50 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.

In the course of a few years after this joint purchase, Bennett seems to have become the owner of the whnearly the whole, of the entire tract,1 and to have built himself a house on or near the site of the present mansion-house on the Schermerhorn farm, on Third avenue, near Twenty-eighth street, which was burned down during the Indian wars of 1643, in Governor Kieft’s administration.2 Bennett died about the same time, and probably during his children's minority, and his widow afterwards married Mr. Paulus Van-

1. Dec. 26, 1639, as per deed recorded in office of Secretary of State at Albany, from Jaque Bentin, he sets forth: "I undersigned, Jaques Bentin, acknowledge that I have sold to William Adriansen a certain lot of land joining the land of William Adriansen, for 360 guilders;" by which he may have intended to convey his whole interest in the Indian purchase. May 25th, 1668, a confirmatory patent was granted to Thomas Fransen for " a certain parcel of land and meadow-ground upon Long Island, lying and being near unto or by Gowanes; the said parcel of Iand lying between the first and second meadow_ground or valley; being bounded to the north by the first, and to the south by the second valley, as by Paulus Vander Beeck it was staked out in the presence of the said Thomas Fransen and other witnesses; being also of the same breadth eastward as far as into the original groundbrief is set forth, the parcel of meadow being divided into four parts. Two of themviz., No. 2 and No. 4--are transferred to the said Thomas Fransen, which makes the just moiety or half of the said meadow, together with a small parcel of woodland lying beyond that part of the aforesaid second valley where ÔNo. 4' is," as conveyed by Adriaen Willemsen (Bennett) to Paulus Vander Beeck, and, Sept. 5, 1666, conveyed by the said Paulus Vander Beeck and his wife, Maria Thomas, to the said Fransen, the quantity of land being certified by the surveyor and endorsed on the first conveyance.

2. In an affidavit, made on the 15th of February, 1663, before Walenyn Vander Veer, notary, etc., by Mary Thomas (sometimes called Badye, and widow of William Ariaense Bennett, her second husband; of Jacob Varden, her first husband; and now wife of Mr. Paulus Vander Beeck), it is set forth that “her houses, in the Indian wan, past about nineteen years, were burned and destroyed.”

About nineteen years previous to 1663 carries back to 1643, in which the Indian wan, during Kieft’s administration, took place. This statement is further strengthened by a deed, dated January 2, 1696-7, from the Patentees and Freeholders of Brooklyn, to Adrisen Bennett, a son of the aforesaid William Arisense Bennett (to secure his rights for what appears to be the same land covered by the patent to Mary Thomas. except that the quantity is two hundred acres), wherein it is set forth “that the said William Arisense Bennett had formerly lawfully purchased a certain tract of land of the native proprietors, the Indians, in the year 1636, at Gowanus aforesaid, according to the boundaries and limits herein after specified; and that by the Indian wars, and also by fire, great part of the writings, patents, and deeds of said William Ariaense Bennett’s aforesaid land is lost and destroyed, together with the records; and also that said Adriaen Bennett, the lawful heir to said William Ariaense Bennett, deceased, thereby is in danger to lose his right of inheritance,” etc.