History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 93

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 93

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).

George D. Sanford, president,

Henry H. Lane,

James H. Pbyfe, Paul Wessells, Benjamin McCabe,

Paul Wessells,

Matthew Clune,

Henry H. Lane,

George W. Smitlı,

George D. Sanford,

Leonard J. Tompkins,

Ebenezer F. Bedell,

Matthew Clune, Franklin Concl, clerk, D. F. Clapp, treasurer.

Franklin Couch, clerk,

Dorlin F. Clapp, treasurer.

1883.

1884.

Win. D. Southard, president,

Wm. D. Southard, president, John Ilalsted,

Matthew Clune,

Ebenezer F. Bedell,

Matthew Clune,

George W. Smith, Leonard J. Tompkins,

David G. Montross,

John Halsted,

Win. Brotherton,

Warren Jordan,

Leverett F. Crumb, clerk, Dorlin F. Clapp, treasurer.

Leverett Crumb, clerk,

Dorlin F. Clapp, treasurer.

POINTS OF INTEREST IN PEEKSKILL AND VI- CINITY .- Peekskill in 1884 is a village of over seven thousand people. The streets are broad and well paved and lead into excellent roads. There are numerous fine residences throughout the village. Di- vision Street north of Main Street, Main Street east of Division Street, and Paulding Street are all very handsome strcets.

On the northern side of Main Street, between Union and Hadden Streets, and on the property of John Cokalete, is located a little one-story building which is supposed to date back to about 1760. The same door gives admittance to the building as over one hundred years ago, and a square pateh marks the place of the old loophole from which a gun could be brought to bear on an enemy. It is known as the " Washington House."

A little farther westward, on the opposite side of the street, is another small one-story building, which is also supposed to date back to Revolutionary days.

On the south side of Main Street, near Division - Street, stood the old Birdsall mansion. This old building projected into the middle of the street, and was removed many years ago. The sleeping apart- ments in it occupied by General Washington and his companion-in-arms Lafayette were long pointed out to visitors, and the furniture was kept in very near the same position as on those memorable occasions. The Rev. George Whitefield is said to have preached in one of the parlors. The date of this occurrence was probably in 1770, as the very last entry made in Whitefield's memorandum book, a short time before his death in that year, states that in the month of July he preached to very large, attentive and affeeted congregations, particularly at Peeke's Hill.

On South Street, overlooking the Hudson River, are the handsome residences of Owen T. Coffin, snr- rogate of Westclrester County, and General James W. Husted, who has gained a reputation in politics, and been a number of times Speaker of the Assembly of New York.

About a mile and a quarter east of the village, out Main Street, with their grounds adjoining each other, are the elegant mansions of Henry Ward Beeeher, the noted clergyman of Brooklyn, and of Moses S. Beach, son of the founder of the New York Sun and at one time its principal owner. Near by are the handsome residences of Benjamin Kittredge, a dealer in fire-arms in New York City and Cincinnati, of John B. Hobby, for many years a sueeessful flour dealer in New York, and of Lyman B. Carhart, an official in the Custom-House in New York City.

The father of Peter Cooper, the eminent New York manufacturer and philanthropist, moved to Peekskill from New York about the beginning of the eentnry and established a hat factory and country store on or very near the site now occupied by the Peekskill Savings Bank. Peter was at that time three years old. It is related that the father's sojourn in the vil- lage was full of trouble. The farmers bought from him on credit and then forgot to pay. He was visited frequently by the traveling Methodist preachers, wlio tarried long at his hospitable board, but made little or no pecuniary return. It is said he was the builder of the Methodist Church on South Street. He finally grew discouraged with his business and engaged in brewing ale, which young Peter delivered in kegs to

S. Lent, clerk (to June 17th),

F. Couch, clerk (balance of year),

D. F. Clapp, treasurer.

1876. Stephen D. Horton, president, Andrew Ukers,

Warren Jordan,

Frederick Sherwood,

Warren Jordan,

Stephen D. Horton, president, Andrew Ukers,

Wm. D. Southard, Wm, H. Hunter,

James H. Robertson,

Jolın Kingsbury, E. F. Bedell,

Stephen Lent, clerk, D. F. Clapp, treasurer.

Wm. S. Tompkins,

George W. Lockwood,

392

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

customers. He succeeded no better and finally moved to Catskill with his family and there tried hat and brick-making, but with the same poor results as had attended his labors in Peekskill.

Drum Hill, on which is located one of the public schools of the village, derives its name from the cnri- ous fact that the ground, when trodden or stamped upon in certain places, gives forth a sound as if it were hollow, and resembling the subdued roaring of a large drum. No satisfactory explanation has been given of the phenomenon. The same thing, however, can be noticed in various parts of the town of Cort- landt, though generally not so distinctly as at Drum Hill.

On the eminence just north of Main Street, and at about equal distances east and west of St. Gabriel's church, are the remains of two forts. A number of stones collected together into a low wall on the top of a knoll indicate the position of the easterly fort. The fort on the west was an earth-works, and was on the brow of the hill overlooking the river. Both were evidently intended only for lookout sta- tions. The remains of barracks about midway be- tween the forts were formerly noticeable, bnt have been cleared away.

CHURCHES OF PEEKSKILL.

In Peekskill are located thirteen churches, which are distributed among the different denominations as follows: Presbyterian, two; Methodist Episcopal, two; African Methodist Episcopal, one; Protestant Episcopal, one; Reformed Dutch, one; Baptist, one; Wesleyan Methodist, one; Christian Disciples, one; Society of Friends, two; Roman Catholic, one. Histo- ries of each of them are appended.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH .- The early history of Presbyterianism in the town of Cortlandt is in- volved in a good deal of uncertainty. Probably the first Presbyterian minister to hold services within it was the Rev. Samuel Sacket, who was sent out by the Presbytery of New Brunswick to preach in Westches- ter County, the special field of labor assigned to him being Cortlandt Manor, embracing Yorktown, Cort- landtown, North Salem and Somers. His ministry lasted from 1742 to 1784, and little doubt is felt but that during that time he preached occasionally in Peekskill. Most of his labors, however, were carried on in Yorktown and Bedford, and at the time of his death, which occurred June 5, 1784, at the age of seventy-two years, he was pastor of the church at the former place.

The development of the Presbyterian Church in the town of Cortlandt did not begin in good earnest until the year 1799. At that date a church edifice was erected on the site of the present house of worship, upon land donated by Nathaniel Brown, a Friend, "to the Presbyterians of the belief of Dr. Rogers, of New York." The church was built at a cost of £371 Sx. 1d., and chiefly through the liberality of Stephen

Brown and his mother-in-law, Hannah Brewer. The trustees were James Diven, John Oppie and Stephen Brown. This was the first sanctuary opened in Peeks- kill. Services were conducted in the church from time to time, but there appears to have been no regu- lar organization.

The Presbyterian Church at Yorktown was the mother-church of many of the organizations of that faith in its vicinity, and the church in Peekskill was in a degree dependent on it. In the year 1806 a di- vision arose in the Yorktown Church, then under the pastoral care of the Rev. Silas Constant, and the tronble was felt in Peekskill to such an extent as to give rise to an Independent Church. This Independ- ent Presbyterian congregation was incorporated on September 29, 1813, with John Lent, John Constant and Samuel Strang as trustees. They worshipped in a building on Diven Street, next to the residence at present occupied by Dr. J. M. Tilden. This meet- ing-house was commonly referred to as " the church on the hill," and was a familiar object until about the year 1844, when it was taken down. The original building after this secession was used only for oeea- sional services, and was probaby closed most of the time.

In May, 1816, a congregation of seventy-five mem- bers was formed in the church on the hill by the Rev. Abner Brundage, a native of New Jersey, who had come to Peekskill abont a year previous. Deacon John Lent and Ezra Lockwood were the officers. When Mr. Brundage resigned, in 1819, the congrega- tion contained about one hundred members. Mr. Brundage afterwards had charges in Carmel, Putnam County, and Brookfield, Connecticut. He was not engaged in pastoral work for about thirty years pre- vious to the close of his life, and died at Montclair, N. J., in October, 1877.

Some years after Mr. Brundage's departure the influence of a large Congregational element from Connecticut in the church gave dissatisfaction to some who preferred the faith and government of the Presbyterian Church, and in 1826 a division took place. The members remaining in the church on the hill eventually became merged into the Reformed Dutch Church. The seecding members formed the First Presbyterian Church. They organized June 25, 1826, and were sixteen in number, as follows: Benjamin Illingworth, a former elder of Yorktown, Daniel Merritt, Naney Conklin, Elizabeth Oakley, Elizabeth Campbell, Ann Conklin, Caroline Strang, Mahala Gilbert, Rebecca Hawes, Maria Jones, Jemi- ma Brown, Sarah Dusenberry, Mary Oakley, Rachel Buskirk, Ann Budd and Susan Shaw. Benjamin Illingworth and Daniel Merritt were elected elders.

The church, in October of the same year, became connected with the Presbytery of New York, and extended a call to the Rev. John H. Leggett, then a member of the Second Presbytery of New York. MIr. Leggett accepted the call, and was installed Decem-

393

CORTLANDT.

ber 14, 1826. At the time of his departure, three years later, the number of members was twenty-four. Mr. Leggett died at Chester, N. Y., May 31, 1873.

The Rev. William Marshall, a native of Scotland, shortly after his arrival in America, was made pastor of the church. The church during his ministry was transferred to the Second Presbytery of New York. His pastorate lasted until the fall of 1843. The number of members at that time was thirty-fonr. During his ministry unfortunate dissensions occurred which resulted, in 1841, in the withdrawal of nine members, and the establishment of the Second Pres- byterian Church of Peekskill. Mr. Marshall died near Delhi, New York, in October, 1865.

The Rev. D. M. Halliday left a flourishing church at Danville, Pennsylvania, to become Mr. Marshall's successor. He was installed iu his new position November 1, 1843. In 1846, owing to the increase of the congregation the original edifice was removed to make way for another twice its size. In 1858 another enlargement was made by an extension of thirty feet, which included a lecture-room. The number of members at the close of Dr. Halliday's pastorate, October 20, 1867, was one hundred and sixty-four. Dr. Halliday in 1884 was making his home with Dr. Gregory, president of the Lake Forest University, at Lake Forest, Illinois.

The Rev. John N. Freeman, a student in Princeton Theological Seminary, received and accepted a call to the pastorate, and was installed May 14, 1868. In 1870 a parsonage was completed immediately oppo- site the church at a cost, for lot and buildings of thirteen thousand five hundred and fifty dollars. It is cousidered one of the handsomest and most con- venient manses along the river. On the 21st of June, 1870, the Presbytery of Westchester, consisting of the churches of Westchester and Putnam Counties (except the church at Cold Spring) and in the State of Connecticut, was constituted. The Presbyterian Churches of Peckskill have since remained under its jurisdiction. Mr. Freeman resigned his pastorate on account of ill health, and on January 23, 1876, the pulpit was declared vacant. The number of memu- bers in the church at that time was two hundred and thirty-nine. Mr. Freeman was afterwards pastor of the church in Lockport, N. Y., and removed thence to assume the charge of Emanuel Presbyterian Church, in Milwaukee, Wis., where he was preaching in 1884.

The Rev. J. Ritchie Smith, a native of Baltimore and a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, became pastor June 26, 1876, and still (1884) holds the office. The number of members is two hundred and seventy-four.

A Sabbath-school (the first in the village) was started in the old church on the hill by the Rev. Ab- ner Brundage, which continued till the organization of the church, in 1826. The scholars, for some tiule after that date, met iu the old district school-house on Main Street, on the west side of Mill Street. James

Birdsall was the first superintendent. There were from six to eight teachers and from fifty to sixty scholars. The number of officers and teachers in 1884 was thirty-threc, and of scholars two hundred and twenty-one. The superintendent was Dwight S. Herriek.

The elders in 1884 were as follows: Uriah Hill, Jr., Francis Briggs, Sanford R. Knapp, Seth H. Mead, Isaac Varian and Cornelius A. Pugsley. The trustees were Lyman B. Carhart, Sanford R. Knapp, William Mabie, William H. Paulding and James B. Swift.

The church is a neat frame structure and is located- on the south side of South Street.

THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, situated corner of Sonth and Union Streets, was organized on the 17th day of November, 1841, by a committee from the Presbytery of North River. This Presbytery was iu ecclesiastical connection with that branch of the Presbyterian Church of the United States theu known as " New School."

Eleven persons constituted the first membership of the church, viz. : David L. Seymour, Delia A. Seymour, Philander Stewart, M.D., Miranda Stewart, Anna Ranney, Gilbert T. Sutton, Letitia T. Sutton, Moses Cragin, Christina Cragin, Mary Huntington, Jane Huntington. Of these, the first nine presented letters from the First Presbyterian Church of Peeks- kill (O. S.) and the last two from the Second Congre- gational Church of New London, Conn.

At this time Gilbert T. Sutton, Philander Stewart, M.D., and Moses Cragin were ordained and installed as the first ruling elders of the church

Public worship was commenced in the Old Meth- odist Church, on South Street, on Sabbath, Novem- ber 21, 1841, the Rev. Daniel Brown being the offi- ciating clergyman. Mr. Brown continued his minis- trations from that time, and, on the 30th of March, 1842, was called to the pastorate of the church and was installed on May 4th of the same year.

The congregation erected a church edifice at the southeast corner of South and Union Streets, which was dedicated April 9, 1845. The building was re- modeled and enlarged in 1870.

The successive pastors, with their terms of office, have been as follows :

March 30, 1842, to November 30, 18461 Rev. Daniel Brown.

May 25, 1848, to November, 1851 Rev. Joseph McKee

June 29, 1852, to August, 1852 1 Rev. Daniel Bond

November 10. 1852, to February 6, 1856 . Rev. George F. Wisewel

September 7, 1857, to 1860 . . Rev. Silas Hawley, never installed

June 20, 1860, to November 12, 1866 . Rev. Elisha G. Cobb

April 30, 1867, to July 15, 1869, . Rev. Charles II. Baldwin

June 14, 1870, to July 2, 1872 . Rev. Nelson Millard

October 22, 1872, to August 1, 1874 . Rev. James Demarest October 4, 1874, to May, 1875 . . Rev. John Rutherford, as stated supply 1875 to October 8, 1879 . Rev. Roderic Terry January 1, 1880, to September 4, 1881 . . . Rev. J. Le Moyne Danner, as stated supply.

May 2, 1882 . Rev. David Murdock, present pastor

1 Pastorate terminated by death.

394

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

The Rev. Livingston Brown was ealled to the pas- torate April 15, 1847, and supplied the church for several months, but was never installed.

The number of members in 1884 was one hundred and fifty-six, and of Sunday-school pupils one hun- dred and forty-eight.

THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.1 -- George Whitefield, a Calvinistic Methodist, who died in 1770, is said to have preached in the parlors of the. Birdsall mansion, on Main Street, and was probably the first Methodist preacher ever heard in thevillage. During the Revolutionary War the Methodist itiner- ants, on account of the advice of neutrality given by Wesley, were looked upon by the people with dislike and suspicion, and in Peekskill, as in other places, the society made no advance. Thomas Ware, who was appointed to Long Island, in 1786, as a Metho- dist preacher, is the first person who is known posi- tively to have attempted the promulgation of the

Chilefield

Methodist faith in Peekskill. He did not confine himself to this large field, but, as he states in his autobiography, erossed the Sound, and extended his labors from New Rochelle ta Peekskill. At this time he says, " there was not a Methodist on the east side of the Hudson above New York." He was kindly treated in the town of Cortlandt, and makes special mention of the courtesy of Lieutenant-Governor Van Cortlandt, at Croton.

Bishop Asbury followed not long after. In his journal oecurs the following entry : "Friday, June 15, 1787, I preached to a listening multitude at Peekskill, and was alarming and close on 'by grace ye are saved through faith.' I thought there were no people here of spiritual understanding but I was informed, to my comfort, that a number of simple- hearted people had formed themselves into a society

for prayer." Most probably these few were the result of Ware's preaching the year before.

In May, 1788, Bishop Asbury requested Rev. Free- born Garretson to take charge of the northern dis- trict, along the Hudson River, and superintend the work of a band of nine young itinerants. On going up the river, Garretson preached at Peekskill. His extensive distriet was divided into four eircuits, one of which, the New Rochelle Cireuit, extended from New York City to Fishkill, and ineluded Peekskill. Out of the band of nine itinerants, Peter Moriarty and Albert Van Nostrand were placed on this eireuit. Their labors were very successful, as at the close of the year they were able to report in their cireuit seven hundred and thirty-one members.

During this year, if not before, a elass was formed in Peekskill with six members, who were as follows : Bethuel Washburn, Thomas Clark, Jonathan Ferris and wife, Phebe Ward and Elizabeth Lent, who afterwards became the wife of Captain Justin Taylor. Jonathan Ferris was the leader, and the meetings were held at his house, which is now the cottage on the property of Henry Ward Beeeher. An old record shows that Rachel Baden joined the elass in 1788, Catharine Osborne in 1790, Catharine Start in 1791 and Mary Banker in 1792.

June 16, 1789, Freeborn Garretson again preached in Peekskill, and " found much freedom in preaching the word of truth." He stopped overnight with General Van Cortlandt, whose hospitality received his warm praise.

An indenture was made February 26, 1795, between John Drake, of Fishkill Town, and Catharine, his wife, and William Helleck, Thomas Clarke, William Weeks, Absalom Travis and Stephen Weeks, man- agers of the Methodist Society at Peekskill, convey- ing to the latter parties for the sum of fifty pounds (two hundred and forty-two dollars) threc-quarters of an aere of land in Peekskill. This land included most of the present site of the church, and some ground to the eastward. Upon it was a blacksmith shop, sixteen by thirty feet in extent and ten feet high, which was converted into a meeting-house, and so used until 1812. In that year a larger meeting- house, located just west of the present church, took the place of this humble structure. August 1. 1808, the Methodist Church at Peekskill was incorporated.

In 1836 a third house of worship was ereeted at a eost of three thousand five hundred and fifty dollars. It was forty-five feet front, sixty-five feet deep and twenty-two feet high, and contained a basement underneath the whole. It was repaired and enlarged in 1854 and in 1876. The cost upon the latter oc- casion was over nine thousand dollars.

April 14, 1858, a lot thirty hy one hundred and fifty feet in extent, located on Smith Street, and con- taining a building, was purchased for one thousand seven hundred dollars, and the house as a parsonage. Another small lot was added some time afterwards, and

1 From an historical sketch prepared in January, 18x1, by Rev. D. II. Hanaburgh, pastor.

395

CORTLANDT.

the building was remodeled and enlarged. It is now valued at three thousand dollars, and the valuation of the church is twelve thousand dollars.

There have been many revivals of religion in this church, the greatest of which in their visible results occurred in the years 1857 and 1858, under the min- istry of the Rev. D. L. Marks. In the first year there were sixty conversious, and in the following year six hundred. Of the latter number, four hundred joined the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1864 St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, an offshoot of this church, was established.

Peekskill was on a cireuit until the year 1843, when a pastor was stationed at the church. The successive pastors have been as follows :

1843.

John M. Pease.

1844-45. Salmon C. Perry.

1846-47.

Fitch Reed.

1848-49.

Richard A. Chalker.

1850-51.

George Coles.

1852-53. Paul R. Brown.

1854-55. . M. D. C. Crawford.

1856-57. . D. L. Marks.

1858 .

. W'm. Bloomer.

1859 .

. Wm. Bloomer and D. S. Barnum.

1860-61.

Thomas Lodge.

1862-63.

J. P. Hermance.

1864-66.

Wm. C. Smith.

1867-69. . Sanford I. Ferguson.

1870-71. . Elias S. Osbon.

1872-73. . T. W. Chadwick.

1874-76.

B. H. Burch.

1877-79.

. H. H. Birkius.

1880-82.

. B. II. Burch.

1883-85.

D. II. Hanaburgh.

In 1832 the Methodists had uo Sunday-school of their own in Peekskill, but a number of members of the denomination entered the Presbyterian Sunday- school as teachers, bringing scholars with them.

In 1833 the Methodist portion withdrew to their own church, and were under the leadership of Mrs. Augustus Taylor. In March, 1834, the school was properly organized with James Taylor as superintend- ent, and Elizabeth Taylor (afterwards Mrs. Hart) female superintendent. The number of officers and teachers in 1884 was fifty-two, and of scholars enrolled three hundred and fifty-two. Amos C. Requa was superintendent.

A Ladies' Aid Society was organized in 1848, and has been an important factor in the financial, social and benevolent work of the church. In 1884 Mrs. J. R. Sears was first directress.

The number of members of the church in January, 1884, was five hundred and ten, with thirty-seven probationers. The stewards in 1884 were as follows : James M. Beale, John Towart, Henry Judd, William E. Borden, William H. Griffin, James H. Haight, Matthias Croft, Byron Calkins and Johu S. Jones. The trustees were William H. Roe, Charles T. Smith, John A. Beale, H. L. Armstrong, John Mabie, Frank Anderson, Asbury Barker, W. F. Wessells and Wil- liam H. Griffin.

ST. PAUL'S METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH .- This church was organized in 1864 by Rev. J. P. IIermance, and was an outgrowth of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, the first board of trustees being elected March 10th of that year. They were as follows : Daniel J. Haight, Charles II. Frost, E. A. Wessells, James Robertson, John Ogden, James L. Seabury and John Halstead. The first sermon was preached in Simpsou's Hall, at the northwest corner of Main and Division Streets, on the 24th of April following. A Sunday-school was organized April 12, 1864, and was attended the first day by fifty-three seholars. E. A. Wessells was superintendent. A. handsome briek ehureh was erceted on Main Street, between Division and James Strects, and was dedi- cated February 22, 1866. The cost of lot and build- ing was sixty thousand dollars. The congregation removed from Simpson's Hall to their new place of worship July 16th following, and have occupied it ever since.

The pastors of the church have beeu as follows : 1864-65, James Y. Bates; April, 1866, George F. Kettell; September, 1866-68, Jesse T. Peek; 1869- 70, Milton S. Terry ; 1871, E. L. Prentiss; 1872, John Miley ; 1873-75, Charles S. Harrower ; 1876, Charles R. North ; 1877-78, C. W. Millard; 1879- 80, George R. Crooks; 1881, W. McKendree Dar- wood; 1882-83, M. D. C. Crawford; about six months to April, 1884, John E. Gorse; April, 1884, Fleteher Hamlin.

The church was originally kuown as the Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church, but the name was afterwards changed to the present title. The num- ber of members has increased from forty-three, as it was at the time of organization, to two hundred and eighty-two members and thirty-four probationers in 1884. The number of Sunday-school pupils in 1884 was two hundred and sixty-five, with thirty-nine offieers and teachers. George W. Robertson was superintendent.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 93

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