History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches, Part 8

Author: Young, Andrew W. (Andrew White), 1802-1877; Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. fmo; Huntington Free Library. fmo
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Buffalo, N.Y. : Printing House of Matthews & Warren
Number of Pages: 948

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The state of Pennsylvania held treaties with the Indians : one at Fort Stanwix, in 1784, and another at Fort Harmer, in 1789, at which last place the chiefs present agreed that the said state of Pennsylvania shall, and may at any time they may think proper, survey, dispose of, and settle all that part of the aforesaid country, lying and being west of a line running along the middle of the Connewango river, from its confluence with the Allegany river into "Chadochque Lake;" thence along the middle of said lake, to the north end of the same; thence a meridian line from the north end of the said lake, to the margin or shore of Lake Erie. These treaties, it was thought, secured the title to the Triangle. Complanter sustained the title thus acquired, but a majority of the Iroquois, and their master spirit the Mohawk Chief Brant, were bitterly opposed, as he was in favor of restricting the whites to the territory lying east of the Allegany and Ohio, and the settlement of the Triangle was never fully acquiesced in by the Indians.

INDIAN WARS, AND THE CONCLUSION.

The disasters that attended the celebrated expedition of Gen. Harmer against the Indians in 1790, encouraged them to renewed acts of hostility ; and in the spring of 1791, the settlements along the Allegany river above Pittsburgh were repeatedly visited by them, and women and children often massacred; even the Triangle suffered from their hostile incursions. The defeat of St. Clair by the Indians, which occurred in November, 1791, rendered them still more bold and ferocious ; and for a year thereafter great alarm extended along the frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania; and not until the successful termination of Wayne's expedition into the Indian country, were the frontier settlements entirely freed from danger of Indian hostility. On the 20th of August, 1794, Gen. Wayne completely defeated . the Indians in a general battle on the Maumee river. This decisive victory entirely put an end to their power for further harm to the border settlers. By a treaty made at Greenville with the different tribes of Western Indians, on the 30th of July, 1795, the greater part of the territory of Ohio was ceded to the United States, and a long period of border war ended, and peace for the first time established in these Western wilds which had never known any other condition than that of continued savage and relentless strife.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Chautauqua county, before this treaty, had been a deep solitude, far dis- tant from the most advanced outposts of permanent settlement; yet often the scene of warlike demonstration. Fleets filled with armed and veteran Frenchmen had passed along its shores; Beaujen, the gallant Frenchman, who led the handful of his countrymen that defeated Braddock; St. Pierre, La Force, and Joncaire-names that have become celebrated in the history of the French occupation in America, were once familiar with this county ; and the war-path of veritable savage warriors armed with tomahawk and scalping-knife, may have led through its forests ; and later, during the Amer- ican Revolution, it is probable that an armed force of British and Indians had been borne upon the waters of our beautiful lake. But this treaty suddenly opened the West to receive the tide of emigration that has not, from that time to this day, ceased to flow.

The state of Ohio, September 5th, 1795, conveyed to the "Connecticut Land Company " the Western Reserve, and on the 4th of July, 1796, the first permanent settlement of Northern Ohio was made at Conneaut, in Ash- tabula county. The fall following, a settlement was commenced at Cleve- land, where it was designed by the proprietors of the Western Reserve to establish the capital of a new state, to be called "New Connecticut," under the mistaken idea, that by the Constitution of the United States, the rights they had acquired by the purchase of the soil gave them political jurisdiction also, and authority to found a state. Emigration from the east at first pressed towards the Western Reserve, passing by the Holland Purchase, the lands of which had not yet been put into market. When these lands were offered for sale (as the Holland Land Company sold theirs for $2.50 and $3.00 per acre on a credit, while Western lands were sold at a less price for cash), those who possessed the ready means, and were able to pay at once for their farms, sought more attractive homes in the fertile prairies and flowery openings of Ohio and the West ; consequently the first settlers of the Holland Purchase, and those particularly of the county of Chautauqua, were the poorest class of people-men who often expended their last dollar to procure the article for their land. Chantauqua county then was densely covered with a majes- tic forest of the largest growth, which cast its dark shadows everywhere- over hills and valleys, and along the streams and borders of the lakes. No- where in northern latitudes could be found trees so tall and large ; and while none could behold, without awe and pleasure, the grandeur and grace of these mighty woods, yet a home here, to cope with and subdue them, promised a life-time of toil and privation ; and no one felt invited hither but strong and hardy pioneers-men of the frontier who were accustomed to wield the axe and handle the rifle ; who could grapple with the forest, and rough it in the wilderness, and think it ease ; who could reap the thin harvest, and live upon the coarse and often scanty fare of the woods, and call it plenty ; conse- quently the first settlers of this county were mostly from the backwoods region, at the western verge of settlement. They brought with them strong arms, stout hearts, and a thorough knowledge of the rude expedients of life

PRELIMINARY HISTORY.

in the woods. They were a body of picked young men, possessing vigorous bodies and practical minds. Among their number were often men of marked ability, whose talents would honor any station. Although the most of them possessed but little of the learning of books and schools, not a few were cultivated and accomplished -- men and women of refinement and education, whose attainments were such as to prepare them to adorn any society. The most of the early settlers were, however, educated in a true sense : they possessed that learning which, in the situation in which it was their fortune to be cast, best fitted them for a life of usefulness, and enabled them to con- tribute their full share in the great work of progress and improvement allotted to them. They were skillful adepts in their calling ; accomplished masters in wood craft, and in all that pertained to the formidable task of preparing the way for the westward expansion of civilization and population. Where and when they performed this labor will be told in the succeeding pages of this history. How quickly, and how well it was done, the green hillsides and blooming valleys of our county fully attest.

PRELIMINARY HISTORY-THE HOLLAND COMPANY'S PURCHASE.

AMERICA was discovered by Columbus in 1492. In 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, and his son Sebastian, under the auspices of Henry VII., king of England, discovered North America. He sailed along the coast 300 leagues, and planted on the soil the banners of England and of Venice. He saw no person, though he believed the country not uninhabited.

Efforts were early made by Spain, France and England, to establish colo- nies in North America. More, however, than a century elapsed before many permanent settlements were made. In 1568, the Spaniards established a small colony in Florida. The French, in 1605, planted a small colony in Nova Scotia, and in 1608, founded the city of Quebec. In 1607, the English made a settlement at Jamestown, in Virginia. New York was set- tled by the Dutch in 1614. In 1620, the "Pilgrim Fathers" landed on Plymouth Rock, and commenced the settlement of New England.

The tract of country called New England, granted by James I., king of England, to the Plymouth Company, extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. In 1628, a part of this tract, also extending to the Pacific, was granted by the Plymouth Company to Sir Henry Roswell and his asso- ciates, called the Massachusetts Bay Company. The province of New York was granted in 1663, by Charles II., to the Duke of York and Albany [afterwards King James II.], who subsequently granted to Berkeley and Cartaret the province of New Jersey. The remainder of the country granted by Charles II. constituted the province of New York, which extended north to the Canada line; but its extent westward was not definitely stated.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

The first charter of Massachusetts, granted by King Charles I., in 1628, appears to have been vacated by quo warranto in 1684; and a second charter was granted by William and Mary, in 1691, in which the territorial limits of the province, although differently bounded, are also made to extend to the Pacific Ocean. Under these conflicting grants, disputes arose between some of the states as to the extent of their respective territorial rights and jurisdiction.

Those who are familiar with the political history of this country, will . remember that, near and soon after the close of the Revolutionary war, several of the states ceded their western lands to the general government as a fund to aid in the payment of the war debt. New York ceded hers by deed dated March 1, 1781, two years before the peace. In 1783, Congress requested those states which had not already done so, to cede portions of their territory for that purpose. Virginia ceded March 1, 1784; Massachu- setts, April 19, 1785 ; and Connecticut, September 13, 1786, transferred her claim, reserving about 3,000,000 acres in the north-east part of the present state of Ohio. This tract was called the " Western Reserve of Connecticut." On the 30th of May, 1800, the jurisdictional claims of that state to this Reserve were surrendered to the United States.

The dispute, however, between the states of New York and Massachusetts was not yet settled. Of the territory which, by the treaty of peace of 1783, was ceded to the United States, each of the individual states claimed such portions as were comprehended within their original grants or charters. Mas- sachusetts consequently claimed a strip of land extending to the westerly bounds of the United States, thus dividing the state of New York into two parts. Both New York and Massachusetts had ceded all their lands westerly of the same meridian line, namely, a line running from the most westerly bend of Lake Ontario, south to the northern line of Pennsylvania, and form- ing the present western boundary of the state of New York. But Massa- chusetts still claimed nearly 20,000 square miles -east of that line. The controversy was finally settled by commissioners on the part of each of the two states, who met at Hartford, December 16, 1786. In accordance with this decision, Massachusetts ceded to New York all claim to the government, sovereignty, and jurisdiction of all the lands in controversy; and New York ceded to Massachusetts and to her grantees the preemption right or fee of the land, subject to the title of the natives, of all that part of the state of New York lying west of a line beginning on the north boundary line of Pennsylvania, on the parallel of 42 degrees of north latitude, 82 miles west of the north-east corner of said state, and running thence due north through Seneca lake to Lake Ontario, excepting a mile's breadth along the east bank of the Niagara river. The land, the preemption right of which was thus ceded, was about six million acres.

In April, 1788, Massachusetts contracted to sell to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham the right of preemption in all the lands ceded by the convention of the 16th of December, 1786, at Hartford. In July, 1788,

PRELIMINARY HISTORY.

Gorham and Phelps purchased the Indian title to about 2,600,000 acres of the eastern part of their purchase from Massachusetts. The western bound- ary of these lands was a line running from the north line of Pennsylvania north to the junction of the Shanahasgwaikon (now called Canascraga) creek and the Genesee river ; thence northwardly along the Genesee river to a point two miles north of Canawaugus village ; thence due west 12 miles ; thence in a direction northwardly, so as to be 12 miles distant from the most west- ward bend of the Genesee river to Lake Ontario. This tract, the Indian title to which had been extinguished by Phelps and Gorham, was confirmed to them by an act of the legislature of Massachusetts, November 21, 1788, and is that which has been designated as the " Phelps and Gorhanı Purchase."

The survey of this tract into townships and lots was immediately com- menced ; and, within the space of two years, about fifty townships had been disposed of, principally by whole townships or large portions of townships, to individuals and companies.

Phelps and Gorham, having paid about one-third of the purchase money of the entire tract purchased of Massachusetts, were unable to make further payments. They had stipulated to pay in a kind of scrip, or " consolidated stock," issued by that state. This scrip they could buy at 70 or 80 per cent. below par. But this stock having risen to par, they were unable, at this rate, to fulfill their engagements. On the 15th of February, 1790, they proposed to the legislature of Massachusetts to surrender to the state two-thirds in quantity and value of the whole of the contracted lands ; two of their three bonds for £100,000 each, given for the purchase money, to be canceled. The tract released by the Indians was to be retained by Gorham and Phelps ; but if the contents should exceed one-third of the whole, the surplus was to be paid for in money at the average price of the whole.

Two other proposals, made a few days later, were accepted by the legisla- ture, but reserving to themselves the right of accepting, in preference, at any time within one year, the proposal of the 15th of February, 1790; and on the 19th of February, 1791, notice was given to Gorham and Phelps that the legislature had elected, that the two third parts of the lands should remain the property of the commonwealth; and the unpaid bonds were relinquished to Phelps and Gorham. The tract released by the Indians was found to exceed in quantity one-third of the whole territory; and the excess was subsequently [April 6, 1813] paid by Phelps and Gorham. That tract, with the exception of the parts sold, and of two townships reserved by Gor- ham and Phelps, was sold by them to Robert Morris, and is described in the conveyance, dated 18th November, 1790, as containing 2, 100,000 acres.

In March, 1791, Massachusetts agreed to sell to Samuel Ogden, agent for Robert Morris, all the lands ceded to that state by New York, except that part which had been conveyed to Phelps and Gorham, the state reserving one equal undivided sixtieth part of the unexcepted lands. This reservation in the original sale to Morris, was caused by a contract made by Gorham and Phelps, prior to the surrender of their claim to Massachusetts, for the 5

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

sale of one-sixtieth of the entire territory to John Butler. Butler subse- quently assigned his right to this one-sixtieth to Morris, who was thus enabled to acquire a title from Massachusetts.

In pursuance of this contract, Massachusetts, on the 11th of May, 1791, conveyed to Robert Morris, as the assignee under Samuel Ogden, a tract of land containing about 500,000 acres, bounded on the west by a line drawn from a point in the north line of Pennsylvania, twelve miles west from the south- west corner of the land confirmed to Gorham and Phelps, to Lake Ontario. This tract forms no part of the lands subsequently sold by Morris to the Holland Land Company, and is still known as the " Morris Reserve."

The lands of the Holland Land Company are embraced in four deeds from Massachusetts to Robert Morris, all dated May 11, 1791, Samuel Ogden concurring in these conveyances. Each deed conveyed a distinct tract of land, supposed to contain 800,000 acres. The first tract is sixteen miles wide, from the Pennsylvania north line to the northern boundary of the state, and comprehends ranges 1, 2 and 3, as laid down in the map of Ellicott's survey. The second tract is of the same breadth, and comprehends ranges 4, 5 and 6. The third tract is of the same breadth, and comprehends ranges 7 and 8, and 263 chains and 76 links off the easterly side of range 9. The fourth tract embraces all the land in the state west of the third tract, and compre- hends the remaining westerly part of range 9, and the whole of ranges Io, II, 12, 13, 14 and 15. The consideration of the first three tracts was £15,000 each ; for the fourth, £10,000. By these conveyances, Robert Morris became seized of the preemptive title to all the lands in the state west of the eastern boundary of the Holland Purchase, excepting only the reserved strip of land, one mile in width, along the Niagara river.

Aliens being legally incompetent to hold and convey real estate, the lands of the Dutch proprietors within the state of New York were purchased for their account from Robert Morris, and conveyed, for their benefit, to trustees. On the 11th of April, 1796, a special act was passed for the relief of Wilhem Willink, Nicholas Van Staphorst, Christian Van Eeghen, Hen- drick Vollenhoven, Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, and Pieter Stadnitski ; and on the 24th of February, 1797, a supplementary act was passed, includ- ing the names of Jan Willink, Jacob Van Staphorst, Nicholas Hubbard, Pieter Van Eeghen, Isaac Ten Cate, Jan Stadnitski, and Aernout Van Beef- tingh. By these two acts, the trustees were authorized to hold the lands contracted and paid for by all or any of these individuals, and for the period of seven years to sell the same to citizens of the United States. Under the general alien act of April 2d, 1798, the titles were afterwards vested in the names of the Dutch proprietors by new conveyances. By this general act, which was to continue for three years, all conveyances to aliens, not being the subjects of powers or states at war with the United States, were declared to be valid, so as to vest the estate in such aliens, their heirs and assigns for- ever. The construction of this was settled by an act passed March 5th, 1819, which declared and enacted that all conveyances made to aliens under the

THE HOLLAND PURCHASE.

act of April, 1798, should be deemed valid, and vest the lands thereby con- veyed in the several grantees, so as to authorize them and their heirs and assigns, although aliens, to devise or convey the same to any other alien or aliens, not being the subjects of a power or state at war with the United States.

The lands purchased by the Holland Land Company embraced an area of about 3,600,000 acres, and were originally conveyed in several tracts or parcels, and at different times, by Robert Morris, to trustees for the benefit of the Dutch proprietors. The first tract thus conveyed, called the " Million and a half Acre Tract," embracing 422 chains and 56 links off the west part of range 7, and all the land west thereof to the Pennsylvania line, was con- veyed, December 24, 1792, in two parcels. The first of these, containing one million acres, embraced the eastern part of the tract ; the second parcel, the western part, comprehending ranges 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, as laid down on Ellicott's map.

The second tract, called the "One Million Acre Tract," was conveyed February 27, 1793, and embraced townships 5 to 16, inclusive, in range 1 ; 4 to 16 in ranges 2 and 3 ; and r to 4 in ranges 4, 5 and 6.

The third tract, called the " Eight Hundred Thousand Acre Tract," was conveyed July 20, 1793.

The fourth tract, called the "Three Hundred Thousand Acre Tract," was conveyed July 20, 1793. Though named as being a single tract, it embraced three different parcels, neither two of them consisting of contiguous territory. The first of these parcels comprehended townships r, 2, 3, and the east half of 4, of range 1, and 1, 2 and 3, of ranges 2 and 3, intended to contain 200,000 acres. ' The second and third parcels comprehended 113 chains and 68 links of the east part of range 7, which was not included in the million and a half acres before described. The portion of this strip lying south of the Buffalo creek reservation, was intended to contain 54,000 acres. and the part north of the reservation, 46,000 acres.

The names of the trustees to whom the conveyances were made by Morris, were not in all cases the same, as will appear from the following statement of the chain of title to each tract :

Deed of first tract [1,500,000 acres], 1. Robert Morris to Herman Le Roy and John Lincklaen, December 31, 1792. 2. Le Roy and Lincklaen to William Bayard, May 30, 1795. 3. Wm. Bayard to Le Roy, Lincklaen, and Gerrit Boon, June 1, 1795. 4. Le Roy, Lincklaen and Boon to Paul Busti, July 9, 1798. 5. Busti to Le Roy, Bayard, James McEvers, Linck- laen, and Boon, upon trust for the benefit of Wilhem Willink and others, with covenant to convey the same according to their direction and appoint- ment-deed dated July 10, 1798. 6. Le Roy, Bayard, McEvers, Linck- laen, and Boon, to Wilhem Willink, Nicholas Van Staphorst, Pieter Van Eeghen, Hendrick Vollenhoven, and Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, Dec. 31, 1798. 7. The title of the last named grantees was confirmed to them by Thomas L. Ogden and Gouverneur Morris, by deed, February 18, 1801.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Deed of second tract [1,000,000 acres], 1. Robert Morris to Le Roy, Lincklaen, and Boon, Feb. 27, 1793, confirmed after the extinguishment of the Indian title, by deed between the same parties, June 1, 1798. 2. Le Roy, Lincklaen, and Boon to Paul Busti, July 9, 1798. 3. Busti to Le Roy, Bayard, McEvers, Lincklaen, and Boon, in trust for the benefit of Wilhem Willink and others, July 10, 1798. 4. Le Roy, Bayard, McEvers, Linck- laen, and Boon, to Wilhem Willink and others, December 31, 1798. 5. The title of the last named grantees was confirmed to them by Thomas L. Ogden, February 13, 1801.

Deed of the third tract [800,000 acres], I. Robert Morris to Le Roy, Lincklaen, and Boon, July 20, 1793, confirmed after the extinguishment of the Indian title, by deed between the same parties, June 1, 1798. 2. Le Roy, Lincklaen, and Boon, to Paul Busti, July 9, 1798. 3. Busti to Le Roy, Bayard, McEvers, Lincklaen, and Boon, in trust for Wilhem Willink and others, July 10, 1798. 4. Le Roy, Bayard, McEvers, Lincklaen, and Boon, to Wilhelm Willink and others, July 10, 1798. 5. The title of the last named grantees was confirmed by Thomas L. Ogden, Feb. 13, 1801.

Deed of the fourth tract [300,000 acres], I. Robert Morris to Le Roy, Bayard, and Thomas Clarkson, July 20, 1793, confirmed after the extin- , guishment of the Indian title, by deed between the same parties, June 1, 1798. 2. Le Roy, Bayard, and Clarkson, to Paul Busti, July 9, 1798. 3. Busti to Le Roy, Bayard, and Clarkson, in trust for Wilhem Willink and Jan Willink, July 10, 1798. 4. Le Roy, Bayard, and Clarkson, to Wilhem Willink, Jan Willink, Wilhem Willink, Jr., and Jan Willink, Jr., as joint tenants, Jan. 31, 1799. 5. Title of last named grantees confirmed by T. L. Ogden, Feb. 27, 1801.

It appears from the foregoing that all the lands of the Company were con- veyed by the trustees to Paul Busti, of Philadelphia, an alien. The design of this conveyance, it is presumed, was merely to change the title of the trust estate to the hands of Busti, who was general agent of the proprietors in Holland.

The necessity of the confirmatory deeds of Thomas L. Ogden and Gouver- neur Morris will appear from the following facts : Two judgments against Robert Morris had been docketed in the supreme court of the state of New York, which were found to overreach the titles of several of the purchasers under him. The first was in favor of Wm. Talbot and Wm. Allum, docketed June 8, 1797 ; the second, in favor of Solomon Townsend, docketed August 10, 1798. Previously to the year 1800, an execution was issued on the last judgment ; and all the lands conveyed to Morris by Massachusetts were sold, and conveyed by the sheriff of Ontario county to Thomas Mather, in whose name actions of ejectment founded upon this conveyance were prosecuted in the court. In the spring of 1800, during the pendency of these ejectments, an execution was issued on the earlier judgment ; and the whole tract of country was again levied upon and advertised for sale by the sheriff.

Under these circumstance, Mr. Busti, the general agent of the Holland

THE HOLLAND PURCHASE.

Land Company, entered into an arrangement with Gouverneur Morris, the assignee of the earlier judgment, to put an end to the claims set up under both judgments. It was agreed that both judgments, and also a release of Mather's interest under the sheriff's deed to him, should be purchased by the Land Company, which was done; and the judgments were assigned to the Company, April 22, 1800 ; that of Townsend by his attorney, Aaron Burr ; that of Talbot and Allum, by Gouverneur Morris, the assignee of Robert Morris. Articles of agreement were at the same time entered into between Thomas L. Ogden of the first part, the individuals of the Holland Company of the second part, and Gouverneur Morris of the third part, by which it was agreed that the release from Mather should be taken in the name of Thomas L. Ogden ; that he should also become the purchaser at the approaching sale under the judgment of Talbot and Allum ; and that the title thus derived under both judgments should be held by him in trust for the purposes expressed in the agreement.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.