Robert Graham, Colonel Lewis Graham, and Colonel James Van Cortlandt, all of the Town of Westchester; Stephen Ward and Joseph Drake, of Eastchester; Major Philip Van Cortlandt, of Cortlandt Manor; Colonel James Holmes, of Bedford; John Thomas, Jr., of Rye; David Dayton, of North Castle; and William Paulding, of Philipseburgh Manor. It is noteworthy that among the results of this White Plains meeting two men whose names were destined to rank among the most important in the annals of Westchester County obtained their first entrance into public life -- Gouverneur Morris and Jonathan G. Tompkins. The former headed the delegation to the provincial congress.

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

and the latter was one of the principal members of the committee of ninety which was created to take charge of affairs in the county. Gouverneur .Morris was the fourth son of Lewis Morris, Jr., and a stepbrother of Colonel Lewis Morris. lie was born in 1752, was graduated at Columbia College in 1768, studied law under the preceptorship of William Smith the younger (afterward royal chief justice), and was admitted to the bar in 1771, when only twenty years old. He immediately espoused the cause of the anti-government party, although identifying himself, like Jay, with its more moderate advocates; and it was not until the die had been cast by the introduction of the Declaration of Independence in the continental congress that he took a pronounced position in support of radical doctrines. As a delegate from Westchester County to the provincial congress of 1775 and 1776 he attracted general attention by his abilities, and thenceforward his services were constantly employed iu behalf of the nation. His mother was a lady of strong Loyalist prejudices, and Gouverneur's championship of the Revolutionary cause was a great disappointment toher. His sister, Isabella, married Isaac Wilkins, whose melancholy farewell to his countrymen has just been noticed.