The Walchs of Hastings-on-Hudson

After arriving in New York, the Walchs went to Connecticut, where Stephen Walch most likely worked in a quarry. We know nothing of their life there, except that their next three children were born in Connecticut. There were no civil registers of birth then. The only way to track birth is through baptismal church records that have yet to be found. If they were active in a church at that time, they most likely were attending a Methodist church.

The three Walch children born in Connecticut were: Elizabeth, called Lizzie, in about 1852; Stephen Jr. in about 1853; and John W. in 1854. Three children in three years! It appears that the Walchs were optimistic about their future. Sometime between 1854 and the birth of their next child in 1857, the Walchs moved west across the Connecticut state line to Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester County, New York.

On November 8, 1857 their sixth child, William Fletcher Walch, was born in Hastings-on-Hudson. William was named in honor of Rev. John William Fletcher, an early Methodist theologian, whose early piety writings were popular among Methodists at that time. Some of the Walch children were active in the Methodist Church for the rest of their lives. And, William Fletcher Walch even briefly worked as a Methodist minister in his early adulthood.

By 1860 Stephen and Elizabeth Walch had done well for themselves. In the nine years since their arrival they added four healthy children to their family and owned their own home in the village of Hastings, (‘Hastings’ is what the locals call Hastings-on-Hudson). The house was located near Washington Avenue and adjacent to the Croton Aqueduct. The schoolhouse was immediately north on adjoining property. The “S. Welch” home is clearly identified on the 1868 Frederick Beers map. Stephen Walch continued to work as a stone cutter at a quarry located at about quarter of a mile south of the house. (Incidentally, the family was referred to as “Welch” in both the 1860 and 1870 census. Jack Arnett Walch, a grandson of John W. Walch, said that the use of Welch was a conscious decision by some family members and not simply a misspelling.)

In 1870 Stephen, 50, and Elizabeth, 49, were approaching their middle years, and their three oldest children were nearing their marriage years. The population around Hastings had grown large enough for the post office to be moved from Tarrytown to the neighboring village of Dobbs Ferry. The census of that year also gives us an indication of the size of the Walch home. There were now seven Walch children, following the birth of Isaac Peter Walch in 1863. Ruth Hines, 26; Elizabeth Clark, 22; Ophelia Burroughs, 22; and Jenny Clark, 18, teachers from the school, rounded out the household – 13 in all!. One can only wonder how 23-year-old Jimmie Walch felt about the addition of these four young “spinsters” in the house. Perhaps he was already smitten by his future wife Mary Hoare who lived in nearby Yonkers.

A curious thing about the 1870 census is that Stephen Jr., 17, and his brother, William Fletcher, 13, were absent from the household at that time. Perhaps they were working out or were off for a summer adventure? There is any number of possibilities for their absences, one of which is that Stephen Jr. had died for he has yet to be found in public records after 1860.

In any event, Stephen Walch Sr. died sometime between 1870 and 1880 and was most likely buried in a cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson. One might think that a stone cutter’s gravestone would survive in a Hastings cemetery today. The next time you're up that way, check it out and let us know.

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The picture above is Quarry Works, Hastings on Hudson, a watercolor by Samuel Colman, 1850–1920, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston