History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 3

Author: Everts & Ensign; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 648

USA > New York > Columbia County > History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 3

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The most potent cause of their decadence was drunken- ness, to which, as has been said, they were more addicted than any other tribe. Their intercourse was constant with the trading-post at Fort Orange, and with the Dutch traders upon the river ; and with these they would barter every- thing that they had, their maize, peltry, their very souls, if they had been merchantable, in exchange for liquor,-most properly named by them fire-water,-that baleful poison which has proved to their race (even in a more marked de- gree to our own) the quintessence of all evil and woe.

And this it was which depopulated their villages and made vagabonds of the few of their tribe who survived its blight. But even among them there were instances of reformation wrought by saving grace. There was a Mo- hican, named Tschoop, mentioned as a chief,* who lived either on the Livingston manor or near the county line in Dutchess, and who was one of the very worst and most ungodly of his tribe and race, "the greatest drunkard among his followers," bloody-minded, false, and treacherous, so that there was hardly a form of Indian vice, outrage, and sin in which he was not a leading spirit. Yet, through the efforts of Christian Henry Ranch, a Moravian missionary, who labored in these parts, this godless Indian, this devotee of sin and of the Evil One, not only entirely abandoned his drunkenness, but, being baptized by the Moravians, be- came a meek lamb, a servant of God, and a pious and fervent preacher not only to those of his own tribe but also among the Delawares, and so he remained true and faithful to the end.

In the cemetery at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in a space allotted to the graves of the Indian converts, may yet be seen the mound under which lie the remains of this con- verted Mohican, with a rose-bush growing at the head, and upon the stone which marks his peaceful resting-place is this inscription :

In Memory of TSCHOOP, a Mohican Indian, Who, in holy baptism, April 17, 1742, received the name of JOHN, one of the first fruits of the Mission at Shekomeko, and a remarkable instance of the power of Divine grace, whereby he

* In those days of their decay, every adult male Indian was a chief, and all claimed to be owners of lands.

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

became a distinguished teacher among his nation. He departed this life in full assurance of faith, at Bethlehem, . August 27, 1747. " There shall be one fold and one shepherd." John x. 16.

The Indian mission at Stockbridge, Mass., was founded by the aid of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and commenced in October, 1734; the Rev. John Sergeant being the first missionary. Into this, the little fragment of the Mohican tribe of the Hudson river was drawn, and merged with the Stockbridge Indians ; and thenceforth they were known by that name. A handful of these fought on the American side in the Revolution, at Bunker Hill, White Plains, and in several other engage- ments. Their ancient enemies, the Mohawks, fought in the opposing armies.

The Stockbridge Indians were removed from Massachu- setts to Madison Co., N. Y., in 1785, and few, if any, of the Mohican race lingered behind them upon the shores of the Shatemuc. "The pale-faces are masters of the earth," said the aged Tamenund at the death of young Uncas, " and the time of the red man has not yet come again. My day has been too long. In the morning, I saw the sons of Unami happy and strong; and yet before the night has come, have I lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans."

CHAPTER III.

LAND GRANTS-PURCHASES FROM INDIANS.

THE absolute property of all the lands in the State of New York is vested in the respective owners, liable only to escheat, and to the reservation of gold and silver mines in such as derive title from colonial patents.

The Dutch government sometimes granted lands in the colony without the formalities of Indian purchase, but it was the rule of the English to first extinguish the aborig- inal title. It was customary to apply to the governor and council for leave to purchase; if leave was granted, a treaty was held and an Indian deed obtained, a writ was issued to the surveyor-general to survey, and a map and field-notes were reported. The attorney-general was then directed to prepare a draft of a patent, which was submitted to the governor and council, and if approved was engrossed on parchment, recorded, sealed, and issued.

Governor William Tryon, in his report made in 1774, says,-

"With respect to the Titles under which the Inhabitants hold their possessions : Before the Province was granted on the 12th March, 1663-64, by King Charles the Second, to his brother, James, Duke of York, the Dutch West Indin Company had seized it, made settlements, and Issued many Grants of Land. In August, 1664, the country was surrendered by the Dutch to the English, and by the 3d Article of the Terms of Capitulation it was stipulated, ' That all Peo- ple shall continue free Denizens, and shall enjoy their Laods, Houses, and goods, wheresoever they are within this country, and dispose of them as they please.' Some Innds of the Province are held under the old Dutch Grants without any confirmation of their Titles under the Crown of England; but the ancient Records are replete with

confirmatory Grants, which the Dutch Inhabitants are probably tho more solicitous to obtain, from nn Apprehension that the Dutch Conquest of the Province in 1673 might render their Titles, under the former articles of capitulation, precarious; though the country was finally restored to the English hy the Trenty signed at Westmin- ster the 9th February, 1674. From that period it has remained in the possession of the English ; and the Duke of York, on the 29th of June, 1674, obtained a new Grant from the King of all the Terri- tories included within the foriner Letters Patent in 1663-64.

" During the reign of King Charles the Second, the Duke of York, as proprietor of the soil, passed miany Grants (by his Governor) in Fee, and since his accession to the Throne, Grants have continued to issue under the Great Seal of the Province, in consequence of the Powers given the several Governors by their Commissioners and In- structions from the Crown. Two instances only occur of Grants or Letters Patent for Lands under the Great Seal of Great Britain. ...

" These are all the different modes by which the Inhabitants have derived nny legal Titles to their Lands within the limits of this Province, whence it appears that all their lawful titles to Lands in Fee, except in ense of old Dutch Grants unconfirmed, originated from the Crown either mediately, through the Duke of York before his Accession to the Throne, or immediately, by Grants under the Great Seal of Great Britain or of this Province.

" Purchases from the Indian natives, as of their aboriginnt right, have never been held to be a legal Title in this Province, tho Maxim obtaining here, as in England, that the King is the Fountain of all real property, and from this source all Titles are to be derived."

Such purchases were encouraged, however; and, during the administration of Governor Nicolls, it was officially announced that " the Governour gives liberty to Planters to find out and buy lands from the Indyans, where it pleaseth best the Planters."

The fees incident to procuring a patent were important sources of revenue to the officers concerned. Only one thousand acres could be granted to one person; but this rule was evaded by the use of the names of merely nom- inal parties, the officers through whose hands the papers passed frequently profiting largely by this method. The colonial government in this respect became exceedingly cor- rupt, and the American Revolution wrought a much-needed reform therein.

In a few isolated cases, grants of lands were made directly by the crown, and no records appeared in the State offices.

The following enumeration of rights, more or less varied, was embraced in all patents : The grants were "in fee and common soccage," and included with the land all " houses, messuages, tenements, erections, and buildings, mills, mill- dams, fences, inelosures, gardens, orchards, fields, pastures, common of pastures, meadows, marshes, swamps, plains, woods, underwoods, timber, trecs, rivers, rivulets, runs, streams, water-lakes, pools, pits, brachen, quarries, mines, minerals (gold and silver, wholly or in part, excepted), creeks, harbors, highways, easements, fishing, hunting, and fowling, and all other franchises, profits, commodities, and appurtenances whatsoever."

Colonial grants were usually conditioned to the annual payment of a quit-rent at a stated time and place named in the patent, the payment being sometimes due in money, and often in wheat or other commodity, others in skins of animals, or a mere nominal article as simply an acknowl- edgment of the superior rights of the grantors. The quit- rents formed an important source of revenue, and after the Revolution became due to the State. In 1786 it was pro- vided that lands subject to these rents might be released upon the payment of arrears, and fourteen shillings to

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

every shilling of annual dues. Large amounts of lands, upon which arrears of quit-rents had accumulated, were sold from time to time, and laws continued to be passed at frequent intervals for the regulation of these rents, until 1824, when an act was passed for the final sale of all lands which had not been released by commutation or remitted by law. Such lands as then were unredeemed were allowed to be redeemed by the payment of two dollars and a half to each shilling sterling due. The last sale took place March, 1826. In 1819 the quit-rents, then amounting to fifty-three thousand three hundred and eighty dollars, were taken from the general fund and given, in equal portions, to the literature and school funds. In 1846 the Legislature enacted a law to prevent the recurrence of anti-rent diffi- culties, prohibiting the leasing of agricultural lands for a longer period than twelve years. It also provided that all lands previously rented for a life or lives, or for more than twenty-one years, should be taxed as the personal property of the person receiving the rents to an extent equal to a sum that at the legal rate of interest would produce the annual rent. Such taxes were made payable in the coun- ties where the lands lay, which proved an unpleasant en- cumbrance and contributed to the reduction of the amount of lands thus held, the proprietors quit-claiming to their tenants for an agreed sum.

Before mentioning in detail the different Indian pur- chases and patents, which covered the lands comprehended within the limits of Columbia county, we quote from the report of Surveyor-General Cadwallader Colden, made in the year 1732, upon the condition of the lands within the province, as follows :

" There being no previous survey to the grants, their boundaries nrc generally expressed with much uncertainty by the Indian names of brooks, rivulets, hills, ponds, falls of water, etc., which were and still are known to very few Christians, and which (?) adds to this uncertainty is, that such names as are in these grants taken to be the proper of a broek, hill or fall of water, etc., in the Indian Inn- guage signifies only a large brook, or broad brook, or small brook, or high hill, or only a hill er fall of water in general, so that the In- dians show many places by the same name. Brooks and rivers have different names with the Indians at different places, and often change their names, they taking their names often from the abode of some Indian near the place where it is so called. This has given room to some to explain and enlarge their grants according to their own in- clinntions by putting the names mentioned in them to what place or part of the country they please. . . . Several of the great tracts lying on Hudson's river are bounded by that river on the east or west sides, and on the north and south sides hy brooks or streams of water, which, when the country was not well known, were supposed to run nearly perpendicular to the river, as they do for some dis- tance from their mouths, whereas many of these brooks were nearly parallel to the river and sometimes in a course almost directly opposite to the river. This has created great confusion with the adjoining patents, and frequently contradictions in the boundaries as they are expressed in the same patent."

No language could have been employed by the surveyor- general which would be more clear and direct in its appli- cation to the boundaries of tracts in this county. Especi- ally appropriate are the words which we have italicised, as describing the courses of Kinderhook and Claverack crceks in relation to that of the Hudson river.

The first patent of lands in this county was issued by Governor Nicolls on the 25th of March, 1667, to Major

Abraham Staats, a surgeon of the garrison at Fort Albany, for a tract which was described as " called by the Indians Cicklekawick, lying north of Claverack,* on the east side of the river, along the great kill [Kinderhook creek] to the first fall of water, then to the fishing place ; containing two hundred acres more or less; bounded by the river on one side and the great kill on the other." This grant was confirmed, and four hundred acres more included, in a second patent, issued to Staats by Governor Dongan, Nov. 4, 1685.1 Stockport creek (then known as Major Abra- ham's creek) was the south boundary of this patent, and the whole six hundred acres lay together in one body.

On the 18th of March, 1667, Jacob Jansen Flodder and Captain John Baker purchased from several Mohican Indians, for the consideration of " one blanket, one axe, three hoes, two bars of lead, three handsfull of powder, one knife, and one kettle," a tract of land lying west of Kinderhook creek, and which was described in the In- dian deed as " All that bush land and kill with the fall running north and south, lying and being upon the north side of Emikee'st land at Kinderhook, and on the west side of the great kill." Less than a month later (April 15, 1667), Flodder and Baker received from Gov- ernor Nicolls a patent for their purchase, which was de- scribed in that document as "A certain parcel of bush land near Fort Albany, together with a creek or kill with the fall of water running north and south, lying and being upon the north side of Emikee's land, at Kenderhook, and on the west side of the great kill, containing by estimation, acres of land." The tract thus indefinitely described was covered by the patent granted nineteen years afterwards to Jan Hendrik De Bruyn, and out of this fact grew long and ruinous lawsuits. As to Flodder and Baker, the patentees, very little is known.

Then came the " Van Hoesen patent," which was issued by Governor Nicolls, May 14, 1667,§ to Jan Frans Van Hoesen, of lands which the latter had purchased from In- dians June 15, 1662 (by permission of the Dutch gover- nor), and which were described in the patent as "a certain parcell of land lying and being at Claverack, near Albany, stretching from the small creek or kill by Jan Hendrick sen's als Roothaer, to the land belonging to Gerrit Slichten- horst, which said parcell of land takes in three of the clavers on the south side of the said Roothaer's, and strikes into the woods near about the way that goes over the great creek or kill, and so going forward it includes all the land within the bounds of the markt trees and the creek or kill." This included all the site of the present city of Hudson, and a part of the territory of the town of Green- port, the north line of the patent being about one mile north of the north boundary of the city, and the sontlı limit was the mouth of Kishna's Kill or creek, where it enters the South bay. The east line was Claverack creek.

# The " Claverack" here referred to was a tract of land which had been purchased from the Indians five years before, by Jan Frans Van Iloesen, and by him occupied, though at that time it had not been patented.

+ Book 5 of patents, p. 235.

¿ Emikee was a Mohican chief, the reputed owner of large tracts of land in the neighborhood of Kinderhook.

¿ Book 2 of patents, pp. 219, 220.

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The grants made to Dirck Wessels and Gerrit Teunissen were of tracts lying on the eastern and southeastern sides of Kinderhook lake, in the present town of Chatham. We are unable to give their boundaries or the date of grants, but it is certain that Wessels and Teunissen were among the earliest grantees of lands in this region.

Next in order of date came the manorial grants to Van Rensselaer and Livingston ; and in order to clearly under- stand these it is necessary to go back to the first Van Rens- selaer grant, which was located in Albany county, above Fort Orange (now Albany), and which antedated by many years the first grants made within the present county of Columbia.

In 1629 the States-General of Holland, to encourage settlement in the New Netherlands, offered to any person who should settle a colony of fifty or more persons above the age of fifteen years, in any of the lands of the New Netherlands, a grant of land, with the title of patroon, and feudal privileges. Under this regulation Killian Van Rensselaer, a pearl-merchant of Amsterdam, began a set- tlement at Fort Orange, in 1630, receiving a grant of land in that vicinity ; and from that time until 1637, while his colony was being brought up to the required minimum, various grants were made covering an immense tract of country, not only in the present county of Rensselaer and Albany, but in several adjacent counties. Various grants made by the Dutch were confirmed by the English gover- nors, among them the Van Rensselaer grants, which were erected into a manor called Rensselaerwyck, with baronial privileges.

The first purchase of Van Rensselaer was made Aug. 13, 1630, of Indians named Kottomack, Nawanemit, Albant- zeene, Sagiskwa, and Kanaomack, of a tract of land north of Fort Orange ; Samuel Blommaert, Johannes De Laet, and Touissant Muyssart being associated with him in the grant. Van Rensselaer had two shares and the others one share,each, but he alone had the title of patroon. In 1641, Van Rensselaer was given power to devise his estate, and did so subsequently to Johannes, his eldest son. The grant from the Dutch States-General covered a tract of territory twenty-four miles long on each side of the Hudson river, and forty-eight miles broad. This estate remained in the family, descending by the law of primo- geniture, until 1775, when General Stephen Van Rens- selaer, the last of the patroons, inherited it. He died in 1840, and much of the property has passed out of the family, large inroads having been made in it by litigation.

In 1667 the English governor, Nicolls, confirmed the Van Rensselaer grant, and in 1685 the whole manor came into possession of Killian Van Rensselaer, grandson of the first patroon .* On Nov. 4, 1685, a patent was issued by Thomas Dongan, governor of the province of New York, to Killian Van Rensselaer (eldest son of Johannes, eldest soo of Killian, the first patroon), for Rensselaerwyck, described as follows: " Beginning at the south end of Beeren (Bear) island ; thence north on both sides of Hud- son's river to the Kahoos, or great falls of Hudson's river ; and east and west on each side of the river twenty-four

English miles." Also for a certain tract, now in Columbia county, bounded as follows : " Beginning at the creek by Major Abraham Staats', and so along the said IIndson river southward to the south side of Vaxtrix island ; by a creek called Waghan Kasick ; thence with an easterly line twenty-four English miles into the woods to a place called Wawanaquiasick ; from thence northward to the head of said creek by Major Abraham Staats'." The date of the purchase of this tract from Indians was May, 1649. These grants were by this patent erected into a manor, which was accorded a " court-leet and court-baron, to be held as often as the lord of the manor chose." Also, the right to choose a deputy to sit in the General Assembly was granted. The quit-rent for this entire grant of about seven hundred thon- sand acres, in the present counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Greene, Montgomery, Schenectady, Saratoga, and Scho- harie, and one hundred and seventy thousand in Columbia, was " fifty bushels of good winter wheat."

Van Rensselaer had much difficulty in maintaining his claim to the lands in Columbia county, and invoked the aid of the courts and of the General Assembly ; and in 1704 a compromise was effected by which that part of the grant called Claverack,t lying between the Kinderhook patent and the Massachusetts line, and between the north and south manors, was surrendered by Van Rensselaer, and his title to the remainder of Claverack was confirmed. In 1704, Killian Van Rensselaer conveyed Claverack to his brother Hendrick. It was inherited by Johannes, a son of Hendrick, born in 1711, and who died in 1783.

Johannes Van Rensselaer erected Claverack into a manor, and called it the "lower manor," in contradistinction to the upper manor of Rensselaerwyck.

"Claverack" included the present site of the city of lludson, and covered the tract patented to Jan Frans Van Hoesen in 1667. The question of priority of' title arose between Van Rensselaer and Van Hoesen, and after a long litigation was decided in favor of the latter.

In 1721, Claverack was surveyed for Hendrick Van Rensselaer, the lines being run " south from Kinderhook to north bounds of Livingston manor; thence easterly twenty-four miles to Westenhook."

In 1784, on Feb. 2, Claverack was divided by Robert, IIenry I., James, John, and Catherine (Mrs. General Philip Schuyler), in which division it was described as fol- lows : " Beginning at the month of Major Abram's or Kin- derhook creek ; thence south 84° 30' east ten miles ; thence south 40° west as far as the right of John Van Rensselaer extended (to the manor of Livingston); then to Wahank- asick ; then up Hudson's river to beginning."

On the 13th of February, 1767, John Van Rensselaer, of the manor of Rensselaerwyck, conveyed a tract of land to the trustees of the Reformed church of Claverack, for church purposes. Hendrick Van Rensselaer first leased the ground to the trustees. C. C. and J. C. Miller conveyed by deed a tract to the elders and deacons of the same church, May 19, 1759, the Millers receiving their title from Colonel John Van Rensselaer.

The Livingston grants of 1684 and 1685 were patented

* It is supposed the first patroon never visited his possessions in America. Johannes or " Jan the Baptist" came in 1651.

+ Indian name Pott kook or Pot koke.

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

as a manor in 1686, and containcd about one hundred and sixty thousand two hundred and forty acres, including the greater portion of the present towns of Clermont, German- town, Livingston, Gallatin, Taghkanie, Ancram, and Co- Fake. It also had a court-leet and court baron, held by the lord of the manor, and in 1715 was given the privilege of electing a member of the General Assembly and two con- stables. The annual quit-rent was twenty-eight shillings. Robert Livingston,* the first lord of the manor, bought

# Robert Livingston, the progenitor of that large and powerful family which became so noted in Columbia and other river counties, and which for a full century wielded more influence than any other, and held more public offices than any three other families in the State of New York, was the son of a Scotch clergyman, and born at Ancram, Scotland, Dec. 13, 1654. Upon the death of his father, in 1672, he crossed over to Ilolland, from whence he came to America in 1674 with Rev. Nicolaus Van Rensselaer. He was made town clerk of Albany in 1675, and in the same year, by some means, secured the appointment of secretary for Indian affairs from Gov. Andros.

In 1683 he hettered his social position by marrying Alida, widow of Rev. N. Van Rensselaer and sister of Peter Schuyler. Oo the 12th of July, 1686, he received the appointment of collector of excise and quit-rents from Gov. Dongan, who thought that this, with his other offices, "might afford bim a competent maintenance." It was in this year that he received from the governor the potent of the manor of Livingston, a small portion of which he had previously purchased for a few trifles from some Indinns (the knowledge that those valuable Inods remained unpatented having been gained by him in his official relations). "And thus," says Brodhead, "the shrewd Scotch clerk of Albany heenme one of the largest land- holders in New York." In 1688 he became obnoxious to the Leisler party, and was forced to leave the province; but upon Leisler's · downfall he was restored to favor and to his offices, which then (be- sides those above mentioned) embraced those of clerk of the peace and clerk of the court of common plens at Albany.

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History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 3

Author: Everts & Ensign; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign Number of Pages: 648

Author: Everts & Ensign; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 648