The 1790 U.S. Census and What It Reveals About Slavery in Pelham

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In late 1790 and early 1791, the United States conducted its first national census, known today as the U.S. Census of 1790.  The population count was required by the first census act signed into law on March 1, 1790.  The census records provide a fascinating glimpse of life in Pelham only a few years after the Revolutionary War ended in 1783.  Records reflecting several states were destroyed when the British laid waste to Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812.  Thankfully, the New York census records survived.

I have written about the 1790 U.S. Census and some of what it reflected for the Town of Pelham.  See Tue., Mar. 22, 2005:  The 1790 U.S. Census Information for the Township of Pelham.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog addresses the 1790 census in more detail and focuses on what it reveals regarding the issue of slavery in Pelham.  

1790 U.S. Census Returns Reflecting

the Town of Pelham.  NOTE:  Click

on Image to Enlarge.

Times were vastly different in 1790, of course.  Marshals in each state employed assistant marshals to perform the census.  A total of 650 people performed the census at an aggregate cost of $44,377 (about $2,186,000 in today's currency).  Census returns were recorded on whatever paper the marshals and assistant marshals could find and some of the returns were even bound in wallpaper.  

According to the 1790 census, there were 3,231,533 persons in the United States at the time.  The State of New York had 340,120 persons.  North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia had populations larger than that of New York.  

The population of Westchester County in 1790 was 23,941 persons.  Significantly, there were 1,412 slaves (about 5.9% of the population).  The populations of the different towns, including the Town of Pelham, were as follows:  

Bedford, 2,470
Cortlandt, 1,932
Eastchester, 740
Greenburg, 1,450
Harrison, 1,004
Mamaroneck, 452
Morrisania, 133
Mount Pleasant, 1,924
New Rochelle, 692
North Castle, 2,478
North Salem, 1,053
Pelham, 199
Poundridge, 1,662
Rye, 986
Salem, 1,453
Scarsdale, 281
Stephen, 1,297
Westchester, 1,141
White Plains, 505
Yonkers, 1,125
York, 1,609

The Town of Pelham, with 199 persons, had the second smallest population in the County of Westchster.  The schedule of heads of families for the Town of Pelham indicates that only 32 families lived in Pelham at the time.  As one might expect, members of the Pell family dominated the population of the Town.  Pelham families were led by Philip Pell, Thomas Pell, John Pell, David J. Pell, and James Pell, among others.  Other notable Pelham heads of families included Abraham Archer, William Bailey (i.e., Bayley), John Devoor, Benjamin Guion, Isaiah Guion, William Landrine, James Augustine Frederick Prevost, and Charles Ward.

Among the most notable aspects of the U.S. Census of 1790 as it relates to our community is what it reveals about slavery in the Town of Pelham at the time.  The 1790 census reveals that there were 38 slaves in Pelham.  It seems to have included all slaves regardless of age and did not break the numbers down between men and women.  Slave holders and the number of slaves they kept were reflected as follows:

William Bailey (i.e., Bayley):  6 slaves
John Devoor:  1 slave
Benjamin Guion:  3 slaves
Isaiah Guion:  1 slave
William Landrine:  4 slaves
David J. Pell:  5 slaves
James Pell:  7 slaves
John Pell:  1 slave
Philip Pell:  3 slaves
Thoas Pell:  3 slaves
Charles Ward:  4 slaves
Total Number of Slaves:  38

Members of the extended Pell family owned half the slaves in the Town of Pelham in 1790:  19 out of 38 slaves.  An analysis I performed for a paper I presented in 2007 to the Conference on New York State History indicated that Pelham's concentration of slaves (measured as a percentage of total population) remained nearly constant throughout the entire 18th century.  In 1712, twenty percent of the population of Pelham was held in slavery.  By 1790, seventy-eight years later, 19.10% of the population was held in slavery.  During the same period, the total population of Pelham had grown from 65 to 199 residents -- a 306% increase.  The number of slaves had increased from 13 to 38 -- a 292% increase.

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The article below, published in 1910, provides a little background regarding the U.S. Census of 1790.  The text is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"IN THE CENSUS OF A CENTURY AGO.
-----
Interesting Books at Local Library Giving Data of Nearby Towns.
-----

Among books which the Mount Vernon Public Library has few will attract more attention or prove more valuable than twelve volumes, printed at the government printing office at Washington, which have lately been received.  Each one bears the title:  'Heads of Families"  First Census of the United States, 1790.'  They are copies of the official returns for the first Federal census ever held.

On March 1, 1790, the first census act was signed after it had been passed at the second session of the first congress.  It required the marshals in each state to take an enumeration of the inhabitants in their districts, employing such assistant marshals as were necessary to do the work.  On October 27, 1791, the census returns were made to congress.  The work consumed a year and two months, for the enumeration was not to begin until August 1, 1790.

The census was taken in seventeen states, but unfortunately the schedules for six states were destroyed by fire when the British burned the capitol at Washington during the War of 1812.  The schedules for the state census of Virginia for three years were substituted for the schedules of the census of 1790 in this state, but they are not complete.

According to this census, which represents a complete list of the heads of families in the United States at the time of the adoption of the constitution, there were 3,231,533 persons in the country at the time, less than one twenty-sixth of the number of inhabitants at present.  These lists show the plain people, the 'common people,' as Lincoln called them, and they are consequently of very real interest.  The number of inhabitants mentioned is exclusive of slaves.

Families in those days averaged six persons, and as only the heads of families appear on the schedules, there were only about 540,000 names on these lists originally, or a little over half a million.  The schedules which were destroyed and not replaced contained 140,000 names, so that about 400,000 names appear on the schedules which have been published.

The gross area of the country then was 827,844 square miles, of which 29 per cent, or 239,935 square miles, was settled.  The schedules show the population of the different states to have been as follows:  Vermont, 85,539; New Hampshire, 141,885; Maine, 96,540; Rhode Island, 58,825; Connecticut, 237,946; New York, 340,120; New Jersey, 184,139; Pennsylvania, 434,373; Delaware, 59,094; Maryland, 319,728; Virginia, 474,610; Kentucky, 73,677; North Carolina, 393,751; South Carolina, 249,073; Georgia, 82,548.

The assistant marshals, it appears, were left pretty much to their own judgment as to the form in which they made their returns, except that a table was provided which they were required to follow.  It was made up of five columns, and the headings were as follows:  Names of heads of families; free white males of 16 years and up, including heads of families; free white males under 16 years; free white females, including heads of families; all other free persons; slaves.  Up to and including 1820 the assistant marshals used such paper as they had.  They usually employed merchants' account paper, and occasionally the returns were bound in wall paper.

The total cost of the census was $44,377, and it has been estimated that 650 persons were employed in taking it.  The returns were published in what is now a 'rare little volume.'  By comparison, the returns for the twelfth census fill ten large quarto volumes, containing a total of 10,400 pages.

The present publication of the first census is in response to repeated requests from patriotic societies and persons interested in genealogy, for the schedules form an admirable means of tracing genealogical history.  Congress provided for the publication of the schedules in 1907.  The work has just recently been completed.  

The schedules for each state are published in a separate volume.  In the front of each volume is a map of the state as it was at that tie.  The map of New York does not indicate Westchester county as such, as it has no designation of White Plains.  A town marked Westchester is in about the location of the old town of Westchester in the Bronx.  A town marked Eastchester is located evidently about where old St. Paul's now stands, for it is on the Boston Post Road, which passes only a short distance south of St. Paul's.  New Rochelle and Rye are marked, but no Yonkers.  Instead, the town of Phillipsburg appears evidently on the present site of Yonkers.  Altho not indicated on the map, both Yonkers and White Plains are included in the schedules, and their returns are listed with those of the other towns, as is the case with Westchester county.

The population of Westchester county in 1790 was 23,941, and there were 1,412 slaves.  The population of the different towns was as follows:  Bedford, 2,470; Cortlandt, 1,932; Eastchester, 740; Greenburg, 1,450; Harrison, 1,004; Mamaroneck, 452; Morrisania,, 133; Mount Pleasant, 1,924; New Rochelle, 692; North Castle, 2,478; North Salem, 1,053; Pelham, 199; Poundridge, 1,662; Rye, 986; Salem, 1,453; Scarsdale, 281; Stephen, 1,297; Westchester, 1,141; White Plains, 505; Yonkers, 1,125; York, 1,609.

All families which have sprung from true Revolutionary stock are represented in these lists, to scan which is something of an inspiration.  Among the names are recognizable many which have become more or less well known since.  The Pells are conspicuous in Pelham, which, by the way, contained just 32 families at that tie.  There is Philip Pell, Thomas Pell, John Pell, David J. Pell, and James Pell, and also James A. F. Prevost and Abraham Archer.

Yonkers, one of the largest of the towns, shows such old families as the Sherwoods, the Odells and the Valentines to have been represented very fully.  The Sherwoods included Moses, Abigail, Jeremiah, James and Thomas while the Odells were represented by Abraham, two Jonathans, Isaac, James Benjamin and Kessiah.  The Valentines consisted of Mary, Gilbert, Thomas, Frederick and Isaac, and there were also several families of Underhills, including those of Frederick and Nicholas.

In Eastchester,, there was the family of Elijah Purdy, and more Pell families:  Mary, Phoebe, Samuel and Caleb, as well as John Archer, farmer; Joseph Fredenburgh, Jonas Farrington, Anthony, Caleb, Abraham and Benjamin Valentine, John Flandreaux, John Archer, weaver, and five Hunt families, those of Moses, Jacob, Basil, Nehemiah and Gilbert.

It is easy to pick out the old Huguenot families in New Rochelle.  Some of the noticeable are Rancoud, Bayeaux, Coutant, Le Count, Ranoud, Rishe, Flandreau, Pintard, Badreau, Galladuett and a Gilbert Angevine.  There were also some families of Guions and Sherwoods.

There was Lewis Morris' family at Morrisania ,and four families of Merritts at Harrison -- Daniel, Mary Ann, Joseph and Underhill Merritt."

Source:  IN THE CENSUS OF A CENTURY AGO -- Interesting Books at Local Library Giving Data of Nearby Towns, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Jan. 24, 1910, p. 3, col. 1-2.  

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Was it Arson that Destroyed the Prospect Hill School at Jackson and Plymouth Avenues in 1917?

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In 1840, John Hunter of Hunter's Island (who also owned a large tract of land on the mainland just to the southeast of Prospect Hill) deeded a small corner of his land as a site for a new public school building.  According to one account, "In 1866, for some reason, the town purchased part of lot 51 from Terrance Malloy and moved the school to that site, which is now the front part of the main center section of 982 Split Rock Road."  See The Junior League of Pelham, Inc., A Glance at the Past: Pelham's Growth From 1775-1975 p. 14 (The Junior League of Pelham, Inc. Sept. 1976) (Pamphlet associated with accompanying map; 32 pp. including Map Bibliography, Manuscript Bibliography and illustrations by Hedy Klein).

As early as 1879, the Board of Education of the Union Free School District No. 1 of the Town of Pelham formulated a plan to replace the tiny one-room schoolhouse in Pelham Manor on Split Rock Road.  Pelham voters authorized a $4,000 bond issue to fund construction of the new school building on October 14, 1879.  Later in the year, the School District petitioned the Westchester County Board of Supervisors to permit it to sell the tiny Prospect Hill Schoolhouse and the land on which it stood along Split Rock Road and to permit the District to use the proceeds of the sale to purchase "other lands for the site of their school-house, and to the erection of necessary buildings therein." 

On December 22, 1879, Odle Close (a member of the Judiciary Committee of the Westchester County Board of Supervisors) presented to the Board of Supervisors on behalf of the Judiciary Committee a report recommending that the School Board's petition be granted and that authority to sell the schoolhouse and land be given.  The petition subsequently was granted and construction of a new school known as the Jackson Avenue School began shortly thereafter.  

The school building had been erected by the time G. W. Bromley and Co. published a map of the area in 1881.  A detail from that map showing the location of the school appears immediately below.

Detail from 1881 Bromley Map with Arrow

Showing Location of the Jackson Avenue School.

Detail from 1899 Map by John F. Fairchild

Showing Location of the Jackson Avenue School

Referenced on the Map as "Prospect Hill School."

The Jackson Avenue School served Pelham schoolchildren for nearly forty years.  Not long after the turn of the 20th century, however, the population of the Town of Pelham began to explode.  In 1900, the population of the Town was 1,571.  In 1905, the population reached 1,841.  By 1910, the population had grown to 2,998 -- nearly doubling over a ten-year period.  Pelham schools, including the little Jackson Avenue School, were bulging at the seams.  

Post Card View of the First Prospect Hill School on

Jackson Avenue at Plymouth Street in 1907.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Pelham did not even have its own high school at the turn of the 20th century.  It sent its young scholars to other communities such as Mount Vernon and New Rochelle for high school educations.  Finally, Pelham constructed the "Pelham High School, and Siwanoy Grammar School," the structure that we know today as the central portion of Siwanoy Elementary School.

After dedication of the new structure in 1911, Pelham Manor schoolchildren began attending the Pelham High School, and Siwanoy Elementary School."  The School Board closed the little brick Jackson Avenue School, although it used the structure for storage.

In late 1916 and early 1917, the School Board magnanimously allowed a local church to store some material in the building.  The congregation of Huguenot Memorial Presbyterian Church was building a new church building at Four Corners on the location of the Little Red Church the congregation opened in 1876.  The last service in the Little Red Church took place on December 10, 1916. The Little Red Church building was not demolished at that time.  Rather, elements of the church were salvaged from the structure and the building was moved across Pelhamdale Avenue to a site on Boston Post Road near the service station located there today. It was used as an apartment building with a retail store on the ground floor and lower level for many years until the building finally was razed.

With the permission of the School Board, Huguenot Memorial Presbyterian Church stored some of the salvaged elements of the Little Red Church and various furnishings in the Jackson Avenue School building.  That decision, it turned out, was an unfortunate one.  

On the afternoon of Tuesday, July 10, 1917, at about 4:30 p.m. a fire began in the structure.  The Pelham Manor Fire Department responded quickly, but the flames "had gained a good headway" by the time they arrived from their firehouse only a few blocks away.  

The fire roared through the building.  There was little that could be done.  By the time the Fire Department brought the fire under control, all that was left standing of the building were the exterior brick walls. The building, valued at $6,000, was a total loss.

The fire, it turned out, was suspicious.  Authorities concluded that an incendiary likely was used to start or spread the flames.  There is no indication, however, that any culprit ever was caught.  The fire remains one of the two most notorious arson fires ever experienced in the Town of Pelham.  (The other will remain for a later article on the Historic Pelham Blog.)

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There does not seem to be much news coverage regarding the fire that destroyed the Jackson Avenue School.  If the fire was reported in The Pelham Sun (which would seem likely), the issue or issues no longer exist.  The only report of the fire uncovered so far appeared in the July 14, 1917 issue of the New Rochelle Pioneer.  I have transcribed the text of that brief report immediately below, followed by a citation and link to its source.

"SCHOOL FIRE A MYSTERY.
-----

An incendiary is believed to have been at work in Pelham Manor.  Tuesday afternoon the old Jackson avenue school house, corner of Jackson and Plymouth avenues, was gutted by fire.  The fire started about 4:30 o'clock and the fire department was called out.  The flames had gained a good headway.  The brick walls of the building was the only remains left standing.

The building at the time of the fire was unoccupied.  Some of the old Red church which was torn down, was placed in the building until the new church is built.  The building was valued at about $6,000 and was used as a school building prior to the construction of the high school buidling.  It is owned by the board of education of the first school district of the town of Pelham."

Source:  SCHOOL FIRE A MYSTERY, New Rochelle Pioneer, Jul. 14, 1917, p. 6, col. 7. 

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A 1910 Real Estate Puff Piece About "The Pelhams" -- Description of the Attractions of the Three Villages of the Pelhams Published in 1910

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In 1910, the Town of Pelham and the three Villages within the town were on the cusp of tremendous growth.  The population of the Town was about 2,500.  The New York, Westchester & Boston Railway was about to open a line through North Pelham.  Additionally, that Village was about to construct a new sewer system.  The new development of Pelhamwood was being planned and constructed.  Pelham Manor and Pelham Heights were expanding.  The local trolley system was being expanded.  In short, the entire Town of Pelham was on a trajectory of growth.

Real estate developers were touting the benefits of the area:  its beauty, its convenience, its healthfulness, and the attractiveness of a suburban lifestyle.  In 1910, an extensive real estate puff piece appeared in The Daily Argus published in Mount Vernon.  The article comprises a fascinating snapshot of the three villages and the Town at a moment in time when growth was set to explode.  Thus, today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes the text of the entire article and provides several of the images that appeared with the article.  

"THE MANY ATTRACTIONS OF THE THREE VILLAGES AND THE TOWN OF PELHAM.
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North Pelham, Feb. 9.--The town of Pelham, which includes the three villages of North Pelham, Pelham and Pelham Manor, familiarly known as 'The Pelhams,' constitutes another one of those delightful suburban residential sections of Westchester county.  It has a population of about 2,500, and is located half way between the cities of Mount Vernon and New Rochelle on the main line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad.  The extreme easterly section of the town, comprising the village of Pelham Manor, overlooks Long Island Sound.  [Through] this village also runs the Harlem River division of the New Haven railroad system.  

Beautifully situated as it is with attractive streets, fine residences, excellent railroad and trolley facilities, a modern school system and well protected by up-to-date police and fire departments, Pelham offers every inducement to the commuter to locate in this part of the county, away from the bustle and dust of the city.

As one leaves the train at the North Pelham station, he will noticeto the right the attractive residential section of Pelham Heights, where the houses are half hidden from view by beautiful shade trees and are constructed for the most part on eminences of rock.

Directly opposite Pelham Heights he will see North Pelham and its recently developed section, which has been converted into a park, and where it is said some fifty new houses will be erected the coming year.

The three villages are a credit to the county.  North Pelham is populated for the most part by commuters, as are Pelham Heights and Pelham Manor.  The houses are not as costly in their construction as are those of the other two villages, but they are well built and attractive in appearance.  New residences are continually being built.  North Pelham is growing rapidly.  

The Lyceum, North Pelham.

Unlike the other two villages with the exception of a part of Pelham, the village of North Pelham contains a main business thoroughfare.  On this street are the Lyman block, near the passenger station; the new town hall, which has just been completed, and the new fire headquarters, and several brick buildings and apartment houses.

One of the pretty residential sections of the village of North Pelham is Chester Park, which has witnessed during the past few years much development.

From a real estate standpoint, the important features for the village of North Pelham the past year were the construction of and completion of the new town hall, which is a concrete building with attractive architectural features, and the completion of the Pelham club house and Masonic hall, the dedication of which took place last November.  Several new houses have been erected in the village.  

North Pelham has two lodges, one of which is Winyah Lodge of Masons, while the other is an order of Red Men, instituted a few months ago.

The village of Pelham contains that restricted and beautiful residential section known as Pelham Heights, which is also rapidly growing.  A writer describes the place as follows:  'Pelham Heights grew not with a boom, but with the right kind of houses and residents.  Before a plot was offered for sale, a complete sewerage system was constructed, with trunk line sewer to tide water.  A separate drainage system was also provided.  Streets and avenues were macadamized; gas, water and electric light were introduced.  The unprecedented situation thus created, a village with every improvement but free from debt, soon attracted the attention of adjoining localities.  In the Mount Vernon papers editorials appeared advocating annexation and the mayor of the city recommended annexation in official communications to the board of aldermen.  Pelham Manor sought also to include Pelham Heights within its boundaries.  Pelham Heights has now a population of some 500 or more.  Restrictions apply not only to the building lots, but also to the streets and avenues in Pelham constructed by Mr. Fairchild's company, the Pelham Heights company, have been dedicated to the billage as parkways with restrictions forbidding nuisances.  These restrictions are perpetual and the right to enforce them belongs to every abutting property owner.

The other village in the town is that of Pelham Manor.  This, too, is a residential municipality.  The residences are possibly a little more pretentious than those in the Heights, as the plots are much larger.  The streets are wider and in some places are boulevards.  The two most important streets are the Pelhamdale avenue and the Esplanade, along which there are many beautiful residences.  Pelham Manor has a well constructed village hall, which houses the street, fire and police departments and contains offices for the village officials.

Public School No. 1, North Pelham.

The town of Pelham has a number of social organizations and clubs.  The most important in the village of North Pelham are the Pelham club, which owns its buildings and holds every year many important social functions.  Then there are smaller clubs in the village, such as the Tuesday club and the Mezercon Social Club, organizations composed of ladies.

In Pelham Manor one finds the Pelham Manor golf club, which occupies a fine club house and has tennis courts and a golf course; the Pelman Manor club, which owns and occupies a pretty house on the Esplanade.  The New York Athletic Club, of course, has its buildings and grounds in the town of Pelham, in the village of Pelham Manor, just off the Shore Road.

There are five churches in the town of Pelham, as follows:  North Pelham -- Church of the Covenant, Congregational, Rev. Wayland Spaulding, pastor; Church of the Redeemer, Episcopal, REv. H. H. Brown, rector; St. Catherine's church, Catholic, Rev. Francis McNichol, pastor.  Pelham Manor -- Huguenot Presbyterian church, Rev. Lewis Gaston Leary, Ph. D., pastor; Christ Episcopal church,, Rev. A. F. Tenney, rector.  These churches are all well constructed buildings and attractive in their architectural effects.

There are two fire departments in the town.  One is that of the first fire district, which protects property in the villages of North Pelham and Pelham.  This department has three excellent pieces of apparatus, as follows:  A well equipped hose wagon; a modern engine and up-to-date truck.  A team of horses has recently been purchased by the fire commissioners of the first, fire district for the department.  The department is housed in its own building on Fifth avenue, between Third and Fourth streets.  The two companies are the Liberty Hose and Engine Company and the Relief Hook and Ladder Company.  The fire commissioners of the district are President Paul A. Heubner and Commissioners Michael J. Woods, former president of the board, Philip Godfrey, Frank Chalou and George Boldin.

The other department is in Pelham Manor.  The firemen there are wealthy commuters, but they are never afraid to turn out.  They have only a hose reel and truck.  The chief of the department is Village President W. P. Brown.

The town of Pelham is alternately Democratic and Republican in politics.  It has witnessed many 'hot' elections, and there have been many political upheavals in the town.  The board is now tied, the supervisor, Edgar C. Beecroft, who was re-elected last November, the town clerk and one justice of the peace being Democratic, while there are still three Republican justices of the peace in the board, two holdovers, Judges Kilvert and Karbach, and one elected, Wolcott Robbins.  The Democratic judge is J. F. Curnen, who was also elected last November.  

Congregational Church, North Pelham.

Politics does not play an important part in the life of the citizens of either Pelham or Pelham Manor in village matters.  Both parties agree on a ticket and the spring elections are as a rule a mere formality.  there have been ties at the election in Pelham when not more than 30 votes will be cast out of many more times that number of voters.  Last year, however, two tickets were in the field and there was a contest, but it was not along political lines.  The same conditions exist in Pelham Manor, and sometimes there is a contest there.

But the situation is far different in North Pelham.  That village may be justly called the hot-bed of politics in the town of Pelham.  Each spring there is always an exciting election, and this year there is every indication that there will be more excitement than ever.  The aggressive president of North Pelham is James Reilly, who has been elected twice on an Independent ticket, once against the combined tickets of the Republican and Democratic parties, and twice on the Republican ticket.  The trustees are David Lyon and Maus [sic].  The president of Pelham is S. N. White, and the chief executive of Pelham Manor is W. P. Brown, and the trustee is Lewis Francis.

The town of Pelham has just become a part of the postal system of the city of New York, and hereafter the two offices in Pelham Manor and North Pelham will be branches of the New York postoffice.  It is not known as yet how many carriers there will be in the town.  

The railroad and trolley facilities are up-to-date.  The Webster avenue trolley line connects the North Pelham line with New Rochelle directly; the North Pelham line connects with the city of Mount Vernon and all points south; the Pelham Manor cars connect with the New Rochelle line, which is operated through the village of Pelham Manor by the way of Pelhamdale avenue.  The main line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad passes through the town, the main station being located in North Pelham, while the Harlem River road goes through Pelham Manor.  A passenger station was recently completed there with subways and every modern convenience.  

There is but one important industry in the town of Pelham, and that is located in the village of North Pelham.  It is the Sanborne Map Co.  It employs several hundred persons and has a finely equipped plant at the extreme end of Fifth avenue, being located in modern concrete buildings, which were completed only three years ago.  A new industry, the Westchester County Brewing and Ice Company, is now being built.  

The future of the town from a real estate standpoint is most encouraging and promising.  Greaat developments are expected, and it is believed that during the next five years many fine residences will be erected.  The village of North Pelham is about to begin the construction of its sewer system, the completion of which will mean much for the growth of the village.

The New York, Westchester and Boston Railway extends through the villages of North Pelham, and the building of this line will also be the means of developing the villages and will increase the facilities for travel."

Source:  THE MANY ATTRACTIONS OF THE THREE VILLAGES AND THE TOWN OF PELHAM, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Feb. 9, 1910, p. 11, cols. 1-5.  

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“Life and Practice" of a Country Lawyer Living in Pelham Manor in the 1880's

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Henry Waters Taft was a brother of William Howard Taft who served as President of the United States.  Henry was an attorney who began his career as a “salaried” associate with the New York City law firm of Simpson Thacher & Barnum, now known as Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.  In 1889 he joined the law firm of Strong & Cadwalader, known today as Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP.  Although late in life Taft had a residence in New York City, he lived for many years during the 1880’s in Pellham Manor and even served on the Executive Committee of the Pelham Manor Protective Club during the 1880’s before the Village of Pelham Manor was incorporated.  For a more complete biography of Henry Waters Taft, see Henry Waters Taft, Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Waters_Taft (visited Mar. 14, 2014). 

Henry Waters Taft in 1908.

Source:  Wikimedia Commons, from the U.S. Library of Congress Division of

Prints and Photographs Under the Digital ID ggbain.03468.

In 1941, The MacMillan Company published Taft’s career memoirs entitled “Legal Miscellanies:  Six Decades of Changes and Progress.”  In addition to the account of his adventures during the Great Blizzard of 1888 quoted in yesterday’s Historic Pelham Blog posting, the book contained a brief account of Taft’s “life and practice in the country” during the time he lived in the rural area known as Pelham Manor. 

“LIFE AND PRACTICE IN THE COUNTRY

On account of considerations of economy and a taste for the intimate contacts of a neighborhood life, I started my married and professional life in a small village of Westchester County, then twenty miles from the center of my professional activities in New York city, but, measured by the convenience of access, more than double that distance.  There were, perhaps, twenty houses in the village, and no stores.  All of the residents were commuters, and all governed by considerations of economy.  There were three or four lawyers, three clergymen, several small bankers, three or four merchants, several school teachers, a civil engineer, and one landowner who had developed the settlement.

There was also a railroad station agent, but he was so little occupied with the few trains on the remote branch road that he was able to furnish the little community with coal, and conduct a small livery stable with an equipment of one horse and a buggy.  Altogether, the community in its social life, and to a considerable extent in its business life, was rural in character.  Necessary supplies were delivered from a village two or three miles distant, whence also came our family doctor.  He came on horseback, and even when bringing our children into [Page 9 / Page 10] the world he officiated in his riding clothes.  At one limit of the township was a small railroad station where there was the so-called Town Hall, a brick building about twenty feet square, but amply large to accommodate as many citizens as wished to attend at political meetings to deal with local affairs.  New Rochelle, Pelhamville and Mount Vernon, were in a radius of about three miles; but the intervening territory was farm land, grazing fields or vacant spaces. 

The following tabulation shoes the growth in population during sixty years and the process of converting the entire region from scattered country villages into populous cities with suburban characteristics.  The comparison of population is made between 1880 and 1940, the latter date being taken from the census of that year.

Bronxville 1880 – 395  1940 – 6,888

Mount Vernon 1880 – 4,856  1940 – 67,362

New Rochelle 1880 – 5,276  1940 – 58,408

Pelham 1880 – 2,540 [6]  1940 – 12,272 [7]

[6] Includes the area of City Island and Pelham Bay Park section which was segregated in 1900 [sic] and made a part of the Borough of the Bronx, New York City.

[7] Includes Pelham, North Pelham and Pelham Manor.

White Plains was the county seat of Westchester County and was in every way a country town with a population of only 2,381 in 1880, which had increased in 1940 to 40,327.

These were the conditions that prevailed for the first ten years of my practice (1882-1892), and I conducted my professional life in the spirit and practice of a country lawyer.  I was, however, at the same time the sole employee in the New York office of a lawyer ten years my senior, where I was office boy, clerk, errand boy and [Page 10 / Page 11] copyist, at eight dollars a week.  Of course, all legal activities in the great County of Westchester, which extended for about thirty-seven miles north and south, and with a varying width extended from the Hudson River to the Sound, were closely related to White Plains, the county seat.  But except for a few near-by settlements, the only means of transportation was the New York & Harlem Railroad, and some lawyers traveled fifty miles to reach the county seat.  For me, it was a long journey.  At break of day there was first a buggy drive of 3 or 4 miles to Mount Vernon, whence a slow train took me to White Plains.  The journey occupied several hours. . . .”

Source:  Taft, Henry W., Legal Miscellanies:  Six Decades of Changes and Progress, pp. 9-10 (NY, NY:  The MacMillan Company 1941). 

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Consolidation Involving Pelham Has Been Discussed Since at Least 1824

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During the mid-1970s, the Village of Pelham and the Village of North Pelham were consolidated to form today's Village of Pelham.  From the 1920s to the present, residents of Pelham have debated the pros and cons of consolidating various of the villages.  Others have been debating for decades whether to consolidate or annex into greater New York City various of the suburban governmental units including Pelham.  Interestingly, it seems that such considerations were being proposed as early as 1824.

The excerpt below if from the Gazetteer of the State of New-York published in 1824.  In it, the author of the entry for Pelham indicates that "it would be well, perhaps," to consider consolidating some of the small Towns in the area including the Town of Pelham.

"PELHAM, a small Township of Westchester County, on the East river, or Long-Island Sound, 18 miles from New-York, and 9 S. of White Plains; bounded E. by New-Rochelle, W. by East-Chester, S. by the Sound, and including several small but valuable islands.  On the N. it terminates in a point.  It is washed on the W. by East-Chester, or Hutchinson's, or Hutchins' creek, and like the other towns of this County, is confined to a very small area.  The land is very stony, but productive, and the surface has little diversity.  The turnpike toward Boston, from New-York, leads across this town, and there are some handsome country seats along the Sound.  Pell's Point is at the S. end, and the islands are Minneford's or City Island, Hart's Island, and High Island.  Rodman's Neck and Pell's Point are the same.  Population, 283; 50 farmers and 1 mechanic; no slaves; 31 free blacks; taxable property $164764; 1 school district; school kept 5 months in 12; $50; 65; 35; electors, 48; 2947 acres of improved land; 254 cattle, 46 horses, 212 sheep; 182 yards of cloth made in the domestic way.  In some of the freaks of our legislation, it would be well, perhaps, to consolidate some of these little towns, though it might diminish the number of those little-great-men, who derive all their importance from an office.  But -- 'the more teats the more puppies,' a fact perfectly understood by all the managers, as well on the smaller as on the greater scale, and division and subdivision are the order of the day.  So many alterations have already been made, in the boundaries of Counties and Towns, so many have been subdivided, and new ones erected, even since the 2 late Censuses, of 1820 and 1821, that in very many instances we have to substitute guessing for enumeration, while yet the Census is hardly dry from the press.

See Civil Divisions.
S.M., J.W., S.D."

Source:  Spafford, Horatio Gates, A Gazetteer of the State of New-York:  Embracing an Ample Survey and Description of its Counties, Towns, Cities, Villages, Canals, Mountains, Lakes, Rivers, Creeks, and Natural Topography, p. 406 (Albany, NY:  B.D. Packard, 1824).

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Report on State of the Village of North Pelham by President Peter Ceder Published in 1913

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President of North Pelham, Peter Ceder, prepared a "State of the Village" report that appeared in an issue of The Pelham Sun published in 1913.  The report provides an interesting description of the state of the Village at a time when it was beginning to experience explosive growth that continued until the Great Depression.  The entire report is transcribed below.

"Pres. Ceder on North Pelham
-----

The progress in North Pelham the past few years has been rapid, substantial and systematic.  The mud-hole streets that distinguished the village as a back-woods municipality only three short years ago, are no more.  Instead, the main thoroughfares now present substantial and permanent pavements that will stand the test of time and traffic.

North Pelham is the largest village in the town in population, containing between 1,400 and 1,500.  It is a third-class village, while the villages of Pelham and Pelham Manor are still in the fourth class.

As a third class village the law permits us to have a President and four Trustees.  For fourth class villages the law provides for a President and only two Trustees.  But the law does not make it mandatory upon the part of a third class village to elect four Trustees.

I have been so closely connected with the past few years' municipal history in North Pelham that my optimism about the future of the little village may, perhaps, be a bit exaggerated.  But even so, I am happy to retain my firm conviction that ere long my home village will advance from the third to the second class.

Why shouldn't it?

Our transit facilities excel those of most other villages in the county.  At the south end we have the main New Haven road; in the centre of the old part of the village we have the Fifth avenue station of the New York, Westchester and Boston road; a little further east we have the Clifford avenue station of the same line, and up at the north end people can be handsomely accommodated by the Chester Heights station of the Westchester road.  We also have a chance to use the nearby East Lincoln Avenue station.  And only 30 minutes to 42nd street.

We have trolley car service every fifteen minutes, with the right to transfers in all directions.  The trolley now runs to the further north end of our village and to the east boundary line.  I think that the extension of the trolley line up Pelhamdale avenue, and the attendant increase in car service, together with the pleasing transfer privileges obtained, is one of the most noteworthy achievements of the village administration of which I have had the pleasure to be a part.  Transit facilities are the forerunners of increased population and the consequent increase in property values.

Those whose memory is in good working order have not forgotten how our streets looked a couple of years ago.  Those who are not blind and are willing to see cannot fail to comprehend the tremendous change our permanently improved streets have worked in the village.  Those who have occasion to use our concrete sidewalks will say that walking in North Pelham is just fine.

A little statistics will not be out of place. 

The village has 65,475 lineal feet or 12.44 miles of streets; it has 9.22 miles of sewer; it has 7.4 miles of flag sidewalks; it has 6.17 miles of concrete sidewalks.  Of the nearly 13 miles of streets 6,191 lineal feet are paved with Bithulitic on concrete foundation, 750 feet are paved with Tarvia pavement, 11,855 feet are macadimized and 53,620 feet are dirt roads.

There are 8,960 feet of trolley track within the village limits. 

The dirt roads have been greatly improved by the use of oil, which serves both as a road improver and as a dust exterminator -- a double purpose.

Our street lighting system could and should be improved.  The open flame gas lamps are antiquated and give an inferior illumination compared with the modern street lights now in use in nearly all up-to-date municipalities.

We enjoy good police protection at the hands of our little force of four men.  Robberies and burglaries are rarely heard of and general good order is maintained night and day.

I fail to see why our little village should not grow rapidly, for it contains all the essential elements necessary to make an ideal suburban community for the middle class. 

In conclusion I wish to impress upon the minds of my fellow taxpayers in North Pelham the fact that they should exert themselves a little more than they now do to induce that rapid but sound growth the village is entitled to by reason of the many inducements it can hold out to purchasers of moderate means.  Be boosters, and not knockers.

PETER CEDER,
Pres. Village North Pelham"

Source:  Pres. Ceder on North Pelham, The Pelham Sun, 1913, p. 11, col. 6 (undated newspaper page in the collections of the Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham, NY; digital copy in author's files).

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Approximately 13,970 Westchester County Residents Lived in the Area Annexed by New York City in 1895

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While researching other Pelham-related issues, I recently ran across a fascinating tidbit in a tiny reference published in the August 25, 1900 issue of the New-York Tribune. In a lengthy item detailing growth of the population of the Bronx, there is a brief reference to an estimate of the number of Westchester County residents (including Pelham residents) who lived within the area annexed by New York City at the time of annexation. I have excerpted the pertinent information from the material below.

"BRONX POPULATION INCREASE.

THAT BOROUGH SHOWS A GROWTH OF 127 PER CENT IN LAST DECADE.

To the Editor of The Tribune.

Sir: Herewith I send you a statement in regard to the population of New-York City, which I am ready to verify and which I think ought to be published in justice to the Borough of The Bronx, as showing the great increase in its population:

* * * * * * *

BOROUGH OF THE BRONX.

In 1890 the territory now known as the Borough of The Bronx consisted of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards of the city and county of New-York, and the town of West Chester, part of the town of East Chester and part of the town of Pelham of the county of Westchester. In 1890 the Eleventh Census showed the population of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards of the city and county of New-York to be 74,085, and that portion of Westcchester above mentioned, and which was annexed to the city and county of New-York in 1895 and made a part of the Borough of The Bronx in 1898, to be as nearly as can be approximated 13,970, making a total of 88,085 in the territory now known as the Borough of The Bronx. The census of 1900 gives the population of the Borough of The Bronx as 209,507. The numerical increase during the decade is 112,452, or 127.70 per cent.

* * * * * *

JAMES L. WELLS.
No. 141 Broadway, New-York, Aug. 21, 1900."

Source: Bronx Population Increase, New-York Tribune, Aug. 25, 1900, p. 12, col. 2.

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Excerpt of 1917 Report to Board of Education Regarding Distribution of Student Population in Pelham

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In 1918, Teachers' College, Columbia University, published a doctoral dissertation by N. L. Engelhardt entitled "A School Building Program For Cities". In it, the author quoted an interesting excerpt of a report on the geographical distribution of the student population within the Town of Pelham in 1917. The pertinent portion of the dissertation has been excerpted and transcribed below, followed by a citation to its source.

"3. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION

Dot maps illustrating densities of total population and of school population show frequently no conformity in the distributions. In other words, density of child population does not shift with density of total population. This was borne out clearly in the school building program as laid out by Strayer and Trabue for the community [Page 32 / Page 33 and Part of Page 34 Contain Unrelated Table / Page 34] of Pelham, N. Y., in May, 1917. The following is an excerpt from their report 15 [Footnote 15 Reads: "15 Unpublished."] to the Board of Education.

During the five-year period between the federal census of 1910 and the state census of 1915, the population of the town of Pelham increased from 2,998 persons to 3,782 -- an increase of twenty-six per cent. That section of the town lying north of the New Haven Railroad, known as the village of North Pelham, increased during this period from 1,311 to 1,874 persons -- an increase of forty-three per cent. The Pelham Heights section had a sixteen per cent increase during this five-year period, while the Pelham Manor section increased only eleven per cent. The best estimate we have been able to make of the present distribution of population indicates that there are very nearly 4,000 persons now living in the town, half of them living north and half of them living south of the New Haven Railroad. It may reasonably be expected that the town of Pelham will contain 6,000 persons by the year 1925. Under normal circumstances this would mean that school accommodations would be necessary for at least 1,200 pupils by that time.

From information furnished by the pupils who attended the school on Monday, May 14, we find that the afverage family supplying children for the schools from the Pelham Manor and Pelham Heights sections, contains 4.7 persons. The average school family in that section of North Pelham, known as Pelhamwood, contains 3.9 persons, while the average family supplying the schools from the remainder of North Pelham contains 5.5 persons. The average [Page 34 / Page 35] family in general throughout New York State and the United States as a whole, was composed in 1910 of about 4.5 persons. The small size of the Pelhamwood families is partly due to the fact that this section is being developed just now, and that the great majority of those who are building homes here are young people whose families may be expected to reach the normal size during the next ten years. The problem of elementary school accommodations for the children of Pelhamwood will probably become most urgent in about five years."

Source: Engelhardt, N. L., A School Building Program for Cities, pp. 32-36 (NY, NY: Teachers' College, Columbia University 1918) (Ph.D. dissertation published as part of series: "Teachers College, Columbia University Contributions to Education, No. 96).

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