264 The Story of The Bronx 



to unite for the purpose of calling a clergyman. Accordingly, 

 on March 9, 1799, the Reverend Isaac Wilkins was elected 

 minister of the two congregations. 



Mr. Wilkins was born in Jamaica in the West Indies in 

 1 741. He came to New York and entered King's College 

 (now Columbia University) in 1756, and was graduated A.B. 

 in 1760, receiving his A.M. degree in 1763. He prepared 

 himself for holy orders, but did not take them until 1798. He 

 married Isabella Morris, the half-sister of Lewis, the manor- 

 lord of Morrisania, and settled on Castle Hill Neck^where his 

 house still stands. Mr. Wilkins's family and education gave 

 him a considerable position in the town of Westchester, which 

 he represented in the Provincial Assembly from 1772 to 1775, 

 in the exciting days before the Revolution. As such, he was 

 the leader of his party in opposition to the Whigs, and was the 

 author of the White Plains Protest. In addition, he is sup- 

 posed to have written the loyalist tracts over the signature 

 of A. W. F. (A Westchester Farmer), which were ably answered 

 by Alexander Hamilton, himself a West Indian and still in 

 the early days of his youth. In 1775, Wilkins fled to England ; 

 but returned to Long Island, that nursery of loyalists, in 

 1776, and resided there until the Peace of 1783, when, with 

 many other loyalists, he went to Nova Scotia. During his 

 exile there, in 1798, he was ordained deacon, and the following 

 year was called to the church at Westchester. Having taken 

 priest's orders, the vestry called him to the full rectorship of 

 the parish on July 22, 1801, a position he filled until his death, 

 February 5, 1830, at the age of eighty-nine. 



On account of his great age, during the last year of his 

 ministry, the vestry called to his assistance the Reverend 

 William Powell, B.A., who succeeded him as rector, and who 

 held the position until his death at the age of sixty, April 



