Was This the Town of Pelham's Largest Foreclosure Sale Ever?

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On Hunter's Island during the 19th century, John Hunter created one of the grandest estates and mansions in the northeast.  Hunter died in 1852 and Hunter's Island, The Twins, and a rocky islet near The Twins called "Catbriar's Island" passed out of the Hunter family when it was sold in 1866 for $127,000 to Ambrose Kingsland who served as Mayor of New York City from 1851 to 1853.  See Westchester County Records of Land Conveyances, Liber 611, p. 374.  Barely two years later, Kingsland sold Hunter's Island, The Twins, and Catbriar's Island to Alvin Higgins of New Rochelle for $180,000.  See id., Liber 695, p. 220.  Higgins was a proprietor of the Neptune House, a famous hotel on Neptune Island originally built by Isaac Underhill in 1837 as a summer resort.

Lithograph of Neptune House and Neptune Island Created

by N. Currier.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

In 1879, as the U.S. economy was beginning to emerge from the so-called "Long Depression" (1873-1879), Hunter's Island changed hands again.  Higgins sold it to Gardiner Jorden, at a substantial loss, for $100,000.   See id., Liber 961, p. 89.  Jorden, however, may have had difficulty meeting his financial obligations in acquiring Hunter's Island, The Twins, and Catbriar's Island.  Within a short time, the islands were subject to foreclosure and were offered for auction at a foreclosure sale conducted at the county courthouse in the Village of White Plains at 11:00 a.m.  A legal notice of that foreclosure sale appears below, followed by a transcription of its text and a citation and link to its source.

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Notice of Foreclosure Sale of Hunter's Island with Text

Transcribed Below.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

"REAL ESTATE AT AUCTION.
-----
FORECLOSURE SALE.

MAGNIFICENT SUBURBAN PROPERTY ON THE SOUND, known as
HUNTER'S ISLAND and the TWIN ISLANDS,
On TUESDAY, May 25, 1880,
At 11 o'clock A.M., at the Court-house in Village of White Plains, Westchester County, the following described property will be sold at auction, viz:

HUNTER'S ISLAND and the connecting TWIN ISLANDS, at New Rochelle [sic], fronting on Long Island Sound, most beautiful and complete suburban residence in America; ancient and lordly mansion of stone; gas, water, &c.; located in park of 250 acres of beautifully diversified woodland, meadow, and water front; its natural advantages are unsurpassed; location most prominent on the Sound; buildings are very complete; place is connected to mainland by a stone causeway, and has an imposing entrance; two miles from New Rochelle, eight miles from Harlem Bridge; 40 minutes from Grand Central Depot; very accessible; 10 trains daily by New-Haven Railroad, also branch from Fulton Ferry; one mile from depot.  For particulars inquire of FREDERICK DeP. FOSTER, Plaintiff's Attorney, No. 10 Wall st., New-York, or of HOMER MORGAN, No. 2 Pine-st., or RICHARD V. HARNETT, No. 111 Broadway."

Source:  REAL ESTATE AT AUCTION -- FORECLOSURE SALE, N.Y. Times, May 20, 1880, p. 6, col. 5.  

Detail from 1905 Map Hunter's Island and The Twins.  Source:

"Index [Map] to the Topographical Survey Sheets of the Borough

of the Bronx Easterly of the Bronx River" (1905) (Lionel Pincus and

Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library). NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

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I have written before about John Hunter and Hunter's Island on many, many occasions.  A few are listed below.  See, e.g.:

Fri., Jun. 03, 2016:  More Newspaper Accounts of President Martin Van Buren's Visit to Pelham in 1839.

Thu., Nov. 03, 2005:  President Martin Van Buren's Visit to Pelham in July 1839.

Fri., Dec. 15, 2006:  References to John Hunter of Pelham Manor in the Papers of President Martin Van Buren.

Tue., Nov. 21, 2006:  John Hunter Loses a Debate in the State Senate During the Winter of 1841.

Mon., Aug. 28, 2006:  John Hunter of Hunter's Island in Pelham Obtained Special Tax Relief in 1826..

Mon., Aug. 14, 2006:  An Early Account of a Visit to Hunter's Island and John Hunter's Mansion in Pelham.

Thu., Apr. 27, 2006:  Burial Place of John Hunter (1778 - 1852) of Hunter's Island.

Wed., Dec. 14, 2005:  New Information About John Hunter's Acquisition of Hunter's Island in the Manor of Pelham.

Fri., Dec. 2, 2005:  John Hunter of Hunter's Island in Pelham, New York.

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More About the Prospect Hill Village Association in the Mid-19th Century

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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.

For example, 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 and arranged for surveyor William Bryson to survey and prepare a development plan for the development of Pelhamville by mapping proposed streets and building lots. Bryson completed two maps. The first, Map 346 of Pelhamville dated August 4, 1851, depicted the planned development north of the New Haven line railroad tracks.  This map eventually governed the development of Pelhamville. The second map prepared by Bryson was dated October 11, 1851. It is entitled "MAP OF BUILDING LOTS Being a Continuation of PELHAMVILLE Westchester County N.Y. The Property of John B. Coppinger. Scale 132 feet to one Inch." According to the map, it depicted plans for the development of lands that were not part of the United Brothers' Land Society purchase of the Anthony Wolf farm. Rather, the map depicted proposed development of "The Property of JOHN B. COPPINGER" located south of the railroad tracks.

Bryson Map of Pelhamville, Aug. 4, 1851, from Original

Hanging in a Home on Mount Tom Road in Pelham Manor.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Legend of Bryson Map of Pelhamville, Aug. 4, 1851, from Original

Hanging in a Home on Mount Tom Road in Pelham Manor.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Detail from Bryson Map of Pelhamville, Aug. 4, 1851, from Original

Hanging in a Home on Mount Tom Road in Pelham Manor.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

At about the same time, Bryson was involved in surveying and mapping a third section for development in the Town of Pelham.  The section was to be named Prospect Hill Village.  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. On August 11, 1852, William Bryson filed a development map entitled "Map of Prospect Hill Village, Town of Pelham, Westchester County, New York." The map encompassed a prime area described by Lockwood Barr as "on the crown of the ridge near the Boston Post Road, bounded by what are now Highland, Prospect, Esplanade, New Haven Branch, Washington and Old Split Rock Road." Barr, Lockwood, A Brief, But Most Complete & True Account of the Settlement of the Ancient Town of Pelham Westchester County, State of New York Known One Time Well & Favourably as The Lordshipp & Mannour of Pelham Also the Story of the Three Modern Villages Called The Pelhams, p. 123 (Richmond, VA: The Dietz Press, Inc. 1946).

I have written before about Prospect Hill Village and the Prospect Hill Village Association.  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.

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

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

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. 

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog publishes the image and transcribes the text of a legal notice reflecting what appears to be a foreclosure sale scheduled on March 10, 1856 of Prospect Hill Village properties owned by William Parker, George Robinson, John T. Lynch, and Andrew Woolf.  

1856 Prospect Hill Village Association Legal Notice.

Source:  SUPREME COURT -- WESTCHESTER COUNTY. --

The Prospect Hill Village Association against William Parker,

George Robinson, John T. Lynch, and Andrew Woolf [Legal

Notice], Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Mar. 7,

1856, p. 4, col. 1.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

"SUPREME COURT -- WESTCHESTER COUNTY. -- The Prospect Hill Village Association against William Parker, George Robinson, John T. Lynch, and Andrew Woolf.

In pursuance and by virtue of a judgment or decree made in this action on the 15th day of January, 1856, will be sold, by or under the direction of the undersigned, Sheriff of the county of Westchester, at Gould's Hotel, in the village of Mount Vernon, on the 10th day of March next, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon of that day, all that certain piece or plot of ground situate lying and being in the town of Pelham, Westchester county, and State of New York, known and distinguished by the Number 13, (thirteen) on a map of property belonging to the Prospect Hill Village Association, entitled 'Map of Prospect Hill Village, town of Pelham, Westchester county, New York, surveyed and laid out by William Bryson, Architect and Civil Engineer, New Rochelle, November 22d, 1851, bounded and described as follows, viz:  Beginning at the point of intersection of the easterly line of Peace street with the northerly line of Prospect avenue, as laid out on said map, and running thence north-easterly along the northerly line of Prospect avenue, two hundred feet, to lot Number 14 (fourteen) on said map; thence north-easterly along said lot Number 14, two hundred feet, to lot Number 5 (five) on said map; thence south-westerly along said lot No. 5 and lot No. 4 (four) on said map, two hundred feet, to said easterly line of Peace street; thence south-easterly along said easterly line of Peace street, two hundred feet, to the place of beginning.  Containing forty thousand square feet -- be the same and the said several dimensions more or less; also, the land adjacent thereto in said street and avenue, to the centre thereof, to be used forever as public streets. -- Dated White Plains, January 22d, 1856.

DANIEL H. LITTLE, Sheriff.
B.V. BAGLEY, Plaintiffs' Attorney."

Source:  SUPREME COURT -- WESTCHESTER COUNTY. -- The Prospect Hill Village Association against William Parker, George Robinson, John T. Lynch, and Andrew Woolf [Legal Notice], Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Mar. 7, 1856, p. 4, col. 1.  

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New York City's Interborough Rapid Transit Company Sued to Foreclose a Mortgage on the Horse Railroad in 1911

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In its final years before it was replaced by a monorail line and, then, buses, the horse railroad that once ran from Bartow Station on the New Haven Branch line to the tip of City Island ran into financial difficulties.  In 1902, the Pelham Park Railroad Company took out a $27,500 mortgage on the line.  Nine years later, New York City's Interborough Rapid Transit Company sued to foreclose on that mortgage.  A very brief notice of the suit appeared in the December 10, 1911 issue of the New-York Tribune and is quoted below.

"I.R.T. CO. SUES PELHAM PARK R.R.

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company filed a suit yesterday against the Pelham Park Railroad Company and others to foreclose a mortgage of $27,500 on the line of the Pelham Park company, extending from the Bartow station of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad through Pelham Park to Marshall's Corner, with tracks, rights, franchises and privileges.  The mortgage was made in 1902."

Source:  I.R.T. Co. Sues Pelham Park R.R., New-York Tribune, Dec. 10, 1911, p. 6, col. 2.

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Trumbull Farm in Pelham Sold To Satisfy Foreclosure Judgment in 1880

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I can recall researching and considering the location of the Trumbull Farm in Pelham.  Last night I ran across a brief item published in 1880 about the sale of the farm to satisfy a foreclosure judgment.  I have not yet been able to locate my research on the location of the farm.  Thus, I am transcribing the item below to document it for further work.

"The Trumbull farm, in the Town of Pelham, containing 105 acres of land, was sold at the Courthouse, in White Plains yesterday, to satisfy a foreclosure judgment obtained by the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New-York against Charlotte Coburn, individually and as Executrix of the will of James M. Coburn and other defendants.  William H. J. Hurst of New-York, was the purchaser for $20,700."

Source:  Westchester County, N.Y. Times, Feb. 29, 1880, p. 12.

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