USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume I > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
FREEDOMS AND EXEMPTIONS Granted by the Assembly of the XIX, of the Privileged West India Company, To All Such as Shall Plant any Colonies in New Netherland.
134
THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
It consisted of thirty-one articles and was printed in a small quarto pamphlet of four or six pages and distributed throughout the United Provinces in 1630. It is the first instrument under which lands in the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Con- necticut, were acquired, and on which titles rest. It opens up by saying that such members of the said company as may be inclined to settle any colonie, meaning a plantation or settlement, in New Netherland, shall be permitted to send in the ships of this company going thither, three or four persons to inspect the situation of the country, provided that they, with the officers and ship's company, swear to the articles, so far as they they relate to them and pay certain sums for provisions and passage.
Article XIX says :
They (the Company) will not take from the service of the Patroons any of their colonists, either man or woman, son or daughter, man-servant or maid-servant; and though any of them should desire the same, they will not receive them, or permit them to leave their Patroons and enter into the service of another, unless on consent obtained from their Patroons in writing; and this for and during so many years as they are bound to their Patroons; after the expiration whereof, it shall be in the power of the Patroons to send hither all such colonists as will not continue in their own service, and until then shall not enjoy their liberty. And all such colonists as shall leave the service of their Patroons and enter into the service of another, or shall, contrary to his contract, leave his service; we promise to do everything in our power to apprehend and deliver the same into the hands of his Patroon, or attorney, that he may be proceeded against, according to the customs of the country as occasion may require.
These clauses give us an idea of the degree of power and authority delegated to the Patroons, a power and authority clearly greatly circumscribed in comparison with the absolutism of the lord of the manor in the height of the feudal period. It is to be noted that in the first article of the plan or charter the privilege of becoming patroons, with all their rights, powers and exemptions, hereditary and otherwise, was confined solely to the members, that is, the stockholders of the West India Company. Other persons, however, could, with the permis- sion of the Director and Council of New Netherland, take up as much land as they could improve, "and enjoy the same in full property either for themselves or others," but without any of the advantages and privileges conferred upon the Patroons. They were styled Free Colonists. Under these clauses the colonizing of the territory of New Netherland was begun.
Manors and Patents-The erection of manors by the English in New York, like the creation of patroonships by the Dutch in the same province, was simply the establishment and carrying out of what they
135
MANORS AND PATENTS
deemed the best method of promoting the growth and development of their new possessions under their own laws and customs. To the same purpose may be attributed the granting of similar large tracts of land which were not manors. The latter, the "Great Patents," as they were called, were usually granted to several grantees. The manors were necessarily granted to one only. The franchises, privileges, and other valuable incidents, which the manor possessed, and which the Great Patents did not possess, were fewer than is generally supposed. The tenure of both classes of these crown grants was the same, being "in free and common socageas of the Manor of East Greenwich in the county of Kent." The greatest difference between them lay in the peculiar public incidents, as they have been called, which constituted a manor, incidents essential to its existence, and which related more to the government and good order of the territory of the manor, and the protection of the manor, than to power and profit of the lord of the manor. Tenants could, and did, take up lands under the grantees of the Great Patents, as well as under the lords of the manors. The former could, and did, settle people upon their Patents under leases, as well as deeds in fee, just as the latter did upon their manors. Both classes of proprietors sold in fee, or granted on leases of different kinds, just as their wishes or interests dictated. The Great Patents, their grantees, and the inhabitants upon them, were subject, in general and local matters, to whatever public territorial divisions of the province embraced them, and the laws in force therein. The manors, their lords, and their inhabitants, whether tenants, or holders in fee simple, of manor lands by purchase from the lords, were subject only to the jurisdiction and course of the manor in local matters. Both, in all matters not local, were governed by the law courts and the civil and military authorities, of the county and the province. There were in the country of Westchester six manors, which together comprised the larger part of its area. The Great Patents were more numerous, but together not so extensive in area. These latter and the borough-town of Westchester, with a few small original grants, formed the rest of the county as it was originally. The lower part of the "Equivalent lands" or "The Oblong," received in settlement of a boundary dispute from the colony of Connecticut was not added to the county till the year 1731, and this too, was then embraced in a single great patent.
Manors in Westchester County-The manors were those of "Cort- landt," "Scarsdale," "Pelham," "Morrisania," "Fordham," and "Philipse- borough" or "Philipseburgh." Of these Cortlandt and Philipseburgh were much the largest. In the year 1769 it is calculated that one-third of the population of the county lived on the two manors of Cortlandt
136
THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
and Philipseburgh. The manors of Fordham, Morrisania, Pelham and Scarsdale, lying nearer to the city of New York than these two, and more accessible than either, were more settled. It is estimated that five-eighths of the population of Westchester County in 1769, were inhabitants of the six manors that have been named. As the people on the manors were free of personal jury duty the fact threw upon the rest of the county an increased burden. The "burgess" or representative of the Borough of Westchester in the Assembly in 1769 was John de Lancy of Rosehill, Fordham Manor. He sought to bring about some relief for the non-manorial inhabitants of the county and brought the matter before the Assembly.
The manors of Westchester in the order of their erection were: "Ford- ham" in November, 1671, "Pelham" in October, 1687, "Philipseburgh" in June, 1693, "Morrisania" in May, 1697, "Cortlandt" in June, 1697, and "Scarsdale" in March, 1700. As the Manor of Cortlandt comprised the whole northern part of the county from the Hudson to the Con- necticut line, and was ten miles in width, it stood first in the order of importance. The authority of the Governor, as Governor, of the Gov- ernor and Council in the executive capacity of the latter, and of the Governor, Council in its legislative capacity, and the General Assembly, the three together forming the legislature of the Province, extended throughout the manors of New York in all respects save one. Neither of these authorities could in any way alter, abridge or interfere with the franchises, rights, powers, privileges, and incidents of the manors. This was a matter in their own discretion, but none of them could become void by non-user, nor could the Province authorities of any grade modify them in any way. If the lords preferred or had no objection to have any local duties, legal acts, or offices, exercised by justices of the peace, assessors, constables, and other minor officers, either chosen by their tenants alone, or by their tenants in connection with the inhabitants, freeholders of any adjoining non-manorial lands, this could be done by an act of the provincial legislature. But no act of such a nature could be passed against their wishes. The jurisdic- tion of the Supreme Court, of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and of the Court of Sessions, extended to all lands whether manorial or non-manorial. So too in the matter of elections, the inhabitants of the manors, with the exception of that of Cortlandt which had a re- presentative of its own as a franchise of its manor-grant, united with the people of the non-manorial lands in the choice of members of the Assembly for the county.
Brouncksland as Manor-Brouncksland was a manor in an inchoate form. Its boundaries are hard to determine, though the northern line
137
MANORS AND PATENTS
probably did not extend beyond 150th Street. To the east the land extended to Bungay Creek; and to the south, to the Harlem River and the Bronx Kills. The site of Bronk's house became that of Colonel Lewis Morris, and later of the manor-house. In the southwest corner of the West Farms strip was a small tract the ownership of which was in dispute between the heirs of the patentees and the Morrises from 1666 to 1740, when the manor-lord of Morrisania obtained possession. As there were a number of streams in that locality, the question arose as to which was the Sackwrahung. The West Farms people claimed that it was Bungay Creek, or Brook; Colonel Morris that it was the stream to the eastward, called Wigwam Brook, and later, Leggett's Creek and Bound Brook. The disputed strip was long known as the "debateable land." During Dutch possession comparatively little was done in the way of development. A settlement grew at Harlem on Manhattan Island, and it is not unlikely that some of the farmers occupied land on the mainland. Thus we have the court records of a dispute in 1683 with the Jansen brothers and Daniel Turneur as plaintiffs against Colonel Lewis Morris, for four lots of meadowland at Stony Island, now Port Morris, which they had cultivated under previous owners of Brouncksland. The plaintiffs were inhabitants of Harlem. They lost their first suit when the Jansens withdrew. Turneur then entered suit alone against Colonel Morris and was finally success- ful in proving ownership of the disputed land.
At the time of the English occupation the land on the Maine has been thus described. On the west lying between the Hudson and the Bronx rivers was Colen Donck; next came Brouncksland, between the Harlem and the Bronx; next to the eastward came West Farms; east of this tract was Cornell's Neck; adjoining it on the north was Oestdorp, or Westchester; beyond on the Sound was Throgg's Neck; and north of Westchester was Pell's purchase of 1654. A portion of the Keskeskeck purchase of 1639 seems not to have been taken up. By an instrument dated August 10, 1670, Samuel Edsall conveyed Brouncksland to Richard Morris, and Lewis Morris. In 1676 Colonel Morris received from Governor Andros a patent confirming his title to the land, and in addition to all the lands lying adjacent to Brouncksland, "not included in any grants or patents, which land the said Colonel Morris doth desire for further improvement." This additional land was by survey fourteen hundred acres, which, with the addition of Brouncksland, made the whole estate 1,920 acres. The quit-rent was a yearly payment of "five bushels of winter wheat." The bounds on the north were the lands of Daniel Turneur and John Archer; on the east the land of John Richardson and Thomas Hunt; on the southeast the Sound or
138
THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
East River; on the west, the Harlem River. We thus see that Brouncksland became incorporated in Morrisania and may be described as the heart of the manor.
Manor Grant of Morrisania-The manor-grant of Morrisania is worded in part as follows :
William the Third, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc., to all to whom these presents shall come, sendeth greeting: Whereas the Hon'ble Edmund Andros, Esq., Siegneur of Sausmarez, late governor of our province of New York, etc., by a certain deed or patent, sealed with the seal of our said province of New York, bearing date the 25th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1676, pursuant to the commission and authority then in him residing, did confirm unto Col. Lewis Morris, of the Island of the Barbadoes, a certain plantation or tract of land laying or being upon the maine over against the town, of Haerlem, commonly called Bronckse's land, containing 250 morgen or 800 acres of land, besides the meadow thereunto annexed or ad- joining, butted and bounded as in the original Dutch ground brief and patent of confirmation is set forth; which said tract of land and meadow, having been by the said Col. Lewis Morris long possessed and enjoyed, and having likewise there- on made good improvement, he, the said Edmund Andros, late governor of our said province, did further, by the said deed or patent, sealed with the seal of our said province, and bearing date as aforesaid, we grant and confirm unto the said Col. Lewis Morris, for his further improvement, a certain quantity of land adjacent unto the said tract of land-which land with the addition being bounded from his own house over against Haerlem, running up Haerlem River to Daniel Turneur's land, and so along this said land northward to John Archer's line, and from thence stretching east to the land of John Richardson and Thomas Hunt, and thence along their lands southward to the Sound, even so along the Sound about southwest through Bronck's hill to the said Col. Lewis Morris' house-the additional land containing (according to the survey thereof) the quantity of fourteen hundred and twenty acres, to have and to hold the afore-recited tract of land before possessed by him,'and the additional land within the limits and bounds aforesaid, together with the woods and meadows, both salt and fresh waters and creeks, belonging to the said lands, unto the said Col. Lewis Morris, his heirs and assignees forever, under the yearly rent of four bushels of good winter wheat, as by the said deed or patent, registered in our secretary's office of our said province of New York, etc.,-relation being thereunto had-may fully and at large appear. And whereas, our loving subject, Lewis Morris (nephew unto the said Col. Morris, lately de- ceased, his sole and only heir), who is now, by right of descent and inheritance, peacably and quietly seized and possessed of all the aforesaid tracts of land and premises within the limits and bounds aforesaid, hath, by his petition, presented unto our trusty and well-beloved Benj. Fletcher, our Captain General and Gov- ernor-in-chief of our said province of New York and territories dependent thereon in America, etc., prayed our grant and confirmation of all the aforesaid tracts and parcels of land and premises within the limits and bounds aforesaid; and likewise that we would be graciously pleased to erect the said tracts and parcels of land, within the limits and bounds aforesaid, into a lordship or manor, by the name or title of the manor or lordship of Morrisania, in the county of Westchester; and whereas it is publicly manifest that the said Col. Lewis Morris, deceased, in his lifetime, and our said loving subject, his nephew and sole and only heir since
139
MANORS AND PATENTS
his decease, have been at great charge and expense in the purchasing, handling, and improving of the said tracts and parcels of land, whereon considerable build- ings have likewise been made; and our said loving subject, being willing still to make further improvements thereon-which reasonable request for his further encouragement we being willing to grant; and know yee, that we, of our special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, we have given, granted, ratified and confirmed, and by these presents do for us, our heirs and successors, give, grant, ratify and confirm, unto the said Lewis Morris, his heirs and assignees, all of the aforesaid tracts and parcels of land within the limits and bounds aforesaid, con- taining the quantity of one thousand, nine hundred and twenty acres of land, more or less, together with all and every the messuages, tenements, buildings, houses, out houses, barns, barracks, stables, mills, mill dams, mill howles, orchards, gardens, fences, pastures, fields, feedings, woods, underwoods, trees, timber, meadows, (fresh and salt), marchses, swamps and pools, ponds, waters, water courses, brooks, rivulets, baths, inlets, outlets, islands, necks of land and meadow, peninsulas of land and meadow, ferries, passages, fishing, fowling, hunting and hawking, quarries, mines, minerals, (silver and gold mines excepted), and all the rights, liberties, privileges, jurisdictions, royalties, hereditaments, benefits, profits, advantages and appurtenancies, whatsoever to the afore-recited tracts, parcels and necks of land, and mill, within the limits and bounds aforesaid belonging, adjoining, or in any way appertaining or accepted, reputed, taken, known or occupied, as part, parcel or member thereof, to have or to hold all the aforesaid recited tracts and parcels of land, within the limits and bounds aforesaid, containing the quantity of one thousand, nine hundred and twenty acres of land, more or less, together with all and every the messages, tenements, buildings, houses, out houses, barns, barracks, stables, mills, mill dams, mill houses, orchards, gardens, fences, pastures, fields, feedings, woods, underwoods, trees, timber, meadows, fresh and salt, marshes, swamps, and so on. It goes on: If our further special grace, certain knowledge, and clear motion we have brought it according to reasonable request of our said loving subject to erect all the afore-recited tracts and parcels of land and premises with- in limits and bounds aforesaid into a lordship and manor, and therefore, by these presents, we do, for us, our heirs and successors, erect, make, and constitute all the afore-recited tracts and parcels of land and premises within limits and bounds aforesaid into a lordship and manor, and therefore, by these presents, we do, for us, our heirs and successors, erect, make and constitute, all the afore-recited tracts and parcels of land within the limits and bounds aforesaid, together with all and every the above granted premises, with all and every of their appurtenances, into one lordship and manor, to all intents and purposes, and 'tis our royal will and pleasure, that the said lordship and manor shall from henceforth be called the lordship and manor of Morrisania; and know yee, that we reposing special trust and confidence in the loyalty, wisdom, justice, prudence, and circumspection, of our said loving subjects, do, for us, our heirs and successors, give and grant unto the said Lewis Morris and to the heirs and assignees of him the said Lewis Morris, full power and authority at all times hereafter, in the said lordship and manor, one court leet, and one court barron, to be holden within the said lordship or manor, to be set, forfeited, or employed, or payable or happening at any time to be payable by any of the inhabitants of or in the said lordship or manor of Morrisania, or the limits and bounds whereof, and also all and every of the power and authority therein-before mentioned, for the holding and keeping of the said court-leet and court barron from time to time, and to award and issue out the said accustomary writs, to be issued and awarded out of the said court-leet and
140
THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
court barron, to be kept by the heirs and assignees of the said Lewis Morris, forever, or their or any of their stewards deputed and appointed with full and ample power and authority in destraine for the rents, serveses, and other sums of money, payable by virtue of the premises and all other lawful remedies and means, for the having, possessing, recovering, levying, and enjoying the premises, and every part and parcel of the same, and all waifs, estrages, meeks, deadodans, goods or felons, happening and being forfeited within the said lordship or manor of Morrisania, and all and every sum and sums of money to be paid as a post fine, upon any fine or fines to be levied, of any bounds, tenements, or heredita- ments, within the said lordship or manor of Morrisania, together with the advowson and right of patronage, and all and every the church and churches erected or estab- lished, or thereafter to be erected or established within the said manor of Morrisania, and we do also give and grant unto the said Lewis Morris, his heirs and assignees, that all and each of the tenants of him the said Lewis Morris, within the said manor, may at all times hereafter, meet together and choose assessors, within the manor aforesaid, according to such rules, ways and methods, as are prescribed for cities, towns and counties within our said province aforesaid, by the acts of general assembly for the defraying of the public charge, of each respective city, town and county aforesaid, and all such sums of money assessed or levied, to dispose of and collect for such uses as the acts of general assembly shall establish and appoint, to have and to hold, possess and enjoy, all and singular the said lordship or manor of Morrisania and premises, with all their and every of their appurtenances, unto the said Lewis Morris, his heirs and assignees forever, to be holden of us, our heirs and successors, in free and common socage, according to the tenure of our manor of East Greenwich, in our county of Kent, within our realm of England, yielding, rendering and paying therefor, yearly and every year, on the feast day of the Annunciation of our blessed virgin, unto us, our heirs and successors, at our city of New York, the annual rent of six shillings, in lieu and stead of all former rents, dues, services, and demands whatsoever, for the said lordship and manor of Morrisania, and premises; in testimony whereof, we have caused the great seal of the said province to be affixed. Witness our trusty and well beloved Benjamin Fletcher, our capt. gen. and gov. in-chief of our province of New York, and territories and tacts of land depending thereon, in America, and vice-admiral of the same, our lieutenant commander-in-chief of the militia and all the forces by sea and land within our colony of Connecticut, and all the forts and places of strength within the same, in council at our fort in New York, the 8th day of May, in the ninth year of our reign, Anno Domini, 1697.
By command of his excellency,
Ben. Fletcher
David Jamieson, Sec'y.
The Morris Family-This charter erecting the manor of Morrisania may be taken as typical of the charters granted in the erection of the other local manors. The first lord of the manor of Morrisania, Lewis Morris, second of the name, died in the spring of 1746, aged seventy- three, so that he was born in the year 1677. By his will he directed that he should be buried at Morrisania, and that his funeral should be conducted in a manner that was Quakerish in its simplicity. He pro- hibited "any mourning dress to be worn on his account, as he should die when Divine Providence should call him away, and was unwilling
141
MANORS AND PATENTS
that his friends should be at unnecessary expense, which was owing solely to the common folly of mankind." To his son Lewis he left all that part of the manor lying east of the Mill Brook; to his wife, Isabella Graham, the remainder of the estate, lying westward of the Mill Brook, called "Old Morrisania"; and to his second son, Robert Hunter Morris, he bequeathed his New Jersey estates.
Following the death of his mother, Lewis Morris, third of the name, became possessed of the whole manor. He was married twice, his first wife being Elizabeth Staats, by whom he had three sons: Lewis, the Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Staats Long, a general in the British army, who married Catherine, Duchess of Gordon, whose son was the instigator of the "Gordon riots" described in Dickens' "Barnaby Rudge," and Richard Morris, who married into the Ludlow family, and who was a judge of the Court of Admiralty at the outbreak of the war. The second wife of Lewis Morris was Sarah Gouverneur, by whom he had one son, Gouverneur Morris, and four daughters, one of whom, Isabella, became the wife of the Reverend Isaac Wilkins. Lewis Morris, the third, died in 1762, at the age of sixty-four. By his will, dated November 19, 1760, he bequeathed to his eldest son, Lewis, "all that part of Morrisania west of the Mill Brook"; to his wife, "the land upon which my house stands west of the Mill Brook"; and to his other sons, the remaining part of the manor. He also directed that his son, Gouverneur, was to have the best education "that was to be had in England or America." The legacy of the land to the west of the Mill Brook carried with it the right to the use of the stream for milling and other purposes, so that the east bank really became the boundary. It is a curious fact that today in consequence the purchaser of a lot which lies on both sides of the bed of the former stream, that is that would be crossed by the stream if it existed, is obliged to get a quit- claim, or release, of the brook from the descendants of the original legatee, in order that the title shall be clear and above reproach.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.