Home / Shonnard, Frederic, and W.W. Spooner. History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900. New York: The New York History Company, 1900. / Passage

History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900

Shonnard, Frederic, and W.W. Spooner. History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900. New York: The New York History Company, 1900. 319 words

Bounded on the east by a line that runs from said meadow northwesterly by marked trees, to a certain black oak tree standing a little below the road, marked on four sides, and from thence to run due north four miles and a half, more or less, and from the north side of the said west line, ending at Broncke's river, and from thence to run easterly till it meets with the north end of the said eastern most bounds, together with all and singular the islands and the islets before the said tract of land lying and being in the sound and salt water," etc. This was an absolute deed of sale of the property. The sum paid for it, £1,G75, was extraordinarily large, in comparison with the usual amounts given in those times for unimproved landed property, and is a demonstration of the entirely substantial character of the settlement of New Rochelle at its very foundation. In addition to the purchase money, " said Jacob Leisler, his heirs and assigns,1' were to yield and pay " unto the said John Pell, his heirs and assigns, lords of the said Manor of Pelham, to the assigns of them or him, or their or either of them, as an acknowledgment to the lords of the said manor, one fat calf on every four and twentieth clay of June, yearly and every year forever -- if demanded." This proviso was incorporated conformably with the customs of the times, which required the vouchsafing of peculiar courtesies to the lords of manors on the part of individuals upon whom they bestowed their lands. The ceremony of the presentation of the fat calf was duly observed for many years, and was always made a festival occasion. Although the deed of sale specified the Bronx River as the westernmost boundary of the tract, its bounds as finally established stopped at Hutchinson's River or creek.