harness, 19; sash and doors, 9; scales and balances, 1; ship building, 9; shirts, 5; silk and silk goods, 3; slaughtering and packing, 2; soap and candles, 2; spectacles and eye-glasses, 1; sugar and molasses refinery, 1; tinware, copperware and sheet-iron ware, 23; tobacco, cigars and cigarettes, 13; wire, 1; wool hats, 3.

Among the most important industries is that of foundry and machine-shop products in which the capital invested is $1,067,400. It is represented by 24 establishments, and gives employment to 2190 men whose average wages, however, are only $244.83. The material used amounts to $1,130,382, and the products to $2,314,036. The margin of profits is $647,464.

The manufacture of carpets is one of the best paying industries. A single establishment, with a capital of $300,000 (the largest invested by any one firm), manufactures $2,646,946 worth of goods, using $1,313,634 of material, and paying $600,000 wages to 1606 hands an average of $373.66 per hand. This establishment employs the largest number of women -1000, 506 men and 100 children.

The highest average of wages is paid by the eyeglasses and spectacle manufacturers, $525.77; they employ 90 men, 6 women and 1 child. The printers and publishers pay, on an average $495 per hand; the scales and balances manufacturers, $487.50, and the ship-builders a little over $500; but these industries employ only men and these in limited number.

The worst paid bread-winners are the shirt makers. The five firms engaged in this business give employment to 15 men, 477 women and 4 children, at average wages of $142.23. Total amount of wages $70,550; material used, $335,600; gross receipts, $477,750. Profit margin, $71,600, on a working capital of $49,000.

One steel pen manufacturer with a capital of $22,500, employs 5 men and 45 women, on average wages of $200. Aggregate of wages and material, $13,450. Gross products, $24,000.

The manufacture of boots and shoes is another important industry, giving employment to 673 men, 180 women and 36 children, whose average wages are $291.29. The capital invested in this business is $333,600, the material used cost costs $865.544, and the amount of products is $1,235,644. Eleven establishments are engaged in this business.

Eight firms are engaged in marble and stone work. Most of the granite works in the country are suited for rough work only, and the stone is quarried for local use. A coarse-grained gneiss, striped alternately light and dark, which is quarried near Hastings, is extensively used in New York City for general construction purposes.

quarries are, is taken from "Notes by Professors Cook and Smock," published in the census reports (vol. x.)

"One of these belts reaches New York Island, crossing the Harlem River at King's Bridge; another crops on the Sound near Rochelle; others strike the river at Hastings, Dobb's Ferry, Sing Sing and other points, and furnish stones good for construction purposes and of varied colors. The best marble obtained from these deposits are those of Tuckahoe and Pleasantville. The first is white, rather coarse in texture and regular in quality, and the better grades have been used for some of the finest buildings in the City of New York, notably St. Patrick's Cathedral. The color changes to light gray by exposure.

"At the quarry of the Tuckahoe Marble Company the finest grade is nearly a pure white, but this is available only in small quantities, and is used for monumental and ornamental work. In Mr. John F. Masterdon's quarry this same material is quarried more extensively.

"In composition the stone from these quarries is a Dolomite, containing a small amount of iron and some mica. The buildings constructed of the stone from the Tuckahoe Marble Company's quarry are those of the New York Stock Exchange, New York City, and the Mutual Life Insurance Company, at Boston. Those constructed of the material from Mr. Masterdon's quarry are the New York Life Insurance building, New York City, the City Hall, Brooklyn, N. Y., and the Hotel Vendome, Boston.

"At Pleasantville, a few miles north of the Tuckahoe quarries, a coarse, crystalline white marble occurs; formerly this was quite extensively quarried for building purposes. The front of the Union Dime Savings Bank building, in New York City, is built of this stone. Its structure being quite coarse, it is not well adapted for carved work. It has also been found to break easily, especially when used for long columus, and it would not be a safe stone on this account for all kinds of work. The stone is remarkable for its crystalline, the crystals being unusually large and conspicuous, and from this peculiar appearance it has received the name of 'snow flake' marble. This quarry has recently [1880] been furnishing about twenty-five tons of stone per day for making soda water."

FINANCES.-The valuation and taxation of the county in 1880 were as follows:

Value of real estate, $52,095,188; of personal property, $3,579,658. State tax: schools, $73,545; other purposes, $122,901. County tax for other purposes than schools, $278,821. Tax in the school districts, $204, 736; in minor civil divisions, $626,623. Grand total of taxes paid $1, 306,626.

The gross indebtedness of the county in 1880 was $2,971,757; divided as follows: bonded debt, $2,957,536; floating debt, $14,221. The sinking fund of $5,647 (belonging to Peekskill) reduced the total to $2,966,110 net. This amount is subdivided as follows: county debt, $320,000; township debt, $1,083,278. School district debt, $931. City and town debts Net debt, $1,561,901.

CHAPTER XI. THE BENCH AND BAR.1

BY HON. ISAAC N. MILLS, Judge of the County Court. PREPARATORY to writing this chapter we have carefully examined the court records, in the county clerk's office at White Plains, from the earliest times; perused the fragments of history, here and there extant, bearing upon the subject, and such biographical sketches of judges and lawyers as can be found; and also received from the lips of some of the veteran members of the bar and old residents of the county a mass of traditionary information, giving the names, characteristics and relative standing of the leading members of the bar for nearly a century past, and abounding in interesting reminiscences and anecdotes, the publication of which the limits of this chapter do not permit.

Westchester County has had an established bench for about two hundred years, and an established bar for nearly, if not quite, that length of time. A period so long could not fail to prove a rich field for historical investigation. While, in the main, the materials in hand are abundant, still, in some cases, it has seemed impossible to recover from oblivion the biography of one who, from the frequent appearance of his name upon the records of the court, we should judge to have been in his time a leading counselor and advocate.

With this mass of materials before us, it is no easy task to write a chapter upon the bench and bar of Westchester County; it would be much easier to write

a volume.

their lives and work.

words:

town.

year of our reign, A. D. 1688."

We have given elsewhere a very full account of the Pell family, in connection with the founding of Pelham. The first Court of Sessions, shown by the court records, was held on the 3d of June, 1684, the next year after the county was established. The record does not show who presided, or who sat as associate judges. We have not been able to learn from any source the name of the presiding judge. It is possible, therefore, that some one may have been appointed, or acted, as judge of the county before Judge Pell; or it may be that he had been appointed and acted prior to the appointment above detailed.

Caleb Heathcote was the next judge of the Court of Common Pleas, holding that office from A.D. 1693 to 1720. He was the sixth son of Gilbert Heathcote, of Chesterfield, England, who had fought with distinction in the Parliament army during the civil war which cost Charles the First his head. (The Heathcotes were an ancient and honorable family of Derbyshire. They are mentioned as engaged in mercantile pursuits at Chesterfield during the reign of Edward IV. (1470-1471).2

A romantic story is told of the cause of Caleb Heathcote's emigration to America. He was engaged to a very beautiful young lady, who jilted him for his elder brother, Sir Gilbert Heathcote (afterwards M.P. for London and Lord Mayor of that city in 1711). Caleb came to New York in 1692. "From the time of his arrival he became a leading man in the colony," and being possessed of great wealth, which he had acquired in mercantile pursuits, he made extensive purchases of lands in Westchester County. These, on the 21st of March, 1701, were erected into the lordship and manor of Scarsdale, to be holden of the King in free and common soccage, its Lord yielding and rendering therefore annually, upon the festival of Nativity, five pounds current money of New York, etc." Besides his judgeship, Mr. Heathcote held other offices of honor in the province. He was colonel of the Westchester militia all his life, "first mayor of the borough of Westchester, a councilor and surveyor-general of the province, mayor of New York for three years, for a time commander of the colony's

2 MS. book of Sir William Heathcote, quoted by Bolton.

forces, and from 1715 to his death, in 1721, receivergeneral of the customs of all North America."1

A sincere churchman, he was senior warden of Westchester Parish from 1695 to 1702, and senior warden of the parish of Rye from 1703 to 1710.2

William Willett, who succeeded Colonel Heathcote as judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the county in 1721, was the son of Colonel Thomas Willett, of Flushing, Long Island, and the grandson of Honorable Thomas Willett, first mayor of New York. The Willetts descend from the Rev. Thomas Willett, a distinguished English divine, who died in 1597. The descendants of Honorable Thomas Willett occupied prominent positions in the province, such as high sheriffs, judges and mayors.

Frederick Phillips was judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1732 to 1734. His full history is given in connection with Yonkers, where his residence was located, and also in the history of Greenburgh.

Israel Honeywell, one of the earliest settlers of the town of Westchester, where he had a number of local | offices, was judge of the same court from 1734 to 1737, and again from 1740 to 1743. Samuel Purdy, of Rye, was also judge of that court in 1734-37, and again from 1740 to 1752.

John Thomas was judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1737-39, and again from 1765 to 1776. Judge Thomas was the son of the Rev. John Thomas, a missionary of the Honorable Propagation Society at Philadelphia, and first rector of St. George's Church, Hempstead, L. I., in 1704.3 Judge Thomas was the most prominent personage in Rye. He espoused the patriotic side in the Revolution, and his influence was greatly felt in its behalf. In 1777 a party of British troops, making one of their frequent raids into the interior of the county, seized Judge Thomas at his house in "Rye Woods." He was particularly obnoxious to the British, who had long been seeking to effect his capture. He was taken to New York and cast in a prison, where he died soon after. He was buried in Trinity Church-yard.*

John Ward, one of the judges of the Common Pleas in 1737-39 and 1752-54, was from East Chester. He died in 1754. Probably a relative of Hon. Stephen

Ward.

Lewis Morris, Jr., of Morrisania, sat on the bench of that court in 1738-39. A notice of him will be found in the history of Morrisania.

William Leggett, of West Farms (then part of the town of Westchester), was judge of the same court in 1752-54. He was the third son of Gabriel Leggett, of Essex County, England, who "emigrated to this

1 "Doc. Hist. of New York."

2 Bolton's "History of Westchester County." See also Edward F. de Lancey's chapter on the "Manors of Westchester County," in this volume, and his sketch of Mamaroneck,

$ Bolton's "History of Westchester," vol. ii., Appendix A.

4 Baird's "History of Rye."

country in 1661, and in right of his wife, Elizabeth Richardson, daughter and co-heiress of John Richardson (one of the joint partners), became possessed of a large portion of the [Planting] Neck." Judge Leggett was mayor of the borough of Westchester, A.D. 1734.

Nathaniel Underhill, judge from 1755 to 1774, was the great-grandson of the "redoubtable " Captain John Underhill, a soldier under the illustrious Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, in the Low Countries, who came to New England in 1630, and attained such distinction there that he was appointed one of the first deputies from Boston to the General Court, and one of the earliest officers of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. Nathaniel Underhill was elected mayor of the borough of Westchester in 1775. He filled various other offices and died in 1784.

Jonathan Fowler was judge in 1769-71 and 1773–75. No positive data are to be found concerning this personage. In all likelihood he was the son of Caleb Fowler, county judge during the intervening year 1772 and until 1776. Caleb Fowler was a resident of the West Patent of North Castle, where he owned a good deal of property. He was surrogate in 1761-66. His son Jonathan (one of the twelve children) was appointed one of the executors of his will, which instrument, dated in the year 1760, was offered for probate September 14, 1784. The persons already mentioned appear by the court records to have been the presiding judges of the County Court of Common Pleas during the colonial period and at the times respectively given. The list differs somewhat from that given in the New York Civil List or in Bolton's History, but is believed to be substantially correct.

From May, 1776, until May, 1778, the Court of Common Pleas held no session in Westchester County. After the latter date there was a principal or "first" judge, as he was called, in this court, and a number of associate judges. Sometimes there was as many as five associate judges at one time.

Robert Graham, of White Plains, was the first to fill this office of " first "judge. A biographical notice of this distinguished man is given elsewhere.

Stephen Ward, of East Chester, appointed in 1784, was for many years "first" judge of the County Court of Common Pleas. "He was the son of Edmund Ward, of East Chester, for a long time a member of the Colonial Assembly, and grandson of Edmund Ward, of Fairfield, Conn., who removed to East Chester about the latter period of the seventeenth century." Hon. Stephen Ward was an ardent patriot, and was proscribed at an early period of the Revolution by the Loyalist party and a price set upon his head. "Ward's house "" was the scene of several engagements between the Americans and the British, and was finally burned down by the latter in 1778. Ebenezer Lockwood, of Poundridge, was the next

5 Algerine Captive, by D. Updike Underhill, quoted by Bolton.

as "Major" Lockwood through the Revolutionary War, he having been a major in the regiment of Westchester County Militia, commanded by Colonel Thomas Thomas, and engaged in active service during most of the campaign of 1776. From 1776 to 1783 he filled several public offices. He was a member of the Provincial Congress, member of the Committee of Safety, member of the Provincial Convention for forming a Constitution of Government for the State, and was returned a member of the Legislature for several years after the close of the war.

Judge Lockwood was born in Stamford, Conn., and was the fourth son of Joseph Lockwood, who emigrated to Poundridge in 1743.

Jonathan G. Tompkins, of Scarsdale, father of VicePresident Daniel D. Tompkins, was first judge from 1794 to 1797. "He was a member of the State Convention which adopted the Declaration of Independence and the first Constitution of the State. He was elected to the Legislature and remained in that capacity during the whole period of the Revolution, and on the institution of the University was appointed one of the regents, which situation he held until his resignation of it, in 1808."1

Judge Tompkins was the son of Stephen Tompkins, whose ancestors emigrated originally from the north of England and landed at Plymouth, Mass. Jonathan was adopted by Jonathan Griffin, from whom he received his middle name, Griffin. Judge Tompkins died in 1823, aged eighty-seven years.

Ebenezer Purdy, of North Salem, sat on the county bench 1797-1802 (the Purdys are numerous and the only Ebenezer we find among them is put down by Bolton as the son of Abraham Purdy, of Yonkers; born 1754.)

John Watts, who was "first judge" of Court of Common Pleas in Westchester County from 1802 to 1807, was born in New York, of which city his father (also named John) was a prominent citizen and a member of the King's Council. Judge Watts received a legal education and was eminently qualified for the bench. At twenty-five years of age he was appointed royal recorder of the city of New York, 1774, and was the last to hold the position. From 1791 to 1794 he was Speaker of the Assembly of New York, and afterwards he became a member of Congress. His home was at No. 3 Broadway, New York. He was one of the wealthiest men in New York City, and owned much property not only there, but also throughout the State. He had a fine residence in Westchester County, near the village of New Rochelle, on a slope overlooking Hunter's Island, and there lived in very good style. In person, he was remarkably finelooking. He married Jane, daughter of Peter De Lancey, of "The Mills," in the town of Westchester. In Mr. Watts' character, equanimity was the most

1 Bolton's "History of Westchester."

much conciseness of expression, and Samuel B. Ruggles once said of him, that "John Watts could express more on a page of note paper than most men could on a sheet of foolscap." Mr. Watts died September 3, 1836, being then within three days of eightyseven years of age. Of his family of eight or nine children, but one survived him, and that one was childless. He had three grandchildren, however, one of whom, John Watts De Peyster, now living in New York, was his chief legatee. Mr. Watts was the founder and endower of the Leeke and Watts Orphan House, corner One Hundred and Tenth Street and Ninth Avenue, New York.

Caleb Tompkins, son of Jonathan G. Tompkins, of Scarsdale, and eldest brother of Vice-President Daniel D. Tompkins, was first judge of the County Court of Common Pleas from 1808 to 1820, and again from 1823 to 1846. He died January 1, 1846, aged eighty-six years and nine days. He was buried at White Plains. Mr. Tompkins was a learned jurist and a man of great abilities. He possessed, in an eminent degree, the gifts and virtues for which the Tompkins family has ever been noted.

Nehemiah Brown,' who served two terms as county judge, was of the ancient family of Brownes of Rye and of Hastings, England, and a lineal descendant of Peter Brown, whose name is inscribed on the Pilgrim's Monument at Plymouth, Mass.

He was born at Rye, Westchester County, November 29, 1775, and until his death, on November 1, 1855, occupied the lands on which he was born, and which had been held by his family since the first settlement of the town. Few men were better known in his county or held in higher esteem. Of sound judgment, inflexible integrity, withal genial and given to hospitality, his counsel was widely sought and valued. He received a captain's commission in the War of 1812, but, as far as is now remembered, was not engaged in the field, being detailed to assist in the fortifications of Throgg's Neck and other points in the vicinity of New York. He served as a member of the Legislature in 1824, and two terms as county judge, occupying the bench with Judges William Jay, Constant and others. A righteous man and beloved, he left a rich heritage of memories to his family and friends.

Judge Brown's first wife was Mary, daughter of Major Seymour, of Greenwich, Conn. The second was Pamelia, daughter of Dr. Clark Sanford, of Petersburg, Va. The third and surviving wife was Abby Jane, daughter of David Brown, of Rye. His only children were by his second wife, viz.: Sanford C. Brown, a young man of exceeding promise, who, although dying at the age of twenty-eight years, from exposure in Asia Minor, on business for his firm, was a prominent director and member of the Stamford

This sketch was prepared and inserted by the editor.