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, February 04, 2019

What Two Pelham Residents are the Subject of Songs in the Broadway Musical Mega-Hit Hamilton?


Those who follow the Historic Pelham Blog know that "Pelham Trivia" provides fun and fascinating insights into the history of our little Town.  Indeed, Historic Pelham has assembled a number of Pelham Trivia tests in the past few years.  See:

Thu., Nov. 06, 2014:  Historic Pelham Trivia Test -- One of the World's Most Difficult Exams! 

Wed., Jul. 22, 2015:  More Pelham Trivia.

Tue., May 30, 2017:  More Pelham Trivia!

Today's Pelham Trivia question seems to deserve an entire article!  The question:  what two Pelham residents are the subject of songs in the Broadway Musical mega-hit Hamilton An American Musical?  The answer:  Aaron Burr, featured in songs including "Aaron Burr, Sir" and Theodosia Burr, featured in the song "Dear Theodosia."  

Aaron Burr, who served as third Vice President of the United States during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson and fought the infamous duel with, and mortally wounded, Alexander Hamilton on July 11, 1804, spent time in Pelham.  He bought a farm there (including a home known as "The Shrubbery").  He promptly sold the farm and home to his step-son Augustine J. F. Prevost.  He married Theodosia Bartow Prevost, a widow born in the Manor of Pelham who was ten years his senior.  In fact, I have written extensively of Aaron Burr and his many ties to Pelham.  (See the extensive list of such articles at the end of today's posting.) 


Portrait of Aaron Burr, 1802, by John Vanderlyn.
Source:  Wikimedia Commons.

Hamilton An American Musical is a mega-hit Broadway musical based on the life of Alexander Hamilton with music, lyrics and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda.  The musical was inspired by the biography Alexander Hamilton by noted historian Ron Chernow published in 2004.  The musical received a record 16 Tony nominations in 2016 and won 11 including Best Musical.  The same year it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  Its music incorporates elements of rap, hip hop, rhythm and blues, pop, soul, and even traditional-style Broadway show tunes.  Two lovely songs from the musical are "Dear Theodosia" and "Aaron Burr, Sir" both about Pelham residents.

While one is tempted to assume merely from the title of the song "Dear Theodosia" that the subject of the song is Burr's beloved wife, Theodosia Bartow Prevost Burr, it is not.  The song is about Burr's beautiful and enigmatic daughter who was named after her mother.

In this song, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton sing about children they and their wives each had shortly after the Revolutionary War ended.  Burr sings of his beloved infant daughter, Theodosia, while Hamilton sings of his baby son, Philip.  The two men focus in the song on their realization that the new nation they just have formed holds endless promise for their offspring and all others like them if the founders continue to lay a strong enough foundation for the future of the infant nation.  The song also reaffirms uncanny similarities between the two men whose lives would intersect so tragically on July 11, 1804, noting that both were orphans, nation builders, Revolutionary War figures, new parents with all the fears and worries that entails, and men who promised to lay a "strong enough foundation" to ensure the success of the infant nation.  The lyrics of the song say:

[SUNG BY BURR] 

Dear Theodosia, what to say to you? 
You have my eyes. You have your mother’s name 

When you came into the world, you cried and it broke my heart 

I’m dedicating every day to you 
Domestic life was never quite my style 
When you smile, you knock me out, 
I fall apart 
And I thought I was so smart 

You will come of age with our young nation 
We’ll bleed and fight for you, 
we’ll make it right for you 
If we lay a strong enough foundation 
We’ll pass it on to you, we’ll give the world to you 
And you’ll blow us all away . . . 
Someday, someday 
Yeah, you’ll blow us all away 
Someday, someday 

[SUNG BY HAMILTON] 

Oh Philip, when you smile I am undone 
My son 
Look at my son. 
Pride is not the word I’m looking for 

There is so much more inside me now 
Oh Philip, you outshine the morning sun 
My son 
When you smile, I fall apart 
And I thought I was so smart 
My father wasn’t around

[SUNG BY BURR] 

My father wasn’t around 

[SUNG BY HAMILTON AND BURR] 

I swear that I’ll be around for you (I’ll be around for you) 

[SUNG BY HAMILTON] 

I’ll do whatever it takes 

[SUNG BY BURR] 

I’ll make a million mistakes 

[SUNG BY BURR AND HAMILTON] 

I’ll make the world safe and sound for you . . . 
. . . Will come of age with our young nation 
We’ll bleed and fight for you, we’ll make it right for you 

If we lay a strong enough foundation 
We’ll pass it on to you, 
we’ll give the world to you 
And you’ll blow us all away . . . 
Someday, someday 
Yeah, you’ll blow us all away 
Someday, someday


Cover Art from Original Broadway Cast Recording of
"Hamilton An American Musical".  NOTE:  Image is
Embedded from Another Location and May Not Display
if Original is Removed or Relocated by Copyright Owner.

Aaron Burr married the widow Theodosia Bartow Prevost on July 2, 1782.  About a year later the couple had a daughter whom they named Theodosia after her mother.  According to a number of authorities and evidence from the correspondence of Theodosia Bartow Prevost, Aaron Burr and his wife bought a farm on Split Rock Road, promptly sold it to a stepson, then spent many summers on the Pelham property with Burr's stepson and family.  Little Theodosia and her father cavorted and enjoyed the Pelham countryside.  As one brief biography states:

"His Estate 

On February 6, 1790, Aaron Burr bought an estate in Westchester. 

It comprised 155 acres of land lying near the Eastchester Creek and bound by property owned by the Pells. This, too, had been Pell property, for though Burr paid 800 pounds for it to Nicholas Wright of Pelham Manor and William Wright of Oyster Bay, it had been the estate of Joshua Pell and from him had descended to his son, Joshua, Jr. The first Joshua was the son of Thomas, third lord of the manor, and of his Indian wife, Anna, daughter of Wampage.) 

A month after Burr bought the property he turned it over to his step-son, Augustine James Frederick Prevost, 'in consideration of the love and affection which he (Burr) bears Augustine. . . ' And for the sum of ten shillings. This was on March 1, 1790. The property remained in the Prevost family until 1898, when on October 6, Adelaide S. Prevost, widow of George A., deeded it over to the Pelham Summer home for Children. 

Apples 

At the time of Burr's purchase a fine mansion, called 'The Shrubbery,' stood on the property. It was only about thirty years old then, having been built around 1760; its entrance stood just north of Split Rock. This was one of the best farms in the county, especially renowned for its apple orchard. During the Revolution, a few years previous, Colonel Leommi Baldwin, commanding one of the regiments which took part in the Battle of Pelham, noted the orchard. When the war was over, he obtained some of the trees, took them to his home at Woburn, Mass., where he was a noted horticulturist, and proceeded to develop the Baldwin apple. 

Colonel Burr's stepson -- of whom he was as fond as of his own children -- lived in 'The Shrubbery,' and here the Colonel, no longer a military figure but one of America's most famous lawyers, came with his wife for the Summers. He had become Attorney General; he was to become, in 1791, a United States Senator, after a bitter campaign, in which he defeated General Philip Schuyler, and added fuel to the fierce hatred smouldering between him and Alexander Hamilton, for Schuyler was Hamilton's father-in-law. Burr sat also in the New York Assembly. 

Church Has His Paper 

It is quite possible that it was during his visits to Augustine Prevost's home he appeared in legal cases in the old Eastchester church where there is still cherished a legal document signed with Burr's name. Burr lived at this time in Richmond Hill, the Greenwich Village estate then far out in the country but on property now bounded by King, Varick, Charleston and McDougal Streets. Little Theodosia Burr must have played, those Summers of long ago, on the lawns near Split Rock Road. (She was the only one of her father's four legitimate children to survive. Two boys were stillborn and a little sister, Sally, died in babyhood. Theodosia herself, the wife of John Alston, Governor of South Carolina, was lost at sea.)"

Source:  Cushman, Elizabeth, Aaron Burr, The Great Lover, Used Barge To Reach Only Woman He Ever Cared For, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Jul. 31, 1931, p. 12, cols. 1-3.

As one would expect, another important song in the musical is about Aaron Burr.  Entitled "Aaron Burr, Sir," it is sung, once again, principally by the actors portraying Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr although portions include other members of the company as well.  

The song depicts the first meeting between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr and their subsequent encounter with John Laurens, Hercules Mulligan and the Marquis de Lafayette at a local tavern in New York City.  These latter three, of course, became important players in the American Revolutionary War and grew close to Alexander Hamilton.  The song serves to introduce two young men raised as orphans with different backgrounds but similar aspirations.  It further establishes that although each is intensely competitive and ambitious, they have very different philosophies regarding how they will reach their own potential.  Moreover, the encounter with Laurens, Mulligan, and the Marquis de Lafayette seems to reinforce the notion that Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were competitors rather than friends from the outset and that Alexander Hamilton grew a circle of friends whom he liked better -- a circle that never included Burr.  The lyrics of the song say:

[SETTING:  1776 IN NEW YORK CITY]
[HAMILTON SINGS]

Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir? 

[BURR SINGS]

That depends, who’s asking? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Oh, well sure, sir 
I’m Alexander Hamilton, 
I’m at your service, sir 
I have been looking for you 

[BURR SINGS]

I’m getting nervous 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Sir, I heard your name at Princeton 
I was seeking an accelerated course of study 
When I got sort of out of sorts with a buddy of yours 
I may have punched him it’s a blur, sir 
He handles the financials? 

[BURR SINGS] 

You punched the bursar? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Yes, I wanted to do what you did 
Graduate in two, then join the revolution.
He looked at me like I was stupid 
I’m not stupid 
So how’d you do it, 
how’d you graduate so fast? 

[BURR SINGS]

It was my parent's dying wish before they passed 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

You're an orphan?  Of course I’m an orphan 
God, I wish there was a war 
Then we could prove that we’re worth more 
than anyone bargained for 

[BURR SINGS]

Can I buy you a drink? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

That would be nice 

[BURR SINGS] 

While we’re talking, let me offer you some free advice 
Talk less 

[HAMILTON SINGS] 

What? 

[BURR SINGS]

Smile more 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Ha 

[BURR SINGS]

Don’t let them know what you're against or what you're for 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

You can't be serious 

[BURR SINGS]

You wanna get ahead? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Yes 

[BURR SINGS]

Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Yo yo yo yo yo 
What time is it? 

[LAURENS, LAFAYETTE, AND MULLIGAN SING]

Show time! 

[BURR SINGS]

Like I said . . .  

[LAURENS SINGS]

Show time, show time Yo! 
I’m John Lauren's in the place to be! 
Two pints o’ Sam Adams, but I’m workin' on three, uh! 
Those redcoats don’t want it with me 
'Cause I will pop chick-a pop these cops till I’m free 

[LAFAYETTE SINGS]

Oui oui, mon ami, je m’appelle Lafayette!
The Lancelot of the revolutionary set! 
I came from afar just to say bonsoir!
Tell the king "casse-toi." 
Who’s the best? C’est moi 

[MULLIGAN SINGS]

Brrrah, brraaah!  I am Hercules Mulligan 
Up in it, lovin' it, yes I heard ya mother said 
Come again? 

[LAFAYETTE AND LAURENS SING]

Ay, lock up ya daughters and horses, of course 
It’s hard to have intercourse over four sets of corsets . . . 

[LAFAYETTE SINGS]

Wow!

[LAURENS SINGS]

No more sex, pour me another brew, son! 
Let’s raise a couple more . . . 

[LAURENS, LAFAYETTE, AND MULLIGAN SING]

To the revolution! 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Well, if it ain’t the prodigy of Princeton college! 

[MULLIGAN SINGS]

Aaron Burr! 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Give us a verse, drop some knowledge! 

[BURR SINGS]

Good luck with that, you’re takin' a stand 
You spit, I’m 'a sit.  We’ll see where we land 

[LAFAYETTE AND MULLIGAN SING]

Boo! 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Burr, the revolution’s imminent. 
What do you stall for? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

If you stand for nothing, Burr, what’ll you fall for? 

[MULLIGAN, LAFAYETTE, AND LAURENS SING]

Ooh!
Who you? 
Ooh, who you? 
Oh, who are you? 
Ooh, who is this kid, what’s he gonna do?

"Aaron Burr, Sir" and "Dear Theodosia" are two Broadway musical numbers that provide important insights into the lives of two Pelhamites who enjoyed days in the Manor of Pelham nearly 230 years ago:  Aaron Burr and his beloved daughter Theodosia Burr.

*          *          *          *          *

I have written about Aaron Burr, Theodosia Bartow Prevost Burr, Augustine J. Frederick Prevost and the Burr home on Split Rock Road known as "The Shrubbery" on a number of occasions.  For examples of such earlier postings, see the following:

Wed., Feb. 10, 2016:  Slaves Likely Were Held, and Forced to Work, at the Shrubbery, Once Located Near Split Rock Road in Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 13, 2017:  The Prevost Mansion Known as The Shrubbery, Once Owned by Aaron Burr, Burned December 31, 1880.

Thu., May 21, 2015:  Pelham Manor Romance:  A Tale of Aaron Burr and His Love, Theodosia Bartow Prevost of the Manor of Pelham.  

Thu., Apr. 23, 2015:  Augustine James Frederick Prevost of The Shrubbery in Pelham Manor.

Tue., Sep. 30, 2014:  Pelham Resident Recorded His Impressions of Meeting Aaron Burr.

Fri., Feb. 7, 2014:  Early History of The Pelham Home for Children, an Early Pelham Charity (Notes that The Pelham Home for Children first occupied the Shrubbery before the building burned in the 1890s).

Wed., Aug. 1, 2007:  1805 Real Estate Advertisement Offering Prevost Estate in Pelham for Sale.

Mon., Jun. 4, 2007:  Abstract of 1797 Will of John Bartow, Sr. Who Owned Land in Pelham and Whose Family Became Early Pelham Residents.

Wed., Jan. 31, 2007:  A Large Distillery Once Stood on the Prevost Farm in Pelham During the 1790s.

Tue., Jul. 18, 2006: Aaron Burr Tries to Pull a Fast One in the 1790s and Must Sell His Farm in Pelham.


Wed., Jun. 14, 2006: Text of Deed by Which Aaron Burr Acquired Pelham Lands in 1790

Thu., Apr. 14, 2005: The Pelham Home for Children that Once Stood on Split Rock Road

Mon., Oct. 2, 2006: The Revolutionary War Diary of Loyalist Joshua Pell, Jr. of the Manor of Pelham.



"The Shrubbery," a Home That Once Belonged to Aaron Burr
and, Later, His Stepson, Augustine James Frederick Prevost
and Stood Along Today's Split Rock Road in Pelham Manor.
Source:  Courtesy of The Office of The Historian of the Town of Pelham.

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Tuesday, May 30, 2017

More Pelham Trivia!


How well do you know the Town of Pelham?  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog poses another handful of trivia questions to test your knowledge of your hometown.  I have posted such Historic Pelham trivia teasers before.  See:

Thu., Nov. 06, 2014:  Historic Pelham Trivia Test: One of the World's Most Difficult Exams!

Wed., Jul. 22, 2015:  More Pelham Trivia.

Here are today's questions.  Good luck!

Question 1:  Travers Island in Pelham Manor is the second home of the New York Athletic Club and has been an important factor in the success of so many Olympians who have been members of the club.  How many Olympic medals and Olympic gold medals have the New York Athletic Club athletes won?  Additionally, how many sovereign nations have won fewer Olympic medals than the athletes of the New York Athletic Cllub?

Question 2:  Can you name the former Presidents of the United States whose last names happen to be the same as the name of at least one roadway within the Town of Pelham?  

Question 3:  Can you name the Pelhamite who gave musical instruction to Albert Einstein?

Question 4:  If a jet aircraft were to fly eastward along the meridian from Pelham, in what European mainland nation would it reach the first land after crossing the Atlantic Ocean?

Question 5:  The Town of Pelham was founded by New York State law in 1788.  Of the 195 sovereign states that can be described as indisputably sovereign, how many were founded AFTER the Town of Pelham and, thus, are younger than the Town of Pelham?

ANSWERS TO THE HISTORIC PELHAM TRIVIA QUESTIONS APPEAR BENEATH THE IMAGE BELOW.



Answer to Question 1:  As of early 2017, N.Y.A.C. athletes haved won 248 Olympic medals, 131 of which have been Olympic gold medals.  Only twenty-two of the world's nations have athletes who have won more Olympic medals than the athletes of the New York Athletic Club
See New York Athletic Club, Olympic History (visited May 21, 2017). 
See also "All-Time Olympic Games Medal Table" in Wikipedia:  The Free Encyclopedia (visited May 21, 2017).

Answer to Question 2:  Former U.S. Presidents whose last names are the same as the name of at least one roadway in Pelham are Grant, Jackson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Monroe and Washington.  [Tip of the hat to Joe Gallello who reminded the author of Monroe Street!]

Answer to Question 3:  In 1934 Pelham resident Toscha Seidel gave violin instruction to Albert Einstein, and received a sketch in return, reportedly diagramming length contraction of his theory of relativity in the sketch.  See Wed., Dec. 28, 2016:  Violin Virtuoso Toscha Seidel, And Famed Dog Hector, Lived in Pelham.

Answer to Question 4:  An aircraft traveling eastward along the meridian from the Town of Pelham would reach the European mainland in Portugal first.

Answer to Question 5: Of the 195 sovereign states that can be described as indisputably sovereign, 133 were founded AFTER the Town of Pelham and, thus, are younger than the Town of Pelham.  See "List of Sovereign States by Date of Formation" in Wikipedia:  The Free Encyclopedia (visited May 21, 2017).

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, July 22, 2015

More Pelham Trivia


How well do you know the Town of Pelham?  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog poses a handful of trivia questions to test your knowledge of your hometown.  I have posted such trivia teasers before.  See Thu., Nov. 06, 2014:  Historic Pelham Trivia Test: One of the World's Most Difficult Exams!

Question 1:  The Manor of Pelham once covered an area much larger than today's Town of Pelham.  Where within that area did the United States Government, at the height of the Cold War, construct and operate Nike nuclear missile silos controlled by radar from Fort Slocum on David's Island?

Question 2:  What longstanding Pelham institution's members, as of 2004, had earned 118 Olympic Gold Medals, more than all but four nations of the world at that time?

Question 3:  What famous United States Supreme Court Justice had a daughter who lived in the Village of Pelham Manor and was a frequent visitor to the Town of Pelham?

Question 4:  The Baldwin Apple is a bright red, good quality winter apple that, for many years, was the most popular apple in New York, in New England, and for export from the United States.  The origins of the apple long have been in dispute and various locales lay claim to its source.  What are Pelham's purported connections to the Baldwin Apple?

Question 5:  What part of the Manor of Pelham that once was within the Town of Pelham was used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II to house Italian prisoners of war?

Question 6:  On June 1, 1943, the United States Government leased space within the Town of Pelham to permit the opening of a gunnery school for the Royal Norwegian Navy.  The move was necessary to assist Norwegian Naval vessels and sailors who were away at sea when Germany occupied Norway and they were unable to return home.  Where in Pelham was the gunnery school located?

Question 7:  On Wednesday, September 21, 1938, four students from Pelham Memorial High School became heroes by plunging into high flood waters caused by the "Hurricane of 1938" also known as the "Long Island Express" to save members of a local church who were trapped by the waters in the church.  Which church?

ANSWERS TO THE HISTORIC PELHAM TRIVIA QUESTIONS APPEAR BENEATH THE IMAGE BELOW.




Answer to Question 1:  Nike nuclear missile silos, now decommissioned, once were fully functional on Hart Island, also once known as Spectacle Island and Little Minneford Island, just off the shores of City Island.  Hart Island was part of Pelham, though acquired by New York City in 1868, until New York City annexed the area (including Hart Island) in the mid-1890s.

Answer to Question 2:  As of 2004, members of the New York Athletic Club, which maintains a massive club facility on Travers Island in Pelham Manor (with a portion lying within the City of New Rochelle), had earned 118 Olympic gold medals.

Answer to Question 3:  Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Salmon P. Chase had a daughter who married William S. Hoyt who, in turn, leased a home that once stood on the site of the tennis house on today's Travers Island.  Supreme Court Justice Chase was a frequent visitor to Pelham and his daughter's lovely home on Travers Island.  

Answer to Question 4:  Pelham's purported connections to the Baldwin Apple are fascinating.  According to longstanding but undocumented local tradition, Colonel Loammi Baldwin, while commanding one of the American regiments that took part in the Battle of Pelham, noticed some spectacular apple orchards in the area.  When the Revolutionary War was over, he purportedly obtained some of the trees, took them to his home in Woburn, Massachusetts (where he was a widely-respected horticulturist) and developed the Baldwin Apple.

Answer to Question 5:  During a portion of World War II, a prisoner of war camp for Italian prisoners of war stood on a portion of Hart Island.  In 1868, the Hunter family sold Hart Island to New York City.  Technically, the island remained part of the Town of Pelham until the area was annexed by New York City in the mid-1890s.

Answer to Question 6:  On June 1, 1943, the United States Government leased Travers Island in the Village of Pelham Manor from the New York Athletic Club and made the island available to the Royal Norwegian Navy which used it as a gunnery school until 1946 when the NYAC regained possession of the island and its club.

Answer to Question 7:  When the "Great Hurricane of 1938" struck Pelham late in the afternoon of September 21, 1938, members of the First Church of Christ, Scientist were inside their church building.  Today, that building houses the Town of Pelham Public Library.  The massive storm surge caused by the hurricane swept up the Hutchinson River and overflowed the banks, spilling onto Colonial Avenue and Wolfs Lane.  The surge submerged the entire area including cars parked along local streets.  The church members were trapped inside the church.  The water rose quickly to a depth of more than six feet within the church basement as water cascaded through the basement windows.  As the waters continued to rise, a few church members gathered on the steps of the building and shouted for help.  According to one news account, four boys from Pelham Memorial High School heard the cries and plunged into the waters, carrying church members who asked for help to nearby high ground.  


Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."  

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Thursday, November 06, 2014

Historic Pelham Trivia Test: One of the World's Most Difficult Exams!


Welcome to the Historic Pelham Trivia Test, one of the world's most difficult exams.  Hopefully, you will find the questions interesting and will learn some odd, unusual, and interesting things about Pelham history as well.  

Test your knowledge.  The answers to a number of the questions have appeared in some form or another on the Historic Pelham Blog or the Historic Pelham Web Site at some point in the past.  In all instances, the answers are available online.  Additionally, the answers to each question appear at the end of today's post.

Question 1:  For more than a century, the Pelham Country Club has had many illustrious members including captains of finance, industry, and the arts.  The Club boasts one President of the United States among its members.  Which President was once a member of the Club?

Question 2:  Which Vice President of the United States once owned property in the Town of Pelham? 

Question 3:  Famed aviation pioneer and author Amelia Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.  During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island on July 2, 1937.  According to one newspaper account, Pelhamites have seen Amelia Earhart in person.  Under what circumstances did Earhart appear in Pelham?

Question 4:  Pelham has its own peat bog that once ignited and burned for many months, though no one knows how the conflagration began. The burning bog belched smoke from the ground for many, many weeks.  Where is the infamous Pelham Peat Bog located?

Question 5:  The current Supervisor of the Town of Pelham is Peter D. Dipaola who has been elected and re-elected resoundingly since he first became Supervisor.  Supervisor DiPaola, however, may never match the record of one of his predecessors.  One Supervisor of the Town of Pelham received every single vote cast by every single voter in the Town of Pelham in six successive elections for the post of Town Supervisor.  Alas, the string was broken in the seventh election when he received all votes cast by all voters except for two votes!  Who was this beloved Town Supervisor and when did he serve?

Question 6:  Before the newspaper The Pelham Sun was established in 1910, a few start-up local newspapers vied for lucrative advertising from the Town of Pelham when the Town was required to print tax sale notices.  In one instance, on the very eve of the publication of such tax sale notices, the Town of Pelham designated a "new" newspaper that had never even published a single issue as the "official newspaper" of the Town for such notices.  When the first issue of the newspaper came off the press "a roar of laughter" stretched across all of Pelham because the entire issue of the newspaper was nothing but the official tax sales advertisement without a single line of news.  The newspaper appeared three more times, as required for such notices, with the only change being the date of the "news" paper on each of those three occasions.  The publishers collected their advertising fees from the town and then suspended publication forever.  What was the name of this four-issue Pelham newspaper that never contained any news?

Question 7:  Samuel J. Tilden served as the 25th Governor of the State of New York and was the Democratic candidate for the United States Presidency in the disputed election of 1876, winning a popular vote majority but ultimately losing the Electoral College vote to Rutherford B. Hayes.  Tilden once delivered a series of speeches in Pelham.  When, where, and why did he deliver the speeches?

Question 8:  The Town of Pelham has one of the nation's most active so-called "high adventure" Boy Scout Troops.  The Troop's activities routinely include scuba diving, dog sledding, snow shoeing, rock climbing, horseback riding, zip lining, whitewater rafting, kayaking and the more routine camping, hiking, and more.  The Troop is the last remaining Boy Scout Troop of many such Troops that once existed in Pelham.  It is known as "Troop 1."  Troop 1, however, did not begin as Troop 1.  Its name was changed in 1923.  What was the original name of Pelham, New York Troop 1, Boy Scouts of America?  

ANSWERS TO THE HISTORIC PELHAM TRIVIA QUESTIONS APPEAR AFTER THE IMAGE




Answer to Question 1:  U.S. President Warren G. Harding was made an honorary member of the Pelham Country Club in 1921.  Source:  Pelham Country Club Web Site, "History" Available Via "Visitor Information" and "History" (visited Nov. 28, 2004) ("One week after opening the new course here at Pelham, Jim Barnes [the Club Pro] went down to Columbia Country Club in Washington, D.C. and handily won the 1921 U.S. Open Championship. Barnes also bested the field in the first P.G.A. Championship played at neighboring Siwanoy C.C., and in 1916 was presented the U.S. Open Trophy by the President of the United States, Warren G. Harding. Instantly, Pelham Country Club was the center of the golfing world. President Harding was made an honorary member of the Club and a tremendous welcome home gala was held at the Club for Jim Barnes, the new 'Pride of Pelham'.").

Answer to Question 2:  The third Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr, who served as Vice President during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson and who fought a duel with, and mortally wounded, Alexander Hamilton on July 11, 1804, married Theodosia Bartow Prevost of Pelham and bought a farm in the area near today's Split Rock Road on February 26, 1790.  Burr soon sold the farm to one of his stepsons, Augustine J. F. Prevost.  Sources:  Deed from Nicholas Wright and William Wright to Aaron Burr, Westchester County Archives, Elmsford, NY, Register of Deeds, Liber L, 363-66; Deed from Aaron Burr to Augustine J. F. Prevost, Westchester County Archives, Elmsford, NY Records of Land Conveyances, Liber G, Folio 367.  

Answer to Question 3:  Before her disappearance, Amelia Earhart and her husband, George Palmer Putnam, joined prominent Pelham citizens on June 10, 1934 to attend a theatrical event on a transformed cargo barge anchored in Eastchester Creek in the "Pelham Manor industrial district" in an area near today's BJ's Wholesale Club.  Source:  Days Of Old Melodrama Return With The Opening Of Periwinkle's SeasonThe Pelham Sun, Jun. 15, 1934, Vol. 25, No. 13, p.2, cols. 1-2 ("A prominent group of Broadwayites and social leaders of Westchester found their way to the Pelham Manor industrial district . . . They delighted in the novelty of attending an old-time theatrical production in the unique setting.  Their members included George Palmer Putnam and his wife Amelia Earhart").  See also  http://www.fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2018/Mount%20Vernon%20NY%20Daily%20Argus/Mount%20Vernon%20NY%20Daily%20Argus%201934/Mount%20Vernon%20NY%20Daily%20Argus%201934%20-%202739.pdf 

Answer to Question 4:  The peat bog (or, at least, any that remains of it) is located beneath the ground at First Street and Pelhamdale Avenue.  Source:  Railroad Station Once at Sparks Avenue in Pelham, The Pelham Sun, Feb. 24, 1928, Vol. 18, No. 55, p. 4, cols. 1-2 ("Another interesting thing was the story of the peat bog which exists at First street and Pelhamdale avenue where apparently there is an unfathomable morass.  A few years ago the peat became ignited and smoke could be seen rising from the ground.  How it began no one knew but it continued to burn for many months.").

Answer to Question 5:  Democrat and City Island resident Benjamin Hegeman served as Supervisor of the Town of Pelham from 1862 until his death at the age of 46 on April 23, 1873.  He was considered a particularly strong Supervisor due to his leadership and support of the Union cause during the Civil War.  In his first six elections running for the post of Town Supervisor (such elections were held annually at the time), Hegeman received every single vote cast by every Pelham voter.  During the Town Supervisor election of 1868, however, he received "only" 158 out of 160 votes cast.  This was quite a feat at the time since there was a massive political divide between the "Islanders" of City Island and the "Mainlanders" of the remainder of the Town of Pelham.  Source:  Elections . . . PELHAM, Eastern State Journal, Apr. 3, 1868, Vol. XXIII, No. 49, p. 2, col. 3 ("PELHAM.  BENJAMIN HEGEMAN (Dem.) is returned to our next Board by 156 majority.  Says a correspondent:  'We return Benjamin Haegeman, Esq., from the town of Pelham to the Board of Supervisors.  We polled 160 votes -- of which Mr. Hegeman received 158.  Six of the years out of seven which Mr. Hegeman has been elected to the office of Supervisor, he has received all of the votes cast in said town for the office of Supervisor but two -- of which the color must have been variegated.'").

Answer to Question 6:  The Pelham Post  (no relation to the modern monthly newspaper distributed in today's Town of Pelham and also known as The Pelham Post).  Source:  Minard, J. Gardiner, MANY NEWSPAPERS HAVE ENTERED PELHAM FIELD SINCE PELHAM PRESS WAS PUBLISHED IN 1896, The Pelham Sun, Apr. 5, 1929, p. 9, cols. 1-6.  

Answer to Question 7:  Tilden delivered his Pelham speeches in 1855 at Fred Case's Hotel that once stood on Fifth Avenue near 3rd Street during his unsuccessful campaign for New York State Attorney General.  Source:  Montgomery, William R., DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN - ?, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 16, 1927, p. 3, cols. 1-2. 

Answer to Question 8:  Troop 3.  Source: Christmas Season Finds Scouts At End of Five Year Period Of Remarkable Growth and Progress, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 16, 1927, p. 10, cols. 1-6 ("From Christmas 1922, to Christmas 1923, was a year of suddenly awakened activity in Pelham Scoutdom. . . . Membership in the two troops began to increase and a third troop was organized, to meet in the Congregational Church with W. B. Brown as Scoutmaster.  This new troop was designated as Troop 3 and the old Troop 3 became Troop 1.").  


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