Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 3

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

USA > New York > Erie County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1) > Part 3

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).

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DESCRIPTIVE OF THE SUBJECT.

ions of that treaty was one conveying to the English king a tract of land along both sides of Niagara River, fourteen by four miles in ex- tent for a carrying-place around the falls.' This treaty was more fully ratified in the summer of that year. From the time under considera- tion dominion over Western New York was practically divided be- tween the English and the Senecas, until the outbreak of the Revolu- tionary war. In that struggle the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas and Mohawks were most of the time in active participation with the British. The memorable campaign of General Sullivan in the spring of 1779 substantially destroyed the cohesion of the Iroquois league and hum- bled the Senecas, who fled to Fort Niagara and there during the severe winter of 1779-80, were supplied with food by the British. The declar- ation of peace in the fall of 1783 was followed by the treaty which established the well known boundary along the western frontier and gave to Americans the sovereignty, though the British, for causes hereafter to be recorded, continued to occupy fortifications on the American side. It will thus be seen that entire and unquestioned English authority continued over this territory only from 1763 to 1783, a little more than twenty years.

Contrary to the policy of the British, the United States endeavored to treat the Indians justly. One early example of this policy was the establishment of the so-called Property Line, dividing the Indian lands from those of the English in this State. The line was fixed in 1770 and extended from a point a little west of Rome, N. Y., south- ward to the Susquehanna River. In October, 1784, a treaty was made at Fort Stanwix (now Rome) between three commissioners in behalf of the United States and chiefs of the Six Nations.' The Marquis de La Fayette was present at this council; so also was Cornplanter, the famous Seneca chief, and Sayengeraghta, or Old King, and both took active part in the deliberations. Red Jacket claimed to have been present, but the records do not corroborate the statement. It was the desire of the United States to extinguish the Indian title to the western part of the State, a measure which was practically accomplished. Article II of the treaty was as follows:

1 This was the first step leading to the later reservation by the United States and the State of New York of a strip of land along the river for this purpose.

2 In 1712 the Tuscaroras, a North Carolina nation, were defeated by white men and Indian allies of other nations in warfare growing out of disputes over land. The Tuscaroras who escaped slaughter fled northward and were adopted by the Iroquois confederacy as a Sixth Nation; they were given lands near the Oneidas.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

A line shall be drawn, beginning at the mouth of a creek about four miles east of Niagara, called Oyonwayea, or Johnson's Landing Place, upon the lake named by the Indians Oswego, and by us Ontario; from thence southerly, in a direction always four miles east of the carrying path, between Lakes Erie and Ontario, to the mouth of Tehoseroron [or Buffalo] Creek, on Lake Erie; thence south to the north bound- ary of the State of Pennsylvania; thence west to the end of said north boundary; thence south along the west boundary of the said State to the river Ohio. The said line, from the mouth of the Oyonwayea to the Ohio, shall be the western boundary of the lands of the Six Nations; so that the Six Nations shall and do yield to the United States all claims to the country west of the said boundary, etc.

However ill pleased the Indians may have been with this agree- ment, they were in no position to resist; that they did not like it is clearly shown by their later complaints, which were so insistent that its terms were somewhat modified. The line agreed upon left all of Chautauqua county and a large part of Erie and Cattaraugus counties west of it.

Under the colonial charters of Massachusetts and New York, both colonies could set up a claim with some pretense of validity to not only all of Central and Western New York, but also to a broad strip running on westward indefinitely. After the close of the Revolution both Massachusetts and New York ceded to the United States their claim to the territory west of a line drawn south from the western ex- tremity of Lake Ontario; this line forms the present western bound- ary of Chautauqua county. In 1786 commissioners from the two States named met at Hartford and in the effort to harmonize and ad- just their claims, Massachusetts agreed to yield her asserted right to all land east of the present east line of Ontario and Steuben counties. It was also there agreed that New York should have jurisdiction and sovereignty west of that line, while Massachusetts should have the title to the land, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy; in other words, the Indians could hold the lands at their pleasure, but could sell only to Massachusetts or her assigns, giving that State pre-emption rights. New York, however, reserved a tract a mile wide along the eastern shore of the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, constituting the well known Mile Strip, or Mile Reserve.

In the strife that had already begun to secure the rich lands of the Indians two companies were formed, the New York and Genesee Land Company, of which John Livingston was manager, and the Niagara Genesee Company, composed principally of Canadians, with Col. John Butler at their head. With him were associated Samuel Street of

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DESCRIPTIVE OF THE SUBJECT.

Chippewa, Captain Powell, William Johnston, afterwards of Buffalo, and Benjamin Barton, then of New Jersey. To evade the constitu- tional edict prohibiting the Indians from selling their lands to individ- uals, these companies sought to obtain them under a lease. Butler and his associates possessed a large influence with the Indians and in 1787 the New York and Genesee Company obtained from the Six Na- tions a lease of all their lands, excepting some small reservations, for 999 years-a practical sale. The consideration was to be $20,000 and an annual rental of $2,000. But when this enterprising company sought recognition of their lease from the Legislature in the following winter, its evasion of the constitution was too apparent and it was promptly rejected. Many of the chiefs of the Six Nations claimed that this lease was granted without proper Indian authority. Under these circumstances Livingston and his associates proposed that they should procure a conveyance of the lands from the Indians to the State, provided the State would reimburse the company for all their expenses and convey to them half of the land. This magnanimous proposition, under which Livingston, Butler and the rest would have obtained four or five million acres of the finest land in the State, was also rejected. In 1788 Massachusetts sold all her New York lands, comprising about 6,000,000 acres, to Oliver Phelps and Na- thaniel Gorham, and associates, for $1,000,000, to be paid in three equal annual installments, the purchasers having the right to pay in certain stocks of that State, which were then greatly depreciated. This purchase was, of course, subject to the Indian right of occupancy. Mr. Phelps made an arrangement under which Livingston was to aid him in negotiating a treaty with the Indians, but in the mean time a disagreement arose between Livingston's and Butler's companies, and when Phelps arrived at Geneva where a council was to have been held, he learned that Butler and Brant had assembled the Indians at Buffalo Creek, and had induced them to not meet either Livingston or Phelps. Phelps proceeded to Niagara, where he came to an amicable arrange- ment with Butler and his friends, and a council was called for the 5th of July, 1788, at Buffalo Creek.

It was a memorable council. Brant, the great Mohawk chief, was present, as also was Col. John Butler, who had gained an unenviable rep- utation in the Revolution as commander of Butler's Rangers. There also was Rev. Samuel Kirkland, whose unselfish labors as a missionary among the Indians deserved and received commendation from all who

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

became familiar with the subject. William Johnston was there-a man who was afterwards to wield a powerful influence upon the future of Buffalo. Honayewus, or Farmer's Brother, the Seneca war chief and eloquent warrior, was present, dressed in full Indian costume. The great Sagoyewatha, or Red Jacket, participated in the proceedings, though there was little to be said to change the arrangements which Brant and Butler had already completed. Capt. John O'Bail, or Abeel, better known as Cornplanter, the celebrated half-breed chief of the Senecas, was there, and Sayengeraghta, or Old King, or Old Smoke, as he was variously known, with a host of inferior chiefs, several Brit- ish officers from Forts Niagara and Erie, in their bright uniforms, and behind the chiefs a row of old squaws who could assert their right to be heard in such a council. It was certainly a picturesque assemblage and remarkable for the conspicuous character of many of its members.

The council was perfectly harmonious in its action. There was little dispute regarding the location of the line, the Indians contending that the west line of the territory sold should run along the Genesee River; but Phelps shrewdly advanced the proposition that he wished to build some mills at the falls of the Genesee (site of Rochester), which would be a convenience alike to the white men and the Indians, and it would be necessary for him to have the line fixed some distance farther west so as to provide for his mill seat. Mr. Phelps, after due deliberation, decided that a strip about twelve miles wide and extending from the site of Avon to the mouth of the river, a distance of twenty-eight miles, would be sufficient for his mill privilege, and it was granted; the tract so added contained over 200,000 acres, and constituted, probably, the largest mill seat ever known. Southward from Avon the line ran along the Genesee to the mouth of the Canaseraga and thence due south to the Pennsylvania line. This was the well known Phelps and Gorham Purchase, which contained about 2,600,000 acres. The fool- ish Indians left the fixing of the price to be paid to Colonel Butler, Joseph Brant and Elisha Lee; it was made $5,000 in hand and $500 annually forever. A little later Butler received from Phelps 20,000 acres of the land, which was probably considered little enough remu- neration for his services in influencing the Indians to sacrifice their do- main for trifling consideration.' Although this great purchase did not

' In writing to some of his associates after the treaty was closed, Mr. Phelps said: "You may rely upon it that it is a good country; I have purchased all the Indians will sell at present, and perhaps as much as it would be profitable for us to buy at this time."

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DESCRIPTIVE OF THE SUBJECT.

include territory in Niagara or Erie counties, this brief account is given to show the methods and changes by which the Indian title in this part of the State was extinguished.

In 1789 the county of Ontario was erected, which included the whole of the Massachusetts land, substantially all lying west of Seneca Lake. Phelps and Gorham had based their expectations upon paying Massa- chusetts with the depreciated stocks before mentioned, but when the stocks advanced nearly to par in consequence of the funding of the pub- lic debt of the States by the Federal government, the firm reported to the Massachusetts Legislature in the spring of 1789 that they were un- able to fulfill their engagement and asked to be released from so much of their obligation as related to the Indian lands not included in the treaty just described. The request was granted and Massachusetts at once sold the released land to Samuel Ogden as agent for Robert Mor- ris, the Philadelphia merchant prince. The east line of this Morris purchase began on the Pennsylvania line about forty-four and three- fourths miles west of the pre-emption line and ran due north to the forks of the Genesee River and Canaseraga Creek, thence northerly along the river to a point two miles north of the Canawagus village, thence due west twelve miles, and thence nearly north to Lake Ontario. The land transferred to Morris was described in five tracts; the easternmost one he sold mainly in small parcels. The remaining four constituted the famous Holland Purchase.

The Holland Land Company, as it has been called, was not a com- pany at all, in the ordinary meaning of the word. It was merely an association of wealthy Amsterdam citizens, who placed funds in the hands of agents who were citizens of this country, with which to buy lands for speculative purposes. There was no incorporation and no company in a legal sense. The sale to the agents or trustees of the Holland Company by Robert Morris was made in 1792-3 and included lands west of a line beginning on the Pennsylvania line twelve miles west of the west line of the Phelps and Gorham purchase (before de- scribed), and running thence due north to the center of Stafford, Gen- esee county; thence due west about three miles, and thence due north to Lake Ontario. This line has been known as the Transit Line, it having been surveyed with one of the first transit instruments used in the surveys. The offset in the line was made to prevent the Holland Company's lands from overlapping what was known as the Connecticut tract.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

The sale by Morris to the Holland Land Company being made be- fore the extinguishment of the Indian title, it was agreed by Mr. Morris that he would aid the company to extinguish the Indian title as soon as possible, A council was accordingly held for this purpose, at Geneseo in 1797, where the title was extinguished to all lands on which pre-emption rights were held by Massachusetts, excepting the follow- ing reservations: At Canawaugus, two square miles on the Genesee west of Avon; Big Tree Reservation and Little Beard's Town, four square miles on the Genesee, opposite Geneseo; Squawkie Hill Res- ervation, two square miles on the Genesee north of Mt. Morris; Gar- deau Reservation of twenty-eight square miles on both sides of the Genesee in Castile and Mt. Morris; the Canadea Reservation, sixteen square miles on both sides of the Genesee in Allegany county; the Oil Spring Reservation, one square mile on the line between Cattaraugus and Allegany counties; the Allegany Reservation, forty two square miles on both sides of the Allegany River extending north from the Pennsylvania line; the Cattaraugus Reservation, forty-two square miles on both sides of the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek; the Buffalo Creek Reservation, 130. square miles on both sides of Buffalo Creek; Tonawanda Reservation, seventy square miles on both sides of Tona- wanda Creek, mostly in Genesee county; the Tuscarora Reservation, one square mile, three miles east of Lewiston, Niagara county. The titles of all these reservations excepting Tonawanda, Buffalo Creek, Cattaraugus, Tuscarora and Allegany, have since been extinguished. The Legislature of this State having in 1798 authorized the alien Hol- landers to hold lands here, the American trustees in the latter part of that year conveyed the Holland Purchase to the real owners. It was transferred, however, to two sets of proprietors, one of which was soon after divided, making three. Each set held its tract as joint tenants, that is, the survivors took the whole; the shares could not be the subject of will or sale and did not pass by inheritance, except in case of the last survivor. The first transfer by the trustees included the whole tract excepting 300,000 acres; it was conveyed to Wilhelm Willink, Nicholas Van Staphorst, Pieter Van Eeghen, Hendrick Vol- lenhoven, and Rutger Jan Schimmelpennick. The 300,000 acres were conveyed to Wilhelm Willink, Jan Willink, Wilhelm Willink, jr., and Jan Willink, jr. Two years later the five proprietors of the main tract transferred the title to about 1,000,000 acres in such manner as to vest it in the original five and also in Wilhelm Willink, jr., Jan Willink, jr.,

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DESCRIPTIVE OF THE SUBJECT.

Jan Gabriel Van Staphorst, Roelif Van Staphorst, jr., Cornelius Vol- lenhoven, and Hendrick Seye. Pieter Stadnitzki had some sort of an undefined interest in these lands Theophilus Cazenove was the first general agent of these owners, and continued in charge until 1799, when he was succeeded by Paul Busti; the latter continued in charge until 1824, by which date a large part of the purchase had been sold to individuals and families for permanent settlement. After Paul Busti's administration, John J. Vander Kemp had charge of the company's affairs until their final settlement.' Joseph Ellicott was engaged as head surveyor for the company in 1797, and during the succeeding ten or twelve years completed the entire survey. In 1800 he was appointed local agent, and for more than twenty years had almost exclusive con- trol of the local affairs of the company. The principal office of the company was in Philadelphia. Mr. Ellicott ran the East Transit Line in 1798. The survey system was substantially the same as that fol- lowed on the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. The tract was first di- vided into ranges six miles wide, extending from the Pennsylvania line to Lake Ontario, and numbered from east to west. These were sub- divided into townships' six miles square, numbered from north to south. It was originally intended to divide each complete township into sixteen sections each a mile and a half square, and to subdivide these into lots each three quarters of a mile long and one-quarter wide, each containing just 120 acres. This plan was soon abandoned as too complicated, and the townships were divided into lots three-quarters of a mile square, containing 360 acres each. Twenty-four townships had been surveyed when the first plan was abandoned, three of which were in Erie county, namely, the present town of Lancaster and the southern part of Newstead and Clarence.

In the fall of 1798 Seth Pease ran the line of the State Reservation along the Niagara' River. Some difficulty was experienced in fixing the boundary at the southern end, but it was finally agreed between the State authorities and the company that the river should begin

1 These agents were invested with very broad powers in all directions for the sale of lands, promotion of settlement and establishment of roads, schools, churches, etc. It is on record that Paul Busti decided almost without consideration and while offended with bigoted requests from a minister, to give the first church society formed in any town on the Purchase 100 acres of land, a gift pregnant with important results.

" The reader should bear in mind the fact that the territorial term "township," as applied to the survey, has no reference to the later formed towns.

" In early times this river was frequently alluded to as the "Streights of Niagara."

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

where the water was one mile wide. From a point on the eastern bank opposite the line where the water was a mile wide, a boundary was drawn consisting of numerous short lines forming substantially the arc of a circle with a mile radius, giving to the State all the land within a mile of the river, whether lying east from its eastern bank or south from its head. This boundary, which became known as the Mile Line, began at the foot of Genesee street in Buffalo, as subsequently laid out, crossed Church street a little west of Genesee, crossed Niagara street a few rods northwest of Mohawk, continued on the arc before mentioned to the intersection of North and Pennsylvania streets, and thence ran northward to Lake Ontario, always at a distance of a mile from the river.

Besides the before mentioned East Transit, another standard merid- ian was run as a base of operations in the western part of the Purchase, which was known as the West Transit. It was the line between the sixth and the seventh ranges, and became the boundary between Clar- ence, Lancaster, Elma, Aurora and Colden on the east, and Amherst, Cheektowaga, West Seneca, East Hamburg and Boston on the west. A part of the 300,000 acres before spoken of as conveyed to the four Willinks, lay in a strip nearly a mile and a half wide just west of the West Transit, extending from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario. The remainder of the land belonging to that set of proprietors was in the southeast corner of the Purchase. All that part of Erie county west of the West Transit (excepting the pre-emption right to the reserva- tions) was included in the conveyance of a million acres to the larger set of proprietors, while that part east of the Transit was retained by the five original owners. The Transit was not, however, the line be- tween the possessions of the two sets throughout the whole of the Pur- chase.

The survey of the Purchase was pushed ahead with vigor and in 1800 its division into townships was finished and a number of the town- ships were subdivided into lots. In that season, while in the east, Mr. Ellicott, acting as local agent for the lands, issued handbills headed "Holland Company West Geneseo Lands," and announcing that these lands would soon be for sale, and stating that they lay adjacent to "Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Streights of Niagara."

The West Transit line ran between what were the great towns Willink and Erie, both of which stretched across the entire width of the State. At its southern end Erie was twenty-four miles wide, but it was

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DESCRIPTIVE OF THE SUBJECT.

narrowed by the lake and the Canadian boundary to from eight to twenty miles wide through its northern half. It comprised one short range of townships in Chautauqua county, the western part of Niagara the Cattaraugus counties, and in Erie county the city of Buffalo, and the towns of Grand Island, Tonawanda, Amherst, Cheektowaga, West Seneca, Hamburg, East Hamburg, Evans, Eden, Boston, Brant, North Collins, Collins, and the west part of Concord. The town of Willink, as organized, was eighteen miles wide and extended also from Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania. In contained one range of townships in Erie county, the eastern parts of Niagara and Cattaraugus counties, and the present town of Clarence, Newstead, Lancaster, Alden, Elma, Ma- rilla, Aurora, Wales, Colden, Holland, Sardinia, and part of Concord.

Early in the year 1808 there was a general reorganization of the counties and towns of the Holland Purchase. Allegany county had been set off from Genesee in 1806, the latter remaining otherwise as first erected; but it was now apparent to Mr. Ellicott as well as to the settlers that furthur division was imperative. Towns eighteen miles wide and one hundred miles long became too unwieldy when settlers began to locate away from the Buffalo road, and voters could not be expected to travel from Fort Niagara to Buffalo, nearly forty miles, or from Olean, where settlement had begun, to Buffalo, sixty miles, to ex- ercise their right of suffrage. Accordingly on the 11th of March, 1808, a law was passed erecting the county of Niagara from that part of Gen- esee county lying north of Cattaraugus Creek and west of the line be- tween the fourth and fifth ranges of townships. Cattaraugus and Chau- tauqua counties were erected at the same time, with substantially their present boundaries. Buffalo was made the county seat of the new county which embraced all of what is now Erie county. By the same act the town lines on the Purchase were materially changed. A tier of townships from the east side of Willink was left in Genesee county and with old Batavia these townships were divided into the three towns of Batavia, Warsaw and Sheldon. All that part of Niagara county north of Tonawanda Creek, covering the same territory as the present county of Niagara, and being a part of the former towns of Willink and Erie, was erected into the new town of Cambria. All that part between Tonawanda Creek and the center of the Buffalo Creek Reservation, also comprising part of both Willink and Erie, was formed into the new town of Clarence, which it will be seen included the village of Buffalo; and all that part of Niagara county south of the center of the Reser-

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

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Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 3

Author: Truman C. White Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017