John
Pell arrived in Boston in 1670 and quickly made his way to the Colony of
Connecticut to claim his inheritance from his deceased uncle, Thomas Pell, of
the Manor of Pelham. Unlike his uncle,
John Pell moved to the Manor of Pelham to live there permanently. It is believed he lived temporarily
in a farmhouse built by his uncle on today’s Rodman’s Neck until he completed
construction of his own Manor House near the location of today’s Bartow-Pell
Mansion Museum.
In
very short order John Pell became a notable citizen and a respected Justice of
the Peace and member of the General Court of Assizes in the Province of New
York. When Pell first arrived on the
scene from England, however, the Province of New York and the Colony of
Connecticut already had been embroiled in a boundary dispute for decades. That boundary dispute erupted yet again in
1683. Provincial Governor Thomas Dongan selected John Pell of the Manor of Pelham and a
handful of others to serve as New York's commissioners to settle that dispute.
Border
Tensions Between New Netherlands and the English
Colonies
During the time the Dutch controlled New Netherland (including New Amsterdam on the Island
of Manhattan), there were disputes over the border between New Netherlands and
the Colony of Connecticut and other English colonies. With English settlers pressing southwestward
toward Manhattan and Dutch-sanctioned settlers pressing northeastward into areas
including today’s Throggs Neck and Yonkers, in 1650,
Dutch Director-General of New Netherlands, Petrus Stuyvesant, traveled to
Hartford to negotiate a border with the governor of the Colony of Connecticut,
Edward Hopkins.
Stuyvesant
essentially traded Connecticut land claims (the New Netherland claim
encompassed the full length of the Connecticut River and as far east as
Narragansett Bay) in order to get a clear boundary on Long Island. Stuyvesant and Hopkins agreed on a Connecticut
line fifty Dutch miles west of the mouth of the Connecticut River. On Long Island, a line would be drawn south
from the westernmost point of Oyster Bay, through modern Nassau County. Although the Dutch West India Company
approved the treaty, the English royal authorities never ratified it. Thus, the border remained in question and the
so-called “Treaty of Hartford” remained a source of tension between the Dutch
and English for many years.
Efforts
in 1664 to Settle the New York – Connecticut
Boundary
In
1664, England took control of New Netherland from the Dutch. Even before that, English settlers in
Connecticut and those in the New York region were battling over the boundary
that would separate the two colonies.
King Charles II of England sent Richard Nicolls to serve as Governor of
the Province of New York and to lead a group of royal commissioners sent with
him to “end unneighborly and unbrotherly contentions”
regarding the border between New York and Connecticut. The Commissioners met with the then-Governor of
the Colony of Connecticut, John Winthrop, and a group of Connecticut
commissioners.
In
December, 1664, colonial authorities announced an agreement to place the
boundary line running north-northwest at the mouth of the Mamaroneck River. Long Island, however, was placed entirely
within the Province of New York. The new
line on the mainland, however, was well west of the line that would have been established by the Treaty of
Hartford had that treaty been ratified by English royal authorities.
The
Dutch Retake New York, Lose It, and Governor Edmund Andros
Arrives
For
a short time in 1673, the Dutch retook New York. Because the 1664 agreement had actually added
large swaths of land to Connecticut on the mainland up the Hudson River, Connecticut did not
want the 1650 line proposed by the Treaty of Hartford to govern. For a short period, Connecticut resisted any
suggestion by the Dutch that the 1650 line governed the boundary between
Dutch-controlled lands and Connecticut.
In
early 1674, however, Dutch and English authorities signed the Treaty of
Westminster that, among other things, returned New Netherland to the
English. Governor Edmund Andros arrived
in New York in 1674 with a new royal patent for the Province of New York claiming all lands up to the
Connecticut River – well within the Colony of Connecticut as denoted by the line
agreed to by the commissioners as announced in December, 1664. Thereafter:
“Gov.
Andros showed a markedly aggressive tack in his negotiations with Connecticut.
In May 1675, Andros sent a letter asking for land west of the Connecticut River
under the Duke's new patent. When Gov.
Winthrop objected, Andros sent a representative in June to demand Connecticut's
submission, threatening to send soldiers against any rebellion. During this time of high tensions between the
colonies, King Philip's War broke out in 1675. Andros attempted to use this to consolidate
lands under the Duke's [new] patent [that granted lands all the way to the
Connecticut River to New York]. At the start of the war, Andros sent troops to
Fort Saybrook, nominally to defend. However, Winthrop's troops arrived first, and
held the fort themselves. Andros
requested that Winthrop temporarily relinquish Connecticut's claim to the area
in order to strengthen the united defense.”
Source: “Border Disputes Between New York and Connecticut” in Wikipedia: The Free
Encyclopedia (visited Jun. 25, 2016).
New
Governor Thomas Dongan Arrives in 1683 and Settles the
Matter – Again
In
1683, a new Governor arrived in the Province of New York. He was Thomas Dongan. One of
Governor Dongan’s first official acts was to move to
try to settle the border dispute with Connecticut – again. It was during this time that Justice of the
Peace John Pell of the Manor of Pelham became involved.
During
the autumn of 1683, likely at the urging of Governor Thomas Dongan, Justice John Pell issued a warrant requiring
constables of Rye, Greenwich, and Stamford to appear before the General Court of
Assizes in New York in October. During
that court session, Governor Dongan pled to the court
that Connecticut had violated the 1664 agreement. He also issued a letter to Governor Robert
Treat of the Colony of Connecticut warning that “If you do not submitt to let us have all the land within twenty miles of
Hudson’s River, I must claime as far as the Duke’s
Pattent goes; which is to the River Connecticut. There is land enough for us all, and I love
not to do my neighbors ill offices.”
Source: "GOVERNOR DONGAN TO GOVERNOR TREAT" in Trumbull, J. Hammond, ed., The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut May, 1678 – June, 1689; With Notes and an Appendix Comprising Such Documents from the State Archives, and Other Sources, as Illustrate the History of the Colony During the Administration of Sir Edmund Andros, pp. 329-30 (Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood & Co., 1859).
Representatives
of the two colonies agreed to a new border similar to the one that exists today,
placing the settlement of Rye in New York and the settlements of Greenwich and
Stamford in Connecticut. The Province of
New York appointed a commission of four respected citizens, one of whom was a
surveyor, to survey and place the new line.
Those commissioners were John Pell of the Manor of Pelham, John Youngs, Robert Vauqellin, and
Phillip Welles (the surveyor). The
Colony of Connecticut, in turn, appointed a commission to join the New York
Commission consisting of Major Nathan Gold, Captain Jonathan Sellick, Ensign
Daniel Sherman, and Mr. John Harriman (a surveyor).
On
Wednesday, October 4, 1684, the commissioners of the two colonies met in Stamford. According to a report filed by the New York
Commissioners the following February (February
23rd):
“Wee went to Lions Point on ye east side
of Birom River and from ye mouth of sd River where itt falls into ye
Sea, we measured up the said River and found itt to be
one mile and halfe and twenty rodds, bearing North halfe
Easterly, and so came to a great Rock stone at ye Wading Place, where the road
cutts ye sd River, and from
thence directed our course North North West, six miles
and a halfe, and there marked DRCC [In the form of a diamond with “D” containing a hooked
line through it at the top and then, in clockwise order: “R” “C” and “C”] three
white oake trees as in the margeant; thence directed our course West and by North seven
miles and one hundred and twenty rodds, which brought
us to ye Northernmost end of a Reach of Hudson’s River, which bears as we judged
South and by West a quarter Westerly, and North and by East a quarter Easterly,
which above-said line falls upon the sd Reach about
Three miles above Frederick Philips upper Mills over against Tapan, and ye said River bearing North as to itts generall course upwards, we
conclude the above mentioned West and by North line to be the shortest from
sd Three marked Trees to Hudson’s River, and having
unanimously concluded that part of the Sound from Lions Point Easterly to beare East North East, we did from said Trees at eight mile
distance run a parallel to the Sound, vizt. East North
East twelve miles, and still continued ye said Twelve Mile line East North East
one mile and sixtyfour rodds, which then gave twenty miles from Hudson’s River, and
is eight miles North North West from ye Sound. Then finding the Oblong of twelve miles East
North East and eight miles North North West did deminish sixty one thousand foure
hundred and forty acres from ye twenty miles from Hudson’s River, we added to ye
abovesaid twenty miles upon ye East North East line,
three hundred and five rodds more, to run at yt additional breadth, parallel to Hudson’s River, till it
meets with the Mathethusetts Line, which we demed one hundred miles distant from our eight mile line,
which severall courses, with theire destances, together with
the three hundred and five rodds added, doe clearly
appear in ye Platt by the surveyers drawne and hereunto annexed; which addition of three hundred
and five rodds we refer for itts confirmation and ratification to the two Governments
from whence we are imployed; and that the above
written is a true report of our proceedings, we have this tenth day of October,
one thousand six hundred eighty and foure, subscribed
our names in Standford.”
Source: See full text of report and citation
below.
Though John Pell and his colleagues
did their part to settle the boundary lines, disputes over the line between New
York and Connecticut continued for nearly another hundred years – long after the
death of John Pell of the Manor of Pelham.
Portrait of John Pell.
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
Diagram Depicting New York and Connecticut Border
Disputes Between 1636 and 1776. Source:
Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia (visited Jun. 25, 2016).
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
* * * * *
“REPORT
OF THE COMMISSIONERS AND SURVEYORS, FOR LAYING OUT THE LINE BETWEEN CONNECTICUT
AND NEW YORK.
[Col.
Boundaries, II. 46.]
Pursuant
to a Commission from the Right Hon ble Thomas Dongan, Governour Generall of all his Royall Highnesses Territories in
America, &c., bearing the date the 26th day of September,
1684.* [Footnote “*” reads: “* Doc. Relating to the Hist. of N. York,
III. 356.”]
Wee
underwritten did upon the first Wednesday of this instant October meet, at ye
towne of Stanford, Major Nathan Gold, Capt. Jonathan
Sellick, Ensigne Daniel Sherman, Mr. John Harriman
†
Surveyor commissionated at a Generall Court held att Hartford,
as by theire comission they
produced bearing date May the eighth, 1684, doth fully appeare. [Footnote
“†” reads: “† Mr. John Harriman, (grad. H. C. 1667,) had
previously been employed by the General Court to make observations for
determining the Colony’s north bounds, and the correction of Woodward &
Saffery’s line.
See p. 33 ante.”]
Wee went to Lions Point on ye east side
of Birom River and from ye mouth of sd River where itt falls into ye
Sea, we measured up the said River and found itt to be
one mile and halfe and twenty rodds, bearing North halfe
Easterly, and so came to a great Rock stone at ye Wading Place, where the road
cutts ye sd River, and from
thence directed our course North North West, six miles
and a halfe, and there marked DRCC [In the form of a diamond with “D” containing a hooked
line through it at the top and then, in clockwise order: “R” “C” and “C”] three
white oake trees as in the margeant; thence directed our course West and by North seven
miles and one hundred and twenty rodds, which brought
us to ye Northernmost end of a Reach of Hudson’s River, which bears as we judged
South and by West a quarter Westerly, and North and by East a quarter Easterly,
which above-said line falls upon the sd Reach about
Three miles above Frederick Philips upper Mills over against Tapan, and ye said River bearing North as to itts generall course upwards, we
conclude the above mentioned West and by North line to be the shortest from
sd Three marked Trees to Hudson’s River, and having
unanimously concluded that part of the Sound from Lions Point Easterly to beare East North East, we did from said Trees at eight mile
distance run a parallel to the Sound, vizt. East North
East twelve miles, and still continued ye said Twelve Mile line East North East
one mile and sixtyfour rodds, which then gave twenty miles from Hudson’s River, and
is eight miles North North West from ye Sound. Then finding the Oblong of twelve miles East
North East and eight miles North North West did deminish sixty one thousand foure
hundred and forty acres from ye twenty miles from Hudson’s River, we added to ye
abovesaid twenty miles upon ye East North East line,
three hundred and five rodds more, to run at yt additional breadth, parallel to Hudson’s River, till it
meets with the Mathethusetts Line, which we demed one hundred miles distant from our eight mile line,
which severall courses, with theire destances, together with
the three hundred and five rodds added, doe clearly
appear in ye Platt by the surveyers drawne and hereunto annexed; which addition of three hundred
and five rodds we refer for itts confirmation and ratification to the two Governments
from whence we are imployed; and that the above
written is a true report of our proceedings, we have this tenth day of October,
one thousand six hundred eighty and foure, subscribed
our names in Standford.
JOHN YOUNGS
JOHN PELL
ROBERT VAUQELLIN
PHILLIP WELLES Surv r. * [Footnote
“*” reads “* The names of ‘Nathan Gold, Jonathan Sellick, Daniel Sherman and
John Herriman, Commr’s for Connecticut,’ are also
subscribed to this report, -- as published in the Report of the New York
commissioners, (1857) App. O. p. 118.”]
Millford, February the 23d, 1684-5. The
Report made by the within mentioned persons is this day assented unto, and
ratified by us; & it is ordered that it be recorded in the books of Record
for both Governments, as witnesse o r [our]
hands.
[Signed] Tho: Dongan
[Signed] Robert
Treat
Witnesses.
J. PALMER
J. SPRAGGE
JOHN YOUNGS
NATHAN GOLD
WM JONES
JOHN ALLYN
JOHN NASH
WILLIAM PITKIN.”
Source: Trumbull, J. Hammond, ed., The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut May, 1678 – June, 1689; With Notes and an Appendix Comprising Such Documents from the State Archives, and Other Sources, as Illustrate the History of the Colony During the Administration of Sir Edmund Andros, pp. 337-39 (Hartford, CT: Case,
Lockwood & Co., 1859).
Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.