1692-1770
7th Great Grandfather
Benjamin Coursen (sometimes written Corsa) was born at the royal Manor of Fordham, Westchester County, New York. He owned the Rose Hill house (now part of Fordham University) but apparently sold the property at the end of the Revolutionary War. Some sources have it that Coursen and his son, Capt. Isaac Corsa, were Royalists and so may have had the property confiscated. (But see below) Coursen’s son, Andrew Corsa, was a member of the elite Westchester Guides, fighting on the side of the Americans during the war.
James Fenimore Cooper used Rose Hill Manor as the setting for his 1821 novel, ”The Spy.” The carillon of the nearby University Church inspired Edgar Allan Poe’s 1849 poem ”The Bells.” In 1841, the Rev. John Hughes, New York’s first Roman Catholic archbishop, used the manor to establish a college. Initially named St. John’s College, it evolved into Fordham University.
This manuscript says that Isaac Corsa was a Royalist, while Andrew Corsa was with the Revolutionaries. General Washington may have used Rose Hill as headquarters during the war, according to legend. Andrew Corsa inherited the farm after the war, but was sued for Benjamin Corsa’s old debts. The farm was sold at auction and purchased by attorney John Watts, Jr. Benjamin eventually purchased the adjacent farm and lived there for the remainder of his days.
Family Trees: Moe, Hosmanek, O-Hara 