HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 91

March, 1647, he became the patentee of the above land on Long Island, on which he seems to have resided until his death, which took place in the latter portion of 1653 or the beginning of 1654. He must, however, have been in possession of this plantation prior to the date of his patent, either by extinguishing the Indian title or otherwise; for, in Abraham Rycken’s patent, dated August 8, 1640, his land is located on Long Island, opposite Rinnegackonck, bounded by Gysbert Rycken, Hans Hansen, etc.; in Cornelis Jacobsen Selle’s deed to Lambert Huybertsen Mol, of 29th of July, 1641, his plantation is described as lying next that of Hans Hansen, on Long Island;1 and in the patent of Mespat, or Newtown, given to Rev. Mr. Doughty and his associates, in March, 1642, mention is again made of the meadows belonging to Hans Hansen.2 His widow, in April, 1656,3 petitioned the Governor and Council for the grant of a piece of meadow-land adjoining the 2004 morgen previously granted her at the “Waale-bocht,”5 stating that her neighbors disturb her in the use of them, by mowing thereon, although they have meadows of their own; that she is a widow and burdened with seven children, and asks an exemption from taxes. The meadows were granted, although the exemption was refused. “Sarah, in stating in this memorial that she was a widow, neglected to state that she was again married, and the wife of Theunis Gysbert Bogaert, which must have been the case, judging from the baptismal records of New Amsterdam, wherein the birth of their first-born, Aartje, is entered as baptized December 19, 1655. She probably resided, at

from whom are descended the Polhemus, the Bergens, the Bogarts, and many other of the most notable families of Kings County. Few women have been more highly honored in the number and the character of their descendants than Sarah de Rapelje. The first correction of this historical error is due to Mr. James Riker, the author of History of Newtown, L. I., who, in a paper read before the New York Historical Society, in May, 1857, thoroughly investigated and exploded the time-honored tradition which had disfigured the pages of all previous historians. Prime (Hist. L. 1., 358-61) especially has collected a great mass of tradition, which is more interesting than reliable.

1 N. Y. Col. MSS., vol. 1. 251.

2 Riker'’s Newtown, pp. 18, 83.

3 N. Y. Col. MSS., vol. vi. p. 353.

4 In the original Dutch record, 200 morgen, erroneously translated 20 by Vanderkemp.

5 The earliest recorded use of the name “Waale-bocht.” (See note 4, p. 24.)