Meanwhile, the struggle which occurred in all the other towns between the Puritans and the adherents of the Church of England, the latter being supported by the provincial government, was in progress in Westchester. The Puritans, who were in the popular majority, contended that under the act of 1693, which merely specified " a good sufficient Protestant minister," they had the right to call in a clergyman of I their own faith. The Church of England people held { that the Assembly meant to particularize ministers of the Established Church. It is not necessary to go

1 Warhiim Blather was born at Nortliampton, Mass , in 1666. and was the f;ranJson of Eicliard Slather, the famous non-conformist divine, wliose sons were Xatlianiel, Samuel, Increase and Eleazer, all of whom followed their father in the ministry. Eleazer was pastor of the church at Northampton, Mass., and married the daughter of Kev. Jolin Warham. Mis son, Warhani JIather, honyht land in Westchester from John Yeats, on May 2!l, Ki'JT, and sold them in 1703 to Daniel Clark. He died in 174.").

into details of the controversy here, as they have been set forth in another chapter. It is sufficient to say that Colonel Caleb Heathcote, who had been chosen one of the church wardens, fought the Puritans on the point of installing the non-conformist Mather. The ultimate decision rested with Governor Fletcher, and he refused to induct Mather to the living. Mather preached in the parish for several years, however, and quitted it in 1701 to remove to New Haven.