Name/Title
An Old Bedford HomeEntry/Object ID
FIC2020.22Scope and Content
An article, see Media file) that appeared in the Westchester County Historical Bulletin in April,1952. The article discusses the original owner of Maple Grove. There is an image of the house painted by George Hayward, which is now owned by Smith College Museum of Art, and was painted about 1865.
Theh article documents the first owner of the house James Williams, 1754-1844, a militiaman in the Revolution. His wife, Mary Raymond used to tell her children and grandchildren of mending the gloves of George Washington, when he stopped at the house. The British spared the house and had occupied the premises.They had
twelve children.
Francis A. Palmer a grandson eventually purchased the house and it details how he came from being a stage driver for the Fulton Street Line to a proprietor. Later he organized and became President of Broadway Bank, in the year of the Gold Rush. In time he purchased his grandfathers house, Maple Grove, as a summer residence and made many improvements, enlarging and adding to the property with an inside bathroom by installing a wooden tank in the attic. The first of its kind in Bedford. He commissioned the painting by George Hayward of Maple Griove. The rest of the article is about how he donated the money for the 4th edifice of the Bedford Presbyterian Church on the Village Green as it stands now.