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 8
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
Joanna Bethune was the daughter of Nicholas and Sarah (Ogden) Hoffman and married Divie Bethune,
THE NEW YORK ORPHAN ASYLUM, 1840
91
harsenville
the well-known Scotch philanthropist. She became the mother of that noted pulpit-orator the Rev. Dr. George W. Bethune and died at the age of 92 in 1860.
The corner-stone of the Bloomingdale structure was laid June 9, 1836. After prayer by the Rev. Dr. Knox of the Reformed Dutch Church he ad- dressed the orphans, and the stone was dedicated by Mr. Richmond, rector of St. Michael's. The contract price was $35,000. The report of the Trustees of 1840 comments on the change of location, and recites that the grounds afforded ample room for exercise and recreation, the garden supplied the inmates with fruit and vegetables, and there being pasture for several cows wholesome milk had been added to their simple breakfast; "while the abounding river invig- orated the frame by a saline bath and by casting a net into it furnished an occasional dinner of fresh fish." The inmates attended the Church for many years, having pews at one time in the gallery but generally on the main floor. Two spacious wings and a new story were added to the building shown in the illus- tration in 1856. The growth of the city impelled thoughts of removal and in 1870, land was purchased near Yonkers for a new site. It was not, however, until 1902 that work was undertaken, and in July the institution removed from the site it filled for fifty- two years. It is interesting to recall that on its prop- erty are now located the Ansonia Apartments and the residence of Charles M. Schwab-two of the largest and finest improvements in the upper city.
Richard R. Lawrence, a Quaker merchant at 246 Pearl Street, bought the property adjoining the Asylum on the north, in 1799, and lived in the residence he constructed thereon in the bed of present 75th Street,
92
The new Dork of Desterday
west of West End Avenue, until his death there in 1822. Fourteen years later, Pelatiah Perit, one of the pillars of the Church, acquired it and, during his occupation of the house, granted the Asylum children the privilege of his grounds for picnics. The Fourth of July was yearly made memorable for their enjoy- ment. He was a member of the advisory board of the institution and had the Sunday-school in his charge for years.
Samuel Adams Lawrence, quondam deacon of the Church, owned, in 1805, a tract just north of the above, also a portion of the Somerindyck farm. The repre- sentation of his mansion depicts its idyllic situation and sylvan surroundings long prior to the alteration of the river's front made necessary by the coming of the railroad. Some of us recall those days, and cherish the memory with the wish that the so-called improve- ments might have been relegated to a later date.
The other Somerindyck house stood just north of 77th Street, also on the west side of the Road. Fer- nando Wood having bought it with adjoining land, added a structure on its south end and here he lived while Mayor. One of the noted events of Blooming- dale history occurred there in 1860. On Friday, October 12th, Baron Renfrew (at present King Edward VII.), as the then Prince of Wales preferred to be known on his American tour, accompanied by Lord Lyon, the Duke of Newcastle, Earl St. German, Gen- eral Bruce, and other members of the royal suite, reached the house, after visits to the New York Uni- versity, the Astor Library, and the Central Park where he planted an American elm and a British oak. A large company of notables had assembled at the Wood residence and a bountiful and unexceptionable colla-
93
harsenville
tion prepared. On the lawn at the rear of the dining- room had been stationed Dodworth's famous band of 25 pieces. The Baron was received at the main en- trance of the edifice by the Mayor and conducted within. Miss Wood, then a young lady of sixteen summers, followed on the arm of the Duke, after whom the suite joined the procession. The Baron was formally presented to the guests in the front parlor, while the rest of the royal party, numbering some hundred individuals, were partaking of the repast on the lawn. During the return trip to the Baron's hotel-the Fifth Avenue-a visit was made to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum. A grand ball at the Academy of Music ended the day's excursion.
The earliest school in the district that has come to our attention was the Bloomingdale Academy, which became celebrated under the care of the Rev. Hezekiah G. Ufford, who was succeeded in March, 1815, by John Moir of Edinburgh, distinguished as a classical teacher, when the name became the Bloomingdale Union Academy. This was in its heyday in 1820, but was soon thereafter discontinued. It is not known where it was located. Bansel's Military Academy stood opposite the Somerindyck house at 75th Street and Bloomingdale Road and was burned down circa 1829. At a later date the Rev. R. Townsend Huddart, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, a man of liberal attainments and great ambition, removed his school (1836) from 7 Beaver Street to a building at 77th Street and the Road.
During its life in Bloomingdale, this school added considerably to its reputation. Huddart aimed first at turning out young gentlemen in tne strictest sense of the word, and personal inspection was as severe and
94
The new Dork of Desterday
critical as at West Point. At the same time a thor- oughly liberal training was given, for, although most exacting as to a proficiency in the classics, the ac- quisition of modern languages was insisted upon, French being the language of the school, an unusual essential in those days. Situated quite three miles from any paved street, it was surrounded by the coun- try-seats of the wealthiest citizens, and the sons of the old Knickerbocker families received their education there. Those scholars who lived downtown used to assemble at Broadway and Bond Street, mornings, to meet the school "carryall." Among them were many of the teachers, for Huddart's greatest ex- travagance consisted in his large staff of assistants and the enormous salaries he paid some of the more celebrated. In 1841, the institution was moved to Bleecker Street, corner of Sullivan, and in 1844 to 14th Street, between University Place and Fifth Avenue, in both of which locations it added to its fame. In 1849, it was in 23d Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and here we must bid it farewell. The best known seminary for young ladies, of still a later period, was that carried on by Mme. Petit in a house belonging to the Clarkson estate, and then in one of the houses on the Valentine Mott property. Many of the noted grand dames of the last generation attended this school.
The village tavern, to which entrance was gained :
by way of an ellipse, fronted on the Road near 70th Street. The date of its opening has been lost in obscurity. About 1808 its landlord bore the name of Oakley and is said to have been its builder and first boniface. His successor was a big burly Englishman -Tom Rodgers-and he knew well how to make his
95
harsenville
inn a place of ease and comfort. The great sleighs, with their four horses and many toned bells, whose gay occupants generally had a pleasant greeting for Landlord Tom, made this their rendezvous. Mine host Rodgers spent many years here and was buried in the lane-the Harsenville Road-which bounded the tavern on the north. The next master was William Burnham, who about 1839 removed, at a rental of $600 per annum, to the home of the van den Heuvels, which he called the Mansion House. His sons George, James C., and William were three as delightful hosts as ever were met. The old tavern was then taken by an- other under the name of the Pelican Inn and later "Pop" Griffen, another Englishman who kept a tavern on Hudson Street, opened this place in Bloom- ingdale. In 1840 the elections were held there and excitement in the village was at fever heat. The stages which made this a stopping place largely found their occupation gone when the cars were started on Eighth Avenue, and gradually the business of the tavern died away. It was still standing in 1868, but in how forlorn and neglected a condition! The fences were down, the path hidden by weeds, the windows broken, and the doors hanging lockless. No trace of the gay times of old was to be noticed, and desertion, silence, and decay reigned instead of the ringing laugh- ter, the cheery good fellowship, and the hearty en- joyment of former days in the old Bloomingdale Tavern.
Baron John Cornelius van den Heuvel, Governor of Demerara, came to New York about 1792, a refugee from the ravages of yellow fever in that island. His intention was to remain here but a brief spell, but being charmed with the location, he built his seat,
96
The new Dork of Desterday
which stood on the present block between 78th and 79th Streets, Broadway and West End Avenue, until the summer of 1905. Later, he married a daughter of Apthorp, his near neighbor, and remained in the city. The land on which this mansion was constructed was a part of the great farm, stretching from 77th to 90th Streets, which belonged at an early date to Etienne de Lancey, one of his Majesty's Council. It was purchased by Brigadier-General Oliver de Lancey, his son, from the heirs, executors, and devisees of the emigrant. The General commanded the New York Provincials upon the expedition against Canada in 1758 and was at the attempt made to storm Fort Ticonderoga. Thereafter, and at the commencement of the Revolutionary War, he was a member of the Council and on raising a brigade to join General Howe in 1776 was commissioned Brigadier. Just prior to the evacuation of the city he left for England and died at Beverly in Yorkshire, Oct. 27, 1785. The General's wife was Phila Franks, daughter of an opu- lent merchant of Philadelphia, and she joined in the conveyance of part of their Bloomingdale property to Charles Ward Apthorp in 1763. This land was bounded on the south by the farm of Teunis Somerindyck and was the portion which became the country seat of the van den Heuvels. The site of the mansion was bought by the Astors in 1879 and on it is now being constructed one of the largest apartment houses in the city.
During the Burnham régime, the Mansion House became one of the noted resorts of the Bloomingdale drive. From the rear piazza there was a beautiful view of the Hudson and a pathway through a garden conducted to a charming little summer house perched
HARSENVILLE, 1867, SHOWING THE VILLAGE CHURCH
97
harsenville
on the bank just overhanging the stream. As the headquarters of the admirers of the trotting horse, Burnham's was the successor of Cato's place on the Old Post Road. Many a stepper of national reputa- tion in his day has dashed into the semi-circle by which the hotel was approached from the Road. But it had little in common with the roadside suburban tavern of the present time. There was nothing of the rowdy element visible there. Quiet and re- spectable citizens were accustomed to drive their families out to Burnham's in the afternoon for a scent of country air and a view of the river, and there was no reason why they should not. There was not such a long stretch of outlying municipal undigested terri- tory as there is even now in spots, and the country extended its arms in welcome almost as soon as you were off of the cobblestones.
Before the smooth roads of Central Park were laid out, or even the Park itself was thought of, [says Mrs. Despard in the text which accompanies her sister Mrs. Greatorex's drawings], this Bloomingdale Road afforded an ever fresh pleasure to all who owned horses and carriages. The country on either side of it was so fresh and rural, the houses so charming, whether they were the villas of mil- lionaires or quiet two story cottages of dwellers with small revenues, and the glimpses of the Hudson !- sometimes at the foot of a narrow lane, where the water was but a point of lightness closing the vista, sometimes a broad expanse showing a large and noble view of the grand river. There were hills and valleys on that road; heights whence one could look back to the city and forward to Manhattan- ville; and after going as far out as to Washington Heights or even to Spuyten Duyvel or Kingsbridge, returning in the soft dusk of evening, past Trinity Cemetery and Carmansville, one felt that with the great change from
98
The new Dork of Desterday
the city to such entirely country scenes and the great variety of the drive, the two or three hours' ride had been a journey in itself; and when one saw at the Hopper house on 50th Street the old poplar trees and the glimmering lights of the city, it was like the return from a long absence. As beautiful as the Central Park is, it cannot compensate for the charms of the Bloomingdale Road-now forever lost.
And when snow covered the landscape-these were the days when all the world was on runners-high carnival reigned on the Road, and Burnham's, Striker's Bay, and the Abbey were thronged with gay crowds. An old resident informs us that during the winter of 1847, his family, while sitting on their piazza, had counted eleven hundred and sixty sleighs which passed along the Road in one hour.
Adam van den Bergh started the first stage-route to Albany. Just when the local stages began to run on the Road is indefinite. Haswell's Reminiscences of an Octogenarian states that on May 25, 1819, a line from the lower part of the city was established. In 1845 Benjamin Moore ran five two-horse 'buses from Tryon Row to Manhattanville, and in 1849 John O'Keefe began a line which started at Chambers Street and Broadway, went up to Canal Street, through to Hudson, and con- tinued up Eighth Avenue and the Road to Burnham's. This also consisted of five two-horse vehicles.
We would like to tell of the village life at a later period; of the grocery on the east side of the Road between 75th and 76th Streets which boasted itself by a wooden sign to be the "Harsenville Post Office," the first in the district; of the mild excitement in the settlement on the day (Oct. 19, 1847) of the laying of the corner-stone of the Washington Monument in
99
harsenville
Hamilton Square, largely caused by the emulation engendered among the participants in the contem- plated games; how the boys of the local fire company- No. 50-turned out and reached the site, via the ham- let's only cross road, which led nearly to it; and of the enlistment of the young fellows of the neighborhood for the war with Mexico. How much more of interest could be added-but we forbear and close this mar- shalling of the days of yore with the refrain :- Farewell, a long farewell to Harsenville.
IV
The First Consistory
The Synod to which the Church at Harsenville owes fealty represents the oldest Protestant ecclesiastical organization in America. Its succession of ministers has been unbroken since 1628, when Domine Jonas Michaelius arrived and in the summer formally organ- ized a church which has had continuous existence to this day. When the colony surrendered to the British in 1664, and New Amsterdam became New York, the rights of the church were not affected, all its former privileges being retained under the new government. It was chartered under the seal of William and Mary, King and Queen of England, in 1696. The portraits in oil of its ministers since 1699 are hanging in the Lecture Room of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas (this Saint's name having been that of the "Church in the Fort"), Fifth Avenue, at 48th Street. The bell which hangs in the steeple of this church was cast in Amster- dam in 1728. It was bequeathed by Abraham de Peys- ter, a son of Johannes the founder of the American family, to the Middle Dutch Church, which then stood on Nassau Street, between Cedar and Liberty. When this church building was occupied as the City Post- office, the bell was removed to the church on 9th
100
IOI
The First Consistory
Street near Broadway, thence to the church on Lafay- ette Place, and last of all to its present location, where its voice is still regularly heard. De Peyster's life was marked by many honors, he having held successively the offices of Alderman, Mayor, Judge of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of the province, member and chair- man of the King's Council, acting Governor and Colonel- Commander of the Militia of New York, President of the Council, Treasurer of the provinces of New York and New Jersey, and Deputy Auditor-General.
A vivid pen-picture of the early days is presented in an article which was published in The Christian Intelli- gencer of Aug. 22, 1906. Besides its historic value, it mentions the names of families which later became prominent in Bloomingdale. The editor prefaces the narrative with the statement that it appeared recently in De Kerkboden (The Church Messenger), one of the oldest religious periodicals in the Netherlands. The facts were taken from some old papers in the form of letters written by Domine Joannes Megapolensis to a Wilhelmus van Mierop in Amsterdam, who married Jacobina Bogardus, a sister of the Domine's prede- cessor. Recently there died in Alkmaar (Holland), Doctor Franz van Mierop and in an old Bible of his these letters were found. It is truly said in the above preface that the compiler is in error as to the date (1647) at which he places the event described. Domine Meg- apolensis did not become pastor of the church until 1649, and Domine Samuel Drisius, whose presence is noted in the text, did not reach New Amsterdam before 1652. The article is evidently based on a paper read by the late James W. Gerard before the New York His- torical Society, in June, 1874, which was an imagina- tive portraiture of the times, and not an accurate
IO2
The new Dork of Desterday
historical sketch. The term "Consistory" designates those individuals who, with the minister, compose the governing body of the church.
Andrew Topper,
an original Elder of the Church at Harsenville, was the grandson of Andries Hoppe, mentioned heretofore in the first chapter as having arrived in New Amsterdam in 1652. He came from a rich, prominent, powerful, and much respected family of Old Amsterdam, whose history harks back to ancient times in Holland where the name was spelled both Hoppe and Hoppen, a cus- tom the pioneer in this country continued. Away back in the 15th century members of the tribe had served the city as Schepens, Burgomasters, Councillors, and Orphan Masters. A few instances will suffice. One of the windows of the Old Church in that metropolis was placed therein by a member of the family as a pen- ance for having been baptized a Protestant. This pane represents the Salutation of Maria and contains the Hoppe coat of arms. The recanter himself lies buried in front thereof, in the Chancel of the Holy Virgin, as evidenced by the tombstone on which the same coat can be deciphered. This individual, as a part of his infliction, donated a fund to be used in distributing " a clear white leaf of bread and a pint of wine" to each patient in the Hospital on the Day of the Visitation of Our Lady, and on the 13th of each September, a meal consisting of boiled meat and wine, or fish " on fish day, served as is proper." He became Regent of the insti- tution in 15II. His grandson was Burgomaster and Councillor of the city in 1549, continuing in office for years and remained Orphan Master as late as 1573. Joachem Hopper, a noted Doctor of Laws, with which
103
The First Consistory
degree he was invested in 1553, forsook the profession of teaching the following year on his appointment as a member of the Grand Conseil de Malines. When the Spanish government undertook the creation of a uni- versity at Douay, he was charged with its formation. Called to Madrid in 1566, he became Privy Councillor to Philip II. and Chancellor of Affairs of the Low Coun- tries. He was more moderate than the other ministers of that monarch and was the author of numerous fa- mous books and MSS. Christiaan Hoppe, b. 1621 at Amsterdam, studied at Helmstadt and in 1647 became Lutheran preacher at Enkhuizen. In 1656 he removed to Haarlem and four years later was called to his native city where he died 1670. After 1652 he devoted himself to educating young men for the ministry. A sermon written by him, though only of six pages, 4to, was published for the fourth time in the year 1710, forty years after his death.
In this country several distinct lines of Hoppers ap- pear in numerous localities among the records and families of Colonial times. These were of English or Irish descent. The New York and New Jersey family originated in Holland and it is with this line we have to deal. The pioneer settled in New Amsterdam, where he was enrolled in 1653 in the burgher corps, and during the six years he lived in the colony he was a typical mer- chant of the period and, though not nearly so wealthy as many of his cotemporaries, was the peer of any in enterprise, probity, and business sagacity. Dying in 1658 he left him surviving his widow, whom he married in the old country, and one daughter who was born there, and three sons. All four of the children removed to Hackensack, New Jersey, and this accounts for the large number of the name yet residing in that State.
104
The new Dork of Desterday
The youngest son, Matthys Adolphus, was baptized at New Amsterdam, March 3, 1658, and married there, May 2, 1683, Anna, daughter of Júrck Paúlús, of New Albany. He is designated in the records as being yet of New York, and on removal to New Jersey, they both joined the church there in 1687. He bought a farm adjoining his brother Hendrick's at Saddle River, and the eight children of the marriage were born there. Returning to New York City he acquired the farm at Bloomingdale with which his name is identified, Aug. 13, 1714, and built his homestead on the west side of the Road, but fronting on the farm lane which led to the burial-ground and the river. His son Johannes, known as John Hopper the Elder, married Maria van Orden of the well-known van Orden family, and their seven children were born in the homestead. Under the terms of the will, dated Oct. 12, 1779, the farm was to be divided into six equal parts among the survivors, viz., Matthew, John, Andrew, Yallis, and Jemima, the wife of John Horn, "of the Bloomingdale Road," as Riker's Harlem has it. The remaining portion went to his grandchildren, the issue of his deceased son Wessell. A map was to be drawn showing such division and six tickets prepared and numbered with the numbers of said six lots, whereupon the said six devisees, their heirs and assigns or guardians for them, were each to draw one ticket and the number thereon designated the number of the lot he or she should inherit by the devise. The farm road above mentioned from the Com- mons to the river was to run through each one of said lots, "to always be and remain free to any or either of said devisees to pass and repass without any hindrance" to and from his or her portion of the farm. Articles of agreement were entered into by the heirs carrying
IO5
The First Consistory
out the above directions on Feb. 4, 1782. On lot No. 2 on said map was the family burial-ground and this was exempted from sale, to be reserved forever for that purpose. The courts some fifteen years ago decided that the terms of this agreement were not explicit enough to exempt this ground from other uses and the site is now covered by an apartment house. Hopper's Lane was widened to the uniform breadth of twenty- eight feet throughout its length.
Andrew Hopper was baptized in the Dutch Church at New Amsterdam-the State or Established church of the colony-on Feb. 27, 1736, and married (1) Cath- arina Stijmets Jan. 28, 1758. On the property he in- herited under the above arrangement his father had put up for him the residence which became such a conspic- uous object on the Road, at later 50th Street, on the site of the present American Horse Exchange. This was completed at the date of the marriage and became the home of the couple where three of their four child- ren first saw the light. Issue:
Johannes, bap. Mch. 12, 1760; died young.
Jasper, b. June 10, 1770, in the city residence.
Mary, b. ; married Barzillai Dusenbury, and died in July, 1846, a widow.
Rachel, b. Sept. 15, 1766,;m. Thomas Newcomb, the brother of Charlotte, May 15, 1794. She d. April 27, 1812. At the age of eighteen he left home and entered the office of the Secretary of State at Albany as a clerk, serving for two sessions as Clerk of the Assembly. On Nov. 3, 1791, when twenty-one years old, he was ap- pointed Deputy Secretary of State under Governor Jay, and continued to hold that office until 1802, when he removed to Onondaga County, where he became County Clerk, which office he filled to 1818. Having
106
The new Dork of Desterday
in 1799 been admitted an honorary member of the Al- bany Law Society, he was made Supreme Court Com- missioner in 1803. In 1810 he was U. S. Marshal during the taking of the census and in the War of 1812 was Quartermaster in charge of military stores at the Arsenal in his home county and U. S. Commissary. He was besides postmaster of Onondaga Hollow for nineteen years, and died there July 29, 1848. Among his other activities was the establishment in 1811 of The Lynx, the first newspaper of the county, and the founding of the Onondaga Academy in 1813, one of the famous institutions of learning in the early history of the State, of which he was a trustee from its establishment to his decease. A member of the Democratic-Re- publican party he was a leader in the county organ- ization. Clark's Onondaga says he was "a man of remarkable kindness and docility of disposition, very amiable, courteous, social, and obliging. Few men who have been so much in public life escape with so little censure or expose themselves to fewer assaults from political opponents." He married, Oct. 14, 1800, Char- lotte, daughter of Zaccheus Newcomb of Pleasant Val- ley, Dutchess County, and had six children.
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.