History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 15

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 932

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

running to Canada Creek, was the patent granted to Jelles Fonda,* and by him sold, at ten eents per acre, to John Lansing, Jr., George Clinton, William Floyd, and Stephen Lush. It originally contained 40,000 acres, and at the present time constitutes parts of the towns of Rome, Floyd, Lee, Western, and Steuben. The date of this grant we have been unable to find.

Lying to the north of Fonda's Patent was a large area, granted at various dates from 1724 to 1798 to different parties, portions of which were in Oneida County. Among the patents were Adgate's, containing 43,907 acres ; Brown's, lying wholly outside of Oneida County, 210,000 acres ; Bur- netsfield Patent, 9400 acres ; Matchin's Patent, 1600 acres ; Remsenburgh Patent, 48,000 acres, etc. These were all located in what was then the county of Herkimer, and sev- eral of them, or portions, at least, were in what is now Oneida County. The most of Adgate's, all of Matehin's, and nearly all of the Remsenburgh Patents, were in Oneida County. Among the names of patents and pur- ehases were Oouthoudt's, which included some smaller ones purchased of the original owners, Browne's Purchase, Banyer's Patent, Lansing's, Willet's, Lush's, McIlvaine's, Rosco & Co.'s, Van Tine's, Carpenter's, Rogers', Hull's, Tabof's, ete. These were located in the towns of Boon- ville, Lee, Western, Steuben, and Ava, and were of various dimensions. Adgate's Eastern Patent and the Woodhull Traet were mostly included in the present town of Forest- port, and were evidently later grants. The Woodhull Tract was originally eight miles square, constituting what was ealled a full township. The Remsenburgh Patent was granted to Henry Remsen, of New York City, and others, and originally contained 48,000 aeres, of which about 20,000 were located within the present limits of Oneida County, and mostly ineluded within the town of Remsen, about one- fourth lying in Forestport, on the north side of Black River. The three last-named tracts lie mostly within the wilderness.

Steuben Tract .- This traet, consisting of 16,000 aeres, was granted to Baron Steuben, for his valuable services in the American army during the War of the Revolution, by the State of New York in 1786. It was a most gener- ous acknowledgment of the obligations which the new-born nation owed a distinguished soldier, who had given up wealth and position in Europe to cast his lot with a people struggling for national existence .; At the baron's death, in November, 1794, he left a large share of his property to Colonel Benjamin Walker and Colonel William North, who had been members of his military family during the war- and whom he had also appointed his executors.

This tract, excepting a small area included in the north- west part of Trenton, lies wholly in the town of Steuben.

Scriba's Patent .- This tract covered 500,000 aeres, and ineluded 14 towns in Oswego, and all that portion of Oneida County lying west and north from Canada and Wood Creeks, and a line running from the northwest corner of Fonda's Patent north to the angle in the boundary line between Oneida and Lewis counties, now constituting the towns of Florence, Camden, Vienna, Annsville, and portions of Ava,

Lec, and Rome. The total number of aeres included in Oneida County under this grant was not far from 164,000, as near as ean be computed from the assessors' returns of 1869 ; constituting more than one-fifth of the area of the county.

This extensive tract was purchased by Mr. George Scriba, of New York, and was surveyed into towns by Benjamin Wright, a prominent surveyor, who was afterwards asso- ciated with Mr. James Geddes, of Onondaga County, in the construction of the Erie Canal. The lines running parallel to Fish Creek through this traet, as shown on the map, indicate a strip surveyed into lots lying perpendicular to the creek .¿ A similar arrangement is indicated by the dotted lines on each side of Black River, in the town of Boonville.

In the southern-central part of the county was the long, irregular-shaped tract known as Coxe's Patent, containing 47,000 aeres, granted to Daniel Coxe and others May 30, 1770. It was bounded on the west by the " Line of Prop- erty," and extended its entire length (so far as it extended in a straight line), which by actual survey was found to be 22 miles and 64 chains ; on the north by Wood Creek and the Oriskany Patent, and on the east by the Oriskany, Sadaghqueda (or Morris'), and Bayard's (or Freemasons') Patents, and Cosby's Manor. The southern end of this patent terminated in a point within the present town of Bridgewater, where the west line of Bayard's Patent inter- sects the Unadilla River. (See map.)

This tract is stated, in the " Gazetteer of New York," to have been granted to Daniel Coxe and others; but Mr. Jones, in his " Annals," states that it formed part of a tract of 100,000 aeres granted by George III. to William Coxe, Rebecca Coxe, John Tabor Kempe, and Grace, his wife, descendants of Daniel Coxe, M.D.,§ " on condition that said descendants execute a grant, release, and surrender to the Crown of all their right and tike, or pretended right and tike, to the Province of Carolana and Islands, as described in a certain original Patent to Sir Robert Heath." The patent also prescribes that the said Grace Kempe eertify her eonsent and acceptance by such separate examination as, according to the laws of New York, will bind the inheritance of married women. It was granted without quit-rents for 10 years. It was also made with the following reservation : " Except and always reserved all mines of gold and silver ; also all white or other sorts of pinc-trees 24 inehes in di- ameter 12 inches from the ground, fit for masts for the royal navy. Said traet to form two townships: that lying northwest of the Oriskany Creek to be Coxeborough ; that to the southeast of said creek to be Carolana. Each of said townships to have two Assessors, one Treasurer, two Over- seers of Highways, two Overscers of Poor, one Collector, and four Constables, to be elected on the first Tuesday of May in each year by a majority of the freeholders.

" Signed by Cadwallader Colden, at our Fort, in the City of New York, on the 30th day of May A.D. 1770."

The grant was divided into seven smaller traets, num-

# Jelles Fonda was a major in Colonel Gny Johnson's regiment of Tryon County militia at the breaking out of the Revolution.

t See sketch of Steuben in another connection.

# This strip along Fish Creek was originally a reservation made by the Oneidas for fishing purposes at the treaty of 1788, which see.

¿ In his History of Kirkland, Mr. Jones states that this tract was granted to Daniel Coxc, William Coxe, Rebecca Coxe, etc.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

bered from "first" to "seventh division," the first being located in the triangle formed by Wood Creek and the boundary-lines of the Oriskany and Coxe Patents, and the seventh and largest traet occupying the southern portion of the grant. The tract at the present time forins portions of eight townships, viz. : Rome, Westmoreland, Whitestown, Kirkland, New Hartford, Marshall, Paris, and Bridgewater. Its extreme length was abont 25 miles .*

Bayard's or Freemasons' Patent .- This was a tract comprising 50,000 acres, lying partly in the present coun- ties of Oneida and Herkimer (then Albany County), granted June 12, 1771, to William and Robert Bayard and others. That portion lying in Oneida comprised about 20,000 aeres, and included parts of the present towns of New Hartford, Paris, and Bridgewater. It was bounded on the north by Cosby's Manor, and on the west by Coxe's Patent and the Unadilla River. It was of an irregular, triangular form, and comprised what are now portions of Oneida, Herkimer, and Otsego Counties.

The "Chenango Twenty Towns."-This was a tract of country located mostly in Chenango and Madison Counties, and sometimes called the " Governor's Purchase," from the fact that it was purchased during Governor George Chin- ton's administration, at a treaty with the Six Nations, Sept. 22, 1788. It was subsequently granted to relieve the set- tlers of Vermont who had suffered in consequence of hold- ing lands under New York titles.} A small portion of this tract was included in the southern part of Oneida County lying in the present towns of Sangerfield, Bridgewater, and Augusta, the part in the latter town belonging to No. 1, and the remainder to No. 20, of the "Twenty Towns."

This résumé disposes of all the lands included in Oneida County except those reserved by the Treaty of 1768, which we will now proceed to consider.

INDIAN TREATIES AND CESSIONS.

Lands belonging to the Oneidu nation had been granted, under the English rule, without consulting the Indians, and although no permanent settlements had been formed, yet the erection of forts and trading-houses had given the Indians-and very justly-great uneasiness, and they had often complained of these encroachments ; and the question finally became so serious that a great council was called at Fort Stanwix, in the autumn of 1768, for the discussion of the matter and its amicable adjustment. At the treaty concluded and signed on the 5th of November of that year, between the Six Nations and commissioners from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, before Sir Wil- liam Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, the In- dians ceded, excepting reservations to the Mohawks and others, all the lands lying east and south of the " Line of Property," as it was called, for the use and settlements of the whites. This was the first cession of lands within the county of Oneida, and the cession included about two-thirds of the present area of the county.

" Under the English government it was not enstomary to

grant patents for land until the aboriginal title was extin- guished by purchase. The practice was to apply for a license to purchase in the king's name, and the deed being obtained and annexed to a second petition, the Government issued a warrant to the Surveyor-General to cause a survey to be made of the quantity purchased. The Attorney-Gen- eral was then directed to prepare a draft of a patent, which was laid before the Council, and, if approved, was engrossed, recorded, sealed, and issued. In the earlier periods less formality was observed, and the frauds and abuses practiced led, in several instances, to the annulling of extensive pur- chases, and to the introduction of checks to prevent the re- currence of these frauds. The practice of requiring an ac- tual survey by the Surveyor-General, or his deputies, was introduced in 1736."

TREATY OF FORT STANWIX, 1768.

The terrible " Pontiac's war" of 1763-64, which proved so destructive to the posts and settlements throughout the West and on the borders of Pennsylvania and Virginia, did not affect the colony of New York, and very few of the Six Nations were concerned in it. It was mostly waged by the Shawanese and Delawares of the upper Ohio, and by the northwestern Indians. An outlying band of the Sene- cas, however, under their celebrated chief Guyasutha,¿ took an active part in the contest.

Guyasutha commanded at the siege of Fort Pitt, and also in the desperate battle of Brush (or Bushy) Run, in Westmoreland Co., Pa., where the savages were totally de- feated, after a two days' battle, by Colonel Henry Bouquet, Aug. 5 and 6, 1763.

There had for years been a feeling of intense jealousy growing among the Indians at the continual encroachments of the whites upon their territory, and several treaties were concluded with them at the close of Pontiac's war. It was, no doubt, greatly owing to the influence of Sir Wm. John- son that the Six Nations abstained generally from partici- pating in the great conspiracy of the Ottawa chieftain. It is well known that at the time of General Braddock's ex- pedition towards Fort Duquesne, in 1755, the bitter feeling among the Indians had prevented their taking up arms against the French. Had they done so, the latter would have been closely besieged within their fortress, and Brad- dock could have made the march at his leisure from Vir- ginia to the Ohio River. Their indifference cost the English government a fine army and the ravages of a savage Indian war upon the frontiers.

In the early summer of 1764, Colonel Bradstreet was sent from Albany, by order of General Gage, the British commander-in-chief in America, with a force of 1200 men, to either conclude a treaty of peace with the Western In- dians, or, in conjunction with Colonel Bouquet, moving from Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh, Pa.), to carry the war into the enemy's country and compel him to terms.

Bradstreet arrived at Oswego in the latter part of June, when he was joined by Sir William Johnson and a large party of warriors from the Six Nations. Early in July the whole force proceeded to Niagara, where, after much

# Mr. Jones states that Bridgewater formed its southern boundary ; but if he means the north line of Bridgewater, he is mistaken, for it extended to a point south of the centre of the town. (See map.) These settlers had been driven from Vermont.

¿ Of various orthography.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

delay, a treaty of peace was concluded with the belligerent nations.

In July, 1766, there was a grand council of all the na- tions interested at Oswego, and the great Ottawa chief, Pontiac, came in state, and shook hands with Sir William Johnson, and a treaty of peace was concluded .*

The claims of the Six Nations, or Iroquois, to their country in North America are thus set forth by Sir Wil- liam Johnson in a letter to the Lords of Trade, of date Nov. 13, 1763 :

" As original proprietors, this Confederacy claim the country of their residence south of Lake Ontario to the Great Ridge of the Blue Mountains, with all the western part of the Province of New York, towards Hudson's River, west of the Caatskill ; thence to Lake Champlain; and from Re- gioghne, a rock at the east side of said lake, to Oswegatchie, or La Galette, on the River St. Lawrence ; thence up the River St. Lawrence and along the south side of Lake On- tario to Niagara.

" In right of conquest they claim all the country (com- prehending the Ohio) along the great Ridge of Blue Mountains at the back of Virginia ; thence to the head of Kentucky River, and down the same to the Ohio above the Rifts ; thence northerly to the south end of Lake Michigan ; thence along the eastern shore of said lake to Michilimacki- nac; thence easterly across the north end of Lake Huron to the great Ottawa River (including the Chippeway, or Mississagay Country) ; and thence down the said river to the Island of Montreal."

In order to a settlement of these claims and difficulties, and to define the particular line of boundary between the Indians and the whites, a great council was called at Fort Stanwix in September, 1768.

On the 19th of that month Sir William Johnson, ac- companied by the Governor of New Jersey and other gen- tlemen, and 20 boats loaded with goods, set out for the place of meeting. The Virginia commission were already on the ground, and on the 21st Lieutenant-Governor Penn arrived with the commissioners from Pennsylvania.

The Indians were very slow in collecting, but by the 1st of October 800 were present. On the 15th of October 'Governor Penn was called home, and was not present at the treaty. On the 22d of October there had arrived 2200 Indians, and more were reported coming.

The congress was formally opened on the 24th. Pres- ent,-Hon. Sir William Johnson, Bart., Superintendent ; His Excellency William Franklin, Esq., Governor of New Jersey ; Thomas Walker, Esq., Commissioner for Virginia ; Hon. Frederick Smyth, Chief-Justice of New Jersey ; Rich- ard Peters and James Tilghman, Commissioners for Penn- sylvania ; George Croghan, Esq., Daniel Claus, Esq., and Guy Johnson, Esq., Deputy Agents for Indian Affairs (the latter acting also as secretary) ; and John Butler, Esq., Andrew Montour, and Philip Phillips, interpreters.

Twenty-seven chiefs were present, of whom seven were Mohawks, four Onondagas, two Senecas, five Oneidas, three Cayugas, three Tascaroras, one Shawunese, and two Dela- wares.

At this treaty the boundary line (subsequently known as " The Line of Property") was established substantially as follows : " Beginning at the mouth of the Tennessee River ; thence up the Ohio River to Fort Pitt ; thence up the Al- legheny River to Kittanning; thence ncarly east over the Allegheny mountains to Bald Eagle Creek ; thence down said Creek and northeast along Burnett's hills to the east branch of the Susquehanna River; thence northeast to the mouth of the east branch of the Delaware River ; thence up the west or Mohock branch of the Delaware ; thence up the Unadilla River to the head ; and thence by a direct line to the mouth of Canada Creek, or east branch of Fish Creek." Beyond this point to the northward the line was not de- fined, and we are in the dark regarding its continuation ; but it appears that at about the close of the colonial period they claimed " from the ' Line of Property,' reversed, and continued from the Canada Creek till it comes to certain mountains, called Esoiade, or Ice Mountain, under which that Canada Creek opposite to old Fort Hendrick heads ; from thence running westwardly to an old fort which stood on the creek called Weteringhra Guentere, f and which emptics itself into the river St. Lawrence, about twelve miles below Carlton, or Buck's Island, and which fort the Oneidas took from their enemies a long time ago; from thence running southerly to a rift upon the Onondaga River, called Ogon- tenugea, or Auguegonteneagea [a place remarkable for eels], about five miles from where the river empties out of Oneyda Lake."-[Census of New York, 1855.]

This treaty was signed on the 5th of November by the contracting parties. The chiefs who affixed their signatures on behalf of the Six Nations were Ty-o-rhan-scre, or " Abra- ham," for the Mohawks ; Can-agh-qui-e-son for the Onei- das; Se-quar-u-se-ra for the Tuscaroras ; Ot-sin-o-ghi-ya-ta. for the Onondagas ; Te-ga-a-ia for the Cuyugas ; and Gu-us-trax for the Senecas.

" In 1777, when New York became an independent Statc, the native owners of Long Island and the country border- ing upon the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers had mostly con- vcyed their title to the Crown of England, or to persons or associations authorized by the colonial government to acquire.it.

" At the commencement of the war the Iroquois had ceded but a comparatively small part of their lands, and the hostile course which most but the Oneidas and Tuscaroras pursued during the war placed them in an unfavorable po- sition, with regard to their claims, upon the return of peace. Popular hatred, sustained by the recollection of the recent horrors of Indian warfare, to some extent found expression in the councils of the new government ; and while the latter appeared anxious to reward those who had lately been their allies, or who had remained neutral, by liberal concessions, it evinced a not less fixed determination of holding the hostile portion responsible for the policy it had adopted.

" The first law of the State government on this subject

# Albach's Annals of the West states that this treaty was held early in the spring, at the German Flats.

+ French Creek, at the present village of Clayton.

¿ It would seem that this boundary must have extended from the head-waters of Canada Creek-the branch of Fish Creek spoken of -to those of one of the large Canada ereeks (either East or West), and thence in an imaginary straight line to the mouth of French Creek, in the present county of Jefferson.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

was enacted October 23, 1779, in which, after reciting the mischief done by the Indians, and their infidelity and abuse of former favors,-naming especially the Mohawks, Onon- dugas, Cayugas, and Senecas,-it empowered the Governor and four commissioners* to execute, if possible, a treaty of pacification, and to ask, demand, and by every way and means in their power to obtain, an engagement not only for securing the State and its subjeets from further hostilities, but for indemnifying the publie for injuries already com- mitted, by exaeting sueh compensation and retribution as might be deemed proper. These commissioners were to act in behalf of the State in any treaty which the United States might hold, and their proceedings were to be reported to the Legislature.

" On the 25th of March, 1783, the Governor and eouneil of appointment were authorized to appoint three eommis- sionerst of Indian affairs to superintend the business of the Indians generally, and to examine into and aseertain the territorial elaims of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, with the view of adopting such measures as might secure their eon- tentment and tranquillity.

TREATY OF 1784. .

" The first general treaty with the Six Nations after the war was made at Fort Stanwix, Oct. 22, 1784, by Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, commissioners plenipotentiary, appointed by Congress for that purpose. It required, under the pledge of hostages, the immediate surrender of all prisoners, and seeured to the Oneidas and Tuscaroras the quiet possession of their lands. The Six Nations eeded all their lands west of a line from Lake On- tario, four miles east of the Niagara River, to Buffalo Creek, and thenee south to Pennsylvania ; thenee west to the end of Pennsylvania ; and thenee south along the west bounds of that State to the Ohio River."}

The Mohawks took no part in this council. The stipu- lations of this treaty were renewed at Fort Harmar (in Ohio) on the 9th of January, 1789, and the Six Nations secured their possessions east of the line above mentioned, excepting a reservation six miles square at Oswego, and the lands eeded in Pennsylvania.

Lafayette .- At the treaty of 1784 there were present the Marquis de Lafayette, M. de Marbois, Consul-General of France, and the Chevalier de Caraman,§ who attended the eouneil in a body. During the introductory proceed- ings Lafayette made the following address to the Indians assembled :

" In meeting my children, I give thanks to heaven, which has conducted me to this place of peace, where you smoke together the pipe of friendship.

" If you remember the voice of Kay-en la-a, || eall to mind also his advices and belts which he has often sent you. I come to thank the faithful children, the sachems, the warriors, and such as have been my messengers ; and if paternal memory did not sooner forget ill than good, I might be disposed to punish those who, in opening their cars, have shut their hearts, and who, blindly taking up the hatchet, have been in danger of striking their own fathers.

" That the American cause is just, I formerly told you; that it is tho cause of humanity ; that it is your cause in particular ; that you ought at least to remain neutral; and that the brave Americans would defend both their liberty and yours; that your fathers, the French, would take them by the hand ; that the ' white birds'{ would cover the shores ; that the great Onontio, like the sun, would dispel the clouds which surrounded you; and that the adverse projects would vanish like a seattering fog.

"Not to listen to Kay-en-la-a was the advice given you from another quarter, and you were also told that the Northern army## would enter Boston in triumph ; that the Southern army would con- quer Virginia; that the great chief warrior, Washington, at the head of your fathers and your brothers, would be forced to abandon the country. Those who put their hand before your eyes have not failed to open their own. Peace bas ensued. You know the conditions of it. Aud I shall do a favor to some of you by forbearing, through pity, a repetition of them.

" My predictions have been fulfilled. Open your ears to the new advice of your father, and let my voice be heard among all the nations.

" What have you ever gained, my children,-what have you not lost,-in European quarrels ? Be more wise than the white men. Keep peace among yourselves, and, sinee the great council of the United States is, in its goodness, disposed to treat with you, profit by these good dispositions. Forget not that the Americans are the intimate friends of your fathers, the French. This alliance is as desirable as it has been successful. The great Onontio has given forever his hand to your brothers, who offer you theirs, andl by this means we shall form a salutary chain. To satisfy yourselves of it, trade with the Americans, and with those of your fathers who may eross the great lake.if The manufactures of France are known to you, and your experience will lead you to prefer them, They will be to you a token of the alliance.

" In selling your lands, do not consult the keg of rum, and give them away to the first adventurer, but let the American chiefs and yours, united around the fire, settle on reasonable terms. At present, my children, you know that if some have a title to the acknowledg- ments of Congress, there are many whose only resource is in their clemency, and whose past faults eall for reparation. If you hearken well, my children, I have said enough to you. Repeat my words, one to another.

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History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 15

Author: Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 932

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 932