History of Westchester County, New York, Vol. I

D., President of Talecollege, writing of Yonkers, in the Autumn of 1811, said, "it is remark- " able for nothing, except having been the residence of the family of " Philipse, one of the most distinguised of those which came, as Colonists, " from the United Netherlands. Colonel Philipse, the last branch *' resident in this country, I knew well. He was a worthy and re- " spectable man, not often excelled in personal and domestic amiable- " ness. Mrs. Philipse was an excellent woman; and the children, the "eldest of whom was about seventeen, gave every promise of treading " in the same steps," {Travels, in New England and New York, iii., " 442, 443.)

Mr. Bolton [Histm-y of Westchester-county, Second Edition, i., 523,) quoting from an original manuscript, in the handwriting of John Jay, said that that most zealous and most malignant of all 31r. Philipse's persecutors, s;iiil of him, probably in the later years of the life of the writer, "He was a well-tempered, amiable man ; and a kind, benevolent land- " lord. He had a taste for gardening, planting, &c., and employed " much time and money in that way. * * * At the commencement " of our Revolution, he, Frederick Philipse, was inclined to the Whigs, " but was afterwards persuaded to favor the Tories.* He was removed " to Connecticut, on his parole. Nothing could have been more favor- "able to him, circumstanced as he then was, than to be placed in such "a state of tranquil neutrality. On a certain occasion, he obtained per- " mission to go to New York, while in possession of the enemy. On '* being afterwards required to return, he very impro])erly and unwisely "yielded to the importunities of certain of his friends, and refused to " return.