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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Information About Richard Crabb, One of the Englishmen Who Signed Thomas Pell's Treaty on June 27, 1654

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.This is the second in a series of four postings regarding four of the Englishmen who witnessed the signing of Thomas Pell's treaty on June 27, 1654. For yesterday's posting, which includes links to earlier postings dealing with the same topic, see Tuesday, October 30

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Information About Henry Accorly, One of the Englishmen Who Signed Thomas Pell's Treaty on June 27, 1654

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.On June 27, 1654, Thomas Pell signed a "treaty" with local Native Americans acquiring the lands that became Pelham and surrounding areas. A copy of that treaty, said to be in Thomas Pell's handwriting, exists. It is among the Pell family papers maintained by the Fort

Monday, October 29, 2007

Brief Genealogical Information Regarding Abigail Pell, Born in 1751, Who Married Samuel Lawrence of Eastchester

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.Below is a brief excerpt from a book published in 1899. It reflects biographical data for Abigail Pell who was born in 1751 and married Samuel Lawrence of East Chester."Samuel Lawrence was born in East Chester in 1751 and married Abigail Pell, who was born in East

Friday, October 26, 2007

Mystery: Why Would John Pell Travel to Porte Royall in Carolina in November 1671?

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.Barely a year after he first arrived in America to claim his inheritance of the estate of his uncle, Thomas Pell, John Pell received a "pass" to travel from New York to Porte Royall in Carolina. There is no indication of the purpose of any such trip if he ever made

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Request by Native Americans To Be Permitted to Retrieve Corn from John Pell's Estate in the Manor of Pelham During King Philip's War in 1676

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.As the violence between settlers and Native Americans known as "King Philip's War" loomed, local Native Americans made a plea to English authorities to be permitted to pass in canoes to collect a portion of the corn they had grown on lands belonging to John Pell,

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

July 3, 1666 Letter on Behalf of the Governor of the Province of New York To Thomas Pell

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.In 1666, Mathias Nicolls wrote a letter on behalf of the Governor of the Province of New York,. Richard Nicolls, to Thomas Pell addressing his complaints regarding efforts by others to receive land patents that he believed infringed upon his own holdings. The letter

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

1664 Petition of Inhabitants of Westchester to Commissioners for the Affairs of New England Mentioning 1654 Purchase by Thomas Pell

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.In 1664, the inhabitants of the settlement known as Westchester sent a petition to the English Commissioners of the Affairs of New England outlining their sufferings since first purchasing their lands from Thomas Pell. The petition mentions the acquisition from Pell

Monday, October 22, 2007

Dutch Authorities Demand That Thomas Pell Halt His "Intrusion" at Westchester in 1656

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.The Dutch meant business when they arrested most of the Englishmen who, in November 1654, settled in Westchester on lands acquired a few months earlier by Thomas Pell from local Native Americans. They removed the men to a prison ship near Fort Amsterdam. Eventually

Friday, October 19, 2007

Thomas Pell Was Feared Drowned or Lost at Sea in 1656

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.A paper delivered by the Director-General, Peter Stuyvesant, to the Council at a meeting in Fort Amsterdam, New Netherland on January 26, 1656 contained indications that the man most hated by the Dutch -- Thomas Pell -- had drowned or was presumed lost at sea. The

Thursday, October 18, 2007

April 19, 1655 Dutch Protest Against Thomas Pell's Efforts To Settle Englishmen on Lands the Dutch Called VreedLandt

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.On April 19, 1655, the Dutch issued a protest against Thomas Pell complaining of his efforts to settle Englishmen on lands known by the Dutch as VreedLandt. It is believed that the settlement was near the head of today's Westchester Creek in the area that once was

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

1669 Map of Lands in Dispute Between Thomas Pell and John Richbell

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.At the time of his death in late September, 1669, Thomas Pell was involved in a dispute with John Richbell over who owned certain lands at the edge of Pell's patent. The New York State archives contain a map of the land created at the time of the dispute. Below is an

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Information About Thomas Pell's Treaty Oak Published in 1912

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.Periodically I have published to the Historic Pelham Blog postings about the legend of Thomas Pell's Treaty Oak. Indeed, I have written extensively about the legends surrounding the tree beneath which Pell supposedly signed the agreement by which Pell acquired from

Monday, October 15, 2007

Town Proclamation Recognizes Celebration of the 250th Anniversary of Pelhamdale at 45 Iden Avenue

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.Pelhamdale is a Pelham jewel. It is a lovely stone house located at 45 Iden Avenue in Pelham Manor. Philip Pell II built portions believed to be part of today’s structure between about 1750 and 1760. The home is one of two in Pelham Manor that include sections built

Friday, October 12, 2007

Images of The Lord Howe Chestnut That Once Stood in the Manor of Pelham

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.Once a giant Chestnut stood in Pelham. For more than one hundred years Pelham residents knew that giant tree as the "Lord Howe Chestnut". They knew it by that name because, according to tradition, a few days after the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 British

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Biographical Data and Photographs of Clifford B. Harmon Who Developed Pelhamwood

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.In 1909, Clifford B. Harmon & Co. bought from the Winyah Park Realty Company a one-hundred acre tract of land just north of the Pelham train station. The company began development of a lovely residential neighborhood that it named "Pelhamwood".Periodically I have

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Thomas Pell Accompanies Delegation of Dutch from New Haven to Hartford in October, 1663

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings. In October, 1663, the Dutch sent a delegation from New Netherland to Hartford to deliver letters demanding that the English abide by the terms of the Treaty of Hartford signed in 1650. That treaty, generally speaking, was intended to set an agreed boundary between

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Biographical Data About William Jay Bolton of Pelham

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.Today's posting, about William Jay Bolton of Pelham, is the 700th item published to the Historic Pelham Blog since its founding nearly three years ago.William Jay Bolton was a son of Robert Bolton who built Bolton Priory in 1838 and founded Christ Church shortly

Monday, October 8, 2007

American Troops Who Guarded Pelham's Shores in October, 1776

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.Long before the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776, General George Washington feared the British might land troops in the Manor of Pelham in an effort to cut off any possible escape by Washington's army from the Island of Manhattan to the interior of the mainland.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Abstract of 1770 Will of Duncan Campble of Minefords Island in Pelham

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.Regular readers of the Historic Pelham Blog know that I have collected wills and abstracts of wills of early residents of Pelham. I also have posted an index to such postings. See Thursday, March 29, 2007: Index to Transcripts of Wills and Abstracts of Wills Prepared

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Biography of John M. Shinn, Pelham Town Supervisor in Late 19th Century

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.John M. Shinn served as Pelham's Town Supervisor from 1895 until 1904. Below is a brief biography of Supervisor Shinn, followed by a citation to its source."JOHN M. SHINN.Mr. Shinn, Republican, who represents the town of Pelham in the Board of Supervisors, was born

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Book by George Rapelje, Pelham Resident Along With His Father, Rem Rapelje, Published in 1834

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.Google Books continues to be a wonderful source of information about the history of Pelham. For example, during an unrelated search I ran across a wonderful book published in 1834 entitled "A Narrative of Excursions, Voyages, and Travels, Performed at Different

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Biography and Portrait of Theodore B. Comstock, A Professor of Natural Sciences at Pelham Priory, 1871-1872

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.For many years during the nineteenth century, the daughters of Robert Bolton operated a girls' school in their home known as Bolton Priory (also known as Pelham Priory). The home still stands in Pelham Manor and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Few

Monday, October 1, 2007

Pelham Manor, A Lovely Summer Resort of the 1890s

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web SiteLocated at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.There was a time when New Yorkers viewed Pelham Manor as a lovely, breezy summer resort and playground for the wealthy. Even as late as the 1890s, during the summer Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls converted its lovely school buildings into guest cottages filled with