84 The Story of The Bronx 



and Oliver, an officer in the British navy, who resigned his 

 commission rather than fight against his native country. 



Of the Willetts, who, through Susan, the daughter of Thomas 

 Cornell, inherited Cornell's Neck, we have already spoken. 



The manor of Pelham fell to John Pell, nephew of the first 

 owner, who alienated two thirds of it to Leisler for the Hugue- 

 not settlement of New Rochelle. The remainder came into 

 the hands of successive manor-lords until the Revolution. 

 The family, though an eminently respectable one, was not so 

 prominent in public affairs as those that have been mentioned. 

 There were, however, many intermarriages with the other 

 leading families. 



The first of the Leggett family was Gabriel, who came 

 from Essex, England, in 1661. Through his wife, Elizabeth 

 Richardson, daughter and co-heiress of John Richardson, who, 

 with Edward Jessup, was the original patentee of West Farms, 

 a large part of that patent came into his possession and has 

 remained in that of his descendants to this day. 



Chief Justice Lewis Morris, usually called Senior, died at 

 an advanced age in 1746. His successor in the lordship of the 

 manor of Morrisania was his second son Lewis, usually called 

 Junior, who was a judge in several courts and assemblyman 

 for the county, spending his whole life in public affairs. Upon 

 his death in 1762, the manor devolved upon his son, Lewis 

 Morris, Third, representative in the Continental Congress 

 and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 

 Before serving his country in a civil capacity, he had been a 

 brigadier-general in the army of the Congress. He was born 

 in 1726 and died in 1798. His half-brother, Gouverneur 

 Morris, was United States Minister to France at the time of 

 the Directory, and was otherwise famous in United States 

 history. The Morris family has numerous branches, and many 



