USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I > Part 57
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No matter whether that policy originated in selfish- ness or not. it was one under which this vast wilder- ness has heen populated and converted into blooming fields with a rapidity before unknown in the settle- ment of new countries. It was a policy well adapted to the times and circumstances attending the settle- ment of this Country, and the character of the set- tlers, and which has enabled thousands of men, who had no means but their axes, and no property but in hope, to become useful, respectahle, and comparatively wealthy citizens. Under this system of indulgence and lenity, and an implied promise of its continuance. the present settlers took their contracts. No matter what the written conditions of these contracts were not one in a hundred ever read them-the policy of the land holders was known, established and relied on: and impliedly, and in many instances expressly, became a part of the contract.
Under this system of things, and while the People were rapidly improving, and paying for their lands. and receiving their deeds, on terms far more favorable than those contained in their written contracts. You became the purchasers of all those unpaid contracts, and the lands held under them.
You cannot wonder that this circumstance created a great anxiety among the thousands whose fate was involved in this change of ownership, nor that thex were solicitous to know what effect it would have upon their contracts and their possessions, including probably all the property they had on earth.
266
CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
We know that the transfer of this immense and complex affair, and the subsequent reorganization of it under a new system, required great labor, and con- siderable time. and that the People were hasty. pre- cipitate, and eager. in their demand of terms, but they could not judge of the time necessary to accomplish this business, and their anxiety was met by a por- tentous silence, which was interrupted only by the annunciation of terms which they considered ruinous.
We do not mention these things in the spirit of ac- cusation but for the purpose of fairly and frankly pointing out the causes of dissatisfaction and appre- hension, which might have been allayed. but which have produced consequences which we sincerely de- plore.
The doubtful, and as far as disclosed, exceptional policy which the People had reason to believe would be extended to the settlers, has rendered it impossible for many good and influential men to throw their weight of character on the side of the land holders and the laws, lest by asserting the supremacy of the lat- ter, they might appear to approbate the terms pro- posed by the former. They could not expect to per- suade men to yield obedience to laws which promised them no redress of the grievances against which they complained. We however do not despair of a restora- tion of the peace. good order, and prosperity which have heretofore characterized this County.
We believe that the Judgment of men will finally triumph over their passions; and we hope that you may be induced so to modify your terms, as to bring them within the system which the people had a right to expect would govern the fulfilment, as it had done the making of their contracts: and we have no doubt that the moral sense of this community will be satis- fied with a restoration of such a system. We therefore take the liberty to propose,
1. That you reestablish, as soon as practicable. a land office in this County. 2. That you permit all per- sons who hold what are called modified contracts for land, Whether expired or not, to come forward within a reasonable time. and pay for their lands, at the con- tract price, and simple interest, and take their deeds. 3. That those, who cannot pay for their lands within the time proposed for that purpose, shall, on paying a part of the old contract price, be permitted to renew their contracts at the old price and simple interest, or to take Deeds and give Mortgages for the balance pay- able in five annual Installments, with annual Interest. 4. As there are a few cases of contracts which have not been modified, we propose that the occupiers of lands under such contracts be permitted to avail them- selves of the above terms, as though their contracts had been modified.
These propositions embrace the prominent causes of complaint, as far as we are acquainted with them, and we have no doubt but the adoption of terms in accord- ance with them, will be mutually beneficial to both parties, and restore peace and prosperity to the County.
Very Respectfully. Your obt. Servts. JAMES MULLETT. LEVERETT BARKER, CHAUNCEY TINKER.
This letter has the following endorsement on the back: Hon. T. Cary, Batavia.
By Hon. T. A. Osborne.
Messrs. James Mullett, Leverett Barker, Chauncey Tinker.
Answd. 24 Feby, 1836.
There seems to be no record of the reply to this letter and communication between the new proprietors and the settlers ceased altogether.
The excitement caused by the "Genesee Land Tariff" was not confined to Chautauqua county. "In the spring of 1836. a crowd of seven hundred made a descent upon the Holland Company's office at Batavia, which. however, was successfully defended by an organized military force and citizens, armed from the state arsenal in that village, and two block houses, erected in anticipation of an at- tack."-(Young).
From this period on, the history, policies and activities of the Holland Land Company probably will be of inter- est to local inhabitants and readers of this History only as they concern Chautauqua county; therefore the re-
mainder of this compilation will be limited to its history in that section of the State.
"William H. Seward had, just before the day fixed for the attack upon the Batavia office, been applied to by the new proprietors to assume the agency of the estate. He was also to take an interest in the pur- chase. And subsequently, Abraham M. Schermerhorn, a banker in Rochester, also became a partner. In June, 1836, before Mr. Seward had accepted the proposition of the proprietors, a convention, held at Mayville, re- solved, that the proprietors be invited to open an office in the county. and pledged themselves that the settlers would cheerfully pay the principal and interest ac- crued upon their contraets but would submit to no extortionate demands. by way of what was called the 'Genesee Tariff'. compound interest, or otherwise. Con- fiding in the intelligence and justice of the people. he was determined by this expression to accept the trust proposed. With a view to greater safety he estab- lished his office at Westfield. the citizens of that place having pledged themselves to protect it from mob vio- lence. Rooms were fitted up in the Westfield House building (which stood on the site now occupied by the National Bank of Westfield), and the business was conducted to the general satisfaction of the settlers. A commodious building for a land office was soon erected on North Portage street, and was occupied for this purpose until the business of the new Company was closed" .- (Young).
The appointment of Mr. Seward as agent did not completely allay the suspicions of the settlers that the same policy would be continued. Among the records of the Holland Land Company a small pamphlet has been found which is so interesting. in that it shows these sus- picions and Mr. Seward's policy, that it is quoted in full :
Land Office Opened .- It will be seen by a notice of the new Agent, in our advertising columns, that he has onened his office at Westfield .- (Fredonla Censor, July 27. 1836)
CHAUTAUQUE LAND OFFICE .- The subscriber has established his office at Gale's Hotel, in the village of Westfield .- W. H. SEWARD.
Westfield, July 26, 1836.
The New Land Office-The Editor of the Mayville Sentinel, as we anticipated. grumbles a good deal at the removal of the Land Office from Mayville to West- field. It has had one excellent effect however; it has brought him out decidedly in favor of the interests of the settler, and he now says boldly. "that not one cent of compound interest-not one dollar advance price per acre above the contract price-should ever be ex- acted by the proprietors or submitted to by the set- tlers." This is manly language, and we shall not much regret the occurrence of the circumstance that so effi- ciently unshackled the editor of the Sentinel, and brought him thus promptly to the cause of the people. The editor says he has received the terms by which the new Agent is to be governed, "which," he says, he "trusts will prove satisfactory, and restore the county to its former tranquility." If he thinks so under the present circumstances, we are led to believe that the terms are favorable indeed .- From the Fredonia Cen- sor, August 3, 1836.
New Terms .- Below we give the proposed terms of the new company to the settlers in this county. Whether they will prove satisfactory, remains to be decided hereafter. Mr. Seward, the agent, has now gone to his family at Auburn, but has left the office in such a state that all ordinary business will be attended to. Week before last. we had some conversation with Mr. Seward in regard to the terms, during which he remarked. that "nothing would be demanded of the settlers but that which was right and equitable." if so, we know they will be satisfied. They are willing to "render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's." but they will not submit to any thing which savors of op- pression .- From the Western Democrat, August 9, 1836.
The New Terms .- The following are the terms of the new Company, so far as they have been published. They are rather indefinite as regards certain locations, but it is said that satisfactory explanations are given on application at the office.
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267
THE HOLLAND LAND PURCHASE
CHAUTAUOUE LAND OFFICE, Westfield, July 25. 1836.
The wincipal and simple interest only will be re- quired on contracts for lands in the towns aft r men- tioned. provided payment be made on or before the first of January next.
Expired contracts, for land in the same towns will be renewed, or deeds will be executed and bonds and mortgages taken to secure the purchase money, if ap- plication be made before the first of January next and a credit of five years in equal installments will be given on payment of a reasonalle part of the moneys due at the time of application.
In cases where land is held under expired or un- modified contracts, and the debt due exceeds the value of the land. the persons holding the same will be put upon the same grounds as those who hold unmodified contracts, provided application is made before the first of January next. Such contracts will be considered as having been modified or reduced in the year 1828 to the price at which the Holland Company would have sold the land at that time with interest since that time.
These terms apply to all the towns in the county. except the towns bordering on Lake Erie and lands in. or in the immediate vicinity of villages.
The titles of all the lands to he conveyed previous to the first of January next will be given immediately by the Holland Company,
No application for land under expired contracts will be entertained previous to the first of January next, unless the contract be produced or the consent of the occupant in writing.
The subscriber will necessarily he absent from the county from the first to the 20th of August.
The office will be opened in the meantime for the transaction of business of an ordinary character, and after that time the subscriber will give his entire at- tention to the same. W. H. SEWARD.
From the Fredonia Censor, August 10, 1836.
Mr. Editor, I was in hopes ere this the land question would be settled, and the new Company open their office conformably to the resolution of the Convention of the 15th June last. Some think that offer too high -I should say no: uut more than six years interest was to be taken. and 15 dollars on every 100 dollars interest paid into the office is to be allowed. All moneys paid on the lands to be accounted for to the settler-Lands taken up at the office at 2 dollars per acre will amount to 2.73 per acre: at 2.25 to 3.07. at 2.50 to 3.41, at 3 to 4.10 per acre, and so on in proportion. The poorest class of settlers, with few exceptions, are those that settled in the county from 1821 to 1828. The settlers in those years were very numerous, and they chiefly settled on the moist grass lands, which all know are the worst in the county to settle. If the new Com- pany would conform to the resolutions of the 15th of June. I think the settlers ought to accept the offer. This would bring their contracts nearly as low as those modified in 1828 and 1829. It certainly behooves every good citizen to use his utmost efforts to bring it to a final settlement. If either party will not conform to the above resolutions, the husiness ought to he brought fairly before the public. and finally settled. for on this question depends the prosperity of the county.
A SETTLER.
Chautauque, 15th August, 1836. From the Fredonia Censor.
The Land Office,-We understand the Land office at Westfield, in this county, was very much thronged last week with settlers. making payments on their lands, taking new contracts, etc. It being the last week pre- vious to the first of January, the time limited accord- ing to the conditions of the new company, very many were anxious to avail themselves of the offers made them; and we are happy to learn that good feeling and harmony prevailed between the settlers and the company. The utmost disposition to accommodate all who came was manifested by the company .- new con- tracts being given in many instances without any advance in price, when but a few dollars were paid in. The great increase in the value of real estate all over this county that has taken place within the past year. has had the happy effect of doing away the irritating question of a reduction in price. which has been so long agitated by the settlers, and the holders of con- tracts have wisely embraced the opportunity of renew- ing them at the old prices, where they could not pay up, well knowing that their lands will now bring them double what they would one or two years ago.
What will be the future course of the new company we are not enabled to say; but we have no doubt they
will consult their own interest in still offering the same liberal conditions to all who will manifest a sin- cere desire to pay for the lands from which they are drawing their support .- (From the Fredonia Censor. Jan. 4th, 1837)
CHAUTAUQUE LAND OFFICE. Westfield, Jan. 2, 1837.
NOTICE .- Inquiries are frequently made, concerning the principles on which the business of this Office will be conducted, after this date. The subscriber proposes to answer these inquiries, by a statement of his views of the situation of the estate, and the policy which ought to be pursued.
The estate of the Holland Company. in this county, assigned to the new proprietors, was taken as it stood on the first of January. 1835. It consisted principally. of contracts for the sale of land, made in various years, from 1805 to 1\35. Unon all these contracts, with few exceptions, no payment had ever been made except a small sum, called the article money, paid on the execution of the contract. Upon most of the lands. held under these contracts, large and valuable im- provements have been made; while the contracts in almost every instance have long since expired. The arrears of interest accumulatel upon the balance of principle. have formed a debt, in almost every case, beyond the immediate ability of the occupant to discharge. Thus, while the aggregate of debts kos heen continually increasing, the prospect of its pay- ment has become daily more distant. It is obvious, that such a state of things could not be otherwise than unfortunate. for both proprietors and settlers. The former have been annually subjected to taxes and loss of interest. upon a debt, of which there seemed to be no immediate prospect of collection: and the lat- ter. have seen with apprehension the increasing im- probability of their obtaining the title to lands, the principal value of which, was derived from their own improvement of the same. No agricultural community can flourish if any doubt hangs over the title of the real estate occupied by its citizens. Where improved farms are held under expired contracts of sale and the title remains vested in the original proprietors. the farm- ers, instead of standing in the relation of independent owners of the soil. are in the situation of tenants, at will or at sufferance, cultivating and enhancing the value of lands of which they are liable every day to he deprived hy accident or the caprice or oppression of the landlords. It is apparent that the result must he to retard the improvement of the country, and by keeping down the price of land, equally prevent the original proprietor from receiving his debt, and the occupant from enjoying as he otherwise might and ought, the fruit of his own labor and capital invested in the soil. In this unfortunate condition, the sub- scriher found the estate of the Holland Company in this county. Nor was it strange that out of these evils had already grown a wide spread and ruinous misun- derstanding between the proprietors and settlers, which had developed itself in combinations for mutual protection by force against apprehended injustice, and had reached already the absurdity of a proposed appli- cation to the legislature, to escheat the lands and therehy plunge the county into a condition of depres- sion from which it could not have arisen in less than half a century. All experience has proved, and every intelligent citizen in this community knows. that the ultimate calamity already impends over that commun- ity. where the laws have ceased to be regarded as the protection of its citizens.
The subscriber doubted not, no reasonable man could doubt. that the people of Chautauque county were willing to pay for their lands as speedily as was prac- ticable, and provided they could have the reasonable assurance to which they are entitled, that they should have the title when their payments were made. He knew as every reasonable man must know, that the large debt on the county could not be discharged at once, because its fair proportion of the circulating medium was in- sufficient for that purpose. And he knew full well. that the delit could never he paid, while the commun- ity were agitated by apprehensions. however ground- less, concerning the title of the lands. The course adopted by him, therefore was to liquidate the debt. and divide it into such equal annual install- ments, as experience has proved that the people could pay with reasonable punctuality. He determined at the same time. to place the title in the hands of the settlers. whenever it could be done with safety, on their paving a reasonable part of the purchase money and executing a hond and mortgage for the residue. Accordingly he has conveyed the land in all instances, on receiving one dollar per acre, and a bond and mort- gage for the residue, payable in five equal annual in-
268
CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
stallments. And in those cases, where the occupant has been unable hy reason of accident or misfortune. to make the payment of advance required on entering into hond and mortgage, an article has been given for one year, within which time, the occupant is expected to make the payment of one dollar per acre. and enter Into bond and mortgage on receiving a deed.
This policy, so obviously liberal and advantageous to the settlers, has been met by a reception which has exceeded the most sanguine anticipations of the pro- prietors. There has been already paid and liquidated, more than half the entire debt assigned by the Hol- land Company; and there have been conveyed by deed since the subscriber assumed the management of the estate, on the first of August last, 83,372 acres of land, whereby more than eleven hundred of its citizens have been elevated from their precarious condition as ten- ants into that of freeholders. The beneficial results of this system are already seen in the advance value of lands, the active emigration into the county which has already commenced, and in the increasing pressure of business at this office.
The subscriber assures the people of the county, that his only purpose now is, as it has been, to bring the affairs of this complicated estate to a close without oppression or distress. In the accomplishment of this purpose, the interests of the proprietors and settlers are identified: and that purpose will be the para- mount consideration in the transaction of his business. It is now apparent that with reasonable attention on the part of those holding contracts, every debt on the tract may be liquidated. and every acre of land con- veyed within the present year. To accomplish this purpose. on his part, he will pursue the same policy ahove explained, so long as it shall seem to le the earnest desire of the settlers to avail themselves of the same. To this period he can fix no limits, nor is it expedient or necessary. Such a period would he. in too many cases, regarded as postponing to a distant day business which may and ought to be done imme- diately. Due notice has been already given that con- tracts must be presented before the first day of Jan- uary, and those who continue to neglect the same, will be without cause of complaint against him whenever he shall deem it expedient to close the office-that day having already passed.
The subscriber supposes that the business now in the office. cannot be completed before the first day of April next, and consequently until about that time. titles will as heretofore he given in the name of the Holland Company. The conveyance hy that company to the new proprietors which was to have been made on the first of January, will however be made as soon as the pressure of business will permit.
In the further progress of settlement of the estate. the subscriber wishes it to he distinctly understood.
Ist. That all contracts upon which any default has heen made, are and will be regarded as expired con- tracts.
2nd. That after the fifteenth of February next, the subscriber will not hold himself bound to renew any expired contracts whatever.
3rd. That he will. notwithstanding, for a few weeks. renew by bond and mortgage, or contract for one year, upon the principles before stated, such contracts as shall be presented before any other disposition shall have been made of the lands.
4th. That after the 1st of January, 1837. the amount to be paid on expired contracts, will be the principal and simple interest due on that day, and the interest after that dav-since a different rule would be to extend more liheral terms to those who have neglected to liquidate their debts, than those who have com- plied.
5th. That all excuse for not presenting the contract for renewal, is removed, because either in the one or other form, it can be renewed upon the payment of such part of the deht as the occupant is able to pay.
6th. That punctuality in the performance of all new contracts, and of all contracts in life, and all bonds and mortgages, will be expected-and will he insisted upon as the only means to prevent a recurrence of the evils before related.
7th. That after the 15th of February, the subscriber will consider that those who are in default and shall have made no satisfactory arrangement with him have determined not to do so: and the subscriber will thereupon be compelled to resort to the legal remedies upon such contracts and honds and mortgages.
The subscriber avails himself of this occasion, to express his acknowledgement of the kindness and cordiality with which his efforts to bring to a close the complicated affairs he bas in charge. have been seconded by all classes of the people of this countv. W. H. SEWARD.
The Land Office at Westfield, in this county, con- tinnes to he thronged with settlers anxious to renew their contracts upon the favorable terms held out hy the New Company. The Agent informed us last week. that one month more of such business as he had heen doing for a day or two, would renew all the contracts in the county that would probably be brought forward at all. We had heard some dissatisfaction expressed hy those who had paid in their money-given a bond and mortgage, and received no evidence or of title: but the Agent has now given notice that the deeds for all such (to the number at least of 800, as far as they have been able to make them out) are now ready at the office for delivery. The deeds have to be sent to Batavia for completion.
We rejoice to see the prospect so favorable for the complete closing up of this long agitated subject .- From the Fredonia Censor, February 22, 1837.
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