USA > New York > Tioga County > Our county and its people : a memorial history of Tioga County, New York > Part 7
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This last mentioned tract of land is located in part in Tioga county, and has ever been referred to in history as the "Boston Ten Towns," and in conveyances generally as the "Boston Pur- chase." To acquire absolute title to this tract it was incumbent on Massachusetts, or the grantees of that commonwealth, to extinguish the Indian claims. In 1787, two hundred and thirty thousand acres of this tract were purchased from Massachusetts by eleven persons from Berkshire county in that state, at an orig- inal cost of twelve and one-half cents an acre, and subject to whatever title the Indians might have. However, it appears that in the year 1784, James McMaster, an old revolutionary patriot and one of General Clinton's army, made a prospecting tour down the Susquehanna, visiting once more the scenes of the campaign of 1779, but this time with an intention to settle in the valley. In the spring of 1785 he came again to the region and made a sub- stantial improvement on the site of the present village of Owego, he being permitted by the Indians to locate there through the influence and kind offices of Amos Draper, trader among the natives, then living at Choconut. McMaster was distinctively a pioneer farmer and frontiersman, while Draper was an Indian trader, but between them and the natives there was established a firm friendship; so strong indeed that the Indians could not be
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LAND TITLES.
persuaded to part with their lands until some concession by the proprietary had been made to MeMaster to satisfy his claim as first occupant of the territory. This demand the proprietors promised to satisfy, upon which McMaster and Draper gave ma- terial aid at the treaty.
The first treaty was held in 1787, on the west bank of the Che- mango river, about three miles above the present city of Bingham- . ton. Nothing, however, was accomplished at this meeting, but at a subsequent treaty held, as Mr. Warner's history states, on the site of Binghamton, the Indian title to the Boston Purchase was secured.
To satisfy the Draper and McMaster claim as occupants, which claim in law had no force, but was nevertheless necessary to be satisfied, the proprietary made a. concession to the claimants, "by which the title to eighteen square miles of land, known as the McMaster Half-Township, was secured to James McMaster. This tract was bounded west by the Owego creek and south by the Sus- quehanna. The west line extended up the Owego creek six miles. The east line was to be three miles east of the Owego creek, and to be.run straight, and to such distance as to make the quantity of land above mentioned. Upon this land stands the village of Owego and it forms a part of the town." (Warner).
Such, in brief, is the history of the title to one of the most im- portant and valuable tracts of land in Tioga and Broome counties. Its original cost to the proprietors was twelve and one-half cents an acre, and the land was at first sold to actual occupants at twenty-five cents per acre, but soon advanced to one dollar and still later to five dollars per acre. The Boston Purchase now has thousands of owners and occupants, and its present average value per acre cannot be less than one hundred dollars.
The eleven original grantees of the Boston Ten Townships sub- sequently admitted others to their association until the whole number became sixty. However, for convenience in the transfer of title the conveyance was made to Samuel Brown and his asso- ciates.
Says Mr. Warner's history : "Among these we find the names of those who were residents, and many of whom have descendants
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
still (1876) residing at Owego, Binghamton and the vicinity : Asa Bement, jr., Josiah Ball, Henry W. Dwight, David Pixley, Anna Bingham, Isaac Curtis, Timothy Edwards, Theodore Sedgwick, Ezekiel Crocker, Benjamin Parson, Ebenezer Williams, William Bartlett, Ashbel Strong, William Billings, Thaddeus Thompson, Job Northrup, Eben Mason and others."
The proprietary of this large tract first caused it to be surveyed and divided into three townships and called respectively, Owego, Nanticoke and Chenango, from west to east in the order mentioned. These names are still preserved, the first in this, and the others in the adjoining county of Broome. The townships were then subdi- vided into lots and subsequently "drawn for " by the proprietors, in accordance with the prevailing custom of the period. After the partition was completed the legislature confirmed the title in the several owners by an act passed March 3d, 1789.
The western boundary of the three townships was distant about seven and one-half miles from Owego creek, the western limit of the Boston Ten Towns ; and this body of land was surveyed in two parts, known as the East Half-Township and the West Half- Township, portions, of course, of the original purchase, yet dis- tinct from it so far as subdivision was concerned. The west half, by deed dated December 17, 1787, was conveyed by Samuel Brown, on behalf of the proprietary, to James McMaster, of Mohawk, and included 11,500 acres of land. In 1788, February 4th, McMaster in turn completed his agreement with Amos Draper, of Choconut, by deeding to him lots 16 and 19 of 100 acres each, also numbers 30, 32, 52 and 56, of 143 acres each. The East Half-Township was also surveyed, and subdivided into sixty lots, and was partitioned among the proprietors on the 12th of May, 1790, at the time of the "Grand Division of the Boston Purchase," as known in history and as designated on the county records. In the Grand Division tract were an aggregate of six hundred lots, of which one hundred and fifteen are situate in the town of Newark Valley ; ninety-three in Richford, and sixty-eight in Berkshire.
Under the English colonial government there was made but one grant of land within the limits of this county as now constituted. This was what has since been variously termed Coxe's Manor, or
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LAND TITLES.
Coxe's Patent, and included 29,812 acres of land south of the Sus- quehanna river, in the present towns of Owego and Nichols. The grant bore the date of January 5, 1775. The patentees were Dan- iel, William and Rebecca Coxe, John Tabor Kemp and Grace Coxe- Kemp his wife. These same grantees were also the owners of a 47,000 acre tract of land in the Mohawk region, granted May 30, 1770. According to Mr. Warner, that portion of the town of Owego now known as Apalachin was for many years particularly designated as Coxe's Patent or Manor.
According to the record of sales of land by the state, the so- called Hambden Township tract was originally granted to Robert Morris and Alexander Macomb ; and in a publication, bearing on the same subject, the statement is made that the portion of the town of Owego south of the river, also the present town of Nich- ols, was once called Hanbden Township. The lands in the town- ship, except Coxe's Manor, were disposed of as follows: Several tracts in Owego to Robert Morris ; in Vestal and Owego, 6,930 acres to Alexander Macomb ; to Nicholas Fish, 7,040 acres in Owe- go, also 6,400 acres in township seven of the tract purchased of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras in Owego and Nichols; to William Butler, return of survey of 3,000 acres in Nichols, adjoining Coxe's Patent on the west (Jan. 12, 1775) ; to Richard Robert Crowe, sim- ilar return, January 20, 1775, for 2,000 acres between Reid's tract and the Susquehanna, which bounds it on the west.
However, on November 10th, 1784, the representatives of the Coxe Patent, or claim, filed a caveat in the land office, protesting against the action of the state in making any further grants of land west of the Delaware river and on the Pennsylvania line un- til their claim to the lands heretofore described should be recog- lized and confirmed. The lands were subsequently surveyed (1806-7) and found to contain 30,900 acres, title to which was confirmed in the claimants.
On the 22d of March, 1788, a new town in Montgomery county was created by act of the legislature, and included within its boundaries all the territory between the Owego river on the east and the pre-emption line on the west, and between the state line on the south and a line parallel therewith, distant two miles north
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
of the Tioga (Chemung) river where it crosses the pre-emption line. This act created a town by the name of Chemung, and the action was necessitated from the fact that a number of settlers had occupied the valley, made improvements, and were anxious to be quieted in their possessions. Furthermore, these pioneers were unable to agree upon a proper allotment of the lands among themselves, hence sought relief at the hands of the legislature. By the act three commissioners-James Clinton, John Cantine and John Hathorn-were appointed to settle the disputes among settlers, and also to apportion the lands according to equity and the improvements already made ; but no settler was to receive more than one thousand or less than one hundred acres for his share.
The state then extinguished the Indian title, caused a survey to be made by the commissioners, and upon the report submitted by the latter, confirmed the proceeding and patented the lands to the several claimants. The confirmatory act was passed February 28, 1789. The settlers paid at the rate of one shilling, six pence per acre for the land, upon which the commissioners issued certificates of title and location, in the nature of land warrants or patents, which, being assignable, were readily sold to speculators and act- ual occupants. By these purchases a number of persons became extensive land owners in the region described. The present town of Barton, and a large portion of the town of Tioga, was within the limits of this tract.
The so-called Watkins and Flint tract was patented to John W. Watkins and Royal W. Flint, as representatives of an association, and included a large body of land between the pre-emption line and Owego creek, and between the town of Chemung on the south, and the military tract on the north, and was estimated to contain 363,000 acres of land. For this patent application was made to the commissioners of the land office on the 4th of August, 1791, the return of the survey was made April 7, 1794, and the patent was issued June 25, 1794, to John W. Watkins, who after- wards conveyed the land to his co-proprietors according to their respective interests. The price paid for lands under this patent was three shillings, four pence per acre. The present towns of
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1
L
EARLY COURTS AND COUNTY CHANGES.
Spencer and Candor were included in this sale, but the grant em- braced a much larger area of territory.
In addition to what has been mentioned relating to the lands and foundation of land titles in Tioga county, we may state that "gospel " and "literature " lots were set off in several of the towns, one of which was in Owego, and comprised about three square miles of land. In the Hambden township a lot of 640 acres was reserved for schools, and a considerable tract of land in the present towns of Berkshire and Candor became the property of the "Connecticut School Fund." The office of " Commission- ers of the Land Office," to which frequent allusion has been made, was created by an act of the legislature, passed May 11, 1784, for the purpose, among other things, of carrying into execution the promises of bounty lands for revolutionary services which had been made by the legislature in 1780. When state lands were to be sold, they were first surveyed, appraised, and advertised for sale at auction, and their minimum bid mentioned, but in case the minimum was not reached, they were generally re-appraised and offered at a lower rate. However, in the early history of the land office, applications for patents were so frequent as to obviate the necessity of a public offer of sale.
CHAPTER VII.
Locating the County Seat-The Early Courts-Held at Nanticoke and Newtown Point
. -Later Courts at Chenango Point-Tioga a Two-shire County in 1793-Newtown the County Seat after Broome County was Set Off-Spencer made the County Seat -The First Court-house and Jail-Elmira and Spencer made Half-shires-Court- house at Spencer Destroyed by Fire-Owego made a Half-shire Town -- The County Buildings-Chemung County Sct Off-The Court Houses, Jails and Clerk's Offices in Owego.
N 1791 there were a few scattered white settlements along the principal valleys of the streams of Tioga county, but it is doubt- ful if the number of inhabitants in the entire jurisdiction at that time exceeded one thousand. Perhaps the most thickly popu-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
lated district was that embraced in the old town of Newtown, or Chemung, on the western side of the county, while each of the eastern towns of Union and Jericho had a progressive but smaller number of inhabitants. Each, however, naturally sought to secure the designation of their own locality as the seat of justice of the newly created county ; and while the records disclose nothing tending to show a warmth of feeling in the matter, the several proceedings on the part of the legislature lead to the belief that a strong desire did exist to obtain the county buildings in the west- ern part of the shire.
The first officers of the county were Abraham Miller, first judge; James McMaster, sheriff ; Thomas Nicholson, county clerk ; Wil- liam Stuart, district attorney (the office then being known as as- sistant attorney-general ;) John Mercereau, surrogate. For tem- porary purposes the legislature provided that it should be lawful to confine prisoners in Montgomery county jail until one be pro- vided for Tioga county. The freeholders and inhabitants were also authorized to erect a court house and jail, and until other legislative provision be made in the premises, courts of common pleas and general sessions of the peace were directed to be held at the house of George Hornwell, of Chemung.
On the 18th of February, 1792, the legislature authorized the supervisors to levy a tax of three hundred pounds with which to build a court house and jail, and directed the supervisors to meet at the house of Nehemiah Spaulding, near Nanticoke, for the pur- pose of directing the sum to be raised. The same act also provided for the appointment of three commissioners to superintend the construction of the county buildings, "which said court house and jail," says the act, "shall be erected cast of Nanticoke creek, at the place fixed by the justices and supervisors of the said coun- ty, at a meeting for that purpose, on the 12th day of July last." The act still further provided that after the end of the term of court to be held on the fourth Tuesday of June, 1792, the same be "adjourned to and held at the dwelling-house of Nehemiah Spauld- ing, situate near Nanticoke aforesaid, until the court-house afore- said shall be built and fit for the reception of the court."
From the direct tenor of this act it would seem that the settlers
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EARLY COURTS AND COUNTY CHANGES.
in the vicinity of Nanticoke were not without influence with the legislative power, for they secured the fortunate designation of their locality as the temporary seat of justice of the county. However, in the meantime, other and possibly stronger influences were at work to bring the coveted buildings to a point farther west ; and notwithstanding the act quoted above, no county build- ings were ever erected near Nanticoke, although courts may have been held for a time at the house of pioneer Nehemiah Spaulding.
An act of the legislature, passed the 14th of January, 1793, re- cites in part as follows: "Whereas, some of the inhabitants of the county of Tioga have erected a building for a gaol at New Town Point, in the town of Chemung, in the said county," Be it enacted, &c., "That from and after the passing of this act, the said building shall be deemed the gaol of the said county until other legislative provision shall be made in the premises."
Another section of the same act provided that from and after the first day of April following, courts of common pleas and gen- eral sessions of the peace be held on the first Tuesday in May, October and February in each year, and " shall be held alternately at the house of Joshua Whitney, Esquire, at Chenango, (Bing- hamton), in the town of Union, and at the said building now erecting for a gaol at New Town, in the town of Chemung."
Thus vanished the hopes of the Nanticoke contingent so far as the county buildings were concerned, while the pioneers of New-y town (Elmira) and Chenango were correspondingly elated by their success. This would seem to indicate that as early as the year 1793 Tioga was a two-shire county, the half-shire towns of which were Newtown and Chenango, or, as now known, Elmira and Binghamton. However, by an act passed the 31st of March, 1801, the judges and assistant judges were authorized to divide the county into two jury districts; and by the same act it was declared lawful to hold courts at a house to be erected for that purpose at "Chenango point," in the town of Chenango, instead of the house of Joshua Whitney, in the town of Union, and at the court-house at Newtown, alternately.
By this act the two-shire character of the county was made complete, and in that form remained undisturbed until the divi-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
sion of Tioga and the erection of Broome county out of its eastern territory. Yet this disposition of the governmental affairs of the county was not without many inconveniences, especially in the matter of county records and the difficulty in gaining access to them. To obviate this the legislature, on March 20, 1804, directed that the office of the county clerk "shall be kept in a central situ- ation in said county, not more than three miles from the village of Owego, in the town of Tioga, on the north side of the Susque- hanna river."
On the 28th of March, 1806, Tioga county was divided, and the towns of Tioga, Union, Lisle and Chenango, all that part of the mother county lying east of Owego creek, were taken for the county of Broome, then created. After the passage of this act. and on the 7th of April following, the legislature directed the clerk of Tioga county to keep and maintain his office in the village of Newtown. Thus, for a time, Newtown, or Elmira, was the full county seat and had all the county buildings of old Tioga. However, other inconveniences arose from this now remote situa- tion of the seat of justice and government of our county, and after about four years the inhabitants began proceedings looking to still another change in location.
To remedy the existing inconveniences, the legislature, on the 17th of February, 1810, passed an act appointing Nathaniel Locke, Anson Cary and Samuel Campbell, of the county of Che- mango, commissioners to designate a "place for a court-house and gaol in the county of Tioga, as near the center of said county as circumstances will permit"; and also authorized the board of supervisors to raise six thousand dollars in two years ($3,000 each year) for the purpose of erecting court-house and jail buildings.
The same act directed the clerk's office to be removed to some convenient point within two miles from the proposed county buildings; the removal to be completed within three months from the time of holding the first court. This provision, how- ever, was modified by an act passed in 1812, which directed the clerk to appoint a deputy to have an office within two miles of the court-house in Spencer, while the office proper was to be retained at Elmira.
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EARLY COURTS AND COUNTY CHANGES.
By the act of February 17, 1810, Joshua Ferris, Isaac Swart- wout and Samuel Westbrook, all of the town of Spencer, were appointed a committee to superintend the construction of the court-house and jail in that town. The site for the buildings was obtained from Andrew Purdy, and he, being local contractor and builder, was awarded the contract for construction. The building complete cost nearly $6,000. In 1818, Joshua Ferris, Abel Hart and Henry Miller were appointed commissioners to procure the erection of a fire-proof clerk's office, for which an appropriation was authorized on the 20th of February of that year. This build- ing was also erected by Mr. Purdy.'
Among the more central towns of the county at that time, Spencer was perhaps the most available and suitable for the seat of justice of the county, and the worthy commissioners undoubt- edly acted for the best interests of the inhabitants of the county at large in making their designation, and in no quarter at the time was their action criticized. Still, Newtown had been a half- shire town under a previous act, and was provided with suitable buildings both for court-house and jail. The village, too, had be- come reasonably important in the Tioga valley, and commercial and professional interests were so well established as to demand and merit recognition. Therefore, when the act of the legislature and the commissioners fixed the seat of justice of Tioga county at the little northern hanlet of Spencer, the inhabitants of the valley to the southwest felt themselves especially aggrieved, and again besought the legislative power for relief.
The result was that on the 8th of June, 1812, the legislature passed an " Act to divide the county of Tioga into jury districts," to be done by the judges and assistant judges of the county at the September term of court in the year 1812 ; and also provided that in future courts be held alternately in the town of Elmira and the town of Spencer. The sheriff was authorized to collect his mile- age from the house of Thomas Baker in the town of Chemung.
No further material change was made in the administrative affairs of the county for the succeeding ten years. The second war with Great Britain had just ended in complete success to the American arms, and now the whole people were earnestly engaged
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
in improving and developing their lands ; fine villages were being established and built ; manufacturing, yet in its infancy, never- theless an important factor in the general welfare, was constantly adding to the commercial importance to the county. This short half score of years was indeed an era of peace and prosperity in the history of Tioga county, during which the wealth and popula- tion increased in greater ratio than in any similar period in later years.
However, in January, 1821, an unfortunate fire destroyed the county building in Spencer, and in the next year the now named towns of Owego, Newark Valley, Berkshire and Richford were taken from Broome county and restored to Tioga. This addition changed the center of population, and also the geographical cen- ter of the county, and necessitated a change in the two-shire sys- tent. The act therefor passed the legislature March 22, 1822, and by it Elmira was still a half-shire town. while the location of the county buildings for the eastern jury district was fixed at Owego, the latter at this time an enterprising village, situate in the cen- ter of one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the entire Susquehanna valley.
The act authorizing the removal of the county seat from Spen- cer to Owego was conditional, the inhabitants being required to raise $2,000 by subscription, and also that there be deeded to the county a suitable tract of land whereon to erect the county build- ings. These conditions were complied with, and the county be- came possessed of a good lot at the corner of Main and Court streets which had previously been acquired from James McMaster as a portion of land given for the village park. The supervisors were authorized to raise by tax in the year 1822 the sum of $4,000, with an additional $2,000 in 1823. The three commissioners to su- pervise the work of erecting the necessary county buildings were John R. Drake, Anson Camp and Charles Pumpelly. While the court-house was in course of erection the act directed that terms of court be held at the tavern of Erastus S. Marsh, then standing on the site of the present Ahwaga House.
Pending the removal to Owego, courts were still held in Spen- cer in an improvised building adjoining the district school, and
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EARLY COURTS AND COUNTY CHIANGES.
were continued there until the spring of 1822. In the western jury district the legislature also made ample provision for the per- manency of the county buildings, and holding courts therein, and likewise appointed a commission to superintend all necessary work of construction.
The deed from the trustees of the Owego site to the county of Tioga was dated October 29, 1822, and carried title to the lot whereon now stands the jail and sheriff's residence, and the old county clerk's office, the latter now used for library purposes.
The first court-house in Owego was an unpretentious building, fronting Court street, with a hall running from front to rear, while on either side were rooms for the sheriff's residence, county offices, and two fairly large apartments to be used for jail pur- poses. The court-room occupied nearly the entire second story. The building was erected in 1823, Ralph Manning, of Berkshire constructing the foundation, and Seth Bacon, of Candor, the brick superstructure. In 1824 the old clerk's office in Spencer was sold and a new one directed to be built at Owego. The work was done in 1825, at a cost of $810.
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