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

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

dt of the Hudson River, was erected into the Manor of Cortlan side1697. in , ., j » of n childre seven the of eldest the Stephanus Van Cortlandt was Govert LockerOloff Stevense Van Cortlandt and Annetje, sister of New Amsterof r burghe d mans a very wealthy and distinguishe Amsterdam New in note of man a was dam' 'His father, Oloff, land m He came to New Nether and 'New York for forty years. of the Dutch 1638 with Director Kieft, as a soldier in the service e of Ltrecht, West India Company. Oloff was a native of the provinc ed to have suppos is and on, in Holland, possessed a good educati gh nothalthou t descen gentle not if been of thoroughly respectable a brief time hm- definite is known of his ancestry. After remaining nted by in'the military service in New Amsterdam, he was .appoi in 1648 to ened resign he which from n, positio official Kieft to he was very suco-age in mercantile and brewing pursuits, wherein <^ He was ^-- ,on acquiring a large fortune. most uninterruptedly from 1655 to the English conquest.