136 THE BOROUGh OF THE BRONX 



Chester. In 1666 the settlers purchased more land from the In- 

 dians. Among the sachems who signed the deed was Annhooke,* 

 the slayer of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson. On March 9th, 1667, Gov- 

 ernor Nicolls granted the settlers a confirmatory patent. 



The famous old St. Paul's Church has an interesting past. 

 It was built in 1765 to replace one erected in 1699 which had been 

 destroyed by fire. During the Revolution, St. Paul's was used by 

 the British at various times as a stable and as a hospital. After 

 the war it served as a Court of Justice, and Aaron Burr, who 

 fought Alexander Hamilton in a duel, pleaded many cases here. 

 The Church-yard contains some 6,000 bodies, the oldest head-stone 

 being that of "M. V. D." who died February 15, 1704. Some of 

 the prominent families interred there are — Pinckneys, Fowlers, 

 Drakes, Hunts, Odells, Underhills, Valentines, Sherwoods and 

 others as famous. 



The lawn opposite St. Paul's was used as the Colonial village 

 green and here also stood the first church. It is said that between 

 the group of locust trees, still standing, were the village stocks 

 where offenders were punished. 



The Vincent-Halsey House on Columbia Avenue is another 

 old landmark around which is woven many an interesting tale. 

 The Vincents were the village blacksmiths, and, being devout 

 Christians would under no circumstances shoe a horse on Sunday. 

 Adherence to this principle caused the death of one of the black- 

 smiths, Gilbert Vincent. A French officer in the Continental army 

 who had been despatched on some important business lost a shoe 

 of his spirited mount as he was passing thru the village. The 

 officer led the horse to the Vincents' smithery but he was refused 

 the shoe on the ground that such labor on the Sabbath was a 

 desecration. Impatient to get away, and angered at what he con- 

 sidered unpatriotic obstinacy and unfriendliness to the cause, the 

 officer drew his sword and struck the pious blacksmith to the 

 ground. This cold-blooded murder so incensed Elijah Vincent, the 

 brother of the slain man, that he promptly obtained a commission 

 in the British army and became the most vindictive and uncom- 

 promising enemy the patriots had in the whole territory. Nothing 



* It was customary among the Indians for the chief of the tribe to assume 

 the name of some noted victim of his prowess in order to appease the dead 

 and to become endowed with the nobler qualities of the slain. 



