His fat her was i mary imec Ri soldier, wh o remove' Ollltll out t o Sol it li Salem i die son n iado in 1808. '] mrsuits ii large fort niir in mo rcantile if t York . He was ono Eounders <i N< of the • Now

Free Academy in New York, and in 1840 save $10,000 to the support of the common schools in the .,t township now called ,i;,„l his T.owisboro homo by onhis thename.1st Ho of

GENERAL

COUNTY

HISTORY

campaign. Stephentown -- the present Somers -- was named for Stephen Van Cortlandt. The present name was adopted April 6, 1808, in honor of Captain Richard Soniers, the hero of the Tripolitan war. A part of New ( 'astle was annexed to Soniers in 1846. Of the twenty-one original towns, North Castle was the largest, having about 30,000 acres; but after the setting off from it of New Castle in 1791, Bedford, with its 21,700 acres, took the first rank, which it has always since maintained. The smallest of the original towns were Pelham (3,200 acres), Mamaroneck (3,900 acres*, Scarsdale (3,900 acres), and New Rochelle (5,200 acres). The first federal census was taken in 1790, two years after the organization of our county into towns. The following were the totals for the various political divisions then existing: TOWNS

POPULATION

North Castle (including New Castle). . 2,47<S Bedford 2,170 Cortlandt 1,932 Mount Pleasant (including the present Ossining) 1,921 Yorktown 1,609 Salem (now Lewisboro) 1,153 Greenburgh 1,100 Westchester (including West Farms, Morrisania, and Fordham Manor) 1,336 Stephentown (now Somers) 1,297 Total