During the 17th century, the site was part of the town of
Harlem and was located on a larger plot called the Great Maize Land. The first house on the site had been developed by Jan Kiersen, who received a half-
morgen of land, about , in 1695 or 1696. He also received permission to build a house, barn, and garden east of Kingsbridge Road (now
St. Nicholas Avenue). Kiersen received a
deed to the land in 1700 or 1701 and gradually enlarged his estate. Carroll farmed on the land for two years before selling it to Roger Morris in 1765. had retired from the British Army in 1764. Concurrently, the
New York Mercury published an advertisement for a site in Upper Manhattan, with an orchard, two nearby rivers, and panoramic views in all four directions. At the time, the site was still rural, the land was part of the British
Province of New York, and New York City comprised what is now
Lower Manhattan. Construction began in mid-1765. Contractors secured oak timbers from the nearby forest, which oxen then pulled to the site. but was also referred to as the Roger Morris House. There also were a set of barns, which were located to the north, near what is now 165th Street. The Morrises' two sons and two daughters were born at the house, Both Roger and Mary were
Loyalists affiliated with the British cause. The historian William Henry Shelton wrote that Mount Morris was vulnerable to arson attacks from
Patriots—who sought American independence—since Roger was a member of New York's legislative council.
Use during the American Revolutionary War Continental Army general
William Heath and his officers occupied the house as early as September 5, 1776, holding it for their commander in chief,
George Washington. Washington used the mansion as a headquarters for a month after British troops forced his army to retreat to Upper Manhattan. He entered the house on the night of September 14–15, 1776; the exact date and time of his arrival is unclear. The house was chosen because of its elevated topography, which enabled Washington to see approaching enemy troops. There were claims that Washington may have chosen the site because of a previous romantic attraction to Mary Morris, but these rumors were unfounded. strategizing for the
Battle of Harlem Heights while headquartered there. About 8,000 troops stayed in nearby camps, while some troops set up wooden huts along modern-day Sylvan Terrace. The Continental Army remained in "undisturbed possession of their camps" until about October 18, when the
Battle of Pell's Point began. Washington retreated around October 21–22 to flee advancing British troops, and Continental Army colonel
Robert Magaw was left to guard the house. On November 16, 1776, during the
Battle of Fort Washington, Washington's troops tried to reenter the house but were beaten back by British troops. Captured Continental Army prisoners were tied up in the mansion's barns. The British occupied the house from 1776 until the
evacuation of New York in 1783. Documentation of the British troops' time at the house is sparse and is described mainly in two soldiers' journals. Records do not show who occupied the house just after the British captured Fort Washington. The mansion became the headquarters of British lieutenant-general
Henry Clinton until 1777 and
Hessian commander Baron
Wilhelm von Knyphausen during 1778. The latter's staff also took up some space in the house. and a tent camp existed nearby. During 1780, the British used the house as a lookout station, and Hessian major general Von Lossburg also lived there. The Morrises forfeited their Harlem Heights estate, which was advertised for sale in the
New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury in 1783. Following its confiscation, Mount Morris was occupied by several different tenants. but Arnold Pickman wrote that neither Berrian nor Ledyard lived in the house. a capacity in which it served for about two years. Talmage Hall operated the tavern, which was known as Calumet Hall. The tavern was a popular stop along the
Albany Post Road, Contemporary advertisements promoted the fact that the tavern was in the Morrises' old house and the presence of stagecoach service to
Upstate New York and
New England. After becoming U.S. President, George Washington, several
Founding Fathers, and their families returned to the house for a party in 1790. Ledyard had sold his half of the property before 1791 to Theodore Hopkins and Michael Joy. He then attempted to sell it, renting the property to a farmer named Jacob Myer in the meantime. In 1793, Bleecker sold the parcel that included the Morris House to William Kenyon. After Roger Morris died in 1794, Mary Morris sued to regain ownership of the mansion, claiming that the Act of Attainder did not apply to the mansion since it belonged to her as part of the Morrises'
prenuptial agreement. Kenyon sold the entire parcel to Leonard Parkinson, an Englishman, Parkinson decided to sell and subdivide his estate in 1809; the estate was split into fifteen lots, and the mansion and an adjacent coach house were classified as occupying lot number 8. The same year, Mary Morris dropped her claim to the mansion, and
John Jacob Astor bought the property from the Morris heirs. but a map from 1815 showed two additional buildings and a gatehouse near the mansion.
Jumel ownership In 1810, French wine merchant Stephen Jumel paid $10,000 for the house and some land around it. The Jumels had largely been "neglected by society" when they lived in Lower Manhattan, and Eliza, who had come from poor beginnings, was anxious to become part of New York City's elite. According to Shelton, members of the public may have become interested in the mansion's history because of Eliza's lifestyle, which Shelton called "a leaf out of the book of the fairies".
The Washington Post wrote that the house was "the social center of colonial New York" for a half-century after the Jumels bought the house.
1810s and 1820s The
1810 United States census shows that seven people lived in the Jumel household, but the Jumels probably split their time between the uptown mansion and their Lower Manhattan house. The Jumels remodeled the house, adding the
Federal style entrance and redecorating the interior in the
Empire style. The family reproduced the original wallpaper and bought as much furniture as they could. The family sometimes stayed in their other houses in Lower Manhattan and France. Mary Bowen refused to stay in the mansion by herself because of a belief that the house was haunted by the ghosts of soldiers. By 1814, Stephen Jumel had offered the mansion and his other properties for sale, but the mansion was not sold. The same year, Stephen and Eliza placed the mansion in
trust. The Jumels went to France the same year because they had failed to gain enough social standing. returned to the Jumel Mansion in 1817. Eliza and her servants were the only occupants of the mansion until Mary Bowen arrived in 1818. and then returned to France. albeit likely only during the summer. These included the family of Moses Field in 1825 and the Clinton family in 1826. Stephen deeded Eliza the mansion and surrounding land in 1825; sources disagree on whether the move was due to Eliza Jumel's duplicity or whether the move was intended to prevent Stephen's creditors from taking over the mansion. The
1830 United States census recorded eleven people in the Jumel household who lived in the mansion.
1830s to 1860s Around the time of Stephen's death, Mary married the lawyer Nelson Chase, and Eliza bought additional furniture for the mansion. they were married in the house's parlor on July 3 of that year. The marriage, and Burr's stay in the house, was short. Eliza filed for divorce in 1834, which was granted in 1836, shortly before Burr's death. Burr left the mansion for seven months after Eliza filed for divorce, then returned for another five weeks. and she stayed in the mansion from time to time. She reportedly lived in the mansion until 1834, then rented residences elsewhere for five years. but she and the Chase family had moved into the mansion again by 1848, five years after Mary Chase died. The
1850 United States census showed nine people in the Jumel household who lived at the mansion, A
well was excavated on the grounds around 1857. Eliza Jumel was eccentric in her later years. Unscrupulous neighbors took advantage of the woman's eccentricity, "helping themselves to anything they wanted on the neglected farms of the estate", in Shelton's words. The
1860 United States census recorded seven people in the household. when they were thrown out after a fight in which Eliza's great-nephew threw an inkstand at the painting of his great-aunt. until her death in 1865. The Chase family lived in the house for about two decades after Eliza died. By 1868, the mansion was occupied by Nelson Chase, the family of Nelson's son William Inglis Chase, and the family of Nelson's daughter Eliza Jumel Péry. The three branches of the families lived in different parts of the mansion and ate dinner at different times. The
1870 United States census did not list the Chase household, but the
1880 census showed twelve members of the Chase household living in the mansion. The disputes over the Jumel estate were not resolved until 1881, when a judge ruled that Mary Bowen had never legally owned the mansion and ordered that the Jumel estate be partitioned. An unidentified purchaser bought the mansion and 30 neighboring lots for $40,000, but the sale was delayed after protests from several people alleging to be Stephen Jumel's heirs. Nelson Chase ultimately retained the mansion, although the estate was subdivided.
Sales of the mansion The Chase family remained at the Jumel Mansion until Nelson Chase and Eliza Jumel Péry sold it in March 1887 to Henry H. Tobey, who resold it to Eban Sutton Jr. Sutton is not known to have lived in the mansion, Elizabeth's husband, the early filmmaker
Louis Le Prince, wished to screen his films publicly at the mansion but disappeared mysteriously in 1890. Numerous pieces of furniture, purported to be from Eliza Jumel's collection, were auctioned off in early 1890, though the family of Nelson Chase claimed that they still owned the Jumel furniture. Sutton sold the mansion to Seth Milliken in May 1894. The new owners were
Ferdinand Pinney Earle, whose mother's family were related to the Morrises, and his wife, Lillie J. Earle. They moved many colonial-style decorations to the cellar, replaced decorative elements, painted the walls, and installed wallpaper throughout various parts of the house. A stair from the basement to the first-floor pantry was sealed off, and the Earles renovated the octagonal annex into a
studio apartment and removed a
dormer window. Lillie Earle, who headed the Washington Heights Society of the
Children of the American Revolution, sometimes hosted events at the mansion. lawn parties, a commemoration of the Battle of Harlem Heights, and meetings of the
Sons of the American Revolution. In 1898, a decade after the nearby
Hamilton Grange had been relocated, there were unsuccessful proposals to move Earle Cliff. The
1900 United States census showed that seven members of the Earle household lived in the house. == Museum history ==