"At the time ibis patent was isbeing confined to the patentees. sued," says the author of the chapter on White Plains in Scharfs History, " Broadway, with its home-lots, had long been established." After the procurement of the patent the population increased so rapidly that "in 172.% the inhabitants assumed an independent organization, elected officers, and proceeded to manage their own affairs.'' In the progress of this History, we have so far followed the movements of settlement and development along closely connecting lines. It has thus happened that the settlement of the Town of Bedford, rewhich, under a strictly chronological arrangement, should have yet ceived notice among the comparatively early events, has not as been traced, or even referred to, except in the merest incidental manner. i " History~of

White

Plains,"

by Josiah

S. Mitchell, Scharf, i.( 721.

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

Bedford, as one of the ancient towns of the county, presents unique aspects. It is the only one of the first settlements having an inland location, and the only one whose original history stands quite apart from that of the remainder of the county, with no associations or relations binding it to other Westchester settlements of early origin and respectable importance. In common with Westchester, Eastchester, Pelham, and Rye, it was settled by Connecticut people; but, unlike these communities, it was by its isolation in the northern central portion of the county removed completely from New York environment and influence. Bedford, at least until within recent times,

OF BEDFORD.