History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Syracuse, New York : Mason
Number of Pages: 712

USA > New York > Lewis County > History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 5

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The contract with Wright for sur- veying townships 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9, into lots in 1805, provided that one acre of land in townships I and Io was to be paid for every mile run. It appears that the survey of 4, amounted to 152 miles, 42 chains ; of No. 6 to 136 .1-2 miles ; of No. 8 to 154 miles, 36 chains ; of No. 9, to 110 miles, 39 chains ; and of No. 3, to 161 miles, 43 chains; making 715 1-2 acres due for the survey of five towns.

On the 29th of December, 1795, Con- stable sold to Nathaniel Shaler, of Mid- dletown, an undivided half of 52,418 acres, being numbers 3 and 4 of Con- stable's Four Towns, and made him his agent for selling the other half.+

On the 15th of November, 1798, Wm. Constable, on the eve of his departure for Europe, appointed his brother James as agent to sell lands,¿ and under this

authority the latter sold most of town- ship 5, or 8,000 acres, to Walter Martin, on the 18th of June, 1801, receiving $5,- 400, and a mortgage for $6,600, due in two equal annual payments.

Upon the death of William Constable, May 22, 1803, John McVickar, James Constable, and Hezekiah B. Pierrepont, became the executors of his estate, and in 1819, the latter, by purchase, acquired the interests of the several heirs. By virtue of marriage with a daughter of Mr. Constable, he had previously be- come an owner of a share of the estate. The remaining heirs were paid about $25,000 each, principally in lands. By this means, the late Edward McVickar, of West Turin, became owner of lands in the west subdivision of No. 5, and in No. 9. In January, 1853, a division was made in the Pierrepont estate. Considerable tracts of the Pierrepont lands have been sold in recent years, and they are being gradually cleared up and settled. The remaining interests in 3 and 4 of Con- stable's four towns, became the property of William Constable, who settled at Constableville, and other members of the family became interested either in lands or contracts.

In the beginning William Constable adopted the plan of deeding lands and taking mortgages, but this being found expensive and troublesome, it was super- seded by that of contracts, guaranteeing an ample deed upon full payment. This contract, originally prepared by Alex- ander Hamilton, was not afterwards changed. It secured legal interest annu- ally to the proprietor, required the pur- chasers to pay all surveys, taxes and as- sessments, bound them not to abandon the premises, or sell or assign the con- tract, or cut, or suffer to be cut for sale, any timber without the consent of the proprietor, or commit any waste, actual or permissive, upon the premises. In case of default, it was optional with the party

* Of these townships, No. 1 contained 26,656 acres ; No. 2 had 25,926 acres ; No. 3 had 29,410 acres ; and No. 4 had 23,005 acres.

+ Transcribed Deeds, Lewis Clerk's office, p. 155. # Deeds Sec. office, xli, 623 ; Regr's office, N. Y., Ivi, 169.

CONSTABLE'S FOUR TOWNS.

of the first part to abide by the contract or consider it void, and of the latter, to re-enter and dispose of the premises as in case of a tenant holding over without permission. The inflexible rule of requir- ing one-quarter payment upon purchase was never relaxed by Constable, but was changed by his executors.

On the Ist of March, 1817, Judge James McVickar, who had acquired an interest by marriage with a daughter of William Constable, conveyed by three several deeds, to George Davis, of Belle- ville, N. J., 5,224 3-4 acres in townships 3 and 4, then Turin, for $14,225. He also on the same day, conveyed about 3,760 acres to Thomas Alsop, for $11,500, and on the Ist of January following, for $6,- 000, an undivided half of 46 lots, in town- ships 3 and 4 of Constable's towns. On the 18th of December, Alsop sold for $7,000 to Davis, portions of his im- proved lands.

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

David I. Green of New York, became a purchaser under his brother-in-law Davis, June 18, 1818, and a few days after, conferred upon him powers of attorney to sell lands. Green wasfor many years cashier of the Phoenix bank, N. Y., and by a long course of exemplary attention to its business, had secured the confi- dence of the directors to such an extent that they at length made but superficial examinations of his accounts. Soon after the purchase above noticed, he was found a defaulter to the amount of about $140,000. There is some reason to be- lieve that some of this money was used in buying these lands. Green was also deeply concerned in cotton and other speculations, which proved failures, and brought to light his robbery of the bank. He got a few hours' start of the officers of justice, and escaped by way of Lake Champlain to Quebec, from

whence he sailed to France. In two or three years some arrangement was made, by which he could return, and after going to Michigan, he came back to Davis' house near Constableville, and died, September 5, 1826, aged forty-five. years.

The Phoenix bank became from this transaction an interested party to the title of a portion of the lands previously held by Davis.

On the 25th of July, 1801, William Constable, in part payment of notes and endorsements of the firm of Wm. & Jas. Constable, and in consideration of $95,- 704.50, conveyed townships 1 and 13 on the south border of this county to John Jones, John McVickar and John Rath- bone, in trust for the owners of the notes. These towns were conveyed to the trustees above named, July 15, 1802, and proving more than sufficient after making several conveyances amounting to 43,704 acres, they reconveyed the balance to Constable .* Of the lands retained to pay the creditors for whose benefit this arrangement was made, 6,118 1-4 acres in No. 1, and 5,431 I-4 in No. 13, were deeded to John Jacob Astor, January 28, 1804;+ and a further quantity of 3,232 1-2 acres was conveyed March Ioth of that year,; On the Ist of June, 1806, Astor sold the whole of his lands in these two townships to Hezekiah B. Pierrepont, for $18,477.50, receiving a mortgage for a part of the amount, due in five, six and seven years.§

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

* In township I, lots 1 10 19 and part of 20=4,880 acres; and in 13 lots, I to 62, and part of 140=15,484 acres.

+ Deeds, Lewis county, A., 187.

In township 1, 2,320} acres, and in 13, 912} acres. Deeds, Lewis county, A., 190.

§ Deeds, Lewis county, A., 186.

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

INMAN'S TRIANGLE.

This tract, embracing the limits of Leyden before the western point was set off to Lewis, was conveyed February 2, 1793, by William Constable to William Inman, in trust chiefly for Patrick Colqu- houn. As the real owners were aliens, and could not hold land in the State, the title was conveyed to Inman, their agent, who had been empowered by an act of the Legislature to hold land. There can be no doubt but that this trust was betrayed. A lengthy statement pre- pared by Mr. Colquhoun, is in existence, setting forth the details of the transac- tion, but it would serve no good purpose to introduce them here. Mr. Colquhoun, was a capitalist, and at the time of these transactions resided in London, and oc- cupied a high position as a citizen and a statesman. He was the author of a Treatise on the Police of the Metropo- lis and on the Wealth, Power and Re- sources of the British Empire, with the rise and progress of the funding system. He was born in Glasgow, and died in London in 1820, aged seventy-six years. In speaking of Mr. Colquhoun, the au- thor of the "Phelps and Gorham Pur- chase," says :-

"Few men have contributed more to the reformation of criminal laws, to the promotion of trade and commerce, in funding systems for benefitting the poor, and for public education in England and Scotland."*

While the negotiation with Colquhoun was pending, Mr. Constable addressed to him from London the following letter, which has historical interest from its presenting the ideas that were then entertained as to the rise in value of lands, and the prospects of investment for profit which they offered :-

CECIL STREET, No. 17, Jan. 28, 1792.

" Sir-As you have made no kind of proposal to me since I mentioned to

you about three weeks ago that I had a concern in the last extensive purchase of land made in the name of my friend Alexander Macomb of New York, and was empowered fully to dispose of the same in Europe. I am now solicitous to know whether you conceive it prob- able that the gentlemen to whom Colonel Smith through you offered the one mill- ion of acres for which he made a con- ditional bargain at 13 1-2d sterling per acre, are likely to accept that bargain. I have been restricted hitherto from taking any steps towards a sale other- wise, while that transaction remained open ; and indeed had not our associa- tion who purchased this extensive prop- erty resolved to pay ready money and to take out patents for the whole at once.

"No circumstance would have induced them to have sold an acre until the lapse of two or three years, when there is a cer- tain prospect of obtaining double the money (if not more,) than is now asked. But the fact really is this, that we have made this heavy engagement and we must make a sacrifice rather than draw money from our commercial pursuits to pay for this land which would not be convenient for us to do. I expect the whole patents by next packet from New York, which will enable me to show the most com- plete titles that ever were exhibited for lands in any country. If our associa- tion can sell one million of acres in Europe, it is their resolutions to let what remains be divided into townships, and to keep up the property until a much higher price be obtained for it, but to be enabled to do this we must now sell a part, and an immense thing it will be indeed to any proprietor who shall possess such a territory with a fine river (besides other streams) running for 60 miles through this country. I do not hesitate to say that whoever does pos- sess such a property and can only lie out of the money for a few years must raise from it a princely fortune. For the Indian war in the western country and many other circumstances are in favor of a rapid population. But if the object is merely to make money of it without being troubled with settlers, let it only remain for three years and without trouble or expense one hundered per

* Turner's, Phelps and Gorham purchase; Monroe county, p. 244.

THE BRANTINGHAM TRACT.

cent. lent will unquestionably be obtained from speculators for the whole in large tracts, but if sold in detached townships and credit given, I cannot undertake to say at how many hundred per cent. advance it would sell. But we certainly look for one dollar an acre for the remainder of our purchase which is supposed to be the worst of the whole, in townships of six miles square. You once mentioned to me that on consulting Sauthier's large map of the State of New York, you found that the particu- lar tract laid off by Colonel Smith's in the plan sent you was represented to contain many swamps and pools of water and that much of it was drowned land.

"Mr. Sauthier in forming this map must have gone on the vague informa- tion of the Indians who you know are incapable of conceiving a geographical idea or of conveying exact information as to the extent of swamps, or situations, distances, &c.

"Asa proof that this country was never explored, Mr. Sauthier, in his maps, takes not the least notice of the Black river, although it runs for a certainty, about 60 miles through the tract marked off by Colonel Smith and Judge Cooper, who purchased Noble's tract, in which this river takes its rise, proposed mak- ing a large purchase of the proprietors who refused to sell, and Mr. Cockburn, the surveyor who explored this river, states nothing about swamps, but gives a very favorable account indeed, of the country, and as a proof of this good opinion of the soil and situation, he was desirous of buying a large tract within the bounds marked off by Colonel Smith. I have had a smaller chart made of the country, into which, in order to prevent all appearances of concealment, I have got introduced all the waters and swamps mentioned in the above map, and have besides added those other rivers which I understand to exist, and I am myself so fully convinced that there can be no extensive swamps in that country, that I shall have no objection to allow the purchasers of the one million of acres marked off by Colonel Smith, the option of choosing other lands in lieu of the swamps, or to make a deduction of 50 per cent. or half price on all swamps

exceeding 50,000 acres to be ascertained after the country is explored.

" But as you complained once that the conditional contract made between Mr. Macomb and Colonel Smith, was not explicit on many essential points neces- sary to be attended to in bargains of this magnitude, and I have since received unlimited powers from the parties con- cerned, which I enclose for your perusal ; I have endeavored as much as possible, to obviate your objections by framing the enclosed propositions in such a man- ner as I conceive will meet all that you mentioned, as far as I recollect them at present. I request therefore, you will do me the favor to apply to the gentle- men for whom this purchase was condi- tionally made, and oblige me, if you can, with the answer before the departure of the American Mail, on Wednesday next. I have letters from various quarters rela- tive to this land, where I think by taking some little trouble, I could get a much higher price. But as we hold a vast ter- ritory besides the million of acres now offered, and as it is extremely interesting to us to have purchasers that can keep the land for two or three years without being compelled, by necessity, to offer it in detached parcels at a low price, I would much rather sell to Colonel Smith's friends and yours at the present sacrifice, than to others, who, being! forced to sell to make good their engage -: ments, would keep down the price of what remains, and thereby injure every land-holder in America. I send you herewith the reduced map of the coun- try, made up from De Witt and Sauthier's maps, in which I have inserted the swamps, to show that I wish to conceal nothing, although I have no belief in their existence to any extent worth notice.

I am Respectfully Your most humble servant, WILLIAM CONSTABLE."

BRANTINGHAM TRACT.

Samuel Ward and wife, conveyed, August 18, 1793, to the name of William Inman, a tract of land supposed to be 50,000 acres, east of the river, in trust for Patrick Colquhoun, in pursuance of

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

a contract with Constable, of February 13th, of that year. The price was £5,- 000 sterling, and it was the intention of the European owner to offer 10,000 acres to Captain Charles Williamson at first cost, and he instructed Inman to do so. The latter wrote as directed, but added : "I have no doubt of the pro- priety of your refusing to accept the share of the 18,000 acres, and I confess I had little hopes of your doing so, al- though I am certain it would have been highly advantageous to you. I can speak my mind freely to you; and I do not hesitate to say that Mr. C .* is capable of expressing sentiments he does not, when they are calculated to serve his own particular purposes; and I am authorized to say, his friendship for you was merely a name, and his boasted at- tachment and profession for me was no better, and people would do well to be on their guard in their transactions with that gentleman." Within two months the writer of this letter, offered to buy these lands himself, stating that William- son declined to purchase. The trans- action needs neither note nor comment. Upon the survey by Cockburn, in 1794, the tract was found to measure 74,400 acres. In August, 1793, Brockholst Liv- ingston became a purchaser in trust for himself and certain alien owners, of whom he alone was allowed to hold lands. There were two associations formed, for holding the Fellowship loca- tion of 50,000 acres, and the Surplus lands of 24,400, the latter of which belonged exclusively to B. Livingston and Patrick Colquhoun, high sheriff of London.

In December, 1793, a contract was made between Brockholst Livingston and Robert Morris, t for the 50,000 acres in behalf of the latter, and Mr. Nichol-

son and James Greenleaf ; but this con- veyance was never made, and on the 10th of April, 1794, William Inman, acting for another, sold to Thomas Hopper Brantingham,* of Philadelphia, for $23,- 073, the whole tract. The latter soon after executed three mortgages for £7,- 692,t and appointed August 9, 1794, Arthur Breese, his attorney, to sell a certain tract of 18,000 acres,; but no sales appear to have been made by this agent. Brantingham and wife, on the 2Ist of January, 1795, sold 10,000 acres an undivided part of the tract, to Rich- ard W. Underhill, of New York, for £7,- 000 and other claimants became inci- dentally interested,§ but the mortgages being unpaid, two of them were fore- closed and the land sold || according to statute. [ The lands were re-leased to Inman, and were further confirmed by the assignment ot the judgments, upon which a sale was made November 17, 1796, by the sheriff of Herkimer county to Inman, ** in trust. The latter soon after mortgaged the whole to Thomas Walker, agent of Colquhoun; and by sundry conveyances the title became vested in Brockholst Livingston, Sam- uel Ogden, James Kerr and Patrick Colquhoun.

The tract was surveyed into lots by Benjamin Wright, in 1806, and the tract was divided November 25, 1815, into four parts, of which the northeast and southwest, marked 2, were drawn by Kerr and Colquhoun, and the south-

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

+ Deeds, Lewis Co., 149, 15I.

¿ Deeds, Oneida Co., ii, 224.

§ William Bird, Joseph Brantingham, Philip Grim, and others are named in connection with this title. | April I, and September I, 1796.

T From a letter of P. Colquhoun, dated June 25, 1795, it appears that a little before that date, Branting- ham had failed, and was in prison, with his son and partner ; hence the sale of the lands under foreclosure of mortgage.

** Deeds, Lewis Co., 160.

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

+ Deeds, Oneida Co., iv, 263 .Consideration $30, 000.

BROWN'S TRACT.

east and northwest, marked I, by Liv- ingston and Ogden .*

Lots 253 and 235, including the High Falls, were not included, but remained common property of the four propri- etors of the Black River tract.

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

In September, 1818, Caleb Lyon was appointed sole agent of John Greig, the agent of Kerr and Colquhoun, and pur- chased about 10,000 acres on his own ac- count. He subsequently bought Liv- ingston's interest, and continued in the agency until his death, when he was succeeded by his son, Lyman R. Lyon, and son-in-law, Francis Seger. This agency continued until about 1851, when L. R. Lyon bought out the remaining interest of Kerr and Colquhoun; or rather of Greig, who had succeeded them in the title,t and a part of the Ogden interest. About 25,000 acres of the Brantingham tract were in the hands of actual settlers, when our first edition of this work was published, in 1860. We have no information as to the amount since conveyed.

BROWN'S TRACT.

This term strictly applicable to a tract of 210,000 acres, or 8 townships of land, extending across Herkimer and includ- ing small portions of Lewis and Hamil- ton counties, has come to be applied as a generic term to the whole northern wilderness.

Samuel Ward and wife conveyed, November 25, 1794, to James Greenleaf, a tract of 210,000 acres from the eastern extremity of great tracts V, VI, and the latter mortgaged the premises July 29, 1795, to Philip Livingston. This was foreclosed, and Thomas Cooper, Master in Chancery, united in a deed to John Brown, a wealthy merchant of Provi- dence, R. I., on the 29th of December, 1798 .* The tract was surveyed into towns by Nathaniel Smith, in 1796, and township 2 was surveyed into lots by Cliff French, in 1799. There were several conveyances of this tract not essential to its chain of title, of which we have not the exact data. John Julius Anger- stein, a wealthy London merchant, Hen- ry Newman, Thomas and Daniel Green- leaf, Colonel William S. Smith, Aaron Burr, and others, were incidentally concerned before Brown's purchase. t

* Brown named his towns Industry, Enterprise, Per- severance, Unanimity, Frugality, Sobriety, Economy, and Regularity.

The nameof John Brown has been so often mentioned, that a certain degree of public interest is attached to liim in this connection. He was one of four brothers, wealthy merchants, of l'rovidence, R. I., and from a son of one of these (Nicholas), Brown University, received an en- dowment and a name. Mr. John Brown is described by Mr. Reuben Guild, the historian of the University, as having been short and thick,-weighing about four hundred pounds. He managed however, to get about very quickly in a carriage made low, broad and strong. He always took command at fires, and on other occa- sions where prompt action, energy and decision were de- manded.

The great Baptist church in Providence, was built mainly through his exertions. As they were raising the steeple, a work that required several days, as the men were hauling up a timber with a rope, a distinguished foreigner was standing by. Brown not knowing, or perhaps not caring who he was, ordered him to take hold and help, which he did.

Mr. Brown left no portrait, he was not a church mem- ber, but as the tradition is,-" a d-d good christian."

+ Burr was concerned with Ward, and afterwards with Smith, in this purchase, after the title had been held as security by Angerstein. He became involved in a con- tract September 22, 1794, for the purchase at £50.000, which he found a hard hargain, and the means he took to get released from Constable, showed him the "polished scoundrel." He wrote a letter November 6, 1794, re- ferring in an insulting manner to an assumed liability of escheat from alien title, and the personal obligation of Constable to convey notwithstanding, and alluded to his ability in influencing legislative action. He professed a mock sympathy with his correspondent, expressed a nice sense of honor as to obligation, and ended with a prop- osition to pay {10,000 less than the sum agreed upon, or to forfeit £1,000 and be released from the contract.

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

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

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

An expensive but ineffectual effort was made by Brown to plant a settlement upon this tract, and three roads were opened to it. One of these led from Remsen, another from Boonville, cross- ing the Black river a little south of the county line, and a third from High Falls. Mr. Brown died in 1803, and the land was held by his family until a few years since, when it was purchased by L. R. Lyon and others. It was then contracted to the Lake Ontario and Hudson River R. R. Co.

WATSON'S TRACT.

In April, 1796, Constable conveyed to James Watson, by warranty deed, 61,- 433 acres, comprising two triangular tracts connected by an isthmus. Of this the western lies chiefly in the town of Watson, and the eastern in Herkimer county. The first deed being lost, it was reconveyed May 13, 1798. The outlines were surveyed in 1794, by William Cock- burn. This tract was originally con- tracted to the French company, but their tract having a surplus, this was sold to Watson at two shillings the acre. Wat- son's first agreement Dec. 2, 1793, in- cluded 150,000 acres.

CASTORLAND, OR THE FRENCH CO.'s TRACT.

On the 31st of August, 1792, William Constable, then in Paris, sold to Peter Chassanis of that city, 630,000 acres of land south of Great Tract No. IV, and between the Black river and a line near the 44thº N. latitude .* From the mistaken notion of the course of the river before alluded to, it was estimated that this amount of land lay between these two boundaries. Chassanis in this pur-

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History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Syracuse, New York : Mason Number of Pages: 712

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Syracuse, New York : Mason
Number of Pages: 712