Every of which sides is six miles in length, to witt : from the east side westerly, and from the south side northerly, and is a township of six miles square, or six miles on every side, which said lands have been by purchase or otherwise, lawfully obtained of the Indian native proprietors." April 8, 1704, this Connecticut patent was confirmed by New York, an annual quit-rent of £5 being provided for. to a map of the manors of Westchester County it will reference By be observed that the northern section of Bedford Patent overlaps Cortlandt Manor, taking a quite considerable area from that manor. On the other hand, Stephanas Van Cortlandt's manor grant, dated June 17, 1007, called for a southern boundary beginning at the mouth of the Croton River and running due east "twenty English miles "-- that is, in a continuous line from the Hudson River to Connecticut. This interception of the southern boundary of Cortlandt Manor by the Bedford Patent requires explanation. At the time when the Cortlandt Manor grant was issued the Bedbud Patent for a tract six miles square based upon Stamford bounds on the south, as conferred by the general court of Connecticut, was

already in existence, having', in fact, been obtained some six weeks

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EARLY

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SETTLEMENT

previously. Consequently, says a Bedford historian, " when Van Oortlandt-s surveyor, working on his fc due east ' line, was .advancing through Bedford, he Avas doubtless apprised by our settlers that he was on Connecticut soil. No use to go farther; so he ran his line around the north side of Bedford, leaving her out of the Van Cortlandt Manor." 1 Indeed, Van Cortlandt or his heirs, fully accepting the claims of the Bedford people regarding their northern limits, built along those limits, to indicate the line of separation between Bedford and the manor, a solid stone wall, much of which still remains.