Upon this point de Lancey, the historian of the manors, says : " It will give a correct idea of the great extent and thoroughness of the manorial settlement of Westchester County, as well as the satisfactory nature of that method of settlement to its inhabitants, although a surprise, probably, to many readers, when it is stated that in the year 1769 onethird of the population of the county lived on the two manors of Cortlandt and Philipseburgh alone. The manors of Fordham, Morrisania, Pelham, and Scarsdale, lying nearer to the City of New York than these two, and more accessible than either, save only the lower end of Philipseburgh, were, if anything, much more settled. It is safe to say that upward of five-eighths of the people of Westchester County in 1769 were inhabitants of the six manors. " The distinguishing characteristics of the manors demand notice here, although our space does not permit any elaborate treatment of this particular subject.1 First, it should be understood that the manors, one and all, were only ordinary landed estates, granted to 1 Readers desiring a more detailed account are referred to Edward Floyd de Lancey's

"Origin Scharf's

and History of the Manors," in " History of Westchester County."

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

certain English subjects in America who, while popularly styled " lords " of the manors, enjoyed no distinguished rank whatever, and were in no way elevated titalarly, by virtue of their manorial proprietorships, above the common people. In no case was a manorial grant in Westchester County conferred upon a member of the British nobility, or even upon an individual boasting the minor rank of baronet; and in no case, moreover, was such a grant bestowed in recognition of services to the crown or as a mark of special honor by the sovereign.