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Judith Doolin Spikes
FOUNTAIN SQUARE BOOKS Larchmont, N.Y. 1991
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This book is dedicated to
Jim, Katie, Sarah, Domzmsy, and Dixie—
my family; the lights of my life;
to Lillian Dees Doolin, mother and friend;
r
and to the msemsory of rssy father,
David Franklin Doolin, who taught me
F. what Williams Faulkner meant when he wrote,
"The past is not dead;
the past is not even past."
h
Copyright Judith Doolin Spikes 1990, 1991.
All rights reserved, including the right to re-
produce this work in any form whatsoever without
permission in writing from the publisher,except for
brief passages in connection with a review. For in-
formation, write: Fountain Square Publishing, 5
Maple Avenue,Larchmont,N.Y.10538.
I
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number:91-071485
Printed in the United States of America
i
ISBN 0-9628957-1-7
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IL � , y • I=d . �A Ity' _ -_-.. __,_ ,-�r o Contents
IN
47
M o,
1e ` wo_ T~'MEwfy�M,I.Yµ[/ ! l/ • � '/ >"<_�F<6 ��
'y "° . - 3,y i� % - - fir Preface i
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qI= so'` c<cww •,•--- •dr l 1� __ �I' c".�"r
Chapter One
.� Pre-History,Discovery,
�•I�p1�j `-_- ' .a L + "° y „ I " , T A NINpNt Io-°wE % .a• - ,
dA,< " ' _ _ _ ' _ a,�„ s" - Early Settlement: to 1696 1
Chapter Two
,° American Pioneer
WK
Q ° ., ;�"• ;Q1 "" _ ' _ "1= _-� Homestead: 1696-1775 9
Chapter Three
Through War to
I'', =,y a I /■ " r c� .,: /' �` _ _ ` •T Vis' 1� '� +� M �D - K,
Q \ (\/ \�J _` �' a• " _'I /, - �_ ;p Independence: 1776-1790 23
Chapter Four
An Early Seat of Quaker
�.' � • `� � I" -�� - :* ; Industry: 1790-1820 35
HORSESHOE
°M HARBOR Chapter Five
_ rcw ,� ,o •' ? a , << — ��; =1 " - �
A Gentleman's Country
�: ,tea ��,;• a; y. ;/ .� /tee. �� , ''""'af='�_ i-' Place: 1795-1854 41
■ ■ �`^ « o `lhF4 ',fid + •..,,' — i �<
/ ., ,� �� T1 r! Chapter Six
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� w, __ f�„�W ;`� '•., ?_ ,,.� � �� A Merchant Prince's
�l ;��, "` Q� < rs. ;« x` 1 .•" Estate: 1845-1865 57
;' +y ' � ®m •2�e - / ` Erb.
Chapter Seven
From Summer Resort
VA<,, +
to Suburbia: 1865-1892 65
•;' ' � ' �_ Notes 108
A Bibliography 128
V-I L LSA G E 111deX 140
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Acknowledgements
0
I am indebted first of all to Phil Reisman III and Donald Oresman for saving the
bound file copies of the Larchntornter Times and the Larchmont Ties from the trash
m
PREFACE heap longfor th
enough g e Larchmont Historical Society to be formed and raise the
money to have them microfilmed. I am also grateful to my friend Jim Barden,without
whose expert editing my first article on Larchmont history never would have seen
print, and to Ina Meyers, former editor of the Daily Times, who liked that first article,
published by the New York Times, and engaged me to write a series of historical ar-
'7ndustrious persons, by exact and scmpulous diligence and ob- ticles for her newspaper.
servation, out of Monuments, Names, Words, Proverbs, Traditions,
Private Records and Evidences, Fragments of Stories, Passages of Nor would this book have been possible without the multiple acts of kindness, en-
,dooks...and the like, do save and recover somewhat front the deluge couragement, and industry of the members of the Larchmont Historical Society, and
of time..." especially of my co- conspirators in its founding. I am especially indebted to Riitta
Lagus, who spent many long hours over a period of several months preparing the old
--Francis Bacon,The Advancement of Learning newspapers for microfilming,and to Bruce Allen,whose untiring efforts at last secured
for the Historical Society an archives where the fruits of my and other researchers'
labors can be preserved, organized, and consulted. They along with Athena Ploumis,
Joseph Hopkins, Marie Mlilea, Margaret and Al Fraser, June Allen, Betty and Bob
Local historians ordinarily rely on memory and oral tradition,but Larchmont has no White, Dee Brown, Pat Tripoli, Theora Hahn, Betty Garrabrant, Eleanor Lucas,Sher-
collective memory. Typically, people move here, raise their families and move on. Totten,
Birds of passage though we be, Larchmonters are curious about the community's past. Pan Totten Bill d this workman, Sydney Astle, and a score of others provided the atmos-
here that nurtured this work.
We wonder how things got to be,the'way they are, and the answers to our questions
turn out to be rooted not only in this particular square mile of land and the 50,000 or
so individual human beings who have lived here since an English smuggler named
John Richbell took it from the Siwanoy Indians over 300 years ago. The history of
Larchmont reflects and many ways replicates the history of our nation, which in turn
reflects a larger history. The United States is becoming a nation of nomads; what we
learn about the evolution of life is Larchmont is a kind of personal history after all,
even though few of us who live here today had ancestors here or will leave descendants
here when we depart.
Like most Larchmonters, I moved here from New York City with a spouse and two
young children. A professional researcher and amateur genealogist, I wondered who
had lived in our 100-year-old house before us, essayed to find out, and became in-
volved in ever-expanding fields of inquiry. I began researching the history of
Larchmont almost 20 years ago--having at that time no end in mind other than my own
entertainment--and have written up bits and pieces of it in various forms from time to
time. Somewhere along the line, I was appointed Larchmont Village Historian,which
put the stamp of legitimacy on what was otherwise becoming a rather suspect pursuit.
In composing this book, I felt torn between shoveling in everything I have
learned
(along with documentation of the sources from which I learned it) and writing a narra-
tive that people might actually want to read. I have done my best to combine those
two worthy goals, but when my back was to the wall, the scholar in me triumphed over
the teacher and the writer. In order not to produce just one more account that leaves
the reader to wonder "how does she know that?"I include end-notes that expose--in
Dixon Ryan Fox's felicitous phrase--the ladder of evidence by which I have climbed to '
my general statements. I have no doubt that I have made errors and omissions, but I
have invented nothing, and anyone who wishes to expand or refine my results will find i
in the Notes and Bibliography firm ground on which to stand. }
. St
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}
7
„ I. Pre-History, Discovery and Early Settlement: to 1696
The Land
For over a million years, titanic glaciers ground, crushed, dug and rolled their way
' up and down the Atlantic Coast. As the polar caps alternately froze and melted, ad-
vanced and receded, sea level rose and fell, river valleys were dredged out and sedi-
mented in,the earth's crust itself was pressed down and rebounded.
; j
Larchmont lies on the southernmost limit of the glaciated coast. The last work of
the last glacier was performed on our shore, some 10,000 years ago, as the Wisconsin
or Laurentide Glacier gouged out Long Island Sound, then piled the rocks, sands, and
gravel it had scraped up on its long southward journey into a moraine we call Long Is-
land.
1 In Manor Park near Umbrella Point, we can take in at one glance the indigenous
i granite formed here some 360 million years ago and scraped bare by the glaciers, and
the glacial erratics, boulders much older than the native rock--one billion years old,
perhaps-- brought by the moving ice from their homes in the Hudson Highlands and
points farther north. The glaciers scratched the inch-wide parallel lines running north
and south into the exposed strata on which we stand.
The "Sliding Rock” near the pumping station is a granite erratic, whose side was
rasped flat by the dragging of the glacier. The "Whale-Back" near the flagpole got its
s rounded hump as it rolled and tumbled along. Opposite the flagpole, near the shore,
the alien"Death's Head"balances on native rock.
Indian Rock Shelter or Profile Rock? Morgan Seacord. writing in 1962, ex- The Westchester shore all along the Sound is indented with bays and estuaries of
plains that the ledge was pointed out to which Echo Bay and Mamaroneck Harbor are the grandest. Jutting out into these
him 'many years ago byan older mem- � large bays are three peninsulas now called,west to east,Davenport's Neck, Larchmont
mem-
ber of the Palmer family" a 'profile Manor, and Orienta. More intricate interdigitations of land and water fringed the
This ledge at the southwest corner of rock having the imagined outof the
Pinebrook Park, on Palmer Avenue, has face of an Indian." Upon examining the shoreline between these principal peninsulas as far inland as today's Post Road.
acquired a popular reputation as "The rock, Seacord continues, he discovered
Indian Rock Shelter." The evidence for that it has "a deep recess under it that In the long slow centuries after the final retreat of the glaciers, sand, silt and clay
this attribution is not known, although could easily be made into a large and sifted and settled into some of the narrow coves. Shore birds migrating from southern
similar formations in the northem part well-sheltered living room," and from salt marshes brought grass seeds embedded in the dried mud caked on their feet. An-
of the county have been documented as this he concluded that it is "clearly ap- tient streams brought more and more sediment to the shore; sand washed in with the
sites of Native American habitation. parent that the real reason for the rock tide.As the roots of marsh plants bound this matter into peat, the marsh grew.Sedge,
The rock is found in early deeds as a being described as the 'Indian Rock'was cattails, red cedar and sea lavender mixed with the dominant spartina grass. From
landmark known as 'the Indian Rock" not because of the profile of the hn-
(407). A face is discernible (to a good agined face of an Indian, but ancient time out of mind until the latter 19th century, most of Larchmont Manor was a salt
'
imagination) in photographs taken as local knowledge of it as a human habita-
marsh,and much of the rest was freshwater swamp.
late as the 1960s, although more recent tion (408). Photo by Stanley Judkins,
crowding and overgrowth have obscured courtesy of Larchnnont Historical The western boundary in old deeds is marked by a stream flowing into the Sound
it. Society. and variously known as Gravelly Brook,Stoney River, and Cedar Creek (now the Pre-
mium River). Border disputes arose out of confusion with a stream farther west of
similar name, and with Pine (originally Pine's) Brook--a street today, babbling water
then. Above the Post Road, homeowners on the old Daubeny/Meyers estate hear on
rain-drenched nights the ghostly complaints of the buried stream that courses in con-
crete conduits under their cellars. Another creek ran down Prospect Avenue and
through Fountain Square to empty into Horseshoe Harbor. The eastern boundary was
marked by Pipin's Brook, also called Shuger's River(now East Creek).
1
A
r'
Landmarks featured in old deeds to Larchmont property include Dirty Swamp and
Wolf Pit Swamp,and a map appended to a 1796 deed shows"Mr. Munro's orchard"as The Siwanoy also cultivated corn, beans and squash in fields near their villages and
in other propitious places. They had villages on Pelham Neck, Davenport's Neck in
a narrow ribbon of"upland" surrounded by salt meadows, running all the way from the New Rochelle, and near Rye Beach; there was a larger settlement and burial ground
harbor up to the Post Road(362). .on the banks of Rye Pond in Harrison (now inundated by the Kensico Reservoir
Marshes, bogs, fens--swamps--have been scorned throughout most of our history. )
The earliest inhabitants of this area,though,knew the value of marshlands,which have To clear land for planting, the Siwanoy sometimes felled trees by building a fire at
latterlybecome recognized their base to char the trunk until it was soft enough to chip with sharp shells or white
t cults as the most productive places on earth, producing without flintstones; then they built another fire, chipped some more, and continued in this way
fertilizer and without cultivation 10 tons of organic material per acre each year, while until the tree torpled. More often, they cut out a hand's breadth of bark around the
the best hay land in America yields only four tons. circumference of the trunk, a practice that killed the tree within a season or two.
The Siwanoys established hunting villages on inland high ground and wore trails When the tree no longer put forth leaves, enough sunlight reached the ground for
into the marsh to the rich clam beds. Fish and shellfish feasted on the marsh's produc- plants to grow around the dead trunks, which remained standing until they rotted
tion of plankton and plant detritus; shorebirds feasted on the fish; bears, deer, rac- away.
coon, muskrats and foxes came to prey and were preyed upon. The Indians harvested
seaweed and alewives to fertilize their crops of corn, squash and beans. When winter Then they dug a little hole--not very deep, because the earth was hard and rocky
came, the Siwanoy abandoned their huts of grass and twigs near the marsh and, like and they had only shells to dig with-- and dropped in four seeds of corn: "one for the
today's summer people,returned to more permanent cold-weather homes. beetle, one for the crow, one for the cutworm and one to grow."The corn was planted'
in April, when the
p ground had thawed and the alewives were running. The Siwanoy
added an alewife head to each corn hill for fertilizer. Later they planted squash and
Siwanoy Fishing Camp beans beside the cornstalks, saving themselves the trouble of providing poles for the
In the spring of 1614, a Dutch sea captain named Adriaen Block sailed through the vines to climb.
previously unbreached Hell's Gate while testing his new cargo ship, the.Onrust("Rest- While the women were planting and tending the garden plots, the men came down
less"). This casual event marked the discovery of Long Island Sound. As Block sailed through the marsh to Manor Park to fish and to snare marine birds. Where the Pre-
along the Sound's western shore,he saw campfires in Manor Park. mium River empties into the Sound, they drove a row of sticks into its bed. When the
tide came in, the fish swam up the creek; when the tide started to run out, they
The campfires were those of the Siwanoy, a peaceful Stone Age people of the Al- stretched a net along the sticks,and the fish piled up against it.
gonquian tribe who lived more by agriculture and fishing than by hunting and trapping.
Although they were few in number--no more than 300 at the time of the European in- In good years, when there was enough rain and sunshine, the Siwanoys ate well
vasion, according to one eyewitness account--they were thef only inhabitants of the during the summer and had fish, beans and corn left over to dry for the winter. They
Sound Shore between Hell's Gate and Norwalk, Connecticut. also gathered acorns and pounded them into flour; mixed with water, the acorn flour
made a sort of gruel. They ate their food raw, and did not use smoke as a preservative
Then as ever after, it was the waterfront that drew people to this area. As long as (213). These "keeper foods" were stored in pits in their?llages, and after all the food
you are not particular about what you eat,you will never starve near the shore. When was eaten, the pits were filled with garbage and covered. In the late fall the men went
the tide goes out,the table is set--with sick sea lions,dead fish,clams, and seaweed. farther inland, away from the shore and the villages,to hunt deer and elk.When every-
thing else had been eaten, the long bones of deer were chopped up and boiled for their
The Siwanoy were not merely beachcombers,however.They used the marsh grasses collagen, a pure protein.
to make nets and slings, and when they caught a bird, they made fish hooks from its
sharp little bones. They used the edges of clam shells to whittle points on sticks for The stored food was usually gone by February or March, but by then oysters could
spearing fish and small animals,and they used the animals'tendons to make strings for be found in the water and the skunk cabbage was beginning to turn green. And so the
sapling bows with which to hunt larger,swifter animals.The land teemed with wildlife-- Siwanoy got along until the fish started to run and edible roots could be dug and ber-
beaver, elk, bear, otter, deer, and flocks of geese so large they darkened the sky. The ries gathered.
fish in the Sound were "so tame that many are caught with the hand" (179). Blueberry
thickets,wild grapes and plums were abundant, and there were many edible roots, nuts In fair weather and foul, their customary clothing was merely an "apron to cover
and greens to gather. that which modesty commands to be hid" made of bear or raccoon skin "sewed or
skewered together." They protected their skin from cold, heat and mosquitoes by
1. In a work published in 1656,Adriaen Van Der Donck,a Dutch explorer,was the first to describe
the Indians of the contact period, their villages and their way of life. Van Der Donck's account
was enlarged upon in the 1670s by English eyewitnesses Daniel Denton and Charles Wolley. 2. Amateur archeologists have often mistaken these pits as evidence of one big clambake, but the
! professionals tell us that they represent,instead,the debris of an entire season.
2
3
i
anointingthemselves with "oil of fishes fa f
t o eagles and grease of raccoons," and they say the milk will not be good if they get children so fast"--a practice that had popula-
tion themselves with porcupine quills in their noses and "portraictures of beasts tion control as a side effect and doubtless promoted maternal health as well. "Their
and birds upon several parts of their bodies" (214). hardiness and facility in bringing forth is generally such as neither requires the nice at-
tendance of nursekeepers nor the art of a dextrous Lucina," and "as soon as a woman
Their houses were made of sticks, bark and grass mats.They drove six to eight long, is delivered, she retires into the wood for a burden of sticks,which she takes upon her
flexible sticks into the ground in a circle or oval, tied them together at the top, wove back to strengthen her"(219).
saplings through the upright sticks to brace them, and covered the sticks with
birchbark and mats woven of dried grass. One to three families lived together in a The Siwanoy had no concept of private property and, therefore, little crime and less
"wigwam"; sometimes the Siwanoy made"long houses"by similar means,which housed punishment. Their clans were governed by a chief, chosen by female elders through a
15 to 20 families. They slept on shelves along the sides of the dwellings, and had combination of appointment and hereditary descent through the female line. With no
another shelf above for household objects--buckets, cooking pots and dishes made of police power to enforce his will, the chief ruled by persuasion,and no action was taken
birchbark,clay and wood(215). until consensus was reached(220).
Like all peoples, the Siwanoy wondered where they and the world they lived in had
come from, and they were satisfied with a rather simple explanation: they were des-
cendants of a woman who fell from the sky and landed on the back of a gigantic tor- Richbell's Purchase
toise that subsequently became the earth. They worshipped the four quarters of the
compass as deities and the sun, moon, thunder and winds as lesser gods, and threw fat In September of 1661, an English trader named John Richbell met two Siwanoy
into the fire as a sacrifice of thanksgiving (216). They also feared an evil power that chieftains, Wappaquewam and Maha,ahan, in Mamaroneck Harbor and struck a deal:
they imagined in the shape of a horned snake and sought to propitiate it by burying ob- he offered 22 coats, 100 fathom of wampum, 12 shirts, 10 pairs of stockings, 20 hands
jects in the ground in its name. They buried their dead"sitting upon their heels as they of powder, 12 bars of lead, 2 firelocks, 15 hoes, 15 hatchets and three kettles; they of-
usually sit" along with a kettle, bow and arrows, and a purse of wampum for the soul's fered the use of three peninsulas, or "necks," of land (92). When we reflect on how
journey to the southwest sky, where, they believed, "they shall live as they do now... hard it must be to fell a hickory tree with a fire and a clam shell, or plow stony ground
and marry,but not work as they do here" (217). ++ with the shoulder blade of a deer, or trap a buck and tan its hide to cover one's naked-
Ceremonies, apparently, were few, and consisted largely of dancing. Eyewitnesses
r ness...and on the fact that the Siwanoy believed they were selling merely the right to
� use of the land and not the land itself...we can understand why they thought
share the
report that a "June meeting" was held for the green corn, and a harvest festival at the share the price was right(22,81,212).
beginning of winter. It is believed that a certain large stone marked a ceremonial site
near a spring on the Soulice farm, which extended from Wilmot Road to Weaver At that time, and until 1664, the general title to all of the territory of southern
Street near the Quaker Ridge station of the now-defunct Westchester and Boston Westchester was held by the Dutch, to whom Richbell promptly applied for a ground
Railway(known by those who rode it as "the Old Bump and Wobbly) in New Rochel- brief confirming his title (81). By the time the two chieftains discovered that the white
le; this "Stone of the Siwanoy" is now on the grounds of the Thomas Paine Cottage in ?` men meant them to quit their ancestral lands,there was nothing they could do.
New Rochelle(409).
1 ', That explanation has the charm of simplicity,but the truth was probably more corn-
-wise Siwanoy had doctors but seldom needed them, for "the all-wise Providence plicated. By the time Richbell made his offer to Wappaquewam and Mahatahan, the
which hath furnished every climate with antidotes proper for their distempers and an- Native Americans of Westchester had had almost two decades to learn the ways of the
noyances" had sown penny-royal, or ditany, in abundance. "By taking of it inwardly or white invaders. In 1643,William Kieft, director-general of the Colony of New Amster-
by outward application and by fume it will expell a dead child, and the juice of it ap- 1 dam, had ordered a surprise attack on an Indian village just north of the Harlem
plied to wounds made by sword or the biting of venomous creatures is a present re- River. The Indians retaliated with attacks on the Anne Hutchinson and Cor-
medy," an eyewitness wrote. The general remedy for all diseases was sweating in a nell/Throckmorton settlements near Throgg's Neck, and Kieft sent to Connecticut for
tightly closed but heated by hot stones,followed by a plunge into cold water.The sweat the professional Indian annihilator Captain John Underhill. Underhill led raiding par-
house, however, "proved epidemical" as a treatment for the white man's infectious dis- ties throughout Westchester, and the military power of the tribes in this region was
eases such as small pox(218). broken forever in 1644 when Underhill and 300 men with muskets destroyed a
Dutch and English observers remarked with wonder on the height and absence of Siwanoy and Tankiteke village in Pound Ridge.
deformity among the native people: "Most of them are between five or six foot high, "What is most wonderful," Underhill wrote in his report on the massacre, "is that
straight bodied, strongly composed...I could never observe any one shaped either in re-
dundance among or defect, deformed or misshapen." They attributed this to the swaddling of '
the infants upon boards, and to the abhorrence of"that unnatural and costly pride of scream. According to the Indians themselves the number destroyed exceeded 500.1 Some say, full 700, our God having collected together there the
suckling them with other breasts"than the natural mother's. "The husband doth not lie g g greater number of our
with his wife whilst the child has done sucking, which is commonly two years, for they
3. The Tankitekes and the Siwanoys were allies in the Wappinger Confederacy.
4
5
#
enemies to celebrate one of their festivals, from which escaped no more than eight From Smugglers'Roost to English Plantation.
men in all,and three of them were severely wounded" (221). John Richbell, a native of Hampshire, England, belonged to an English merchant
family that traded with Massachusetts and the West Indies. In Barbados in 1657, he
Thus we might safely assume that the Siwanoy realized as soon as Richbell arrived made an agreement with two other merchant-traders to establish a plantation on the
that they would be forced to move on and so decided to take with them whatever they Sound Shore between English Connecticut and Dutch New Amsterdam. The in-
could. We might also assume that with the decimation of their ranks, their traditional tended, it seems to use the place as a base for trade in defiance of the English Navi a
manner of government had broken down. Wappaquewam and Mahatahan, rather 3 g g -
than representing the consenjus of their people, may have been merely a pair of tion Laws(226).
shar sters actin on their own.
P g � Richbell's partners instructed him to select a place that had some cleared ground, a
house, river, harbor, spring, woods, and some high, healthy ground. The place Rich-
The record tends to confirm both assumptions. One month after Richbell struck his bell finally chose became the Town of Mamaroneck.
deal, another English merchant trader,Thomas Revell,offered a much better price for
the same land: "Eighty odd pound sterling" (222). Wappaquewam and another"chief,"
(also spelled Cockoo d. Both Indian deeds and the series of affadavits Richbell's purchase comprised the three peninsulas ( necks ) of land lying
Cakoe l ) between
( P �accepted.P the Mamaroneck River on the Northeast (then the boundary between New York and
that the ensuing litigation elicited, paint a vivid picture of deception and counter- Connecticut) and "Mr. Pell's Purchase" on the Southeast. The purchase extended in-
deception(223). land 20 miles into the woods "above the marked trees," the exact boundary becoming
Several Indians testified that Mahatahan and Wappaquewam did not have authority the occasion for much controversy (1). The Middle Neck-- also known as the Great
to act for them in either sale, others that Richbell never delivered the agreed-upon Neck and, by the Indians, as Mangopsas Neck and Mamgapes Neck--is today's
price in full, and yet others that Wappaquewam and Cakoe "received Mr. Revell's Larchmont Manor.
money between them and kept it themselves" (224). John Finch, interpreter for Rich-
bell,testified that"this was a true and real bargain," and the interpreters who acted for � There was no house here in 1661, but Mamaroneck had everything else Richbell
was looking for, including cornfields cleared by the Indians. Richbell's partners told
Revell testified the same. ' him to settle his family in the chosen place and plant corn, peas and beans. He was
it t ftrees
lanru
The suit was finally settled in Richbell's favor on the grounds of prior claim. also instructed to clear more land, p , and fence some land for pasture.
Whether any of the"Ingines living up Hudson River and else where in America"Wap- In addition, he was to plant one or two acres of hemp seed "for the family's employ-
paquewam and Manhatahan claimed to represent (226) ever received anything in ex- ment in the long winter"--in other words, they were supposed to spend the cold dark
change for the land, or whether they understood or even knew what the interpreters � months making canvas and rope from the hemp. Also, Richbell was to save all the
were writing down in the various deeds and affadavits,the record does not reveal. timber he cut while clearing fields to be used for making pipe stands, clapboard, knee
timber and potash; all of these products could be exported. He was also supposed to
By 1720, only four or five Indian families remained in this vicinity; the 1880 census add cattle and sheep as fast as he could fence pasture for them. "Lastly," Richbell's
recorded only 15 Indians of any tribe in all of Westchester County, and in 1890 there partners reminded him, advise us what your wants are and how they may be most ad-
were only four. The only material evidence of the Siwanoy presence in Larchmont-- a
vantageously employed by us, for the life of our business will consist in the nimble,few tomahawks and arrowheads--was collected over a century ago. John and Charles quiet and full correspondence with us"(226).
Pryer,book publishers, historians and antiquarians who lived in the Mill House in the In 1664, the English gained control of this territory. That put an end to Richbell's
late 19th century, were the major collectors; Charles donated the collection to the contraband trade. In 1668, he got an English title to his lands and tried to attract set-
Museum of the American Indian in New York City and to the Huguenot-Thomas { tlers.
Paine Historical Society in New Rochelle. Nothing remains of the Indians now but
place names(330). ; Richbell seems to have led an unquiet life. Town and county records are dotted
with lawsuits and complaints against him by his tenants and servants; warrants were
issued for his arrest for debt in New York City (400). In 1668 he deeded the East
Neck to Margery Parsons, who immediately conveyed it to her daughter Ann, Rich-
.
1
4. The Indians, "unschooled in the common law or in commercial ethics, saw no harm in taking 5. Richbell also had interests in the Town of Huntington, Long Island. He owned Lloyd's (then
y Caremsott)Neck from 1660 to 1666,and in 1664 was designated to work with the Commissioners
scarlet coats or guns or rum from anyone who was willing to give them in exchange for their � of the Five English Towns of Long Island in bringing Oyster Bay under English jurisdiction(31).
interesting autographs at the bottom of a parchment,"Fox dryly notes(86). I
i
7
6 7
r
bell's wife (300).6 He mortgaged the West Neck to Cornelius Steenwyck, a wealthy II. American Pioneer Homestead: 1696-1775
Dutch burgomaster, lord of Fordham Manor, and a member of the New York City
Common Council. In 1675 Richbell gave to his brother Robert, who had remained in
England, a 99-year lease on the Middle Neck to secure a debt of 250 pounds, and the
following year he leased the same land for the same price and the same term to The Palmer Family.Larchmont's Pioneer Settlers
Thomas Kelland of Boston"to farm" (176,269).
Samuel Palmer was born in 1648 in Wethersfield, Connecticut. His father, William,
Thus at his death in 1684, none of Richbell's purchase remained in his name. His had come to America around 1630 with one of John Winthrop's fleets of Puritan refor-
estate was valued at 62 pounds 7 shillings, and the inventory allows us to form an idea mers. William settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, one of several Puritan settle-
of his household,as well as of comparative values in Mamaroneck at that date: ments around Boston Bay. The Watertown settlers could not agree on a form of
church government and worship service, and in 1635 one dissatisfied group moved to a
One pair of oxen, 8 pounds;four cows, 11 pounds;two yearlings, 3 pounds;four new wilderness site, which they named Wethersfield. William Palmer was among
calves, 2 pounds;a horse bridle and saddle, 4 pounds;a cart and wheels, 2 pounds; them.
a yoke and chain, 12 shillings;a sick Negro woman, 12 pounds;his wearing apparel,
10 pounds;pewter, I pound; half a dozen chairs, I pound; a bed and furniture, 3 The town of Wethersfield was hardly well begun when the Pequot Indians attacked,
pounds; a couch and what belongs to it, 1 pound; a cold still, 10 shillings;two iron killing many of the inhabitants and taking others prisoner. This marked the beginning
pots, 10 shillings;two pair of andirons and two brass candlesticks, 1 pound; a cup- of the Pequot War. William Palmer enlisted and served under Captain John Under-
board 1 pound(301). hill, who later destroyed the power of the Siwanoy and some of whose descendants
lived in Larchmont and Mamaroneck.
Richbell was buried on a little knoll between Mamaroneck Harbor and Rushmore
Avenue.The tombstone disappeared more than a hundred years ago(227). Nearly the entire Pequot tribe was killed or carried into slavery, but this did not
bring peace to Wethersfield. Again the settlers fell into irreconcilable differences
In 1700 the remainder of the 99-year leases on the Middle Neck passed by assign- about worship and church government. Again a group of them broke away and went
ments into the hands of Samuel Palmer, who obtained a clear title by securing a deed off into the wilderness to start a new town and a new church. And again, William Pa-
of confirmation from Siwanoy chieftain Ann Hook in 1701 (175) and acquiring inter- lmer was one of the group. This time they settled at a place now called Branford, near
ests Richbell had assigned to his brother Robert and to Thomas Kelland (176). These New Haven,Connecticut.
interests Palmer e willed to his sons,who obtained full title in 1722(269).
Once again, William Palmer cleared land in the virgin forest, planted crops and
built a house. But again he became dissatisfied and returned,about four years later, to
! Wethersfield, where his son Samuel was born. William remained in Wethersfield until
6. The East Neck--today called Orienta—was sold in 1697 to Colonel Caleb Heathcote, and was 1666, helping to build the meeting house, serving as its sexton, and surveying highways
included in his Manor of Scarsdale in 1701.The boundary with the Middle Neck was at Pipin's (14).
Brook(also known as Dirty Swamp Creek and later as Shugar's River--now East Creek).
' When Samuel was 18, the family moved again, this time to the Town of West Ches-
7. Ownership of the West Neck—known as Davenport's Neck today--was long disputed between Pell ter, the first permanent English settlement west of Connecticut (14). It was founded in
and Steenwyck (81, 269), due to the fact that two widely separated creeks were known by the 1654 by Thomas Pell of Fairfield, Connecticut, and although its site is now in the
same name specified in deeds as the boundary(405). In 1677 the contending parties agreed to Bronx, it gave its name to our county. ("Chester" comes from the Latin word for
divide the disputed land in half between them. Pell sold his portion to Jacob Leisler for the "camp"; Westchester means "the westernmost English camp," all lands farther west
Huguenots in 1689,and it subsequently became part of the City of New Rochelle. Steenwyck's being inhabited by the Dutch.)
portion fell into the Town of Mamaroneck, and it in turn became a bone of contention in the r
18th century(4,5,26). The Palmer family probably moved to West Chester because they had become
i Quakers. At that time Quakers were being beaten and branded in the New England
f( colonies, but New York still enjoyed the religious toleration established by the Dutch.
1 Many new towns in Westchester County and on Long Island were settled in those
years by Connecticut migrants,many of them Quakers.
f
Perhaps William Palmer gained spiritual riches as he moved time and again from
! one howling wilderness to another--on that the record is silent. His worldly goods,
however, were meticulously listed in the inventory of his estate made following his
{
{
q 8
9
death in 1670: "20 acres upland, 16 acres meadow, 1 home lot, 1 yoke oxen, 2 cows, 1 a six-and-a-half square-mile township, a harbor with a rough dock, eight freehold
two-year-old bull and 1 calf that sucks, 1 mare and 1 two-year-old colt, 2 sows and 14 families settled on the land nearest the harbor--and very little else. We don't know
shoats, bedding, house linen, wearing clothes, pewter and brass and other small mat- where they lived when they first arrived; most likely they settled on the Middle Neck
ters" (401). t land they later bought,renting it at first from John Richbell's brother,Robert.
Not long after his father's death, Samuel married Mary Drake, whose parents and A year after the Palmers arrived, the people of Mamaroneck met for the first time
25 other families had come from Fairfield, Connecticut, to found the Town of East to elect town officers. Samuel was chosen the town's fust supervisor, and his son Wil-
Chester in 1664. Samuel and Mary's first child, named William after his grandfather, ham its first constable and clerk(501). Scarcely an election went by thereafter that did
was born in the Town of West Chester in 1675. Five more sons were born to them not see one or more Palmers elected to town government,which first met in Madame
there: Obadiah (in 1680), Nehemiah (in 1683), Samuel Jr. (in 1686), Sylvanus (in Richbell's house and later in various Mamaroneck Harbor stores.
1688), and Solomon (in 1692). The births of all are recorded in the Flushing Friends
Records, whose Monthly Meeting included Westchester until 1725 (14). Samuel held ! Since 1664, when John Richbell was forced to abandon the contraband trade and
many offices in the Town of West Chester: constable, trustee, overseer, commissioner look to other ways of realizing a profit from his lands, the area around Mamaroneck
and surveyor. His brother,Joseph, was also very active there. But in 1696 Samuel be- Harbor had acquired the form, though not the spirit, of a typical New England com-
came dissatisfied and moved,as his father had so many times before (14). munity. Settlement began with eight freeholders in possession of individual but con-
tiguous house lots of a few acres each, entitled to the use of pasture, fields, and wood-
A big change took place in the Town of West Chester in the year Samuel decided to lots in the common lands. Dwelling within sight and sound of each other and walking
leave. It had been founded as a proprietary township: that is, its land was bought by out together each day to till their fields and care for their livestock,they were forced to
one man, who then sold it in smaller plots to settlers--most of them, like Samuel's develop cooperative habits.
father, Connecticut farmers and dissenters from the English Church. They organized
their own town government and their own service for worship, and for more than 40 The officials the townspeople felt it necessary guess ary to choose allows us to at the
years ran their own affairs with little interference from royal authorities. But in 1696 y problems of community life they were experiencing by 1697: an assessor and a collec-
Westchester was given a royal charter and made a Borough Town, bringing it directly for of taxes, a surveyor of highways, a clerk to record the determinations of those offi-
under the control of the royal Governor of the Colony, who appointed a mayor to be cials n
a constable to enforce them
and a supervisor to coordinate their efforts. That
its chief officer(183). } taxes and roads were the central concerns indicates that the townsmen were not (and
in fact probably never had been) self-sufficient; they were integrated into a market
The mayor appointed was Caleb Heathcote. It would be hard to imagine a man } economy that required communication and transportation routes and the rendering of
more different from Samuel Palmer. Heathcote was a 29-year-old English gentleman, { tribute to larger units of government. The need for a constable to enforce compliance,
recently arrived in America; he was the son of an old and wealthy merchant family, and of a clerk to record the transactions of the governing body, indicates that private
and his brother was a baronet and Lord Mayor of London. Samuel was American- interests rather than collective consensus provided the motor for the townsmen's en-
born, the son of a pioneer farming family, and had lived in America for all of his 48 deavors.
years. Heathcote was Colonel of the Westchester County Militia; Samuel, a Quaker,
refused to bear arms. Heathcote was a leader in the Church of England; Samuel's By 1700 Samuel Palmer had completed his purchase of the Middle Neck: 320 acres
family's whole life had been ruled by the desire to escape an established church. below the Post Road and 260 acres above, or almost exactly the same land now in-
Heathcote was closely attached to the royal government; Samuel had lived his entire cluded in the mile-square Village of Larchmont. Thus he became one of the largest
life in self-governing communities. property owners in the Town. He was further distinguished from his fellow townsmen
A by dwelling some two miles distant, surrounded by a square mile of his own, not com-
Thus, when Caleb Heathcote came to the Town of West Chester, Samuel Palmer mon, lands. Perhaps it was his economic superiority that caused him to be chosen su-
may have anticipated some uncongenial changes. He didn't have long to wait. Heath- pervisor; perhaps the townsmen felt that Palmer's status as an outsider would intro-
cote quickly replaced the town officials--all yeoman farmers, like the Palmers--with duce a degree of neutrality and objectivity into governance; probably his experience in
gentlemen like himself. Then he set up an Anglican parish and taxed the inhabitants official positions in the Town of West Chester played a part. In addition,his sons pos-
50 pounds a year for its support. Perhaps Samuel then decided, as his father so often sessed a skill rare in the township: the ability to write ad lib. (The ability to read and to
had, that it was time to move on to a less"established"community(529). sign one's name were more common, but far from universal, as the town records
amply demonstrate). This skill was so rare,in fact, that in 1707 the townsmen were in-
In the spring of 1696, Samuel and Mary and their six sons put their furniture and z duced to pay Obadiah Palmer 12 shillings a year to exercise it in their behalf, and he
farm tools in the wagon, tied their sheep and cattle behind,hitched up the ox team and was the only town official compensated for his efforts.
started off over the rough wagon trail to Mamaroneck. When they arrived, they found
(
t
10 11
1
t _
I
1
4 By 1699, another problem of community life had come to the fore: the need to keep
_ livestock out of the gardens and fields. The office of fence viewer was instituted, and
° r '~?'� the job required two to perform it (530). In 1707, Obadiah Palmer and Polycarpus
mnv� �LfC49Cs
{fiefs`,• �o,-
114 cti►gV �q •fcny' Gj Nelson were chosen to "erect a pound and to call men out to work upon it and if any
n �" ` C,f�o%C c n Al r�r at"7 C i` should neglect or refuse to come they are to pay half a piece of eight a day" (531). The
v /', �dC��,- a,�,c� inhabitants were required to cut identifying marks into their animals' ears, and they
Yrti�c f f '�,�c?, La ,f were advised to"yoke"their hogs or the animals would be confiscated and killed(532).
�-t�.j't'/c r c'�� •- As the century progressed, the Palmers must have made frequent trips from their
-vie," home on the Middle Neck to the governmental and commercial center growing up on
/ ¢ AP, Mamaroneck Mamaroneck Harbor--to attend to community business, to ship and receive goods at
' ,�Ol�� i
the town dock, to trade at Underhill Budd and Henry Griffen's storehouse (and later
` ^ a71 n at James Horton's, Joseph Sutton's, John Townsend's or John Merrit's), to have their
�on0.a �an�f }n l�n it�n winter wheat ground into flour at the mill on the Mamaroneck River before they built
1 �ac r s� � � ,� • their own grist mill at the mouth of the Premium River; to purchase cloth from Wil-
ma t liam Lounsberry and perhaps have it made into shirts by Hannah Griffen, "seemster",
f�m �/ to have cowhides tanned b Samuel Fa erweather and made into shoes b James
e •��, c a j y y y
C,Z/1 C+� v �( f )�� 9!� Coles or Gideon Florence; and to have their horses shod by blacksmith Thomas Bar-
Pc 2 rl e l r'�� 7 ker(177).
cn � +
r The Palmers probably made these trips by water or on horseback. A"country road"
'nen, n1C
C. C44-C, cit,.:' rc,tc^n �t Jfs''`''iyts had been laid out along the Indian's "Westchester (Sackerah) Path" in 1672 (94, 95),
j t / and in 1703, New York province provided for the laying out of a public highway or
Wm "post road"from New York to Connecticut along the same line(97). This and the con-
��` J� n"n temporaneous Post Road to Albany were the first thoroughfares in the state. Still the
41, 'oc n4Zr�� Boston Post Road, as it is now called,was a mere rutted dirt road, often impassable in
( _ I winter. Although the residents were compelled by law to "work the roads" two or
44-'}litaCi4 R �? �
three days a year, they could not provide a roadbed smooth enough to encourage
f �yl�
iv`� -"I> p t E'1 travel by springless farm wagon--and in the entire township, only two families owned a
ncx
�"-�-- 1 �C y � carriage(95,494).
¢tlCl` The Palmers' farmhouse stood near the present site of he Larchmont Public Lib-
.��i1•
o" : C71 rary. The house was torn down more e than a century ago. It was probably a typical
New England pioneer home, like those Samuel's father had built time and again, and
�( e'}t • C� much like the Disbrow house, built near Mamaroneck Harbor in 1677, of which a pic-
/ 1 _, ture has survived. That house was rectangular, framed of heavy, squared timbers put
�t�C
t�1, together with mortised joints and wooden pegs, sided with roughplanks and roofed
r/ c: l c j ,� s� l?v t�'t�v,� with shingles. There was a large fireplace and chimney at one end, made of native
e r 'r' stone and mortared with clamshell lime. The house probably had one large room on
theground floor and a loft above,reached by a staircase beside the fireplace.
unci Inc#1 cin{ /cnc>- ,�f'YSbr 01V n-rC7n
j"j 4,••. c I
t;;
4-own -M Cc?
Ct M OYf 5
t 7 a Tt _ , 1 1. Edward Delancey, Mamaroneck's first historian, wrote in 1886 of"the original Samuel Palmer
house now pulled down"which "stood back and a little to one side
Ct •7Yl�} n : � , P n � e of the two enormous elms
O� rin V9n now standing east of, and near, the Larchmont Railroad [the old horse trolley line down
f , +y /t'1►C� � O Qt's C J � ! Larchmont Avenue] crossing at the Boston Road, and about 150 feet south of the road itself"
'110ti1C3 nY"0 0�" 1228
irk 'i' i C/ O' •'� ( )
440
. . 4-
Mamaroneck Town Records, page 7. The handwriting is that of William Palmer.
13
12
The house may have been built by a Richbell tenant before the Palmers arrived. It
is likely that its timber came from trees felled to clear land for planting, or perhaps
The obligation to "work the from the hills along North Chatsworth Avenue, above the railroad tracks, where a lot
e roads"lasted until the end of logging was done right up to the beginning of the 20th century (282). The builders
of the 19th century. A pro- i may have turned the logs into planks using only a broadaxe and wedge, or they might
+.. perty owner might hire a have dug a sawpit, suspended the log over it, and with one man in the pit and another
rel t 'AN above
substitute to labor in her , sawn out the planks with a crosscut saw. Ordinarily, however, framed houses
Mork, at $1.00 per Day, , < were built only stead, as this 1889 receipt � y after a sawmill had been erected, even though hauling was difficult and
to Helena Flint for five ` ready-cut lumber expensive, and there had been a sawmill on the Mamaroneck River
and one-half day's labor near the harbor since 1680(211).
shows.
The crops grown in this area were corn, beans and squash-- the same crops the
} Siwanoy had cultivated--and hemp. But most of what is now Larchmont Manor was
then marshland and salt meadow. The meadows where the salt hay grew were highly
prized, because they made it possible to pasture cattle without first clearing land and
Twenty-first Milestone in 1941 planting hay. The Palmers--like so many generations of those who came after them--
regarded the marshes as mere swampy wasteland, although they probably appreciated
The first post rider left New York on January 22, q the oysters, clams and fish that thrived there. Many streams criss-crossed the Manor in
1673, and arrived in Boston 14 days later. He those days, so the Palmers had fresh water without the trouble of digging a well. Also,
made the trip along the Siwaioys'Westchester the streams and the long shoreline of the Sound made it possible for them to travel to
Path. Over the next 30 years, local governments the commercial centers at Mamaroneck Harbor and New Rochelle by sloop.
laid out roads along the route of the Path, which
became known The King's Highway. In The land above the Post Road was drier than that below, but little of it was suitable
out
the Colonial Assembly called for the laying out
of"one Publick Common and General Highway for farming. The area around Kenmare Road was mostly stony knolls, and there were
to Extend from...the City of New York thro...the boggy patches between what are now Larchmont and Chatsworth avenues (229). To
County of West Chester of the breadth of four ; clear land for planting, the Palmers cut down the trees with axes but left the stumps
Rod English Measure...to the adjacent Collony standing just as the Indians had. It would be many years before the stumps rotted and
of Connecticutt." Milestones were set out in became loose enough to remove. Until then, they just plowed around the stum s
1771, measured from New York City Hall. The sP
first stagecoach ran in 1772, the nearest local ,, �,-- �t", y, And of course the Palmers didn't have a good modern steel plow that cuts the soil and
q r. turns it all at once and is sharp enough to be pulled by only one horse.Their plow was
stops being"at Williams"'in New Rochelle and i
"at Horton's"in Mamaroneck. more like a heavy curved stick with a thin strip of iron on the cutting edge--and it took
i � ;� � � F ��'' � xs j
four to six oxen to pull it. It also took one person to drive the team, another to guide
Jay the plow, and a third to follow along behind and turn the soil over with a spade.
� 1 g �
In 1800 Peter J Munro and his associates were � � �"''� '"�}
authorized to build the first tumpike in Westches-
ter, running from New York City to the Connec- " Let us imagine Samuel and Mary and their six sons resting by their doorstep on a
.y. arrival. They had a house a barn
ticut line. The Westchester Turnpike--66 feet
summer night soon after their , pasture land, fresh
wide, including a 24-foot strip 'bedded with water, cleared fields and their first cropithe e ground. Samuel and the oldest son,
wood, stone,gravel or other hard substance com- Weaver Street), is mounted on a granite base on William,were already important men in the township. On Sunday, they would worship
pacted"and'faced with gravel"--roughly fol- the grounds of Larchmont Village Hall(96, with other Quaker families who lived in Marmaroneck and Rye.Samuel was almost 50
lowed the route of ntly to call for the erection othe Boston Post Road but 494). years old, and this was the third time he had made a fresh start in a new place.This,he
f
diverged sufficient
new milestones. All of the milestones surviving The inscription on the base reads: "Milestone may have felt,was at last the right place.
today, with the sole exception of the 23r4 are originally erected in 1804 one-quarter of a mile
Turnpike, not Post Road markers. The 20th east of this point...at a distance of 21 miles by
milestone, which was in Mamamaroneck near way of the Boston Post Road from the New York
the New Rochelle line, has long since disap- City Hall. This milestone reset in 1941 by the
peared;the 21st, originally at East Creek(near Board of Trustees, Larchmont, New York."
14
15
Samuel died in 1716, and his property passed in four equal parts to his sons
Colonel Heathcote Arrives Obadiah, Nehemiah, Sylvanus and Solomon. (William had died about 1702, and
Samuel Jr. had moved away, probably to New Jersey). The land records give a good
But if, as we have speculated, Samuel had hoped to escape Caleb Heathcote's in- description of the property they inherited (181); I have used that description to draw a
fluence by leaving the Town of Westchester,great must have been his dismay when he map of Larchmont in 1716(see page 18).
learned that Heathcote had followed him to Mamaroneck and bought the remainder
of Richbell's purchase. Just one year after the Palmers' arrival and settlement on the It is not known where Samuel and Mary, who died in 1728, are buried. They had
Middle Neck, Heathcote acquired all the land on the East Neck not already set aside given the land for the Quaker Burying Ground, near the northwest corner of the pre-
in house lots and commons. He added this land to his other purchases to make up the sent intersection of Larchmont Avenue with the Boston Post Ro it is pleasani to
Manor of Scarsdale, and that gave him the right to set up a court of law. He also pro- think that perhaps they lie there today,in the ground they claimed fr1m wilderness.
mptly established an Anglican parish and brought in an Anglican clergyman to be sup- ;
ported by all inhabitants of the township(100).
This time, Samuel Palmer did not move away. Soon Heathcote's clergyman was j The Palmers and the Election on the Eastchester Green
complaining that he couldn't collect his salary.He also complained of a few families of f
"ranting Quakers who infect the neighborhood," holding large, well-attended public On the years between the death of Samuel Palmer and the outbreak of hostilities
meetings (100). It seems that Heathcote and the Palmers struck some sort of agree- with England, the record is largely silent. These were the years of tenant uprisings on
ment, for in 1704 Heathcote secured official permission from the crown for the Pa- the manors along the Hudson and in other parts of Westchester, and of growing unrest
liners to hold Quaker meetings in their home (1, 2, 29, 65). And throughout the 18th in urban centers over duties and other taxes afflicting merchants, shippers and manu-
century, the official positions in town government continued to be held by the Palmers t facturers. But Larchmont remained in the hands of freehold farmers, and little oc-
and other yeoman rather than by gentlemen and squires. curred of a nature to find its way into lawsuits and criminal cases.
Throughout the colonial and revolutionary periods, the center of settlement re-
In 1729 a small border war was won in court by the Palmers. The dispute had its
mained at Mamaroneck Harbor and along the west bank of the Mamaroneck River. origin in the 1677 settlement of the boundary between the West and Middle necks that
I The first settlers were for the most part religious Dissenters from Connecticut,like the threw a portion of the West Neck into the Town of Mamaroneck. This property was
Palmers. Another strain was composed of English officers and retainers, nearly all conveyed to Frederick Philipse, and it passed by deed to his daughter Eve in 1723.
Anglicans, like Heathcote. Quakers from Flushing on Long Island settled in Eve's brother Adolph Philipse interested himself in the property and soon conceived
Mamaroneck in the 1680s and '90s, and the Rye-Oyster Bay ferry, authorized in 1739, the idea that the Palmers were in possession of land that properly belonged to Eve.
increased the influx of Massachusetts and Connecticut dissenters who came by way of He therefore instituted a law suit against them (328, 334). The Palmers replied to
Long Island. Blacks brought as slaves from the West Indies comprised the fourth set- these "vile, false, and scandalous reports, reproaches and clamors" (335), and their
tlement group(1,2,21). claim was upheld.6
Still, the Town was very sparsely populated. In 1712, four years before Samuel Pa- Four years later, two of the Palmer sons involved themselves in the most important
lmer's death, there were but 84 inhabitants: nine were slaves, 29 were white adult event in Westchester's colonial history, the 1733 "Election on the Green" at Eastches-
males, and only 16 were women between the ages of 16 and 60. Thus there could have ter, and so their acts and words are preserved in the Documentary History of New York
been only 16 families at most (with 28 children among them), and nearly all of these State.
lived on the East Neck(110)3
This is explained by the fact that the least desirable farmlands lay on the western
side--the Larchmont side--of the town. As we have seen,most of the Middle Neck was
marsh and salt meadow, with a little higher ground near the Post Road suitable for
buildings and small orchards. Fountain Square is said to have been the center of a 20- 4. The first Quaker Meeting House was built there in 1739. In 1768 the Meeting House was
acre swamp--possibly the "Wolf Pit Swamp" mentioned in early deeds--and creeks ! dismantled and rebuilt on Weaver Street at the corner of Griffen Avenue—territory now within
crisscrossed the area, one emptying into a freshwater pond that occupied the site of ? the Village of Scarsdale(65).
what is now 1 Beach Avenue (329). There were large swampy areas above the Postj 5. The manors,six in number,were vast holdings of thousands of acres in the hands of proprietors
Road, too, before a vigorous draining and filling program was initiated in the 1890s, who were styled "lords" (although this was not a title of nobility). A freehold consisted of a
and most of the land north of the railroad tracks was too steep and stony for farming. minimum of 50 acres(the amount of land that entitled its owner to vote),and it was worked by
the owner's family with a hired hand or two to help.
3. To put these numbers in perspective,we must note that the population of the entire State of New 6. A mere five acres escaped into Philipse hands, but the parcel remained within the Town of
i York at that time numbered about 20,000 and that of the City of New York 4,500.
Mamaroneck and re-enters our story after the Revolution.
, I
16 17
l
f
In 1732, the Colony of New York got a new royal governor, William Cosby, whose
tyrannical behavior quickly earned him a black name. In 1733 he ordered the Justices
of the Supreme Court to prosecute an innocent man. Chief Justice Lewis Morris re-
fused, and Cosby removed him from office. Morris promptly presented himself as a
rival to Cosby's candidate for the Westchester County representative to the Provincial
Larchmont in 1716 Assembly. Knowing that the mass of people favored Morris, Cosby tried to conceal
the date of the election. The secret was discovered, however, and Nehemiah and Syl-
vanus Palmer were among those who discovered it. They and many of their fellow
Quakers traveled all of a Saturday night and even on the morning of the Sabbath to be
at the Eastchester Green in time for the election.
I
Votes were cast by voice, standing before the sheriff. When the voting was con-
j eluded and it was evident that Morris had won, the sheriff announced that any man
I 4 who wanted his vote "registered" would have to take an oath. Although Quakers
I LANDS OF believed that swearing an oath was irreverent, they were willing to make an "affirm_
CALEB HEATHCOTE
ation� which was ordinarily accepted in lieu of an oath. In this way, the Palmers had I � �
I been able to vote and even to hold public office in Mamaroneck; in fact, Sylvanus at
RA7fiLESNARE
that time was Mamaroneck Town Supervisor and Nehemiah was Town Clerk.
� '�---� � ,-- But the
E' I or I sheriff on the Eastchester Green said that an affirmation would not do. The Quakers
CHESTNUT HILL a still refused to swear, and so their votes were thrown out--even though all other votes
2 I i Nehemiah
I i were then"registered"without an oath (123).
Solomon complaint' Sylvanus and Nehemiah went home and wrote a formal to Governor
s �
Obadiah �. Cosby:
%
We have owned houses and lands in the county for many years, and have always
OPS wasp $ 1 �'
i4 been honest and peaceful men. For more than 40 years, Quakers in New York have
Sylvanus i 40_ been allowed to make an affirmation rather than an oath. But at the last election
4o�se eaaat' j the sheriff would not accept our votes without an oath. Ourlawyers say we can sue
Syhanus the sheriff. Insteai4 we ask you to discourage such proceedings in the future (302).
( I C' S
Governor Cosby instructed the Attorney General to reply that the law regarding af-
Swamp on °vo, a`O, 1, Nehemiah furnations did not apply to elections. The Palmers and other Quakers lost their vote,
both sides �i � r--- /
of
both
qa o I but events growing out of the Election on the Green led to a great victory for all
held in °4 ( Obadiah Americans:freedom of the press.
common for /
mill siteSotomon ( On the Eastchester Green that day was a young reporter named John Peter Zenger.
I His report on the election was favorable to Morris and his supporters and very critical
,R I of Cosby's government. The pro-government newspaper Zenger worked for refused
to publish his story, so Zenger set up his own newspaper. He published story after
story about Cosby's tyranny,until Cosby had him jailed for libel.
Here enters the story James Delancey, son-in-law to Caleb Heathcote and heir to
Heathcote's Mamaroneck lands. When Cosby removed Morris from the office of
Chief Justice, he put James Delancey in his place, and thus Delancey became the chief
prosecutor of Cosby's suit against Zenger. Zenger's case appeared hopeless, for
DeLancey proceeded to disbar every New York lawyer who offered to defend him.
Then Andrew Hamilton,a lawyer from Philadelphia,stepped forward.
3. Thus the expression"Philadelphia lawyer"entered our language.
18
19
Hamilton based his defense on an attack on the current definition of libel--anything
unfavorable to the government. Hamilton argued that libel consists only of publishing A fame, or Neck of Land, lying in Marrowneck, Westchester County, containing
unfavorable information that is false, and that what Zenger had published was true. 120 acres, or thereabouts, with a good dwelling house and large bam; also a good
Zenger was acquitted, and he went on publishing stories attacking government tyran- grist mill, with two pair of stones; a boat that will carry 1500 bushels of wheat may
load and unload at the mill door. There is about 16 acres of salt meadow and 16 or
ny. The freedom to publish the truth, however unfavorable it may be, was eventually
enshrined in the Bill of Rights. This is why the Eastchester Green, which has now IS acres of woodland, and about 16 or 18 acres of fresh meadow that may be
shrunk to the size of St. Paul's Churchyard, is a National Historic Site revered as "the mowed yearly...pleasantly situated on the Sound with a great prospect thereon;
likewise plenty of fishing,fowling and oystering distance from New York about 26
birthplace of the Bill of Rights" (393). miles (261).
Gilbert Willett, cousin of Westchester County Sheriff Isaac Willett, bought the pro-
Other Pre-Revolution Residents i perty, but soon turned it over to Joseph Dwight, a New York City mariner. Dwight
t sold the property in 1769 to Samuel Underhill, a Mamaroneck farmer lately come:
We have seen that the will of Samuel Palmer, in accordance with the reigning prac- from Oyster Bay, Long Island (304). Underhill's son-in-law, James Mott (a great-
tice of partible inheritance, divided the family lands into equal parts among his sons. great-grandson of John Richbell and a more distant relation of the Captain James
The land was partitioned into eight parcels of approximately 80 acres each, with each Mott who was prominent in Mamaroneck prior to 1711), moved into the dwelling
son receiving one parcel above the Post Road and one below, in an apparent effort to ; house in 1776.
create inheritances of equivalent value. Within a few years, the sons had conveyed so
many "rights in fee" and "undivided twelfth parts" that the task of identifying all of the
subsequent owners of the land, let alone the residents thereon, becomes hopeless. In
eddition, the boundaries of the Middle Neck as specified in Samuel Palmer's deed
X re vague enough to be susceptible of many interpretations, and as the partition of
the Middle Neck proceeded, many disputes and law suits arose. By 1766, for example,
one parcel had passed by inheritance into the hands of 24 claimants(262).
1
Among the names that regularly appear in Middle Neck land records of this period
are those of Josiah Quinby, Supervisor of the Town of Mamaroneck in 1717, and
various Cornelis (originally Cornwall) (14, 111). In 1739, Quinby and his wife, Han-
. 1
nah, deeded to Richard Cornell "a farm called Horse Ridge," about 300 acres in the
"great and Middle Neck of John Richbell's pattent...and in the pattent of John Pell" r .
(that is,in what is now Larchmont and New Rochelle). The sale included"one Negroes ,
man named Aaron also all his horses and mares," all horses except one breeding mare
called Saybrook, one barrow hog, two sows, ten pigs, 21 neat cattle, one cart, two
plows"with the irons unto them belonging,"all standing wheat and grain,all household
goods excepting one bed, one table, one looking glass, one iron pot, one brass kettle,
II20 shillings worth of pewter, six chairs with rush bottoms, one clock, and all his wear-
ing apparel (260). This provides a fair idea of a typical affluent household in the first
post-pioneer generation. ►
By 1753,Solomon Palmer and his wife, Sarah, had moved to Greenwich,and in that
year sold Solomon's patrimony (roughly the middle portion of the Middle Neck,both
above and below the Post Road) to "the widow Elizabeth Allaire of Mamaroneck"
(303). The Allaires were Huguenots and one of the founding families of New Rochel-
le. Obadiah and Nehemiah continued for some time in possession of their ancestral
lands,along the eastern side of the Neck. "Premium Mill and Vicinity from the Island," watercolor by Richard Mott. Re-
Sylvanus Palmer received as his inheritance the westerly portion of the Middle produced from Cornell, Adam and Anne Mott. Pictured, from left: the mill sloop; the
Neck, about 80 acres below the Post Road including the mill site, and about 80 acres mill house, residence of A. Mott; in the distance, residence of James Mott; the mill;
above. This land passed by inheritance to his son John,and in 1764 and 1765,John ad- Adam Mott and family in boat.
vertised most of this property for sale at public auction:
i
a
i
20
21
III. Through War to Independence: 1776-1790
The Unquiet "Neutral Ground` 1776-1783
f The Mill House (4 Pryer Manor Road) is the oldest surviving structure on the Mid-
dle Neck. Much altered and enlarged over the years, the orginal portion is believed to
.BOA , ''t r ' t , �1, �:... have been built around 1775 (297). Sometime before 1741, the Palmers had built a
grist mill at the mouth of the Premium River. On July 7, 1776--four days before the
,dKw��"t�1sS _ �" �• t Declaration of Independence was read from the steps of the White Plains Court
House during the meeting there of the 4th Provincial Congress--the family of James
r if! Mott made this property their home(297).
j.P • �. z G �" Born in 1742 in in the part of Hempstead, Long Island, that is now Roslyn, Mott
was a wealthy 33-year-old merchant living in New York City when the Revolution
began. Because his wife was ill and their children very young, he decided to sell his
�a !A!.! • • �— Ak• house and business in the city and join his father-in-law in the country, where he
+r / thought--quite mistakenly, as it turned out--that life would be more peaceful (162,
` Following Washington's defeat on Long Island in August of 1776, the American ar-
mies retreated through Westchester, fought the battles of Pelham and White Plains,
and then set up the main American headquarters just north of Peekskill; the British es-
Survey 1;,+ tablished their headquarters in New York City. The British lines were drawn at King's
• � No.59 for His Excellency General Bridge (Bronx) and the American near the Byram River (Connecticut). Westchester
Washington by Robert Erskine to the Army of became the "Neutral Ground" between the opposing forces--in actual fact a no-man's
the United States 1778.
y t land continually subjected to raiding and foraging parties from both sides, and with no
a New Rodwi
r •' protection either civil or military from the lawless bands of ruffians and scoundrels
.M*� •' who preyed indiscriminately on patriot and royalist alike (112). "There is no county in
^, all of the 13 states," Otto Hufeland writes, "where the blight of civil war in its worst
form left an impress so deep. At its conclusion it was devastated and nearly depopu-
lated" (263).
Here, as in the border states in 1860, neighbors took up arms on opposite sides of
the conflict, and families were divided as father and son, brother and brother,joined
j opposing causes. A patriot family whose son had gone over to the British was taxed,
and sometimes made to suffer by less official means, as were the Quakers who
shunned both sides of the conflict. Under cover of party fealty, guerrilla bands--the
Profile of j Cowboys, nominally royalists, and the Skinners, nominally patriots--committed out-
James Mott. rages at will, leaving a legacy of hatred that was worked out in reprisals and blood
From Cornell, feuds for years after the war ended.
Adam and Anne 1
Mott. At the beginning of the 18th century, about 225,000 of the county's 300,000 acres
t } were controlled by six families: the Van Cortlandts of Cortlandt Manor; the Philipses
�.,._ �{{ � � of Philipseburgh Manor; Cornelius Steenwyck, who early acquired John Archer's
a,c �A."
F }
Fordham Manor; the Morrises of Morrisania; the Pells of Pelham Manor; and the
ew# fats, a._117 t[to
41—
" �"e — u` -J� Delancey heirs of Caleb Heathcote's Scarsdale Manor and the Three Great Patents of
Central Westchester.
i
22 23
trade, must have had his hands full.A contemporary estimated that in an area of three
The "lords" of these manors were not nobles, but they were not merely landowners or four miles around Mamaroneck, there were "not more than 8 or 10 Whigs[patriots]
and collectors of rents. They might sell parcels of their land outright (as Heathcote to 120 Tories[royalists]"(99).
appears to have done in the Mamaroneck area); more often they leased parcels to
tenants, to whom they had the obligation of providing a mill and livestock and of Back in 1775, when word had reached Mamaroneck that the British army in Boston
making available the services of a miller, boat builder, doctor, clergyman and school- was short of provisions, a killing bee was held at Town Supervisor William Sutton's
master, and they were vested with certain governing powers (which varied widely). house on Orienta Point (then called Sutton's, later Delancey's, neck): the neighboring
When the agitation for independence began, the majority of tenants were or soon be- farmers drove their cattle there and slaughtered, dressed, and salted in barrels beeves
came sympathetic to the patriots,while the "lords" tended to side with the crown. The enough to load a sloop to send the besieged troops (100). A few weeks later, the
Middle Neck, as one of the few areas not contained within a manor,was atypical. British warship Asia sailed into Mamaroneck Harbor, and the inhabitants loaded it
with poultry and other provisions(101).
Mamaroneck was populated largely by yeomen and freeholders, and these were no
isolated subsistence farmers. Not only did they dwell in close proximity and share the The patriot cause was not entirely without supporters in the Town, however.
use of common lands; specialization of labor appeared early and increased throughout Robert Bloomer answered the call of the Continental Congress for soldiers on May 10,
the eighteenth century, with house joiners, millers, weavers, tanners, cobblers, black- 1775, as did Gilbert Budd at a later date(264). The latter foiled an attempt in Novem-
smiths, tavern keepers, and "seemsters" popping up in the Early Town Records. In ber of 1775 by royalists to kidnap the outspoken patriot Judge Thomas of Rye Neck.
addition, although it appears that the community had the capacity for a straitened sort "Upon his information William Lounsberry and several others have been arrested," a
of self-sufficiency, the record indicates that the freeholders sought to produce a contemporary wrote, "and bound over to keep the peace" (265). Lounsberry was a
surplus in excess of local needs, thereby earning a profit as well as a mere living. The weaver and, like William Sutton, a fairly substantial landowner and town officer whose
township had originated--in intention, certainly, and in practice, to some extent--as an name appears frequently in the Early Town Records from 1746 to 1775 (99).
entrepot for international trade. This ambition was early defeated,but the existence of
a town dock and, by 1776, four "storehouses" (warehouses, we would say), suggests a In January of 1776, the American cannon at Kingsbridge were spiked and stuffed
lively trade with New York City. When called upon to choose sides, these townsmen with stones, and the finger of guilt pointed to John Fowler and William Lounsberry of
must have had a difficult time sorting out where their best interests lay. Mamaroneck, who were imprisoned. The first American blood in the county was
spilled at Mamaroneck on August 28, 1776, when patriot troops commanded by Cap-
The Larchmont area was largely in the hands of Quaker farmers, belonging to or tain John Flood surprised--and killed--the same Lounsberry in the company of recruits
allied with the Palmer and Mott families, conscientous objectors who sought on re- he had raised for the "Queen's American Rangers," a royalist regiment under the
ligious principle to separate themselves from the war effort in every form. Their be- notorious Robert Rogers (102, 108). Recruits taken prisoner included Jacob
havior did not differ remarkably from that of the bulk of the ordinary people in the Schureman, Bloomer Neilson,Joseph Turner and Samuel Haines(502),who appear to
county, however, who wanted nothing more than to be left alone. When Paul Revere have been the sons of freeholders mentioned in the Town Records for the same peri-
rode through the east side of the county in May of 1774 as a messenger from the Bos- od.
ton Committee of Correspondence, he aroused no interest or comment (266). Only
after the march of the British through Westchester, the Battle of White Plains, and at- Devout Quakers, the Motts steadfastly refused to take sides and sought to separate
tendant personal suffering did the lines between local political factions begin to be themselves from the conflict in every way. James Mott was a man so committed to
sharply drawn. turning principles into practice that, as a "determined abolitionist," he refused to use
slave products of any kind, dressing in linen rather than cotton, using maple instead of
Southern Westchester was in a state of virtual anarchy for nearly the entire seven cane sugar, and declining to write on paper with cotton content. As a pacifist, he
years of the war. The Declaration of Independence destroyed the authority of the boycotted imported goods when the duties were imposed as a war tax, and he refused
Crown without providing another form of civil government (98).The Town Records of , to pay postage when rates were increased to pay war expenses. Yet in spite of his rock-
Mamaroneck cease after April 2, 1776, and do not resume until December of 1783 for ribbed determination, he was unable to isolate his family from the war (402).
the very good reason that civil government did not exist during those years.
James' wife, Mary Underhill, died soon after moving to the Mill House.I She left
The Provincial Congress tried to install a system of county government-by- four young children-- Richard, Anne, Robert and Samuel--to grow up "in the perils of
committee, with sub-committees in the towns, manors, and other districts, to pay the r a border land between hostile armies" (403).
poor bills; recruit and pay troops; secure supplies; repair guns; and conduct elections
of delegates to Provincial Conventions. Sixty-five committeemen were elected at a 1. Mary was a great-great-granddaughter of Captain John Underhill, the Indian fighter, under
meeting at the White Plains courthouse on April 16, 1776, to serve until May of 1777.
whom William Palmer had served in Massachusetts.
Gil Budd Horton was the member from Mamaroneck. Horton, a house joiner by
i
�I
24
25
" James remembered her vividly 40 years after her death. She was "tall and erect," he
wrote, "with a pale complexion, blue eyes and very dark hair, gentle, cheerful, mild-
tempered, kind and sympathetic," a tender mother who loved her children without
spoiling them and a hard-working and thrifty wife who made their family life happy
and agreeable. "What an invaluable treasure is such a wife!"he summed up (178).
The Mill House in 1903.Front
the Hufeland Scrapbook. In his early retirement, James became a Public Friend. Convincing both English
and American commanders of his neutrality, he was allowed to pass freely through
both lines to preach up and down the Atlantic seaboard and on Nantucket. As James
was so often on the preaching circuit, the children were cared for by their maternal
grandmother,Ann Carpenter Underhill, and two former slaves, "Aunt Jinny" and"Un-
cle Billy" (370).
Jinny was born in Africa and stolen as a child. She said that her father was a king,
and that "her young African life was free and happy--no frost, no ice,no snow--without
care and without clothes."About 1744 she was sold in the New York City slave market
,....� to James' father-in-law. Billy was Morn about 1738 on Long Island. He and Jinny mar-
ried and raised 10 children. (370).
In 1770 when the New York Society of Friends ordered all members to free their
a slaves, Jinny and Billy were set free and went to live with the Mott family. Richard
_ Mott, a grandson of James who knew Billy as an old man, described him as "short and
Anne Mott and Al, strongly framed, broad shouldered, bowed by age, head bald and shiny, circled by a
The Old Mott «�"`' narrow rim of wooley white hair from ear to ear below his hat," and he painted a pic-
ture y as an old woman with a protruding aw,wearing a Quaker bonnet (370 .
ture of Jinn p g g )
From the New
York Tribune,
' References in standard histories to events in the Town of Mamaroneck during the
July 24, 1898. Revolution are confined almost entirely to an occasional mention of "the Battle of
Heathcote Hill" (depicted in a WPA mural on he wall of the Mamaroneck Public Lib-
` rary and in sober fact merely a skirmish [118), and to the encampment in the vicinity
t ' of Oak Bluff on October 21 1776, by mercenaries commanded by General
1111C T Knyphausen--"that rough old German...who, though a dashing soldier and a brave
man, was no courtier, and anything but a pleasant dining companion," in the words of
Middle Neck resident Charles Pryer--on their way to the Battle of White Plains. It is a
'Me Old Mott ri o • fine exercise of the imagination to picture 8,000 green-coated Hessians and Waldeck-
ers landing by flatboat on Davenport's Neck and setting up camp about where the
Larchmont Shore Club now stands (106).
I
2. "Royal descent,"like doting praise of one's dead wife,is a leitmotif of family folklore. In regard
to the New York City slave market, an eyewitness of the late 1670s wrote that grown men who
could speak English fetched 35 or 40 pounds a head,while "new negros"--those who had not yet
I 'u
learned the slavemasters'language--were discounted by 15 pounds or more(305). To gain some
idea of the dollar value of slaves, we may note that in 1680 "an average house" cost about 150
"Residence of James Mott, Premium Point, pounds,or about$150 in 1961 dollars(306).
1776-1815." Watercolor by Robert Mott, re-
produced from Cornell,Adatn and Anne Mott. 3. The Neutral Ground, an historical novel by Frank O. Hough, contains a very well-done
fictionalized version of the Heathcote Hill skirmish between the Queen's American Rangers led
by Robert Rogers and a detachment of men from Washington's Army led by Colonel Haslet on
October 21,1776,just before the Battle of White Plains.
26
r 27
f
'--:.. - _sia _G�nv..�.n6__�.]aY� -'m:lanSs.s..e....zw.w'- -.� .� ,y„ ,...a.-.•__
I
There is also a brief reference in the MacDonald Papers to an attack on the Mott
Griffin that the Mott Near sundown, while the whaleboaters slept on,two of the little Mott boys went ac-
Mill by the notorious Skinner raider Shubal Merritt, and Grif
rocs the mill dam to gather apples from the orchard. There they saw men with guns
Mill was a favorite rendezvous for patriot whaleboaters who raided small British ves-
sels carrying produce and firewood on the Sound(103). Hufeland mentions"a running creeping along the shore. The boys dropped their basket of apples and ran,screaming,
fight" along the Post Road from New Rochelle to Mamaroneck between a detachment "Cowboys! Cowboys!"
of patriot troops commanded by Lt. Colonel Walton A. White and the Queen's Ran-
gers led by Lt. Colonel John Graves Simcoe on August 6 of 1779, and the use of Dr. The whaleboat men awoke and rushed from the barn. The Cowboys had lost the
Nicholas Bayley's house, just over the New Rochelle border, as a hospital for the advantage of surprise and so retreated to New Rochelle. The Motts later learned that
wounded(119). these Cowboys were the same men who had threatened the whaleboats from the shore
of Echo Bay. It was adventures like this one that made the royalists in the neighbor-
The war years at the Mill House are narrated in vivid detail, however, in the hood believe the Motts were"rebels."
memoirs of the same Richard Mott who depicted Jinny and Billy(370). The memoirs
read more like a novel than a family history: this is no dry genealogical recital of James Mott and his oldest son, Richard, were away at Purchase Meeting when a
names and dates, but a coherent narrative complete with believable and sympathetic much greater danger threatened the family some months later. At that time, Captain
characters,realistic dialogue,suspense,and meaningful action. Pete and his men captured a royalist sloop bound for New York City with supplies and
put its men ashore near Pelham, where they met a group of Cowboys commanded by
Richard Mott recounts Uncle Billy's hazardous journey to New York City with 18 Fade Merritt (a brother of the Skinner raider Shubal Merritt). Fade guessed that the
other men and two women in whaleboats to trade blackberries, eggs and butter for whaleboaters would rest at the Mott Mill, and there, in the middle of the afternoon,
powder,gunshot, and a wedding dress for the daughter of the whaleboats'captain,one the Cowboys surprised them just as they were waking up. Captain Pete's men rushed
Pete Davis,who had once been a Mott employee. Such secret trips were usually made from the barn and took up positions in the mill and behind the mill dam. Then began
under cover of darkness, but several of the men were so late in reaching the a ferocious battle of words,mostly curses.
whaleboats'hiding place at the upper end of the city for the return journey that the sun
was rising as they reached Throg's Neck, where an English gunboat was anchored off The turning point came when Captain Pete shouted, "Fade, you infernal cut-throat,
Fort Schuyler. it is my duty to save you from the gallows by shooting you now,but for your wife's sake
I'll spare you this time!" (Pete's and Fade's wives were sisters.) Pete continued:
Under fire, the whaleboaters rowed desperately for Pelham Bay. They had nearly "Fade, if you don't right-about-face and go off, my gun will go off!" So Fade did "go
reached the shelter of City Island when the firing of the ship's guns awakened a squad off,"and as soon as night fell,the whaleboaters rowed off to Connecticut.
of royalist refugees on the shore, who fired a volley of musketballs over the
whaleboaters' heads. With "Cap Pete's" wife and daughter straining at the steering Left at the mill were old Grandmother Underhill, Anne Mott, aged 13, her little
oars,they managed to put City Island between them and the gun boat. brothers Robert, 10, and Samuel, 7, and Jinny and Billy and their son Jess. The next
I � Suddenly, another English ship loomed before them. The whaleboaters again morning,Fade and his raiders returned to the mill.
rowed for shore, "everybody thinking," Billy said, "too hard to talk." Again, a dozen They caught Jess there alone, grinding corn. They questioned him about a large
armed men came running toward them, and they had to try to row across Echo Bay. quantity of coffee that had once been stored in the barn. Jess replied that it had been
By now the booming of cannon had awakened the Mott family at the mill,who rushed taken away by patriot troops. Fade then demanded to know where the money paid for
down to the shore to watch. the coffee was kept, but Jess knew nothing. "We'll squeeze the truth or the life out of
you!" Fade threatened, throwing a rope over a beam, putting a noose around Jess's
The cannonballs struck the water between the whaleboats, but at last they reached neck, and suspending him until he fainted, bleeding from the mouth. Fade locked him
safety behind Oak Bluff. As soon as the boats touched the gravelly shore by the mill, up in the storeroom and sent his men to the house for Anne.
the men and women rowing them collapsed,totally exhausted.
Anne (who became the memoirist's mother) was terrified until one of the ruffians
The Mott family went into the house and prepared breakfast for the whaleboaters. put his hand on her shoulder. At that moment, she suddenly became very calm. "Take
They had "coffee" made of dried peas, home- made maple molasses, cornbread, fried off thy hand," she said, and the man shrank back. Believing that God would protect
pork, and potatoes.They also had a little butter,but only a little,because all but one of her, she quietly went along with the men to the mill. There she saw the noose, and
their cows had been driven off by the Cowboys. Then the whaleboat men went into Jess's blood staining the flour on the floor.
the barn to sleep, and the Mott family went about their chores at the farm and mill.
When Fade began to question her and to threaten her with hanging, Anne smiled
and said, "As I cannot tell while living, I surely cannot after being hanged. Thee knows
28
II 29
S�
The First Decade of Independence: 1783-1790
0
that I have spoken truly and that I know nothing about any money. And now I tell When the war ended in 1783, the first order of business
thee further,that if I did know,I would not tell." was to divide up the booty. Commissions of Sequestration
were named to seize the real and personal property of
At that, Fade gave up and went to search the house. He found no money, but his "Tories"--those who had thrown in their lot with the English-
men took everything else, including the bread baking in the oven. They broke down which was then sold by the State. Some two-thirds of the
closet doors, pried open bureau drawers, and slit featherbeds and pillows. But when land in Westchester County changed hands in this way
Anne saw one of the men coming out of the pantry with a new cheese under his arm, during the 1780s.
she snatched it away from him, saying, "Thee shall not take this! It is for my toothless
old Grandmother, and I won't let it go!"Fade laughed and let her keep the cheese. The largest losers, of course, were the lords of the
manors. (Of the four manors of present-day Westchester
The Cowboys loaded all the Motts' food, clothes and bedding into the family's cart County, Cortlandt Manor alone escaped confiscation.) The
and took Jess with them. Then they went to the homes of several royalist families in Middle Neck was in the hands of freehold farmers,but lands
the neighborhood and distributed the booty among them. They let Jess walk home the in the East Neck belonging to Scarsdale Manor were for-
next day. feited by Heathcote's Delancey heirs, and a tiny part of the
Philipse holdings lay along the northwest boundary of the
James Mott returned home two Town 1@@� I,, ',P Town of Mamaroneck--the five acres the Palmers had lost to
days later, to find his family with �" "' the Philipse family in 1729. This property was confiscated
no clothes but those on their backs along with the thousands of acres belonging to Philipseburgh
and no food except a few potatoes, Manor.
some half-ripe peaches, and fish
caught in the mill pond. He im- Dr. Nicholas Bayley,whose house stood on the Post Road
mediately set off with Jess to visit near the present site of the Loyal Inn Bowling Alley and is
the English commander, General said to have been used as a hospital after Simcoe's raid, ac-
Guy Carleton. Carleton was sym- quired these five acres of the Philipses' attainted pr�perty
pathetic and gave James a letter from the Commissioners on Forfeiture in the 1780s. The
ordering the royalists to return his parcel passed by will to his son Oliver,who sold it in 1799 to
property. With the letter in hand Charles Duncan(336). Both Bayleys and Duncans appear as
and much "friendly persuasion," residents of the Town of Mamaroneck in the first Federal
James and Jess soon retrieved "' census,taken in 1790.
most of the stolen goods. They From Cornell. That prosperity had begun to return to our shores b the
were especially happy to recover p p ty g Y
the linen and woolen sheets and clothing, which the family had spun and woven with time the census was taken we are told by no less an authority
their own hands. than George Washington who, as every school child knows,
could not tell a lie.
Fade Merritt's Cowboys continued their raiding elsewhere, and the Motts were not In the fall of 1789, six months after taking office,
disturbed again. "Thus," the memoirist concludes, "the family of James Mott lived Washington set out from New York City for agood-will tour
through the Revolutionary War without serious disasters,cultivated the farm,operated --- of New England. His first day's journey took him along the
the mill,and diligently attended all the religious meetings to which they belonged." A Survey of the Roads Boston Post Road to Rye,where he noted in his journal that
The depredations of patriot and royalist armies, Cowboy and Skinner guerrillas and of the U.S. the land he had passed through was "strong, well covered
by Christopher Colles, with grass and a luxuriant crop of Indian corn intermixed
outlaws, and the raiding parties from Long Island caused most shore dwellers, how- 1789. with Pompions[pumpkins]...in the field."
ever, to abandon their ruined farms and move to places of greater security in the inte-
rior of the county or farther upstate. "A large army had been subsisted since the begin- "We met," Washington continues, "four droves [about 30 to a drove] of Beef Cattle
Hing of the war,.resulting in the utter exhaustion of all sources of supply and the des-
pair of its inhabitants," Hufeland writes. "Farms and homesteads were'.nearly an- for the New York Market some of which were very fine--also a flock of Sheep for the
nihilated..As the modest homes gradually became vacant,weeds and brambles grew in same place. We scarcely passed a farm house that did not abound in Geese. Their
the fields;in the highways,high grass obscured the wagon tracks" (268). Cattle seemed to be of a good quality,and their hogs large,but rather long legged. No
dwelling house is seen without a stone or brick Chimney, and rarely any without a
shingled roof--generally the sides are of shingles also. The farms are very close
itogether, and separated, as one enclosure after another also is, by fences of stone,
which are indeed easily made,as the country is immensely stoney" (278).
j 4. The name originated in the Huguenot Besley of New Rochelle and is also found in local records
as Bayly,Baily,and even Belly.
30 31
A rough idea of a typical Mamaroneck household in 17
�j il 90 may be deduced from the
- census of that year, which found 436 people living in 65 households. Two households
r P o a 1 / ' /' „ were headed by free blacks or Indians, six by free white females, and 57 by free white
n A // males.
In the 57 households headed by free white males lived 374 people, of whom 322
ly
were family members. This translates into an average family size of 5.66. Assuming
d, that two of these family members were parents and the others children,we arrive at a
typical nuclear family of two p t
- parents with 3.66 children.
V� �', ° ,, /' /'' '' '' It is not safe, however, to make that assumption. Although none of these families
C00 '' ,, '� "„ lacked a female member, the census does not distinguish between female adults (16
and over) and children. In addition, a full one-half of these families had at least one
adult male (16 and over) in addition to the head. Married children sometimes re-
'' marred at home,
along with their spouses and offspring; widowed grandmothers,
maiden aunts, orphaned nieces and nephews and even more distant kin were also har-
a y•,n ,, r bored under the patriarchal roof. The family of James Mott, for example, is
enumerated as having four adult males, one male under 16, and four females (of all
ages). We know from other evidence that Mott was by now a widower, and that at one
time or another his household included his mother-in-law and various adult children
and their families.
A /
Still, one-half of the households headed by free white males had no adult male other
than the head, and the average size of these families was 4.9. Sixty-eight members of
these 28 families were female, and if we assume that one female in each family was the
Gtr, wife of the head and the others female children, we get a total of 40 girls--a fire
/, /, 'r/ ''/ ' // comparable to the 42 boys ennumerated in these households. gu
Thus it becomes a reasonable conjecture that a nuclear family consisting of two par-
If ents and 2.9 children was no less common than was the family consisting of six mem-
fl /' `/ // /�' bers on average and probably including members of the extended family.
'� ,�'�'� Household heads enumerated in 1790 who owned land later included in the Village
// of Larchmont include Peter Allaire, who had acquired much of the Middle Neck in
// .e/o/ QC ck 1788 from Elizabeth Allaire, who had purchased the land in 1753 from Samuel Pa-
" lmer's son Solomon (303). Peter Allaire's household consisted of himself, one boy,
three females, and four slaves.
Above the Post Road and bordering New Rochelle lived Oliver"Belly" (Bayley)with
2 s aq%2 rr s= 6_ one other adult male,one boy, three females, and one slave. His brother John lived on
le adjacent land with three boys and four females. Another head of household was
S,3 z ,,, Elizabeth Duncan, who lived in the vicinity of the Bayleys with one boy, two other
/e females, one non-family"free person"and one slave.
The e Duncan family, lacking not only a male head but any adult male at all, was an
7, " 1796 anomaly. The presence in the household of a non-member"free person"was also rare,
Map from surveyor's field book,1796(326).
32
33
I
i
there being only 10 such people in the entire Town. This person--whose age and sex
the census does not reveal--was probably an Indian or a free black employed as a hired IV. An Early Seat of Quaker Industry 1790-1820
hand.
Other heads of household in the 1790 census who owned land that became part of
Larchmont are Nathan Palmer (a grandson of Samuel's son Nehemiah) (337), Mary The Premium Mill
Palmer (who owned two slaves, showing that she had ceased to be a Quaker) (337),
and Joseph Coles (340). Together with the families of Allaire, Mott, Duncan and the A few years after the Revolutionary War ended, American business began to pro-
two Belly-Bayleys, they populated the area with 61 souls. At least three other heads sper. One cause of prosperity was the introduction of machinery to do much of the
may have lived in Larchmont, although their lands may have escaped our boundaries
somewhat: John Coles (339), Peter Ranoud (also found as Renaud) (339), and John work formerly done by hand. It took one man one day to clean the seeds out of one
pound of cotton, but it took Eli Whitney's cotton "gin," or engine, invented in 1792,
Schureman (338, 339). If we include these families in our hypothetical list of pre- only one day to clean one thousand pounds. At about the same time, Charles New-
Larchmont Larchmonters,the population rises to 86. bold invented the iron plow, so much more efficient than the old wooden plows like
the ones the Palmers used that it became possible to bring much more land under cul-
As slaveholders, Duncan, Allaire, Mary Palmer and Oliver Bayley had 11 other tivation. Soon Americans were growing, spinning and weaving so much cotton that
Mamaroneckers for company. Owning four slaves marks Allaire as a moderately af- they didn't know what to do with it all.
fluent citizen. The largest slaveholders in the Town were Gilbert Budd (who had 12
slaves) and Deborah Horton (who had 7). Both occupied lands not here but on the Americans looked around for places to sell their surplus cotton and all the other
East Neck,as did the great majority of those enumerated in the 1790 census. goods produced by the new machinery and new methods of organizing labor brought
The picture that emerges of our area toward the close of the 18th century features
about by the Industrial Revolution. They saw that business was bad in Europe at that
time, and they found that the Old World's misfortunes gave the New World fabulous
one industry (the Motts' mill), one large plantation, much of it probably salt meadow new opportunities for trade.
(Allaire's), and no more than nine smaller farms. Of the 11 or so family units (of
whom several were closely related), two were headed by women, and these two are Business was bad in Europe because most of the European nations were at war.
among the four households that held slaves. The others seem to have managed their Not long after the American Revolution ended,the French Revolution began.Soon al-
affairs without going outside the family for workers, although we cannot discount the most all of Europe and the Middle East were involved in wars growing out of the
possibility that some of the members of these households were hired hands rather than
blood kin. French Revolution. The warring nations blocked each others' shipping and other trade
and commerce, but the U.S. was a neutral nation. John Jay of Rye negotiated a treaty
that allowed American ships to trade in Europe. Now American manufacturers could
That picture was about to change. sell their surplus products there, and they had few rivals. It was an unheard-of oppor-
tunity, and the Mott family decided to take advantage of it (372).
On April 28, 1804--a little late in the game, as it turned out-- Robert and Samuel
Mott bought from their father James the Mill Pond and nine and one-half acres of
property, on which stood"the mill house and its machinery,the dwelling house, cooper
shops and other buildings, and the mill dam" (307), and built a big new mill at the
mouth of the bay.
The original mill was near Red Bridge, which was so named because the old mill
was known as "the red mill." The old red mill had only two runs, or pairs, of
grindstones, and as it depended on the tides for water power, it could not do very
much work. At the mouth of the bay, the tide provided more water power. The new
mill had 12 runs of stones and the best, most up- to-date machinery. Now the Motts
5. The other nine"free persons'lived in the two households,headed by"Will"and by"Tom were able to produce enough flour to export to Europe.";no last '
names are given.
The Motts named the new mill the Premium Mill. The point of land on which the
mill was built became known as Premium Point, and the creek formerly known as
Gravelly or Stoney Brook (and, in some deeds, as Pine's Brook, for an owner above
the Post Road through whose lands it ran) became known as the Premium River. The
Premium Mill stood on the end of Premium Point, and the mill dam ran across the
34
35
L.
mouth of the bay to the west bank, where the miller's house and the coopers shop education for women (104). These ideas, highly advanced for that day, led to his being
called to the post of superintendent al Nine Partners--where he served without pay
stood (271). No sooner was the new mill built than Robert and Samuel asked their sis- since the school could not afford a headmaster.
ter Anne and her husband to help them.
One of James' students at Nine Partners was Lucretia Coffin of Philadelphia, who
Anne Mott, who like her brothers had grown up in the Mill House during the Re- accompanied him to the Mill House one Christmas and fell in love with James'
volution, was by this time married to her cousin Adam Mott of Cow Bay, Long Island.
They were operating a mill in Cow Bay when her brothers asked them to come to grandson, also named James. They were married in 1811 (104, 105,375).
Larchmont. They agreed, and on December 30, 1804, Robert and Samuel conveyed to
Adam an undivided one-fourth in the mill property(308).Anne and Adam then settled
on a 50-acre farm just north of the Mill House (309). Robert moved into New York Mott's Spool Cotton
City to be the business agent for the mill and to supervise the shipping of flour to
Europe. Samuel continued to live with his wife,Elizabeth Barnard, in the Mill House. The older Mott son, Richard, followed in his father's footsteps and became a well-
known Quaker preacher. He, too, decided to take advantage of the new opportunities
In Revolutionary days, the Mott family had done most of the work themselves; now to trade at home and abroad. He built a mill on his farm on the Sheldrake River, near
they had many hired hands to unload the wheat from sloops on the Sound, carry it to what is now Hickory Grove Drive,to spin cotton into thread. Mott's Spool Cotton was
hoppers to feed the mills, mind the raising and lowering of the gates to catch the tide, a very well-known product in the 19th century(178,271,295).
make barrels, pack the flour for shipping, and load the barrels into sloops to send to
the docks in New York City. There were also servants to tend the cows, chickens, or- Early in 1814, James 2nd and Lucretia moved to Hickory Grove to help Richard
chard and garden and to take care of the houses and children. Thus the Motts now manage the cotton mill. Their first son,Thomas,was born there on July 23. The busi-
had more time to concern themselves with religious affairs and other worthy en- ness had fallen on hard times, however, and before the year was over James and Luc-
terprises.
retia decided to move to Philadelphia to be near her parents.
All of the Motts made frequent trips to Quaker meetings all over the East, from In Philadelphia, James and Lucretia became very active in the anti-slavery move-
Delaware to Vermont. Anne became especially interested in the welfare of the In- ment. They participated in the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves make
P Y P g Y
dians of upper New York State and often visited them at Brothertown, Oneida and their way to Canada. Lucretia traveled all over the East making speeches to raise sup-
Stockbridge. She traveled over the rough roads and trails on horseback--with pillows port for the abolition of slavery. Soon she began to believe that abolition and other
strapped to her saddle. badly-needed reforms could never be obtained unless women were allowed to vote,
and so she began to work for female suffrage. If the family business at Hickory Grove
In a letter to Adam she tells of stopping at an inn near Albany, where the food was had continued to prosper, today Larchmont rather than Philadelphia would be known
poor, the linen dirty, and she and her travelling companion, Esther, were accom- as the home of the world-famous feminist and abolitionist.
modated in a room that contained six other beds, in which six strange men were sleep-
ing. When Anne and Esther objected, the innkeeper shrugged and said they were But events that took place 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean prevented that.
"foolishly nice." And perhaps they were--such sleeping arrangements were common in The events in Europe that caused the failure of Richard's thread-spinning mill also
the inns of that day. "So," Anne wrote, "taking a blanket we contrived to make a brought disaster to the Premium Mill.
screen, but the awkwardness of our situation, joined to the unpleasantness of the
room,pretty much deprived me of sleep" (371). The Failure of the Mills
By this time, Anne and her brothers all had children, and they established a little
In 1804, Napoleon Bonoparte declared himself Emperor of France. He became a
school for them at the Mill House. The school masters were well-educated; Thomas despot n+.n his own country, and other European nations became afraid that he would
Darling, Thomas Ruggles, and Elihu Spencer, graduates of Yale University, were
among the children's teachers. The older children attended Nine Partners, a Quaker try to add them to his empire, too. Now the nations that had tried to help the French
boarding school established in 1796 in Dutchess County, where their grandfather King defeat the revolutionaries fought with more determination, for now they were
fighting to preserve themselves. Thus they would no longer permit neutral nations to
James Mott was headmaster (489). trade freely in Europe. These warring nations blocked all ships from entering each
In 1797 James published a pamphlet entitled Obsenations of Education, in which other's ports and seized cargos, crews and ships that tried to run the blockade. The
he came out against corporal punishment and in favor of motivating students to learn Premium Mill almost failed after a large shipment of its flour was seized in France(178,271).
"by relying on example and a high degree of expectation." He also advocated equal
;q
37
36
In 1807, President James Madison forbade all shipping out of American ports. He
hoped that this embargo of badly-needed American goods would force the European
nations to stop fighting, or would at least prevent the U.S. from becoming involved in
the wars. In fact, however, the only result of the embargo was to virtually destroy
American shipping and commerce. Ships and their cargos rotted in ports all along the
Eastern Seaboard, and the New England and Middle Atlantic states threatened to
secede from the Union. The embargo was lifted in 1809,but the English continued to j k �,
seize American ships and cargos and impress their crews. Finally, in December of x
1812,the U.S. declared war on England.
Things went badly at fust for the Americans, and many'people feared that all that
had been gained in the Revolution was about to be lost. The English took Detroit, ' y e
burned the new capital city of Washington, and landed at various points on the New
England coast. British frigates anchored in Long Island Sound, blockading New York ;
City ports, and on September 8, 1813, two British men-of-war anchored off Daven-
port's Neck and sent their crews ashore for plunder, which included "some 60 or 80
sheep"stolen from the vicinity of the Mott Mill. (404).
One quiet morning the Motts were thrilled to see 28 American gunboats sweep up
the Sound toward the frigates. One of the frigates remained quietly at anchor; the
other suddenly hoisted sail and made straight for the gunboats. Many years later, :.
Richard Mott wrote about what happened next: R
"Now then, our fellows are going to give them a taste!" Uncle Billy shouted. All
;7-
eagerly awaited the booming of the gunboats' cannon. But instead of sinking the
frigate, the gunboats turned around and ran away as fast as sails and oars could take
them. The spectators were very disappointed to see the Americans retreat without
firing a shot. Uncle Billy, leading Richard by the hand, stomped away from the shore
in a rage. "If General Washington was alive," he fumed, "there'd be no such sneaking The Premium Mill in 1878
as that!" When the English frigates finally sailed away a few weeks later, Billy com-
forted himself with the thought that"mebbe the gunboats did scare them away!" (374).
The upper mill property on the Larchmont leader, a director of the Knickerbocker Press,
The War of 1812 ended in 1815, but by then the Motts' flour business had failed. side of the Premium River was sold in 1836 to and a commodore of the New Rochelle Yacht
They sold the mill and turned to other things,in New York City and upstate New York William Scott, a New York City alderman and Club. He was also a member of the
( ) lumber merchant. The deed conveyed 34 Larchmont Yacht Club, the author of
acres--roughly the area now known as Pryer numerous articles and several books with his-
James Mott, Sr., died in New York City in 1823. By then his children and Manor. John Pryer, the son of Captain torical themes, and--like his father--a collector
grandchildren had already begun moving west, where all the best opportunities in ag- Thomas Pryer, a naval officer, was bom in of antiquities (540).
riculture and manufacturing then seemed to be. Within a year of James' death, few of New York City in 1802 and moved to
his direct descendants remained on the East Coast. Mamaroneck in 1839. He and his wife, Eliza, The lower mill site, shown above, was sold
a granddaughter of Chardovoyne de following Samuel Mott's death in 1843 to Wil-
At about the same time the Motts moved to New York City, New York City resi-
Crevecoeur, the first French minister to liam M. Tucker, and sometime before 1872
dents began buying themselves "country estates"in Larchmont. The most important of America acquired the mill pond property to Henry Partridge Kellogg of Poughkeepsie.
these in Larchmont history was Peter Jay Munro, who bought his first parcel of land sometime before 1867 and remained in the Kellogg soon earned a reputation as a "well-
here in 1795 but did not make this his permanent home until 1826.
Mill House until John's death in 1887. known New Rochelle bon vivant." The pro-
perry remained in the Kellogg family until
John and Eliza's son Charles and his wife about 1883, when the mill was removed and
Julia Miller of New Rochelle then took up re- the property sold in three or four large parcels
sidence. Charles was described by his biog- (541). Illustration from Comell, Adam and
rapher as a political conservative, a social Anne Mott,p. 94.
38
39
s
V.A Gentleman's Country Place: 1795-1854
Peter Jay Munro
Most of the farmers in this area abandoned their farms during the Revolution to
move to less tumultuous locations. When the war finally ended, a few returned,while
others sold out or allowed their land to lie abandoned. At the time of the Federal
census of 1790, a measure of prosperity had been recovered but the square-mile that
at
became the Village of Larchmont remained sparsely-populated salt meadow,woodlot,
g
n« marsh and farmland.
In 1795'
seven years after Mamaroneck was created one of New York's original
` towns under the State Township Act, Peter Jay Munro bought the Samuel Palmer
homestead, and by 1828 he had acquired all of the Middle Neck below the Post Road
except the Mott property on the western extremity, and much of the Palmer purchase
above the Post Road as well(311).
� - Munro was the son of Henry
(also known
as Harry) Munro who came to America
in 1759 as chaplain of a Scotch regiment during the French and Indian Wars. Con-
it verted to the Church of England, he became a missionary at Philipsburgh Manor and,
in 1765, the first rector of St. John's Church in Yonkers, then part of the Philipsburgh
Manor (109). There he met Eve Jay, a granddaughter of Eve Philipse (whom we met
in Chapter Two as a contender with the Palmers for land on the westerly side of the
Town) and a sister of John Jay, and she became his third wife. They were married in
1766; Peter, their only child, was born at the Jay homestead in Rye the following year.
In 1767 the Munros,along with Henry's daughter from his first marriage, moved to Al-
Peter Jay Munro and wife,Margaret White.Courtesy Frick Art Reference Library. bany, where Henry served as rector of St. Peter's Church until the War of Independ-
ence began(109, 198, 199).
Many years later, Henry's daughter, Elizabeth, published a little book about the
Munros' family life. She wrote that Eve was ugly,bad-tempered and more than a little
crazy, and that Henry married her only because he expected a large dowry.The dowry
did not materialize,Elizabeth wrote, making Henry so angry that he treated Eve badly
and paid little attention to their son. In revenge, Eve pinched Elizabeth, screamed at
her, and locked her up in the cellar. Elizabeth, in turn, poisoned Eve's parrot and
Peter's puppies. Finally, when Elizabeth was about 16, she ran away with a soldier
(199).
=�=,u
The Revolution broke out at about this time. Henry sided with the English, which
gF led in 1777 to his imprisonment in Albany as "an enemy of the liberties of America."
He escaped from prison, served under the English at the Battle of Ticonderoga, be-
W, came a Loyalist refugee in Canada, and eventually returned to Edinburgh (109). He
never saw his family again.
� qqww
After Henry was arrested, Eve stayed with friends in Albany, and Peter, aged 10,
went to live with the Jays, first at their Sound Shore home in Rye and later in Fishkill
during the latter years of the war. Among the Jay papers is a note Eve wrote to her
The Manor House, north facade.Munro's country house, standing today at IS Elm
Avenue, was built to face the Post Road. Photo from Fulcher, "Mamaroneck through the
Years. 40
"
41
a _ —
I
brother John at this time: "Give me leave, sir, to tell you that you are not only a kind happy in jail because she had no work to do there. A month later she became ill, ac-
brother, but a very affectionate father and husband to me, and a most tender father to cepted the offer, and returned, but she did not recover from her illness and soon died.
my poor son" (200, 511). Eve subsequently joined the Jay family from time to time, The other servants believed that Abbe's spirit remained to haunt the Jay residence
but her mental health was poor. Her father wrote that she "had Hystericks" several (518).
times a year throughout her life; the troubles of the war years and the desertion of her
husband further undermined her health, and at last she was put away in a sort of By then the peace treaty had been signed, and the family returned to New York in
asylum (512). the summer of 1784, when Peter was 16 years old. After studying for four years in
Bedford (then the Westchester county seat), he entered the law offices of Aaron Burr
In 1779, John Jay was appointed American minister to Spain. Jay, his wife Sarah, in New York City. Peter accompanied Burr to Albany, then returned to New York
Peter (then aged 12), and a household slave named Abigail sailed for Spain that City in 1789 to open his own law offices at 28 Broadway(113, 198).
November. The crossing was a long one, due to a storm that broke the ships' masts
and a narrow escape from an English ship intent on capturing them. They landed in It was a good time to be a young'lawyer. There were many lawsuits to settle after
Cadiz on January 22, 1780,and began the arduous journey over the mountains to Mad- the Revolution ended and very few lawyers; most of the lawyers had been Loyalists
rid(513). and so had taken refuge in Canada or England or had been disbarred. Uncle John
sent Peter many clients.
"The nephew I brought with me turns out to be a very fine boy," Jay wrote to a
friend, "indeed just such a one as I would wish him,or any other boy his age,to be.My Munro family papers relate that Peter soon became enamoured of Margaret White,
only fear is that one of these days some of his blood may break out and spoil all. In the laughter of a prominent family and a distant cousin through the Van Cortlandt
that case all my hopes after all my pains will be blasted" (514). Later letters indicate line. When her parents disdained the suit of the portionless offspring of a traitor and
that Jay continued to be pleased with Peter, who learned Spanish and French and a madwoman as "demeaning," the amiable Burr assisted the young lovers in eloping
served his uncle as translator, but never so pleased that he could pass a compliment from a New Year's Day party in 1790 to be married in secret (527). This defiance was
without tempering it with criticism: "I have received and am pleased with your letter," never forgiven by Margaret's mother, of whom Peter wrote bitterly several years later,
he wrote to Peter. "It is well written as to matter and style, and tolerably as to hand- "If the Old Lady really regretted her absurd conduct toward us I would not oppose a
writing and spelling, in both of which, however, there is still room for improvement" reconciliation, but [not] while she entertains the sentiments which she cherished for
(515). some years past" (519).
By 1782 England was ready to make peace with America, and Jay was called to In 1795 Peter acquired his first parcel of land in Larchmont, where it was his ambi-
Paris to help Benjamin Franklin and John Adams with the negogiations. The family tion to become the master of a country estate comparable to that of his Jay relatives in
settled in Passy, a suburb of Paris, and Peter was enrolled in a private boarding school Rye while keeping his city residence near his law offices. This purchase lay near the
there along with John Quincy Adams (John Adams' son) and Benjamin Bache Post Road and included the old Palmer homestead (533). Smallpox and yellow fever
(Franklin's grandson). He studied French, mathematics, Latin, fencing and dancing-- epidemics soon gave him an additional motive for providing his family with an escape
he had,as Jay wrote to a friend,teachers"both for head and heels" (516). from the city in the summers (534). He added to his holdings bit by bit for the next 30
years and at some point built the big house on the little hill that still stands at 18 Elm
In Paris John Jay achieved the success and recognition he had been unable to wring Avenue, now called the Manor House (311,535).
from the Spanish, and Aunt Sarah found the acceptance into society and shopping op-
portunities the absence of which in Madrid she had so frequently bemoaned in letters For many years Munro visited the Larchmont property in summer only, retaining a
sent home. Her letters from Paris tell of a merry round of social activity and other city residence near his law offices until 1826. His law practice flourilhed; so did his
diversions, and it is recorded that Peter was.an astonished witness to the fust step in and Margaret's family-42 children in all, of whom 10 grew to maturity.
man's conquest of space: Pelatre de Rozier's ascension in a Montgolfier balloon to a
height of 80 feet (517). 1. Her parents were Henry White,a member of the Council of the Province of New York,and Eve
Van Cortlandt of Yonkers.
Peter's sorrows in Paris are also recorded. Peter was very fond of the slave girl
Abigail,whom he had known since infancy. One day"Abbe,"as Peter called her, quar- 2. Peter Jr., the firstborn, drowned in a well at the age of 5; Mary died at age 7. Cordelia and a
relled with Aunt Sarah and ran away. She was caught by the Paris police and put in second Mary may also have died young,as the family historian was able to find no information
jail. Peter found out where she was and visited her in secret. When Aunt Sarah about them except their dates of birth. A second Peter is described in family papers as "an
learned of his visits, she sent a message to Abbe that she could return to their house if invalid"who"was finally released from his sufferings"in 1835 at the age of 34. Harriet married a
she would behave herself. Abbe at first refused the offer, saying that she was very cousin, Frederick Augustus Van Cortlandt; Anna Marie married Elias DesBrosses Hunter of
Pelham;Sarah married Asa Whitney(203).The other children are referred to below.
42 43
x \ q
An ambitious man, Munro frequently sought (but seldom found) public office. In
06 Q 1817 he was appointed to a federal judgeship by Vice-President Daniel Tompkins,who
7Z had studied in his law offices and to whom he had just given a large sum with which to
pay off the debt Tompkins had incurred while building a turnpike on Staten Island
(205). President James Monroe did not confirm the appointment. Munro was elected
State Assemblyman on the Federalist ticket in 1814 and 1815, however, and in 1821,
illi G when Tompkins was Governor of New York State, he appointed Munro Chairman of
the Judiciary Committee of the State Constitutional Convention(520).
It was during one of Munro's campaigns for political office that the previously-
6 mentioned memoirs of his half-sister, Elizabeth Fisher,were published. In addition to
1 1 describing the Munros' disordered familylife, Elizabeth recounts in excruciating detail
g
her more recent wrangles with Peter over title to their father's lands in Washington
County and claims that he had her imprisoned for four years on a false charge of
having forged their father's name to papers deeding the property to her.
Munro had other disputes with close associates that found their way into public re-
�A cords. His Larchmont estate was managed for several years by Robert Colgate (father
heti !rte of William, the soap magnate), whom he discharged in 1805 and sued for embezzle-
20 ! 2b J �� - IJ -"4- ment (206). In 1823, he sued his old friend and political crony Daniel Tompkins for a
111 i.7 c `'�.,, �e :i'- -_
debt of$10,000 and had him imprisoned when he could not pay(205).
From politics and the law, Munro branched out into business enterprise. In 1800 he
er4 joined Phipp Pell (of the Pelham Manor Pells), John Peter Delancey,3 Cornelius
Roosevelt, and Gabriel Furman to forming the Westchester Turnpike Corporation, a
private stock company chartered by New York State to lay out a toll road from New
\� York City to Connecticut along the route of the Boston Post Road laid out in 1703
v
(114).Munro served as its treasurer until 1828.
`. o OQ, ° The Old Boston Post Road laid out in 1703 was merely the Siwanoy footpath suffi-
ciently widened to permit the passage of a traveler on horseback or a small cart and,
since 1772, an occasional stagecoach. With the improvement of business conditions at
the conclusion of the Revolution, there was a demand for roads short, smooth and
wide enough for rapid transport of large loads by wagon. All over the East, turnpike
~ Map of Mamaroneck, 1797.
-+ t �}:� Drawn by Edward Delancey 3. Husband of Caleb Heathcote's daughter Anne, John Peter Delancey was a chief justice and
��, � � 6,'Ur- IV _ from manuscript map found in acting governor of NY (207) and the father of William Heathcote Delancey,who became the
4 �� State Records at Albany. first Episcopal Bishop of Western New York and married Munro's daughter,Frances. (272).
S r" l 4. One of the"four or five richest men in New York City in his day,"an importer of hardware and
plateglass,and a founder of the Chemical Bank"on the single principle of honesty,a trait not so
T/tree dwellings ark depicted in the Lllrchmont area. common as it should have been in banks in those
S
ti\• Nil]/ Bayley s, on the border with New Rochelle, is the home of days";his brother James J.Roosevelt was a law
Dr. Nicholas Bayley, said to have served as a hospital follow- partner of Peter Jay,Munro's first cousin(232,233).
ing Sintcoe's raid. The "mill"identifies the Mott property. The
5. One Gabriel (probably a misreading of"Gabriel")Furman is listed as a New York City patriot
��(�" unidentified double-chimneyed building whose short end
abuts the Post Road a little above the point at which it turns to
who took refuge in Westchester"or elsewhere"during the British occupation of the city(274);he
� o (•,t+' bear more northerly than easterly, is nearer the site of the Pa-
was also a purchaser of Loyalist property and, in 1795, a New York City alderman (273); he
11tt7`� liner Homestead than it is to 18 Elm Avenue, the site of the
served as a member of the State Assembly in 1796 and 1814 and as State Senator from 1839-1842,
So,l
Manor House today, and deeds record that Munro did not dying at a ripe old age in 1844(275).
own the latter property until sometime after 1801. A 1921
newspaper article recites--on what authority it is not known--
that Munro began building the house in the vicinity of Monroe
Avenue and later moved it to its present site (202).
- I
44
45
t.
companies were laying out straighter, wider roads and "paving" them with gravel liam Delancey (524).7 An 1854 advertisement for the Collins Line of U.S. Mail
spread over large rocks. To turn a profit on their investment, the companies installed Steamers lists one "John Munroe" as the company's agent in Paris; it is tempting to
at 10-mile intervals toll gates, or pikes, that had to be turned by paying a fee. One of speculate that this is Peter's son,for it was Edward Knight Collins,the great steamship
the Westchester Turnpike tollgates is said to have been on the East Boston Post Road i magnate, who bought the old Munro estate when it was sold at auction in 1845 to
in Mamaroneck,near the present site of the Toll Gate House(96,494). satisfy Henry's creditors(276).
The route of the Old Post Road through Larchmont was considerably altered when
the turnpike was put through. It would require a team of archeologists to detect the
original route, but property deeds and town records show that many acres of land More Country Gentlemen
changed hands when the turnpike was built, and in one place some 10 acres below the
Old Post Road ended up above the Turnpike,which set the course of the Post Road as By the early 19th century, industrialization, mass immigration, machine politics, and
it runs today (270). It is said that the Manor House originally faced the Boston Post epidemic diseases provided powerful incentives to escape the city for families who had
Road; since the house has faced the Sound throughout all of living memory, it is as- the means to do so (536). Class segregation was the result; according to some
sumed that at some point the facade and the rear of the house changed places. That is analysts,it was a motive as well (537).
a reasonable assumption. It also possible, however, that the front door stayed put and
the road moved. Other men of affairs from New York City who acquired country estates in
Larchmont at about the time Munro moved his permanent residence here were James
As befitted a man of substance, Munro sought to endow good works. He was a J. Roosevelt and Lloyd Saxbury Daubeny.
founder, with his kinsmen John Peter Delancey and Peter Jay, of St. Thomas Epis-
copal Parish in Mamaroneck in 1814, and in 1823 they erected its first church (209). In 1820, Daubeny8 bought from the Palmer assignees 82 acres above the Post Road
in the area now called Pinebrook(64). He was the son of a prosperous New York City
Munro appears in family letters of this period as a gruff, corpulent man whose con- family, and his father claimed title to the dormant English peerage of Baron Lord
versation was so sprinkled with epithets that the younger members of the family were Daubeny. His mother, following her husband's death, maintained a residence in Wall
shut up in the nursery when he came to visit, and whose bulk was so ponderous that Street near Trinity Church until 1792, where it is said "some of the most distinguished
the delicate French chairs were sequestered in the servants' quarters(203). Following men of the nation resided"during the time that Congress met in New York City(231).
a severe stroke of paralysis in 1826, he turned his law practice over to his son Henry
and retired to his country estate, where he lived until his death in 1833 (82). His wife, Lloyd was a seafaring man, the captain of the ship Melpomene. He married John
Margaret,died in 1837;both are buried in the Jay Family Cemetery in Rye (277). Jay's niece Susan Titford, and it was soon after their marriage that they bought the
land in Larchmont. His household is enumerated in the 1820 Federal census of
Munro's country estate, like his law practice, passed into the hands of his son Mamaroneck as consisting of one free white male aged 26-45, one free white female
Henry,who, according to his sister Margaret,was a poor manager: "He is one of those aged 10-16 (Susan?), one "person engaged in agriculture," one free colored person
who never would pay his debts until driven to it,"she wrote. "Procrastination has been aged 10-26,and one"free colored."
his ruin, together with his pipe...I've never been able to get from him the least account
of how the property's gone as he says it has" (521). MargarLt, a spinster who kept
house in New York City for her brothers until they married, ended her days knitting
for a living (522). Henry married a cousin, Anne Margaret Bayley (of the New
Rochelle Besley-Belly-Bayleys), in 1840; sometime later he left the practice of law and,
according to family papers,went to work for an unnamed steamship company(523). 7. Bolton writes that he took his mother's name and lived as John White in Pelham; the Munro
family historian,however,denies this(230).
The other surviving son, John, married late in life; his wife was Frances Bibby, a
cousin in the Van Cortlandt line and the widow of a nephew of his brother-in-law,Wil- 8. Difficult to decipher in manuscript, the name is also found in transcribed land records as
Danberry and Danbeny;it is found in the 1820 Federal census and on an 1854 map as"Dobney,"
which is probably the way it was pronounced.
6. Such was the case with the Disbrow House in Mamaroneck. Describing an etching of that house,
Delancey writes that it"is a rear view,the road shown in it and now existing in front of the house
not having been opened till the year 1800"(208).
46 47
i
cy, �; ,, t �' • The Dr. Nicholas From 1835 to 4839, Daubeny was Inspector of Schools for the Town of
Bayley house, oc- Mamaroneck (210). Although Daubeny held office in Mamaroneck, it appears that
cupied front 1835 to
�., he and Susan visited their country place infrequently. Following in the footsteps of her
1904 by three genera- p
mother-in-law, she pursued a career as a
tions of the Disbrow P society hostess to the city. Lloyd died around
1847 (358), and Susan sold the Larchmont estate in 1857 to Patience Bonnett of New
family, was turned into York City, a member of the old New Rochelle Huguenot family for whom Bonnett
a roadhouse known Avenue is named. In 1863, Patience, 'New York City widow," sold the property to
first as the Indian
Mary S.Myers of Brooklyn,wife of James Van Schoonhoven Myers (64).
Head, later as the
I Femcroft, and finally Family papers state that Myers, a wholesale dry goods merchant, built a 29-room
as Loyal Lin. Until
burnea house on the 84-acre property, about 200 feet north of the Post Road where Beach
d to the ground Avenue is now located and "each summer he and his wife collected there as many of
qy in 1929, it stood on his nine children, their spouses and the grandchildren as could conveniently come"
the Boston Post Road
near the present site of (341). Myers is also remembered for having supplied preachers for union religious the Loyal Lin Bowling services held during the summers in a little building on Horseshoe Harbor(68).
" Alley (93). Front Ful- In the early 1840s, James John Roosevelt purchased property from Munro's sons
cher, Mamaroneck
N, and from Henry Rankin, a Munro assignee, and assembled a 500-acre farm that
through the Years. stretched from the Post Road between the Daubeny estate and what is now the eastern
boundary of the Village and running above the railroad tracks up into New Rochelle
(342). He was the son of Jacobus Roosevelt I (also known as James I. Roosevelt, Sr.).
During the Revolution, Jacobus was a commissary (as we would say today, a defense
contractor). After the war, he went into the plateglass and hardware business in New
York City and completed the amassingof
a fortune. James John's brother Cornelius
was the founder of Chemical Bank and one of Munro's partners in the Westchester
Turnpike Corporation.
After graduation from ColumbiaP University in 1815,James John entered legal art-
y,
t$ nership with John Jays son Peter, taking part "in much notable litigation" and acquir-
ing a reputation for skill in cross-examination (232). "Inherited means," one of his
19th-century biographers tells us, "then enabled him to devote his time almost wholly
to public affairs. He identified himself early in life with the Democratic ill l� t c
partyin the
t
1 d
t t tl ays when Tammany Hall was good, and was for a time treasurer of the Tammany
' General Committee" (232). He served as a member of the New York City Common
Council in the days just before it acquired its popular nickname, "the Forty Thieves,"
1.4006 and on the New York City School Board.
At the age of 35, James tired of politics and the law and set out to see Europe. He
was in Paris in July of 1830 when the "little revolution"occurred--an attempt, following
the death of Napoleon, to again overthrow the French monarchy and set up a republic
AL 41 with a president at its head. Tiring of touring, he returned to New York the next year
and resumed the practice of law and politics.
The Myers cottage was operated after Jaynes Myers' death as a summer boarding house
9• There were two public schools in the Town at that time. One was near Mamaroneck Harbor,and
known as the Chatsworth Inn. 77te property was sold in 1903 to Edward McKcker of New York
City, who demolished the house and attempted to turn the land into a suburban development the other was on Weaver Street. The latter was remodeled into a private house in the early 20th
(64)• century,and it still stands at 94 Weaver.
48
49
f
AV
Map of Chatsworth, 1854. I for** ® w • << ti`` In 1835, and again in 1840, he was elected to the State Legislature, serving both
, . t times on the Judiciary Committee. "Going to Congress in 1841, he entertained splen-
4n 39 ��s ,�G •'' didly while there and declined renomination" 232 . He then went abroad again and
Q ( ) g
o a j, o ® its *:� �•�® �'4+fi' studied foreign law in England,Holland and France.
oat
s2'IS `
My TLC From 1851 to 1859, he was a Justice of the State Supreme Court. In 1859, President
!f
Avemuc James Buchanan appointed him U.S. District Attorney for the Southern District of
01A °M -29 axp : _ '�® 27 New York. This pursuit also he apparently found tiring, for he retired permanently
1w,
a, jafter only one year. He was 64 years old.
>Zp = eaN • ft 4 a ® e
S' ® g
James and his wife Cornelia Van Ness of Vermont had a large house in New York
16City and spent most of their time there, although their Larchmont country place,
9• P
gt[ �- where they remodeled a cottage near the present intersection of the Post Road and
J �'`�•< r® � a ® • ? " '�'�� `� Bonnett Avenue into a substantial residence (165, 234), "formed his favorite retreat'
i �y� , o �, d
16 • from the cares of business" (165 232). Cornelia was a leader of New York City society
s ° .� qs�� ;1-i
y� Q, J7*, , w ., a v 18 ® "greatly greatly interested in charitable work for the aid of troops during the Civil War"
,�: :•n° y,; ®y v H y.- 4 (165,233).
134 IZ ��: ` In 1850, the Roosevelts sold 28 acres bordering the Post Road to Mary E. Vander-
.", • s t i t 11 burgh, wife of George E. Vanderburgh (166). Vanderburgh one of the incorporators
09 A
�� � t *e y g of the Westchester County Historical Society, served the Town as Inspector of Elec-
Thaddeus Davids, a principal .���� N �F.d yh�,� , s tions in 1859,Assessor in 1870, and in several other capacities through 1879 (492).The
in the Chatsworth Land Company; A, a 81: a; q o o SW�w �l° �' northern boundary of this property was "a certain street or road recently laid out" and
was an ink manufacturer and owner of3' c subsequently named Roosevelt Avenue in their honor. The Roosevelts sold the re-
Davids Island in New Rochelle. ° 14 i,q��" mainder of the 500-acre farm in 1854 to George R. Jackson, a principal in the
^T`""7iC at: G.E.VAPIDER9VRGH r�q Chatsworth Land Company(343).
i 4 s
o 'y/ oma' The Chatsworth Land Company
V =." 71l �
TM ' J T � 2
The New York and New Haven Railroad, built 1847-48, made its first run through
_ " s r a _ Larchmont on December 25 1848 and in 1853 the Chatsworth Land Company erected
I ` N _ RoAo -
1�►x� of E. K.LOLL 175 E a station near the site of the present station. Although it was many years before the
station was a regular stop on the line, the iron horse with its stations at New Rochelle
and Mamaroneck revolutionized travel from the city and initiated the process that
changed all of this area from rural farmland to suburban garden-plot by the turn of the
century.
s .
The change is illustrated by the career of Thomas Palmer, who inherited the an-
;. ; «
S
;M�MAICH[CN, cestral lands along Weaver Street and in the 1840s and '50s commuted from there to
1) his tortoise-shell comb manufacturing firm on Duane Street in New York. This he ac-
4.�;ate l complished once a week during the winters of 1843 to 1848 by stagecoach over roads
OE
ISLAN10 IT
a•M�['
50 51
i.
�r r
77iis pretty little building "standing in the unrelieved
loneliness of the Chatsworth woods"is said to have that were "just like plowed land, rutty and muddy," and in the summers by carriage to
"excited the derision of passengers on the New the dock in New Rochelle and thence to the city by steamboat. After the railroad was
Haven trains for many years, because lack of constructed,he flagged down the train and commuted daily(115).
patronage prevented the railroad company
from establishing a regular stopping place"
- - —- - People believed that any land near the new railroad tracks would vastly increase in
- — (. ► _ _-_ (539). value, and among those who thought that way were Thaddeus Davids and George R.
Jackson. They bought the old Roosevelt farm and formed the Chatsworth Land Com-
pany to develop it. They named the development after the country seat of the English
!'1° r 1 • ♦ I ! dukes of Devonshire. Although the land they offered for sale was only raw, stony hills,
f T A l bogs, and thick forest, they must have hoped that naming it"Chatsworth"would attract
(.. 11 • T � w C A T N 1�» T M -17't�
attention and make potential buyers think of parks, gardens, and a leisurely, aristoc-
ratic way of life.
♦� 1 '-�
aft Ifill ® Ii a ! '
George Jackson lived in the part of the Town of Mamaroneck that is now
- Mamaroneck Village; he was a partner in an iron- mining company based in New
�-' :� -4 �i.�..:'it �. =��,_'w' . Ilia:.; t� � ��^ •i i i • �R York City, and his partner, James Burnett, is sometimes mentioned as a partner in
Chatsworth as well, although his name does not appear in the land company's transac-
tions. Thaddeus Davids, a resident of Sutton Manor in New Rochelle, was an ink
Rendering of Chatsworth Station (1853] on 1854 survey manufacturer who from 1856 to 1867 owned the island still known by his name (391).
map drawn by William Bryson. He and Jackson also collaborated in an extensive land development in New Rochelle.
FlKSC loll. ltuau b'TA110N.
From "Programme of Exercises,"
In 1854, the Chatsworth Land Company hired a New Rochelle engineer, William
Larchmont Manor Park Society, 1898. Bryson, to survey their land and draw a map. When Bryson finished the survey, he
carved his name, the name of the company, and the date into the Rocgingstone at the
: b
4.14 ' � E intersection of Rockingstone Avenue and Springdale and Spruce roads.l
`A, The existence of the Chatsworth Land Company might well be forgotten today had
it not left its name on the Rockingstone,on one of our main thoroughfares
�. ..'� •� 6i sat : '' ,. � ,and on our
elementary school, for although the company built a railroad station along the tracks
S,
and succeeded in selling its lots, nobody came to settle on them. For many years, this
station was only a whistlestop, and as late as the 1870s, anyone who wanted to get off
the train at "Chatsworth" had to make special arrangements in New York City before
- y - getting on.
Information gathered by the New York State Census of 1855 indicates that the
population remained small, thinly spread, and largely engaged in agriculture, while
10. The Rockingstone is an erratic,a large boulder from the far North carried here by the glaciers
' I thousands of years ago.It is 11 feet high and weighs 150 tons,but until the early 20th century it
was "so accurately poised" that it could "be moved without being overthrown" (236). Blasting
done in the vicinity about 80 years ago when roads were built and basements excavated caused
the Rockingstone to settle,and now it no longer moves. The hill above the Rockingstone is the
highest point near the Sound Shore in Westchester County.It is now called Hannah's Peak(and I
wish I knew why,but I don't);in earlier days it was called Rattlesnake Hill.
By the time this photo was taken (c. 1872), the name of the station had been changed
to "Larchmont Manor."
52
53
one-quarter of the Town's nearly 4,000 acres remained in a natural state, or "un- Although Wilmarth's inheritance was subdivided and offered as building lots in 1891
improved." The 1,068 inhabitants, of whom 81 were freeholders, lived in 226 families (368), in 1892 there were only three houses on the old Vanderburgh property (344,
distributed among 172 dwellings. The two school districts--both centered east of 367), and it was still a functioning farm in 1899, consisting of"fields, a winding stream,
Weaver Street--had 364 pupils. The wealth of the Town consisted of"104 horses, 154 and a beautiful clearing in the woods"where the tenant's house stood (near the site of
working oxen and calves, 233 cows, 30 sheep, 257 swine, 624 bushels of winter grain, 10 Virginia Place), when the Jacob Zvirin (later Severin) family settled on it in 1899
5,576 bushels of spring grain, 1,121 tons of hay, 2,989 bushels of potatoes, 636 bushels (359).
of apples,and 16,957 pounds of butter"(360).
The wedge of land bounded by the Post Road, Larchmont Avenue, and the
Most of the land sold by the Chatsworth Land Company remained farmland, or- cemeteries was acquired by Samuel Booth from the Chatsworth Land Company in
chard,pasture,meadow,and"unimproved"woodlot until well into the 1890s. 1855 and passed through the hands of Thomas Palmer to Henry Holt (known as "the
dean of American publishers"), remaining undeveloped in 1892 (344). A small portion
Sometime before 1882 Samuel Booth, the Chatsworth Land Company assignee of this property is described in early deeds as "the locust lot" (343), bordering the Bar-
(362), sold some 22 acres bounded by the railroad tracks, Collins (now Larchmont) ker Cemetery, a burial ground beside the Quaker Cemetery which was probably estab-
Avenue, and the Daubeny-Myers estate to Alvin J. Johnson, a New York City pub- lished to accomodate lapsed members of early Quaker families. The adjoining block,
lisher. It is said that Johnson's"pet hobby on holidays and Sundays was to come out to bounded by the Post Road,Addison Street, and Larchmont and Chatsworth Avenues,
his wooded holdings and take his constitutional exercise chopping trees" (361). Mary for many years served William Palmer as a hay field; it had been subdivided by 1892 3
Stapleton Keller purchased the property in 1882. She was the wife of James Myers' but also remained undeveloped(438).
head gardener, Stephen Keller; in 1891 she married Julius Gerlach, a housepainter
who had charge of the painting of many of the Manor cottages and who served as a Very little building took place above the railroad tracks until after 1889, when the
volunteer fireman(51,52,53,54,55,537).The property remained undeveloped in 1892 Larchmont Water Company laid pipelines through this land from the Larchmont Re-
(344,363). servoir (off Weaver Street) to Larchmont Manor. It is interesting to ponder how dif-
ferent local history might have been if development had begun in "Chatsworth" rather
p Y than in Larchmont Manor.
Company were sold at auction by Booth's heirs to Carsten Wendt (365), a German-
born New York City attorney who was to take a leading role in Village affairs (364). During the years that the Chatsworth Land Company was trying to develop its land
"A few years ago," the Mamaroneck Paragraph reported in 1893, "Carsten Wendt pur- above the Post Road, the world-famous shipowner who gave our village its name
chased several acres of woodland all overgrown with underbrush and forest trees, be- bought most of the land below the Post Road. He was Edward Knight Collins, the
tween Atlantic Street [now Addison] and the station and Collins [now Larchmont] Yankee lord of the Atlantic Ocean.
avenues. Ever3Nody wondered what he was going to do with it." He did nothing, in
fact,until 1893.
Mary Vanderburgh, wife of George, who in 1850 bought 28 acres of the Roosevelt
estate bordering the Post Road (166), bought another 33 acres of that estate in 1855
from the Chatsworth Land Company (366). The Vanderburgh holdings then com-
prised the land now bounded by the Post Road, the eastern line of the Village,what is
now Palmer Avenue,and Chatsworth Avenue.
After the land passed by will to the Vanderburgh's daughters Eugenia Brown and
Caroline Wilmarth, the homestead was operated for some years as a boarding house
(490), then burned to the ground with all its outbuildings in 1883 (491).
12. An 1891 newspaper article regarding litigation of claims to a part of this property refers to "a
11. "They see now," the 1893 article continues. "Superfluous trees were cut down, a pretty cottage
road shown on the map as running around to what is known as'the old powder factory"'(369).
was built with an extensive lawn in front; swell-kept vegetable garden sprang into life on the The road referred to is a meandering extension of Roosevelt Avenue,called Hall Avenue today;
south side. All was enclosed on Collins Avenue with a solid stone wall. Now clearing is going on
no other reference to a powder--or other--factory in this vicinity has been found.
to the north of the cottage,a goodly number of choice trees being allowed to remain.It looks as
if Mr.Wendt intends to have a cool and inviting grove of three or four acres on that portion of 13. The pipelines were laid along the route of Murray Avenue, which was built at that time and
his place." When the property was developed as "Larchmont Centre" in 1912, the cottage was named for the founder of the Water Company,Charles Murray.
moved to 21 Wendt Avenue,where it still stands(361).
54
55
PF
VI. A Merchant Prince's Estate: 1845-1865
zi�i
tip''-,� E.K. Collins:Yankee Lord of the Atlantic Ocean
'11Ll
The last person to hold the Middle Neck as a rural seat was the naval architect and
shipping magnate Edward Knight Collins. He bought all of Munro's land below the
Post Road at auction in 1845, made extensive renovations to the house, and named his
new estate"Larchmont.'
" "The origin of the name Larchmont is a little odd,as neither larches nor hills are in-
digenous to the Neck," observes Edward Delancey (235). The larches, he explains,
were planted c. 1800 at the suggestion of Peter Jay Munro's gardener, a Scotsman
named William Rae, to satisfy Munro's desire for "a quick growing grove of trees
along the turnpike road west of his entrance." Rae offered to send to Scotland for
seed of the fast- growing larch of his native land. "Mr. Munro assented, the seed
i came, the trees were planted, and answered the purpose admirably for about 20 or 25
\� years, then they grew scraggy, began to die and were gradually removed the last of
1.
them during Mr. Collins' ownership,by whom the name was given to the place while it
was his.
"This was the origin of the Scotch Larch in Westchester County," Delancey con-
Edward Knight Collins. tinues,"neither a handsome,nor long lived tree and not an acquisition of value" (236).
1l� From Harper's Magazine 1892.
The "mont," it is generally understood today,was derived from what might more ac-
curately be described as the molehill of rising land between the Sound and the Post
Road; Delancey proposes, however, that "the`Mont'Mr. Collins evolved from his own
consciousness, perhaps because the larch grows chiefly upon hills in its native land"
(236).
That Collins had a vivid and daring imagination there can be no doubt. Described
in the Dictionary of American Biography as"the leader of the most ambitious and spec-
^ ,, tacular attempt of the merchant marine to challenge British supremacy," Collins was
born in Truro, Massachusetts, in 1802 (30). He was the descendant of a long line of
_ Cape Cod seamen whose American progenitor had come from Ireland in 1635 (88).
He went to sea at 15, and at 21 embarked on a business career in New York City,
founding a shipping line, I.G. Collins and Son, in partnership with his father, Israel
The Manor House. This early ,. . � •� -
view shows the south facade Gross Collins, and conducting a general provision and commission business in partner-
before
� �-'r' - "
before Elm Avenue was
ship with Thomas T. Woodruff,who became his father-in-law(87).
constnicted. Collins added Woodruff, a New York City alderman and prominent Democrat, founded the
the double-decker porch. _ Chemical Bank of New York in partnership with Cornelius Roosevelt,who through his
brother James formed the "Larchmont connection." Moses Beach, a contemporary
biographer, noted that Woodruff"had several fat contracts of the corporation [of the
City of New York]" during his tenure as alderman. Indeed. He was a founder of the
........,.
New York and Manhattan Gas companies, a builder of Fort Lafayette and the for-
a
57
56
i
I
tifications at West Point, and of the High Bridge Aqueduct and Fifth Avenue Reser- Woodruff, and two of their children (503). In 1856, the Pacific sailed from Liverpool
voir in New York City(86,87, 169,237,238,504). and vanished without a trace. Seven months latcr, his Congressional Subsidy wab
withdrawn and a contract was recommended for Vanderbilt. In 1856-57, the Collins
After his father's death in 1831, Collins began his collection of sailing packet lines-- Line missed several sailing, and in 1858, the remaining ships were sold at auction for
the Vera Cruz, the New Orleans, and the Dramatic--which by 1840 made him one of $50,000 to satisfy creditors.
the wealthiest men in New York.
Financially, the Collins Line--which never paid adividend-- was a complete failure.
In that same year, the British Cunard Line established regular trans-Atlantic steam- The emphasis on speed was ruinously expensive, and the emphasis on quality of con-
ship service, to the amazement and envy of the United States. Several unsuccessful at- struction and luxury of accommodation excited only contempt in a practical
businessman like Vanderbilt (504). But Collins' extravagance, daring and suave per-
tempts were made to rival the British, until in 1846 Collins and his associates James
and Stewart Brown (Collins' second father-in- law) secured the fust U.S. mail con- sonal style captured the seas for the American Merchant Marine and set a standard of
excellence in service that Vanderbilt's rate-cutting and profiteering never even at-
tract. With the promise of $385,000 annually for 10 years, they organized the U.S.
Mail Steamship Company, commonly known as"the Collins Line," and built four ships tempted to challenge (85).
to Collins' designs--the Atlantic, the Baltic, the Pacific, and the Arctic. Built in Brown
and Bell's shipyards on the East River in New York City, these ships surpassed in Collins lived on for 20 years after the failure of his shipping line, turning his atten-
" any ship afloat (88, 89, 91, 169). Huge crowds came out to tion to coal and iron properties in Ohio. A woman who met Collins in Ohio when she
"size, speed and splendor
first American steamships ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean was a small child remembered 90 years later that "Mr. Collins was a proud walker.
see the launching of the
He was something more than ordinary" (493).
(�)
Collins,who became known as"the short man in the tall hat,"was a great showman. Joseph Scoville,biographer of early 19th-century New Yorkers,tells of meeting Col-
The rival Cunarders were plain and economical; Collins' ships were luxurious. They lins on Wall Street at this time, looking"rosy, hearty and not as care-worn as when he
had the biggest cabins, the grandest ballrooms, and all the latest gadgets, such as soda had those mighty American steamships resting on his single shoulders":
fountains and bells to summon the stewards. By 1850 they were in regular operation,
with average runs a full day shorter than the competing Cunarders. For this Collins "You are not living here now?"Scoville asked.
was rewarded with a Congressional subsidy of$858,000 yearly to carry the U.S. mail
i (85) "No," Collins replied. "Only occasionally I come here. I am off again tomorrow"
(87).
Collins was on top of the world. He began to make improvements in his country
estate, adding the ornate two-story front porch to Munro's Federal-style house and an Perhaps Collins was in semi-retirement at his Larchmont estate, although Scoville
enormous ballroom for the large parties he liked to give. (The ballroom was torn notes that he also had houses in New Orleans and St. Louis. In 1860 he commissoned
down in 1890.) Frederick Law Olmsted, famous for his recent design of Central Park, to survey the
Larchmont estate and lay it out in building lots. Some correspondence and an item-
The large Congressional subsidy aroused the interest of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who ized bill for this commission survive among the Olmsted Papers in the Library of Con-
in 1855 applied to Congress for a subsidy of his own. He offered to run a mail service gress (80). A large map found in the attic of Village Hall, dated 1862 and signed by
for only $15,000 the round- trip--less than half the subsidy Collins was receiving. The Archibald MacDonald,may be the map Olmsted's engineer drew.
New York Times reported that Collins hurried to Vanderbilt's office and urged him to
request the same subsidy he himself was getting,saying,"I can't make it pay as it is." That map was reproduced on the flyer advertising the auction of the estate on June
10, 1865.An advertisement on the same date in the New York Herald reads:
"Then you have got into a business that you don't understand," the Commodore
coldly replied(90). The residence of E.K. Collins will be sold by James W. Miller, auctioneer, on
the premises, Saturday, June 10, at 1 o'clock P.M. This valuable estate comprises
The Collins Line soon suffered a series of disasters. The Arctic sank of Cape Race 338 acres, is one hour front 27th Street by New Haven Railroad, distant two miles
in 1854 with more than 300 passengers aboard, including Collins' wife, Mary Ann from New Rochelle; a building is already erected for a station half a mile distant
1. Marcus Woodruff,a brother of Collins'wife, Mary Ann,acquired an interest in the Larchmont 2. The shipwrecks were probably caused by the attempt to run wooden ships at speeds wood could
Manor Company,and the Woodruff name appears in Larchmont land records into the early 20th not withstand. The future lay with iron steamships, and after the failure of the Collins line,
century. America lost her supremacy on the seas because she could not build iron ships as well as England
could.
58 59
I
Although no shred of evidence has yet appeared to support this enticing story, that
from the properly- On the premises is a spacious, superior built mansion house, does not necesarily prove the story false. The Underground Railroad was, after all,il-
with out buildings; also a well built, beautifully located double English cottage, legal, and harsh penalties were imposed on anyone discovered to be engaged in it.
coach house, etc. etc. Consequently, its operations were so secret that one "station master" typically did not
The land is high, undulating and extending nearly a mile into the Sound, with un- even know the name of the next one on the route. The only Larchmont resident
definitely known to have been an abolitionist was the outspoken James Mott of Re-
usual adaptability for building sites, most of which have water fronts, and all of volutionary times, and his grandson James and granddaughter-in- law Lucrecia Coffin
them in full view of the Sound and East river. Mott were involved in the Underground Railroad--but not in Larchmont(440).
For health, beauty of scenery, bathing fishing and yachting is rarely equalled; The Mott connection seems to be the most likely explanation of the origin of the
also valuable mineral deposits. Underground Railroad legend. As we have seen, a grandson of James Mott married
Lucretia Coffin, and the couple lived here briefly following their wedding. At some
The entire property is finely shaded, and the extensive lawns around the mansion later date, after Lucretia Coffin Mott had moved to Philadelphia and become famous
have arches and avenges of superb trees, native and imported, of half a century's for her abolitionist speeches and Underground Railroad activities in other parts of the
growth. 77tose wishing to locate a first class watering place will, on inspection,find a country, her residence here must have been recalled locally. As the story passed from
contbittatiott of advantages probably not to be found elsewhere in this country. Sale mouth to mouth during the ensuing generations, we may speculate, the sober truth--
positive and without reserve, rain or shine, in parcels to suit purchasers. For maps "Lucretia Mott, a famous participant in the Underground Railroad, lived in or near
and particulars apply to the auctioneers, 28 Pine Street, or to E. K Collins on the this house briefly in her early years"--lost all its specific details and came to settle as a
place, or address him, Larchmont, New Rochelle Post Office, N.Y. myth on an old house with a"mysterious" chest on its porch(441).
As it turned out, Collins retained 50 acres and the "double English cottage" (still Larchmont's participation in the Underground Railroad must remain, pending the
standing at 60 Beach Avenue),held in the name of his second wife,Sarah Jane Brown. discovery of sober evidence, in the province of folklore (442). The historical record is
This property was sold to Thomas Kane in 1876, and Collins then purchased a house only slightly less reticent on other goings-on here in the years surrounding the Civil
on Madison Avenue in New York City, where he lived until his death in 1878 (71, 86, War, which must largely be deduced from the general tenor of the times in
279)' Westchester--and in New York City,in whose wake we increasingly bobbed.
He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Brooklyn, now a borough of the City that he During the presidential campaign of 1860 feeling in solidly-Democratic Westches-
helped to make the world's greatest port. He lies in an unmarked grave, because for ter County ran high against Lincoln and his entire new party of"Black Republicans"
years after his death his sons and his second wife were so busy quarreling over his will and "Abolitionists," as the Republicans were derisively called. The major newspapers
that nobody remembered to order a headstone (71). Nor does Larchmont have a of the county--in White Plains, Peekskill and Yonkers--were exceptionally virulent in
memorial to the man who gave it its name; soon after the village was incorporated,the
their attacks, and many of the citizens of the county were committed to extreme States,
thoroughfare known as Collins Avenue was renamed Larchmont Avenue. Rights doctrines. The firing on Fort Sumter in 1861 aroused a tidal wave of unionist
sentiment that brought thousands of volunteers into the Union ranks, but two years
The Union is Tested: 1860-65 later, when the first draft was announced, the New York City Draft Riots quickly
spread through the county. Westchester historian Alvah French states that violence
The house that formed the centerpiece of the 50-acre plot Collins excluded from the was tempered in the county only"by the fact that the rioters did not get their courage
auction block in 1865 still stands at 60 Beach Avenue. It is the third oldest structure in
the village, and the object of a persistent myth that it was a stop on the Underground to the fighting point till it was too late to do anything" (281).
Railroad during and before the Civil War. The division of opinion in the county was, in large part,the continuation of a debate
On the side porch is a-chest built into the floor; open the chest and you discover a which had endured in various guises since Revolutionary days. This debate opposed
flight of stairs leading down to two doors. One door opens into the basement, the decentralizing tendencies to centralizing, "States' Rights" to "Federal Coercion." The
other into a small room dug out of the foundation under the porch. According to the county was torn by party divisions in which, French says, "the reproachful terms of
legend, fugitive slaves rowed across the Sound from Long Island at night and hid in the
Whig, Tory, Cowboy and Skinner were changed to Abolitionist Copperhead, Nigger-
secret room until the following night,when they were conducted through the woods to Worshipper, and Traitor. Families were divided, churches rent into factions," and ac-
a tunnel leading into the cellar of another house, up another set of secret stairs, rd tual fighting narrowly avoided.
out to a coach on the Post Road that would carry the runaways to safety in Canada.
The Eastern State Journal, the official county newspaper,expressed widespread pub-
lic opinion when it editorialized against abolition and called for the enforcement of the
1. Julie McGinley Hayden, who grew up in the house, made a delightful story out of this myth, Fugitive Slave Laws (May 17, 1861). This course was favored because it was believed
published in her book,The Lists of the Past. to be the best way to guarantee States' Rights and therefore to preserve the Union.
2. The second house on the fabled escape route is sometimes said to have been the Manor House,
sometimes the Vanderburgh homestead(439).
60 61
"The border Slave States might be conciliated, if a promise was given them that their of his friends. The Tautogs met there regularly until T.J.S. Flint acquired the Collins
slaves should be retained,"the Journal proclaimed. estate and invited the club to meet on the high ground at the southeast corner of what
is now Manor Park,at a spot they christened"Sylvan Grove."
After the first post-Sumter flush of enthusiasm, volunteers for the Union Army
were hard to obtain. Each New York township was instructed to provide a certain Thus began the last and best days of the jolly Tautogs. Once a month in good
number of warm bodies, and in order to comply it soon became necessary to offer weather,they invited their families and other guests to a"Combination Picnic Meeting"
bounties to enlistees. Bonds were floated for the purpose of raising these funds. At featuring croquet, dancing and singing in addition to blackfish chowder and roasted
the Mamaroneck town meeting of 1866, a resolution was adopted commending Town clams. They held an annual regat-
Supervisor Louis Walsh for having "saved to said Town a large amount of Money, by to each September 1, and once a
filling up the Quotia of soldiers due to the Government of the United States." (116). az year issued engraved invitations to
Yet, the Statement of Bonded Debt of the Town for 1875 inexplicably includes surprise costume parties by the
�.
$7,618.98 due on"Bounty Bonds Issued by the County Treasurer" (116, 117). light of lanterns strung in the trees
rctc tip along the shore. Thomas Palmer
The soldiers fielded by our township, by whatever means they were obtained, re- q always brought "the cow," five gal-
main anonymous. Edward Delancey stated in 1886 that he had sought the list of
Ym Y g ,. lois of his famous milk punch:
Mamaroneck men serving in the Union lines but discovered that it was not to be had good Guernsey milk, rum, sugar,
as the person charged with filing it in Albany had failed to do so. Since both volun- and a little brandy or whiskey.
teers and bounty soldiers enlisted all over the county and in New York City, and few
who enlisted were identified as residents of a specific town the task of identifying our 4 dw T ry Citi to *0 �
p � g r xtE..Vhlt m Sytft�«� ,_ An undated clipping in the
men in blue seems a hopeless one today(100). '-t of It `" :Mr ),
V,x. Howell Scrapbook opens a small
fsejn fli i ni.Enr ki - �
14w fut of 0M MWO s & window for us on those long-ago
A scrapbook kept by Miss Ella Howell of Weaver Street and now in the possession "',h die in 001ir ''
eh�ewaEbt;.g,owar ww wfati x#in3rx 'a` days:
of the Westchester Historical Society offers us a glimpse of one aspect of local life
during those years (84). Miss Howell was the niece of Thomas Palmer, a descendant
of our original settler and a wealthy candy- and tortoise-shell-comb manufacturer in The Tautog Chub of Mamaroneck and New Rochelle, consisting of 25 gentlemen
New York City. In the mid- 1800s he remodeled an old inn overlooking Weaver Street of high social position in the above-mentioned towns,famous before the war for its
into a 40-room mansion and there, in a 40-by-20-foot dining room and a drawing room aquatic and piscatorial excursions, acts festive, musical, and terpsichorean enter-
and ball room of equivalent proportions, entertained with elaborate dinner parties, tainments at the encampment on Flint's (formerly Collins') Point, Long Island
balls,and private theatricals. Sound, was broken up during the Rebellion in consequence of the different political
opinions expressed by the members. On Saturday last, however, there was a general
He was one of the founders, around 1850, of the Tautog Club,3 an association of gathering of the clans...the pipe of peace was smoked, the hatchet was buried, and
New York City businessmen who had country homes along the Sound Shore and the...punch...was again produced, and furnished a liberal supply of the favorite
devoted their leisure hours to fishing. Originally there were 25 members--"all the so- beverage to the Tau-Toggers, as in days gone by. It wase arranged to resume
cially prominent residents of Quaker Ridge, Weaver Street, Orienta Point, Prospect theirjollification for the benefit and enjoyment of the members and their respective
Point [Shore Acres] and, after 1870, Larchmont Manor," as Miss Howell recalled in families.
1941. Thaddeus Davids, the New Rochelle ink manufacturer who was a principal in Thomas Palmer died in 1886 but the club had declined before. His big house re-
the Chatsworth Land Company, was one of the founders; George Vanderburgh, who manned set back from Weaver Street across from the Weaver Street School
had purchased a chunk of James Roosevelt's property on the Middle Neck above the now re-
Post Road, was a prominent member, as was Edward Knight Collins and later, modeled into a stuccoed residence, at 94 Weaver Street), until the mid-20th century.
Thompson J.S. Flint. By then it was known as the Howell Mansion, having been inherited by his Howell re-
lations, who subdivided the rest of the property. Ella Howell was the last person to
The club met on Saturday afternoons, and after filling their hampers, they treated live in the house. It was torn down in 1941, and its five-acre gardens were added to the
their families to a picnic. The festivities were first held at various places around the real estate development now known as Howell Park, in the Town of Mamaroneck
Sound, even on Long Island, until Palmer bought the three little waterfront hills-- (468)•
Eagle, Prickly Pear, and Barker hommocks-- across the Post Road at the foot of
Weaver Street. He built a large pavilion on Barker Hommock for the entertainment
3. "Tautog"is an Indian name for blackfish.
62 63
VII. From Summer Resort to Suburbia: 1865-1891
Thompson J. S.Flint
In 1865, the Confederates surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Lincoln was
assassinated and, scarcely less important for Larchmont history, 288 acres of the old
it p [ Isaac] S.
for J.son
Collins estate was knocked down on the auction block to Thom
—
5j/
[for Snow] Flint (316). The property included "a spacious superior built mansion
house" (18 Elm--"the Manor House"), a bowling alley, coach house, stable, wash
�—' Gli`�� house, several barns, a farm house (possibly the Palmers' pioneer dwelling), machine
I�
shed,wheel shed,carpenter shop, dairy, pig pen, and boat house (318).
I
Born in Concord, Massachusetts, raised in Baldwin, Maine, and educated in New
a York City at his uncle's boarding school, The Washington Institute, Flint had a short
career as a teacher of mathematics before moving to Illinois to seek his fortune.
There he married Mary Elizabeth James, the daughter of a wealthy merchant of
Tremont. Moving to Chicago to take advantage of the business opportunities created
by the 1852 completion of the railroad from the East, he founded a firm that built the
c/
/V_`1g g first rain elevators in Chicago.
G.e-� r
His fortune was made, but when the Civil War broke out, he foresaw even greater
business opportunities in New York City and moved his family there in 1864. His first
C enterprise was a wholesale grocery business located at 31-33 Broadway,and he kept an
��/ g Y Y� P
office there until his death. The Flints also bought a town house on Madison Avenue
�., that was described at the time as"a palatial mansion." In 1870, he became president of
the Continental National Bank, an office he retained until retiring to Larchmont in
1873 (283).
W
< The Larchniont Mentor Company
a In preparation for retirement to the country, Flint formed the Larchmont Manor
Company to develop his holdings. On November 27, 1871, Flint executed an agree-
ment with Charles H. Murray, William L. Barker, Joanna Phalon, Samuel French,
and Silas C. Herring to sell "certain real estate," further described as 288 acres of
Peter Jay Munro's original holdings excluding the part retained by Edward Knight
* s Collins (the 50-acre parcel west of Beach Avenue later known as the Kane Pr
o ert
Y)
The sal price ce was $250 000
$50 000 down n h
P and the remainder plus 7% annual interest
9
�
�u SII z
to be paid within seven years.
e
a= a
1. Murray, a resident of Jersey City, was associated with New York City banking and the stock
k g, exchange(239); Barker was a retired butcher from a pioneer Mamaroneck family(327); Herring
was a safe manufacturer (327); Joanna Phalon was the wife of Edward, a haberdasher and
perfume manufacturer, and perhaps the daughter- in-law of James, a New York City Street
Commissioner and member of the Board of Commissioners of Central Park in 1856 (107).
Elizabeth James Flint (1818- Thompson J.S. Flint (1811- Nothing further has been found regarding French.
1887), wife of Thompson J.S. 1881), founder of the Larchmont
Flint. Manor Company.
1
64
65
F &burn• _ .y — �w
' is;�P-3"sY�� _ -- - _� --- •_ .i rFS.HaZalesLt
pend 50
The agreement contained a convenant to s $ 000 within
, one year on laying
out of lands and premises, construction of roads, walks and drives, planting of trees,
-
-7!L- ' -� } constructing ornamentalions [sic] and erection of houses and other buildings there-
on
h r
on...and such other matters...as shall...enhance the value of said lands." The deed also
�Ji
contained a convenant to retain"the main water front on the sound from 'Steep Rock'
to and including Horse shoe Harbor and the Cedar Grove adjoining to the extent of
s Yrs�s t r - not less than six acres to be laid out ornamented and kept as a public park for the use
of all who may own or occupy houses on said remises"(314).
til
/ The Larchmont Manor Company discarded Collins' subdivision plan and had one
drawn up that retained the old-fashioned grid for the inland lots but incorporated
alongthe waterfront the "picturesque"win p
ding lanes and ovals recently popularized by
Frederick Law Olmsted (Map 584). A map published b Beers in 1872--presumably
Y P Y
1'1r°rr"'� depicting what had thus far been accomplished in the way of development--shows one
street, Park Avenue, and in the form of dots, eight buildings along it, as well as a dot
on the site of the Manor House.
� \. �✓fir,-�' � '�\�� �. .` '` trl�iect,chc
On May 12, 1872, an announcement in the New York Times indicated that the devel-
opment company's intention was to provide suburban homes for "New York City
r = businessmen of moderate incomes--say from $2,500 to $5,000 a year" (3). The land
�E�4 was priced, except for waterfront property, at $3,000 an acre (15). As added induce-
'fJ ;�- ments, the Manor Company set aside several waterfront acres to be held in common
and constructed a horse trolley line from the New Haven stop at Chatsworth Station to
the shore (21, 2842 314). The initial offering included six "summer cottages and villas"
rn: �� •• ,`�! ;; R�"'1101
as well as sites for permanent homes.
�' �J c
3 • jig
��/� Izt� Ln•�l t Role
� � �` _` / j' y i i •� y !��'� ��'i Although Herring, French, Barker, and Joanna Phalon's husband, Edward, are
` 3 �, mentioned in this announcement as Flint's partners in the Manor Company, the 1871
.' vr«arr c
r 1 7 r ='• agreement was cancelled on May 14, 1872 (315f,-and all except the Phalons disappear
� �f"-�►iti� t from the record. Charles Murray, the sixth party to the original agreement, re- en-
;\ /f;� f' \. h f,•' t r -,` tered the enterprise in 1877 with a 10% interest (239). Marcus Woodruff, brother-in-
.___ik i * law of E.K. Collins was a silent partner whose involvement did not become public
1
knowledge until his heirs brought suit against the heirs of T.J.S. Flint in 1882 11, 12,
j 152 86, 87)? Thomas J. McCahill, counsel to Charles Dana of the New York Sun and
Beers 1867 Atlas. owner of the Second Avenue Elevated Rilroad and the Third Avenue Theatre, was
I t ,� ;,;ott, „•,,,c, the Manor Company's attorney(288,317).
%
_ s•f . ✓. ares � `=:�.:,
2. Others who are said to have had an interest in the Manor Company at one time or another are
r• '!lliiiy / • ` �� C�„,:: Isaac Mills,of whom nothing more is known,and the husband of Annie Richmond,who bought
F; • / •�° '• '� �`� y``�` one of the first Manor lots; after leaving Larchmont, the Richmonds founded the Froebel
Xr.
a .t•i Dr rb�rrq • N •, Academy in Brooklyn,which they believed to be the first kindergarten in America (450). Also
/ ,\ •fa mentioned are Jerome Stivers,a carriage manufacturer(2386)whose relatives George and Rufus
-�J.�� � �• L�`• ���- later appear in the membership rolls of the Larchmont Yacht Club and other local records;and
William Davidson,a New York City coal dealer(15, 107)whose daughter Miss Clara became a
resident of the Larchmont League of Women Voters and,by some accounts,a charter member
of the Larchmont Manor Park Society(380). Their participation in the Manor Company is not
�o •ct-” `-r�= �:�'/� _ proven by any records I have been able to find.
tK
3S'P '
3. McCahills wife, the novelist Annie L. Gregory, bought property on Circle Avenue in 1879"b
l Y
��S. 1891, the McCahills owned a half block bounded by Ocean,Linden,and Walnut avenues,and a
° �� ���u���=�
n �, t • - !
large house located at about 2315 Boston Post Road(317).
Carrs J. —� n' '-'� • ►
Beer's 18.72 Atlas. • :\: �i vu'" , r� 4 ` �= > �.:, '
66
67
i
' Larchmont Manor,the announcement in the Times continued,
is as quiet and secluded as if a hundred miles away, and is scarcely excelled,
either as regards local loveliness or the exquisite views which it commands, by any
u: spot between the Hudson and the St. Lawrence. The grounds have a waterfront of
probably a utile and a half in length, looking out upon the most beautiful portion of
Long Island Sound, and the greater part of this waterfront may be described as a
barrier of solid rock, wrought by the hand of nature into fairy capes and promon-
4 tones, the spaces between fomting picturesque coves and inlets, in some of which
there is at all times of the tide water enough to float a small steamer.
Horse Car No.One
A broad belt of open woodland runs along a considerable portion of the
bt the early 1870s, "a conveyance met the trains (a sleigh waterfront, the line of trees literally extending to the water's edge..Among the
in snowy weather) over which Owen [Sweeney]presided," notable objects one encounters in a stroll over the grounds are patriarchial oaks,
Eugene Richmond recalled. "He was a welcoming charac- elms and other forest trees, ranging from 12 to 25 feet in circumference. Few per-
ter, an Irishman of inexhaustible good humor and droll wit" sons in New York, wean
f cy, are aware that they are within 60 minutes, by rail, of
(450). Another local institution in human form was Cyrus such "tall timber."In fact, this superb spot, so near the commercial focus of a con-
John ohn Hicke
Harper, sono George Yanderbu h s coachman Thoma .
J ,
Y rP f B r8 tnnent, has hitherto been a terra incognita to none-tenths of our citizens. It is high i
Harper, who "established at the Larchmont station the first time to utilize its advantages.
Sweeney, on the other hand, stuck with hacking service, which was by horse- drawn surrey,"accord-
horses, and became the first driver for the ing to Phil Severin. Harper also drove a Rockaway Hach Among the first to be attracted by this advertorial was Frank Ellingwood Towle, a
Larchmont Horse Railway Company, which "a special type of carriage with curtains. This latter con- civil engineer and surveyor employed by the City of New York. The Towles, according
got underway in 1873 (452). The first horsecar veyance was used to carry the theatrical notables who sum- to a 1922 article in the New York Evening World, "took the train from the old New
bant was located at the comer latter
Larclt built t mered here."Harper later replaced his horse-drawn carriages Haven station near the resent site of Madison Square Garden after making arrange-
double-width to accommodate alum-around
and Cedar avenues; floe latter was built with a Palmer-Singer and a Pierce Arrow and was still meet- ments to have the train present
o in the stationless woods behind Larchmont Manor" (525).
irtg commuters at tloe station in 1949, at the age of 82 (451).
at its dead-end on Grove Avenue (453). The land was not precisely as advertised. Mrs. Towle, the Evening World reporter
records recalled that "the Manor was almost treeless in those days but for a grove of
George Towle recalled that "t were only about six cedars on the present Manor Park and a few lonely oaks and elms. The land between
houses in the village" at that timee,, and that the horsecar Beach and Circle avenues from Willow Avenue to the waterfront was a marsh. A
travelled to the station through a "vast expanse of farmland stream of water ran through this and rippled down the present route of Park Avenue
dotted with haycocks." His father Frank; he said, was the into the Sound near our bathing beach."
1 first contin uter, 'followed a week later by Leonard Smith"
(454). The prospect was pleasing enough,however, that the Towles decided to make a pur-
chase. Cottage #1 (on the site of 90 Park Avenue until it was demolished in 1929
The Horse Railways wooden rails, held together with having already been bought (by Isabel P. Smith, wife of Leonard, and shortly thereaf-
iron bars" (454), presented "a dangerous obstacle to car-
riages, the rails being three or four inches above the street . ter conveyed to vaudeville magnate Frederick Freeman Proctor), the Towles settled
level," and were replaced in 1891 with flat iron rails laid for Cottage #2, a little Carpenter Gothic affair still standing at 1 Helena Avenue and
RIF
now known as "the Gingerbread House." The
flush with the ground on patent chairs (455). g y moved in for the summer on July 8
(240).
MR
By that time,yet another human institution,John Hickey,
had conte "directly front his birthplace in County Limerick, By this time, Flint had become dissatisfied with the original subdivision map (pos-
Ireland,"to join his sister in Larchmont. He soon became sibly because of difficulties encountered inlayingout the streets over marsh and
the manager of the horsecar bam and often drove the cars, stream) and asked Towle to make a revision. Towle complied, and the result was the
along with Sweeney and William Brennan, and was assisted now legendary Map 610.
by conductor Charlie Lockwood. After the horsecars were
4. Towle's father, Jeremiah, also an engineer, had been employed by Frederick Law Olmsted in
replaced by electric trolleys in 1899, Hickey stayed on as gi ,
motomnan. He was also a prominent member of the Fire ' V laying out Central Park, and several times served as Park Commissioner (526). This, together
Department, and he was elected Village tax collector in 1905 with the Olmsted survey commissioned by Collins in 1862,may be the origin of the popular myth
and Town highway commissioner in 1907(453). Cy Harper in 1915.Photo by Phil Severin. that Olmsted himself designed Manor Park. The Towles' New York City home, which they
occupied for 70 years,is now the Abigail Adams Smith Museum at 421 E. 61st Street(526).
68
69
"The main waterfront shall be set apart, ornamented, and kept as a public park for the use of all parties
who may own or occupy houses in said lands" -- -- Covenant in Larchmont Manor Company Deeds.
dli4' pl I In a series of letters written in 1957, Eugene McJimsey
�I Richmond, bons in Larchmont Manor on February 12
r
1873, recorded his earliest memories:
The scenes of my early childhood[are]kept green in
my memory by the descriptions often repeated by my � I
v ¢ mother, who never ceased to hallow the place of her early
married life...My parents bought a little house at the tuns '' {
of the road, down by the park, early in 1872 and moved
in there pemtanently.I particularly remember a bronze
stag which stood in the park in those days, a very real
friend of my early years"(411).
�g
'^ The stag was stolen in 1960s and was later reported
seen on the grounds of a veterinarians office in Connec-
t clit.
onnec-ticlit. �
Stereopticon view c 1872. The first bathhouse,pictured here, was tont down by The park remained "in a very wild state" for
The first pagodas, erected by the Larchmont Manor Company in the 1870s, the spring of 1892. A new pavilion designed by local decades, the first efforts at pruning trees, trimming un-
had been so "destroyed and weakened by age and weather"by 1896 that the architect David Jardine was built for the 1892 season derbrush, mowing grass, and planting flower beds not
Larchmont Manor Park Society replaced them the following year with "Greek (435). being begun until 1893(436).
style summer houses...put up in a most substantial manner"under the supervi-
sion of architect Walter C. Hunting a member of the Society. "7
The lager"soon rotted, and were replaced by the Society in 1902 by "rustic
suntnier houses"with posts of undressed tree trunks. The existing summer
houses were built in 1933-34(434). H. v:
w � a
44
�p ff
kms$
,. I
q
' e
s „
—"'€�^ .��• fix°6 P
77te Treasurer's Report of the Manor Park Society
or 1899 includes expenses o
f f $35 p for 'building 77te old well near the beach was filled in and sealed
Umbrella in park," but the original Umbrella was put in the 1930s because "children threw things into it,pol-
The east pagoda,c. 1872. The west pagoda,c.1872. tip soinetinte prior to 1886. luting the water"(437).
70 71
I
E T The design of Larchmont Manor followed the suburban pattern that h
The Towle anvil enjoy a P at ad begun to
" family 1 Y develop outside London in the 18th century and was promulgated in 19th-centurys* ", refreshing saltwater breeze on America by Frederick Law Olmsted, with a tract of common ground (now Fountain
the front porch of their new Square) as its centerpiece (285). Geography dictated the other major element in the
t - summer cottage in 1872. basic design: a long,straight"prospect" (Prospect Avenue)was created from the Mun-
ro/Collins mansion down to the waterfront.A pre-existing wagon trail along the west-
,
ern boundary of the development, running from the Post Road down to the Sound and
® 4 roughly parallel to the new Prospect Avenue, was widened and straightened (Beach
` Avenue).
On the eastern boundary a newer road, laid out on the subdivision map Collins had
commissioned in 1862 (now Larchmont Avenue), was chosen as the route of the new
horse trolley that provided access to the railroad.3 Park Avenue, a meandering road
s cut along the shoreline, furnished thepseudo- natural "picturesque" design element
that had been introduced into English suburban planning in the early 19th century. A
crisscrossing grid of streets connected the three main thoroughfares, a concession to
rectilinarity that made it possible to carve the tract into rational and regular building
lots.
Following a tradition begun in Philadelphia and peculiarly appropriate for a devel-
The Gingerbread House,c.1872. opment named Larchmont (after the Collins estate), the cross streets were named for
trees. One of these, Cedar Avenue, was made double-width to accommodate the
horse trolley, which turned onto it off of Larchmont Avenue and reached its terminus
THE LAkCIiMCI,Y'rl .--T22 The cottagers kept their business "in the family." and turn-around where Cedar dead-ends on Grove.
_.""..........m..
AND MRS. .FRANK E TOWLE
Diagonally across the street from the Gingerbread House, another of the original
LIVE HERE 50 YEARS
—�-
cottages still stands, much remodeled, at 108 Park Avenue. Originally purchased by
_
Victoria Hallett (241), wife of realtor William Hallett, it was bought in 1894 by Kate
' 011 Claxton, a member of the Augustin Daly troupe and creator of the role of the blind
_ girl in The Two Orphans (immortalized on film by D.W. Griffeths as orphans of the
Storm). One of the most popular stage stars of her time, Claxton's real name was
Maude Cone(and later,Stevenson) ((241).
G>2
O R
/
CIT Sul 55+R�� The Mediterranean-style house at 60 Park Avenue is the much- remodeled remain-
25 der of another of the original cottages (242); this property was sold on October 19,
Maryland,, i �p 1872 to Kate Robinson of wife of
o n
said to
be a silverminer (392). It
,,> o1lrsYr ��r later became the residence of Dr. Edward Bliss Foote, a heavy investor in Larchmont
real estate and a colorful character whose least distinction was that of being the
grandfather of Irene Castle. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1829, Dr. Foote had a long
x�ei4"
.' 6 y31
T '. rr ���r and successful career as a printer, compositor, and newspaper editor before beginning
> . � the study
of medicine.
F
a�r> 5. Once property lines are traced in a deed,they tend to remain on the landscape.The wagon trail
that became Beach Avenue (known in the 90s as Lovers' Lane [457]) developed along the
"«.. boundary between Sylvanus and Solomon Palmer's parcels, and the road along the eastern
boundary of the Manor was laid out along the boundary also drawn in 1716 between the lands of
Solomon and Nehemiah Palmer.
72 73
i
r..,r
ell V,
0
n.
The James Lewis Cottage
at 18 Beach"Avenue, as ,✓�""�� ° ""`
;.� illustrated in Munsey's
k .7
Magazine, 1892
/ re)X
a
6
k
_ 3 ,
/p ,li lllilllllllllllll I —IIiA IIIA — 1 I ' = a. �� '
// /.� � ��� s ��., c•: Ra.:i: �_.....,... i� �„�.e3.... �'•..,x,• .� ��r --- .dr
— — . — — JAMES—
_ LEVE IS '�� �a� �.,� �•
f i.V k
As built, the Kate Claxton r s X
cottage at 108 Park '
Avenue resembled the
- - Gingerbread4House. This 4
a
1872 photo was taken
v r from the east side.
The Burroughs Cottage,situated at 2 Park
Avenue, is said to be the next structure to go
up after the Manor Company's six cottages. It
was built for Claude D. Burroughs, who lost
his life in the great Brooklyn Theatre fire of
m
` 1876 during a performance of The Two Or-
phans with Kate Claxton. Claxton survived the
fire with only minor injuries, but it nearly
destroyed her career nonetheless: a few weeks
later, the hotel in which she was staying
burned to the ground, causing superstitious ac-
tors to refuse to appear with her, and theater-
goers to cease attending her performances
DATE CLAXTONT (542). The roof and second story of Bur-
roughs'house were destroyed by fire some 30
Who made a tremendous hit as the years after his death and rebuilt in a different
blind girl in "The Two Orphans" style (10, 507).
74 75
i
i
i
Graduating from Pennsylvania Medical University in 1860, Dr. Foote moved to the Kate Claxton vehicle, The Two Orphans. Following his death, his parents installed
New York and developed a practice described by his biographer as "world-wide and a hot-water heating system in the house and lived there year-round until the mid-1890s
lucrative." Combining his two vocations, he published many books, periodicals, and (507).
monographs for a popular audience: Medical Common Sense, Plain Home Talk, a
The Stick-Style cottage at 9 Circle Avenue wash
r
u c ased from the Larchmont
five-volume Science in Story, and Dr. Foote's Health Monthly, among others. He Manor Company in 1883 by Mary E. (Minnie) Woodruff' daughter of Marcus Wood-
delivered before the Medical Congress Auxiliary of the World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago in 1893 an address that provoked much discussion in the rens. Entitled ruff(508). As a silent partner in the Manor Company, Woodruff acquired interests in
g p p a great number of Manor properties. In the late '70s and early'80s, the Manor Com-
"Cause of Disease, Insanity, and Death," its leading idea was that the brains of pany erected several cottages for summer rental, and because this house seems to ap-
"criminals, idiots, and imbeciles" could be much improved by reconstruction"under the pear on Bromley's 1881 map,it may be one of them. By the time she sold the house to
manipulations of skillful surgeons." Margaret Unitt in 1898, Minnie had become Madame Marie Loge of Paris, France.
He had two sons,both doctors: Dr. Hubert Foote of New Rochelle, father of Irene
Mrs. Unitt was the wife of Edward Unitt,a leading stage designer of the time(499).
l
Foote Castle, and Dr. Edward Bond Foote, with whom he is often confused. The
"Little by little, wrote Russell Stockton in the August 1892 issue of Munsey's
junior Dr. E. B. Foote was a prominent member of the International Congress of magazine, came "a colony of the dramatic profession, which soon made the place un-
Free-Thinkers, and throughout the Nineties father or son was a frequent candidate for ique. In those days its great attraction for the vehicles of neighboring visitors was the
public office on the Populist ticket--a party of farmers, laborers, and others hostile to hoped for sight of footlight heroes and heroines, 'heavies' and 'soubrettes,' enjoying
concentrated wealth whose opponents pictured them as bloodthirsty anarchists. Fol- their otium sine dignitate." As owners like Elizabeth O'Connor, Susan Caffey, and
lowing in his father's versatile footsteps, he not only practiced medicine, wrote essays Harriet Mitchell quietly (and in defiance of deed convenants) opened their homes to
on medicine and hygiene, and managed a health journal,but also invented the polyop- summer boarders, "some of the lesser and more vivacious lights of the profession
t ticon, an improvement on the magic lantern in that it did not require the use of glass began to make Larchmont's theatrical character more pronounced...and converted it
slides(319). into a very merry place indeed, incidentally presenting from year to year the character
' of an exciting matrimonial kaleidoscope,"writes Stockton.
Although the Panics of 1873 and 1879'retarded development,the Larchmont Manor
Company engaged in 43 transactions before the decade expired. Many of the buyers "As this sort of thing bid fair to defeat the ends of profit," Stockton continues, "the
were, like Towle,"New York-City businessmen of moderate incomes"--architect David [Larchmont Manor] company adopted measures which finally depopulated dramatic
Jardine and builaer Hartley Haigh, for example (243)--but many more, like Proctor Larchmont and made it what it is today [1892], a delighful residence place for people
and Claxton, were "in the business." Elizabeth O'Connor purchased property at 78 of good standing."(286).
Park Avenue in 1876 and opened a summer boarding house frequented by Thespians
(10). Two prominent members of Augustin Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre Company What those measures were Stockton does not,alas,reveal.
joined their colleague Kate Claxton in the Manor in 1874--James Lewis [Deming] and
Claude D.Burroughs.
Together with John Drew,Mrs. George H.Gilbert, and Ada Rehan,Lewis was one Larchmont Yacht Club
of the "Big Four" of Daly's stock company. His mansard-roofed, Second Empire cot-
tage still stands at 18 Beach Avenue (418). In later years it became known as the On the basis of evidence available, what made Larchmont what it was in the Gay
Mayhew Bronson house, although it was owned by his sister, Edith St. Clair Payson, Nineties was the establishment in the Elegant Eighties of the Larchmont Yacht Club.
and her husband, Horace, a varnish manufacturer (429). A lifelong bachelor and a There are many versions of the club's inception; T.J.S. Flint's son, Frederick, figures
man of independent means, Bronson was a Larchmont benefactor most visible as a in all, as does a little building on the present site of the Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club.
volunteer fireman.
The earliest version found in print was already"traditional"when it was published in
Burroughs, a promising younger member of Daly's company, built the house at 2 The Illustrated American on August 1, 1891:
Park Avenue (much remodeled after an early 20th- century fire[10]). He was killed in
1876 in the disastrous fire that swept the Brooklyn Theatre, while playing "Picard" in There is a tradition that the Larchmont Yacht Club owes its origin to the fact that
on one muggy Sunday moming in June, 1880, some half dozen young men of
Larchmont Manor disturbed a religious service which was being held in a boat-
house. These young men had grown hot and tired, drying sails and making things
ship-shape on the small yachts they owned. They repaired to the beach with the in-
6. The dwellings on the other two parcels sold in 1872--corresponding to 40 and 84-88 Park tention of taking a bath, and afterward indulging in a quiet sleep in a boat-house
Avenue--have long since vanished. The former was sold tc Jerome Stivers (505) and later built by the Larchmont Manor Company for the use of the inhabitants of the place.
became the site of the Royal Victoria Hotel;the latter was purchased by George W. Wurde and
soon acquired by Frederick Proctor(506).
r
i
7
77
i
76
I
But they had calculated without their host. Some ladies of the Manor were hold-
ing divine services there, and the six young men were driven ignominiously from the
" � r
place...77iey retired to a rock near by and discussed the situation. The discussion
ended in their deciding to form a club, and Mr. Fred W. Flint, whose father was
president of the Larchmont Manor Company, was elected a committee of one to
secure the paternal consent to grant the new club the lease of the aforementioned
boat-house. That very aftemoon the lease was procured for the rental of one dollar
per annum (321).
I
The tradition had evolved considerably when Russell Stockton published it in Mun-
sey's magazine only one year later:
_ If tradition be reliable, this [the little building on Horseshoe Harbor] was the
original bathing pavilion for ladies, in front of which were anchored, one blistering
Sunday morning, two or three small yachts owned by young men, residents of the
A neighborhood, who were in the habit of using the Horseshoe as a convenient an-
chorage.
The story goes that owners and guests were scrubbing up decks and cleaning away
5 F.
the debris of the ovemight frolic, but as seams began to sizzle, the workers became
disgusted, and they finally retired to the shore rocks to rest and rail at the existing
order of things. One of them--Mr. W.S. Alley, it is said--suddenly snatched a glow-
•- ing idea from the burning situation. "Why not start a club? And that will be our
clubhouse,"he said,pointing to the pavilion, before which some of the Larchmont
ladies were then disporting in the water, with a palpable enjoyment particularly tan-
Annual clambake of the Larchmont Yacht Club,October 4,1890. talizing to these watchers.
It was late in June, 1880, when this plot was hatched. The citadel of the Naiads
was immediately captured, at an annual rental of one dollar. An organization was
planned on the most modest scale. Probably its most enticing feature was the
desirable luxury of a cool lounge from which to view the hired man perfomting the
same labors from whose discomfort the inspiration had sprung. Within 24 hours 50
applications for membership had been received;in one week the club was the social
feature of Larchmont and its neighborhood, and in 10 days'time the residents of the
vicinity were following the first exciti, g regatta of the Larchmont Yacht Club,for a
Pennant offered by Mr. Alley,
(
320 .
The popularity of the club gained momentum. In 1881 it moved to a larger building,
a house belonging to Charles D. Shepard in Fleming Park (bounded by Larchmont
Harbor and by Bay, Ocean and Walnut avenues), and in 1883 to nearby Shepard's
Point (later the site of the Hoboken Turtle Club and now 1-15-25 Park Avenue).
From there the club members cast envious eyes on a waterfront villa erected about
1884 on an 11-acre estate by railroad executive Benjamin Carver and his wife,Sallie(9,
15, 132). The Carvers, "not wishing that [the club members] should continue breaking
the Tenth Commandment, eventually let them have it"--for the sum of $100,000, in
1887. An additional $30,000 was promptly spent on alterations, and there the club has
remained ever since(321).
7. William Alley was a stockbroker with a summer home on Beach Avenue.
! I
An early view of the Larchmont Yacht Club headquarters on Larchmont Harbor.
78 79
I
p
I
e
"These jolly sea-dogs have the jolliest sort of a time on the wide veranda facing the
Sound, in the spacious dining room, in the tennis court, the billiard room, the library,
and the comfortable sleeping rooms that are provided for their comfort," a New York
City newspaper reported in 1889. "There are 217 boats in the Larchmont Club fleet
c and so far has it outgrown itself that a junior club has been formed this year for the
mosquito fleet, which has its headquarters in what is known as the Horseshoe, where
the parent club was first started and where the bathing beach is. It is an ideal country
s club and the members are ideally good fellows"(354). f
Many of those who built homes in Larchmont during the 1880s were members of
as the Larchmont Yacht Club. At least 10 of the 78 members of the first 1880-81
season
aso
owned Larchmont property, and more bought subsequently(353). But by the time the
club moved to the Carver estate, it had acquired fame and status all along the East
Coast. Although the members of truly awesome means both lived and summered
elsewhere--Caldwell Colt of Colt Firearms; H.M. Flagler, builder of the Florida East
Coast Railway; C. Oliver Iselin of America's Cup fame; and, in the Nineties, August
OORGANIZED
Belmont, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and William K. Vanderbilt (9)--the
° Larchmont Yacht Club conferred upon Flint's house lots the aura of wealth and
privilege he had aimed for, and missed, when he added "Manor" to his land develop-
ment company's name.
I
4RN{int l 7`tf V3'C RT *t.?t 37{f 11t1RCPStdt. ( h3, RRf 3k ;t: .€t,
Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club
111?90w_
F7C@fgP 4Ei
p ® The Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club--originally the Horseshoe Harbor Club plain
and simple--fell heir to the little building on the Harbor that had been the Larchmont
Yacht Club's first home. "Late in 1888," Club historian C.H. Vanderlaen writes, "a r
fine bunch of young fellows got together and discussed the possibility of taking over ;
de
A careful check-up the facilities left b the Larchmont Yacht Club and organizing a new club in the
shows the year 1889 [as Y g g
G,. natural beautiful setting The settled on a plan to hold a series of entertainments
t r g Y
,•. - ' - ' the year of organization)to
/' .'• during the winter...to raise sufficient money to defray the costs of organization. In the
be correct. Because it was spring of 1889, June 8 to be exact, they met, checked their assets (which seemed
erroneously announced
ample),adopted by-laws and organized the club" (376).
!` that 1938 was the Golden
(50th) Anniversary of the i
Incorporated on August 21 of the following year by Charles A. Singer John R.
Club and because of Hull, George A. Murray, William Haigh and Geor e W. Plum, the club then as now I
i elaborate plans and much prided itself on being a "working" yacht club (323). "The purpose of the Horseshoe
expense to celebrate '38 as j
i Harbor Club is and always will be to foster and encourage the art of racing, sailing,
- — - the anniversary, the cut of and cruising,in the broadest sense of the term,"Murray proclaimed(377).
I III Ili / the seal was changed to
suit the error--Charles
Van en, Horseshoe
= Harbor Yacht Chub His-
r __ ,4 — _ _ - jf torian. 8. Singer was a partner,with Henry W. Palmer,in the Palmer-Singer Auto Company;he was also a
0
partner in the Larchmont Manor Horse Railway and later in the New York&Stamford Electric
—- -7-
Railway 378 Several Hulls appear in early Larchmont records,but no John R.;possibly this is
a misprint for John R Hall,who was vice president and treasurer of the Linen Thread Company
of New York City and a village trustee 1903- 05 (500). George Murray was a grandson of
Workshop, boat house, bathing pavilion, community center, house of worship, and first Charles, who succeeded T.J.S. Flint as president of the Manor Company. No information on
home to both the Larchmont and the Horseshoe Harbor yacht clubs, this little building Plum has come to light.For Haigh,see page 82. j
was never idle,from the day of its erection by Edward Knight Collins to its destruction by
fire in 1916 The existing club house of the Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club is built on its
foundations. Illustration from Munsey's Magazine, 1892.
81
80
5 View on Park Avenue, Larchmont, N. Y ' ' '" 'r•
This 1870s photo is identified as
"Stivers Garden, bordering on
Larchmont Harbor at Park Avenue --
. " approximately 15 Park Avenue today.
George E. Stivers, a founding mem-
ber of the Larchmont Yacht Club, was
a carriage manufacturer and "leading
•'` " vts Mason"(238b). The property was oc-
cupied by the Hoboken Turtle Club in
" 1891 and later by the Bemis fancily.
y 1ad
a
A In 1872 Joanna and Edward Phalon bought from
the Larchmont Manor Company the waterfront x' =
property that became known as Shepards Point
under the ownership of Charles D. Shepard(432). 4
., Serving as the site of the Larchmont Yacht Club
front 1883 to 1887 and as the home of the a
Hoboken Turtle Club 1890-91, the property was ;
sold in the mid-1890s to Williant Bishop Manny,
who erected the house now standing and christened
it"Port Content." Phalon was a haberdasher and
perfume manufacturer who, like Stivers, is said to
have had an impressive flower garden (433).
_ Photo front Town and Country magazine,
November 8, 1902.
Hartley Haigh, a New York City housebuilder friends. His old-fashioned ideas were wholesome
(458), bought the 6 Helena Avenue site in 1873 and his dislike of modern pretense uplifting...He
and built this house soon afterwards. It remained lived to a fidlness of years and will be remem- This drawing of Fleming Point appears to have been
the summer home of the Haigh family for over 50 tiered for his record of years well spent (461). flopped to meet the typographers needs when it was _
printed in 1892 in Munsey's Magazine. Francis C.
years.
Fleming a founding member and first commodore of
A bachelor, William left the bulk of his$1.2 mil-
the L r 1 n
Hartley's son William, who was bom in Englarfd, he act tont Yacht Club, bought the property in e
lion estate to his sister, Mrs. Charlotte Van 1877 from Catherine Elliott, who had erected a house `.
was a founder of the Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Dusen, and to his niece Maude Hazel Cochran, ti• i �'
�l► . �,
Club, number 6 on the membership rolls of the on the site of 1 Bay Avenue described at the time as a
whom "he regarded as his daughter because she mansion (413, 431). `•
Larchmont Yacht Club, and a volunteer fireman. had been in his household since 1891"(460).
For 35 years he served as superintendent of con-
struction for the Equitable Life Assurance ' Z r
Society, "having learned the business front the The house next door(2 Helena site) was the sum-
ground up after taking his father's advice and mer home of Congressman and Mrs. Abraham
} —
beginning as a bricklayer to master his trade" Dowdney. Dowdney, who died in 1886 at the age 1• � ,
(459). of 46, was born in Ireland, came to New York at "
the age of 13, "learned the plumbing trade, and by
William was eulogized by the editor of the reaching his 20th year he was in business for hint-
Larchmont Times as "a gentleman of the old self. When the Civil War began, he organized a
school, staunch and dependable.His type we too company of the 13th Regiment and served as its
seldom find about us in these modem days--his captain. Following the war, he married Lillian =
traits have ceased to be common traits and the Crimmins, sister of New York Park Commissioner
more's the pity. Naturally of a retiring nature, Mr. John D. Crimmins, "undertook large contracts,
„ FLE:�IIYG POINT, AND A FORMER HOME OF THE LARCHMONT YACHT CLUB.
Haigh was a friend, warm and sincere, to all those invested in real estate, and became wealthy. He
who were privileged to be counted among his was elected to Congress in 1884(462).
82 83
S.
VD
_AC. t,-; ;• • A_"N,;�h�
The 51 members of the charter season grew to 176 by 1893, and they had company
y o . in Horseshoe Harbor--not only the Larchmont Yacht Club's mosquito fleet,but also"a
I�E man namedan Tassel[who used] the lower portion of the Club as a boat storage and
repair shop,"y and ''the residents of the Manor again used the premises for meetings,
r , pool playing, card games, and for stowing their rowboats, etc." (376). In addition,
there was a public dock off the rocks at the eastern side of the cove operated by Ca
�Sr pew �,h o:.f W Ns 2 N�'•� tain M.D. McElhose, "who used this as a semi- public lynding place for row boats,
which he rented by the day,and other boat services" (381).
Unlike the Larchmont Yacht Club, which from its inception offered its members
�` �^ • lodging, food and drink, and such winter sports as pigeon-shooting (321), the Horse-
shoe
orse-
s oe or Club battened its hatches when warm weather fled. Annual meetings
were held in March"somewhere in New York, convenient to the majority,"as"most of
}1, 1 /' the club's members are only wedded to Larchmont during the summer season and
N generally go below to New York when wintry breezes blow, and seek the seclusion of
their city cabins"(322).
N • ,A:•r�i�: 1 ,,
Z
7'.
Hoboken Turtle Club
The informally organized Ancient Order of Tautogs, the first social club in the area,
S' had declined into oblivion by 1886, the date of the death of its founder, Thomas Pa-
_�`� lmer. Possibly the club and its annual September 1 regatta were absorbed into the
fledgling Larchmont Yacht Club. The Hoboken Turtle Club arrived on our shores in
Ho 1890 and took up the Shepard's Point property where the Larchmont Yacht Club had
briefly made its home.
s T.
The Hoboken Turtle Club was originally an organization of wealthy and socially
1 l�r,�� t. � prominent men who met twice a year for the purpose of feasting on turtle soup and
steaks. Founded in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1796, it is mentioned by Sidney
Pomerantz in his study ofp ost-Revolution New York City as an example of"those con-
vivial groups prominent after the Revolution," one of "those essentially social and
fraternal organizations whose doings lent glamour to the lighter side of post-war
��`�, l Il ;�0� Y{► .� Il '. �i - ;`
living...Small in numbers, these select societies attracted jovial spirits intent on good
�•� eating, drinking, and conversation" (254). George Washington is said to have been a
W"NT:-_�� �� �'i charter member, and Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton to have fought their
_ � .r t famous duel after attending a club outing in the Elysian Fields in Hoboken(245).
( X(y �y �� �l
j'•L-1� ,,;fib '. i The Turtles--whose motto was "As we journey through life let us live a little b the
- � J Y g , Y
-�
~. I 1 _ %i % way"--met at various locations in New Jersey,New York City,and Riverdale until 1889,
/_ ,; �y — . ( /�r �� when some of the members proposed forming a corporation, acquiring property, and
•I • i 9. "When I was a small child,"Hartley Haigh's granddaughter Maude Cochran wrote in 1949,"there
—7 I = '• used to be a small house in the ark, near the well, and in front of the Andresen residence
� _ iP ,
I, -
_ ^\ * Q occupied by Charles Van Tassel's parents and their family"(430).
10. The Larchmont Manor Park Society,which acquired control of the Manor Company's common
Bromley's 1881 Atlas. The streets around Fountain Square were later laid out dif- lands in 1892, dutifully collected $1 per year from McElhose for these privileges through 1912
ferently, and Maple Avenue, which now runs along the southern side of the Square, ap- (412).
pears on this map parallel to Beach Avenue.
84 85
putting up a club house. One of the members,Charles D.Shepard,happened to have Organized Religion and Houses of Worship
a large tract of fallow land on his hands--the property ecently vacated by the
Larchmont Yacht Club--and he sold it in 1890 to his fellow Turtles for$100,000(246). "Wild and gay were the young clubmen; their melodies flooded the midnight air;
their genial and generous thirst set the staider and older cottagers to thinking, and so
Shepard, according to his 1894 New York Times obituary, "had many friends in
they founded as an ameliorative the pretty little chapel in the centre of the property,"
sporting and political circles." In early life, the Times reported, Shepard was an actor, the Paragraph recalled in 1892(382).
and his wife, from whom he was estranged at the time of his death,was a daughter of
the once famous actress Amelia Maddern. In later years, he was the proprietor of the The reference is to All Saints Chapel, erected b the Manor anor
P y Company m 1882 on
White Elephant Billiard Hall at Broadway and 31st Street, a place where between the Linden Avenue at the corner of Prospect as a setting for the union services displaced
acts, men who had stepped out 'to see a friend' discussed the drama at Daly's" (247). from Horseshoe Harbor by the Larchmont Yacht Club. "The resident Episcopalians
He left an estate valued at nearly $400,000, some $200,000 of it in Larchmont real made themselves responsible for the services, and it was handed over to them," the
estate (old maps show property near the railroad tracts, along Shepard Place, and Paragraph explains. "It was found that the summer residents, like Dr. Brown's dear
Shepard's Fields,now the site of the Mamaroneck High School) (247). little Marjorie at the seaside, had no objection to become temporarily Pisklepans, and
indeed a sturdy Presbyterian, the late D[avid]J.Jardine, became practically the senior
The Turtle Club opened in Larchmont on July 8, 1890, and remained on its four-
warden, vestry and treasurer of the chapel" (382). Jardine, an architect who designed
acre site, "with three separate buildings, handsomely furnished, and a large pavilion," the Mamaroneck Free and High School in 1888 (now the Town Center), was one of
for scarcely a season (248). "After a year of squabbling by the officers and members, the first trustees,along with Marcus P.Woodruff(383).
the club went to the wall and many suits followed," the New York World reported
(249). Most of the members withdrew,including Shepard(the first vice president) and The official Church history confirms the ecumenical character of the congregation:
another Larchmont resigTnt, treasurer Charles Wager Hull, superintendent of the "Although the minister was always an Episcopalian, people of all denominations
American Institute(250). belonged to and supported it...a community Church...is what St. John's Church has
been all through its history"(395).
"Technically the church was a chapel-of-
ease to St. Thomas in Mamaroneck, but
— _- _ _ practically it has been independent, the
_ -
vestry making his own arrangement every
summer with a clergyman to conduct the
services. The church has never wanted
generous support...the seats at the Sunday
services are always full, many of the
yachtsmen attending with their ilies,"
the Paragraph observed (382, 383). A his-
>
`. t1a. tory of St. John'sP ublished in 1944 calls
the Larchmont Yacht Club "a younger
�i brother with a somewhat different charac- j
----_
ter," adding that "the close kinship of the
two has been recognized through the years,"
with the Rector always serving as Yacht
Opening Day of the Hoboken Turtle Club's New Club House Larchmont N.Y. This Club Chaplain and standing in the Club's
> > All Saints Chapel Year Book "among the honorary members
July 8, 1890, clipping from an unidentified newspaper pictures (left to right) Charles D.
Shepard, 2nd vice president;C.G. West, secretary;J.R.Fay,president;Alonzo T. Decker, in exalted company" (395).
treasurer;and C.W.Decker,first vice-president.John J. Tarbell was the cook. "Hardly had the first Church been completed before it became too small and plans
took shape to build a larger and more dignified one," the Church historian relates.
11. The property went into receivership, and Mrs. May Charman--"a very attractive widow," "The little group of women who had mothered the Church since its birth in the Horse-
according to the New York Herald,who later became Mrs. William Wilcox—rented the premises shoe Harbor Club and who were now supporting the little Church on the square,
from the receivers(251). Seventy-five of the old members reorganized in November of 1892 as added new members and redoubled their efforts. Through lawn parties and fairs they
the New York Turtle Club, "none of the old members who was in any way connected with the started a building fund" (395, 456). Charles H. Murray, president of the Larchmont
downfall of the old club"being allowed to join the new one (252). The New York Turtle Club
was still flourishing, with a membership "made up largely of West Side hotel proprietors and 1. "A few years ago a pretty little Episcopal Chapel was erected and called'All Saints,'"a New York
brewers,"on August 8,1935,when it held its 140th annual meeting at the Hollings Hotel in New City newspaper observed in 1889. "This is open during the summer months only,and the present
York City(253). incumbent is the Rev.Mr. Freeman,an enthusiastic young clergyman who has made himself very
popular with the residents of this pleasant colony"(396).
86 j 87
i
The history of organized wor-
ship in Larchmont began in x
1704 with the officially sanc-
tioned Quaker meetings held in 'a. Manor Company, was an especially heavy contributo (395, 456). The congregation
became St. John's Incorporated Parish in 1891 394
the Palmers farmhouse. 771e �' ; , � P ( ).
first house of worship was the
Quaker Meeting House built in "The spiritual needs of the few Catholics who lived in the vicinity were the charge of
1739 beside the Quaker Burial " " the priests at Blessed Sacrament parish in New Rochelle and at Holy Trinity in
Ground. Three decades later, Mamaroneck," the St. Augustine's Church historian writes (390). Sometime prior to
the center of Quaker population 1891, the Rev. Edmund Power, an assistant at Blessed Sacrament, began saying Mass
had moved u Weaver Street,
� in Village Hall in order to spare the communicants a long buggy ride (384). The
an l 'i
d the meeting house followed, ., � Larchmont Manor Company offered to donate a site for a church "whenever any
being dismantled in 1768 and Catholic congregation was properly organized to accept it,"and when the Manor Com-
moved to a site near Quaker
1 pany announced its intention to dissolve in 1891 and distribute its remaining lots
Ridge Road. Some remnant of ) ) among its stockholders,an effort was mounted to meet the terms of the offer (390).
the original structure, perhaps, A
' remained when the meeting "A Catholic lady,Mrs. Oliver Adams,3 in association with Mrs. Frederick W. Flint
,. M
house on that site was moved
[daughter-in-law of T.J.S. Flint] and other interested Catholic people...set to work
onto property on the W/utg raisin funds for the erection of a church as soon as possible" 390 The Catholic resi-
t. P Plains Post Road now belonging raising P ( )•
to the Scarsdale Historical dents, "few in numbers but unlimited in courage and devotion" (397), were largely
Society. St.Augustine's Rectory(left) and Church (right),1909. aided by non-Catholics(390,398,397).
Replacing the Quakers as the dominant denontina- When the remaining property of the Manor Company was divided by lot among its
tion were the Episcopalians. Peter Jay Munro founded members, Julia Southack (wife of J.W. Southack and daughter of Marcus Woodruff)
St. Thomas Parish in 1814, and in 1823 contributed drew the plot desired for the church. "The other members of the Manor Company
heavily to its first house Of worship, built on the pre- generously contributed to a fund which partly compensated Mrs. Southack for giving
sent site ec . Thomas Church in the Village re u her luck drawing of the desirable lot and she conveyed it to Mr. Frederick Flint,
Mamaroneck. It is said that Episcopal services were �l P Y g plot, Y
who held title until the church was incorporated when he conveyed it to the church for
church. Although it is sometimes said that Episcopal
the
held in the Manor House prior t0 the erection the nominal consideration of one dollar. Thus the members of the original Manor
services were held in the Manor House during Collins' Company, only one or two of whom were Catholics, made good their original offer,
ownership as well, evidence is lacking. and enabled their Catholic fellow-townsmen to erect their own place of worship" (397).
Eugene Richmond who was bom in one of the "Most of the funds for the construction of this little church were raised by members
Larchmont Manor Company's cottages in 1873, re- of the Episcopal congregation; fairs and benefits were held which were patronized
called that "there was no local church in the Manor. most enthusiastically by those of protestant faith" (398). "Mr. Flint, Mr. Adams who
My father, with the help of my mother's sister, held a served as treasurer of the building fund, Mr. E.H. Kendall who donated his services
simple service, reading the Scriptures in between as architect, and a number of generous contributors of money for the project were
hymns. My father was a business man and com- none of them Catholics" (390). On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the found-
muted to New York;he was not a clergyman. My par- ing of St.Augustine's, the Larchmonter-Times noted that "the list of donors carried the
ents were members of the First Presbyterian Church names of almost all the early residents of the Manor" and published the names of 19
on Fifth Avenue in New York. 77te towns on either
side of Larchmont were too distant to attend Sunday 2. The little Victorian chapel was moved to the corner of Grove and Maple avenues in 1893 and
services, so they gathered together the Murrays and a demolished in 1895. On the site the parish wanted for its new church, on the west side of
few others for this simple program (465). Fountain Square,stood a year-round residence built in 1891 for a parishioner,Edwin W.Morse.
Morse obligingly moved the house to the corner of Linden and Prospect--the original site of All
This implies that the services organized by Mr. Rich- Dr. Richard Cobden.
mond were held in his home. Other sources indicate Saints Chapel—and sold it to H. A.Van Liew in 1893(466).St. John's Church was built 1894-5;
that soon after the Manor Company's cottages were the first service was held June 2,1895,the Rev.F.Southgate Hipkins officiating(394,395).
sold, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Sibell, the parents of period it appears that the Presbyterians were the
Mrs. Frank Towle, organized a Sunday School in the largest--or at least, the most devout--segment of the 3. Mrs. Adams' given name was Augustine. Her husband was "a representative of an English
little boathouse on Horseshoe Harbor 'for the five population, although Protestants of all denominations syndicate for placing money in this country,principally in car trusts,"and a charter member of
children then living in the Manor"(464). Lt 1875, the participated in the "union"order of worship. the Larchmont Yacht Club(467). Their home remains at 15 Woodbine Avenue.
cottagers began holding summer services in that build-
ing led by a Presbyterian: minister, Charles A. Briggs. By 1882, when the Manor Company perceived that
"Mr. [James] Myers, who owned the farm where the population had grown large enough to merit the
Larchmont Park[Pinebrook]is now located, supplied erection of a chapel, the Episcopalians had become
most of the preachers during the next five years"(465), dominant and supplied the minister; by 1891, there
and "Mr. Sibell conducted services when a regular were enough Catholics in the neighborhood to call
minister was not available" (464). Throughout this forth St.Augustine's Church.
89
7 88
i
major subscribers "who were not of the parish," adding, "All the Catholic people
generously subscribed, but their names are omitted in the above [list] because they re-
•, . Bard their work and sacrifice as the performance of an obvious duty" (397).
�• P' The parish was incorporated in January, 1892, by Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Flint, Michael
Kane and John Regan (385, 397), and the Rev. Power was its first pastor (390).
Power, Irish-born and Jesuit- educated, was eulogized by his biographer as "broad in
his views and his sympathies,a friend to the poor and oppressed" (384).
q The church, erected at the corner of Beach and Linden avenues in late 1891, was a
" picturesque shingle-style building with stickwork portico that survives as a stuccoed re-
:,,
sidence at 49 Beach Avenue (385, 390); next door is the rectory, built in 1893 (386).
Extending the "Augustine" connection, the church was dedicated on the feast of St.
Augustine, August 21, 1892, by the Most Rev. Michael Augustine Corrigan,
Archbishop of New York, who noted in his address "the unusual fact that St. Augus-
tine's Church was free of debt upon the day of its dedication" (397,399).
Development Gains Momentum
Another stimulus to development was the completion of a four-track railroad line in
1887. The New Haven Railroad also built at that time a large station at Larchmont to
serve as a model for stations along the entire line, attracting attention to the area as
well as making commuting more pleasant (15, 20)• The Larchmont Manor Company
Y
H•"� � turned the Munro-Collins mansion into a hotel, christened it"The Manor House; and
sponsored special train excursions from the city and over-nights for prospective buyers.
Mr. and Mrs. Elbridge White are preparing to leave their newly remodeled summer cottage at 46 The Manor House also served as a club house for Manor property owners and offered
Magnolia Avenue for a drive in their electric car. The outing will include a stop at John Maddock's lodging to their over-flow guests. Eugene Richmond, born in the Manor in 1873,
Charging Station on Chatsworth Avenue just off the Post Road(379).Photo courtesy of June Allen. treasured for more than 80 years the memory of the"delicious ice cream"served at the
Manor House.
William H. Campbell and his wife, Catherine, came to Larchmont in 1884 from Highland Mills
New York. A childhood friend of Frederick Flint, Campbell was engaged as superintendent by the When T.J.S. Flint died in 1882, the presidency of the Larchmont Manor Company
Manor Company. In December of 1890, he erected "a house of fine architectural design for his own passed to Charles H. Murray, who had long been a major partner, and Frederick
residency"facing Prospect Avenue between Cedar and Maple avenues (421, 495). Flint's childhood friend William H. Campbell was called down from Orange County
to become superintendent. "From that time may be dated the prosperity of
In March of 1906, Campbell sold the pro- Larchmont," proclaimed the Mamaroneck Paragraph in a flattering tribute to
perry to Edmund Tooker, a realtor, and moved "Larchmont's leading citizen" (July 7, 1894). A native of Albany, Murray began as a
back to Highland Mills, where he died eight "� clerk and ended up with the store. He also "made judicious investments in real estate
months later. His New York Times obituary and stocks" and "became connected with the banking and exchange business in New
�,• ,_ .
described him as "the father of Larchmont," # r York City" (289).
first president[in fact the third]of the Village,
chief of the Fire Department, organizer of the Among extant dwellings erected in the Eighties is 24 Helena, at the crown of Jen-
Larchmont Street Railway, and the possessor _�
`t g" kins Hill so called for its first residents (469). Three men of that surname are as-
� _ �. �
of"a fortune"(474). � � � F
sociated with the property, and with the early history of Larchmont Manor: E. Fel-
lows, superindendent and secretary of the New York Society for the Prevention of
Tooker turned the house over to Mary E. •` r ='°"-" '•
Cruelty to Children (470); William B., an importer and exporter with offices in New
Hull, who constructed a large rear addition 1 York City and a prominent member of the Larchmont Yacht Club (471); and Charles,
and operated the Manor School for Girls thereF a founder of the Larchmont Yacht Club.
until 1924. In 1925, the 25-room building was
remodeled into two seven-room houses by the
simple expedient of cutting out 11 rooms front
the center. The resulting house facing on Pro-
spect was demolished in 1936; the rear portion survives at 5 Maple Avenue (496). Photo courtesy of Sydney
Astle.
90 91
Thoroughly remodeled with a new third floor in 1896 but probably built in the Eigh-
ties is the Stick-Style cottage at 25 Beach Avenue. Francis M. Scott bought the pro-
41 perty in 1886 (419). A native of New York City, he served as justice of the Appellate
Division of the New York State Supreme Court,as chair of the Charter Revision Com-
mission of New York City, as corporation counsel under two New York City mayors,
and as a member of the Aqueduct Commission. Scott himself ran for mayor of the
city as the candidate of the People's Municipal League but was defeated by the Tam-
'. many candidate, Hugh J. Grant. He was always quick to volunteer his legal expertise
to local groups and causes(388).
Another building of the Eighties that had its roof raised in the Nineties stands at 46
Magnolia Avenue. Originally a rental cottage owned by Charles Murray, the house
was purchased in 1891 by Elbridge H. White of New York City and enlarged by the
addition of a third floor and double-decker porches on three sides. It has remained in
the same family,and essentially unchanged, ever since.
At 62 Magnolia Avenue stands "Spring Cottage," the first of several impressive re-
sidences erected by T.J.S. Flint's daughter Helena, who purchased the property from
the Manor Company in June of 1881, a month before her father's death, and built the
house around 1887 (420). Helena, who never married, later made several splendid
gifts to Larchmont, including Harriet Hosmer's Mermaid's Cradle in Fountain Square
in 1894 and the land for Flint Park in 1915.
w
Farther inland, at 31 Prospect Avenue, is the home of Dr. William Bullard. Dr.
} Bullard, a brother-in-law of Francis M. Scott, was secretary of the New York County
Medical Society and the first health officer of the Larchmont Board of Health, estab-
lished in 1892. Under the direction of his wife, Frances, the house served as
Larchmont's first library. Until her death in 1917, Mrs. Bullard ran a rental•library,as
a benefit for her favorite charity, the Stony Wold Sanatorium in the Adirondacks. She
also hosted the Red Cross Auxiliary there during the Spanish-American War. At the
time of her death, she was eulogized as "a kindly co- worker, loyal friend, and con-
siderate neighbor" (389).
Across the street from the Bullards, at 34 Prospect, stands the home of George R.
Wight, resident of the Lorillard Refrigerator Company and the first president of the
Village. At 69 Prospect stands the artistically designed cottage of Sofia Cawley and
her husband, Gerard Sinclair Hayward, a medallion artist known for his miniatures of
celebrities painted on ivory(473).
Woodbine Park
As the development of Larchmont Manor prospered and property values soared,
Thomas Kane cast an appraising eye on the 50-acre farm he'd bought from Sarah Jane
Collins in 1876 (61). In 1890 he engaged the Manor Company's engineer, Frank
Towle, to survey the farm and lay it out in suburban-villa plots to be marketed under
the name of Woodbine Park.
Helena Flint was 38 years old in 1888, when this picture was taken. We may assume
that the well-dressed children are her nieces and nephews.
4. Rented in 1894 and for many years thereafter to the Steinway piano-manufacturing family,
Wight's house has become known as the Steinway Cottage(472).
f 93
92
Born in Ireland in 1819 Kane came to America at the age of 15 and tried his luck rgymnastic eats cabinet maker's or carpenter's shop, hat shop or
g wild animals o f rp p, p
for several years in New Orleans before returning to New York City where he made other shop, bar roont, lager beer saloon, store, warehouse or any erection known as
his fortune in the contracting and fertilizing businesses. 'A great lover of horseflesh" nuisances, or any noxious or dangerous use, purpo9e, trade, business or establish-
but "of a somewhat retiring disposition and never what is known as a club man," Kane ment or for any business purposes whatsoever(350).
was a philanthropist especially interested in the building and support of churches, and
he contributed largely to the building of Holy Trinity in Mamaroneck and of St. In the 1870s, the cottagers' needs had been supplied from New York City, according
Augustine's Chapel in Larchmont(37). to an eye witness: "Once a week a representative from Albro's wholesale grocery in
New York City paid a visit to the little towns along the Sound to gather in the order
When Towle drew the Woodbine Park subdivision map, there were only two build- for supplies of food for the following week" (424). Around 1885, Edward Burtis
ings on the property: the house still standing at 60 Beach, and a smaller building at its erected a general store on Carsten Wendt's land near the railroad station, where he
rear. Two years later, a third building,possibly a house,had been added to the six-acre and his partner William Palmer supplied groceries,feed,coal,lumber, and cidar(351).
plot Thomas Kane retained for his own use; substantial dwellings facing on Beach
Avenue had been erected for his son Michael (now 24 Oak Avenue) and for William In 1884, William Campbell wrote on Manor Company letterhead,"We have now got
C. Figner (now 21 Oak); and William Kelleher and Richard Restore each had a small as near as I can learn three boarding stables running in Larchmont. So if that be al-
lot and house in "the Park" (344). Figner was a New York City "drug broker" who lowed I do not see any reason why there cannot be other businesses started. The two
made an unsuccessful run for Village President against the establishment candidate in stables besides the Company's is Shepards and Bliss" (425). Campbell's prediction
1904 (345). Kelleher was a coachman and later a carpenter (346), while Restore was did not come to pass.
the Village's first policeman and lamplighter (347).
Serving a purpose in those days that automobiles supply in our own, horses and
A "substantial new bridge, 25 feet wide over the Premium River" was opened on their needs usurped a corresponding amount of space. At the turn of the century,
August 1, 1890, connecting Oak Avenue with Deane Place and the Post Road. "It every dwelling of any consequence had its own carriage house, and the business
shortens the distance between New Rochelle and Larchmont Manor about one mile," district--then largely confined to the blocks bounded by the Post Road,Addison Street,
the Woodbine Park advertising brochure boasted, "and Oak Avenue has become the and Larchmont and Chatsworth avenues; and by Palmer, Larchmont, Chatsworth, and
principal drive between those places."The traffic and the speedy access proved too fast Vanderburgh avenues--was occupied almost exclusively by stables, blacksmiths, har-
for the tastes of the Manor dwellers, as was the lifestyle of those who frequented the ness makers, carriage dealers, and feed stores.All of this had been accomplished since
inns, speakeasies, and at least one bawdy house on the western end of the bridge. incorporation. Thomas Palmer cut hay in what was to become the Post Road business
When the bridge collapsed in 1920, it was not replaced (72,344,349). district until 1890, when he sold most of the property to Henry Holt, "dean of
American publishers' (448) and owner of Premium Point. Holt announced his inten-
t The streets in Woodbine Park remain as Frank Towle laid them out in 1890 except tion to erect "some artistically designed stores and dwellings" (449), but nothing had
for the closing of Orchard Avenue and the opening of Guion and Hazel lanes to its yet been accomplished when the first Village map was published in 1892. At that time
southwest. Willow Avenue west of Beach was until 1916 called St. Clare Avenue, for there were only two commercial establishments, Burtis's store near the depot and an
the family of Michael Kane's wife, Blanche (348), and Chestnut Avenue was called adjoining livery stable (423). In addition, the Manor Company continued to operate a
Loretto (38, 72). Jochum Avenue was named for Gertrude F. and Andrew Jochum of boarding stable on the spacious grounds of the Larchmont Horse Railway Company at
Mamaroneck,who bought several lots in Woodbine Park in the 1890s (157). the southwest corner of Cherry and Monroe avenues.
There were two telegraph offices in the 1880s: "Larchmont Manor'at the depot and
"Larchmont" at the Larchmont Yacht Club. In 1892, the name of the latter was
"Living Commodities at Low Rates" changed to "Larchmont Yacht Club" and that of the former to "Larchmont" (447).
Telephone service came early to Larchmont, due to the cottagers' need to order in all
An 1892 advertising brochure for Woodbine Park proclaimed that "butchers, supplies. Subscribers were served by the New Rochelle switchboard until 1898,when a
grocers and supply men of all kinds, both at Mamaroneck and New Rochelle call magneto (crank-type) switchboard was installed in the offices of the Larchmont Horse
twice a day at the door of each house, winter and summer, and provide all living com- Railway Company, at the corner of Cedar and Circle avenues (122,446).
modities at low rates" (72). No commercial center had followed the growth of popula-
tion because a covenant in Larchmont Manor Company deeds, extended to Woodbine
Park, forebade the erection or maintenance of
5. The list fairly well summarizes the enterprises large cities banished to their fringes in the early-
any slaughterhouse, snnithshop, forge, furnace, steant engine, brass foundry, nail to mid-19th century and which in those years gave"the suburbs"a bad name.
or of/ter iron factory or any manufactory of gunpowder, glue, varnish, vitriol, ink, 6. Charles Shepard was a large local landowner,whose holdings included not only the site of the
soap, candles, starch or turpentine or for the tanning dressing or preparing of skins, Turtle Club and other property in the Manor but also several acres near the station;Darius Bliss
hides or leather or for any brewery, distillery, laboratory, manufactory, bant, cow- was the manager of the Pacific Rubber Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, whose summer
house, piggery, live stable, racecourse theatre circus or lace or 1
cottage stood on the site of 98 Park Avenue(427).
livery , the exhibition o
p f f
94
95
r
i
1
Ye
New Rochelle also supplied postal services and served as our mailing address until
July 30, 1874, when the Larchmont Post Office was established under postmaster
Alfred D. Gardner. William Campbell and B. Frank Palmer alternated in that office
Edward Burtis with son E. from from 1884 to 1901. In 1894, Charles Murray and Palmer erected a frame building on
Strong Burtis,around 1900. Chatsworth Avenue near the epot to serve as post office and waiting room of the
-
a. Horse Railway Company(445).
7 w�
The Summer Resorts
S _ R
y Restrictive covenants not withstanding, one type of business was carried on in the
a � Manor without protest from "the cottagers," as the,early residents liked to call them-
.-
ei m selves.
As the area acquired a fashionable aura and transportation became more con-
a
K> venient, summer resorts were established. These are distinguished from the boarding
houses of the Seventies,which in most cases were simply a matter of a local resident in
somewhat reduced circumstances quietly opening her home to boarders, as seems to
Locust lot
I have been the case with the Bevan House 78 Park Avenue). Erected in 1884 on the
�IVVV' i / 044site of the Rose Cottage(a residence and boyding house owned by Susan Caffey,later
r14'o the wife of General Oscar O. LaGrange), and adjacent to the property formerly
J61
y operated as a boarding house by Elizabeth O'Connor (later Mrs. George Chatterton,
„ w .. proprietor of the Belvedere Hotel), the Italianate villa-style structure and an adjoining
r W wn cottage were managed as a boarding house in the late Eighties by the Vanderlip sis-
��' ters, who seem to have had a connection with theater-owner Augustin Daly (290). In
1891 the building was purchased by Mary Bevan and enlarged to the enormous size,no
m
3� 1* longer suggesting a private residence, in which it existed until the spring of 1980,when
G U L L i N S it was returned to its original size and shape(33).
0-oi
The Mitchell House, with its cottages, billiard hall, and annex, dominated the smal-
10
Y^ .,, -_i ler of the two circles bounded by Park and Circle avenues. When Harriet Mitchell
il
purchased this picturesque site overlooking Horseshoe Harbor in 1887,there were two
small buildings on the property--probably two of the Manor Company's original six
cottages. She promptly erected two more, one of considerable size (324,392).
S.
9- n For almost 20 years, the premises were managed, by Miss Mitchell or her
employees, much as the Bevan House was in its early days--as a boarding house "for
J � the entertainment of gentlemen and their families who desired to spend the heated
term in the country. The large majority of the patrons of the house were permanent
The Boston Post Road business district in 1854, as shown on
7. Home delivery was initiated October 1, 1919, following a lengthy street-numbering campaign
Bryson's survey map of Chatsworth. Collins Avenue is now Larchmont (slo).
Avenue, with Chatsworth Avenue running parallel to the east. Atlantic
n,r Street is now Forest Park Avenue. The small parcel of land to the west of Y P Y Y Y
8. "The Caff Hotel, the predecessor of the Bevan House, was utterly destroyed b fire" in 1883
the "church lot"is identified as 'the locust lot"in early deeds. Lots 2, 3, (427). General LaGrange was a leader in the Wisconsin State Cavalry during the Civil War.
5, and 6 were sold by the Chatsworth Land Company to William Walsh Later, as a member of the Grant Administration, he was brought up on charges while acting as
in 1860, and passed in 1869 to Thomas Palmer, who in the 1890s was superintendent of the San Francisco mint, and he was sued for another offense in 1896 while
still cutting hay there, and on lot 4, which he acquired in 1857 from serving as fire commissioner in New York City(428). h
Samuel Booth and Sold to Henry Holt in 1892 (463).
I 9
97
6
77
+rG
COI
19�� TW � ♦ � �AV
r�A 0q a
GIAV-
10
4.
7
0SSE i..� �-'�•�-_ �" .�.
� {VL
h
THE
5 ..AorHmo-i-r- M. Y,Cts - _.�tn._.a..
r c
#ABevan House
y° „Te above and three houses was destroyed this morning at1.45 a . byfire, L.C.Fa,aurot.f. twrote
and on December..8, 1905, to Charles R. Berrian in Toms River New Jersey. Photo courtesy o James
• ' o ,� _ Cottages � �'� �' f
Levi(497).
From Larchmont Village Fire Atlas 1904. Rooms with Private$athsAttached
From 1904 playbill Every Modern Luxury
of the Larchmont Yacht of a First-Class Hotel
Club's production of Open All the Year L
"Larchmont's Inferno," Over-Looking the Park and Long rbe Mircbell r5ouse
held September 9, Island Sound � and Cottages1904,at St. John's
Parish House. Larchmont-on-the-Sound
New York Larcbmont-on-tbe-Sound 4
Telephone 271, Larchmont ;
New Ifork
x Ideal Surroundings
POP
Perfect in Appointments
Cuisine and Service
PALM GARDEN
AND GRILL ROOM
411
a a�
TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS . . a d
-
ro,
Croquet on the lawn in front of the Mitchell House, c. 1880.
98 99
guests who, not only lodged rd took their meals there, but remained fora con-
siderable period of time" (324) Murray formed the Larchmont Water Company in 1889, purchased J.T. Goodliffe's
ice lake (now the Larchmont Reservoir) off Weaver Street, laid pipeline to the Manor
These early hotels and boarding houses were tolerated because, as Mrs. B. C. (opening up the Murray Avenue area to development in the process), and engaged
Lockett explained to a reporter in 1895, "they were found convenient in many ways,
William C'amphcll to build the reservoir..
and there was nothing in the buildings in themselves inharmonious with the uniformly
beautiful surroundings"(352). The Manor property owners also acted to provide themselves with fire protection, 'll
organizing the volunteer fire department in 1890. Money for equipment was raised by
Many of those who first visited Larchmont as paying guests at the resort hotels private donations and by charitable entertainments organized by "the ladies of the
bought summer cottages which they soon winterized, becoming year-round residents Manor."
(and often taking summer cottages in the Catskills). Land sales proceded at a steady
pace throughout the late '80s, and in 1890 alone 42 transfers redistributed $317,961 By 1891, however, the residents, many of them year-round, had demands not even
public subscription could meet: sewers, storm drains, roads, sidewalks, street lights,
(13).
�I sanitary water supply, garbage collection, and greater fire and police protection for in-
creased property values. In addition, the Larchmont Manor Company announced its
i' intention to dissolve in 1891 and asserted that it would prefer to turn over its streets to
Preparing for Permanence a village form of government (41). To obtain these services and benefits, therefore,
I the property owners of Larchmont Manor chose to incorporate. "At present we pay
Before incorporation, an early resident has written,Larchmont"was in the charge of one dollar for taxes and receive nothing for it," one of the promoters of incorporation
one person, Superintendent William H. Campbell, who acted as constable, fire war- stated. "If incorporated, we might have to pay two dollars, but we would get some-
den, ostmaster, and directed all other necessary services" (19). "William Campbell thing" (41).
P g
was the local boss," another eye witness remembered. "If one wanted anything--from
coal or wood to real estate--you had to consult Campbell. He usually delivered the George Wight initiated negotiations with Edward Flint, who was then president of
goods" (259). A contractor specializing in stone,Campbell was responsible for most of the Larchmont Manor Company, and invited all Manor property owners to meet at his
the stone foundations in the Manor, and St. John's Church was his magnum opus. In V._ home on April 20, 1891, "to discuss the advisability of establishing a village govern-
the '90s he diversified into real estate and electric railways and died possessed of "a r<y� id6 ment" (41).
fortune"(474).
Responding to the invitation were Dr. W.J. Branique, a dentist with offices in New
As the population increased, however, demands for public services exceeded the York City who was a member of the Larchmont Yacht and New York Athletic clubs
capacies of even the indefatigable "Boss Campbell." The water supplied by cisterns (475); W.F. Brown, whose wife Eugenia enters the Village tax rolls of 1891 as a sub-
and artesian wells became insufficient, and it was suspected to be polluted due to the stantial landowner and who may have been related to George David Brown, founder
growing number of stables and privies. "For several years the people of Larchmont of the United Press Association and Manor propery owner since 1880 (476); Edward
were crying for a supply of water," the Paragraph recalled on July 7, 1894. "They went Lamson, a wool merchant who had lived in the Manor since 1881 (477); Gerard Mor-
to Adrian Iselin, the owner of the New Rochelle system of water works, and invoked ris Barretto "of the old East Barretto Point family" near Hell's Gate and a rear com-
his aid. modore in the Larchmont Yacht Club in 1884 (478); William H. Burroughs, father of
the actor Claude Burroughs;J. Thomas, of whom nothing more is known;Henry Clay
"The story goes," the Paragraph continues, "that Charles Murray [then president of Southwick, an insurance broker, charter member of the Larchmont Yacht Club, and
the Larchmont Manor Company] visited Mr. Iselin on behalf of Larchmont. The lat- commodore of the Horseshoe Harbor Club, who came to Larchmont with his wife
ter said that he would lay a main from New Rochelle if the people of Larchmont paid Minnie as a resident of the Rose Cottage in 1886 (479); Joseph Bird, president of the
$40,000 toward the expense of same. 'And,' said Mr. Murray, 'what will the people of Manhattan Savings Institution who with his wife Veronica Christina Ackerman had re-
Larchmont get besides the privilege of using water for their$40,000?' sided on Park Avenue overlooking the bathing beach since 1883 (480); Edwin W.
Morse, editor of Scribner's 77te Book Buyer•, and our old friends William H.
"'Nothing,'replied Mr. Iselin. Campbell, Dr. E. B. Foote, Frederick F. Proctor, David Jardine, William Jenkins,
Francis M. Scott, and Michael Kane. Wight was elected chairman and Baretto
"'If that is the case,' answered Mr. Murray, 'I will build the water works myself.' secretary.
And he did."
Wight explained that the law governing the incorporation of villages requires at least
300 inhabitants to a square mile. It was, therefore, suggested that the boundaries of
9. There was a drastic change in 1905,but that lies outside the scope of the present volume,as does the proposed village be set to enclose, in addition to the 288 acres of Larchmont
the heyday of the Bevan House, as well as Larchmont's other two resort hotels, the Belvedere Manor, sufficient territory to take in exactly one square mile. Scott suggested that the
(now the Manor Inn)and the Royal Victoria,erected in 1893 and 1895,respectively(325). I line be drawn "beginning at the New Rochelle line,.taking in Premium Point, and fol-
.
100
101
- - _ The paid fireman leans
back discreetly to allow
the camera a full view of
yk fire depart neat benefactor
H x-
- Mayhew Bronson.
• I
i
y 4'
-
'The fire house
By the time this photo was taken,
the old well in Manor Park was more decorative (left) and Village Hall
than functional. The wells and cisterns that supplied the cottagers with water in the (right) stood on Circle C'
days before the Larchnnont Water Company was founded were less picturesque. Water a j Avenue between Maple
was raised by "amistrong punip"to storage tanks,from which it flowed into basement a and Linden avenues.
kitchens. The shallow wells sometimes failed during dry weather, and the Manor Com-
pany found it necessary to cart water in barrels from house to house (543).
TIO
I
,
x-
a.
x In his youth, Mayhew Wainwright Bronson con-
centrated his considerable energies on volunteer fire
department activities, in New York City as well as
�s
-y_ Larchmont. In middle age, he turned his attention to
II� the establishment of a public park on the land donated
y, F for that purpose by Helena Flint. He was also an early
promoter of the Boy Scouts of America, and he s
founded the local troop. His interests continued to
evolve, and he took an active part in Free Masonry
Charles Murray It took over half a ton of ice to carry Helena Flint's household through throughout the Northeast and founded the Larchmont
September of 1887. Lodge. At his death in 1936 at the age of 72, Bronson
had for 30 years been treasurer of the Society for the '
Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children (498).
103
102
I
lowing the line to the railroad;I thence,running parallel with and including the railroad hotels were fillyd with transients, returned the gratifying number of 959 individuals in
and depot, to a point this side of Weaver Street, and running thence southerly to the residence (18).
Post Road joining the easterly park [Manor Park] line and following the line to the
Sound." The area included within those boundaries, it was noted, is about one square The Committee for Incorporation as finally constituted consisted of William
mile, and the number of inhabitants was estimated at between 450 and 500 (41). Campbell, Carsten Wendt,William Murray(son of Charles),Edwin Morse,and Oliver
Adams. Adams, Murray and Flint were founding members of the Larchmont Yacht
"In setting the boundaries of the village," the Mamaroneck Paragraph reported, "the Club,and all except Wendt owned property in the Manor.
committee had reference, so far as they were able to to anticipate the future, to the
character of the future occupation of the unimproved ground included within the The Mile-Square Village
limits; and for that reason it was deemed inadvisable to cross the New Haven railroad
tracks any further than to take in the station grounds. These latter grounds were taken As required by law, the survey and census were left at the post office for public in-
in for the purpose of effectively regulating the hack business" (292). spection, and the matter was put to a vote on the first possible date,September 1. The
"There was some talk," the Paragraph also reported, "as to whether it would not be vote being 65 for incorporation and one opposed, incorporation papers were filed on
September 2.
better to form a township, thereby securing a voice in the [county] board of super-
visors, but as 300 voters would be required, this was found impracticable." As all A slate of candidates for village officers was drawn up by the Committee for Incor-
agreed that they did not want to entrust their roads and sewers to the Town of poration and presented on September 18 at a meeting of the voters of Larchmont held
Mamaroneck,the following resolution was adopted: "at the school house"4 t nominate officers for the election,which was held on Septem-
ber 22. The slate was unanimously elected: George Wight, president of the Commit-
That it is the sense of this meeting that it is advisable to incorporate Larchmont
as a village. That the chairman appoint the following committees to report at an ad- tee, became president of the Village, and Committee members Campbell,Wendt and
Morse became trustees. Joseph Bird was elected treasurer, and Ambrose C.
joumed meeting. First, a committee of two on survey and desirable limits. Second, Montrose,proprietor of a local livery and boarding stable,became the tax collector.
a committee of two to ascertain whether there are a su.ficient number of inhabitants
within the proposed limits. Third, a committee of two to report as to necessary for-
The elections completed,the new board declared itself in session and, after appoint-
malities,probable expense, and liabilities to be assumed(41). ing Marmaduke Tilden to be Village Clerk and designating the office of Charles Mur-
ray's Larchmont Manor Horse Railway Company (at the corner of Cedar and Circle
Wight subsequently appointed William Campbell and Carsten Wendt (German-
Col-
born attorney and owner of a large property above the Post Road) to the Committee avenues) as his office, got on with the first order of business: the improvement of Col-
lins Avenue(now Larchmont Avenue) from the Post Road to the railroad station.
on Survey. Gerard Sinclair Hayward and William Henry Eaton, a native of England
who was manager of the Liverpool,London and Globe Insurance Company and presi- A loan for this work of$5,000 at 5% interest from Charles Murray was approved;
dent of the Globe Indemnity Company (481), formed the Committee on Population. the gift of Charles D. Shepard of stone he was quarrying on his property along Collins
Francis M. Scott and Oliver Adams made up the Committee on Laws and Liabilities Avenue was accepted; an order to rent a stone crusher from the Larchmont Manor
(41). Horse Railway Company was entered(331)5
As surveyed by Richard Burrowes (a civil engineer from Mount Vernon [58]), the William Campbell, a principal in the Horse Railway Company,was named to super-
land to be taken in consisted of approximately the same land Samuel Palmer had pur- intend the work (332). Oil lamps were ordered to be placed along Collins Avenue and
chased from Richbell's assignees. An informal census taken shortly after the meeting
found 296 residents in the Manor alone (41), and the formal census, taken by Mar-
maduke Tilden (clerk and resident manager of the Larchmont Yacht Club and a for-
mer New Jersey Assemblyman [4821) in August when the Yacht Club and the resort
2. The census included 224 transients in the hotels and the Yacht Club (18). A census taken in
January of 1898 found only 711 residents(355).
1. As finally drawn,the western boundary of the Village did not coincide with the boundary of New 3. "Who the kicker was has not transpired," the Port Chester Journal reported the following day,
"but he must have been very lonely in his misery."
Rochelle but ran somewhat easterly, leaving an unincorporated strip of the Town of
Mamaroneck between New Rochelle and Larchmont. The record does not reveal the reasons for 4. This was, apparently, the building erected on Circle Avenue by the Manor Company that later
doing so. Since the exact boundary between the Town of Mamaroneck and New Rochelle had became the Village Hall.There is no record of its ever having served as a school.
aroused controversy since colonial times,it is a plausible conjecture that the incorporators chose
a line well within the Town in order to avoid further boundary disputes. 5. The superintendent of the undertaking later found Shepard's stone unsuitable,and crushed stone
was purchased from the Horse Railway Company at$1.50 a cubic yard(414).
104 105
I
were lit for the first time on December 1 (333). On this bright note the first calendar Sackett stated that the Company was "desirous of making such disposition of the
year of incorporation came to a close. parks as would be most acceptable to the property holders," and offered to "make a
conveyance of the fee of the parks to such property holders of Larchmont Manor as
One of the principal promoters of incorporation estimated that the total cost carte should choose to accept it."
to only$520. "All legal services were given gratis," he added. "We were all so anxious
to be able to spend our own money in our own way without interference from }I" Judge Scott replied that he was"well satisfied with the present arrangement and that
h�
Mamaroneck that all were animated by a disinterested spirit, and of course much , as in his opinion the scheme outlined by Mr. Sackett was fraught with difficulties and
money was saved...Even the notary did not ask for any fees" (294). dangers to the park, he should decline to accept the fee." He suggested, instead, that
"the organization of a Park Association to take the fee of the property, subject to the
That in itself may serve as evidence that the charter citizens of the Village were a present easements and upon such terms, conditions and restrictions as might be fin-
like-minded bunch. The population was largely confined to the area between the Post serted in the deed of conveyance,would best meet the requirements of the same."
Road and the Sound ("the Manor," broadly defined), and it was considerably smaller
than Tilden's census of 959 souls suggests. Of that total, 224 were transients or Scott's suggestion was accepted, and a committee,composed of Scott, Flint, and Jar-
employees in four hotels and two clubs;of the remaining 735 people distributed among dine, was elected to "devise a practical scheme" and report to a subsequent meeting
98 individual households, approximately one-third were servants, further reducing the 415 . The committee duly recommended the incorporation of the Larchmont Manor
� ( ) Y P
possible number of actual citizens to about 470, including children and women, who Park Society pursuant to Chapter 293 of the Laws of 1888, "and that upon its incor-
could not vote (356). Also disenfranchised were the heads of households in the un- poration and organization the Larchmont Manor Company is requested to convey to it
determined but significant number of dwellings that were summer rental cottages. by appropriate deed the lands constituting Larchmont Parks; such deed to contain a
Thus it becomes possible to surmise that the 66 votes cast on the issue of incorpora- clause specifically...reaffirming the present easement as contained in the Manor deeds,
tion do not represent a low turn- out, but perhaps very nearly the total number of and such other apt and proper clauses as may be deemed prudent to ensure the per-
owner-occupied households within the boundaries of the proposed village. petuation of the Parks as pleasure grounds to be used and enjoyed by the owners of
the Manor property and those representing them" (544).
"Such Disposition: of the Parks as Would Be Most Acceptable The committee's recommendations were presented and accepted on January 4, 1892
to the Property Holders" (416). Charles Murray was elected president, Francis Scott vice president, and Joseph
Bird treasurer. Serving as secretary was Oswald Sanderson, a native of England who
The Larchmont Manor Company, having distributed its unsold lots among its had lived in Larchmont since 1880 and in 1892 built the house still standing at 6 Elm
shareholders and turned its streets over to the new Village of Larchmont, had but one Avenue. Sanderson was a director of the Suez Canal Company, of Lloyd's Bank of
more act to perform before dissolving: the disposition of Manor Park and lesser par-
London, of Earle Shipbuilding and Engineering, and of the Continental Insurance
cels that hadn
bee set apart the f 1
e use o al parties who may own n id
p p y es o said Company, and he was also manager of several ocean transportation lines,including the
lands" 3 14
Wilson Line (488). Rounding out the founding board of trustees were Frederick Pro
ctor,William Campbell,and George Wight.
A meeting of the property owners of Larchmont Manor was called for this purpose i
on December 2, 1891, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City. Attending were
Charles H. Murray, George R. Wight, Edwin W. Morse, Joseph Bird, W.S. Envoi
Branique, Girard Sinclair Hayward, Gerard Morris Barretto, William Henry Eaton,
Francis M. Scott, Frank Towle, Oliver Adams, Thomas J. McCahill, Edward Flint, The first map of the Village, published by Bien in 1892 from Burrowes' 1891 survey,
Frederick F. Proctor, William Campbell, David Jardine, Rufus Stivers, Dr. Wm. E. shows 110 buildings in the Manor and only 15, including commercial properties and
Bullard, and both Drs. E. B. Foote. Also attending and not previously introduced i one hotel, between the Post Road and the railroad tracks, indicating that at least 90%
were Capt. Edmund Blunt, an "eminent hydrographer who served as first assistant in of the charter population must have resided in the Manor (344). Of that number, the
the U.S. Coast Survey and in the 11th and 12th New York Regiments in the Civil War, majority had lived in the Manor for many years (357), and by 1891 they formed an in-
being severely wounded and cited for bravery in the Battle of Cedar Creek, and who tricate web of social relations based on blood, marriage, business connections, and
made his summer home at 4 Oak Avenue (486); Henry S. Rogers and Dr. Riley, club membership. With these facts and figures in mind, it is not surprising that the
otherwise unknown; Henry Augustus Van Liew, president of the Oriental Silk Com- Manor and its residents dominated the affairs of the Village throughout its first two
pany and of Fine Arts Designs, Inc. (487); Girard C.W. Lowrey, a New York City decades.
businessman whose summer cottage, much remodeled, still stands at 2 Walnut Avenue
(483); C.H. Duglis, who owned property at the northeast corner of Chestnut and Pro- Larchmont had found its identity in the 1880s as a small community of friends, rela-
spect avenues (484); William A. Boyd, formerly assistant Corporation Counsel in New tives, and business associates who shared the same values and aspirations and settled
York City (485); and John Bevan, husband of Mary, proprietor of the Bevan House; their affairs among themselves. After 1891 Larchmont was--officially, at least--no lon-
Also present were Carsten Wendt, whose property lay outside the Manor, and Mr. ger the private watering-place of an extended kinship clan, but a public civic corpora-
Sackett, a spokesman for the Larchmont Manor Company. The meeting was chaired tion.
by Wight,the new Village President.
•7
106 107
43. Paragraph 7-18-1896 and 10-28-1893;see also New York City Directory 1876-7.
44. Village Board Minutes 4-15-1892.
NOTES 45. Village Board Minutes 12-1-1891.
46. Paragraph 10-22-1894.
citations may be found in the Bibliography,where sources are arranged under various 47. Paragraph 4-14-1894.
Complete Y 48. Village Board Minutes 4-6-1895 and 4-27-1895.
heads according to type. 49. Phil Severin,"Commuters Used Horsecar,"Daily Times.
1. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p.8;see also Book A of Deeds,pp.77-79. 50. "Larchmont the Beautiful,"illustrated supplement of the Larchmonter-Times,9-28-1922.
2. Fulcher,Mamaroneck,pp. 11-12;Delancey,History of...Mamaroneck, p.25. 51. Book 1745 of Deeds,p.288(5-7-1906).
3. "The New Suburb:A Domestic Problem Solved--Larchmont Manor and Its Prospects,"New York 52. Land Records: Liber 1003 of Deeds,p. 164.
Times,5-12-1872,p. 5. 53. 1900 U.S. Census.
4.Robert Bolton,History of the County of Westchester, pp. 502-3. 54. Robinson,"The Old School House and the Swimming Hole,"Larchmonter-Times 9-21-1921.
5.Improvement Society of Larchmont Park,"Historical Sketch of Larchmont,"in Historical Program 55. Utopia Park plat map;original in collection of Richard Spinelli of Mamaroneck.
56. Paragraph 10-1-1892.
(booklet).
6. Book 821 of Deeds,p. 411(Smith, 1872);Book 821,p.419(Towle, 1872);Book 823,p.233 57. Severin,"Country Fair,"Daily Times 11-26-1967.
(Wurde, 1872);Book 823,p.436(Stivers, 1872). 58. Village Board Minutes 9-26-1891.
59. Village Board Minutes 4-11-1899.
7. Papers ofFrederick Law Olmsted(unpublished).
8. Blumenson,IdentifyingAmerican Architecture,p. 7 60. Manual of Westchester County Past and Present.Civil List to Date (White Plains: 1898), p.208.
9. Larchmont Yacht Club Centennial Yearbook(1980). 61. Book 919 of Deeds,p.414.
10. Book 869 of Deeds,p. 461 (Burroughs, 1874);Book 919,p. 238(O'Connor, 1876). 62. Paragraph 10-1-1893.
11. Book 802 of Deeds,p. 303(1872);Book 1008,pp. 393-415 (1882);Book 1011,p.459;Book 63. Biographical History of Westchester County,vol.I,p. 182.
1013,p.4. 64. On May 1, 1820,Lloyd Daubeny bought from Elizabeth Snell(widow of Thomas Snell),Thomas
12. Book 1056 of Deeds,p. 278;Book 1013,p.4;Book 1011,p. 459.All 1882;all re Woodruff heirs.
R.Merceien and Peter Stagg(Book V of Deeds,p.289),land described as lying northerly of the
Turnpike and bounded on the East by the Quaker Burying Ground and land of Peter Jay Munro,north-
13. Mamaroneck Paragraph Palmers
891. Y erly by land of Munro,westerly by land sold by Charles E. Duncan to Caleb Coles, and South by the
14. Horace Palmer,"The Palmers in America,"pp. 4833-4981 (unpublished). See also"Earl Meet-
ing Houses on the Main" (unpublished). Old Post Road;also a piece of land lying on the southerly side of the Old Post Road which Duncan pur-
15. Robinson,"Larchmont in the Time of the Indians,"Larchmonter-Times,7-21-1921. chased of Richard Mott,bounded South by the Turnpike,East by land of Munro,North by Old Post
16. Larchmont Manor Park Society,Program of Exercises 1898(booklet). Road, and West by land of Coles;also"all the part of the Old Post Road upon the closing up of which
fell to the share of Duncan containing in the whole 11 or 12 acres" (Book 356 p. 184).
17. Mamaroneck in L rchm Paragraph,9lage Board
On April 25, 1829,Daubeny bought from Stephen and Sarah Haviland 70 acres(which Stephen re-
18. Original in Larchmont Village Board Minutes.
19. Severin,"The Larchmont Story,"in Village of Larchmont Diamond Jubilee Program 1891-1966, p. ceived from Benjamin and Lavinia Haviland on October 18, 1825,and Benjamin and Hannah received
11. from James and Hannah Rushton in October of 1817) lying north and west of the land conveyed by
Snell et al. (Book 40 of Deeds,p.82).
20. "Larchmont Manor,"Mamaroneck Paragraph, 10-1-1893. Lloyd Daubeny died sometime before 1848 Book 123 of Deeds 210 and on Jul 15 1853 the 70-
21.Tatum, The Story of Larchmont Manor Park. Y Y ( ,p• )� Y ,
22.Book 2 of Deeds,pp. 128 and 192-199,Office of the Secretary of State,Albany. acre plot passed through the hands of"James M. Mills,referee"to William Coventry and H. Waddell
and thence to William A. Keteltas,from whom Susan Daubeny recovered it on May 1, 1856 Book 332
23. Beers' 1867 Atlas of Westchester County.
24. Beers' 1873 Atlas of Westchester County. of Deeds,p.366). Susan Daubeny sold the entire 82 acres on April 3, 1857, to Patience Bonnett of New
25. Bromley's 1881 Atlas of Westchester County. York City(Liber 356,p. 184).
26. Biographical History of Westchester County(1899),I,p.
181. Patience Bonnett promptly(May 1, 1857) leased the land for a term of five years to Wm. Bonnett of
27. Severin,"Commuters Used Horsecar in 1899,"Mamaroneck Daily Times. Mamaroneck, "together with the dwelling house,barn, stables,and outbuildings" (Book 396 of Deeds,p.
28. "Larchmont Manor: An Ideal Government and Model Residential Village,"Paragraph, 10-1-1892. 284). This lease was cancelled on April 1, 1861 (Book 460 of Deeds,p.27).
Knight," 137-145.ight;'in Dictionary of Anterica�t Biography,pp.305-306. of James In 1863 Patience Bonnett,"New York City widow,"sold the farm to Mary S. Myers of Brooklyn,wife
30. "Collins,Edward K
29.Stephen Jenkins, Old Boston Post Road,pp. Myers(Liber 504,p. 309). James Myers'heirs sold in 1903 to Edward McVickar of New York
City(Liber. 1651,p. 124).
31. Benjamin F.Thompson,History of Long Island I,pp. 160- 162;II,pp.433-434. Ci
32. Book 980 of Deeds,p.7(3-30-1880). 65. Cox, "New York Church Archives: Religious Society of Friends,"pp.70-72(unpublished).33,Book 1226 of Deeds,p.330(3-2-1891);Book 1292,p.286(11-1-1892). 66. Village Board Minutes 11-13-1891.67. Village Board Minutes 7-1-1892 and 8-5-1892.
34. "Larchmont Park,"advertising brochure(booklet). 68. "Religious Growth of Larchmont,"Larchmonter Times,8-18-1921• Vanderlaen "His-
35. Sanehis, Westchester Architecture,pp.44-45. Robinson, g >
36. Condit, The Pon of New York,pp.29-31, 109. tory of Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club" (unpublished).
69. Severin,oral history tape in Larchmont Public Library.
37. Paragraph 1-13-1894. 70. On Bien's 1892 map and Bromley's 1901 map;Finch,"Information on Bonnett, Vanderburgh,
38. ParagraphWilmarth,Hall,and Myers Families of Larchmont" (unpublished).
39. New York Times intes 12-12-3-1895. 71. On 1905 Sanborn's insurance map but not on 1904 map.
40. Paragraph 12-17-1892. 72. Kane's 1890 map and real estate promotion;fragment in Village Clerk's vault in Larchmont Vil-
42. Paragraph 9-19-1891.41. Paragraph 5-2-1891. lage Hall.This may be the map prepared for the second, 1895 auction.
109
108
ij
73. Weigold,"Roads to Nowhere," The Westchester Historian,pp.86-89. 107. New York City Directory 1876.
74. Weigold,Pioneering in Parks and Parkways: Westchester County, New York, 1895-1945, pp.22-27, 108. The McDonald Papers, Pt. II,V, pp.54-55.The story is given by Judge Caleb Tompkins.
32. 109. O'Callaghan,Documentary History of the State of New York,III,pp.410-411.
75. Hufeland, Westchester County during the American Revolution 1775-1783. 110. O'Callaghan,Documentary History of the State of New York,III, p.949.
76. Alvah French,History of Westchester County, New York,Vol. I. 111. English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck,p.36.
77. Griffin, Westchester County and Its People,Vol.I. 112. Griffin, Westchester County and Its People,II,2.
78. Griffin, Westchester County and Its People,Vol.II. 113. New York City Directory 1789.
79. New York Herald 6-10-1865. 114. Griffin, Westchester County and Its People,II, 178-179,443; Munro's account books(unpub-
1 80. Olmsted Papers (unpublished). lished);Lederer, "Post Roads,Turnpike Roads and Milestones," The Westchester Historian.
81. Shonnard and Spooner,History of Westchester County,pp. 126-131 re Richbell, and p.348. 115. Howell Scrapbook(unpublished).
82. McAdam,History of the Bench and Bar of New York I,pp. 422-423. 116. English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck,p.281.
83. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p.2. 117. English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck,p.298.
84. Howell Scrapbook(unpublished). 118. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 30;Munro's account books(unpublished).
85.Lane, Commodore Vanderbilt,pp. 139-156. 119.Fulcher,Mamaroneck through the Years,pp.37-38.
86. E.K. Collins obituary,New York Herald, 1-23-1878. 120. "Supplementary Map to a Map entitled'Map of Deane Purchase by Frederick Lorentzen Esq.,
87.Scoville,Old Merchants of New York City,I,pp. 140-141. Town of Mamaroneck' and filed by him in Register's Office,County of Westchester";collection of
88.Dictionary of American Biography,IV,305-306; Who Was Who Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Richard Spinelli,Mamaroneck.
89. Portrait of Collins in Catalogue of Portraits in the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, 121. Village Board Minutes 1-8-1897, 11-5-1897, 11-15-1897(unpublished).
NY 1924. 122. Fulcher,Mamaroneck through the Years,p.38.
90. Quoted in Josephson, The Robber Barons,pp. 15-16,and also in Lane,Commodore Vanderbilt,p. 123.Alvah French,History of Westchester County,1, 175-176.
144• 124.Property sold 11-3-1880 to John R.Robinson of Easton State Md. Book 987 of Deeds .81.
> >P
91. Collins,portrait in Gleason's Pictorial,1,p. 256(1851) and VII,p.412(1854).Collins was vice 125.Seems to appear on Bromley's 1881 Atlas.
president of the Mercantile Library Association and secretary of the New York Fire Department c. 126.Sold 3-2-1886 to Francis M. Scott,New York City attorney--Book 1077 of Deeds,p.385;New
1857. York City Directory 1876-77.
92. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 6. 127.On Bromley's 1881 Atlas.
93. Fulcher,Mamaroneck through the Years,pp. 37,41;Daily Times, 1-10-1929. 128. Sold 12-3-1880 to Elizabeth O'Connor,New York City widow,later Mrs.George Chatterton--
94.Baird,History of Rye, p.65. Book 987 of Deeds,p.419.
95. Hufeland,History of Westchester County during the Revolution,p. 183. 129.Sold 7-18-1882 to Marcus Woodruff heirs--Book 1056 of Deeds,p.278;Book 1013, p.4; Book
96.Alvah French,History of Westchester 1, 130. 1011,p.459.
97.Griffin, Westchester County and Its People lI,443. 130.On Bromley's 1881 Atlas.
98. Hufeland, Westchester County during the American Revolution,p.73. 131.Sold 6-15-1881 to Helena Flint,Book 995 of Deeds,p.415.
99. Baird,History of Rye,p. 76; Calendar of Revolutionary Manuscripts I,p.266. 132. Sold 3-25-1884 to Benjamin F. and Sallie C. Carver of NYC,Book 1040 of Deeds,p.433.
100.Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,pp.8,29-30;Scharf,History of Westchester 133.Sold 5-9-1888 to Wm.H. Campbell of Mamaroneck,Book 1138 of Deeds,p. 105.
County I,874;Hufeland, Westchester County during the American Revolution,p. 87;Griffin, Westchester 134.Village Board Minutes 11-11-1910; 1-3-1911.
County and Its People I,pp.360 ff. 135.Village Board Minutes 1-3-1911;6-26-1911.
101. Griffin, Westchester County and Its People I,260;Baird,History of Rye,p.76. 136. Village Board Minutes 2-6-1911;2-10-1912.
102. Griffin, Westchester County and Its People 1,266;Shonnard and Spooner,History of Westchester 137.Village Board Minutes 5-15-1912;6-24-1912.
County,pp.348,382-383;Hufeland, Westchester County during the American Revolution,pp. 98,447; 138. Village Board Minutes 10-10-1891; 11-24-1891.
Calendar of Revolutionary Manuscripts I,p. 28a;N.A. "Some Military Events in Westchester during the 139.Mamaroneck Paragraph 4-25-1891.
Revolution," The Westchester Historian,II,no. 1 (1926),p.3.Many details of Lounsberry's activities are 140.Village Board Minutes 12-2-1892.
given in Mass,"'We Think He Deserves to Suffer': Keeping an Eye on Westchester's Tories, 1775- 141.Paragraph 10-7-1893, 12-9-1893,2-22-1896.
1777," The Westchester Historian;Mass follows Journals of the Provincial Congress I (Albany: 1842). 142. Quoted in Larchmont Times 2-28-1935.
103. The McDonald Papers;Griffin, Westchester County and Its People I,28a. 143.Village Board Minutes 6-26-1911.
104.Bacon,Lucretia Mott, Valiant Friend,p.24. 144.Village Board Minutes 5-1-1893;6-2-1893.
105. Delancey,History of...Mamaroneck,pp.30-32;Griffin, Westchester County II,pp.421-422. 145.Daily Times 2-23-1935.
106. Pryer, The Neutral Ground,p. 418;Hufeland, Westchester County during the American Revolu- 146. Paragraph 7-18-1896;reprinted from the New York Tribune.
tion,p. 131;Baird,History of Rye,pp.76-77. I.S.Holbrook("The Early History of Larchmont," 147.Village Board Minutes 11-3-1899, 11-17-1899,5-4-1900.
Larchmonter-TimesApril 17, 1921) adds the following juicy details: "Knyphausen built a chain of forts on 148. Village Board Minutes 7-2-1906.
what was called the ridge,which extended from a point on the Sound about where the Gourauds'house 149. Village Board Minutes 1-5-1903, 1-4-1909,8-2-1909;Larchmont Times 5-16-1935.
stands[now the Larchmont Shore Club] along the high ridge on the westerly side of the old Larchmont 150. For example,Paragraph 4-15-1899.
Manor, up to the Boston Turnpike[Boston Post Road]. The remains of these forts or entrenchments 151. Griffin, Westchester County and Its People,II, 120-21.
were plainly visible within very recent years, and coins of George II were found in them." Holbrook 152.See Forbes,Larchmont Times 1935,re 10-23-1900
states that he is following a manuscript of Charles Pryer's"found in an old scrapbook in the possession 153.Alvah French,History of Westchester County,I,p.223.
of the Larchmont Yacht Club."On the face of it,it seems unlikely that"a chain of forts"could have been 154.English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck,p. 107.
erected in only one night. ,
r I111
110
. I �
'at
155. Village Board Minutes 3-14-1891;2-5-1892. 187.Wolley,A Two Years'Joumal in New York.
156. Village Board Minutes 9-6-1895;9-7-1896. 188. Robert Bolton,History of Westchester,Vol. I (1848).
157. Book 1214 of Deeds,p.442(re lots 9 and 11,Block C on Towle's map,near Woodbine and 189. Robert Bolton,History of Westchester,Vol.I (1848).
Beach) and p.447(re lots 1,2,3 of Block M and lots 6,8, 10 of Block C, near Oak and Kane avenues). 190. Griffin, "Aboriginal Inhabitants," in Westchester County and its People, Vol I.
158. Printed in Paragraph 11-12-1898,with amendments printed 4-1-1899. 191. Alvah French, "The Indians of Westchester County,"in 77te History of Westchester County,I.
159.Larcltntont Times 4-18-1935. 192. Horace Palmer,"The Palmers in America" (unpublished).
160. Johnson,"Mills Abounded in Area,"Daily Times 3-18- 1976. 193. Singsen,"The Quaker Way in Old Westchester,"in The Westchester Historian,Winter 1982.
161. Seacord, "Premium Mill in Mamaroneck," The Westchester Historian. I 194. Morgan,John Winthrop.
162. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,pp.30-32. 195. Marilyn Weigold, TheAmerican Mediterranean.
163. Griffin, Westchester County and Its People, II,421-422. 196.Tunis,Colonial Living.
164. Johnson, "For Sale: Farm,Neck of Land at Marrowneck,"Doily Times,3-26-1976. 197.Denton,A Brief Description of New York.
165.Hall ed.America's Successful Men o A airs•Histo o Bench and Bar o New York I 465; 198.Davis,"Munrosfield" (unpublished).
.� J` ff � History f „P•
Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, V,p.319. 199. Fisher Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher.
166. Popp,letter to the editor,Daily Times,8-15-1979;Book 276 of Deeds,p. 209. 200.Morris,John Jay: Unpublished Papers.
167. Mt. Vernon Daily Argus,9-6-1977. 201.Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p.21.
168. 1918 map 202. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 25. "Best authority"requires definition. The
169. Sheldon, "Old Shipping Merchants of New York,"Harpers magazine.Includes portrait etching of son of Bishop Wm. Heathcote Delancey and Munro's daughter Frances,Edward Floyd Delancey was
Collins. born in 1821 and,after earning a degree from Harvard Law School,spent most of his life in
' Church,"in St. Au stine's Church Golden Anniver- Mamaroneck concentrating his energies on historical and genealogical writing and research;his"History
World and St. Au ustine s
Hopkins,"The Wo d a
170. o g �
I
P
Bary 1928-1978(booklet). of Mamaroneck"was published in 1886 as a contribution to ScharPs History of Westchester County. His
171. Flint v. Charman et al.,6 App Div 121,6-9-1896,in New York Supplement, Vol 39,pp.892-895. authority derives from his passionate attention and legal training, and from the fact that he or his par-
172.Stockton,"Larchmont and Orienta,"Munsey's Magazine,August 1892. ents and grandparents were eyewitnesses to much of what he relates.On the other hand, he treats his
173. Whitney,"The Unlucky Collins Line,"American Heritage,February 1957. ancestor Caleb Heathcote rather more gently than disinterested historians do.
174. Scott,"Larchmont-on-the-Sound," Town and Country,November 8, 1902. As a matter of curiosity,we reproduce a couple of eccentric"facts" preserved in newspaper articles
175. Book C of Deeds,p.369:Samuel Palmer"of the Great Neck"bought from Ann Hook, "the In- written in the 1920s:
dian,"land described as"all that tract of land formerly called Mangopson Neck,now Great Neck,boun- (1) I.S. Holbrook writes that the house was built in 1804 and that"its first site was about where the
ded...easterly by a brook called...Pipins Brook,which runs into the salt water creek and...along by the old Larchmont Golf Club House was situated[near Monroe Avenue],close to an old stone farm house,
Sound...and up to a brook called Cedar or Pine Brook"and running"up"by a range of marked trees"un- it being moved to its present site at the head of Prospect Avenue before it was entirely in frame" ("The
til they meet with Heathcote's marked trees";entered November 6, 1701. Early History of Larchmont,"Larchinonter--Times 4-17-1921). Holbrook says he is following an"histori-
176. Book C of Deeds,p. 370: recites that John Richbell gave a mortgage to Thomas Kellond, Boston cal sketch prepared by the late Charles Pryer of Larchmont...found by the present writer in an old scrap-
merchant, "on one neck of land commonly called the Great Neck...to farm"on July 7, 1676;the term of book in the possession of the Larchmont Yacht Club." It is difficult to know whether a to believe t hi
s;
the lease was 99 years and the consideration 250 pounds. By this instrument Samuel Palmer, "yeoman Pryer was a dedicated and talented amateur historian,but he was also a great story teller.
of Mamaroneck,"assumes the lease from Abigail Forster of Boston,widow of Kellond; entered January (2) Sue Robinson writes that the Manor House was"built of bricks brought from England; its present
1 1701. hand-hewn shingles are of a later date" ("Larchmont in the Time of the Indians,"Larchmonter Times 7-
Book C of Deeds,p. 423: contains a deposition by William Pinhorn of England (attorney) made with 21-1921). In 1980, Dante and Marge Piccone,at that time the owners of the Manor House, told me that
the consent of Mary Richbell, executor of the will of Robert Richbell,to the effect that on May 12, 1675, there definitely are not bricks under the shingles. Robinson was probably following an oral tradition
John Richbell mortgaged to Robert Richbell,Jr., "all that neck of land commonly called the Great current in her time, and such traditions usually contain some shred of truth. Possibly the bricks used in
Neck" for a term of 99 years,in consideration of 250 pounds;that Robert's son James inherited it, died, building the chimneys came as ballast in ships from England.
and left it to Edward Richbell;Pinhorn acknowleges receipt of money from Samuel Palmer to assume 203. Davis, "Munrosfield," p.209(unpublished).
the remainder of the mortgage;entered March 15, 1705. 204. Hufeland, Westchester County during the American Revolution, p.308; Fulcher,Mamaroneck
In the language of the day,"mortgage"could mean either"lend money at interest against real through the Years, pp.37,41.
property"--which is what was meant in the agreement between Richbell and his brother--or"lease for 205. Irwin,Daniel Tompkins.
use"--which appears to be the meaning intended in Richbell's agreement with Kellond. 206. Davis,"Munrosfield" (unpublished).
177. Names and occupations derived from English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck. 207. Fox,'Caleb Heathcote, p. 276.
178. Cornell,Anne and Adam Mott,pp.22-23. 208. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck, p. 11.
179. Van Der Donck,A Description of the New Netherlands. 209. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck, pp.21,27- 28.
E' 180. Scharf,History of Westchester County, Chapter 23; and Fulcher,Mamaroneck through the Years, 210.English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck, p.231,237.
9 pp. 11-12. 211. Hufeland's"Scrapbook: Pelham-Mamaroneck" in the Huguenot-Thomas Paine Library, con-
181. Book E of Deeds,p. 133. tains two pages from an unidentified book published c. 1920 reprinting Articles of Agreement signed
182.Wolley,A Two Year's Joumal in New York and Part of Its Territories in America. July 7, 1680, to set up a sawmill on the Mamaroneck River and"to keep her going to the best advantage
183. Shonnard and Spooner,History of Westchester County. of us partners: Benjamin Horton,Joseph Horton,John Horton,John Richbell, HF[Henry Fowler],
184. Reginald Bolton,Indian Life of Long Ago in the City of New York. Thomas Hatfield, and Richard Ward."A note adds: "probably one of the first to be built in this section
185.Trelease,Indian Affairs of Colonial New York: the 17th Century. of the county"; in 1920 part of the dam was still visible"just above the stone bridge built over the rocks
186. Denton,A Brief Description of New York.
112 113
1
C
where'the fresh water falleth into the salt."'The agreement is recorded in Book B of Deeds, p.375 247. Shepard's obituary,New York Times 3-3-1894, p.6, col. 2; also 3-5-1894,p. 1 [?], col.6.
(September 7, 1680);on September 21, 1696,Thomas Hatfield sold a half interest to John Disbrowe. 248.Paragraph 5-2-1891.
k .2.
249. Reprinted in Paragraph 12-3-1892.
212. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck, p 250.Paragraph 2-11-1893.
213. Wolley,A Two Year's Journal in New York,pp.444-45.
214.Wolley,A Two Year's Journal in New York,pp.35-36. 251. Reprinted in Paragraph 4-25-1896.
215. Alvah French (following Van Der Donck),History of Westchester County, I, p.81. 252.New York World, reprinted in Paragraph 11-26-1892.
253.Larchmont Times 8-8-1935.
216.Wolley,A Two Year's Journal in New York,p.45.
217.Wolley,A Two Years'journal in New York,pp.45 and 60;Skinner,Indians of Greater New York 254. Pomerantz,New York: An American City 1783-1803, pp. 468-69; Eleanor B.Scott, "Early
Literary Clubs in New York City" in American Literature (1933) V, p.7ff.
(1909).
218.Wolley,A Two Years'Journal in New York,pp.52 and 54. 255. English,Early Town Records,pp.273,289,291-292,294-295,300,303,305,307,310.
219
Wolley,A Two Years'journal in New York,pp.31-34 and 60. I 256. Griffin, Westchester County and Its People,II, p.327.
220. Trelease,Indians of New Netherlands;Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck. 257.Howell Scrapbook,p.9b (unpublished).
221. Quoted in Dornbusch,"Captain John Underhill," The Westchester Historian, p. 54. 258. Benedict,"Good Housekeepers Prevent Fires,"Standard Star 11-18-1932. Delancey,writing in
222.Indian deed reproduced by Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p.6. 1886,says"Roosevelt arranged the cottage now the property of the family of the late George Vander-
223. All are reproduced verbatim by Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,pp.3-8. burgh for his own residence (History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 15). Benedict may remember the
224.Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p.8. year of the fire incorrectly; on the other hand,Delancey may have meant to refer to the property only,
225.Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p.6. not to the house upon it.
226. The agreement is reproduced in full in Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 2.The 259.Larchmont Times 1-24-1935.
original is in Deed Book 3,p. 126,Secretary of State's Office,Albany;see also Fox, pp. 102-103. 260.Book G of Deeds,p.322(3-27-1739).
227.Delancey, 77te History of the Town of Mamaroneck,pp.8-9. A memorial to Richbell has been 261. New York Mercury 9-17-1764, and New York Gazette or Weekly Post Boy 3-14-1765;Seacord,
f a private house on Rushmore "Premium Mill in Mamaroneck," The Westchester Historian;Johnson, "Mills Abounded in Area,"Daily
erected in the burial ground,which is still discernible at the rear o
Avenue in the Village of Mamaroneck. One may visit the cemetery by walking approximately 300 feet Times 3-26-1976.
north on village-owned property directly across the street from 401 Rushmore Avenue; a right turn and 262. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 13.
a few more steps will bring the monument into sight. 263.Hufeland, Westchester County in the American Revolution,p.xiii.
228. Delancey, 77te History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 14. 264. Baird,History of Rye,p.75.
229. Delancey, The History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 14. 265.Baird,History of Rye,p.76.
230.Personal communication from Harriet Davis("Munrosfield" author). 266.Hufeland, Westchester County in the American Revolution,p. 11.
231.Scoville 77te Old Merchants of New York,IV,pp. 138-39. 267. Free Thoughts on...the Continental Congress...by a Westchester Fanner(NY 1774), pp. 13-14 and
232. Hall,"Cornelius Roosevelt" entry in America's Successful Men of Affairs. 23.The author was Rev. Samuel Seabury,rector of St. Peter's Parish (Eastchester,Westchester and
233. Appleton's Cyclopedia,"John J.Roosevelt"entry,V,p. 319;History of the Bench and Bar in the Yonkers),who had reasons of his own for opposing rebellion.
268.Hufeland, Westchester County in the American Revolution,pp.411,415,447,448.
State of New York,I.,p.465.
234. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 15. According to Benedict ("Good 269. Delancey, The History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 13.
Housekeepers kee Prevent Fires"Standard Star 11-18-1932)),the house and its outbuildings were destroyed 270. Book V of Deeds,p. 289;Book 356,p. 184--references to change of Boston Post Road to
,
by fire in 1882. Turnpike.
235.Delancey, The History of the Town of Mamaroneck, p. 14. 271.Delancey, The History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p.31.
236. Delancey, The History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 15. 272. Delancey,New York Documentary History IV,pp. 1037ff.
237.Armstrong, The Aristocracy of New York,p. 16. 273.Pomerantz,New York:An American City,p.264.
238.Beach,Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of New York,"Collins" and"Woodruff' 274. Fish,New York State: 77te Battleground of the Revolutionary War, p. 244,based on list in F.G.
entries. Mather,Refugees from Long Island.
238b. Jerome,or George E.? The Larchntonter Times 2-23-1923 obituary of George E.Stivers says 275.Franklin B.Hough,American Biographical Notes,"Gabriel Furman" entry.
he was a carriage manufacturer and leading Mason who in 1894 lived on the site of the former Bemis 276.Book 112 of Deeds,p. 1;Book 66 of Mortgages,p.410: Henry Munro gave a mortgage to
home on Park Avenue,owned in 1923 by J.B. Craven. James V.C.Morris for$18,000 on January 19, 1842;mortgage was foreclosed September 16, 1844 and a
239. Murray bought property on Oak Bluff on 1-31-1877(Book 958 of Deeds,p.89);the price was decree of sale issued May 6, 1845;sale took place July 2, 1845;papers are filed in Office of Clerk of City
$15,670. and County of New York.
240. Towle's deed was recorded 10-28-1872. 277.Peter Jay Munro's will, dated June 25, 1830,is found in Book of Wills, p. 450,in Surrogate's Of-
241. Hallett deed dated 12-2-1872;Book 820 of Deeds,p. 294;Paragraph 8-25-1894, 10-8-1894. fice,Westchester County, and was filed October 26, 1833.Margaret Munro died March 12, 1839;by will
242.June Allen,personal communication. dated October 4, 1836, she devised premises to her son Henry;the will was filed April 12, 1837(Book 76
243. Jardine bought 1 Circle site on 12-18-1873(Book 862 of Deeds,p. 332);Haigh bought 6 Helena of Wills,p.419).
site 12-15-1873 (Book 861 of Deeds, p. 155). There is a Hartley Haigh in NYC Directories 1876 and 278. Reprinted by Baird,History of Rye,p. 68; also reprinted by Fulcher,"Washington Here Twice,"
1877 as a boarding house proprietor;Turner's 1901 Directory and William Haigh's 1926 obituary identify Larchmont Times 2-27-1941.
him as a house builder. 279. Book 573 of Deeds,p.286;Book 1011,p.459;Book 1013, p. 4; Book 609, p. 103;Book 421, p.
244.Larchmont Times 8-8-1935. 333;Book 287, p.350;Book 255, p.379;Book 112,p. 1.
245.Larchmont Times 8-8-1935. 280.Griffin, Westchester County and Its People I,p.357.
246.Paragraph 10-4-1890. 281. Alvah French,History of Westchester County I,p. 150; Griffin, Westchester County I, pp.357-358.
7 114 115
I
282. Robinson,"Larchmont Woods Once a Picnic Grounds,"Larchnnonter Times 9-8-1921. 301.Book A of Deeds,pp.85-87.
283.Paragraph 8-28-1924 and 8-21-1924;see also"Flint"entry in Biographical History of Westchester 302. Paraphrased from O'Callaghan,Documentary History of New York State,I11, pp. 1008-1012.
County,1,pp. 180-182;and Rogers,"History of the Flint Family" (unpublished). 303.Book G of Deeds, p. 620. On July 31, 1753,Solomon and Sarah Palmer,having moved to
284.English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck,p.293. Greenwich,sold their property for 1,000 pounds to Elizabeth Allaire,a widow, of Mamaroneck (Book G
285.Fishman,Bourgeoise Utopias,pp. 121-133. of Deeds,p. 620). The deed indicates that Obadiah and Sylvanus had already sold out and that only
286. Stockton,Larchmont and Orienta,p.520;Paragraph 10-1-1892. Nehemiah(or his son Nehemiah Jr.) remained on his patrimony. It also indicates that Obadiah's land
287. Brown, Valentine's Manual,pp.xi,347-348. below the Post Road (roughly,the land now occupied by the Larchmont Yacht Club,Larchmont Shores,
288. Vanderlaen,"History of Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club,"p.62(unpublished). and Cedar Island)was at this time in the hands of Nathaniel Sands. No deed confirming Sands' owner-
289.Biographical History of Westchester County,p.802. ship is found in the Index of Deeds in the Land Records Office,but members of the Sands family appear
290. Book 919 of Deeds,p. 238;Book 980,p.7;Book 1226,p. 330;Book 1292,p. 286;"The Bevan in the U.S.Census schedules from 1790 to 1820. See also Book L of Deeds,p.283.Peter Allaire ap-
Now Year-Round Resort,"Larchnnonter Times 12-14-1922;Benedict,"Good Housekeepers Prevent pears in the 1763 list of Mamaroneck freeholders qualified for jury duty(i.e. 21-70 years of age and pos-
Fires,"Standard Star 11-18-1932. sessed of a freehold valued at at least 60 pounds--about$3,000 in 1953 dollars [H.W.S.,"Freeholders
291.Book 1008 of Deeds,pp.393-415. Living in Mamaroneck 1763", The Westchester Historian]).
292.Paragraph 9-19-1891. 304.Book H of Deeds,p. 172.The land is described as bounded"northerly by the Post Road,easterly
293.Paragraph 9-19-1891. by the lands of the widow Elizabeth Allaire,southerly by the Sound,and westerly by the Creek including
294.Paragraph 3-4-1893. the said creek till it comes to the Country or Post Road,the other piece called the Hammocks lying in
295. Book S of Deeds,p.274. New Rochelle,to the westward of the other premises and adjoining to the same,bounded westwardly by
296.Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p.31. the lands of Peter Flandreau,southerly and easterly by a creek and northerly by the lands now in posses-
297. Cornell(Adam and Anne Mott,pp.21-42) says that Mott bought the property from his brother- sion of Doctor Nicholas Belly[Bayley] containing by estimation 120 acres."
in-law,Samuel Underhill,Jr., "by deed dated July, 1776"(pp. 21-22). Seacord("Premium Mill in 305.Wolley,A Two Years'Jounial in New York,p.40.
Mamaroneck") says Mott bought the property"by deed dated July 7, 1776" (p. 21).The deed is not 306.Hawke,Everyday Life in Early America,p. 192.
found in the Index of Deeds of the Westchester County Land Records Office. The earliest conveyance 307.Book R of Deeds,p.59;Book N of Deeds,p.435.
to Mott there found is the 1786 deed from Underhill to the 50-acre farm lying north of the mill property 308. Book P of Deeds,pp.71--74.
(Book R of Deeds,p.258). The deed says Mott is already"in possession"of this land and appears to in- 309. This is the 50-acre plot James Mott bought from Samuel Underhill in 1786(Book R of Deeds,p.
dicate that he owned land adjacent to it. 1 258), described in this and other deeds (Book P of Deeds,p.74;Book N,p. 104) as
Cornell also says"The dwelling house which he[Mott]bought on the place'[in 17761 was subsequently "land and salt meadow...in Mamaroneck...beginning at corner of widow Elizabeth Allaire's land near
the gate at the Post or Main Road(being the northeast corner of the parcel conveyed here) and running
burned:but the handsome two-storied frame house,with adouble-pitched roof,which he erected in its
place towards the close of the century,is still standing in good preservation,with some additions,still r westerly and southerly as the road runs to the creek and Mill Pond,thence southwardly by said creek
looking southerly among surrounding trees,on the low and narrow land below the Sound and the inlet and mill pond till it comes to the lands of James Mott and easterly along said lands until it comes to the
or bay,where the tidewater was arrested to drive'the old red mill,'then standing on the margin of the land of Elizabeth Allaire and then northerly along her land to the place of beginning."
To put it in terms of today's streets and landmarks,it is clear that the land was bounded by the Post
mill pond,a few rods southwest of the house. Here James Mott settled in 1776,and here was his home
for more than 40 years" (p.22). Road (its original route,that is),Beach Avenue(more or less--the boundary between the inheritances of
d to his son Richard the 50-acre parcel he had purchased from Underhill in Sylvanus and Solomon Palmer was about here,and Elizabeth Allaire acquired Solomon's property on
In 1797,Mott conveyed P y
1786(Book P of Deeds,p. 74);by this time"the new dwelling house of the said James Mott"had been July 31, 1753--Book G of Deeds,p. 620),and Pine Brook(the creek) and the Mill Pond-- corresponding
added to the description of the property.The southerly boundary of the 50-acre parcel was"about 40 roughly to Sylvanus Palmer's inheritance in this area. It appears that the southern boundary was at
rods" [660 feet] northward of that house. Other evidence indicates that the southern boundary of that Hazel Lane, since that is where the boundary was when this 50-acre parcel was conveyed to Peter Jay
parcel lay approximately along what is today Hazel Lane. It would thus appear that the"new house" Munro and subsequently--the parcel remaining intact until developed in the late 19th century as Wood-
built sometime between 1786 and 1797 is the house still standing at 4 Pryer Manor Road and now bine Park.
known as"the Mill House." James Mott conveyed this 50-acre parcel to his son Richard in 1797,by which time"the new dwelling
Maddeningly,there is other evidence to suggest that it is not.See Note 309. house of the said James Mott"has been added to the description of the property.The 50-acre parcel was
An article in the Mt. Vernon Argus (6-23-1962) states that'the house was built in 1751,a wing added bounded"about 40 rods[660 feet] northward of that house"--in other words,the house was not included
in 1814,and the dormers constructed in 1918. This information was apparently provided by the owner (Book P of Deeds,p.74).
at the time,Walter Slezack,on what authority it is not known. Delancey(77ie History of the Town of Mamaroneck) says that Adam and Anne"settled in a house af-
See also Griffin, Westchester County and Its People II,pp. 421-422;Robert Bolton,History of terwards the property of Peter Jay Monroe[sic] and called the'Mott House'on a pleasant farm adjoin-
Westchester County,pp.752-753;and Book P of Deeds,p.74. ing what is now known as Larchmont[i.e. Larchmont Manor]" (p. 32). Delancey is not referring to the
298. Book E of Deeds,p. 133,gives boundaries of lands inherited by Samuel Palmer's four sons in house on Pryer Manor Road,for he describes that house elsewhere as"a handsome two-story farm
1716. house with double-pitched roof'that"still [i.e. 18861 stands and is in good repair, fronting to the South,
299. Seacord(in"Premium Mill in Mamaroneck," The Westchester Historian) says Underhill sold to on its own private lane,half a mile east of the Boston road...in recent years occupied by the Pryer family
Mott on July 7, 1776. The only Underhill-to-Mott transfer I can find is for September 20, 1786,when " (p.31).
Mott acquired title to the northwesterly 50 acres of Underhill's holdings in Mamaroneck(Book R of The importance of this thicket of details is that it is tempting to speculate that the"new dwelling
Deeds,p.258).This deed says Mott was already"in possession"of this land,and appears to indicate that house"first described in 1797 is the ancient dwelling now standing at 60 Beach Avenue.There is nothing
Mott owned property adjacent to it. to prove that it is,although there are clues pointing in that direction. We return to this puzzle farther
300.Book A of Deeds,pp.30-34 and p.238;see also Book B of Deeds,pp.275,371,375. along.
i
116
117
I
54 and 56: on June 2 1814 Strong Sturges of New York City bought the 319.National Cyclopedia of American Biography III (NY:1893),p.68;Biographical History of
310. Book R of Deeds,pp. Westchester County I,p. 112;Paragraph 1-14-1893,2-11-1893,9-23-1893.
21 acres of the Mott property that lay in New Rochelle("land and mills commonly called Snuff Mills but n
ierts,"Munsey's magazine.
now a mill for manufacturing of flour") and an undivided one-fourth in part of the mill property that lay 321. The Illustrated American 320.Stockton,"Larchmont and Oie to reprinted in Mainsheet, the newsletter of the Larchmont
in Mamaroneck,comprising nine and one-half acres. Samuel Mott retained a partial interest until 1843 Yacht Club, in December 1983.
(Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,pp. 14,25). Sallie Carver bought waterfront property from Flint in 1884(Book 1040 of Deeds,p. 433), and land
311.Many writers give 1790 as the year in which Munro bought his first parcel. They do not cite their from the Larchmont Manor Company at Woodbine and Larchmont avenues in 1886(Book 1094 of
authority for this date but are apparently following Delancey,who writes that"about 1uired all
nro,the who Deeds 267 .She sold the property on April 30 1887 to the Larchmont Yacht Club for$100 000
a year or two before had bought the original Samuel Palmer House...and its farm,acquired all the other ,P• ) P P Y P >
lands on the Neck except the Scott House[formerly the Mott house] and the mill pond on the extreme (Book 1107 of Deeds, p. 402). A map of the property conveyed is found in the County Land Records,
Volume 7 of Maps,p.24.
western extremity of the Neck[the Mott property]" (History of the Town of Mamaroneck,pp. 14,25).
322.Paragraph 3-11-1893.
The earliest purchase registered in the County Land Records is for 1795. On April 18, 1795,Isaac
323. Vanderlaen, "History of Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club,"p.5 (unpublished).
Sniffm testified to selling to Munro a parcel of land that fits the description of the land Samuel Palmer 324. Elias S.A. DeLima vs. Harriet Mitchell and Others,Supreme Court,Westchester County.
willed to his son,Nehemiah. This parcel included the land on which the Palmer homestead stood,to the 325. For the full story,see Spikes,Larchmont-on-the-Sound: The Rise and Fall of the Resort Hotels
South and East of the present intersection of Larchmont Avenue and the Post Road. The number of (booklet).
acres is not given in the deed,but from the purchase price--3,000 pounds--we may conclude that the pur-
chase326. Book M of Deeds,p. 88,details a right-of-way for Peter Allaire through Munro's salt meadow.
was a substantial one(Book 56 of Deeds,p. 431). 327.Robinson "Larchmont in the Time of the Indians"Larchmont Times 7-21-1921.
Sniffin had acquired the land in January of the same year from Nehemiah's five heirs,each of whom >
328. Embalmed in a deed dated August 20 1803 b which Charles Duncan conveyed to Peter Ja
419 and 428 .Since Sniffin paid 600 pounds g Y Y Y
had received an undivided one-fifth(Book 56 of Deeds,pp. ) Munro five acres of land in the area now known as Lorenzen Park,is the information that those five
h of the fifths--3,000 pounds--and then sold the land to Munro for exactly the same amount,we acres area art of the land the Palmers had quarreled with Jacobus Van Cortlandt and Adolph Philipse
for each P q P p
may hazard the guess that Sniffin was acting as Munro's agent. over back in 1727(Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 13).
Excluded from the land above referred to was one five-acre lot that Nehemiah's heirs had conveyed The deed further explains that"Nicholas Belly[originally Besley and usually found spelled Bayley] late
to Charles Roe (Book 56 of Deeds,p. 444);Munro acquired this lot on March 22, 1797 (Book 56 of of Mamaroneck,physician"acquired this land"from the Commissioners of Forfeitures for the Southern
Deeds,p.439). District said farm having been forfeited to the people of said State by the attainder of Frederick Philipse
The Land Records do not reveal
when,Munro acquired the middle portion of the Great Neck-- Esq." This refers to the anti-Loyalist legislation passed after the Revolution by which the real and per-
sonal property of those who had sided with the British was confiscated(for more on this, see Pomerantz,
Ija Solomon Palmer's inheritance,and the part that makes up the bulk of Larchmont Manor. Those re- q• Y g
cords do reveal that by July 31, 1753,Solomon and his wife Sarah had moved to Greenwich and on that P P Y
New York: An American City 1783-1803[Pt.Washington,NY 1938],pp.79-80 and passim).
day sold 150 acres(including some land above the Neck)to Elizabeth Allaire,a Mamaroneck widow A part of the Philipse farm purchased by"Belly"from the Commissioners of Forfeiture,the deed con-
(Book G of Deeds,p.620).On June 14, 1788,Elizabeth sold the land to Peter Allaire (Book L of tinues passed b will to his son Oliver,"Mamaroneck farmer,"who sold it in 1799 to Charles E.Duncan.
Deeds,p. 283). On April 7, 1801,Peter conveyed 130 acres of that land to Ca licia Allaire;the descrip- P Y
By this deed Duncan conveyed five acres of his land to Munro,on August 20, 1803 (Book N of Deeds,P.
tion of the property indicates that by that time Munro had acquired the other 20 acres (Book N of 20).See also note 336.
Deeds,p. 244). The deed by which Calicia's land passed to Munro,however,has not been found--nor
329.Re Fountain Square as a swamp:
have I been able to discover through whose hands Obadiah Palmer's land in the Neck(see"Map of "Even in the recollection of some of the present residents,"I.S. Holbrook wrote in 1921, "the site of
Larchmont in 1716") passed on its way to Munro. the present Episcopal Church [St.John's]was nothing but a tangled and well-nigh impenetrable swamp,
The Land Records include 10 additional deeds by which Munro acquired other parcels of Samuel Pa- covering upwards of 20 acres,the outlet of which was a stream which emptied into what is called the
timer's original purchase.the last acquisitions being in 1828(Book Q of Deeds, p.288;Book 31 of Horseshoe Harbor at a point about opposite to the house of the late Mr. Joseph Bird[6 Helena]" ("The
Deeds,p.301;Book 33 of Deeds,p. 166;Book 43 of Deeds,p. 137;Book 56 of Deeds,pp.439 and 444,
Early History of Larchmont,"Larclhnhoihter- Times April 17, 1921).
446, and 449;Book N of Deeds,p. 200;Book 333 of Deeds,p. 16).All of these deeds contain much of 330.Re Indian skeletons:
interest to genealogists of the families described,as well as some otherwise lost information on the land- I.S.Holbrook refers to"a fireside tale"that"in the early part of the 17th century the Siwanoys were
scape of the day,but they concern small parcels only and hold little of interest to the general reader. attacked by a tribe of Indians from the North and driven into this swamp[a 20-acre swamp that included
An exception is the deed describing one of Munro's purchases west of the Manor--the neighborhood Fountain Square],where a bloody battle was fought...Whether this is based on fact or not cannot be
s,p. 200). This land,the deed recites, is part of the land said,but that a fierce battle was waged at about this time is evidenced by skeletons with tomahawks in
now known as Lorenzen Park(Book N of Deed
their skulls--having been found there in comparatively recent years together with the war arrowheads
the Palmers had quarreled over with Jacobus Van Cortlandt and Adolf Philipse back in 1727. or more
on this,see note 328,below. and other war-like implements,which were dug up on that ground by a member of the Larchmont
312.Book P of Deeds, p.74. Yacht Club" ("The Early History of Larchmont,"Larchmonter-Times April 17, 1921). The"member"re-
313.Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p.32. ferenced is John Pryer.
Y I
314.Book 793 of Deedspp 128 ff.;Book 802,p.303. "In 1921 remains of Indian skeletons were turned up in excavating to construct a house on Monroe 315.Book 821 of Deeds,pp.292ff. Avenue,Larchmont" (Robinson,"Larchmont in the Time of the Indians,"Larchmonter-Times 7-21-
316. Book 609 of Deeds,p. 103. See also note 279. Collins'brothers-in-law,Marcus and John 1921).
Ogden Woodruff,had bought the property in 1858 but failed to meet the terms of the mortgage (Book I Neither of these discoveries can be authenticated.
378,p.262).
331. Village Board Minutes 10-16-1891. It has not escaped the writer's notice that the date of the
317.Larchmonter Times 5-13-1911;Larchmont Village Tax Rolls 1891 (re McCahill);Bien's 1892 first Village Board meeting is earlier than the date given for the election--even two days earlier than the
� �
map. date of the drawing up of the slate.That is,however, the way the record reads.
318. These features appear in the auction advertisement (New York Herald 6-10-1865) and on the I 332.Village Board Minutes 10-23-1891.
sales map and flyer
118 119
t
333.Village Board Minutes 12-1-1891 359. Philip Severin,"County Fair,"Daily Times 11-26-1967 or 11-26-1969(both dates are handwritten
on copies in Larchmont Historical Society Archives).
335. "Second Letter to Adolph Philipse" (unpublished)..
334. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 360. The State Census schedules prior to 1915 perished in the 1912 fire in the State Capitol. Data
336. This information is contained in a deed dated August 20, 1803,by which Charles Duncan con- from the 1855 census are found in French's 1866 Gazeteer,p.701ff.
veyed to Peter Jay Munro five acres of land in the area now known as Lorenzen Park(Book N of Deeds, 361. Robinson,"The Old School House and the Swimming Hole,"L-T 9-20-1921.
p. 200). Bayley's house,occupied from 1835 to 1904 by three generations of the Disbrow family,was
362. Book 295 of Deeds,pp. 14, 18,22,26,30,34,38,42,46,50,54.
turned into-a roadhouse first known as the Indian Head,later as the Ferncroft, and finally as the Loyal ( 363. Robinson, "The Old School House,"Larchmonter-Times 9-20-1921.See also note 538.
364. Turner's 1901 Directory;Larchmonter Times 7-29- 1911;Larchmont Village Tax Assessment
Inn. It burned in 1929. Rolls 1891 (unpublished);Biographical History of Westchester County II,p. 807;Paragraph 9-19-1891,
337.Book 56 of Deeds,pp.431,419,and 428.
10-1-1892,9-9-1893.
338.Book N of Deeds, p.200. 365.Book 1064 of Deeds,p.424.
339. Book 333 of Deeds,p. 16. 366.Book 301 of Deeds,pp.357,359.
340. Book 56 of Deeds,p.444. 367. Finch, "Information on Bonnett, Vanderburgh...Families" (unpublished).
341. Finch,"Information on Bonnett,Vanderburgh...Families" (unpublished). 368.Paragraph 10-1-1892.
342.Henry Rankin took a mortgage from Henry Munro on 50 acres on 5-1-1843 (Book 70 of Deeds,
369.Paragraph 8-29-1891
p. 327),foreclosed on 12-20- 1845. Margaret Munro mortgaged 520 acres to Rankin 10-31- 1843 (Book 370. The memoirs of Richard Mott,son of James Mott's daughter Anne,printed in Thomas Cornell's
44 of Deeds,p. 316), and this morgage was also foreclosed and the property sold by Rankin to Adam and Anne Mott,pp. 25-42,are"derived from recollections...as told by participants and eye witnes-
Roosevelt. ses." Much of Mott's story is retold,with minor variations,in"Little Quaker Heroine,"New York
343. For transfer from Roosevelt to Jackson(for Chatsworth Land Company) on 6-17-1854, see Tribune,7-24-1898. Charles Pryer's"Legend of a Westchester Homestead,"published in Pollard's
Book 287 of Deeds,p. 137.The deed recites that it conveys"all that farm of James J. Roosevelt con- Monthly in June, 1877,is also based on Mott's account.
Henry Rankin respectively situated partly in the Town of New
John W. Munro and e p Y 371. Cornell Adam and Anne Mott .70.
ve ed to him b Y
y y � ,P
Rochelle and partly in the Town of Mamaroneck"comprising 500 acres"on north side of Turnpike ex- 372. Cornell,Adam and Anne Mott,pp.70-94.
cepting two small pieces of land on the Turnpike at the southeast corner of the farm, one called the Pa- 373. Cornell,Adan and Anne Mott,p.66.
n and the other Locust Grove lot joining Mrs.Daubeny's land and the Quaker Burial 374. Richard Mott in Cornell Adan and Anne Mott .90-92.
liner Burial Ground
h st corner conveyed b
Roosevelt to Mrs. Van- 'PP
r ea
in the not Y
h lot of 28 acres Y 375. Cornell Adam and Anne Mott .74-76.
I� Ground and excepting the ,pp
derburgh[Book 276 of Deeds,p.209--June 16, 18501 and excepting the track of the New York&New 376. Vanderlaen,"History of Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club,"p. 16(unpublished).
Haven Railroad as designated on the map of said Road." 377. Vanderlaen, "History of Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club,"p. 17 (unpublished).
In 1846 the Roosevelts had sold the Locust Grove to Collins, describing it as"a small piece or gore of 378.Larchmonter Times 6-24-1911,3-26-1936.
R land situate in the Town of Mamaroneck...on the west side of the Boston Turnpike Road and between 379. One simply drove up to the door and had the batteries charged. The property was sold to the
( Village in 1908 for Engine Company headquarters,and from 1922 to 1925 it served as a storage yard for
said road and the Quaker Burying Ground and the land of Mrs.Daubeny said gore being opposite the
said Collins land and being sometimes called the Locust Grove" (Book 1055 of Deeds,p.446). the Street Department--Larchmont Times 5-21- 1925.
344.Bien's 1892 map. 380. Larchmont Times 4-2-1931;Larchmont Village Tax Rolls 1891 (unpublished);Turner's Directory
345. Turner's 1901 Directory;New York Sunt 3-13-1904. 1901.
346.Larchmont Vital Statistics 1897 (unpublished);Turner's 1901 Directory. 381. Vanderlaen, "History of Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club,"p.31 (unpublished).
347. Village Board Minutes 10-10-1891, 11-24-1891,6-2-1893 (unpublished). 382.Paragraph 10-1-1892
348.Village Board Minutes 1-6-1894;4-17-1916. 383. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p.29.
349. Village Board Minutes 4-5-1920;Larchmont Times 1-4- 1923. 384.Biographical History of Westchester County I,p. 123.
350.E.g. Book 1215 of Deeds,p. 16. 385.Paragraph 1-7-1893.
351. Biographical History of Westchester County I,p. 229;Robinson, Larchmont Had General Store 386.Paragraph 8-26-1893.
v r' Larchmont,"
in 1883,"Larchmonter Times 8-25-1921. 387. Mathias,"Savoring Seve nn s Of Westchester,p.55.
352. "Larchmont Will Fight: Women Raise$1,500 to Help Keep Hotels from the Manor,' New York 388.Larchmonter-Times 2-9-1922.
389.Larchnnonter-Tintes 12-1-1917.
53
Times 10-16-1895.
3es Larchmont Yacht Club membership lists and addresses are not available to the public,but the 390. Hopkins, "The World and St.Augustine's Church" (booklet).
list of charter members included in the Club's Centennial Yearbook contains the names of 10 men who 391. Davis,"Davids Island," The Westchester Historian,p.5; Book 345 of Deeds,p. 295; Book 629 of
appear as Larchmont Manor property owners in deeds or tax records of this period. Deeds, p. 136.
354. Unidentified article of July 27, 1889,reprinted in Robinson,"Larchmont in the Time of the In- 392. Robinson ("Larchmont in the Time of the Indians,"Larchmonter Times 7-21-1921) says, "Miss
dians;'Larchmonter Times 7-21-1.921.
Hattie Mitchell's aristocratic boarding house [was] owned by Mr. Roberson[sic], a silver miner who
355. Manual of Westchester Past and Present. Civil List to Date (White Plains 1898). bought one of the original six Company houses in 1872." There is some truth to this,but it gives the
wrong impression.
356. The population of servants in 1891 is extrapolated from their numbers in the 1900 U.S. Census, Kate Robinson bought part of the circle on October 22, 1872, from the Manor Company(Book 957 of
which lists all members of each household by name,age,sex,occupation and national origin and Deeds, p. 190;Book 822 of Deeds, p.271);John R. and Catherine J. [Kate] Robinson of Easton,Md.,
specifies their relationship to the head. for bought most of the remainder of the circle from the Manor Company by deed recorded October 18,
this address"
which lists len"length of residence at ,
Information derived from 1900 U.S. Census,
357. o g1880 (Book 987 of Deeds, p. Sl), the Robinsons conveyed the property to Harriet Mitchell October 13,
each person enumerated. 1887(Book 1119 of Deeds, p.424).
358. Susan Daubeny was described as a widow in a deed of this year (Book 123 of Deeds, p.210).
7 I 121
120
I
393. A New York State Historical Marker on St. Paul's National Historic Site (Route 22,Mt. Ver- Olive Jefferd. The mill pond,some 20 acres in extent, lay on the north side of the Post Road in New
non) reads: "Village Green/Election of 1733 held here./Caused the Zenger Trial/Establishing Rochelle and became known as Crystal Lake. In 1845 an ice industry was established there. After the
Freedom of the Press."Scholars of the period dispute both that the election caused the Zenger trial and Civil War,John Stephenson,the trolley-car magnate whose estate on the Post Road is now the provin-
that the trial set the precedent for freedom of the press. See,for example,Dunkak,"The 1733 Eastches- cial headquarters of the Salesians of San Bosco,bought Crystal Lake, drained it, and confined Stoney
ter Election,the Zenger Trial, and Freedom of the Press," The Westchester Historian Vol.64,no.2 Brook within walls. It then became known as Crystal Lake Brook, and later as Stephenson's Brook.
Sometime in the early 20th century the brook was buried in a culvert,and it is now known--mostly to en-
(Spring 1988).
394.Foland,"St. John's First 75 Years" (flyer). ,, gineers,as it is not visible--as Stephenson Drain. See Wilson,"Stephenson Drain," The Westchester His-
395."Larchmont's Oldest Church,"St.John's Church in Action (booklet). torian, and the sources there cited.
395. Quoted from"a New York daily paper dated ch in by Robinson,"Religious Growth of I 406. This was a popular misconception. "The appearance of the British fleet in New York harbor in
Larchmont," d from
nnonter Times 8-18- 1921. mid-summer 1776 created considerable panic among all the residents of the city who were supporters of
397. "Last Sunda for Service in Church,"Larchnnwnter Times 12-16-1922. This account of the found- the revolutionary cause,"writes Richard Mass. "Several hundred families made the difficult decision to
Y remove themselves to Westchester and Connecticut with the hope that these areas would not become
tantially a repetition of"St. Augustine's Church Established 25
ing of St. Augustine's,which is subs
Years,"Larchnnonter Times 7-7-1921,is based on"a history of the church authenticated upwards of 20 part of the theater of war. Some businessmen remained in New York with the intention of disposing of r,
years ago[i.e. around 19021 by the signatures of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Adams:' The non-parish con- their property,inventory, etc.to others who would remain under the British if the latter did take the
tributory listed are Edward By the ,William A. Boyd,Judge Francis M. Scott,Oswald Sanderson, city." Mass cites a letter in his possession written by one such merchant,Thomas Pratt,who reports .
sending his wife and child to"Maroneck"in July of 1776. After a variety of trials and tribulations, Pratt
Charles Hoffmaster,Gerard Lowery,Charles H. Murray,F.F. Proctor,John Sterling, Charles Hull,
Roger Lamson,Helena Flint,H.A. Van Liew,George R. Wight,Henry Eaton,David Grosbeck, Oliver removed his family to Stamford, Ct.,in April of 1777"because of threats from local Tories" (Mass,"A
New York City Family Flees to Westchester", The Westchester Historian).
Iselin,Julius Gerlach,and Edward Caldwell. Also John Sands, son of an old Long Island family, and his wife Sarah Dodge moved to a farm"at
398. Robinson,"Religious Growth of Larchmont,"Larchmonter Times 8-18-1921.
399. Philip Severin, a local historian who lived in Larchmont from 1899 to his death in 1986,used to New Rochelle"in March of 1776"and had nearly completed a dwelling when the British landed there in
l
raise some hackles by connecting the founding g
in of St. Augustine's with the desire of Irish serving girls in October,pulled down the house,took away his furniture,and destroyed his books. Being compelled to
Manor households to avoid the long trip to Mamaroneck or New Rochelle to hear Mass. Although the leave his house,he took refuge in Philadelphia,which was afterwards menaced by the enemy, and he re-
religious affiliations of a community--like national origin, ethnicity, and socio-economic status--are an moved his family to Rochester,Ulster County,N.Y.,where they remained till 1778--then to Poughkeep-
historian's legitimate concern,statistical studies of the former are impossible to carry out, as the mem- sie,and again to Philadelphia,where they remained till peace was declared in the year 1783,when they
bershi rolls of religious institutions are not a matter of public record. Information of this type for in- returned to New York" (Thompson,History of Long Island,III,p. 585). Perhaps Nathaniel Sands,who
+ p appears in earl post-war land records as occupying lands formerly of Nehemiah Palmer,was a member
dividuals can sometimes be gleaned from birth,baptism;bar/bat mitzvah,wedding, and death notices or Pp Y P PY g Y
certificates;the evidence for making general statements is more casual and correspondingly less reliable. of this family. Other individuals with this surname are ennumerated in federal census records for the
On an oral history tape made in 1974 and in ae possession of the Larchmont Public Library, Severin Town of Mamaroneck in the early 19th century.
407.A 1799 deed, for example,describes a boundary as"beginning at Pine Brook Bridge [Boston Post
says he got the story of the founding of St.Augustine's from"John Maddock,who came here about
j' 1880,was a member of the church, and told me all about it." (In fact,Maddock,who kept a livery stable Road at Mayhew Avenue], then up the same to Indian Rock" (John and Magdalen Bailey to Joseph
at the corner of Chatsworth Avenue and the Boston Post Road,was in Larchmont as early as 1871--see Seacord,Book M of Deeds,p. 289; quoted in Seacord,"Indian Rock Shelter of Larchmont," The
Westchester Historian, p.50).
1900 U.S. Census,Turner's 1901 Directory, and Larchmonter Times 4-15-1916).
Maddock's story, as recollected by Severin,was that"every house in the Manor had three servants and 408. Seacord,"Indian Rock Shelter of Larchmont," The Westchester Historian,p.49;see also photo on
they were...all Irish Catholic girls who wanted to go to church on Sunday...They used to go to Holy page 48.
Trinity in Mamaroneck and Holy Name[sic] in New Rochelle by surrey...The Irish girls got together; 409. Dunlap,"The Image Stone of the Siwanoys," Westchester Historian,pp.29-31.
they didn't like this idea of going to different towns. They wanted something in Larchmont.So the Epis- 410.Richmond letters(unpublished).
copal people they worked for got together and they raised the money and built the first Catholic church 411. As the first child"to the Manor born,"Eugene Richmond received from the Larchmont Manor
here for the Irish servant girls." Company an engraved silver cup,knife,fork,spoon, and napkin ring.Being"the last surviving member
400.Cushman,Historic Westchester,p. 18. of my family," he gave the silver service to the Larchmont Manor Park Society,which presented it to the
401. Flushing Friends' Records(unpublished). Village (Richmond letters,unpublished).In 1959 it was installed in a case in the Children's Room in the
402. Cornell,Adam and Anne Mott, p.22. Larchmont Public Library(Daily Times 10-19-1959).
403. Cornell,Adam and Anne Motte,p.24.
412.Vanderlaen,"History of the Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club,"p. 31 (unpublished);Larchmont
404. Wilson,"The Invasion of New Rochelle," The Westchester Historian,p.27. Manor Park Society Minutes and Annual Reports 1891-1912(unpublished).
405. Three bodies of water figure in the boundary confusion of the 17th and 18th centuries.Two were 413.Port Chester Journal 3-8-1877;Book 866 of Deeds,p. 1.
tributaries of what is now called the Premium River;the mouths of both remain on the maps and the 414.Village Board Minutes 10-23-1891 (unpublished).
landscape of the present day,defining the area known as Lorenzen Park. The easterly tributary is 415.Manor Park Society Minutes 12-2-1891 (unpublished).
labelled Pine Brook on current maps, and goes into a culvert under the Post Road opposite Mayhew 416. Manor Park Society Minutes 1-4-1892(unpublished).Articles of Incorporation were prepared
Avenue; the westerly tributary seems to be a continuation of the Premium River, and it too disappears and filed in the Office of the Secretary of State on January 8, 1892. Also on that date,the trustees of the
into a culvert under the Post Road at the westerly boundary of the Village of Larchmont.The third Society received a deed from the Manor Company to"all park properties...comprising the large park on
stream--by far the largest and most important--entered the Sound at Echo Bay, about three-quarters of the water front and several other small parcels of land in the Manor" (Manor Park Society Annual Re-
a mile west of the other two. All three were known by similar names,which is what caused the confu- port 1-1-1893;Book 1267 of Deeds,p.404.
sion. 417. Cochran letters(unpublished).
By the early 18th century, after the disputes were finally settled, the largest and most westerly of the 418. James L. [Lewis] Deming purchased the property from the Manor Company on October 6,
three streams was called Stoney Brook. As early as 1687, a sawmill was operated there by John and 1874(Book 883 of Deeds,p.35).See also Book 992 of Deeds,p.416.
j, •
1
123
22
- oda-- --- - .
I
442. There is some evidence of involvement with the Underground Railroad on the other side of
419.3-2-1886 in Book 1077 of Deeds,p.385. Westchester;the Tarrytown Historical Society has published some short accounts of abolitionist activity
420.6-15-1881 in Book 995 of Deeds,p.415. along the Hudson River,and there are many accounts of Harriet Tubman's work in that vicinity. When
421. Catherine Campbell bought in September 1890 (Book 1215 of Deeds,p. 16);William Campbell Gary Kriss reviewed the subject in the February 14, 1988,issue of the New York Times (Westchester sec-
bought property 5-9-1889 (Book 1138 of Deeds, p. 105), and in September 1890 (reference in Book 1746 tion), Vivienne Ratner of South Salem told him that there was"an active county route running along the
of Deeds, p. 16). Long Island Sound shoreline,"but she could offer no evidence.
422. Book 802 of Deeds,p.303;Book 1008 of Deeds, pp.393-415; Book 1056 of Deeds,p.278. Mary Ellen Singsen of Scarsdale,a Quaker historian,told Kriss she has a letter dated 1939 and writ-
423.Bien's 1892 map. I ten by a descendant of abolitionists that lists three reputed stations in Westchester,one of them in New
424. Richmond letters(unpublished). Rochelle, and the names of the stationmasters. One station,Singsen said,was John Jay's homestead in
425. Flint Papers(unpublished). Bedford,in the 1850s,when his son William was the owner;the curator of the Jay Homestead told Kriss
426.Paragraph 11-19-1892. she knew nothing of this. Singsen declined to release the other two names,
pending
further investi
a-
427. Benedict,"Good Housekeepers Prevent Fires,"Standard Star 11-18-1932. I tion.
428. New York Times 1-8-1915;Port Chester Enterprise 6-2-1888;"Field Officers of Volunteers and 443.Larchmont Times 4-4-1917.
Militia in the Service of the United States during the War of the Rebellion 1861-65" in New York Public 444.Paragraph 9-23-1893;Larchnnonter Times 11-9-1922.
Library. 445. Village Board Minutes 5-4-1894(unpublished).
429.Larchmont Tinnes 5-11-1933. 446.Larchmonter-Times 12-23-1926.
430. Cochran letters (unpublished). 447.Paragraph 10-22-1892.
431.Book 866 of Deeds,p. 1. 448.Larchnnonter-Times 2-18-1926.
432.Book 841 of Deeds,p. 190 (recorded 5-17-1873). 449.Paragraph 11-22-1890; 12-13-1890.
433. Cochran letters (unpublished). 450. Richmond letters (unpublished).
434. Tatum, The Story of Larchmont Manor Park,p. 14;Manor Park Society Annual Report 1898; 451. Severin, "Oldest Mamaroneck Son,"Larclunont Times 12- 15-1949; and"Cy Harper,"Daily
I � Manor Park Society Minutes 10-29-1933(unpublished);for design and supervision of building of Tines 1-7-1970.
seawalls by Charles King see Manor Park Society Annual Report 1935 and Letter to Editor,Larchmont 452.Severin, "Hickey Played a Leading Role,"Larchmont Times 11-?-1948 or 1949(date on clipping
Times 6-21-1934. mangled).
435.Manor Park Society Annual Report 1-1-1893 (unpublished). 453. Severin, caption to photo of"the original horse barn"in"Hickey Played a Leading Role,"
436.Manor Park Society Annual Report 1-1-1893(unpublished). Larchmont Times; and"Old Larchmont: The Station Area" (The Larch Tree). Elsewhere in the same
437.Tatum, The Story of Larchmont Manor Park,p.40. article Severin says the original barn was on Woodbine Avenue and was moved to the northwest corner
438. Robinson,"Larchmont Had General Store,"Larchmonter Times,8-25-1921. of Cherry and Monroe avenues(where it appears on the 1892 Village map).
439."The Vanderburgh homestead on Bonnett Avenue was used during the Civil War as a stopping 454.Larchmont Times 7-14-1932.
place on the'underground,' a means of escape for southern slaves fleeing to Canada"--Finch,"Inform- 455.Paragraph 3-[7?]-1891 (date page is mangled).
atio on Bonnett,Vanderburgh...Families" (unpublished). The house and all its outbuildings burned in 456.Paragraph 2-10-1894.
1882(Benedict,"Good Housekeepers Prevent Fires,' Standard Star, 11-18-1921). 457. "Of Larchmont Manor Park and Its Society,"Daily Times 9-18-1961.
440. It is generally believed that the house at 60 Beach was built around 1820 as a guest house for the 458.Turner's 1901 Directory.
Munro estate and that it is the"double English cottage"referred to in Collins' sales advertisement of 459. "William Haigh Dies Suddenly,"Larchmonter-Times 1-21- 1926.
1865. It is possible,however,that this is the"new dwelling house of James Mott" mentioned in a 1797 460. "Big Estate Left by Larchmonter,"Larchmonter-Times 2-24-1927.
461.Editorial,Larchmonter-Times 1-21-1926.
deed (see notes 297,309). 462. Port Chester Enterprise 12-15-1886;Turner's 1901 Directory; 1907 Village map.
Although Munro served as a member of the Council of the New York Society for Promoting the
Manumission of Slaves(of which his cousin Peter Augustus Jay was at one time president), there is no 463. Book 295 of Deeds,p.30;Book 292,p.44;Book 443,p.244;Book 709,p. 105;Book 365, p.322.
indication that he was involved in abolitionist activities,nor did he(according to the federal census and 464. Vanderlaen,"History of Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club,"p. 15 (unpublished).
465. Robinson,"Religious Growth of Larchmont,"Larchmonter Times 8-18-1921.
the Early Town Records) free his own slaves until 1827,in accordance with New York State law. See
letter of 2-14-1798 reproduced in The Papers of Alexander Hamilton,Harold Syrett, ed. (New York: 466.Paragraph 12-20-1890,5-2-1891,9-19-1891, 1-28-1893,2- 11-1893,2-25-1893, 11-25-1893,4-14-
1974),vol. 21,p. 354. Collins, a Yankee shipowner with interests in the South,is particularly unlikely 1893.
467. Port Chester Enterprise 6-2-1888;Paragraph 9-16- 1893.
to have favored abolition because of his involvement in the cotton trade. 468. "House Occupied Since 1842 Succumbs to Trend of Times,"in Larchmont Times 12-12-1940.
441. There are mundane and rather obvious alternative explanations for the"secret room" and"es- 469.Paragraph 1-25-1896.
cape tunnels." Early farmhouses often had ice boxes or root cellars set into their foundations. (A 470.Larchmont Times 5-17-1923.
similar legend about the Hammond House in the Town of Mount Pleasant was put to rest when his- 471.Larchmont Times 12-8-1927.
torian Reginald Bolton identified its"secret room"as a root cellar--see note 280.)As for the"escape 472.Paragraph 1-27-1894.
tunnels,"no remnants of such tunnels exist today,and none of the people who have claimed to have seen 473.Paragraph 10-1-1892.
them are still alive. Tunnels connecting large houses with their outbuildings were once common; steam 474.New York Times 11-6-1906.
pipes to heat the buildings were located in them. Such pipes are indicated on the map Collins had 475. Paragraph 10-1-1893;Port Chester Enterprise 8-4- 1886;Larchmonter Times 6-20-1914.
drawn of his property in 1865,and the house at 85 Larchmont Avenue,built in the late 19th century,had 476.Paragraph 9-9-1893; 12-2-1893.
them also, according to its current owner,James Levi.Finally,the belief that secret rooms and escape 477.Larchmont Times 4-15-1926•Paragraph 10-1-1892
tunnels exist(or most commonly,used to exist) in the oldest houses in town is so widespread as to 478. Port Chester Enterprise 6-2-1888;Paragraph 9-16- 1893;Larchmont Times 12-10-1925.
qualify as an archetype of the human mind.
7 125
124
II
479.Mamaroneck Daily Times 3-25-1935. 519. Davis, "Munrosfield," p.202(unpublished).
480. Larchmont Village Vital Statistics;Paragraph 4-1-1893;5-13-1893;9-2-1893;9-16-1893; 11-9- 520.History of the Bench and Bar, I, pp.422-423.
1895; 1-18-1896;Larchtnonter--Times 3-10-1917. 521. Davis,"Munrosfield,"p.230 (unpublished).
481. Paragraph 10-1-1893,7-18-1896;Larchmont Times 5- 13-1926 522.Davis,"Munrosfield," pp.225b,231 (unpublished).
482. 1900 U.S.Census;Phillips Elite Directory 1895. 523. Davis,"Munrosfield,"p.231 (unpublished).
483. Book 1381 of Deeds,p. 402;Larchmont Village Tax Rolls 1891; Turner's Directory 1901. 524. Davis, "Munrosfield,"p.235 (unpublished).
1892 Map. 525. Evening World 7-21-1922;the article was picked up by the Larchntonter Times (date missing
484.Larchmont Village Tax Rolls 1891;Bien's
485.Paragraph 10-1-1895; Turner's 1901 Directory from archival copy).
i 526.Larc
486.Paragraph 1-27-1894;Bien's 1892 Map. ltmonter Times 2-19-1916,2-27-1936.
487. Larchmont Times 4-6-1933;Paragraph 12-31-1892;Phillips Elite Directory 1895. 527. Davis, "Munrosfield," p. 193(unpublished).
488.Biographical History of Westchester II,971;Larchmont Times 12-30-1926;Paragraph 7-18-1896 528.Fox,Caleb Heathcote,p.86.
489.Cornell,Adam and Anne Mott,pp.74,77-78,89. 529. Fox,Caleb Heathcote,p.81.
3
490.Howell Scrapbook,p.96(unpublished). 530.English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck,p. 158.
491. Benedict,"Good Housekeepers Prevent Fires,"Standard Star 11-18-1932. 531.English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck,p. 156.
492.English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck,pp.273,289-292,294-295,300,310; Griffin, 532.English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck,p. 156.
Westchester County and Its People II,327. 533. Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,p. 14.
493. Whitney,"The Unlucky Collins Line,"American Heritage,P. 109' 534.Davis,"Munrosfield,"p.235(unpublished).
494. Lederer,"Post Roads,Turnpike Roads and Milestones," The Westchester Historian;SA. 535. No credence is to be given the construction date(1790) listed in the tax records of the Town of
Holbrook, The Old Post Road,p. 273;Forbes,Records of the Town of New Rochelle,p.8;English,Early Mamaroneck,for the original records were destroyed by a flood in the basement of the Town offices in
Town Records of Mamaroneck,p. 156;Jenkins, The Old Boston Post Road;Koke,"Milestones along the the early 20th century and then reconstructed from memory and guesstimate.Land records indicate that
Old Highways of New York City,"New York State Historical Society Quarterly,p.309ff. Munro did not buy his first parcel in Larchmont until 1795, and that the Allaires owned the land on
II 495. Paragraph 12-6-1890;Book 1215 of Deeds,p. 16;Book 1746 of Deeds,p. 16. which the Manor House now stands until at least 1801.
496. Larchmont Times 9-3-1925;Larchmont Village Building Department Permit A 1333(unpub- Although the deed by which the transfer was made from the Allaires to Munro is not indexed in the
lished). Land Records Office,there is a letter among the Jay family papers dated September 17, 1804,stating
Campbell F. Faurot appears in the 1891 Village Tax Rolls with property on the Boston Post that"Mr. Munro has purchased the farm of his troublesome neighbor Allaire...and Robert Clark the
497. Ca
Road and mpbell Place(which does not appear on the 1892 map), and in T'urner's 1901 Directory as a brother of Sam [apparently an overseer]is in possession of the place" (Peter Augustus Jay to M.
Berrianflorist on the Post Road. On Bien's 1892,he is located just east of Kilmer Road on the south side of the Banyar;quoted by Davis in"Munrosfield" on unnumbered page following page 212A). Another letter,
Post Road. The author of the post card was Campbell's son,Lester C. dated April 5, 1811,contains the information that"Mr. Munro has purchased another farm next his own
498. Bronson obituary in New York Times 9-24-1936,p. 25,col.6. at Mamaroneck. He has of course laid aside his intention of building the present year" (Peter Augustus
499. Larchmonter Times 5-13-1916. The Unitts were summer residents of this house until 1916. Jay to John Jay, quoted in"Munrosfield" on same page referenced above. Davis adds the comment that
500.Larchmont Times 5-11-1933. the abandoned building plans were for a site in New York City but provides no evidence to support it).
The Manor House bears a marked similarity to the John Jay Homestead in Bedford,which was built
501. English,Early Town Records of Mamaroneck, p. 156.
in 1801 (see note 203), although it was also very similar to the Delancey House in Mamaroneck,built c.
502. Shonnard and Spooner,History of Westchester County, p. 348.
503. New York Tintes October 11-20, 1854, carries extensive articles on the loss of the Arctic; the Oc- 1789 (now known as the Spindrift Restaurant and formerly as the James Fenimore Cooper Inn),before
tober 18 issue includes an editorial on Collins signed by"FLO,Staten Island" [Frederick Law Olmsted]. either was remodeled(see note 201). Edward Delancey,Munro's grandson and the best authority,how-
149- 152• Morrison History of American Steam- ever,states that the Munro house was built in 1819.See note 202.
504. Durant,Pictorial History of American Ships,pp. � � 536. Jackson,Crabgrass Frontier,pp.56-57;Larkin, 77te Reshaping of Everyday Life;Fishman,Bour-
geois Navigation, pp. 411-427;Sheldon,"Old Shipping Merchants of New York,"Harper's Magazine,pp. eois Uto ias• Spann, The New Metropolis, 176-204.
S p P p ,PP•�
457-471. 537.Fishman,Bourgeois Utopias,p. 119 and passim.
505. Book 823 of Deeds,p.436. 538. In 1906 Mary Gerlach sold the property,including a house and a"paint shop,"to the Nouveau
506.Book 823 of Deeds,p.233. Realty Corporation,which proposed to develop it as"Utopia Park." Gerlach and Stafford places were
507. Brown,A History of the New York Stage I,463, and III, 156;Paragraph 11-19-1892,6-3-1893. laid out at that time; it is not known for whom Stafford Place was named.See also notes 51-55.
508. Book 1056 of Deeds,p.278;Book 1013 of Deeds,p.4;Book 1011 of Deeds, p.459.
509. Book 1056 of Deeds, p.278. 539. Larchmont Manor Park Society Program of Exercises 1898 (booklet).
510. Village Board Minutes 3-13-1916,4-17-1916,2-3-1919.The initial numbering was done building 540. Robert Bolton,History of the County of Westchester, Vol. I (1881 edition), says Scott bought the
ltnhont Times 5-14- property"around 1843,"but the deed by which Scott acquired it from Noah Waterbury, "gent. of
by building;the streets were re-numbered on 50-foot plots in May of 1931 (Larc
Queens County,"was entered June 27, 1836(Book 74 of Deeds, p. 296). The property conveyed was
1931), and some were re-numbered again in 1932(Larclttttottt Times 6-30-1936).
bounded west by the Premium River and Mill Pond,south by the Sound,north by what is now Hazel
511.Pellew,John Jay,pp. 104-105. Lane, and east by Map 610("the Manor"). It stayed in the Pryer family until 1920,when it was bought
512. Morris,John Jay, I, p.33, n. 14, and pp.33-35;II, 10-11 and 33n. for development by George Howe and Associates(George Howe,Memoirs of a Westchester Realtor).
513. Morris,John Jay,II, 188. Biographical information is found in Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,pp.30-32;;Biog-
514. Morris,John Jay,II, pp.31,33. ra hical Histo o Westchester County,II 572• and Griffin II 421-422.
515. Morris,Jay Papers,II,626;Davis,"Munrosfield," p. 154. p History f ty' 'p 'pp
541.. Beers' 1867 and 1872 atlases;Delancey,History of the Town of Mamaroneck,pp. 14,25.John
516.Morris,John Jay,II, 184,589. French's 1866 Gazeteer notes that"Kelloggsville,"on the line of New Rochelle,has"an extensive tidal
517. Morris,John Jay,II,623-624. mill" (p. 701). Kellogg's reputation as a bon vivant is discussed in the Daily Argus,6-15-1962.See also
518. Morris,John Jay,II,658-659.
Cornell,Adam and Anne Mott.
542.Asbury,All Around the Town,pp.92-101.
543. Larchmont Manor Park Society Program of Exercises (booklet).
126 544. Larchmont Manor Park Society Program of Exercises (booklet).
127
i
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Pelletreau,William. Early Wills of Westchester County 1664- 1784 (1898); in New York Historical N.A."The Bevan Hotel Now Year-Round Resort,"Larchmont Times 12-14-1922.
�
N.A. "Former President Hopkins Recalls Important Happenings in Village,"Larchmont Times 5-30-
Society. 1935.
Pellew, George.John Jay.NY: 1890.
Pember,Arthur. 77ne Mysteries and Miseries of the Great Metropolis.NY: 1874. NA. "House Occupied since 1842 Succumbs to Trend of Times,"Larchmont Times 12-12-1942.
An American 1783-1803. Pt. Washington,NY: 1938. N.A. "Larchmont Manor:An Ideal Government and Model Residential Village,"Mamaroneck Para-
Pomerantz,New York:
'j Pryer,Charles. Legends, Traditions and Superstitions of Westchester. N.p.: 1890. graph 10-1-1892.
Pryer, Charles. The Neutral Ground. NY: 1898.Also published in Knickerbocker Press Half Moon N.A. "Larchmont Manor,"Mamaroneck Paragraph 10-1-1893.
N.A. "Larchmont Once for Actors'Between Jobs,"'White Plains Reporter Dispatch 5-10-1960,p.23,
Series,vol. 2, no. 12;n.d.
Pryer, Charles. Reminiscences of an Old Westchester Homestead. NY: 1897; also published in Pollers col.4.
N.A. "Larchmont's Remarkable Fire Department," The Commercial Advertiser 9-6-1902. Clipping in
Monthly,June 1877.
HenryHope. Central Park. NY: 1967. Hufeland Scrapbook.
Reed, ��
e
Y P Help Keep Hotels from the Manor New York
Reische, Diana. Of Colonists and Commuters: A History of Scarsdale. Scarsdale, NY: 1976. N.A. "Larchmont Will Fight: Women Raise$1,500 to e p e p ,
Sabine,Lorenzo.Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution. Boston: 1864. Times 10-16-1895.
Westchester County, NY; Colonial to Contemporary. Croton N.A. "Last Sunday for Service in Church[old St.Augustine's]",Larchmonter-Times 12-16-1922.
Sanchis,Frank E. American Architecture. W e ty NA. "Little Quaker Heroine" [Anne Mott],New York Tribune 7-24-1898.Clipping in Hufeland
on Hudson: 1977
Scharf,J. Thomas. History of WestchesterConnrtry. Philadelphia: 1886. Scrapbook.
rican Revolution, 1773-1776. NY: 1917.
Schlesinger,A. M. The Colonial Merchants and the Arne N.A. "Manor Inn Served Silver Screen Crowd,"White Plains Reporter Dispatch 6-9-1966,p.42.
Scoville,Jos.A. (Walter Banett, pseud.). The Old Merchants of New York. 5 vols. NY: 1862-1885. N.A. "Mitchell House Destroyed by Fire;'New Rochelle Press 12-30-1905.
Seabury,Rev. Samuel. Free Thoughts on...the Continental Congress...by a Westchester Fanner. NY: N.A."Mrs.Roosevelt Greeted,"Larchmont Tintes 5-26-1932.
N.A. "New Rochelle Firemen Assist at Big Fire in Larchmont,"New Rochelle Pioneer 12-30-1905.
1774.
Seacord, Morgan H. and Hadaway,Wm.S.Historical Landmarks of New Rochelle. New Rochelle, N.A. "The New Suburb:A Domestic Problem Solved--Larchmont Manor and Its Prospects,"New
NY: 1935 York Times (Sunday,5-12-1872, p.5).
Shonnard, Frederic and W.W. Spooner. History of Westchester County. NY: 1900. Reprinted by Har- N.A. "A Quaint Mamaronecker: Adam G. Coles,"New York Times 3-23-1896.Clipping in Hufeland
bor Hill Books, Harrison,NY: 1974. Scrapbook.
N.A. "Quakers in Westchester County," Quaker History,vol. 15,p.33(1926).
Singleton, Esther. Social New York under the Georges, 1714- 1776. New York: 1902.
NA."Review of Passing Year,"Daily Times 12-31-1953.
Skinner,Alanson.Indians of Greater New York. NY: 1909.
Smith, Henry Townsend.Mammal of Westchester Past and Present. Civil List to Date. White Plains:
1898.
Spann, Edward K. The New Metropolis: New York City, 1840- 1857. NY: 1981.
Stanford, R. Patrick. Lines of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. N.p.: 1976.
7 130 131
N.A. "Royal Victoria,Old Hotel,Being Torn Down Now: Site Will Be Landscaped by Larchmont Mass, Richard. "A New York City Family Flees to Westchester," The Westchester Historian vol. 63,
Manor Park Society;Showplace in Gay'90s,"Larchmont Times 6-20-1935. no. 1 (Spring 1987), p. 36ff.
N.A. "The Sage of Echo Bay,"New York Daily Graphic, 10-9- 1878 [re theatrical colony in Mass, Richard. "'We Think He Deserves to Suffer': Keeping an Eye on Westchester's Tories, 1775-
Larchmont]. Clipping in Hufeland Scrapbook,Mt.Vernon to New Rochelle. 1777," The Westchester Historian,vol.66,no.2(Spring 1990).
N.A. "Saint Augustine's Church Established 25 Years,"Larchmonter-Times 7-7-1921. Mathias,A.H. "Savoring Severin's Larchmont,"Of Westchester,October 1974,p.52ff.
N.A. "Saint John's Church: History of the Parish and Plans for the Future," Mamaroneck Paragraph M.W.S. "Freeholders Living in Mamaroneck, 1763,"Quarterly Bulletin of the Old Town of
2-10-1894. Mamaroneck Historical Society,vol. 1,no.2(1953),p. 15.
N.A. "Some Military Events in Westchester during the Revolution," The Westchester Historian II, no. 1 New York City Directory 1789, 1876, 1877. In New Public Library and New-York Historical Society.
91926),pp.3-6.
Palmer, B. "A Brief History of St. Paul's Church,Mt. Vernon," The Westchester Historian vol. 17,no.
1941 33-39.
N.A."Suffrage and Suffragettes," Westchester Life of Today I (October 1915),pp.6-7, 11. 2( ),pp
N.A. "Union Free and High School: Mamaroneck's Public School Second to None in the County," Pessen,Edward. "Moses Beach Revisited,"Journal of American History,vol.58,no.2(September
1971), p.415ff.
Mamaroneck Paragraph 11- 15-1890. Pessen,Edward. "The Wealthiest New Yorkers of the Jacksonian Era: A New List,"New-York His-
N.A. "Victoria Hotel, Old Landmark Sold: Property Held for$300,000. Will Be Razed and torical Society Quarterly vol.54(April 1970),pp. 145-172.
$2,300,000 Hotel Erected,"Larchmont Times 3-10-1927. Picinich, R.G.Jr. "Larchmont Yacht Club,"Motor Boating June 1945,p.36ff. In Larchmont Public
Becker,E.M. "Westchester County Freeholders 1763,"New York Historical Society Quarterly,vol.35,
Library.
-
p.283 (1951).
Benedict,Marian. "Good Housekeepers Prevent Fires,Says Larchmont Fire Chief, New Rochelle Popp, Evelyn. "Letter to the Editor,"Mamaroneck Daily Times,8-15-1979.
Pryer, Charles. Obituary. [New York Times?]6-9-1916. Clipping in Hufeland Scrapbook.
Standard Star 11-18- 1932. Pryer, Charles. "Old Historic Buildings of Westchester County,"Proceedings,American Numismatic
Benedict,Marian. "The Old Victoria Passes into Oblivion: Progress is Made in Tearing Down Old
and Archeological Society.NY: 1899.Pp.33-40.
Victoria Hotel in Larchmont,"Larchmont Times 8-15-1935. Reisman,Phil. "Auction Set for Bevan March 16,"Daily Times 2-22-1979.
Bradley,A.Day."Abigail Mott of Mamaroneck," The Westchester Historian,vol.53, no.4. Reisman,Phil. "Wendt Was a Leader as Well as Landowner,"Daily Times 5-28-1979.
"Census of New Rochelle,Mamaroneck and Morrisania for 1698,transcribed by Howard Randolph Reisman,Phil. "For Sale: Only the Hull of Once Glamorous Hotel,"Daily Times 3-15-1979.
and annotated by Richard Webber." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record,April 1928.
Reisman, Phil. "New Buyer Unveils Plans for Bevan,"Daily Times 3-17-1979.
Collins,E.K. Obituary. New York Herald, 1-23-1878. Reisman, Phil. "Bevan Work to Begin this Summer,"Daily Times 4-25-1979.
Davis,Barbara. "Davids Island", The Westchester Historian [quarterly of the Westchester Historical
Reisman,Phil. "Bevan Project Safe at First Base,"Daily Times 5-11-1979
Society],Vol.66, no. 1 (Winter 1990) Reisman, Phil. "Bevan Plan Is Safe at Second,"Daily Times 5- 17-1979.
Deedy,John. "Rumblings in Paradise,"New York Magazine 6-14-1971. Reisman,Phil. "Bevan Okay Delayed;Drawings Needed,"Daily Times 5-25-1979.
Dornbusch,William F."Captain John Underhill," 77te Westchester Historian vol.49,no.3 (1973),pp. Reisman,Phil. "Woolfenden: Bevan Will Be Restored,"Daily Times 7-5-1979.
49-57. Reisman, Phil. "Board Affirms Intent to Foreclose on Bevan,"Daily Times 8-7-1979.
it Dunlap,Charles J. "The 1733 Eastchester Election,the Zenger Trial, and Freedom of the Press," The Reisman,Phil. "Another Bevan Foreclosure Looms,"Daily Times 9-12-1979.
Westchester Historian,vol.64,no.2(Spring 1988).
I' Dunlap, Charles J. "The Image Stone of the Siwanoys," 77te Westchester Historian,vol.4,no.2(1928). Reisman,Phil. "Bevan Project Gets Another Reprieve,"Daily Times 1-8-1980.
Reisman, Phil. "Bevan's Renovation in Full Swing,"Daily Times 9-15-1980.
Forbes,Robert Lucas. Series of articles in Larchmont Times reproducing Larchmont Village Board Robinson,Sue. "Chatsworth Heights Was Once Horse Pasture,"Larchmonter-Tintes 9-15-1921.
Minutes 1891-1932. Published January 24, 1935 to June 6, 1940.On microfilm in Larchmont Public Lib- Robinson,Sue. "Larchmont in the Time of the Indians,"Larchmonter-Times 7-21-1921.
rary; also in scrapbook labeled"History of Village of Larchmont--Forbes Articles" in Larchmont Public Robinson,Sue. "Larchmont Had General Store in 1883,"Larchmonter-Times 8-25-1921.
Library. Robinson,Sue. "Larchmont Woods Once a Picnic Grounds,"Larchmonter-Times 9-8-1921.
Forster,K."Westchester:A House Divided,"New York History,vol.28,p.404 ((1947). Robinson,Sue. "Larchmont Had Water Famine Years Ago,"Larchmonter-Times 8-11-1921.
Fulcher,William. "Washington Here Twice,"Larchmont Times 2-27-1941. Robinson, Sue. "The Old School House and the Swimming Hole;"Larchmonter-Tintes 9-21-1921.
Gavitt,Richard Edward."Maps and Milestones," The Westchester Historian,vol.48,no.4(1972),pp. Robinson,Sue. "Religious Growth of Larchmont,"Larchmonter- Times 8-18-1921.
75-81. Sansolo, Michael. "Doric: What Do They Want?" [re Bevan Hotel],Mamaroneck Daily Times 7-18-
Groh,Lynn. "Tour to Recall Victorian Era,"Mamaroneck Daily Times 12-11-1981. 1978.
Holbrook,I.S. "The Early History of Larchmont,"Larchmonter- Times 4-17-1921. Sansolo, Michael. "Misconduct Fine: $100" [re Bevan Hotel],Daily Times 7-22-1978.
Hufeland, Otto. "A Methodist-Quaker Dispute in New Rochelle in 1808," 771e Westchester Historian Scott, Charles Fletcher. "Larchmont-on-the Sound," Town and Country magazine,November 8, 1902.
vol. 10,no.2(1934),pp. 21-35. Scott,Eleanor. "Early Literary Clubs in New York City,"American Literature vol.5, p.7ff(1933).
Johnson,Mary Anne."For Sale: Farm,Neck of Land in Marrowneck,"Mamaroneck Daily Times,3-26- Seacord,Morgan. "Indian Rock Shelter of Larchmont," The Westchester Historian,vol. 38,no.2
1976. (1962),pp.48-50(includes photo).
Johnson, Mary Anne."Mills Abounded in Area,"Mamaroneck Daily Times,3-18-1976. Seacord,Morgan. "Premium Mill in Mamaroneck," Die Westchester Historian,vol. 40,no. 4(1964),
Kerr,Walter."A Happy Resident's Ode,"New York Times 12-12- 1969. pp.82-85(includes photo of mill).
Koke,Richard J. "Milestones along the Old Highway of New York City," The New York Historical Severin, Philip."Commuters Used Horsecar in 1899,"Mamaroneck Daily Times, ?-?-1970 (date on
Society Quarterly vol. 34(1950),p 309ff. clipping in Larchmont Public Library mutilated).
Lederer,Richard M."Post Roads,Turnpikes and Milestones," The Westchester Historian,Spring 1987, Severin,Philip. "Diversions Were Simple in 1901,"Daily Times 2-5-1970.
p.36ff.
Severin, Philip. "Celebrities Favored the New Summer Resort,"Daily Times 1-14-1970.
Lindsley, Charles E. "The Huguenot Settlement of New Rochelle,"New Rochelle Pioneer,9-5-1885.
Ludwig,Walter. "The Quakers in Mamaroneck," The Westchester Historian vol.25, no. 1 (1949).
7 133
132
i
Severin,Philip. "Gourauds Maintained Exhuberant'Hacienda,"'Daily Times 10-?-1970 (date on clip- Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Strolling through History,"Daily Times 9-27-1981.
ping in Larchmont Public Library mutilated). Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Tautogs Had Jolly Times on Larchmont Waterfront,"Daily Times 9-6-1982.
Severin,Philip. "Early Larchmont Trade Area Recalled by Artist Severin,"Larchmont Times 12-8- Spikes,Judith Doolin. "The Man Who Founded Larchmont,"Daily Times 7-4-1984.
1949. Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Walking Tour Telescopes Time,"Daily Times 9-26-1981.
Severin,Philip. "What Christmas Was Like in Larchmont's Early Days,"Larchmont Times 12-22- Spikes,Judith Doolin. "What's in a Name? A Chapter in Larchmont's History,"Daily Times 4-26-
1949. 1981.
ily Times 1969 or 1970(date on clipping in 526Stockton,Russell. "Larchmont and Orienta,"Munsey's magazine,vol.7,no.5 (August 1892),pp.516-
Severin,Philip. "One Area Served Shoppers in'16,"DaLarchmont Public Library mutilated).
Severin,Philip."Old Larchmont:The Station Area at the Turn of the Century," The Larch Tree (pub- Waroff,Deborah."Castles on the Sand,"New York Tunes 4-17- 1977.
lication of the Larchmont Woman's Club),February 1948. Whitney,Ralph. "The Unlucky Collins Line,"American Heritage,February 1957.
Severin, he L Old Larchmont
Woman's
Cl The Larch Tree,January 1948. Wilson, George N. "The Invasion of New Rochelle in 1813," The Westchester Historian,vol.40, no.2
Philip..,
[Daily Times c. 1970--date (1
Severin,Philip."Severin Recalls Farm Life in Larchmont 50 Years Ago" Wilson,George N. "Stephenson Drain," The Westchester Historian vol.38,no.4(1962),pp. 105-109.
mangled].
hilip. "Hickey Played a Leading Role m
Larchmont Horse Car Era,"Larchmont Times Weigold,Marilyn. "Roads to Nowhere." The Westchester Historian,Fall 1979,pp.86-89.
Severin,P p y Y
[1948 or 1949--date mangled].
Severin,Philip. "'Millionaire Fire Department'Won Fame for Larchmont,"Larchmont Times ?-10-
1949(date mangled). Newspapers
Severin,Philip. "Grand Old Larchmont Family Dates Residence to 1872" [Larchmont Times c. 1949
or Daily Times c. 1970--identifiers missing]. Signed articles and other major features are listed above. Virtually every issue of the Mamaroneck
Severin,Philip. "Larchmont ie 50 Years Ago Closed its Homes in Winter" [Larchmont Tintes c. Paragraph contains something of interest.The Larchmonter-Times,the Larchmont Times,and the
1949]. Mamaroneck Daily Times have also served as major sources. Much information has also been gleaned
Severin, Philip. "Stars of Stage and Screen Had Homes in Old Larchmont,"Larchmont Times 11-17- from The New York Times,the Herald,the Sun, and other New York City newspapers,and from
various Westchester newspapers. Specific references are given in the text or in the notes thereto.
1949.
Severin,Philip. "Firefighters Wore White Flannels,"Daily Times 12-26-1969.
Severin,Philip."Towles Were the Grand Family,"Daily Times 1-24-1970. Booklets, Brochures,Directories,and Pamphlets
Severin, Philip."Christmases Were Always White,"Daily Tintes 12-18-1969.
Severin, Philip."Amy's Luck Ran Out with Fifth Husband,"Daily Times 5-20-1970. Brown,Helen Warren,ed. Mamaroneck:A Panorama of Her First nree Centuries. Mamaroneck,
Severin, Philip. "Mayhew Bronson and the Big Parade of 1913";identifiers missing. NY: 1961.
Severin,Philip. "Oldest Mamaroneck Son Looks Back on Good Old Days,"Larchmont Times 12-15- Curtin's Westchester Directory for 1868-69. In New York Public Library.
1949. Foland,John M.D.St.John's First 75 Years. Flyer published by St.John's Church(1966).In
Severin, Philip. "Cy Harper Had First Hack Service,"Daily Times 1-7-1970. Larchmont Historical Society Archives.
Severin,Philip,"Country Fair,"Daily Times, 11-26-1967. Friends of the Larchmont Library, Walkabout Old Larchmont(1976).
Sheldon, Geo. W. "Old Shipping Merchants of New York." Harpers magazine,Feb. 1892,vol. 84, Harris,Dan[publisher.]. Do You Know Larchmont?Monthly brochure-format publication focused
pp. 457-471. Includes portrait etching of Collins.
� Singsen,Mary Ellen. "The Quaker Way in Old Westchester," Vie Westchester Historian,Winter 1982. on Larchmont businesses and civic organizations, 1930s and'40s.An almost complete run in Westches-
^,
ter County Historical Society Library.
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Bevan Hotel: Coming Full Circle,"Daily Times 7-5-1981. Hopkins,Jos. G.E.,"The World and St.Augustine's Church,"in St.Augustine's Church Golden An-
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Cemeteries Show Effects of Vandals and Neglect,"Daily Times 10-17-1983. niversary 1928-1978.
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Flagpole Story Recalls Bitter Days,"Daily Times 11-29-1983.
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Her Majesty Folds but Memory Reigns,' Daily Times 7-6-1981. Improvement Society of Larchmont Park,"Historical Sketch of Larchmont,"in Historical Program:
� Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Larchmont Fountain:A Feminist History,"New York Times (Westchester Sec- Song Recital by David Bispham, Larchmont Presbyterian Church, November 17, 1916.
Larchmont Avenue Church. History of.... In Larchmont Public Library.
tion) 10-12-1980. s Larchmont Fire Department. Golden Jubilee Celebration 1891- 1941. Includes two-page history of the
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Larchmont' Royal Victoria Hotel Was a Colorful Part of Ragtime Era,"
� Larchmont Fire Department by William J.Moran.In Larchmont Public Library.
Dail Times 7-22-1985.
Daily Larchmont Manor Park Society.Annual Report to Members. 1892- 1990(some in typescript,some
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Last Vaudeville Czar Oversaw Transition to Movie Industry,"Daily Times 4- years missing). In Larchmont Historical Society Archives.
27-1983. Larchmont Manor Park Society.Annual Report to Members. 1958- 1984.In Larchmont Public Library.
Owner Proctor Seen as Tight Vaudevillian,"Daily
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Local Theater O g Larchmont Manor Park Society,Program of Exercises,July 4, 1898. In Larchmont Public Library and
Tintes 4-25-1983. Larchmont Historical Society Archives.
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "'Missing' in a Trip through Time,"Daily Times 9-25-1981.
Different Faiths,"Daily Tittles 10-16-1983. Larchmont Park[advertising brochure];n.p.,n.d.;in New York Public Library Genealogy and Local
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Neighboring Cemeteries Testify to Di
"Daily Times 11-9-1980. History Room.
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Old School Deserves Creative Reuse, Larchmont Real Estate Board. Larchmont: A Residential Village of Westchester County. [c. 19401 In
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Palmer Saga Typifies Settlers,"Daily Times 5-2-1982.
f Spikes,Judith Doolin."Quakers First to Lead the Town,"Daily Times 5-3-1982. Larchmont Public Library.
it Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Ruthless Vaudeville Manager Led Genteel Life in Larchmont,"Daily Times Larchmont the Beautifid. Illustrated supplement to Larchmonter-Times,9-28-1922.
Larchmont,Village of. 1891-1966 Diamond Jubilee. In Larchmont Public Library.
4-26-1983.
s I
134
135
I L. ^aen.v�����I���RA��AAlAl1Ai�A1�*
Larchmont Village Insurance[Sanborn's] and Plat Maps: 1904 in Larchmont Public Library; 1905 in
Larchmont Yacht Club,Centennial Yearbook (1980). Larchmont Fire Department; 1914 in Mt. Vernon Public Library; 1918 in Larchmont Public Library;
Larchmont Yacht Club,Diamond Jubilee Yearbook (1955). 1919-1928 in Larchmont Public Library; 1919-1923 in Mamaroneck Public Library; 1929 in County Land
Larchmont Yacht Club,Souvenir Program of Race Week 1908. Records Office,White Plains; 1930 in White Plains Public Library.
"Larchmont's Oldest Church,"St.John's Church in Action, Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Larchmont Village Zoning Map 1940.Rev..1941 and following.
the Laying of the Cornerstone, 1894-1944. Published by St. John's Church, 1943. Mamaroneck,Map of. Drawn from Manuscript Map found in State Records at Albany,NY,made in
New York,New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company.Homes on the Sound for New York Business 1797. In Delancey,Mamaroneck from Colonial Times through the First Century of the Republic.
Men. NY: 1875. In New-York Historical Society. Munro,Margaret White. Oil portrait in Frick Collection.
Perrin,Howell C."Larchmont" in Westchester Realty Board 1928 Yearbook.White Plains,NY: 1927. Munro, Peter Jay. Oil portrait in Frick Collection.Pryer,John. Map of Estate of(1888). County Register's Office#886.
Pages 116-121. Smith,Robert Pearsall. Map of Westchester County 1850. (First map made from actual surveys.)
Polk's Directories of Mamaroneck,Larchmont, Harrison 1927-28, 1930-31.In Larchmont Public Lib- Spikes,Judith Doolin. "Introduction to Larchmont History for 4th-Grade Students."Carousel of
rary. slides and script. In Larchmont Historical Society Archives.
Real Estate Record of Westchester County(1912). In New York Public Library. Thomson,A. Clifford.Map 584,Subdivision One[Larchmont Manor], 1872.In County Land Records
Richmond's Directories of New Rochelle,Larchmont and Mamaroneck 1919-1929.In New Rochelle Office.
Public Library. Totten,Sherman. "Larchmont."Carousel of slides with script and taped narration.In Larchmont
Scarsdale Public Library. A Union List of We County Books in Westchester Libraries. Public Library.
Scarsdale,NY: 1934. In New York Public Library. Towle,Frank. Map 610[Larchmont Manor], 1872. In County Land Records Office.
Social Register Association. 77ie Social Register, New York. 1888-1930. Towle, Frank.Woodbine Park, 1890. In County Land Records Office. Fragment of same,and pro-
Spikes,Judith Doolin. Larchmont-on-the-Sound: 7-he Rise and Fall of the Resort Hotels. Larchmont motional brochure,in vault at Larchmont Village Hall.
Historical Society: 1990. Utopia Park plat map. Collection of Richard Spinelli of Mamaroneck.
Spikes,Judith Doolin. Round and About:An Account of Who Was Wlio and What Was What[c. Whitlock's 1868 Map of Mamaroneck,Scarsdale,White Plains, Harrison,and Rye. In Larchmont
18911.Larchmont Historical Society: 1984. Public Library.
Turner's Directories of Larchmont,Mamaroneck and New Rochelle 1901-1918.In New Rochelle Pub-
lic Library.
r Village of Larchmont,Diamond Jubilee Program (1891-1966). Manuscripts and Other Unpublished Works
Weigold,Marilyn.Pioneering in Parks and Parkways: Westchester County, New York, 1895-1945. A
! publication of the Public Works Historical Society(Chicago: 1980). NA. "Early[Quaker] Meeting Houses on the Main."Typewritten.In Haviland Records Room,
Society of Friends,NYC.
NA. "History of the Larchmont Water Supply" (n.p.,n.d.--c. 1980). 11 mimeographed pages.In
Maps,Prints,Photographs,Portraits Larchmont Public Library.
Boehn, Charles S. Letter to Proprietor of Manor Inn, 1941. Copy in Larchmont Historical Society
p Astle,Sydney. "Larchmont Ladies." Videotape. In Larchmont Historical Society Archives. Archives.
Astle,Sydney. "A Tribute to Philip Severin." Videotape. In Larchmont Historical Society Archives. Campbell, H. Richmond. "A Village of Yesterday:Mamaroneck in the Early Years of the 20th Cen-
Beer's,J.B. and Co. CountyAtlas of Westchester, New York 1867 in New Rochelle Public Library and tury."245 typewritten pages.In Mamaroneck Free Library.
Cochran Maude. Two letters dated 1949.In Larchmont Historical Society Larchmont Public Library; 1872 in New York Public Library. � h'Archives.
!�! Bien's Map of Larchmont Village, 1892. In Larchmont Public Library. Cox,John Jr. "New York Church Archives: Religious Society of Friends. Catalogue. Records in
Bromley's Westchester Atlas 1881 in New York Public Library; 1901 in Larchmont Public Library. possession of,and relating to,the two New York Yearly Meetings of the Religious Society of Friends."
New York Historical Records Survey, 1938.In Haviland Records Room,Society of Friends,NYC.
Brown,Newell[publisher].Map of Westchester 1851.Photostat in New York Public Library.
p Bryson,Wm. Map of Chatsworth, 1857. In County Land Records Office. Davis, Harriet Bruen and William Franklin Davis, compilers. "Munrosfield: The Life of Rev. Harry
Collins,E.K.: Oil portrait in Catalogue of Portraits in the Chamber of Commerce in the State of New Munro, 1729-1801, and of His Descendants."Typewritten. Copies of sections relevant to Larchmont are
York(1924) Collins,E.K.: 3/4 portrait in uniform in Gleason's Pictorial,vol. 1,p.256 (1851);also in in the Larchmont Historical Society Archives.
vol.7,p.412(1854) and Harper's Magazine vol.84,p.469(1892).Was VP of Mercantile Library As- Elias S.A. DeLima vs. Harriet Mitchell and Others,Supreme Court,Westchester County.
sociation and Secretary of NY Fire Department.
Feldman,Milton. "A History of the Newspapers of Mamaroneck,New York."Typewritten.In
�
I' Deane Purchase."Supplementary Map to a Map entitled Map of Deane Purchase by Frederick Mamaroneck Free Library.
Lorentzen,Esq.,Town of Mamaroneck,and filed by him in Register's Office,County of Westchester: Finch,James Myers and Earnest R. Information on Bonnett, Vanderburgh,Wilmarth, Hall and
Myers families of Larchmont. 2 pages. Typewritten. In Larchmont Historical Society Archives.
Collection of Richard Spinelli Mamaroneck. Flint Family Papers. Correspondence,bills,household accounts. In Larchmont Public Library.
Dolph's Atlas of Westchesterr in 1929. In Larchmont Public Library. Flint vs. Charman. 6 App. Div. 121 Supreme Court,6-9-1896. In New York State Supplement 39, pp.
Erskine,Robert. Map#59: "Roads about White Plains 1779" [includes Sound Shore]. New York
892-895.
Historical Society;copy in Larchmont Public Library. French Alvah P. Scrapbooks. In Westchester County Historical Society.
Hagstrom's Street,Road, and Land Ownership Map of Westchester County 1945, 1947.In Larchmont "Historical Development of Westchester County: A Chronology,"prepared under the direction of the
Public Library. Planning Staff,Westchester County Emergency Work Bureau, 1939.Typewritten; two volumes. In New
Hopkins'Atlas of Westchester 1929.In Larchmont Public Library. York Public Library.
Hughes& Bailey,publishers. View of Borough of Larchmont 1904. In Larchmont Public Library.
"Larchmont" [Collins' estate]Map 1861. In Larchmont Village Hall.
* 137
136
I
Hockman,Anne Miller."Burial Grounds in the Mamaroneck-Larchmont Area."Typewritten.In U.S. Census 1790, 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880,1900, 1910, 1920. Available on
Mamaroneck Free Library. microfilm at SUNY- Purchase and elsewhere.
Hopkins,Eustis et al. Letter to"Dear Sir"regarding Mitchell House litigation. Copy in Larchmont Van Cortlandt-Van Wych Papers 1667-1912. In New York Public Library.
Historical Society Archives. Vanderlaen,C.H. "History of Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club" [1940?]. Typewritten. In Larchmont
Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club. Minutes and Correspondence. In Larchmont Historical Society Ar- Historical Society Archives.
chives.
Vital Statistics of the Village of Larchmont,Village Clerk's Office,Larchmont,NY.
Howell,Ella. Scrapbook. See"Mamaroneck Town and Vicinity Scrapbook." Westchester County Land Records,Office of the County Clerk,White Plains,NY. Maps, Deeds,
Howell,E.H. His Account Book as Treasurer of the Board of Education,Mamaroneck School Dis- Mortgages.
trict No. 2, 1855-1857.In New York Public Library.
Westchester County Legal Division, Office of the County Clerk,White Plains,NY. Corporation
Index and Register.
Hufeland, Otto.Scrapbooks[especially Pelham to Mamaroneck].In Huguenot-Thomas Paine His- In
torical Association Library,New Rochelle,NY. William V.Murray vs. Henry Weston as receiver of the Hoboken Turtle Club, Clara Shepard and May
Larchmont Manor Park Society. Minute Books 1891-1929. In Larchmont Historical Society Ar- Channan.Discussed in Mamaroneck Paragraph 9-16-1899.
Wolfe, C.H. "The Life and Times of Manor Park Country" (1979). 16 typewritten pages.In
chives.
Larchmont Manor Park Society vs. James M. Smith et al. New York State Court of Appeals. Larchmont Public Library.
Larchmont Village Board. Minutes of(1891-present). In Village Hall.
Larchmont Village(proposed) Census 1891. In Village Board Minutes,Larchmont Village Hall.
Larchmont Village Engineer's Office. Records of(1934-present). In Larchmont Village Hall. Interviews and Tapes
j Larchmont Village Planning Board.Minutes of.In Village Hall.
ont Historical Society Archives. Astle,Sydney. "Larchmont Ladies." Videotape. In Larchmont Historical Society Archives.
Larchmont Village Tax Assessment Rolls 1891-1898. In Larchm
Larchmont Village Zoning Board.In Larchmont Village Hall. Astle,Sydney. "A Tribute to Philip Severin." Videotape. In Larchmont Historical Society Archives.
Larchmont Yacht Club. Report of the Library Committee 1897. [Lists accessions by donor.]In New Freudenheim, Patricia Kroh. Oral history tape (c. 1975) in Larchmont Public Library.
York Historical Society. Green, Ruth. Oral history tape (c. 1975) in Larchmont Public Library.
Lowenstein,Roger. 'A Demographic History of Larchmont: 1891- 1925" [1974].Typewritten.In Keresey,William. "Larchmont Police Department."Oral history tape (c. 1975) in Larchmont Public
Larchmont Public Library. �
Library.
Mamaroneck Town and Vicinity Scrapbook(1837-1941). Reminiscences of Miss Ella Howell(185.- Mamaroneck High School Local History Seminar (1941). "The Carry-All Takes Some Larchmonters
1941 . Newspaper cli clippings,mementos,maps,photographs,programs,souvenirs,etc. Compiled by Home from Church: 1890. Radio script in Larchmont Public Library.
pp og
Harold Dean Cater. In Westchester County Historical Society Library. Severin, Philip. "Business Area of Larchmont and Real Estate." Tape in Larchmont Public Library.
Miller,Robert B. and Charles Field Griffen(compilers)."Archives of the Griffen Family 1899-1900." Severin, Philip. "Famous Fires of Larchmont.' Tape in Larchmont Public Library.
Severin, Philip. "The Naming of Larchmont Streets." Tape in Larchmont Public Library.
80 pages. In the Mamaroneck Free Library. chmont Public
Severin, Philip. "Early Churches, Hotels, and Inns of Larchmont" (1974).Tape and transcript in
Moran,William. "Civil History of Larchmont" (1923). 15 typewritten pages.In Lar
Library.
Larchmont Public Library.
Munro,Peter Jay.Westchester Turnpike Company Journal and Ledger by its Treasurer,Peter Jay Severin, Philip. "Entertainment in Early Larchmont and Theatrical Personalities."Tape and transcript
Munro. 1800-1805, 1814-1828.In New-York Historical Society. in Larchmont Public Library.
New York State Census 1905, 1915, 1925. In Westchester County Archives,Elmsford,NY. Severin,Philip. "Larchmont Manor Walking Tour." Tape and transcript in Larchmont Public Lib-
Olmsted,Frederick Law. Papers.Library of Congress MSS Division. Shelf#16,498. Papers of FLO. rary.
Reel 37 (Conts. 42-43). Subject File: Private Estates.Collins,E.K. 1860-61. Shelton, Natalie. Oral history tape (c. 1975) in Larchmont Public Library.
Palmer.Papers of Palmer,Howell,Sands and Related Families.In New York Public Library Annex. Totten,Sherman. "Larchmont."Videotape of slide-script program,with script read by Miriam Curnin.
Palmer,Dorothy Rice. "Palmer Family Genealogy 1621-1957." Typewritten. In New York Public Whittemore, William. Oral history tape(c. 1975) in Larchmont Public Library.
Library. [Nothing on Larchmont Palmers.] Yoder,Alma Kitchell. Oral history tape(c. 1975) in Larchmont Public Library.
Palmer,Horace. "Palmers in America."Typewritten. In New York Public Library Genealogy and
Local History Room; pp. 4833-4981 re Larchmont Palmers.
Palmer,Obadiah et al. A Second Letter to Adolph Philipse (1727).In New-York Historical Society.
Shell Combs of Ever Description,84 Duane St.,New ,
f TortoiseP .>
r o ,.
d Howell ManufacturesEvery ,
Palmer ,
York City.Papers of[1850s]. In New York Public Library.
Pinkerton Detective Agency Files,October 7-14, 1904. In Larchmont Historical Society Archives. „ r.
Richmond, Eugene Mchmsey. Letters (1957--re 1870s). In Larchmont Public Library.
Rogers,Leslie. "History of the Flint Family" (1941). Typewritten.In Larchmont Public Library.
�.-
Smith, Mabel Woods(compiler). Abstracts of Wills for the Township of Mamaroneck,Westchester
35.As recorded at the Surrogate's Of-
Liber A through Z 27 through g
Indexed b -
County, NY, 1788-1855. g
Of-
flee,Westchester County Court Building,White Plains.54 pages.
Spikes,Judith Doolin. "A Story of Larchmont,USA." 188 pages,typewritten. Copyright 1981 and
1982. Copies in Mamaroneck Board of Education,Larchmont Public Library,Larchmont Historical [//✓.C��'�1f
Society Archives. Dr. Edward B. Foote and his son,Dr. Edward B.Foote,Jr.
From The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography.
138
i 139
i
INDEX
H Jefferd,John,n405 Lorenzen,Frederick,n120
Haigh,Hartley,76,81,81n,82,85n, Jefferd,Olive,n405 Lorenzen Park,n311,n336,n405 Munro,Eve Jay,41
n243 Jenkins Hill,91 Loretto Avenue,95 Munro,Frances,45n,n202
Jenkins,Charles,91 Munro,Frances Bibby,46
A Brown,Eugenia,54, 101 Collins,Sarah Jane Brown,60,93 Earle Shipbuilding&Engineering, Haigh,William,81,n243 Jenkins,E.Fellows,91 Lorillard Refrigerator Company,93 Munro,Harriet,434
Brown,George David,101 Colt,Caldwell,81 107 Haines,Samuel,25 Jenkins,William B.,91,101 Lounsberry,William,13,25,4102 Munro,Henry,46,n276,n277,4342
Aaron,20 Brown,James,58 Commissioners on Forfeiture,31 East Creek,1,8n,14,16,31,34 Hall,John R.,81n Jess,29,30 Lovers'Lane,734 Munro,Henry(Harry),41
Abigail(Abbe),42 Brown,Sarah Jane,58 Cone,Maude:see Kate Claxton Eastchester Green,19-20 Hallett,Victoria,73 Lowe Gerard C.W.,106,n397 Munro,John W.,46,n343
Jochum,Andrew,95
Abigail Adams Smith Museum,694 Hallett,William,73 Loyal ts:see
r Munro,Margaret,46,4342
`- Ackerman,Veronica Christina,101 Brown,Stewart,58 Continental Congress,25 Eaton,William Henry,104, 106,n397 Jochum,Gertrude F.,95 g
Brown,W.F.,101 Continental Insurance Com an 107 Echo Ba ,28,29,4405 Hamilton,Alexander,85 Loyalists:see royalists Munro,Margaret White,41,43,46,
Adams,Augustine,89,894,91,n397 Company, Y Johnson,Alvin J.,54 g
Bryson,William,53 Continental National Bank,65 Election on the Green(1733),17, Hamilton,Andrew,19,20 n277
Adams,John,42 n393 Hannah's Peak,534 M Munro,Mary,43n
r Adams,John Quincy,42 Budd,Gilbert,25,34 Cornell,Richard,20
Adams,Oliver,89,89n,104,105,106, Budd,Underhill,13 Cornwall family,20 Elliott,Catherine,83 Harmon,67 s 68 K Maddock,Amelia,86 Munro,Peter Jay,14,38,9,n3 1,
t. Bullard,Frances,93 Corrigan,Rev.Michael Augustine,91 Episcopalians,46,87,88 Harper,Thomas,68 Kane property,65 Maddock,John,90,4399 ssim,57,65,88,n277,4309,4311,
4397 Bullard,Dr.William,93,106 Cortlandt Manor,23,31 Equitable Life Assurance Society,82 Kane,BlancMichael,
95 MacDonald,Archibald,59 n326Munro,
4328,4336,4440,4535
Albro's Wholesale Grocery,95 Burnett,James,53 Cosby,William,19
Haslet,Colonel,274 Kane,Michael,91,94,95,101 Madison,James,38 Munro,Peter Jr.,434
Hatfield,Thomas,4211 '_:ane,Thomas,60,93 Magnolia Avenue,90,93 Munro,Sarah,434
All Saints Chapel,87m 87n,89n Burr,Aaron,43,85 Coventry,William,n64 F Haviland,Benjamin,n64 Kelleher,William,94 Munroe,John,47
Allaire family,n53S Burroughs,Claude D.,75,76,101 Cowboys,23,28-30 Faurot,Cam bell F.,n497 Haviland,Lavinia,n64 Maha Mamaroneck
5,6 Murrayvenue,SSn,101
Allaire,Calicia,n311 Burroughs,William H. 101 Craven J.B.,n238b p Keller,Mary Stapleton:see Gerlach, Mamaroneck Harbor,5,13,15 Y
Allaire,Elizabeth,20,33,n303,4304, g Faurot,Lester C.,99,n497 Haviland,Sarah,n64 Ma Murra ,Charles H.,55n,65,65n,67,
lI Burrowes,Richard,104,107 Crimmins,John D.,82 n Mamaroneck High School,86
Fayerweather,Samuel,13 Haviland,Stephen,464 Kellogg,Henry Partridge,39,4541 Mama s Neck 7 81n,8 7,91,93,97,100,101,104-107,
Allaire,Peter,33,n303,n3ll,n326 Burtis's Store,95 Crimmins,Lillian,82 Ferncroft Inn,n336 Hayward,Gerard Sinclair,93,104, Kello lle,n541 g n397
Burtis,E.Strong,96 Crystal Lake Brook,n405 Mangopsas Neck,7
Allaire property,32 � Fifth Avenue Hotel,106 106 Kellond,Abigail Forster,4176 Man o son Neck,4175 Murray,George A.,81,814
Burtis,Edward,95,96 Cunard Line,58 Fi ner,William C.,94 Hayward,Sofia Cawley,94 g p
Alley,William,79,794 g Yw' Y Kellond,Thomas,8,4176 Murray,William,105
American Institute,86 business district,95,96 Finch,John,6 Heathcote,Ann,454 Manhattan Savin Institution,101
Kendall,E.H.,89 Bishop, Myers estate,48,54
American Merchant Marine,59 D Fine Arts Designs,Inc.,106 Heathcote,Caleb,8n,10,16,19,23, Manny,William3,44 83 Y
C Kenmare Road,15Myers,James Van Schoonhoven,48,
Ann Hook,8,n175 Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre Com- Fisher,Elizabeth Munro,41,45 31,45n,n175,n202 Manor House,41,43,44,46,56,604, Y
Kilmer Road,4497 65,67,73,88,91,4202,4535 49,464,88
Archer,John,23 Caffey,Susan,77,97 any,76 Fla er,H.M.,81 Heathcote Hill,Battle of,27,27n Kin Charles,n434 Myers,Ma S.,49,n64
Bl g+ Manor Inn,1004 Y Mary
Aunt Jinn 27,29 Flandreau,Peter,n304 Herring,Silas C.,65;65n,67 King's Highway,14
y, Cakoe(Ccekoo),6 aly,Augustine,76,86,97 Hessians,27 g Manor School for Girls,90
Caldwell,Edward,n397 Dana,Charles,67 Fleming Park,79 Knickerbocker Press,39 Masons,83,103,n238b N
Fleming Point,83 Hickey,John,68 Kn hausen,General,27,n106
B Campbell,Catherine,90,4421 Danbeny see Daubeny g Hickory Grove Drive,farm,37 Mayhew Avenue,4405,4407 Neilson,Bloomer,25
Fleming,Francis C.,83 iY
Bache,Benjamin,42 Campbell,William H.,90-91,95-96, Danberry:see Daubeny g'. Hi kins,Rev.F.Southgate,894 McCahill,Annie L.Gregory,674 Nelson,Pol ca us,13 "kA
100-101,104-107,n133,n421 Darling,Thomas,36 Flint family,n283 p L McCahill,Thomas J.,67,106 Y
Flint Park,93 Hoboken Turtle Club, 9,83,85-86, Neutral Ground,23
Barker, e etern53Carleton,General Guy,30 Daubeny estate,54 95n LaGrange,General Oscar O.,97,97n McElhose,Captain M.D.,85 New Haven Railroad,50 or 52,51,59,
Barker Cemetery,55 Carnegie,Andrew,81 Daubeny,Lloyd Saxbury,47,49,n64 Flint's Point,63
Barker Hommock,62 Hoffmaster,Charles,n397 La ran a Susan Caffe Merceie r,Edward,48,n64 67,91,104,n343
Barker,Thomas,13 Carver estate,81 Daubeny,Susan Titford,47,49,n64, Flint,Edward,101,106,107 Hollings Hotel,New York City,86n Lamson Edward,101 y'77,100 Merceien,Thomas R.,464 New Rochelle Yacht Club,39
Carver,Benjamin F.,79,4132 4343,4358 Flint,Elizabeth James,64 gr Y Mermaid's Cradle,93 '
Barker,William L.,65,654,67 Flint,Frederick,77,79,89-91 Holt,Henry,55,95,96 Lamson,Roger,4397 New York&Stamford Electric Rail-
Carver,Sallie C.,79,n132,n321 Davenport's Neck,8n,27 Merrit,John,13
Barnard,Elizabeth,36 Hof Trinity Church,89,94 Larchmont(origin of name 57 wa 814
Castle,Irene Foote,73,76 Davids,Thaddeus,50 or 52,53,62 Flint,Helena,14,92,93,96,102,103, Y Y g )' Merritt,Fade 29,30 y'
'
Barreiro,Gerard Morris,101,106 Horse Ridge farm,20 Larchmont Board of Health,93 ' New York City Common Council,8,
Catholics,88,89,91;n399 Davidson,Clara,67n nl31,n397 Merritt,Shubal,28,29
Bayley family,34 Flint,Ma Elizabeth James,65 Horseshoe Harbor,67,'79,81,85,87,Larchmont Centre,544 49
Cawley,Sofia,93 Davidson,William,674 D' 88,97,4329 Larchmont Fire Department,90,100, Middle Neck,7,8,11,13,16,17,20, New York Count Medical Society,93
Bayley house,44 Flint,Mrs.Frederick W.,89,91 p 24,31,41,62 Y y'
Cedar B.�.ok,4175 Davis,Captain Pete,_8-29 � Horseshoe Harbor[Yacht]Club,77, 101,103,4379 New York Society for Prevention of
Bayley,Anne Margaret,46 Cedar Creek,1 Davis,Harriet,4535 Flint,Thompson J.S.,62,63,64-65, 80-82,85,101 Larchmont Golf Club,n202 Mill House,6,23,25,26,36,37,n297, Cruelt to Children,91
Bayley,John,33,n407 69,77,81n,89,91,93 n309
Bayley,Magdalen,n407 Cedar Island,n303 Deane Place,94,nl20 Flood Captain John,25 Horton,Benjamin,n211 Larchmont League of Women Voters New ork Society for Promoting the
Census of 1712,16 Death's Head,1 p . Horton,Deborah,34 67n Mill Pond,35,4309,4311,4540 Manumission of Slaves,n440
Bayley,Dr.Nicholas,28,31,n304, Census of 1790,33 Declaration of Independence,23,24 Florence,Gideon,13 Miller,James W.,59
i 4328,4336 Horton,Gil Budd,24 Larchmont Manor,7,15,S5,62,64, New York Turtle Club,864
Census of 1855,53-54 DeCrevecoeur,Chardovo e,39 Foote,Dr.Edward Bliss,73,76,101, Miller,Julia,39
Bayley,Oliver,31,33,34,n328 Yn Horton,James,13 69,73,77,93,94,100,101,106,107 Nine Partners,36,37
Charman,May(Mrs.Wm.Wilcox), Delancey family,23,31 106 Horton,John,n211 Larchmont Manor Company,65,67, Mills,Isaac,674 Noveau Realty Corporation,4538
Beddall,Edward,n397 86n Delancey house,n535 Foote,Dr.Edward Bond,76,106 Horton,Joseph,n211 70,76,77,79,83,85n,88,89,91,93, Mills,James M.,464
Belmont,August,81 Chatsworth,52,55 Delancey,Ann Heathcote,45n Foote,Dr.Hubert,76 Mitchell House,97-99
Belvedere Hotel,97,1004 Horton's stagecoach stop,14 95,97,100-102,1054,106-107,4411
Bemis cottage,n238b Chatsworth Inn,48 Delancey,Bishop William Heathcote, Foote,Irene Castle„73 Hosmer,Harriet,93 Larchmont Manor Horse Railway Mitchell,Harriet,77,97,439,n324 O
Bemis family,83 Chatsworth Land Company,51,53-55 45n,n202 Forster,Abigail,n176 Howe,George,n540 Company,13n,68,81n,95,105,105n Monroe Avenue,44,95,n202,n330 Oak Avenue Bridge,94
Y 62,96,4343 Delancey,Edward Floyd,13n n202 Fountain Square,16,7�,894,93, Howell Park,63 Larchmont Manor Park,1,63,69-71, Montrose,Ambrose C.,105
Berrian Place,4497 Morgan,J.P.,81 Oak Bluff,27,28,n239
Berrian,Charles 97 99 Chatsworth Station,50 or 52,67 Delancey,Frances Munro,45n,n202 n329,n330 Howell,Ella,62,63 104,107 g O'Connor,Elizabeth(later Chatter-
Besley:see Bayley Chatterton,Elizabeth O'Connor,76, Delancey,James,19 Fowler,John,25 Huguenots,8n,20,49 Larchmont Manor Park Society,67n, Morris,James V.C.,n276 ton),76,7,7,97,n128
Bevan House,97,974,98,100n,106 77,97,n128;see also O'Connor Delancey,John Peter,45,45n,46 Fowler,Henry,n211 Huguenot-Thomas Paine Society,6 70,71,85n,106-107 Y Morris,Lewis,19 Olmsted,Frederick Law,59,67,69n,
Franklin,Benjamin,42 Morrisania,23 73,n503
Bevan,John,106 Chatterton,George,100 Delancey,William,46,47 J Hull,Charles Wager,86,4397 Larchmont Park(Pinebrook),88
li Chemical Bank of New York,49,57 Delancey's Neck,25 French and Indian Wars,41 Hull,John R.,81 Larchmont Police Department,94 Morse,Edwin W.,89n,101,105,106 Orchard Lane,95
Bevan,Mary,97,106 Chestnut Hill,18 DeLima,Elias S.A.,n324 Freedom of the Press,n393 Hull,Ma E.,90 Mott House,n309,n310,n311;see Orienta,25
Bibby,Frances,46 Church of England,10,16,41 Deming,James Lewis,74,4418;see Freeman,Rev.,874 D Larchmont Post Office,97 also Mill House
Hunter,Elias DesBrosses,43n Larchmont Railroad Station,91 Orienta Point,o 62
Bill of Rights,20 Civil War,60,61,63,65,82,97n,106 also Lewis,James French,Samuel,65,65n,67 Hunting,Walter C.,70 Larchmont Reservoir,55,104 Mott Mill,28,34,44;see also Pre- Oriental Silk Company,106
Bird,Joseph,101,105-107,n329 Clark,Robert n535 Dirty Swamp Creek,8n Froebel Academy,67n Hutchinson,Anne,5 Larchmont Shore Clubmium Mill
Bird,Veronica Ackerman,101 Clark,Sam n535 Dirty Swamp,2,18 Fugitive Slave Laws,61 ,27,4106 Mott,Adam,36,n309
Bliss Boarding Stable,95 Furman,Gabriel,45,454
Larchmont Shores,4303 Mott,Anne 25,26 29 30 36 n309 P
' 954 Claxton cottage,74 Disbrow family,4336 I Larchmont Street Railway,90 4370 Pacific Rubber Company,954
Bliss,Darius, Claxton,Kate Maude Cone Steven- Disbrow house 13 464 Larchmont Village Hall 14 103 1054
C ( I.G.Collins&Son,57 g Mott,Captain James,21 Palmer Bursal Ground,4343
Block,Adriaen,2 P
Bloomer Robert 25 son),73,75-77 Disbrow,John,4211 G Indian Head Inn,4336 Larchmont Water Company,55,SSn, Mott,Elizabeth Bernard,36 Palmer family,15-17,23,24,31
Cobden,Rev.Richard,88 Dobney:see Daubeny Indian Rock,n407 101-102 Mott,James,21-38passim,61,n297, Palmer house,13,13n,41,43,44,n311
Blunt,Captain Edmund,106 Cochran,Maude Hazel,82,85n Dodge,Sarah,n406 Gardner,Alfred D.,97 Iselin,Adrian,100 Larchmont Yacht Club,39,67n,77- n2991 n309,n370 Palmer,B.Frank,97
Bonnett Avenue,49,51 Coffin,Lucretia:see Mott,Lucretia Dowdney,Abraham,82 Gerlach Place,n538 Iselin,C.Oliver,81,n397 83,85-87,89n,91,98,101,104-105, Mott,James II,37 Palmer,Henry W.,814
Bonnett,Patience,49,464 Coles,Caleb,n64 Dowdne ,Lillian Crimmins,82 Gerlach,Julius,54,n397 n321
Bonnett,William,n64 Y Mott,Lucrecia Coffin,37,61 Palmer,John,20
Coles,James,13 Drake,Mary,10 Gerlach,Mary Stapleton Keller,54, J Lewis r' '8n
Booth,Samuel,54,55,96 Mott,Mary Underhill,25,25n,27 Palmer,Mary,10,34
Coles,John,34 Drew,John,76 n538 [Deming],James 74,76,n418
Boston Post Road,13,134,14,17,41, Jackson,George R.,51,53,n343 Linden Avenue,67n,87,89,89n,91 Mott,Richard,25,27-29,37,38,464, Palmer,Mary Drake,9,17
45,62,95 Coles,Joseph,34 Duglis,C.H.,106 Gilbert,Mrs.George H.,76 4297,4309,4370 Palmer,Nathan,34
Boy Scouts of America,103 Collins Avenue,54,60,96,105 Duncan family,34 Globe Indemnity Company,104 James,Mary Elizabeth,64,65 Linen Thread Company,81n Mott,Robert,29,35,36 Palmer,Nehemiah,17,19,20,34,73n,
Boyd,William A.,106,3974 Collins estate,63,65 Duncan,Charles E.,31,n64,n328, Goodliffe,J.T.,101,102 Jardine,David J.,71,76,87,101,106,Liverpool,London&Globe In- Mott,Samuel,25,29,35,36,39,n310 n303,4311,n406
Collins,Edward Knight,47,55,56-60 n336 Gouraud cottage,n106 107 surance Co.,104 Mott,Thomas,37 Palmer,Nehemiah Jr.n303
Branique,Dr.W.,101,106 p Duncan,Elizabeth,33 Grant,Hugh J.,93 Jay Family Cemetery,46 Lloyd's Bank of London,107
passim,62 6S,67,694,80,88,4343, Molt's Spool Cotton,37 Palmer,Obadiah,10,11,13,17,20,
Brennan,William,68 n440 n441 Dwight,Joseph,21 Graven Brook,1,35 Jay Homestead,Bedford,n442,n535 Lloyd's Neck,L.I.,7
Briggs,Charles A.,88 g p Y Jay,Eve,41 Lockett,Mrs.B.C.,100 Munro property,Marie,
4303,4311
Bronson cottage,74 Collins Line,47,58,594 Great Neck:see Middle Neck Munro,Anna Marie,434 Palmer,Samuel,9-17 passim,20,34,
Collins Point,63 Jay,John,35,41,42,47,49,n535 Lockwood,Charlie,68
Bronson,Mayhew Wainwright,76, Collins,Israel, 3 Gregory,Annie L.,67n Jay,Peter,45n,46,49,n440,n535 Locust Grove,55,n343 Munro,Anne Margaret Bayley,46 104,4175,4176,4298,4311
103 Griffen,Hannah,13 ]a Munro,Cordelia,43n Palmer,Samuel Jr.,10,17
Brooklyn Theatre,75,76 Collins,Mary Anne Woodruff,58, E Griffen,Henry,13 Y Sarah,42 Loge,Madame Marie:see %Voodruff Munro,Elizabeth,41 Palmer,Sarah,20,n303,n311
* Brown&Bell's Shipyards,58 58n,59 Eagle Hommock,62 Grosbeck,David,4397
140 141
Palmer,Solomon,10,17,20,33,73n, Revolution,23,41 Southwick,Henry Clay,101 Udo is Park n55 Margaret,77
n303,n309,n311 Richbell,Anne,7,11 Southwick,Minnie,101 P
Palmer,Sylvanus,17,19,20,73n, Richbell,Edward,n176 Spanish-American War,93
n303,n309 Richbell,John,7,11,21,104,n176, Spencer,Elihu,36 V
Palmer,Thomas,8,51,52,55,62,63, n211,n227 Spnng Cottage,93 Van Cortlandt,Eve,43n
85,95,96 Richbell,Mary,n176 St.Augustine's Church,88,89,91,94, Van Cortlandt,Frederick Augustus,
Palmer,William,9,10,12,15,17,25n, Richbell,Robert Jr.,n176 n399 43n
55,95,96 Richbell,Robert,8,11,n176 St.Clare Avenue,family,95 Van Cortlandt,Jacobus,n311
Palmer-Singer Auto Company,81n Richbell's purchase,20 St.John's Church,Yonkers,41 Van Dusen,Charlotte,82
Parsons,Margery,7 Richmond,Annie,67n St.John's Church,87,100,89n,n329 Van Liew,Henry Augustus,89n,106,
Payson,Edith St.Clair,76 Richmond,Eugene Mchmsey,67n, St.John's Parish,89 n397
58,88,91,n411 St.John's Parish House,98
Payson,Horace,76 Van Ness,Cornelia,51
Pelham Manor,23 Riley,Dr.,106 St.Paul's Churchyard,Eastchester,20 Van Tassel family, ,5 85n
Pelham,Battle of,23 Robinson,John R.,73,n124,n392 St.Peter's Church,Albany,41 Vanderbilt,William K.,81
Pell,Philip,45 Robinson,Kate,73,n392 St.Thomas Church,Mamaroneck,46. Vanderbilt,Cornelius,58,59
Pell,Thomas,9 Rockingstone,53,53n 87 Vanderburgh estate,55,60n,n439
Pell's Purchase,7,20 Roe,Charles,n311 St.Thomas Parish,Mamaroneck,88 Vanderburgh,Caroline:see Wil-
People's Municipal League,93 Rogers,Henry S.,106 Stafford Place,n538 marth,Caroline
Pequot War,9 Rogers,Robert,25,27n Stagg,Peter,n64 Vanderburgh,Eugenia:see Brown,
Phalon,Edward,65n,67,83 Roosevelt estate,53,54 Stapleton,Mary:see Gerlach,Mary Eugenia
Phalon,James,65n Roosevelt,Cornelia Van Ness,51 States'Rights,61 Vanderburgh,George,51,52,54,62,
Phalon,Joanna,65,65n,83 Roosevelt,Cornelius,45,49,57 Steenwyck,Cornelius,8,8n,23 68,n258
Philipse,Adolf,17,n311 Roosevelt,Jacobus I,49 Steep Rock,67 Vanderburgh,Mary E.,51,54,n343
Roosevelt,James I.Sr.:see Steinway cottage,family,94n Vanderlip sisters,97
Philipse,Eve,17,41 n328 Roosevelt,Jacobus
Philipse,Frederiel:,17, Stephenson's'Brook,Drain,n405
1 Manor,23,31,41 Roosevelt,James John,45n,47,49, Stephenson,John,n405
Philipsebured r, 51,57,62,n258,n343 Sterling,John,n397
Pine Brook Bridge, r,23 7 35,44, Rose Cottage,97, 101 Stevenson,Mrs.William:see Kate
Pine(Pine's)Brook,1, W
n175,n309,n405 Royal Victoria Hotel,76n,100n Claxton Waddell H.,n64
Pinebrook,47,88 royalists,23,25,28-30,41 Stivers Garden,8327
Pinhorn,William,n176 Ruggles,Thomas,36 Stivers,George E.,67n,I n238b Waldeckers,
Los ,Lo ,62
Pipin's Brook,1,8n,18,n175 Rushton,Hannah,n64 Stivers,Jerome,67n,76n Louis,
m ,
Plum,George W.,81,81n Rushton,James,n64 Stivers,Rufus,67n,106 Walsh,William,96
Port Content,83 Rye-Oyster Bay ferry,16 Stone of the Siwanoy,3 WaPof1812a38 5,6
postal service,97 Stoney Brook,35
Power,Rev.Edmund,89,91 S Stoney River,1 Ward,Richard,Institute,
Pratt,Thomas,n406 Sackerah Path:see Westchester Path StOpy Wold Sanatorium,93 Washington Institute,65
Premium Mill,26,35,37,39 Sackett,Mr.,106,107 Sturges,Strong,n310 Washington,George,31,85
Premium Point,22,35,95,101 Salesians of San Bosco,n405 Suez Canal Company,107 Waterbury,Noah,School,
Premium River,1,3,35,39,94,n405, Sutton's Neck,?5 Weaver Street School,49n,63
Sanderson,Oswald,107,n397 Sutton,Joseph,13 Wendt,Carsten,54,54n,95,104-106
n540 Sands,John,n406 Sutton,William,25 West Chester(Town of),9,10
Prickly Pear Hommock,62 Sands,Nathaniel,n303,n406 Sweeny,Owen,68 West Neck,8,8n,17
Presbyterians,87,88 Sands,Sarah Dodgge,n406 Sylvan Grove,63 Westchester&Boston Railroad,4
Proctor,Frederick Freeman,69,76, Scarsdale Manor,8n
101,106,107,n397 Schureman,Jacob,25 r Westchester Turnpike,14,46,57
Prospect Point(Shore Acres),62 Schureman,John,34 Westchester Turnpike Corporation,
Provinicial Congress,24 Scott house,n311 Tammany Hall,49,93 45,49
Pryer family,n309,n540 Scott,Francis M.,93,101,104,106, Tautog Club,62,63,85 Whale-Back,1
Pryer Manor,39 107,M26,n397 telegraph service,95 Whigs,25
Pryer Manor Road,n297,n309 Scott,William,39,n540 telephone service,95 White Elephant Billiard Hall,86
Pryer,Charles,6,27,39,n106,n202 Scribner's The Book Buyer,101 Thomas,J.,101 White Plains,Battle of,23,24,27n
Pryer,Eliza,39 Seacord,Joseph,n407 Tilden,Marmaduke,104-106 White,Elbridge H.,90,93
Pryer,John,6,39,n330 Severin,Jacob,35 Titford,Susan:see Daubeny,Susan White,Henry,43n
Pryer,Julia Miller,39 Severin,Philip 68,n399 Toll Gate House,46 White,John,47n
Pryer,Captain Thomas,39 Sheldrake Ice Lake,102 Tooker,Edmund,90 White,Lt.Colonel Walton A.,28
Sheldrake River,37 Tom,34n White,Margaret,41,43
Q Shepard Place,86 Tomlinson,T.E.,52 Whitney,Asa,43n
Quaker Burying Ground,17,55,n64, Shepard's Boarding Stable,95 Tompkins,Daniel,45 Wight,George R.,93,101,104-107,
ryi g Shepard's Fields,86 Tories,25,31;see also royalists n397
88,n343 Shepard's Point,85 Towle family,72 Wilcox,May(Mame)Charman,86
Quaker Meeting House,17n,88 Sheard,Amelia Maddern,86 Towle,Frank Ellingwood,68,69,76, Will,34n
Quaker Ridge,4,62 Quaker Ridge Shepard, Charles D.,79,86,95n,105, 93,95,106 Willett,Gilbert,21
Road,88 105n Towle,George,68 Willett,Isaac,21
Quakers,9,10,15,16,19,23-25,27,
34,36,37,55,88 Shugar's River,1,8n Towle,Jeremiah,69n Williams'stagecoach stop,14
Queen's American Rangers,25,27n, Sibell,Mr.and Mrs.Benjamin,88 Towle,Mrs.Frank,88 Wilmarth,Caroline,54,55
�8 Simcoe,Lt.Colonel John Graves,28 Tucker,William M.,39 Wilson Line,107
Quinby,Josiah,20 Singer,Charles A.,81,81n Turner,Joseph,25 Winthrop,John,9
Siwanoys,2-6 passim,9,14,15,n330 Woodbine Park,93,95,n309
Skinners,23,28-30 U Woodruff,John Ogden,n316
R slaves,16,20,27,33,34,42,60 Woodruff,Marcus P.,67,77,
7,77,87,n129,
Rae,William,57 Sliding Rock,1 U.S.Mail Steamship Co.:see Collins n316
Rankin,Henry,49,n342,n343 Smith,Isabel P.,69 Line Woodruff,Minnie(later Loge),77
Ranoud,Peter,34 Smith,Leonard,68,69 Umbrella Point,1,71 Woodruff,Thomas T.,56
Rattlesnake Hill, 18,53n Snell,Elizabeth,n64 Uncle Billy, Wolf Pit Swamp,2, 16
Red Bridge,35 Snell,Thomas,n64 Undergroundd RRaiai38 lroad,37,60,61, Wolley,Charles,2
Red Cross Auxiliary,93 Sniffin,Isaac,n311 n439,n440,n441,n442
Wurde,George W.,76
Regan,John 91 Snuff Mills,n310 Underhill,Ann Carpenter,27,29
Rehan,Ada 76 Society for Relief of Widows with Underhill,Captain John,5.9,25n
Renaud:see Ranoud Small Children,103 Underhill,Mary,25 Z
Restore,Richard 94 Society of Friends:see Quakers Underhill,Samuel Jr.,n297 Zenger,John Peter,19,20,n393
Reven,Thomas,6 Southack,Mrs.J.W.(nee Woodruff), Underhill,Samuel,21,n299,n309 Zvinn(Severin),Jacob,55
Revere,Paul,24 89 United Press Association,104
142
f
IARCi-iMUNT:
people and Ulaciis
Larchmont, New York, is unique among
Westchester County suburbs in having been
a Victorian summer resort whose residents
chose to incorporate as a municipality.
This fact, along with its public- access, a
privately-owned waterfront park, gave
::•:::::
Larchmont a distinctive character that ���`s:�;::::::•::>:�`:'•�'':•."
Persists to the present day.
: � •
r
.............
•a:�: :>s3:::�. ¢::.xis:>::� � �•::::»:<::
Larchmont NY: People and Places is
a�..
professionally researched heavily docu-
mented
<� •"` �'' �����-'"'`"
narrative spanning more than three
::.
centuries, from the days the Siwanoys
pitched summer camp in Manor Park to
reap the bounty of Long Island Sound.
John Richbell, an English trader who � .
purchased the land for a smuggling way-
station;
a station; the Palmer family, Quaker farmers
who defeated Colonel Caleb Heathcote's
determination to rule Town government
and hi wors
impose Anglican on all in-
P g P
habitants; the Motts, renowned Quaker
;:•.
preachers, educators and abolitionists who >``
persevered through the Revolutionary War •...... .::::.•..:.�::::}..:::::::: ... :;;:;:;;:;�..,i::.;;,.•
ears to build on the Premium um Riv r the
1 flour-milling industry f i
largest ou dust o t im
g g Y
s t e
i
sPeter Jay Munro, an orphan r ised by
uncle John Jay realized his dreamam of
establishing a manorial estate; Edward >
Knight Colline, naval architect and shipping
:>. ..
tycoon who for a brief time gave the U.S. :<> <:
supremacy on the Atlantic Ocean; the }
Flints, founders of the Larchmont Yacht
Club as well as developers of the summer
watering-place that became the Village of
Larchmont--these and hundreds of other 3.. .•:: ..:`'
.<;>is'�i�:�:::`:'1::::'f•:i`:1:':':::: •''ti•'::.:�::;::.::'':?2:>ri�`ii: ,:. ; x ...:.2:i >i ;. : :..:._.. . .. .. .............
colorful and enterprising individuals hued
here and left their mark. After readin
:::2":v... •..•:.
g
their story, Y never t o v r n
you will n think f •��•>
K.
<
Larchmont :::..
arc mont in the same way again.
ain.
This volume of Larchmont, NY People *w>
and Places commemorates the 10th an-
niversary year of the Larchmont Historical
Society, chartered in 1980 by the New York
State Board of Regents to "discover, dis-
seminate and preserve the history of
Larchmont,New York."
About the Author ""••••'••
Judith Doolin Spikes, Ph.D., is
Larchmont Village Historian and founding
president of the Larchmont Historical
Society.
ISBN 0-9628957-1-7 `'"`
::> :;: :;g;;i•