The inhabitants of East Chester finding the Governour bent upon the settlement of a national ministry, next attempted to annul the act of 1693, by making themselves a distinct parish from Westchester. This appears by the following extract from the town records :

"April nth, 1699, it was agreed upon, by a full and free vote, to petition unto His Excellency and Honorable Council and General Assembly, in behalf of ourselves and the rest of our neighbors in the Yonkers and Mile Square, to desire that we may be taken from Westchester and have liberty to call a minister of our own."

On the 26th of December, 1699, it was resolved at a public meeting held in East Chester, " To haste and erect the meeting-house, and that it shall be finished at or before the 31st of May, in the year of our Lord, 1700, and in case the said work be not finished, that then John Drake and Jeremiah Fowler shall set men at work and finish the said work on the town account."6

a Rev. William S. Coffey'9 Commemorative Discourse, 1S65, at Centennial Anniversary of St. Paul's church.

b Town Records. " By an act of Assembly passed this year, the trustees of each town were to make a yearly rate.for nuildiiiir a church where wanting, Ac." 2 Will. III. A. D. 1699. Laws of N. V- vol. 1. Chap. S3, p. 37.

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER.

At a meeting of the inhabitants, 20th of February, 1700, we find them setting aside a small quantity of land as a provision for a minister, according to their constant method, and which was used in all other townships within the Colony, as follows :