forty Juggs, fouer ankers Rum, forty blankets,î besides other articles of clothing, as well as ìgunns, barrs of lead, pipes, tobacco, etc.î Stephanus van Cortlandt also became interested in the patent soon after Rombour and Verplanck made their pur-chase from the Indians.
It was not until several years after the death of Rombout that the land was opened for settlers, and about 1703 his dau. Catharyna, and her husband, Roger Brett, determined to make their home in the ìlands of the Wappins,î as Rombout called it in his will, when they left their town property, an extensive house and garden overlooking the river, on Broadway, in New York. Brett had been a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and was a personal friend of Lord Cornbury, that whimsical colonial governor who was so proud of his likeness to his cousin, Queen Anne, that he occasionally appeared in public at the fort in female attire,
to the great scandal of the good people of New York. His lordship is reported to have said that he knew of no better way of representing his sovereign.
The land which fell to Catharyna Brett and her husband, when the patent was partitioned, consisted of upwards of 25,000 acres. They were the first settlers in the county to develop the resources in agriculture and milling. The Bretts had three sons, one of
whom was born on the river and called Rivery, but the boy was not fated to grow up. Roger Brett was drowned from a sloop about 1726, leaving his widow, since known as Madame Brett, to
care for their extensive interests. She managed well, was a liberal landlord, and died at an advanced age in 1764, leaving an enviable reputation behind her.
Of the Van Bommels, who removed to New Jersey, as it is said, but little is known. One Pieter van Bommel, who may have been a son of Marcus, married Hillegout Ellen, at Hackensack, on June 2, 1749.
Kasparus Westervelt, after coming into possession of this extensive property, resided midway between the Hudson and Wappingerís Creek. He sold a small parcel, consisting of 48 acres and 20 perches, to Charles Le Roux (Leroy), of Rumbouth Precinct, merchant, for £127 6s. 3d., being part of lot No. 3, situated in said precinct, on Feb. 29, 1764, the remainder of the estate coming into possession of his many descendants, who resided thereon until later years. He married, as his second wife, MagdalenaLewis,* widow of John Tomkins, July 19, 1767. Near Manchester Bridge, on the banks of Wappingerís Creek, there still
*The Lewis family, of Dutchess County, are descended from Thomas Lodowycksen (Anglicised into Lewis), who was an early inhabitant of New York. The first of the name in Poughkeepsie was Colonel Leonard Lewis, Sheriff of the County, etc. Magdalena may have been his daughter. The Tompkins were a Westchester Co. family, some of whom came to Dutchess.