And River to Francis French, Ebenezer Jones, and John Westcot of the d remaine that all finally on the 20th of November, 1671', Yonkers Land was disposed of in equal thirds to Thomas Delaval, Thonms Lewis, and Frederick Philipse. Of these various sales, the first, to Archer, and the last, to Philipse and others, arc of special historic interest, each of the two being followed by consecutive developments which will demand particular attention. . . John Archer, the earliest sub-purchaser in the original Van der oi Donck tract, was, as already stated, an inhabitant of the Town English of was he whether nty uncertai some is There Westchester. or Dutch origin. According to Bolton he was a descendant of Humphrey Archer of Warwickshire (i:>27-62), whose ancestor was Fulbert 1/ Archer, one of the companions of William the Conqueror; and from traces John's descent. BolHumphrey the same authority carefully ton is of the opinion that he came with the early Westchester settlers from Fairfield, Conn., about 1654-5. But the whole English pedigree for John Archer which Bolton has so painstakingly constructed is of

FORDHAM

MANOR

at least doubtful authenticity. Hiker, the historian of Harlem, states that in the original records of that villag e ids name occasionally appears in connection with Fordhani and s imilar matters, and that it is invariably written "Jan Arcer." It is supposed by Riker and others that he came from Amsterdam, Ilo Hand, and that marrying in this country an Englishwoman, and livi ng in an English-speaking settlement, he ultimately anglicized his original Dutch name into John Archer. His purchase in 1667 from Doughty o f lands below Kingsbridge was but one step toward the final acquire meiit of a handsome estate. Ml this property, with the comprising (Bolton says) 1,253 acres, exception of the hundred odd acres sol< 1 to him by Doughty, was bought from the Indians.