By his wife Magdelentje, Jan Ecker left issue, Wolfert, Cornelis and others.

The will of Wolfert Ecker, bears date 1753, "wherein he bequeaths to his son Stephen, a cow, or the worth thereof, more than the o,thers, for his birth right ; and to the child of his grand-son, Wolfert Ecker, son of Sybout, twenty shillings, beside other bequests to the remainder of his children, viz.: Sybout, Abram and Maretje."& A branch of this family still resides in the neighborhood. From the Eckers, this property passed by marriage to the gallant family of the Van Tassels, who figure so conspicuously in the writings of Diedrich Knickerbocker.

a Downincr's Rural Architecture, 385.

b Beo. Bui fogate'a oiiic, N. Y. lib. xix. 29.

THE TOWN OF GREENBURGH.

During the stormy period of the revolution, it belonged to "Jacob Van Tassel, or Van Taxel, as the name was originally spelt, after the place in Holland, which gave birth to this heroic line." The following graphic sketch of the exploits of this redoubtable hero, is taken from the chrenicle of the Roost :

"The situation of the Roost is in the very heart of what was the debateablc ground between the American and British lines, during the war. The British held possession of the city of New York, and the island of Manhattan, on which it stands. The Americans drew up towards the highlands, holding their headquarters at Peekskill. The intervening country, from Crotou River to Spiting Devil Creek, was the debateable land, subject to be harried by friend anil foe, like the Scottish borders of yore. It is a rugged country, with a line of rocky hills extending through it like a back bone, sending ribs on either side ; but among these rude hills are beautiful winding valleys, like those watered by the Pocautico and the Neperan.