A history of Lewis County, in the state of New York, from the beginning of its settlement to the present time, Part 4

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885. dn
Publication date: 1860
Publisher: Albany : Munsell & Rowland
Number of Pages: 422


USA > New York > Lewis County > A history of Lewis County, in the state of New York, from the beginning of its settlement to the present time > Part 4


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A deficiency of 24,624 acres being found on the survey of the Boylston tract, this was supplied from township 2 [Worth], in Jefferson county. On the 15th of April, 1796, Phyn confirmed this sale.1 One quarter of the purchase was paid down and the balance secured by mortgage, which was paid and canceled June 16, 1804. It had been assigned to the bank of New York with other accounts of Constable.


The Black river tract was divided by ballot between the owners on the 11th of August, 1796. Low drew 2, 7, and 11, or Watertown, Adams and Lowville, and 1,578 acres of the surplus tract ; Henderson took 3, 6 and 9, or Rutland,


1 Deeds, See. office, xxxvii, 214.


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Henderson and Pinckney, and 649 acres of the surplus ; and Harrison and Hoffman together, 1, 4, 5, 8, and 10, or Houndsfield, Champion, Denmark, Rodman, and Harris- burgh, and 1283 acres of the surplus. As their guide, in making this division, Mr. Benjamin Wright who surveyed the outlines of the towns in April, and May, 1796, reported with a minute description of soil, timber, and natural advan- tages, the following general summary of his views with regard to their relative value :


" Numbers 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, have very little to choose in point of quality. 6 is best situated, but 7 is a most excellent town. 5 would be called best by New England people on account of the luxuriancy of its soil on Deer creek. 2 is an exceeding good town, but is not so good as 7. 8 and 9 are very good towns. 10, the north part, is exceeding good. 11, the west part is excellent. 7 has the preference of the whole for quality and situation together, and 6 for situation only. 1 is well situated, but I fear has not good mill sites on it. 8 has excellent mill sites, and 9 also, but are some broken. 10 is bad on the south line, and 9 also being cold and hemlocky."


The prejudice against hemlock timber is historically con- nected with the titles, and had an influence upon opinion as to the value of lands, which experience has not sustained. The indifferent quality of these lands when first brought under cultivation, is found due to the large amount of tannin in the leaves, and as this disappears the capacity of the soil increases until it may equal the best, other circumstances being equal.


Boylston's Tract and Constable's Four Towns .- On the 10th of April, 1795, Phyn reconveyed to Constable 105,000 acres for £10,000, which tract was subdivided into four towns adjacent to Inman's triangle, and almost reaching the S. E. corner of the eleven towns of the Black river tract.


On the 1st of April, 1796, Phyn reconveyed to Constable 406,000 acres for $400, this being the residue of the Boyl- ston tract. This land was subdivided into thirteen towns, which in common language have been denominated the " Boylston Tract," although strictly speaking, that tract included every thing between Black river, the lake, and Inman's triangle, amounting to 817,155 acres. The sepa- rate numbering of the townships surveyed out from the lands released in 1795 and 1796, has resulted in some con- fusion as, from 1 to 4, the numbers are duplicated. The outlines of these towns were mostly surveyed by Wm, Cock- burn & Son of Poughkeepsie.


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The contract with Wright for surveying townships 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9, into lots in 1805, provided that one acre of land in townships 1 and 10 was to be paid for every mile run. It appears that the survey of 4, amounted to 152 miles 42 chains ; of No. 6 to 136} m .; of No. 8 to 154 m. 36 ch. ; of No. 9 to 110 m. 39 ch. ; and of No. 3 to 161 m. 43 ch .; making 7152 acres due for the survey of 5 towns.


On the 29th of December, 1795, Constable sold to Nathaniel Shaler of Middletown, an undivided half of 52,418 acres being numbers 3 and 4 of Constable's four towns, and made him his agent for selling the other half.1


On the 15th of November, 1798, Wm. Constable, on the eve of his departure for Europe, appointed his brother James an agent to sell lands,2 and under this authority the latter sold most of township 5, or 8000 acres, to Walter Mar- tin on the 18th of June, 1801, receiving $5,400, and a mort- gage for $6,600 due in two equal annual payments.


Upon the death of Wm. Constable, May 22, 1803, John Mc Vickar, James Constable, and Hezekiah B. Pierrepont, became the executors of his estate, and in 1819, the latter by purchase acquired the interests of the several heirs. By virtue of marriage with a daughter of Mr. Constable, he had previously become an owner of a share of the estate. The remaining heirs were paid about $25,000 each, princi- pally in lands. By this means Edward McVickar became owner of lands in the west subdivision of No. 5, and in No. 9. The remaining interests in 3 and 4 of Constable's four towns became the property of William Constable, who set- tled at Constableville, and other members of the family became interested either in lands or contracts.


In the beginning Wm. C. adopted the plan of deeding lands and taking mortgages, but this being found expens- ive and troublesome, it was superseded by that of con- tracts, guaranteeing an ample deed upon full payment. This contract, originally prepared by Alexander Hamilton, has not been changed. It secures legal interest annually to the proprietor, requires the purchasers to pay all surveys, taxes, and assessments, binds them not to abandon the pre- mises, or sell or assign the contract, or cut, or suffer to be cut for sale, any timber without the consent of the proprie- tor, or commit any waste, actual or permissive, upon the premises. In case of default, it is optional with the party of the first part to abide by the contract, or consider it void, and if the latter, to re-enter and dispose of the pre-


1 Transcribed Deeds, Lewis Clerk's office, p. 155.


2 Deeds, Sec. office, xli, 623 ; Regr's office, N. Y., Ivi, 169.


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mises as in case of a tenant holding over without permission. The inflexible rule of requiring one quarter payment upon purchase was never relaxed by Constable, but was changed by his executors.


On the Ist of March, 1817, Judge James McVickar, who had acquired an interest by marriage with a daughter of Wm. Constable, conveyed by three several deeds, to George Davis of Belleville, N. J., 5,2242 acres in townships 3 and 4, then Turin, for $14,225. He also on the same day, con- veyed about 3,760 acres to Thomas Alsop, for $11,500, and on the 1st of January following, for $6,000, an undivided half of 46 lots in townships 3 and 4, of Constable's towns. On the 18th of December, Alsop sold for $7,000 to Davis, portions of his improved lands.


Both Davis and Alsop came to reside at Constableville as further noticed in our account of West Turin.


David I. Green of New York, became a purchaser under his brother-in-law Davis, June 16, 1818, and a few days after, conferred upon him powers of attorney to sell lands.' Green was for many years cashier of the Phoenix bank, N. Y., and by a long course of exemplary attention to its business, had secured the confidence of the directors to such an extent that they at length made but superficial examinations of his accounts. Soon after the purchase above noticed, he was found a defaulter to the amount of about $140,000, and large packages of bills which had for some time previous been coming through the mails to Capt. Davis, together with mysterious arrangements for expedit- ing the journey of some traveler, should he need to be for- warded in haste towards Canada, leave little room for doubt that a part of the stolen money was used in buying these lands, and that Davis was to some extent, at least, privy to the crime. Green was also deeply concerned in cotton and other speculations, which proved failures, and brought to light his robbery of the bank. He got a few hours' start of the officers of justice, and escaped by way of lake Cham- plain to Quebec, from whence he sailed to France. In two or three years some arrangement was made, by which he could return, and after going to Michigan, he came back to Davis' house near Constableville, and died, Sept. 5, 1826, aged 45 years.


The Phoenix bank became from this transaction an in- terested party to the title of a portion of the lands previ- ously held by Davis.


On the 25th of July, 1801, Wm. Constable, in part pay- ment of notes and endorsements of the firm of Wm. & Jas.


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Constable, and in consideration of $95,704.50, conveyed townships 1 and 13 on the south border of this county to John Jones, John McVickar and John Rathbone, in trust for the owners of the notes. These towns were conveyed to the trustees above named, July 15, 1802, and proving more than sufficient after making several conveyances amounting to 43,704 acres, they reconveyed the balance to Constable.1 Of the lands retained to pay the creditors for whose benefit this arrangement was made, 6,1184 acres in No. 1, and 5,4314 in No. 13, were deeded to John Jacob Astor, Jan. 28, 1804;2 and a further quantity of 32323 acres was conveyed March 10 of that year.3 On the 1st of June, 1806, Astor sold the whole of his lands in these two town- ships to Hezekiah B. Pierrepont, for $18,477.50, receiving a mortgage for a part of the amount, due in five, six and seven years.4


The trustees above named on the 28th of Jan., 1804, deeded 743 acres of township 1, and 10,074 of township 13, to H. B. Pierrepont.


Inman's Triangle was conveyed Feb. 12, 1793, by Wm. Constable to Wm. Inman, in trust, chiefly for Patrick Col- quhoun. The history of this transaction will be given in our account of Leyden.


Brantingham Tract .- S. Ward and wife, conveyed Aug. 18, 1793, to the name of Wm. Inman a tract of land supposed to be 50,000 acres, east of the river, in trust for P. Colqu- houn, in pursuance of a contract with Constable of Feb. 13 of that year. The price was £5,000 sterling, and it was the intention of the European owner to offer 10,000 acres to Capt. Charles Williamson at first cost, and he instructed Inman to do so. The latter wrote as directed, but added : " I have no doubt of the propriety of your refusing to ac- cept the share of the 18,000 acres, and I confess I had little hopes of your doing so, although I am certain it would have been highly advantageous to you. I can speak my mind freely to you ; and I do not hesitate to say that Mr. C.5 is capable of expressing sentiments he does not, when they are calculated to serve his own particular purposes ; and I am authorized to say, his friendship for you was merely a name, and his boasted attachment and profession


1 In township 1, lots 1 to 19 and part of 20=4880 acres ; and in 13 lots, 1 to 62, and part of 140= 15,484 acres.


2 Deeds, Lewis county, A., 187.


3 In township 1, 23204 acres and in 13, 9122 acres. Deeds, Lewis co., 4 Deeds, Lewis county, A., 186.


A., 190.


5 Referring to P. Colquhoun, who had loaded him with kindness.


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for me was no better, and people would do well to be on their guard in their transactions. with that gentleman." Within two months the writer of this letter, offered to buy these lands himself, stating that Williamson declined to purchase. The transaction needs neither note nor com- ment. Upon survey by Cockburn in 1794, the tract was found to measure 74,400 acres. In August, 1793, Brock- holst Livingston became a purchaser in trust for himself and certain alien owners, of whom he alone was allowed to hold lands. There were two associations formed, for hold- ing the Fellowship location, of 50,000 acres, and the Surplus lands, of 24,400, the latter of which belonged ex- clusively to B. Livingston and Patrick Colquhoun, high sheriff of London. In Dec., 1793, a contract was made be- tween B. L. and Robert Morris,1 for the 50,000, in behalf of the latter, and Mr. Nicholson and James Greenleaf ; but this conveyance was never made, and on the 10th of April, 1794, Wm. Inman, acting for another, sold to Thomas Hopper Brantingham2 of Phila. for $23,073, the whole tract. The latter soon after executed three mortgages for £7,692,3 and appointed, Aug. 9, 1794, Arthur Breese his attorney to sell a certain tract of 18,000 acres,4 but no sales appear to have been made by this agent. Brantingham and wife on the 21st of Jan., 1795, sold 10,000, an un- divided part of the tract to Richard W. Underhill of N. Y., for £7000, and other claimants became incidentally inte- rested,5 but the mortgages being unpaid, two of them were foreclosed and the lands sold6 according to statute. The lands were re-leased to Inman, and were further confirmed by the assignment of the judgments, upon which a sale was made Nov. 17, 1796, by the sheriff of Herkimer county to Inman,7 in trust. The latter soon after mortgaged the whole to Thomas Walker, agent of Colquhoun ; and by sundry conveyances the title became vested in Brockholst Livingston, Samuel Ogden, James Kerr and Patrick Col- quhoun.


The tract was surveyed into lots by Benjamin Wright in 1806, and the tract was divided Nov. 25, 1815, into four parts, of which the N. E. and S. W. marked 2, were drawn


1 Deeds, Oneida co., iv, 263. Consideration $30,000.


2 B. was allowed to hold lands in this state by an act of April 9, 1792. He failed in business in the spring of 1794, and in 1795 was imprisoned for debt.


3 Deeds, Lewis co., 149, 151.


4 Deeds, Oneida co., ii, 224.


5 Wm. Bird, Joseph Brantingham, Philip Grim and others are named in connection with this title.


7 Deeds, Lewis co., 160.


6 April 1, and Sept. 1, 1796.


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by Kerr and Colquhoun, and the S. E. and N. W., marked 1, by Livingston and Ogden.1 Lots 253 and 235, including the High falls, were not included, but remained common property of the four proprietors,


By an order of chancery dated June 17, 1822. Elisha Wilcox, Uriel Hooker, and Nathaniel Merriam, were ap- pointed commissioners for making a partition so far as concerned Ogden and Livingston.


In September, 1818, Caleb Lyon was appointed sole agent of John Greig, the agent of Kerr and Colquhoun, and pur- chased about 10,000 acres on his own account. He subse- quently brought Livingston's interest, and continued in the agency until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Lyman R. Lyon, and son-in-law Francis Seger. This agency continued until about 1851, when L. R. Lyon bought out the remaining interest of Kerr and Colquhoun, or rather of Greig who had succeeded them in the title,2 and a part of the Ogden interest. About 25,000 acres of the Brantingham tract are now in the hands of actual settlers.


Brown's Tract .- This term strictly applicable to a tract of 210,000 acres, or 8 townships of land, extending across Herkimer and including small portions of Lewis and Ham- ilton counties, has come to be applied as a generic term to the whole northern wilderness.


Samuel Ward and wife conveyed, November 25, 1794, to James Greenleaf, a tract of 210,000 acres from the eastern extremity of great tracts V, VI, and the latter mortgaged the premises July 29, 1795, to Philip Livingston. This was foreclosed, and Thomas Cooper, Master in Chancery, united in a deed to John Brown, a wealthy merchant of Provid- ence, R. I., on the 29th of December, 1798.3 The tract was surveyed into towns by Nathaniel Smith in 1796, and township 2, was surveyed into lots by Cliff French, in 1799. Townships 3 and 4 were never lotted. There were several conveyances of this tract not essential to its chain of title, of which we have not the exact data. John Julius Anger- stein, a wealthy London merchant, Henry Newman, Tho.


1 In the S. W. corner 62 lots or 12,804.77 acres. In the N. E. corner 126 lots, 24,647.71 acres. In all 188 lots of 37,452.48 acres. The lands drawn by Livingston and Ogden were in the S. E. corner 56 lots of 12,179.83 acres ; and in the N. W. 125 lots of 24,753.01 acres making in all 181 lots of 36,932.84 acres.


2 In 1834, 42,298 acres of the Brantingham tract were sold for taxes, the greater part of which was bid off by Seger and deeded to Greig. We are not informed of the transactions between Greig and his principals, or the dates of connection with the titles. Mr. Greig became owner in 1821.


3 Brown named his towns Industry, Enterprise, Perseverance, Unanimity, Frugality, Sobriety, Economy, and Regularity.


E


ies in The counties


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and Daniel Greenleaf, Col. Wm. S. Smith, Aaron Burr, and others, were incidentally concerned before Brown's pur- chase.1 An expensive but ineffectual effort was made by Brown to plant a settlement upon this tract, and three roads were opened to it. One of these led from Remsen, another from Boonville, crossing the Black river a little south of the county line, and a third from High falls. Mr. Brown died in 1803, and the land was held by his family until a few years since, when it was purchased by L. R. Lyon and others. It is now contracted to the Lake Ontario and Hud- son River R. R. Co.


Watson's Tract .- In April, 1796, Constable conveyed to James Watson, by warranty deed, 61,433 acres, comprising two triangular tracts connected by an isthmus. The first deed being lost, it was reconveyed May 13, 1798. The out- lines were surveyed in 1794, by Wm. Cockburn. This tract was originally contracted to the French company, but their tract having a surplus, this was sold to Watson at two shil- lings the acre. Watson's first agreement Dec. 2, 1793, included 150,000 acres.


Castorland .- The romantic scheme of settlement connected with this tract and the probable results that would have ensued, had the location been more favorably chosen, and the affairs more judiciously managed, give interest to this title, and justify a somewhat extended notice of the com- pany formed under it.


On the 31st of August, 1792, Wm. Constable, then in Paris, sold to Peter Chassanis of that city, 630,000 acres of land south of great tract number IV, and between the Black river and a line near the 44º N. latitude.2 From the mis- taken notion of the course of the river before alluded to, it was estimated that this amount of land lay between these two boundaries. Chassanis in this purchase, acted as agent for an association, and the lands were to be by him held in


1 Burr was concerned with Ward, and afterwards with Smitlı, in this pur- chase, after the title had been held as security by Angerstein. He became involved in a contract Sept. 22, 1794, for the purchase at £50,000, which he found a hard bargain, and the means he took to get released from Constable showed him the polished scoundrel. He wrote a letter Nov. 6, 1794, refer- ring in an insulting manner to an assumed liability of escheat from alien title, and the personal obligation of Constable to convey notwithstanding, and alluded to his ability in influencing legislative action. He professed a mock sympathy with his correspondent, expressed a nice sense of honor as to obligation, and ended with a proposition to pay £10,000 less than the sum agreed upon, or to forfeit £1,000 and be released from the contract.


2 In a deed in Oneida Clerk's office (c. 405) this is called great lot No. V, of Macomb's purchase. It appears that the French originally contracted 1,255,- 000 acres on all south of No. IV, both sides of the river, but soon relin- quished a part.


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trust for Constable until paid for, and disposed of in sec- tions of one hundred acres each, at the rate of eight livres tournois per acre.1 The state reservations for roads, &c., were stipulated, and a deed for 625,000 acres having been made out, was delivered to Rene Lambot, as an escrow, to take effect on the payment of £52,000. Constable bound himself to procure a perfect title, to be authenticated and deposited with the consul general of France in Philadel- phia, and Chassanis agreed that the moneys paid to Lam- bot should be remitted to certain bankers in London, sub- ject to Constable's order, on his presenting the certificate of Charles Texier, consul, of his having procured a clear title. If the sales should not amount to £62,750, the balance was to be paid in six, nine, and twelve months, in bills upon London. The preemption of great tract No. IV, for one month, was granted at one shilling sterling per acre.


The purchasers immediately set to work to perfect a scheme of settlement, and in October, 1792, issued a pam- phlet,2 embodying the following programme of colonization under the auspices of a company organized under the laws of France, by the name of LA COMPAGNIE DE NEW YORK.


Like many transcendental schemes of modern times, it appeared very beautiful upon paper, and the untried experi- ment promised every advantage which associated capital and active industry could claim, or the most ardent hope, promise.


Peculiar circumstances, at that time, favored schemes of emigration from France. The kingdom had been three years distracted by a revolution which, for savage atrocity, has no parallel in history, and the reign of terror had deluged the royal palaces in blood, and thrown a lurid gloom over the future. During the negotiation of Con- stable and Chassanis, the fearful insurrection for which Danton, Murat, Robespierre, and their kindred spirits had been long preparing the Parisian mob, burst forth ; the palace of the Tuilleries was surrounded, the faithful attend- ants of the royal family butchered, and the king, himself, imprisoned. While the scheme we are noticing was pre- paring, the mock trial of the sovereign was going on, and a few days after it was published, Louis XVI was brought to the guillotine.


1 Eight livres tournois would equal $1.52 4-10.


2 The official copy annexed to the original contract and certificates (subse- quently cancelled as hereafter to be noticed), was presented to the State library by the Hon. Wm. C. Pierrepont in 1853, at the suggestion of the au- thor. A full translation is given in the History of Jefferson County, page 46.


1190783


-


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Amid these scenes what law-and-order-loving citizen could feel safe ! More especially would those who possessed wealth, or rank, or titles, tremble before this whirlwind of ruin, and gladly invest their money, and trust their lives in any scheme which promised a retreat from the dangers threatened from their fellow men. A wilderness had no terrors to such, and the perils of sea and foreign climes, sank into nothing when placed beside the fearful desola- tion around them.


The programme of colonization offered by Chassanis, after a glowing allusion to the fertility of the domain, the fine distribution of its waters, its facilities for commerce, its proximity to older settlements, and the security of its laws, offered the 600,000 acres for sale in 6000 portions, to as many associates. To maintain an essential unity of inte- rests, the projectors proposed a division by lot, which should give each associate at once a clear title to fifty acres, and leave a like quantity to be divided at the end of seven years, when the whole domain should have been enhanced in value by their common improvements.


The price of one share was fixed at 800 livres ($152.38), upon paying which, the subscriber received the following receipt :


" The bearer of this certificate has paid the sum of eight hun- dred livres, which renders him the owner of a hundred acres in six hundred thousand acres which have been sold to us as repre- sentatives of the company of proprietors, according to the pre- sent contract, which requires us to pass the necessary titles of this portion of the estate in favor of the holder of this certifi- cate, whenever he may wish to receive it in his own name. The present certificate is for an integral part, and a fraction of the purchase above mentioned, by virtue of which the bearer is entitled to all the rights of this association, of which the articles and rules are fixed by the terms of the agreement annexed to this common title.


This certificate bears the number - In evidence of which, it has been signed by myself, countersigned by the commissaries of the company, and inspected by M. Lambot, notary."


Paris, this - of -. PIERRE CHASSANIS.


One tenth part of the money received was to be paid to the commissaries to defray the expense of the concern, such as the purchase of tools, materials, and provisions, surveys, roads, and other necessary investments.


The 30,000 acres additional were to be divided as follows : 2,000 acres for a city upon the great river in the interior, 2,000 for a second city upon lake Ontario, 6,000 acres to


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poor artisans, to be charged to them after seven years, at at a rent of twelve sous per acre, and 20,000 acres to be spent for roads, bridges, and such other purposes as the society might direct. The two cities were each to be divided into 14,000 lots, of which 2,000 were reserved for markets and edifices, such as churches, schools, and other public establishments, and for poor artisans; and the remain- ing 12,000 lots, in two classes, were to be distributed among the 6,000 proprietors; one class immediately, and the other at the end of seven years, when a final report was to be made, and those who elected might receive their remaining shares and withdraw. Those who did not declare this intention two weeks before the advertised day for division, were to be deemed to have chosen the continuation and non-division of the common property.




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