[J. Thomas Scharf (1886)] He served also in the Third and Fourth Congresses to May, 1777, and was then elected President of the Council of Safety. This body was appointed on the 8d of May, 1777, after the formation of the State Constitution as a temporary form of government, until a governor should be elected and the Legislature meet. It consisted of fifteen members, and sat from the 14th of May until the 10th of September, 1777. During this year, Mrs. Gertrude Beekman, one of the original heirs of the first Lord of the Manor, died, leaving what was known as the " Peekskill es-tate," to her great nephew Gilbert L. Van Cortlandt. It comprised that part of the manor lying on the river from the line of Putnam County, embracing Anthony's Nose, Koa Hook. Annsville and the large estate, on which, in later years, was the residence of l'ierre Van Cortlandt, the younger, whose spacious mansion was probably built about I7ii!». The old Manor House had meantime become an uncomfort-able home. Prowling bands of Tories had gathered ami were " very busy riding about and combining to provide arms, and the Tories from the eastward were coining continually down, to the number of two or three hundred, who all assembled at N. Mcrritt's and A. Crook's with life and drum." They were dispersed by the minute-men and " parts of Colonel Thomas] regiment, and the troops of horse of Captain X. Treadwell, were ordered to scour live Neck.