IIO HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



trying period of the revolution, he appears to have been the principal 

 administrator of the State government, (George Clinton being necessarily 

 engaged in the military duties.) His patriotic zeal rendered him so ob- 

 noxious to the enemy, that the British Governor set a bounty on his 

 head. 



The following obituary notice of this illustrious individual occurs in 

 the Gazette of May 17, 1814: 



"Pierre Van Cortlandt, early took an active part against every op- 

 pression of the English government upon the colonies. He was chosen 

 into the first Provincial Congress, was a member of the committee 

 which formed the constitution of this State, and was honored by the 

 suffrages of his country at the first election under the new government 

 the station of lieutenant governor, and continued to be elected to that 

 office for eighteen years successively. He was the friend and confi- 

 dent of that great patriot, George Clinton. In the revolution he 

 shared the fate of the friends of their country; his family were obliged 

 to abandon their homes in the Manor of Cortlandt, and take refuge in 

 the interior. Firm and undismayed in adversity; the ill success of our 

 arms was a stimulous to greater exertions. He was one of those who, 

 relying on the justice of their cause, put their trust in God and stood 

 firm at the post of danger. In prosperity he was not too much elated, 

 but held a temperate and uniform course, having in view only the inde- 

 pendence of the United States and the safety of his country. 



"In the Senate of this State he presided with dignity and propriety, nor 

 ever suffered his opinion to be known until called upon constitutionally 

 to decide; and his vote wis then given with promptness, uninfluenced 

 by party feelings, and evidencing the convictions of a sound and honest 

 mind. In the year 1795 ne declined a re-election as lieutenant gov- 

 ernor, and retired into private life." 



The Hon. Pierre Van Cortlandt died on the morning of the first day 

 of May instant, at his seat at Croton River, in this town, in the 94th 

 year of his age, leaving issue by his wife Joanna Livingston, Philip, 

 Gilbert, Stephen, Pierre, Catharine, Cornelia, Anne and Gertrude. 



Philip, the eldest son, was born in the city of New York on the first 

 day of September, 1749. This individual was brought up at the Manor 

 House on the Croton, and subsequently received a liberal education in 

 the vicinity of Coldingham, N. Y. He was admitted to Kings College 

 (now Columbia) in 1754, graduated B. D. 1758, and received two A. M. 

 degrees in 1761. 



At the early age of nineteen he commenced business as a land sur- 

 veyor; he had also the management of an extensive flouring mill and 

 country store. Soon after the destruction of Lexington and Concord 

 (by the British troops) he threw up business, and agreeing with his pat- 

 riotic father in sentiment, determined by an appeal to arms, to obtain 



