THE TOWN OF CORTLANDT. 



175 



White and Lydia his wife gave the Dutch Reformed church on the 

 26th of December, 1799, a quit claim deed of which the following is an 

 abstract : 



"Between Charles White of the City of New York, merchant and Lydia his 

 wife of the first part and Hercules Lent, Peter Goetschins, Abraham Lent, 

 Martin Post, Richard SchiggeX Samuel Vessels, John H. Lent and Abraham 

 Montross, the elders and deacons of the Reformed Dutch church of the Manor of 

 Cortlandt in the County of Westchester and State of New York of the second 

 part, for the sum of one dollar grants, confirms, &c. , all the land before recited 

 in Cockcroft's deed to the elders and deacons to the said parties of the first part 

 their heirs and assigns for ever a pew nearly square, sufficiently large enough to 

 contain ten persons in the church now erected on the said premises and likewise 

 that the small building or school house also erected on the said premises shall al- 

 ways be and remain for the use of a public school, &c." 



" Chaeles White & Lydia Whtie.''« 



It is claimed, however, that Mrs. White (alias Cockcroft) had pre- 

 viously conveyed seven hundred acres of land in water lot No. 7, ex- 

 tending from Hudson River to the Furnace woods on the coast to 

 Stephanus Hunt, which included the church property ; so that the 

 Dutch Reformed church actually held under Hunt for some time by 

 peaceable possession. Be this as it may, Elias Hunt, son of Stephanus, 

 subsequently conveyed to this society the sixteen acres they now hold 

 inclusive of the one acre, two quarters and three rods conveyed by Cock- 

 croft in 1795. 



In the cemetery surrounding the church are several monuments to 

 the Lents, Montross's, Brinckerhoffs, &c, &c; also a plain head stone 

 inscribed as follows: — 



"Sacred 



to the memory of 



DR, PETER GOETCHITJS, 



who died the 21st of Sept., A. D. 1828, 



aged 70 years, 5 months, 



and 20 days, 



having been for 35 years an elder 



of the Reformed Dutch Church in 



Cortlandtown, and died as he lived 



a Christian. 



" ' The silent tomb and rising hillocks show, 

 TjLe way, the end of mortals here below ; 

 But silent tombs nor hillocks can affright 

 The soul of him whose ways are just and right. 

 How calm the righteous man with God his friend ; 

 Peace crowns his life, and happiness his end.' " 



a Copied from original document in possession of the consistory of the Ref. Church, Cort- 

 landtown. 



