Gilbert Heathcote 1625-1690

Scarsdale Manor And Its First Lord, Colonel Caleb Heathcote

The Manor of Scarsdale is inseparably connected with the life and personality of Colonel Caleb Heathcote, its founder and first Lord of the Manor, for although at his death he left a son to inherit the title, the son was a minor at the time and did not live to reach his majority, and the title became extinct with the son's death for lack of an heir male to succeed.

Colonel Caleb Heathcote was descended from a family well known in England, and still better known by the careers of his brothers and their descendants. Their lineage traces back to the time of Edward the Fourth, but the immediate family from which Colonel Caleb Heathcote came, were residents of Chesterfield in Derbyshire, where his father, Gilbert Heathcote was for three terms the Lord Mayor of that City.

Chesterfield is an interesting old place. It was here that George Stevenson, the inventor and builder of the first steam locomotive, lived. In the heart of the city stands the famous old church with its twisted spire, said to have been caused by his Satanic Majesty passing over it shortly after its erection.

The ancestors of Caleb Heathcote are said to have been well known bell founders in Chesterfield, and the makers of many church bells hung in church edifices throughout England, bearing the trade mark of these makers. At this business they prospered and acquired substantial fortunes. At any rate, Gilbert Heathcote, the father of Caleb, seems to have been a man of prominence and distinction in his native city, as evidenced by his choice three times as its Mayor. He was the owner of lead mines and of other interests, and took an active part in the affairs of his time.

During the English Revolution under Cromwell he was a Colonel in the army of Parliament, and is said to have borne himself with great bravery in several engagements of the Civil War during the reign of Charles the First. The house in which he lived is still standing facing the old church above referred to, and the writer in company with his wife, a lineal descendant of this Gilbert, visited it on the occasion of a trip to Europe in 1910. It is owned by the Earl of Ancaster, another descendant who traces his descent through Gilbert Heathcote, an older brother of Caleb, who became Lord Mayor of London.

The elder Gilbert was the father of eight sons and one daughter. Seven of these sons, to wit: Gilbert, John, Samuel, Josiah, William, Caleb and George lived to reach maturity, and all became successful merchant adventurers in England or in foreign parts. In this old church of All Saints, in Chesterfield, are buried the remains of the father, and a monument erected to his memory by his sons, bears this inscription:

It is interest to follow the life history of this band of brothers.

Gilbert, the oldest of all settled in London and became a prosperous merchant engaged in trade with Spain and Russia. He was a member of four Parliaments, was made Lord High Sheriff of London and became Lord Mayor of the city in 1711, and was Knighted by Queen Anne. It is interesting to note at the very time Gilbert was serving as Lord Mayor of London, his younger brother Caleb, was Mayor of the city of New York. Gilbert was one of the founders and first Governor of the Bank of England. He amassed a large fortune and being Knighted, his descendant Gilbert Heathcote is the present Earl of Ancaster and Aveland, one of the richest of the nobility of England.

Another brother, Samuel, likewise became a merchant adventurer, was a director of the East India Company and acquired a large estate near Winchester, called Hursley Park, formerly owned by Richard Cromwell, the son of the Lord Protector. His son was Knighted and became the first Baronet of Hursley. His descendant, Sir William Heathcote represented the University of Oxford for many years in Parliament, and was the friend and patron of Keble, the poet, to whom he presented the living of Hursley, and where Keble wrote "The Christian Year."

All the other brothers won wealth and distinction and their children and descendants have been prominent in English Army, Navy, and civil life for many generations

This brings us to the consideration of the career of Colonel Caleb Heathcote, the subject of this sketch, and the founder of the Manor of Scarsdale in Westchester County in this State.

He was born in 1666, and emigrated to America in 1691; then a young man of twenty-five years of age.

In this connection the story goes that Caleb was engaged to a beautiful and charming young lady, and taking his brother Samuel to call on her, the young woman transferred her affections from Caleb to Samuel, whose wife she afterwards became. This so offended Caleb that he left England and established himself in New York. Like his brothers, he became a merchant adventurer, and sent his vessels to trade in various parts of the world and thereby acquired large wealth for himself.

About this time his uncle, George Heathcote (some say his cousin), who had preceded his coming to America died, leaving his fortune to Caleb. The estate left by George Heathcote appears to have been largely invested in shipping engaged in foreign trade, which business Caleb continued. The Colonia1 Governor at that time was Benjamin Fletcher. It was the day of pirates who operated in the Indian Ocean, and off the coast of Madagascar, and who brought or sent their seizures into the port of New York for disposition. It was charged that Governor Fletcher favored these pirates in their operations, and among other things had received from them a vessel which he afterwards sold to Caleb Heathcote for the sum of £8000. These charges Fletcher denied, but they resulted in his recall as Governor of the Province. They, however, are here stated to show the extent of the operations of Caleb Heathcote as a merchant adventurer.

Caleb Heathcote 1666-1721

Smith was Lord of the Manor of St. George on Long Island. He was born at Weld Hall in England, in 1654. His mother was a maid of honor to the Queen, and Smith a page in the royal service. Standing high in royal favor, Smith had been sent as agent of the British Government, and as Governor of Tangier, opposite Gibraltar, with the design of making Tangier a City of military importance, and thereby commanding the gates to the Mediterranean. The developments of Tangier as a seaport were not realized and the subject was abandoned. Thereupon Smith came to New York, but while living in Tangier a daughter, Martha, was born, and it was this young lady who proved the attraction which drew young Heathcote toward the family of Chief Justice Smith. This lady, Caleb Heathcote subsequently married.

Heathcote possessed a town house where he lived for a time, but the natural longing of an Englishman for country life and to possess an estate asserted itself with Caleb Heathcote. The estates acquired by his brothers in England may have also influenced him. At all events, he began laying the foundation for the manor afterwards known as Scarsdale Manor. He purchased from Anne Richbell a large tract of land left her by her husband, located in Westchester County and fronting on Long Island Sound. To these holdings he added lands acquired by purchase from the native Indian proprietors.

These tracts of land were later erected into a manor upon the petition of Caleb Heathcote under the name of the Manor of Scarsdale. The letters patent establishing the Manor, bear date March 21, 1701.

Roundly speaking, the Manor was bounded on the south by the waters of the Sound; on the east by the Mamaroneck River; on the north by White Plains and on the west by the Hutchinson River. It comprised what is now the townships of Mamaroneck, Scarsdale and Harrison, in Westchester County. It was called the Manor of Scarsdale in honor of the Valley of Scarsdale in Derbyshire, England, at the head of which stands the old City of Chesterfield, the birthplace of Caleb Heathcote. Within its boundaries lie some of the most beautiful and picturesque Country about the City of New York. Here are the beautiful Villages of Mamaroneck, Larchmont and Scarsdale.

At Mamaroneck, on a hill overlooking the waters of the Sound, Colonel Heathcote built his Manor house with the usual farm houses and outbuildings. It was named Heathcote Hill, and must have been for its day, quite a pretentious place. It is described by Madame Sarah Knight, who journeying from Boston to New York, speaks of "the Manor-house of Colonel Caleb Heathcote, with its broad lawns, handsome gardens elegant shade trees, and great deer park after the most approved English fashion."

Here he lived until his death in 1721. The mansion was burned at the time of the revolution, and later replaced by a frame dwelling erected in its place, where his descendants lived for many years.

His widow, Martha Heathcote, survived him until August 18, 1836, making the old Manor house her home.

Anne de Lancey (nee Heathcote) d. 1779

It was the immemorial practice of the English Government to name no one as Governor of its provinces or dependencies except residents of Great Britain. de Lancey, however, stood so high in the esteem of the English Government that it named no one as Governor of New York, thus permitting him to exercise as Lieutenant Governor, all the powers and authority belonging to that position. Perhaps de Lancey should be best remembered as the presiding officer of the Albany Convention of 1756, where representatives of the various American colonies met to consider the welfare and better defense of those colonies. Here Benjamin Franklin advocated the closer union and confederation of the colonies, a scheme afterward realized by the formation of the confederation of States at the time of the Revolution.

Governor de Lancey was an ardent and influential supporter of Franklin in advocating this action in the convention of 1756.

The only male heir of the first Lord of the Manor of Scarsdale, having died during his minority, the lands of the Manor were partitioned among his heirs and deeded away to purchasers, and the Manor thus ceased to exist.

Heathcote Hill, however, the Manor house continued in the possession of the descendants of Colonel Heathcote many years. Here lived Anne de Lancey, the widow of Governor de Lancey, after her husband's death, and here also lived and died his youngest son John Peter de Lancey. In the house on Heathcote Hill, James Fenimore Cooper, the novelist courted and married his wife, Susan, the daughter of John Peter. At Heathcote Hill, Cooper wrote his novel "The Spy."

Here was born the Right Reverend William Heathcote de Lancey, D.D., who became Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and afterwards the first Episcopal Bishop of Western New York, whose descendants are living in that diocese.

Rev. William Heathcote de Lancey 1797-1865

Charles Pettet McIlvaine 1799-1873

Through Caleb Heathcote's daughter, Martha, who married Lewis Johnston, is descended the late Rt. Rev. Charles Pettit McIlvane, D.D., Bishop of Ohio. Colonel Heathcote was in his lifetime a devoted and sincere member of the Church of England, and the first American member of the Society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts. He took an active part in the organization of Trinity Church, New York, and was a member of its first vestry. On his death his remains were buried at the South East corner of the first church edifice of that parish. In addition he took an active part in founding the early churches and parishes in Westchester County. He was interested in extending the church into Connecticut, and the making of Missionary expeditions into that Province from Rye. These efforts met with great opposition from the Puritans of that Colony, and it is said on such occasions Colonel Heathcote went fully armed. The zeal of Colonel Heathcote in his lifetime for the church seems to have manifested itself later in these two distinguished prelates mentioned.

Colonel Heathcote's distinction does not, however, rest so much on his having been First Lord of the Manor of Scarsdale, as upon the other public positions he filled with honor.

Hon. Joseph McIlvaine 1768-1826

Maria McIlvaine (nee Read) 1776-1849

As we have previously noted, soon after his arrival in America he was made a member of the Governor's Council, which was a marked tribute to the character and abilities of one so young. Later he became Mayor of the City of New York, and while holding that office many improvements to the City were made. After taking up his residence in Westchester County, he was made Mayor there and appointed Colonel of its military forces, from which he derived the title by which he is commonly known. In addition to these honors he was Judge of the Admiralty Court for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, due doubtless to his knowledge and familiarity with the laws relating to shipping, although so far as I can ascertain he never was admitted to the bar as a proctor in admirality.

He was also a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Westchester County, and last, the Surveyor of Customs for all North America, north of Virginia. In addition to the ordinary duties of Collector of Customs, he was in all matters the chief authority to decide all revenue questions between the different provincial officers and the merchants of their respective districts. These positions with which he was honored attest the great respect in which he was held and the natural abilities he possessed.

The times in which Colonel Heathcote lived were not wholly peaceful. There was friction between the Colonial Governors and the representative Assembly of the people, resulting in charges and counter charges, but so far as I can ascertain nothing imputing any dishonor was ever brought against Colonel Heathcote, who retained the confidence and respect of all to the end.

Here we must leave the subject of our sketch. His statue in bronze stands at the top of the Hall of Records in New York City, where unfortunately, it can only be seen from a distance. He is, however, entitled to be classed as one of the worthiest who laid the foundation of the City which has become the metropolis of the nation.

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