Westminster Church is on a historic piece of land in Little Britain, Town of New Windsor.
In the early 1700’s a 1000-acre patent was taken by Lewis Morris. It was surveyed in 1720 by Cadwallader Colden, surveyor general of the Province of New York. Patents were divided into farm size sections to be sold and developed.
James Crawford came from Ireland, stopped off in Peekskill, then bought over 300 acres in the northwest corner of this Lewis Morris patent in the early 1720’s.
In the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, v. 16 (1885 p.110) there is this record of James Crawford. "This is to certify that James Crawford and his wife Mary left the congregation of Golen (in Ireland) in June 1718 free of any known scandal or church censure, being both of them honest and creditable persons of blameless honorable parentage and may be received in any Presbyterian congregation where Providence may order their settling."
Their 300+ acres are now the Fox farm, the Vinton farm, the Little Britain church parsonage with its few acres and the Westminster property of about 25 acres.
James Crawford was active in the Little Britain Associate Reformed Church as were his son David and David’s son Francis. Francis had a son David, who as a small boy wandered over these fields.
In 1806 the Crawfords moved to Newburgh, had a store in the village and a freighting business on the river.
In 1813 they sold 100 acres to Benjamin Belknap and Ezra Keeler. This is now the Vinton farm.
In 1815 Francis Crawford and his wife Lydia, daughter of Jeduthan Belknap sold to James and William Stewart 214 acres. James Stewart took the eastern part, which is now the Fox farm, and William the western part which is now the Little Britain church parsonage and the Westminster land.
Francis Crawford died in 1829. The ORANGE TELEGRAPH, Newburgh, wrote of him at length. "He lived and died without a single personal enemy—an utter stranger to petulance, passion and inordinate love of gain—No one was ever wounded by his tongue or made the victim of his avarice—He lived as a man should live in relation to his fellow man and died as a man should die in relation to his God and Redeemer."
Under William Stewart, his part of the Crawford property became a tavern with its farm. Taverns in those days were more or less respectable. Stopping places were needed for food and drink for men and horses or oxen drawing loads to the river to be shipped to New York. Also they were social centers, and this tavern was for a while the Little Britain post office. Various tavern keepers owned it until 1861, when it was for sale.
The Little Britain Associate Reformed Church decided to buy it and get rid of the tavern just across the road from the church. Their parsonage was three miles west of the church, bought about 1825 as a temporary measure. It was used for over 30 years. When the tavern property was for sale the church bought it but did not want the farm. The junior pastor, Rev. R. Howard Wallace, bought 40 acres, 10 of them an adjacent patent. His son, Adrian V.S. Wallace bought the 40 acres in 1893, and his daughter, Margaret V.S. Wallace, inherited it. About 25 of these acres are now the Westminster property.
It had a good beginning with the Crawfords, lost its good reputation with the Stewarts and various other tavern keepers, then got converted to a property useful to the Lord.
Westminster Church is new to Little Britain, but it is an old church. It was organized in 1854 as the Second Reformed Presbyterian Church (Covenanter) of Newburgh.
In 1918 it became an independent church. In 1917 it united with the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. This is a growing denomination, true to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His Word, the Bible.
Created by Elizabeth Finley Frasier
February 22, 2004
