Book excerpt: Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak is a meticulously-researched and well-documented work about a seventeenth century swashbuckling soldier of fortune, Thomas Pell, and the legend of the "Treaty Oak" that bore his name. Beneath that oak, on June 27, 1654, Pell acquired from local Native Americans the lands that became the Manor of Pelham. Memories have faded and the mists of time have obscured the story of Thomas Pell's Treaty Oak. Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak is an effort to part the mists and document the story in honor of the 350th anniversary celebration of Pelham, New York.