THE TOWN OF WESTCHESTER. 325 



settled upon the ministry by act of assembly, though there has been great en- 

 deavors made this session to annul that act ; but we are safe, as long as my Lord 

 Cornbury is Governor. There is also fifty pounds settled upon the ministry at 

 Rye, sixty pounds at Jamaica, sixty pounds at Hempstead, and forty pounds 

 per annum at Richmond ; all which places I hope the Reverend and Honorable 

 Society wUl take some speedy care to supply with ministers of the Church of 

 England. The hundred acres of glebe my Lord of London obtained of her 

 Majesty for Westchester, is all a wilderness ; there never was any house upon it, 

 nor any part of it cultivated ; the meanest laborer here has three shillings per 

 deim wages, so that it will be a vast charge to make it habitable ; what I can 

 bestow upon it in my time I will, but I cannot expect the assistance of the 

 Society, there being such pressing occasions for ministers. As I had not time to 

 furnish myself with books in England, I hope the society will bestow some upon 

 me ; or I beg you would be so kind as to send me these following, and let the 

 booksellers be paid out of my allowance ; and you will ever oblige, Worthy Sir, 

 Your most humble and devoted servant," 



-rU* yht^h? 



*w 



" P.S. I have been at great expenses, but I do not grudge it in the service of 

 that God who I trust will bless me in my endeavours. We have a small house 

 built here for public worship, of boards; but there is neither desk, pulpit, nor 

 bell in it. The inhabitants indeed live all upon their own, but are generally 

 poor ; my best friend is the gentleman, my Lord of London recommended me 

 unto, Col. Graham, who is a very worthy and ingeniuous Gentleman, and a great 

 lover of the Church. I have neither Church Bible nor Common Prayer Book, 

 which I hope the Society will send me, unto whom I desire you would give my 

 humble duty. 



"Mr. Keith, Mr. Ennis, Mr. Vesey, Mr. Mott, Mr. Talbot, and myself, met 

 last week at York, to contrive the most proper methods of settling the church, 

 at the request of the worthy Col. Nicholson, who gave .£25 towards bearing our 

 charges, an account of which you will have."« 



The following letter from Mr. Bartow to the Secretary of the Vener- 

 able Society, was probably written in 1702, or the year after; although I 

 have given the date as it is in the manuscript, from which it was copied : — 



MR. BARTOW TO THE SECRETARY. 



Westchestee, 

 New York, 1st Dec, 1707: 

 Sir: — "After a voyage of eleven weeks, we arrived at New York, Sept. 29th, 

 1702, where we found a very mourful town — there dying near twenty persons 

 a Hawks' New York MSS from archives at Fulham, voL i . 10, 11. 



