Editing Roosevelt Island (section)

==== Manning and Blackwell ownership ====
After the Dutch surrendered to the British in 1664,<ref name="KKS p. 6" /><ref name="Barlow p. 127" /> a British military captain named John Manning acquired the island in 1668.<ref name="JMA p. 6" /><ref name="Pollak 2012" /><ref name="Barlow p. 127" />{{Efn|Another source gives 1666 as the year of Manning's takeover.<ref name="Yorker 1928" />}} In 1673, Manning surrendered to Dutch forces who had wanted to retake New Netherland; as punishment, he had to live on the island in exile.<ref name="Pollak 2012" /><ref name="Barlow pp. 127–129">{{harvnb|Barlow|1971|ps=.|pages=127–129}}</ref><ref name="KKS p. 6" /> After Manning's banishment,<ref name="JMA p. 6" /> the isle became known as Manning's Island.<ref name="Yorker 1928">{{Cite magazine |last=The New Yorker |first= |date=January 13, 1928 |title="Captain Manning's Island" |language=en-US |pages=13 |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1928/01/21/captain-mannings-island |access-date=December 7, 2023 |issn=0028-792X }}</ref><ref name="Times Union 1908">{{Cite news |date=July 27, 1908 |title=Origin of the Name Blackwell's Island |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/times-union-origin-of-the-name-blackwell/144742953/ |access-date=April 4, 2024 |work=Times Union |pages=8}}</ref>  Manning had a mansion near the island's southern tip, where he served rum punch to visitors.<ref name="Barlow p. 129">{{harvnb|Barlow|1971|ps=.|page=129}}</ref> The island was then conveyed to Manning's stepdaughter Mary in 1676<ref name="KKS p. 6" /><ref name="LBA p. 4" /> or 1685.<ref name="JMA p. 7">{{harvnb|ps=.|John Milner Associates Inc.|2007|page=7}}</ref> Mary was married to Robert Blackwell,<ref name="Conn 1989">{{Cite news |last=Conn |first=Stephen R. |date=April 23, 1989 |title=Roosevelt Island: A Tram Ride, A World Apart |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/travel/1989/04/23/roosevelt-island-a-tram-ride-a-world-apart/9888641c-deea-4e25-b56e-cb040d1648f3/ |access-date=November 18, 2023 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |page=E1 |id={{ProQuest|140041265}}}}</ref> who became the island's new owner and namesake.<ref name="timeline">{{cite web |url=http://nyc10044.com/timeln/timeline.html |title=Timeline of Island History |work=The Main Street Wire |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100901184604/http://nyc10044.com/timeln/timeline.html |archive-date=September 1, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Pollak 2012" /> The ''[[Brooklyn Times-Union]]'' wrote that the island had gained the Blackwell name "by a mere chance, or the result of a marriage".<ref name="Times Union 1908" />

The Blackwell family settled the island over four generations.<ref name="JMA p. 7" /> At the beginning of the 18th century, Blackwell built his farmhouse, the [[Blackwell House]], on the island.<ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 p. 84" /><ref name="AIA5 p. 953" /> Blackwell's Island was not a major battleground in the [[American Revolutionary War]], though British troops tried to take the island after the 1776 [[Battle of Long Island]].<ref name="KKS p. 6" /><ref name="Barlow p. 129" /> The British briefly seized control on September 2–4, 1776, after which the American troops took over.<ref name="JMA p. 7" /> A British prison inspector proposed using the island as a prison in the early 1780s, but it is not known whether this happened.<ref name="KKS pp. 6–7">{{harvnb|Kearns|Kirkorian|Schaefer|1989|ps=.|pages=6–7}}</ref><ref name="Barlow p. 129" /> Blackwell's sons took over the island in 1780 and tried to sell it, at which point Blackwell's Island had several buildings and was several miles removed from New York City.<ref name="KKS p. 7">{{harvnb|Kearns|Kirkorian|Schaefer|1989|ps=.|page=7}}</ref><ref name="Barlow pp. 129–130">{{harvnb|Barlow|1971|ps=.|pages=129–130}}</ref> By the mid-1780s, the island included two houses, orchards, a cider mill, and other farm structures.<ref name="LBA p. 4" /><ref name="KKS p. 7" /> Contemporary sources do not mention any structures on the northern half of the island.<ref name="KKS p. 7" /> A public auction was held in 1785, but no one bought the island.<ref name="KKS p. 7" /> In 1796, Blackwell's great-grandson Jacob Blackwell constructed the [[Blackwell House]], one of [[List of the oldest buildings in New York|Manhattan's oldest houses]].<ref name="timeline" /> James L. Bell paid the Blackwells $30,000 for the island in 1823, but Blackwell took back control two years later, upon Bell's death.<ref name="KKS pp. 7–8">{{harvnb|Kearns|Kirkorian|Schaefer|1989|ps=.|pages=7–8}}</ref> One source indicated that Bell never fulfilled the terms of the sale.<ref name="KKS p. 7" />