Petition Of Patriot Refugees,
To The Honorable Senate and Assembly, of New York
Tho, your petitioners, many of whom have large families, are laboring under indigent circumstance by being daily exposed to the inhuman and barberous ravages of a cruel enemy. That we have been exposed to inexpressible hardships in watching and guarding our families, and property, not daring to sleep in our houses at night. That the situation we are placed in by the fortunes of War, hath not been out of choice, but necessity. Many of us have repeatedly applied to the Commissioners of Sequestration for places in the back counties of the State, but could not get any relief.
Your Honors will readily perceive, upon the least reflection on our situation, the many disadvantages and inconveniences we labor under, and how uneasy and disagreeable our lives must be; and that we would gladly and cheerfully embrace the opportunity of retiring from a place of such iminent danger, could we see any prospect of supporting our families in peace and safety. But as we have no such agreeable prospect before us, and having been for several years inured to these hardships and dangers, we would endeavor to make ourselves as easy as our circumstances and situation would admit, provided we could be suffered by the laws of our State and the impotence of our inhuman enemies to remain and continue in this deplorable and dangerous situation until we are favored with an opportunity of a more safe and agreeable place of abode.
We therefore earnestly and humbly entreat your Honors to suspend the sale of the lands that we occupy under the Commissioners of Sequestration, in Westchester COunty, for if they are now sold, a great number of us being unable to buy, must inevitably be turned out of doors, or what will be almost as bad, put into the hands of speculators and monopolists. Leaving the matter to our wise deliberation, we shall wait impatiently for your determination, which, if it be in our favor, and the good of the community, we shall ever pray you, &c.
| Capt. Sybout Acker | William Paulding | William Acker |
| Abraham Orser | Abraham Williams | Jacob Acker |
| Capt. Jonas Orser | Nathan Fish | Abraham Acker |
| Capt. Israel Honeywell | Jonathon Odell | John Odell |
| Lieut. Jacob Van Tassel | Thomas Champenois | Jacob Lent |
| Lieut. Thomas Bice | William Van Wart | Job Sherwood |
| David See | Jacob Wildey | Joseph Devoe |
| John Paulding | John Dean | John Van Wart |
| Jacob Van Wart, Jr. | Denis Garrison | Gerret Van Wart |
| Joseph Paulding | Peter Syfer | Jacob Van Wart, Sr. |
*From Tarrytown Argus, Tarrytown, N.Y., January 1894. Revolutionary Sketches of Philipse Manor.
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