Westchester 409 



mentioned above, as Westchester was a loyalist stronghold, 

 and the patriots were hot after their recalcitrant fellow- 

 countrymen, who would be likely to take advantage of such a 

 secure and secret hiding-place. Upon the near-by creek, boats 

 and fishing tackle are furnished to those who wish to pursue 

 the "gentle art." 



The earliest record we have of the property is of the date of 

 1685, when "John Cromwell and Elizabeth Cromwell, his 

 wife, exchanged six acres of meadow with Thomas Hunt, for 

 eight acres of upland, situated upon Castle Neck." John 

 Cromwell is said to have been a nephew of the great Lord 

 Protector Oliver. In consequence of his occupancy of the 

 neck, it was known for some time as "Cromwell's Neck." 

 From the Cromwells, the property passed to a younger branch 

 of the Underhills, descendants of the redoubtable Captain 

 John Underhill, whose surprise and massacre of the Indians at 

 Mianus broke up the Indian war of Kieft's administration. 

 Isaac Wilkins was the next owner, and he disposed of it in 

 1784, to Gilbert Pell for £2500; after which it passed through 

 several hands until it came into those of Martin Wilkins, a 

 descendant of the Reverend Isaac. Why the property es- 

 caped confiscation to the State under the laws of 1779, se- 

 questrating the property of loyalists, is a question. Political 

 and family influences, especially the latter, were more potent 

 in those days than these; and it should be remembered that 

 Wilkins's wife was a half-sister of Lewis, and a full-sister of 

 Gouverneur Morris, two famous Whigs. 



The name of Throgg's Neck is given to all that portion of 

 the former town of Westchester lying between Westchester 

 Creek, the East River, the Sound, and Eastchester Bay. As 

 early as 1704, the northern portion, now within Pelham Bay 

 Park, was called "Dorman's Island." Of its earliest settle- 



