CHAPTER XVIII 



WESTCHESTER 



SHORTLY after the Revolution, April 18, 1785, the State 

 Legislature enacted that "the district formerly called 

 and known by the style of the Borough and Town of 

 Westchester, shall henceforth be known by the name of the 

 Town of Westchester." This, of course, deprived the town of 

 its mayor and aldermen and of its right to have a representa- 

 tive in the Assembly ; but the new township was authorized to 

 elect by the votes of the inhabitants six freeholders to act as 

 trustees of the township. By Act of the Legislature of 1813, 

 the trustees, or a majority of them, were empowered to sell the 

 undivided lands of the township and to continue to lease the 

 ferry to Flushing, Long Island. 



There are not so many notable objects in the town as one 

 might expect from its antiquity. St. Peter's and its graveyard 

 are of interest, and the visitor may spend some time in de- 

 ciphering the older tombstones to be found in the latter. The 

 Sunday-school building occupies the site of the ancient court- 

 house and jail. The records of the judicial proceedings have 

 been kept since the Dutch days, though not now at the ancient 

 town. In the records from 1657 to 1662, we may find a num- 

 ber of names which are mentioned in other parts of this volume : 



John Archer, a born litigant, later of Fordham; William Betts, 



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