History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 13

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920

USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 13

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Amherst advanced and carried all before him on Lake Champlain, where the French blew up and abandoned their works, and retired to Isle Aux Noix, at the outlet of the lake. Wolfe was finally successful after many trials at Quebec, and the fall of 1759 left the French with only Montreal, Fort Levis, below Ogdensburg, and a small area of country around Montreal in their possession.

After the fall of Quebec, General Amherst, who had ad- vanced as far as Isle Aux Noix, fell back to Crown Point, where his army constructed the immense fortification whose ruins are still to be seen.

A small work was erected on the site of Utica in 1758, and in 1759 forts and block-houses were erected at Oswego, at the Oswego Falls, at the outlet of Oneida Lake, and one called the Royal Block-House, at the east end of Oneida Lake. The fort at Oswego was a pentagon, with bomb- proofs and casemates, a ditch 35 feet broad, and a magazine capable of storing 1000 barrels of powder. It was garri- soned by 9 companies of troops, and there were several small armed vessels on the lake, carrying altogether 20 guns. The fort at Utica was a small carth work, and stood, according to Jones, between Main Street and the river, a little below Second Street. Mr. Jones also states that a small block-house was erected during the Revolution, which stood upon the site of the old Utica and Schenectady Rail- way depot, and was occupied by Moses Bagg, Sr., as a blacksmith-shop for some time between the years 1790 and I800.

The fort was named Fort Schuyler, in honor of Colonel Peter Schuyler, a prominent officer of the New York troops. After the close of the French war it ceased to be of impor- tance, and was suffered to go to ruin. It was generally known as old Fort Schuyler in contradistinction to Fort Stanwix, at Rome, which, for a time, during the Revolu- tion, was called Fort Schuyler, in honor of General Philip Schuyler. The work erected a short distance below Oneida Lake, on its outlet, was known as Fort Brewerton. It is stated in the " Documentary History," vii. 577, that permis- sion was obtained from the Indians to erect these works on

With this army was Thay-en-dan-e-gen (Joseph Brant), the young Mohawk chief.

t A small cannon.

There is some uncertainty as to the relationship between Colonel Peter Schuyler and General Philip Schuyler. By most writers Col- onel Peter is enlled the unele of General Philip; but Smith, in his history of the colony (vol. ii. page 81) spenks of Colonel Philip Schuyler as " the son of the celebrated Peter." There may have been two of cach name.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

condition that they should be demolished at the close of the French war. (Sir Wm. Johnson to the Lords of Trade, Nov. 13, 1763.) A Frenchman, probably an officer, trav- eled from Chouaguen (Oswego), as a secret agent or spy, to Schenectady, in 1757. He kept a diary of his journey, which he called his " Itinerary," from which we make a few extracts as given by Mr. Jones in his " Annals," com- mencing at Fort Williams :

" Leaving Fort Williams, there is a road that unites with that by which horses and cattle pass from Fort Kouari (Herkimer), opposite the mouth of the West Canada Creek, and Chouaguen. This road is bad for about four leagues after leaving Fort Williams, The country is marshy. Car- riages (les trains) travel it in winter and during the summer, and it can easily be passed on horseback at all times, though in some places there is a great deal of mnd. After these four leagues, carts can easily go as far as Fort Kouari. Having traveled four leagues on this road, which is five leagues from Fort Kouari, we come to the forks of two roads, one of which, to the left, leads to the Palatine's village (Herkimer) by fording the Mohawk River."* He says, " Leaving Fort Williams and taking the path on the north side of the Mohawk is estimated to be 12 leagues" (meaning probably to Little Falls). " This path leads over hills and small mountains, and can be traveled only afoot or on horseback. Eight leagues must be traversed by this path before reaching the fork of the high road that comes from the other side or right bank of the river."

The spring of 1760 witnessed the passage of General Amherst's army up to the valley of the Mohawk for the final campaign against the French. The force, which con- sisted of 4000 English regulars and 6000 provincials, left Albany and Schenectady on the 12th of June, and made their tedious way up the Mohawk, poling their bateaux, heavily loaded with provisions, munitions of war, and siege- artillery, and arrived at Oswego about the 1st of July. About the last of the month 600 Iroquois Indians, under Sir William Johnson, joined the army, and the number was shortly augmented to 1300. Among the prominent men connected with this expedition, and who passed along the valley of the Mohawk, were General Amherst, the com- mander-in-chief, afterwards Sir Jeffrey Amherst ; General Thomas Gage, afterwards the commander of the British forces in Boston at the commencement of the Revolution, and Governor of the colony ; Colonel Haldimand, subse- quently Governor-General of the Canadas ; Sir William Johnson, superintendent of Indian affairs ; General Jolin Bradstreet, the hero of Fort Frontenac; Israel Putnam, then a lieutenant-colonel, and others.

Three armies converged upon . Montreal : Amherst's, from Oswego; Wolfe's, under General Murray, from Que- bee; and a strong force by way of Lake Champlain. Fort Levis on Oraconenton Island, below Ogdensburg, was sur- rendered on the 25th of Angust; Montreal, carly in Sep- tember, and the conquest of Canada was complete.

From the conquest of Canada, in 1760, to the spring of 1776 the forts in the valley of the Mohawk were mostly unoccupied, and were generally in a ruinous condition at the

commencement of the Revolution. Sir William Johnson, in a letter to Sir J. Amherst, of Aug. 25, 1763, speaks of Fort Stanwix as having a very weak garrison. In a letter replying, Amherst advises Sir William to call for a guard for his house from Fort Stanwix. It was then spoken of as a trading station by General Amherst, who considered it far enough advanced in the Indian country. Nov. 13 of the same year, Sir William recommends that an interpreter and a smith be sent to the fort. General Gage, in a letter to Earl Shelburne, of May 27, 1767, recommends the abandonment of Fort Stanwix on the ground of economy. He proposes to withdraw the garrison and grant the place to an old half-pay officer, on condition that he shall take care of the buildings and return everything to the Crown when required ; and, in consideration of a small salary, he shall take charge of all stores destined for the lakes, and assist in transporting them over the carrying-place .; It is probable that the work was abandoned as a military post soon after the latter date.

From the date of the erection of the twelve original counties, Nov. 1, 1683, the central, northern, and western portions of the colony had been included within the bounds of the county of Albany, up to March 12, 1772, when the Assembly erected a new county from Albany, and gave it the name of Tryon, in honor of William Tryon, the last royal Governor. At the commencement of the troubles which culminated in the war of the Revolution, all the western portions of the colony formed parts of Tryon County.

CHAPTER VII.

LAND TITLES.

Early Grants and Patents-Cessions by the Six Nations-State Grants -Grants and Sales by the Oneida Indians.

ORISKANY PATENT.

THE earliest transaction in the lands lying within the limits of Oneida County was probably in the year 1705, during the reign of Queen Anne of England, when a tract lying in the central part of the county, and containing over 30,000 acres, was granted to Thomas Wenham and others. The map accompanying this chapter shows the shape and outlines of this tract, from which it appears that it covered portions of the present towns of Rome, Floyd, Marcy, Whitestown, and Westmoreland.

The following description was prepared by D. E. Wager, Esq., of Rome, and is undoubtedly the best that has ever been given to the public. Mr. Wager has evidently taken great pains to make the research complete :

" The 'Carrying-Place'-Oriskany Patent .- It has been stated that the first mention of the site of Rome in any written document was in a petition of the merchants of New York City to the Assembly in 1724, reference being therein made to ' the carrying-place between the Mohawk River and the river [Wood Creek ] that runs into Oneida Lake.' But nineteen years previous to this, in 1705, it is mentioned in the document describing the Oriskany Patent,

* This ford was undoubtedly near the foot of Genesee Street, Utica. He makes no mention of a fort at this place.

t Doc. Ilist., vii. 985.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

so called. This patent was originally supposed to contain 30,000 acres, and was granted April 18, 1705, by the colo- nial Governor (and with the consent of the King" of Eng- land ) to Thomas Wenham, George Clarke, Peter Schuyler, Roger Mompesson, and Peter Faucconnier. The land is described in two parcels,-one two miles wide on each side of Oriskany Creek, commencing at its mouth and running southward, and the other, two miles wide on each side of the Mohawk, also beginning at the mouth of Oriskany Creek, and extending up the river. These parcels are described in the following manner, to wit:

"' That certain piece of land and woodland situate, lying, and being on both sides of the creek called Ochreskennie, beginning where it runs into the Mohawk or Schenectada River, and runs up the said creek on both sides four English miles, and back into the woods on each side two English miles.

"' Also, another parcel of land and woodland, situate, lying, and being on both sides of said Mohawk or Schenectada River, beginning where said creek runs into said river, and up said river the depth of two English miles on each side to the Oneida Carrying-Place, where the path begins, and along the said path the same depth into the woods on each side, to a certain swamp called Cannigoticka; with all woods, underwoods, trees, timbers, feedings, pastures, mead- ows, marshes, swamps, ponds, pools, waters, water-courses, rivers, rivulets, runs, and streams of water.'

" The path mentioned in the patent began not far from the bend in the Mohawk, near where the New York Cen- tral Railway bridge crosses that stream, and ran up what is now Dominick Street, in Rome, to Wood Creek, and thence on to Fort Bull, keeping nearer to Wood Creek than is the present highway to West Rome. The ' swamp called Can- nigoticka' was the one just west of Rome, where Fort Bull was subsequently erected.

" At the period of the breaking out of the Revolution the one-fifth interest which Peter Schuyler owned in the patent had passed to and was owned by William Livingston and Alida Hoffman ; the Que-fifth originally owned by Roger Mompessou was the property of A. Van Cortlandt; the Peter Faucconnier one-fifth belonged to James De Lancy ; and the other two-fifths were held by the heirs or claimants of the original patentces, Thomas Wenham and George Clarke.

" James De Laney was a Tory, and performed active ser- vice in the king's behalf during the war, while the other owners of the patent sided with the colonists. In October, 1779, an act was passed by the Legislature of the State of New York declaring James De Lancy and some fifty-eight others guilty of treason, and confiscating and forfeiting all the property of each. In order that the property owned by these Tories, and thus confiscated, might be reached and sold, the Legislature, by an act passed in May, 1784, pro- vided for the appointment of 'Commissioners of Forfeit- ure,' who should have power to dispose at public or private sale of all the real estate owned by such Tories, and give decds of warranty therefor, as from the State. It was also provided that ' in case any such Tories held lands in com-

mon or jointly with those true to the American cause,' the commissioners should give notice, by a publication in two newspapers for six weeks, for the owners of said lands to meet at a given time and place, to agree with said commis- sioners on persons to make a partition and division of said lands ; and if at such time and place the owners did not appear, or failed to agree on persons to make a division, then the county judge of the county should appoint a sur- veyor and three agents, whose duty it should be to make a survey of the lands into allotments and lots, -first surveying off a certain portion of the lands to be sold at public auc- tion to pay the expenses of such survey and partition, -and after the division into allotments and lots each lot or parcel was to be drawn or balloted for, and the parcels drawn against the name of the owner whose property was confis- cated should belong to the State. The State was divided into three districts, and three commissioners appointed for each district. The commissioners for the western district, which included all west of Albany, were Jeremiah Van Rens- selacr, Christopher Yates, and Henry Oothout. The com- missioners met at Albany, Oet. 18, 1784, and appointed as the time and place for the owners of the Oriskany Patent to meet and agree with the commissioners on the persons to make a division, Oct. 23, 1784, at Butlersburg, in Mont- gomery County. The notice was published in the Albany Gazette and New York Independent Journal or General Advertiser. No one interested in the patent appeared on the day named, and Colonel Frederick Visscher, of Oris- kany battle fame, then First Judge of Montgomery, ap- pointed as such three agents to make partition Abraham Ten Eyck, Peter Schuyler, and Christopher Peak ; and Garrett G. Lansing, surveyor.

"On the 4th of June, 1785, the survey began, commencing on the north side of the Mohawk, opposite the mouth of Oriskany Creek. The patent was found to contain 32,625 acres. Before proceeding with the survey into allotments, the agents, as required by law, laid off a certain portion of the patent to be sold at public auction to pay expenses. Good care was taken that this portion should be so located as to bring enough to pay all expenses ; it included the ' carrying-place,' and what is now the very heart of the city of Rome, and contained 697 acres. It received the name of the ' Expense Lot,' and as such is still known.

"Subsequent to the survey of the 'Expense Lot,' the patent was surveyed into six allotments, which may be described as follows :

" The first allotment, which lay on the south side of the Mohawk River, included Oriskany, and contained 8040 acres. It was subdivided into fifteen lots, the first ten containing 538 acres each and the other five 532 acres each.

" The second allotment, also on the south side of the Mohawk, and next west of and adjoining the first allotment, contained 3700 acres, and was subdivided into five lots, each containing 740 acres.

" The third allotment, on the same side of the Mohawk, and adjoining the second allotment on the west, contained 4933 acres, and was subdivided into five lots, the first three containing 950 acres each, the fourth 1008, and the fifth 1045 acres.

# Queen Anne?

IIISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

"The fourth allotment is west of a line running in a north- easterly and southwesterly direction through what is now Washington Street, in Rome, and contains 4800 acres, sub- divided into five lots of 960 acres each.

" The fifth allotment, cast of the fourth, and mostly north of what is Court Street, in Rome, extends to the northern boundary of the patent, at Ridge Mills, where it crosses the Mohawk, and is the only one of the six lying on both sides of that stream. It contains 5400 acres, sub- divided into teu lots, five of 620 aeres each and five of 460 acres each.

" The sixth allotment includes the balance of the patent, is east of the fourth allotment, north of the Mohawk River, and contains 5075 acres, subdivided into five lots; lot two contains 965 acres, and each of the others 1015 aeres.

" By adding the figures in the different allotments, together with the ' Expense Lot,' it will be seen there is somewhere a discrepancy, which may possibly be accounted for by the fact that in subdividing the patent into allotments and the latter into lots, they would not hold out to the number of acres given for the entire patent. The figures given for the different lots in the third allotment would show it to contain 4903 instead of 4933 acres, and those for the sixth allotment make a total of 5025 instead of 5075 acres. With these given at 4903 and 5025, the entire patent would foot up only 32,565 acres, showing a falling off of 60 aeres, while with the other figures the total is 32,615 acres, a less number by teo acres than the amount the patent was said to contain.

" Nov. 29, 1785, the agents who made the survey pub- lished a notice that on the 9th of January, 1786, they would meet at Butlersburg, at the inn of Myndert W. Quackenbush, ' for the purpose of attending to the balloting for, and drawing by lot,' the several parcels mentioned. At that meeting there were present the Commissioners, the Agents, Judge Visscher, and Jellis Fonda. None of the owners of the patent appeared, and the drawings took place then and there. The James De Laney one-fifth was set off to the State, including two parcels of 960 and 460 aeres respectively, the former in the northwest corner of the patent, and the latter just east of what is now Factory Village, io Rome ; no other tracts in this immediate vicinity were set off to the State. Other tracts in and around Rome were set off to those claiming under George Clarke and Thomas Wenham, and to William Livingstoo and Alida Hoffman.

" The ' Expense Lot' was sold March 17, 1786, at anc- tion, and bid off by Dominick Lynch, a merchant of New York City, for £2250, New York currency."

This patent was located on both sides of the Mohawk River, and was known as the "Oriskany Patent." The name is variously spelled .*

It would appear that the Indians were cognizant of this grant, for it is stated in the account of the treaty held at

Fort Stanwix in October, 1768, at which time the " Line of Property" was established, that the Oneidas in partien- lar, in the persons of six of their principal chiefs, consid- ered the title, so far as they were concerned, as null and void. In vol. vii., 729, it is stated that the Indians com- plained to Sir William Johnson, in the year 1765, of a Ger- man who had settled at Orisca, and desired him driven off their lands.

Cosby's Manor .- This title covers a tract of land lying upon both sides of the Mohawk River, and abont equally divided by the line between Oneida and Herkimer Counties. The whole tract is described as being, according to a survey and map by John R. Bleecker, in 1786, 11 miles and 17 chains in length from the mouth of the Suduhqueda, or Sanquoit Creek, measuring easterly, and having a width of six English miles, or about three miles on cither side of the river. This measurement gives an area of 67 square miles and 176 square acres, or a total of 43,056 acres, of whichi the portion in the county of Oneida was, according to an accurate survey, 480 chains, or six miles square, and should contain 23,040 acres, which is an exact government town- ship of 36 seetions as surveyed in the West.

It appears that as early as 1725, " Nicholas Eker and sundry other Germans" had, by license from Governor Burnet, purchased " that traet in the Mohawk country, on both sides of the river, between the great flat or plain above the fall (Little Falls) and the land granted to the wife and children of Johan Jurek Kast ; } also another tract, begin- ning ou the west line of said granted lands, on both sides of the river, running up westward to a certain creek called Sadahqueda, and in breadth in the woods on both sides of the river six English miles."

Subsequently, Joseph Worrell, William Cosby, sheriff of Amboy, John Lyne, Thomas Ffreeman, Paul Richards, John Ffelton, Charles Williams, Richard Shuckburg, Timothy Bagley, Joseph Lyne, and Frederick Morris pur- chased the interest of these Germans, and thereupon drew up a petition to Governor William Cosby praying that letters patent be issued for 22,000 acres, being a part of the lands so purchased. This petition was by Governor Cosby forwarded to the home government in England, and upon the representations therein contained George II., on the 2d of January, 1734, issued royal letters patent, " wherein and whereby 22,000 acres of land are granted" to the petitioners " in fee, in free and common soccage as of our manor of E. Greenwich, in Kent." The patent then proceeds :

" In obedience to our royal instructions to said Governor of New York, etc., at St. James', the 19th day of May, 1732, and by the said William Cosby, Governor, etc., and George Clark, Esq., secretary of said province, Archibald Kennedy, Esq., Receiver- General, and Cad- wallader Colden, Surveyor-Geccral, commissioners for setting ont land to be granted, have set out to the said Joseph Worrell and others a certain tract in the county of Albany, on both sides of the Muhawk River, beginning at a point on the south side of said river on the west side of a brook called Sudahqueda, where it falls into said river ; thence south 38º west 238 chains; thence south 52º cast 483 chains ; thence north 38° east 480 chains ; thence north 52º west 483 chains ; thence south 38° west 242 chains, to the place of begin- ning ;" and thence proceeding in the usual form of a patent or deed,

# The orthography of this name is from the Indian nomenclature, and is given by Morgan as O-his'-heh in Seneca, O-his'-ha in Cayuga, O-his'-ku in Onondaga, Osc-have'-keh in Tuscarora, Ole-hisk' in Oneida, and Ole-his'-ka in Mohawk dialect,-all meaning " the place or stream of nettles." It is also written Oriska, Eriska, Oris'ca, Oriske, Ocbriskaney, Ochriscany, and Ochreskennic.

+ Doc. Ilist., viii. 124.

į This grant was in Herkimer County, and contained 1100 acres.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

reserving to the crown all gold and silver mines and trees fit for ship- timber and masts, and the yearly rent of two shillings and sixpence for each one bundred acres, and binding the grantees to cultivate three aeres in every fifty within the next three years, and concluding, " Witness our well-beloved William Cosby, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of New York, New Jersey, and the territories thereto depending in America, Vice-Admiral of the same, and Colonel of our army at Fort George, in the City of New York, the 2d day of January, 1734."#

The boundaries above described would give an area of 231,840 square chains, equivalent to 23,184 square acres, from which was probably deducted an ample allowance for roads, etc., reducing the whole available for agricultural purposes to about 22,000 acres.

The following paragraphs relating to the subsequent changes in the title of this manor we transcribe from Dr. Baggs' " Pioneers of Utica." The doctor appears to have sifted the matter thoroughly, leaving nothing to be desired :

" By deed of lease, dated Jan. 8, 1734, and by deed of release dated Jan. 9, 1734, Joseph Worrell and his asso- ciates before mentioned, together with the wives of such of them as were married, release and convey the aforesaid tract of land in the aforesaid patent to William Cosby, Governor of New York, with warranty therein against themselves, their heirs, and assigns." This lease and release are recited iu an indenture, dated 20th April, 1762, from Grace Cosby, widow of Governor William Cosby, to Oli- ver Delancey, granting the part of the pateut on the north side of the Mohawk River.t

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 13

Author: Durant, Samuel W Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 920

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920