S.)' Out of the lands the Indian title to which was extinguished by the various Indian deeds above set forth were formed the three Great Patents that have been mentioned, the West Patent dated 14"' February 1701 to ten Patentees, the Middle Patent dated 17* February 1701 to 13 Patentees, and the East Patent dated 2'i March 1701 to 11 Patentees. Ten of these Patentees were the same in all thi-ee Patents. They were the ten persons to whom the West Patent, the earliest of the three, was issued, and their names were Robert Walters, Leigh Attwood, Cornelius De Peyster, Caleb Heathcote, Matthew Clarkson, John Chollwell, Richard Slater, Robert Lurting, Barne Cosens, Lancaster Symes, all well known as prominent men of the City and Province of New York. In the Middle Patent in addition to the above ten, Joseph Theale, John Horton, and Joseph Purdy, all of Rye, appear as Patentees. In the East Patent besides the above ten Peter Mathews of Bedford appears as a Patentee. Several of these Patentees held their shares not for themselves but in trust for friends and some of them sold their shares to other persons.

Immediately after the Patents were issued, all the different Patentees named in each executed joint covenants under seal, that no survivorship should take place aniong them, and that each should be divided into as many distinct parts as there were Patentees. The covenant for the West Patent was dated February 18"' 1702, those for the Middle and East Patents were both dated the same day, the 25'" of June 1702.^