verdict on Anson Greene Phelps's will was given by the Court of Appeal. Philanthropy Olivia shared in her husband's religious devotion and charitable works, supporting many causes including the Society for the Relief of Half Orphans and for 25 years she was a member of the board for the Association for the Relief of Aged and Respectable Indigent Woman. In her home, she entertained missionaries and evangelists including Charles Grandison Finney who, with his family, stayed with the Phelps during his preaching at the Presbyterian church in Vandewater Street, New York (1829-1830). Residence This house had originally been built by Henry A. Coster, the Dutch merchant, in about 1810. He planted the grounds with rare fruit, plants, trees, and it was said to have been one of the finest private gardens in America. It was bought by Phelps in 1835 who then acquired adjoining properties, so that the land eventually extended from Third Avenue to the East River, and from Twenty-ninth to half-way between Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth streets. The house was of old Colonial architecture, with out-buildings, hothouses, a large conservatory of rare fruits and flowers, gardener's lodge, stabling, summer house and boat house. From the east portico there were views over the lawn, garden, pasture, and river. A cedar of Lebanon that shaded the ice-house was said to have been brought from Mount Lebanon by Henry Coster. References Notes Sources Family tree 1784 births 1859 deaths Middletown, Connecticut