History of Westchester County, New York, Vol. I
Theodosius Bartow, i)astor of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who was settled in 1790, and died in New Rochelle, November 12, 1819. The venerable old tamarind tree at the east end of the house is said to have beeu planted by Mr. Bartow himself The chimney jambs in this house, in the principal room, are ornamented with the Dutch titles inscribed with Scripture mottoes so much in vogue in the olden time. It is probable that Mr. Bartow was not the first occupant, and that the house dated from long before the Revolutionary War.
The Pixtard Mansion also has a pre-Revolutionary history ; and yet, notwithstanding its antiq-
THliMAS PAINE S HOUSE.
uity, it is one of the most desirable residences in New Rochelle. There are eleven rooms in the main buildcome, but for the counteracting power exerted by the early Methodist Church, especially at Upper New Rochelle and along the entire extent of North Street. It is a remarkable fact, and might be regarded by some in the light of a special providence, that immediately subsequent to the death and burial of Paine in this neighborhood, and for over twenty yeai"S afterwards, the powerful appeals made to the hearts and consciences of the people by the early itinerant preachers of Methodism, as well as the combined eflorts of the whole membership of that church, were attended with extraordinary results, producing a complete change in the religious views and feelings of the community, and dealing to infidelity of the Paine type a blow from which it has never recovered. Nor was this counteracting influence confined to the place where it originated, in the vicinity of the Paine monument, at Upper New Rochelle, but it spread to the adjacent towns of East Chester, Mamaroneck and White Plains. In a word, so general and so popular was this religious reformation in all the localities above referred to, that, for a time, any man thereabouts who should have openly professed himself to be a disciple of Thomas Paine would have been (and in a few cases actually was) regarded as a sort of a moral monster by the general community.