Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 11

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co.
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > New York > Oneida County > Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York; > Part 11

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events of the time. The verdict of acquittal was received by Zenger's friends with tumultuous cheers, and in their excitement they carried on their shoulders from the court room the venerable counsel who had made such a magnificent plea and defence in behalf of the freedom of the press. On page 146 of Lossing's history of the Empire State is a graphic picture of that memorable scene.

All the title which Ecker and his associates acquired by the Indian deeds was transferred to the persons hereafter named, and on January 2, 1734, the latter acquired a patent, or rather two patents. The lands thus acquired on the same day are situated about one-half in what is now Herkimer county, and about one-half in what is now Oneida county; the western boundary is the Sauquoit Creek so as to take in a part of the creek, and the tract is about three miles wide on each side of the Mohawk, and includes about 43,000 acres. The lands in Herkimer county were patented to John Lyne and eight asso- ciates ; those in Oneida county were patented to Joseph Worrall and ten associates; nine of the patentees in each patent were the same. Six days after the issuing of these two patents, both parcels were con- veyed to Gov. William Cosby and have ever since been known as Cosby's Manor. It was provided in the patents that the patentees should cultivate three acres in every fifty within three years thereafter, and that all pine trees fit for masts for the royal navy, and all ores should be reserved. A quit. rent of two shillings and six pence for every 100 acres was to be paid annually to the government receiver in New York city. No quit-rents were to be paid, however, for thirty- eight years thereafter, and the lands were sold for those quit-rents in 1772, as will appear further on. In 1735 Governor Cosby made his will, devising to his son William that part of the manor lying south of the Mohawk, and to his son Henry that part lying north of the river, and all the rest of his lands in America to his wife, Grace Cosby. He made no provision for his only daughter. Through the management of the mother, that daughter became the wife of the Duke of Grafton, who later in life was a prominent figure in English politics. After a sickness of fifteen weeks Governor Cosby died in New York city March 10, 1736, and historians say, " universally detested." He was buried in Trinity churchyard and his will was proven in that city. In June, 1736,

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his widow sailed for England and never returned. She left Sir William Johnson her agent. The son Henry was the next one to die after his father, intestate and unmarried. The son William died next, unmarried and insane, and both sons before 1761. The daughter died about 1791. The widow, through her agent, sold the land north of the river for 6,000 pounds to Oliver De Lancy, Goldsboro Banyar, James Jauncey, and Peter Remsen. That was the parcel devised to the son Henry and was sold as containing 21,000 acres. By the correspondence between the parties, as found in the Documentary History of New York, it was dis- covered that there were two prior unpaid mortgages on the lands thus sold, and also quit-rents since the time Governor Cosby became the owner ; and further, it was claimed that instead of 21,000 acres, there were only 18,000. It does not appear from that correspondence how the difficulty was settled Mrs. Cosby was clamorous for money, say- ing she was " needy." She died in 1767. As no quit rents were paid, proceedings were taken in 1771 to sell the whole manor for back quit- rents, and it was sold by the sheriff of Albany county July 4, 1772, at the Albany court house. The Herkimer county land was bid off by Nanning Vischer, as containing 19,000 acres. The Oneida county land was bid off by Philip Schuyler for himself, John Bradstreet, and Rutger Bleecker, and the heirs of John M. Scott. The records of Oneida county show that in 1793 Mr. Schuyler bought of the Cosby heirs all of the lands in the manor south of the river, for $10,000 In the sheriff's deed to Schuyler, a strip of land of 1,284 acres, next to the Bayard and Coxe Patents, was omitted, and this subsequently gave rise to serious difficulty, the forty claimants (Jedediah Sanger, Philip Schuy- ler, Rutger Bleecker and others), invoking the aid of the Legislature in 1810 and again in ISII, and commissioners were appointed to adjust the differences.

In Vol. V of Peters's U. S. Supreme Court Reports, and in Jones's Annals of Oneida County, and in Bagg's Pioneers of Utica, will be found a sketch of the long litigation which took place between Martha Bradstreet and Utica owners relative to lands in that city which Martha claimed in the manor. Samuel A. Talcott, Daniel Webster, and other eminent counsel were engaged in the case, and although Martha in part managed her own case, and was as well versed as to the facts and in

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many of the points of the law as were the lawyers themselves, she was never successful. The writer of this remembers many anecdotes and incidents of that trial in Utica, related by William Tracy, Judge Grid- ley, and others who heard part of the trial, of the skill and ability of Martha in the part she took in the proceedings.

Sadequahada Patent .- The next patent granted of lands in what is now Oneida county, after Cosby's Manor, was a tract of some 6,000 acres, called the Sadaquahada Patent (Sauquoit), sometimes called the " Morris Tract." It was granted June 25, 1736, to Frederick Morris and others. At that date Mr. Morris was secretary of the colony, in which office he succeeded George Clarke, one of the patentees of Oriskany Patent, and hence he was in a good position to obtain titles to lands. A glance at the Oneida county map shows that this patent nicely fits in between Oriskany Patent and Cosby's Manor, and that it runs up the valley of the Sauquoit Creek to what is now Coxe's Patent. It is also on the north side of the Mohawk and is bounded northerly by Holland and Sumner Patents Parts of Marcy, New Hartford, and Whitestown are in Sauquoit Patent. At the time of the Revolution Hugh Wallace was owner of Sauquoit Patent and half of Sumner Patent ; he adhered to the crown and by the act of 1779 was one of the fifty . nine persons attainted of treason and his property confiscated. For a time he was confined as a political prisoner to the limits of Middletown, Conn., but later was allowed to escape. He and Robert Yates (after- wards judge from 1777 to 1790, and chief justice of the Supreme Court of New York from 1790 to 1798) were personal friends. To preserve his silver plate from loss, valued at 1,500 pounds, Mr. Wallace placed it in charge of Mr. Yates, and the latter, for its greater security, sent it on board of a vessel The vessel was captured by American cruisers and divided among the captors as a lawful prize. After the war Mr. Wal- lace returned to Ireland, his native country, and died in Waterford in 1788. The purchasers of that patent, after its confiscation. where Zeph- aniah Platt (father of Jonas Platt), Ezra L'Hommedieu, Melancthon Smith, and Hugh White. It was arranged among the proprietors that they should meet on the tract to divide it in the summer of 1784. Mr. White came on from Connecticut and arrived at Whitesboro in June of that year ; he was then fifty-one years old and had a large family who came later.

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" Line of Property."-The encroachments made by the white men upon Indian lands while New York was a colony, created serious dis- turbances between the two classes and finally led up to, and resulted in, the treaty in the fall of 1768 at Fort Stanwix by which a boundary line was established by the English government and the various Indian tribes. That treaty was attended by representatives from a number of the American colonies, by chiefs and representatives of various Indian tribes, and by squaws and children as well. Sir William Johnson rep- resented the English government and was the principal manager and speaker on that side. Some 2,000 persons were present and the gath- ering continued about two months. There was not much difficulty about the line, outside of New York; but there was great difficulty in agreeing on the line in what is now Oneida county, and it required all the eloquence, art, making of presents, and shrewd management of Sir William to accomplish the agreement. The line, as agreed upon, starts at the mouth of Wood Creek in Rome, opposite the mouth of Canada Creek, and extends thence for twenty-two miles and sixty-four chains in a direct line through the towns of Westmoreland and Kirkland (over College Hill), and Marshall and Paris to the Unadilla River in the north- west corner of the town of Bridgewater, and so on by various courses and distances to the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers and beyond. This line has ever since been known in history as "The Line of Property." That treaty cost the English government over 10,000 pounds. After the line was established it seemed to incite the taking out of other patents, for within less than three years thereafter, six patents were granted in what is now Oneida county, embracing 160,000 acres of land.

Servis Patent .- The next patent after Sauquoit Patent was Servis Patent of some 2,000 acres, mostly in Trenton, granted February 28, 1769, to Peter Servis and twenty four others, but really for the benefit of Sir William Johnson. Peter Servis was a relative of the first wife of Sir William and twenty-four of the other patentees were his tenants or hired retainers. Jones's Annals of Oneida County states that after the patent was issued Sir William made a great feast, roasted an ox, and when the patentees were " in a happy mood," procured an assignment of the patent to himself. Before the death of Sir William in 1774 he had conveyed away about half of the patent, as recited in his will. His

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executors, as provided by the will, sold the remainder (about 13,000 acres) but to whom cannot be ascertained ; and, besides, his title deeds in time of the Revolution were buried in the ground near Johnstown by his son, Sir John, and when recovered after the war were so mouldy as to make the writing illegible. In a litigation concerning some of the lands, as it appeared, a deed or patent to Sir William was once in exist- ence, and on proof of loss, the court allowed parol proof to be given of the deed or patent and the contents. The records of Oneida county show that as early as 1793 John Kelly, of New York, owned 2,000 acres in the southwest corner of Servis Patent, next to Holland Patent, and partly in Trenton and partly in Marcy. It is called the " Kelly Tract" in the deeds and on the Oneida county maps. It was subdivided in 1793 into twenty-two lots by William Cockburn, surveyor. The rec- ords do not show who conveyed to Kelly. Not far from 1790 Gerret Boon and others owned the Servis Patent, excepting the Kelly Tract, and other lands for the Holland Land Company. The records do not show who conveyed to Boon and others. In 1798 Peter Kemble, father - in-law of General Thomas Gage, purchased of Kelly the Kelly Tract. In 1795 the remainder of the Servis Patent was divided into 191 lots by Calvin Guiteau, surveyor. Kelly died in 1801.

Holland Patent .- On the 20th of March, 1769, 20,000 acres, partly in Steuben, Trenton and Marcy, were granted to Henry Fox, Lord Holland. This is in no way connected with the Holland Land Com- pany, as some suppose. Lord Holland was born in 1705 and the Fox family for more than a century stood prominent in position in English history ; when young, Lord Holland was a gambler and a spendthrift, but later in his life he became influential in politics. He died in 1774, and his son Stephen, who succeeded to his titles, died a few months thereafter. Richard Henry Fox was then about a year old, was grand- son of Lord Holland and succeeded to the property. About 1795 the trustees of the will and of the property conveyed Holland Patent to this grandson, and the latter, in November, 1796, conveyed the property to Seth Johnson, of New York city, and Andrew Craig, of Cambridge, Mass., which conveyance is recorded in the Oneida county clerk's office. When this patent was granted it was supposed to contain about 20,000 acres, but on a survey made in 1797 by Moses Wright, then of Rome, it was found to contain 21,2301/2 acres ; it was divided into 212 lots.

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Gage's Patent .- On July 6, 1769, a tract of 18,000 acres, wholly in Deerfield, was granted to Sir Thomas Viscount Gage, then of New York city, formerly the tory governor of Massachusetts, and it was called Gage's patent. Quit-rents, all gold and silver mines and all timber fit for masts were reserved. Sir Thomas Gage came to America with Gen - eral Braddock in 1755 and was at the battle of Fort Du Quesne, and with General Amherst in 1759 in the expedition against Ticonderoga, and with General Wolfe at Quebec when that city surrendered to the English, and he was then appointed governor of that city. In 1763 he was made commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America, and in 1770 lieutenant general. His home was in New York city until 1774, where he lived in a large double dwelling, numbers 67 and 69 Broad street, which was surrounded by elegant gardens. In that year he removed to Boston and assumed administration of civil and military affairs in Massachusetts ; as commander he was succeeded by Sir William Howe in 1775, and Gage went to England in that year and died there April 2, 1787. He was very odious to, and unpopular with, the American Whigs; the provincial Congress in 1775 declared Gen. Thomas Gage "an inveterate enemy of his country, disqualified from serving the colony and unworthy of confidence." General Gage, while in Boston, offered pardon for all the rebels except Samuel Adams and John Hancock. As before stated he married a daughter of Peter Kem- ble, who espoused the American cause. This daughter died in 1824 at the age of ninety years. The records of Oneida county show that in March, 1788, one Jacob Lally, a mariner, for 5,900 pounds, conveyed Gage's patent to Peter Kemble. Where Lally got his title the records do not show; perhaps from General Gage, so as to escape forfeiture. The records further show that on August 10, 1794, Henry Lord Vis- count Gage conveyed this patent to Peter Kemble, his grandfather, for 1,991 pounds 5 shillings. That deed recites that Gen. Thomas Gage in July. 1786, made his will, devising all of his property to trustees to con- vey to said Henry, which they did on August 4, 1794, and said Henry conveyed as above to his grandfather, Peter Kemble. In 1803 Alex- ander Enos, jr., subdivided into lots the north part of the patent, and Calvin Guiteau the south part. General Gage was the first military, and the last royal, governor of Massachusetts. He was personally es-

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teemed, but particularly odious to the Whigs of the Revolution. As showing how time softens the political asperities of political animosities it may be stated that in 1862 the Legislature of Massachusetts passed a resolution requesting and authorizing the governor of that State to re- ceive a portrait of General Gage and place it in the State library ; and it was so done, and thus the portrait hangs, instead of its original, which the Whigs of 1775 would gladly have seen hung in the same place, or anywhere else, 120 years ago. The granddaughter of that Peter Kem- ble, who had married General Sumner, offered this portrait to the Mas sachusetts library. Will the time ever come when the portraits of Jefferson Davis and Gen. Robert E. Lee will hang in the State library of Massachusetts ?

Sumner Patent .- In the northwest corner of what is now Marcy is a tract of 2,000 acres of land granted May 2, 1770, to Hezekiah Sumner, reserving gold and silver mines and trees for masts, to be free of quit- rents the first ten years, and after that to be subject to the annual quit- rent of 2s. 6d. for every 100 acres. This tract has ever since been known as the Sumner Patent. The patentee was a subaltern officer, re- tired on half-pay. It is believed he was the officer in charge of the British stores of Fort Stanwix at the time of the Revolution, and whose daughter was shot by the Indians in July, 1777. In fifteen days after he got the patent, for twenty-five pounds he conveyed it to Hugh Wal- lace and Goldsboro Banyar. As the former adhered to the crowd his property was confiscated and his interest in the patent was sold in April, 1796, to John Clayton. The latter in a few days thereafter sold to John Kelly-the same who owned the Kelly Tract in Servis Patent. Judging by Kelly's will he must have been a queer personage. He made Alexander Hamilton, John V. Henry, Robert Troup, Peter Kem- ble, Goldsboro Banyar, Simeon De Witt, Egbert Benson, and Richard Harrison, all notable persons, his executors, and provided that his prop- erty should be held in trust, and his half interest in the Sumner Patent was to be conveyed in 1805 to his son, John J., on the express condition that the latter behaved himself properly, soberly, justly and honestly, and neither turns drunkard, or horse racer, nor plays cards, dice or any other unlawful games ; and also provided he does not become a de- bauchee or a vagabond. Kelly owned interests in other patents, which

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he disposed of by his will in a similar manner. The patent eventually. was owned by Gov. George Clinton, and in 1814 was subdivided into twenty-two lots by Benjamin Wright for the heirs of Mr. Clinton.

Coxe Patent .- The next patent in this county was dated May 30, 1770, to William Coxe, Daniel Coxe, Rebecca Coxe, John Tabor Kempe, then attorney- general of New York, and Grace (Coxe) his wife. The Coxe family at that time were the descendants and heirs of the Dr. Coxe, of London, who became in 1696 owner of the patent granted to Robert Heath of lands south. This patent of 1770 was in consideration of re- lease by the patentees of the Heath Patent The Coxe Patent in Oneida county embraces 47,000 acres and is bounded by the whole length of the Line of Property, and includes parts of the towns of Westmoreland, Whitestown, Kirkland, and New Hartford, and some of Rome. For the first ten years the patent was to be free of quit. rents. John Tabor Kempe adhered to the crown and his property was confiscated. In 1783 he went to England and there died. After the Revolution the patent was divided into seven grand divisions. General Washington, Governor Clinton, and Colonel Willett owned large tracts of land in this patent. The first division in Rome is known as the "Fan Lots," by reason of its shape.

Bayard, or Freemason .- Partly in this county, but mostly in Herki- mer county, is a patent of land of 50,000 acres, granted June 12, 1771, to William and Robert Bayard, and fifty- three others. It is called the " Bayard, or Freemason Patent"-why the latter name is not known, unless because the patentees, or most of them, were Freemasons. The Indian deed was obtained in 1766, but the patent was not issued until the date above given. At the time of the Revolution several of the patentees adhered to the crown and by the act of attainder of 1779 those disloyal persons were attainted of treason and their property con- fiscated. John Weatherhead was one of that number; he was an ex- tensive importer in New York city. William Bayard, another owner, at first sympathized with the colonies, but later went over to the British and departed for England ; the property of both of those was confisca- ted. Bayard died in England in 1804, a very old man. April 11, 1787, an act of the Legislature was passed reciting that said patent be- fore the Revolution had been surveyed into lots by Thomas Palmer and

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Beriah Palmer for the patentees, but as the land was not actually divid- ed, and that by reason of the death of some of the owners, the attainder and removal of others, it was impracticable to make a division without a new survey, which would be attended with great expense; therefore the Legislature appointed commissioners to make partition of the lands agreeable to the survey of said Palmers, and to ballot for the lots to be drawn and owned by the respective owners.

Fonda's Patent .- This was the first patent in Oneida county granted in New York after the Revolution. It was granted Jan. 31, 1786. It was then in Montgomery county. Jelles (or Giles) Fonda was the pat- entee and lived in Caughnawaga (now Fonda), and was an active busi- ness man. He was a major in the British service under Col. Guy John- son, but in the Revolution was an active supporter of the colonists in the struggle for independence, for which he and his family incurred the bitter enmity of Sir John Johnson and his followers. In the fall of 1781 when Sir John raided his old neighborhood in the Mohawk Valley, the father of Jelles Fonda, then eighty- four years old, was forced from his bed in the night, taken to the Mohawk River, tomahawked and scalped and left on the bank of the stream. Jelles Fonda had been engaged in the Indian trade at Caughnawaga, where he had a store and had extended his trips and his trade to Fort Stanwix, Oswego and Niagara, and be- came man of wealth for those times. When the war broke out he had upon his account books over $10,000 of accounts, most of which he lost. The patentee was State senator eight years and county judge of that county. The patent was issued on condition that within three years a settler for each 500 acres should be located on the land. The land of this patent is mostly in Rome and Floyd, with some in the town of Western, and there was quite a rush of settlers to those towns as the three years period approached its close. The Oneida county records show that in 1786 Mr. Fonda sold portions of his patent as follows : an undivided one-eighth to John Lansing, jr., who was afterwards chief justice and chancellor of New York ; an undivided one-eighth in 1788 was sold to each of the following: Gov. George Clinton, William Floyd (one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence), Stephen Lush, and John Taylor. In 1787 the patent was surveyed into 100 lots by James Cockburn. The owners gave perpetual leases, reserving an an-

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nual wheat rent, so much per acre, payable in Albany. That was then the easist way for the settlers in a new country to pay the rent and for their lands. Each year loaded teams with wheat for rent wended their way down the valley, stopping over night at the country taverns, the teamsters generally taking with them their own provisions and oats for their horses. The usual wheat rent was " 18 bushels good merchant- able winter wheat for each 100 acres."

Fort Bull is in lot 98, very near the line of the Oriskany Patent. That lot fell to the share of George Clinton and later to Mr. L'Hommedieu. Jelles Fonda died about 1792.

Oothoudt Patent, Henry Oothoudt, Patentee .- Soon after the close of the Revolution there was a great rush of settlers to the " Whitestown country." In 1786 in the northern part of what is now Oneida county, nearly 100,000 acres were granted in various patents. One of the con- ditions of the patent was that the patentee should within three years procure a settler for each 500 acres, as before alluded to. That proviso stimulated the activity of the patentee to place his lands in the market and at a low price. The most northern patent in Oneida county granted that year was one of 16,052 acres to Henry Oothoudt. About one - half of the town of Ava is in that patent, and it also includes parts of the towns of Lee and Western. In the same year a patent of 1,900 acres was granted to Mr. Oothoudt, called " Oothoudt's small patent," which lies easterly of and alongside of the large patent Mr. Oothoudt was a resident of Catskill and a person of prominence. In 1775 and 1776 he was a delegate to the provincial Congress, and in 1779 and 1780, men- ber of assembly from Albany county. He was one of the three con- missioners of forfeitures under the attainder act of 1779 and in 1789 was a delegate to the United States convention to form the United States Constitution. About 1790 he sold out most of his lands to vari- ous persons. In the northwest corner of the large patent, and includ- ing Ava Corners, 1,237 acres were sold to Daniel Hall, and the tract is marked on the county map, " Hall." In 1795 that parcel was subdi - vided into twelve lots. In November of that year James Caldwell, of Albany, who bought " Johnson Hall " in Johnstown, was owner and he conveyed the tract to Ezra Adams and Michael Hahn, and subsequent deeds so refer to it. The patent is not on record in Oneida county nor

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are the intermediate deeds to Cadwell. East of the Hall or Cadwell purchase is a tract of 750 acres deeded by Mr. Oothoudt to Nathan Rosco, Isaac Knapp, and William Wiltsey, which is on the Blankman map of 1894 marked " Knapp, Rosco & Co." In 1701 Andrew Clarke was owner. No deeds are on record prior to Clarke's, which recite the former conveyances. South of the last parcel is the "Carpenter lot" of 1,000 acres in said patent, conveyed by Mr. Oothoudt in 1790 to Benja- min and David Carpenter ; the deed to them is not recorded. South of and next to the Carpenter lot is a tract of 1, 100 acres conveyed Feb. ruary 22. 1790, by the patentee to Platt Rogers and called the " Rogers lot." In May, 1795, Rogers conveyed to Melancthon Smith. South of that parcel are 1,000 acres called the " Van Tine lot," conveyed by the patentee to Robert Van Tine February 20, 1790. South of the Van Tine lot and in Western, are 1,800 acres which Mr. Oothoudt deeded to Nicholas Boeram, called " Boeram's purchase." It was divided into twelve lots by Benjamin Wright. South of the aforesaid tract deeded to Hall, is a parcel of 1,350 acres deeded by Oothoudt to Nathan Rosco and Isaac Knapp, marked on said county map as "Rosco & Knapp." South of that parcel are 200 acres deeded to Daniel Ter Boss, marked on the map as "Ter Boss tract." In 1800 Ter Boss deeded to Andrew Hunter and to two others. The county records show nothing of deeds prior to the one from Ter Boss South of the Ter Boss lot and in the town of Lee is a parcel of 2, 150 acres designated on the county map as the " Cooper tract," and sometimes as the " Mappa tract," and also in deeds as the "Boone lot." In 1795 it was subdivided into sixteen lots by Calvin Guiteau. In 1790 it was deeded to Thomas Palmer by Mr. Oothoudt, but that deed is not recorded. Prior to 1800 the Holland Land Company became the owner of this tract and of 100,000 acres in Oneida county, and as Cooper, Mappa, and Boone had each and al! been connected with that company, that fact may account for the above different designations of the lot. There was left of the above patent a parcel of 4,432 acres, mostly in Lee and partly in Ava and Western. In 1793 Mr. Oothoudt caused this to be divided into twenty-six lots. In July, 1795, he sold it to David Tallman ; in December of that year the latter sold one half to Robert Bowne, and in July, 1796, he sold the other half to Bowne, so that it took the name of " Bowne's purchase."

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 11

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896 Publication date: 1896 Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co. Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co.
Number of Pages: 1612