the name of the Saeck-kill to the stream, and it thus appears on the map of New Netherland accompanying his Description of New Netherland, published in 1653.

Although Van der Donck promptly established a running business on the Nepperhan, and must have had some workmen's huts on the site, he evidently preferred the flats nearer Spuyten Duyvil creek and his neighbors on Manhattan Island for his residence, and there he began to build. Soon thereafter he became one of the most ardent and fearless critics of the government under Director Stuyvesant and the Dutch West India Company, and went to the Netherlands to represent the sentiments of himself and his sympathizers. While there he made preparations to colonize his property, but various obstacles prevented, and he returned to New Netherland in the fall of 1653 without having accomplished much, apparently, except the publication of his Description of New Netherland.

Although Van der Donck did little for the material promotion of his large estate, he is an interesting figure on account of the versatility of his talents, which ranged from sawing wood to the practice of law. Having taken his degree of law at Leyden University and been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Holland, he applied to the Dutch West India Company for permission to practice in New Netherland. But the Directors of the Company declared that they did not know" of there being any gentleman. In usage as a title, however, it signifies a nobleman, and corresponds to the English Lord or Knight. Thus in Spenser's Faery Queen' we have:

"Amongst the rest there was a jolly knight
But that same younker soone was overthrowne."

Chapman, in his translation of the Odyssey, says:

"Ulysses slept there, and close by
The other younkers."

66

The present minister plenipotentiary from the Netherlands to the United States is Jonkheer R. de Marees van Swinderen.

66

*"S" in old Dutch is represented by "Z" in the modern language, ae by "aa," and " ck" by "g," thus giving us Zaag-kill or literally Sawcreek, modernized to Saw Mill river.

other of that stamp" in New Amsterdam, and as there was nobody “who can act and plead against Van der Donck in behalf of the other side" they could not admit him to plead before the courts, but they consented to his giving advice. From which it is evident that the Patroon of Colen Donck was the first of that distinguished body of learned gentlemen of the law which now numbers 23,000 in the State of New York.

Van der Donck died in 1655, leaving as his chief memorials two names in local nomenclature: "Yonkers," and the alternative name of the Neperhan, "the Saw Mill river."

The Patroon's widow, who was the daughter of the Rev. Francis Doughty, after the period of mourning married Hugh O'Neale and, on October 8, 1666, two years after the surrender of New Netherland to the English, Neperhan was patented to Mr. and Mrs. O'Neale by Governor Nicolls. On the 30th of the same month the O'Neales sold the property to Elias Doughty, of Flushing, and on November 29, 1672, Doughty sold it to Thomas Delaval, Thomas Lewis and Frederick Philipse.

Chapter III. The Philipse Family.

The acquisition of a third interest in the late Jonkheer Van der Donck's colony by Frederick Philipse first identifies with the Manor Hall site the name of a family which was conspicuous in the annals of the Colony and State for nearly a century and a half. In order properly to understand the references in the following pages to various members of the family, from the arrival of the immigrants in Stuyvesant's time to the departure of their disinherited descendants at the close of the American Revoluion, it will be convenient to make a brief conspectus of their genealogy.

The name of the family is variously spelled in the records of New Netherland and New York as Flipse, Flypse, Flypsie, Filipzen, Filipzon, Felypsen, Felypson, Flipson, Philipsen, Phil

ipse, Phillipse, Philips and Phillips. From this varied orthography we shall use the spelling Philipse, unless literal quotation requires a change.

Concerning the first two generations of the family, there appears to be some indefiniteness of record,* but from a careful comparison of many authorities we deduce the following:

FIRST GENERATION.

The first generation of the family known to bear the name was the Viscount Philipse of Bohemia, who, with his wife Eva and his son Frederick fled to Friesland.

SECOND GENERATION.

Frederick Philipse, last above mentioned, born in Bohemia, lived in Friesland, where he married Margaret Dacres and where he died. They had a son Frederick with whom the widowed Margaret emigrated to New Netherland on a date uncertain. It is suggested with some probability that the immigrants came with Peter Stuyvesant in 1647.

THIRD GENERATION.

Frederick Philipse, last above mentioned, first Lord of the Manor, born in Friesland 1626; came to New Netherland with widowed mother, possibly in 1647; married first, 1662, Margaret Hardenbrook, widow of Peter Rudolphus De Vries; married second, 1692, Catherine Van Cortlandt, daughter of Oloff Stephanus Van Cortlandt and widow of John Dervall; died November 6, 1702.

FOURTH GENERATION.

The children of Frederick and Margaret, his first wife, were as follows:

" is hopelessly

* The genealogy in Bolton's " History of Westchester County confused. Scharf in his History says that Frederick Philipse and Margaret Dacres, his wife, both came to America with their son Frederick, later first lord of the Manor; while John Jay says Margaret was a widow when she came over with her son.

1. Eva Philipse," daughter of Peter Rudolphus De Vries and Margaret Hardenbrook, born July 6, 1660, adopted by her mother's second husband and known as "Eva Philipse;" married Jacobus Van Cortlandt, May 31, 1691.

2. Philip Philipse, baptized March 18, 1663; married Maria Sparkes about 1694; died 1700.

3. Adolphus Philipse, baptized November 15, 1665; died 1749. 4. Annetje Philipse, baptized November 27, 1667; married Philip French, 1694.

5. Rombout Philipse, baptized January 9, 1670; died young.

FIFTH GENERATION.

Philip Philipse and Maria Sparkes had a son, namely: Frederick Philipse, Second Lord of the Manor; born in the Barbadoes 1695; married Joanna, daughter of Gov. Anthony Brockholls about 1719; died July 26, 1751.

SIXTH GENERATION.

The children of Frederick Philipse, the Second Lord, and Joanna Brockholls, were:

1. Frederick Philipse, Third and last Lord of the Manor, born September 12, 1720; married Elizabeth Williams, widow of one Rutgers; died April 30, 1785.

2. Susannah Philipse, baptized February 3, 1723; died young. 3. Philip Philipse, baptized August 28, 1724; married Margaret Marston; died May 9, 1768.

4. Maria Philipse, baptized March 30, 1726; died young.

5. Susannah Philipse, baptized September 20, 1727; married Capt. (later Col.) Beverly Robinson about 1750; died November,

1822.

6. Mary Philipse, born July 5, 1730; married Col. Roger Morris, July 19, 1758; died July 18, 1825.

7. Margaret Philipse, baptized February 4, 1733; died 1752.* 8. Anthony Philipse, baptized July 13, 1735; died young. 9. Joanna Philipse, baptized September 19, 1739; died young. 10. Adolphus Philipse, baptized March 10, 1742; died young.

SEVENTH GENERATION.

The children of Frederick Philipse, Third Lord of the Manor and Elizabeth Williams, his wife, were:

1. Frederick Philipse, who married Harriet Griffiths, of Rhent, North Wales.

2. Philip Philipse, an officer in the Royal Artillery, who died in Wales in 1829.

3. Charles Philipse, who was drowned in the Bay of Fundy. 4. John Philipse, Captain, who was killed at the battle of Trafalgar, 1805.

5. Maria Eliza Philipse, who married Lionel, Seventh Viscount Strangford, September 4, 1779.

6. Sarah Philipse, who married Mungo Noble, February 8, 1783.

7. Charlotte Margaret Philipse, who married Lieutenant-ColWebber, of England, and died 1840.

8. Elizabeth Philipse, who died at Bath, Eng., in 1828.

9. Susan Philipse.

10. Catherine Philipse, who died young.

Chapter IV. The First Lord of the Manor.

Although the Patroon of Colen Donck gave the name to the present city of Yonkers, yet it was Frederick Philipse, the purchaser of the third interest in the Yonkers Plantation in 1672, who was the real founder of the city, for he built its first substan

*This is evidently the "Miss Philipse" whose epitaph from the New York Gazette and Weekly Post Boy of August 10, 1752, is quoted in Valentine's Manual for 1866.