USA > New York > Dutchess County > Pine Plains > History of Little Nine Partners of North East precinct, and Pine Plains, New York, Duchess county, Vol. I > Part 4
USA > New York > Dutchess County > North East > History of Little Nine Partners of North East precinct, and Pine Plains, New York, Duchess county, Vol. I > Part 4
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November 9. At the fifth mile marked a hickory tree standing on the north-east side of the ridge north-westerly from Irondale and a mile and twenty rods beyond this "crossed the road to Hudson's River." This was the road from Salisbury to .Ancram and thence to the river. There was then no other direct road to the river from Salisbury. Thirty-six rods beyond this road on this line lived the German doctor Hendrick Hoespell where-the day being wet and snowy-he spent the night. The line touched the south corner of the house.
November 10, continued the line. Made an offset to the north at the pond-" Popsick pond "-in the Vosburg-Hiserodt neighborhood, and 24 rods over twelve and a half miles crossed the Shacameco-near Chas. Rudd's. It being very late he left off for the night. The next morning -- Nov. 11,-reached the south bend of the Roloef Jansen. The distance from the bend to the stake at Nakawawick by this line is 24 rods over twelve miles and a half. From the bend to the west line of the Oblong- the east end of the Little Nines- is nine miles and 128 rods. This corrected line is now the line between the Livingston lands and the Little Nines, so far as they join, and is the present line for that distance between Dutchess and Columbia counties. His course from the south bend was south 72 degrees east. It is said now to be south 74 degrees 39 minutes east. Clinton's distance along the Oblong line for the east boundary is two miles, 204 rods and 81 links.
The four lines-Richard Edsall, Jacobus Brown, Jacobus TerBoss, better known as Judge Bush, and last of all Charles Clinton-caused border troubles in the two patents for many years. Clinton's line was the most southerly. next to his, northerly, was Jacobus Brown, then Richard Edsall, and then Jacob TerBoss the most northerly. The line of Richard Edsall became substantially the boundary between the two patents. The Great Nines was the earlier patent, was earlier surveyed,-10 years-a map of lots made and recorded, lots sold and possessed therewith, and the possessors and owners fought it out on that line. The line of Jacobus Brown commenced on Fish Creek, a considerable south of Edsall, and runs east nearly parallel to his, and although run at the request of some of the Great Nine Partners, it was not deemed authority and it received no great attention. Clinton's line starting from nearly the same point as Brown, was run later than all, in the interests of the Little Nines, and is the south line in his map of the Little Nine Partners in the county clerk's office in Dutchess county. The Edsall line of the Great Nines cuts off nearly half of the south tier of lots on that map in the town of Pine Plains, and more than that going east and throws out that cut-off into the Great Nines. Thus Brown's line and Clinton's line are only such on maps,
30
HISTORY OF PINE PLAINS.
The line of TerBoss, put down on the maps as "Judge Bush," started from Edsall's station on Fish Creek and diverged northward in running east, leaving a wedge, or gore, the widest part where it intersects the Oblong line. This strip between Edsall and Bush was the "Gore," and was divided into four lots. The north line of the "Gore" is the present boundary between Pine Plains and Stanford, and is referred to in the act of 1823 dividing North East, Pine Plains and Amenia. The owners of the fonr lots comprising the Gore were in the end-except the east lot- squeezed out of their possessions, and their territory was held principally by the border and adjacent owners of the two respective patents. The ."Gore " was, in reality, a scheme of the land grabbers.
1.
CHAPTER V.
LITTLE NINE PARTNERS-DEED OF PARTITION.
The act of the Colonial Assembly in 1734 for the partition and division of this tract is in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany. It is minute in detail and too long to insert here. In accordance therewith Charles Clinton in the spring of 1743 made a survey of the tract, dividing it into sixty-three lots, and made a map of the same which was filed in the office of the county clerk at Po'keepsie, May 7, 1744. From the date of the patent to this time, some of the patentees had died, and others had assigned or sold, leaving the commissioners to assign the different lots and parts of lots in these cases to their heirs and assigns. The division was made this year and the deed of partition is dated October 19, 1644, and is . as follows:
"This Indenture made the Nineteenth day of October in the eighteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second by the grace of God of Great Brittain ffrance and Ireland King Defender of the faith &c., and in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred and fourty four Between Jacobus Swartwout Esq. Judge of the Inferiour Court of Common pleas of the County of Dutchess, Christopher Van Bomel and Anthony Yelverton Esqrs Justices of the same court of the one part, and Henry ffilkins Esq. High Sheriff of the same County of the other part witnesseth; that pursuant to an act of assembly of this province lately made and provided, for the more Easy partition of Lands a part of the tract of Land called the second Nine Partners Traet (which Tract and part thereof aforesaid are particularly described in the within application to the Sheriff for partition of the same part of the said Tract, To witt, that part of the said Tract represented by Maps hereunto annexed) the parties to these presents have assigned and do hereby assign unto the Honorable George Clark Esgr. the Lotts Number Thirty Eight, Number Fifty-four, Number Twenty-three, Number sixteen, Number six, Number forty-seven and Number sixty one; unto James Graham (son of Augustine Grahan the patentec .- I. H.) the Lotts Number forty Eight, Number Seventeen, Number fourteen, Number Twenty-Nine, Number Twenty-Five, Number Twenty seven and Number fifty five; Unto James Alexander Esqr. (assignee of Peter Fauconier-I. H.) the Lotts Number Ten, Number Twenty-Eight, Number thirty five, Number forty four, Number twenty, Number Two and Number Sixty; Unto Richard Sackett the Lotts Number Thirty-four, Number fourty Two, Number Thirty Seven, Number fifteen, Number Thirty two, Number Seven and Number Sixty Two; Unto Coll. Henry Beekman, Isaiah Ross and Martin Hoffman (assignees of Roger Mompesson .-- I. H.) the Lotts Number Thirty-six, Number thirty-three, Number forty-nine, Number forty six, Number four, Number Eighteen and Number fifty-seven; Unto Robert Livingston, Junr. one-third part of the Lotts Number Twelve, Number Nine, Number forty-one, Number fifty, Number Twenty-six, Number Twenty-two and Number fifty-six, To witt,
32
HISTORY OF PINE PLAINS
that part thereof marked with the letter E, and the other Two-thirds of the last named Seven Lotts marked D and F unto Robert Lurting his heirs and assigns; (January 29, 1733, Robert Lurting and Doras his wife "did grant Bargain, Sell, Alien, Enfoef, Release and Confirm" all his undivided ninth interest in the Little Nines unto Robert Livingston, Jun. and Richard Van Damn and Isaac Van Dam. the two sons of Rip Van Dam, thus making them equal and joint owners of his interest .- I. H.) Unto Matthew Van Alstyn one ninth part of the Lotts Number Eleven, Number Thirty, Number forty, Number Thirty-nine, Number forty five, Number three and Number fifty-nine, to witt, that part thereof marked with the Letter H; (these were the Rip Van Dam lots .- I. H.) One other Ninth part of the said Last Seven Lotts, to witt, that part thereof marked with the Letter G, unto James Alexander, Esqr., and one other ninth part of the same last seven Lotts, to witt, that part thereof marked with the Letter I, unto Eghbert Eghbertse and the remaining two-thirds thereof marked with Cand B, unto Rip Van Dam, Esqr., or his heirs or assigns; unto Thomas Wenham his heirs or assigns the Lotts Number five, Number Twenty one, Number fifty- three, Number Thirty-one, Number thirteen, Number forty-three and Number Sixty-three; (Thomas Wenham died 1709. - I. H.) and unto Samp- son Shelton Broughton, his heirs or assigns, the Lotts Number fifty-one, Number Fifty-Two, Number Eight, Number Twenty-four, Number one, Number Nineteen and Number fifty-eight; (Sampson Shelton Broughton is an error, should be Sampson Broughton, see the patent and "Biographies."- I. H.) as the said several Lotts and parts of Lotts are represented on the map hereunto annexed and particularly described in the Schedule hereunto annexed : To hold To the persons aforesaid respectively the several Lotts and parts of Lotts respectively assigned to them as aforesaid in Severalty for such estates as they respectively had therein before the making hereof, the several steps and directions of the said act having been previously com- plyed with as by the Minutes of the Court may appear. In Witness Whereof the parties to these present Indentures, have Interchangeably sett their hands and Seals the day and year above written.
JACOBUS SWARTWOUT, [s.] CHRISTOPHER VAN BOMEL, | S.] ANTHO YELVERTON, [ s. ]
HENRY LIVINGSTON, Clerk, [s.] HENRY FFILKIN, Sheriff. [s. ]
Sealed and Delivered by all the parties to these presents in the pres- ence of
JACOB RUSTEN, Jun. JOHN CROOKE.
This is a deed of great importance, as it contains the title to all the lands in the towns of Milan, Pine Plains and that part of North East not embraced in the Oblong, and by its aid all titles in this territory can go back to the King's patent. The field notes of the survey of the sixty-three lots, made by Charles Clinton, deputy state surveyor, describing the "Trees and Stakes" of each corner of the lots, make seventeen pages in folio and are filed in the office of the county clerk at Po'keepsie. "Line fences" are now standing on many of the lot lines, and the corners are thereby easily found, although many changes have been made by subdivi- sion and ownership.
The full lots by the survey are about one hundred and thirty-one chains
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LITTLE NINE PARTNER GRANT.
north and south, and sixty-eight chains east and west, containing about nine hundred acres each. Those on the cast, north and west borders, are fractional or irregular in their bounds, and vary accordingly in size.
When this survey was made by Charles Clinton the northern boundary of the Great Nines was in dispute, and the Great Nines claimed that Clinton's survey had lapped upon them nearly half of his-Little Nines- southern tier of lots. Clinton's survey, according to his field notes, locates the southern boundary of the Little Nines (the east and west line) very nearly to the summit of Huntting Hill, which is nearly a mile southerly from the present north boundary of Stanford. Easterly from thence the same line runs about sixty rods south of Mr. Samnel Titus' dwelling and on easterly, crossing the highway near the dwelling of the late Isaac Bryan north of Shacameco, and on the same course to the Oblong. The same line runs westerly to the south west corner of the patent, where it meets the Great Nines. This amount of territory which overlapped the Great Nines in the Little Nine survey was the " Gore," so much talked about in those days. And even as late as February 10, 1823, Reuben W. Bostwick, then town clerk of North East-Pine Plains was then included in that town -refers to it in a letter to John Savage, the Comptroller, in regard to quit rents. The letter says: "North East, Feby. 10, 1823. D'r Sir: At a
meeting of the Freeholders of the Town of North East in Dutchess County on Saturday the 8th of this Inst. they requested me being Clerk of s'd Town to forward you the annexed statement of the lotts in the Little Nine Part- ners patent subject to payment of quit rent. And they wish from you a statement mentioning the amount due on said lotts according to an act of the Legislature passed April 3d, 1821." Mr. Bostwick then gives the nun- ber of the lots subject to quit rent, and writes: "The above lotts in the first range on the south line of said patent from No. 9 to No. 18 are only half Lotts, the Gore so called after determining the final Line between this patent and the Great Nine Partners patent took off a little more than half of these lots in said first range."
To possess this Gore by the early settlers who purchased lands respect- ively in both patents and adjoining, caused many a contest of force and arms, and of law. They had purchased according to the respective recorded maps of each grant and claimed all they bought. Possession was nine points, and in reference to this an instance or two will be mentioned.
The Great Nine Partners Patent was surveyed by Richard Edsall, and the map of his survey bears date May 29, 1734. The Gore, so called, was surveyed by Jacobus Ter Boss-better known perhaps as "Judge Bush" -- in 1740. He divided it into four lots, numbering from the west end. Lot one was small, and wedge shaped. Number two was larger, and came in some way to Augustine Graham. Number three contained about seven hundred acres, and number four, the extreme easterly lot, contained about thirteen hundred acres, and was possessed by Henry Filkin. Number
34
HISTORY OF PINE PLAINS.
three was in the locality of the Phineas Carman mill, and west from that, and was bounded southerly by lot nineteen of the Great Nines, and easterly by the Gore lot four, of Filkin. It came to Caleb Heathcote but very soon thereafter came to Jacob Hoff and Isaac Germond one quarter, Cornelius and Theodore Van Wyck, of Rombout, each one quarter, and the heirs of John De Graff one quarter. August 15, 1741, "Johannes Rau of Crum El- bow, Yeoman"-better known as Moravian John Rau-purchased the in- terests of three of the above proprietors, and in 1746 resold to the parties of whom he purchased, not being peaceably possessed under his title. These different interests served to increase the confusion. The Gore interest was in the vise of the Little and Great Nines and was soon squeezed out. Thus the two interests of the respective patentees came together, who with those holding under them continued the contest for over half a century. As an index to the difficulties of the proprietors on the border, one instance will be noticed.
By the partition deed of Little Nines, lots fourteen and seventeen, with other lots, were assigned to Augustine Graham. He being deceased at the date of that division, they came to his son James Graham and are placed to his name on the map. Lot fourteen was two hundred and sixty- four rods wide and five hundred and twenty-four rods long north and south. It includes the Phineas Carman mill, that being on the southern half. This was debatable ground, and the saw and grist mill made it worth fighting for. Lawrence Wiltsie held part of this lot by lease from James Graham from 1745 to 1759. It was then held by James Atwater, who sold his lease to Gideon Salisbury. Jonathan Darling was his successor and he was succeeded by Edmund Reynolds about 1790. The mill property was not included or not contested for by these lessees. One Joseph Harris who owned lands in the Great Nines, was the first trespasser. In 1768 he took possession as Mr. Augustine Graham writes " by getting a number of peo- ple, and in the night with these hands, did take and make a brush fenee which he calls a possession fence and did hold possession until his death (about 1786 .- I. H.) when the property came into the hands of Brinton Payne, then into the hands of Coonrad Smith," who held possession under this claim until 1789, when Graham commenced a suit for ejectment. Smith then released his right of possession to Graham, and took a lease from him for one hundred and fifty acres, which contained the saw and grist mills. The object of this lease was to put Graham in possession.
Coonrad Smith took the mill March 25, 1789, which is the earliest rec- ord I have of the existence of this mill. Tradition states it was built about forty years earlier. The lease calls for the yearly rent of one hundred and twenty bushels of wheat, one hundred bushels to be ground "toll free" and the payment of all taxes. The lease is witnessed by Joseph Ter Bush- alias Ter Boss, modern only Bush-and Jonathan Holmes. It was not
35
LITTLE NINE PARTNER GRANT.
given or made until July 23, 1790, a year and four months after possession and a bond accompanies the same in the penal sum of five hundred pounds for its fulfillment.
Meanwhile Platt Smith, brother to Judge Isaae Smith, by threats and otherwise of dispossession, obtained a delivery of the mill from Coonrad Smith only a few days after the date of the lease to Graham. This was fighting the fire in another direction, and a hearing was had before Philip Spencer, Esquire. "Gabriel Dusenbury being sworn, says he see Mr. Smith deliver possession to Platt Smith, but there was no delivery of the barn. Mr. Moredock said that Coonrad Smith give up the barn in his hearing afterwards, but see no delivery. Mr. George Plum sworn and says he was hired to attend the mill by Coonrad Smith, and that Mr. Smith ordered him to deliver one-half the toll to Platt Smith. Mr. Coon- rad Smith says that his intentions was it should go towards paying Mr. Smith off as he owed him." This is some of the testimony in this case to which Mr. Graham adds: "On Saturday the 14th (August) Mr. Coonrad Smith called on the miller for the accounts of the mill to know what had become of the grain Mr. Platt Smith had out of the mill. He refused on the whole, declared he was employed by P. Smith, though the day before he swore he was employed by Coonrad Smith."
Platt Smith went to New York to see Governor Clinton in regard to these troubles, and the Governor wrote Mr. Graham this letter :
"New York, 6th December 1780. Sir-Your neighbor Mr. Smith called upon me this day to know whether I was connected with you in a suit which you have brought against one of his tenants for the recovery of lands. I have informed him (as the truth is) that I am not and I have re- peated to him the opinion which I always entertained and expressed on this subject to wit, that it would be much more elligible for both parties to have the Line between the Great and Little Nine Partners amicably ad- justed and settled. than to enter into litigation respecting it. A suit will be attended with expense and trouble, create heats and animosities in the neighborhood, and after all this, will not finally decide the question, where- as an amicable adjustment of the Line will prevent these evils and put a final end to the business. If then a general submission of the dispute can- not be obtained I shall prefer a distinct friendly settlement with my neighbor rather than a suit at law. I am with great respect your most Obed't Serv't. GEORGE CLINTON."
"Mr. Augustine Graham."
Mr. Graham persisted in his suit in opposition to the advice of Clinton, and was defeated. "The greater part of the jury," he writes, "was more or less concerned on the line between the two patents and it went against me." His attorney was Morgan Lewis. Jacob Radcliff was the attorney for Smith. To prove his possession since 1745 Mr. Graham's witnesses as he names them were "Peter Weaver, Adam Weaver, Johan Tice Smith and his wife, Matthias Hoffman and his brother Tice Hoffman, with their half brother Christian Hoffman, Jonathan Darling, Michael Row, Rufus Herick, John Wiltsie, Matthias Wiltsie, and Gabriel Dusenberry and his wife."
.
36
HISTORY OF PINE PLAINS
The decision of this suit put Platt Smith in possession and owner for the time being, and Edmund Reynolds, who in 1772 had leased about eighteen acres of "meadow" on this disputed tract from Morris Graham brother to Augustine and also one of the executors in the will of James Grahanı, now took a lease from Platt Smith for his meadow. Other parties having a like interest did the same.
Mr. Graham claimed "to the First (Great) Nine Partner line" which was the one run by Edsall in 1734, and to this held with an impolitic ten- acity. He had similar troubles on his lot seventeen, which is the third lot easterly from fourteen, and lies under the summit of the mountain. The north part he sold to John Seaton and in 1774 sold two hundred and twenty-five acres on the southern part to Ebenezer Craw for forty-five shillings per acre. He refused to pay, as the land was claimed by parties having adjoining lands. In 1792 or 3 Mr Graham commenced a suit for ejectment against Craw and another at the same time against Platt Smith.
Craw and Smith and other parties like interested had a conference with Graham in regard to the settlement of the difficulty, but were unsuccessful, as their "offer to me," writes Mr. Graham, "was such that it did not suit me to take up with."
Mr. Graham was not the only man of troubles in this locality. Richard Sackett had lot fifteen, the lot adjoining fourteen on the east, in the parti- tion of the Little Nines. In his will dated December 14, 1744, he devised his property to his children and grandchildren, and appointed his wife Margary, Richard and John his sons, executors. He provided that each of the heirs should be at an equal expense, should any suits arise respecting his title of these lands, and in case they should not agree to that, his execu- tor should have power to sell so much of the property of those refusing as to answer the demands of their proportionate expense. Richard Sackett Sen., died in 1746, and his son Richard refused to act as executor and share in the expenses of the defense of the titles, whereupon May 10, 1749, Mar- gary and John, the remaining executors, sold four hundred acres on lot fourteen to "Hendrick Nase of Crom Elbow." Consideration one hundred and forty pounds. Hendrick Nase died possessed of this, but during his life time the deed was "burglariously taken from his dwelling" and mean- time the widow of Richard Sackett deceased. April 3, 1760, John Sackett, the sole executor, in consideration of forty shillings gave a deed to Philip Nase, son of Hendrick, for the same four hundred acres.
In the settlements on the border line a portion of these lands were taken by other parties, and about 1783 or 4 the heirs of Philip Nase com- menced suit for ejectments, wherein all the evidences of the "line" and possession, were brought in. So far as I know the parties in posses- sion held the lands in both cases, the plaintiffs being defeated. The lands
37
LITTLE NINE PARTNER GRANT.
on the border in this locality were very valuable and worth the fight. Small amounts of land however, all along the line were "slashed" around by the earliest settlers, and titles to various amounts have in this way been acquired by possession.
OLD PINE TREE ON PINE STREET. Taken January, 1894. (See Lineage.)
CHAPTER VI.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
The primitive and special object of this work is the town of Pine Plains. But until the organization of this town in 1823, it was part of " North East Precinct," which later became "North East Town" in 1788. Milan, North East and Pine Plains were one, and hence it is impossible in their civil and military organization to kcep either distinct or separate, until they were respectively formed and made independent by legislative enactment. This was referred to in chapter first, and is now mentioned to anticipate what will hereafter follow, which will be more general in its. historical import than special.
There were no proprietor settlers in the territory of the Little Nine Partners previous to 1744, the date of the division or partition of that tract. No title could be given previous to that, as it was undivided, and all occu- pants with intent to settle, were simply squatters, having a hope prospect- ive. Two years after this partition-Dec. 16, 1746-" North East Precinct" was formed, which included all the territory of the Little Nines, and now included in the towns of Milan, Pine Plains, and that part of North East not in the Oblong. Very little progress was made in settlement in this ter- ritory until about 1755, when a law was passed giving a township organi- zation to the lands in the patents. It is said this system was suggested by Lieutenant Governor James De Lancy to the General Assembly in the fall of 1754. The act was passed in accordance therewith, and the settlement and population increased quite rapidly in some localities.
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