This was done to forestall English claims to priority of possession, at that time conspicumatter of land purously in course of preparation. But even inof this the alert English. To chases the Dutch were scarcely aforetime the latter, also, the Indians executed a deed of sale, embracing extensive portions of Westchester County, and nearly as ancient as the first On July 1, 1610, Captain Nathaniel Turner, in beDutch land deed.

EARLIEST

SETTLERS

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half of the New Haven colony (Quinnipiacke), bought from Ponus, sagamore of Toquains, and Wascussue, sagamore of Shippan, lands running eight miles along the Sound and extending sixteen miles into the northwestern wilderness. This tract was comprehensively known by the name of " The Toquams." Ponus prudently reserved for himself "the liberty of his corn and pasture lands." It included, in Connecticut, the present Town of Stamford, as well as Darien and New Canaan, and parts of Bedford and Greenwich; aud, in Westchester County, the Towns of Poundridge, Bedford, and North Castle, either in whole or in part. On the basis of this purchase, the settlement at Stamford, Conn., was laid out in 1641. In 1655 the bargain of 1610 was reaffirmed by a new agreement with the Indians respecting the same district. No early settlements in the Westchester sections of the tract were attempted by the English; but it is an interesting point to bear in mind that the interior sections of this county bordering on Connecticut were first bought from the Indians not under Dutch but under English auspices, and thus that the English fairly share with the Dutch the title to original sovereignty in Westchester County, so far as that title can be said to be sustained by the right of mere purchase. There was a second English purchase from the Indians in 1610, which constructively may have included some parts of Westchester County.