Van Kleeck, began his labors here, and for sixteen years has gone about doing good; and everywhere, whether in the pulpit, the social circle or beside the sick-bed, his presence is mosi acceptable.

Presbyterian Church.-- Prior to 1727 the people of White Plains were members of, and attended, the Dissenting or Presbyterian Church of Rye. In that year a church edifice was erected in White Plains, chiefly through the efforts of the Rev. John Walton, a native of New London, and a graduate of Yale College, who came to Rye in 1723,' and to White Plains in 1726.

Mr. Walton was highly gifted as a preacher, and although self-willed and erratic, did much tostrengthen the Presbyterians, and induced many, who had been drawn over to the Church of England, to return. His eloquence and persistent efforts as a preacher provoked the hostile criticism of the Rev. Mr. Wetmore, the English minister at Rye, who, in his letter to the secretary of the Propagation Society,^ calls him "a bold, noisy fellow, with a voluble tongue, drawing the greatest part of the town after him."

A church was erected in 1727 on land given by Mr. Walton, on the spot where the present church stands. In 1728 Mr. Walton was succeeded by the Rev. Edmund Ward, also a graduate of Yale College, and a native of Killingworth, Connecticut.

Mr. Ward remained but two years, when he removed to Guilford, Connecticut, and the pulpit was vacant for several years after his departure, during which time occasional preaching was had by ministers from Connecticut.