Adolphus Philipse

Landowner

Adolphus Philipse (1665–1750) was a wealthy landowner of Dutch descent in the Province of New York. He owned part of the original Manor of Philipsborough (later, the common spelling would change to "Philipsburg") in Westchester County. In 1697, he purchased an extensive tract of land along the east bank of the Hudson River stretching all the way to the Connecticut border. Then known as the "Highland Patent," it would later be referred to as the Philipse Patent. After his death, the Patent was inherited by his nephew, Frederick Philipse II, his only heir-at-law, who became the second lord of Philipsburg Manor.^[1]^[2] He held important positions in the government of the Province of New York, serving as a member of the Governor' Council and as Speaker of the General Assembly.^[3]

Early life

Adolphus Philipse was born in 1665 in New York City (just renamed from New Amsterdam), the second son of Frederick Philipse,^[3] the first lord of the Manor of Philipsborough (Philipsburg), a Dutch immigrant to North America of Bohemian heritage who had risen to become one of the greatest landholders in the New Netherlands. his childhood was centered around the family's activities in the growing colonial port. His father's primary residence and business operations, including international trade and his role in the Governor's Council, were based in Manhattan.

Career

In 1697, Philipse purchased a tract of land that ran along the northern Westchester County border, which received Royal sanction as the "Highland Patent", later known as the Philipse Patent.^[4] Spanning from the Hudson River to the then Connecticut Colony^[5] it encompassed some 250 square miles.

Upon Frederick's death in 1702, Adolphus received all of the manor lands north of Dobb's Ferry, including the present town; this part of the manor was known as the Upper Mills.^[3] He was also named proprietor of a tract of land on the west bank of the Hudson north of Anthony's Nose and executor of Philip's estate.^[6] The balance of the manor and family commercial holdings, as well as the title of the Lord of the manor, were bequeathed to Adolphus's nephew, Frederick Philipse II, son of his elder brother Philip, who had been heir to the title but died in 1699.^[7]^[8]

Adolphus owned and managed the Upper Mills for nearly 50 years, transforming it into a major commercial operation. It included a stone gristmill,^[9] a bakehouse, and a wharf for exporting grain and dairy products internationally via New York City. The complex was anchored by the Philipsburg Manor House and operated by enslaved Africans. Slave quarters were installed by him about 90 feet from the main house.^[10] By the time of his death, twenty-three enslaved men, women, and children lived and worked at the manor. They are listed with names (and children, also with ages) in the 1850 probate inventory of his properties.^[11]^[3]

After the bachelor Adolphus' death in 1749,^[3] his Manor holdings and the Highland Patent passed to Frederick II, his only heir-at-law, who became the second lord of Philipsburg Manor.^[1]^[2]

During the American Revolution, all the Philipses' lands were confiscated by the Provisional New York government's Commissioners of Forfeiture and sold at a public auction.

Philipse Patent

In 1697, Philipse purchased a tract of land from Dutch traders Lambert Dortlandt and Jan Sybrandt, who had bought it a few years before from several Wiccopee chiefs.^[7] This became known as the Highland Patent^[4] and extended approximately 13 miles along the east shore of the Hudson River, from Annsville Creek to the Fish Kill, and eastward some 20 or so miles to the border of the Colony of Connecticut, including Pollopel Island in the Hudson.^[12]

Shortly after purchasing it, Philipse (whose main country residence was in Lower Manhattan and who maintained only a bachelor shooting lodge on Lake Mahopac in the Highland Patent^[13]), opened the tract to tenant settlers. Thus began a policy that lasted throughout his lifetime and his heirs' so long as they owned the land,^[7] to rent rather than sell, a practice which led to stunted growth for two and a half centuries to come.

After Philipse's death in 1750 (Smith, 1749), the Highland Patent was inherited by his nephew, Frederick Philipse II, his only heir-at-law, who became the second lord of Philipsburg Manor in Westchester County.^[1]^[2] During the American Revolution, the Philipse Patent lands were confiscated by the Provisional New York government's Commissioners of Forfeiture.^[14] Sold afterwards, they became today's Putnam County and parts of Dutchess County.

Personal life

Adolphus Philipse was the second son of Frederick Philipse, the first lord of Philipsburg Manor, and his first wife, Margaret Hardenbroeck.^[15] (For Margaret, it was the second marriage.) He was the younger brother of Philip Philipse.^[16]

He primarily lived and managed his business affairs from an office and home on New Street^[3] in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, while often staying in Philipse Manor House at the Upper Mills and visiting his hunting lodge at the Highland Patent. He never married and died intestate on January 20, 1749 (1750 New Style).^[3]

References

^ a b c Philipse family history: At the death of Frederick Philipse in 1751, the Highland Patent was inherited by his son, Philip Philipse, and three daughters, Susannah (wife of Beverley Robinson), Mary (late wife of Col. Roger Morris), and Margaret, who died intestate. Margaret's portion was, by terms of her father's will, equally divided among her brother and sisters, and in 1751, after a survey of the whole tract, it was geographically divided into nine Lots; three on the river; three in the interior; three on the eastern (Connecticut) border. Each of the three heirs inherited a lot in each division.
^ a b c Pelletreau, William, S, History of Putnam County, New York – With Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men, W.W. Preston & Company, Philadelphia, 1886 [1]
^ a b c d e f g "Adolph Philipse estate records". NYPL Digital Collections. Retrieved December 30, 2025.
^ a b Historical and Genealogical Record Dutchess and Putnam Counties New York, Press of the A. V. Haight Co., Poughkeepsie, New York, 1912; pp. 62-79 [2] "Adolph Philipse having thus acquired the title from the original owners, proceeded at once to take the necessary steps for obtaining a patent for his lands, and presented a petition to Benjamin Fletcher, who was then governor of the Province of New York, which was granted June 17, 1697."
^ Historical and Genealogical Record Dutchess and Putnam Counties New York, Press of the A. V. Haight Co., Poughkeepsie, New York, 1912; pp. 62-79 [3] "While the Indian deed to Dorlandt and Sebring and the subsequent transfers only conveyed the land extending back from the Hudson River to a marked tree on the line of the Rombout Patent, or "Land of Cortlandt and Company," the patent of Governor Fletcher conveyed all the land between the river and the boundary line between New York and Connecticut. To confirm his title to this additional tract Adolph Philipse obtained a new Indian deed in 1702."
^ Glenn, p. 258: "By the will of Frederick Philipse "all that portion of the manor north of Dobb's Ferry, including the present town, became vested in Adolphus Philipse, his second son. This individual " was also proprietor" of a great tract of land north of " Anthony's Nose " and the executor of his brother Philip Philipse's estate, the latter having died in 1714. Adolphus died without issue in 1750, and the whole manor of Philipsborough descended to his nephew, Frederick Philipse, the nearest male heir of the grandfather. This nephew was born in 1698 upon the island of Barbadoes, at an estate called Springhead belonging to his father."
^ a b c Putnam County Historical Society [4] Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine Adolphus Philipse profile
^ Morris, F.O., Philipse of Philipsburgh, in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 10 (1856), p. 26: PHILIP PHILIPSE, of Philipsbourg, born in 1656, who married, at Barbadoes, in 1697 (whither he had been sent by his father to an estate he had there, called Spring Head, and where he quickly recovered his health, having been before of a very delicate constitution), Maria, youngest of the four daughters of ? Sparkes, Esq., governor of Barbadoes, by Joyce, his wife, daughter of ? Farmer, Esq., (two of whom had retumed to their father's estate in Worcestershire, and the others accompanied their parents to the island), and, dying in 1700, left a son and successor. She also died in 1700.
^ Foceri, Steven. "Philipsburg Manor". Hudson River Valley Institute. Archived from the original on June 20, 2025. Retrieved December 15, 2025.
^ Rowe, Chip (May 27, 2022). "Always Present, Never Seen". The Highlands Current. Archived from the original on April 16, 2024. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
^ "Adolph Philipse's 1750 probate inventory". People Not Property / Historic Hudson Valley. Archived from the original on April 24, 2025. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
^ Smith, Philip Henry, General History of Putnam County: From 1609 to 1876, inclusive, published by the author, Pawling, NY, 1877, p. 44
^ Thomas Davenport, Philipstown pioneer, 1682-1759, and his descendants, compiled by Dorothy Giles and Irma Franklin. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. Putnam County Historical Society. 1962.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^ Description of the Abstract of Sales, Commissioners of Forfeiture
^ "Margaret Hardenbroek". The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York. Archived from the original on February 28, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2025.
^ Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site website: [5] Philip Philipse, oldest son of Frederick Philipse I, and his wife, Mary, both died in Barbados in 1689 (on September 14 and October 18, respectively). Their death notices, signed by the rector of nearby St. James Church, list cause of death as "belly ake", aka dysentery, a frequent cause of death during that time period on the island.

External links

Putnam's Past Archived February 27, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
People Not Property, digital documentary on slavery in the North by Historic Hudson Valley

[philhist-1] Philipse family history: At the death of Frederick Philipse in 1751, the Highland Patent was inherited by his son, Philip Philipse, and three daughters, Susannah (wife of Beverley Robinson), Mary (late wife of Col. Roger Morris), and Margaret, who died intestate. Margaret's portion was, by terms of her father's will, equally divided among her brother and sisters, and in 1751, after a survey of the whole tract, it was geographically divided into nine Lots; three on the river; three in the interior; three on the eastern (Connecticut) border. Each of the three heirs inherited a lot in each division.

[pell-2] Pelletreau, William, S, History of Putnam County, New York – With Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men, W.W. Preston & Company, Philadelphia, 1886 [1]

[:0-3] "Adolph Philipse estate records". NYPL Digital Collections. Retrieved December 30, 2025.

[HGR1-4] Historical and Genealogical Record Dutchess and Putnam Counties New York, Press of the A. V. Haight Co., Poughkeepsie, New York, 1912; pp. 62-79 [2] "Adolph Philipse having thus acquired the title from the original owners, proceeded at once to take the necessary steps for obtaining a patent for his lands, and presented a petition to Benjamin Fletcher, who was then governor of the Province of New York, which was granted June 17, 1697."

[5] Historical and Genealogical Record Dutchess and Putnam Counties New York, Press of the A. V. Haight Co., Poughkeepsie, New York, 1912; pp. 62-79 [3] "While the Indian deed to Dorlandt and Sebring and the subsequent transfers only conveyed the land extending back from the Hudson River to a marked tree on the line of the Rombout Patent, or "Land of Cortlandt and Company," the patent of Governor Fletcher conveyed all the land between the river and the boundary line between New York and Connecticut. To confirm his title to this additional tract Adolph Philipse obtained a new Indian deed in 1702."

[6] Glenn, p. 258: "By the will of Frederick Philipse "all that portion of the manor north of Dobb's Ferry, including the present town, became vested in Adolphus Philipse, his second son. This individual " was also proprietor" of a great tract of land north of " Anthony's Nose " and the executor of his brother Philip Philipse's estate, the latter having died in 1714. Adolphus died without issue in 1750, and the whole manor of Philipsborough descended to his nephew, Frederick Philipse, the nearest male heir of the grandfather. This nephew was born in 1698 upon the island of Barbadoes, at an estate called Springhead belonging to his father."

[phist-7] Putnam County Historical Society [4] Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine Adolphus Philipse profile

[8] Morris, F.O., Philipse of Philipsburgh, in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 10 (1856), p. 26: PHILIP PHILIPSE, of Philipsbourg, born in 1656, who married, at Barbadoes, in 1697 (whither he had been sent by his father to an estate he had there, called Spring Head, and where he quickly recovered his health, having been before of a very delicate constitution), Maria, youngest of the four daughters of ? Sparkes, Esq., governor of Barbadoes, by Joyce, his wife, daughter of ? Farmer, Esq., (two of whom had retumed to their father's estate in Worcestershire, and the others accompanied their parents to the island), and, dying in 1700, left a son and successor. She also died in 1700.

[9] Foceri, Steven. "Philipsburg Manor". Hudson River Valley Institute. Archived from the original on June 20, 2025. Retrieved December 15, 2025.

[10] Rowe, Chip (May 27, 2022). "Always Present, Never Seen". The Highlands Current. Archived from the original on April 16, 2024. Retrieved December 23, 2025.

[11] "Adolph Philipse's 1750 probate inventory". People Not Property / Historic Hudson Valley. Archived from the original on April 24, 2025. Retrieved December 26, 2025.

[Smith-12] Smith, Philip Henry, General History of Putnam County: From 1609 to 1876, inclusive, published by the author, Pawling, NY, 1877, p. 44

[13] Thomas Davenport, Philipstown pioneer, 1682-1759, and his descendants, compiled by Dorothy Giles and Irma Franklin. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. Putnam County Historical Society. 1962.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

[14] Description of the Abstract of Sales, Commissioners of Forfeiture

[15] "Margaret Hardenbroek". The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York. Archived from the original on February 28, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2025.

[16] Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site website: [5] Philip Philipse, oldest son of Frederick Philipse I, and his wife, Mary, both died in Barbados in 1689 (on September 14 and October 18, respectively). Their death notices, signed by the rector of nearby St. James Church, list cause of death as "belly ake", aka dysentery, a frequent cause of death during that time period on the island.