USA > New York > Oneida County > Annals and recollections of Oneida County > Part 39
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To show the extent of population, and relative taxation in the village of Utica in the year 1800, the names of the taxable inhabitants and the tax paid by each are given from the village tax list of that year. John Post paid a tax of $ 2,00 ; Daniel Budlong and Ramsey & Co. $ 1,25 each ; Samuel Carrington, John Hobby, Richard Smith, Nathaniel Butler, $ 1,12} each ; Benjamin Walker, John House, Moses Bagg, Bryan John- son, Proprietors of the Hotel, Francis A. Bloodgood, William Halsey, $ 1,00 cach ; O. & J. Ballou, John Smith, John Bis- sell, Talcott Camp, Clark & Fellows, Samuel Hooker, 873 cents each ; James S. Kip, Joseph Ballon, - Nichols (Bagg's house), Nathan Williams, Gurdon Burchard, William Williams, William McLean 75 cts. each ; administrator of Daniel Banks, John Bellinger, 62} cents cach ; Silas Clark, Peter Smith, Worden Hammond, - - Remsen, Barnabas Brooks, John C. Hoyt, Peter Cavender, James P. Dorches- ter, Watts Shearman, Erastus Clark, 50 cts. each; S. P. Dy- gert, Samuel Forman, - Clark, John Curtiss, Benjamin Ballou, Jr., Charles Easton, 373 cts. each ; J. D. Petric. Matthew Hubbell, J. Boeking, Benjamin Ballou, Widow Murphy, Jeremiah Cowden, J. Bissell, Samuel Rugg, Jeptha Buell, Stephen Potter, Samuel Garritt, Jonathan Foot, Jo- seph Pierce, G. Boon's house, Apollos Cooper, John Watley. Gideon Burchard, 25 cts. cach ; William Pritchard, James Bagg, Barnabas Cooper, John Cooper, Simeon Jones, - Van Sykes, 123 cts. cach. Total $ 40,00. The village ex- tended at that time no farther west than the west line of lot ninety-seven.
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As questions relative to the titles of the land upon which Utica is built, are of considerable interest to her present and future owners of real estate, the writer has compiled the main facts and circumstances upon which those titles rest. For many years past the original settlers of a large portion of the city, er their heirs and grantees, have been compelled to de- fend suits brought against them by Mrs. Martha Bradstreet, and, although she has sometimes obtained verdicts, yet those verdicts have never enabled her to obtain possession of city property after having been reviewed by the higher tribunals.
The territory upon which Utica stands was granted by the crown of Great Britain to Joseph Worrell and others, by Letters Patent, dated January 2, 1734, certain quit-rents be- ing reserved to government as before stated.
It was the practice of the Colonial Governors and other officers of the Crown in the Colonies, to procure patents of large tracts of wild land, to be granted to a certain number of persons, and then to take assignments of the patents to themselves, thus obtaining those immense estates which have made so much trouble to their posterity. The Home govern- ment, at different times, instructed the Colonial government not to grant more than 1000 acres, (at certain periods chang- ed to 2000 acres) of wild land to any individual. To evade these instructions, those high functionaries procured a cer- tain number, generally of obscure persons, (the number was in proportion to the size of the tract they wished to secure), to apply for a patent of the tract, with an agreement that when obtained, it was for certain nominal considerations and favors, to be transferred to the officer, he giving all necessa- ry instructions how to proceed, and furnishing the money to pay the usually large fees and expenses to other crown offi- cers. These large fees and a desire, may be, to do the same thing, operated to keep the other officers quiet and prevent
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their informing their masters across the Atlantic of these rascalities.
After all the necessary petitions, surveys and other re- quired formalities, the patent was graciously granted to the petitioners. This done, they were collected, may be for a feast and general merry-making, and the patent and the thousands of aeres it covered, were conveyed to him for whom they were originally intended. In this way Governors, Lieut. Governors, Surveyors General, Secretaries, and Councils would gravely perform their various parts in the granting of patents, in the name of their sovereign, to companies of hum- ble subjects, when in fact they were for the benefit of them- selves. Sometimes private persons of great wealth and in- fluence, were allowed to act the same farce, and it was in this way that nearly all the large tracts granted previously to the Revolution, were obtained, and in some instances they exceed 100,000 acres in extent. It was in this way that "our well-beloved William Cosby, Captain General, and Governor in Chief of New York and New Jersey," etc., etc., gravely granted 22,000 acres to Joseph Worrell and others, when the grant was in trust for himself and for his own ben- ofit. This tract immediately took the name of Cosby's manor, and the title remained in Gov. Cosby and his grantees and heirs, until sold for quit-rents as hereafter stated. The " William Cosby, Sheriff of Amboy " named in the patent, was another person, a relative of Gov. Cosby. It was in this way that Sir William Johnson obtained those large tracts, owned by him, and now lying in Fulton, Montgomery, Her- kimer and Oneida Counties.
Gov. Cosby took the office of Governor on the 1st of Aug , 1732, and died in New York, March 10, 1736. His widow, the daughter of Lord Halifax, remained in this country ser- eral years. and afterwards returned to England, where she
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was living as late as 1766. Gov. Cosby left two sons and two daughters. Sir William Johnson was agent for Mrs. Cosby, and for several years was the medium of a negotiation between her and Oliver Delancey and others, for the sale of her estates in the valley of the Mohawk.
The quit-rents reserved in the patent were never paid, and accumulated to a large sum before the land was ordered sold for their payment.
On the 7th of May, 1772, Daniel Horsmanden, Esq., chief justice of the colony of New York, issued a warrant to Philip Ten Eyck, Esq., sheriff of Albany County, directing the sale of Cosby's manor, for arrears of quit-rents, and accordingly, on the fourth of July following, the manor was sold at public sale to Col. (afterwards Gen.) Philip Schuyler, for £ 1387. 4s. 7d., and on the 20th of July a deed of conveyance was exe- cuted by the sheriff to Col. Schuyler. Col. Schuyler, how- ever, purchased the same for the joint benefit of himself, Gen. John Bradstreet, Rutger Bleecker, and John M. Scott, each paying one-fourth of the purchase money, but, the last three for various reasons, not wishing to be known in the transac- tion, the deed was drawn to Col. Schuyler. The reason Gen. Bradstreet assigned for wishing not to be known as the pur- chaser, was, that he feared it might give offence to the Duke of Grafton, who, or some of whose family had, or were sup- posed to have, an interest in Cosby's manor. Lord Augustus Fitzroy, third son of the Duke of Grafton, while upon a visit to America, became acquainted with the family of Gov. Cos- by, and through the intrigues of Mrs. Cosby, (according to the colonial historian, Smith,) he was united to the oldest daughter by a private marriage, at Fort George, in New York. To save the Governor from the wrath of the Duke, then a favorite of George II., and to blind the relatives, a mock prosecution was instituted against Parson Campbell,
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who had scaled the walls of the fort and solemnized the nup- tials, without the license or publication of banns, against the usage, although not against the laws of the colony of New York. Col. Schuyler in his answer, filed March 3, 1789, to a bill in chancery, filed in 1788, by Mr. and Mrs. Evans (du Bellamy), to compel liim, as executor of Gen. B.'s will, to dis- cover and convey under the will, thus speaks of the purchase : " Said lands having been advertised for sale for the payment of quit-rents, I (Col. Schuyler) proposed to Gen. Bradstreet to become a partner with me and others in the purchase, to which Gen. B. agreed, and that I for myself and in behalf of Gen. B., together with Messrs. Bleecker and Scott having purchased Cosby's manor, (excepting 100 acres,) Gen. B. paid through my hands as his agent for his share, and I admit that I hold or claim in trust for the representatives of Gen. B. or for the purpose of his will, the proportion of said purchase specified."
Gen. Bradstreet died Sept. 26, 1774, and by his will dated the 23d of the same month, after devising an improved farm (no part of the land in question,) to a son of Col. Schuyler, devises " all the rest of his real estate to his two daughters, equally to be divided between them as tenants in common in fee "-charging the same with £100 per annum, to be paid to their mother, and then the will proceeds : " notwithstan- ding the former devise for the benefit of my wife and daugh- ters, I empower my executors to do all acts, and execute all instruments which they may conceive to be requisite to the partition of my landed estate, and I devise the same to them. as joint tenants, to be by them sold at such time and in such manner as they shall think most for the interest of my daugh- ters, to whom the nett produce shall be paid in equal shares." IIe appointed Col. Schuyler and William Smith, of New York. his executors. The two daughters of Gen. Bradstreet were
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Martha Bradstreet and Agatha, the wife of Charles du Bel- lamy, whose true name and that by which he was afterwards known was Charles John Evans.
The wife of Gen. John Bradstreet had had by a former marriage with Colonel John Bradstreet, a son and daughter. the son, Major Samuel Bradstreet, of the fortieth regiment of foot, and the daughter, Elizabeth, the wife of Hon. Peter Livius, chief justice of the Province of Quebec. Major Sam- uel Bradstreet, son of Col. and step-son of Gen. John Brad- street died previous to 1781, leaving two children, one Mar- tha Bradstreet, born on the island of Antigua, W. I., August 10, 1780, and married to Matthew Codd, in Ireland, April 16. 1799. and who with her husband came to America, in the fall of the latter year, and the other was Lieut. Samuel Brad- street of the twenty-fifth regiment of foot, who also came to America. The widow of Gen. B. died March 31, 1782.
Martha Bradstreet, daughter of Gen. Bradstreet, died un- married, March 22, 1782, and by her will, dated May 15, 1781, devised in fee (after her mother's death,) one-third of her estate, real and personal, to her (step) sister, Elizabeth Livius, " to be at her own disposal, and independent of her husband, by will or otherwise ;" one-third to Samuel and Martha, children of her late (step) brother, Major Samuel Bradstreet, equally to be divided, and to the survivor, in case either should die under 21, but the income to be expended during their infancy, in their maintenance and education ; and the remaining third to her sister Agatha du Bellamy (Evans) for life, and in case she survived her husband then in fee-she appointed Sir Charles Gould sole executor, and authorized him to sell and dispose of such real estate as she was entitled to in North America and elsewhere, and to ex- ceute conveyances for the same. It seems that Dec. 19, 1786, a voluntary partition of Cosby's manor was made by and be-
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tween Gen. Schuyler, representing three-quarters (his own, and those of Gen. B. and Mr. Scott,) and Rutger Bleecker the owner of the other quarter, that a map was made and the several lots marked thereon with the names of Schuyler. Bleecker, Bradstreet and Scott.
In 1790, Charles John Evans (du Bellamy), and Agatha. his wife, one of the daughters and devisees of Gen. Bradstreet and Sir Charles Gould, executor of the will of Martha Brad- street (the other daughter) by Daniel Ludlow and Edward Gould, his attorneys, conveyed by deed with warranty to Stephen Potter (father of the late Wm. F. Potter), four hun- dred acres, Lot 97, Cosby's manor. (In 1816, William F. Potter, devisce of Stephen Potter, conveyed to Henry Hun- tington about 70 acres, known as the "Huntington property.") The Evans and Gould also conveyed 150 acres, part of lot 89 to Peter Bellinger, Nov. 16, 1791 ; also 111 acres in lot 95 to John Bellinger and Benj. Hammond, June 17, 1797 ; also 200 acres in lot 95 to Augustus and Thomas Corey. July 25, 1791 ; also eighty-nine and a half acres in lot 95 to John Post, July 13, 1792.
July 19, 1794, Mrs. Agatha Evans (before named) in her own right and Sir Charles Gould, executor (as aforesaid), by Edward Gould, his attorney, conveyed by deed with cove- nants of warranty and for quiet enjoyment to James S. Kip. lot No. 96, Cosby's manor. (April 11, 1795, J. S. Kip con- veyed 117 acres to Apollos Cooper, known as the Cooper farm.) There may have been also other conveyances from Evans and Gould, which have not been found by the author. but those above mentioned cover lots 95, 96 and 97.
In the suits brought by Mrs. Bradstreet against the occu- pants of lands in Cosby's manor, it has been insisted that the conveyances by Daniel Ludlow and Edward Gould, and by Edward Gould, as attorneys for Sir Charles Gould, executor
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of Martha Bradstreet, were not valid conveyances, because no authority or power of attorney for that purpose from Sir C. Gould had been produced or shown to have ever existed, and because Sir C. Gould could not have legally delegated to another the power he possessed, under the will of Martha Bradstreet, to sell her real estate. Previously to the convey- ances by Evans and Gould, in and subsequently to 1790, the "Bradstreet lots " were a wilderness, unoccupied, except by a few squatters who had made small " clearings.""
Gen. Schuyler, as executor and trustee of Gen. Bradstreet (William Smith having taken sides with England and gone to Canada, at the commencement of the Revolution, where he died), seems to have been conscious of the responsibilities, moral and legal, and the difficulties connected with his posi- tion in relation to the Bradstreet property, and from 1784 to 94, he sought the advice of the most eminent lawyers, among whom were Samuel Jones, Richard Harrison and Alexander Hamilton, as to the manner in which he could " put the tev- eral heirs (of Gen. B.) in possession of the estate, with safety to himself and in conformity to the will " of Gen. B.
On the 16th of May, 1794, Gen. Schuyler, as executor of Gen. B., executed to Agatha Evans, daughter of Gen. B. (C. J. Evans having died Aug. 9, 1793), and Edward Gonld, attor- ney for Sir C. Gould, executor of Martha B., the other daughter, a deed, which recites the wills of Gen. B., and Martha B., that Gen. Schuyler " was seized in fee as tenant in common in trust for Gen. B. of one-fourth part " of Cos- by's manor ; the death of Wm. Smith, his co-executor ; the de- vises of Martha B. to Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Livius and to Mar- tha and Samuel B. (before described) ; the partition before named ; and then states that to invest Mrs. Evans with her proportion under the wills of Gen. B. and Martha B. and to in- Fest Edward Gould with the remainder in trust, for the pen
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sons entitled thereto under the will of Martha B., and in consideration of ten shillings, he (Gen. Schuyler), " doth grant, bargain, sell, alien, release and confirm " two-thirds (undivided) to Mrs. Evans, and the remaining one-third to Edward Gould, in trust, to sell and convey the same, and di- vide the proceeds (after deducting expenses) between Samuel and Martha B., and Mrs. Livius.
Mrs. Livius died May 4, 1795, without descendants, and left a paper purporting to be a will, dated May 25, 1794 (her husband being then alive), by which she constituted Martha Bradstreet (her niece), sole heir to her real and per- sonal estate, to be paid and delivered to her at the age of twenty-one, or upon the day of her marriage, provided she married with the consent of Mrs. Livius' executor, Sir Charles Morgan (who by the way is the same person as Sir Charles Gould, so frequently mentioned before), but in case of said Martha's death under twenty-one, or marriage without such consent, then her brother, Licut. Samuel Bradstreet, was to be sole heir to Mrs. Livius' property.
Martha Bradstreet married Mr. Codd without the consent of Sir C. Morgan, but subsequently on the 4th of June, 1800, he gave her a certificate expressing his willingness to consent to and ratify her marriage as far as he had power then to do So.
On the 17th of June, 1817, Mrs. B. obtained a decree of divorce from Matthew Codd, and subsequently obtained an act of the Legislature of New York authorizing her to re- sume her maiden name, Martha Bradstreet. July 26, 1802, Licut. Samuel B. released to his sister Martha Codd, what- ever interest he might be entitled to elaim under the will of Mrs. Livius, by reason of her marriage without the consent first obtained of Sir C. Morgan.
In 1800, Edward Gould (the before-named attorney of Sir C. Gould, as executor of Martha B. (the elder) alias Sir
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C. Morgan, executor of Mrs. Livius) beeame bankrupt, and under an order of the court of chancery of New York, on the 22d of October, 1804, he executed a deed to " Martha Codd. late Martha Bradstreet, wife of Matthew Codd of Utica, New York," reciting the deed to him from Schuyler of May 16, 1794. that since that date Mrs. Codd had become entitled to the share of Mrs. Livius, thereby conveyed to him in trust. not already sold and converted into money, and conveying to ler (Mrs. Codd) all the real estate held by him (E. Gould) at the time of his becoming bankrupt, with covenant of war- ranty, but providing that he (Gould) should not be held per- sonally responsible for any of said real estate which he may have sold prior to his bankruptcy. The terms of this deed were prescribed by the order or decree of chancery.
Mrs. Martha Bradstreet, formerly wife of M. Codd, sister of Lieut. Samuel B., daughter of Major Samuel B., grand- daughter of Col. Jolm B., step-grand-daughter of Gen. John B., niece of Mrs. Livius, step-nicce of Martha B. and Mrs. Evans (du Bellamy), is the person who has for many years pressed her claims to a share of Cosby's manor in Utica, and the foregoing are the facts upon which those claims are based. as well as those upon which the occupants defend their titles and possession.
The share or quarter of Cosby's manor belonging originally to Rutger Bleecker, is the property known as that of the late John R. Bleecker (father-in-law of Hon. Horatio Seymour). and his sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Brinkerhoff, Mrs. Blandina Dudley, and Mrs. Maria Miller. The quarter of the manor originally owned by Gen. Schuyler was divided into lots, and a part of them leased or sold by the Gen. in his life time, and the remainder lias since been sold by his heirs. Mrs. Ham- ilton, widow of Alexander Hamilton, now enjoying a ripe age of a little short of an hundred years, and Mrs. Cochran of
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Oswego, are daughters of Gen. Schuyler, and but a few years since sold the last of their lands in West Utica. The real estate in West Utica, known as the Varick and Mann prop- erty, the Breese estate, that of A. B. Johnson, &c., belonged to Gen. Schuyler. The quarter of the manor which belonged to John Morrin Scott, was all conveyed by him and his rep- resentatives many years since.
The growth of Utica has ever been slow, sure and steady. HIer business men have ever owned a large share of the lots and buildings, have proceeded in their various vocations and enterprises with caution and discretion, have ever done busi- ness almost exclusively upon their own capital, and conse- quently have not experienced the reactions and revulsions under which most other places of its size have suffered. The beginnings here were truly small, and the prospects were lim- ited. In 1793 or 94, when the late Jason Parker arrived here on one occasion with the great western mail from Alba- ny, it was discovered that it contained six letters for the in- habitants of Old Fort Schuyler. This remarkable fact was heralded from one end of the settlement to the other. and some were incredulous, until assured of its reality by that most veracions Dutchman, John Post, the post-master. At that time the arrival of six letters in one mail was an event of real importance. About this time Mr. Parker had in his employ a young colored man (for this was a slave-holding community then) and a darker dog, a large noble fellow, and by these the mail was dispatched to Fort Stanwix, over a road which had been improved but little since the Revolution. Tray with the mail lashed upon his back and Jack whistling by his side. performed the trip within the contract time, to wit : up one day and back the next.
In the Western Sentinel, Sept. 23, 1795 (the earliest No. known to be extant), are found the following advertisements :
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" Parker's Mail Stage from Whitestown to Canajoharie." (Here follows a wood cut of a coach and four-the coach of a pattern long since lost from the earth, the coachman with cocked hat, and the only modern representation of the horses is in the Dutch toys, of the real peg-leg order). "The mail leaves Whitestown every Monday and Thursday, at 2 o'clock, P. M., and proceeds to old Fort Schuyler the same evening ; next morning starts at 4 o'clock, and arrives at Canajoharie in the evening ; exchanges passengers with the Albany and Cooperstown stages, and the next day returns to old Fort Schuyler. Fare for passengers $ 2,00, way pas- sengers four cents per mile, fourteen pounds of baggage gratis -150 weight rated the same as a passenger. Seats may be had by applying at the post-office, Whitestown, at the house of the subscriber old Fort Schuyler, or at Capt. Roofs, Cana- joharie.
August, 1795. JASON PARKER."
" Letters remaining in the post-office, old Fort Schuyler : Gerrit Grosbeck, Herkimer town; Ebenezer Wright, Fort Schuyler ; Abram Vrooman, do. ; Jedediah Jackson or Asa- hel Jackson, Clinton ; Stephen Burton, 2, Whitestown ; Oli- ver Trumbull, Fort Schuyler.
Sept. 14, 1795.
JOHN POST, P. M."
John Post, collector of the revenue of the county of Her- kimer, gives notice to retailers of wines and foreign distilled spirits, that he is ready to grant licenses, also to the " owners of stills, or carriages that are kept for pleasure or the con- veyanec of persons," to enter them and pay the duties, also to auctioneers, to take licenses and give bonds, all as required by acts of Congress.
James S. Kip & Co., of old Fort Schuyler, advertise
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for sale a number of tickets in " the New York City Alms House Lottery," also "a quantity of the best Spanish segars " and "cash and the highest price paid for salts of lyc."
Peter Smith of old Fort Schuyler advertises " New Pe- tersburgh Lands. As those lands, it is expected, will imme- diately be sold to the state-it is therefore required that all per- sons who have engaged any of them, whether they have leases or not (if they have fulfilled their agreements), that they call on the subscriber as quick as may be, in order to make ar- rangements for purchasing the remainder and reversion of them-agreeable to a law of this state, passed 11th of April. 1795. N. B. A few lots to be disposed of to immediate set- tlers, if applied for soon. Sept. 6, 1795." (Vide History of Augusta). These are all the advertisements from old Fort Schuyler, while those of Whitesboro make a very respectable appearance, facts which show the difference between the two places at that time. The only article under the editorial head in this No., is the following: " At the present time throughout the whole of this western country, sickness and death prevail beyond what has ever before been experienced since its first settlement. Scarce a family escapes, and num- bers of whole families labor under the affliction of a dreadful disease. The diseases most prevalent are, the lake (or Gen- esce) fever, the intermittent fever, and the ague and fever. The lake fever handles it votaries very roughly, and many are forced to yield to its unrelenting sway. We have how- ever authority to say that the lake fever is not confined whol- ly to the lake towns-but is frequent in the most inland towns."
In the " Whitestown Gazette and Cato's Patrol," of Aug. 27. 1798, published at Utica, " near the post-office," the fol- lowing advertisements are found, showing very considerable
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progress, resulting from a change of name, and increase of population and business. 1
" New York State Road Lottery No. 1 .- Tickets sold by John Post."
" Published and for sale at this office, a narrative of the life of Zilpha Smith, alias Sylvia Wood, of Augusta, sen- teneed to be hung at Herkimer, June 29, 1798, for the mur- der of Major Wood alias George Woodmonsy, but who hung herself on the night of the 28th of June."-(Vide Capital Convictions and Augusta).
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