USA > New York > Westchester County > History of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the county of Westchester, from its foundation, 1693, to 1853 > Part 44
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Ever since my arrival in this place I thought it a duty incum bent on me, as the Society's Missionary, to make myself particu- larly acquainted with the state of religion within the bounds of my Mission ; and you may depend upon the truth of the fol- lowing particulars, viz .: The manor of Philipsburgh extends about twenty four miles in length on the East side of Hudson's River, containing about three hundred families. The people are for the most part of Dutch extraction, together with some set- tlers from New England. Their religion savours much of that of their Mother Country ; some adhere to the Church of Holland and have a very good house of worship on Colonel Philips es- tate within 12 miles of my church, others of them are Inde- pendents, according to the New England plan, indeed, to speak more properly, according to no plan at all, seduced by every kind of doctrine, every wandering and ethusiastic spirit; these have another house of worship about four miles distance from the former. There are likewise some Quakers and several Anabap- tists, who give me a good deal of trouble and uneasiness, in opposing their erroneous principles with which even some of the members of my Congregation are deeply tinctured ; besides these there are many of them who profess no religion and
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have no concern about it. Those that attend divine ser- vice constantly and regularly in my church, are about twenty families, and tho' I cannot depend on all these as true and professed members of the Church of England, some of them halting, as it were between two opinions, yet I must do them the justice to say, they are a good sort of people and de- sirous to learn. Many of the other denominations are already so far reconciled to our Church as to come frequently to hear me preach, so that my church is often crowded with dissenters ; and I have so far got the better of their prejudices, as to pre- vail with some of them, to buy common prayer books and bring their children to be baptized by me ; which you know Sir, is not very common among Dissenters. From these and several other circumstances, too tedious to mention, I trust that through the grace of God my labours here shall not be in vain of the Lord. You must be very sensible, Sir, that to remove and disperse the clouds of ignorance, error and prejudice, is not the work of a day or a year only, it is a gradual work, and requires time to open the eyes of the understanding and bring conviction honie to the soul, it is God alone that can do this effectually, and to him I look for strength in his own work. My situation is not without some disadvantages, the members of our Church being so few and surrounded with Dissenters on every hand : for which reason I find a just share of circumspection, prudence and mod- eration, highly necessary. I pray God to endue me with these and all other graces that are necessary in the faithful discharge of my ministerial office. I now humbly submit it to you, Sir, whether it would not be proper to send me some small tracts for the use of my Congregation, confuting the errors of the Qua- kers and Anabaptists, some tracts of the necessity of frequent communion, together with Nelson, on the Festivals, or abridgment of it, as many of my people are absolute strangers to ~ur Litur_ gy and Ceremonies ; most part of the books already granted, have been already distributed by me, according to your desire. among the poorer sort. I hope you will also send me the usual number of books for the Mission Library, the number I have already re-
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ceived being inconsiderable, as you may see by my receipt in the hands of Mr. Millar, the Bookseller.
Rev. Sir, &c.,
HARRY MUNRO."a
In the subjoined extract, he informs the Society that his Church was growing daily, and that Dissenters had a much better opin- ion of her than formerly.
MR. MUNRO TO THE SECRETARY.
EXTRACT.] " New- York, 26th Dec. 1766.
REV SIR,
Concerning the state of my Mission I have the pleasure to in- form you, that our Infant Church is growing daily, that spirit of contention and vain disputation about indifferent matters in religion, which greatly prevailed upon my arrival here, among the different sects and parties, is now almost subsided, and very great love and harmony subsists between people and pastor. I think I can safely say, I omit no opportunity of being useful among them, both in public and private. In the summer season I read prayers and preach twice every Sunday, catechising the children regularly after the second lesson in the evening, and the negroes after divine service is ended. My success in this respect is very visible ; and I have now upwards of fifty cate- chumens, who can say our Church catechism extremely well.
Among many grown people I have observed a spirit of infi- delity, and indifference about religion very prevalent : to remedy this evil, I thought it my duty to go among them, to converse with them, and make myself acquainted. I have visited every part of my congregation, and gone from house to house, beseeching them in Christ's stead, seriously to think of the necessity of religion, and to be reconciled to God; particu- larly, I have endeavoured to make them acquainted with the nature and design of the two sacraments. In this, through
New York, MSS. from archives at Fulham, vol. ii. 393, 395, (Hawks.)
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God's help, I have had good success, having baptized in one family six, and in another nine persons at one time. This sum- mer, I baptized seventeen children belonging to Dissenters, and in the course of this year, I have baptized in all forty-two, which makes seventy-five since my arrival. The discipline and liturgy of our Church daily rises in esteem. I take care to make the articles of our Church known, by lectures upon them, and in private I teach them how to make use of the common prayer, to which they were absolute strangers.
Many of them have assured me that my ministry has been blessed to them, and several Dissenters, I have heard with pleasure declare, that they have now a much better opinion of our Church. I am very sorry however to find them so backward to partake of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, being deterred or kept back as they say, from an apprehension of incurring dam- nation. I do all in my power to rectify their notions concern- ing those words of the Apostle, and some have lately assured me, they will take the first opportunity of coming to the Holy Communion.
Rev. Sir, &c., HARRY MUNRO."a
In 1768 Mr. Munro resigned the Mission at Yonkers, b and on the 26th of March accepted a call to St. Peter's Church, Albany. He was likewise chaplain to the Fort there, an appointment he received from the Bishop of London on the 20th of July, 1770.
On the 18th of April, 1773, King's College conferred on him the ad eundem degree of M. A. In 1774 he attempted to set- . tle his patent of 2000 acres at Hebron, (in what is now the County of Washington,) which he had received at the close of the French war as military bounty land, in virtue of his chap-
a New York, MSS. from archives at Fulham, vol. ii. 349, 350. (Hawks.)
b It is said that the Ven. Soc. on the appointment of Mr Munro, claimed a bond of £100 from the Hon. Fred. Philipse, but the latter merely forwarded a subscription paper amounting to £80, and that Mr. Munro demanded the full amount of original bond.
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laincy. He failed however in accomplishing his object and the next year abandoned the undertaking.
Upon the breaking out of the Revolution and the imprison- ment of Loyalists in the Fort at Albany in 1776, he held ser- vices for and preached to the prisoners, with much danger to himself, until at last in 1777, his church doors were closed against him, his property taken, and himself made prisoner. At the end of October he escaped and fled for protection to Diamond Island, in Lake George, a British post under command of Major Aubrey, and in five days afterwards, in the begining of November, joined the British army under Gen. Powell at Ticonderoga, from whence he passed into Canada, where he was immediately appointed Deputy Chaplain to the 53d and 31st Regiments, in which capacity he served about six or eight months, when he obtained permission from Sir Guy Carleton to go to England for the purpose of settling his private affairs, and landed at Portsmouth on the 12th of September, 1778. The Peace determined him to remain there. From 1778 to 1784-5 he resided in London and its vicinity, chiefly engaged in the study of Hebrew and Italian, his health not permitting him to preacli except occasionally.
On the 13th of January, 1782, he received the degree of Doc- tor in Divinity from the University of St. Andrew's.
About 1787 he removed to Scotland, and lived for some time at Perth, but being attacked with paralysis a year or two later he made Edinburgh his home, where he died on the 30th of May 1S01, and was buried in the west church yard of St. Cuth- bert's parish in that city. By his first wife, who was the wid- ow of an officer of his own regiment, and who died in Decem- ber, 1759, Mr. Munro had one daughter, Elizabeth, who marry- ing against her father's wishes was disowned by him, and died in Canada. He married the second time a Miss Stockton of Princeton, of the distinguished New Jersey family of that name, who died within a year of her marriage, leaving an in. fant which survived her but a few weeks.
After Mr. Munro's return from England and on the 31st of March, 1766, he married for his third wife Miss Eve Jay of New
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York, a daughter of Peter Jay of that city, and sister of the Hon. John Jay, Chief Justice of the United States. By this lady he had only one child, a son, born January 20th, 1767, who . was the late Peter Jay Munro, one of the eminent lawyers and One of the most prominent citizens of New York during the first quarter of the present century.
Harry Munro
THE REV. LUKE BABCOCK, A. M.,
who succeeded Mr. Munro, was the yongest son of the Hon. Joshua Babcock, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island.a He was born at Westerly, Narragansett, July 6th, 1738, was graduated at Yale College in 1755, and afterwards com- menced the study of divinity. He went to England for holy orders in 1769, and upon the 2d of February, 1770, was licensed by the Bishop of London as a Missionary to New England.
The Venerable Society's abstracts for 1771, say :- " The clergy of New York recommend the Rev. Luke Babcock, who was lately ordained here by the Bishop of London as a proper person for Missionary, and Colonel Philips having requested that the missson of Philipsborough, formerly filled by Mr. Munro should be renewed ; and the Colonel having made a proper pro- vision for the maintainance of a minister, with the assistance of the Society, they have accordingly appointed Mr. Babcock to the mission with a salary of thirty pounds.b In 1773 MIr. Babcock
ª The Babcocks or Badcocks were originally seated in the Counties of Essex and Middlesex, and in the early part of the seventeenth century emigrated to New Eng- land. George Babcock died at Boston, 2d of September, 1695. The Arms of this family are :- sa. on a pale ar, 3 cocks, gu. Crest-a stag lodged guardant between two br: :. c .... . laurel in orle, all proper.
· Printed abstracts of Ven. Prop. Soc. from 15 Feb. 1771 to Feb. 1772
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acknowledgeth the good effects of the exemplary behaviour of Col. Philips and his family to whom he is also indebted in many other acts."a The following year he received from King's College New York, the ad undem degree of Master of Arts. Mr. Babcock appears to have laboured here with very good success until the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, when he open- ly espoused the cause of government.
" In 1775 he was one of the protestors at White Plains against the Whigs. The protest was signed by three hundred and twelve persons : the names of Frederick Philips, Isaac Wilkins and Samuel Seabury, precede that of Mr Babcock."b Amidst the succeeding disorder and confusion, we find him thus addressing the Ven. Society.
MR. BABCOCK TO THE SECRETARY.
EXTRACT. " Philipsburgh, 22d March, 1776. REV. SIR,
Soon after the receipt of your letter, the troubles of this Coun- try were multiplied. There was the fever excited in men's minds by the late battle of Lexington, then the affairs of Bun- ker's Hill next came, and the Continental Fast, which may be considered as a trial by ordeal of the ministers of the Church of England in America. Most of the clergy in this country (I am sorry to say it,) opened their churches on that day ; I do not pretend to justify or condemn their conduct ; it certainly would have been in opposition to my conscience had I done the same. I thought and still think, if to becoming a partaker in the mea- sures now so much in vogue, I should add the guilt of implo- ring God's blessing on them, I should not only be found fighting against God, but should also be guilty of the shocking absurdity of begging God to fight against himself.
My refusal to bow down before an altar the Congress had raised, made it necessary to confine myself to my own parish till
" Printed abstracts of V. P. S. from 19 Feb. 1773 to 18 Feb. 1774.
b Sabine's Hist. of the Loyalists.
L
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the packets were discontinued ; and I have been threatened with mutilation and death if I go into New England .I hope these circumstances will avail with the Ven. Society, in so far as to excuse my past omissions.
Since my last act, the state of this mission, if our New Eng- land and some other troublesome neighbors would suffer us to remain in peace, would be nearly similar to what I then reported it, (indeed the people of this province in general are forced into the present unhappy contest) but as things are circumstanced, I could hardly expect it should be better than it is at present. I have not failed to admonish the people, and in my case plainly, repeatedly and publicly, for the year past, that rebellion will lead its abettors to confusion in this world and everlasting dis- traction in the next.
I am, Rev. Sir, LUKE BABCOCK."a
In 1776 Mr. Babcock reported, " that he had baptized fifteen in the course of the year and buried some."b
The following year he was seized (says Dr. Hawkins) by the insurgents, his papers were examined, and because he answered. affirmatively to the question, whether he considered himself bound by his oath of allegiance to the king, he was deemed an enemy to the liberties of America, and ordered to be kept in custody. After four month's confinement, his health gave way, and he was then dismissed with a written order to remove within the lines of the King's army." He with difficulty got home in a raging fever and died.
Mr. Inglis writing to the Secretary from New York, March 27th, 1777, says ;- “ Rev. Sir,-of this province Mr. Seabury and Mr. Beardsly have been obliged to fly from their missions, the first resides in this city. These calamities have been the princi- pal cause of the death of one very worthy missionary, Mr. Babcock, of Philipsburgh. This clergyman was not only exemplary in his
a New York, MSS. from archives at Fulham, vol. ii, 576-7 (Hawks.)
Printed abstracts of V. P. S. from 16th of February 1776 to 21st of February, 1777
·
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life and assiduous in his pastoral duty, but distinguished by his steady loyalty and warm attatchment to our constitution in Church and State. This naturally marked him out as an object of the highest resentment to the rebels, who took him prisoner and detained him about five months. The hardships and distress of mind he suffered during his confinement, brought on him a fit of sickness which induced the rebels to dismiss him. He was carried home with the utmost difficulty, but died in a few days after, leaving a widow and three children in very indi- gent circumstances. His death happened the latter end of February-the precise day I do not recollect. His widow beg- ged that I would write to you and request the Society's leave for her to draw on their Treasurer for six month's salary after the time of Mr. Babcock's death. I am informed that such indulgences have been sometimes allowed by the Society ; and I beg leave to assure you, that the indulgence cannot be granted to objects more deserving, and perhaps in more want of it."a
Mr. Seabury writing to the same, March 29th, 1777, observes : -" I am greatly grieved to inform the Society of the death of their very worthy Missionary, the Rev. Mr. Babcock. The lat- ter end of October he was seized by the rebels at his house and carried off to the Provincial Congress at Fishkill. His papers and sermons were also seized and examined, but as nothing ap- peared on which they could ground any pretence for detaining him, he was asked whether he supposed himself bound by his oath of allegiance to the King, upon his answering in the affir- mative, he was deemed an enemy to the liberties of America and ordered to be kept in custody. About the middle of Febru- ary he was taken sick, and as his confinement had produced no change in his sentiments, he was dismissed with a written order to remove within ten days within the lines of the King's army, being adjudged a person too dangerous to be permitted to con- tinue where his influence might be exerted in favor of legal government. He got home with difficulty in a raging fever, and
* New York, MSS. from archives at Fulham, (Hawks.)
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delirious. In this state he continued about a week (the greatest part of the time delirious) and then died, extremely regretted. Indeed I know not a more excellent man and I fear his loss, particularly in that mission, will scarcely be made up."a
This excellent minister died in the old parsonage, on Tuesday, the 10th day of February, 1777. His remains were interred in the family vault of the Van Cortlandts.
In his MS. biographies of the clergy, Mr. Fowler says :- " Mr. Babcock bore the character of a good preacher, a warm friend, an affectionate husband and an indulgent parent. I be- came well acquainted with his family after his death, and was the first person that read prayers and sermons in the church at Yonkers after the Revolutionary War, A. D. 1784. I prepared the way for the settlement of a clergyman, by collecting the congre- gation."b
His wife was Grace Isaacs, a cousin of Judge Isaacs of New Haven. His children were Cortlandt, Frederick, the father of the late Mrs. W. L. Morris, of Wave Hill, Yonkers, and a daugh- ter named Henrietta. His eldest brother, Col. Harry Babcock, was a brilliant and extraordinary man, formed by nature and education to be the flower of his family, and an ornament to the country which gave him birth."c There is a fine portrait of the Rev. Luke Babcock in the possession of Mrs. Babcock, of St. Mark's Place, New-York. He is represented in gown and bands, his head reclining on his right arm, which rests upon a book. There is something extremely solemn and placid in his counte- nance, corresponding with his benevolent mind.
THE REV. GEORGE PANTON, A. M., was the next minister. He was a native d of this country
* New York, MISS. from archives at Fulham, vol. ii. 617. (Hawks.)
b Fowler's MS. Biog. vol. iv. 256-7.
c Updike's Hist. of the Narragansett Church, p. 312.
d The Pantons were formerly seated in the county of Sussex, England. Their Arms granted by patent in 1165 are :- gu. two bars ar, on a canton az, a dolphin, embowed or.[Crest-a dolphin dawrient. or, betw. two wings gu. each charged with as many bars ar.
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but bred at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, where he took the usual degrees of Bachelorand Master of Arts. In 1774 he obtained the latter honor of King's College, New-York. He was probably licensed by the Bishop of London to officiate in the Plantations in 1773, and was for some time the Society's missionary at Trenton, New Jersey, as appears by the following notice in their abstracts for 1777 :- " A letter from the Rev. Mr. Panton, the Society's late missionary at Trenton, dated New York, Sept. 5th, 1777, acquaints them with his having sent an accurate state of his mission in 1775, which never reached the Society. He gives a very satisfactory account of his own con- duct. When the public service of the Church had been sus- pended by an act of Vestry, he complied with the solicitations of Col. Philips' family, (who had been sent prisoner into Con- necticut) by residing at Philipsburgh till he had an opportunity of returning to Trenton with the Royal army in December, 1776. The unfortunate circumstances, which soon after involved that place and province in the greatest distress, obliged him to aban- don it, and leave every thing behind him, and as there is no probability that the mission of Trenton will be revived, the So- ciety have at his request appointed him to the mission of Phil- ipsburgh, vacant by the death of Mr. Babcock.a Mr. Panton con- tinued in the faithful performance of his duty until 1782, when he could no longer exercise his ecclesiastical functions. In a list of missionaries, who were unemployed, and to whom the Society continued to pay salaries in 1783, occurs the name of Mr. Panton,b (formerly missionary at Trenton, New Jersey,) of Nova Scotia, with a salary of thirty pounds per annum.c In 1785,d the Rev. Geo. Panton was missionary at Yarmouth and
* Printed abstracts of V. P. Soc. from 21st Feb. 1777 to 20 Feb. 1778.
In July, 1783, Geo. Panton was at New York and one of the 25 loyalists who petitioned for lands in Nova Scotia .- Sabine's American Loyalists.
s Printed abstracts of V. P. Soc. for 1783.
d Printed abstracts of V. P. Soc. for 1785. Chas. Pinckney, Esq. in a letter to the author, dated Yarmouth, N. S. says :- "The Rev. Geo. Panton, never was in Yar- mouth, but about 1785, was at Shelbourn, a place about 70 miles from Yarmouth, and that he went from there to England, which is all they know abont him."
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places adjacent in Nova Scotia. In 1786 he obtained leave to visit England, where he finally settled and died.
During Mr. Panton's ministry, the country was very much disturbed by the ravages of the American Revolution, and this parish particularly, being alternately occupied by the British and American forces, felt the sad effects of the war. Some of the congregation were openly attached to the British cause, some as decidedly in favor of the measures of Congress, and others vi- brating in their minds, and undecided what course to pursue in the melancholy struggle.
There is a very elevated ridge of land, in the eastern part of the parish, called Valentine's Hill, which was very frequently resorted to, as a commanding station, by Gen. Washington and his army, and when the Americans left it, it wasoften occupied by the British forces.
In various other parts of the parish also, and in the fields ad- joining the old parsonage house, the British cavalry were sta- tioned for some time. The distress of the people in this vicinity was greater than is commonly imagined. It is said by the old inhabitants, that frequently the wealthiest farmers were deprived by the plunders of the army, of what was absolutely necessary for supplying the daily wants of their families.
The Church suffered also from various causes ; the people became depraved and loose in their morals, from the influence of the example of the armies around them, and from the want of an opportunity to acquire even a common education.
Colonel Philipse who had always been, as we have seen, the most liberal patron of the Church, and who for a while, it is said, was attached to the American cause, was finally induced by the persuasion of his most intimate friends, and of his family, to favor the British. As soon as this was known, he was taken by the Americans to the place of imprisonment which they pro- vided in Fishkill for those whom they considered injurious to their cause. While enjoying a temporary release from this con- finement, that he might visit his family at Philipsburgh, he was told by some designing persons among the Whigs that there was a small company of men above, who were about to come
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down and make a violent attack upon him and his family. Terrified by these false assertions, he fled to the British in New York. The consequence of this desertion was, that his whole manor, which was very valuable, was confiscated and sold by the American Commissioners of Forfeiture, appointed by the State. After the confiscation, he and his family soon sailed for Eng- land, and the Church was deprived of its most liberal benefac- tors. However, the State of New York very generously ordered that all the land then in the possession of the widow of Luke Babcock, should be reserved for the purpose for which it was designed, and that the church, with two acres of land adjoin- ing it should be conveyed to the Trustees of said Church. This act was first passed the 1st of May, 1786, but not being carried into speedy execution by the Commissioners, another act was passed the 3d of April, 1792 :- " That all the estate, right, title, interest, claim and demand of the people of the State of New - York, in and to the said parsonage or glebe, shall be and hereby are granted to and vested in the Corporation of the Episcopal Church in the Town of Yonkers, County of Westchester and State of New-York, and their successors for ever, for the use of said Cor- poration."
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