Shonnard, Frederic, and W.W. Spooner. History of Westchester County, New York, from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900. New York: The New York History Company, 1900.

Gc 974.701 W52s 1142755 GENEALOGY COLLECTION ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01150 1514 fam Jat/> l/ H IS T O R Y Westchester County YORK From Its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900 13 Y FREDERIC SHONNAED W. W. SPOONER ARMS YORK JONAS HISTORY 114 FIFTH BRONCK AVENUE YORK COMPANY Copyright The New York History Company 114275 EDITOR'S PREFACE HE preparatory work for this …

Spooner; and whatever satisfaction the editor may reasonably -- without an excess of complacency -- take to himself in view of his own association in the enterprise, rests in a peculiar manner upon his appreciation of the conscientious devotion and accomplished ability with which Mr. Spooner has brought it to its practical issue. Although the previous histories of Westchester …

however exhaustively and excellently written, do not constitute a history of the county; and for a consecutive understanding of the general comity history the reader of Bolton or Scharf must rely upon his own constructive ingenuity -- must indeed be his own historian. Long before the work now given to the public was conceived as a practical project, the present editor realized …

These lines have been followed throughout. All existing materials, so far as accessible, have been utilized, proper credit being given to the sources from which borrowings have been made. The work comprehends a variety of new materials, which have been interwoven in the text. Portions of the manuscript have been revised or criticised by persons particularly well informed on …

'^Z^c ^ CONTENTS Editor's Preface in Chapter Physical Description of the County Chapter The Aboriginal Inhabitants Chapter Discovery and Preliminary View Chapter The Earliest Settlers -- Bronck, Anno Hutchinson, Throckmorton, Cornell Chapter The Redoubtable Captain John Underbill-- Dr. Adrian Van der Donck Chapter VI Beginnings of Serious Settlement -- Westchester Town, Rye …

Westchester County in Lino for Independence -- Events to July 9, L776 Chapter XVI The State of New York Born at White Plains-- Events to October 12, 1776 Chapter The Campaign XY1I and Battle of White Plains Chapter XVIII Fort Washington's Fall -- The Delinquency of General Lee Chapter The Strategic Situation -- The Neutral Ground Chapter Events of 1777 and 1778 Chapter T25 …

By the terms of this act, Westchester County was to comprise " East and West Chester, Bronxland, Fordham, and all as far eastward as the province extends," and to run northward along the Hudson River to the Highlands, its southern limits being, of course, Long Island Sound and the waters between the mainland and Manhattan Island or New York County. Of the boundaries thus …

This long-standing and curious controversy as to the eastern boundary involved, however, nothing more than rival claims of colonial jurisdiction, arising from mathematical inaccuracies in original calculations of distance, and from peculiar conditions of early settlement along the Sound, which presented a mere problem of territorial rectification upon the basis of reciprocal …

In these pages the story of old Westchester County is to be told; and whenever the county as a whole is mentioned without specific indication of the present limits, the reader will understand that the original county, including those portions which have actually passed under a new political jurisdiction, is meant. Westchester County, thus considered in its primal extent, is …

a short distance below Anthony's Nose, however, it continues decidedly narrow, until, at the very termination of this portion of its course, a place called Verplanck's Point, its banks approach quite close together, being only one mile apart. Here was located the famous King's Ferry of the Revolution, an extremely important line of inter- PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION COUNTY …

The breadth of the county varies from twenty-five to eight and one-half miles. Throughout its entire extent along the Hudson the Westchester shore rises abruptly from the river edge to elevations seldom less than one hundred feet. Nowhere, however, does the Westchester bank ascend precipitously in the manner, or even at all resembling the manner, of the Palisade formation on …

But every other part of the county -- at least every part conveniently reached from the railroads -- is also highly esteemed for select residence purposes; and, indeed, Westchester County throughout its extent is peculiarly a residential county. Spuyten Duyvil Creek and the Harlem River, which separate Manhattan Island from the mainland and form a portion of the southern …

tides in the Harlem River," says General John Newton, in a report to the War Department, " are chiefly due to the propagated Hellgate wave, while the latter is the result of the contact of the Sound and Sandy Hook tides. The tides in the Hudson River and Spuyten Duyvil are produced by the propagation of the sea. tide through the Upper and Lower bays." The mean rise of the tide …

The mean natural depth of Spuyten Duyvil Creek has always been comparatively slight. Owing to the importance of this waterway as a means of short transit for craft plying between the Hudson River and ports on the Sound and in New England, the United States Government has in our own time dredged a channel, which, from the Hudson to Hellgate, has a depth of from twelve to …

Among the more important of the projecting points of land are Stony Point ( Tort Morris), Oak Point, Barreto Point. Hunt's Point, Cornell's Neck (Clason's Point), Throgg's Neck (with Fort Schuyler at its extremity), Rodman's (Pelham) Neck, Davenport's Neck, De Lancey Point, and Rye Neck. Some of these localities are famous in the history of the county, the province, and the …

The New York ( 'ity limits on the Hudson now reach to i he northern bounds of the hamlei of Mount Saint Vincent, and on the Sound to a point about opposite, taking in also Hunter's, Hart, and City Islands. Of the more than one hundred miles of coast line originally and until 1873 possessed by Westchester County, about thirty have passed to the city -- three miles on the …

Pursuant to this provision the line between Westchester and Putnam Counties starts on the Hudson at Anthony's Nose and follows an easterly course to the Connecticut boundary. The surface of the county consists of several ranges of hills, with valleys stretching between, in which are numerous streams and an abundance of lakes. None of the physical features of Westchester County …

A high ridge, called the Stone Hill (the watershed of tin- county), passes from the town of Mount Pleasant on the Hudson eastward through the towns of New Castle, Bedford, Pounolridge, and Salem into Connecticut, in spite of this exception, however, the general trend of the hills is north and south, a fact illustrated by the almost uniformly southerly course of the more …

The former river is the chief source of the water supply of New York City; the latter -- which, by the way, also furnishes water to New York -- has many historic and romantic associations, dear to New Yorkers as well as Westchester people, and its name has been adopted for one of the beautiful new parks of the city, and also for one of the five grand divisions which constitute …

The Muscoot is the outlet of the celebrated Lake Mahopac in Putnam County, and the Cross (also called the Peppenegheck ) of Lake Waccabuc, one of the largest of the Westchester lakes. The Croton watershed lies almost wholly in the State of New York, although draining a small area in Connecticut. It extends about thirty-three miles north and south and eleven miles east and …

It is formed by a dam about five miles east of the mouth of the Croton, and has an ordinary length of some three and one-half miles. When the new dam is finished the length of the lake will be in excess of eleven miles. From the lake two aqueducts, the wk Old " and the " New," lead to the city. The former is thirty-eight and the latter thirty-three miles long, the distance in …

Into the Spuyten Duyvil Creek empties Tibbet's Brook, a small runlet which rises in the Town of Yonkers and flows south, passing through Van Cortlandt Lake ( artificial ). The most noteworthy of the streams emptying into the Sound is the Bronx Eiver, whose outlet is between Hunt's Point and Cornell's Neck. The Bronx lies wholly within Westchester County, having its headwaters …

The portion of the Bronx watershed drained for this purpose has an area of thirteen and one-third square miles. East of the mouth of the Bronx River on the Sound are the outlets of AYestchester and Eastchester Creeks -- tidal streams -- emptying, respectively, into AVestchester and Eastchester Bays. The Hutchinson River rises in Scarsdale and flows into Eastchester Bay. The …

The lakes of Westchester, like the hills and streams, boast no features of exceptional interest, but are strictly in keeping with the quiet beauty of the general landscape. The largest, as already mentioned, isCroton Lake, entirely artificial; and we have also seen that ^^|5*JWL, , several of the natural lakes have been utilized for purposes of water supply. Lake Waccabuc, in …

Tarr, of Cornell University, in a recent series of papers1 on the geology of New York State, embodying the latest investigations and conclusions on the subject, assigns to the southern angle of the State, including Westchester County, the name of the " Gneissic Highland Province." This province, he says, is of complex structure, and one in which, in its main and most typical …

This is extremely well illustrated in Rockland County, where the gneissic Ramapo Mountains are faced at their southeastern base by a lowland, a somewhat rolling plain, which, however, is bounded on its eastern margin by another highland where the trap of the Palisades rises close by the Hudson River/' In the opinion of Professor Tarr, this region, with the large Adirondack …

This mountain range extende of it was a alone the eastern part of the seacoast States, and west Adironthe r Whethe . <>Teat sea in the present Mississippi Valley connected, and daeks and this Highland mountain range were ever told in the w'lia! was the actual extension of the two areas, can not be of much of the present state of geological knowledge, the record of later ages …

It Lower the area ami belong to an even earlier age than of W estmarbles the and is pointed out that the marbles of Vermont lly different chester County, with their associated rocks, are essentia f,-,>m one another, and can hardly, therefore, belong to a common belt and formation; the Vermont marbles being found in a single banded and mottled of and behio' almost pure …

The Sing Sing marble, however, although an admirable building stone for many purposes, is of comparatively coarse and inferior quality, becoming stained in the course of time by the action of the sea air on account of the presence of grains of iron pyrites. Marble is also quarried at Tuckahoe. Abundant indications are afforded of extensive and radical glacial action. " Croton …

It is a prodigious rock of red granite, said to be the solitary one of its kind in the county. The minerals found in the county, in greater or lesser quantities, embrace magnetic iron ore, iron and copper pyrites, green malachite, sulphuret of zinc, galena and other lead ores, native silver", serpentine, garnet, beryl, apatite, tremolite, white pyroxene, chlorite, black …

There are various mineral springs, as well as other springs, yielding in some water of singularly pure quality, The latter being utilized for cases with commercial profit. A well-known mineral spring, whoso waters medicinal virtues are claimed, is the Chappaqua Spring, _ three miles east of Sing Sing. disinteof product the is The prevailing soil of Westchester County grations …

The entire North American mainland, in fact, from Florida to Hudson's Bay, although explored by voyagers of different nationalities within comparatively brief periods after the advent of Columbus, had been practically neglected throughout the sixteenth century as a field for serious purposes of civilized occupation and exploitation. The early French attempts at settlement in …

Elizabeth in 1585 for establishing coloRaleigh under his patent from nies north of the Spanish dominions in Florida were, according to Bancroft, a body of -broken-down gentlemen and libertines, more few mechanfitted to corrupt a republic than to found one,'1 with very ering advenics farmers, or laborers among them-- mere buccane turers, who carried fire and sword into the land …

Throughout the era of original American discovery and coast exploration, the returning mariners had agreed in describing the region to the north of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea as utterly lacking in indications of accumulated riches, inhabited only by savage races who possessed no gold and silver or other valuable propexerty,*enjoyed no civilization, offered no …

The impressive record of these disastrous failures, in connection with the uniformly unflattering accounts of the lands farther north, deterred all The poverty of European nations from like pompous adventurings. the native inhabitants of North America saved them from the swift fate which overtook the rich peoples of the south, and for a century preserved them even from …

Yet the same conditions made them the ruggedest, bravest, and most independent of races, and utterly unassimilable. Thus, as found by the Europeans, while because of their poverty provoking no programme of systematic conquest and dispossession, they were foredoomed to inevitable progressive dislodgement and ultimate extermination or segregation. The cultivated and numerous …

There is a strong- probability that on the civilization of the Aztecs was either of direct Mongolian derivati . ntations transpla an .Mongoli early or partiallv a development from This view is sustained, first, by certain superficial resemblances, and, of second by various details in old Chinese manuscripts suggesti.veThe former intercourse with the shores of Mexico and South …

Yet while the aspects of the World are most unsatispurely historical progress of man in the New attended by much more factory, anthropological studies proper are favorable conditions in the Americas than in Europe. In the Old World, occcupied and thickly settled for many historic ages by man in the various stages of civilized development, most of the vestiges of prehistoric …

Chenoweth, at Inwood, on Manhattan Island, a short distance below Spuyten Duyvil. Mr. Chenoweth unearthed a variety of interesting objects, including Indian skeletons, hearthstones blackened by lire, implements, and utensils. There can be no doubt that these remains were from a period antedating the European discovery. But they possessed no importance beyond that fact. With …

They came, he says, " dressed in mantles of feathers and robes of fur, the women clothed in hemp, red copper tobacco pipes, and other things of copper did they wear about their necks." Their attitude was entirely amicable, for they brought no arms with them. On his voyage up the river to the head of navigation, Hudson was everywhere received by the Indian chiefs of both banks …

Under the early Dutch governme of their continues Ruttenber, the .Mohicans sold a considerable portion Mohawks the admitted and r, Rensselae Van to side west the on land to territorial sovereignty north of the Mohawk River. The Mohawks were one of the five tribes of the great Iroquois confederacy, whose other members were the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Thus as …

as a separate grand division or as a minor body, the geographical limits of the territory over which they were spread are well defined. _ Maikans, and by the French misThey were called' by the ofDutch Mahingans, gathered between Manhatsionaries the " nine nations tan ;,nd the environs of Quebec." The tradition which they gave of their origin has been stated as follows: nation …

Our forefathers assert that the other country was and this another country ; that they passed over great waters, where or water where snakes are nearly connected, called Ukhokpeck ; it signifies snake water they derived the abundant • and that they lived by the side of a great water or sea, whence man of the Mahheakunnuk name of the Muhheakunnuk nation. Muhheakanneuw signifies …

The Mohican power is regarded by Ruttenber as hardly less formidable than that of the Iroquois, and he points out that notwithstanding the boasted supremacy of the Iroquois in war there is no historical evidence that the Mohicans were ever brought under subjection to them or despoiled of any portion of their territory. Yet it is unquestionable that the Iroquois exacted and …

This finds a good illustration in the affidavit says deponent the which in 1730, 13, October executed Mmhani, King es (Wappmthat"he is - a River Indian of the Tribe of the Wappinoeast shores of o-ers) which tribe was the ancient inhabitants of the of middle the about to York New of City the from River, Hudson's of County present the of part Beekinans patent (in the northern …

The latter, havmet Connecticut line being were, i is believed fn jurisdiction thence to the Connecticut River, the original head of the s perhap « gers, Wappm of family ed enlarg an over the southern pa tribe from whence its conquests were pushed of the territory of the extent south of the peninsula.-' The north and They first sold their miles. sixty some Sequin Ts said to …

No apologies need be made for transferring to these pages, even quite literally. Ruttenber's classification of the Indians of the county, with the inciPALISADED dental descriptive particulars. 1. The Reck o-awa wanes, better known by the generic name of Manhattans and so designated by Brodhead and other New York historians. Bolton gives to this chieftaincy the name of …

In Breeden Raedt their name is given as the Reckewackes, and it is said that in the treaty of 1643 Oritany, sachem of the Hackinsaeks, declared he was delegated by and for those of Tappaen, Reckgawawanc, Kicktawanc, and Sintsinc. The tract occupied by the Reckgawawancs on the mainland was called Keckesick, and is described as " lying over against the flats of the Island of …

It is said that outlines of it can still be traced by numerous shell beds. It was called Weckquaesgeck, and its location was at the mouth of Wicker's Creek (called by the Indians the V\ ysquaqua elms, ' now or Weghqueghe). Another of their villages was Alipconck, the - place of the to the Tarrytown. Their territory appears to have extended from Norwalk on the Sound Creenburgh …

Ketchtawonck was their leading village, at the mouth of the Croton (Kitchtawonck) River. They occupied another, Sackhoes, on the site of Peekskill. Their castle or fort, which stood at the mouth of the Croton, is represented as one of the most formidable and ancient of Indian fortresses south of the Highlands. Its precise location was at the entrance or neck of Teller's Point …

Ponus reserved portions of Toquams for the use of himself and his associates, but with this exception the entire possessions of the Tankitekes appear to have passed under a deed to the whites without metes or bounds. The chieftaincy occupies a prominent place in Dutch history through the action MORTAR PESTLE. of Pacham, " a crafty man," who not only perEormed discreditable …

They possessed, besides, portions of the towns of Rye and Harrison, and of Stamford (Conn.), and there are grounds for supposing that the tract known as Toquams, assigned to the Tankitekes, was part of their dominions. They had a very large village on the banks of Rye Pond hi the town of Rye, and in the southern angle of that town, on the beautiful hill now known as Mount …

Though greatly astonished at the advent of the tk Half Moon," and perplexed by the white skin, remarkable dress, and terrible weapons of its crew, they discovered no fear, and at the first offer of physical violence or duress were prompt and intrepid in resentment. On his way up the river, at a point probably below Spuyten Duyvil, Hudson attempted to detain two of the natives …

The entire conduct of the Indians in their subsequent relations with the Europeans who settled in the land and gradually absorbed it was in strict keeping with the grim and fearless attitude shown upon this all the refirst occasion. To manifestations of force they opposed sistance thev could summon, and with the fiercest determination and and most relentless severitv …

They have so much witchcraft, divination, sorcery, and wicked tricks that they can not be held in by any locks or bounds. They are as thievish and treacherous as they are tall, and in cruelty they are more inhuman than the people of Barbary and far exceed the Africans. 1 have written something concerning these things to several persons elsewhere, not doubting that Brother Crol …

If we speak to them of God it appears to them like a dream, and we are compelled to speak of Him not under the name of Manetto, whom they know and serve -- for that would be blasphemous-- but under that of some great person, yea of the chiefs Sackiema, by which name they -- living without a king -- call those who have command of many hundreds among them, In striking conand …

Romans. the outdone have Indians our and most formidable people in North America, and at the same time as politic and judicious as can well be conceived." Although exterminating wars were waged between the Dutch and the Westchester Indians, in which both sides were perfectly rapacious, it was the general policy of the Dutch to deal with the natives amicablv and to attain their …

The whites now put handles or helves in the former, and cut trees down before their eves, and dug the ground, and showed them the use of the stockings. Here a general laughter ensued among the Indians, that they had remained for so long a time ignorant of the use of so valuable implements, and had borne with the weight of such heavy metal hanging to their necks for such a …

That they readily granted this request; whereupon the whites took a knife and beginning at one place on this hide cut it up into a rope not thicker than the finger of a little child, so that by the time the hide1 was cut up there was a great heap; that this rope was drawn out to a great distance ami then brought round again, so that the ends might meet; that they carefully …

This letter conveyed the information that a ship had arrived the day before bringing news from the new settlement, and that "They have bought the island Manhattes from the wild men for the value of sixty guilders " $24 of our money. The acquisition of title to the site of what has become the second commercial entrepot of the world for so ridiculous a sum -- which, moreover …

A blanket was to him a whole wardrobe." Moreover, the moral phases of such a bargain can not fairly be scrutinized by any fixed conception of the relative values involved. It was purely a bargain of friendly exchange for mutual convenience and welfare. The Indians did not understand, and could not have been expected to understand, that it meant a formal and everlasting …

But the right to buy land from the Indians was not a. necessary natural right inhering in any white settler. The government, upon the well-known principle of the supreme right of discovery, assumed a fundamental authority in the disposal of lands, and hence arose the numerous land grants and land patents to specified persons, which were based, however, under both Dutch and …

Resulting from this principle was that of the sole right of the discoverer to acquire the soil from the natives and establish settlements, either by purchase or by conquest. Hence also the exclusive right can not exist in government and at the same time in private individuals ; and hence also The natives were recognized as rightful occupants, hut their power to dispose of the …

Having no conception of the principles of civilized law, and no idea of the binding effect of contracts, they seldom realized that the mere act of signing over their lands to t he whites was a necessarily permanent release of them. They were incapable of comprehending any other idea of ownership than actual physical possession, and in cases where lands were not occupied …

But it was not until after the close of the seventeenth century that the last vestiges of their legal ownership of lands in the county disappeared. In succeeding chapters of this History their relation to the progress of events and to the gradual development of the county during the period of their organized continuance in it will receive due notice, and it is not necessary in …

The wild animals fled to the forest solitudes, and the wild famimenfollowed them, until only small groups, and finally isolated lies and individuals, remained. The locality called Indian Hill, in the Town of Yorktown, is still pointed out as the spot where the last lin<rerino- band of Indians in Westchester County had its abiding place. & The historian of the Town of Rye, the …

Tradition states that in old times a band of Indians several days. Another a year, resorting to the beach, where they had a frolic which lasted last century, was a spot on place which they frequented as late, certainly, as the middle of the Here a troop of Grace Church Street, at the corner of the road now called Kirby Avenue in a « pow-wow, during which their [ndians would …

The letter was addressed " To ( :aptain Solomon Ahkannu-auwaumut, chief sachem of the Moheackonuck Indians." Captain Solomon thereupon journeyed to Boston, where, in reply to the communication from the congress, he delivered the following impressive addres : now make Brothers : We have heard you speak by your letter ; we thank you for it : we answer. , you Brothers : You …

We never till this day the foundation of this quarrel between you and the country you came from. my revenge to about me find soon will you running, blood vour Brothers : Whenever I see I will gripe hold of your enemy's heel, I am low and very small, brothers' blood. Although that he cannot run so fast and so light as if he had nothing at his heels. what Brothers : You know …

Now I think I can do you more blood marching off immediately to Boston and staying there ; it may be a great while before runs. Now. as I said, you are wiser than I ; I leave this for your consideration, whether spilled. is blood some come down immediately or wait till I hear Brothers : I would not have you think by this that we are falling back from our engagements We are …

Wherever you go We are determined never to be Our bones shall lie with yours. we shall be by vour sides. ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS at peace with the redcoats while they are at variance with you. We have one favor to beg. We should be glad if you would help us to establish a minister amongst us. that when our men are gone to war our women and children may have the advantage of …

In -Inly and August of the same year, being stationed in Westchester County, they performed highly valuable services, culminating in their memorable fight, August 31, 1778, at Cortlandt's Ridge, in the Town of Yonkers, where, according to the British commander, they lost "near forty killed or desperately wounded," about half their number. In this light they first attacked the …

It was upon this occasion that Washington wrote the letter above alluded to. which was a communication to congress, requesting that suitable measures be Taken to provide them with necessary clothing. With The close of the Revolution the history of the Mohicans as a people ends completely, and even their name vanishes. From that time they are known no longer as Mohicans, but as …

The women delivered their young with singular ease, and immediately after labor were able to resume the ordinary duties of life. The appearance and general physical characteristics of the Indians are thus described by Van der Donck : Thev are well shaped and strong, having pitch-hlack and lank hair, as coarse as a horse's tail, broad shoulders, small waist, brown eyes, and …

They also wrap the naked body in a deerskin, the tips ot which swing with their points. . . . Both go for the most part bareheaded. . Around the neck and arms they wear bracelets of seawant, and some around the waist. Moccasins are made of elk hides. . . . The men paint their faces of many colors. The . . . Both are uncommonly faithful. women lay on a black spot only here and …

Such forbearance was of course dictated in no way by sentiment. The women, in common with the young children, were regarded by the conquerors merely as accessions to their numbers. Unchastity was an exceptionally rare thing among the married females; and in no other particular do the different accounts of the natives given by the earliest observers agree more markedly than in …

Inured to abstemiousness by the rigors of his lot and but little disposed to sexual gratification, the Indian yet fell an easy victim, and speedily became an abject slave, to strong drink. It was not the taste rum which enbut the stimulating properties of the white man's thralled him. Hudson relates that when he first offered the intoxicating cup to his Indian visitors while …

A chief of the Six Nations, in a speech delivered before the commissioners of the Tinted States at Fort Stanwix, in 1788, said: "The avidity of the white people for land and the thirst of the Indians for spirituous liquors were equally insatiable; that the white men had seen and fixed their eyes upon the Indian's good land, and the Indians had seen nothing and fixed their eyes …

There is one safe starting point, and only one, for a correctly balanced estimate of the Indian. He was essentially a physical being. Believing both in a supreme good deity and an evil spirit, and also in an existence after death, religion was not, however, a predominating factor and influence in his life and institutions. In this respect he differed from most aboriginal and …

INHABITANTS physical ends rather than regularly ordained formularies expressive of a real system of abstractions. He was a pare physical barbarian. His conceptions of principles of right and wrong, of social obligations, and of good and bad conduct, wore limited to experience and customs having no other relations than to physical well being. Thus there was neither sensibility …

The Great Spirit of the Indians of this locality was called Cantantowit, who was good, all-wise, and all-powerful, and to whose happy hunting grounds they hoped to go after death, although their beliefs also comprehended the idea of exclusion from those realms of such Indians as were regarded by him with displeasure. The Spirit of Evil they called Hobbaniocko. The home of …

On such occasions they cut off their hair and bound it on the grave in the presence of all their relatives, painted their faces pitch black, and in a deerskin jerkin mourned the dead a full year In burying their dead the body was placed in a sitting posture, and beside it were placed a pot, kettle, platter, spoon, and money and provisions for use in the other world. Wood was …

They were formed by long, slender hickory saplings set in the ground, in a straight line of two rows, as far asunder as they intended the width to be, and the rows continuing as far as they intended the length to be. The poles were then bent toward each other in the form of an arch and secured together, giving the appearance of a garden arbor. Split poles were then lathed up …

Chenoweth draws some interesting deductions as to the processes of pottery manufacture prevalent in early times from his examinations of specimens that he has unearthed. He says : They could fashion earthen jars with tasteful decorations, manufacture cloth, and twist fibers into cords. They had several methods of molding their pottery. One was to make a mold of basket work and …

The study of the decoration and method employed reveal the implements used for that purpose. The imprint of a finger nail is clearly defined on some of the rudest as a decoration. Others show the imprint of a coarse netting or cloth, while the edge of an escallop shell or clam shell was often used. Pointed sticks, wedge-shaped sticks, and straws were also common implements for …

When they wished to make one of their more durable canoes they had first to fell a suitable tree, a task which, on account of the insufficiency of their tools, required much labor and time. Being unable to cut down a tree with their stone axes, they resorted to fire, burning the tree around its trunk and removing the charred portion with their stone implements. This was …

The extent and character of the trade relations between the Indians of the same tribe and those of different tribes can only be inferred relations from known facts which render it unquestionable that such among existed For instance, tobacco, which was in universal use e m exchang by obtained be to had , America North the aborigines of copThe growth. its to soil and climate by …

The author of an instructive treatise on k' Ancient and Aboriginal Trade in North America"1 (from which some of the details in the preceding pages are taken) says of the wampum belts, so often mentioned in connection with the history of the eastern tribes: Thev consisted of broad straps of leather, upon which white and blue wampum-beads were sewed In rows, being so arranged …

The old accounts, however, are not quite accordant concerning these details, probably because the different Atlantic tribes followed in this particular their own taste rather than a general rule. At any rate, however, the wampum belts were considered as objects of importance, being, as has been stated, the tokens by which the memory of remarkable events was transmitted to …

" Though this people,*' says Van der Donck, " do not make such a distinction between man and man as ether nations, yet they have high and low families, inferior and superior chiefs." Their rulers were called sachems, the title usually remaining hereditarily in the family, although the people claimed the right of election. It does not appear that the sachems ever assumed …

Even to the local historian, indeed, their names have little importance beyond that attaching to them from their connection with notable transfers of land and with rivers, lakes, and localities to which they have been applied. In the geographical nomenclature of Westchester County, as well as of the whole country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are preserved numerous …

Those of the personal names bestowed on places are noted especially difficult to analyze, owing to their construction and the changes already and Many of the place names were translated many years ago by Schoolcraft, Trumbull, so erroothers, some correctlv, and others more often incorrectly. Some of the latter were are neous that thev have' been passed by the writer without …

Appoqua, signifies « to coyer;" tree, and used a generic, heme -the covering tree." possibly a descriptive term for the lurch -- Var.s Apparaghpogh. Lands near Verplanck's Point, also a locality the with east ** AppamaghpTgT Cortlandt. The main stem of this term is the same as that in the previous name, of place a i.e., water-place," covering (lodge) -The pond." « or suffix …

P'tukqua-paug, -a round pond, or water-place. (See bull's Names in Connecticut.) Canopus. -- Name of a chieftain. to Cantetoe.-- In this form not a place name, but seemingly from Cantecoy, "to sing and dance." Variation., Kante Kante, Cante Cante, etc. It may have been derived, however, . . from Pocantico, which see chief. ( 'atonah.-- Var., Katonah, Ket-atonah, " great …

Cowan - in West Farms ; a -boundary-place." p,--irsoni Croton (J01 Aigh. . < Schoolcraft suggests Kenotin, - the wind." ne | I prefer the Delaware Kloltin, -he contends." -A high ridge in Rye." also applied to Rye cuson. Euketaupucuson.-- Var., Ekucketaupa This name denotes a « place where a stream opens out or widens on both sides. Woods. ; ,., overflows, generally where the …

Nyack signifies " a point of land," and is the equivalent of the Long Island Nyack ("Kings County) Noyac (Suffolk County). Kiwigtignock. -- Var., Keioightegnack, He-weghtiquack. An elbow of the Croton River. Whquae-tigu-ack, " land at head of the cove." Compare Wiq'uetaipiock, the cove at Stonington, Conn. Laapha/rachking. -- Pelham. None of the components warrant a …

Brinton follows Captain Ilendrick, a native Mohegan, in translating the name as " a people of the great waters which are constantly ebbing and was first applied b y others. 1 flowing." The tribe would naturally reject a term which lation." All th early maps agree with Schoolcraft and Trumbull that it denotes the " ' Aolf 1 corroborate it. See Creuxius's ma]) of 1<><><), for " …

Both the n and r are intrusive. The suffix, amack or amuck, denotes " a fishing-place "; the prefix appeh " a trap "; hence we have appeh-amack, " the trap fishing-place." Neperhan (apehhan) « a trap, snare, gin," etc. At the locality where the name was originally bestowed, the Indians probably had a weir for catching fish, and this tact gave On Long Island Rapahamuck was at …

Patthunck. -- A personal name; "pounding-mortar." Pachamitt.-- (Van der Donck's map. ) Name of a tribe taken from the place where they lived, "at the turning-aside place." De Laet says : " Visher's Rack, that is the fisherman's a little beyond where projects a bend," and here the eastern bank is inhabited by the Pachami, tribe and place. Pachanu, a sachem, takes his name also …

Inis of Papirinemen.-- Spuyten Duyvil Creek ; also place at north end name has a verbal termination denoting the act of doing something, a suffix not allowable m divide, « to parcel out,"_ to name denoting n. a personalnie it was probably ine HencePew names. . variation, divert, to place Pechquinakonck.-- (Van der Donck.) A locality in North Salem; probably originally an …

"The plantatio of Rippowams is named Stamforde " (X. H. Rec, Vol. I, p. 69). This included the territory on both sides of Mill River. The late J. H. Trumbull was unable to translate this name. It may the be rather presuming to suggest where he failed. We think we can see Nipau-apuchk in In colloDelaware, or Nepau-ompsk in the Massachusetts, " a standing or rising up rock." …

A personal name, probably, although Eliot gives ns Keechepam, " shore." Sigghes. -- A great bowlder, a landmark mentioned as a boundary. Another name for Meghkaekassin. From an original Siogke-ompsk-it, "at the hard rock." Sacunyte Napucke. -- A locality in Pelham. Sakunk-Napi-ock, " at the outlet of a pond or water-place." Probably used in some conveyance to indicate the line …

But on the Delaware Paver is a place called Maetsingsing (see Col. Hist. N. Y., Vol. 1, pp. 590, 596), which seems to be a fuller form of our name and warranting another interpretation : " Place where stones are gathered together," a heap of stones, probably. Snakapins.-- Cornell's Neck. If not a personal name, as I suspect, it may represent an earlier Sagajnn, "a ground-nut." …

This is probably a term of derision applied to them by other tribes : " Those of little worth." Tatomuck.-- This name has probably lost a syllable or more. The suffix indicates a « fishOn Long Island Arhata-amuck denotes "a crab fishing-place." Corrupted m to Katawamac. some records ing-place." Toquams.--Ynv., Toquamske. This was a boundary mark in some conveyance, or else a …

Schoolcraft's suggestion, " the place of the bark-kettle," and as repeated in various histories, is absolutely worthless.' The name is simply a descriptive appellation of the locality where the Indians lived at the date of settlement. Delaware, Wiquie-askeek, Massachusetts, Wehque-askeet, bog." Chippewa, U'aiekwa-ashkiki, "end of the marsh ofor the foregoing. A variant …

It is also conceded to be not impossible that accidental Norse descents from Greenland upon the continent were made in the centuries that followed. But this is merely an amiable concession to academic conjecture. It is insisted that no reliable Norse remains have ever been found south of Davis Straits: and one by one the various relics thought to be of Norse origin that have …

The markings were claimed to be rude Runic characters constituting an inscription, out of which one writer, by ingeniously interpolating missing letters, formed the words Kirkjussynir akta, which translated are " Sons of the Church tax (or rake a census)." k' I suppose it to mean," added this writer, " that representatives of the Church of Rome had been there to tax, or number …

The authentic history of Westchester County begins in the month of September, 1609, when Henry Hudson, in his little ship the " Half Moon," entered the harbor of New York and ascended the great river which now bears his name. But there are strong reasons for believing that Hudson was not the first navigator to appear on our shores, or at least in their immediate vicinity. In …

All of a sudden, as is wont to happen to navigators, a violent contrary wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to return to our ship, greatly regretting to leave this region which seemed so commodious and delightful, and which we supposed must also contain great riches, as the hills showed mamT indications of minerals." This description, although perplexing in some of its …

Chripstapel" was unquestionably the Lower New York Bay, and his "Rio St. Antonio" (so named in honor of the saint on whose day he beheld it) the Hudson River. The latter conclusion is clearly established by his description ofthe river as "north and south with said bay," which, taken in its connections, can not possibly apply to any other stream. To have established the north …

Indeed, it was in studied violation of the instructions laid down for him by his employers at his setting out that he turned his vessel hitherward. His instructions were to sail past Nova Zembla and the north coast of Siberia, through the Bering Strait into the Pacific, and so southward to the Dutch Indies. The famous 1 Benson, in his "Memoirs.'" says that " the promontory in …

Proper recognition of these historical facts does not, however, involve any diminishing from the uniqueness and greatness of his achievement. He found a grand harbor and a mighty and beautiful river, previously unknown, or only vaguely known, to the civilized world. He thoroughly explored both, and, returning to Europe, gave accounts of them which produced an immediate …

He explored the bay and strait to which his name has since been given, passed the winter in the southern part of the bay, and on the 21st of June, 1611, was, with his sou and seven companions, set adrift in an open boat by his mutinous crew, never to be heard of more. When Hudson adventured forth on his momentous voyage of 1609 he flew from the mast of his vessel the flag of …

In Sweden the young Gustavus Adolphus was about to come to the throne. In Russia the dawn of a new era was being ushered in by the accession of the first sovereign of the house of Romanoff. In the south of Europe, on the other hand, the glories of long ages of commercial, intellectual, and political supremacy were fading away : the Italian republics were beginning to decline …

During that decplans of orderly colonization began to be set on settlements in Canada, ade the French inaugurated their permanent an established last at Smith, John Captain under English, the and secure the on founded because enduring colonv in Virginia-- enduring basis of mutual self-interest, labor, and economy. Even Spain, with all her greed for new realms to pillage, had …

There was to be no visionary exploration for a possibly existing route through the coastline of America, but a direct entrance into Arctic waters in the region of Nova Zembla. in the hope that an open sea, or continuous passage, would there be Hudson, an Englishman, was chosen for the undertaking befound. cause he was known to be familiar with the northern seas -- no Dutch On …

Although his intercourse a conflict with them, in provoked boat men whom he sent out in the which one of the exploring party, John Coleman, was killed and two On the 12th of September he steered the " Halfmen were wounded. Moon " through the Narrows, anchoring that evening somewhere in the Upper Bay, probably not far from the lower extremity of Manhattan Island. The next day …

Hudson"* vessel when he was returning down the river, an attack in retaliation for his treacherous act upon this occasion, occurred at Manhattan Island InSpuyten Duyvil Creek, and was clearly made by on the southern shore dians, the Indian fortress in that locality being of the creek. The question, of course, is not important enough to require any serious discussion, but upon …

The record of the day's sailing is thus given in Juet's Journal : " In the morning we sailed up the river twelve leagues . . . and came to a strait between two points, . . . and it (the river) trended north by one league. . . . The river is a mile broad; there is very high land on both sides. Then Ave went up northwest a league and a half, deep w a t e r; t h e n northeast …

off Stony Point, in the k> strait " described by Juet, and the natives, animated solely by curiosity, came out in their canoes, some of them being received on board. The occupant of one of the canoes, which kept " hanging under the stern," was detected in pilfering from the cabin windows, having secreted " a pillow and two shirts and two bandaliers." Whereupon the " mate shot …

The details of this fight have been given in our chapter on the Indians, and need not be repeated here. It is noticeable that the only sanof Hudson's exploration of the river occurred along guinary incidentscoast. the Westchester Sailing away from the scene of this bloody conflict, the " Half Moon " passed out of the Narrows on the 4th of October, just one month and a day …

By the delimitations of its charter granted in 1602, the Dutch East s in India Company was excluded from all commercial operation n to corporatio that by taken were steps no y accordingl and America; the But Hudson. Henry by found develop the promising country alert and enterprising private traders of Holland were prompt in seeking to turn the new discoveries to profitable …

In 1612 a memorable voyage was made to Hudson's River by Henry Christiansen and Adrian Block, two Hollanders, in a vessel which they owned jointly. They returned with a goodly cargo of furs, carrying with them to the home country two sons of Indian chiefs, by one of whom Christiansen, several years subsequently, was murdered on a Hudson River island. In 1613, with two vessels …

With the " Restless " Block now entered upon an exploration almost as important as Hudson's own, and certainly far more dangerous. Steering it through the East River, he came suddenly into the fearful current of Hellgate, whose existence was previously unknown to Europeans, and which he navigated safely. Passing the mouth of the Harlem River, he thoroughly explored the …

Although the outlines in certain respects, particularly in the case of Manhattan Island, are extremely crude, they are surprisingly faithful in the parts representing It will be observed that the general his individual resp< visibility. DISCOVERY PRELIMINARY VIEW trend of the Westchester coast on the Sound is traced almost exactly. Returning to Holland in the fall of 1614 …

On October 11, 1614, Block submitted to the StatesGeneral, at The Hague, explicit information of his discoveries, and a charter bearing that date was accordingly granted to him and a number of individuals associated with him (of whom Christiansen was one), comprising a business society styled the New Netherland Company. This company had for its formally defined aim the …

The grant of the States-General establishing the New Netherland Company, after naming the persons associated in it -- these persons being the proprietors and skippers of five designated ships, -- describes the region in which its operations are to be carried on as " certain new lands situate in America, between New France and Virginia, the seacoasts whereof lie between forty …

The second division, or Second Colony, assigned to the Plymouth Company, embraced the country from forty-one degrees to forty-five degrees, with the privilege of acquiring rights southward to thirty-eight degrees, likewise conditioned upon priority of colonization. Throughout the long controversy between England and Holland touching their respective territorial rights in …

Under the strictly commercial regime of the New Netherland Company other voyagWwere made, all highly successful in material results, the fur trade with the Indians still being the objective. That the scope of operations of these early Dutch traders comprehended the entire navigable portion of the Hudson River is sufficiently evidenced by the fact that two forts were erected …

This peculiar condition was not, however, due to any flagging of interest in their American possessions on the part of the Dutch government, but was an incident of a well-considered political programme which was kept in abeyance because of the circumstances of the time, to be launched in the fullness of events. The twelve years' truce between Holland and Spain, signed in 1609 …

In the eventuality of war it would become a particularly important part of Dutch policy not merely to provide for the protection of the new provinces in America and their prospective inhabitants, but to cope with the formidable Spanish maritime power in American waters, and as far as possible prey upon the rich commerce of Spain with that quarter of the globe and even wrest …

In 1604, two years after the establishment of the East India Company, and long before the first appearance of the Dutch tlag on the American coast, the aconception of a West India Com] .any was carefully formulated in paper drawn up by one William Usselinx and presented, progressively, to the hoard of burgomasters of Amsterdam, the legislature or " states " of Holland …

Twelve additional articles were subsequently incorporated, the whole instrument receiving final approval on the 21st of June, 1623. The Dutch West India Company, to whose care the conversion of the American wilderness into a habitation for civilized man was thus committed, and under whose auspices European institutions were first planted and organized government was erected …

The spheres of trade marked out for and confirmed to the company, " to the exclusion of all other inhabitants or associations of merchants within the bounds of the United Provinces," comprehended both the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts of the two Americas, from the Straits of Magellan to the extreme north, and, in addition, the African coast from the Tropic of Cancer to the …

The director-general and his council were invested with all powers, judicial, legislative, and executive, subject, some supposed, to appeal to Holland, but the will of the company, expressed in their instructions or declared in their marine or military ordinances, was to be the law of New Netherland, excepting in cases not especially provided lor, when the Roman law, the …

teen yachts, fully armed and equipped-- the former to be at least of three hundred and the latter of eighty tons' burden; but these vessels were to be maintained at the expense of the company, which was to furnish, unconditionally, sixteen ships and fourteen yachts, of like tonnage, for the defense of trade and purposes of war, which, with all merchant vessels, were to be …

On the South American mainland Brazil, a province of Portugal, at that time tributary to Spain, was conquered DUTCH WINDMI and held for several years as Dutch territory, and the country known as Dutch Guiana, where the flag of Holland still floats, also yielded itself to these merchant princes In addition numerous AVest India islands were of the Netherlands. taken. A …

It is certain that the separate voyages undertaken hither by various adventurous men between 1610 and 1623 resulted in no settlement of the country worthy of the name. We find no record of any transportation ofyeomen or families to this locality for the announced object of making it their abode and developing its resources. Although there is no doubt respecting the utilization …

In 1648 a pamphlet was published in England, with the title, " A Description of New Albion," by one Beauchamp Plantagenet, Esq., which assumed to narrate that in the year 1613 the English Captain Samuel Argall, returning from Acadia to Virginia, "landed at Manhattan Isle, in Hudson's River, where they found four houses built, and a pretended Dutch governor under the West India …

ship's pinnace on a trip to Virginia which he had decided to make Martha's after dispatching his laden vessel back to England.theLeaving coast led me till "as Yh.evard, he shaped his voyage he narrates, coast began to fall away I came to the most westerly part where the my way 1 discovIn Sound]. the to southerly [the eastern entrance ered land about thirty leagues in length …

This was five years after through the same Sound from the Manhattans, and ten years after singuHudson's discovery of the Great River of the Mountains. Very lar it is that fights with the Indians, both on the Hudson and on the Sound, and at 'points nearly opposite each other, were the beginning of civilization in Westchester County, and that the first was with the Dutch and the …

On February 12, 1(520, its directors addressed to Maurice, Prince of Orange, stadtholder or chief executive of the Netherlands, a petition reciting that " there is residing at Leyden a certain English preacher, versed in the Dutch language, who is well inclined to proceed thither [to New Netherland] to live, assuring the petitioners that he has the means of inducing over four …

This condition was not complied with, and the scheme fell to the ground. It is a coincidence, and very presumably no accidental one, that this offer was volunteered in the same year that the Pilgrims sailed from Holland in the "Mayflower" and landed at Plymouth. Indeed, it is well known that the original intention of the " Mayflower" company was to proceed to New Netherland …

River or South River, as that stream was called by the of our readers We have shown, in perhaps greater detail than some that the dehistory, mav think is necessary in the pages of a local Company termining consideration m the creation of the West India view ot the m provide, to en statesm ands Netherl the of was the desire e and defensive naval impending war with Spain, for a …

this point the document specified simply that the company " Further may promote the of fertile and uninpopulating habited regions, and do all that the advantages of these provinces [the United Netherlands], tin- profit and increase e.*' of commerce shall requir "Brief as is this language," ian, aptly says a recent histor " there Avas enough of it to express the vicious …

These Walloons, stanch Huguenots in religious profession, finding life intolerable in their native land, removed, like the sturdy English dissenters, to Holland, and there gladly embraced opportunity to obtain permanent shelter from persecution, as well as homes for themselves and their families, in the new countries of America. They were not Hollanders, and had nothing in …

It does not appear that any of these first colonists were placed in Westchester County, or even within the northern limits of Manhattan Island. Arriving in May, with seeds and agricultural implements, they were able to raise and garner a year's crop, and consequently suffered none of the hardships which made the lot of the Puritans during their first winter at Plymouth so …

URING the first fifteen or so years after the beginning of the colonization of New Xetherland there was no attempt at settlement north of the Harlem River, so far as can be de^^ termined from the records that have come down to us. The earliest recorded occupation of Westchester land by an actual white settler dates from about 1639. At that period at least one man of note and …

To this spot and its immediate vicinity settlement was necessarily confined for some years; and though by degrees certain enterprising persons took up 'lands considerably farther north, steadily pushing on to the Harlem, it is most unlikely that that stream was crossed for purposes of habitation by any unremembered adventurer before the time of Bronck. exCertainly any earlier …

In the journals of Jasper Bankers New Peter Sluvter-a narrative of a visit to York in 1679-it is related (p. 135) that people •' can go over this creek at dead low water upon rocks and reefs at the place called Spyt den duyvel " (the original name of Kingsbridge,,. The editor of this History has crossed there when fishing, finding the passage reasonably safe at - dead low …