THE TOWN OF WESTCHESTER. 357 



John Cromwell, Underhill Barnes, and Miles Oakley, jr., trustees; pur- 

 suant to an act of general assembly of this province, passed in the tenth 

 year of the reign of our late sovereign lord, King William the Third, of 

 glorious memory, entitled an act to enable the respective towns in 

 this province to build and repair their meeting houses and other publick 

 buildings : 



"JKeaolved, nemine contra dicente, That the sum of «£70 shall be raised, and also 

 the collection for the same sum, for the repairing St. Peter's church in said 

 Westchester, and for no other use ; and that they will make a rate accordingly, 

 agreeable to ye next assessments to be made and taken of the town sworn as- 

 sessors, and that they will meet on ye 22d iust., to agree with workmen for that 

 purpose. "« 



At a subsequent meeting of the trustees, "^16 was ordered to be 

 raised to finish the seats of the church, secure the frame, and to pay off 

 the arrears — the seats to be made with backs — including the collector's 

 fees; and Underhill Barnes and Thomas Hunt are appointed over- 

 seers of the work, and to employ workmen. It was further ordered that 

 a warrant be issued for raising said money according to law, to be paid 

 at ye same time with the county tax. Also ordered, that the overseers 

 now chosen require Henry Gillaim to complete his work, especially the 

 front of the gallery, and to make it secure and substantial." 6 



MR. STANDARD TO THE SECRETARY. 



Westchester, Nov. 5, 1729. 



"Rev. Sip.: — The difficulty of the undertaking has hitherto discouraged me 

 from attempting an answer to the letter of inquiries which was sent me long 

 ago ; but I am resolved to send you the best account I can, with relation to those 

 heads of inquiry you were pleased to send me. 



"As to the first, in my parish are three churches, the first of Westchester in 

 the town so called, deemed the mother church, in that the presentation from the 

 Governour runs thus : 



"To the rectory of Westchester, the glebe thereof, and to all the rights and 

 appurtenances of the same, in which is supposed to be included the church of 

 Eastchester, which my predecessor died possessed of.' 



"The church of Westchester is a square of twenty-eight foot of a side, about 

 eighteen feet to the eaves, and near of the same dimensions and form as the 

 church of Eastchester, save that the church of Westchester hath a sort of cupulo 

 in which is hung a bell, so that the whole resembles much our pigeon houses in 

 England. 



"The churches both of East and Westchester, and indeed most of the build- 

 ings of this country, are made after the following manner, viz. : they make a 

 frame of certain dimensions which the}' raise by piecemeal ; first, placing the 

 under post upon stones placed here and there to support it ; when the whole 



a Westchester Town Kec. vol. ix, p. 20C. 

 b Ibid, vol. ij<. p. 213. 



