•n-o^ ■^'^o^ »r. >*"^°- -. .^ z^^^.-o ^.^^/ /J|^^ ^^^^^^ .^_^^, ^^^^^ i///^:c<\^>^ ■?^' '.^; MP- ¥ A n.' NewRochelle THROUGH SEVEN GENERATIONS ,0^ LIMITED EDITION PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION ONLY By C. H. augur COPYRIGHT 1908 THE NATIONAL CITY BANK New Rochelle 2 (T UbrtARY of C<»Nn' ifc^bSj two copies rttscwiv^J In|5 rP^^ HUGUENOT MEMORIAL AT HUDSON PARK. This stone is inscribed: "To commemorate the com- ing of the Huguenots. Erected by the Huguenot Association of New Rochelle and the Westchester County Historical Society, 1688—1898. The gift of Huguenot Descendants of New Rochelle. New Rochelle NewRochelle was fo an ded by French Huguenot Refugees in thejear 1688 ^ n commemoration of W that event this Historical Sketch is published in theyear 1908 and dedicated to the Citizens of the present Citjbythe NATIONAL City BANK of NewRochelle yew Rochelle 4 New Rochelle 5 From an old print of the Boston Road (now Huguenot Street) showing the French Church. F old-time residents of New Rochelle, and eager students of local his- tory, discover that many perti- nent facts are omitted from this little book, they will perhaps ac- cept the author's excuse — that the work is intended to be nothing more than an entree, not a banquet. In this modern city of fast-growing population old- time residents are relatively few, and those who were so ill-advised as to be "born and raised" elsewhere must be led by degrees to full and thorough appreciation of their early mistake and present good fortune. To such of our citizens we offer a fairly comprehensive story of New Rochelle in small compass — a taste of its interesting history. Sixty years ago it was said that "New Rochelle at an early period was a place of some resort, not only for the acquirement of the French language, but on account of the hos- pitality and politeness of its inhabitants."* ♦Bolton's Guide to New Rochelle, 1842. Old French Church, T^eiD Rochelle 6 More than two hundred years ago a gifted woman recorded her impressions of New Ro- chelle in these appreciative w^ords: "On the 22nd of December we set out for New Ro- chelle, where being come we had good enter- tainment and recruited ourselves very well. This is a very pretty place, well compact, and good, handsome houses, clean, good and passa- ble roads, and situated on a navigable river; abundance of land, well fenced and cleared all along as we passed, which caused in me a love of the place which I could have been contented to live in,"\ This early reputation for beauty, thrift and hospitality we believe is consistently main- tained by the modern New Rochelle, and we may be glad to claim it as our inheritance. Huguenot House on the old Lester farm. North Avenue, still standing. tMadam Knight's Journal, 1704. New Rochelle 7 1 1 ■ v'^--^ ^^P "1 WK/KP:--'-- ; ' ^ Be fit-'' ■ W Drake House. See page 31. Surrounded in Westchester County by Dutch and Enghsh settlements, New Rochelle came into existence as a distinctively French Community. Its founders were the sons and grandsons of those devoted Huguenots who in 1628 stubbornly resisted the attacks of the French army in the beleaguered city of La Rochelle until reduced from twenty?'- seven thousand to five thousand souls, and who sur- rendered in this extremity only upon promise of future liberty to practice their religion un- molested. Fifty-three years after this famous siege of La Rochelle, when King Louis XIV caused the renewal of Huguenot persecutions by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, many citi- zens of La Rochelle fled to England. It was a body of these refugees who, about 1686, com- missioned Governor Leisler of New York to purchase a tract of land for them in America. The Governor bought from John Pell, New Rochelle 8 Esquire, for this purpose, 6,000 acres of land. This was part of a tract which had been pur- chased in 1640 from the Siwanoy Indians by the Dutch West India Company, transferred by this Company to Thomas Pell in 1654 and ceded to John Pell in 1669. At the time of the Huguenot purchase it was a part of Pelham Manor. In addition to the tract of 6,000 acres the purchasers received as a gift from *IiOrd Pell one hundred acres for the church. "The sum of sixteen hundred and seventy- five pounds and twenty-five shillings sterling, current silver money of this province" (about $8,000.00) and "one fat calf on every four- and-twentieth day of June yearly and every 3^ear, forever if demanded" was the price for which Lord Pell, his heirs and assigns forever, quit claim to all of New Rochelle. As nearly as one can judge from records accessible a part of the tract was assigned to each family for cul- tivation in advance of payment to I^ord Pell, for many later deeds from Pell to individual settlers describe the land transferred as a part of the 6,000 acres originally bargained for. It is also on record that not onl}^ Lord Pell but his heirs "demanded" the fat calf on the appointed date for many years, and this date being the festival of St. John the Baptist the occasion was made a day of feasting and revelry. *A Provincial title, signifying not a Peer of Great Britain, but Lord of Pelham Manor. New Rochelle 9 In Residence Park. Neir Rochelle 10 There is evidence that farms were taken up by single families of Huguenots prior to the arrival from England of the main body of colonists. As the exact time of the latter's coming has been the subject of controversy it will be enlightening to publish here two letters written some years ago by Rev. Dr. Charles W. Baird to Mr. Henry M. Lester. Dr. Baird was an authority upon the Huguenot migration and Huguenot settlements in Amer- ica. At the time of his death he had in prepa- ration a history of the New Rochelle Colony, and there can be no doubt that his information was the result of more exhaustive research than am^ other writer has ever given to this sub- ject. Ryi:, N. Y., 12 Nov., 1883. My dear Sir: My delay in replying to your note of the second Novem- ber has been due to the fact that the inquiry it contained needed a closer examination than I could give it. I have now gone over the evidence on the subject, and have convinced my- self that the year 1688 was the year of the formation of the Huguenot settlement of New Rochelle. Should you wish it, T could give you the leading points of that evidence: but it may suffice to say that there is positive proof of the existence of the settlement as early as September, 1688, and that I find no mention of it before that year, but on the contrary much to lead me to think that an earlier date is out of the question. Believe me yours very sincerely, Charles W. Baird. Henry M. Lester, Esq., 628 Broadwa}^ New York. New Rochelle 11 View from Hudson Park. New Rochelle IS Rye, N. Y., 12 Dec, 1883. My dear Mr. Lester: My principal reliance for the date of the settlement of New Rochelle is upon a statement that occurs in a letter of Dominic Henry Selyns of New York to the Classis of Amster- dam. Writing on the tenth of October, 1688, he mentions "Nova Rupella (New Rochelle), about five leagues from here," as "built up" or "being built up." I have been trying to get a copy of the original of Selyns' letter, which is quoted by Mr. Murphy in his Anthology of New Netherland. From the connection of the passage, I presume he meant that New Rochelle was then being built up. Tliis would give the autumn of 1688 as the time of the settlement. Yours very truly, Charles W. Baird. Henry M. Lester, Esq., New York. On the rocky point now called Hudson Park, adding dignity and interest to one of the most picturesque pleasure-grounds along the Sound, stands a memorial stone said to mark the spot where the refugees landed. It seems that about thirty families com- Davis House, Cooper's Corners. JVew Rochelle 13 prised this colony of Huguenots. They im- mediately named the place New Rochelle in honor of their native city, and then apparently became too much engrossed with serious af- fairs to record the trivial incidents of daily life for the benefit of gossip-loving posterity. Very little is known of them at just this period, except that other Huguenots arrived from time to time in small numbers and that Dutch and English settlers occasionally joined the colony, so that by the year 1710 there was a total population of 261 persons, including 57 slaves. Naturally, the affairs of the church occa- sioned the earliest literature relating to this colony of intensely religious people. They were exiled from home because of rebellion against the established church of France, but with entire freedom to worship as they pleased it developed that they did not all please to wor- ship in one way; and the circumstance engen- dered some bitterness of feeling, at least among the clergy and officers of the church. The fact that our colonists had sacrificed all their possessions in France and suffered exile for the sake of a principle, is evidence enough that they were men of strong charac- ter. That many of them were also highly edu- cated and intelligent is apparent even in the meagre records which show how their public and private affairs were conducted. yew Rochelle But they were few in number and without means. They organized a church at once and erected a small wooden meeting-house in 1692, on the Boston Road — now Huguenot Street — near the present Episcopal Church. They could not maintain a regular pastor, but were administered to by visiting clergymen from the French settlement in New York City and by pastors of the English Church having charges in other parts of Westchester County. When they had no pastor at all they walked bare- footed, shoes and stockings in hand, a distance of more than twenty miles to attend services at the French Church in New York. Clergymen of the English Church in America were maintained largely by funds sent from England, and these were the earliest settled pastors of the New Rochelle Church. ^^ ^v ^ *^ ^^^^^^K^ « 1 .1 1 ^ - 1 1 , 4 ■■f First Methodist Church. See page 30. Neio Rochelle 15 It was inevitable that they should desire to conduct the service in conformity v/ith that of the English Church, and in 1709 the Reverend Daniel Bondet, then pastor at New Rochelle, obtained the consent of a majority of the French congregation to adopt that form of worship. A minority, however, adhered to the original service of the French Reformed Church, and these established a second congre- gation. It was this division that occasioned the more or less acrimonious correspondence of various successive pastors with their church su- periors concerning the church at New Ro- chelle. Some legal controversy arose also over the hundred acres of land deeded to the church by Lord Pell. Aside from this clerical correspondence we do not find evidence that the people were much disturbed by religious differences. They were industriously building homes and laying the foundation of a city in which churches of many denominations are to-day conspicuously num- erous, prosperous, and harmonious. One has only to view the present beautiful Trinity Church on Huguenot Street and the equally imposing Presbyterian Church at the junction of Huguenot and Main Streets, to see that both the "original" congregations eventually thrived and left worthy successors. Xew Kochelle 16 The oldest inhabited part of New Rochelle is in the vicinity of these two churches. Huguenot Street — variously denominated Kings Road, High Street and the Boston Road in the early records — existed when the Huguenot colonists arrived here. There they built their church and most of the first dwell- ing-houses. "There is one dozen houses round the church near each other," wrote one of the early chroniclers, "which gives the place the appearance of a town." When the New Rochelle tract was divided into farms in 1693, North Street was opened as a "division line." At the first recorded "General meeting of all the inhabitants" held Dec. 2, 1699, Peter Frederick and Joseph De- bane were named "for to be surveyors about the fences in all the plantations of this place for to preserve the place," and at the next sub- sequent meeting, March 1, 1700, it was voted that "as for the Kings Road from York to Boston the assembly has confirmed it as it is now settled, being a chain broad, and for the Water Road the assembly has also confirmed it as it stands now from Boston Road to the Water side betwixt John Jeffries and the Widow Market, and this to be also a chain broad too, and for the other roads to the water side it is ordered that they shall stand as they are now settled, provided they be 18 foot broad." New Rochelle 17 Salem Baptist. JV£W ROCHELLE CHURCHES. New Bochelle 18 The earliest roads to the water- side were the streets we know as Centre Avenue, Echo Avenue, Drake Avenue and Weyman Avenue, which appear to have been opened in the order named. Echo Avenue, first called Cedar Street, ran a tortuous course from the Boston Road along the creek, probably including all of the present Pelham Road to the intersection of Centre Avenue. Drake Avenue was Drake's Lane and is still so called by the older residents of New Rochelle. The present Weyman Avenue, then called Parcott's Lane, joined the road to Kingsbridge and New York by way of Eastchester. A leisurely drive or walk through the vari- ous thoroughfares referred to will disclose some evidence still remaining of the compara- Old Pugsley House. ^ew Rochelle 19 tive antiquity of these portions of New Ro- chelle. Old buildings, bits of old fences, cor- ners of orchards and "home lots," here and there exist; but they are rapidly disappearing, and a few years hence there will be little to re- call the old French settlement. One may ap- preciate fully all the beauty that wealth and modern refinement lend to the present city, yet echo in his heart the impassioned words in which a descendant of one of the eminent Huguenot families deplored the destruction of the old stone church. "Alas," he says, "that this venerable relic of antiquity should now have to be numbered among the things that were! The changes incident to the lapse of years and the vandalism of progress — or shall I say the progress of vandalism — have so com- pletely annihilated every vestige of the ancient structure that even its exact situation is more or less a matter of conjecture. * * * * And why could not the grasping, all-absorb- New Rochelle ing spirit of change and novelty which char- acterizes the age have spared us this one hum- ble monument of the past to build which it is said that the men carried stones in their hands and the women mortar in their aprons.'* To see what landmarks do remain, suppose we drive through some of the old streets of New Rochelle, starting westward from the cor- ner of Huguenot and Mechanic Streets. Immediately we are at Trinity Church, it- self a beautiful, modern structure, but de- scended lineally from the old stone church just referred to. Some chroniclers assert that be- neath the busy highway where your vehicle stops the remains of the earlier pastors of the church lie buried; others dispute this, and you may choose between a conflict of testimony of- fered without satisfactory proof on either side. At the west side and back of the church are graves: some marked by stones bearing recent dates, others old as the town itself, many ^vith names and inscriptions obliterated by the pas- sage of time. Across the deep chasm through which the railroad trains are incessantly rushing, flashing and rumbling, are more of these ancient stones, and you note again the "vandalism of prog- ress" w^hich could not allow the old Huguenots to preserve in death the peace they loved so well in life, but must cut in two their quiet rest- New Rochelle U Trinity Churchyard and Old Huguenot Cemetery. ing-place and make of it such a thundering, quaking region of everlasting torment as they never expected or deserved to inhabit. Across the way from Trinity Church you notice a commodious and comfortable-looking old dwelling-house, painted white and in very good repair. Only two or three years ago a row of enormous old trees stood before the spacious grounds of this "mansion," but to- New RocheUe Carpenter House on Huguenot Street. day its broad veranda looks upon the kitchen windows of smart, modern apartments for which the trees of a hundred years' growth had to make way. This is not one of the old land- marks of French New Kochelle, but as a for- mer dwelling of one of the Astor families It recalls the intermediate period when New Ro- cheUe was still a stage-coach journey from the metropolis and the Summer home of many dis- tinguished personages. A little further on, midway between Centre Avenue and the Presbyterian Church, stands a quaint little house almost wholl}'- obscured by trees, lilacs and thick-growing shrubs. Since pre-Revolutionary times this has been known as the Carpenter House, the home of a family long eminent and deservedly honored in New Rochelle. A short way beyond the Carpenter House, New Rochelle S3 close to the street, stands a two-story shingled building in which the congregation of the Pres- byterian Church met for many years prior to 1860. It was then moved to its present site to make room for the new church at your left. This handsome stone edifice may be called a monument to the "dissenting" French con- gregation referred to in the earlier pages. It became a regularly organized Presbyterian Church in 1812. You are now at the junction of Huguenot and Main Streets, beside the Soldiers' Monu- ment. At your left the beautiful winding thoroughfare called Pintard Avenue intersects with Main Street, and well back from the street, with an approach lined by aged trees, stands a well-preserved house originally occupied by Pintard House. New Rochelle Lewis Pintard, an illustrious New York mer- chant, who lived in New Rochelle in the early part of the last century. As you continue west on Main Street bear in mind that you are still traversing the old Boston Road. About the corner of Drake's Lane (now Drake Avenue) are clustered a number of small buildings apparently belong- ing to the old order of things, but none of his- torical importance. Between Drake and Weyman Avenues, close to the walk on your left is an old square house, half masonry, where a former citizen of New Rochelle, Thomas Ronalds, used fre- quently to entertain his distinguished brotlier Peter, United States Minister to France. The house and its environs are somewhat changed. One domiciled here at the present day might imagine himself minister to Italy. A little beyond the Ronalds house the old road turns to the right and proceeds through Eastchester and Kingsbridge to New York, while Main Street lies straight before you, leading to the same destination by way of Mt. Vernon. You may now drive across to Pelham Road — the "water side" of the old documents — through either Drake or Weyman Avenues. There is nothing of oldest New Rochelle on either of these thoroughfares, though several imposing places on Drake Avenue, in melan- New Rochelle choly process of decay, attest the stately ap- pearance of this old "lane" some two genera- tions ago. Turning east on Pelham Road you see an attractive-looking old house, long and low, with veranda extending across the entire front and shaded by a single tree of venerable age. This house was built before the Revolution and is said to have been occupied at intervals dur- ing the war by British officers. Following the course of Pelham Road as it merges into Cedar Road, and finally into Echo Avenue, you find yourself on Main Street again, beyond the eastern boundary of the busi- ness section. At this corner, near the present Beacon Hall apartments, stood, until recently, the old residence of Vicount d'AUaire, a distin- guished French nobleman who made New^ Ro- New Rochelle ^6 chelle his adopted home at the time of the Huguenot settlement. Driving down Main Street to Rose and turning northward you arrive at Huguenot and North Streets. Here stands intact, though changed in appearance hy a latter-day superstructure, an old roadside inn built before 1711, and kept by Captain Besley, a justice of the peace and man of many activities in the first generation of New Rochelle's existence. The old Boston stages changed horses here, and it is said to have been the stopping place of the flying messenger who carried from Bos- ton to New York the news of the Battle of Lexington. Proceeding across the railroad bridge and out North Avenue perhaps half a mile, you notice at the right, close to the walk, a little Old Allaire House. New Rochelle Old "Berpo" House on North Avenue. whitewashed stone house so out of place and lonely in its wizened old age that passersby stop and examine it curiously. Legend says only that a Frenchman named Berpo lived here in the dim and distant past. It might not be a wild guess that "Berpo" became a vulgar contraction of Bonrepos, and that the little house really sheltered the one-time honored pastor of the old French Church. Driving further on to the region now in process of development by the real estate com- panies, and directly in front of one of the most sightly tracts, you are faced by a bronze bust and pedestal erected to the memory of Thomas Paine. Recalling Paine's great services in ex- citing and spreading the spirit of independence among the American people before the Revo- c Rochelle 28 lution, his intimate association with the great- est men of that day, his later assaults upon the Christian faith and the fierce denunciations heaped upon him by its defenders — knowing something of the man's splendid genius and in- stability, his reputation and notoriety — you are interested in what evidence now remains of his connection with New Rochelle. The property before you is the old Paine Farm, confiscated by the Government because of the original owner's adherence to the Brit- ish cause in the war of the Revolution, and pre- sented to Paine in recognition of his patriotic services. Alone and in straightened circum- stances the broken old man lived here a few years, cared for by an old negro housekeeper. A short time before his death in 1809 he re- moved to New York City, but his remains were The Thomas Paine House, New Roche 189 brought to New Rochelle and buried on this property near the site of the present monument. There is a well-authenticated story of their surreptitious removal from this resting-place. Some women of the neighborhood, it is related, saw a wagon driven up to the gate and the occupants alight carrying spades with which they began digging about the grave. The women ran to the house of Constable Seacord and excitedly told him what they had seen. When the Constable reached the place the grave was empty and the strangers gone. It is said that the body was transported to England, but the mystery of its final disposi- tion was never revealed. Drive up the long avenue that was but re- ew Rochelle SO cently an old-fashioned country lane, and over the crest of the hill you come upon a weather- beaten little house set in a small garden-plot with all that remains of its old orchard of apples and pears. This was Thomas Paine's dwelling-place. A half-constructed modern residence has its elbow planted in the ribs of the old house now, and probably before these lines are printed this ancient structure, like nearly all of New Rochelle's interesting land- marks, will have been elbowed off the earth. Returning to North Avenue and driving on past the Country Club grounds you pass a little stone church of decided^ modern appear- ance in noticeable contrast to the old cemetery beside it. This is the North Avenue Metho- dist Church, whose former meeting-house — il- lustrated on page 14 — was the first of that per- suasion in New Rochelle, and sheltered the third religious congregation established in the village. Just beyond, at the corner of North Street and Quaker Ridge Road is a pleasant old house of pre-Revolutionary times, now occu- pied by Mr. Niehaus, the artist. A short drive further on you come to the old Davis House, pictured on page 12. Mr. George Davis states that this was an old house when it was purchased by his grandfather in 1794. You have now reached Cooper's Corners, New Rochelle 31 the end of this Huguenot thoroughfare. Drive back through North Avenue, past "Mahl- stedt's Pond," and at the south side of the ice- houses you will see the beginning of an old and little traveled road. This in earlier days was a lane leading from North Avenue to East- chester Road. Around the bend as you turn into this cross-road is one of the most an- cient and picturesque of all the old homesteads now remaining. It is the Drake House, pic- tured on pages T and 47. Continue along this road and stop a mo- ment before the Coutant Cemetery — a very old burying-ground where rest the first of this hon- ored New Rochelle family together w^ith a long line of descendants and connections. The original Coutant homestead, where peculiarly barbarous depredations were committed dur- ing the Revolution because of its isolated situa- tion, was doubtless near this burjang-ground, though its exact location is uncertain. Coutant Cemetery. iew Rochelle Old Inn. See page 26. You have seen most of the places that can now be identified with the earhest years of New Rochelle. Here and there along your route you have noticed old homesteads evidently dat- ing back several generations and with unmis- takable suggestions of old-time comfort and w^ealth (as wealth was measured then) in their generous proportions, pleasing architecture, and spacious grounds. Very few of them are occupied by descendants of the original own- ers, and many have been left to decay in neigh- borhoods now distinctly "unfashionable." In 1712 our polite and hospitable inhab- itants numbered 304. In seventy-eight years — down to the first National Census in 1790 — we had attained a population of 692. Ten years later, 1274. In 1840 we were 1816 strong. In 1850 — one hundred and sixty-two years after the Huguenot landing — the popu- lation of New Rochelle was 2547 souls. New Rochelle S3 This very moderate advance through the better part of two centuries would imply what diligent searching of records proves to be the fact. New Rochelle remained always a steady-going, industrious and eminently re- spectable community. From 1699, until we enter that momentous period preceding the Revolution, there is no indication of any dis- turbance in her placid existence. In 1701 the town records specify that the annual assembly was held for the nomination of officers "according to the use of this Coun- ty," our French-speaking colony conform- ing to the customs of their adopted land. Isaye Vallau, senior, Robert Bloomer, and Oliver Besly were named "Townsmen, for to look after and manage the prudential affairs of the place." Huguenot House, Recently Standing on North Avenue. Yew Rochelle 34 In the same year we find recorded a receipt made by Lord Pell in the good old compre- hensive phraseology. It bears a date ten years prior to the date of entry. "November the 21, 1691, then received full satisfaction, as well for all payments of land accounts as for all others, from Doctor John Neuf eille of New Rochelle ; I say received in full of all demands from said Dr. Neuf eille from the beginning of the world till this day, by me — John Pell." In that year (1701) Ambrose Sicard made his "Last wdll concerning the little it has pleased God to give me," and John Martin de- sired his wife Anne Martin "to have my body buried with decent simplicity." As they lived in the world so they would pass out of it. In 1702 the townsmen and part of the in- habitants examined the book of records kept An Old-Time Residence on Beauchamp Place New Rochelle 55 Flandreaux House, on Premium Point Road. by Isaac Bertrand Dutuffeaux, found that "from folio two to folio twenty-three the book is full and without any cross or defectuosit}^" placed the book in the hands of Paul Bignoux, and thanked said Dutuffeaux for his adminis- tration. A faithful officer satisfactorily paid with thanks and commendation. In 1708 it is noted that "after next Christ- mas the hogs shall no longer be allowed outside the plantations." A severe restriction but re- laxed after a short trial; subsequent records repeat for many years the provision that hogs may run "in the commons" if pro^nded with rings in their noses ; horses, too, if shackled, but not sheep under any conditions. The fence viewer was admonished each year to see that all fences were of proper ew Rochelle 36 strength and regulation height, and as the height was frequently subject to compulsory change the relations of the fence viewers and inhabitants should have been a beautiful object- lesson in "politeness and hospitality." Frequent entries record the "ear-marks" adopted by various cattle owners. Thus: — "To-day, May 12, 1726, Mr. Cesar has given the marks of his stock, which are a slit on each ear and on the right ear a spot." In 1719 a Bridge Tender was appointed to take toll- — for each horse 6 cents, each horned animal 6 cents, and for sheep "a price accord- ing to the amount they will shake the bridge." The bridge referred to was probably on the Boston Road crossing the creek near the pres- ent site of Stephenson Park. In 1720 the assembly voted Mr. Allaire a salary for keeping the records: — 20 shillings per year. In 1759, and each j^ear thereafter, high- way overseers were elected for the "Upper Quarter" as well as for the "low part" of New Rochelle, indicating a growing population northward. So these chronicles of small events continue to 1776. In the year that the Declaration of Independence was signed, the}^ ceased abrupt- ly- In 1783 they are resumed. We have then the first meeting under the new regime. It ! New Rochelle S7 Linden Place. Sew Rochelle S8 was no longer an ^'Assembly of All the Peo- ple" but a ''Town Meeting held for the regula- tion of said town and carrying into execution the Law of the STATE." It was held at the house of Gilbert Brush, "Innkeeper," in pur- suance of an ordinance of the Council appoint- ed by the Act of Legislature entitled: ''An Act to provide for the temporary government of the southern part of this state whenever the enemy shall abandon or he dispossessed of the same and until the legislature can he con- vened'' Here, of course, is the explanation of the temporary cessation of records: In the Summer of 1776, Washington and the Continental Army were forced to retreat from New York and Long Island to White Plains, leaving Howe's forces in control of the City. The whole of Westchester County ly- ing between the two armies became thence- forth disputed territory (or "Neutral Ground") . Occupied permanently by neither British nor Americans, it was the foraging and skirmishing ground for the worst elements of both armies. It was in October, 1776, that General Howe, in pursuit of Washington, united his forces at the point now called Pelliam Neck and marched toward New Rochelle. Here he was joined by General von Knyphausen with a New Rochelli 39 On Piniard Avenue. B-t-'-'i'li'^^ ^fe;" ^ ' /-'''^•'' "wjS '^S^^l^p -:, 1 ", '^ ' m ?r" -.3' -■■-'»»■ Locust Avenue. 'New Rochelle 40 r t| New Roch( ^: i-n ^^. 'Mm B 48. Xew Rochelle 42 body of Hessians and part of a regiment of Irish Cavalry. Skirmishes between parts of Washington's army and the British forces oc- curred in the vicinity of New Rochelle, but no important engagement took place until the main armies met at White Plains in the bat- tle of October 25. During the remainder of the war our vil- lage saw little of the "pomp and circumstance" attending it, but of its meanness and lawless- ness they saw enough. The "Cowboys," a regularly organized band of marauders attend- ing the British army, and the "Skinners," an equally choice companj^ of freebooters, identi- fied with the American forces, plundered and pillaged throughout the count}'' with cheer- ful impartiality^ Many of New Rochelle's inhabitants were doubtless despoiled of all they possessed. Family names appearing in the records of earlier days now drop out. The churches w^ere closed, local government sus- pended; our polite and orderly community merely existed, a powerless victim of circum- stances, ground between the upper and the nether millstone. During this period Admiral Howe was ad- vised by his superiors in England that — "As the County of Westchester is in a very unsettled condition and our troops are much harassed by the Rebels, whenever in that vicinity, you will send a couple of frigates up the Bronx River to protect our forces and fire into the enemv whenever seen." New Bocheli 43 National Ciiy Bank and Masonic Temple. New Bochelle As every disaster came to New Rochelle except damage from the fire of the Bronx fleet, it is believed that the Admiral disobeyed orders and kept his frigates out of that purling trout brook. For three generations prior to the Revolu- tion the official records of the old settlement are as regular and peaceful as the ticking of grandfather's clock; and after seven years of silence the ticking goes on in much the same reposeful way. A smaller proportion of French names ap- pear in the subsequent records, though many of the oldest remain throughout the town's his- tory. At the first Town Meeting, in 1773, these officers were elected: James Willis, Town Clerk. James Ronalds, Constable and Collector. Benjamin Stephenson, Supervisor. David Guion and James WilHs, Overseers of Roads for the Upper Quarter. Main Street. Xew Rochi 45 Wykagyl Country Club. Abram Guion and Isaiah Guion, Overseers of Roads for the Lower Quarter. Peter Flandreaux and EHas Guion, Dam- age Viewers. Stephenson, Ronalds and WilHs, Assessors. In the town records year by year one may see between the Hnes some reflection of events in the larger world. For example, the dis- tressing financial conditions prevalent through- out the country after the war closed are faith- fully indicated in the provision made by this little village for the poor fund. From less than $200.00 per year the sum appropriated rose gradually to $800.00, dropping back to smaller amounts with the slow return of gen- eral prosperity. The rising sentiment against slavery is faintly indicated in these quiet pages, as in 1789 when the overseers and Justices of the Peace "certify that Plato, a negro, and Gate, a negro woman, late the property of James New Rochelle 46 Pugsley of the said town of New Rochelle, is of sufficient ability of body to provide for themselves and under the age of fifty years, agreeable to a certain clause of an act of the State of New York, passed at the last meeting of the late session." The town meetings were long held at the citizens' houses, but a slight beginning was made in the direction of public housing facili- ties by a vote, passed in 1802, authorizing the town clerk "to provide a chest or tnmk for the purpose of keeping the town books in." At a little later date (1815) commissioners were authorized to petition the legislature for proper authority to receive an amount of money left by Wm. Henderson for building a town house. In 1824 suit was begun against the executors of Wm. Henderson's estate to The First City Hall. New Rochelle 47 Drake House and Grounds. See page 31. secure this legacy. Three years later the money was paid, and the first Town House was built soon after on the site occupied by the present City Hall at Main and Mechanic Streets. The old building was moved a block eastward and is now a weather-beaten relic, facing Lawton Street a few steps from Main Street. A little book called "A Guide to New Ro- chelle" was published by Mr. Robert Bolton in 1842. The date has something of a modern look until we subtract the figures from 1908 and find that the intervening years make two- thirds of a century. Looking over the pages of the "guide" then, we are scarcely surprised to find that it is not exactly a guide to the New Rochelle we are living in to-day. The differ- ence is fairly indicated in the picture that we have reproduced from Mr. Bolton's hand-book. A complete full-size reproduction would have included the following legend : New Rochelle "This splendid establishment is delightfully situated on Long Island Sound, about a mile from the Village of New Rochelle and eighteen miles from New York. In point of salubrity and picturesque scenery it is not surpassed by any in America. The accommodations are of the most excellent description; warm and cold salt and fresh water baths ready at all times; and nothing is spared to promote the amusement and comfort of the inmates. Pleasure and fishing boats for aquatic excursions, and vehicles and horses for driving or riding provided at a moment's notice. The Steam Boat Ameri- can Eagle leaves New Rochelle early every morning and the foot of Fulton Street, East River, every afternoon, landing at the dock. The Harlem Railroad cars will convey passengers to Fordham from whence stages run twice a day to New Rochelle. July 1st, 1842. C. F. Rice.'' Where this flourishing hotel stood we now have the beautiful wooded park presented to the city a few years ago by Mr. Iselin. The store of Mr. Rice is a thing of the past. So are the anglers in skirts and beaver hats; so are the big farms stretching back to the vil- lage, then a mile away, now reaching to the water-side. The wagons, carriages and ex- pectant people at the wharf awaiting the land- ing of the "American Eagle" indicate that here was the chief point of communication with the outside world, and the New York steamer making one trip daily each way the readiest means of access to the great metropolis where so large a part of male New Rochelle now earns its daily bread. The old flag, with its twent}^six stars, is itself hopelessly out of date. "The advantages presented by the prox- imity of the Sound," says Bolton's Guide, "are N€^o Rochelle Beach at Hudson Park. ^^p- lijijiiiiMi |M-<5 -I - ' " • « ■ New Rochelle Rowing Club. New Bochelle 60 of great importance to the Town. Besides the shipping of various market produce on board the sloops, there is the convenience of a daily steamboat to the city during the Summer months and three times a week in the Winter. By this means quantities of produce are sent to the New York markets at reasonable rates. There are several hotels which afford excellent accommodation to parties visiting New Ro- chelle for the amusement of fishing, the salu- brity of its air, or the beauty of its scenery. "The Le Roy House, in the town of New Rochelle, is an excellent and comfortable es- tablishment, well suited for those who prefer the small stir of a village, while they are not too far removed from the banks of the Sound. "There are also two other excellent hotels in the village, well managed — the Mansion House and New Rochelle Hotel." In passing, it may be noted that the hotel referred to as the Le Roy House was at a still earlier date the home of Herman Otis Le Roy, and not improbably the scene of Daniel Web- New Rochelle 51 Beechmont. Elm Street. New Rochelle ster's courtship of Catherine Le Roy, who be- came the great statesman's second wife and who Hved in New Rochelle at the old home for many years after Webster's death. The house stood in large grounds, well back from Main Street, at the corner of Centre Avenue. The Mansion House was a commodious and popular hotel on the northwest corner of Centre Avenue and Main Street, with an ex- tensive garden running back to Huguenot Street. Its large ballroom was the scene of many brilliant social events, and the daily stages from Fordham brought to its doors many gay parties of Summer resorters and dis- tinguished visitors. A part of the old house still remains, partially obscured by small stores erected in front of it. The New Rochelle Hotel stood on the north side of Main Street, about midway be- tween Centre Avenue and Mechanic Street; a comfortable old hostelry with a double-deck veranda extending across the entire front. The advent of the railroad, which ran its first train through New Rochelle on Christmas day, 1848, foreshadowed changed conditions which were to accelerate the growth of the vil- lage, but without effecting any sudden or radical change in its general characteristics. Westchester County has been a favorite re- gion for the Summer homes and large estates of eminent families from early Colonial days; LOFC. New Rochelle 53 The Present City Hall. The New Rochelle Hospi^ M New Rochelle 54 and New Rochelle, possessing the advantage of a shore location not too remote from the city, had drawn much of its slowly increasing population from the same cultured and well- to-do classes of merchants and professional men who were settled in other parts of the county. Improved railroad service brought more and more people of this character; their Sum- mer residences became permanent homes ; after a time men of similar tastes with more restrict- ed incomes found that they, too, might estab- lish homes in this favored region, and these came in still greater numbers to swell the pop- ulation of New Rochelle. It is not necessary to record the details of this development which has now made of the old village a city of more than twenty thousand Old School House at Cooper's Corners. ]^ev) Rochelle 55 Ifilllh'-i^^^"* NEW ROCHELLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. New Rochelle 56 souls. The story is told impressively in the miles of beautiful streets that now intersect all the old Huguenot farms, in substantial public buildings, in thousands of tastefully ornate dwellings. The pictures of modern New Ro- chelle distributed through these pages are more significant than words. Perhaps the churches of any community afford the best visible indication of its moral tone ; the hospitals and charitable organizations are a fair index of its humanitarian standards ; the schools supply the measure of its general intelligence and civilization. One who knows these institutions as they exist in New Ro- chelle need not fear to have his city judged by their character and efficiency. The city has numerous if not aggressively prominent industries ; its mercantile houses are substantially prosperous, it contains within it- self all the features of an independent, self- sustaining municipality. Its financial institu- tions may be specially mentioned to illustrate this fact. The National City Bank — whose charter and that of the present city date from the same year — the New Rochelle Trust Com- pany and the People's Bank for Sav^ings are firmly established and ably conducted organ- izations competing successfully with the best of their metropolitan contemporaries. When the National City Bank opened its New Rockelle 57 NEW ROCHELLE CHURCHES. New Rochelle 58 new building a short time ago, the visitors who came to inspect its banking rooms and safe de- posit vaults equalled in number one-fourth of the city's adult population — a circumstance that agreeably indicates the survival here of that "friendship in business" which it seems can still exist though the business be modern and progressive. But, creditable as its commercial institu- tions undoubtedly are. New Rochelle is not and does not aspire to be a typical "hustling" American city. Belching chimneys, a murky landscape and a babel of business are not among her distinguishing features. She offers a clean atmosphere, physically and morally healthful, and a congenial environment where the home is the center of attraction, and the means for making the most of life are as varied as differing tastes demand. It has seemed best to devote most of our descriptive pages to the earlier days because they have stamped New Rochelle with charac- ter. It is the prestige and dignity of early as- sociations, the mellow beauty of age, not less than the glory of flanking hills and flashing waters that beckon to New Rochelle and cause old residents and new ones alike to echo in slightly changed words the thought of Madam Knight — They cause in me a love of the place which I am contented to live in. New Bochelle 59 NATIONAL CITY BANK. Vaults, Offices and Reception Rooms. New Rochelle 60 Family Names of French Huguenots Who are Known to have Settled in New Rochelle at Various Periods Between 1688 and ij^o. Abbe Dansler Jabouin Parcot Allaire Das Jamain Pelletreau Allee Deane Juire Pemot Angevin De Bane Juin Perot Antoine De Blez Pintard Arneaux De Bonrepos Kearney Arquez de Ste. Croix De Veaux Quaintain Badeau Baignous Douty Du Bois La Dore Ladou Ravaux Renoud Ballet Barheit Barteau Bartain Dutuffeaux Erouard Lambert Lamoureux Landrin Lauvan Requa Reynaud Rhinelandor Riche Bayeux Berdy Faneuil Lavigfne Le Conte Rivasson Roubet Bertin Feru Le Fevre Berjeau Besley Flandreaux Florance Le Jeune Le Mestre Schureman Sicard Bolt Bondet Bonnefoy Bonnet Bonnin Forrestier Foulon Fountain Frederick Fuille Le Roux Lespinar L'Estrang-e Le Villaine Lieure Simon Soulice Stouppe Stuckey Suize Boutillier Bouyer Gallaudet Nlabe Tebard Bougrand Garnaud Machet Tek Bould Gaynard Magnon Thannet Bouquet Gillet Mambru Thauvet Boutennan Gilliot Manho Theroulde Breton Giraud Martin Timon Gombaud Mercier Torn Carre Caillard Gougeon Guerin Mesnard Moreau Toulon Trehel Cautier Guion Mott Chadaine Chaperon Guerinaut ^ Moulineaux Vallade Clement Valleau Conet Hastier Naudin Vergeraud Cothonneau Honorez Neufville Villeponteux Coutant Houdin NicoUe Vincent New Rochelle 61 •**»t:«*^ ■ '^^;52!i?1K«'?^'*''*^-t*^^'S' . ^1 " o « o " ^^/ A- "f "°.. 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