2" 2 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



sion of a certain parcel of land called Cornell's Neck, lying and being near West- 

 chester, which of right belongs unto them, &c. 



To prove their title, a grant and patent from the Dutch governor, Kieft, to 

 Thomas Cornell, deceased, lather of Sarah, one of the plaintiffs, is produced and 

 read in e turt, that apon the said grant, Thomas Cornell was in lawful possession 

 of the said lands, and that he was at considerable charges in building, manuring 

 and planting ye same ; that after some years the said Thomas Cornell was driven 

 off his said lands by the barbarous violence of the Indians who burnt his house 

 and goods, and destroyed his cattle, which was made appeare by sufficient testi- 

 mony. That widow Cornell's conveyance of the said neck of land to Sarah 

 Bridges, one of the plaintiffs, and her sister, was likewise given in, under which 

 the plaintiffs claime. a That the said widow Cornell was left sole executrix of 

 the last will and testament of her husband, Thomas Cornell, deceased, and so had 

 power to convey the premises; this was allowed of (although neither the will nor 

 a copy thereof was produced), there being no exceptions made against it. There 

 was likewise an act from the late Dutch governor, Stuyvesant, produced, where 

 he buyes the same lands of the Indians again (although alleged to be bought long 

 before), and confirms it to Thomas Cornell, his heires and assigns. 



Mr. Pell, the defendant, makes answer for himself, that he bought the land 

 in question in the yearlG54, of the natives, and paid them for it. He pleads his 

 being a free denizen of England, and hath thereby liberty to purchase lands in 

 any of his majesties dominions, within which compass this is. He alleges the 

 fifth clause in the King's treaty, sent over hither to make for him, as declar- 

 ing this land to be within his majesties dominions ; he saith the governor and 

 Council of Connecticut took notice of this land to be under their govern- 

 ment,^ and that they ordered magistratical power to be exercised at Westches- 

 ter, and that he had license from them to purchase. He pleads that where there 

 is no right there can be no dominion, so no patent could be granted by the 

 Dutch, they having no right. Several testimonys were read to prove that ye 

 Indians questioned Mr. Cornell's and other plantations there, about ?i"t paying 

 for those lands, which teas the occasion of their cutting them off and dri .'ng atruy 

 the inhabitants, but the defendant hath paid a valuable consideration to the 

 nativ s. 



The attorney for the plaintiffs alledges ye articles of surrender, and the King's 

 instructions, wherein any grant or conveyance from the Dutch is confirmed; and 

 plead the antiquity of Mr. Cornell's grant and possession, together with his great 

 losse. After a full hearing of the case it was referred to the jury, who brought 

 in their verdict for the plaintiffs, the defendant to pay costs and charges of suite, 

 and six pence damage." 



Judgment was accordingly granted by the Court, and the following 

 order issued : — 



a Sarah Cornell, alias Bribes, conveyed her interest to William Wlllet,her eldest Ron, who 

 obtains a patent therefore, as we shall see presently, on the 13th of April, 16CT.— Albany Book 

 of Patents, vol. ii, p. i'>3. 



b The Legislature of Connecticut, (says the historian Trumbull.) determining to secure as 

 far as possible the lands within the limits of their charter, authorized one Thomas Pell to 

 purchase of the Indian proprietors all that tract between Westchester and Hudson's River, 

 and the waters which made the Manhadoes an Island; and resolved that it should be added 

 to Westchester, 1603.— Trumbull's Hiet. of Connecticut , 273. 



