Horton Family Application for Underwater Land Grant in 1855 to Build a Dock in Pelham

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In 1855, the tiny little Town of Pelham had a population of only about 600 people, most of whom lived on City Island.  City Island only then was becoming a small maritime center for oystermen, ship repair, fishing, and regional amusement and resort fishing.  Much of the southern tip of the island was still held by members of the Horton Family including Stephen Decatur Horton and George Washington Horton.

Stephen Decatur Horton and his wife, Caroline Lucilia (Skidmore) Horton, were important early settlers of City Island in the Town of Pelham.  Stephen D. Horton, born January 18, 1821 and died October 23, 1900, became a notable Hellgate Pilot during the mid-1870s.  Stephen and Caroline Horton, an affluent local couple, eventually built a lovely mansion on Belden point at the southern tip of City Island known simply as "The Mansion."  See Fri., Jul. 10, 2015:  The Mansion Built by Stephen Decatur Horton and His Wife on Belden Point, City Island, Town of Pelham.

"Stephen Decatur Horton" and "Caroline Lucilia (Skidmore)

Horton" Source: Pelletreau, William S., Historic Homes and

Institutions And Genealogical and Family History of New York,

Vol. II, p. between pp. 204-05 (New York and Chicago: The Lewis

Publishing Company, 1907). NOTE: Click Image to Enlarge.

Stephen Decatur Horton's father, George W. Horton, was born February 21, 1786. He died September 22, 1860.  He married Elizabeth Horton, April 24, 1813. She, in turn, was born April 6, 1794 and died in June, 1861. Among the children of the couple was Stephen Decatur Horton (see above) and George W. Horton, Jr. who was born June 27, 1827.  See Tue., Oct. 28, 2014:  Genealogical and Biographical Information Regarding George Washington Horton and His Family, Early Settlers of City Island in the Town of Pelham.  See also Tue., Jul. 11, 2006:  Genealogical and Family History Information Regarding Members of the Horton Family of City Island, Once Part of Pelham.

"Old George W. Horton Homestead. Foot of Main Street, City

Island. Borough of Bronx. New York." Source: Pelletreau,

William S., Historic Homes and Institutions And Genealogical

and Family History of New York, Vol. II, p. between pp. 202-03

(New York and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1907).

NOTE: Click Image to Enlarge.

In early 1855, it appears that the two brothers, George W. Horton, Jr. and Stephen D. Horton joined forces to develope one of the first commercial docks in the Town of Pelham at the southern end of what then was called "Main Street" at the southeastern tip of City Island.  The pair repeatedly published a legal notice in regional newspapers dated February 28, 1855.  (It must be noted that George W. Horton, Sr. was still alive at the time, so it is possible that it was him and his son who published the notice, although evidence suggests it was the two brothers.) The notice provided public notification that the pair would appear before the Commissioners of the Land Office at the Office of the Secretary of State of the State of New York in Albany on April 10, 1855 to seek a "grant in perpetuity" of "land under the waters below high water mark" in Long Island Sound at the southern tip of City Island.  The purpose of the grant they sought, according to the legal notice, was "the purpose of promoting the commerce of the State, by erecting a Dock thereon."

The underwater land the pair sought was described in the notice as follows:

"adjacent to land bounded southerly and easterly by the waters of the Sound, northerly by land belonging to the heirs of Samuel Bowne, deceased, and westerly by the waters of the Sound and land of Franklin Arcularius -- of which the subscribers are the owners and proprietors and the actual occupants, for the purpose of promoting the commerce of the State, by erecting a Dock thereon, viz:  Beginning at a point at ordinary high water mark, 34 feet south-east of Main avenue, on City Island; thence from a point at high water mark, opposite the south-easterly termination of Main avenue on City Island, south 28 degrees 35 minutes east, 170 feet into the Sound; thence south 61 degrees 25 minutes west, 40 feet; thence north 28 degrees 35 minutes west, 40 feet; thence north 61 degrees 25 minutes east, 14 feet; thence north 28 degrees 35 minutes west, 126 feet, to a point on the shore, at ordinary high water mark; thence north 54 degrees east, 26 1/4 feet, to the place of beginning -- containing eleven one hundredths of an acre of land."

Of course, a dock was, indeed, built at that location.  The map detail below, from a map published in 1868, shows a dock at that location, perhaps the first commercial dock built in the Town of Pelham.

Detail of Map Published in 1868 Showing Dock Extending from

Stephen D. Horton's Land at Southern Tip of City Island in the

Town of Pelham.  Source:  Beers, F. W., "City Island, Pelham

Township, Westchester Co., N. Y. [With] Town of Pelham, Westchester

Co., N. Y." in Atlas of New York and Vicinity, pg. 35 (NY, NY:  Beers,

Ellis & Soule, 1868).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Legal Notice for Application to Obtain Underwater Lands

Dated February 28, 1855.  Source:  NOTICE OF APPLICATION

[Legal Notice], The Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY],

Mar. 9, 1855, Vol. X, No. 43, p. 4, col. 6.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

*          *          *          *          *

"NOTICE OF APPLICATION for

GRANT OF LAND UNDER WATER -- Notice is hereby given, that application will be made by the subscribers to the Commissioners of the Land Office, at the office of the Secretary of State in the city of Albany, on the 10th day of April, A. D., 1855, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, for a grant in perpetuity of the following described land under the waters below high water mark of the waters of Long Island Sound, at City Island, in the town of Pelham, in the County of Westchester, adjacent to land bounded southerly and easterly by the waters of the Sound, northerly by land belonging to the heirs of Samuel Bowne, deceased, and westerly by the waters of the Sound and land of Franklin Arcularius -- of which the subscribers are the owners and proprietors and the actual occupants, for the purpose of promoting the commerce of the State, by erecting a Dock thereon, viz:  Beginning at a point at ordinary high water mark, 34 feet south-east of Main avenue, on City Island; thence from a point at high water mark, opposite the south-easterly termination of Main avenue on City Island, south 28 degrees 35 minutes east, 170 feet into the Sound; thence south 61 degrees 25 minutes west, 40 feet; thence north 28 degrees 35 minutes west, 40 feet; thence north 61 degrees 25 minutes east, 14 feet; thence north 28 degrees 35 minutes west, 126 feet, to a point on the shore, at ordinary high water mark; thence north 54 degrees east, 26 1/4 feet, to the place of beginning -- containing eleven one hundredths of an acre of land. -- Dated Feb. 28, 1855.

GEORGE W. HORTON,
STEPHEN D. HORTON.

42w7"

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Town of Pelham Seeks Grant of Underwater Land to Build Town Dock in 1871

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In 1871, Elbert J. Roosevelt owned lands in the Manor of Pelham on the shore of Long Island Sound near and south of today's Shore Park.  That year he conveyed to the Town of Pelham a right of way over his lands extending from Shore Road to the Sound in exchange for an agreement by the Town to build and maintain a dock at the end of the right of way for use of the Town of Pelham.  

Elbert J. Roosevelt died in 1885. The Town of Pelham built the dock. The people of the Town used the dock for years.  Immediately below is an image (admittedly of rather poor quality) from a map of the area published in 1889 noting the location of the dock.  Travers Island is visible just north of the dock.

By 1902, the dock was in a terrible state of disrepair.  It even lacked flooring boards and supporting stringers across the decrepit piers driven into the land beneath the waters of the Long Island Sound.  According to one account, no use of the dock had been made for many years "except that men and boys occasionally 'fished from the dock and went in swimming'". 

In September, 1902, persons including Augustus V. H. Ellis purchased the land that included the right of way to what was left of the dock.  The new owners claimed that the Town had breached a condition in the grant of the right of way to the dock by failing to maintain it. They commenced a lawsuit to clear title to the land. Ultimately, New York courts agreed with their claim. The Town of Pelham lost its right to use what was left of the dock for access to Long Island Sound. To read one of the number of reported opinions issued by courts in the case, see Ellis, et al. v. Town of Pelham, 94 106 A.D. 145, 94 N.Y. Supp. 103 (App. Div. 2d Dep't 1905).

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes a notice that appeared in local newspapers in May, 1871 regarding the Town of Pelham's plans to use the underwater land conveyed by Elbert J. Roosevelt.  The notice followed special legislation enacted by the State of New York the previous month to authorize the Town of Pelham to use the underwater land as a town dock.

I have written about the Pelham Town Dock before.  See Fri., Jan. 06, 2006:  Pelham Loses its Right To Use the Town Dock in the Early 1900s.

"NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR A GRANT OF LAND UNDER WATER. -- Notice is hereby given that the town of Pelham, in the county of Westchester, in pursuance of an act of the legislature of the State of New York, passed April, 1871, with the consent of Elbert J. Roosevelt, the owner in fee and occupant of the upland adjoining high-water mark of the waters of Long Island Sound, at a point called Shoal Harbor, in said town of Pelham, will make application to the Commissioners of the Land Office of the State of New York, in the city of Albany, on Wednesday, the 5th day of July, 1871, at ten o'clock in the forenoon of that day, for a grant from the State to the said town, for the purpose of building a dock for the use of the people of the town of Pelham, and between high and low-water makr, and to promote the commerce of the State, and which lands are situated in the said town of Pelham, Westchester County, and State of New York, and are bounded and described as follows:  Beginning at original high-water mark on the northwesterly shore of Long Island Sound, at a point on the land of Elbert J. Roosevelt, distant from the Pelham road ninety-seven feet, at a point on said Pelham road forty-seven feet from the easterly line of land owned by Miss Annette [sic] Bolton; thence running north, twenty-nine degrees east, fifty-seven feet; thence south, twenty-nine degrees west, sixty feet; thence north, sixty-one degrees west, fifty-seven feet; thence north, twenty-nine degrees east, thirty feet, in the place of beginning.  The upland in front of and adjacent to the said land -- a grant of which is to be applied for -- is situated as aforesaid, and owned by Elbert J. Roosevelt, and is bounded on the east and west by lands owned by Miss Annette Bolton, and on the north by the Pelham road, and is occupied by the said parties. -- Dated May 15, 1871.  

BENJAMIN HEGEMAN, Supervisor.
JAMES HYATT, Town Clerk.
C. H. Roosevelt, Att'y and Counsel."

Source:  NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR A GRANT OF LAND UNDER WATER, Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], May 26, 1871, Vol. XXVII, No. 5, p. 4, col. 4.

Detail of 1881 Map of the Town of Pelham Showing "DOCK" Area.

Source: Bromley, George Washington & Bromley, Walter Scott,

"Town of Pelham, (With) Pelham-Manor. (From Actual Surveys and

Official Records by G.W. Bromley & Co., Civil Engineers, Published

by Geo. W. & Walter S. Bromley, 1881)" in Atlas of Westchester

County, New York, From Actual Surveys and Official Records,

pp. 56-57 (Washington, D.C.: G.W. Bromley & Co. 1881).  NOTE:

Click to Enlarge the Image.

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