History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 5

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 1112

USA > New York > Chemung County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 5
USA > New York > Schuyler County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 5
USA > New York > Tioga County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 5
USA > New York > Tompkins County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 5

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1681, King Charles II., of England, by his letters patent dated February 28, granted to William Penn, his heirs and assigns, all that tract of land in America bounded

"on the cast by the Delaware River, on the north by the beginning of the forty-third degree of northerly latitude, on the south by a cirele drawn twelve miles distant from New Castle town northward and westward to the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude, thence by the be- ginning of the said fortieth degree of northerly latitude to extend westward through five degrees of longitude, to be reckoned from the said casterly bounds." This grant cn- croached on the south upon the previous grants to Lord Baltimore and the Virginia Colony, giving rise to contro- versies, which were adjusted by compromises and expensive and long-continued lawsuits. It also covered a portion of the previous grant to the Connecticut Colony, the width of about one degree of latitude, extending throughout the entire length of Pennsylvania, giving rise to controversies accompanied with rioting and bloodshed, and which were not finally settled until one hundred and twenty-five years afterwards.'

Massachusetts resisted the claim of the Duke of York to lands west of the Connceticut up to a point about twenty miles east of the Hudson, and granted to individuals lands now included in the State of New York. The same were held under the patent of Van Rensselaer, whose original claim and grant under the Dutch had been ratified and confirmed by the English colonial government, and patents issued therefor, and an original patent granted to Robert Livingston of a traet of 160,000 aeres by the New York Governor. The troubles existed for years previous to the Revolution and during that period; arrests and counter- arrests were made by the two governments, proclamations and counter-proclamations were issued by the respective Governors, blood was shed, and confusion and disorder was general all along the border on these great manors. At the adoption of the Articles of Confederation of the colonies, provision was made for the settlement of the claims of the several States regarding their territorial jurisdiction, and in accordance therewith a convention was held in December, 1786, at Hartford, Conn., by commissioners appointed by the authorities of both of the States of New York and Massachusetts, which commissioners were empowered to effect a settlement of the claims of Massachusetts to terri- tory within the limits elaimed by New York. This con- vention finally compromised by awarding to Massachusetts about 6,000,000 aeres in the western part of New York, establishing the eastern boundary of the State as it now runs, and giving the jurisdiction of the territory to the latter. This compromise was ratified and confirmed by the Legislatures of the respective States, and a patent issued to Massachusetts accordingly.

Massachusetts, Conncctieut, Pennsylvania, and New York, with others of the old colonies, ceded to the United States their claims to lands beyond the limits of Pennsyl- vania, which was ereeted into the Northwest Territory, from which the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin have sinee been carved. Connecticut lost all of her territory in Pennsylvania, and in compensation reserved the traet in Ohio known as the Western Reserve, which she subsequently sold for $1,000,000, which formed the basis of her general sehool fund.

Notwithstanding the claims of foreign potentates to lands

AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

in America, based on the discoveries of their navigators, there was a prior title running through the continent based on possession from a time whenee the memory of man run- neth not to the contrary. The Indians were the real lords proprietors of the soil by patrimony or conquest. These Indian proprietors asserted their rights to the land, and maintained it through many years of bloody and devasta- ting warfare, and compelled the royal grantees to purchase formally, at least, if not according to striet justice in the matter of compensation, the entire country from sea to sea as far as it is at present alienated by the Indians. This right of ownership was recognized by the English and Dutch, though sometimes the latter granted lands without the formality of Indian purchase. But it was the policy of the English to procure the extinction of the Indian title before a patent was issued for lands by the government.

It was the rule in New York for parties desiring a grant of land to apply to the Governor and Couneil for leave to purchase a certain traet of the Indians; permission being granted, the purchase was made, and the Indian deeds executed and returned to the Governor for a patent. A survey was then ordered, and on the report of the Surveyor- General the patent of the Governor was issued. No person was allowed to receive a patent for more than 1000 aeres by the law, but this provision was evaded by the insertion of several names merely nominal, and, the officers of the Crown being frequently included in the list, or otherwise generously provided for, the patents were issued for im- mense tracts to one individual. The rule for a previous survey was also violated previous to 1736 .*

In the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York individuals were allowed to purchase lands of the In- dians, the same to be approved by the Assembly or Gov- ernor of the colony, but in Pennsylvania none but the proprietors of the colony eould acquire the Indian title. The line of boundary of Pennsylvania and New York was settled by the two colonies in the forty-second parallel of north latitude, and the line established in 1774, and partly run through prior to the Revolutionary war. Previous to that time the proprietors of Pennsylvania were solicitous to obtain from the Indians the title to the northern Sus- quehanna country, but as early as 1684 the Iroquois gave in their adhesion to New York, and the right of purchase of their lands to that colony.t The Onondagas and Cuy-

ugas made the proposition at the first, which was subse- quently sanctioned by the Mohawks, Oneidas, and Senecas. The oration of the spokesman of the deputation of the first-named tribes said,-

" BRETHREN,-Wee have putt all our land and our selfs under the protection of the great Duke of York, the brother of your great Sachim. Wee have given the Susquehanne river which we wonn with the sword to this Government, and desire that it may be a branch of that great tree that grows here, Whose topp reaches to the Sunn, under whose branches we shall shelter ourselves from the French or any other people, and our fire burn in your houses and your fire burns with us; and we desire that it may always be so, and will not that any of your Penn's people shall settle upon the Susquehaune river. . . . Wce have putt ourselves under the Great Sachim Charles that lives over the Great Lake, and we doe give you two White drest Dear Skins to be sent to the Great Sachim Charles, that he may write upon them and putt a Great Redd Seale to them. Thatt we do putt the Susquehanne river above the Washuita or falls, and all the rest of our land under the Great Duke of Yorke and to nobody else. . . . And you, great Man of Virginia [meaning the Lord Effingham, Governor of Virginia], we let you know that Great Penn did speak to us here in Corlaer's house [the Governor's house at Albany] by his agents, and desired to buy the Susquehanne river, but we would not hearken to him, nor come under his Government, and therefore desire you to be witness of what we now do, and that we have already done, and lett your friend that lives over the Great Lake know that we are a ffree people uniting ourselves to what Sachim we please, and do give you one beaver skinn."#

In 1768 the Six Nations, for themselves and their de- pendent nations, the Shawancse, Delawares, Mingoes of Ohio, and other tribes, agreed with Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian affairs in America, upon a bound- ary line commonly called " the line of property," between the English and Indian lands, and confirmed the grant of all lands east of that line by a new grant. This line began where the Cherokee or Hogohee River, then so called, emptied into the Ohio§ River, and "running thenee up- wards along the south side of said river to Kittaning, which is above Fort Pitt; from thenee by a direct line to the nearest fork of the west branch of Susquehanna ; thenee through the Alleghany Mountains, along the south side of the west branch until it comes opposite to the mouth of a ereek ealled Tiadaghton ; thenee across the west braneh along the south side of that ereek and along the north side of Burnett's Hills to a ereek ealled Awandae ; || thenee down the same to the east branch of the Susquehanna, and across the same and up the east side of that river to Os- wegy ;T from thenee east to Delawar River, and up that river to opposite where Tianaderha falls into Susquehanna ; thenee to Tianaderha, and up the west side of the west branch to the head thereof; and thenee by a direet line to Canada Creek, where it empties into the Wood Creek at the west of the Carrying-Place beyond Fort Stanwix." ** This agreement was signed by Tiorhausere als Abraham for the Mohawks, Canaghaguieson for the Oneidas, Segua- reesera for the Tuscaroras, Otsinoghiyata als Bunt for the Onondagas, Tegaaia for the Cayugas, and Guastrax for the Senecas, with the several totems of the tribes at Fort

* The report of Cadwallader Cokden, Surveyor-General of the pro- vince of New York, in 1732, to Governor Cosby, says, " There being no previous Survey to the Grants, their Boundaries are generally ex- pressed with much unecertainty, By the Indian names of Brooks, Rivulets, Hills, Ponds, Falls of Water, &e., which were and still are known to very few Christians; and which adds to this uncertainty is, that such names as are in these grants taken to be the proper name of a Brook, Ilill, or Fall of Water, &c., in the Indian language signi- fies only a Largo Brook, or broad Brook, or small Brook, or high Hill, or only a Hill or fall of water in general; so that the Indians shew many places by the same name. Brooks and Rivers have different names with the Indians at different places, and often change their names, they taking their names often from the abode of some Indian near the place where it is so ealled. This has given room to some to explain and enlarge their Grants according to their own inclinations, by putting the names mentioned in their grants to what place or part of the Country they please." [Doe. Ilist. N. Y., vol. i. pago 383. Colden MSS.]

t Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. i. p. 401.

¿ Doe. Ilist. N. Y., vol. i. p. 402.

¿ Below the mouth of the Scioto.

| Towanda. { Owego.

** Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. i. p. 587.

HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

Stanwix, Nov. 5, 1768 .* The lands east of this boundary were recognized as having been alienated to the whites, while the territory west was yet (1768) in the Indians' possession and exclusive control. No alienation of any considerable portion of the lands west of this line of prop- erty was alienated by the Iroquois until after the Revolu- tion of American Independence.

INDIAN TREATIES AND CESSIONS OF LAND.

The Iroquois had eeded but a comparatively small por- tian of their lands prior to the Revolution,-that is, such lands as were ineluded in the present State of New York. The first law of the State government looking to indemnity for past atrocities and security for the future from the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas (the Oneidas and Tuscaroras were friendly to the colonies during the war), was passed Oct. 23, 1779. It empowered the Gov- ernor and four commissioners to effeet a treaty of pacifiea- tion. March 25, 1783, three commissioners of Indian affairs were appointed to examine the territorial claims of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, and to secure the tranquillity and contentment of those nations. The first general treaty with the Six Nations was held at Fort Stanwix, Oct. 22, 1784, by Oliver Wolcott; Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, commissioners plenipotentiary appointed by Congress. It required the immediate surrender of all prisoners, and se- eured the Oncidas and Tuscaroras in the quiet possession of their lands. At that time the Six Nations ceded all of their lands west of a line from Lake Ontario, four miles east of Niagara River, to Buffalo Creek ; thence south to Pennsylvania ; thence west to the end of Pennsylvania line; thence south along the west bounds of that State to the Ohio River. Jan. 9, 1789, at Fort Harmer, the stipula- tions of the treaty of 1784 were renewed, and the Six Nations secured in their possessions east of the line above mentioned, exeepting a reservation of six miles square at Oswego. The Mohawks took no part in this treaty of 1789. A treaty was also held at Tioga (now Athens, Pa.), in November, 1790, by Colonel Thomas Pickering, on the part of the United States, with the Six Nations, except the Mohawks, more especially, however, with the Senccas, and another one in June following, at Newtown (now Elmira City), with the same parties. A general treaty was held at Canandaigua, Nov. 11, 1794, by Timothy Pickering, at which the separate treaties which had been made with the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cuyugas by the State of New York were confirmed, and goods to the amount of $10,000, besides the annuity of $3000 in addition to the sum of $1500 allowed by the act of Congress of 1792, were dis- tributed.t With the exception of a few of the earlier treaties, each tribe has negotiated separately with the State in the cession of lands, and in more recent periods seetional and local parties have acted independently in such negotia- tions.

THE MOHAWKS

were particularly hostile to the colonies in the Revolution, and removed, near the close of the war, to Grand River, Canada. By a treaty held at Albany with the Federal gov- ernment, March 29, 1797, they surrendered their right to the soil in New York for $1000 to the tribe and $600 to the deputies who attended the treaty. They were parties to tlie treaty at Buffalo Creek in 1788.

THE ONEIDAS.

On June 28, 1785, a treaty was held at Fort Herkimer with the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, who, for the sum of $11,500, ceded to the State of New York their lands lying between the Unadilla and Chenango Rivers, south of a line drawn east and west between these streams and north of the Pennsylvania line. Another treaty was held with the Oneidas Sept. 12, 1788, at Fort Schuyler, by Governor Clinton and six commissioners on the part of New York, at which this tribe ceded all of their lands in the State, excepting certain reservations, which latter they subse- quently, by various treaties from 1795 to 1840, released to the State. There is now no Oncida reservation in the State, and those Oneidas now living in the State are on reserva- tions of other tribes.

THE ONONDAGAS.

At the treaty of Fort Schuyler, in 1788, the Onondagas ceded their lands in the State to the State of New York, excepting a reservation at the south end of Onondaga Lake, and confirmed the grant at Fort Stanwix, June 16, 1790. They subsequently released a large portion of their reser- vation to the State, by treaties, at different times.

THE CAYUGAS,

on February 25, 1789, ceded all of their lands east of the Massachusetts pre-emption line, except certain reservations, to the State. These reservations were, in a great measure, subsequently released to the State in 1790 and 1795.

THE SENECAS.

On July 8, 1788, a treaty was held at Buffalo Creek with the Six Nations by Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gor- ham, acting under the authority of Massachusetts, at which the Nations ceded, without reservation, 2,600,000 aeres, sinee known as the Phelps and Gorham purchase. This purchase was bounded, east by the pre-emption line, and west by a line beginning at a point in the north line of Pennsyl- vania due south of the confluence of the Canaseraga Creek with the Genesee River ; thence north to the Genesee River, and along that river to a point about two miles north of Cannewagas village; thence west twelve miles; thence northwardly twelve miles from the Genesee River to Lake Ontario. The consideration paid for this tract was $5250 eash in hand and an annuity of $5000 .¿ A quit-claim of

# The Iroquois allowed none of the conquered tribes to sell the land on which they resided by sufferance of the conquerors, but the Six Nations assumed to themselves the sole right of conveying the soil to whomsoever they pleased; hence this agreement, while it in- cluded dependent nations to the Confederacy, was signed only by the chiefs of the latter, as sole proprietors.

{ American State Papers : Iudian Affairs.

į Bitter complaints were subsequently made by the Indians con- cerning this treaty with Phelps and Gorham. The noted chief and orator, Red Jacket, at a treaty held in 1790, at Tioga (now Athens, Pa.), made an impassioned plea for justice to the United States Com- missioner, in which he said the Indians supposed they were to re- ecive $10,000 instead of $5000 for an annuity, and the latter amount, when divided, gave them but about one dollar apiece for all of the

AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

the Phelps and Gorham purchase was executed Aug. 4, 1789, in the name of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras, at Canandaigua. The territory thus ceded was exclusively occupied by the Senecas and Cayugas. Phelps and Gorham obtained, in 1788, the Massachusetts right of pre-emption of the above tract. On Sept. 15, 1797, Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, having obtained the Massachusetts right of pre-emption of the balance of the 6,000,000 acres awarded that State, held a treaty with the Senecas at Geneseo, before Jeremiah Wadsworth, United States Commissioner, and Wm. Shepherd, a commissioner appointed by Massachusetts, by which treaty the Senceas ceded to Morris their title to these lands, excepting certain reservations, for $100,000, to be vested in the stock of the United States Bank, to be held in the name of the President of the United States for the use and benefit of the Seneca nation. This treaty was confirmed by the President, April 11, 1798, and the tract was subsequently known as the Holland Land Company purchase, that company acquiring its title through Morris. The reservations of the Senecas were subsequently released, and conveyed in large measure to the Holland Land Company or individuals holding title under it.

THE TUSCARORAS

became part of the Iroquois Confederacy in 1712, but never held the title to any specific tract of country in New York. As a constituent nation they participated in treaties and cessions of territory, and in the sale to Morris by the Sen- ecas a reservation was made for their use of one square inile, to which the Holland Land Company afterwards added, by donation, two square miles adjoining. In 1804 the Tuscaroras purchased of that company 4329 acres addi- tional for $13,722, money received for their lands in North Carolina, to which, with much difficulty, they had succceded in perfecting their claims.

By the above treaties, and some ininor ones held by in- dividuals, were the claims of the Iroquois proprietors in the soil of Western New York quieted and extinguished.

TITLES FROM THE STATE.

The 6,000,000 acres awarded to. Massachusetts by the Hartford Convention of 1786, included all of the lands in the State of New York west of a meridian line drawn from the eighty-second mile-stone in the Pennsylvania line northward to Lake Ontario, with the exception of a strip of territory one inile wide on the Niagara River, which was reserved to New York. This meridian line is commonly known as the Massachusetts pre-emption linc, and is on or ncar the meridian of the Capitol at Washington. Besides this tract, another of 230,400 acres, lying between the Owego and Chenango Rivers, was also ceded to Massachu- setts, the same being since known as the Boston ten town- ships, and includes the northern half of the town of Owego and the towns of Newark Valley, Berkshire, and Richford, in Tioga County, and a portion of Broome County. The tract west of the pre-emption line was sold by Massachu-

country sold. At the time the treaty was made he said, " 20 broaches would not buy half a loaf of bread, so that when we returned home there was not a bright spot of silver about us." (Am. State Papers : Indian Affairs, vol. i. page 214.)

setts as follows : Phelps and Gorham, 1788, 2,600,000 acres as before described in the Indian purchase ; Robert Morris, the balance of the tract, and subsequently mortgaged by him to the Holland Land Company, who foreclosed the trust, and came thereby into possession of the greater portion of the land. A small portion only of the Phelps and Gorham purchase included territory now forming a part of the counties of which this work treats, and which portion is the towns of Tyrone and Orange, and a small part of Read- ing, in Schuyler County. Morris acquired also about 1,204,000 acres of the Phelps and Gorham purchase, those gentlemen being unable to fulfill their contract for the whole tract purchased by them of Massachusetts. Morris resold this tract to William Pulteney. The Boston ten townships were sold by Massachusetts to sixty individuals, principally from Berkshire County, in that State, the greater portion of whom came to their purchases as actual settlers, of whom Samuel Brown was the first. The title was conveyed to these individuals by resolution of the Legislature of Mas- sachusetts, and approved by the Governor, Nov. 7, 1787. The purchase price of the tract of 230,400 acres was 3333 Spanish milled dollars, payable in two years, and subject to a deduction of the sum necessarily paid by the grantees to the natives in extinguishment of their claim. On the con- firmation of the Indian purchase by the Massachusetts Legis- lature this sum was increased to $5000, and no allowance for amount paid to Indians. The grantees, Samuel Brown, Elijah Brown, Orringh Stoddard, and Joseph Raymond, on behalf of the company, purchased of the Indians, Junc 22, 1786, the title of the latter, and fully extinguished their claims. This latter transaction was not accomplished without some difficulty, originating in a claim by possession of James McMaster of a portion of the tract now known as the McMaster Patent, for the half-township of Owego. McMaster had located on the tract in 1785, and by the aid of Ames Draper, an Indian trader, had ingratiated himself to such an extent with the natives that no treaty could be made with the latter by Brown and his associates wherein McMaster's rights or claims were ignored. It was a trial of gold on the Yankees' side, and the covenant chain of amity* of the Indians with McMaster and Draper on the

# Previous to the arrival of Brown and his associates for negotia- ting with the Indians ( Oneidas) for their title to the Boston ten towns, MeMaster and Draper had seenred a written contract from the Indians guaranteeing them (MeMaster and Draper) in the possession of their claims which they had obtained from the Indians. The contract or covenant was written in duplicate, one eopy in English and one in the Oneida dialect. The Indian document was found among Mr. Draper's papers by his daughter, Mrs. Selecta Williams (the first white child born in Tioga County), who gave it to Judge Charles P. Avery, for whom it was translated by Mr. Ely S. Parker, afterwards a major on the staff of General Grant, of the United States army. Major Parker was a thoroughly-educated Seneca, and possessed an accurate knowl. edge of the various Iroquois dialects. Tho "covenant" and its trans- lation were as follows :

Natho wakya donio no dyag wa wennag wi kough hasen

Here is written the meeting of our minds three

myakyogh yagwa nonwe setsi ni senirigh wison. Neya nihagh ne miles land to be his so long as agreed. And again for

neyatshi nihengh neon wenya keathio ronongh sode

six miles across the flat from the house

rasronni Oghgwesen ronwayats. Netsi onen

now bnilding hy

Partridge (Draper) they call him. Now we

HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

other, and the latter conquered. After several fruitless councils were held, a compromise was finally effeeted, whereby MeMaster was to receive a patent for a half-town- ship embracing the settlement at Owego, being a traet six miles by three miles, bounded south by a tract patented to Daniel Coxe and associates, and west by Owego River, the east line to be a straight one three miles distant from the Owego River, and to be as nearly parallel to the said river (ereek) as possible. After this contract was made with MeMaster, the Indians consummated the cession of the whole traet of 230,400 aeres in a very short time. The resolution of the Massachusetts Legislature provided for the issuing of a patent for MeMaster of the half-township as agreed upon, and one was accordingly issued to Samuel Brown, who conveyed to McMaster as he agreed .* The north line of the ten townships was identical with the present south line of Cortland County.

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History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 5

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign Number of Pages: 1112

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 1112