THE TOWN OF CORTLANDT. 1 33 



years afterwards, however, when the latter again applied for the • same 

 object, the vestry took a much firmer stand, voting as follows: — "That 

 leave cannot be granted to the Rev. Mr. Constant to preach in the 

 church of St. Peter's consistent, with the canons of the Church." a 



According to notice given on Monday, 5th of April, 1790, being Mon- 

 day in Easter week, (the day appointed by charter for choosing officers 

 for St. Peter's church, in the Manor of Cortlandt and St. Philip's chapel 

 in the Highlands,) the following persons were elected for the ensuing 

 year, viz: Wm. Dunning and Caleb Ward, church- wardens; Joshua 

 Nelson, James Spock, Richard A. Arnold, Caleb Morgan, Silvanus 

 Haight and Jarvis Dusenbury, vestrymen. Upon the 24th of Novem- 

 ber, 1 79 1, the vestry "agreed to pay the sum of ^20 for the support of 

 David Lamson, to read service in St.. Peter's church, at Peekskill and 

 St. Philip's chapel in the Highlands, until the first of April next; and it 

 is further agreed that Joshua Nelson and Silvanus Haight, shall furnish 

 him with necessarys agreeable to a person of his station, during said 

 term." 



The first incorporation of this church subsequent to the Revolution, 

 took place 26th of April, 1791, under the style and title of the corpora- 

 tion of St. Peter's church, Peekskill, and St. Philip's chapel in the 

 Highlands. Joshua Nelson, Richard Arundell, Silvanus Haight, James 

 Spock, Jarvis Dusenbury, vestry of St. Peter's church, Peekskill. First 

 trustees, Wm. Ward, Caleb Ward, James Spock, Silvanus Haight, Caleb 

 Morgan, Joshua Nelson, Richard Arundell, Jarvis Dusenbury. Signed 

 1 6th December, 1791.^ 



The parish remained destitute of stated services until 1792, when the 

 vestry called the Rev. Andrew Fowler. He was the son of Andrew 

 Fowler, a lineal descendant of John Fowler one of the original planters 

 of Guilford, Conn., in 1639 or 1640, by his wife Martha Stone, and was 

 born at Guilford, 10th of June, 1760. He graduated A.B. at Yale in 

 1783, and received his A.M. degree in 1793.° In 1784, he had charge 

 of a school at New Rochelle, and the year following was chosen the first 

 delegate from the parish to the Diocesan Convention. To his exer- 

 tions, under God, the church in this county is justly indebted ; for at the 

 close of the Revolutionary war, he collected the dispersed congregations 

 at Rye, White Plains, New Rochelle and Yonkers, in the capacity of a 

 lay reader. In 1788, he was recommended to the Bishop for holy 



a Vestry minutes, April 25, 1807. 

 b Religious Soc. Lib. A. 26 



c " Andrew Fowler born in Guilford Aug., 1728, and died Oct., 1815. Martha Stone, born 

 Aug., 1737, died 1794. Child, Rev. Andrew Fowler, born in Guilford, June 10, 1760, died 

 Dec. 29, 1850, in Charleston, 8. C. The eldest of twelve children. Rec. of Guilford, Conn. 



