104
 

THE   OLD  MERCHA.VTS
 

CHAPTER XL
 

The Kip family are of the old Dutch regime of New
York. Lossing, in bis " Field Book of the Revolution,"
gives their history in Brittany and Holland, back to the
middle of the sixteenth century. But with this we
have nothing to do. We begin with their New York
history.

They landed at New Amsterdam in 1635, and at
once received the tract on the island which afterwards
went by the name of Kip's Bay. There, Jacobus Kip,
■Secretary of the Council, built a house of bricks im¬
ported from Holland, which was taken down in 1852,
to make way for Thirty-fifth street. It had then stood
for 212 years, and was the oldest on the island. Anoth¬
er tract was granted them in 1688, where Rhinebeck
now stands, extending four miles along the river. Un¬
fortunately, in the Revolution, they were most of them
Loyalists, and their property was swept away by confis¬
cation.

At the close of the Revolution, the head of the fam¬
ily was Leonard Kip, who made an attempt to recover
his property — Alexander Hamilton was his lawyer —
but failed. He died at an advanced age, about 80, in
1804, leaving two sons.

The eldest, Isaac Lewis Kip, was a lawyer, and for