In 1646, Adriaen van der Donck received a grant of this tract, called Nepperhaem, where Yonkers now stands, from the Dutch. ' This grant was made under the " Charter of Privileges and Exemptions," issued June 7, 1629, " which provided that any member of the company who should purchase of the Indians, and found in any part of New Netherland (except Manhattan) a colonic of fifty persons over fifteen years of age, should be in all respects the feudal lord and patroon of the territory of which he should thus take possession." ^ This colony bears the name of Colen Donck. Here we have the second civil division.

In 1655, Thomas Pell, of Fairfield, Conn., laid claim to Vredeland under color of an Indian conveyance of November 14, 1654, and called it Westchester. Settlement took place shortly after by the English from New England. April 2, 1655, the Dutch ordered them off. March 6, 1656, an order was issued by the director-general and Council for the arrest of the English intruders. A force, sent for the purpose, arrested twenty-three persons and brought them to New Amsterdam. On the 16th the prisoners offered to submit to the Dutch authority. Their offer was accepted. They requested the privilege of choosing their own officers and of making and administering their own laws. They were granted the same privileges as the freemen of the villages of Middleborough, Brenkelen, Midwout and Amersfoort. They were allowed to nominate double the number of persons, from whom the executive would make selections. These officers were called "Schepens."^ * The civil designation originally given to Throckmorton's settlement Oostdorp or Easitown, was continued.