Westchester 411 



This was the same Thomas Hunt, who married a daughter 

 of Edward Jessup, one of the patentees of the West Farms, 

 and thus came into possession of the Planting Neck, afterward 

 called Hunt's Point. The Grove Farm was sold at public 

 vendue on May 6, 1760, to Josiah Cousten for £3400; so that 

 we must conclude either that the male line of the Hunts had 

 run out, or that the entail had been broken. Cousten sold 

 the same property in October, 1775, to John Ferris, a descend- 

 ant of John Ferris, one of the original patentees of Westchester, 

 who had married Myanna Hunt. In consequence of this 

 purchase, Spicer's Neck became known as Ferris's Point. From 

 Brockett's Neck, just beyond, the ferry connected with 

 Whitestone, Long Island, and the neck thus became known 

 as Old Ferry Point. It is to-day owned by members of the 

 Lorillard and De Zerega families. 



Ferris Avenue, or Ferry Lane, is a beautiful, shady road, 

 leading down to both necks from the Eastern Boulevard. On 

 the right is the property of the Roman Catholic Deaf and 

 Dumb Asylum; and beyond that is the old Ferris house, 

 which, though modernized, dates from the days of the Hunts. 

 It was rented to a market gardener at the time of the author's 

 visit and presented the worst degree of dilapidation of any of 

 the old houses that he has seen. The house is close to West- 

 chester Creek, of which it commands a fine view. In October, 

 1776, the owner was James Ferris, who, with his family, was 

 at breakfast on the morning of the twelfth, when a gun from 

 the direction of the water apprised him of the landing of Sir 

 William Howe and his army. Ferris was later captured by 

 the Queen's Rangers and imprisoned in the "Provost" prison 

 in the city of New York. 



About the middle of the eighteenth century, the celebrated 

 loyalist printer of New York, James Rivington, became the 



