Westchester County, New York, During the American Revolution

5 Minutes of the Committee to Detect Conspiracies, " Thursday, A.M., "June 27, 1776:" Historical Manuscripts, etc., Miscellaneous Papers, xxxv., 485.

"Philipsborough, July 2, 1776. '' Gentlemen :

" I was served on Saturday evening last with a " paper signed by you, in which you suggest that " you are authorized by the Congress to summon cer- " tain persons to appear before you, whose conduct " had been represented as inimical to the rights of "America, of which number you say I am one.

" Who it is that has made such a representation or " upon what particular facts it is founded, as you have " not stated them, it is impossible for me to imagine; " but, considering my situation and the near and " intimate ties and connexions which I have in this " country, 6 which can be secured and rendered

6 Frederic Philipse was a native of the Colony ; and the family had been well known residents of New York for more than a century preceding the date of this letter, and was connected, by marriage, with the other leading families of America -- even George Washington had not scrupled to seek an alliance with it, if tradition speaks truly.

The well-known Rev. Timothy Dwight, S. T. D., President of Talecollege, writing of Yonkers, in the Autumn of 1811, said, " it is remark- " able for nothing, except having been the residence of the family of " Philipse, one of the mostdistinguiBed of those which came, as Colonists, " from the United Netherlands. Colonel Philipse, the last branch " resident in this country, I knew well. He was a worthy and re- " spectable man, not often excelled in personal and domestic amiable- " ness. Mrs. Philipse was an excellent woman ; and the children, the " eldest of whom was about seventeen, gave every promise of treading " in the same steps," (Travels, in New England and New York, iii., " 442, 443.)