USA > New York > Monroe County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 13
USA > New York > Allegany County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming > Part 13
USA > New York > Livingston County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 13
USA > New York > Yates County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 13
USA > New York > Ontario County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 13
USA > New York > Wyoming County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 13
USA > New York > Steuben County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 13
USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 13
USA > New York > Wayne County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 13
USA > New York > Orleans County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 13
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
Among the mischief makers, was a Mr. Peter Penet, a shrewd, artful Frenchman, who had been established among the Oneidas as a trader ; and whom Gov. Clinton had at first favored and cm- ployed in Indian negotiations. But ingratiating himself in the good will of the natives, he became ambitious, represented himself as the ambassador of France, as the friend of La Fayette, charged by him with looking to the interest of the Indians ; and finally, got the
NOTE .- The part that the Senecas were persuaded to take in promoting these em- barrassments, was glaringly inconsistent. They had sold a part of their lands to Mr. Phelps the fall before, without consulting other nations, to say nothing of their having consented to the "lease" which was a far worse bargain than those made by the State. But the main promoters of the troubles, were the Lessees and the British agents ; the latter of whom, were soured by the result of the Revolution, and were yet looking forward to British re-possession of all Western, and a part of Middle New York. In all this matter theconduct of Brant, did not correspond with his general reputation for fairness and honesty. He helped to fan the flames of discontent, while at the same time he was almost upon his own hooks, trying to sell to the State the remnant of the Mohawk's lands. Interfering between the State and the Indians. he got some dissatisfied chiefs to join him in an insolent letter to the Governor, which was replied to with a good deal of severity of language.
8
122
PHIELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
promises of large land cessions. Thwarted mainly in his designs, he became mischievous, and caused much trouble.
A mere skeleton has thus been given of the events connected with the extinguishment of Indian titles, and the measures prelimi- nary to the advancement of settlement westward, after the Revo- lution. It was only after a hard struggle, much of perplexity and embarrassment, that the object was accomplished. For the honor of our whole country, it could be wished, that all Indian negotia -. tions and treaties, had been attended with as little of wrong, had been conducted as fairly as were those under the auspices and general direction of George Clinton. No where has the veteran warrior and statesman, left better proof of his sterling integrity and ability, than is furnished by the records of those treaties. In no case did he allow the Indians to be deceived, but stated to them from time to time, with unwearied patience, the true conditions of the bargains they were consummating. The policy he aimed at was to open all of the beautiful domain of western New York, for sale and settlement - to prepare the way for inevitable destiny -and at the same time secure the Indians in their possessions ; give them liberal reservations; and extend over them as a protection, the strong arms of the State.
The treaties for lands, found the Six Nations in a miserable con- dition. They had warred on -the side of a losing party, for long years, the field and the chase had been neglected ; they were suffer- ing for food and raiment. Half famished, they flocked to the treaties, and were fed and clothed. One item of expense charged in the account of the treaty at Albany in 1789, was for horses paid for, that the Indians had killed and eaten, on their way down. For several years, in addition to the amount of provisions distributed to them at the treaties, boat loads of corn were distributed among them by the State .*
In tracing the progress of settlement westward, it will be neces- sary to give a brief account of the disposition the State made of lands acquired of the Six Nations, bordering upon the Genesee Country. They constituted what is known as the Military Tract. To protect
* The years 1789, '90, is supposed to have been a period of great scarcity. The record of legislation shows that large amounts of provisions were paid for by the State, aud distributed, not only among the Indians, but among the white inhabitants of several counties.
123
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
the frontiers of this State from the incursions of the British and their Indian allies, the State of New York, throwu upon its own resour- ces, in 1779 and '80, enlisted two regiments to serve three years, unless sooner discharged. They were to be paid and clothed at the expense of the United States ; but the State pledged to them a liberal bounty in land. To redeem this pledge, as soon as Indian titles were extinguished, the surveyor General was instructed to survey these bounty lands and prepare them for the location of warrants. The survey was completed in 1790. It embraced about two million eight hundred thousand acres, in six hundred acre lots. The tract comprised all the territory within the present boundaries of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Cortland, and a part of Oswego, Wayne and Tompkins. A large district of country adjoining on the east, was thus put in the way of being settled, about the same period that sales and settlement commenced west of the pre-emp- tion line, though it did not progress as rapidly. Land titles were in dispute, and emigrants chose to push on farther, where titles were indisputable. Speculation and fraud commenced as soon as the patents were issued, a majority of those who it was intended the bounty of the State should benefit, sold their right for a trifle,* and some were defrauded out of the whole. By the time that settle- ment commenced, there were few lots, the title to which, was not contested. In addition to other questions of title, the officers' and soldiers' wives, held in a large majority of cases, the right of dower. Land titles upon the whole military tract, were not finally settled until about 1800, when a committee appointed by the Legislature, one of whom was the late Gen. Vincent Matthews, accomplished the work.
In 1784, Hugh White and his family progressed beyond the set- tlements on the Mohawk, and located at what is now Whitestown. In the same year, James Dean located upon a tract given him by the Indians, in consequence of some services rendered them as an interpreter, near the present village of Rome. In 1787, Joseph
NOTE .- In a letter from Mr. Moriss to Mr, Colquhoun, dated in June 1791, he says that notwithstanding all these questions of title, land on the military tract had risen to 18d per acre ; and that a tract of 50,000, which he had bought of the State of New York in 1786, in Otsego county, which by a fortunate use of some public securities, cost him but 6d per acre, had risen to 10s per acre, New York currency.
* " Many patents for 600 acres, were sold at prices in some instances as low as eight dollars-[Maude, an English Journalist .:
1
124
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
Blackmer, who was afterwards a pioneer in Wheatland, Monroe county, advanced and settled a short distance west of Judge Dean. In May, 1788, Asa Danforth, with his family, accompanied by Comfort Tyler, progressed far on beyond the bounds of civilization, locating at Onondaga IIollow. There being then no road, they came by water, landing at the mouth of Onondaga Creek. The very earliest pioneers of all this region, speak of " Major Dan- forth " and the comforts of his log tavern, as compared with their camps in the wilderness. Another name has been introduced, that should not be passed over by the mere mention of it. Comfort Tyler was conspicuously identified in all early years with the his- tory of the western portion of this State. He was teaching a school upon the Mohawk at the close of the Revolution, and also engaged in the business of a surveyor. He was with Gen. James Clinton, in the establishment of the boundary line between this State and Pennsylvania. He felled the first tree, (with reference to improvement,) assisted in the manufacture of the first salt, * (other than Indian manufacture,) and built the first turnpike in Onondaga county. He also constructed the first " stump mortar," or hand- mill, of which the reader will be told more in the course of our nar- rative. He filled many important offices in Onondaga county, and was one of the original projectors of the Cayuga bridge. He was the friend of the early pioneers ; and many in all this region, will remember his good offices. The Indians, who were his first neigh- bors, respected him, and his memory is now held in reverence by their descendents. His Indian name was " To-whan-ta-gua " - meaning that he could do two things at once; or be, at the same time, a gentleman and a laboring man. While a member of the Legislature in 1799, he made the acquaintance of Aaron Burr. A charter having been procured for building the bridge, Col. Burr and Gen. Swartout subscribed for the whole of the stock ; and at that time, Col. Burr had other business connections in this region.
* Tyler and Danforth, both engaged in making a little salt for new settlers in early years. A letter published in a Philadelphia paper, in 1792, says, that "sixteen bushels of salt are manufactured daily at Col. Danforth's works." It is mentioned in the history of Onondaga, that Col. Danforth commenced the business of salt boiling by carrying a five pail iron kettle from Onondaga Hollow to the Salt Springs upon his head. Lest this should be looked upon as incredible by the younger class of read- ers, the fact may be mentioned, thatit was a very common practice of the pioneers to carry their five pail kettles into the woods for sugar-making in this way.
125
PIIELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCIIASE.
" Thus commenced the intercourse of Aaron Burr with the people of Western New York, many of whom," with Col. Tyler, "were drawn into the great south-west expedition." Col. Tyler and Israel Smith were commissaries of the expedition; went upon the Ohio river, purchased provisions,' and shipped them to Natches. Col. Tyler was arrested and indicted, but never tried. With fortune impaired by all this, in a few years after, Col. Tyler removed to Montezuma, and became identified in all early enterprises and im- provement at that point. In the war of 1812, he acted as Assistant Commissary General to the northern army. He was an early promoter of the canal policy, and his memory should be closely associated with all that relates to the early history of the Erie Canal. He died at Montezuma, in 1827.
There followed Danforth and Tyler, in the progress of settle- ment westward, John L. Hardenburgh, whose location was called, in early years, "Hardenburgh's Corners," now the city of Auburn. In 1789, James Bennett and John Harris, settled on either side of Cayuga Lake, and established a ferry. This was about the extent of settlement west of the lower valley of the Mohawk, when set- tlements in the Genesee country began to be founded. * The ven- erable Joshua Fairbanks, of Lewiston, who with his then young wife, (who is also living,) came through from Albany to Geneva in the winter of 1789, '90; were sheltered the first night in the " un- finished log house " of Joseph Blackmer, who had become a neighbor of Judge Dean; and the next night at Col. Danforth's ;
NOTE. - For the principal facts in the above brief notice of one whose history would make an interesting volume, the author is indebted to the "History of Onon- daga." The connection, in all this region, of prominent individuals with Col. Burr, in his south-western scheme, was far more extensive than has generally been supposed. It embraced names here, the mention of which would go far to favor the conclusion which time and its developements have been producing, that the scheme, as imparted by Col. Burr to his followers, had nothing in it of domestic treason. There were no better friends to their country, or more ardent devotees to its interests, than were many men of western New York, who were enlisted in this scheme. In after years, when in familiar conversation with an informant of the author, ( a resident of western New York,) Col. Burr spoke even with enthusiasm of his associates here - naming them, and saying that among them, were men whom he would choose to lead armies, or engage in any high achievement that required talents and energy of character. At the risk of extending this note to an unreasonable length, the author will add the somewhat curious historical fact, that the maps and charts, by which the British fleet approached New Orleans in the war of 1812, were those prepared in western New York, by a then resident here, for the south-western expedition of Col. Burr. The circumstance was accidental; the facts in no way implicating the author or maker of the maps.
* Other than the settlement of Jerusalem.
126
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
there being no intermediate settler. They camped out the third night ; and the fourth, staid with John Harris on the Cayuga Lake. The parents of Gen. Parkhurst Whitney, of Niagara Falls, came through to Seneca Lake, in February, 1790, "camping out " three nights west of Rome. It is mentioned, in connection with some account of the early advent of Major Danforth, in May, 1788, that his wife saw no white woman in the first eight months. These in- cidents are cited, to remind the younger class of readers that the pioneers of this region not only came to a wilderness, but had a long and dreary one to pass through before arriving at their desti- nation.
The first name we find for all New York west of Albany, was that bestowed by the Dutch in 1638 : - " Terra Incognita," or " un- known land." It was next Albany county ; in 1772 Tryon county (named from the then English Governor,) was set off, embracing all of the territory in this state west of a line drawn north and south that would pass through the centre of Schoharie county. Imme- diately after the Revolution the name was changed to Montgomery. All this region was in Montgomery county when settlement com- menced. In 1788, all the region west of Utica was the town of Whitestown. The first town meeting was held at the "barn of Captain Daniel White, in said District, in April, 1789 ; Jedediah San- ger, was elected Supervisor. At the third town meeting, in 1791, Trueworthy Cook, of Pompey, and Jeremiah Gould of Salina, Onondaga county, and James Wadsworth of Geneseo, were chosen path masters. Accordingly, it may be noted that Mr. Wadsworth was the first path master west of Cayuga Lake. It could have been little more than the supervision of Indian trails ; but the " warning" must have been an onerous task. Mr. Wadsworth had the year previous, done something at road making, which probably suggested the idea that he would make a good path master .* At the first general election for Whitestown, the polls were opened at Cayuga Ferry, adjourned to Onondaga, and closed at Whitestown. Herki- mer county was taken from Montgomery in 1791, and included all west of the present county of Montgomery.
* " The first road attempted to be made in this country, was in 1790, under the di- rection of the Wadsworths, from the settlement at Whitestown to Canandaigua through a country then very little explored, and then quite a wilderness." - [History of Onondaga.
127
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
CHAPTER III
-
THE GENESEE COUNTRY AT THE PERIOD WHEN SETTLEMENT COM- MENCED - ITS POSITION IN REFERENCE TO CONTIGUOUS TERRITORY - CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY GENERALLY AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
Ar Geneva, (then called Kanadesaga) there was a cluster of buildings, occupied by Indian traders, and a few settlers who had come in under the auspices of the Lessee Company. Jemima Wilkinson, with her small colony, was upon her first location upon the west bank of Seneca Lake, upon the Indian Trail through the valley of the Susquehannah, and across Western New York to Upper Canada ; the primitive highway of all this region ; one or two white families had settled at Catherine's Town, at the head of Sen- eca Lake. A wide region of wilderness, separated the most north- ern and western settlements of Pennsylvania from all this region. All that portion of Chio bordering upon the Lake, had, of our race, but the small trading establishment at Sandusky, and the military and trading posts upon the Maumee. Michigan was a wilderness, save the French village and the British garrison at Detroit, and a few French settlers upon the Detroit River and the River Raisin. In fact, all that is now included in the geographical designation - the Great West - was Indian territory. and had but Indian occu- pancy, with similar exceptions, to those made in reference to Mich- igan. In what is now known as Canada West, there had been the British occupancy, of a post opposite Buffalo, early known as Fort Erie, and a trading station at Niagara, since the expulsion of the French, in 1759. Settlement, in its proper sense, had its commence- ment in Canada West during the Revolution ; was the offspring of one of its emergencies. Those in the then colonies who adhered to the King, fled there for refuge : for the protection offered by British dominion and armed occupancy. The termination of the struggle,
128
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
in favor of the colonies, and the encouragement afforded by the colonial authorities, gave an impetus to this emigration ; yet at the period of the first commencement of settlement in Western New York, settlement in Canada West was confined to Kingston and its neighborhood, Niagara, Queenston, Chippewa, along the banks of the Niagara River, with a few small settlements in the immediate inte- rior. Upon Lakes Erie and Ontario, there were a few British armed vessels, and three or four schooners were employed in the commerce, which was confined wholly to the fur trade, and the supplying of British garrisons.
Within the Genesee country, other than the small settlement at Geneva, and the Friend's settlement, which has been before men- tioned, there were two or three Indian traders upon the Genesee River, a few white families who were squatters, upon the flats ; one or two white families at Lewiston ; one at Schlosser ; a negro, with a squaw wife, at Tonawanda ; an Indian interpreter, and two or three traders at the mouth of Buffalo creek, and a negro Indian trader at the mouth of Cattaragus creek. Fort Niagara was a British garrison. All else was Seneca Indian occupancy.
In all that relates to other than the natural productions of the soil, there was but the cultivation, in a rude way, of a few acres of flats, and intervals, on the river and creeks, wherever the Indians were located ; the productions principally confined to corn, beans and squashes. In the way of cultivated fruit, there was in several localities, a few apple trees, the seeds of which had been planted by the Jesuit Missionaries ; and they were almost the only relic left of their early, and long continued occupancy. At Fort Niag- ara and Schlosser, there were ordinary English gardens.
The streams upon an average, were twice as large as now; the clearing of the land, and consequent absorption of the water, having diminished one half, and perhaps more, the quantity of water then carried off through their channels. The primitive forests - other than those that were deemed of second growth - that are standing now, have undergone but little change, that of ordinary decay, growth, and re-production, but there are large groves of second growth, now consisting of good sized forest trees, that were sixty years ago but small saplings. The aged Senecas point out in many instances, swamps that are now thickly wooded, that they have known as open marshes, with but here and there a copse of under-
129
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
wood. The origin of many marshes, especially upon the small streams, may be distinctly traced to the beaver; the erection of their dams, and the consequent flooding of the lands, having des- troyed the timber. As the beaver gradually disappeared, the dams wore away, the water flowed off, and forest trees began to grow.
And here it may not be out of place to remark, that a very com- mon error exists in reference to the adaptedness of certain kinds of forest trees to a wet soil. We find the soft maple, black ash, a species of elm, the fir, the spruce, the tamarack, the alder, and several other varieties of trees and shrubs growing in wet soils, and then draw the inference that wet soils are their natural local- ities. Should we not rather infer, that all this is accidental, or rather, to be traced to other causes, than that of peculiar adaptation ? Take the case of land that has been flooded by the beaver : - the water has receded, and the open ground is prepared for the recep- tion of such seeds as the winds, the floods, the birds and fowls, bring to it. It will be found that the seeds of those trees which predominate in the swamps, are those best adapted to the modes of transmission. The practical bearing of these remarks, has refer- ence to the transplanting of trees from wet grounds. Wherever the ash, the fir, spruce, tamarack, high bush cranberry, soft maple, &c. have been transplanted upon up lands, and properly cared for, they furnish evidence that it was a casualty, not a peculiar adapta- tion, that placed them where found, generally stinted and unhealthy.
But little was known in the colonies of New York, and New England of Western New York, previous to the Revolution. During the twenty-four years it had been in the possession of the English, there had been a communication kept up by water, via Oswego and Niagara, to the western posts ; and a few traders from the east visited the Senecas. The expeditions of Prideux and Bradstreet were composed partly of citizens of New England and New York, but they saw nothing of the interior of all this region. A feiv years previous to the Revolution, in 1765, the Rev. Samuel Kirk- land, whose name will appear in connexion with Indian treaties, in subsequent pages, extended his missionary labors to the Indian village of Kanadesaga, where he sojourned for several months, making excursions to the Genesee River, Tonawanda and Buffalo Creeks. He was the first protestant missionary among the Senecas, and with the exception of Indian traders, probably gave the people
130
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
of New England, the first account of the Genesee country .* But the campaign of Gen. Sullivan, in 1779, more than all else perhaps, served to create an interest in this region. The route of the army, after entering the Genesee country, was one to give them a favora- ble impression of it. They saw the fine region along the west shore of the Seneca Lake ; and passing through what are now the towns of Seneca, Phelps, Gorham, Canandaigua, Bristol, Bloomfield, Rich- mond, Livonia, Conesus, they passed up and down the flats of the Genesee and the Canasoraga. To eyes that had rested only upon the rugged scenery of New England, its mountains and rocky hill sides, its sterile soil and stinted herbage, the march must have af- forded a constant succession of beautiful landscapes ; and what was of greater interest to them, practical working men as they were, was the rich easily cultivated soil, that at every step caused them to look forward to the period when they could make to it a second advent-a peaceful one- with the implements of agriculture, rather than the weapons of war. Returning to the firesides of Eastern New York, and New England, they relieved the dark pic- ture of retaliatory warfare- the route, the flight, smouldering cabins, pillage and spoliations - with the lighter shades -descrip. tions of the Lakes and Rivers, the rolling up-lands and rich valleys - the Canaan of the wilderness, they had seen. But it was a far off land, farther off than would seem to us now, our remote posses- sions upon the Pacific ; associated in the minds of the people of New England, with all the horrors of a warfare they had known upon their own extreme borders ; the Revolution was not consum-
* The young missionary had first seen some of the young men of the Six Nations, at the mission school of the Rev. Mr. Wheelock in Lebanon, Connecticut, where they were his fellow students, among whom was Joseph Brant. Taking a deep interest in the spiritual welfare of their people, he got introduced to them as a missionary of Sir William Johnson. With Indian guides, carrying a pack containing his provisions, travelling upon snow shoes, and camping at night upon and under hemlock boughs. he reached the Indian settlement at the foot of Seneca Lake, or rather at the Seneca Castle. He was well received by the chief sachem of the village, and invited to re- main ; but another chief of the Pagan party of the village, soon made him much trouble, and in fact endangered his life, by accusing him of witchcraft -of being the cause of the sudden death of one of their people. He was tried and acquitted through the influence of his friend the chief sachem, and a trader from the Mohawk, by the name of Wemple, the father of Mrs. Gilbert Berry, and grandfather of Mrs. George Hosmer .* After this he was uninterrupted in his missionary labors. Mr. Kirkland's influence with the Indians enabled him to do essential service during the Revolution, in diverting them from Butler and Brant.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.