32 2 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



trees of the neighborhood, and formed a kind of landmark. Its limbs 

 were knarled and fantastic, large enough to form trunks for ordinary trees, 

 twisting down almost to the earth, and rising again into the air. It was 

 connected with the tragical story of the unfortunate Andre, who had 

 been made a prisoner hard by, and was universally known by the name of 

 'Major Andre's Tree.' The common people regarded it with a mixture 

 of respect and superstition, partly out of sympathy for the fate of its ill- 

 starred namesake, and partly from tales of strange sights, and doleful 

 lamentations told concerning it." It was while passing beneath this 

 whitewood tree that Ichabod Crane, in his midnight career toward 

 Sleepy Hollow, "suddenly heard a groan, his teeth chattered, and his 

 knees smote against the saddle. It was but the rubbing of one huge 

 branch upon another, as they were swayed about by the breeze. He 

 passed the tree in safety, but new perils lay before him. About two 

 hundred yards from the tree, a small brook crossed the road, and 

 ran into a marshy and thickly wooded glen, known by the name of 

 "Wiley's Swamp." A few rough logs laid side by side, served for a 

 bridge over this stream. On that side of the road where the brook en- 

 tered the wood, a group of oaks and chestnuts, matted thick with wild 

 grape vines, threw a cavernous gloom over it. To pass this bridge was 

 the severest trial. It was at this identical spot that the unfortunate An- 

 dre - was captured ; and under the covert of these chestnuts and vines 

 were the sturdy yeomen concealed, who surprised him. This has ever 

 since been considered a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of 

 the schoolboy who has to pass it alone after dark." a 



"According to Debrett, Burke, and other genealogical authorities, 

 John Andre was descended from a French refugee family settled in England 

 at Southampton in the County of Hants," 6 " His mother whose name 

 was Mary Louise Andre Girardot, though of French parentage, was 

 born at London. His father, a native of Geneva, was born in Switzer- 

 land; but it would seem that a very considerable. portion of his life must 

 have been passed at London, where he carried on an extensive business in 

 the Levant Trade, and where also, in 1780, several of his brothers had 

 their abode. Of these Dr. Andree, of Halton Gardens, was apparently the 

 only one who preserved what is said to have been an earlier method of 

 spelling the family name. Notwithstanding the establishment of a part 

 of the Andre family in England its connections upon the continent would 

 appear to have been the most numerous and the most permanent." 



a See Sketch. Book, Beauties of Irving. Ac, Ac, 



b The Arms of Andre - or Andree, are Ar., two mullets, in chief az. and a galley, her oars 

 In action, in b&Be sa. ( irest, a millrmd az. 

 e Life of Major Andre by Wiuthrop Sargent. 



