decorum is preserved by an efficient police. The camp-meetings of to-day are mild, aud tame almost to dullness, compared with those which the writer attended here a third of a century ago. Then they were extensively advertised by placards in New York City, several extra steam- boats ran morning and evening trips to bring thousands of all sorts and kinds of men, women and children-good, bad, very bad and indifferent. Hun- dreds of vehicles, of every kind, four and six-horse coaches, whirled through our streets, while songs and hymns were sung, and shonts were fairly howled, to a degree only limited by the utmost powers of the hnman voice. The roadsides were crowded with the surging multitude, and Bedlam and Pandemonium were ontdone in noise and confusion. The country for many miles around ponred in its throngs ; lads and lassies, bachelors and spinsters, the old and infirm helped to swell the vast caravan. It was indeed a gala-day. Acres of neighboring fields and all ad- joining fences were required to tether the countless teams. Peddlers and grog-shops were not wanting to make up the show. The bodies, if not the souls of men, were spiritually revived.

THE WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION has an active branch in this village, with a member- ship of one hundred. The ladies of the Union have made the most strenuous and persistent efforts to sup- press the sale of intoxicating beverages and in re- claiming the victims of intemperance. They now quaintain a free reading-room and a sewing-school,

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which has on its rolls not less than sixty scholars. The Union has about seventy-five members, who have been the means of accomplishing much good.

THE OSSINING BRANCH OF THE AMERICAN SOCI- ETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANI- MALS was organized in this town in the year 1872. It began work with seventeen members. The Branch was chartered March 12, 1883, in order that it could accept auy begnests that should be made to it by its friends. The society maintains an agent, and is quite active in carrying ont its humane intentions.

THE STATE'S PRISONS AT SING SING .- An act of the Legislature, passed March 7, 1824, authorized the building of a new State Prison in the First and Second Senatorial Districts, and appointed commissioners to superintend the same. The present site was selected chiefly on account of its marble-beds, its accessibility by water and its salubrity. On the 14th of May, 1825, one hundred convicts from the Auburn Prison, under the supervision of Captain Elam Lynds, were landed on the grounds from a canal boat in which they were brought. Operations were at once commenced, and in May, 1828, the prison buildings were completed. The main structure, which was built of hewn stone from the marble-quarries, contained six hundred cells. Before the roof was fairly finished it was as- certained that the accommodations were entirely in- adequate, and therefore a fourth story was added, which increased the number of cells to eight hun- dred. In after-years two additions were built, each of one story, so that at the present time there are six stories, and an aggregate of twelve hundred cells. These cells are seven feet in depth, seven in height, and forty-two inches wide, which gives but one hun- dred and seventy-one cubic feet of space for each con- vict. In several hundred of these little cells two convicts are made to share this restricted space. I have known about sixteen huudred convicts to oc- cupy twelve hundred cells.

At the time the prison was built there were but two State Prisons, one at Auburn and one in New York City, the latter being known as the "Newgate." Iu 1828 all the convicts who were in the "Newgate Prison " were removed to the " Mount Pleasant State Prison." which was the official name of what is even now improperly styled the Sing Sing Prison. " The Newgate" was from this date abandoned, and, though still standing, has been turned to a variety of uses.

The usual number of conviets in the prison at this place is fifteen hundred. The much-boasted reform in the financial management of the State Prison at this place, by which it is claimed that from the in- stitution having been conducted at a very considerable loss to the State under former management, it has been made a source of revenue to the State, though the present policy, is, to a great degree, a matter of mere plausibility.

At the time the prison was under the charge of three "inspectors " it fell far short of paying the cost

of its maintenance, in consequence of several cir- eumstances which no longer exist. Then there was no inclosing wall-a need that had long been felt, and a thing which had been asked for again and again, but refused. The wall done away with a large number of guards which stood at sentinel stations all over the prison grounds. The removal of the female convicts in 1877, and the dismissal of the whole corps of matrons, was an immense item in the reduction of expenses. To these must be added the difficulty of finding employment for the male convicts. Hundreds of them were kept in idleness, or at employments by the State that would not pay for their support. There are many other causes which could be easily pointed out, that would explain the difference between then and now. I believe, however, the prison is well managed now ; but that it will be a sorry day for the State, aud a sad day for the welfare of the unfortunate convicts, when the "contract system" shall be abolished, and the convicts prevented from learning valuable trades, and earning enough to pay the cost of their maintenance.

The prison for female State convicts was built and ready for occupancy in the year 1840. It is an im- posing marble structure, after the model of a Greck temple, with massive columus, aud stands in a con- spicuous place behind, but above all the other prison buildings. The number of female convicts seldom amounted to more than two hundred. They were re- moved in two companies, May 21, and December 16, 1877, from Sing Sing to the Crow Hill Penitentiary, which is back of the city of Brooklyn.

SING SING AUTHORS AND THEIR WORKS. - This place is not specially noted for its literary prodne- tions. The Rev. Mr. J. Luckey, formerly re ideut Chap- laiu of the State Prisons, wrote and published a book on prison-life at Sing Siug. The Rev. Alexander Watson, one of our oldest and most highly esteemed citizens, is the author of "The American Home Gar- den ; being principles and rules for the culture of vegetables, fruit, flowers and shrubbery. To which are added brief notes of farm crops, with a table of their average products and chemical constituents." New York, Harper & Brothers, 1859, pp. 531, 8vo. three hundred and sixteen figures. The author states in his preface, that " for most of the illustrative draw- ings, which form an important feature of the work, he is indebted to his wife, and has pleasure in acknowl- edging the obligation."

This work was favorably received and regarded as one of considerable merit.

General Aaron Ward made a journey to Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land, in the years 1859 and 1860, and on his return wrote a book with the following title : " Around the Pyramids: being a tour in the Holy Land, and, incidentally, through several Euro- pean countries and portions of Africa, during the years 1859-'60." The preface is dated "Sing Sing, N. Y., January, 1863." The fourth edition was published by

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Carleton, New York, 1865, in a duodecimo of three hundred and nine pages.

The late Rev. James Boxer, former pastor of the Baptist Church of Sing Sing, was the author of a very clever book, written while residing in this place, cn- titled, "Sacred Dramas. 1. Naaman the Syrian ; II. The Finding of Moses; III. Jephtha's Daughter." Crown octavo, pp. 174. Boston : Lee and Shepard, 1875.

The four books above mentioned are all the con- tributions to literature of which our village can boast. The author of this sketch has written a number of inedical cssays, which, in the aggregate, amount to over one thousand octavo pages, none of which have been reprinted in book form.

COURSES OF POPULAR LECTURES,-In the year 1857, through the influence and exertions of the late Mr. James T. Colyer and others, a lecture association was organized, and for a number of succeeding years it supplied the people of Sing Sing with excellent winter courses of lectures. The best talent of the land was procured, including such persons as the Rev. T. Starr King, Revs. Dr. Vinton, Bethune, Henry Ward Beech- er, Hon. Thomas Francis Meagher, Cassins M. Clay, Mr. Whipple, John B. Gough, the poet John G. Saxe, Mr. Wendell Phillips, Professor Youmans and many others.

In 1875, the Baptist Church having incurred a heavy indebtedness by the erection of a new house of worship, the plan of increasing their funds by the profits of winter courses of popular lectures was in- augurated, with general satisfaction to the publie and considerable accessions of funds to the exchequer of the church. These courses have averaged an annual profit of about five hundred dollars. The large audi- ences have thus been treated to the eloquence of most of the best orators of our country.

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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 83

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