Philip Verplanck sat in the legislature at Albany as Representative from Cortlandt Manor for thirty-four years--an all time record. He was paid six shillings a day. Philip Van Cortlandt, being the eldest surviving son of Stephanus, became the head of the family and occupied the Manor House on the Croton River upon his frequent visits to the estate from New York and Albany. An eminent merchant, member of his Majesty's Council, chosen to act on affairs of State, his career was such as would have pleased his father. Philip died in 1747 leaving four sons, Stephen, Abram, John and Pierre. Their father had devised the Manor House and all its adjacent acreage to Pierre who married Joanna Livingston, grandchild of Robert Livingston, the first lord of Livingston Manor. This Pierre Van Cortlandt was the outstanding one of the Van Cortlandts, a most worthy grandchild of Stephanus. It would require a volume of history to chronicle his active public life. He brought distinction to Croton and Westchester during all the Revolutionary period, serving with marked repute in the Provincial Congresses before and during the war, spurning all offers of the British to accept honors from the Crown, making the old Manor House at Croton the entertaining place for Washington and his generals, for Benjamin Franklin, for Lafayette, Steuben and De Rochambeau. ' -[53]- '

Meanwhile, his famous son, Philip, was growing to manhood and duplicating his father's renowned career. Member of the Provincial Congress in 1775, lieutenant-colonel and colonel throughout the Revolution, he participated physically in battle after battle; and was made a special target by the Indian Chief Brant, on the Delaware, as he charged with the bayonet at the head of his troops; and was cited again and again for personal bravery. He was a member of the courtmartial that tried Benedict Arnold for misappropriation of money at Philadelphia.