USA > New York > Tioga County > Our county and its people : a memorial history of Tioga County, New York > Part 6
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TIOGA COUNTY.
1169752
CHAPTER V.
Treatment of the Indians Regarding their Territory-Tryon County Created-Its Extent-Name changed to Montgomery-Subsequent County Formations-Tioga County Ereeted-Its Boundaries-The Original Towns-Chenango County formed from Tioga and Herkimer-Broome erected from Tioga-Owego and Berkshire restored to Tioga county-An Act defining County Lines-Town Lines also Care- fully Defined-Chemung County Erected-Descriptive and Natural Features of Tioga County.
N TO provision whatever was made in the treaty of peace for the Indian allies of Great Britain. The English authorities offered them land in Canada, but all except the Mohawks preferred to remain in New York. The United States, and also. this state, treated them with great moderation, although the Iro- quois had twice violated their pledges, and without provocation had plunged into a war against the colonies. Yet they were read- ily admitted to the benefits of peace, and were even recognized as owners of all the land in New York over which they had ranged before the revolution. The property line, as it has ever been called, previously drawn between the whites and the Indians, ran along the eastern border of Broome and Chenango counties, and thence northeast-ward to a point seven miles west of Rome, and formed a part at least of the eastern boundary of Tioga county as originally constituted.
In October, 1784, a treaty was made at Fort Stanwix (Rome) between three commissioners of the United States and the sachems of the Six Nations. The Marquis de Lafayette was present and made a speech, though not one of the commissioners. The eastern boundary of the Indian lands does not seem to have been in ques- tion, but the United States wanted to extinguish whatever clain the Six Nations might have to Ohio and other western territory, and also to keep open the right of way around Niagara Falls, which Sir William Johnson had obtained for the British. .
Previous to the year 1772, the entire western portion of the col-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
ony of New York formed a part of the original county of Albany, which was erected November 1st, 1683. In the year first men- tioned, on the 12th of March, the provincial assembly divided Albany county and created Tryon county, the latter comprising all that part of the province of New York west of the Delaware river, and also west of a line extending north through Schoharie and along the east lines of the present counties of Montgomery, Fulton and Hamilton, and continuing in a straight line to Canada.
During the course of the war. this splendid jurisdiction, in area amounting to a principality, became known to a class of people who had no previous means of judging of its beauty and fertility. The continual passage of New England, New York, and Pennsyl- vania troops through the numerous valleys of the state made then acquainted with its desirability as a place of abode, and when peace was restored, they were not slow to avail themselves of the opportunity of possessing the lands. They came and made mis- cellaneous settlements as the tracts were offered for sale, and thus the territory came under the control chiefly of Yankees, deter- mined, energetic, upright men, with wives and families of corres- ponding character ; and it was to this class that the people of old Tioga county owed much of their later development and improve- ment.
There was one name, however, in this vast and beautiful region that was the occasion of much annoyance to the inhabitants, being indeed in the highest degree offensive, and that was the name by which the county was then called. William Tryon first became governor of the province of New York by appointment July 9, 1771, and was re-appointed June 28, 1775, and it was in his honor that the county was named. But Tryon's toryism was as pronounced and offensive as that of any British subject in the land, and his official power was wholly devoted to the crown ; and he was even implicated in a plot to seize General Washington and deliver him to the British. It was not, therefore, in the least sur- prising that the settlers in the county should object to so odious a name. As a result of this sentiment, on the 2d of April, 1784, the legislature passed an act changing the name from Tryon to Mont- gomery county, adopting the latter in honor of General Richard
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Montgomery, who was killed at the storming of Quebec, Decem- ber 31, 1776.
The first reduction in territory to which the mother county was subjected was in the erection of Ontario, January 27, 1789, taking off all that part of the state lying west of the "pre-emp- tion line," the original western boundary of Tioga county. This act took from Montgomery county about six million acres of land, which soon became known as the "Genesee country," and also, by reason of the disposition of the title, as the "Phelps and Gorham Purchase" and the "Holland Purchase."
Again, on the 16th day of February, 1791, the remaining por- tion of Montgomery county was divided, and three new counties erected-Herkimer, Otsego, and Tioga. The act of the legislature, so far as it related to Tioga county, was as follows :
" Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, repre- sented in Senate and Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That all that tract of land in the county of Montgomery, beginning at the eighty-two mile stone, in the line between this State and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and running from thence due north until the northwest corner of the township number twenty-one (Hector, in Schuyler county) in the military tract bears east ; then east crossing the Seneca Lake to the Cayuga Lake; then easterly to the northwest corner of township twenty-three (Dryden) in the military tract aforesaid ; then east along the north bounds of the said township number twenty-three, and the north bounds of the townships numbers twenty-four (Virgil, in Cortland county) and twenty-five (Cincin- natus), and so continuing the same course to the west bounds of the Twenty Townships (Chenango Twenty Townships) lately laid out for sale by this State ; then along the same twenty townships north to the northwest corner of the township number twelve (probably Lincklaen, Chenango county) in the said twenty town- ships ; then east to the Unadilla river ; then down the middle of the westerly stream of the same river to its junction with the Susquehanna river ; then southerly along the line commonly called the 'Line of Property,' to the Delaware river; then down the Delaware river to the beginning of the said partition line between
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
this State and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and then along the same partition line to the place of beginning, shall be and here- by is erected into a separate county, and shall be called and known by the name of Tioga."
As will be seen from the foregoing act Tioga county was origi- nally a splendid jurisdiction, comprising the very best lands in southern New York, and including within its boundaries the rich and fertile valleys of several large rivers and other streams of con- siderable importance. The act creating the county also made pro- vision for town government and organization by dividing the ter- ritory as follows :
"And be it further enacted, &c., that all that part of the said county of Tioga laying westward to the Cayuta creek and the township number twenty-two of the military tract shall be and hereby is erected into a town by the name of Chemung, and the first town meeting in said town shall be held at the house of George Hornwell."
Thus the original town of Chemung comprised a small part of the present town of Barton, together with substantially the entire county of Chemung. Its north and south measurement was about thirty miles, and extended east from the pre-emption line (the line between Steuben and Chemung counties) to the Cayuta creek.
Another section of that act provided "that all that part of the said county of Tioga, bounded southerly by Pennsylvania ; west- erly by the town of Chemung, as last limited, northerly by the north bounds of the said county of Tioga, and easterly by township number twenty-four (Virgil) in the Military Tract, and the Owego river and a line running from the mouth thereof south to the Pennsylvania line, shall be and hereby is erected into a town by the name of Owego : and the first town meeting in the same town shall be held at the house of Samuel Ransom."
The town of Union was described as " All that part of the said county of Tioga, bounded southerly by Pennsylvania ; westerly by the said town of Owego; northerly by the north bounds of the said county of Tioga, and easterly by the rivers Chenango and Susquehanna." The first town meeting was directed to be held at the dwelling-house of Nehemiah Spaulding. The act further
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TIOGA COUNTY.
provided that "all that part of the said county of Tioga bounded southerly by the tract of land called Chenango, and the tract of land called Warren ; westerly by the said town of Union; north- erly by the north bounds of the said county of Tioga, and easterly by the town of Otsego, shall be and hereby is erected into a town by the name of Jerico (Jericho); and the first town meeting in the same town shall be held at the house of William Guthrie."
The act further says, " All the remaining part of the said county of Tioga, bounded southerly by Pennsylvania ; westerly by the said town of Union ; northerly by the said town of Jerico, and easterly by the counties of Otsego and Ulster, shall be and hereby is erected into a town by the name of Chenango; and the first town meeting in the same town shall be held at the house of Ben- jamin Bird."
Such was the character of the town organizations in Tioga county in 1791, but with settlement increasing rapidly through- out the beautiful valleys, further subdivisions soon became neces- sary, and in 1798 (March 15th), the legislature passed an "Act to divide the Counties of Herkimer and Tioga." By this act Tioga was made to surrender the northeastern part of her territory, and Chenango county was the result.
Eight years later, by an act approved March 28, 1806, all that part of the county of Tioga which was comprehended "in the towns of Tioga, Union, Lisle and Chenango," was erected into a new coun- ty by the name of Broome, while the "residue of the said county of Tioga, comprehending the towns of Owego, Spencer, Chemung, Newtown and Catharines, shall be and remain a county by the name of Tioga."
From this it will be seen that in the creation of Broome county, all that part of the present county of Tioga which lay east of Owego creek, and of a line drawn directly south from the mouth of that stream to the state line, formed a part of the new creation. However, by an act of the legislature, passed March 21, 1822, the territory now comprising the towns of Owego, Newark Valley, Berkshire and Richford, were restored to old Tioga county. At that time Berkshire contained the entire territory of the three towns last mentioned.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
There was no further material change in the boundaries of Tioga county until the legislature passed (March 26, 1813), "An Act to divide the State into Counties," which action was necessitated from the fact that the described boundary lines of many of the counties were defective and imperfect. The act, so far as it re- lated to this county, was as follows : "The county of Tioga to constitute all that part of this state bounded on the south by the line of division between this state and the commonwealth of Penn- sylvania ; on the west by the new pre-emption line, commonly so- called, beginning at the eighty two mile stone in the line of divis- ion between this state and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and running due north to Lake Ontario, as the same hath been run and established by law, until the said line be intersected by a line drawn west from the southwest corner of the military tract ; northerly by a line drawn from the said place of intersection to the southwest corner of the said tract, and by the counties of Seneca, Cayuga and Cortland ; and easterly by the county of Broome."
This act reduced the northern area of the county, excluding from it that portion of the military tract included by the original act erecting Tioga county. Of the three counties north of this, Cayuga was formed March 8, 1799; Seneca, March 24, 1804, and Cortland, April 8, 1808.
At the same session (April 12, 1813) the legislature passed an- other act, entitled "An Act for dividing the Counties of this State into Towns," in which the several civil divisions of this county were described and bounded as follows :
" And that all that part of the County of Tioga bounded by a line beginning at the military line in the north bounds of the county on the section line of township number seven, and running thence southerly along the said section line to the center of the southwest section of said number seven, thence westerly parallel with the south line of said section to the east bounds of Catherinestown, thence along the same to the north bounds of the county, thence easterly along the same to the place of beginning, shall be and con- tinue a town by the name of Cayuta."
" And that all that part of the said County of Tioga bounded
1
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TIOGA COUNTY.
west and north by the bounds of the county, south by the south bounds of the northern half parts of the townships number one and four of a tract of land patented to John W. Watkins and Royal Flint, and easterly by a line drawn north and south from the middle of the bridge that crosses Balding's mill-creek so-called to the north and south line of the county, shall be and continue a town by the name of Catherinestown."
"And that all that part of the said county of Tioga bounded westerly by the bounds of the county, southerly by the Pennsyl- vania line, northerly by the town of Catherines, and easterly by the line drawn as aforesaid north and south from the middle of said bridge on Balding's mill-creek, shall be and continue a town by the name of Elmira."
"And that all that part of the said county of Tioga compre- hended in the following bounds, beginning at the northeast corner of the town of Cayuta, and running thence easterly on the mili- tary line to the section line of township number ten, thence south- erly along said section line to the north line of the second tier of lots in the southwest section of number ten, thence westerly par- allel with the south line of number ten to the east line of town- ship number seven, thence northerly along the east line of number seven to the centre of the southeast section of number seven, thence westerly parallel with the south line of number seven to the section line, thence northerly along said section line to the place of beginning, shall be and continue a town by the name of Danby."
" And that all part of the said county of Tioga bounded north- erly and easterly by the bounds of the county, westerly by Danby, and southerly by a line beginning at the southwest corner of the northeast section of township number ten, and running thence easterly parallel with the south line of number ten to the west line of township number eleven, thence southerly along the west line of said township number eleven sixty chains, thence easterly par- allel with the south line of township number eleven to the west line of section number six on Owego creek, thence southerly along the west line of section number six to the southwest corner there- of, thence easterly along the south line of the last mentioned sec- tion to Owego creek, shall be and continue a town by the name of Caroline."
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
"And that all that part of the said county of Tioga bounded northerly by Caroline, easterly by the bounds of the county, south- erly and westerly by a line beginning at the Owego creek where the same is intersected by the Chemung line, and running thence westerly on the line of Chemung to the section line of township number nine, and thence northerly along said section line to the centre of township number ten, shall be and continue a town by the name of Candor."
"And that all that part of the said county of Tioga bounded easterly by the bounds of the county, southerly by Pennsylvania, northerly by the old Chemung line, and westerly by the Cayuta creek, shall be and continue a town by the name of Tioga."
" And all that part of the said county of Tioga bounded souther- ly by Owego, easterly by Danby and Candor, northerly by Danby and Cayuta, and westerly by the Cayuta creek, shall be and con- tinue a town by the name of Spencer."
" And that all that part of the said county of Tioga bounded easterly by Owego and Spencer, northerly by Cayuta and Spencer, westerly by Elmira and Catherinestown, and southerly by the Pennsylvania line, shall be and continue a town by the name of Chemung."
On the 29th day of March, 1836, the legislature again divided Tioga county, and taking nearly one-half of its then remaining territory, erected the county of Chemung, a jurisdiction recog- nized as one of the most progressive interior counties in the state. The same may also be said of Broome county on the east, while the county seats of both, Elmira and Binghamton, in many re- spects rival cities, are of greatest importance among the munici- palities of southern New York. Both of these enterprising cities are the offspring of the mother county, Tioga, and the site of each was for a time its half-shire seat of justice. Reduced to its pres- ent area, Tioga county contains about five hundred and forty-two square miles of land, hardly one-fourth of its original territory. Topographically, the county is easily described ; the surface gen- erally is broken by a series of ridges extending northerly through the county from the Pennsylvania line, and forming a northern continuation of the Alleghany mountains. The summits of the
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TIOGA COUNTY.
1
ridges have a nearly uniform elevation of from 1200 to 1400 feet above tide-water. The valley of the Susquehanna cuts them diag- onally and breaks the continuity of the general system of high- lands. The numerous valleys, except that of the Susquehanna, extend generally north and south from the river, separating the ridges, giving both variety and beauty to the land surface. These valleys vary in width, in places only a few rods and again more than a mile, and all of them are bordered by hills, some of which attain a height of three or four hundred feet. The summits of the hills, generally broad and rolling, are susceptible of cultivation in agricultural pursuits, and when broken and rocky they afford excellent pasture lands. Indeed, all of nature's fancies have com- bined to make Tioga a distinctively agricultural county, in which respect it ranks well in the state. The rivers and streams, too, have been factors for good in producing this fortunate condition. The principal water course is the Susquehanna, a large river of both historic interest and commercial value in the annals of Tioga. Its chief tributaries are Owego, Catatonk, Cayuta, Pipe and Apa- lachin creeks, and their branches, all of which have fairly rapid currents, furnishing many superior millsites. The valleys of the Susquehanna and its several tributaries are justly noted for beauty, fertility and general productiveness.
Such, briefly, are the natural physical features of Tioga county to-day ; such were the identical natural characteristics of the sanie region a century or more ago. In its general topographical char- acter the ordinary changes of an hundred years have shown no substantial results. The territory thus described, and reduced to its present limits, is the subject of this volume. Even before the red man had vacated the region the white pioneer had settled in the valley, and several years previous to the formation of the county the entire territory was owned by the speculative land com- panies and individuals who, during the course of the war then recently ended, had become acquainted with this part of the state and knew at least something of the quality of its lands.
The subject of land patents, purchases and grants, in the early history of the state, is one of much importance, for upon those purchases rests the titles to land in the state, now divided into in-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
numerable small parcels. As an element of local history, the grants and purchases' in present Tioga county, are the subject of the succeeding chapter.
CHAPTER VI.
Land Titles in Tioga County-Royal Grants-The Plymouth Charter-Grant to the Duke of York-Conflict of Claims between Massachusetts and New York-The Boston Purchase-Coxe's Manor-Partition of Lands in Chemung-The Watkins and Flint Tract-Gospel and School Lands.
T HE titles to lands in Tioga connty, and as well throughout the state of New York, rest, primarily, on royal charters ; letters patent, issued by the crown as a reward for fealty, for favor, or for consideration. The first of these grants by the British crown was made during the early years of the seventeenth century, and the practice was thereafter maintained for at least fifty years, without regard to the possibility of conflict of claims, or overlapping grants, for the king had only the most meager data by which to inform himself as to the extent or geographical situa- tion of the lands of America.
As early as the year 1606, James I of England granted a char- ter to certain residents of Plymouth, which carried the title to all the territory between the fortieth and forty-eighth parallels of lat- itude, a region so vast in area as to almost equal in extent the whole United States. In 1620 the so-called Plymouth Council was incorporated, and was authorized to make any transfer of the land held under the grant of 1606. In 1608 the Massachusetts Bay grant was made, and it was confirmed in 1629. In the same man- ner the Connecticut grant was made in 1630, and was renewed and confirmed by Charles II, in 1662.
In 1664, the same king granted by letters patent to his brother James, the Duke of York and Albany, all the territory from the
,
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LAND TITLES.
river St. Croix to the Kennebec in Maine, and all the land from the west bank of the Connecticut river to the east side of Dela- ware Bay. The duke at once made a conquest of the New Neth- erlands, overthrew the Dutch power in America, and thus secured the gift by force of arms. The grant to the Duke of York created in its beneficiary a proprietary power of government, similar to that held by Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire and William Penn of Pennsylvania, each authorized to dispose of or govern the territory in his own manner, subject only to the royal approval. But, in 1685 the Duke of York himself became king, upon which his title was merged in the crown, and thereafter the province of New York was governed under the direct appointment of the king, the proprietary character being lost in and changed to royal char- ter. This had no special significance in connection with the colo- nial history of New York, but the peculiar character of its govern- ment in a manner explains the reason of the extreme loyalty of Governor Tryon to the crown during the revolution. He was the special creation and creature of the king, chosen for the sole pur- pose of executing the royal authority.
Previous to the revolutionary war the unsettled political condi- tion of our country precluded the possibility of a controversy over the title to lands in New York, growing out of conflicting grants, yet as early as 1749 the governors of New York and New Hamp- shire fell into dispute over what is now the state of Vermont, and it was not until the latter was finally admitted to the union, in 1791, that the controversy was amicably settled. However, after the revolutionary war was ended, and after colonies and provinces of America had become states, with a settled and recognized form of government for each, each commonwealth began casting about to determine the extent of its territory and to establish permanent boundaries. The result was that several of our now New England and Middle Atlantic states found themselves in dispute, but that which involved the most valuable and well settled territory was the controversy between Massachusetts and New York.
Briefly, the situation was this : By the terms of the charter of the colony of Massachusetts, the region between its north and south boundaries, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was included,
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
and the title to all this territory was claimed by that state after the war. The later charter of New York intervened and conflicted with this claim, from which difficulties arose, and which were finally settled by commissioners at Hartford, Conn., on the 16th of December, 1786. It was there agreed that Massachusetts should cede to New York the sovereignty of all the territory claimed by the former lying between the limits of the latter, and that New York should cede to Massachusetts the property of the soil, or the right of pre-emption of the soil from the Indians. This agreement on the part of New York covered all that part of the state west of a line running north from the eighty-second mile stone, on the line between New York and Pennsylvania, through Seneca lake to Sodus Bay. Also another tract containing 230,400 acres of land between the Chenango river and Owego creek, north of the Susquehanna river.
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