The importance of the manorial proprietorships in Westchester County, in their relations to its political and social character and to its eventful history for a hundred years, can not be overestimated. All the founders of the six manors were men of forceful traits, native ability, and wide influence. With a single exception,1 they left their estates, entirely undiminished and unimpaired, either to children or to immediate kinsmen, who in turn, by their personal characters and In consequence i John Archer, of Fordham. of financial complications, his manor did not remain in his family. Yet the Archer family

continued to be a respectable and useful one in the country.

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qualities, as well as by their marital alliances, solidified the already substantial foundations which had been laid, and greatly strengthened the social position and enlarged the spheres of their families. To enumerate the marriages contracted during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in the male and female lines, by the Van Cortlandts, the Philipses, the Morrises, the Pells, and the descendants of Caleb Heathcote, would involve almost a complete recapitulation of the more conspicuous and wealthy New York families of the entire colonial period, besides many prominent families of other provinces. To the Westchester manorial families belonged some of the most noted and influential Americans of their times -- men of shining talents, fascinating manners, masterful energy, and splendid achievement; statesmen, orators, judges, and soldiers -- who were among the principal popular leaders and civic officials of the province and who won renown both in the public service and in the held during the Revolution. Alike to the patriot cause and the Tory faction those families contributed powerful and illustrious supporters. As the issues between the colonies and Great Britain became more closely drawn, ami the inevitable struggle approached, the influences of the representative members of the Westchester families were thrown partly on one side and partly on the other.