These lines have been followed throughout. All existing materials, so far as accessible, have been utilized, proper credit being given to the sources from which borrowings have been made. The work comprehends a variety of new materials, which have been interwoven in the text. Portions of the manuscript have been revised or criticised by persons particularly well informed on certain phases of the subject; and to all of these critics the editor extends his thankful acknowledgments.

Special credit is due to Mr. -lames L. Wells for his editorial suitervision of the entire work so far as concerns the sections of the original county now constituting the Borough of the Bronx, New York City; and thanks must also be expressed to Mr. Wells for the crest of Jonas Bronck (the first settler of Westchester County), introduced by his kind permission in the title-page. It is probably not generally known that from the Bronck crest have been derived some of tin; essential features of the arms of the State of New York. " Shonnard Homestead," August, 1900.

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CONTENTS Editor's

Preface

in Chapter

Physical Description of the County Chapter

The Aboriginal Inhabitants

Chapter

Discovery and Preliminary View Chapter

The Earliest Settlers -- Bronck, Anno Hutchinson, Throckmorton, Cornell Chapter

The Redoubtable Captain John Underbill-- Dr. Adrian Van der Donck Chapter VI Beginnings of Serious Settlement -- Westchester Town, Rye Chapter

(->i;

"The Portion of the North Riding on the Main" -- Progress of Settlement and Beginnings of the Manorial Estates Chapter

VIII