and Disbrow and his companions in their Rye venture, did not hold himself independent of the Dutch provincial administration. He promptly applied to the government at New Amsterdam for confirmation of his landed rights. Perhaps he was actuated in this step by a prudent desire to avoid the legal complications and annoyances which the settlers at Westchester had experienced, and perhaps he sought to strengthen his case against his competitor Revell by the forms of official recognition. In an elaborately polite communication, dated "In New Netherlands, 24th December, 1661," and addressed " To the most noble, great, and respectful lords, the Director-General and Council in New Netherlands," he solicited " most reverently " that letters patent be granted him for his tract, promising not only that all persons settling upon it should similarly crave letters patent from the Dutch authorities for such parcels of land as they should acquire, but also that he would take care to " enforce and instruct them of your Honour's government and will." By a document signed May 6, 1662, Director Stuyvesant complied with his request, stipulating, however, that Richbell and all persons associated with him or settling under him should "present themselves before us to take the oath of fidelity and obedience, and also, as other inhabitants are used to, procure a land brief of what they possess."
The bounds of Richbell's patent on the Sound ran from " Mr. Pell's purchase " at the southwest to the Mamaroneck River at the north east. The three necks, constituting its water front, are thus described by the historian of the Manors of Westchester County:
The Middle Neck was sometimes styled the " Great Neck," from its longer extent of water front, which led to the supposition that its area below Westchester Path was greater than that of the East Neck. The East Neck extended from Mamaroneck River to a small stream called Pipin's Brook, which divided it from the Great Neck, and is the same which now (1886) crosses the Boston Road just east of the house of the late Mr. George Vanderburgh. The North Neck extended from the latter stream westward to the mouth of a much larger brook called Cedar or Gravelly Brook, which is the one that hounds the land now belonging to Mr. Meyer on the west. And the West Neck extended from the latter to another smaller brook still further to the westward, also termed stony or gravelly Brook, which was the east line of the Manor of Pelham. A heated controversy arose between John Richbell and John Pell (second lord of the Manor), as to which of the two brooks last named was the true boundary between them, Pell claiming that it was the former and that the West Neck was his land. After proceedings before Governor Lovelace and in the Court of Assizes, the matter was finally settled on the 22nd of January, 1671, by an agreement practically dividing the disputed territory between them.
Richbell erected a house on the East Neck, and resided there. In the interior his landed rights, as understood in his deed from the Indians, extended " twenty miles northward." By letters patent from Governor Lovelace, issued to him October 16, 1668, the whole tract was confirmed to him, " running northward twenty miles into the woods." This tract embraced the present Towns of Mamaroneck, White Plains, and Scarsdale, and most of New Castle. But the enterprising men of Rye in 1683 bought from the Indians the White Plains tract — a purchase which gave rise to a protracted contention about the ownership of that section. The West and Middle Necks went out of Richbell's possession under mortgage transactions, the principal mortgagee being Cornelius Steenwyck, a wealthy Dutch merchant of New York. Most of the Middle Neck was subsequently acquired by the Palmer family (still prominent in the Town of Mamarcheck). Toward the end of the eighteenth century Peter J. Munro became its principal proprietor, from whom it is called to this day Munro's Neck. Upon it is located the widely known and exclusive summer resort of Larchmont, The East Neck was conveyed by Richbell, immediately after the procurement of his patent from Governor Lovelace, to his mother-in-law, Margery Parsons, who forth with deeded it to her daughter Ann, his wife. By her it was sold in 1697 to Colonel Caleb Heathcote, under whom, with its interior extension, it was erected into the Manor of Scarsdale. Heathcote's eldest daughter, Ann, married into the distinguished de Lancey family. As he left no male heir, Ann de Lancey inherited much of the manor property, and the de Lanceys, continuing to have their seat here, gave their name to the locality still called de Lancey's Neck.
John Richbell, the original purchaser of all the lands whose history has thus been briefly traced, was " an Englishman of a Hamp shire family of Southampton or its neighborhood, who were merchants in London, and who had business transactions with the West Indies or New England." He was engaged for a time in commercial enterprises in the British West India islands of Barbados, then a prominent center of transatlantic trade. In 1656 he was a merchant in Charlestown, Mass. (near Boston). The next year he entered into a peculiar private understanding with Thomas Mediford, of Barbados, and William Sharpe, of Southampton, England, which is supposed to have afforded the basis for his purchase, four years later, of the Mamaroneck tract. The details of the understanding are not stated in terms in any document that is extant; but its nature can readily be conjectured from the wording of the " Instructions " prepared for him by his associates, dated Barbados, September 18, 1657. He is advised to inform himself " by sober understanding men " respecting the seacoast between Connecticut and the Dutch settlements, and the islands between Long Island and the main, ascertaining " within what government it is, and of what kinde that government is, whether very strict or very remiss." Having satisfied himself, in these and other particulars, that he "may with security settle there and without offense to any," he is advised to " buy some small Plantation," which, among other advantages, must be " near some navigable Ryver, or at least some safe port or harbour," and " the way to it neither long nor difficult." He is next to obtain an indisputable title to the land, to settle there with his family, and to clear and cultivate it. Precise directions are given him for his agricultural and economic operations, including the following significant ones: " Be sure by the first opportunity to put an acre or two of hemp seed into the ground, of which you may in the winter make a quantity of canvass and cordage for your own use. In the falling and clearing your ground save all your principal timber for pipe stands and clapboard and knee timber." Lastly, he is instructed to " advise us, or either of us, how affairs stand with you, what your wants are, and how they may be most advantageously employed by us, for the life of our business will consist in the nimble, quiet, and full correspondence with us." There can be no doubt that all this was with a view to procuring facilities for contraband traffic. The navigation laws, at that time as throughout the colonial period, were extremely burdensome, and large profits were to be made in evading them. Although no direct evidence exists that the Mamaroneck shores were utilized to this end, we think it highly probable that some illicit trade found its destination there. It is a fact that Richbell's lands, unlike those of Thomas Pell and Disbrow and his associates, were not taken up to any considerable extent by bona fide colonists for many years. Yet he was a poor man, always in debt, and could not afford to let his property lie idle. As late as 1671 a warrant was issued by Governor Lovelace " for ye fetching Mr. John Richbell to town [New York City] a prisoner," wherein it was recited that " John Richbell, of Mamaroneck," was " a prisoner under arrest for debt in this city, from which place he hath absented himself contrary to his engagement." It may hence justly be remarked that, on the other hand, he could hardly have been engaged in any very extensive or remunerative " nimble " business.
Before buying the Mamaroneck tract, Richbell had become an in habitant of Long Island, residing at Oyster Bay. On the 5th of September, 1660, he purchased Lloyd's Neck, on that island, for which on December 18, 1665, he obtained a patent from Governor Nicolls. This property he sold one year later for £450. Through his brother, Robert Richbell, a member of the English Council of Trade created by Charles II., he probably received early information of the expedition intended for the conquest of New Netherland from the Dutch. After the conquest he made his home at Mamaroneck, where he died July 26, 1684, leaving a widow and three daughters — Elizabeth, Mary, and Ann. Elizabeth, according to Bolton, became " the second wife of Adam Mott, of Hamstead," and their son, William, was the ancestor of Dr. Valentine Mott, of New York City. Mary Rich bell married Captain James Mott, of Mamaroneck, who, in an entry in the town records, alludes to " a certain piece of land laying near the salt meadow," " in my home lot or field adjoining to my house," as being the burial place of John Richbell.
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