28o The Story of The Bronx 



Though in other parts of the Province strenuous objections 

 were made by the inhabitants to both the Governor and the 

 Assembly about being turned out of their churches, the inhabi- 

 tants of the two places within the Borough acquiesced silently 

 in the change, — except for slight trouble with Mr. Morgan at 

 Eastchester — owing to the influence of Colonel Heathcote and 

 the moderation of Mr. Bartow;' and the edifices became 

 Episcopalian and are so to this day. 



That the Established Church was not popular, even at a 

 later day, is shown by the proceedings of the Assembly of 

 1769; in which Colonel Lewis Morris, representative from the 

 borough-town of Westchester, introduced a bill to exempt 

 Protestants of all denominations from the support of the 

 Episcopal Church ; John Thomas, of the county of Westchester, 

 a bill to exempt Protestants from compulsory taxation for the 

 support of churches, and Charles De Witt, of Ulster County, 

 a bill to exempt the inhabitants of the counties of Westchester 

 New York, Queens, and Richmond from the payment of taxes 

 for the support of churches to which they did not belong. 

 All of these bills passed the Legislature, but failed to become 

 laws on account of their rejection by the Governor and his 

 council. The Governor further refused to allow the incor- 

 poration of Presbyterian churches, even in the city of New 

 York, which put the several existing congregations to much 

 inconvenience. 



During the colonial period, some of the churches in the 

 northern part of the county were comprised within the pres- 

 byteries of Connecticut or of Dutchess (Putnam) County; but 

 even thirty years after the Revolution, little or nothing was 

 done in the lower part of the county, and it was considered a 

 good field for missionary work by the New York Presbytery. 

 In 1 8 14, the Reverend Isaac Lewis divided his time between 



