Thus in 1733 all of Westchester County north of the Croton River, and between that stream and the Connecticut line, having an aggregate area of over seventy-five thousand acres, was appraised for the paltry sum of $48,000. This territory now includes the Towns of Cortlandt, Yorktown, Sinners, North Salem, Lewisboro, and a portion of Pouudridge, whose combined taxable value amounts to not a few millions. In 1753 the manor lands south of the Croton River were divided. The heirs-at-law, entering into enjoyment of their individual properties as partitioned to them, gradually leased the lands to settlers or sold them in fee. The subsequent history of the whole great Van Cortlandt estate, from the proprietary point of view, is well represented by that of the share which fell to young Stephen de Lancey, the son of the chief justice -- a share, as already mentioned, embracing nearly all of the present Town of North Salem. We quote from Mr. Edward Floyd de Lancey's ki History of the Manors": Chief Justice de Lancey in 1744 conveyed them (his Cortlandt Manor lots), as a gift, to Stephen a few years later began their settlement, and brought in his second son, Stephen.

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ARISTOCRATIC

FAMILIES

many farmers and some mechanics. The whole tract was laid out into farms, rectangular in shape, of two hundred acres each as a rule. These were leased for lung terms of years at low rents, the highest not being more than £10 and the lowest about £2 or £3. The rent rolls and map showed the farms, which were all numbered, the tenants' names, and the rent payable by each. It was always understood that the tenants might buy " the soil right," as the fee was termed, at any time the parties could agree upon price.