Historic Pelham: Important New Scholarship on the Men to Whom Thomas Pell Sold Part of the Manor of Pelham in 1654

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During the last few years a great deal of additional research has been devoted to understanding the lives of the men who interacted with Pelham Founder Thomas Pell at about the time he acquired the lands that later became the Manor of Pelham from local Native Americans on June 27, 1654. For example, in 2009 I authored an article detailing what we know of the lives of the five Englishmen who signed Thomas Pell's so-called "Indian deed" as witnesses: John "Ffinch," Richard Crabb, Henry Ackerly, William Newman, and Thomas Lawrence. See Bell, Blake A., The New Englanders Who Signed Thomas Pell's 1654 Agreement Acquiring Much of Today's Bronx and Lower Westchester Counties From Native Americans, The Bronx County Historical Society Journal, Vol. XLVI, Nos. 1 & 2, pp. 25-49 (Spring / Fall, 2009).

There now is important new scholarship regarding the New Englanders to whom Thomas Pell sold part of the Manor of Pelham in 1654 to enable the founding of "West Chester," an English settlement on lands claimed by the Dutch located where today's Westchester Square in the Bronx now stands. Rebecca I. M. Walch has authored an article identifying, with certainty, the sixteen settlers of West Chester who petitioned Dutch authorities on March 16, 1656 to permit them to remain in the settlement (and submit to Dutch control) after the Dutch had moved to evict them and imprison many. See Walch, Rebecca I. M., The Westchester Petitioners of 1656, National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 106, No. 1, pp. 61-77 (March 2018) (Note: membership in organization required to access via this link).

Historical Context

In the mid-17th century, New England settlers pushed southwestward toward New Netherland. The Director-General of New Netherland, Pieter Stuyvesant, wanted to clarify a firm boundary between New Netherland and New England. In 1650 he negotiated with English colonial authorities the so-called “Treaty of Hartford.” That Treaty recognized a boundary that began near today’s Greenwich, Connecticut, crossed Long Island Sound and split Long Island west of today’s Oyster Bay. Lands west of the line were deemed under Dutch control. Lands east were deemed under English control.

Though the Treaty seemed to favor the English, some in New England were unhappy. They wanted the boundary established westward to permit English control of portions of today’s Westchester and Bronx Counties.

Additionally, in 1653 and early 1654, only months before Pell’s purchase, the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands were at war. Although they fought the “First Anglo-Dutch War” entirely at sea, English and Dutch settlers feared fighting would spread to the North American colonies at any time. Only days before Pell’s purchase, Dutch and English colonists were unaware that the Treaty of Westminster had been signed in Europe on April 5, 1654, ending the war. Amidst all this, Pell negotiated his acquisition of Native American lands claimed by the Dutch – a dangerously provocative act clearly designed to support the English cause and to defy the Dutch.

Only months after acquiring the lands, Thomas Pell engaged in an even more provocative act that further angered the Dutch. He planted a tiny settlement on a portion of the land that came to be known as "West Chester." The settlement seems to have been started at least as early as October, 1654. See Gehring, Charles T., Editor, New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch Volume V Council Minutes, 1652-1654, pp. 193-94 (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983) (Click on link at bottom of the Web page to access PDF of the entire book; reference is to Oct. 26, 1654 letter from Peter Stuyvesant to "Honorable, Discreet and Very Esteemed Gentlemen"). On November 5, 1654, Dutch authorities adopted a resolution ordering the fiscal (a police authority) to "forbid certain Englishmen settling at Vreedlandt" (i.e., the area that included West Chester). There are strong suggestions in 17th century documentation relating to the matter, however, that only a few days later Thomas Pell formally sold the lands to some of the settlers on November 14, 1654. See generally Mon., Nov. 06, 2006: The Source of Confusion Over the Date Thomas Pell Acquired the Lands That Became the Manor of Pelham.

November 5, 1654 Resolution in Dutch "ordering the fiscal to forbid

certain Englishment settling at Vreedlandt." Note that the Document

is Burned Around the Edges from the Great New York State Capitol

Fire of March 29, 1911. Source: New York State Archives, "Resolution

ordering the fiscal to forbid certain Englishmen settling at Vreedlandt

(Westchester County)" (visited Apr. 22, 2018). NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

The tiny settlement of West Chester (so named by the English because it stood at the western end of English territory) stood near today's Westchester Square in The Bronx. In about November of 1654, fewer than two dozen English settlers including men and women lived in that area.  Dutch authorities insisted they previously had acquired the same lands from other Native Americans in 1640. For a more complete understanding of the circumstances surrounding the competing Dutch and Pell purchases and the early days of the settlement at West Chester, see, e.g.:

Mon., Aug. 17, 2015: Buyer's Remorse: After Thomas Pell Bought Pelham From Native Americans, He Wanted His Money Back!

Wed., Aug. 12, 2015: Significant Research on the First "Indian Deed" Reflecting the Dutch Purchase of Lands that Included Today's Pelham.

Tue., Sep. 02, 2014: More Research on the First "Indian Deed" Reflecting the Dutch Purchase of Lands that Included Today's Pelham.

Tue., Mar. 18, 2014: The First "Indian Deed" Reflecting a Sale by Native Americans of Lands that Became Pelham.

Tue., Nov. 06, 2007: Is This Another Dead End in the Search for the Text of an Indian Deed to Lands That Included Today's Pelham Sold to the Dutch?

Mon., Oct. 22, 2007: Dutch Authorities Demand That Thomas Pell Halt His "Intrusion" at Westchester in 1656.

Tue., Dec. 5, 2006: Where is Evidence of the 1640 Dutch Purchase from Native Americans of the Lands That Became Pelham?

Mon., Nov. 06, 2006:  The Source of Confusion Over the Date Thomas Pell Acquired the Lands That Became the Manor of Pelham.

Mon., Dec. 26, 2005:  The Dutch Acquired Lands Including Pelham From Local Native Americans in 1640.

On April 19, 1655, Dutch Province Fiscal Cornelis van Tienhoven issued a formal protest "To you, Thomas Pell, or whom else it may concern" warning that the settlers at West Chester had settled on lands that belonged to New Netherland by virtue of "title deeds" obtained by former Director General Willem Kieft. The protest further warned the settlers that they were subject to prosecution for their actions. When a group of Dutch men attempted to deliver and read the official Dutch protest, armed West Chester settlers stopped them and told them that they would remain in the settlement as English settlers until an official determination of the boundary between New England and New Netherland.

April 19, 1655 "Order to the court messenger to serve the protest against

Thomas Pell" Note, Once Again, the Burned Edges from the Great New

York State Capitol Fire of March 29, 1911. Source: New York State Archives,

"Order to the court messenger to serve the protest against Thomas Pell"

(visited Apr. 22, 2018). NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Apparently fed up that the English settlers at Westchester ignored their warnings and protests, on March 6, 1656, the Director General and Council of New Netherland ordered Captain Frederic de Coninck and Lieutenant Brian Nuton [i.e., Brian Newton] to lead a group of soldiers to West Chester to arrest most of the male settlers and to demolish all but three or four of the structures (leaving some buildings to store personal goods until the remaining women and children could depart). Within days the Dutch soldiers overran the tiny little settlement and took leading male settlers prisoners. They took the prisoners to a prison ship named the "De Waagh" anchored off the shores of Fort Amsterdam.

After the women of the settlement petitioned and begged the Dutch authorities for release of their husbands, fathers, and sons, the Dutch agreed to release the imprisoned English settlers if they would leave New Netherland or take oaths of allegiance and submit to the rule of the Dutch authorities in New Netherland. Virtually all of the settlers chose the latter alternative and, on March 16, 1656 (Gregorian Calendar), many of the settlers petitioned the Dutch authorities to allow them to submit to Dutch rule and re-settle on their lands in Westchester. The petition was granted. The Dutch immediately renamed the settlement "Oostdorp" which means "East Town" because the Dutch viewed the settlement as located at the eastern edge of New Netherland.

Recent Scholarship

It is this March 16, 1656 petition by many of the settlers of West Chester to remain in the settlement under Dutch control that is the subject of the newly published article by Rebecca I. M. Walch. In her excellent article, Ms. Walch details the events that led up to the petition and notes that 19th and 20th century published translations of the petition written in Dutch differed in several respects regarding those who signed (or whose names appeared on) the petition.

Ms. Walch resolves these discrepancies by revealing that the New York State Archives recently digitized and posted online a handwritten copy of the petition that was transcribed into the Dutch colonial council minutes. The pertinent transcription appears within an entry designated at its beginning as the "Commission of Thomas Wheeler to be chief magistrate of Westchester (Vreedland)." Vreedland (or, Vreedlandt) is a Dutch reference to the area within which the settlement of West Chester was founded. It means "Freedom Land."

Ms. Walch analyzes the names of the petitioners at the foot of the page copied by a Dutch clerk into the Council Minutes in 1656. She then addresses the discrepancies among the various 19th and 20th century lists of the petitioners' names published in various books and resolves the matter by listing the following sixteen petitioners as among the earliest settlers at West Chester, founded by Thomas Pell in 1654: Thomas Newman, Thomas Wheeler, Robert Bassett, Josiah Gilbert, John Rose, Robert Rose, Dermod (Jeremiah) Canniff, Nickles / Nicholas Baly / Bayley, William Benfield, John Genner / Jenner, Robert Meaker, Obadiah Gilbert, John Brundish / Brundage, Edwards / Edward Waters, Samuel Barrett, and William Ward. For each, she summarizes what is known about their lives noting, in conclusion, that "With the identities of the petitioners now clarified, a deeper study of this historic event is possible."