THE TOWN OF OSSIN-ING. 



J 5 



At a meeting of the Dutchess County Presbytery, convened at Bed- 

 ford, June 28th, 1863, a petition signed by a number of the inhabitants 

 of Sing Sing -was laid before that body, requesting the Presbytery to 

 supply them with the stated and regular preaching of the Gospel; 

 whereupon the Presbytery appointed the Rev. Mr. Smith to supply them 

 on the first Sabbath of August and October, and the Rev. Mr. Peck on 

 the first Sabbath of September. At various times onward, until the year 

 1768, we find the people of Sing Sing making application to the Pres- 

 byter}' to provide them with occasional preaching; until, at a meeting of 

 Presbyter}', held at Salem on the 30th of August, 1768, we find an ap- 

 plication from a joint committee, appointed by the congregations of 

 White Plains and Sing Sing, asking advice from the Presbytery as to a 

 proper person to preach alternately at the above named places, with a 

 view to settling among them as their minister. At this date the Rev. 

 Ickbbod Lewis became the successor of the Rev. John Smith, in the 

 church at White Plains and Sing Sing.* At or near this time, the first 

 Church edifice was erected ; having for its site what is now known as 

 the old burying-ground at Sparta, about a mile and a half south of the 

 village of Sing Sing. The land was originally given by Col. Phillips, the 

 proprietor of the manor. The gift was three acres, set apart and 

 donated for the use of a church ; and when, after the war, the whole 

 manor property was confiscated and sold, the land held and occupied 

 for church and burial purposes was reserved from sale, and the claim of 

 the church fully recognized and confirmed. 



The following is the copy of the Act, passed March 18, 1808, con- 

 firming the title of the church to the property : — 



"Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in the 

 Senate and Assembly, that all the right, title and interest of the people of this 

 State in and to a certain lot of ground heretofore allotted by Frederick Philips to 

 the trustees of the Presbyterian church and congregation of the town of Mount 

 Pleasant, in the County of Westchester, be and the same is hereby vested in said 

 trustees and their successors, to the use of the said church and congregation for- 

 ever." 



The church edifice, which had been much injured during the war, 

 was repaired in 1778, and continued to be occupied as a place of wor- 

 ship until the year 1800; at which time it was decided to remove the 

 church to the village of Sing Sing. In 1798 Col. Moses Ward offered 

 the said church a lot on Pleasant Square, upon condition that the church 

 be removed to Sing Sing — which was accepted ; and, in 1800, a church 

 edifice was built upon the said lot. . . _. 



a Gillet's Ilist., vol. I., p. 379. 



