USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume I > Part 31
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of a lover." A common custom among the Dutch was to assign to each child in the household, when it had reached six or eight years, a slave of the same age and sex, who clung to the little master or mistress with an affection that was fully returned and in many instances lasted through life. There is a fact connected with the institution of slavery in the colony of New York which is too honorable to the inhabitants to be omitted here, for in no section was it more true than in West- chester and the valley of the Bronx. The slaves lived under the same roof and partook of the same food as their masters; they were allowed much familiarity and indulged in great freedom of speech. Captain Graydon, who was quartered at Flatbush while a prisoner in the War of the Revolution, testifies to this: "Their blacks, when they had them," he writes, "were very free and familiar ; sometimes sauntering among the whites at meal-time, with hat on head, and freely joining occasion- ally in conversation, as if they were one and all of the same household." Yet, observes Watson, "no case had ever occurred of 'amalgamation,' and no instance of mixed color had been seen until produced by some in the British army coming among them. The first instance of the kind produced emotions of surprise and dislike." The Dutch settlers in Westchester obtained their first African slaves under the "Freedoms and Exemptions" granted by the West India Company in 1629, which promised that to all planters of colonies in the New Netherland "the company will use their endeavors to supply the Colonists with as many Blacks as they conveniently can; in such manner, however, that they. shall not be bound to do it for a longer time than they shall think proper." In 1644 Nicholas Toorn, of Rensselaerswyck, acknowledged the receipt of a young black girl, to be returned at the end of four years, "if yet alive," to the director-general or his successor. The average price of slaves was one hundred dollars in our money each for men and two hundred dollars for women. The treatment of the slaves was on the whole humane, it would appear. In 1644 an ordinance was passed which emancipated those who had served the company eighteen or nineteen years on condition of a yearly small payment in wheat, peas, beans, and hogs, but a failure to comply with the conditions in- volved a return of the laggard to slavery. In 1683 the General Assembly provided penalties for selling any commodity to any slave and for any person buying from them or giving them credit. The same enactment included a rigid fugitive slave law and commanded all constables and inferior officers "to press men, horses, boats or pinnaces to pursue" run- away slaves "by sea or land, and to make diligent hue and cry, as by the law required." Labor statutes permitted masters to punish slaves with any chastisement not extending to life or member; forbade the assemblage of more than three slaves; ordered that the children of
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slave women should be slaves; that each town or manor might have a whipper of slaves; that any slave presuming to strike any Christian or Jew should be committed to prison and suffer corporal punishment ; forbade the harboring of slaves; provided that every master or the executor of a will freeing a slave should give two hundred pounds security that such slave should not become a public charge and that the owners of slaves executed for murder, arson or other terrible crimes should be paid for them. The traffic in slaves began to decline in 1718, and in 1723 there were but six thousand, one hundred and seventy-one in the province. In 1755 there were but seventy-three held in West- chester County. Slavery ceased in the State of New York under the law of 1817, which enacted that every "negro, mulatto, or mustee within this State, born before the 4th day of July, 1790, shall, from and after the 4th day of July, 1827, be free."
Early Customs-A custom brought over from Europe by the early settlers and worth mentioning was the investiture "by turff and twigg." It consisted in the delivery of a turf, a stone, a branch or some other object, as a symbol of the transfer of the soil. Anciently this had been practiced by the feudal lord in conferring a fief upon his vassal. It was observed on Manursing Island in 1693, and at Budd's Neck, with all due formality as late as 1768. In a dispute between Samuell Odell and the heirs of Jonathan Vowles about the southernmost part of the island, John Frost testified that in 1693 he went, by request of Vowles, to the said island, "where he did see Jonathan Vowles. .. cut a turff upon the same, as also cut a stick or twigg thereon; and the said Jonathan Vowles did then and there deliver the said turff and twigg to the said Samuel Odel, who desired this deponent to take notice that Jonathan Vowles did put him in full and peaceable possession." The life of the early settlers was marked by simplicity and naturalness in their social relations. Their out-door amusements were of the kind that promoted vigorous bodies. The Dutch skated on the frozen streams in winter, as they had done in Holland, while those of the English who had the means indulged in riding and hunting. As in all new countries women were in the minority ; the demand exceeded the supply, the woman is described as usually destined to be an "incorrigible old maid" who succeeded in passing her twentieth year without finding a husband. The marriage festival was an event to which friends and neighbors from all the country round were bidden ; much ale and liquor was drunk and the dancing was kept up the night through. There does not, how- ever, seem to have been the strictest morality observed concerning the relations of men and women, for on January 5, 1658, the Council of the New Netherlands issued a very stringent order against those who had their banns published and then had not had the ceremony performed.
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It was ordained that "all persons whose banns have been published, after the third proclamation shall have been made and no lawful impedi- ment occurring, shall cause their marriage to be solemnized at the longest within one month after the last proclamation, or, within the said term, to appear and render in his reasons for his refusal, as it behooves him; and this under the penalty of ten guilders for the first week after the expiration of said month, and for the succeeding weeks twenty guilders for each week, until the time he shall have made known the reason for his refusal. Furthermore no male and female shall be per- mitted to cohabit before they shall have been lawfully married, in the penalty of one hundred guilders, or as much less or more as their circumstances shall be found to warrant."
The English immigrants took pride in celebrating what was called "A Merry English Wedding." No matter how poor the new-made husband he must find money for the Gargantuan spreads which the guests expected. The minister finished the ceremony by kissing the bride; then all the gentlemen followed his example, while it was the bridegroom's privilege to kiss each of the ladies. A bride might receive the salutations of a hundred men in the course of the day; and as if this were not enough the men called on the bride afterwards and this call was colloquially known as "going to kiss the bride." A practice among the rougher frontier people was to carry off the bride and hold her prisoner until she was ransomed by the groom providing entertain- ment for the captors.
The old custom of erecting May-poles and dancing around them prevailed until a late day. Sometimes when a bridegroom had given offense by evincing stinginess, not inviting his friends to his wedding- feast, or in case of an ill-matched couple, a May-pole was adorned with ragged stockings in lieu of flowers and placed before his door. New Year's Day was celebrated among the New York Dutch by the calls of gentlemen upon their female friends, who set out tables with a great stock of eatables and potables. This day and the church festivals, kept alike by the Dutch and the English, brought an intermission of labor to the New York slaves, who gathered in throngs to devote themselves to wild frolics. Debauchery presently usurped the place of innocent en- joyment and these assemblages were converted into orgies. Con- sequently, on December 1, 1655, the Council proclaimed "that from this time forth, on the New Year and May-days, there shall be no firing or May-poles planted; nor shall there be any beating of the drum; nor shall there be on the occasion any wines, brandy-wines or beer dealt out" under a fine of twelve guilders for the first offense, twenty-four for the second, and corporal correction for the third.
The ceremonies attendant on the funeral in colonial days are de-
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scribed as deserving to rank as festive occasions. There was during these events much eating and drinking. Whole pipes of Madeira, with several hogsheads of beer, were drunk at single funerals in New York, to say nothing of the food eaten and the tobacco smoked by friends who made a day -- and sometimes a night-of it in honor of the departed. Legislative interference was more than once invoked to prevent the friends of the deceased from eating and drinking his widow and children out of house and home, and men were known on their deathbeds to forbid the distribution of liquors at their obsequies. The precaution was well-timed, for funerals sometimes became the occasions of drunkenness and riot. There was an early custom of firing volleys over the graves of persons of rank, even though the one interred might be a woman. There were many other sources of expense. The "under- bearers," who carried the coffin, walking with their heads and shoulders covered with the pall-cloth, wore plain gloves; but the pallbearers, the minister and many of the friends were presented with costly gloves of silk or leather. So many gloves were received by persons of wide social connections that a considerable revenue was derived from the sale of them. If the means of the family permitted, fine linen scarfs, caught on one shoulder, with a bow of white or black ribbon and fastened under the opposite arm with ribbon, were furnished to the clergy, physicians and pallbearers. Mourning rings were large and elaborate. "The most common figure upon them," writes Mrs. Van Cortlandt, "was a willow tree and urn done in hair. I have seen long pieces of the same kind worn like the present scarfpins, and heavy rings of white enamel, with the names of the person in whose memory they were given inserted in gold letters." The expense of making such presents can readily be imagined. If the distance to the burying ground was short, the deceased was carried on a bier. The slaves followed with spotless napkins pinned over the left arm a little above the elbow. This ostentation prevailed until the Revolutionary War compelled econ- omy to be observed. A specimen account is that rendered in 1760 by William Cook in the estate of Mrs. James Alexander, widow of the prominent lawyer and mother of Lord Stirling. It read thus :
£. s.
d.
To ye rectors
0
13
0
To opening ye (Trinity) vault
0
9
0
To 5 bells tooling, 18s. each
4 10
0
To ye pall
0 18 0
To ye clearks fees
0
5
6
To 3 invitations, at 18s. each
2 14
0
To cleaning ye church
0
12
0
To 6 Porters, at 6s.
1 16 0
-
11 97
6
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To a coffin covered with cloth and lined within. Finding for ditto, double gilt furniture, full trimmed with all belonging, except cloth, lining and Ribbon
10
0
0 0
To making up state room, finding stuff & tacks
0
14
-
-
10
14
0
Nor does this account include the funeral baked meats, the gloves, mourning rings, and other items of expense.
State and Church-The settlers from Holland in New Amsterdam and its environs were great churchgoers and on Sundays never failed to attend "Kerck" to listen to the much-respected dominie. The duration of the sermon was limited to one hour and in order that the preacher should not exceed it an hour-glass was placed upon the clerk's desk and he was thus made the timekeeper. Another church custom was that the collection was taken in a bag, which the deacon carried fixed to a long black pole, at the end of which was fastened a bell to arouse the sleepers. It was also the custom for the sexton to notify the people of the hour of service by rapping at their doors with his ivory-headed cane and calling out : "Church-time," for which he was paid by each family two shillings per annum. He also carried to the clerk all written requests for the prayers of the congregation. "The clerk had a long rod, slit at the end, into which he inserted the note, and handed it up to the minister, who occupied a very high pulpit in the shape of a half- globe, raised on the top of a demi-column and canopied with a sounding- board. The minister wore a black silk mantle, a cocked hat and a neck band, with linen cambric 'beffy' on his breast, for cravats were then uncanonical." The Sabbath therefore was generally respected; but that there were many unruly spirits who profaned it is evident from the ordinance of October 26, 1656, which forbade all the usual pursuits of trade and labor-"much less any idle or unallowed sports, such as drinking to excess, frequenting inns or tap-houses, dancing, card- playing, tick-tacking, playing at ball, playing at bowls, playing at nine- pins, taking jaunts in boats, wagons or carriages, before, between or during divine service; and particularly no innkeeper or tapster shall be allowed, before, between or during divine service, to follow his custom- ary business nor undertake to tap, hand out, give or sell any brandy- wines, beers, or ardent spirits, directly or indirectly." Very heavy fines were provided for infringement of this enactment, and when the British came into possession, they legislated in the same direction.
The connection between the state and the church was very close in the New Netherlands, and the Council was intolerant towards dis- senters. The ordinance of February 1, 1656, is an example. It ab- solutely prohibited "all public or private conventicles or assemblies as
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are without the wonted (and only allowed by God's word) Reformed and appointed assembly of the Reformed Religion, in conformity with the synod of Dort, here, in this land, in our Fatherland, and in other Reformed Churches observed and followed, under the penalty of one hundred pounds Flemish, to be incurred by all those persons who in such public or private assemblies, without the wonted and authorized assembly, whether on the Sunday or any other day, being unauthorized, shall presume to exercise the profession of Preaching, Prelection, or singing ; and twenty-five pounds, alike Flemish, to be incurred over and above by every male and female, married and single, who may be found in such assembly." It is curious that while the Dutch authorities thus interdicted all religions but their own, they protested in this ordinance that they intended no "prejudice to any patent heretofore given by them, or any lording over the conscience, or prohibiting the reading of God's holy word, or the domestic praying and reading of each one in his family ; but all public and private conventicles and assemblies, whether in public or private houses, without the aforesaid wonted and established Reformed Divine worship." When the English régime began it evinced a certain liberality to every sect except the Catholic element. The articles of capitulation expressly provided that "the Dutch here shall enjoy the liberty of their consciences in divine worship and discipline." None but Protestant ministers were allowed to officiate within the government, but difference of judgment was allowed to all who professed Christianity. The English made the maintenance of the ministry and poor a chief care of their administration, and their laws and edicts relating thereto are multifarious. They appointed overseers for each parish to levy assessments for the building of churches, the payment of the clergy, and the maintenance of pattpers, and while they tolerated other forms of faith, they compelled every person to pay the rates of the church "whereof he doth or may receive benefit." Governor Nicolls expressed the exact obligation in the order that "every township is obliged to pay their minister according to such agree- ment as they shall make with him, and no man to refuse his proportion, the minister being elected by the major part of the householder in- habitants of the town." It was the original scheme of the English that in each parish a church "should be built in the most convenient part thereof, capable to receive and accommodate two hundred persons," but this was found impracticable, for in 1655 it was provided that such churches should be built within three years afterwards, and to that end a town rate or tax was authorized to begin that year. In default of payment of the church rates by towns or individuals, a summary process was authorized for the collection of the assessments and sub- scriptions. It should not, however, be taken for granted that the
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Church of England immediately became the established church in New York. The controversy between Governor Sloughter and the Assembly, in 1693, points the religious history of the time. All the members of the Assembly but one were Dissenters, and in considering a bill for settling a ministry they absolutely refused to incorporate an amendment submitted by the Governor, providing that the bill should be presented to him, "to be approved and collated." His object was to construct it to the advantage of the Church of England, and as the Assemblymen could not be coerced or persuaded, he prorogued the session and scolded them vigorously in an address wherein he notified them that he "would take care neither heresy, schism, nor rebellion be preached amongst you." This enactment of September 22, 1693, required the establishment of a "good, sufficient Protestant minister, to officiate and have the care of souls within one year next" in specified districts. Two were ordered for Westchester County, "one to have the care of Westchester, East Chester, Yonkers and the Manor of Pelham; the other to have the care of Rye, Mamaroneck and Bedford." Each was to be paid fifty pounds per annum by a levy laid upon the people, which they might pay "in country produce at money price." Iron-clad enactments protected the pastor against the possibility of non-payment of salary. The justices of the county were required to issue warrants to the constables to summon the freeholders on the second Tuesday of January, to choose ten vestrymen and ten church wardens; the justices and the vestrymen laid the tax, and if it was not paid the constables had the power to distrain for it. At each stage of the pro- ceedings fines were provided for persons or officials who failed to dis- charge their duties.
The Puritan population were severely affected by this enactment. Francis Doughty, who had been expelled by the Congregationalists from Taunton, Massachusetts, is said to have been the first Puritan or Presbyterian minister in New York. He officiated from 1643 to 1648, and was supported by voluntary contributions from the Puritans and Dutch of the city and its environs. Puritans were certainly among the early settlers of Westchester. In the third volume of the "Documentary History of New York" there is an interesting description of a Puritan service at Westchester in 1656, conducted by two laymen, Robert Bassett and a Mr. Bayley, who were probably ruling elders, one reading a sermon and the other leading in prayer. When the colony was surrendered to the Duke of York in September, 1664, there were within its bounds six Puritan ministers settled with their flocks. There were also Puri- tan bands at Rye and Westchester which were without pastors. Gov- ernor Andros did not trouble the Puritan churches, which lost some of their veteran pastors, but continued to increase in numbers. Nathaniel
OLD FRENCH CHARLIE'S HOUSE ON BRONX RIVER PARKWAY BELOW GUN HILL ROAD. WHEN DEMOLISHED A FEW YEARS AGO IT WAS THE LAST REMNANT OF THE OLD FRENCHI COLONY
HORSES IN PHELAN'S, 1902 (NOW CORNER OF WASHINGTON AND PELHAM AVENUES)
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Brewster settled at Brookhaven and supplied East Chester in 1665. In 1674 Eliphalet Jones supplied Rye and Ezekiel Fogg supplied East Chester. In 1675 Peter Prudden preached at Rye, and Thomas Denham settled there in 1677. Thus within twelve years there were five Presby- terian clergymen exercising their functions in Westchester County. They and their flocks shared in the struggle which all Dissenters had to make with Governor Sloughter's efforts to establish the Church of England as the State Church, but still Presbyterianism flourished. In Westchester County the Rev. John Woodbridge located at Rye and the Rev. Warham Mather at Westchester in 1684. These two clergy- men were among the most important personages in the lively episode which followed the conversion of the Rev. William Vesey, a Puritan pastor in New York to the Church of England. His charge of faith is said to have been procured by Colonel Heathcote, who, upon his settlement at Scarsdale, Westchester County, in 1692, showed himself a still zealous proselyter for the Church of England. In a letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, dated April 10, 1704, he relates a contention that was of great moment at the time:
The people of Westchester, East Chester and a place called Lower Yonkers agreed with one Warner Mather, and the people of Rye with one Mr. Wood- bridge, both of New England, there being at that time scarce six in the whole county who so much as inclined to the church. After Mather had been with them some time, Westchester parish made choise of me for one of their church wardens in hopes of using my influence with Colonel (Governor) Fletcher to have Mather inducted to the living. I told them it was altogether impossible for me to comply with their desires, it being wholly repugnant to the laws of England to compel the subject to pay for the maintenance of any minister who was not of the Na- tional Church, and that it lay not in any Governor's power to help them, but since they were so zealous for having religion and good order settled amongst 'em, I would propose a medium in that matter, which was that there being at Boston a French Protestant minister, Mr. Bondett, a very good man, who was in orders from my Lord (Archbishop) of London, and the people of New Ro- chelle being destitute of a minister, we would call Mr. Bondett to the living, and the parish being large enough to maintain two, we would likewise continue Mr. Mather and support him by subscription. The vestry seemed to be extremely well pleased with this proposal and desired me to send for Mr. Bondett, which I immediately did, hoping by that means to bring them over to the church; but Mather, apprehending what I aimed at, persuaded the vestry to alter their resolu- tion, and when he came they refused to call him, so that projection failing me, and finding that it was impossible to make any progress toward settling the church as long as Mather continued among us, I made it my business in the next place to devise ways to get him out of the country, which I was not long in contriving. which being effected and having gained some few proselytes in every town, and those who were of the best esteem amongst 'em, who having none to oppose them, and being assisted by Mr. Vesey and Mr. Bondett, who very often preached in several parts of the country, baptizing the children, by easy methods the people were soon wrought into a good opinion of the church and indeed beyond my expectations.
Bronx-18
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THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
It is not explained by what means Heathcote drove the Puritan clergymen out of the country, but it is not to be questioned that he turned many of the Presbyterians over to the Anglican faith and prepared the way for the work of the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, an organization of the Church of England, which sent John Bartow out as a missionary. He was placed in charge of the Puritan churches of East Chester, Westchester, and Jamaica by Gov- ernor Cornbury, and the Puritan ministers, Joseph Morgan, of West- chester, and John Hubbard, of Jamaica, were forced to retire from their church buildings and parsonages. "Lord Cornbury," writes C. W. Baird, "equally zealous with his predecessor, Fletcher, for the spread of the Church of England, assumed the right that Fletcher had claimed to induct ministers into parishes, and under color of a law that had no existence put the missionaries of the Society in possession of churches, glebes and parsonages. This was done, or attempted, at Westchester and East Chester, Rye and Bedford. In Rye only, of all these towns, no church had been built; but a tax was levied upon the inhabitants for its erection, and meanwhile the house and lands which had been provided for a minister and held by a succession of pastors, were taken for the missionary." John Hubbard made a fight but Cornbury ousted him in favor of Bartow, who then attacked Morgan, with the result narrated in his own letter of December 1, 1707, to the secretary of the Society :
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