Lot: Sir Peter Warren Farm (Original Grants and Farms)

Lot
Sir Peter Warren Farm
Lot Group
Original Grants and Farms
Property Was Used in 1660 For:
Full Stokes Entry (See images below)
THE SIR PETER WARREN FARM

Block Check List. 7 12-765-770-849-846-8 19-8 17-549543-610-636-712.

This farm comprises five distinct parcels of land.

A. The AUard Anthony grant or Greenwich House lot.

B. Yellis Mandeville's grant, with a portion of the land granted to A. C. van Schaick, by the corporation of the city of New York.

C. Cosyn Gerritsen's grant; Wouter van Twiller's house lot; a lot directly across the road from the house lot, and the remainder of A. C. van Schaick's grant from the city of New York.

D. The bouweries of Francis Leslie and Olofl^ Stevenson van Cortlandt, excepting the homestead of Mandeville, and the land of Van Couwenhoven.

E. The land granted to Sir Peter Warren by the corporation of the city of New York.

The Warren farm is one of the most interesting estates on Manhattan Island. It includes the Indian village of Sapokanican; the Dutch village of Northwyck, and the English settlement of Greenwich, which did not include all of the "Greenwich village" of modern New York.

The Ratzer Map of 1766-7 and the Bancker Map of 1773 show the varied topographical features of the farm. The bluff along the river, with a fine beach below. The turbulent brook (called by the Indians the "Mannette" or "Devil's Water," corrupted to the "Minnetta brook," a Dutch interpretation) which encircled it on the east and south, except for a short distance where "the old road along Jan van Rotterdam's to the strand" completed the southerly boundary.

The beautiful wood that Oliver De Lancey had been nursing for forty years (Chronology, April 11, 1776) was still standing.

There are four houses on the maps none of which had been built by Warren. These were Van Twiller's own home, which was "sett upp" before Oct. 4, 1633; Van Ruyven's farm house (later the Teunis Eides house), built 1668; Greenwich House built in 1700; and the Henderson house, later called the Warren Mansion House, which had been built by James Henderson, about 1726-7.

The parcels composing the farm were acquired by Warren between June, 1731, and September, 1744. None of the deeds into him are of record. The originals are all in the archives of the N. Y. Hist. Soc.

Peter Warren was born in 1703, at Warrenstown, county Meath, Ireland. He entered the navy as a volunteer in the early part of 1717. He passed his examination, Dec. 5, 1721. May 28, 1727, he was promoted to be captain. In 1728, he commanded the "Solebay," frigate, on the station of the West Indies.

It was in 1728 that he came to New York. Edward Floyd De Lancey says: "Peace from 1729 lasted for several years, and Captain Warren was unemployed until the spring of 1735. During this period he resided in the city of New York, having married, in 1731, Susannah, eldest daughter of Etienne De Lancey, of that city, and his wife Anne, second daughter of Stephanus van Cortlandt and his wife Gertrude Schuyler." See Vol. Ill: 866.

December, 1735, Warren commanded the 20 gun frigate "Squirrel," for service on the coast of CaroHna and North America, remaining on that station for six years. In January, 1742, he was appointed to the "Launceston," 40 guns; in 1744, to the "Superbe," 60 guns, with a broad pennant as admiral in command. This last appointment proved highly lucrative. Early in 1745 he took his little squadron north and cooperated with the colonial troops in the attack on Louisbourg. Warren took part in the capture of many French vessels bound for the West Indies. His prizes netted him great wealth. Aug. 8, of

that year, Warren was appointed rear-admiral of the blue and, in the spring of 1747, second in command of the western squadron under Anson, with whom he took part in defeating the French off Cape Finisterre, May 3, 1747. For his share in this victory he was rewarded with the Cross of the Bath and was made commander in chief of the western squadron. July 15, 1747, he was promoted to be vice-admiral but his health had begun to fail and he was obliged to retire from active service.

Before his success at Louisbourg, he had asked the Duke of Newcastle to procure for him the government of (New) Jersey when it became vacant, "the having which might be an introduction to that of New York, where I should be at the pinnacle of my ambition and happiness." (Warren to Anson, April 2, 1745.)

Warren did not return to America. He was a member of parhament from July i, 1747, until his death, which occurred whilst he was on a visit to Ireland, July 29, 1752. A monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey.

There are numerous entries in the Chronology about Sir Peter Warren which will more completely tell the story of his life in New York.