USA > New York > Putnam County > History of Putnam County, New York : with biographical sketches of its prominent men > Part 12
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The controversy as to boundaries now became one between New York and Connecticut. On the 13th of October, 1664, the General Assembly of Connecticut appointed delegates to ac- company the governor to New York, for the purpose of con- gratulating the duke's commissioners and settling the bounda- ries between the colonies. Accordingly, on the 28th of Octo.
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ber, 1664, an agreement was made by which the boundaries be- tween New York and Connecticut were fixed at twenty miles east of the Hudson River, running north from Long Island Sound, and parallel to the river. This was signed on the 1st of December, and the line established was to begin at the mouth of Mamaroneck Creek on the Sound and extend north-north- west to the line of Massachusetts, this being supposed to be parallel with the river, and was so stated in a letter from Gov. Nicolls to the Duke of York, in 1665. It was soon found that this idea was grossly erroneous, for the line would cross the Hudson River below West Point. The commotions and changes in the two colonies originated in the reconquest of New York by the Dutch in 1669, and its surrender to the English soon after put a temporary stop to the agitation and no official nego- tiations took place till after 1680. In the mean time the Con- necticut people surveyed the line which as they said struck the Hudson River "below the new mills erected by Mr. Frederick Philipse." These mills were on a creek above the present village of Tarrytown, made famous by Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." This line was so eminently to the advantage of Con- necticut that it is not surprising that they stoutly claimed it, notwithstanding the manifest error, and the controversy soon began to assume formidable proportions.
In 1683, a delegation was sent to Governor Dongan, to treat with him for a settlement of the boundaries, but they were privately instructed to insist upon the line running north-north- west from Mamaroneck and any deviation from it was to be ascribed to their desire "to oblige his honor and to promote a perpetual good correspondence" between the two colonies. Governor Dongan and the New York Council insisted upon the line twenty miles east from the Hudson River and all that the representatives of Connecticut could obtain was permission to retain the settlements they had made on the Sound. in exchange for an equal tract further north. This agreement was made November 24th, 1683, and it established a boundary which has ever since remained. The bounds were to begin at the mouth of the Byram River and run up it to the head of tide water. A line was then to be run north-northwest, eight miles from the Sound; from this point another line was to be run 12 miles, parallel in its general course to the Sound; from the end of this line another line was to be run parallel to the Hudson River,
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and everywhere twenty miles from it, northerly to the Massa- chusetts line. and on the east side of this line a tract was to be laid off equal in acres to the amount yielded to Connecticut on the shores of the Sound. This tract so laid off was called the "Equivalent Lands." and the boundary was to be on its eastern- most side.
This agreement was approved by Connecticut, May 8th, 1684, and a surveyor and committee were appointed to lay out the line. They began at the mouth of Byram River, and measured up it to the head of tide water and then ran a line north-north- west six miles and a half, completing eight miles from the Sound. They then ran the line twelve miles east, parallel to the Sound, but as this point was found not to be twenty miles from the Hudson River, they continued it a mile and sixty-four rods, and there the point was fixed at the place of beginning of the line which was to run north to the Massachusetts line, and parallel to the river. A calculation was made of the land yielded to Connecticut, and it was found to be 61,440 acres. The width of the "Equivalent Lands" was calculated on the assumption that the line was 100 miles long. As this line was disadvanta- geous to Connecticut every possible means was tried to prevent it from being carried into effect and the records of legislation and official correspondence from 1718 to 1725 bear ample testi- mony to the ingenuity if to no other trait, for which the people of Connecticut have always been famous. The lines run in 1684 remained for thirty-three years before any steps were taken to extend them and complete the transfer of territory from Con- necticut to New York.
In 1717, the government of New York took steps to have the line determined, and made an effort to get Connecticut to unite in the undertaking. It seems that at the end of the twelve mile line parallel to the Sound there was a tree called the "Duke's tree." Connecticut claimed this as the starting point of the line to be run north, while New York refused to accept this point unless it was determined by actual measurement. The report made by a committee appointed by the Council of New York pretty clearly established the fact that the claim for the "Duke's tree " was a " Yankee trick," and that the true bounds were 305 rods beyond the place where the tree was supposed to stand. Nothing effectual was done till 1724, when Connecticut appointed commissioners and yielded all the points of the pre-
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vious contentions. In consideration for the Connecticut settlers near the line at Ridgefield, it was determined to make a crook in the boundary corresponding to the one in the Hudson River at Cortlandt's Point (now known as Verplanck's Point), conse- quently a line was measured due east from the western extrem- ity of Cortlandt's Point twenty miles, and to make the crook as great as possible it was agreed that the line should be meas- ured without any allowance for errors in chaining. A calcula- tion was then to be made of the width of the tract running the
whole length of the two lines which extended from the line parallel with the Sound to the Massachusetts line. This tract was to be conveyed to New York and the east line was to be the boundary. It was also agreed that one compass should be used and that all measurements should be made on the surface of the ground.
One of the objections made to running the line had been that certain poor families who had settled on the tract might be in danger of losing their lands, and it was agreed on both sides that such persons should receive a patent for the lands they had improved. They began the survey in 1725, and measured the various lines from the mouth of Byram River, to the end of the twelve mile line parallel to the Sound, marking every point with the utmost care, and there they stopped, leaving the line running north to be run at some future time. The tract of more than 60,000 acres thus to be acquired by New York, pre sented an opportunity too tempting to be resisted by land speculators of the last century. The " certain poor families " still remained in the same state of uncertainty as to whether they were to be in New York or Connecticut, and a partnership was formed by them with residents of New York, who had cap- ital, political influence and official position, and a plan was de- vised for ending their troubles. On the 3d of September, 1730, a petition was presented to the New York Council by Thomas Hauley and twenty-one others, setting forth that they were, as they supposed, residents upon the Equivalent Tract, where they had settled believing it to be in Connecticut, and that to de- prive them of their lands would impoverish them, and if they could have 50,000 acres of the Equivalent Lands, they would defray the charge of completing the boundary line, which had been suspended for want of funds.
This was agreed to by both colonies and surveyors and com-
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missioners were appointed, and it was declared that when the work should be completed by the erection of monuments, the lines so designated should forever be the boundary line be- tween New York and Connecticut. The line was run to the Massachusetts line, in the spring of 1731. From the east end of the line, measured twenty miles due east from the end of Ver- planck's Point, a random line was rnn to the Massachusetts boundary. This was a little more than 50 miles long, and the north end on the Massachusetts line was found by measurement to be 132 rods too far west. This distance being measured off, a monument was erected at the true corner. The straight line between this monument and the east end of the twenty mile line from Verplanck's Point was then run by measuring perpendiculars from the random line at intervals of two miles, and the extremities of these offset lines were marked by heaps of stones. When the proper calculation was made the tract of Equivalent Land was found to be one mile, three-quarters and twenty rods wide. This tract was measured by running lines east from the heaps of stones in the direct line just measured, and the erection of heaps of stones opposite them, which heaps marked the boundary line between New York and Con- necticut.
At the time of this survey there were but two or three roads crossing the line, and no villages near it, and the lands were en- tirely unsettled, except a few miles from the south end. The natural result of measuring the lines on the surface of the ground, which varied from level land to rough and precipitous mountains, was that the heaps of stones which marked the boundary between the two States of New York and Connecti- cut were not in a straight line, nevertheless they are the true boundary. The commissioners held a meeting at Dover after completing the survey, and there executed a deed, by which the Equivalent Lands were conveyed to New York and they have ever since formed a part of her territory. A patent for 50,000 acres was granted to Hauley and his associates, in four separate tracts and embracing the greater part of the whole. The sur- veyor general was next directed to survey these lands for the purpose of division among the owners. This was done about 1732. The map made by Cadwallader Colden, is now among the Colden papers in the library of the New York Historical Society, and is the only map of any of the early surveys that
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can be found. The land was divided among the Hauley pat- entees, who sold it to settlers and by this title the lands are now held.
Owing to the fact that settlers could buy these lands, they were settled at an early day, and the "Oblong" was the original Southeast Precinct and had many inhabitants. The Oblong line is still well defined though in some places obliterated by the re- moval of fences by persons who own land on both sides of the line. Its location at various points is given in the sketches of the towns of Southeast and Patterson. The west line of the Oblong was marked by heaps of stones at intervals of two miles. The following is the description of these points as taken from the report of the commissioners. The first two monuments at the distance of two miles from the angle are in Westchester county. The next, or the sixth mile monument, is the first in Putnam county.
" At the distance of six miles in the said line we set up a stake and heaped some stones around it on the top of a ridge for a monument which we esteemed to be about thirty rods East of a cedar swamp, and marked some trees on each side of said monument in a nearly North 12 degrees 30 minutes Course1."
" At the distance of eight miles we set up a stake and heaped up some stones round it for a monument, being between two rocky hills, about four rods from the eastermost of them and marked some trees on each side of said monument2."
"At the distance of ten miles we set up a stake and heaped up some stones round it for a monument being on the west side of a ridge of land and 66 chaius on the perpendicular west from Croton River and marked some trees on each side of said monu- ment3."
" At the distance of twelve miles we set up a stake and heaped some stones round it as a monument being at the east side of a hill near a point of rocks to the west of a great swamp and boggy meadow in said swamp in Croton River." [This twelve mile monument is on the land of Dr. Jonathan Seeley, about 40
1 This monument is opposite the cedar swamp, north of Peach Pond. The line. runs through this lake.
2 The eight mile monument is on the land of Stephen Barnum, about one-quar- ter mile north of the road to Milltown.
" The ten mile monument is about 20 rods north of the Presbyterian Church at. Doansburg.
8
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rods north of the road leading from his house to De Forrest's corners. ]
"At the distance of fourteen miles we set up a stake and heaped up some stones round it for a monument near on the top of a mountain being on the east side of the aforesaid Great Swamp and near the southwest end of the said mountains'."
"At the distance of sixteen miles we set up a stake and heaped up some stones round it for a monument being on the northwest side of a brushy hill and marked some trees on each side of said monument2."
"At the distance of eighteen miles we set up a stake and heaped up some stones round it for a monument, being on the north side of a small run of water and in a low piece of land and marked some trees on each side of said monument." [This eighteen mile monument is in the town of Pawlings, on the farm of Isaac Aikin. It is about one-quarter mile north of the northeast corner of the Philipse Patent. This monument was two chains and two rods north from the northwest corner of the Oblong Lot No. 23. ]
Of the tract granted to Thomas Hauley and his associates 44,250 acres were released to Adam Ireland, John Thomas and Benjamin Birdsall, June 15th, 1731. The deed is recorded in Dutchess County Records, Liber N., Page 302, and these parties sold Lots 23 and 16 to Jacob Haviland, jr., June 16th, 1731.
The original line between New York and Connecticut was es- tablished by the commissioners who run the Oblong line, by measuring lines perpendicular from the Oblong line, from each of the before mentioned monuments which were two miles dis- tant from each other. The following is the description of the monuments which were placed to mark the Connecticut line:
"The monument corresponding to the monument at six miles distance as aforesaid is a stake with a heap of stones round it near the north end of a swamp and by a foot-path leading to Danbury3."
"The monument corresponding to the monument of eight
1 This fourteen mile monument is on the top of the mountains north of the Methodist chapel at " Cowle's Corners."
2 The 16 mile monument is nearly east from "Aikin's Corners " and near where the road running east from the school house crosses the Oblong line.
"This is on a strip of dry land between two swamps, the old foot-path running on this ridge.
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miles distance as aforesaid, is a stake and heap of stones round it in a hollow upon a high rocky hill'."
"The monument corresponding to the monument at ten miles distance as aforesaid is a stake with a heap of stones round it in a springy ground on the west side of a high hill ?. "
"The monument corresponding to the monument at twelve miles distance as aforesaid was set up at the end of two miles on a line running nearly north 12 degrees 30 minutes east from the monument corresponding to the monument at ten miles dis- tance, because we could not carry the perpendicular across the Great Swamp, that was overflowed by Croton river; and we marked the trees in the said two miles with 3 notches on the north and south sides. This monument is a heap of stones round a small white oak tree3."
"The monument corresponding to the monument at fourteen miles distance is a stake and heap of stones standing on the northwest side of a hill‘."
"The monument corresponding to the monument at six- teen miles distance is a stake and heap of stones on a high hill, there being two small ponds to the south east eastward of the monument, the nearest to which is about 5 rods to the monu- ment." [This monument is on top of Cranberry Mountain.]
"The monument corresponding to the monument at eighteen miles distance as aforesaid is a stake and heap of stones on a ledge of rocks on the west side of a hill." [This monument was found in 1860. It is north of the county line. ]
In 1855 commissioners were appointed by the State of Con- necticut to unite with commissioners to be appointed by New York to ascertain and settle the boundary line. In accordance with a joint resolution of the Legislature of New York, passed April 5th, 1856, Gov. Myron H. Clark appointed Hon. Benjamin Field, of Orleans county, Hon. Samuel D. Backus, of Kings, and Col. Jonathan Tarbell, of Essex, to be commissioners on the part of New York.
1This is on the top of Joe's Hill and about 60 rods south of the road from Mill- town to Danbury.
This monument is in a piece of meadow lately belonging to Seneca Salmons, who removed the stones. The hole made in the ground by the heap of stones was still visible in 1860, when the line was re-surveyed.
"The commissioners in 1860 could find no trace of this monument.
4This monumeut was found in 1860. A small maple tree had grown up through it crowding off the upper stones but leaving the foundation intact.
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HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
The commissioners of both States met but no agreement could be made between them. Connecticut insisted on a straight line from the corner monument on the Massachusetts line to the angle in Westchester county, while New York insisted that the line should run through the ancient monuments erected by the former commissioners in 1731, although that line would not be straight, as they were not authorized to make a new line but to ascertain and perpetuate the old one. All efforts to agree proving fruitless, the commissioners of New York made report to the Senate in 1857, giving a full history of the case. By an Act of Legislature, passed April 4th, 1860, "The commission- ers were directed and empowered to survey the line between the States and to mark it with suitable monuments as fixed by the survey of 1731." The commissioners were to give one month's notice to the Connecticut commissioners and if they refused or neglected to attend, they were to run the line with- out them. They accordingly surveyed the line (Connecticut commissioners not consenting) and made report to the New York Senate, in 1861. The old monuments were found and identified and monuments of sawed marble eight inches square and stand- ing out of ground about two and a half feet were placed at road crossings and other suitable places. For reasons given before a line connecting the ancient monuments would not be straight. For the sake of the curious, the course of the line as then run is given as far as Putnam county is concerned:1 From 6 mile monument to 8 mile monument, N. 10° 19' E., 159 ch., 28 L. From 8 mile monument to 10 mile monument, N. 12º, 24' E., 155 ch., 71 L. From 10 mile monument to 14 mile monument, N. 10°, 51' E., 313 ch., 41 L. From. 14 mile monument to 16 mile monument, N. 10°, 11' E., 161 ch., 7 L. From 16 mile monument to 18 mile monument, N. 12°, 19' E., 157 ch., 15 L.
The south line of the county runs about half a mile south of the six mile monument. The course between the six mile and the four mile monument in Westchester is south 12º, 20' W.
In 1879, by an Act of Legislature of the State of New York, the secretary of State, the attorney general, and the State
1The distance in the new survey was made on horizontal distances which accounts for differences.
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engineer and surveyor were appointed commissioners to meet with commissioners appointed by the State of Connecticut to establish the boundary between the States. A settlement of the long vexed question was finally made, and the line as run and marked by the New York commissioners in 1860 was agreed upon as the boundary line between the two States.
CHAPTER IX.
SETTLEMENT AND POPULATION.
A T the time when Dutchess county was established, in 1683, the whole region was almost without inhabitants. The historian, Smith, writing about 1750, says, " The inhabitants on the banks of the river are Dutch but those more easterly are Englishmen who have for the most part emigrated from Con- necticut and Long Island. The growth of the county has been very sudden, and commenced but a few years ago. Within the memory of people now living it did not contain above twelve families." The following copy of a letter which was formerly in possession of T. Van Wyck Brinkerhoff of East. Fishkill, may throw some light on the early settlement of Dutchess county.
"In the year 1723, I saw Isaac Upton a coaster from New Port who informed me that about 1760 he came up the North river to Poughkeepsie, and in company with another person went to Mabbitt's store in Washington on business. That on their return they took a circuitous route from Pleasant Valley and passed the house of a German by the name of Hoffman who was then 118 years old. He supposed himself to be the first settler in Dutchess county. When young he deserted from a Dutch ship of war in New York, squatted where he then lived, built him a shanty and lived a number of years a solitary life without being able to find a white woman for a wife. After- ward he found a German family at Rhinebeck; married and lived where he then was to that advanced age. I was informed that he died two years afterward at the age of 120.
"PAUL UPTON."
In 1723, the whole population of Dutchess county was re- ported to be 1,083. What is now Putnam county was included in the "South Ward," and the following list gives the names of the taxable inhabitants in that district, at that time.
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"The Inhabitants, Residents, and Freeholders of Dutchess County (South Ward) are rated and assessed by ye assessors for the same the 16th day of Jan. Annoque Dom. 1623-4: Juerie Springsteen, 9 pounds; Joseph Arkils, 6; Isaac Hardicke, 14; Peter Du Bois, 25; Robert Denze, 7; Johannes Peter, 5; Johan- nes Mettler, 10; James Hussey, 25; The widow of Gerrit Vel- dit, 25; John Buys, 8; John Montross, 14; Abraham Buys, 9; Johannes Buys, 9; Jacobus Swartwout, 12; Francis De Lange, 23; Daniel Boss, 15; Jacob Mousner, 6; John Schouten, 12; Peter Lassink, 20; Lawrence Lassink, 8; Jury Mousuer, 5; Alexander Grigs, 12; Johannes Osterom, 5; Henderick Boss, 5; Rich. Lounsbury, 5; Peter Arkils, 10; Peter Stringal, 5; The widow of Roger Brett, deceased, 50; Nicholas Walder, 7; Hen- drick Philipse, 8; The widow of Everet Jong, 5; Johannes Ter Boss, 32; and for the land of Mr. Andrew Teller in his posses- sion, 18, in all 50; Johannes Ter Boss, Jr., 12; John De Lange, 5; Andrus Frederick Peck, 9; Jans Snider, 110; The widow of Simon Schouten, 16; Wm. Lassink, 11; David Brill, 5; Isaack Lassing, 8; Wm. Schut, 8; Jacobus Ter Boss, 5; Cornelius Bo- gardus, 5; Jan Crankhyt, Jr., 6; Tax £27,3s; £543."
The list is small, but small as it is none of the persons named are positively known to have been living on the Philipse Patent. In the statement of David Nimham, the Indian sachem, pre- sented to the governor and Council, in 1765, it is stated that about 40 years before, sundry persons began to settle upon the land as tenants of Adolph Philipse, and it also seems that some whites were settlers on the land as tenants of the Indians them- selves. It seems to be well established that as early as 1740 there was quite a number of inhabitants. The fact that when the survey and division of the patent was made in 1754, an "Old meeting house " standing in the northwest corner of Lot 9 is mentioned as a landmark, would indicate a population suf- ficiently large to establish a church at least twenty years be- fore that date. These were the "Englishmen who came from Connecticut and Long Island," as mentioned by Smith. About 1740, there was a large number of families who emigrated to this region from Cape Cod. Others came from the bordering towns in Connecticut, while the Townsends, Holmes, Fields and Hortons are prominent examples of the families who came from Long Island.
The lands in the tract called the Oblong, next to the Connec-
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ticut line, were speedily settled, it is said, because lands could be purchased, with an indisputable title. It was not the policy of the owners of the Philipse Patent to sell their lands, and so far as ascertained a tract of 245 acres sold by Colonel Morris and his wife to William Hill, in 1765, was the first tract that was actually sold out of the whole patent. The various lots were surveyed and divided into farms of various sizes, and leased to tenants who paid an annual rent. In some cases the leases were given in perpetuity, and when the owner sold por- tions of his farm, he took care to charge the part sold with a due proportion of the rent as a part of the consideration. An instance is the Dickenson farm, which is mentioned in the sketch of the town of Carmel. The following affidavit shows the names of some of the early settlers:
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