The Churches 281 



New Rochelle and West Farms engaged in such work; and in 

 the following year, 18 15, a church edifice was erected at West 

 Farms. Four members organized the church on December 

 4. 1 816; and the congregation was fully organized by the elec- 

 tion of officers on November 5, 18 18. The ancient edifice, 

 the oldest in the city belonging to Presbyterians, and its 

 churchyard, stand on East 180th Street, a short distance west 

 of the Boston Road and the site of De Lancey's Mills. In 

 1903, Charles Bathgate Beck, Esq., left a legacy to the church, 

 and a fine stone edifice with an imposing tower was erected 

 on the land directly opposite the old church building, which 

 was for a time given over to a colored congregation. The new 

 church is known as the Beck Memorial Presbyterian Church. 



In 1829, the Presbytery of Bedford included the Presby- 

 terian churches of Putnam and Westchester counties; but 

 by 1854, the lower county was within the Second New York 

 Presbytery. By this date, the section north of the Harlem 

 River was making great strides in population, and the Presby- 

 tery therefore organized a church at Tremont. 



On the muster roll of the Westchester company commanded 

 by Captain Isaac Corsa between May and December, 1755, 

 there appear a number of Irish names, which, according to 

 Father D. P. O'Neil in his monograph on Catholicism in 

 Westchester County, were presumably also the names of 

 Catholics. This company accompanied the expedition of Sir 

 William Johnson to Lake George, but returned without seeing 

 further active service. Later companies that took part in 

 the French and Indian War also had Irishmen, or men of 

 Irish names, in their ranks; and there is, therefore, strong 

 probability that there were Roman Catholics within the 

 Borough between 1755 an d 1760. 



In the former year occurred the dispersion of the Acadians, 



