Who were the New York manorial lords?

Answer 1

The "Lords of Manors" were titles awarded to large landowners and other important colonialists by the English Crown granting much the same rights as the Dutch patroonships. The first such manor was "Pelham", based upon a patent granted to Thomas Pell in 1666 by the colonial governor. A similar patent was granted to John Archer for the manor of "Fordham" in 1671. More would follow, including the largest and most famous, "Livingston Manor", ceded to Robert Livingston in 1686 by Governor Thomas Dongan and later confirmed by James II. Building on the rights going along the title of manor lords, the Livingstons established what could well be considered America's premier dynasty, producing many public servants, merchants as well as military and political leaders. The prolific Livingston clan would ally its own power by marriage to the foremost dynasties of colonial America, such as the Schuylers, Van Rensselaer and Van Cortlandt, and thus produce an interrelated aristocracy, the first to deserve that qualification in America. Other important manors were Lewis Morris' "Morrisiana", Stephanus Van Cortlandt's "Cortlandt Manor" and Frederick Philipse's"Philipsborough". The manorial system was built on feudal rights granted to the deserving (or to the influent) and the principles of primogeniture, where estates were left in entail to the eldest son who would in turn dispose of it in the same way. The younger sons were launched in a mercantile or academic career and left with smaller inheritances, while the daughters were provided for with ample dowries and well planned marital unions to peers. The system enabled the large estates to be essentially intact 100 years after their inception.