Under the Dutch 35 



of a tract of flat land for that indispensable adjunct to every 

 Dutchman's comfort and peace of mind, a garden. The 

 tract, called "Van der Donck's Planting Ground," lies in the 

 parade ground in Van Cortlandt Park, west of Tippett's 

 Brook and the lake. This was also the site probably selected 

 for his house. In accordance with the provisions of his 

 grant, he established colonists upon his land, who, in view of 

 the Indian war of Kieft's administration, cultivated friendly 

 relations with the red men, who still maintained their villages 

 at Spuyten Duyvil and at the mouth of the Sawmill River, 

 at both of which places many Indian relics have been found. 

 He also established a saw-mill on the Nepperhan in 1649; 

 but his death in 1655 frustrated any plans he had made for the 

 development of his land. 



As to his family, we have nothing trustworthy. His wife, 

 Mary Doughty, may have built upon and cultivated the land 

 and received some income from it. If he had children, their 

 records have disappeared, though it is said there were Van 

 der Doncks on Long Island, but whether direct or collateral 

 descendants is not known. His widow married Hugh O'Neale 

 of Patuxent, Maryland, before 1666, and she went there to 

 live in 167 1. We shall come across her again when we take 

 up the English period. 



In 1654-55, some New Englanders, probably carrying out 

 the claim of Connecticut to the south, settled in the Vriede- 

 landt near Westchester Creek without permission of Governor 

 Stuyvesant. Such an act would be sure to arouse Peter the 

 Headstrong, and we find that on April 19, 1655, a writ of eject- 

 ment was issued against " Thomas Pel and other trespassers. " 

 On the twenty-second, Claes Van Elslant, the messenger of 

 the Dutch court, accompanied by Albert the Trumpeter, 

 served the writ. Notwithstanding that he was threatened 



