[Baird, Charles. Chronicle of a Border Town, History of Rye, Westchester County, New York, 1660-1780, Including Harrison & the White Plains Till 1788, Anson D.F. Randolph, 1871]
These dealings with the natives for the purchase of their lands were still in progress, when the settlement on Manussing Island [now called Manursing Island] was commenced. The precise date we are unable to fix, but it must have been in the summer or the fall of the year 1660. Disbrow and his companions, it will be remembered, were 'all living at Greenwich' when they concluded their treaty with the Indians for the purchase of the island. This was on the twenty-ninth day of June 1660. But the next deed, - that for the purchase of the northern part of Peningo Neck, - dated May 22, 1661, mentions 'the bounds of Hasting on the south,' showing that the lands previously bought had received a name, and implying that they were already occupied. It is unlikely, indeed, that the settlers would delay their coming, after securing the site which they judged to be favorable for the purpose; and accordingly we presume that they arrived in July or August, 1660. They came undoubtedly in boats. It was but an hour's sail, and they could thus transport their families and household goods much more readily than by the Indian paths through the forest, and across the ford from Peningo Neck.
It is easy to see why this spot should have been chosen. Here the settlers would be almost in sight of Greenwich, whither they could speedily retreat if molested. They were not likely to be noticed by the Dutch, though their island lay within the line designated by the last treaty. From their savage neighbors they would be comparatively safe. And here, while exploring the adjacent shores, and completing their purchases of land, they could quietly gain a foothold, and wait for accessions to their numbers.
But apart from these considerations, the planters could scarcely have lighted on a more inviting spot, had they sailed along the coast as far as the Manhattoes. Their island was about a mile long. It lay on the eastern side of Peningo Neck, only separated from it by a narrow creek. Westward, a broad expanse of sedge land, or salt meadow - much valued by the early settlers as yielding food for their cattle - intervened, almost hiding this channel in its winding course, and seeming to connect the island with the main. On the other side, toward the sea, a wide beach bordered its entire length. An Indian village had formerly stood on the southern part of the island; perhaps some of the deserted wigwams yet remained; and the upland, like the salt meadows, presented that appearance of cultivation, which, as we have seen, drew the white man to the places that had been improved in some measure by the natives before his coming.
Looking southward, our planters had in prospect an almost unbroken wilderness. The only spot between them and New Amsterdam, where Europeans had yet attempted to establish themselves, was a point of land, ten miles below, known to the Dutch as Ann's Hook. Here, eighteen years before the famous Mother Hutchinso had been slain by the Indians, in one of their risings upon the Dutch. This point had since been bought by Thomas Pell of Fairfield, who was now endeavoring under authority of Connecticut to form a settlement there, in spite of Governor Stuyvesant's remonstrances. Across the Sound, which is here about five miles wide, the shores of Long Island were already in great part possessed by the English. Hempstead1, just opposite; Oyster Bay and Huntington, to the east, had been settled some years before; the first with the consent of the Dutch themselves, the other two under patent from the New Haven Colony. It was at Hempstead Harbor, directly acorss the Sound, that the dividing line, agreed upon in 1650, between the Dutch possessions on Long Island and those of the English terminated.
Manussing Island2 comprises about one hundred acres of upland with as many more of sedge or salt meadow. The first business of the settlers was to apportion the land among themselves, and erect some temporary habitations. A home-lot of two or three acres was assigned to each. These lots were probably contiguous to each other, and the houses built upon them soon presented the appearance of a small village. The first houses built were nothing better than log-cabins. The timber was cut on Peningo Neck. More comfortable dwellings soon replaced these; the materials being brought down from the older settlements.
The island village took the name of Hastings. There is no reason to doubt that it was so called after the famous seaport on the British Channel. And it is fair to infer that some one at least of the settlers came from Hastings in Sussex, England.3 Part of the mainland received this appellation, together with the island. 'The bounds of Hastings,' extended, we have seen, about as far north, on Peningo Neck, as the present village of Port Chester. But some time elapsed before any improvements were attempted in this direction. For two or three years certainly, the planters confined themselves to their insular home.
The three purchasers of the island, Disbrow, Coe and Studwell, were soon joined by other adventurers, if indeed they were not accompanied by them at the outset. The following are the names of all the planters of whom we have any record, as belonging to the island settlement: -
Peter Disbrow, Richard Vowles, Thomas Applebe, John Coe, Samuel Alling, Philip Galpin, Thomas Studwell, Robert Hudson, George Clere, John Budd, John Brondish, John Jackson, William Odell, Frederick Harminson, William Lancaster.
Two other names, which are undecipherable, stand connected with these, making seventeen in all. The last three do not appear until the third year of the settlement. [includes Odell]. The others may not improbably have been associated with it from the first.
Eight of these names are permanently connected with the history of our settlement. We shall have occasion, further on, to trace the descent of several of the oldest families of the town from these persons. The other seven, in the list given above, were but transient members of the plantation. Their names soon disappear from its records. Of Samuel Alling, Thomas Applebe, and Frederick Harminson, we know scarcely anything. Robert Hudson was living at Rye some years later. George Clere remained long enough to obtain a home-lot in the new village, on the main. John Jackson and Walter Lancaster removed to the town of East Chester, New York, of which place the latter became one of the proprietors and leading men.
It may be interesting just here to pause and consider who these men were, and with what views they had come to this spot. With perhaps one exception, they were Englishmen by birth, and doubtless also Puritans in faith. They were, most of them, the sons of men who had sought refuge on these shores, among the earliest companies of emigrants to New England. There are grounds for believing that they were men capable of appreciating the benefits and obligations of civil freedom. Some of them at least, as we shall see, were men of religious principle and conviction. It is not unreasonable to suppose that they were in sympathy with the great movement which brought the Pilgrims to this hemisphere, a movement influenced, as we believe, by the highest motives that ever led to the founding of a state. It is far from true, that all who came out with the early colonists of New England were men of this stamp. Unworthy and disorderly characters appear to have thrust themselves among them from the first. But there is presumptive evidence that the founders of this plantation were of a different class.
The earliest document that has come down to us from these times, gives us certainly a very favorable impression of the planters. It is a declaration of their purposes and desires, drawn up about two years after the commencement of the enterprise. A word should be said here as to the occasion of this document. The Restoration had just occurred in Great Britain. On the accession of Charles the Second to the throne, it was expected that the American Colonies would profess their allegiance in the usual form of an address and petition. The colonies were somewhat slow to do this. Connecticut, however, was the first to offer these professions of submission. The address of the General Court at Hartford to the King was ordered to be drawn up on the 14th of March, 1661.4 It had probably come to the knowledge of the settlers at Hastings. They unite in expressing their concurrence in that address. And they also take the opportunity to define their true position, as those who, though dwelling in the wilderness, 'remote from other places,' are loath to be viewed as outlaws. And while proclaiming their reverence for constituted authority, they reserve their rights of conscience and private judgment. They will yield subjection only to 'wholesome laws, that are just and righteous, according to God and our capableness to receive.'
Hasting, July 26, 1662
Know all men whom this may concern that [we the] inhabitants of Minnussing Island whose names are here] vnder writtne, do declare vnto all the true[th] we came not hither withovt goverment as pre[entended], and therefore do proclayme Charles the Second ovr lawful lord and king: and doe voluntaryly submit our selves and all our lands that we have bought of the English and Indians: vnder his gratious protectio: and do expect accordig to his gratious declaration: unto all his subjects which we are and desire to be subject to all his holsom lawes that are jvst and Righteous according to God ad our capableness to receive: where unto we doe subscribe.
- The mark of Samuel Alling
- The mark of Robert Hutsone
- John Brondish
- The mark of Frederick Harminsone
- The mark of Thomas Aplebe
- Peter Disbrow
- John Coe
- The mark of Thomas Stedwell
- The mark of William Odelle5
It would appear from the language of this document that some suspicion had been cast upon the enterprise. The motive of these planters in going beyond the limits of previous settlements had been impugned. Hence their declaration that they 'came to hither to live without government.' There is evidence too, that they felt themselves in danger from lawless and disorderly men, who were but too ready to join a new adventure. For at the same time with the above statement, our settlers drew up the following compact, which they signed in the same manner: -
'We do agree that for our land bought on the mayn land, called in the Indian Peningoe, and in English the Biaram land, lying between the aforesaid Biaram River and the Blind brook, bounded east and west with these two rivers, and on the north with Westchester path, and on the south with the sea, for a plantation, and the name of the town to be called Hastings.
'And now lastly we have jointly agreed that he that will subscribe to these orders, here is land for him, and he that doth refuse to subscribe hereunto we have no land for him. Hastings, July 26, 1662. The planters hands to these orders.
- Samuel Allin
- Thomas Applebe
- Robert Hutson
- John Brondish
- Frederick Harminson
'August 11, 1662. These orders made by the purchasers of the land with our names.
- Peter Disbrow
- Thomas Stedwell
- John Coe
- William Odell.'
While thus endeavoring to maintain good order in their little commonwealth, our settlers were anxious, as they had good reason to be, about their political situation. Great uneasiness was now felt throughout New England, regarding the designs of Great Britain. The king, whose restoration the colonies reluctantly proclaimed, was thought to be not a little inclined to curtail the liberties of his subjects across the sea, and to repress the spirit of independence for which they were already becoming noted. Connecticut, however, by the skillful management of its agent, the celebrated John Winthrop, had obtained a royal charter conferring most valuable privileges: constituting that colony, in fact, a self-governing state, and reaffirming its claims to a wide extent of territory. The news of this success spread joy throughout the colony. The General Court at Hartford hastened to apprise the towns, and require their submission to the new order of things. Notice even was sent, to Governor Stuyvesant's great displeasure, as far as Oostdorp, or Westchester Village in New Netherland, where Connecticut men had settled some years before under grants from the Dutch. The Hartford government informed them that by the terms of the new charter they were included in the colony limits; and enjoined upon them, 'at their peril,' to send deputies to the next meeting of the Court. Perhaps it was the very same messenger, riding 'post-haste' to the Dutch village, who turned aside from his course along the Westchester Path, as he reached Peningo Neck, and came down to the little island settlement with the good news of the charter. At all events, a message of like import reached the inhabitants of Hastings; and they gladly took steps to place themselves at once under the protection of the Colony, and seek the rights and privileges of a fully constituted town. A meeting was called, and Richard Vowles was chosen to go to Fairfield, and there be qualified as constable for the plantation. Shortly after, the settlers addressed the following letter to the General Court:-
'From Hasting the 1 Mth 26: 1663.
Much Honored Sires, - Wee the inhaitances of the towne of Hasting whose names are heer vnder write: beig seted upon a small tract of land lying betwixt Grinwich and Westchester: which land wee have bought with our money: the which: wee understand doth lye within your patant: and where as you have allredy required our subjection: as his maiesties suicts, which we did willingly and redily imbrace and according to your deciour: we sent a man to Fairfield who have there takne the oathe of a Constable: we have now made choyse of our nayghbar John Bud for a deputi and sent him up to your Corte to act for us as hee shall see good: it is our desiour: to have [some] settled way of goverment amongst us: and therefore we do crave so much favor at the hands of the honnorable Cort: that whether they do make us a constable or aney other offesere that they would give him povr to grant a warrant in case of need because we be som what remote from other places: thus leaving it to your wise and judicious consideration we remayn yours to command:
- Peter Disbrow
- Richard Ffowles
- George Clerk
- Philip Galpine
- John Coe
- William Odell
- John Brondig
- John Jagson
- Thomas Stedwell
This is ouer desier In the name of the Rest his mark Walter Lancaster his mark.'
The modest request of the men of Hastings was granted, after some delay. At the session of the General Court in Hartford, o the eighth day of October 1663, --
'Lnt. John Bud' makes his appearance, and 'is appoynted Commissioner for the Town of Hastings, and is inuested with Magistraticall power within the limits of that Town.' Moreover, 'Rich: Vowles is appoynted Constable for the Town of Hastings, and Mr. Bud is to give him his oath.'
Connecticut at the same time reasserted its claim to the territory west of this place, the General Court declaring that 'all the land between West Chester and Stamford doth belog to the Colony of Connecticut.'
Budd and Vowles had both been admitted, the year before to the privileges of freeman; the former as an inhabitant of Southold, and the latter as an inhabitant of Greenwich. Perhaps Hastings, which had not yet bee recognized as a plantation, was at that date considered to lie within the bounds of the latter town.
Our little village now rejoiced in something like a well-ordered social state. It had a magistrate 'commisionated to grant warrants,' and also in case of need 'to marry persons.'6 It had a grave and discreet constable, with full power to apprehend . . .
'Such as are ouertaken with drinke, swearing, Sabboath breaking, slighting of the ordinances, lying, vagrant persons, or any other that shall offend in any of these.'
With these safeguards and immunities, our settlers remained for another year or tow upon their island. Meanwhile, however, certain changes had been going on, betokening the removal of some, at least, of the inhabitants from the island to the main. On the twenty-eighth of April, 1663, the four purchasers - Disbrow, Coe, Studwell, and Budd - by a deed of sale conveyed the island, together with the land on the main, to the following planters: Samuel Allen, Richard Fowles, Philip Galpin, Thomas Applebe, William Odell, John Brondig and John Coe. According to the terms of this transfer, the planters were to pay forty shillings a lot, in cattle or corn, between the above date and month of January ensuing.7
Two or three years passed over the island settlement, before an attempt was made to occupy the opposite shores. It is no unlikely that the settlers meanwhile began to appropriate some part of their purchase on the Neck, dividing it into allotments, and perhaps beginning to clear and improve the soil. They continued however to make the island their home. There is a tradition that in those early times the farmer would spend the day in toil on his rough plantation, and then at sundown return, for safety from wild beasts and savages, to the village across the creek.
But about the year 1664, the colony was joined by several new families. The names of Thomas and Hachaliah Browne, George Lane, George Kniffen, Stephen Sherwood, and Timothy Knap, first appear about this time in our Chronicle. Their coming may have been due to an event which had long been anticipated and eagerly desired. In September, 1664, New Amsterdam was surrendered to the English, who soon made themselves masters of the entire province. This circumstance might lead some to seek a home here, who would hesitate to do so while the Dutch still claimed the soil. The new settlers brought considerable strength to the little colony. Thomas and Hachaliah Browne are known to have been men of substance; and so perhaps were their associates. There was no room for them, however, on the island. Fourteen or fifteen familes already occupied its narrow limits; and indeed it no longer seemed necessary or desirable that the settlement should confine itself to this spot. It was now strong enough to push into the wilderness.
The new-comers, therefore, were appointed their home-lots on the coast. But they appear to hae settled as near as possible to their comrades. The first houses were built at no great distance from the ford, at the southern end of Manussing Island. Hachaliah Browne - according to a family tradition - built his first house on the bank which overlooks the Beach, in a field now belonging to the heirs of the late Newberry Halsted. Others settled near by. 'Burying Hill,'8 an elevated point of land beautifully situated at the eastern extremity of the Beach, was doubtless occupied very early as a building spot.9 These houses formed a suburb, so to speak, of the village on the island. They were probably slight and rude habitations, - 'log-cabins,' - of which every trace has long since disappeared. But the fact of such a settlement on the coast was long retained in memory. The inhabitants of Rye used to speak of 'The Old Town,' meaning the island, together with the neighboring shore. And the road leading to the Beach ws anciently known as 'ye highway that goeth to ye Old Town Plat.'
One of the first buildings erected on the mainland, was undoubtedly the mill. It stood at the head of the creek, or the mouth of Blind Brook, on the opposite side of Peningo Neck, and within half a mile of the Beach. Mr. John Budd was the proprietor; and no doubt the inhabitants of Hastings felt themselves greatly indebted to him for its establishment. A grist-mill was indeed an important institution in a new settlement. The Indian corn upon which the white man, like his savage predecessors, depended chiefly for food, must needs be ground into meal by some readier appliance than the stone pestle and the mortar. Hence great anxiety was always shown for the erection and support of the mill. Special grants and privileges were often conferred on the proprietor. He was generally regarded as a leading member of the community. And the mill itself was likely to be the nucleus of the starting settlement. The settlers would naturally prefer those locations which were of easy access to it. This would be the case especially while the means of transportation continued to be very rude, and the highways were mere paths through the forest, or among the stumps and decaying trunks of recent clearings.
Mr. Budd built his mill on the west side of Blind Brook Creek, at a point where it would be convenient for the inhabitants of Peningo Neck, whilst yet it stood on his own tract of land, known as Apawamis, or Budd's Neck. The spot is still pointed out. It is on the south side of the bridge over which the cross-road from Milton to the post-road passes. Part of the dam, indeed, still remains, and forms the road-bed; and within the recollection of persons now living, traces of the mill itself were to be seen.10 This was probably the first building erected on the mainland. Hither the 'men of Hastings' came from their island village, while all around was still a wilderness. And hither their descendants for several generations continued to resort.
Thus by the year 1665 there had sprung up two infant settlements within 'the bounds of Hastings;' the one on the island, the other on the shore of Peningo Neck, stretching across to Blind Brook. The latter, we find, had begun to be known by the name of Rye. It is supposed that this name was given in honor of two prominent members of the colony - Thomas and Hachaliah Browne. They were the sons of Mr. Thomas Browne, a gentleman of good family, from Rye in Sussex County, England, who removed to this country in 1632, and settled at Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is curious that the names of two seaports on the English coast, Rye and Hastings, should have been thus bestowed on this place. But the more famous of the two designations was to give way to the humbler. On the 11th of May, 1665, the General Court of Connecticut passed an act, merging these settlements under the name which the town has borne ever since. The act is as follows:-
'It is ordered that the Villages of Hastings and Rye shall be for the future conioyned and make one Plantation; and that it shall be called by the appellation of Rye.'11
At the following session of the General Court, inquiry was made about the state and prospects of the new town. Perhaps the magistrates had their doubts as to the expediency of admitting a settlement so remote and so little known.
'Mr. Lawes and Lt. Richard Olmsted are desired and appointed to view the lands apperteineing to Hastings and Rye, to see what there is that may be sutable for a plantation and to make returne to the Court the next session.'
No report of this committee appears on record. But it was probably favorable, since Rye was now enrolled on the list of persons and estates as a town paying its proportion of the public charge.
Within the next five or six years, the village on Manussing Island ceased to be. Most of the planters who had remained there till now, came over and united with their new associates in building upon the present site of the village. They appear to have acted harmoniously in this, with but a single exception: Philip Galpin, one of the early settlers of Hastings, did not choose to remove from the island; and preferring to remain, he felt sorely aggrieved that his neighbors should leave him behind. So he petitioned the General Court at Hartford, that they might be restrained from taking this step. The magistrates took action upon the case on the 11th of May, 1671: -
'This Court haueing heard and considered the petition of Philip Galping, as allso what return Lnt. Richard Olmstead and Mr. Holly haue made to the Court concerning the affayres of Rye, they cannot see that they sayd Galping is oppressed by their remoue as is alledged; but doe aduise the sayd Galping to comply wth his neighboures and remoue with them. Yet if he remaynes his dwelling where he is, he is aduised to take care of damnifying his neighboures.12
A few planters, it appears, remained, notwithstanding the general migration. In 1668, John Coe sold to Stephen Sherwood his 'house and housing and home-lot, upon the north end of Manussing Island.'13 The Coes, Sherwoods, and Vowles were the principal owners in 1707, when Jonathan Vowles conveyed his share of lands in that locality to his son-in-law, Roger Park. As late as the year 1720, the island had a population sufficiently large to claim the right to erect a pound. . . .
The village of Rye was now rising upon its present site amid the forest on Peningo Neck; and here we describe it as it appeared a little less than two hundred years ago. The new town plot lay at the upper end of the Neck, along the eastern bank of Blind Brook. Our Milton Road - once perhaps an Indian path leading down from the old Westchester Path to the lower part of the Neck - was the village street, on either side of which the homelots of the settlers were laid out. The Field Fence was the northern boundary of the village. This enclosure began where Grace Church now begins, and stretched across the Neck from Blind Brook to the mill-pond, near the present residence of James H. Titus, Esq. Somewhere, probably, in the neighborhood of the old district school-house, north of the Episcopal Church, was the Field Gate, of which we find frequent mention.
The home-lots, which commenced here, were generally of two or three acres each. Some are represented as to size and position by the grounds of Messrs. Bell, Ennis, Budd, and others, near the Episcopal Church. They extended down the street as far as the road leading to the Beach. The lots on the west side ran across to Blind Brook; those on the east side reached back to the 'town field.'
The Town Field was the tract of land in the rear of the home-lots on the east side of the Milton Road. It comprised the whole space between Grace Church Street on the north and Milton[6] on the south. This area is now covered by the lands of Messrs. Greacen, Anderson, Downing, and others. Here was the common pasture ground of the early inhabitants, where the cattle, bearing their owners' respective marks, were permitted to run at large during part of the year. Some of the settlers, however, had their meadow lots within this tract; and in after years the whole of the Town Field was by degrees apportioned among the proprietors, till nothing remained of the 'commons.'
A part of the town plot was known in early times as 'The Plains.' This name belonged to the level grounds bordering on Blind Brook, at the upper end of the village, and extending from the present stone bridge to the neighborhood of the railway station. It is not unlikely that this tract may have been originally cleared and improved by the Indians, thus offering a favorable spot for the site of the new plantation. Such clearings, we know, were considered by the settlers of other towns as very desirable for the purpose; and they were wont to designate them by the same appellation.14 The home-lots on the Plains appear to have been held as the choicest part of the village grounds. They fronted on the street, or Milton Road, and ran back to the brook; the post-road, which now passes through the village, not having been opened as yet.
Along this street, which was nothing more than a pathway, barely practicable for the ox-team, the only vehicle in use, a dwelling might be seen, in the year 1670, rising here and there among the trees that yet remained of the primeval forest. It stood with gable end close upon the road, and huge chimney projecting at the rear, - a long, narrow building, entered from the side. These houses, however, were not mere temporary structures, as those on Manussing Island had doubtless been, but solid buildings of wood or stone, some of which have lasted till our day. The timber used was hewn by dint of hard labor from the neighboring forest; the boards and shingles brought from the older settlements, as there was yet no saw-mill here. For the houses built of stone, abundant material was at hand in the coarse granite of the region, and in the great heaps of oyster and clam shells which the Indians had left in many places, and which the early settlers found very convenient for making lime.15 Each dwelling generally contained two rooms on the ground floor, a kitchen and a 'best room,' with sleeping apartments in the loft.
By the help of the town records, and a few remaining vestiges of olden time, we may form some idea of the village as it was constituted nearly two centuries ago. A little way back from the lower end of the street, at the head of the creek, stood the mill, of which we have already spoken. Mr. John Budd was now dead, but his son-in-law, Lieutenant Joseph Horton, was the proprietor, and a very important person he was. His house stood near by, and in the same vicinity were the houses of George Lane, Jacob Pearce, Robert Bloomer, and others. Higher up the street, o the left hand, along the bank of the brook or creek, lived William Odell, John Ogden, Jonathan Vowles, John Budd, junior, and George Kniffin. Traces of some of these houses have been seen by persons still living. On the corner of the road leading to the Beach was the house of Timothy Knap. Beyond, on a knoll directly south of the old Clark mansion, stood the homestead of the Purdy family.
- The most distant point of land to be seen from Manussing Island, looking up the Sound, is Eaton's Neck. West of this point is Huntington Bay. Oyster Bay is the next inlet; and nearer still is Hempstead Harbor.
- Traces of several dwellings have been found on the southern part of the island, where they appear to have formed a cluster, a few rods apart. The summer-house on Mr. Wm. P. Rensselaer's grounds, indicates about the spot where this little village stood. Thirty or forty years ago, the walls of a small stone house were still to be seen at this end of the island, - perhaps a part of the ancient house of Richard Vowles.
- Old names were given to new places, in these early days, for reasons very different from those which have produced the absurd nomenclature of many of our modern towns. The feeling which prompted this custom is touchingly expressed in the preamble of an act conferring the name of New London, in the year 1657: 'Whereas it hath bene a commendalbe practice of ye inhabitants of all the Colonies of these parts that as this Countrey hath its denomination from our dear natiue Countrey of England, and thence called New England, soe the planters in their first setling of most new Plantations have giuen names to those Plantations of some Citties and Townes in England, thereby intending to keep up and leaue to posterity the memoriall of seuerall places of note there, as Boston, Hartford, Windsor, York, Ipswich, Brantree Exeter, - This Court,' etc. (Public Records of the Colony of Conn., prior to 1665; p. 313.)
- Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1636-1665, p. 361.
- For the fac-simile of this document which is here presented, I am indebted to Mr. Bolton, who made a careful tracing of the original. The volume that contained it is unfortunately lost.
- Public Records, etc., 1678-1689, p. 5.
- Rye Records, vol. A., quoted by Bolton, History of Westchester County, vol. ii. p. 19. The second of these names Mr. Bolton gives as Richard Lowe. As no such occurs in any of our records now extant, I judge the above to be the correct reading.
- Burying Hill is supposed to have derived its name from the fact that the Indians anciently used it as a burial-place.
- This conjecture is favored by the following deed. The persons who appear as proprietors of Burying Hill in 1715, had probably acquired the rights of early settlers, who had home-lots there: 'June 29, 1715. 'We whose names are hereunder written do freely and voluntarily give to Roger Park and his heirs for ever all our right title and interest of or to a certain parcell of land commonly called the burying hill situated and lying at the northerly end of the flats or horse-race. Sam'l Kniffen, Jo. Purdy, Nahan Kniffen, R. Brundige, Fr. Purdy, Charlotte Strang, Daniel Streing, Robert Bloomer, Peter Disbrow.' The original is in the possession of the Brown family at Rye.
- Mr. James Purdy, an old inhabitant of Milton, informs me that a veritable millstone of this ancient mill was taken many years ago by Philemon Halsted, and placed as a door-step at an entrance of his new house then building. It is still to be seen there.
- Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1665-1678. Edited by J. Hammond Trumbull, p. 15.
- Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, p. 149. It is not stated where they removed from; but there can be no doubt that the reference is to the removal from Manussing Island. Galpin afterwards lived in Rye 'near the Field Gate.' In 1682 he bought from John Budd a tract of land on 'the neck called Opquamis.'
- In 1714 'there were brought before the Court' of Sessions at Westchester, certain 'articles of agreement concluded by the Proprietors of the Neck of land in the township of Rye, which is separated from the town field by the fence that reacheth from Kniffin's Cove to the Mill Creek.' - (County Records, White Plains, Vol. D, p. 40). Kniffin's Cove is the ancient name of an inlet on the eastern side of the Neck, in the rear of Rev. W.H. Bidwell's residence.
- This was the case at Norwich and Guilford, and elsewhere. 'What is now call'd the Great plain,' writes the old historian of Guilford already quoted, 'this with Some of the Points of Land adjoyning the Sea were all Clear'd by the Native Indians, were Rich & fertile, and by the Skill and Industry of the Inhabitants afforded Quickly a Comfortable Sustinance for themselves and families.' (Hist. Magazine, v. 231.
- 'All the early accounts,' says the editor of Novum Belgium, 'speak of the immense accumulation of oyster and clam shells, and their use for lime.' (page 46). Mr. John F. Watson, the author of Historic Tales of Olden Times (New York, 1832), mentions the fact, upon the testimony of an old resident of the city then living, that 'they used to burn lime from oyster shells in the Park commons.' (page 99.)
[Baird, Charles. Chronicle of a Border Town, History of Rye, Westchester County, New York, 1660-1780, Including Harrison & the White Plains Till 1788, Anson D.F. Randolph, 1871]
Mr. Ogden's necke - #39 Mr. Odell 20 [acres?] this could be either William or his father William or his brother John. Hempstead is about 35 miles from Rye.
William Oadell of Rye, planter, to oldest son John Odeall, one half of homestead, with one half of undivided land.
1697 - Rye, Westchester Co., NY - Death - Most genealogies cite this date for his death. I'm not finding a will, probate or burial to back it up.
1700 - Rye, Westchester Co., NY - no will found, but a deed indicates that William O'Dell was dead:
Land of William Odell, deceased was sold by his son Samuel Odell to Abraham Smith.
- Johannes b. ca. 1686
- John md. Hannah Vermilyea
- Johannes, d. ca. 1738
- Sarah b. ca. 1692, d. 1787 md. John Vermilye
- John Vermilye b. 1716, d. 1777 md. Anna (--?--)
- John Vermilyea
- David Vermilye b. 1740, d. 1792 md. Patience Leavens
- Benjamin Vermilye
- Isaac Vermilye
- David Vermilye
- Elizabeth Vermilye
- Aeltie Vermilye
- Rebecca Vermilye
- Benjamin Vermilye
- Joshua Vermilye
- Gerardus Vermilye
- Antje Vermilye
- Frederick Vermilye
- Maritie Vermilye
- Sarah Vermilye
- Abraham Vermilye md. Mehitabel Vermilye
- William Vermilye
- Edward Vermilye
- John Vermilye
- Sarah Vermilye
- Margaret Vermilye
- Abraham Vermilye
- Anna Vermilye b. 1719, d. 1801 md. Abraham Brown
- Anna Brown
- Mary b. 1697, d. 1753 md. Frederick DeVoe/Deveaux
- Daniel DeVoe md. Auley Odell
- Rebecca DeVoe
- Thomas DeVoe b. 1739, d. 1800 md. Hannah DeVoe
- Benjamin DeVoe
- Michael b. ca. 1699
- Sarah Archer b. ca. 1686 md. Moses Fowler
- Charity Fowler md. (--?--) Drake
- Moses Fowler
- John Archer md. 1) Elizabeth (--?--), 2) Mary Drake
- Abraham Archer md. Mary (--?--) 1764
- John Archer md. Mary Leggett
- Gabriel Archer md. Susan Hunt
- John Archer
- James Archer
- Daniel Archer
- Benjamin Archer md. Margaret Archer ca. 1814 (see below)
- Richard Archer
- Jane Archer md. (--?--) Reed
- Samuel Archer
- Benjamin Archer md. Rachel deVaux
- Benjamin Archer
- John Archer
- Sarah Archer
- Rachel Archer
- Jonathan Archer md. Elizabeth (--?--)
- Jonathan Archer
- Richard Archer d. 1783 md. Sarah Valentine
- Anthony Archer b. 1746 md. Margaret Mapes
- Elijah Archer
- Mary Archer
- Margaret Archer b. 1776, md. 1) John Corby 1796, 2) Benjamin Archer ca. 1814 (see above)
- Benjamin Archer
- Eliza Archer
- Sallie Archer
- Richard Archer
- Abigail Archer me. Joshua Pell Jr.
- Benjamin Archer md. (--?--)
- John Archer
- Benjamin Archer
- Catherine Archer
- Mary Archer
- Valentine Archer
- James Archer
- William b. 1695
- Isaac b. ca. 1696, d. 1763 md. Sarah Hoyt
- Isaac b. 1710
- Sarah b. 1712, d. 1810 md. Captain John Denton
- Joseph
- Thomas Denton b. 1736, d. 1807
- John Denton, Jr. b. ca. 1738, d. 1787 md. Ann Margaret Weaver
- Jonas Denton b. 1757, d. 1814 md. 1) Leah Taylor 2) Hannah (--?--)
- Samuel Denton b. 1758, d. 1814 md. Martha Mills
- Mary Denton
- Caleb md. 1) Jane McDaniel, 2) Alice Thorne
- Nehemiah
- Isaac
- Elizabeth
- Susan
- Caleb
- unnamed child
- Edward
- Job
- Alice
- Simon
- Tompkins
- William
- Samuel
- John
- Simon
- Oliver
- Elijah b. ca. 1698
- Nathaniel b. 1698
- Samuel b. 1699
- Tompkins b. 1700, d. 1802
- Jonathan b. 1705, d. 1753
- James b. ca. 1706
- Charity b. ca. 1707, d. 1777
- Joshua b. 1707, d. 1785 md. Sarah Jones
- Joshua b. 1733, d. 1819 md. Mary Vincent
- Joseph b. ca. 1735, d. after 1802 md. Martha Manning 1757 - migrated to Canada in 1795 upon receiving land grants for himself and his sons.
- John b. 1758, d. 1812
- Joshua b. 1759, d. 1842
- Joseph b. 1761, d. 1824
- James
- Sarah b. ca. 1765
- Charles
- Jacob
- Martha
- Eve
- John md. Mary Wiltsea
- Matthias Valentine b. 1698, d. 1781 md. Anna (--?--)
- Dorothy Valentine
- Abraham Valentine
- Sarah Valentine
- Thomas Valentine
- Jane Valentine
- Mary Valentine
- John Valentine
- Matthias Valentine
- Anna Valentine
- Gilbert Valentine
- Hester Valentine
- Samuel Valentine
No comments:
Post a Comment