Home / Bolton, Robert Jr. A History of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. II. New York: Alexander S. Gould, 1848. / Passage

A History of the County of Westchester, Vol. II

Bolton, Robert Jr. A History of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. II. New York: Alexander S. Gould, 1848. 308 words

He was elected a member of the house of Assembly, about the time of his father's return to the United States ; and when in 1806, William Cottam Longe, Esq., who was elected speaker, was disallowed by the governor, Lewis Morris Wilkins was chosen in his place, and approved of, and occupied the chair, by subsequent election, until 1817, when he

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was removed, to be placed on the bench of the supreme court of tlie colony. Judge Wilkius resides at Windsor."^

The present residence of Mr. Gouvernenr M. Wilkins is seated on the brow of a hill, near the extremity of the neck, and commands an almost uninterrupted view of the river with the adjacent shores. The interior contains some good paintings, particularly a view on the Arno, by Cole, and a portrait of Martin Wilkins, Esq., by Rogers, &c., also a beautiful white marble bust of Washington, by Garacchi, and an Apollo by Tantenovi. The old family mansion, which stands on the side of the neck is now converted into a farm house. Here in 1776 three of the clergy managed to secrete themselves for some time, notwithstanding the most minute and persevering search was made for them, so ingeniously contrived was the place of their concealment in and about the old fashioned chimney. Food was conveyed to them through a trap door in the floor. Tne front of the house is shaded by two of the largest and finest elm trees in the County. Cornell's or Clason's neck, which is pleasantly situated in the south-west corner of the town, contains about five hundred and fifty acres. We have seen that Thomas Cornell, from whom it was originally named, became possessed of the neck through the Dutch, who purchased of the Indiaiis.i' Near the entrance to the neck, are the mansions of Mrs.