Misplaced Pages

Philipse Patent

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

The Philipse Patent was a British royal patent for a large tract of land on the east bank of the Hudson River about 50 miles north of New York City. It was purchased in 1697 by Adolphus Philipse , a wealthy landowner of Dutch descent in the Province of New York , and in time became today's Putnam County .

#35964

88-663: Philipse bought the roughly 250 sq mi (650 km) tract from two Dutch traders who had purchased it from "Wiccopee chiefs" of the Wappinger native American people. The parcel received a land patent from the British Crown on 13 August 1702. Originally known as the Highland Patent , it spanned from the Hudson to the then Connecticut Colony along today's northern Westchester County border. In 1731 it

176-602: A British court decided that the inheritance rights of heirs to property that was confiscated by the Americans during the American Revolution was recoverable. Under this decision, John Jacob Astor I purchased the reversionary rights to the Philipse lands in 1809 from the heirs of Roger Morris (husband of Mary Philipse) for £20,000. After Mary Philipse Morris died in 1825, Astor attempted to collect rents on

264-644: A Wappinger Confederacy, as did anthropologist James Mooney in 1910, Ives Goddard contests their view. He writes that no evidence supports this idea. The suggested bands of the Wappinger, headed by sachems , have been described as including: The Wappinger are the namesake of several areas in New York, including: Broadway in New York City also follows their ancient trail. Connecticut Colony The Connecticut Colony , originally known as

352-523: A Wappinger people living along the lower Hudson River near today's New York City, were among the first to be recorded encountering European adventurers and traders when Henry Hudson's Half Moon appeared in 1609. Long after their original settlements had been decimated by wars with the colonists, wars with other Indian tribes, questionable land sales, waves of diseases brought by the Europeans, and absorption into other tribes, their last sachem and

440-653: A black ring around their eyes." As the Dutch began to settle in the area, they pressured the Connecticut Wappinger to sell their lands and seek refuge with other Algonquian-speaking tribes. The western bands, however, stood their ground amid rising tensions. Following the Pavonia massacre by colonists, during Kieft's War in 1643, the remaining Wappinger bands united against the Dutch, attacking settlements throughout New Netherland . The Dutch responded with

528-849: A great number of them . Sassacus was able to escape to the Mohawks , who immediately killed him and his party, sending his scalp to Boston. With the Pequots vanquished the Treaty of Hartford was signed between Connecticut, the Mohegans, and the Narragansett, granting the Connecticut settlers the exclusive right to the former Pequot land and dissolving the Pequot as both a political and cultural entity, with surviving Pequots made to assimilate into

616-510: A group of their heavily dwindled people were residing at the "prayer town" sanctuary of Stockbridge, Massachusetts . A stalwart spokesman for Native American concerns and valiant soldier, Daniel Nimham had traveled to Great Britain in the 1760s to argue for a return of tribal lands, and served in both the French and Indian Wars (on behalf of the English) and American Revolution (in support of

704-654: A land patent from the Governor, instead, in 1697 they sold their deed (as signed by native leaders) to Adolphus Philipse , a wealthy merchant, who subsequently settled the land. Adolphus was the second son of Frederick Philipse , the first Lord of the Manor of Philipsborough , a Dutch immigrant to North America of Bohemian heritage who had risen to become one of the greatest landholders in New Netherland . Shortly after purchasing it, Adolphus Philipse, whose residence

792-813: A license... in October [of] 1687 permitting their purchase of a deed from the Native Americans then living in what is now Philipstown ." Eventually, on July 15, 1691, Dortlandt and Sybrant secured from the local Wapppinger leaders a deed to a 15,000-acre tract of the "low lands" along the eastern bank of the Hudson River from the peak on Anthony's Nose to Pollepel Island , and east to a marked tree. The original boundaries of this tract appear to contain roughly half of modern-day Phillipstown, NY , including Garrison , Cold Spring , and Nelsonville . However, Dortlandt and Sybrant did not then themselves obtain

880-497: A particular settler the right to negotiate land transactions with natives over a determined land area. Ideally, only upon securing a deed from the land with the consent of local natives would the settlers be granted a land patent to the property. On December 2, 1680, Dutch traders Lambert Dorlandt and Jan Sybrant (Seberinge) applied to the New York colonial government for a license to purchase land in present-day Putnam County. According to local historians, Dortlandt and Sybrant "obtained

968-428: A ring around the stockades to kill anyone attempting to escape. The Indian allies formed a second ring to catch anyone who managed to escape the first. Hundreds of Pequots died, many of the women and children. Their spirits broken, many of the Pequot attempted to flee west. Mason, accompanied by Israel Stoughton pursued a group of three hundred Pequots to a swamp near modern Fairfield , where they killed and captured

SECTION 10

#1732772719036

1056-525: A significant donation to the college, it was renamed Yale College in his honor. The Connecticut Courant , the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States, was founded in Hartford in 1764. Connecticut was a staunch supporter of the American Revolution, with a fifth of the state's male population serving in the war. Jonathan Trumbull was the only colonial governor to support

1144-515: A trading post on the Connecticut. Besides the English settlers, they took some of the original sachems of the area to prove the validity of their claim. As they passed Fort Good Hope they were threatened by the Dutch, a threat ignored by Holmes. Holmes proceeded a few miles up river and constructed a trading post on the modern site of Windsor . Hearing of the English activities, New Netherland governor Wouter Van Twiller dispatched 70 men to dislodge

1232-808: A very small portion north of the Hudson Highlands by the mouth of Fishkill Creek was split off from Philipstown (which had been established in 1788 out of the westernmost three and part of a fourth parcel of the Philipse Patent) and given to the Town of Fishkill . In 1812, the balance of the Philipse Patent was separated from Dutchess County and became today's Putnam County . Wappinger The Wappinger ( / ˈ w ɒ p ɪ n dʒ ər / WOP -in-jər ) were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what

1320-497: Is full of great and tall oakes. This day [September 5, 1609] many of the people came aboord, some in mantles of feathers, and some in skinnes of divers sorts of good furres. Some women also came to us with hempe. They had red copper tabacco pipes and other things of copper they did wear about their neckes. At night they went on land againe, so wee rode very quite, but durst not trust them" (Juet 1959:28). Dutch navigator and colonist David Pieterz De Vries recorded another description of

1408-498: Is now southern New York and western Connecticut . At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutchess County, New York , but their territory included the east bank of the Hudson in what became both Putnam and Westchester counties south to the western Bronx and northern Manhattan Island . To the east they reached to the Connecticut River Valley , and to

1496-807: The Half Moon . The total population of the Wappinger people at that time has been estimated at between 3,000 and 13,200 individuals. Robert Juet, an officer on the Half Moon , provides an account in his journal of some of the lower Hudson Valley Native Americans. In his entries for September 4 and 5, 1609, he says: "This day the people of the country came aboord of us, seeming very glad of our comming, and brought greene tobacco , and gave us of it for knives and beads. They goe in deere skins loose, well dressed. They have yellow copper. They desire cloathes, and are very civill ... They have great store of maize or Indian wheate whereof they make good bread. The country

1584-699: The Battle of Kingsbridge in the Bronx on August 30, 1778. It proved an irrevocable blow to the tribe, which had also been decimated by European diseases. Following the American Revolutionary War, what was left of a combined Mohican and Wappinger community in Stockbridge, Massachusetts left for Oneida County in western New York to join the Oneida people there. There they were joined by

1672-668: The Connecticut River Colony , was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut . It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritan congregation of settlers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony led by Thomas Hooker . The English would secure their control of the region in the Pequot War . Over the course of the colony's history it would absorb

1760-585: The First Anglo-Dutch War . The war's outbreak enabled Connecticut to seize Fort Good Hope in 1653. After the restoration of the Stuart monarchy , many in Connecticut feared their colony's Puritanism and lack of a royal charter would lead to Charles II curtailing the colony's self government. Governor John Winthrop Jr. was sent to England in 1662 where he successfully obtained a charter. The charter granted Connecticut extensive liberties, with

1848-761: The Munsee , a large subgroup of the Lenape people . All three were among the Eastern Algonquian -speaking subgroup of the Algonquian peoples . They spoke using very similar Lenape languages , with the Wappinger dialect most closely related to the Munsee language . Their nearest allies were the Mohican to the north, the Montaukett to the southeast on Long Island, and the remaining New England tribes to

SECTION 20

#1732772719036

1936-423: The Munsee language -word wápinkw , used by the Lenape and meaning " opossum ", might be related to the name Wappinger. No evidence supports the folk etymology of the name coming from a word meaning "easterner," as suggested by Edward Manning Ruttenber in 1906 and John Reed Swanton in 1952. Others suggest that Wappinger is anglicized from the Dutch word wapendragers , meaning "weapon-bearers", alluding to

2024-674: The New England Confederation to mutually defend the colonies against the Dutch, French, and Indians. Before leaving for England, Fenwick, along with Hopkins, would serve as Connecticut's first commissioners to the Confederation. Connecticut's membership in the Confederation also meant it sent troops to fight in King Philip's War , though Connecticut itself was minimally impacted. Like its fellow Puritan colonies, Connecticut would welcome Cromwell's victory in

2112-724: The Wappinger Confederacy along the western coast and the Niantics on the eastern coast. Further inland were the Pequot , who pushed the Niantic to the coast and would become the most important tribe in relations with colonists. Also present were the Nipmunks and Mohicans , though these two tribes largely lived in the neighboring states of Massachusetts and New York respectively. The first European to visit Connecticut

2200-664: The patriots . Nathan Hale , the first American spy, also hailed from the colony. The original colonies along the Connecticut River and in New Haven were established by separatist Puritans who were connected with the Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies. They held Calvinist religious beliefs similar to the English Puritans, but they maintained that their congregations needed to be separated from

2288-763: The "prayer town" Stockbridge, Massachusetts in the western part of the colony, where Natives had settled who had converted to Christianity. In 1765, the remaining Wappinger in Dutchess County sued the Philipse family for control of the Philipse Patent land but lost. In the aftermath the Philipses raised rents on the European-American tenant farmers , sparking colonist riots across the region. In 1766 Daniel Nimham , last sachem of

2376-510: The 17th century and developed with greater diversity and an increased focus on production for distant markets, especially the British colonies in the Caribbean . The American Revolution cut off imports from Britain and stimulated a manufacturing sector that made heavy use of the entrepreneurship and mechanical skills of the people. In the second half of the 18th century, difficulties arose from

2464-634: The Colonists). He died with his son Abraham in a slaughter of the Stockbridge Militia at the Battle of Kingsbridge in 1778. Following the war, what was left of a combined Mohican and Wappinger community in Stockbridge, Massachusetts left for Oneida County in western New York to join the Oneida people there. There they were joined by the remnants of the Munsee , forming the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe. From that time,

2552-474: The Dutch. Connecticut sent a force of ninety men, led by John Mason . The force was joined by sixty Mohegans led by Uncas and came to Saybrook where a group of Massachusetts men led by Underhill joined them. On May 26, 1637, the group, encamped outside a fortified Pequot village on the Mystic River , launched a surprise attack at dawn. The English charged into the village, set it on fire, and formed

2640-556: The English state church. They had immigrated to New England during the Great Migration . In the middle of the 18th century, the government restricted voting rights with a property qualification and a church membership requirement. Congregationalism was the established church in the colony by the time of the American War of Independence until it was disestablished in 1818. The economy began with subsistence farming in

2728-522: The English. The Dutch would find the English well prepared to defend themselves and left, seeking to avoid bloodshed. Meanwhile, John Oldham led a group of men from the Bay Colony to the river to see Connecticut for themselves. They returned with accounts of plentiful beaver, hemp, and graphite. A year later, Oldham would lead a group of settlers to found the town of Wethersfield . By 1635, Massachusetts' English population had grown immensely and it

Philipse Patent - Misplaced Pages Continue

2816-470: The Hudson. He argued before the royal Lords of Trade , who were generally sympathetic to his claims, but did not arrange for the Wappinger to regain any land after he returned to North America. The Lords of Trade reported that there was sufficient cause to investigate "frauds and abuses of Indian lands...complained of in the American colonies, and in this colony in particular." And that, "the conduct of

2904-709: The Indians would set an adverse precedent regarding other similar disputes. Nimham did not give up the cause. When the opportunity to serve with the Continental Army in the American Revolution arose, he chose it over the British in the hopes of receiving fairer treatment by the American government in its aftermath. It was not to be. Many Wappinger served in the Stockbridge Militia during the American Revolution . Nimham, his son and heir Abraham, and some forty warriors were killed or mortally wounded in

2992-513: The Manor went to his son Frederick Philipse III , while the Patent was divided among four of Frederick II's offspring: son Philip , and daughters, Susannah (wife of Beverley Robinson ), Mary (wife of Col. Roger Morris ), and Margaret , who died intestate. By terms of her father's will Margaret's portion was then equally divided among her brother and sisters. Based upon a 1751 survey, the tract

3080-614: The March 1644 slaughter of between 500 and 700 members of Wappinger bands in the Pound Ridge Massacre , most burned alive in a surprise attack upon their sacred wintering ground. It was a severe blow to the tribe. Allied with their trading partners, the powerful Mohawk of the Iroquois nations in central and western New York, the Dutch defeated the Wappinger by 1645. The Mohawk and Dutch killed more than 1500 Wappinger during

3168-417: The Pequot. The Pequot also claimed to be unable to distinguish the Dutch from the English. Disbelieving these claims and seeing there were no women or children among the Pequot, Endecott attacked, beginning the war. The Pequot responded by besieging Saybrook and attacking Wethersfield, where they would kill nine and take two women hostage. The women were daughters of William Swaine and would later be rescued by

3256-538: The Wappinger ceased to have an independent name in history, and their people intermarried with others. Their descendants were subsequently relocated to a Stockbridge-Munsee reservation in Shawano County, Wisconsin . The tribe operates a casino there, and in 2010 was awarded two tiny parcels suitable for casinos in New York State in return for dropping larger land claims there. The totem (or emblem) of

3344-593: The Wappinger was the "enchanted wolf," with the right paw raised defiantly. By one account, they shared this totem with the Mohicans. The origin of the name Wappinger is unknown. While the present-day spelling was used as early as 1643, countless alternate phonetic spellings were also used by early European settlers well into the late 19th century. Each linguistic group tended to transliterate Native American names according to their own languages. Among these spellings and terms are: Anthropologist Ives Goddard suggests

3432-401: The Wappinger who resided around Fort Amsterdam: "The Indians about here are tolerably stout, have black hair with a long, lock which they let hang on one side of the head. Their hair is shorn on the top of the head like a cock's comb. Their clothing is a coat of beaver skins over the body, with the fur inside in winter and outside in summer; they have, also, sometimes a bear's hide, or a coat of

3520-577: The Wappinger, was part of a delegation that traveled to London to petition the British Crown for land rights and better treatment by the American colonists . Britain had controlled former "Dutch" lands in New York since 1664. Nimham was then living in Stockbridge, but he was originally from the Wappinger settlement of Wiccopee, New York , near the Dutch-founded settlement of Fishkill on

3608-707: The Wappingers' earliest recorded European contact, their settlements included camps along the major rivers between the Hudson and Housatonic , with larger villages located at the river mouths. Settlements near fresh water and arable land could remain in one location for about 20 years, until the people moved to another place some miles away. Despite many references to their villages and other site types by early European explorers and settlers, few contact-period sites have been identified in southeastern New York. The Wappinger first came into contact with Europeans in 1609, when Henry Hudson's expedition reached this territory on

Philipse Patent - Misplaced Pages Continue

3696-480: The bulk of today's lower Westchester County . The title and balance of the lands passed to his nephew, Frederick Philipse II , whose father Philip, elder brother of Adolphus, had predeceased Frederick I. Adolphus Philipse died in 1750 (Smith, 1749), with his share of the Manor and the Highland Patent he had acquired on his own passing to Frederick II, his only heir-at-law. Upon Frederick II's death in 1751,

3784-413: The buyers intended to acquire the right to exclude the native sellers from all access to the land. As a result of disagreements, and at times violence, arising from differences between the way Dutch settlers and local indigenous tribes in present-day New York understood their relationship with land and subsequent rights of ownership, the local Dutch government required settlers to obtain a license, granting

3872-575: The charter had vanished, safely hidden away in a nearby oak tree. The tree, which became known as the Charter Oak would endure as a symbol of Connecticut for generations. Andros replaced Puritan officials with Anglicans and imposed heavy taxes. His salary of £1,200 exceeded the entire annual expenditure of Massachusetts' former government. When James II was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution , Andros initially attempted to suppress

3960-435: The citizenry than punishment. Frederick was a Loyalist during the American Revolution . As such, he was attained by the Provincial Congress of New York in 1779 and his Manor and other lands in today's Westchester County were seized. Several months later their sale was ordered. Philipse family holdings belonging to other members, principally the Highland Patent, were also seized by the Commissioners of Forfeitures. Sale

4048-419: The civil war. The new English government, however, would soon cause issues for Connecticut. The Confederation negotiated the Treaty of Hartford defining the border between New Netherland and the English colonies, but the government in England refused to ratify it. Tensions with the Dutch would be inflamed by the Navigation Act 1651 , restricting foreign trade with the colonies. These tensions would culminate in

4136-440: The early 1760s. This reached a peak in 1766, when a tenant in the northeast of Mary Philipse's center parcel, William Prendergast, fomented a small army of 2,000 men to forcibly wrest freedom from paying rent on the lands they occupied. It marched on New York City, where it petitioned the colonial Governor Sir Henry Moore to intercede, who refused, and – seemingly – defused the unrest. The landlords, however, incited by

4224-441: The early 19th century, the Stockbridge-Munsee in New York were forced to remove to Wisconsin . Today, members of the federally recognized Stockbridge-Munsee Nation reside mostly there on a reservation, where they operate a casino. In 2010 the tribe was awarded two tiny parcels suitable for casinos in New York State in return for dropping larger land claims there. While Edward Manning Ruttenber suggested in 1872 that there had been

4312-443: The east. Like the Lenape, the Wappinger were highly decentralized as a people. They formed approximately 18 loosely associated bands that had established geographic territories. The Wappinger had summer and winter camps. As agriculturists, they cultivated maize, beans, and various species of squash. They also hunted game, fished the rivers and streams, collected shellfish, and gathered fruits, flowers, seeds, roots, and nuts. By 1609,

4400-436: The enormous sum raised – the better part of a quarter of a million pounds Sterling – New York's Provisional Congress reneged and no compensation was forthcoming. Several thousand acres of the Philipse estate went to the tenant farmers who worked on the land. In all, the lands were divided up into almost 200 different parcels, with the bulk of the holdings going to Dutch New York businessman Henry Beekman . In 1787,

4488-472: The establishment of the border between the provinces of New York and the Connecticut Colony resulted in a portion of a disputed tract known as The Oblong spanning the entire eastern border of the Patent. The proper boundaries were not resolved until a land swap between the then U.S. states late in the 18th century. Upon Frederick's death in 1702, Adolphus inherited a partial share of the Manor's lands, which then amounted to over 80 square miles and encompassed

SECTION 50

#1732772719036

4576-446: The first legislative session in New Haven to create a college for the colony, with Saybrook as the site and Abraham Pierson as the first rector. Pierson would run the college from his home in Killingworth until his death in 1707, when it was finally moved to Saybrook. Saybrook would soon prove to be too remote and New Haven was able to beat out other communities for the site of the college in 1716. Two years later, when Elihu Yale made

4664-495: The future sites of Saybrook and Hartford respectively. In 1631, a group of sachems from the Connecticut valley led by Wahquimacut visited Plymouth Colony and Boston, asking both colonies to send settlers to Connecticut to fight the Pequot. Massachusetts governor John Winthrop rejected the proposal but Edward Winslow , governor of Plymouth was more open, traveling to Connecticut in person in 1632. Winslow, along with William Bradford would later travel to Boston to convince

4752-403: The island he claimed it not for Connecticut but for himself. The Duke of York would ascend to the throne as King James II and VII. As one of his first acts, he would consolidate the English colonies from West Jersey to Maine into the Dominion of New England . Sir Edmund Andros would be appointed governor of the new united colony. Andros demanded that Connecticut hand over its charter as it

4840-405: The lands, but the new “owners,” who had purchased from the lands from the Commission of Forfeiture, refused to pay, and Astor tried to evict them. A compromise was reached in 1828 when New York State compensated Astor for the reversionary rights in the amount of $ 500,000. The Highland Patent had been incorporated into Dutchess County in 1737, where it was known as the "South Precinct". In 1806,

4928-427: The latter dispute, but the resentment of Winthrop remained. After Dudley replaced Winthrop as governor in May 1634, the issue of Hooker's congregation's desire for removal to Connecticut was raised in the General Court . Opponents of the removal countered with a proposal that settlers instead settle Agawam and Merrimack . Both sites proved unsatisfactory, but removal was nonetheless delayed for two years. Despite

5016-412: The leaders of Massachusetts Bay to join Plymouth in constructing a trading post on the Connecticut River before the Dutch could. Winthrop rejected the offer, calling Connecticut "not fit to meddle with" citing hostile Indians and the difficulty of moving large ships into the Connecticut River. Despite the Bay Colony's refusal to join the venture, Plymouth sent a bark led by William Holmes to establish

5104-400: The lieutenant-governor and the council...does carry with it the colour of great prejudice and partiality, and of an intention to intimidate these Indians from prosecuting their claims." Upon a second hearing before New York Provincial Governor Sir Henry Moore and the council, John Morin Scott argued that legal title to the land was only a secondary concern. He said that returning the land to

5192-485: The mistaken identity of the ship. When asked to turn over the killers, the envoy claimed all but two of the killers had died of a recent smallpox epidemic and they lacked the authority to turn over the two survivors. The Pequot further claimed the killing was justified as Stone had captured two Pequots and mistreated them. When John Gallup was sailing to Long Island he spotted a pinnace belonging to John Oldham, its deck covered with Indians. When Gallup attempted to board

5280-410: The neighboring New Haven and Saybrook colonies. The colony was part of the briefly-lived Dominion of New England . The colony's founding document, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut has been called the first written constitution of a democratic government, earning Connecticut the nickname "The Constitution State." Prior to European settlement, the land that would become Connecticut was home to

5368-437: The news. Word did get out, and the colonists overthrew the dominion casting its government as crypto-Catholic supports of James II and themselves as loyal to the new Protestant monarchs of William III and Mary II . The dominion's short-lived experiment in centralized government ended and Connecticut, along with all the other colonies, had its charter restored. In 1701 New Haven was designated co-capital with Hartford. At

SECTION 60

#1732772719036

5456-455: The north the Roeliff Jansen Kill in southernmost Columbia County, New York , marked the end of their territory. Their nearest allies were the Mohican to the north, the Montaukett to the southeast on Long Island, and the remaining New England tribes to the east. Like the Lenape, the Wappinger were highly decentralized as a people. They formed numerous loosely associated bands that had established geographic territories. The Wequaesgeek ,

5544-430: The office of governor with Edward Hopkins every year until 1655. Shortly after the Fundamental Orders were established, the nearby New Haven colony organized its own government. When Fort Good Hope was constructed, the Dutch specified in their treaty with the Pequot that the trading post was to be open to all tribes. Ignoring this, the Pequot attacked a rival tribe attempting to trade. The Dutch retaliated by kidnapping

5632-426: The only trained lawyer in the colonies. The document was adopted in January 1639 and formally united the settlements of Hartford, Windsor, and Wetherfield together and has been called the first written democratic constitution. Under the new constitution, John Haynes was elected governor with Ludlow as deputy governor. Owing to a restriction against governors seeking office in consecutive years, Haynes would alternate

5720-446: The other tribes. With the outbreak of the English Civil War , English support for the Saybrook Colony dried up. The colony's governor, George Fenwick negotiated a deal to sell the colony to Connecticut in 1644. Fenwick would return to England and serve with distinction under Oliver Cromwell . Inspired by the successes of colonial cooperation during the Pequot War, Connecticut, along with Massachusetts, Plymouth, and New Haven formed

5808-403: The refusal of Thomas Hooker's request for removal, settlers continued to pour into the valley. In May 1635 the Saybrook Colony was established at the mouth of the Connecticut River. Considerable amounts of emigrants from Massachusetts also settled in the recently established town of Wethersfield. Plymouth's settlement of Windsor also found itself swamped by settlers from Dorchester who took over

5896-439: The remnants of the Munsee , forming the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe. From that time the Wappinger ceased to have an independent name in history, and their people intermarried with others. A few scattered remnants still remained. As late as 1811, a small band was recorded as having a settlement on a low tract of land by the side of a brook, under a high hill in the northern part of the Town of Kent in Putnam County . Later in

5984-520: The removal of references to royalty being the only change required in the aftermath of the American Revolution . The charter also granted Connecticut extensive land claims, defining its borders as the Narragansett Bay , the Pacific Ocean , the southern border of Massachusetts and the 40th parallel north . When representatives of Connecticut traveled to New Haven to show them that they were to be annexed into Connecticut, they initially met strong opposition. This opposition faded in 1664 when New Netherland

6072-400: The sachem of the Pequot, Tatobem and holding him for ransom. After the Pequot paid the ransom, the Dutch gave them Tatobem's corpse. The Pequot retaliated for this by attacking an English ship, believing it to be Dutch. The ship's captain, John Stone, and his crew were killed by the Pequot. A Pequot envoy was sent to Massachusetts to explain the misunderstanding. The envoy told the English about

6160-413: The settlement. The issue was resolved when the Dorchester settlers agreed to pay the Plymouth settlers for the land appropriated. Finally in 1636 the arrival of a new group of settlers allowed Hooker's congregation to sell their homes and set off on the journey to Connecticut on the May 31. Hooker's group of around a hundred settlers and as many cattle soon arrived at the Connecticut River and established

6248-442: The ship to investigate, a fight ensued with Gallup victorious. The colonists blamed the Narragansett for the killing, warning Roger Williams to be careful. The Narragansett leaders Canonicus and Miantonomoh were able to reassure the colonist, claiming that the culprits not killed by Gallup were hiding among the Pequot. After this a group of ninety men led by John Endecott and his captains John Underhill and Nathaniel Turner

6336-443: The shortage of good farmland, periodic money problems, and downward price pressures in the export market. In agriculture, there was a shift from grain to animal products. The colonial government attempted to promote various commodities as export items from time to time, such as hemp , potash , and lumber, in order to bolster its economy and improve its balance of trade with Great Britain. Connecticut's domestic architecture included

6424-494: The skins of wild cats, or hefspanen [probably raccoon], which is an animal most as hairy as a wild cat, and is also very good to eat. They also wear coats of turkey feathers, which they know how to put together. Their pride is to paint their faces strangely with red or black lead, so that they look like fiends. Some of the women are very well featured, having long countenances. Their hair hangs loose from their head; they are very foul and dirty; they sometimes paint their faces, and draw

6512-493: The town of Newtown near the Dutch fort. This name would not last however, as it was soon renamed Hartford after Hertford , the hometown of settler Samuel Stone . In May 1638 Thomas Hooker delivered a sermon on civil government. Inspired by this sermon the settlers sought to create a constitution for the colony. The resulting document, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, was likely mostly drafted by Roger Ludlow ,

6600-448: The two years of the war. This was a devastating toll for the Wappinger. The Wappinger faced the Dutch again in the 1655 Peach War , a three-day engagement that left an estimated 100 settlers and 60 Wappinger dead, and strained relations further between the two groups. After the war, the confederation broke apart, and many of the surviving Wappinger left their native lands for the protection of neighboring tribes, settling in particular in

6688-648: The uprising, pressured Moore to dispatch 300 soldiers north to restore order, defeat the rebels, and capture their leader. Royal grenadiers were dispatched from Poughkeepsie , and, after skirmishes en route, resulting in several dead on each side, engaged Prendergast and 50 of his men at the Oblong Meeting House in the Gore, earning their surrender. Ultimately, Prendergast was tried in New York City, convicted of treason, and sentenced to be hanged. He

6776-462: The warring relationship between the Dutch and the Wappinger. Such reference would correspond to a first appearance in 1643. This was thirty-four years after the Dutch aboard Hudson's Half Moon may have learned the name the people called themselves. The 1643 date reflects a period of great conflict with the natives, including the preemptive Pavonia massacre by the Dutch, which precipitated Kieft's War . The Wappinger were most closely related to

6864-492: Was Dutch explorer Adriaen Block , who sailed up the Connecticut River with his yacht Onrust . Accordingly, as the first Europeans to explore Connecticut, the Dutch claimed the land as part of New Netherland and negotiated a land purchase of 20 acres along the river from Wopigwooit, the Grand Sachem of the Pequot in 1633. The Dutch would establish a trading post named Kivett's Point and a redoubt named Fort Good Hope ,

6952-463: Was clear there was not enough land for the settlers. Particularly eager to leave the crowded Bay colony were the residents of Netwown . The founder of Newtown, Thomas Dudley was frequently at odds with Winthrop, including anger at the choice of Boston as the colony's capital and refusal to support the construction of a fort in Boston. Dudley sent one Thomas Hooker, Newtown's pastor to Boston to resolve

7040-456: Was geographically divided on the 7th of Feb 1754 into nine Lots as seen in the preserved undated pen and ink map: three on the river, three in the interior, and three on the eastern border abutting The Oblong . Each of the three heirs inherited a lot in each division. Tenants in the Philipse Patent joined others throughout the Province of New York in rising against their landlords beginning in

7128-610: Was incorporated into Dutchess County , and divided in 1754 among three Philipse heirs. It remained in the Loyalist Philipse family until seized in 1779 during the Revolution . The Commissioners of Forfeiture of the Revolutionary Province of New York auctioned it in parcels, without compensation to its prior owners. In spite of a provision requiring restitution in the 1783 Treaty of Paris , it never

7216-529: Was made. In 1812, the southern part of Dutchess County, including all of what had been the Phillipse Patent, was spun off into a newly created Putnam County . The first step to establishing rights to real estate at the time was to apply to the colonial government for a license to purchase a tract of land from local Native American inhabitants. Natives typically had notions of communal sharing of land resources and did not understand that by such sales

7304-409: Was no longer a separate colony. Governor Robert Treat attempted to delay handing over the charter for several months, but on October 31, 1687, Andros came to Hartford to retrieve the charter in person. Treat proceeded to give a speech well into the evening on the importance of the charter. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind came through the door, blowing out the candles. By the time the candles were relit,

7392-588: Was seized and renamed New York after its proprietor, the Roman Catholic Duke of York . New York's eastern boundary was defined as the Connecticut River, making New Haven within the claims of both New York and Connecticut. Unwilling to be ruled by a Catholic royalist, New Haven relented and agreed to join Connecticut. The aforementioned seizure of New Netherland would also end Connecticut's claims on Long Island , as when Captain John Scott took

7480-448: Was sent from Massachusetts to the Pequot's territory to demand the return of the murderers of both Stone and Oldham. The force first sailed to Block Island, but the Indians evaded them there and the force left with the only casualty inflicted on the villagers being the burning of the island's empty villages. When the forced arrived in Pequot territory, they were told that the murder was committed by none other than Sassacus , grand sachem of

7568-504: Was the Castle Philipse near North Tarrytown (now, Sleepy Hollow, New York), and who maintained only a bachelor shooting lodge on Lake Mahopac in the Highland Patent, opened the tract to tenant settlers. Thus began a policy that lasted throughout his lifetime and his heirs' so long as they owned the land, to rent rather than sell, a practice which led to stunted growth for two and a half centuries to come. A surveying error during

7656-399: Was to be executed on September 28, 1766. However, with the aid of the presiding judge, Chief Justice Daniel Horsmanden, Pendergast's wife, Mehetibel Wing Pendergast, was able to persuade Governor Moore to seek a king's pardon. It was granted by His Majesty George III, in the belief that clemency would have a more beneficial effect in quelling the dispute and restoring respect for authority among

7744-464: Was withheld during the war, as its outcome was uncertain, confiscated lands had been pledged as collateral against monies borrowed by the provisional government to finance the conflict, and tenants lobbied for the right of preemptive purchase of leased land. The sale proceeded after the Revolution ended. In spite of assurances of restitution in the 1783 Treaty of Paris signed with the British, and

#35964