New-York tribune., 1901-02-02
WESTCHESTER.
THE HISTORY OF A FAMOUS COUNTY IN
NEW-YORK
HISTORY or wEsTCHEsTER COUNTY. NEW
YORK From Its Earliest Settlement 10 the
Year 1900 Ey Frederick shonnard ard W. "
History Company.

History Company
The authors Of this portly volume believe
that they have produced the first veritable his
tory OF Westcheste.' County. as distinguished
from the local chronicles and township histories
that the industry Of previous investigators has
gathered. They hav,. indeed. covered the
ground thoroughly. and have given account,
which is connected and well reasoned as well
as detailed. not only Of the part the county has
played in American history I'm its larger aspects.
but OF it's own origin and growth There has
always been close community Of interest be
tween New-York City and westchcster. They
shared in early struggles and hardships. and in
recent years New-York has taken for its grow
ing municipal needs large tracts from its north
ern neighbor
Messrs. Shonna-d and Spooner begin at the
beginning. with the physical and geological con
formation Of the country; with the origin and
connections Of the Indians who inhabited st.;
with the early voyagers who visited the Hud-
son. and with the Dutch settlement Of Manhat-
tan. The early colonists had I'm their first years
enough 10 occupy their attention at the lower
end Of Manhattan Island. and for fifteen years
there vas no attempt - settle norSh Of the
Harlem. The name of the first venturesome
pioneer is fittingly preserved in the nam, OF the
Bronx-river and borough. He was Jonas
farm and built a house above the Harlem in
1850. He bought his land Of the Indians. as the
Dutch law requlred-lve hundred acres lying
between the Harlem and the Bronx: his house
stood near the present site Of the Morrisania
railway station. That he q gentleman Of
cultivation. evidently one Of the substantial
class Of citizens whom the Dutch West India
Company trying at that time to secure
for It's American colony. is shown by the list
of possessions he left at his death-silverware.
silks. and "as many as forty books If the
dangers OF life in westchester kept the Dutch
al home. IL did not prevent the English from
extending their venturesome settlements into
the territory that the Dutch claimed. along the
Sound. Anne Hutchinson came among the first.
10 escape her New-England prosecutors by set
ting ar Pelham. only 70 be murdered in cold
llood by the Indians in less than a year The
Hutchinson River perpetuates her name Then
came John Throc'rmorton few months later
LIS name appears corrupted and shortened in
Throgs Neck With him came Thomas Cornell.
from whom CorneI's Neck is named. and from
whom Governor Cornell was descended and
thus Cornell University was added 70 the edu-
cational resources Of the State.
These first westchester settlements we're prac-
'ically continuous. and their upper boundaries
coincided almost exactly with the present cor
had its share Of trouble WITH the Indians and
witnessed some Of the bloodiest and most mex
orable conflicts OF the early days in America
The most sanguirary battle that has .eken
place on Westchester soil was one OF the Incl
dents of the Indian war that lasted from 1912 10
l645; il was in 1914, and numbered more dead
than even the battle of White Plains in the
Revolution. century and a half later
The next important settler 10 appear IN West
chester was Adrian Van der Donck. that
"Jonkheer." or young lord. whose land. reaching
from spuyten Duyvil Creek 20 the Amackassin
River. gave its name afterward to Yonkers His
was the earnest and intelligent effort OF man
Of standing 10 forward the interests of the new
colony outside Of New-Amsterdam. He wrote
book that gives some curious, and, In these
days, incredible facts about il, such as the
visit of a couple of whales up to the very head
OF the Hudson. and their capture their re-
turn: and the existence OF the unicorn as he
heard IL through the Indians though indeed
II was seldom seen" He II was whom the
West India Company refused 10 allow 70 practise
law. because. being the only member Of MS
profession in the colony. there would be nobody
TO oppose him. This settlement Of Van der
Doncks, or "Colen Donck." was the only one Of
the great Dutch patroonships ever erected in
westchester County. and such the fore
runner Of the great manors OF later years. The
manors were established under the English Gov
ernment. the first being that OF Thomas Pell.
who secured the grant Of Pelham Manor in 1866.
though he had bought his property from the
Indians a dozen years earlier.
Two Of the greatest manorial proprietors were
Frederick Philipse and Stephanus Van Cort-
landt- The former had risen from humble cir
cumstances in New-Amsterdam through shrewd-
ness. energy and the assistance OF various ques-
IL nd han
the Phlipse manor house that afterward became
the City Hall Of Yonkers. Castle Philipse. at
Pocantico where there appears TO have been a
settlement before 1853. and the Dutch Reformed
Church at Sleepy Hollow. Van Cortlandt was a
native Of New-Amsterdam: his career as the
point out, was probably the most con-
spicuous and creditable Of that Of any inhabitant
OF New-York in the seventeenth century and
undoubtedly the first brilliant career that any
native Of New-York ever ran He bought from
the Indians al various times vast quantities Of
land, becoming finally the owner of nearly the
whole of Westchester County along the Hudson
from Croton Bay to the Highlands-nearly
ninety thousand acres. In like fashion there
were four other great manors erected and duly
recognized in Westchester County. and these
six retained their territorial integrity almost
untouched throughout the Colonial period. This
fact formed one Of the most significant and char
acteristic forces in the development OF the cOun-
~. Sales in fee 10 strangers were rare, and
tenant farming continued to be the prevailing
system for many years. though. Of course. there
was never any trace Of feudalism in land ten
ures. and the tenants We're always absolutely
free and without other obligations than that OF
rent. Each manor. however. was an indepen-
dent political jurisdiction; one. Cortlandt, had
the privilege Of a special member in the Legis-
lature. With all this aristocratic tendency. as