HISTORIC MANSION ON THE GENESEE
By: JOHN P. HERRICK
In the beautiful valley of the Upper Genesee, a mile from the village of Belvidere, on a natural terrace that rises 40 feet above the clear waters of the Genesee River, 1390 feet above sea level, stands one of the
most historic country places in Western New York. It is the old Judge Philip Church homestead, completed in 1810, when that region was a wilderness filled with wolves, bear, and deer.
It is a Colonial mansion of 26 rooms, with great white pillars, and red brick-and-stone walls, two feet thick. It was planned by the architect who designed the Robert E. Lee mansion at Arlington, Virginia, and the first Colonial building in Allegany
County. After the builders had cut away enough of the virgin forest to make room for the manor house, they did not try to improve on the handiwork of the Almighty, but left standing the graceful elms, the straight hickories, the sturdy oaks and other native trees that added a dignity
and beauty all their own.
The builder of the mansion was Judge Philip Church, son of John B. Church, a wealthy English gentleman, who came to America about the time certain chests of tea were emptied into Boston Harbor. He espoused the cause of the Colonists and, under the name
of John Carter, which he assumed for a time, acted as commissary for the French army that was assisting the Colonists in ridding the country of soldiers who wore red coats. He became a friend of Alexander Hamilton, General Green, General Gates, General Schulyer, and the other leaders.
In 1777 John B. Church married Angelica, the eldest daughter of General Philip Schuyler. Later he returned to England with his wife. Philip had been educated at Eton; and when the family returned to America, he was admitted to the bar. Before he was
admitted, and when there was a prospect of war with France, Philip Church was appointed a captain of the 12th United States Infantry with the approval of Washington. Later he was appointed aide-de-camp to General Alexander Hamilton. In the capacity of Hamilton’s private
secretary, he filed away among the Hamilton’s papers the original copy of Washington’s farewell address.
John B. Church lent to Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, a large sum of money taking as security, in the name of his brother-in-law, Alexander Hamilton, a mortgage on Philadelphia property. In 1796, the mortgage was released and security
taken on 100,000 acres of wild land along the Upper Genesee. Mr. Church was an alien, and this mortgage was also an alien, and this mortgage was also taken in Hamilton’s name. In 1799, the property was sold under foreclosure at Canandaigua and bid in by Captain Philip Church, son of
John B. Church, who took a deed in his own name. This, in brief, is the story of the manner in which the Church family acquired a vast tract of western New York wilderness.
Captain Philip Church left New York City in 1801 to explore the wild lands he had acquired. On the eastern border of what is now Allegany County, he met Major Moses Van Campen, the noted Indian fighter and surveyor, and other pioneers whom he had engaged
in advance to assist him in exploring the country. When the task was completed, Captain Church and Major Van Campen started on foot to visit Niagara Falls, 100 miles distant, with a compass for a guide.
After three days of tramping, they reached New Amsterdam, now Buffalo. They felt repaid for their long tramp by the visit to the Falls. After resting there, they followed the trail that led through Batavia, where a land office had just been erected, and
on to LeRoy, Geneseo, Bath and New York City.
Captain Church set about working out plans for the opening of the tract for settlement. To Evart Van Winkle was allotted the task of selecting the site for a village, which was named Angelica in honor of Captain Church’s mother. It is today the best
laid-out village in the country-wide streets lined with beautiful trees, and in the center of the main street a circular park, about which the churches and public buildings cluster. The old Van Winkle home stands today, as a historic landmark; the home of Angelica’s librarian, Mrs.
Lucille Newman.
In 1802, after much deliberation, Captain Philip Church set apart 2,000 acres of the original tract for a farm and site for his home. Considering that the choice was made when the section was a wilderness, his foresight was wonderful, for today the
location of the mansion is without doubt the finest in the Upper Genesee country. It is asserted that Captain Church and Major Van Campen climbed the tallest trees on the surrounding hills before finally deciding on the location selected. In 1803, Captain Church built a temporary
residence on the bluff above the river. It had been known as the “White House” because it was the first painted house west of Canandaigua. The old house stood for years in an open meadow, used for a hay barn until taken down some years ago and the lumber used to repair other buildings.
Captain Philip Church married the eldest daughter of General Walter Stewart, of Philadelphia in 1805, and in June of that year he brought his bride in the wilderness and began housekeeping in the White House. From Bath they rode on horseback, following a
trail through the woods.
Work on the mansion, which was christened the “Villa Belvidere” was begun in 1807. Three years later it was ready for occupancy, but several years passed before it was completed according to the original plans. The stone was quarried from the bank of
Van Campen creek, a mile away, the brick made on the place, the nails were forged by a blacksmith, and the hardware, brought from Albany on horseback.
The rooms of the mansion are spacious; in thirteen of them are fireplaces. The mantel in the dining room is especially attractive. The tiles were designed by a member of the Church family; the scenes represented being selected from Scott’s novels.
The furnishings of the mansion were lavish for that day; the furniture handmade and of ornamental design. There were beautiful silver and glass, rare old paintings, tapestry made by Mrs. William Penn, a portrait by Fabriano, a miniature of Washington,
with a note is his handwriting, beautiful chandeliers, a desk at which Washington wrote when on visits to the home of General Stewart in Philadelphia, and hundreds of objects curio hunters would prize. Among the relics, treasured by the Church family, were the pistols used in the
Burr-Hamilton duel, and also used in a duel between John B. Church and Aaron Burr several years previously, on the same spot where Hamilton fell. They were of London make and kept in a wooden case lined with flannel. They load a 12-inch barrel and vents bushed with gold.
The mansion also contained personal letters from Lafayette, Washington, General Greene, letters from English statesmen, and commissions bearing the signature of President Adams and Alexander Hamilton. There were hundreds of rare old books and many beautifully
mounted elk and deer antlers, the latter from animals killed within gunshot of Villa Belvidere.
One wing of the mansion was fitted up for a land office; and there the pioneers came to bargain for land, to make payments, and to settle boundary disputes. To the north of the mansion lay the gardens, the barns, and the cluster of tenant houses. To the
west, along the highway, is a stone wall. The entrance to the grounds is through a wall and pillars that are said to be a reproduction of those of Turvey Abbey in England. The entire plan was modeled after that of an English estate. A curved and shaded driveway led from the entrance
gates to the south entrance.
For more than a generation the Villa Belvidere was the scene of lavish hospitality. Many noted guests from Philadelphia, New York and other cit5ies were entertained there. General Stewart and a party of friends drove all the way from Philadelphia with a
coach and flour. DeWitt Clinton, Horatio Seymour, and William L. Marcy were among the distinguished guests who enjoyed the hospitality of the Church family. John B. Church on one occasion drove from New York with a party of friends in a coach, a commissary wagon following close behind.
Camp was pitched each night and the novel trip much enjoyed.
MORE
John S. Minard, historian of Allegany County, noted that the relations of the Church family with the Indians of the neighborhood were of a friendly nature. Mrs. Church often attended the feasts and dances at the Indian village of Caneadea, a few miles
down the river, and usually contributed some dainties from her well-stocked pantry. So pleased were the Indians that they conferred upon her, with imposing rites, the name Ye-nun-ke-a-wa, signifying “the first white woman that has come.”
When the War of 1812 began, Judge Church was in England. Knowing this, a band of Indians from Caneadea offered to place a guard about the mansion to protect Mrs. Church from Canadian Indians in the employ of the British, who they feared might raid the
western settlements. The news of the destruction of the British fleet on Lake Erie, brought by Indian runners, reached Belvidere ten hours after the last gun was fired by Commodore Perry’s warships.
To Judge Church is due much credit for introducing blooded stock into western New York, a work beset with difficulties. Once, after a long and vexatious drive, he succeeded in getting twenty-four blooded sheep to Belvidere. They were, as he thought,
secure from harm for the night, but next morning it was found that nineteen of the sheep had been killed by wolves. Mr. Minard once told the writer of the Judge’s bringing a Merino ram, imported from Spain, to Belvidere. He had a crate built in which the animal was placed. The crate
was fastened securely under the seat of the Judge’s high-wheeled gig and in that manner transported from Albany to his home in the Allegany County wilderness.
Philip Church was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegany County in 1807 and served fourteen years. This was the only office he ever held. He was one of the most gifted men the county ever knew. He was fond of athletic sports,
especially cricket and hunting and often raced with Indian sprinters. For many years he maintained a correspondence with Lafayette and other noted men of the time, whom he counted among his friends. He died January 10, 1861, and the management of the estate fell to his son, Major
Richard Church, who maintained the reputation for hospitality that the old homestead had possessed for more than half a century.
The view from the southern porch is one of the finest in the Upper Genesee country –wide stretches of bottom land, green meadow, and golden stubble; great stately elms, some with branches that spread 80 feet; low lying hills stretching away as far as the
eye can see; at one’s feet the rippling waters of the Genesee and far down the valley the church spire of the county seat pointing toward the blue.
From the summit of the hill, north of the mansion there is a view for miles in every direction, panorama of hill and valley, that is worth the journey from the river bank. In autumn, when the maple leaves turn to crimson and the beech to gold, the scene
is one to be long remembered – fit only for the artist’s brush.
The possession of fine old estate passed from the Church family moving to financial reverses. When the property changed hands the old mansion was stripped of all its beautiful furnishings, many of which went under the hammer and were widely scattered.
The Church family library, once so interesting feature of the old manor hours, including Judge Church’s law library, has been reassembled and placed for safe keeping in the Angelica Free library, under lock and key. Major Church, the last owner, obtained a position in the Customer house
in New York and every summer he spent a week at Belvidere.
Through foreclosure proceedings the title to the Church estate, passed to the Rochester Savings Bank on March 4, 1891 and on January 17, 1893 to Fred B. Keeney of Warsaw, New York, who purchased 507 acres of adjoining lands which increased his holdings to
1,434 acres. The Church estate could not have fallen into better hands. Mr. Keeney, a practical farmer, invested both capital and brains and the rich bottom lands rewarded him generously. Whenever possible, Mr. and Mrs. Keeney, the latter a gracious hostess, purchased pieces of
Colonial furniture to atone in a measure for the destruction wrought earlier by the auctioneer’s hammer.
In 1910, Mr. Keeney sold the mansion and 1,434 acres of land to Mrs. Louise Squires Clark who, with her family, enjoyed life at Villa Belvidere and until her death, many friends there enjoyed the hospitality of the Clark family.
By the will of Mrs. Clark the Villa Belvidere and lands were left to her daughters, Mary Clark Lind and Anna Elizabeth Gurgenious who, on July 22,1947, sold the property to Cecil L. Austin and associates of Batavia, New York, reserving the mansion and two
hundred acres of bottom land.. Mr. Austin is a successful grain farmer, specializing in wheat and corn, and beef cattle.
On August 22,1947, the heirs of Mrs. Clark conveyed Villa Belvidere and the 200 acres of land reserved in the deed to Cecil L. Austin and associates to Robert B. Bromley and Marion G. Bromly of Derrick City, Pennsylvania, who occupy the mansion from
spring to autumn and on weekends in winter and are delighted with the old Colonial home. They do not engage in farming but keep a number of saddle horses for use by members of the family and guests. The flower garden always and attractive feature of the Villa, receives special
attention from the present owners. Last year they built a large steel swimming pool and summer house and when the opportunity presents itself they add Colonial pieces to the furnishings.
Of the 100,000 acres embraced in the original Church tract not an acre is today owned by the Church family. The wilderness of 1804 is dotted with villages and farms and is one of the garden spots of Western New York. The Indian, the bear and wolf have
gone to the happy hunting grounds but a large number of deer are killed in the county each season. The stump fences that once lined the highways have all disappeared and iron bridges span the “fords’ of bygone years.
The Erie Railroad that Judge Church worked for so earnestly wakes the echoes of the hills a dozen times a day with the roar of its trains rushing through Belvidere enroute from the Atlantic to Lake Michigan or from Lake Michigan on to the Atlantic. The
great evergreen forests have been cut away and floated or hauled to market and woodsman long ago turned farmer.
When Major Church was compelled by the change of fortune to abandon the home of his youth, he cried like a child. It seemed a pity that he could not have ended his days in peace under the roof of the old homestead on the Upper Genesee, a region in which
members of his family had reigned as kings for two generations.
