THE TOWN OF CORTLANDT. 1 89 



Gov. then turned to Col. Fanning and said : ' I find our business here 

 must terminate, for nothing can be effected in this place, so we will re- 

 turn;' which they did by taking a short and hasty farewell, and em- 

 barked on board the sloop and returned to New York. This was in 

 the year 1774."* 



The patriot suffered for his principles during the war that ensued. 

 His wife, Joanna Livingston, fled before the invading British to Living- 

 ston's manor. The house was plundered. Even carved wainscoting was 

 carried away, and made to grace a mansion in New York; and the Dutch 

 tiles around a fireplace were taken out and used as dining plates. 



Gov. Van Cortlandt died in 1814, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. 

 His son, Philip, who was a distinguished officer in the Continental army 

 during the War for Independence, was the last heir of the entail. He 

 kept up the hospitalities of the mansion until his death, in 1 83 1 ; when 

 the estate passed into the possession of its present owner, Col. Pierre 

 Van Cortlandt (son of Philip's third brother, Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt), 

 who inherited it from his uncle. This gentleman married Catharine, 

 daughter of the late eminent Dr. Theodrick Romeyn Beck, of Albany. 

 He became the first proprietor of the estate in fee simple. Like their 

 predecessors, he and his accomplished wife dispense a refined hospitality 

 to friends and strangers. 



The Manor house contains interesting pictures, manuscripts and 

 relicts of the past. There may be seen full-length portraits of the earlier 

 Van Cortlandts in their younger days — one representing John Van Cort- 

 landt as a boy of about twelve years of age, dressed in a long blue coat 

 reaching to the knees, with large cuffs turned up to the elbows, knee 

 breeches, scarlet stockings, high shoes and silver buckles, his right hand 

 resting on a stag. It deserves to be mentioned here that the head and 

 horns of this very animal (as descendants of that wild race which 

 anciently spread from the Hudson to Connecticut) are still preserved in 

 the hall. The late General Pierre Van Cortlandt has left this memoran- 

 dum relative to them — " That the deer of which this is the head and 

 horns was raised by my uncle John Van Cortlandt about the year 1730, 

 and which head and horns has been preserved and kept by my late father 

 until his death and still by me. Pierre Van Cortlandt." Another portrait 

 represents Pierre (afterwards Lieutenant-Governor) as a boy of about ten 

 years of age, in a scarlet coat, with white silk stockings and a grey-hound 

 by his side. Abraham, still older, is depicted in a russet coat and red 

 stockings, with high-heeled shoes and buckles. These paintings are said 

 to be over 1 40 years old, and represent three sons of Philip Van Cort- 

 es Gen. Philip Van Cortlandt's Diary. 



