The Washburn House - Notebook 2024-8
Featuring “HOUSE” By Virginia Grinager ca. 1986
Early photography of the Washburn House.
Walter Law looms so large in the history of Briarcliff Manor that it's easy to forget there were already things (buildings, farms, churches etc.) here before the village was founded in 1902
The Washburn House is one of the earliest homes in Briarcliff Manor. It was sold by the New York State Commission on Forfeiture to Joseph Washburn in 1775. It was at one time the residence of George A. Todd Jr., a teacher and principal for almost forty years.
We were delighted to come across this story documenting the visit of a brother and sister who had grown up in the Washburn House, moved away and then returned in 1986 when they were able visit their former house, reminisce and tell some stories about what it was like growing up there.
HOUSE By Virginia Grinager
There’s lots in a name – and lots in three particular names in the Village of Briarcliff Manor.
Three streets in that village are name Carleton Road, Washburn Road and Todd Lane.
Early last spring, Sy Yuter of Cedar Drive West, Briarcliff Manor, patent attorney and amateur radio operator, made a casual call, over the air, to a fellow radio operator in Connecticut. He only knew him by his first name.
“Hello Carl”, he said. “My name is Sy, and I live in the Village of Briarcliff Manor – have you ever heard of it?”
To Sy’s astonishment, Carl not only had heard of it – he used to live in it. His full name is Carleton Washburn Todd, and he is a scion of one of Briarcliff’s oldest families. He resided in Briarcliff 50 years ago. Carleton Road, Washburn Road and Todd Lane, are all named after his family.
As a result of the casual call, Todd, a retired TWA pilot and his sister Helen Todd Brennan, on April 13 came to visit the pre-Revolutionary home in which they grew up – the old Joseph Washburn home on the corner of Todd Lane and Washburn Road. It was built in 1775. The first Washburn came to this country in 1710, said Todd, he was the younger son of a British family.
Yuter arranged the visit to tie in with the Briarcliff-Scarborough Historical Society’s April 13 bus tour, which the visitors joined. The first went with Yuter to their old home, now owned by the Overholt family, who were away at the time. Their tenants Stuart and Joan Miller of Scotland, welcomed the visitors and took them through the house.
The streets are misnamed today, said Todd. The street on which the house stands should be Washburn Road, he said, not Todd Lane. The property was part of the extensive holdings of Frederick Philipse, the loyalist, before they were confiscated by the then new United States.
As brother and sister approached the old house with its porticoed front, Todd gazed around him, fascinated and bemused. “That maple,” he said, “is at least 300 years old. Look at those Star of Bethlehem flowers,” he said, pointing to the base of the old maple. “Still coming up!”
They walked through the house, reminiscing and wondering at the changes. There were 22 rooms when they lived in it, said Mrs. Brennan. Now there are nine. Once occupied by the Washburn-Todd families, the many small rooms have become fewer and larger and more sunlit over the years.
They remembered what used to be a double kitchen with a third “icebox” section; as they walked up the stairs, Todd said, “This used to be my favorite spot for dropping the cat;” Upstairs, Mrs. Brennan remembered bees – they had built a hive in a closet and terrorized the family for a while.
They looked out of the windows and remembered when there were two large barns in the backyard, and always at least one cow.
The house was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1913, said Todd, and his grandfather and father rebuilt it.
They sat down in one of the two living rooms and did some more reminiscing. Maureen Redmond, a friend of the Yuters, had done some research at the Ossining Historical Society’s Museum. One of the items she found was a fat book which included a Washburn coat of arms and references to family members, dating back to 1239. There was a Sir Roger de Washburn and a Sir John de Washbourne. Mrs. Redmond found an April 22, 1822, bill sent to Reuben Washburn, charging him 5 and 33 shillings for the schooling of several children, from December 17 to June 3, 1822. Use of shillings instead of pennies was common then said Todd. A 1914 obituary noted the death of Clara Washburn Todd, grandmother of Helen and Carleton. It said three generations of Washburns, preceding hers, had been born in the house.
Todd said his grandfather, George A. Todd had married Clara Washburn uniting the two families. That Todd, according to a 1902-1953 history of Briarcliff, was the lone teacher of all grades in the 1867 “White House” school on Pleasantville Road.
Joining in the gathering that followed the bus tour were sisters Lodema and Athlene Washburn of Chappaqua. According to Lodema, the first Washburns, settling in Stratford, Connecticut, and then in Long Island, found themselves unwelcome as Quakers. They then came to Westchester.
In 1716, the family was welcomed in what is now Briarcliff Manor. They were again welcomed in April, 1986.
Washburn Family Reunion - 1875
In her wonderful history of Briarcliff Manor – “The Changing Landscape” (copies are available at the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society) Mary Cheever tells the harrowing story of what happened to one member of the Washburn family during the Revolutionary War.
After the battle of White Plains in 1776, General George Washington set up headquarters just north of Peekskill. British headquarters were in New York City. Both armies needed provisions, and some farmers, millers and teamsters were released from active duty to get grain to the Croton River Mill and make flour for Washington’s army. Other noncombatants, particularly some Quakers managed to do well, but Westchester as a whole, for some seven years was “Neutral Ground” between the enemy camps and suffered greatly from raids and pillage by marauders claiming allegiance to both sides. These were called Cowboys and Skinners, because they stole and skinned cattle and sold hides and meat to the armies. Livestock and provisions of all kinds were stolen, and farms were burned and abandoned. When the end of hostilities was declared in 1783, the countryside was in ruins. The story of a typical atrocity was told by Joseph Bowron Washburn at the 1875 Centenary of Reuben Washburn at his house on Washburn Road in Briarcliff: 'Joseph, our grandfather, lived in this house, kept bachelor hall until he was married to Freelove Matthews in 1775. The first of fourteen children was Reuben. This farm belonged to ‘Philipse Manor’ and once a year Joseph went to the manor house near Tarrytown to pay his rent. Joseph, who lived in this war, suffered severely from lawless bands of skinners, who robbed and beat him nearly to death for his money. He gave them the silver and they beat him still more for his gold. He refused to give that up. He was then hung from an apple tree'. Fortunately, after the rascals departed, Washburn’s family returned in time to save his life.
