To this worthy deed he was prompted by his first wife, Margaret; and his second wife, Catherina, also took a deep interest in the matter. The result was the building of the Dutch Reformed Church of Sleepy Hollow, one of the most noted of old religious edifices in America. From certain circumstances Dr. Cole, in the centennial address already referred to, feels justified in expressing the conviction that the erection of the church was commenced by Philipse as early as 1681. He points out that its bell was cast to order in 1685 -- " proof positive,'' he declares, " that the building had already been begun/' But according to the only authentic records in existence, it was not until 1697 that the church organization was effected and a minister, Rev. Guiliam Bertholf, summoned. The tablet over the door of the church states that it was built in 1699, but this tablet was probably not put up until within comparatively recent years, and it records the accepted date of the completion of the structure, making no mention of the time at which it was begun. Philipse was a worshipper within its walls, and he was buried in a vault beneath it, which was prepared expressly for his family. His decided preference for the Pocantico house as his permanent place of residence is illustrated by his selection of the Pocantico instead of the Nepperhan settlement as the location for the church building. We have now traced the early history of the various original land patents and grants along the shore line of Westchester County, extending from the mouth of the Byram River on the Sound to the Hudson, with incidental accounts of the principal patentees or grantees and of the settlements established. This embraces all the exterior portions of the county except the section from Croton Bay to the Highlands -- that is, the present Town of Cortlandt, -- which, as we have indicated, was bought by Stephanus Van Cortlandt in a series of purchases commencing in 1683, and, with its eastward extension to the Connecticut line, together with a tract on the west