USA > New York > Essex County > Bloomingdale > The New York of yesterday; a descriptive narrative of old Bloomingdale, its topographical features, its early families and their genealogies, its old homesteads and country-seats, the Bloomingdale Reformed church, organized in 1805 > Part 3
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
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him. The building was beautiful in its architecture. Its recessed portico with Corinthian columns and pil- asters and high-arched doorway commanded the admir- ation of architects even to the time of its destruction. The massive solid door led into a spacious hall, which, in the days of its builder, was used as a ball-room. On both sides of the hall, which extended through the house, were large rooms, and up the broad staircase chambers were found fit for the distinguished guests who visited there. The plot containing the mansion was sold to William Jauncey, an Englishman and rich merchant, in 1799, with a right of way in Apthorp Lane leading from the Road to the river. The Elmwood estate was bequeathed in 1828 to Herman Jauncey Thorne, the son of Jane Mary Jauncey, niece and adopted child of William Jauncey, who had intermar- ried with Herman Thorne in 1810. Their son, who had dropped the surname Thorne, died before coming of age, by being thrown from his horse in Paris. Colonel Thorne, a man of very marked personality, with a strik- ingly handsome face, began his career in the navy. He spent many years in Paris, where a chronicler in 1836 described that he lived in a style of princely splen- dor that eclipsed all rivalry, to the great astonishment of the French, who failed to comprehend where an American had acquired such tastes. Old-timers recall how he drove out of Apthorp Lane in his splendid Eng- lish coach and four, the admiration of the neighborhood. The property was maintained by Colonel Thorne as his country-seat until his death in 1859, when the lots were platted and sold in 1860 at the Merchants' Exchange. In its degenerate days the property was known as Elm Park, a beer and dance resort. The Board of Street Openings sealed its doom when 91st Street was ordered
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opened and it was torn down in 1888. St. Agnes's Chapel now occupies the site.
After passing Burnham's famous resort in the van den Heuvel mansion at 79th Street, of which more anon, the Bloomingdale Road passed down a gentle declivity with occasionally a superb river view. To the right, at about 84th Street, there was a pond, fabled in the vicinity to be of unfathomable depth and known to be well stocked with goldfish. This was a favorite skating ground of the Bloomingdale youth in the winter season, while the capture of the fish with a pin-hook furnished an endless source of amusement to the boys in summer. Nearly opposite to this pond was the entrance to what had been in its day one of the finest country-seats on this side of the Atlantic. A large slice of the farm on which it stood, belonging at one time to Etienne de Lancey, was acquired in 1800 by John McVickar, a merchant prince of the end of the 18th and the be- ginning of the 19th century. Built originally by him, the mansion had afterwards become the residence of the John H. Howland family. The grounds extended from the Road to the river and covered above sixty acres of land, beautifully wooded and with a high rocky shore. The house, which was approached by a winding drive some half a mile in length, was a large square mansion, standing close to the river's bank. Unfortu- nately the line of 86th Street passed through it and when that street was opened, at what the event proved to have been an unnecessarily early date, the building had to be moved from its original position. This was a death-blow to the grandeur of the place. It stood until the fall of 1906 at the northeast corner of 86th Street and Riverside Drive, having successively been used as a boys' school kept by the Rev. Mr. Douglass, then a
THE VAN DEN HEUVEL MANSION, LATER "BURNHAM'S"
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summer boarding-house, afterward, with some addi- tional structures, the House of Mercy, a well-known and most beneficent charity, and up to the time of its demolition a portion of the Misses Ely's school for young ladies.
Opposite to the entrance of Elm Park, Apthorp Lane led to the residences of Horace Waldo and Richard L. Schieffelin adjoining each other on the river, and to the Weyman place. The house occupied by the Waldos and located between goth and gIst Streets was known as "Oak Villa" and was built as a country-seat by Judge Brockholst Livingston. In a letter addressed to his wife in 1806, from Geneva, N. Y., while " on cir- cuit" he mentions the residence by name and adds he missed "the thousand attractions of Bloomingdale." The name he bestowed upon it was appropriate for even now several large oaks are to be seen on its site within the boundaries of Riverside Park. Mrs. Horace Waldo bought the place in 1837, and she in turn sold it to William H. Paine, he who introduced Italian opera to New York in 1850. Cyrus Clark acquired the man- sion in 1866. Judge Livingston was the son of William Livingston, Governor of New Jersey, and grandson of Philip Livingston, second Lord of the Manor in Colum- bia County. He was a Colonel in the Revolutionary Army, an incorporator in 1819 of the Bank for Savings, the first institution of its kind in the State, an officer of the "Old First" Presbyterian Church, a Judge of the Supreme Court, and finally a member of the Fed- eral Supreme Bench.
In 1803, William Weyman and Jacob Coles Mott bid in, at sheriff's sale, the land on which they both built houses. Having divided the purchase, Mott built the residence near the river's bank which was subsequently
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owned by Schieffelin, and in which at later dates Gen- eral Daniel E. Sickles and William H. Howland lived. The Weyman house stood between 93d and 94th Streets. It was called "Mount Aubrey," because of a beautiful mound situated to the south of the residence, on which grew tall trees. Weyman came from England. The house burned down about 1877. Just beyond these houses, and separated from Striker's Bay by a rivulet running through a ravine and which divided the places, stood a large house with lofty columns, which was built and occupied by "that aristocrat of the period," Dr. Valentine Mott. He became the emi- nent surgeon of his day and earned from the renowned Sir Astley Cooper this eulogium: "He has performed more of the great operations than any man living, or that ever did live." His services were eagerly sought, and his name attached to any institution contributed in large measure to place its reputation on a high plane. His trip around the world, during which he was re- ceived with acclaim, was undertaken in 1837. On his return he published a volume of travels dealing largely with the progress of surgery in foreign parts. He bought eleven acres on the west side of the Road in 1833, lying between 93d and 96th Streets, which had belonged to Frederick de Peyster. He lived here for some three months during the summer, driving to his office daily. "The well-known gig of this world- renowned surgeon," writes a contemporary, "whose neat Quaker garb, highly polished white top-boots, and low-crowned, broad-brimmed, well-brushed beaver, were as familiar to all classes as the commonest necessity of daily life; for all, rich and poor, young and old, felt respect and love for Valentine Mott." He died in 1865. In 1868 the mansion, which stood in the way of the
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contemplated Boulevard, was removed to a site nearer the river, and in 1887 the Children's Fold of St. Michael's Parish occupied it.
Passing the Clarkson house for the nonce, we next come to the former residence of Dr. Abraham Valen- tine Williams, the resident Bloomingdale physician and oracle of the neighborhood. He was at once a guide, philosopher, and friend to all who needed his assistance. Fully capable of administering spiritual as well as phys- ical consolation, he even rendered legal assistance to his patients when necessary. A well-known lawyer, a former resident of the district, vouches for the latter fact from having had occasion to examine professionally a will drawn by him at the bedside of a dying patient, long after the Doctor had passed away beloved and respected by all. "It is but justice to add," he says, "that the document would, in legal parlance, hold water."
That portion of the territory yclept
JBloomingdale Village
comprised a collection of some twenty houses or there- abouts along the Road at 100th Street. Among them were to be found the grocer, the shoemaker, the village smithy, and such other local occupations as the residents required at so great a distance from the city. As the built up portion thereof reached and absorbed the farms, the limits of Bloomingdale gradually receded northward until the district surrounding Bloomingdale village alone kept alive the name. Its application to Bloomingdale Square bids fair to fix it to this locality in perpetuity. Here were located, also, a number of fine places. Contiguous to the Striker tract on the north was the property of Humphrey Jones, containing
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over 109 acres. The house stood between IoIst and 102d Streets near the river. When he died, he left his realty and "The Homestead" in which he lived to his son and heir, Nicholas Jones, whose residence was just north of 106th Street, west of Eleventh Avenue. The entire property was sold by the sheriff in 1786 to John Jones for £2300. Twelve years later, 1798, Robert T. Kem- ble purchased it for $25,000 and resided in the mansion for some years. He was obliged in 1811 to deed the premises to Charles Wilkes and Thomas Cooper, who, as trustees, were to pay his debts from the proceeds of its sale. These conveyed it and the "Mansion house" the same year to William Rogers for $29,900, reserving therefrom the lane leading from the Bloomingdale Road which paralleled present 102d Street and lay just south of it. Rogers died in 1818, devising his property to his wife, Ann, and it was known for years as the “Ann Rogers House." She survived her husband fifteen years (1833) and left her real estate to her grandchil- dren, the issue of her only child, Sarah, who married William Heywood, one of whom, Ann M., was the wife of Francis B. Cutting. He and said Heywood, as exe- cutors, had the lands surveyed and mapped in 1834, and certain parts thereof were sold thereafter, the proceeds of which to November 1, 1835, amounted to over $716,000. William P. Furniss acquired a plot along the southern boundary of the tract and thereon he con- structed the mansion with Corinthian columns, sur- rounded by acacias, now standing on the block between 99th and rooth Streets, West End Avenue and River- side Drive. One of its most characteristic features is an oval dining-room, covering most of the ground floor, which was in former years the scene of many banquets. At Furniss's death in 1871, the plot was devised to his
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wife and six children, share and share alike, and the house with the land surrounding it still remains in the family. It is now occupied by a colony of artists. In 1842, Cutting and his wife, in a suit against the other heirs, prayed for consent to sell "several pieces or par- cels of property of the said testatrix situated in differ- ent quarters and of no great value" yet remaining to the estate. Sale thereof was effected September 4, 1843, when Furniss bought additional property north of his holding.
The second and only other church in the Blooming- dale of old was formed in 1806 (incorporated 1807) at a meeting of families professing the Episcopal faith. At that time there was no church of that persuasion between "St. Mark's in the Bouwerie" and St. John's at Yonkers. The first edifice of St. Michael's was a comely neat structure of wood with a spire and belfry and stood on a plot equal to eight city lots, on the east side of the Road at 99th Street. The Rev. John Henry Hobart, afterwards Bishop of this diocese, was the first Rector, with Robert T. Kemble and William Rogers, wardens, and among the vestry such local names as Michael Hogan, Jacob Schieffelin, and Isaac Jones. The small churchyard was early filled, whereupon a piece of ground was set apart for interment purposes on 103d Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, wherein the last authorized burial was made in 1854. As the congregation was assembling on Sunday morning, October 16, 1853, they were dismayed at seeing the building on fire, which with its contents was totally destroyed.
The next edifice was erected on lots immediately adjoining, situated at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 99th Street, and was consecrated on November
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25, 1854, by Bishop Horatio Potter. Fifty feet front by seventy deep, and constructed of wood with a spire eighty feet in height, it held seventy-three pews which furnished about four hundred sittings. These pews were of the old-fashioned high straight-backed pattern, and some of them were curtained. The Rev. William Richmond was elected Rector in 1820 and filled the rec- torship of St. James's, Hamilton Square, at the same time. He resided in a house belonging to the Clarkson family, which stood just north of the residence of Dr. Mott, across one of the many lanes that conducted from the highway to the retired country-seats along the river. Mr. Richmond was a prominent man in the Episcopal Church, and exercised a great deal of influ- ence in the councils of the moderate low church branch. After his death, his widow originated, and by her inde- fatigable energy, raised sufficient funds to organize the House of Mercy, of which we have before spoken. There were very few merchants of the period who could not remember Mrs. Richmond's personal appeal for aid to the charity, the welfare of which she had so much at heart. On one occasion she visited Albany and re- mained there until by her unaided efforts she succeeded in obtaining a large appropriation for this object. Whatever of merit attaches to the founder of a benefi- cent charitable institution belongs to her.
The Rev. Thomas McClure Peters, D.D., the founder and mainstay of The Sheltering Arms, succeeded Mr. Richmond as Rector. There was, perhaps, no man in the State who carried so much persistent energy and earnest application into works of charity with so little ostentation as did Dr. Peters. The Sheltering Arms, the Mission to the Public Institutions of the city, and St. Barnabas's House in Mulberry Street, all are monu-
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ments of his devotion to the cause in which he was en- listed. Not that others were not also entitled to credit for the success of all these charities, but that the labors of Dr. Peters were of such great advantage to them all, and his efforts in the promotion of their welfare so bene- ficial to their interests, that any notice of any one of them would be incomplete without mention of him who was at least one of its chief supporters.
Just above this church on the opposite side of the Road at IoIst Street, stood until February, 1907, the large square white house built and formerly occupied by David S. Jackson, a leading man in the Twelfth Ward, which he represented several terms in the Com- mon Council as Alderman or Assistant Alderman. His son and namesake occupied the position of Alderman later. This house subsequently became the residence of Dr. Peters and was appropriated to the use of The Sheltering Arms until the completion in 1870 of its extensive new plant at Manhattanville.
The fashionable French boarding-school for young ladies of the time was kept by Mme. Petit in a house belonging to the Clarkson estate near the reservoir. Many prominent New York ladies, such as Mrs. Benja- min Field, Mrs. Holly, the daughter of Alexander Ham- ilton, and Mrs. Richmond, received some part of their education there. The school was removed to Dr. Mott's residence at a later period.
Mrs. Trollope, in Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832), gives some particulars of "Woodlawn," a beau- tiful place at 105th Street, in this quotation:
The luxury of the New York Aristocracy is not confined to the city; hardly an acre of Manhattan Island but shows some pretty villa or stately mansion. The most chosen of them are on the North and East rivers, to whose margins
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their lawns descend. Among them, perhaps the loveliest is one situated in the beautiful village of Bloomingdale ; here, within the space of sixteen acres, almost every variety of garden scenery may be found. To describe all its diver- sity of hill and dale, of wood and lawn, of rock and river, would be in vain; nor can I convey an idea of it by compari- son, for I never saw anything like it. How far the elegant hospitality which reigns there may influence my impres- sions, I know not; but, assuredly, no spot I have ever seen dwells more freshly in my memory, nor did I ever find my- self in a circle more calculated to give delight in meeting and regret at parting, than that of Woodlawn.
The Beekman, Whitlock, and Finlay mansions, the first at 120th Street and the river, the second at 118th Street, were other old timers, as was the Buckley house, which stood under the shadow of Claremont Hill in the line of 127th Street, and just west of the Finlay resi- dence. "Edge Hill," the Mali place, where lived the Belgian Consul, "Willow Bank," the seat of Caspar Meier, the residence of John W. Schmidt, the Prussian Consul, the " Abbey," a private place but later a tavern, were other noted homes in this section. As this work does not pretend to be a history of Bloomingdale, it is sufficient in this connection simply to refer to them.
In 1815, the Governors of the New York Hospital at Broadway and Duane Street determined to build a country annex for the insane, and such a branch was incorporated three years later. Their pecuniary means not enabling them to undertake the enterprise on a suffi- cient scale, application was made to the Legislature for aid, which was generously granted in 1816 with an annuity of $10,000 until the year 1857. Three plots of land were purchased before the site finally selected was agreed upon, and on twenty-six acres bounded on
On the present grounds of Columbia University
BLOOMINGDALE ASYLUM, 1821
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the west by the Road, was laid on May 7, 1818, the corner-stone of the original building, which was con- structed of reddish brown freestone, smoothly rubbed. This was completed in 1820 and, under the name of the Bloomingdale Asylum, was opened for patients the following year. Matthew Clarkson was the first President and Dr. John Neilson the local physician. The land is now occupied by Columbia University, the Asylum having been removed to White Plains.
On one of the plots bought by the Asylum, the Leake and Watts Orphan Home was established. Founded in 1831, the corner-stone was laid in 1838. The build- ing, which still stands in the Cathedral grounds at 110th Street, was not completed till 1843. The Home has removed to Yonkers. The Mayor and Recorder of the city are trustees, ex officio, together with the Rector and Wardens of Trinity Church, the senior minister of the Collegiate Dutch Church (now Dr. Coe), and the minister of the First Presbyterian Church (now Dr. Harlan).
On Adrian Hooglandt's farm, a portion of which he sold in 1784 to Nicholas de Peyster, the latter placed his residence at 114th Street and the river. It having burned down in 1835, the premises were sold to Andrew Carrigan, President of the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank. There is no picture in existence of the de Pey- ster mansion; that constructed by Carrigan on the same site is still standing on Riverside Drive. Another portion of his property de Peyster sold, in 1796-8, to George Pollock, a merchant at 91 Water Street. He and Catharine Yates were married at Trinity Church in 1787. The complete identity of the child whose tomb, "erected to the memory of an amiable child," stands in Riverside Park is established by the recent
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discovery of this entry in the records of that church: "Mr. George Pollock's son St. Clair bap! Nov. II, 1792, by the Rev. Benjamin Moore. Sponsors: Mr. Richard Yates, Mrs. Adolph Yates and Mr. Dyckman." This monument has been the subject of unceasing com- ment since the construction of General Grant's mauso- leum near by drew the national attention to the spot. The land, on which was a house, was transferred in 1803 to John B. Provoost, late Recorder of the city, who in turn conveyed it to Joseph Alston the same year. He was the husband of Theodosia, the only and beautiful daughter of Aaron Burr, whose tragic fate at sea is well remembered. From Alston the property passed in 1806 to John M. Pintard, subject to a purchase money mortgage, and on sale under foreclosure was bid in by Michael Hogan for $13,000. He was a wealthy and important citizen in his day, owned the entire parcel of land west of the Road from 12Ist to 127th Streets, and built the mansion known as "Claremont," which was so named after the royal residence at Surrey of Prince William, Duke of Clarence, afterwards King William IV., with whom he had served as a fellow-midshipman in the Royal Navy, and who visited him at his town house in Greenwich Street in 1782. At the time that Hogan was British Consul at Havana, the mansion was occupied by Lord Viscount Courtenay, afterwards Earl of Devon. He was greatly disturbed by the events preceding the war of 1812, but continued to reside there at least as late as February 6, 1814, on which date he stood sponsor at a baptism according to the records of St. Michael's Church. It is asserted that shortly thereafter he sailed for England. Joseph Bonaparte, ex-King of Spain and brother of Napoleon, resided there in 1815.
TREES AND STONE-WALL MARKING THE WEST SIDE OF OLD BLOOMINGDALE ROAD, 1906 Looking southwest from Broadway at 124th Street. Grant's Tomb in distance
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Hogan eventually deeded his property, for the benefit of creditors, to trustees, who in 1821 conveyed "Clare- mont" to Joel Post, who attended worship at the Bloomingdale Church. He died in 1835 and at the sale in partition the property was bid in by his sons, Alfred C. (M.D.) and Edward Post. This bluff was one of the sites suggested by Washington for the capital of the nation and, as is well known, it now forms a feature of the most beautiful river park in the world. The superb view from the knoll on which the mansion stands is surpassingly lovely. The line of territory along the majestic Hudson is destined to be yet more resplend- ent than at present. The grand pageants which have heretofore taken place in this neighborhood only fore- shadow what is in store for this wonderful portion of our island. More than all, the locality is sacred ground, for here heroes and patriots have battled for their coun- try's cause. Part of the field on which was fought the battle of Harlem Heights yet lies about as it looked at the time. In the view, the original bed of the Road dominates the foreground.
In concluding this sketch, let this sad valediction be pronounced. Old Bloomingdale has disappeared. Vanished are its homesteads and stately mansions. The Road itself, once the drive of fashion, is no more. Trucks and cars crowd the streets which cover its once rural windings and the comely wooded hills and green pastures are gone forever-save in the memory of those who have been spared to dream.
II Bloomingdale Militant
As far back as 1613 numerous wars occurred between England and France, covering a century and a half and terminating in the Treaty of Paris, 1763. There can be no question but that Canada, the bone of contention on this continent, belonged to the French if prior occu- pancy gave right. They also claimed by prior discov- ery. England's claims were identical, but reached no farther north than 45° of north latitude. By the year above mentioned the French had extended their settlements from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Penobscot. These settlements were declared to be encroachments, and in this year one Captain Argall was sent from Virginia to dispossess them, which he accomplished in the ruthless manner of the times. This was the commencement of hostilities between the subjects of the two Crowns in any part of North America. No permanent settlements by Englishmen had been made there. What was called (I.) The English Revolution in favor of William III., Prince of Orange, broke out in 1688, and this directly affected the Province of New York, as did the following encounters. (II.) The War between England and France, 1689. France determined upon a policy of
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invasion of both New York and New England, with the ultimate intention of acquiring such territory as she might capture. In January of this year Chevalier de Callières Bonnevue, Governor of Montreal, conceived a project for the invasion and conquest of New York. He intended to make Albany his objective and with a force of two thousand men he proposed to take the route via the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain, thence by the "carrying place" to the Hudson, thence to Albany, then called Orange in honor of the Prince who ruled England. Albany had a population as large as Montreal. The Chevalier was convinced that he would have but little difficulty in obtaining possession of Albany. That city in his possession, he proposed to seize all the boats, barks, and canoes available and proceed down the river to attack the capital of the pro- vince. Success to him meant the governorship of New York. Although this plan was approved by the French King, and was put into execution, the expedition which Frontenac engineered proceeded no farther than Sche- nectady, which was burned and its inhabitants massa- cred on February 8-9, 1690. During these two years the unsuccessful (III.) Expedition against Canada took place. The minutes of the proceedings of the United Colonies show the quota of men raised in New York to have been 400, in Massachusetts 160, in Connecticut 135, Plymouth 60, and Maryland 100; in all 885. Fran- cis Nicholson was Governor of New York. The volun- teers in this county left the city on April 2, 1689, under Capt. Jacob Milborne. Those from Flatbush were commanded by Peter Stryker, Captain of Foot, com- missioned for the expedition December 27th, and on December 16th Jacobus van der Spiegle became En- sign in Capt. Robert Walter's Company of N. Y. Militia.
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