" Colony of Donk," and " De Jonkheer's," or the "Young Lord's," which has been corrupted into Yon- kers. This grant became a manor in 1652 and Van der Digitized by Microsoft® 204 The Hudson River Donk was its Lord for three years, though perhaps he never Hved there. He became involved in a quarrel with Stuyvesant and went to Holland with a remon- strance, but was beaten by the doughty Governor. He left no impression upon the land over which he was Lord for so short a time. Between 1681 and 1686 Vredryk or Frederick Flypse or Filipse became Lord of a manor that was really lordly, a domain to put to shame many a princeling's patrimony. His various Indian and other purchases, confirmed by grants, finally included all that tract of land lying between the Croton River and Spuyten Duyvil creek, — from Kitchawan to Papuinemen. When his first wife died, in 1690 or '91, he married the daughter of Oloff Van Cortlandt and widow of John "Dervall, who brought him a fortune of considerable extent to add to the eighty thousand guilders which made him already the richest man in the. Colonies. All of his estates were confirmed to him in 1693. He was actually Lord of the Manor, with baronial power. From 1693 till his death in 1702 his country residence was probably at Tarrytown, in the stone house — called "Castle Filipse "-r-that he built there, and that has been going slowly but surely to decay up to this year of grace, 1902, because of a lack of public spirit or sentiment, or whatever the emotion may be that moves men to the preservation of historic land- marks. The Philips manor-house at Yonkers, though not Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® From Spuyten Duyvil to Yonkers 207 so old as the "castle" at Tarrytown, is a much more pretentious dwelling. It became the home of the descendants of the first Sir Frederick. It was there that the wedding of the beautiful Mary Philipse took place. Tradition has coupled Washington's name with hers, as that of a suitor, but there is certainly no evidence that he ever proposed marriage to her. As already stated, she married his former companion in arms, Roger Morris, the builder of the old "Jumel" mansion. The marriage, which took place in January, 1758, was a magnificent affair, long remembered throughout the country-side. Among the traditions that have grown about the event is one to the effect that in the midst of the festivities an Indian sooth- sayer made an oracular statement that filled the bride's heart with apprehension. Standing in the doorway, he delivered himself in this wise: "Your possessions shall pass away when the eagle shall despoil the lion." If the reader wishes to take a grain of salt with that Indian no objection will be made. All of the central portion of the present city of Yonkers was purchased in 181 3 by Lemuel Wells. This estate, having the Nepperhan River running through the middle of it and including, among other buildings, the Philips manor-house, had previously been acquired by Cornelius P. Low, from the Com- missioners of Forfeiture. Mr. Wells bought it at public auction for the sum of $56,000. At that date there were less than a dozen houses, including mills, Digitized by Microsoft® 2o8 The Hudson River on the entire estate of 320 acres. It was not till after the death of Mr. Wells, in 1842, that the site of Yonkers began to be built upon. The operation oi the Hudson River Railroad, commencing in 1849, created a lively demand for property in that convenient locality, and the subsequent growth of the place has been rapid. But it is essentially a new town. Its civic history is nearly all condensed into a little more than half a century. Modern Yonkers, some one has said, is the child of the railroad. As lately as 1841, it was, according to the Rev. Doctor David Cole, an insignificant hamlet. In 1876 it was thus described: A few miles north of Spuyten Duyvil is the large village of Yonkers. Thirty years ago a church, a few indifferent houses, ^^a single sloop at a small wharf, and the gray walls and roof of a venerable structure, which you may see stretching among the trees parallel with the river, comprised the whole borough. That building is the Philipse Manor house, now occupied for municipal purposes by the public authorities of Yonkers. The city of Van der Donk and Philipse is now a thriving one, much given to factories and the enjoy- ment of a busy local life ; but to the outsider its chief attraction centres about the names of a few eminent people who have made it their