250 and Counting

White Plains today is the county seat of Westchester County, the county that directly abuts New York City to the north and connects it to the mainland. But back when the Dutch started settling in the area, starting at the south end of Manhattan, the region was being used for farming by the Weckquaeskeck tribe of the Wappingers, and was called “Quarropas” by those people. (And I knew Mike would chicken out on saying “Weckquaeskeck”.) Incidentally, in the first US Census, in 1790, the population

Holding the show to two minutes exactly (because we also have a few radio listeners) sometimes makes it tough to tell the whole story of the rules behind en taille, or entail. Because, you see, en taille doesn’t just refer to land in Virginia; it refers to all property. And that includes slaves. And Jefferson, who was absolutely a slave owner (he inherited a little over 50 slaves when he was 21, and inherited another 135 slaves when his father-in-law died—this made him the second-largest slave

Oddly enough, having an episode about the Battle of Mamaroneck is one of those times when it pays to have grown up in New York. I saw that note in our common research document, then I clocked the date and said to myself, “No way is Mike going to know how to pronounce that.” So I gave him a little coaching. We’ve done this before, with each of us having to coach the other on pronunciation of locations when we have to report on events on the opposite coast (I get a lot of the Spanish West stuff,

Calling George Izard a “Nepo Baby” might be laying it on a little bit thick, but it’s pretty clear he came from some privileged people. His mother was Alice DeLancey. She was the niece of New York Governor James DeLancey and a descendant of Stephanus Van Cortlandt and Gertrude Schuyler. And if you’re paying attention as you move around New York, you’ll realize that those are some prominent names he’s got in his pedigree. George’s father was Ralph Izard, who was a delegate to the Continental Co

The Delaware Assembly was ahead of most other states in our fledgling nation, in part because they’d declared independence before anyone else. Back in June, as you may remember, Delaware declared its independence simultaneously from Britain and from Pennsylvania, of which it was considered a part. (This is why Pennsylvania is the only one of the thirteen colonies to be entirely landlocked, other than the access via the Delaware River.) So putting a government together would, of course, be the

Before I get into the events of New Rochelle, I have to confess that I’m kind of hating today’s artwork, and it’s not even published yet. Well, if I have to look at it then so do you. They can’t all be gems. The Battle at Pell’s Point had the Continental Army putting up more resistance than any reasonable British general should expect, so General Howe knew that reinforcements and supplies would be needed, so he camped out in New Rochelle for a few days while the bodies gathered for action. Lo