1. The Beginning: An Amazing Coincidence 2. Adriaen Van der Donck Park Dedication 3. The Year 1848 4. Why Two Names? 5. Thomas Clapp Cornell 6. Yonkers and the Saw Mill River 7. An Educated Guess about Our Two Names 8. The First Pastors 1848 - 1856 9. The First Parishioners 10. Pastorate of Fr. Edward Lynch 1856-1865 the Pivotal Years 11. Yonkers, the Irish and the Civil War 12. Post Civil War Years 13. Pastorate of Fr. Charles Slevin 1865-1878 14. Sons of Erin 15. Daughters of Erin 16. Pastorate of Msgr. Charles R. Corley 1877-1914 17. The Great Controversy within American Catholicism and its Effect 18. The Ministry of Sisters of Charity 19. Pastorate of Fr. Charles Murphy 1914-1933 20. Christian Brothers at St. Mary’s School (1871-1968) 21. The Depression Years: Pastorate of John Dyer 22. Pastorate of Arthur Avard: 1936-1952 1. The Beginning: An Amazing Coincidence On the first day of my pastorate on Feb. 1, 1987, I took a look at our first Baptismal Book. (Our first recorded baptism was in December of 1847). I was intrigued to find that many of the first baptisms were performed by Jesuit priests with French names: Jouin, Daubresse, Doucet, Bienvenue. The pastor was Irish, Fr. John Ryan, which was expected in a congregation that was almost all Irish. But why were French priests here? The short answer is that they were from St. John's College (now Fordham University) and they were mostly French because Archbishop Hughes wanted Jesuits from the Province of France not the American Province to teach at St. John's. Why? The longer answer involves Hughes's prickly relationship with the Jesuits and why the Jesuits left our parish after only three years. A few years later my curiosity got the better of me. I traced past the history of the French Jesuits in New York. There I came across a most remarkable historical coincidence. In 1643 St. Isaac Jogues was rescued (by ransom) from a Mohawk tribe partly through the help of Adriaen Van der Donck. In Russell Shorto's "Island in the Center of the World" Adriaen is described as "a forgotten American, a maverick, liberal- minded lawyer whose brilliant gamesmanship, commitment to individual freedom and exuberant love of his new country would have lasting impact on the history of this nation."He had met Jogues earlier and found that they had mutual interests in the "flora and fauna" of the New World and in the customs of the Native Americans. Jogues was placed in "house arrest" in New Amsterdam by his Dutch Protestant rescuers until they History Of Our Church Page 1 could put him on a ship back to Europe. In New Amsterdam at the same time was Thomas Cornell, a landowner from the Bronx, who was in town for the wedding of his daughter. The direct descendant of Cornell was the leading lay founder of our parish, Thomas Cornell. Adriaen Van der Donck became the owner of a large tract of land which became known as "Yonkers" named after his nickname "Yonkeers" (young gentleman). He is probably buried in Van Cortland Park (once part of Yonkers). Jogues, who after a perilous journey, make it back to France, only to return to the New World to be martyred and eventually become a canonized saint. Two hundred years later (including the suppression of the Jesuit Order by the Pope from 1773 -1814) members of the same French Jesuit Provincial Order as Jogues (now including Canada) were now founding the parish of St. Mary's that included all the land of Yonkers. That's pretty amazing. Isn't it? 2. Adriaen Van der Donck Park Dedication. (Scheduled to be given on September 8, 2012 but postponed because of a “tornado watch”) Who is Adriaen Van der Donck? My interest in Adraien Van der Donck began twenty-five years ago when I became pastor of St. Mary's Church on South Broadway. After reviewing the names of our first baptisms in 1848 I became intrigued by the first priests who administered the baptisms. They were Jesuits, (no surprise - they came from what is now Fordham University) but why were they from the Province of France and Canada and not America? This led me to a history of the Jesuits in this part of the New World and to the French Fr. Isaac Jogues. In 1643, with the encouragement of the Dutch settlers, Jogues had escaped from a Mohawk tribe and, while awaiting his eventual release by ransom, he met a man named Adraien Van der Donck. They shared information about the customs of the Native Americans and were very interested in the animal and plant life of the area ("the flora and fauna.") I soon learned that this was the man after whom Yonkers was named. He has a fascinating story and it is worth remembering. l must also mention that thirteen years later in this same area Kateri Tekakwitha, who will be canonized a saint in Rome next month, was born of a Mohawk father and Huron mother. Adraien Van der Donck was a young man of twenty three who came to New Netherlands in 1641 to work for the Patroon, Kilean van Rensselear, a rich diamond merchant, on his land near present day Albany. He worked as a "Shout" a combination of Sheriff and District Attorney. As a graduate of the law school at the University of Leiden, he was the most educated man in New Netherlands and probably overqualified for his work. He soon disagreed with his absentee Lord of the Manor and with the system set up by the Dutch West Indian Company. The Patroon System was not attracting enough settlers nor did the Dutch West Indian Company understand how important strategically the settlement of New Amsterdam was going to be for world trade. He was also stymied in his efforts to obtain land for himself. His contract as Shout was not renewed when his term expired in 1644. What was New Netherlands? It was a large area that included what is today's states of Delaware, New Jersey and New York. Only half of the settlers were ethnically Dutch. Many settlers were Walloons, French Huguenots, German, Scandinavians, and English from New England. Among the latter were the families of Anne Hutchinson and Thomas Cornell. Thomas Clapp Cornell, who was one of the founders of my church and after whom our new public school is named, was a direct descendent of this Thomas Cornell. The Dutch tended to be merchants and traders, not farmers. New Amsterdam was described in 1843 as settlement with a population of 800 with eighteen different languages. Trade with the local Native Americans, especially for animal skins, was lucrative for both sides. An opportunity for Van der Donck arose when he was asked by the Director General of New Netherlands, Wilhem Keift, to help mediate an end to an ill advised bloody war against the local Native Americans. Called the Keift's War (1643-1645), it was a disaster. Hundreds of Native Americans and European settlers were killed, including Anne Hutchinson and her family (after which the Hutchinson River Parkway is named.) As the bloody war stretched into its third year Keift knew van der Donck had good relations with Native Americans and asked him to join him to end the war. With the help of gifts of History Of Our Church Page 2 wampum provided by Van der Donck, Kieft did achieve peace. As a result, in July of 1845, he was rewarded by the Dutch West India Co. with a very large land grant of 24,000 acres. This included all of the present City of Yonkers plus today's Riverdale, Kingsbridge, van Cortland Park and Moshoulu. It was initially called Colen Donck, then Jonkeers Colen Donck- "Jonkeers or Yonkeers" is a Dutch honorific title meaning something like" a young gentlemen of property." Eventually with the English conquest of the New Netherland the name was shortened to Yonkers and Adraien Van der Donck faded into history until now. It must be said that Van der Donck was very respectful of the claims of the Native Americans and made treaties that were accepted by both sides. It is difficult today to pinpoint who these tribes were. The Mohicans were situated to the north of Yonkers and the Mohawk settlements were across the Hudson River near today’s Albany. The mural by Hass on the southwest corner of Riverdale Avenue and Main Street names many possible tribes. There is some thought today that most fell under the confederation of the Lenapi. At any rate where we stand today was certainly the settlement site of one of the tribes and where Van der Donck set up his first saw and grist mills. Married in 1645 to Mary Doughty, daughter of an English minister, he probably never lived here. He may have lived near Spuyten Duyvil or in today's Van Cortlandt Park but we are not sure. This river, once called the Nepperhan (meaning "Rapid Waters") by the Native Americans, eventually was renamed the Saw Mill River. End of story? Not by a long shot! Much of this later history was buried in the archives in Albany unable to be translated because no one knew the "Old Dutch" language. Thanks to Charles Gehring who was able to translate these documents and to Russel Shorto' book "The Island in the Middle of the World" published in 2004, we now know a lot more about Van der Donck. He has been transformed from a footnote in history to an important historical figure.