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History of Westchester County, New York — Passage 231

Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900) 238 words View original →

[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] of New York. Judges, district attorneys, and other officers formerly appointive were made elective. The first county judge elected in Westchester County was John W. Mills, of White Plains (1851-56); the first surrogate, Lewis C. Piatt, of White Plains (1848-56); the first district attorney, William W. Scrugham,1 of Yonkers (1848-51); the first county treasurer, Elisha Ilorton, of White Plains (1849-52). At the State census of 1845 — the last enumeration taken before the railways came into operation — Westchester County had 47,394 inhabitants, some 1,300 fewer than the number awarded the county by the federal census of 1840. The greater population of 1840 was probably due to the inclusion in the census at that time of the numer-ous workmen employed on the Croton Aqueduct. As classified by occupations in 1845, the adult males of the county included 4,369 farmers and agriculturists, 364 manufacturers, 275 merchants, 101 clergymen, 62 physicians and surgeons, and 42 lawyers. There were in that year 142 common schools and 69 select schools. With the completion of the railways a great change at once trans-pired in local conditions in Westchester County. In the ten years from 1845 to 1855 the population rose from 47,394 to 80,678 — a gain of more than 68 per cent. The following table shows the population by towns in 1845 and 1855, with the valuation of real estate and per-sonal property in 1858: Bedford Cortlandt Eastehester.... Greenburgh.... Harrison Lewisboro Mamaroneck....