... Hall's property, according to heirs, was said to be within the boundaries of the farm land given to Trinity Church "outright and in fee" in 1705 by England's Queen Anne. This farm land was known as the Church Farm. Many alleged heirs claim that Hall died intestate in 1669 (some say 1670) and that his property passed to his daughter, who married Thomas Edwards. ...
... What is actually known about Thomas Hall? He was an Englishman by birth who had been taken prisoner by the Dutch. After being released he became a permanent resident of New York City and the proprietor of a farm and a brewery near present-day Beekman Street. After his death in 1670, his property was purchased by William Beekman. [1] A copy of Thomas Hall's will is among the Beekman family papers contained in the Manuscript Collection of the New York Historical Society in New York City. In his will, dated 9 Aug 1669, Hall left "all his remaining goods, moveable and immovable ... nothing excepted to his widow, Anna Medford Hall, "his sole and universal heir."
Records of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in the City of New York record the marriage of Thomas Hall to Anna Medford, widow of Willem Cuyck, on 14 November 1641. Baptismal records of the church from the time of Hall's marriage until his death contain no record of a Hall offspring being baptized and no identifiable marriage records for any children of Thomas and Anna Hall. The farm became Anna Hall's property after the death of her husband and was sold the following year to William Beekman. A transcript of the deed conveying the Hall brewery and farm from Anna Medford Hall to William Beekman is on record. [2] ...
[1] David T. Valentine. MANUAL OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK FOR 1865, 444-47.
[2] Isaac Newton Feels Stokes, ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND, vol. 1, p. 78.
