they never returned. The lots, divided into farms, were sold to persons already in possession, who, from being tenants became landlords in a manner that would please the hearts of philosophers of the Herr Most and Henry George school, and the state gave titles which were construed as warranty deeds.

Soon after the Revolution the question was agitated as to what extent the state had the right to confiscate the lands of Mary Morris. It was conceded that it had the power to confiscate her own right, but as that was only a life interest it could not affect the rights of her children. As early as 1787 these children presented a petition to the legislature, stating their claims and praying for relief. The persons who had purchased the farms also became alarmed, and petitions were presented urging that steps be taken to quiet these claims, but nothing definite was done. In 1809 John Jacob Astor purchased from the children of Mary Morris all their title to their mother's share in the patent, and in this way he became the owner of one-third of all the land in Putnam county. Upon the death of Mary Morris, which occurred in 1825, Astor took steps to enforce his claims, by a suit in ejectment in the United States court. The real defendant in this suit was the state of New York, but the nominal defendant was one James Carver, who was in possession of a farm in lot 5, which was sold to his father, Timothy Carver, by the commissioners of forfeitures. The claim of Astor was sustained by the court, and confirmed by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. By act of legislature, April 5, 1832, stock certificates to the amount of $450,000 with interest were paid to Astor, who with his partners executed deeds to the state for all his rights and claims. Within a few years the question has been raised as to whether the Astor family are not yet the owners of the undivided "mines and minerals" in the other lots, but a careful perusal of the various deeds shows plainly that no such right exists. The portion of the patent which fell to Philip Philipse was left by him to his sons Nathaniel, Adolphe, and Frederick, and to his widow Margaret Philipse, afterward wife of Rev. John Ogilvie, assistant minister of Trinity church. By the death of Nathaniel (who was killed at the battle of Germantown) and of his brother Adolphe, the whole share came into the pos session of Frederick Philipse and his daughter Mary, who married Samuel Gouverneur. About 1811 they began to sell farms in the various lots, and the deeds given by them would make a volume of themselves. The only part now remaining to their heirs is a comparatively small part of lot 2 (the mountains called Bull hill being a very conspicuous portion) and onethird of the mines and minerals. The present representatives of the

MAP OF PHILIPSE PATENT SHOWING ORIGINAL LOTS,THE OBLONG THE GORE

82633 Acres

LAKE LINEIDA

1197

Susannah Robinson

10922 Acres

EEM
E 334

N8.

Philip Philipse

10635 Acres

LEEM
E337

No9.

Mary Philipse

EAST BRANCE

SOUTHERLY

The Oblong

ConnecTICUT LINE.

peach pond

Philipse family are Mary, wife of John H. Iselin; Margaret, widow of William Moore; Catharine Wadsworth Philipse, and Margaret Gouverneur Philipse-all of whom are at the present time residing in Paris.

The indefinite statement of the south boundaries of the Rombout and the Beekman patents was a source of long and bitter disputes; the owners of these patents claiming that the true boundary was a line running due

east from the south side of Fishkill creek, while the Philipse family claimed with equal pertinacity that the creek itself was their northern boundary. This dispute was settled January 26, 1771, by William Nicoll and Thomas Hicks, who were appointed arbitrators. They decided that a line should begin at the south side of the mouth of the Fishkill and run east six degrees, north sixteen miles, and this should remain the boundary. The triangular lot thus formed was owned by Beverley Robinson, Mary Morris,

and Philip Philipse. The first two shares were confiscated, and by an act passed 1784 the tract was divided into three lots, of which the state of New York had two and the heirs of Philip Philipse one. The last is now the southeast corner of the town of Fishkill.

A similar controversy existed as to the south bounds of the Beekman patent, and on January 18, 1758, Henry Beekman, Catharine Pawling, and Robert Livingston on the one part, and the Philipse family on the other part, "for the ending of all disputes," agreed that a line should be run from the mouth of Fishkill due east to the Oblong, and from this point north along the "Oblong line " two hundred chains, and from thence due west to the rear of the Rombout patent. This tract, like the former, was divided into farms, and after the Revolution the confiscated parts were sold by the state, and the remainder disposed of by the heirs of Philip Philipse.

was a tract of land

It is perhaps needless to state that the "Oblong ceded to New York by Connecticut in return for lands lying next to Long Island sound, and formed no part of the Philipse patent. Politically, the Philipse patent was originally the "South ward of Duchess county." In 1737 it was established as the "South precinct," and in 1772 was divided into two "precincts," known as Philipse and Fredericksburg, which were made towns in 1780. The whole patent was separated from Duchess in 1812 and established as Putnam county, and now comprises the towns of Phillipstown, Putnam Valley, Kent, Carmel, Paterson, and Southeast.

William S. Pelletreau.

THE EARLIEST AMERICAN PEOPLE

Editor Magazine of American History:

Apropos of the discussion of the origin of the Mound Builders, which has been carried on in the later numbers of your valuable journal, permit me to give your cultivated readers a brief synopsis of a forthcoming publication, derived from the numerous earthen tablets found so plentifully in Peru, Central America, and Mexico. These tablets were engraven on plastic clay, and subsequently burned to render them imperishable. They contain sixteen perfect Phoenician characters. The records extend back 1,500 or 2,000 years before the advent of the Messiah, and bring us face to face with that old civilization, its arts and its sciences, during the reigns of Proteus of Egypt and Helen of Troy. When Moses was leading the children of Israel through the wilderness to the promised land, these primitive navigators were overrunning the lost Atlantis, and were colonizing the outlying islands which dotted the surface of the Sargasso sea, which extended nearly to the eastern coast of South America. The knowledge that America was inhabited by a highly civilized people centuries prior to its occupancy by the red Indian is not new. For upwards of 400 years, however, all the actual information about this ancient and prehistoric people and of their civilization was that gathered from a careful study of the relics of their former greatness, the crumbling ruins of their temples, their pyramids, and their immense edifices which are yet found scattered over the broad face of this western world, from the frozen plains of Patagonia to the copper regions of the great lakes, and from ocean to ocean. More especially are they found along the western slope of the Andes, up the isthmus, through Central America and Mexico and the vast extent of the fertile Mississippi valley. Their numbers may be realized when we pause to think that there are twelve thousand earthworks and tumuli in the state of Ohio alone to mark the industry of this forgotten people. In the warm zones these temples, etc., remain in a remarkable state of preservation; but in the colder regions, where they have been subjected to a thousand alternate frosts and heats, they have crumbled to dust, and the mounds of to-day mark the site of vast temples, pyramids, and edifices of unknown antiquity, beauty, and grandeur.

According to the records, the Toltecs came from a remote country toward "the birth of the sun," and settled upon the eastern slope of what