THE VAN CORTLANDTS 169 



fifty acres of land on George's Point from his father-in-law and 

 about one hundred acres from the neighboring landowners, Jaco- 

 bus Van Cortlandt became the owner of the chief part of the pres- 

 ent City of Yonkers lying below the Philipseburgh estate, including 

 the present Van Cortlandt Park, Riverdale, Kingsbridge, etc. The 

 title ,was subsequently confirmed by the Indians in 1701 for "two 

 fathoms of duffels and £1 2s 6d ($5.62) current money of New 

 York." His estate in Yonkers was bought by New York City from 

 his descendants and was made part of Van Cortlandt Park. 



During the Revolution the proprietors of Van Cortlandt Manor, 

 Pierre and his son Philip Van Cortlandt, espoused the American 

 cause despite the fact that the Philipses and the younger branches 

 of the Van Cortlandt family remained Tories. Augustus Van Cort- 

 landt, grandson of Jacobus and ancestor of the Yonkers branch of 

 the Van Cortlandt family, was a loyalist. On August 18, 1776, he 

 was obliged to flee, for he had been warned that Tory-hunters were 

 on their way to capture him. While he was concealed in a cow- 

 house for ten days, a conscientious Dutch farmer walked back- 

 wards, when he carried him his meals, in order to be able to swear 

 he had not seen him. At last he reached the British lines on Staten 

 Island in safety. 



The staunchest allies of Washington during his critical posi- 

 tion in New York were Pierre and Philip Van Cortlandt. Both 

 father and son had nobly declined the offers of royal favors, honors, 

 grants of land, and if they would abondan the popular cause, made 

 by Tryon when he visited them at the old manor-house for a few 

 days in 1774. The younger Van Cortlandt destroyed a major's 

 commission which Tryon had sent him. 



Pierre Van Cortlandt, grandson of Stephanus, was born in 

 Cortlandt Manor, January 10, 1721. He was a member of the 

 first Provincial Congress of New York ; chairman of the Committee 

 of Public Safety; and he was exceedingly active in the patriot 

 cause. He was one of the thirty-eight men who ratified the Dec- 

 laration of Independence on horseback at White Plains, on the 9th 

 of July, 1776; and from October of the same year, when elected 

 vice-president of the Convention, was almost the sole presiding 

 officer of that heroic body until it completed its labors. He was the 

 first Lieutenant-Governor of New York State, to which office he was 

 elected in 1777, and he acted in that capacity consecutively for 

 eighteen years until he declined re-election. Governor Clinton be- 



