Under the Lord Proprietor, 1664-1685 61 



northwest corner of his land, opposite the eastern entrance of 

 Spuyten Duyvil Creek, about where the Kingsbridge station 

 of the Putnam Railroad is now located. It consisted of one 

 street running north and south on the line of the present 

 Kingsbridge road leading to Fordham Heights. 



As on May 3, 1669, Governor Lovelace gave Archer leave 

 to settle sixteen families on the mainland, "near the wading 

 place," it must have become a village of several houses, though 

 not a vestige of them remains upon the site. The lessees of 

 the farms were principally from Harlem; and it seems from 

 the ancient court records of that place that Archer was almost 

 continually in trouble with his tenants and neighbors ; for on 

 one date, September 8, 1671, no less than four cases were 

 brought against him : for mowing grass on another man's mea- 

 dow, for breaking down another's fences, for throwing the 

 furniture of a third out-of-doors, and the fourth, on general prin- 

 ciples of trespass and interference. Some of these would indi- 

 cate that there was some Irish blood in his veins. The Harlem 

 records also show that he gave three mortgages to Cornelius 

 Steenwyck, who appears from the records of Westchester Coun- 

 ty to have advanced money to other landowners of the county. 



Finally, to escape the interference of the Harlem magis- 

 trates and the better to secure his purchases from Doughty 

 and the Indians, he procured from Governor Lovelace a manor 

 grant under date of November 13, 1671. The manor was to 

 be held upon the payment of an annual quit-rent of "twenty 

 bushels of good peas, upon the first day of March, when 

 it shall be demanded." The name given to the manor was 

 Fordham; that is, ham (Saxon), a house, and Ford, from the 

 wading place at "ye passage commonly called Spiting Devil. " 

 The name may be construed as the houses (village) at the 

 ford. The manor contained 1250 acres." 



