It owned both the vast 81 sq mi (210 km2) hereditary estate in lower Westchester County, New York, Philipsburg Manor, the family seat, and the roughly 250 sq mi (650 km2) Highland Patent, later known as the "Philipse Patent", in time today's Putnam County, New York.

Loyalists during the Revolutionary War, the family had its lands seized in 1779[1] by the Revolutionary government of the Province of New York[2] and sold by its Commissioners of Forfeitures.

Though never compensated for their losses by the Colonial government,[3] various family members did receive payments from the British government in following years.

Frederick Philipse (1636–1702), first Lord and founder of Philipsburg Manor, had eleven children with his first wife, Margaret Hardenbrook de Vries.

[7][8] She was the sister of Stephanus Van Cortlandt, an adviser to the provincial governor.