USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 24
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Prior to the erection of Warren county, and until 1822, this portion of the Assembly District, which embraced Warren county, was frequently represent- ed. The district sent from three to six members, according to the ratio of representation. The above names are among the list. Since 1822 the county has formed a separate Assembly District, entitled to send only one member.
Assemblymen .- 1822, William McDonald; 1823, William McDonald ; 1824, Dudley Farlin ; 1825, William Cook ; 1826, Norman Fox ; 1827, Wil- liam Hay, jr .; 1828, Truman B. Hicks; 1829, William McDonald ; 1830, Norman Fox; 1831, Samuel Stackhouse; 1832, Allen Anderson; 1833,
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TO THE PRESENT TIME.
Nicholas Roosevelt, jr. ; 1834, Thomas Archibald ; 1835, Truman B. Hicks ; 1836, William Griffin ; 1837, Walter Geer, jr .; 1838, Thomas A. Leggett ; 1839, William Griffin ; 1840, Joseph Russell; 1841, George Sanford; 1842, Benjamin P. Burhans ; 1843, Pelatiah Richards; 1844, John F. Sherrill ; 1845, James Cameron ; 1846, Winfield S. Sherwood ; 1847, John Hodgson, 2d ; 1848, Albert N. Cheney ; 1849, Reuben Wells; 1850, Cyrus Burnham ; 1851, David Noble, 2d ; 1852, George Richards; 1853, Richard P. Smith ; 1854, David Noble, 2d ; 1855, Reuben Wells; 1856, Thomas S. Gray ; 1857, Samuel Somerville, jr. ; 1858, Alexander Robertson ; 1859, Elisha Pendell ; 1860, Benjamin C. Butler ; 1861, Walter A. Faxon ; 1862, Thomas S. Gray ; 1863, Newton Aldrich ; 1864, Robert Waddell; 1865, Jerome Lapham ; 1866, David Aldrich ; 1867, Columbus Gill ; 1868, Nicholas B. La Bau ; 1869, Nicholas B. La Bau ; 1870, Godfrey R. Martine; 1871, Duncan Griffin ; 1872, Joseph Woodward; 1873, James G. Porteous ; 1874, Austin W. Hold- en ; 1875, Stephen Griffin, 2d ; 1876, Robert Waddell; 1877, Robert Wad- dell ; 1878, Alson B. Abbott; 1879, Barclay Thomas; 1880, Henry P. Gwinup ; 1881, Benjamin C. Butler ; 1882, Nelson W. Van Dusen ; 1883, Lorenzo R. Locke ; 1884-85, Frank Byrne.
Fustices of the Supreme Court .- 1855, Enoch H. Rosekranz ; 1863, Enoch H. Rosekranz.
County Judges .- 1813, William Robards; 1820, Halsey Rogers; 1823, Silas Hopkins ; 1827, Joseph W. Paddock; 1829, Horatio Buell; 1832, Seth C. Baldwin; 1837, Hiram Barber ; 1845, Halsey R. Wing; 1847, Enoch H. Rosekranz ; 1851, Orange Ferris; 1863, Stephen Brown; 1871, Isaac J. Davis ; 1882, Andrew J. Cherritree.
Surrogates .- 1813, Robert Wilkinson ; 1815, Thomas Pattison ; 1819, Joseph W. Paddock; 1820, John Beebe; 1823, Allen Anderson ; 1827, Abraham Wing; 1832, Stephen Pratt ; 1835, Seth C. Baldwin; 1840, Or- ange Ferris; 1845, Thomas S. Gray ; County Judge since 1847.
District Attorneys .- 1818, Ashael Clark; 1821, Horatio Buell ; 1823, Seth C. Baldwin; 1825, William Hay, jr. ; 1827, Seth C. Baldwin ; 1835, Enoch H. Rosekranz; 1845, Alfred C. Farlin ; 1847, George Richards ; 1850, Levi H. Baldwin ; 1853, Stephen Brown ; 1856-59-62-65, Isaac Mott; 1868; Freedom G. Dudley ; 1871, Andrew J. Cherritree ; 1873, Isaac Mott ; 1873, Melville A. Sheldon ; 1876, Charles M. Mott; 1879, Henry A. Howard ; 1882, Henry A. Howard ; 1884, Henry A. Howard.
Sheriffs. - 1813, Henry Spencer; 1815, Joseph Tefft; 1817, Artemus Aldrich ; 1818, James L. Thurman ; 1820, Pelatiah Richards; 1821, Dudley Farlin ; 1822, Dudley Farlin; 1825, Henry Spencer ; 1828, Dudley Farlin ; 1831, James I. Cameron ; 1834, Joseph Russell ; 1837, Timothy Bowman ; 1840, Steven Griffin ; 1843, Timothy Bowen ; 1846, James Lawrence ; 1849, Luther Brown ; 1852, King Allen ; 1855, Lewis Pierson; 1855, Daniel Fer-
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
guson ; 1858, Stephen Starbuck; 1861, Daniel V. Brown; 1864, Lewis Pier- son ; 1867, Westel W. Hicks ; 1870, John Loveland ; 1873, Gideon Towsley ; 1876, John Loveland ; 1879, Richard P. Smith; 1882, Truman N. Thomas.
County Clerks. - 1813, John Beebe; 1815, William Smith; 1817, Myron Beach ; 1820, Seth C. Baldwin, jr .; 1821, Thomas Archibald ; 1822, Thomas Archibald, served forty years ; 1861, Westel W. Hicks; 1864, George P. Wait ; 1873, Albert F. Ransom; 1876, W. Scott Whitney; 1879, Daniel V. Brown; 1882, Daniel V. Brown.
County Treasurers. - 1813-20, Michael Harris; 1820-32, Thomas Patti- son ; 1832-45, Charles Roberts; 1848, Frederick A. Farlin; 1851, Westel W. Hicks; 1857, Samuel T. Richards; 1869, Daniel Peck ; 1873, Miles Thomas; 1879, Emerson S. Crandall ; 1882, Emerson S. Crandall.
School Commissioners. - 1856, Andrew J. Cherritree; 1858, M. Nelson Dickinson ; 1861-64, Luther A. Arnold; 1867, Theodore Welch; Adam Armstrong, jr .; Daniel B. Ketchum; Randolph McNutt ; Adam Armstrong, jr.
County Superintendents of Common Schools. - By an act passed April 17, 1843, the Boards of Supervisors of the several counties were directed to ap- point county superintendents of common schools. The office was abolished March 13th, 1847. During the existence of the law the following were ap- pointed : 1843, Seth C. Baldwin ; 1843-44, Halsey R. Wing; 1844-45, Lemon Thompson ; 1846-47, Austin W. Holden.
CHAPTER XVII.
LAND TITLES.1
Causes Leading to Applications for Land Patents - Difficulties in Locating Many Early Patents - Conditions of Grants of Land to Officers and Privates - The Great Dellius Grant - Map of the Same - Alphabetical List of Land Patents within the present Warren County - The Glen Tract - Other Tracts and Patents - Map Making in the County.
T HE establishment of the military posts of Fort George on the lake and Fort Edward on the Hudson had as much to do, perhaps, with the early settlement of the present county of Warren as any other one circumstance. It was the only way that civilization could be advanced in those days, for but very few people could be induced to try to establish a home beyond the sound of the gun of the fort; and when the terms of enlistment expired, either of officers or privates, they usually applied for a little tract of land. Sometimes
1 This chapter was prepared by Homer D. L. Sweet, of Syracuse, N. Y., except those portions cred- ited to Dr. Holden's History of Queensbury, and has involved extensive research among the records in Albany, added to a large general knowledge of the subject.
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LAND TITLES.
this was done by individuals, but generally in squads of from four to a dozen or more, probably with the idea of founding a nucleus for a little community, in which mutual aid and protection was their first consideration, and second the quality of the soil.
One thing that tended to make small communities in this region was the small quantity of arable land that was scattered in little patches among the mountain ranges, and would not profitably admit of any large accumulation of agricultural inhabitants. The distance to market was not taken into account as at the present day, as the officers and garrisons were for many years the only non-producers in a vast region. Had any community raised more than was needful for home consumption, the facilities for getting it to market were of the rudest kind; for in the early days the water ways were the only avail- able means of transportation ; and the falls in the Hudson, at Luzerne, Corinth, Glens and Baker's, rendered that stream almost, if not entirely, unnavigable. Those inhabitants that had mechanical trades almost invariably had a little farm attached to their other calling, but when nine-tenths of the heads of fam- ilies had been soldiers, but very few had any mechanical trades with any degree of perfection.
That these men, educated as they had been in the art of war, born in a foreign land, on a fruitful soil with a different climate, should fail in this region is not surprising ; and this circumstance alone may be the excuse we have to make for many, very many, who had patents granted to them, and where it is easily ascertained that in a few years the same land was re-conveyed to other parties. Sometimes when this occurred, before the Revolutionary War, we attribute the cause to non-occupancy, or a neglect to record the patent ; but after that period, we often attribute the cause to a disloyalty to the new gov- ernment, or adherence to the old. Some patents were granted whose boun- daries depended on other and older patents, perhaps, but when these were escheated, or confiscated, it is impossible for the writer to locate them without the original maps. There are quite a number of these in the county that ap- parently are wiped out of existence, as completely as they are rendered obsolete on the maps; but they are usually very small and appear to be covered by larger tracts, both of alluvial and mountain land, which have taken their places. Most of the patents in the county are for small alluvial tracts on both sides of the Hudson, and on the west side of Lake George, and were granted to officers and soldiers who served in the French and Indian War. Other patents were granted to what professed to be actual settlers, and to no man more than a thou- sand acres.
The quantity of the British grants contemplated by the proclamations was the concession of five thousand acres to a field officer ; to a captain three thousand acres ; to a subaltern staff officer two thousand acres; to a non-commissioned officer two hundred acres, and to a private fifty acres. These grants were
208
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
conferred by parchment patents, under the great seal of the colony and im- pressed with the royal arms. They reserved to the king "all mines of gold and silver, and all pine trees fit for masts of the growth of twenty-four inches diameter and upwards at twelve inches from the earth." These grants were held for ten years " in free and common socage exempt from all quit rents, and after the expiration of that term, rendering and paying in the custom house in New York, at Lady Day, the yearly rent of two shillings and sixpence sterling, for each and every hundred acres of the granted land." The farther conditions imposed the settlement " of as many families on the tract as shall amount to one family on every one thousand acres thereof," and "to cultivate at least three acres for every fifty acres susceptible of cultivation." Both of these conditions were to be performed within three years from the date of the grant. "No waste was to be committed on the reserved timber ; the grant to be registered at the secretary's office and docketed at the auditor's office in New York." A neglect to perform either of these conditions worked a for- feiture of the grant. We may trace in the land papers serious consequences resulting from these delinquencies. The council seems to have possessed cer- tain powers to control the nature and form of these proceedings. In Febru- ary, 1765, it adopted a rule, that no soldier was entitled to a grant "unless disbanded on the reduction of the regiment." By minutes in 1770, 1771, it required grants to be taken out in three months after the petition had been pre- sented, and in the last date ordered names of delinquents to be stricken from the list of grants. Most of these grants were located in the vicinity of Lake Champlain, and a large proportion upon the eastern side, upon what is now the territory of Vermont. In the confusion of the agitated period that, pre- ceded the Revolution, numerous cases of these petitions remained in an in- choate condition ; and in others, although the proceedings had been regular and ample, were not consummated by patents from the colonial government. In most of these instances the succeeding State government refused to ratify the proceedings of the claimants, and large estates were lost. The State constitu- tion of 1777, by a provision which has been incorporated in the constitutions of 1821 and 1847, abrogated all royal grants after October 14th, 1775.
As appropriately introducing descriptions of the various patents granted for lands within the present county of Warren, we quote the following relative to the old Dellius Grant, from Dr. Holden's work on Queensbury :-
" Following in the wake of the Van Rensselaers, the Lansings, the Bay- ards, and Van Courtlandts, the Rev. Godfrey Dellius, the Dutch minister at Albany, who had the address and influence to secure the appointment as one of the commissioners of Indian affairs, made use of his position to obtain the conveyance from the Indians and a subsequent confirmation by patent of two large wilderness tracts, bordering upon Lakes George and Champlain and the east banks of the Hudson as far south as the Battenkill. To quote the lan-
209
LAND TITLES.
guage of the early historian of the province,1 he had fraudulently obtained the Indian deeds according to which the patent had been granted. * *
" One of the grants included all the land within twelve miles on the east side of the Hudson River, and extended twenty miles in length, from the north bounds of Saratoga. Another statement says the patent was made
ROCK ROSIAN
OR
SPLIT ROCK
CHAMPLAIN
Hudson river as formerly delineuted.
GRANT.
CROWN PT.
TICONDEROGA.
US 5
LAKE GEORGE
WHITEHALL.
WOOD CREEK
W
BATEN KILL
Saratoga.
under the great seal of the province, bearing date September 3d, 1696, and embraced the territory " lying upon the east side of the Hudson River, be- tween the northernmost bounds of Saratoga and the Rock Rossian,2 contain-
1 Smith's History of New York, p. 159.
2 " At this period, the country on both sides of the Hudson was called Saratoga. The Rock Ros- sian is in Willsborough, Essex county, and is now called Split rock." -- Macauley's Hist. of N. Y., vol. II, p. 412, note.
14
210
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
ing about 70 miles in length and 12 miles broad, subject to a yearly rent to the crown of one hundred raccoon skins ! "1
This patent was issued under the great seal of the province, by Col. Fletcher while acting as governor in 1696, and included the greater portion of Essex, Warren and Washington counties. This with other patents was vacat- ed at the instance of Lord Bellamont, at the session of the provincial assem- bly, which was organized March 21st, 1699. Notwithstanding this fact, Del- lius still asserted his claim and right to the territory in question, and on his re- turn to Holland is commonly stated to have disposed of his interests therein to his successor in the ministry at Albany, the Rev. John Lydius.2
Nearly all the earlier writers concur with singular unanimity in making this statement, and are endorsed by such later writers as Gordon, Fitch and Lossing.
" In a pamphlet exposition of the title of Lydius, printed at New Haven in 1764, doubtless by his authority, he says nothing about the Dellius grant, but claims under an Indian deed in language as follows :
"'The father of the present Colonel Lydius, being a minister of the gospel at Albany, was well known to have taken much pains with the Mohawk In- dians for a series of years, in which (on his decease) he was succeeded by his son aforesaid, who (though not a clergyman) still continued their instruction, till he so far ingratiated himself into their favor, that on the first day of Feb- ruary, 1732, he obtained a deed of the heads of that nation, for two certain tracts of land lying on Otter Creek and Wood Creek, and bounded as follows : Beginning at the mouth of Otter Creek, where it empties into Lake Cham- plain and runs easterly, six Dutch miles (equal to twenty-four English) ; then runs southerly to the uppermost falls on Otter Creek, being about fifteen Dutch miles, be the same more or less; then westerly six Dutch miles, and thence northerly to the place of beginning. The other on Wood Creek beginning two Dutch miles and a half due north of the place called Kingequaghtenock, or the falls on Wood Creek ; and thence runs westerly to the falls on Hudson River, going to Lake St. Sacrament ; thence down said river five Dutch miles ; and thence running easterly five Dutch miles; thence southerly three Dutch miles and a half; thence easterly five Dutch miles; and thence northerly to the place of beginning.'
" The pamphlet then states that his title by the Indian deed was confirmed
1 Munsell's Annals of Albany, vol. I, p. 95. Macauley's Hist. of N. Y., vol. II, ut supra.
2 Lydius was not the immediate successor of Dellius. In August, 1683, the Reformed Dutch church of Albany took measures for determining the salary of the newly arrived pastor from Holland, the Rev. Godefridus Dellius. On the 12th of May, 1699, he was deposed by act of general assembly " from the exercises of his ministerial function in the city and county of Albany, for the illegal and surreptitious obtaining of said grants." Having ten months in which to procure his reinstatement, the Rev. John Peter Nucella occupied the pulpit as a temporary supply until the 20th of July, 1700, when he was succeeded by the Rev. John Lydius, whose ministry terminated with his death Ist March, 1709 .- Munsell's Annals of Albany, vol. I, pp. 82-88, 95.
2II
LAND TITLES.
and declared valid by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, in obedience to the special command of his majesty. The Indian deed to Lydius, as well as the confirmation of it, if they ever existed, were both doubtless founded in fraud. But the description of the land claimed by Lydius, as well as the title under which he professes to derive it, seems to exclude any idea that it had any con- nection with the previous grant to Dellius.I
" On the strength of this claim Mr. John Henry Lydius, son of the minis- ter, erected a block-house on the south side of Fort Edward Creek and a trad- ing post on the site of old Fort Nicholson, which had been built as early as 1709 ; built mills, supplied with water from a a wing dam extending from the main land to the island opposite the village, put up a number of log dwellings, introduced a small colony of dependents, and for a period of ten years main- tained a considerable state of establishment, claiming for himself the title of Governor of Fort Edward, in his majesty's dominions of North America.2 He was familiar with many of the Indian dialects, was often consulted by Sir William Johnson in reference to Indian affairs, and was, to some extent, the rival of the astute baron in the influence and regard of the wandering tribes who enjoyed his hospitality, accepted his gifts and looked up to him as their father. His little settlement and fort, which was named for him, were once or twice made the subject of incursions by the savages in 1745, when the improve- ments were utterly destroyed and the inhabitants driven off. They were af- terwards rebuilt and reoccupied to some extent, and Lydius is supposed to have acquired a handsome property in the prosecution of his traffic with the Indians. After the outbreak of the last French war he held for a year or more some subordinate position in connection with the public service, but fall- ing into disagreement with his superiors, he afterwards returned to Europe and disappeared from public view. He died at Kensington, near London, in the spring of 1791, at the advanced age of ninety-eight."
The great patent of Queenbury was granted May 20th, 1762, for twenty- three thousand acres. This will be noticed more at length in an appropriate place in the history of that town.
Abeel. - James Abeel obtained a patent for three thousand one hundred and fifty acres lying on the east side of the northeast branch of the Hudson River, next to Hill Mitchell, on the 14th of August, 1786. This seemed to take the place of several small patents that had, perhaps, been confiscated. He at a later day obtained another grant for eight hundred acres lying east of the first tract, which overlapped the Northwest Bay tract. The first patent
1 Dr. Hall, in number 5, vol. III, Historical Magazine for 1868, p. 310. It will be perceived by the above defined boundaries, that the greater portion of the town of Queensbury was included in the Lydius claim.
2 " Lydius soon after built a stone trading-house upon the site of Fort Edward. Its doors and windows were strongly barred, and near the roof the walls were pierced for musketry. It was erected upon a high mound and palisaded as a defense against enemies."-Lossing's Hudson, p. 74.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
will be found in Patents, Vol. XIX, page 146, and the second in Patents, XXIII, page 10. These are both located in the present town of Bolton.
Adams. - On a little tract, called Sabbath-day Point tract, the maps in the Surveyor-General's office have the name of Andrew Adams. Whether it be an old or a new name we cannot tell. It lies in the town of Hague.
Barber .- There is a small tract on the map in the Surveyor-General's of- fice, next north of Hitchcock's and Smith's, marked J. Barber. It is in Bolton on Northwest Bay.
Caldwell- James Caldwell was granted a patent for four tracts of land on the west side of Lake George on the 29th of September, 1787, at a point called at that time McDonold's Bay. The first for three hundred and sixty acres, the second for four hundred and eighty-five acres, the third for one hundred and fifty-five acres, and the fourth for one thousand acres. This last one began at the most northerly corner of the first. - Patents, Vol. XX, page 48 to 51.
He was granted a patent for six hundred acres opposite a small island, near Rogers's Rock, on the IIth of October, 1791, and another tract in the same patent for eight hundred acres, which began on the north bounds of the first, and probably is in the county of Essex.
Mr. Caldwell obtained other tracts by purchase or otherwise around the head of Lake George, and the foot-note in French's Gazetteer, page 673, is an error, for those lands described are easily located in a patent given to himself and others, at a later date.
Campbell .- A patent was granted to John Campbell and seven others for four hundred acres on the 30th of May, 1771. The description began at the north- west corner of a tract granted to John Watts, which we conclude was confis- cated, and regranted to James Abeel. It is in the town of Bolton, north of Abeel, and south of Oglevie. - Military Patents, Vol. II, page 606.
Christie. - A patent was granted to William Christie, for two hundred acres, on the east bank of the Hudson River, on the 18th of July, 1770. It lies north of Jessup's second tract and west of the third, in the town of Lu- zerne. -- Military Patents, Vol. II, page 364.
Dartmouth Township. - A patent was granted to Jeremiah Van Rensselaer and James Abeel, with forty-five others, for eighteen thousand and thirty-six acres, being a part of forty-seven thousand acres petitioned for on the 4th of October, 1774. This tract was granted with the usual rights and privileges of those great quit-rent provisos, and with the usual organization of a township, precisely the same as in the Queensbury patent. - Patents, Vol. XVI, page 452, etc.
On the same day a patent was granted to the same parties for twenty- eight thousand acres lying next north of the first purchase, which was to be divided into forty-seven equal parts. Both of these tracts were bounded on
213
LAND TITLES.
the west by Palmer's purchase. These patents lie partly in Stony Creek and partly in Thurman. - Patents, Vol. XVI, page 462, etc.
Davies. - A patent was granted to Thomas Davies, which began in the north bounds of Thomas Roberts and eleven others, and at the southwest cor- ner of Randall's. This tract must have reverted, or the name has become ob- solete. - Military Patents, Vol. II, page 611.
Douglass. - Wheeler Douglass obtained a patent for two tracts on the west side of Lake George, on the 18th of April, 1794. The first tract, which in- cluded Green Island, contained five hundred acres, and the second was south of the first and, exclusive of the waters of Trout Lake, contained two thousand five hundred acres. These two tracts lie in the town of Bolton. - Patents, Vol. XXIII, page 367.
Ford .- Thomas Ford and seven others obtained a patent for a tract of land on both sides of Beaver Brook, which empties into Northwest Bay, for one thousand six hundred acres, on the 7th of October, 1769. This little, nar- row, crooked tract was intended to cover about all of the arable land between two great mountains. It lies partly in Bolton and partly in Hague. - Military Patents, Vol. II, page 297.
Friend .- I have not found any map that showed Friend's patent; but, judging from the name of Friend's Point on the lake, have concluded that that must be its locality. It is in the town of Hague.
Garland. - A tract of one thousand acres was granted to Peter Garland and nineteen others, next north of a tract surveyed for John Hamilton and nineteen others, on the 28th of March, 1771. The land surveyed for Hamil- ton and others was afterwards patented to Crane Brush. It lies in Bolton. - Military Patents, Vol. II, page 374.
Goldthwaite. - A patent was granted to Joseph Goldthwaite on the 25th of March, 1775, for two thousand acres. This was granted with the usual allowance, but the dimensions on the map, when computed, amount to two thousand one hundred acres actually granted. This patent is in Warrensburgh, next to the town of Luzerne. - Military Patents, Vol. III, page 49.
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