Anna
Pell
ID
1609,000,114
Gender
Female
Birth Date
1682
Birth Date Notes
Born ca. 1682, probably on Hunter Island
Birth Location
Death Date
1739
Death Date Notes:
Died after 1739, at the Manor House, Pelham Manor, NY
Death Location
Family
Notes:

Image above is Anna's mark and seal from a deed, taken from Bolton's History of Westchester County Vol II

 

Anna was the daughter of Wampage II, the reigning chieftain of the Siwanoys, a western band of the Wappinger Confederacy. She grew up on Hunter Island, now part of Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, New York, where her father had a stockaded settlement (called a "castle" by the English). Historical sources have referred to Anna as a charming "Indian princess", although the Wappingers did not use such a title, and chiefdoms in Wappinger bands were often not hereditary.

She was married to Thomas Pell II, the third Lord of Pelham Manor, circa 1700. Their silver wedding cup, engraved with the initials

    P

T      A

was lost during the infamous "theft of the Pell Family Silver" which took place on May 24, 1757. Although a Pell family relative was arrested in connection with the theft, the silver cup was never recovered.

The author of Pelliana: Pell of Pelham, New Series, Vol. I, No. 3, suggests that the marriage was probably encouraged by Thomas' father, Sir John Pell, as a way of solidifying the title to Pelham Manor - the land which Sir John's uncle, Thomas I, had purchased from Anna's grandfather, Wampage I, in 1654. Pelliana also indicates that Hunter Island was sold from Wampage II to Sir John Pell around the time of the marriage, and that the island was "Anna's dot".

Thomas and Anna had 12 children, including: Joseph Pell, who became fourth Lord of Pelham Manor; Bathsheba Pell, who married Theophilus Bartow; and Mary Pell, who married Samuel Sands, grandson of Capt. James Sands.

Anna died after 1739, and is likely buried on the Bartow-Pell estate with her husband Thomas.

 

Bolton's History of Westchester:    https://books.google.com/books?id=_MIBAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false