Allegany County Land Agent from 1835 to 1850, and Albany Owner of

Rensselaerwyck Manor Tenant Land leases from 1853 to 1890

Walter Stewart Church was one of nine children born to the popular and wealthy Judge Philip Church and his wife, Anna Mathilda Stewart of Philadelphia. Anna was the eldest daughter of General Walter Stewart, a close friend of General George Washington. Philip and Anna were married on February 4, 1805 and moved to Allegany County at Belvidere in the town of Amity the next June. When asked how she adjusted from high society in Philadelphia to the wilderness, Anna stated, “I was just the one to do it. I had youth, health; to be sure it was pretty hard at first, but the relations of a wife, to which were added the cares of a mother, soon reconciled me to my new home.” 2

Born in Boston, Philip Church was the son of John Barker Church, an Englishman who had served in Parliament and had many influential friends throughout Europe. John Barker’s wife was Angelica Schuyler Church, the eldest child of Revolutionary War hero, General Philip Schuyler of Albany. General Schuyler was appointed by the Continental Congress to serve under General Washington as leader of the Northern Army. Angelica’s mother was Catherine Van Rensselaer, and thus she was born into the colonial aristocracy of New York State. Together with her husband, she traveled in the circle of high class nobility and political leaders of Europe and the United States. While in England, son Philip studied for six years at Eton, and entered the Middle Temple to study law.

In 1797, John Barker Church returned from Europe with his family to New York to become one of the richest men in the country. 3 After the Revolution, he had loaned land speculator, Robert Morris, a large amount of money, taking security in the name of his brother-in-law, General Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was also a son-in-law of General Philip Schuyler who had married Schuyler’s second eldest daughter, Elizabeth. John Barker Church had not yet become a citizen and wanted to purchase land in Philadelphia. “In 1795 or 1796 this mortgage was released and security taken on 100,000 acres in the Genesee county [a section of the Holland Land Company- brackets will hearby indicate an auther’s note]. This mortgage was for $81,670.44. In 1799, Philip Church visited Canandaigua to attend the sale under foreclosure of the 100,000 acres, bid in the property and took a deed in his own name dated May 6, 1800. This land was purchased jointly with his father, John Barker Church, who offered Philip a half interest to conduct the subdivision and sale of the tract.” 4

In 1801, Philip hired Moses Van Campan as a surveyor and set out to explore his new lands. In 1802, Philip began to prepare the settlement of his lands. He sent his land agent, Evert Van Wickle, to choose the site for a village which Philip named Angelica, after his mother. Maps of the tract and announcements as to sales and conditions of payment were advertised. Also in 1802, Philip selected the location for his own farm and the site of what became his residence on the attractive banks of the Genesee River at Belvidere. He kept 2,000 prime acres of the “Church Tract” for this mansion which author Helene Phelan claimed in her book, The Man Who Owned the Pistols, “compares with the Schuyler mansion in Albany.” According to the current Allegany County Historian, Craig Bracck, the mansion is in excellent condition today as a private residence of another family.

In 1803, Philip built his temporary home known as the “White House” because it was considered to be the first house in western New York to be painted. Around this time, with the influence of Generals Schuyler and Hamilton, he became Captain Church and appointed as Hamilton’s aide-de-camp. On July 14, 1804, Captain Philip Church was admitted to the bar, receiving his license from Morgan Lewis, then a Justice of the Supreme Court. In June of 1807, he was appointed the first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Allegany County by Governor Morgan Lewis. He was very athletic, a fast runner, an expert in cricket, and a good marksman.

Judge Philip and Anna Church moved into the completed stone mansion, “Villa Belvidere” in 1810, and lived there for over 50 years. It was there that they raised their family that included Walter Stuart Church. Walter’s eight siblings were: Angelica (Mrs. John Warren) who died in March, 1895, in New York City; John Barker, a close brother and partner in the land agency business with Walter in the 1830’s at Angelica, and died in 1875; Sophia Harrison (Mrs. N.P. Hoosack), who died in 1891; Philip, who died in 1794; Mary who died in 1822; Elizabeth (Mrs. Rev. Robert Howard), who lived her adult life in London, England; William Henry, who died in 1860; and Richard who obtained the military rank of Major, and in 1896, was working in the U.S. Custom House at New York City. He was still living when John Minard wrote his book, Allegany County and Its People from which this list of Philip and Anna’s children was taken.

“The Villa Belvidere was for many years the seat of the kindest hospitality where many distinguished men were entertained.” 5 An 1891-2 description of Belvidere by the author John Minard obtained during a meeting with Richard Church at the mansion states that, “the eastern part of this mansion was a land office, equipped with desks, drafting tables and other proper furniture, and had been preserved intact as when first opened in 1810. The shelves were loaded with venerable law books, ancient books of surveys, and records of land sales. There were also letters from George Washington, LaFayette [whom the family met in Rochester during his 1824 visit to the United States], General Green (the English Statesman), Fox and Sir Philip Francis, with official papers bearing the signatures of Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, Livingston and others. In this land office, the bronze faced, horny-handed pioneers were wont to come to get their “articles”, see to having their boundaries adjusted, make their payments, etc.” Judge Church also worked as a land agent for his father, John Barker Church.