History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 1. Frederic Shonnard

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СКАЧАТЬ proprietors of Rye, but wrested from the town some forty years later." Baird describes as follows the aggregate landed property represented by the several deeds: " The southern part of it alone comprised the tract of land between Byram River and Mamaroneck River, while to the north it extended twenty miles, and to the northwest an indefinite distance. These boundaries included, besides the area now covered by the Towns of Rye and Harrison, much of the Towns of North Castle and Bedford, in New York, and of Greenwich, in Connecticut; whilst in a north west direction the territory claimed was absolutely without a fixed limit. As the frontier town of Connecticut, Rye long cherished pretensions to the whole region as far as the Hudson." The satisfaction given the Indians for all parts of the territory consisted chiefly of useful articles, and for some of the section the recompense be stowed was very considerable according to the standards obtaining in dealings with the Indians in those days. Thus, the value paid for Budd's Neck was " eightie pounds sterling," and for the Harrison tract twenty pounds sterling. These sums certainly contrast quite imposingly with the value given by the Dutch in 1624 for Manhattan Island — twenty-four dollars.

      Little time was lost in laying out a settlement. For this purpose Manussing Island was selected as the most available spot, and there a community was established which took the name of Hastings. In Disbrow's deed of May 22, 1661, to the lands between the Byram River and Blind Brook, mention is made of "the bounds of Hastings on the south and southwest," which indicates that at that early date the island village had already been inaugurated and named. The following list of all the inhabitants of Hastings the second town organized in Westchester County) whose names have come down to us is taken from Baird: Peter Disbrow, John Coe, Thomas Studwell, John Budd, William Odell, Richard Vowles, Samuel Ailing, Robert Hudson, John Brondish, Frederick Hanninson, Thomas Applebe, Philip Oalpin, George (Mere, John Jackson, and Walter Jackson. It will be observed that all these, with one exception (Clere), are good English names. This settlement, only one hour's sail from Greenwich, was too far removed from New Amsterdam to excite the jealous notice and protest of Director Stuyvesant, although it lay considerably to the west of the provisional boundary line marked off in the articles of 1650. Its founders apparently removed there with no other object than to secure homes and plantations, holding themselves in readiness, however, like those of Westchester, to come under the Connecticut government in due time. The oldest Hastings town document that has been preserved is a declaration of allegiance to "Charles the Second, our lawful lord and king," dated July 2nd, 1662. At the same period when the people of Westchester were informed that their territory belonged to the Colony of Connecticut, and instructed to act accordingly, like notification was sent to Hastings. Early in 1663 the townsmen, at a public meeting, appointed Richard Vowles as constable, who went to Hart ford and was duly qualified. John Budd was selected as the first deputy to the Connecticut general court, which body, on the 8th of October, 1663, designated him as commissioner for the Town of Hastings with " magistraticall power."

      The Island of Manussing, only one mile in length, was in the course of two or three years found inadequate for the growing requirements of the colonists, and they began to build up a new settlement on the mainland. This was probably in 1664. Meantime other colonists had joined them, including Thomas and Hachaliah Browne, George Lane, George Kniffen, Stephen Sherwood, and Timothy Knap. They called the new village Rye, " presumably," says Baird, " in honor of Thomas and Hachaliah Browne, the sons of Mr. Thomas Browne, a gentleman of good family, from Rye, in Sussex County, England, who settled at Cambridge, Mass., in 1632." " The original division of Rye consisted of ten acres to each individual planter, besides a privilege in the undivided lands." The general court of Connecticut, on the 11th of May, 1665, ordered "that the villages of Hastings and Rye shall be for the future conjoined and made one plantation, and that it shall be called by the appellation of Rye." Gradually the island was abandoned. The village of Rye became within a few years a very respectable little settlement. It lay " at the upper end of the Neck, along the eastern bank of Blind Brook, and the present Milton road was the village street, on either side of which the home-lots of the settlers were laid out. . . . The houses erected were not mere temporary structures, as on Manus sing Island, but solid buildings of wood or stone, some of which have lasted until our own day. They were long, narrow structures, entered from the side, and stood with gable end close upon the road, and huge chimney projecting at the rear. Each dwelling generally contained two rooms on the ground floor — a kitchen and ' best room ' — with sleeping apartments in the loft."

      The original Rye purchases of Disbrow and his associates in 1660 antedated by only one year the purchase of the adjacent Mamaroneck lands, extending from the Mamaroneck River to the limits of Thomas Pell's Westchester tract. On the 23rd of September, 1661, the Indian proprietors, Wappaquewam and Mahatahan (brothers), sold to John Richbell, of Oyster Bay, Long Island, three necks of land, described as follows in the conveyance: "The Eastermost is called Mammaranock Neck, and the Westermost is bounded with Mr. Pell's purchase." The three necks later became known as the East, Middle, and West Necks. All the meadows, rivers, and islands thereunto belonging were included in the sale; and it was also specified that Richbell or his assigns might " freely feed cattle or cutt timber twenty miles Northward from the marked Trees of the Necks." As payment, he was to deliver to Wappaquewam, half within about a month and the other half in the following spring, twenty-two coats, one hundred fathom of wampum, twelve shirts, ten pairs of stockings, twenty hands of powder, twelve bars of lead, two firelocks, fifteen hoes, fifteen hatchets, and three kettles. Two shirts and ten shillings in wampum were given in part payment on the day of the transaction. But Richbell was not permitted to enter into undisturbed possession of his fine property. Another English man of Oyster Bay, one Thomas Revell, in the following month (October, 1661) appeared on the scene and undertook to buy the identical lands, or a very considerable portion of them. His negotiations were with the same Wappaquewam and certain other Indians, to whom he paid, or engaged to pay, more than Richbell had bound himself for. Out of his rival claim arose a wordy legal dispute, wherein affidavits were filed by various witnesses, one of whom (testifying in Richbell's behalf) was Peter Uisbrow, of Manussing Island. From the testimony of Wappaquewam it appears that that chief was overpersuaded by another Indian, Cockoo, to resell the territory to Revell, upon the alluring promise that " he should have a cote," " on which he did it." The burden of the evidence was plainly in favor of Richbell, who, in all the legal proceedings that resulted, triumphed over his opponent.

      The Indian Cockoo, who contributed his good offices to the assistance of Revell in this enterprise, was none other than the notable Long Island interpreter, Cockonoe, who was John Eliot's first instructor in the Indian language, and who was a frequent intermediary between English land purchasers and the native owners of the soil. What is known of the history of this very unique char acter has been embodied in an interesting monograph by Mr. William Wallace Tooker, to whom we are indebted for the article on Indian local names in the second chapter of this volume.

      His name appears variously in legal documents as Cockoo, Cokoo, and Cockoe — all abbreviations of the correct form, Cockonoe. Eliot, in a letter written in 1649, descriptive of how he learned the Indian tongue, relates that he became acquainted while living at Dorchester, Mass., with a young Long Island Indian, " taken in the Pequott warres," whom he found very ingenious, able to read, and whom he taught to write, " which he quickly learnt." " He was the first," says Eliot, " that I made use of to teach me words and to be my interpreter." And at the end of his "Indian Grammar," printed at Cambridge in 1669, Eliot testifies more particularly to the services rendered him by this youth. " By his help," he says, " I translated the Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and many texts of Scripture; also I compiled both exhortations and prayers by his help." Cockonoe attended Eliot for some time in his evangelistic expeditions, and later made his home among the English settlers on Long Island, whom he stood ready at all times to assist in their private dealings with the Indians. When Thomas Revell sought to get the upper hand of Richbell in the purchase of lands in the present Township of Mamaroneck, he accordingly brought Cockonoe with him from Long Island, and confided to him full authority in the premises. Cockonoe made large promises to the native owners in Revell's behalf, and readily induced them to grant him power of attorney to sell the lands to Revell. The understanding was shrewdly planned, but Richbell's claim was too well established to be overcome.

      Richbell, unlike Pell in his Westchester СКАЧАТЬ