History of the town of Warsaw, New York, from its first settlement to the present time; with numerous family sketches and biographical notes, Part 2

Author: Young, Andrew W. (Andrew White), 1802-1877
Publication date: 1869
Publisher: Buffalo, Press of Sage, sons & co.
Number of Pages: 504


USA > New York > Wyoming County > Warsaw > History of the town of Warsaw, New York, from its first settlement to the present time; with numerous family sketches and biographical notes > Part 2


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


Phelps and Gorham, having paid about one-third of the purchase money of the entire tract purchased of Massachu- setts, were unable to make further payments. They had stipulated to pay in a kind of serip, or "consolidated stock," issued by that state. This scrip they could buy at 70 or 80 per cent. below par. When they had paid about one-third of the purchase money, this stock had risen to par, at which they were unable to fulfill their engagements. An arrangement between the parties was negotiated by which Phelps and Gor- ham relinquished their remaining lands to Massachusetts, and Massachusetts relinquished to Phelps and Gorham their bonds for the payment of the purchase money.


In March, 1791, Massachusetts agreed to sell to Samuel Ogden, agent for Robert Morris, all the lands ceded to that state by New York, except that part which had been con- veyed by Massachusetts to Phelps and Gorham. In May, 1791, these lands were conveyed by Robert Morris, in five deeds, in strips or parcels extending across the breadth of the state from Pennsylvania line north. The first deed included all the territory east of the cast line of the Holland Purchase. This tract, retained by Morris in his sale to the Holland Com- pany, took the name of the " Morris Reserve." The second deed covered a breadth of sixteen miles ; the third and fourth deeds each a tract of the same breadth; and the fifth all the lands in the state west of the land conveyed by the fourth deed.


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


The reason for conveying the land by three separate deeds is, that there were three separate branches of the Holland Company. But to simplify the transaction of business with the settlers, they appointed one general agent for the whole. Says Turner, in his History of the Holland Purchase :


" Although these deeds of conveyance were given to three distinct companies of proprietors, their interests were closely blended. Several of the same persons having large interests in the three different estates, they appointed one general agent for the whole, who managed the concerns of the tract gener- ally, as though it all belonged to the same proprietors, making no distinction which operated the least on the settlers and pur- chasers, but simply keeping the accounts of each separate when practicable, and apportioning, pro rata, all expenses when blended in the same transaction for the benefit of the whole. The general agent likewise appointed one local agent for the three companies." In executing contracts and con- veyances, however, the agents used the names of the respect- ive proprietors of each tract.


As the Hollanders, being aliens, could not buy and hold real estate in their own names, the lands were conveyed for their benefit to trustees. They were, however, afterwards con- veved, by sanction of the legislature, to the proprietors in their own names.


At the time of the sale by Morris to the Holland Company and to purchasers of his other tracts, the Indian title to these lands had not yet been extinguished; which, however, he was bound by his contract to do as soon as possible. In 1797, at a council of the Senecas, held near Geneseo, the Indian title to these lands was extinguished, except the Gardean, Caneadea, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Buffalo, Tonawanda, and several other and smaller reservations. Few of these remain.


THE COMPANY'S SURVEY.


Joseph Ellicott had been engaged by the general agent of the Holland Company to attend this council as one of the


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THE COMPANY'S SURVEY.


agents of the Company, and chosen as principal surveyor of the Company's lands ; a business upon which he promptly entered, with his brother, Benjamin Ellicott, as assistant-sur- veyor, and the requisite number of hands. The first thing necessary was to establish correctly the east line of the Pur- chase, starting from the Pennsylvania line. The way in which this was done is thus described by Mr. Turner :


"To run a true meridian by the surveyor's compass, Mr. Ellicott knew to be impracticable; he therefore determined to run this line by an instrument having for its basis the pro- perties of the 'Transit instrument,' made use of to observe the transits of the heavenly bodies, improved for this purpose by a newly invented manner of accurately arriving at the same. An instrument possessing these qualities was manu- factured by his brother Benjamin Ellicott, as no instrument possessing all the qualities desired was then to be found in the United States."


But in order to the successful use of the instrument, it be- came necessary to cut a vista through the woods on the high- lands and on the level ground sufficiently wide to admit a clear and uninterrupted view. The vista so ent was three or four rods wide. Thus with this instrument, by astronomical observations, was a true meridian line established, from which this line has derived its familiar name of "Transit."


Most of the Purchase has been divided into townships six miles square, in tiers or ranges, numbered from east to west. The townships in the several ranges are numbered from south to north. The townships were subdivided into lots or sections three-fourths of a mile square, making eight tiers of eight lots each, the lots being numbered from sonth to north, com- mencing with the east tier. The lots, by an accurate meas- urement, would contain 360 acres each. But the number of acres in the different lots varies considerably, a very few in this town containing more, but most of them less, than 360 acres.


The Holland Purchase, at the time it passed into the hands


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


of its foreign proprietors, and for several years afterwards, was in the county of Ontario, which embraced all the terri- tory in the state of New York west of the line running north and south through Seneca lake.


ERECTION AND DIVISION OF GENESEE COUNTY.


Genesee county was formed from Ontario, March 30, 1802. It comprised all that part of the state lying west of Genesee river and a line extending due south from the point of the junction of that river and the Canascraga creek, to the south line of the state. Allegany county was taken from Genesee in 1806; Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, and Niagara in 1808; parts of Livingston and Monroe in 1821; Orleans in 1824; and Wyoming in 1841.


The town of Batavia was formed March 30, 1802, the date of the erection of the county ot Genesee, and comprised the whole of the Holland Purchase.


April 11, 1804, was formed from Batavia the town of Chautauqua, embracing all the territory now constituting the county of Chautauqua. At the same time were taken from Batavia the towns of Willink and Erie, the latter, now called Newstead, comprising, it is believed, but a single township; the two comprising all the territory now lying within the counties of Niagara and Eric.


March 19, 1808, Warsaw was formed from Batavia. It comprised the present towns of Middlebury, Warsaw, and Gainesville. At the same time Sheldon was formed from Batavia, and embraced all the other townships of the Holland Purchase within the county of Wyoming at the time of its formation. [The towns of Eagle, Pike, and Genesee Falls, from Allegany, were annexed to Wyoming in 1846.] In 1811, Attica was formed from Sheldon, and embraced the present towns of Attica, Orangeville, and Wethersfield. Orangeville was formed in 1816 from Attica, and Wethers- field from Orangeville, April 12, 1823. Bennington was formed from Sheldon, March 6, 1818, and China, March 6,


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TOPOGRAPHY OF WARSAW.


1818. On April 20, 1832, Java was formed from China, and and in 1866, the name of China was changed to Arcade.


June 8, 1812, Ridgeway, comprising all the Holland Com- pany's lands, within the present county of Orleans, was formed from Batavia; also Pembroke, Alexander, Bethany, and Bergen, which are still a part of Genesee county; and March 14, 1820, Elba, and March 24, 1820, Stafford, in part. The last town mentioned was formed from Batavia and Le Roy.


Genesee county, at the time of its formation, contained four towns, namely: Northampton, Southampton, Leicester, and Batavia. The first three embraced all the territory within the county lying east of the Purchase-Northampton the north part, Southampton the south part, Leicester the territory lying between them, and Batavia the whole Holland Pur- chase. The first Board of Supervisors of Genesee county was composed of Simon King, representing Northampton; Chris- topher Laybourn, Southampton; John H. Jones, Leicester; and Peter Vandeventer, the town of Batavia.


TOPOGRAPHY OF WARSAW.


The town of Warsaw, in the county of Wyoming, is sitna- ted in latitude 42 deg. and about 45 min. north, and in longi- tude 1 deg. and about 20 min. west of Washington. Its center is about six miles north-east from the geographical center of the county, of which it is the county town. It is a part of the tract known as the Holland Purchase. It is six miles square, and is designated in the Holland Company's survey, as Township Number Nine, Range First of town- ships. It is bounded on the north by Middlebury, west by Orangeville, south by Gainesville, and east by Perry. Its altitude is above tide water about fifteen hundred feet.


This town is about two hundred and fifty miles west of Al- bany, four hundred north-westerly from the city of New


.


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


York, forty-five south-easterly from Buffalo, and forty-two south-westerly from Rochester. All these places are accessi- ble by railroad. The Erie Railway passes through the town, north and south, and crosses the Genesee river over the famed Portage Bridge near the south-eastern corner of the county. The two principally traveled roads run north and south and east and west through the village, which is in the center of the town. The latter of these roads is the old stage road to Buffalo.


The soil of this town is strong and productive. In its origi- nal state it was heavily covered with various kinds of hard wood, mostly beech and maple, intermixed, in some parts, with elm, bass-wood, and in a few places with oak, ash, and hemlock. All the land, except what has been reserved for " wood lots," has been cleared and improved, and compares favorably with that of adjoining towns in quality.


The town is centrally divided, north and south, by a valley through which passes the O-at-ka creek, a stream sufficient to propel mills and machinery. Owing to its extensive water-shed on each side, it often assumes great proportions. The valley varies from half a mile to a mile in width.


The surface of the town presents gentle slopes from its east and west lines until they approach the valley, when the de- clivities increase in steepness, descending from three hundred to five hundred feet in a distance of one mile.


The soil is well adapted to tilling and pasturage. The bot- tom lands especially are fertile, producing luxuriant crops of grass and grain. There is little waste land in the town. The hill sides along the valley, though in some places steep, are tillable. Wheat, corn, and the coarser grains of fair yield are produced in all parts of the town. The plum, cherry, pear, and quince thrive well; and apples are produced in abundance, large quantities being shipped, nearly every year, to distant markets. Most of the orchards are grafted with choice varieties of fruit.


The whole town is well watered with springs and rivulets


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Clique Webster Sketch. p 347.


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SETTLEMENT OF WARSAW.


tending to the valley through numerous ravines, and emptying into the O-at-ka. The largest stream entering the valley within the town, heads in Orangeville; its two principal branches uniting a short distance east of the west line of Warsaw. A few rods below the place where it is crossed by the Erie Railway, it passes over a precipice ninety feet in height through a wild, rocky gorge, and enters the O-at-ka in the south part of the village. These falls and the surrounding scenery have been highly admired by visitors from distant parts of the country, and have been pronounced by many to be superior, in point of beauty and interest, to many of the more widely celebrated natural curiosities. When the ravine below shall have been cleared, and a convenient foot road or walk constructed, as is contemplated, this can hardly fail to attract the attention of travelers, and to become the frequent and favorite resort of our own citizens.


SETTLEMENT OF WARSAW.


The present town of Warsaw is distinguished in the survey of the Holland Purchase, as Township No. 9, Range First. The settlement of this town was commenced by Elizur Web- ster, of Hampton, Washington Co., N. Y., in 1803. Having duly traversed the township with a view to the selection of a situation, he decided to settle within its limits. The internal survey and division into lots had not yet been made. He wished to find the center of the township; and having made a measuring line of elm or bass-wood bark, he started from the south line of No. 10, at the point equidistant from the south-east and sonth-west corners, and run by a compass due south three miles, and, it is said, with such accuracy as to vary but a very few rods from the center afterwards determined by actual survey. He then proceeded to the Land-Office at Batavia to negotiate a purchase. But Mr. Ellicott, the agent, refused to order a survey to be made for his accommodation,


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IHISTORY OF WARSAW.


saying, that applications were constantly being made for un- surveyed lands, when there was a plenty of good lands already surveyed.


Among the early settlers there were very few who were able to pay down any portion of the purchase money. Mr. Ellicott, having learned that the applicant whose importuni- ties he had for one or two days resisted, could command about a thousand dollars in money, of which one-half or more he was ready to pay on the execution of the contract, very readily consented, and forthwith ordered the desired survey.


Mr. Webster's purchase included nine or ten lots, contain_ ing more than 3,000 acres, lying mostly along and in the valley of O-at-ka creek. The contract price was $1.50 per acre. Mr. Ellicott, not having been well informed concerning the lands in this township, was deeply chagrinned on learning that he had unwittingly disposed of a great portion of the best land in the township at the lowest price. Most of Mr. Webster's purchase was made on credit; or, as was sometimes done, the land was " booked " to him for a trifling sum, not exceeding a dollar a lot, for a specific term-six months, more or less-during which time he might sell to other parties at an advanced price. He sold most of these lands to settlers at a small advance of fifty cents per acre; they usually assuming his contract at the land-office by taking an article as origina purchasers, and paying him his additional charge. His contract bears date June 20, 1803.


Mr. Webster immediately entered upon his purchased pos- session. He made a small opening in the forest, and built a log-house a few rods back of the present site of the Baptist church. Being the only settler, he must, it is presumed, have gone a considerable distance for help to raise his cabin. The nearest settlement was in No. 10, at the place now known as "Wright's Corners," in Middlebury. The writer has been told by an old settler, that the house was raised by the help of the " choppers " then at work in opening the " Old Buffalo Road," which passes through the town east and west, a mile


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FIRST SALES OF LANDS.


and a half north of the village. The house was one of the rudest of its kind. As usual, the fire-place was without jambs, and the aperture for the passage of the smoke was of sufficient capacity to give the house a tolerable lighting from above. The roof was of elm bark; and the floor of split bass-wood plank, hewn on one side. There was neither board nor nail in the whole structure.


Mr. Webster returned to Hampton, and in October removed to Warsaw with his family and effects, having a wife and five children to share with him the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life, as well as their anticipated rewards. He came in with two teams, one of them a team of horses driven by himself; the other, two yoke of oxen driven altern- ately by Shubael Morris and Amos Keeney, who came to seek new homes on the Purchase. They were either accom- panied or immediately followed by Lyman Morris, also from Hampton. They came by the way of Le Roy and the new settlement already mentioned, now known as Wright's Cor- ners, in Middlebury. This settlement had been commenced the year previous by Jabish Warren, who had opened a way from Le Roy sufficient to admit the passage of a team. Be- sides Mr. Warren, there were then in that settlement, (1803,) Joseph Selleck, Frederick Gilbert, Israel M. Dewey, Reuben Chamberlain, and Amzi Wright.


FIRST SALES OF LANDS.


The following is a statement of the names of the original or first purchasers and occupants of the lands in this town, the dates of their contracts, the numbers of the lots and parts of lots purchased by cach, and to whom sold, &c. By purchase and sale of lands from and to each other by the early settlers, it is not to be understood that the lands were conveyed by deed and mortgage. Few, indeed, had paid for their lands. Most of them held land only under articles of agreement from the Land Company, and could not convey them by deed. The seller, for a consideration paid him for his improvements or


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


his "chance," so called, assigned his article to the purchaser, who, by this act, became entitled to all the rights, and liable for the fulfillment of all the obligations, of the original con- tractor or purchaser. In the statement which follows, the date of the contract is in many cases a considerable time either before or after the settler entered upon his land. When the intervening period between such entry and the date of the contract is known, the fact is stated.


1803, June 20, Elizur Webster, lot 25; 336 acres. Sold to John, Jeremiah, and Solomon Truesdell.


1803, Jime 20, E. Webster, lot 27; 343 acres. Sold to Solo- mon Morris, Jr., south third, 114 acres; John Morris, middle third, 115 acres; Silas C. Fargo, north third, 114 acres.


1803, June 20, E. Webster, lot 32; 335 acres. Sold to Simeon, Gurdon, and Josiah Hovey, Jun. Articles dated June 20, 1803. Settled on the land in the spring of 1804.


1803, June 20, E. Webster, lot 35; 349 acres. Sold to Jonas Cutting, south part, 175 acres; Wm. Knapp, north part, 174 acres. Articles dated Nov. 21, 1806.


1803, June 20, E. Webster, south part lot 36; 160 acres. Sold in parts to Joseph Palmer, 101 acres; to John Munger, 50. Articles dated July 22, 1806.


1803, June 20, E. Webster, north part lot 36; 163 acres.


1803, June 20, E. Webster, south part lot 38; 200 acres.


1803, June 20, E. Webster, south part lot 43; 1823 acres. Sold to Joseph Pahner; article dated June 21, 1813. New article Feb. 23, 1827, to Jonathan F. Hibbard, Nathan Scovel, John B. Royce, and deed to Wm. Shipman.


1803, June 20, E. Webster, north part lot 43.


1801, June 20, E. Webster, lot 37 and part of lot 38; 499 acres.


1803, June 20, Jabish Warren, lot 26; 347 acres. Sold north third to Solomon Morris. Article dated June 20, 1807.


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FIRST SALES OF LANDS.


1803, June 20, Jabish Warren, north part lot 28; 214 acres. Sold to Nehemiah Fargo.


1803, June 20, Jabish Warren, south part lot 28; 107 acres. Sold to Joseph Palmer.


1803, July 19, Daniel Curtis, lot 39; 3664 acres. July 19, 1813, new articles; west part, 200 acres, to Josiah Jewett; south-east part, 80 acres, to Nehemiah Fargo; north-east part, 864 acres, to Nehemiah Fargo.


1803, August 24, Elijah Cutting, lot 29; 339 acres. Settled on it near the site of the Brick Ilotel. Sold in parts to Micah Marchant, Elkanah Day, and Nehemiah Fargo. Deeds from the Company, to Unicy Marchant, north- west part, 98 acres; to Daniel Rumsey, 21 acres; to Samuel McWhorter, 73 acres; to Elam Perkins, 83 acres; to Anson A. Perkins, 17 acres.


1803, October 29, Josiah Hovey, Jun., part lot 24; 190} acres.


1804, January 10, Sterling Stearns, south part lot 2; 160 acres. Mr. Stearns was one of the first settlers at Wright's Corners.


1804, April 24, Josiah Boardman, north part lot 1; 126 acres. Article renewed April 25, 1814.


1804, July 31, Josiah Hovey, Sen., south part lot 31; 107 acres.


1804, July 31, Josiah Jewett, north part lot 31; 230 acres. Mr. Jewett resided on his farm until his death.


1804, November 29, Linus Warner, lot 9; 3463 acres. He did not settle upon his lot until 1806. A new article was taken Nov. 30, 1814. Sold in 1820 to Samuel Warner, 1153 acres.


1805, Jan. 25, Nehemiah Fargo, west part lot 30; 100 acres. 1805, July 15, Parley Chapman and Alden Keith, east half lot 6; 177 acres. New article July 15, 1815, to Jabez Chapman.


1805, September 5, Lot Marchant, north part lot 21; 200 acres. IIe settled on his land in the spring of 1806.


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


It was paid for and deeded Sept. 1806. 1805, October 2. Giles Parker, west third lot 22; 123 acres. He settled on it the next spring.


1806, Feb. S, Elizur Webster, lot 53; 337. Sold in 1807 to Hezekiah Wakefield. East part of the lot bought by Zera Tanner in 1809.


1806, Feb. S, Elizur Webster, west part lot 18; 129 acres.


1806, April 1, Elizur Webster, lot 10; 341 acres. Bought by Beardsley and Rice.


1806, April 1, Gideon T. Jenkins, lots 5 and 13; 728 acres. New article in 1816, to Ira Jenkins, Gideon Coon, Daniel II. Throop, Henry L. Brown, Thomas Scott, John Davis.


1806, April 15, Isaiah Jaycox, south part lot 1; 1253 acres. Bought by Comfort Hayes, 1816.


1806, April 15. Gideon Thayer, middle third lot 1; 126 acres. New article April 16, 1816, to John Wilcox.


1806, Jume 2, Daniel Ferguson, lot 52; 357 acres. Sold to Abraham Reed, who sold the east half to Isaac Phelps. 1806, June 2, Philip Salisbury, for himself and brother Sammel, lot 59; 355 acres. New article June 3, 1816, to Russel Noble; a part of it was bought in 1823, by Inther Foster, and forms part of the farm now owned by his son, Luther Foster.


1806, June 12, Ephraim Gates, lot 11; 342 acres. Parts sold to Asahel Barnard, Samnel Baker, Wm. Small- wood, John J. Baker, Wm. Fluker.


1806, June 14, Daniel Knapp, north part lot 34; 120 acres. 1806, June 19, Elkanah Day. lot 61; 333 acres. Part sold to Luther Parker. June 20, 1816, new article to Thomas Chase, west part; to J. Boomer, middle part; to Ezra Walker, east part.


1806, July 21, Aaron Bailey, lot 54; 349 acres. Sold in parts: East part, 100 acres, in June, 1816, to Jonathan Young, a part of which, with the homestead, is now owned by Milton D. Hatch.


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FIRST SALES OF LANDS.


1806, July 3, Micah Marchant, middle part lot 45; 100 acres. Ile probably never resided on this land. He bought about the same time the north part of lot 29, taken up Elijah Cutting, on which he settled in 1806, at the foot of East Hill, cast of the residence of L. W. Thayer. 1806, July 3, Elizur Webster, east part lot 45; 159 acres.


1806, July 3, Peter W. Harris, west part lot 60; 200 acres. Sold to Aaron Bailey, and by him, in June 1816, to Jonathan Young.


1806, July 3, Curtis Edgerton, east part lot 60; 144 acres. New article, 104 acres to himself; 40 acres to Robert Burdick, which was afterwards sold to David Martin. 1806, July 21, Nathan Pierce, west part lot 46; 200 acres. He resided on this lot until his death, in 1859.


1806, July 21, Nathan Pierce, lot 62; 319 acres. Sold in parts, which have been owned by Roderick Chapin and his sous John, Roderick, Harvey, Ebenezer and Willard. George Snyder bought of Roderick Jun., in 1834, the south-east part, 70 acres.


1806, July 21, Aaron Bailey, west part lot 55; 255 acres. Sold to Wm. C. Hatch; now owned in part by his son, Wm. T. Hatch.


1806, Ang. 22, Stephen James, parts of lots 46, 47, 55; 292 acres. He settled on lot 46 ; sold the west part of 47 and east part of 55 to Wm. C. Hatch, the latter becom- ing the homestead, on which his son Walter M. Hatch now resides.


1806, Sept. 23, John Utter, Jun., part of lot 2; 100 acres. Sold to James Beardsley, Sept. 24, 1816.


1806, Nov. 1, Shubael Morris, south third lot 34; 112 acres. Sold Nov. 2, 1816, to Wm. Webster.


1806, Nov. 1, Gideon R. Truesdell, north part lot 33; 166 acres. Sold to Simeon R. Glazier.


1806, Dec. 31, Nehemiah Fargo, west third lot 19; 120 acres. 1807, Jan. 3, George Densmore, south part lot 83; 164 acres. Sold about 10 years ago, and removed to Sharon, Wis.


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


1807, May 20, Silas Wethy, south-east part lot 30; 116 acres. A part sold to Anson A. Perkins. (?)


1807, May 21, Lot Marchant, south part lot 21; 187 acres. Sold to Daniel II. Throop 56 acres.


1807, May 21, Eliphalet Parker, east part lot 22; 246 acres. New article, May, 1817, to Samuel Hale, 50 acres ; to Cynthia Parker, 50 acres; to Lyman Parker, 146 acres. 1807, June 12, Solomon Morris, Jun., middle part lot 34; 119 acres.


1807, June 6, Chester Richards, cast part lot 17; 256 acres. New article to Lemuel Williams, and by him sold to Wm. Patterson.




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