Washington was pushing off in a boat the piazza of the mansion was occupied by the Hessian commander.

New York had now fallen into the full possession of the British general. Harlem was occupied by the Hessian troops, and the Morris house became the headquarters of General Knyphausen. It continued to be so till the evacuation of the city in 1783. After the war it was sold by the Commissioners of Forfeiture and passed through the hands of several owners. For a year or more it was the residence of Dr. Isaac Ledyard. In 1785 it became a public tavern, and Talmage Hall, the proprietor of a line of stages from New York to Boston, made it the first stopping place after leaving the city. General Washington paid it a visit in the summer of 1790, while the seat of government was in New York. In his diary, under date of the 10th of July, we find the following account: "Having formed a party consisting of the Vice-President, his lady and Miss Smith, the Secretary of State, Treasury and War, and the ladies of the latter, with all the gentlemen of my family, Mrs. Lear and the two children, we visited the old position of Fort Washington, and afterward dined on a dinner prepared by Mr. Mariner at the house lately Colonel Morris's, but confiscated and in occupation by a common farmer." The former glory had departed. The original owners were refugees in England, and their mansion, once the resort of the flower of colonial society and visited by governors and men of distinction from abroad, had now became a common homestead.

At the period of this visit of Washington to his former headquarters, Stephen Jumel was carrying on a coffee plantation in the island of San Domingo. He had just shipped a cargo to New York when the insurrection on the island took place followed by a massacre of the French inhabitants. Jumel escaped in a passing vessel and was carried to St. Helena, from whence he was able to obtain a passage to New York. He had the good fortune to find at this port the cargo of coffee that had been shipped. The proceeds of the sale became the nucleus of the fortune which he afterward acquired. He was not long in taking rank with the wealthy merchants of New York. An anecdote is told of him which shows his disposition. One day a cart belonging to a competitor broke down in front of Jumel's establishment and the driver was badly injured. A crowd quickly gathered round, making profuse expressions of sympathy for the driver and the loss which had occurred. Jumel came out to see what was the matter, and as he heard the declarations of the by-standers, he exclaimed: "You pity! How much do you pity? I pity ten dollars." He hastened to take up a collection, which he gave to the driver.

Early in the beginning of the new century Jumel married the woman who made his name and their residence in Harlem distinguished in our local annals. They were married, April 7, 1804, in St. Peter's (Roman Catholic) church in Barclay street. The accounts are greatly conflicting in regard to the parentage and other incidents of the early life of Madam Jumel. Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography describes her as the daughter of a French woman named Capet, and as having been born at sea on a French frigate, and afterwards reared by a Mrs. Thompson of Newport, R. I. The New York Times of May 24, 1902, describes her as having been born in a poor-house at Providence, R. I., and as probably adopted by a Mr. Bowen whose name she bore. Others declare that when Eliza Bowen had reached her seventeenth year she eloped to New York with Col. Peter Croix, a British officer. The pair lived for a season at a house which is described as "a handsome wooden structure." It stood on the spot better known for its later history at the northwestern corner of Fifth avenue and 34th street. But Mrs. Julius Henry Caryl, the daughter of Nelson Chase by Mary Bounes, niece of Madam Jumel, has given the writer of this sketch the following account of the birth and parentage of her great-aunt: "Eliza (Bowen) Jumel was born, April 2, 1777, in Providence, R. I., but not in a poor-house as was asserted by her enemies during the lawsuit. The statement made in Appleton's Cyclopaedia of National Biography that the lady's name was Capet, and that she was born at sea, is not sustained by reliable history. Eliza Jumel was the daughter of Phoebe and John Bowen. Her father was a sea-captain and owned his own vessels; her brother and father were drowned together. Her mother Phoebe Bowen, born Kelley, married twice: 1st, Bowen; andly, Jonathan Clark, (Sept. 16, 1790,) and both he and his wife died in 1798."

Jonathan Clark was a captain in the Continental army. Betsy and her sister Polly lived with their mother and step-father on Goose hill, Rutland, Mass. In the famous Jumel Will Case it was shown that Jonathan Clark, with his wife Phoebe and stepdaughters Polly and Eliza, in the year 1798 resided in Williamston, N. C." Mrs. Terhune gives an account of her marriage with M. Jumel as follows: "M. Jumel, married, April 7, 1804, at St. Peter's Church, in Barclay street, Miss Eliza Bowen, a beautiful blonde with a superb figure and graceful carriage. She was twenty-seven years of age, having been born April 2, 1777. Μ. Jumel was nearing his fiftieth birthday, but alert, vigorous and courtly, and passionately enamored of his bride. The wedding party drove from the church door to an elegant house on BowlingGreen."

In 1810 the mansion in Harlem was purchased which from that time was known and famous as the "Jumel House." The family now consisted of M. Jumel and wife, and a niece of Madam Jumel whom they had adopted. Here they lived in a splendor which evoked much remark, to which, however, they were quite indifferent. Their mansion became, as in earlier days, a place where individuals of celebrity were frequently entertained, and soon was widely known. Jumel was an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and upon the waning of the fortunes of the Emperor he conceived the notion to give him an asylum in America. Having arranged his affairs he set sail for France in his own vessel, the "Eliza," which he had named in honor of his wife. Napoleon, however, was sensible of the futility of the project and gracefully declined it, representing that it would not be consistent with his dignity. The Jumels now set up a magnificent establishment in Paris rivalling in its style and appointments their home in New York. Here they enjoyed the social patronage of Lafayette, and their house was frequented by the élité of the French capital. But this brilliant career came abruptly to an end. The long wars in Europe and America were followed by a period of overwhelming disaster. M. Jumel found his great fortune exhausted and it became necessary to close the establishment in Paris.

Madam Jumel and niece returned to New York in 1821 and again occupied the mansion in Harlem. She brought away with her a great quantity of bric-a-brac, laces, costly furniture and other rare and valuable articles. She was the owner of the Jumel mansion in her own right, and set herself to make it a pleasant home. In 1814 the Khedive of Egypt presented Napoleon with four hundred African cypress trees. After the accession of Louis XVIII they were left to perish from neglect. M. Jumel petitioned for them and was permitted to purchase them and send them to America. They were planted as a hedge around a circular fish-pond near the gateway of the Jumel place. Most of them have been since taken away as the streets were cut through, but twenty of them still remain. M. Jumel also returned to America in 1828. Aided by his wife, who now showed herself to be endowed with abundant energy and talent for business, he became again the possessor of a handsome competency, and they were able to resume somewhat of their former style of living. They were more reserved than in former times, but they were highly regarded by all who knew them. There are many stories of their courtesy and hospitality. When Louis Napoleon was an exile he was for a time the guest of the Jumels. He was in financial straits and they helped him liberally with money. After he became Emperor he gratefully remembered his obligations to them. Joseph Bonaparte also visited them, and it is said that Madam Jumel received him with all the honor that she could pay to a royal personage. M. Jumel died in 1832. He was thrown from his carriage on the 22nd of May, sustaining injuries which proved fatal.

After the death of her husband Madam Jumel carried on her business affairs by herself. She displayed in them excellent judgment and ability. The varied experiences of her life had sharpened her faculties, and the poor Rhode Island girl, with whom scandal had made free, had developed into a woman of culture, tact and superior powers. She furnished her mansion with somewhat of its former splendor. It displayed abundant souvenirs of the First Empire and its renowned master. There were eight chairs which had belonged to the First Consul, a table the marble top of which had been brought to her from Egypt, a clock which the Emperor had used in the Tuilleries, a chandelier that he had once given to Moreau, tapestries and paintings which had been collected by Josephine: also a set of drawing-room furniture which had once been owned by Charles X; a bedstead upon which Napoleon had slept for many months, and his army chest. Visitors also told of a stand that was said to have belonged to Voltaire, a black leather trunk which was supposed to have been used by Napoleon on the march to Moscow, and an elaborate embroidery of flowers surrounded by a golden chain, which had been made by the Empress. On the furniture was emblazoned the symbolic "N" of the Empire in commemoration of its great chief.

The marriage of Madam Jumel to Colonel Burr was the next important episode in her history and that of the mansion which bears her name. It is said that she had met Burr in her earlier life and had come under the spell of his peculiar power of fascination. She was fifty-eight, and aside from her ample fortune was still an attractive woman. At the time of her husband's death Colonel Burr had returned from his long sojourn in Europe and had taken up the practice of law in New York. Madam Jumel was desirous to obtain legal advice in a matter of real estate, and Burr was pre-eminently expert in the knowledge of the laws relating to that subject. She called accordingly at his office at No. 23 Nassau street, on that errand. He received her in his accustomed courtly manner, complimented her fine appearance and listened to her statement like the ideal man of business. He took her papers, told her when he would have his opinion ready and conducted her to her carriage in princely style. Nelson Chase, then a young man, lived at the Jumel house. He was a student of law and was married to Madam Jumel's niece. On the appointed day he was sent to obtain the written opinion. Burr's reception of him was such as to fasten his warm regard. Not long after Burr took him as a student, and, it is affirmed, taught him more in one year than he could have learned in ten in the ordinary way. Charles O'Connor many years later, declared that Chase was "the best-read man in the United States." Chase never faltered in his devotion and admiration of his preceptor, always affirming that he had been more sinned against than sinning.

Having now become a student of Colonel Burr, young Chase was eloquent in praising him, and finally persuaded Madam Jumel to invite the Colonel to a grand banquet at the mansion. Burr displayed on this occasion all his unequalled charm of manner and shone to conspicuous advantage. With the gallantry which had distinguished him in earlier days, he led her to dinner remarking gracefully: "Madam, I give you my hand; my heart has long been yours.' After this he came repeatedly to the Jumel house. But when he proposed marriage he was refused, though in somewhat hesitating tones. He continued his visits, finally telling her, as though in jest, that he would come to Fort Washington in a few days with a clergyman and ask her again. He came indeed, as he had said, accompanied by the Rev. David Bogert of the Reformed Dutch Church, the same clergyman who had officiated half a century before at his marriage to Theodosia Prevost. Whether it was affectation or genuine reluctance, Madam Jumel did not readily yield acquiescence. Her niece, however, and Mr. Chase were warm advocates for Burr. She was lonely in the old mansion; she needed a trained man of affairs to help in the management of her property, and by the marriage much gossip might be avoided. Protesting all the while, she finally consented, and they promptly habited her for the occasion. Attired in a pearl-tinted satin gown, so heavy with stiffness that it could stand alone, she came down to the tea-room, and, taking her position with Burr before the great fire-place, the ceremony was performed. This was on Monday, July 1st, 1833.

But Burr was not permitted to pass the remaining years of his life in the mansion where fifty-seven years before he had lived as the aide and secretary of General Washington. A few days afterward the wedded pair paid a visit to the Governor of Connecticut, at Hartford, who was a nephew of Colonel Burr. While they were there Mrs. Burr consented to sell certain shares of stock which she owned in the bridge over the Connecticut river at that place. The money was paid to Col. Burr, who deposited it to his credit in his own bank in New York, and afterward lost it in an investment in Texas lands. He had told nothing of the affair to his wife, and when she questioned him about the money, he replied that "she had a husband to manage her affairs, and one who would manage them." She was too high-spirited and energetic to submit to this and gave him to understand that he could have no further control of her property. After this there was a coolness between them, then a partial reconciliation, followed by the losing of more money. Burr was no longer the shrewd man of business and her patience was exhausted. An estrangement between them took place and she filed a complaint against him, thus depriving him of the control of her property. He began a defence, but afterward allowed the case to go by default. Only once thereafter did he reside in the Jumel mansion. At one time when very ill Madam Jumel had him brought to her house, where she nursed him for several weeks. When well Burr left her. He spent his last days at Port Richmond where he died on the 14th of September, 1836.

The next fifteen years were passed quietly at the Jumel mansion. The same hospitality and benevolence were maintained which had prevailed in former years. When the famine of 1847 raged in Ireland, because of the potato blight, Madam Jumel contributed several thousand dollars to the relief of the suffering population. In 1852 she paid another visit to Paris. Louis Napoleon, then President of the French Republic, gave a ball to which she was invited, and she made a conspicuous figure as she entered the ball-room on the arm of Jerome Bonaparte. She was the recipient of many courtesies from the President whom she had befriended in former years. Her last days were uneventful, and she died at the Jumel mansion on the 16th of July, 1865, aged eighty-eight hears. The New York Times of the 18th of the month gave her age at ninety-six. The funeral services were held at the Church of the Intercession, of which the Rev. J. H. Smith was rector. The pall-bearers were distinguished citizens of New York. She was reputed to have possessed property to the value of several million dollars; but less than one