Historic Pelham Blog Archive
October 5, 2006

350TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION BOOK:  "THOMAS PELL AND THE LEGEND OF THE PELL TREATY OAK" -- $11.95 (PROCEEDS AFTER PRINTING COSTS WILL GO TO BARTOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUM).  CLICK HERE TO BROWSE BEFORE YOU BUY! LEARN MORE.

Historians long have believed that there exists no record of the amount Thomas Pell paid Native Americans when he acquired the lands that became the Manor of Pelham and surrounding areas on June 27, 1654. On Friday, September 29 I published to the Historic Pelham Blog an item entitled "Intriguing Evidence of the Amount Thomas Pell Paid Native Americans for the Manor of Pelham". In it I noted that I have located an obscure 17th century document published in a journal released in 1869 that says that Thomas Pell paid "£500 starlinge" for the lands he acquired.

I have located additional evidence that supports the conclusion that Pell paid 500 pounds sterling for the lands that became the Manor of Pelham. Following Pell's death in late September, 1669, authorities took an inventory of his estate in Westchester.

John Richbell, William Hoyden and Samuel Drake completed the inventory on October 20, 1669. The inventory is several pages long. It includes an entry that values Pell's lands in what became lower Westchester County. The lands are valued at . . . 500 pounds sterling. The entry reads:

"The howsing, lands, barns, islands, adjoyning from Hutchinson's River westward, and so far eastward as were Mr. Tho. Pell's inst. and lawful right, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500. . .0. . . 0".

Source: Bolton, Jr., Robert, The History of the Several Towns, Manors and Patents of the County of Westchester, From Its First Settlement to the Present Time Carefully Revised by Its Author, Vol. II, p. 48 (C.W. Bolton, ed., NY, NY: Chas. F. Roper pub. 1881).

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posted by Blake A. Bell @ 5:00 AM Comment

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