Christopher, born in 1638, received a naval training by command of Charles I. He was commissioned captain and made important and adventurous voyages, in one of which he was wounded, captured by Turkish pirates and abandoned, to be later rescued by a passing ship. In 1667, whether by order of Charles II or on his own account it is not known, he sailed from England in his vessel, the _Bentley_, and came cruising in the waters of the New Netherlands. The tradition is that the Duke of York, to determine the ownership of the islands in the bay, decided that any island that could be circumnavigated in twenty-four hours belonged to the province of New York, and Billop, having proved that Staten Island was so included by sailing around it in the required time, was presented with 1,163 acres in the southern part of the island. On this tract he built in 1668 the stone house here presented. The stones and lumber were obtained in the vicinity, but the cement was brought from England and the bricks from Belgium. In the early records his name appears as showing that he had several public positions, but apart from that little is known about him except that he held a military command and had a controversy with Governor Andros to his disadvantage at first, but later he succeeded in having the governor recalled to England. In the year 1700 he sailed for England in the _Bentley_, but was never heard of again. By some writers it is thought that he was ordered back, inasmuch as a pension was assigned to his widow by the king. Captain Billop married a Miss Farmer, sister of a Supreme Court judge in the neighboring province of New Jersey. They had one child, a daughter, who married her cousin, Thomas Farmer, and he, succeeding to the manor of Bentley, changed his name to Billop. Both died young and their tombstones are to be seen at the house to-day. Christopher Billop, their only son, born 1735, was a prominent man in public affairs throughout his life. In the Revolution he was intensely loyal to the crown, and became a colonel in the British army. Twice he was captured. The New Jersey colonists were especially bitter toward him, and once by keeping men stationed in the steeple of St. Peter’s Church at Perth Amboy they observed him going into his house. Immediately they took boats, crossed the river and made him prisoner. By order of Elisha Boudinot (Com. Pris. of New Jersey) he was thrown into jail at Burlington, hands and feet chained to the floor and fed only on bread and water. Here his companion in captivity was Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe of the Queen’s Rangers, probably the same Simcoe who was in the engagement near the Van Cortlandt house. Billop was exchanged for a captain who had been on the prison ship. The second time he was taken he was released by Washington at the solicitation of Lord Howe, commander in chief of the British forces.