A Sheriff's Sale of William Parker's Property in 1852 Only Months After Parker Began Development of Pelhamville

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The "main line" of the New Haven opened in December, 1848.  The "station" located within today's Village of Pelham soon was called "Pelhamville."  During the early to mid-1850s, the United States economy was prosperous, fueled by the rise of railroads, improved transportation, and large amounts of gold mined in the west during the California Gold Rush.  By about 1850, in the midst of this economic prosperity, land speculators converged on Pelham hoping to develop various sections of the town as a new railroad suburb serviced by the newly-opened New Haven Line.  

In 1850, a building society known as the United Brothers' Land Society (apparently referenced occasionally, and erroneously, as the "Pelhamville Village Association") was organized to develop certain tracts of unincorporated property in the Town of Pelham lying north of the railroad tracks and east of the Hutchinson River.  The association purchased the Anthony Wolf Farm (John Anthony Woolf) north of the railroad tracks, had the land surveyed, and began making lots available for installment payments to its members.

At about the same time (early 1850s), another section in the Town of Pelham was under development by another building society.  The section was named Prospect Hill Village, developed by the Prospect Hill Village Association.  It became one of the two principal real estate developments from which today's Village of Pelham Manor evolved. The other, of course, was the development of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association organized on June 3, 1873 by Silas H. Witherbee, Henry C. Stephens, Robert A. Mitchill, Charles J. Stephens, Charles F. Heywood and other local landowners.

The Secretary of the Prospect Hill Village Association was named William Parker.  He operated out of an office at 192 Canal Street in Manhattan.  He and others including George Robinson, John T. Lynch, and Andrew Woolf were involved with the Association and owned land in the Prospect Hill neighborhood.  

As I have noted before, clearly there were overlapping efforts on the part of developers involved with the two building associations that developed Pelhamville and Prospect Hill during the early 1850s.  Indeed, William Parker served as the President of the United Brothers' Land Society as well as the Secretary of the Prospect Hill Village Association.  He also owned land in both the Prospect Hill development and the Pelhamville development.

To learn more about these early Pelhamville and Prospect Hill development efforts and the two building associations, see, e.g.:

Bell, Blake A., The Founding of "Prospect Hill Village" in the Early 1850s, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XV, Issue 25, Second Section, Jun. 23, 2006, p. 34, col. 1.

Tue., May 08, 2018:  More Early References to Development of Prospect Hill by the Prospect Hill Village Association in the Early 1850s.

Fri., Feb. 10, 2017:  United Brothers' Land Society Involvement in Developing Pelhamville Lands in the Early 1850s.

Tue., Jul. 26, 2016:  More About the Prospect Hill Village Association in the Mid-19th Century.  

Fri., Jun. 17, 2016:  More on Efforts to Invalidate Deeds of Many Prospect Hill Homes in 1900.

Fri., Feb. 12, 2010:  Documentation of the Creation of the Building Association Known as Prospect Hill Village Association on August 11, 1852.

Thu., Feb. 11, 2010:  Prospect Hill Landowners Face Loss of Their Properties in 1900 Due to Allegedly Defective Deeds.

Thu., Oct. 15, 2009:  19th and Early 20th Century Newspaper Notices Relating to the Prospect Hill Village Association.

Wed., Jan. 07, 2009:  A Reference to Voluntary Dissolution Proceedings Involving the Prospect Hill Village Association Instituted in 1906.

Tue., Jul. 3, 2007:  1855 Tax Collection Notice for Pelhamville and Prospect Hill Village.

Fri., Apr. 14, 2006:  Three of the Original Homes of the Prospect Hill Village Association Founded in 1851.

Fri., Apr. 7, 2006:  A View from Prospect Hill Looking West Published in 1887.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006:  More Information About the Prospect Hill Village Association Formed in the Early 1850s.

Mon., Nov. 21, 2005:  Prospect Hill and Pelhamville Depicted on the 1868 Beers Atlas Map of Pelham: Part I.

Wed., Mar. 30, 2005:  Prospect Hill Village -- Yet Another Early Hamlet Within the Town of Pelham.

Some of the men involved in these early development efforts seem to have run into some sort of financial difficulties during the early to mid-1850s.  Indeed, I previously have presented legal notices for Sheriff's Sales of Prospect Hill lands owned by William Parker and others involved with the Prospect Hill Village Association.  See Tue., Jul. 26, 2016:  More About the Prospect Hill Village Association in the Mid-19th Century (reflecting notice of Sheriff's Sale of Prospect Hill Village Association lands in 1856 after judgment entered in lawsuit against William Parker, George Robinson, John T. Lynch, and Andrew Woolf).

Even earlier than that -- indeed, only months after development of Pelhamville began -- land owned by William Parker in the Pelhamville development was seized and subjected to notice of a Sheriff's Sale in a notice published on July 2, 1852.  The text of that legal notice appears immediately below, followed by an image of the item as it was published.

"SHERIFF'S SALE.  --  By virtue of an execution to me directed and delivered, I shall expose for sale at public auction, at the Rail Road Depot at Pelhamville, in the town of Pelham, in the County of Westchester, on the 26th day of July, A. D. 1852, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon of that day, all the right, title, and interest of William Parker, which he had on the 19th day of April, A. D. 1852, or at any time afterwards, in and to the following described premises, viz:  All that lot of land in the town of Pelham, in the County of Westchester, known as lot Number 50 on a map entitled 'Map of Pelhamville, Westchester County, New York,' dated February 151, made by Henry Hart, Surveyor, and filed in Westchester County Clerk's office bounded and containing according to said map as follows, viz:  on the north by Second Street one hundred feet; on the east by Fifth Avenue one hundred feet; on the south by Lot Number 35 one hundred feet; together with all and singular the appurtenances thereunto belonging -- Dated June 9, 1852.

BENJAMIN D. MILLER Sheriff
By JOSEPH M. KISSAM Deputy Sheriff."

Source:  SHERIFF'S SALE [Legal Notice], Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Jul. 2, 1852, Vol. VIII, No. 7, p. 4, col. 2.

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