The citys founders were descendants of the Huguenots. who. early in the seventeenth century. resisted the attacks of the French Army in La Rochelle and surrendered only upon the promise of future religious freedom. Fiftyseven years later. with the renewal of Huguenot persecutions by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. the citizens of La Rochelle fled to England and Holland. and some of their number in 1686 commissioned the then Governor of New York to purchase for them a tract of land in America. On behalf of the refugees. Governor Leisler purchased from John Pell 6.000 acres of land. part of a tract purchased in 1640 from the Siqanoy Indians by the Dutch West India Co.. transferred to Pell in 1654 and later known as Pelham Manor. The purchase price was approximately $8.000. and Pell presented the colony with an additional 100 acres of land "for the church." The main body of the Huguenot settlers. about 30 families. arrived in September 1688. but historians believe that several farms occupied by single families had been taken up before that time.
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refugees