THE TOWN OF YONKERS. 645 



choosing two vestrymen and two wardens. Confirmed the i ith of May, 

 1697. This act was further explained 3rd Queen Anne." 6 



A. D. 1698, Lord Cornbury, Governor of the Province, issued an 

 order to the magistrates of the several towns in Westchester County 

 to build churches ; by virtue of this, several towns were enabled to 

 build public houses for the worship of Almighty God. St. Peter's 

 church, Westchester, was thus built and became the parish church 

 inclusive of the precincts of Eastchester, Manor of Pelham and Yonkers. 



The quota contributed by the precinct of Yonkers towards the sup- 

 port of the Rector and poor of the parish in 1702, was ^7.6, in 1709, 



£*■ 



The first vestryman elected by the freeholders of this precinct was 

 Mr. John Archer ; seven years later John Archer and Noah Barton, were 

 vestrymen. 



A. D. 1702, King William III. by Royal Charter, incorporated the 

 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The 

 principal object of this society was to send clergymen to the colonies; 

 " and the society to earnestly request and beseech all persons concerned 

 that they recommend no man out of favor or affection or any other 

 worldly consideration ; but with a sincere regard to the honor of 

 Almighty God and our blessed Saviour, as they tender the interest of 

 the Christian religion and the good of men's souls."" 



The first Rector of the parish of Westchester and precinct of Yonk- 

 ers was the Rev. John Bartow, who received his license from the Bishop 

 of London in 1702. The same year upon his arrival here, he was 

 inducted by the commission of his Excellency Governor Cornbury. 



In 1703 Rev. John Bartow commenced his services within this 

 precinct. September 5, 1708, he writes to the society that he occasion- 

 ally preached at Yonkers, where the population was then 250 souls. d 



In 17 13, the Propagation Society founded a charity school for the 

 education of children in this town. The same year ^5 per annum is 

 granted to a schoolmaster at Yonkers, where there is a large congrega- 

 tion of Dutch and English, for instructing the younger sort of both 

 nations in the catechism and liturgy, provided he can produce a certifi- 

 cate of his teaching thirty children. In that summer A. D. 17 19, Mr. 

 Jones was allowed fifty shillings for teaching children to read at Mile 

 Square. 



a Acts of Assembly passed in the province of N. Y. from 1691 to 1725, p. 23. 



6 Ibid. 



c From a collection of papers printed by order of the Society, 9. 



d From the Westchester Records we take the following extract, "John Archer, constable 

 of the Yonkers appears, with a receipt from Mr. Bartow, bearing date ye 21 May, 1714-15 sinca 

 the year 1702, as the minister's rate with the collection allowed, &c. 



