They were appointed, either, by a special royal grant, over a special district, which was the more usual, or else, as in this instance, the franchise was named among others in the grant of a Manor. The appointment by Governor Hunter on September 4th, 1710, of Major Thomas Jones, of Fort Neck, Queens County, the grandfather of Judge Thomas Jones the author of the " History of New York during the Revolutionary War " as 'Ranger-General of Long Island ' is an instance of the former. That of

Stephanus van Cortlandt in his Manor-Grant of Cortlandt one of the latter. Its value to the Lord of Cortlandt was, that it gave him the regulation and absolute control of the methods of Hunting and Fishing, throughout the Manor, the forests and waters of which were remarkable for their more than great numbers of deer, beaver, wild turkies, wild geese swans, ducks, and other feathered game, and the greatplenty of salmon, shad, herrings, and striped bass, which filled the Hudson, to say nothing of the trout, black bass, and pickerel of its beautiful fresh water lakes and streams, which gemmed in clear brilliance the vales and glades of the Manor amid its bold lofty hills, and dark, magnificent forests.

The other special franchise was that of sending a Representative to the General Assembly. This was a franchise of so high a character that it was granted to but two more out the many New York Manors, those of Rensselaerswyck in 1705 and Livingston in 1715, the former eight years, the latter eighteen years, after the grant to Cortlandt. The franchise in this case was not to be enjoyed till after the lapse of twenty years from the date of the Manor-Grant, June 17th 1697, that is until after June 17th, 1717. The reason of this was to allow a sufficient time to elapse for the coming in of a population numerous enough to require a representative.