History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 91

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 91

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).

Private Bartlett G. Pollard, died in service.

Private Jolin Valentine, killed in action.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Private Joseph Conklin, killed in action.

Private John Boice, killed in action.

Private James Cummings, died in service.

ANTHONY'S NOSE .- Located in the extreme north - western corner of the town is the promontory known as Anthony's Nose, which is over one thousand feet high, and is the most elevated point in Westchester County. Its name was given to it before the Revo- lution, doubtless from its fancied resemblance to a hnman nose, and in honor of St. Anthony. In Revo- lutionary times a boom and chaiu was extended across the Hudson River from the Nose to Fort Montgomery, by the Americans, with the design of preventing the passage of British ships up the river. The manufacture and placing in position of this eliain cost seventy thousand pounds sterling, and are said to have exhausted the Continental treasury. Absolutely no benefit was derived from it. Twice it broke from its own weight, and, at the tinie of the capture of Forts Clinton and Montgomery, by the British, in October, 1777, it broke like a pipe-stem when struck by the foremost vessel of the English fleet. Two redoubts were ereeted on the summit of the mountain, at a short distance from each other, to assist in preventing the passage up the river of the enemy's vessels. A tunnel has been constructed through the base of the mountain by the Hudson River Railroad.

A hum-drum reason for the name of Anthony's Nose has been given above. According to the vera- cious historian, Diedrich Knickerbocker, however, the name was given in memory of a very startling and wonderful occurrence. The story, given in his own inimitable style, is as follows :

"And now I am going to tell a fact, which I doubt much my readers will hesitate to believe ; but if they do, they are welcome not to believe a word in this whole history, for nothing which it contains is more true. It must be known then that the nose of Antony the Trumpeter was of a very lusty size, strutting boldly from his countenance like a mountain of Golconda ; being sumptuously bedecked with rubies and other precious stones,-the true regalia of a king of good fellows, which jolly Baechus grants to all who bouse it heartily at the flagon. Now thus it happened, that bright and early in the morning, the good Antony, having washed his burly visage, was leaning over the quarter railing of the galley, contemplating it in the glassy wave below. Just at this moment the illus- trious sun, breaking in all its splendor from behind a high bluff of the Highlands, did dart one of his most potent beams full upon the refulgent nose of the sounder of brass-the reflection of which shot straight- way down, hissing-hot, into the water, and killed a mighty sturgeon that was sporting beside the vessel. This huge monster, being with infinite labor hoisted on board, furnished a luxurious repast to all the crew, being accounted of excellent flavor, excepting about the wound, where it smacked a little of brimstone ;

and this, on my veracity, was the first time that ever sturgeon was eaten in these parts by Christian peo- ple.

" When this astonishing miracle came to be known to Peter Stuyvesant, and that he tasted of the un- known fish, he, as may well be supposed, marveled exceeding ; and as a monument thereof, he gave the name of Anthony's Nose to a stout promontory in the neighborhood ; and it has continued to be called An- thony's Nose ever since that time."

ROA HOOK .- On the opposite side of Annsville Creek at the point known as Roa or Roay and formerly Roya Hook, stood the old Revolutionary Fort Inde- pendence. In 1846 and for about three years subse- quently some of the larger boats used to stop at this point. A large hotel had been built there about the same time by Pierre Van Cortlandt, known as the Fort Iudependenee Hotel, and access to the village was furnished by a wooden bridge across the mouth of the ereek, fourteen hundred aud niuety-six feet long. The bridge has long since rotted and been carried away.

The hotel and the old fort have both disappeared, owing to the taking away of a great portion of the valuable gravel of which the hook is composed. The gravel is of a superior quality, and has been used for a top dressing for the walks iu Central Park, New York, and has been taken to other places.

THE STATE MILITARY CAMP .- In the spring of 1882 a committee of offieers of the National Guards of the State of New York were sent out by Governor Alonzo B. Cornell to select a site for a State military encamp- ment, in pursuance of a plan adopted by Adjutant- General Frederiek Townsend. After several sites along the Hudson River had been inspected, the plateau on the northern side of the mouth of Anns- ville Creek was brought to the uotice of the commit- tee, mainly through the efforts of James T. Sutton, and was decided upon as the locality best suited for the eamp. The land thus ehosen consisted of ninety- seven acres belonging to the estate of John McCoy. It was leased for one year, with the privilege of re- newing for two and of purchasing at the end of that time for thirteen thousand dollars. Improvements were then made at very considerable expense. The Twenty-third Regiment was the first to encamp on the property, which it did from July 1 to 8, 1882. The camp was found to work well, and having been repeated for a couple of years with like success, the purchase of the property has been made to the terms of the lease. A traet of land adjoining was rented in 1882, to be used as a rifle range, and its acquisition has also been recommended.

The camp-grounds are elevated about one hundred feet above the river and afford a view to the south which has been declared by Adjutant-General Town- send to be hardly surpassed by any on the Hudson. A neighboring brook has been dammed to make a reservoir, and the water distributed over the

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grounds in pipes. Arrangements have also been made on a large scale for cooking the victuals for the troops. Other improvements have been added at various times, until the camp is well provided with conveniences.

CORTLANDTVILLE .- About two miles north of Peekskill is located a hamlet containing about one hundred inhabitants, known indifferently as Cort- landtville or Van Cortlandtville. This was the origi- nal Peekskill. Within it are located the old and historic Episcopal Church and burying-ground, the Cortlandt Cemetery, the house formerly owned by the Van Cortlandts, a school and a Methodist Church. On the corner of the old Post road and the road leading past the Episcopal Chinreh is a small frame house, now the property of Gardner Hollman, which in Revolutionary times was an inn where the New York and Albany stages halted. In this house is still shown a room in which Major Andre, then a prisoner on his way to West Point, stopped for a short time. The room at that time contained a bar. Andre was offered some refreshment, but refused it. He walked baek and forth, and was observed to shed tears.

GALLOWS HILL .- In the northern part of Cort- landtown is Gallows Hill, so named from the execu- tion there of Edmund Palmer by General Israel Put- nam, on the 17th of August, 1777. Palmer was a Tory of Yorktown, where he had a wife and family, and was well connected. He was captured, as the story is still told in Yorktown, by a party of his neighbors, who were attached to the American cause, headed by Captain Henry Strang. He was charged with robbery and plundering the inhabitants, frighten- ing the women and children and also with being a spy.1 He was tried by a court-martial and senteneed to be hung.

The British general was anxions to secure the safety of Palmer, and sent a note to Putnam de- manding the release of the prisoner, and threatening reprisal in case of refusal. Putnam returned the fol- lowing laconic reply.

" HEADQUARTERS, 7th Angust. 1777.

"SIR: Edmund Palmer, an officer in the enemies service, was taken as a spy lurking within the American lines. He has been tried as a spy, condemned as a spy, and shall be executed as a spy ; and the flag is ordered to depart immediately.

" ISRAEL PUTNAM.

" P. S. He has been accordingly executed."

The tree which was called into service in carrying out the sentence against Palmer stood for a long time afterwards, but eventually rotted away. It is said Palmer met his fate with great fortitude, in the pres- ence of a large number of people who had assembled from far and near to witness the speetaele.

To the region of the hill the American forces re- treated when Peekskill was sacked and burnt by the British, our advaneed gnard being stationed at the

Van Cortlandt house, in the valley below. This old mansion, in which General Pierre Van Cortlandt re- sided until his death, stands back at a little distanee from the road, on the west side, among tall locusts. The house, which has been greatly altered in appear- ance of late years, is of briek, and was built by the Hon. Pierre Van Cortlandt in 1773. This gentleman was, at the outbreak of the Revolution, the principal representative of this old and very distinguished family. President of the Committee of Safety, mem- ber of the First Congress, and one of the framers of the Constitution of the State of York, he, from the commencement of the troubles, was foremost among" those who songht to throw off the British yoke. In 1774 Governor Tryon visited him at his old manor- house on the banks of the Croton, and made him large offers from the government to abandon the American cause: but the proposition was rejected by Mr. Van Cortlandt, although Lord Gage was his cousin, and he was beset on all sides by the solicita- tions of Tory relatives. His eldest son, Philip, ac- cepted a commission in the Continental army in June, 1775, and the family, in consequence, became at once marked objects of persecution by the erown. Their broad lands were laid waste, and they them- selves were forced to fly from their aneient abode, in which they had dwelt peacefully sinee the days of William of Orange, from whom they derived their charter of manorial rule. Through all the long, dark years of the conflict they remained true, although, unlike many of the actors iu the strife, they had nothing personally to gain by its sueeess, while its failure would have been their ntter ruin. This man- sion served as a place of refuge for the family amid the surrounding devastation, and here for a while Washington dwelt with them.

The house was occasionally subject to attack. In the spring of 1777 the British posted themselves on a height a little south of the place; but they were quickly dislodged, and departed, leaving three of their dead on the field.

At another time a band of Tories, under Colonel Fanning, eame to the house. "We are looking for the old rebel," said one of them to Mrs. Beekman. "I am Pierre Van Cortlandt's daughter," answered she, "and it becomes not such as yon to call my father a rebel." She bade them begone.

The Honorable Pierre Van Cortlandt died in May, 1814, at the age of ninety-four. From him the house passed into the possession of his son, Major-General Pierre Van Cortlandt, who, as has already been said, resided in it till his death, in 1848, after which it was sold.

Iu the entrance hall of the manor-house at Croton now hang three curious full-length portraits, which were formerly in the Peekskill mansion. The pictures represent Pierre (afterwards the Lieutenant-Governor) and his brothers, John and Abraham, as children, habited in the costume of the early part of the last

1 Journal of the Provincial Committee of Safety.

T-

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century. John (who died in 1747) is dressed in a long blue coat, knee breeches, scarlet stockings and high- heeled shoes ; Abraham, in a russet brown coat and red stockings ; and Pierre himself, in a scarlet coat and white stockings, with a greyhound by his side, and his right hand resting on a stag. The horns of this animal, one of those that once ran wild in West- chester County, hang beside the picture.

The grounds surrounding are handsomely laid out In a field to the northeast of the house stands a large, finely-formned oak tree, which is said to have been used as a military whipping-post during Revolutionary times.

A few rods above the Van Cortlandt mansion the road splits into two branches, that to the left going over Gallows Hill and the one to the right passing the old church. At the junction of these roads stands the Hallman house, a very old wooden building, once oc- cupied as a tavern, the period of whose erection must long antedate the Revolution. Some little interest is attached to this house. At midnight on the 25th of September, 1780, a wild storm of wind and rain sweeping down through the Highland passes, Major Andre was brought from his place of confinement at South Sa- lem, and, galloping fast through the night, the party having him in charge arrived here carly in the morn- ing, where they halted for a while before proceeding to West Point.

Hard by, on the summit of aknoll overlooking the road, stands the little Episcopal Church of St. Pe- ter's, a mere barn-like structure of wood, erected in 1767, and now, in spite of repairs, fast going to deeay. The centenary anniversary of the building of this church was celebrated on the 9th of August, 1867. Fron a little pamphlet published on the occasion, containing extracts from the parish register, it ap- pears that the Revolution makes a gap in the records of the church, the last vestry meeting prior to that event being held September 18, 1775, and the next on April 5, 1790, nearly eight years after the close of the war.

This silence of the records during that long period tells, more forcibly than any entries in them could have told, of the troubles of those gloomy times. The sufferings of the poor inhabitants of the country' around, the almost utter disorganization that society itselfhad fallen into, left little time to attend to the affairs of the church. Beverly Robinson endowed the united parishes of St. Philip's in the Highlands and St. Peter's in the Manor of Cortlandt with a farm of two hundred aeres. This property was afterwards sold under an order of the Court of Chancery, and divid- ed equally between the two churches. The large Bible belonging to the church bears an inscription on a fly- leaf, stating that it was the gift of Susannah Philipse, wife of Beverly Robinson.

In the western part of the church-yard stands the monument marking the grave of John Paulding, the captor of Major Andre, which is mentioned further on.

The landscape of this quiet and secluded valley has undergone but little change since the Revolution- ary days. Standing at twilight in the old church- vard, and looking across at the purple hills, it requires but little exertion of fancy to imagine them covered, as they once were, with gleaming rows of Continen- tal tents. The ploughman on their slopes still occa- sionally turns up some warlike relic, some mute yet eloquent memorial of the days that are gone, remind- ing ns, too, of what was the favorite project of the Brit- ish government throughout the Revolution, namely, the possession of the Highlands, as the master-key by which they could control the navigation of the Hud- son.1

CHURCHES IN CORTLANDTTOWN.

THE REFORMED CHURCH .- Previous to the estab- lishment of a church of their own, the early Dutch settlers of Verplanck's Point and vicinity seem to have worshipped with the congregation of the Re- formed Dutch Church at Philipsburg, or Sleepy Hol- low. According to an entry upon the second church book at Sleepy Hollow, it appears that the inhabit- ants of the Manor of Mr. Cortlandt were "holden to pay and to deliver a legal fourth part yearly, for divine service in the church here at Philipsburgh," the people of Philipsburgh paying the other three- fourths. A list of communicants made shortly after, under the date of April 21, 1717, is as follows: "A continuation of the persons, members, living in the manor of Cortlandt and patent of Captain Dekay and Ryck Abrahamson ; first, Sybout Herricksen Krank- heyt and Geertje his wife, Jan Corne Van Texel and Annentj his wife, Francoy de Paw, Mathys Brower and Marretye his wife, Nathan Beesly and Esther his wife, Catharine Van Texel, wife of Hendrick Lent and Cornelia his wife, William Van Texel and Irynje his wife, Annetje Sybout, wife of Jan Beesly, Maria de Paw, wife of Abram Lent, Aeltje Brower, wife of Jenrisen Wall, Theunis Kranckhyt and Sophye his wife, William Teller and Marietje his wife, Jeremy Gennyss and Annetje his wife, Marietje Blauvelt, wife of Ryck Lent, and Elizabeth, the wife of Corne- lis Michgrelzen."

The original Reformed Dutch Church of Cortlandt- town was located on Montrose Point, on the land which at present belongs to Frederick W. Seward. It was erected about the year 1729 or 1730. The first baptism recorded in the church register is that of Tennis, the son of Hendrick Brouwer and Jannetje Crankheit, which is entered under date of June 3, 1729. Surrounding the church was a farm of one hundred and seventy-two acres, which was held by the consistory of the church simply by permission or lease from James Van Cortlandt, great-grandson of De IFerr Stephans Van Cortlandt, but which, after a long period of peaceable possession, the church

1 Charles A. Campbell, in . Magazine of America i History " for May, 1882.

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came to own according to the law of limitation. In 1835 or 1836 an order was issued by the Court of Chaneery giving the consistory the right to sell this tract of land, and it was subsequently disposed of to Stephen Lent for two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. Through him it came into the posses- sion of various owners.

In 1792 a Rev. Mr. Jackson, who had been sent out by the New York Classis to visit the church at Cortlandtown and report on its condition, stated that he had found that the congregation had lost their church, were diminished in numbers and were greatly scattered. The church was destroyed by fire about the time of Mr. Jackson's visit, and it is prob- able that it is to that event he refers in speaking of the loss of the church. To Mr. Jackson, is due the credit of having done much towards re-establishing the congregation.

On the 31st of March, 1795, James Cockroft, of the city of New York, presented the elders and deacons of the Reformed Dutch Church of the town of Cortlandt with a warranty deed for one acre and a half of land on which to ereet a new church building. The present church, a neat frame edifice, was put up on this piece of ground some time between the years 1795 and 1799. The deed was signed only by James Cockroft. His widow, Lydia Coekroft, who afterwards married Charles White, gave a quit-claim deed to the property December 26, 1799, in order that no elaim of dower might arise thereafter. The elders and deacons of the church mentioned in this instrument were Hercules Lent, Peter Goetelius, Abraham Lent, Martin Post, Richard Sehiggel, Samuel Vessels, John H. Lent and Abraham Montross.

Stephanus Hunt, a son of Josiah Hunt, of Flush- ing, Long Island, became possessor of seven hundred acres of land surrounding the ehureh by purchase from Mrs. White. He was long a prominent member. His son Elias conveyed to the church sixteen acres, inclusive of the one and a half acres already possessed, which they own at present. A cemetery was established in this ground.

The congregation had various pastors to supply them until, in April, 1800, the Rev. William Manly was installed. The succession of pastors since that time have been as follows :

Installed.

Vacated by

April, 1800 .- Rev. Wm. Manly. .

Death.

March 27, 1810 .- Rev. Abraham Hoffman Resig'n.

October 21, 1831 .- Robert Kirkwood .

October 3, 1836 .- Rev. Cornelius Westbrook.

September, 1850 .- Rev. Samuel Lockwood.

August, 1853 .- Rev. John B. Steele.

August, 1859 .- Rev. John St. John

August, 1867 .- Rev. Polhemus Van Wyck. €

August, 1870 .- Rev. John C. Garretson .

August, 1874 .- Rev. John B. Thompson

May 25, 1875 .- Rev. Joseph Alexander Harper. present pastor.

In 1831 the Congregational Church at Peekskill became united to the Reformed Church of Cortlandt- ii .- 35

town, and so continued until 1850, when it became a separate congregation.

A mission was begun at Verplanek's Point by the Rev. John A. Harper in 1876, and for two years services were held in the old school building on the corner of Sixth Street and Broadway. In the year 1878 a little frame building was erected at a cost of two thousand five hundred dollars, which is used at present. In 1883, the last dollar of indebted- ness upon it having been paid, it was dedicated. It is known as "The Free Reformed Church at Ver- planek's."

In 1884 the number of families in both congrega- tion was eighty, and the number of communicants eighty-five. There were two Sabbath-schools, with a total membership of one hundred and twenty-five.

ST. PETER'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH -The first knowl- edge possessed of the endeavor to propagate the Episcopal faith in the town of Cortlandt is derived from the report of the English Society, known as "The Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." From them it is learned that as early as 1744 the Rev. James Wetmore, of Rye, conducted divine service according to the Epis- copal form in the old village of Peekskill. In 1746 Mr. Wetmore wrote that, "as there are great numbers of people in the wilderness northward of Bedford and Westchester who have very little knowledge or sense of religion, Mr. Lamson's labors will be employed to good purpose among them." (Who Mr. Lamson was is not elear.) Mr. Dibble, of Stamford, Conn., officiated in 1761, probably at some private house. He says in a letter, which has been preserved, that he found " no settled teacher of any denomination here, but met several heads of families professors of the Church of England, and many others well dis- posed toward it."

In 1750, Andrew Johnson, a resident of Perth Am- boy, N. J., son-in-law of Stephanus Van Cortlandt, for the sum of five pounds, conveyed to Caleb Hall, Joseph Travis and Pelatiah Hawes six acres of land ly- ing at a place called Peekskill, on the north side of the Crompond road, to be used as a site for a school- house, burying-ground, and a meeting-house or meet- ing-houses for the religious (under the protection of His Majesty) such as the adherents of the Church of England, the Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, or Congregationalists, etc., but for no other purpose. Sixteen years afterwards, in 1766, a church was be- gun, and on the 9th of August, 1767, it was opened and consecrated by the Rev. John Ogilvie, D.D., of New York. Dr. Ogilvie gave the ehureli the name of "St. Peter's Church." This was the same build- ing which is standing at present.

The congregation of St. Peter's Chureli, fearing that the expense of the creetion and maintenance of a house of worship would be too great for them to bear, had " entered into an agreement with the people in the lower end of Philipse's upper patent, in the

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county of Dutchess, to join in the building of St. Peter's Church, and in the subscription for the sup- port of a minister." St. Peter's Church in return, when it should obtain a missionary, was to have him settled for both places, so as to make one congrega- tion of the whole, and the minister was to preach every other Sunday in the house of Jolin Mandeville, in Philipse's patent, about eight miles distant. On the 18th of August, 1770, the people of both places were incorporated as one body by Lieutenant-Gover- nor Cadwallader Colden, of the province of New York, and confirmed in possession of the church, the ground whereon the same was built, and the cemetery be- longing to the same. Beverly Robinson and Charles Moore were constituted wardens of the church and Jeremiah Drake, Caleb Ward, John Johnson, Joshua Nelson, Thomas Davenport and Henry Davenport, vestrymen.

John Doty, a son of Joseph Doty, of New York, and a graduate of King's now (Columbia) College, per- formed divine service as a lay-reader in the church during the summer of 1770, lie being then a student for the ministry. His services were so acceptable that it was resolved to call him to the position of pastor as soon as he should be authorized to perform the office of minister. In 1771, this re- quirement having been fulfilled, he was made rector. In the same year a special charter was granted by Governor Tryon, in virtue of which the church was enabled to hold a glebe of about two hundred acres, presented by Beverly Robinson. This glebe was bounded on the south by the line between West- chester and Putnam (then Dutchess) Counties, and on the other sides by irregular lines. The legal title to this property, however, remained in the hands of Beverly Robinson, and it was confiscated with his other lands on account of his adherence to the Brit- ish cause during the Revolution. The two churches presented a memorial to the Legislature reciting that Beverly Robinson had set apart this property to be their glebe prior to the Revolution, and praying that it might be restored to them. The Legislature there- upon passed an act vesting the title in the churches.

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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 91

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