Historic Pelham

Presenting the rich history of Pelham, NY in Westchester County: current historical research, descriptions of how to research Pelham history online and genealogy discussions of Pelham families.

Monday, May 01, 2017

Tragic Accident Marred Pell Treaty Oak Ceremony at Bartow-Pell in 1915


On Saturday, May 1, 1915, New York Governor Charles Seymour Whitman was on hand for a special ceremony at the Bartow Mansion on Shore Road.  There was a ceremony that day to celebrate the transfer, by lease, of the mansion and its lovely grounds to the International Garden Club and to plant an oak tree to replace the Pell Treaty Oak that had died in 1906 after lightning struck the tree blowing off its top, followed by a fire set by youngsters that damaged the trunk, and a windstorm that finally toppled what was left of the legendary tree.



Photograph of the Pell Treaty Oak from The Office of The Historian of
the Town of Pelham and Painting of the Pell Treaty Oak by John M. Shinn,
Both Showing the Tree As It Looked Shortly Before its Destruction
in 1906.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

A Pelham legend, since determined to be apocryphal, said that local Native Americans signed a deed granting Thomas Pell the lands that became the Manor of Pelham under the branches of this mighty oak on June 27, 1654.  By the earliest years of the 20th century, little remained of the mighty oak as it neared its end and, finally, its destruction in 1906.

Thus, on May 1, 1915, Governor Whitman arrived at the mansion to plant a replacement oak.  The crowd that day was large -- much larger than anticipated.  Indeed, the planners of the event had expected up to 1,000 visitors.  Instead, more than 5,000 visitors showed up, along with more than eight hundred automobiles.  

As the Governor arrived, members of the New York State National Guard were on the scene to fire a nineteen-gun artillery salute to the Governor.  When the first round was fired, a troop horse harnessed to a caisson was spooked and reared straight up with his front hoofs flying.  As the horse came down, his hoofs struck a young private in Battery D named Charles Vail on the head.  Once Vail collapsed to the ground, the frightened horse trampled him, crushing his skull.  

Reports differed over Vail's injuries.  He was rushed to Fordham Hospital.  At least two newspapers reported that his injuries likely were fatal.  Another speculated he would recover.  Reports also differed over whether Governor Whitman was aware of the accident.  In any event, the ceremony continued after Vail was removed to the hospital.

With spectators and International Garden Club officers and members gathered around him, Governor Whitman used a silver trowel with blue, orange and white ribbons signifying the colors of New York City to toss dirt ceremonially on the newly-planted oak tree.  The tree was planted only a few feet from where the original Pell Treaty Oak had stood.

As noted in the book entitled "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak" published in 2004, the location of the oak planted by Governor Whitman is now lost to us.  Eventually the iron fence used to protect the original Pell Treaty Oak was placed around the tree planted by Governor Whitman that day.  During World War II, however, the historic and protective fence was taken down to prevent its theft by those hoping to sell scrap iron to salvagers.  After the war, the fence was put back up around the wrong tree.  The fence and the tree it protects may still be found on the grounds of today's Bartow-Pell Mansion.



Bartow-Pell Mansion in an Undated Post Card View.
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Following the tree planting that day, a tea was held in the Bartow Mansion.  During the evening, the President of the International Garden Club, Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman, and her husband hosted a dinner for the Governor at their home located at 620 Fifth Avenue in New York City.  

No account yet has been located that reveals the fate of poor Private Charles Vail who was so terribly injured in the ceremonies held at the Bartow Mansion that day more than a century. ago.



New York Governor Charles Seymour Whitman in 1915 as He
Looked at the Time of the Ceremonies at Bartow Mansion on
May 1, 1915.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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I have written before of the tragedy that occurred at the Bartow Mansion on May 1, 1915.  See Tue., Jun. 14, 2005:  Ceremony in 1915 to Open Bartow-Pell Mansion as Headquarters of International Garden Club Marred by Tragedy.  Below is the text of a number of articles that addressed the events of that day.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"GOVERNOR PLANTS A NEW TREATY OAK
-----
Bartow Mansion in Pelham Bay Park Turned Over to the International Garden Club
-----
MANY NOTABLES TAKE PART
-----
Private Charles Vail of Battery D Is Crushed by Horse Frightened by a Salute.
-----


When the first gun of a nineteen-gun salute for Gov. Whitman was fired at the International Garden Club at the Bartow Mansion, Pelham Bay Park, yesterday afternoon, a troop horse reared and fell back, crushing Charles Vail, a private in Battery Day. The guardsman, with a fractured skull and probably mortal injuries, was rushed to the Fordham Hospital. Vail was standing at the head of a horse attached to a caisson wagon. As the first fun boomed out, the animal reared straight up, and, descending, struck him on the head with its hoofs and trampled on his body as he lay helpless on the ground.


Gov. Whitman came down from Albany to be present at the opening and to take part in the replacing of the Treaty Oak in the grounds of the clubhouse, and the officers of the International Garden Club sent out many invitations to view the ceremony, meet the Governor, and have tea in the historic Bartow mansion. The city turned over the house to the club with seventeen acres of wooded ground surrounding it, without rental. In return the club has put the house, which was sadly in need of it, in good repair, furnished it, and laid out the grounds, which are to be transformed by gardens. Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman is President of the club, Dr. George Norton Miller, Vice President; Mrs. H. de Berkeley Parsons, Secretary, and William A. Jay is the Treasurer.

Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, Honorary President of the club, made the speech of the day, and greeted the Governor, who arrived at 4 o'clock, accompanied by two aids [sic] ablaze with gold. After the ceremonies attending the planting of the oak, the Governor visited the clubhouse and had tea. He left a little before 5 o'clock.  

In the evening the Governor attended a dinner, given for him and Mrs. Whitman by Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Hoffman, at their residence, 620 Fifth Avenue. The rest of the day, however, he spent on the thirty-day bills, and received no callers except Bainbridge Colby, an old college friend. On May 26 the Governor will start for California, and his Military Secretary, Major J. Stanley Moore, is now working out his iternerary [sic].  

A walk marked by many little red flags showed the way from the clubhouse to the roped-in inclosure, in which the speeches and the planting took place, and ropes marked with red flags indicated the parking space for the many motors. Tea and other refreshments were were served in the Colonial dining room and on the veranda and terrace outside.

The oak planted yesterday took the place of the famous treaty oak recently destroyed by lightning [sic], which was planted in 1643 [sic] when the Pell family obtained from the Indians the property on which Bartow Manor stands for $17 [sic].

Dr. Butler outlined the history of the tree, and said the city had now turned the ground over to the International Garden Club to be made into a breathing spot for the people. The club, whose headquarters will be in the Manor house, has already spent $25,000 in improvements.

The Governor used a silver trowel in planting the tree, and said that the new treaty between the city and the public was more important than the orginal one. The exercises also marked the turning over of the property to the club's use.

Bartow Mansion is a substantial and roomy stone house, and the front lawn is one of several acres. In the rear the ground slopes away to the Sound, and a series of descending terraces has been arranged. In the center of the middle terrace is a large fountain.  

On either side are tall old trees, and a wide veranda taken in the entire back of the house. On this and the upper terrace many pale-green tables, with lattice chairs to match, are placed. At the right of the house is a large conservatory, done entirely in white and pale, dull green. As yet few flowers are seen, but some rare orchids were on view yesterday, and outside the trracs [sic] showed some old-time gardens in pansies and primorses [sic].  

The walls throughout are done in palest dull blue and the woodwork in dull finished white. Each room is in a different color. One upstairs room is done in the most vivid colors in old-time chintz, with flowers of many kinds. Another is done in black and white stripes, with an occasional flower, and pink roses abound in another. A reception room on the first floor is done in brownish orange, with old-time black wooden plaques, and another room is in deep blue.  

Mrs. Hoffman, the President; Mrs. Parsons, the Secretary, and others received, and the official receiving committee included the President of the Board of Aldermen.

Commissioners of Parks for the Bronx and Manhattan and Richmond, the President of the Botanical Garden, the President of the New York Horticultural Society, the President of the Florists's [sic] Club of New York. On the committee also were Mrs. C. B. Alexander, Mrs. A. B. Boardman, Mrs. Amory S. Carhart, Mrs. Alfred Ely, Miss Sarah Cooper Hewitt, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver J. Jennings, Mr. and Mrs. F. K. Pendleton, Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Parsons, Mrs. Moses Taylor Pyne, Mrs. James Speyer, Mrs. Charles H. Senff, Miss Amy Townsend, Mrs. H. McK Twombly, Mrs. John Hobart Warren, Mrs. J. J. Wysong, Mrs. Newbold LeRoy Edgar, Mrs. J. Archibald Murray, Mr. and Mrs. John Callender Livingston and William Adams Delano.  

Among others who were present to receive or as guests were Mr. and Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, Bishop David H. Greer, Mr. and Mrs. Seth Low, Mrs. Herbert C. PYell [sic], Mrs. Herbert L. Satterlee, Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Taft, Mrs. Whitney Warren, Mr. and Mrs. James B. Clews, Mr. and Mrs. F. Ashton de Peyster, Mrs. Lewis Cruger Hassell, Mrs. George B. de Forest, Mrs. Burke Roche, Mrs. Lauterbach, Mrs. Nicholas Murray Butler, the Misses Catherine and Margaret Leverich, Mrs. Gouverneur Kortwright, Mrs. E. Reeve Merritt, Lady Herbert, Mrs. E. H. Harriman, Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert C. Pell, Mrs. Oakleigh Thorne, George I. Rives, John D. Crimmins, Frederick C. Bourne, Miss Eleanor Hewitt, Mrs. James O. Green, A. M. Bagby, and Mrs. Henry S. Redmond."

Source:  Governor Plants A New Treaty OakN.Y. Times, May 2, 1915, p. 14, col. 1 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link; free version available here).

"Governor Whitman Plants Treaty Oak for Garden Club
-----
Hundreds of Persons of Prominence Attend Ceremonies When Historic Tree, Destroyed by Lightning, Is Replaced in Pelham Manor Lawn.
-----

The celebration which included the planting of a new 'Treaty Oak' by Governor Whitman and reception in the Bartow Mansion yesterday afternoon marked the turning over to the International Garden Club b y the city of the twenty-five acres in Pelham Bay Park which surround the historic manor house.  Hundreds of persons prominent in society who are interested in the Garden Club attended the ceremonies.

For more than a year the society has been hard at work.  Its purpose in taking the grounds around the Bartow Mansion is to establish experimental gardens, such as those of the Royal Horticultural Society near London.  The other objects of the society are to hold monthly exhibits, to form a library, to give monthly lectures, to establish a department to give certificates to gardeners and to assist other horticultural societies and clubs.  

The appearance of the ground yesterday, the throng which attended the opening and the presence of the Governor told of the interest aroused by the undertaking.  The officers of the society were congratulated repeatedly.  They are Mrs. Charles F. Hoffman, president; Dr. George Norton Miller, vice president, and Judge William A. Day, treasurer.  Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler is honorary president.  

Eight Hundred Automobiles.

The arrangements for the opening exercises were in the hands of a committee which included persons of prominence.  Park Commissioner Thomas Whittle, of the Bronx, had prepared to accommodate nearly one thousand guests, and it was estimated that fully eight hundred automobiles were parked on the grounds.  Mr. Whittle has taken an active interest in the society, and recently $25,000 was expended to restore the Bartow Mansion.

Soon after the arrival of the Governor's party, which included Mrs. Whitman and Major J. Stanley Moore, the Pell 'Treaty Oak' was planted.  The new oak is to replace [the] old 'Treaty Oak,' which was destroyed by lightning in 1906.  According to legend, it was under the old tree that Thomas Ball [sic], in 1654, signed a treaty with the Siwanoy Indians for the purchase of the land which later was known as Pelham Manor.

When Governor Whitman arrived and the first gun of salute was being fired by Battery D, of the Second Field Artillery, one of the battery horses became frightened.  The animal reared, and in coming down struck Private Charles Vail.  His head was crushed by the horse's hoofs.  He was taken to Fordham Hospital, probably fatally injured.  Most of the guests were unaware of the accident, and Governor Whitman did not hear of it.

The new 'Treaty Oak' was planted only a few feet from where the former tree stood on the lawn in front of the mansion.  Governor Whitman, Mrs. Hoffman and George L. Rives led the procession of guests to where the young oak stood.  Dr. Butler introduced the Governor.

Governor Whitman threw dirt on the tree with a trowel, tied with the orange, blue and white of New York city."

Source:  Governor Whitman Plants Treaty Oak for Garden Club -- Hundreds of Persons of Prominence Attend Ceremonies When Historic Tree, Destroyed by Lightning, Is Replaced in Pelham Manor Lawn, N.Y. Herald, May 2, 1915, First Section, Part I, p. 5, cols. 2-3.  
-----

"WHITMAN SETS TREE IN HISTORIC SOIL
-----
Artilleryman Is Hurt by Horse Frightened at Firing of Salute.
-----
BARTON [SIC] TRACT GIFT TO THE PUBLIC
-----
International Garden Club to Make Breathing Spot Near Famous Treaty Oak.

While Governor Whitman was receiving a salute of nineteen guns on his arrival to open the International Garden Club, at Barton [sic] Manor, The Bronx, yesterday afternoon, a troop horse attached to a caisson wagon, frightened at the booming of the guns, reared and trampled Charles Vail, a private in Battery D, 2d Field Artillery, N. G. N. Y.  Vail had his skull fractured, and received other injuries.  He was taken to the Fordham Hospital, where it is said he will recover.

Governor Whitman, after witnessing the accident and inquiring about Vail's condition, proceeded with the exercises of turning over to the International Garden Club the seventeen acres surrounding the historic Barton [sic] Manor House, Pelham Bay Park.  Before 5,000 persons the Governor planted a small oak tree to replace the famous Treaty Oak, recently destroyed by lightning.

The Treaty Oak was planted in 1634 [sic], when the Pell family obtained the property from the Indians for $17.

Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, honorary president of the club, who presided at the exercises, said that the city had turned the ground over to the International Garden Club that it might be made a breathing spot for the people.  Improvements at a cost of $25,000 have been made recently, and it was announced that the club will have its headquarters in the mansion.  

Governor Whitman, before turning the soil with his silver spade, said that treaties had been signed under the old oak, but there were none of them as important as the treaty of yesterday between the city and the people, giving for public use such a large piece of property.

The exercises at Barton [sic] Manor saw the only public appearance of the Governor during his stay in New York.  In the morning he devoted himself to the consideration of several bills which he must pass upon within the thirty-day period.  In the early afternoon he had a long conference with several members of the Legislature.

Last night Governor and Mrs. Whitman were guests at a private dinner at the home of Charles F. Hoffman, 620 Fifth Avenue.

It was announced yesterday that the Governor has decided to set out on his trip to California on May 25.  The itinerary and make-up of the official party has not yet been determined, that matter being left largely in the hands of Major J. Stanley Moore, military secretary.

The Governor and his party will return to Albany to-day."

Source:  WHITMAN SETS TREE IN HISTORIC SOIL -- Artilleryman Is Hurt by Horse Frightened at Firing of Salute -- BARTON [SIC] TRACT GIFT TO THE PUBLIC -- International Garden Club to Make Breathing Spot Near Famous Treaty Oak, New-York Tribune, May 2, 1915, Vol. LXXV, No. 25,004, p. 6, cols. 6-7.  

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.
Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."

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Wednesday, October 26, 2016

The Ghost of the Murdered Traveler Who Wanders the Bartow-Pell Grounds


The black-hearted crime was dastardly and brutal.  Worse yet, it was murder.  

The details are unknown.  No reliable account of the murder has yet been located.  Likely a hapless colonial traveler returning from Pelham Neck toward New Rochelle along the ancient colonial road we know today as Shore Road was accosted by a cruel and remorseless highwayman while resting along the roadway beneath the spreading branches of a giant oak -- a very special giant oak.  

The name of the brutally-murdered traveler is unknown.  His dastardly murderer fled the scene after fiendishly robbing and killing the poor traveler beneath the spreading branches of the Pell Treaty Oak.  That giant oak once stood along today's Shore Road on the grounds of today's Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum.  

Since that black day in the mid-eighteenth century, the ghost of the murdered traveler is said to wander the region in the darkness.  He often can be seen near the place the grand oak once stood.  The specter is an angry ghost, said to be searching vengefully for the murderer who sentenced it to an eternity of wandering and searching.

The grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum are among the most ancient historic spots in all of the Manor of Pelham.  A Native American village once stood near the gated driveway entrance to the grounds.  Native American remains and artifacts have been excavated near the water's edge on the Sound side of the mansion grounds.  Oyster midden left long ago by Native Americans still can be seen at the water's edge near the mansion.  

On the grounds of the mansion is a circular iron fence that once protected the Pell Treaty Oak that stood near the mansion.  Beneath that oak, according to legend, Thomas Pell and other Englishmen met with Native Americans on June 27, 1654 to sign the deed by which Pell acquired the lands that became the Manor of Pelham.  In the early 1670s, Pell's nephew and principal legatee, John Pell, built a manor house not far from the Pell Treaty Oak and lived there until his death in or shortly after 1702.  The home is believed to have stood until it burned either during the American Revolutionary War or shortly thereafter.

The Pell Treaty Oak once stood near today's Shore Road which passes the Bartow-Pell Mansion.  Shore Road runs along an ancient Native American footpath that traversed the region parallel to, and only a few yards away from, Long Island Sound.  It likewise has an ancient pedigree as a roadway.  It is one of the few roads in the area that existed during colonial times.  By the mid-eighteenth century, the well-traveled road had widened from a simple footpath to a comparatively busy roadway used by many as they traveled along the coastline back and forth between Pelham Neck, New Rochelle and other settlements along Long Island Sound.  

No record of the dastardly crime that forms the basis for the legend of the Ghost of the Murdered Traveler has been located.  Nor does there seem to be any extant description of what the wandering ghost looks like (or sounds like).  There are, however, countless recorded accounts of highway robbers who preyed on travelers along the lonely, unlit roadway known variously as Pelham Road, the Road to New Rochelle, the Westchester Turnpike, and Shore Road.  Many such accounts describe violent confrontations and brutal robberies by highwaymen who attacked local residents and others merely passing through the region even as late as the last years of the 19th century.

When you next find yourself on the grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum (or driving past it on Shore Road) particularly as dusk settles over Pelham Bay Park, pay close attention to the wooded areas near the roadway.  Look and listen carefully.  You may see or hear the Ghost of the Murdered Traveler who wanders the region searching for, and seeking vengeance against, its murderer.  Make certain to pass quickly, though.  You would not want to be mistaken as the one for whom the ghost is searching. . . . 



"Clarina Bartow and children, Bartow Mansion,
Pelham Bay Park, circa 1870, Bartow-Pell
Mansion Museum."  Source:  New York City Department
of Parks and Recreation, Before They Were Parks
(visited Aug. 27, 2016).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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A newspaper article published in 1906 regarding the fire that finally killed the Pell Treaty Oak makes reference to the legend of the Ghost of the Murdered Traveler.  The text of the brief article appears immediately below, followed by a citation and link to its source.

"FIRE IN THE PELL OAK.
-----
The Historic Tree Incurs a New Peril -- Once Struck by Lightning.

The old Pell oak, which stands at the intersection of the New Rochelle road and the Split Rock road in Westchester, took fire Saturday night from burning grass.  Policeman Booth of the City Island substation, who was patrolling the New Rochelle road about 8 o'clock Saturday night, saw sparks leaping from the trunk of the venerable tree.  He turned in a still alarm, which brought Engine Company 70 from City Island.  Meanwhile a dozen or more people living along the New Rochelle road hurried with buckets of water to the burning tree.  The firemen and volunteers worked for hours before they managed to make the water reach the part of the inner trunk where the fire was.

For the last ten years the old oak has been little more than a noble trunk ten feet high and four feet in diameter.  It was struck by lightning during a heavy storm and all but about ten feet of the trunk broke off.  New branches appeared at the top of the stump and formed an umbrella shaped growth, which increased and throve.  The fire Saturday night destroyed most of the new growth and charred the hollow trunk, but the old residents who take much pride in the historic tree, believe that it can be saved if proper care is given it.  It is believed to be nearly 350 years old.  

There are many stories told in Westchester about the Pell oak.  It is said that Sir John Pell, second lord of the manor, who came over in 1670 and was the first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1683 until 1702, signed a treaty with the Indians under the oak [sic; it was his uncle, Thomas Pell], which was then in its prime.  There is another legend of Westchester that the son of Sir John, Thomas Pell, who married a daughter of an Indian chief, wooed her under the oak.  There is a ghost story, too, about the old tree.  Somewhere near the middle of the eighteenth century a traveller [sic] was murdered and robbed under its branches.  The body was found, but the murderer was never caught.  The private cemetery of the Westchester Pells, where Sir John and his son are buried, is about 400 feet from the tree.  The old Bartow mansion is within a short distance of it.

Yesterday afternoon people from all the region visited the old oak, and the older residents commented somewhat mournfully on its reduced state."

Source:  FIRE IN THE PELL OAK -- The Historic Tree Incurs a New Peril -- Once Struck by Lightning, The Sun [NY, NY], Ar. 9, 1906, p. 4, col. 2.  

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I have collected ghost stories and legends relating to the Town of Pelham for more than fifteen years.  To read more examples that now total in the several dozens, see

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends, The Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., More Ghosts, Goblins of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 43, Oct. 29, 2004, p. 12, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., Archive of HistoricPelham.com Web Site:  Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends (Oct. 2002). 

Bell, Blake A., Bibliography of Pelham's Ghost Stories and Legends (Oct. 2002).

Wed., Oct. 26, 2016:  The Ghost of the Murdered Traveler Who Wanders the Bartow-Pell Grounds.

Tue., Oct. 25, 2016:  The Suicidal Specter of Manger Circle.

Mon., Oct. 24, 2016:  The Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.

Mon., Sep. 19, 2016:  The Dark Spirit of the Devil and His Stepping Stones: A Pelham Legend.

Fri., Oct. 30, 2015:  The Shrieking Ghosts of Execution Rocks: Yet Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 29, 2015:  The Apparition of Wolfs Lane:  Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Wed., Oct. 28, 2015:  The Shadowy Specter of James Street:  A Pelham Manor Ghost Story.

Tue., Oct. 27, 2015:  The Ghostly Gardener of Bolton Priory:  A Pelham Apparition.

Mon., Oct. 26, 2015:  The Ghostly Matron of the Manor Club:  Even a Ghost Whisperer's Nightmare!

Fri., Oct. 31, 2014:  Ghosts in Pelham! Yet Another of Many Accounts of the Haunted Cedar Knoll.

Mon., Sep. 08, 2014:  In 1888, The "Ghost of City Island" Upset the Town of Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 17, 2014: The Phantom Bell Ringer of Christ Church in Pelham Manor.

Fri., Jan. 30, 2009:  Article Published in 1901 Detailed Ghost Stories and Legends of Pelham.

Mon., Feb. 19, 2007:  Another Manor of Pelham Ghost Story: The Whispering Bell.

Fri., Aug. 18, 2006:  The Ghost Gunship of Pelham: A Revolutionary War Ghost Story.

Wed., May 03, 2006:  Another Pelham, New York Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 13, 2005:  Two More Pelham Ghost Stories.  

Wed., Oct. 14, 2009:  1879 News Account Provides Additional Basis for Some Facts Underlying Ghost Story of Old Stone House in Pelhamville.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.

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Thursday, August 25, 2016

Pelham's Thriving and Living Memorial to the Pell Treaty Oak That Once Stood on the Grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion


On June 27, 2004, hundreds of Pelhamites gathered on the grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum for a dinner, party, and dance to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Thomas Pell's purchase of the lands that became the Manor of Pelham on June 27, 1654.  The celebration, held only a few dozen feet from the site that according to tradition was where the Pell Deed was signed by Native Americans and Englishmen, was part of a year-long celebration that included dozens of major events, gatherings, and commemorations.  According to tradition, the Pell Deed was signed beneath the spreading branches of a massive White Oak that came to be known as the Pell Treaty Oak.

During the celebrations on the grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum that day, a few dozen attendees were given White Oak seedlings a few inches tall to take home after the festivities and plant as a living memorial to, and reminder of, the great White Oak once known as the Pell Treaty Oak.  Immediately below is a photograph of the seedlings that day, collected on a table next to the mansion, awaiting their new owners.



White Oak Seedlings Given to Some Attendees
of the 350th Anniversary Celebration of the Pell
Deed Held on the Grounds of the Bartow-Pell
Mansion Museum on June 27, 2004.  Photograph
by the Author.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

It is not known how many of the seedlings were planted nor, among those, how many flourished and have survived.  At least one seedling awarded that day has thrived and serves as a living memorial to the Pell Treaty Oak.  That seedling, as one might suspect, was given to the author and was planted in his yard where the White Oak now has grown to a height of about twenty feet, standing as a silent reminder of the history of Pelham.  An image of the White Oak appears immediately below.



White Oak in the Author's Yard Grown from
a Seedling Given During the 350th Anniversary
Celebration of the Pell Deed Held on the Grounds
of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum on June 27,
2004.  Photograph by the Author.  NOTE:  Click
on Image to Enlarge.

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I have written extensively about the legend of what came to be known as the "Pell Treaty Oak" including a book on the topic published in 2004 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Pell purchase.  For examples, see:



Bell, Blake A., Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc., 2004). 

Bell, Blake, Thomas Pell's Treaty Oak, The Westchester Historian, Vol. 28, Issue 3, pp. 73-81 (The Westchester County Historical Society, Summer 2002). 

Wed., Aug. 24, 2016:  Washington Post Report of the Final Destruction of the Pell Treaty Oak in Pelham Bay Park in 1909.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.

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Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Washington Post Report of the Final Destruction of the Pell Treaty Oak in Pelham Bay Park in 1909


According to legend -- likely apocryphal -- Native Americans signed the "Indian Deed" granting to Thomas Pell the lands that became the Manor of Pelham under the branches of a massive oak tree that continued to stand on the grounds of today's Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum for nearly three hundred years thereafter until the dying tree was destroyed by fire in the early twentieth century.  I have written extensively about the legend of what came to be known as the "Pell Treaty Oak" including a book on the topic published in 2004 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Pell purchase.  For examples, see:

Bell, Blake A., Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc., 2004). 

Bell, Blake, Thomas Pell's Treaty Oak, The Westchester Historian, Vol. 28, Issue 3, pp. 73-81 (The Westchester County Historical Society, Summer 2002). 

Tue., Jan. 05, 2016:  Donation of a Piece of the "Pell Treaty Oak" to the Manor Club in 1940.

Tue., Oct. 16, 2007:  Information About Thomas Pell's Treaty Oak Published in 1912.

Tue., Jul. 24, 2007:  Article About the Pell Treaty Oak Published in 1909

Mon., Jul. 23, 2007:  1906 Article in The Sun Regarding Fire that Destroyed the Pell Treaty Oak

Wed., May 2, 2007:  Information About Thomas Pell's Treaty Oak Published in 1922.

Fri., Jul. 29, 2005:  Has Another Piece of the Treaty Oak Surfaced? 

Tue., Jun. 14, 2005:  Ceremony in 1915 to Open Bartow-Pell Mansion as Headquarters of International Garden Club Marred by Tragedy.

It is, of course, a misnomer to call the oak "The Pell Treaty Oak."  Even assuming there is some kernel of truth to the story, the document signed on June 27, 1654 was not an agreement between two nations but, rather, was a simple deed, often referenced in the literature as an "Indian Deed."

In any event, for much of the history of Pelham, the story has been told that the deed was signed beneath the spreading branches of the Pell Treaty Oak.  That mighty oak, however, was near the end of its life in the early twentieth century when a fire near its base roared into the hollow of the tree and killed it.  Not long thereafter, in 1909, a windstorm blew the remnants of the tree down.  Curiosity-seekers descended on the site, sawing off pieces of the oak, many of which made their way into local collections including those of the New-York Historical Society and the Manor Club in Pelham.

The final destruction of the Pell Treaty Oak captured national attention.  Articles with photographs of the tree appeared in newspapers throughout the United States.  Indeed, today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes the text and provides an image from one such article that appeared in The Washington Post on April 25, 1909.  The text and the image are followed by a citation and link to the source.


"TREATY OAK AT BARTOW-PELL MANSION
Where Thomas Pell Met with the Indians
By John M. Shinn"


Fragment of the Pell Treaty Oak in the Collection of the
Manor Club.  Photograph by the Author
Taken on January 24, 2004.
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.



Detail from the Image Immediately Above Showing the
Silver Plaque Affixed to the Fragment of the Pell Treaty
Oak in the Collection of the Manor Club.  The Plaque Reads:
"A piece of the 'Treaty Oak' under which Thomas Pell made
a treaty with the Indian Sachems for the Manor of Pelham.
Nov. 14, 1654.  Wm. Cruger Pell from Howland Pell.  -- 1890 --"
Photograph by the Author Taken on January 24, 2004.
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

*          *          *          *          *


"BRONX BOOM TREE BLOWN DOWN
-----

After taking the blows of the elements for several hundred years the old Pell treaty oak in Pelham Bay Park tumbled over a month ago, the victim of a gale, and there remains now nothing but an old stump to mark the spot where it is believed the first Westchester real estate deal was put through two and a half centuries ago.  

It was under the leafy shade of the old tree that Thomas Pell negotiated this little real estate deal, standing there with a few companions who had journeyed with him from Connecticut while the sachems inspected gravely his collection of beads, blankets, and 'gunnes,' and decided that they were worth a large part of what is now Westchester county.  The sachems took the blankets and the beads and Pell took the real estate.  He was thus apparently the first speculator in suburban real estate.  And a pretty successful one at that for those times.  

The old tree under which Pell is supposed to have driven his bargain with the Indians in 1654 made a valiant fight for life in the two centuries and a half that have since passed.  Decapitated and dismembered a good many generations ago, it defied the attempts of the elements to complete its destruction, and with its days seemingly done for, it surprised all those who watched it in recent years by putting out new branches to be covered with green leaves each spring like the youngsters around it.  It seemed to be making another attempt to grow and reassume the place it once had as one of the monarchs of the primeval wilderness.

Tried to Preserve Tree.

A few years ago some of the patriotic societies decided to do what they could to preserve it, and at their expense they erected an iron fence around it, but this did not suffice to keep off the vandals.  Last fall somebody built a fire near it and it roared up the hollow trunk.  That fire ended the old tree's fight.  There was no more life in it after that, and with its trunk scorched and its new branches withered it fell an easy victim to one of the last month's storms, taking part of the fence with it as it fell.

In recent years, with the iron fence marking its nobility, the old tree has been visited by many who have seen it in passing along the Eastern boulevard.  It stood only a short distance from the road on the grounds of the old Bartow place, now occupied as a hospital for crippled children.

That it was no common tree one could easily tell from its size.  Its diameter several feet above the ground was over 2 feet, and the stumps of some of its mighty branches 26 feet or more from the ground, were 2 feet through.

Too Old to Estimate.

Sawed off fresh, these stumps showed so many rings that it was hopeless to ascertain its age by any such method.  Once the park department tried it, but the man who essayed to count the rings, first trying to distinguish them, gave it up in despair.  They have part of this enormous branch preserved up in Commissioner Berry's office now, so that any one who wants to try it again can do so.

The tree experts of the park have guessed at its age at anywhere from 300 to 500 years.  How many years its trunk had been hollow nobody knows, for hollow it was, and one could climb up to the very top of the huge cylinder.

In the case of a good many trees supposed to mark historical spots, there have been some who have had doubts as to the authenticity of the old oak and its connection with the Pell treaty, but near it are some of the graves of Pell's descendants [sic], and if there is anything in the legends of that part of Westchester, the old tree saw the bargain driven.

A short distance to the southeast from where the tree stood is the old Bartow mansion, and behind this is the Pell graveyard, containing six moss-grown tombstones.  They are the graves of Pells born years after the man who decided to take a chance on Westchester real estate, descendants who no doubt came to respect their ancestor's judgment and were glad of his shrewdness.  The oldest tombstone bears the inscription:  'Here Lyes Isec Pell D. Dec. 24 No. 1748.'

Original Land Speculator.

At a time when most men were thinking of hewing their own homelands out of the wilderness old Thomas Pell apparently was animated by the same object which today leads many a man to invest in property above the Bronx.  He didn't want a home; he bought land to sell.

That Pell was the original speculator in Westchester real estate is borne out in history.  One of the histories of Westchester county says of him:

'Pell himself does not even appear to have become a resident of Westchester.  He evidently regarded his purchase as a real estate speculation, selling his lands in parcels, at first to small private individuals and later to aggregations of enterprising men.'

A good many similar deals have been made since with some of the land Pell bought, only you pay a little more for it now.

Pell had tried several other ventures in the way of land purchases before what is now West Chester caught his eye, and his home was really at Fairfield, Conn., according to the best accounts.  Like a lot of the Englishmen in those parts, he decided that New York and its vicinity were altogether too good for the Dutchmen.

Followed the Fishhawks.

Perhaps he saw with the eye of the shrewd real estate speculator what splendid villa sites lay along the sound.  At any rate he and a few companions in 1654 made their way through the wilderness, took a look at the country lying between Bronck's River, as it was then called, and the Sound, and told the sachems that they wanted to buy some of it.

According to one of the West Chester legends concerning the old treaty tree he and his friends saw a lot of fishawks making their nests in the trees there and made up their minds that the birds would bring them good luck.  That was why they got the sachems Ann-Hoock and Wampage to meet them there and talk business.

The treaty provided that Pell was to get 'all that tract of land called West Chester, which is bounded on the East by a brook called Cedar Tree Brook, or gravelly brook, thence northwest, as the said brook runs, into the woods 10 English miles, thence west to Bronck's River to a certain bend in said river, thence by marked trees until it reaches the Sound.'

This land extended from East Chester to New Rochelle, and Pelham, Pelham manor, and Pelham bridge have taken their names from the purchaser of it.  Pell was made a lord of the manor by royal grant in 1666, and before he died he had already unloaded several parcels, presumably at a handsome profit.  One of the first sales he made was that consisting of the old settlement of East Chester.

Although Lord Thomas Pell as he afterward became, didn't settle on this property himself, his nephew and heir, John Pell, did, and he carved up more of the property, selling New Rochelle to some of the Huguenots.

According to Randall Comfort, one of the local historians, the old Pell manor house stood near the old tree facing what is now a thoroughfare for automobiles, and for years was supposed to be full of ghosts, so that lonely travelers along the lane gave it a wide berth.

Mr. Comfort and others who have taken an interest in the old tree have asked the park department to mark the spot where it stood with a tablet, telling the story of the little real estate deal supposed to have taken place there."

Source:  BRONX BOOM TREE BLOWN DOWN, Washington Post, Apr. 25, 1909, p. 4, cols. 1-4.  


"The Pell treaty oak in Pelham Park before it was blown down."
Source:  BRONX BOOM TREE BLOWN DOWNWashington
Post, Apr. 25, 1909, p. 4, cols. 1-4.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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