122 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX 



Cromwells, descendants of John Cromwell, a nephew of the Lord 

 Protector Oliver, and was consequently known as Cromwell's Neck. 

 In 1685 John and Elizabeth Cromwell exchanged with Thomas 

 Hunt of Grove Farm six acres of meadow land for eight acres of 

 upland situated upon Castle Neck. Above Jerome Avenue and* 

 One Hundred Sixty-fifth Street is the rapidly decaying Cromwell 

 house. Nearby is Cromwell's Creek which served to propel the 

 mill of James Cromwell, born in 1752. 



The oldest house in The Bronx is said to be the Ferris Mansion 

 at Zerega's Point. This old relic claims birth in 1687 and was 

 owned by Josiah Hunt, the son of Thomas Hunt, the patentee of 

 Hunt's Point. The Grove Farm of Thomas Hunt was sold in 

 1760 to Josiah Cousten, who in turn sold it fifteen years later to 

 John Ferris, whose ancestor had received in 1667 a patent from 

 Governor Nicolls for a portion of Westchester, west of Annes 

 Hoeck. At the extreme end of this point stands "Island Hall," the 

 stately stone Zerega Mansion, dating from 1823. 



In the summer of 1642, the region of the east side of the 

 Borough, known as Pelham Neck, was settled by Anne Hutchinson, 

 a widow with several children, and Thomas Collins, her son-in-law, 

 and his family. They were of English stock and had fled from 

 New England to escape the religious persecution of the Puritans. 

 They were the next white settlers of the Borough after Jonas 

 Bronck. 



Mrs. Anne Hutchinson came with her husband and their 

 children from Lincolnshire, England, to Massachusetts Bay Colony 

 on September 18, 1634. She was a woman of kind heart, of fervent 

 religious spirit, and of unusual intellectual force and ability so 

 that she was characterized by a contemporary, "The masterpiece of 

 woman's wit." Her doctrine that those who possess faith are 

 above law, gained wide support thruout the Colony. The 

 Puritans, fearing that such preaching would lead to licentiousness, 

 as it later did in the case of Captain John Underhill who was found 

 guilty of adultery, banished Mrs. Hutchinson and her adherents. 

 In 1638 she withdrew with her family and followers to Roger 

 Williams's settlement on the Isle of Aquidneck (now Rhode Island), 

 where they founded Portsmouth. 



Upon the death of her husband, four years later, Mrs. Hutch- 

 inson and her party came to Flushing, Long Island, whence after a 

 brief stay she repaired to Pelham Neck. This region was for a time 



