Jacobus purchased from his father-in-law, Philipse, in 1G99, fifty acres, to which he later added several hundred acres more. He promptly began to improve his estate. About 1700 he dammed Tippet's Brook, thus creating the present Van Cortlandt Lake; and probably not long afterward he erected below the dam the Van Cortlandt mill, which until as recent a date as 1889 (when it came into the possession of the City of Xew York) continued to grind corn for the neighboring farmers. Jacobus in his will bequeathed to his only son, Frederick Van Cortlandt, his farm, " situate, lying, and being in a place

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

county

commonly called and known by the name of Little or Lower Yonckers." Frederick (bora in 1698) married Francina, daughter of Augustus and Anna Maria (Bayard) .Jay, whereby his descendants became of kin to Chief Justice John Jay. It was under Frederick's proprietorship thai the Van Cortlandt mansion now in the custody of the Colonial Dames -- a dwelling winch rivals the Philipse Manor house at Yonkers as a specimen of high-class colonial architecture, and, like the latter, is still in a state of perfect preservation -- was constructed. The Van Cortlandt Mansion ( we quote from the interesting descriptive pamphlet published by its present custodians) is built of rubble stone, with brick trimmings about the windows. It is unpretentious in appearance, yet possessing- a stateliness all its own, which grows upon the visitor. It was erected in 1748 by Frederick Van Cortlandt -- a stone on the southwest corner bears the date -- and possesses within and without many peculiarities of the last century. . . . The style of architecture of the house is essentially Dutch. The old Dutch builders were thorough masters of their trade, and put up a structure which is as strong to-day as when New York was a colony.