The Jumel HouseTThishouse was built in 1758 by Captain (afterwards Colonel) Roger Morris of the British army, who had been an aide of General Braddock. Morris married a daughter of Colonel Philipse. The Philipse estate embraced a great part of the present Westchester and Putnam counties. The manor hall erected about 1745 (the oldest part probably about 1682) now constitutes the City Hall of Yonkers.44In that house, on July 3, 1730, was born Mary Philipse, and in the drawing-room on Sunday afternoon, January 15, 1758, she was married to Captain Morris by the Rev. Henry Barclay, rector of Trinity, and his assistant, Mr. Auchmuty.A paper on “The Romance of the Hudson,” by Benson J. Lossing, published inHarper’s Magazinefor April, 1876, gives the following account of the wedding: “The leading families of the province and the British forces in America had representatives there. The marriage was solemnized under a crimson canopyemblazoned with the golden crest of the family.... The bridesmaids were Miss Barclay, Miss Van Cortlandt, and Miss De Lancey. The groomsmen were Mr. Heathcote, Captain Kennedy, and Mr. Watts. Acting Governor De Lancey (son-in-law to Colonel Heathcote, lord of the manor of Scarsdale) assisted at the ceremony. The brothers of the bride ... gave away the bride.... Her dowry in her own right was a large domain, plate, jewelry, and money. A grand feast followed the nuptial ceremony, and late on that brilliant moonlit night most of the guests departed.“While they were feasting a tall Indian, closely wrapped in a scarlet blanket, appeared at the door of the banquet hall, and with measured words said: ‘Your possessions shall pass from you when the eagle shall despoil the lion of his mane.’ He as suddenly disappeared.... The bride pondered the ominous words for years ... and when, because they were royalists in action, the magnificent domain of the Philipses was confiscated by the Americans at the close of the Revolution, the prophecy and its fulfillment were manifested.”45While in New York in 1756 Washington stayed at the house of his friend, Beverly Robinson, who had married a sister of Miss Philipse, and there is no doubt that her charms made a deep impression upon him, but there is no evidence that she refused him.Manor Hall, Yonkers, 1682After the Revolution Colonel Philipse withdrew toChester, England, died there in 1785, and was buried in Chester Cathedral, where there is a monument to his memory. Some of his descendants are now living in England, as well as descendants of Colonel and Mrs. Morris. “A part of the Philipse estate was in possession of Colonel Morris in right of his wife, and that the whole interest should pass under the (confiscation) act, Mrs. Morris was included in the attainder.”46It is believed that Mrs. Morris and her sisters were the only women attainted of treason during the Revolution. “In 1787 the Attorney General of England examined the case and gave the opinion that the reversionary interest was not included in the attainder,” and was recoverable, and in the year 1809 Mrs. Morris’s son, Captain Henry Gage Morris, of the royal navy, in behalf of himself and his two sisters, sold their reversionary interest to John Jacob Astor for twenty thousand pounds sterling. In 1828 Mr. Astor made a compromise with the State of New York by which he received for these rights five hundred thousand dollars, with the understanding that he should execute a deed with warrantyagainst the claims of the Morris family, in order to quiet the title of the numerous persons who had bought from the commissioners of forfeitures. This he did.In 1810 the property was bought by Stephen Jumel, a wealthy French merchant. There he entertained Louis Philippe, Lafayette, Joseph Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, and Henry Clay. After Jumel’s death it came into the possession of his widow. Aaron Burr, in his old age, married Madame Jumel. After he had made away with a good deal of her money, she got rid of him. He withdrew to other fields of action and died somewhere on Staten Island.During the Revolution Washington had his headquarters here from September 16 to October 21, 1776, and revisited it, accompanied by his cabinet, July, 1790.The house is now in the control of the Department of Parks and is shown to the public.
T
Thishouse was built in 1758 by Captain (afterwards Colonel) Roger Morris of the British army, who had been an aide of General Braddock. Morris married a daughter of Colonel Philipse. The Philipse estate embraced a great part of the present Westchester and Putnam counties. The manor hall erected about 1745 (the oldest part probably about 1682) now constitutes the City Hall of Yonkers.44In that house, on July 3, 1730, was born Mary Philipse, and in the drawing-room on Sunday afternoon, January 15, 1758, she was married to Captain Morris by the Rev. Henry Barclay, rector of Trinity, and his assistant, Mr. Auchmuty.
A paper on “The Romance of the Hudson,” by Benson J. Lossing, published inHarper’s Magazinefor April, 1876, gives the following account of the wedding: “The leading families of the province and the British forces in America had representatives there. The marriage was solemnized under a crimson canopyemblazoned with the golden crest of the family.... The bridesmaids were Miss Barclay, Miss Van Cortlandt, and Miss De Lancey. The groomsmen were Mr. Heathcote, Captain Kennedy, and Mr. Watts. Acting Governor De Lancey (son-in-law to Colonel Heathcote, lord of the manor of Scarsdale) assisted at the ceremony. The brothers of the bride ... gave away the bride.... Her dowry in her own right was a large domain, plate, jewelry, and money. A grand feast followed the nuptial ceremony, and late on that brilliant moonlit night most of the guests departed.
“While they were feasting a tall Indian, closely wrapped in a scarlet blanket, appeared at the door of the banquet hall, and with measured words said: ‘Your possessions shall pass from you when the eagle shall despoil the lion of his mane.’ He as suddenly disappeared.... The bride pondered the ominous words for years ... and when, because they were royalists in action, the magnificent domain of the Philipses was confiscated by the Americans at the close of the Revolution, the prophecy and its fulfillment were manifested.”45
While in New York in 1756 Washington stayed at the house of his friend, Beverly Robinson, who had married a sister of Miss Philipse, and there is no doubt that her charms made a deep impression upon him, but there is no evidence that she refused him.
Manor Hall, Yonkers, 1682
Manor Hall, Yonkers, 1682
After the Revolution Colonel Philipse withdrew toChester, England, died there in 1785, and was buried in Chester Cathedral, where there is a monument to his memory. Some of his descendants are now living in England, as well as descendants of Colonel and Mrs. Morris. “A part of the Philipse estate was in possession of Colonel Morris in right of his wife, and that the whole interest should pass under the (confiscation) act, Mrs. Morris was included in the attainder.”46It is believed that Mrs. Morris and her sisters were the only women attainted of treason during the Revolution. “In 1787 the Attorney General of England examined the case and gave the opinion that the reversionary interest was not included in the attainder,” and was recoverable, and in the year 1809 Mrs. Morris’s son, Captain Henry Gage Morris, of the royal navy, in behalf of himself and his two sisters, sold their reversionary interest to John Jacob Astor for twenty thousand pounds sterling. In 1828 Mr. Astor made a compromise with the State of New York by which he received for these rights five hundred thousand dollars, with the understanding that he should execute a deed with warrantyagainst the claims of the Morris family, in order to quiet the title of the numerous persons who had bought from the commissioners of forfeitures. This he did.
In 1810 the property was bought by Stephen Jumel, a wealthy French merchant. There he entertained Louis Philippe, Lafayette, Joseph Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, and Henry Clay. After Jumel’s death it came into the possession of his widow. Aaron Burr, in his old age, married Madame Jumel. After he had made away with a good deal of her money, she got rid of him. He withdrew to other fields of action and died somewhere on Staten Island.
During the Revolution Washington had his headquarters here from September 16 to October 21, 1776, and revisited it, accompanied by his cabinet, July, 1790.
The house is now in the control of the Department of Parks and is shown to the public.