276 The Story of The Bronx 



"The inhabitants of the village of Fordham are, by a 

 majority of votes, to choose a number of six persons of the 

 best qualified inhabitants, and only those of the Reformed 

 Christian religion, as magistrates of the aforesaid village, 

 and to present the aforesaid nominations, by the first oppor- 

 tunity, to the Governor-General, from which he shall make the 

 election. They are recommended to take care that at least 

 half of the nominated are of the Dutch nation. Done in this 

 village of New Harlem, 4th of October, 1673. 



Johannes Verveelen, as Schepen and Secretary." 1 



It will be remembered that after Archer's death, his manor 

 became the property of Cornelius Steenwyck, the mortgagee, 

 who left it to the Lower Dutch Church of the city of New 

 York. This church was formed within the fort at New 

 Amsterdam in 1628; its successor is the present Collegiate 

 Reformed Church of New York. The Collegiate Church 

 organized a society on its property at Fordham in May, 1696, 

 and the Reverend John Montaigne was installed as pastor, 

 with Henricus Selyns, William Beekman, Johannes Kerbyle, 

 Johannes Depeyster, Jacobus Kipp, Isaac de Forrest, and 

 Isaac de Reyners as elders and deacons. 



The first church edifice was built in 1706 through the 

 liberality of Margaretta Steenwyck, William Dyckman, and 

 others; the building stood on the farm of James Valentine, 

 later the property of Moses Devoe, at what is now Fordham 

 Road and Sedgwick Avenue. At the southeast corner of the 

 crossing of these two roads formerly stood the ancient Dutch 

 burying-ground ; an ancient willow tree, whose girth was over 

 twenty feet, stood at the corner of the lot, with the unmark- 

 ed, broken, and sunken tombstones behind it. The church 

 stood on the opposite side of the Fordham Road, on what 



1 Johannes Verveelen, schepen or constable, was the ferryman at the 

 Spuyten Duyvil ferry. 



