THE TOWN 



OF 



PELHAM 



This town is enclosed on the East and North by the township of New 

 Rochelle, on the West by the Aqueanouncke or Hutchinson's River, 

 which separates it from Eastchester, and on the South by the Manun- 

 ketesuck or Sound. 



Prior to the Revolution, Pelham formed a portion of the old manor of 

 that name, which originally embraced nine thousand one hundred and 

 sixty-six acres. 



The name 'itself is of Saxon origin, and compounded of the two words 

 $tl (remote) and |j&t$t (mansion or dwelling.)" 

 "|E[|fttlt in Germany is written gj£$Jttt and importeth as much as 

 ^)0itt£ now doth with us. ^JjIIII originally signifieth a coverture or 

 place of shelter, and is thence grown to signify one's £J0$H£ (as now 

 uncomposed we pronounce it) that is to say one's birth-place or most 

 proper habitation. It is one of our greatest terminations of surnames, 

 as of Dcnham, for having his home or residence down in a valley. Of 

 Highamfor the situation of his gj&tlt or g|0tlt? upon high ground; 

 and accordingly of many others, distinguished one from another in like 

 manner upon one or other, cause." 



In iroorb, in fiam, in £en, and QTutt, 



The most of English surnames run. 



(A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in antiquities concerning the most noble 

 and renowned English nation. By the study and travel of R. W. (Richard Ver- 

 stegan) London, printed by T. Newcomb for Joshua Kirton at the King's arms 

 in St. Paul's church yard, 1655.) 



a Pelham, the name conferred upon this town by the Pells "is derived from the lordship of 

 Pelham, Herefordshire, England, where anciently stood a castle, the owner of which in 1265, 

 wa3 amrrc.d in the then very large sum of forty pounds for a contempt in not coming to an 

 inquest to he taken concerning a trespass of the Mint. This lordship of Pelham is recorded 

 to be part of the possessions of Walter de Pelham in 1292-3, and it is believed that his ances- 

 tors held it prior to the Conquest."— Burke's Peerage. 



27 



