History of Columbia County, New York
By Captain Franklin Ellis
Published by Everts & Ensign
Philadelphia, PA
1878
CHAPTER III
Pages 15 to 21
LAND GRANTS--PURCHASES FROM INDIANS.
The absolute property of all the lands in the State of New York is vested in the respective owners, liable only to escheat, and to the reservation of gold and silver mines in such as derive title from colonial patents.
The Dutch government sometimes granted lands in the colony without the formalities of Indian purchase, but it was the rule of the English to first extinguish the aboriginal title. It was customary to apply to the governor and council for leave to purchase; if leave was granted, a treaty was held and an Indian deed obtained, a writ was issued to the surveyor-general to survey, and a map and field-notes were reported. the attorney-general was then directed to prepare a draft of a paten, which was submitted to the governor and council, and if approved was engrossed on parchment, recorded, sealed, and issued.
Governor William Tryon, in his report made in 1774, says,---
"With respect to the Titles under which the Inhabitants hold their possessions: Before the Province was granted on the 12th March, 1663-64, by King Charles the Second, to his brother, James, Duke of York, the Dutch West India Company had seized it, made settlements, and Issued many Grants of Land. In August, 1664, the country was surrendered by the Dutch to the English, and by the 3d Article of the Terms of Capitulation it was stipulated, 'That all People shall continue free Denizens, and shall enjoy their Lands, Houses, and goods, wheresoever they are within this country, and dispose of them as they please.' Some lands of the Province are held under the old Dutch Grants without any confirmation of their Titles under the Crown of England; but the ancient Records are replete with confirmatory Grants, which the Dutch Inhabitants are probably the more solicitous to obtain, from an Apprehension that the Dutch Conquest of the Province in 1673 might render their Titles, under the former articles of capitulation, precarious; though the country was finally restored to the English by the Treaty signed at Westminster the 9th February, 1674. From that period it has remained in the possession of the English; and the Duke of York, on the 29th of June, 1674, obtained a new Grant from the King of all the territories included within the former Letters patent in 1663-64.
"During the reign of King Charles the Second, the Duke of York, as proprietor of the soil, passed many Grants (by his Governor) in Fee, and since his accession to the Throne, Grants have continued to issue under the Great Seal of the Province, in consequence of the Powers given the several Governors by their Commissioners and Instructions from the Crown. Two instances only occur of Grants or Letters Patent for Lands under the Great Seal of Great Britain. . . .
"These are all the different modes by which the Inhabitants have derived any legal Titles to their Lands within the limits of this Province, whence it appears that all their lawful titles to Lands in Fee, except in case of old Dutch Grants unconfirmed, originated from the Crown either mediately, through the Duke of York before his Accession to the Throne, or immediately, by Grants under the Great Seal of Great Britain or of this Province.
"Purchases from the Indian natives, as of their aboriginal right, have never been held to be a legal Title in this Province, the Maxim obtaining here, as in England, that the King is the Fountain of all real property, and from this source all Titles are to be derived."
Such purchase were encouraged, however; and, during the administration of Governor Nicolls, it was officially announced that "the Governour gives liberty to Planters to find out and buy lands from the Indyans, where it pleaseth best the Planters."
The fees incident to procuring a patent were important sources of revenue to the officers concerned. Only one thousand acres could be granted to one person; but this rule was evaded by the use of the names of merely nominal parties, the officers through whose hands the papers passed frequently profiting largely by this method. The colonial government in this respect became exceedingly corrupt, and the American Revolution wrought a much-needed reform therein.
In a few isolated cases, grants of lands were made directly by the crown, and no records appeared in the State offices.
The following enumeration of rights, more or less varied, was embraced in all patents: The grants were "in fee and common soccage," and included with the land all "houses, messuages, tenements, erections, and building, mills, mill-dams, fences, inclosures, gardens, orchards, fields, pasture, common of pastures, meadows, marches, swamps, plains, woods, underwoods, timber, trees, rivers, rivulets, runs, streams, water-lakes, pools, pits, brachen, quarries, mines, minerals (gold and silver, wholly or in part, excepted), creeks, harbors, highways, easements, fishing, hunting, and fowling, and all other franchises, profits, commodities, and appurtenances whatsoever."
Colonial grants were usually conditioned to the annual payment of a quit-rent at a stated time and place named in the patent, the payment being sometimes due in money, and often in wheat or other commodity, others in skins of animals, or a mere nominal article as simply an acknowledgment of the superior rights of the grantors. The quit-rents formed an important source of revenue, and after the Revolution became due to the State. In 1786 it was provided that lands subject to these rents might be released upon the payment of arrears, and fourteen shillings to every shilling of annual dues. Large amounts of lands, upon which arrears of quit-rents had accumulated; were sold from time to time, and laws continued to be passed at frequent intervals for the regulation of these rents, until 1824, when an act was passed for the final sale of all lands which had not been released by commutation or remitted by law. Such lands as then were unredeemed were allowed to be redeemed by the payment of two dollars and a half to each shilling sterling due. The last sale took place March, 1826. In 1819 the quit-rents, then amounting to fifty-three thousand three hundred and eighty dollars, were taken from the general fund and given, in equal portions, to the literature and school funds. In 1846 the Legislature enacted a law to prevent the recurrence of anti-rent difficulties, prohibiting the leasing of agricultural lands for a longer period than twelve years. It also provided that all lands previously rented for a life or lives, or for more than twenty-one years, should be taxed as the personal property of the person receiving the rents to an extent equal to a sum that at the legal rate of interest would produce the annual rent. Such taxes were made payable in the counties where the lands lay, which proved an unpleasant encumbrance and contributed to the reduction of he amount of lands thus held, the proprietors quit-claiming to their tenants for an agreed sum.
Before mentioning in detail the different Indian purchases and patents, which covered the lands comprehended within the limits of Columbia county, we quote from the report of Surveyor-General Cadwallader Colden, made in the year 1732, upon the condition of the lands within the province, as follows:
"There being no previous survey to the grants, their boundaries are generally expressed with much uncertainty by the Indian names of brooks, rivulets, hills, ponds, falls of water, etc., which were and still are known to very few Christians, and which (?) adds to this uncertainty is, that such names as are in these grants taken to be the proper of a brook, hill or fall of water, etc., in the Indian language signifies only a large brook, or broad brook, or small brook, or high hill, or only a hill or fall of water in general, so that the Indians show many places by the same name. Brooks and rivers have different names with the Indians at different places, and often change their names, they taking their names often from the abode of some Indian near the place where it is so called. This has given room to some to explain and enlarge their grants according to their own inclinations by putting the names mentioned in them to what place or part of the country they please. . . . Several of the great tracts lying on Hudson's river are bounded by that river on the east or west sides, and on the north and south sides by brooks or streams of water, which, when the country was not well known, were supposed to run nearly perpendicular to the river, as they do for some distance from their mouths, whereas many of these brooks were nearly parallel to the river and sometimes in a course almost directly opposite to the river. This has created great confusion with the adjoining patents, and frequently contradictions in the boundaries as they are expressed in the same patent."
No language could have been employed by the surveyor-general which would be more clear and direct in its application to the boundaries of tracts in this county. Especially appropriate are the words which we have italicised, as describing the courses of Kinderhook and Claverack creeks in relation to that of the Hudson river.
The first patent of lands in this county was issued by Governor Nicolls on the 25th of March, 1667, to Major Abraham Staats, a surgeon of the garrison at Fort Albany, for a tract which was described as "called by the Indians Cicklekawick, lying north of Claverack,* on the east side of the river, along the great kill [Kinderhook creek] to the first fall of water, then to the fishing place; containing two hundred acres more or less; bounded by the river on one side and the great kill on the other." This grant was confirmed, and four hundred acres more included, in a second patent, issued to Staats by Governor Dongan, Nov. 4, 1685.† Stockport creek (then known as Major Abraham's creek) was the south boundary of this patent, and the whole six hundred acres lay together in one body.
On the 18th of March, 1667, Jacob Jansen Flodder and Captain John Baker purchased from several Mohican Indians, for the consideration of "one blanket, one axe, three hoes, two bars of lead, three handsfull of powder, one knife, and one kettle," a tract of land lying west of Kinderhook creek, and which was described in the Indian deed as "All the bush land and kill with the fall running north and south, lying and being upon the north side of Emikee's‡ land at Kinderhook, and on the west side of the great kill." Less than a month later (April 15, 1667), Flodder and Baker received from Governor Nicolls a patent for their purchase, which was described in that document as "A certain parcel of bush land near Fort Albany, together with a creek or kill with the fall of water running north and south, lying and being upon the north side of Emikee's land, at Kenderhook, and on the west side of the great kill, containing by estimation,---------acres of land." The tract thus indefinitely described was covered by the patent granted nineteen years afterwards to Jan Hendrik De Bruyn, and out of this fact grew long and ruinous lawsuits. As to Flodder and Baker, the patentees, very little is known.
Then came the "Van Hoesen patent," which was issued by Governor Nicolls, May 14, 1667,§ to Jan Frans Van Hoesen, of lands which the latter had purchased from Indians June 15, 1662 (by permission of the Dutch governor), and which were described in the patent as "a certain parcell of land lying and being at Claverack, near Albany, stretching form the small creek or kill by Jan Hendricksen's als Roothaer, to the land belonging to Gerrit Slichtenhorst, which said parcell of land takes in three of the clavers on the south side of the said Roothaer's, and strikes into the woods near about the way that goes over the great creek or kill, and so going forward it includes all the land within the bounds of the markt trees and the creek or kill." This included all the site of the present city of Hudson, and a part of the territory of the town of Greenport, the north line of the patent being about one mile north of the north boundary of the city, and the south limit ws the mouth of Kishna's Kill or creek, where it enters the South bay. The east line was Claverack creek.
The grants made to Dirck Wessels and Gerrit Teunissen were of tracts lying on the eastern and southeastern sides of Kinderhook lake, in the present town of Chatham. We are unable to give their boundaries or the date of grants, but it is certain that Wessels and Teunissen were among the earliest grantees of lands in this region.
Next in order of date came the manorial grants to Van Rensselaer and Livingston; and in order to clearly understand these it is necessary to go back to the first Van Rensselaer grant, which was located in Albany county, above Fort Orange (now Albany), and which antedated by many years the first grants made within the present county of Columbia.
In 1629 the States-General of Holland, to encourage settlement in the New Netherlands, offered to any person who should settle a colony of fifty or more persons above the age of fifteen years, in any of the lands of the New Netherlands, a grant of land, with the title of patroon, and feudal privileges. Under this regulation Killian Van Rensselaer, a pearl-merchant of Amsterdam, began a settlement at Fort Orange, in 1630, receiving a grant of land in that vicinity; and from that time until 1637, while his colony was being brought up to the required minimum, various grants were made covering an immense tract of country, not only in the present county of Rensselaer and Albany, but in several adjacent counties. Various grants made by the Dutch were confirmed by the English governors, among them the Van Rensselaer grants, which were erected into a manor called Rensselaerwyck, with baronial privileges.
The first purchase of Van Rensselaer ws made Aug. 13, 1630, of Indians named Kottomack, Nawanemit, Albantzeene, Sagiskwa, and Kanaomack, of a tract of land north of Fort Orange; Samuel Blommaert, Johannes De Laet, and Touissant Muyssart being associated with him in the grant. Van Rensselaer had two shares and the others one share each, but he alone had the title of patroon. In 1641, Van Rensselaer was given power to devise his estate, and did so subsequently to Johannes, his eldest son. The grant from the Dutch States-General covered a tract of territory twenty-four miles broad. This estate remained in the family, descending by the law of primogeniture, until 1775, when General Stephen Van Rensselaer, the last of the patroons, inherited it. He died in 1840, and much of the property has passed out of the family, large inroads having been made in it by litigation.
In 1667 the English governor, Nicolls, confirmed the Van Rensselaer grant, and in 1685 the whole manor came into possession of Killian Van Rensselaer, grandson of the first patroon. ƒ On Nov. 4, 1685, a patent was issued by Thomas Dongan, governor of the province of New York, to Killian Van Rensselaer (eldest son of Johannes, eldest son of Killian, the first patroon), for Rensselaerwyck, described as follows: "Beginning at the south end of Beeren (Bear) island; thence north on both sides of Hudson's river to the Kahoos, or great falls of Hudson's river; and east and west on each side of the river twenty-four English miles." Also for a certain tract, now in Columbia county, bounded as follows: "Beginning at the creek by Major Abraham Staats', and so along the said Hudson river southward to the south side of Vaxtrix island; by a creek called Waghan Kasick; thence with an easterly line twenty-four English miles into the woods to a place called Wawanaquiasick; from thence northward to the head of said creek by Major Abraham Staats'." The date of the purchase of this tract from Indians was May, 1649. These grants were by this patent erected into a manor, which was accorded a "court-leet and court-baron, to be held as often as the lord of the manor chose." Also, the right to choose a deputy to sit in the General Assembly was granted. The quit-rent for this entire grant of about seven hundred thousand acres, in the present counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Greene, Montgomery, Schenectady, Saratoga, and Schoharie, and one hundred and seventy thousand in Columbia, was "fifty bushels of good winter wheat."
Van Rensselaer had much difficulty in maintaining his claim to the lands in Columbia county, and invoked the aid of the courts and of the General Assembly; and in 1704 a compromise was effected by which that part of the grant called Claverack,š lying between the Kinderhook patent and the Massachusetts line, and between the north and south manors, was surrendered by Van Rensselaer, and his title to the remainder of Claverack was confirmed. In 1704, Killian Van Rensselaer conveyed Claverack to his brother Hendrick. It was inherited by Johannes, a son of Hendrick, born in 1711, and who died in 1783.
Johannes Van Rensselaer erected Claverack into a manor, and called it the "lower manor," in contradistinction to the upper manor of Rensselaerwyck.
"Claverack included the present site of the city of Hudson, and covered the tract patented to Jan Frans Van Hoesen in 1667. The question of priority of title arose between Van Rensselaer and Van Hoesen, and after a long litigation was decided in favor of the latter.
In 1721, Claverack was surveyed for Hendrick Van Rensselaer, the lines being run "south from Kinderhook to north bounds of Livingston manor; thence easterly twenty-four miles to Westenhook."
In 1784, on Feb. 2, Claverack was divided by Robert, Henry I., James, John, and Catherine (Mrs General Philip Schuyler), in which division it was described as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of Major Abram's or Kinderhook creek; thence south 84o 30' east ten miles; thence south 40o west as far as the right of John Van Rensselaer extended (to the manor of Livingston); then to Wahankasick; then up Hudson's river to beginning."
On the 13th of February, 1767, John Van Rensselaer, of the manor of Rensselaerwyck, conveyed a tract of land to the trustees of the Reformed church of Claverack, for the church purposes. Hendrick Van Rensselaer first leased the ground to the trustees. C. C. and J. C. Miller conveyed by deed a tract to the elders and deacons of the same church, May 19, 1759, the Millers receiving their title from Colonel John Van Rensselaer.
The Livingston grants of 1684 and 1685 were patented as a manor in 1686, and contained about one hundred and sixty thousand two hundred and forty acres, including the greater portion of the present towns of Clermont, Germantown, Livingston, Gallatin, Taghkanic, Ancram, and Copake. It also had a court-leet and court-baron, held by the lord of the manor, and in 1715 was given the privilege of electing a member of the General Assembly and tow constables. The annual quit-rent was twenty-eight shillings.
Robert Livingston, **the first lord of the manor, bought first of the Mohican Indians "two hundred acres of good land and eighteen hundred acres of woods," on Roeloff Jansen's Kill, July 12, 1683, and this was confirmed by the government in 1684. Livingston then represented that there was not a sufficiency of arable land in his first purchase, and petitioned for permission to buy another tract of about four hundred acres, but was allowed to buy but "two hundred acres of good land and four hundred acres of woods" adjoining. This second purchase was made of what was called Taghkanic, Aug. 10, 1685, and confirmed the 12th of the same month. The whole tract, when surveyed and erected into a manor in 1685, was found to contain the amount before named, one hundred and sixty thousand two hundred and forty acres, by reason of the metes and bounds given in the Indian deeds, some of which were preserved in the map of the manor, and are as follows: Ahashawaghkick, a hill in the northeast corner of Massachusetts line; Acawanuk, a flat, or rock, in north part of North East (Dutchess county); Kachwawyick, a place west of a certain mountain; Kickwa, or Kickpa, one of three plains near Roeloff Jansen's Kill; Mananosick, a hill in the west part, or near the Massachusetts line; Wawanaquasick, stone-heaps on the north line, "where the Indians have laid several heaps of stones together by an ancient custom among them;"†† Mahaskakook, a "cripple-bush" on the south line of the patent; Mawichnak, a flat on both sides of a creek, where it joins Roeloff Jansen's creek; Minmissichtanock, a piece of land north of Roeloff Jansen's creek; Nowanagquasick, on north line of the manor (Sauthier's map); Nachawachkano, a creek tributary to Twastawekak; Nichankooke, one of three plains, near Roeloff Jansen's creek; Pottkook, patented to Killian Van Rensselaer, south of Kinderhook, and called by the Dutch Claverack; Quisichkook, a small creek north of Roeloff Jansen's creek; Saaskahampka, or Swaskhamaka, a place opposite Saugerties, Ulster Co.; Sacahka, on north line of town of North East; Sankhenak, Roeloff Jansen's Kill; Skaankook, a creek; Towastawekak, or Twastawekak, a creek; Washaisekaisek, a small stream opposite Catskill creek; Wahankasick, near Roeloff Jansen's creek ( Sauthier's map); Wawyachtonoch, a place; Which quo puh bau, southwest corner on Massachusetts line.
The first purchase, called the "Roeloff Jansen's Kill tract," began at Oak hill on the north, and lay along the river to the southern limit of Germantown, a distance of twelve miles, and extended back with the same width to the Taghkanic hills; and for this tract Livingston paid to his Indian grantors the following consideration: "Three hundred guilders in zewant, eight blankets, and two child's blankets, five and twenty ells of duffels, and four garments of strouds, ten large shirts, and ten small ditto, ten pairs of large stockings, ten of small ditto, six guns, fifty pounds of powder, fifty staves of lead, four caps, ten kettles, ten axes, ten adzes, two pounds of paint, twenty little scissors, twenty little looking-glasses, one hundred fish-hooks, awls and nails, of each one hundred, four rolls of tobacco, one hundred pipes, ten bottles, three kegs of rum, one barrel of strong beer, twenty knives, four stroud coats, two duffel coats, and four tin kettles." This payment was entirely satisfactory to the Indians concerned in the sale, except one, a squaw, named Siak-a-nochiqui, a cripple bush woman, of Catskill, who, four years afterwards, pushed her unsatisfied claim, and was bought off with "one cloth garment and one cotton shift." This was the first litigation of the Livingston manor, and amicably settled, but for nearly, if not quite, two hundred years it was in the law and chancery courts, in some form or other, almost continuously.
In 1710, Robert Livingston, the first lord of the manor, conveyed to Anne, "by the grace of God, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland," six thousand acres of his estate for two hundred and sixty-six pounds sterling, for the occupancy of the German Palatines. This sale was afterwards surveyed (1741) by Cadwallader Colden, surveyor-general of the province of New York, and includes nearly the entire town of Germantown. It was patented to Johannes Haevor, Hagedorn, and others, June 15, 1841, as trustees for the colony of Palatines, and a new patent was issued Nov. 17, 1775.
In 1715 the manor was re-surveyed and platted, the lines being as follows:
"Beginning on the east side of Hudson river at a certain place called by the Indians Wahankassek, thence east by south 3o 40' southerly 9½ miles to a certain place called in the Indian language Mawanapquassek, then east by south 7o 45' southerly 9½ miles and 30 rods to a hill called by the Indians Ahashewaghkamick, by the north end of Taghkanick hills or mountain, thence south 2o W. along said hills 13¾ to Wich qua pu chat, thence E. 2o 50' N. 3 miles and 156 rods to a run of water called by the Indians Sackackqua, thence S. by E. 8o 30' easterly 100 rods to three linden-trees, thence W. S. W. 6o 30' southerly 1½ miles to Rock called Nakaowasick, thence W. N. W. 13¾ miles to southernmost boucht of Roeliff Jansen's Kill, thence N. W. 11o westerly 11¾ miles to Hudson river, thence up said river to beginning."
Thirteen thousand acres of the Livingston manor were set off by the will of the first lord, and formed into the lower manor of Clermont, and given to Robert, grandfather of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, as a reward for having discovered and frustrated a plot of the Indians for the massacre of all the white inhabitants of the province. The estate north of Roeloff Jansen's Kill was devised entail, and was thus transmitted through two generations, the eldest son, Philip, and his eldest son, Robert, inheriting the same. Philip was born in Albany in 1686, and succeeded to the manor of Livingston in 1728, on the death of his father, Robert, the first lord. Philip's son Robert, Jr., was the last lord, the Revolution breaking the entail, and after his death the estate lying east of the post-road from New York to Albany was divided between Walter, Robert C., John, and Henry, sons of Robert, Jr., according to the provisions of the will of the latter, the share of each being about twenty-eight thousand acres. The division was made in 1792. In 1716 the first lord of the manor took his seat in the General Assembly, and the manor was so represented until the Revolution.
Walter Livingston conveyed his interest in the estate of his father, April 14, 1792, to Henry Livingston, for twenty-four thousand nine hundred pounds New York currency (about sixty-two thousand dollars); the dower of Cornelia, wife of Walter, being reserved. A portion only of this vast estate is now in the Livingston family.
On the 16th of December, 1686, a patent was issued by Governor Dongan to Jan Hendrick de Bruyn, for a certain tract of land which he had purchased eighteen years before (Aug. 14, 1668) from three Indian chiefs, name Pomoeneck, Taeppchasnnen, and Attowanoe. This tract was described as being "A certain parcel or tract of land laying on the east side of Hudson's river, or the river of New Albany, beginning from Davidson's creek, which creek lies against Beare Island, called in the Indian tongue Pahpapaenpemock, and from the said creek stretching southerly along the river to the saw-kill of Frans Peiters Claver, the creek in the Indian tongue called Pittannoock stretching to the east, and in the woods to the first two lakes or inwaters which are called by the Indians 'Hithoock and Wogashawachook'."‡‡ The consideration named in the patent was a yearly quit-rent of "five bushels of merchantable winter wheat, payable on the 20th day of March in every year." A reference to the records in the comptroller's office at Albany will show that the rent was faithfully paid.
Many years afterwards, in the trial of the case of Jackson vs. Frier, chancellor Kent defined the boundaries of the De Bruyn patent as follows: "The line from David's Hook to the saw-kill is to be drawn between those points along the east shore of the Hudson, and composes the western boundary; a line along the west shore of the Fish lake (Kinderhook lake) in its whole extant, the eastern boundary; and straight lines from the extremities of the lake to the stations on the Hudson,---David's Hook and the saw-kill,---north and south boundaries."
"The great Kinderhook patent," as it was afterward known, was issued March 14, 1687, by Governor Nicolls to Jan Hendrick De Bruyn and others, freeholders of Kinderhook, and in actual possession; the description of the land ratified to them being as follows: "All that tract or parcel of land that lieth on the east side of Hudson's river, beginning at a place called Swate Hook, and runs north upon said river four English miles to a certain place called David's Hook, and then runs east into the woods, keeping the same breadth, to the land of Derick Wessels and Gerrit Teunnissen and the high hills eight English miles, and then south to the fall of Major Abram" (Chittenden's falls). The consideration was the payment of a quit-rent of "twelve bushels of good winter marchantable wheat," on the 20th of March in every year.§§
The "Powell grant" was a tract located in that part of old Kinderhook which is now Stuyvesant.
A tract of four thousand acres lying on Kinderhook and Claverack creeks, and between Rensselaerwyck and the great patent of Kinderhook, was surveyed to Conradt Burghart and Elias Van Schaack.ƒƒ
In 1703, a tract was surveyed to Lawrence Van Schaack and Lawrence Van Alen, "lying south of Kinderhook, north of Potkoke, and east of Claverack."šš
Burgar Huyck and others received a patent for six thousand acres, Oct. 2, 1731, from Rip Van Dam, president, and Archibald Kennedy and Cadwallader Colden, councilors for lands on "both sides of Kinderhook creek, and running north to the south bounds of Rensselaerwyck, and east along that line 70 chains."¥
The Mawighanunk patent was issued to William and Stephen Bayard in 1743.¶ Peter Van Alen received a from Governor Nicolls, June 16, 1668, for a tract "east of the kill behind [east of] Kinderhook and extending south to Nohacktequalsick."
In January, 1767, Abraham Lott and others petitioned for and had surveyed to them a gore of ten thousand one hundred and fifty-two acres, lying between Claverack and Livingston manors. This grant was the basis of a suit at law which was brought by the patentees against John Van Rensselaer, an explanation of which, was well as its result is given in the following extract from the New York Gazette of Nov. 10, 1768, viz.:
"On Saturday last the great cause between the Crown and Mr. John Van Rensselaer was ended. It was tried by a struck jury, and came on before the Hon. Justice Jones, on Tuesday, the 25th of October, and continued (with evening adjournments by the consent of parties) until the 5th instant. The suit was for intrusion upon the crown lands, to try the limits of that part of the old Rensselaerswyck manor and estate called Claverack. It was promoted by certain reduced officers, upon a suppositon that there was a great unpatented vacancy between the manors of Rensselaerswyck and Livingston and the patents of Kinderhook and Westenhook, and carried on at the expense of the crown. There never was a trial in this colony so solemn, important, and lengthy. The counsel spent about eleven hours in summing up the evidence. Mr. Attorney-General, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Duane, and Mr. Kissam were of the counsel for the crown; and Mr. Smith, Jr., Mr. Scott, and Mr. Thomas Smith conducted the defense. The judge was clear in his charge upon the construction of the old patent in the Rensselaer family, and the jury in two hours agreed on their verdict for the defendant. . . .This estate was attached upon the same principles by certain petitioners a few years ago; but their petitions were dismissed by the governor and council in the administration of General Monckton on the 20th October, 1762."
A tract of seven hundred acres was located by John Van Ness on Kinderhook creek, and surveyed to him on the surveyor-general's warrant, dated march 4, 1788.
Under the act of the Legislature of March 12, 1793, the rights of the State in a tract of land situated in the towns of Hillsdale and Kinderhook, lying south of Canaan and north of the north line of lands claimed by the heirs of Colonel John Van Rensselaer, and also west of Canaan and east of Kinderhook patent, were vested in the persons actually in possession, and who were holding the lands in their own right, and not for another. An act of the same body, passed March 22, 1791, vested the title of the State to lands in Canaan in such settlers as were in actual possession.
The State of New York confirmed the colonial grants, but abolished the feudal tenures and privileges.
But few leasehold¦¦ estates are now held in Columbia county, and those are the property of the daughters of the late Henry W. Livingston, and situated in the towns of Copake and Taghkanic.
*The "Claverack" here referred to was a tract of land which had been purchased from the Indians five years before, by Jan Frans Van Hoesen, and by him occupied, though at that time it had not been patented.
† Book 5 of patents, p. 235.
‡ Emikee was a Mohican chief, the reputed owner of large tracts of land in the neighborhood of Kinderhook.
§ Book 2 of patents, pp. 219, 220.
ƒ It is supposed the first patroon never visited his possessions in America. Johannes or "Jan the Baptist" came in 1651.
š Indian name Pott kook or Pot koke.
**To read the footnote for Robert Livingston, click here.
†† This is the only one of the interior boundaries of the manor which is now recognizable.
‡‡ Book 6 of Patents, page 319; also see Plat Book 9, subdivision D, page 197, for field-notes of survey and partition of the Kinderhook patent, ordered by James II., 1704, and by him conveyed to Colonel Peter Schuyler, John De Bruyn, Andries Jaisse, and twenty-eight others. Also subdivision E, Field Book 21, for the Kinderhook patent survey, secretary state's office, Albany.
§§ Book 6 of Patents, pp. 154, 156, office secretary of state.
ƒƒ Land Papers, vol. vi. p. 24.
šš Ibid., vol. iii. p. 124
¥ Book II, Patents, pp. 38, 39.
¶ Portfolio E, No. 16, surveyor-general's office.
¦¦ Life leases were given on the Livingston and perpetual leases on the lower Rensselaer manor. The lower manor has been held in fee by its occupants since about 1851.
