The act of 1693 had not been oj^pressively enforced against the Rye people until after the arrival of Lord Cornbury ; but now, with a willing, nay even anxious, Governor, Colonel Heathcote could revenge himself upon this people for thwarting him in his attempt to include the White Plains within his patent.* He had been ten years in this country, and the dissenting clergy of Rye had not been interfered with ; it was not until after 1701 that he declares that " these people are heathenish Sabbath-breakers and without religion of any sort."

Rye submitted quietly to these exactions for the support of the English clergy, but the White Plains people refused to pay, and only did so when threatened with being sold out or imprisoned under execution. This forced tax upon the slender means of the dissenters continued until the War of the Revolution ; and a history that ignored the religious element in that war, or placed a low estimate upon the moral forces that stood behind and sustained the opposing parties in that great struggle, would be false and worthless.

The year 1729 brought with it an important acquisition to the wealth of the White Plains in the arrival of Moses Owen, who purchased the farm then lately owned by the Rev. Edmund Ward, embracing all the land between Railroad Avenue and Spring Street west of Broadway, excepting the church grounds. The new-comer was soon honored with the office of "Pounder," and for more than thirty years he held various positions in the town. He built the house afterwards occupied by William Barker for more than half a century prior to his death. This house is still standing, in good condition, on Spring Street, near the old Purdy house. The Owen farm passed by will to Moses Owen, Jr., who covered it with mortgages, under which it was divided into two parcels and afterwards sold.