Phelps and Gorham Purchase
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The Phelps and Gorham Purchase was the purchase in 1788 of of land in what is now western
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State from the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts ( Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' E ...
for $1,000,000 ( £300,000), to be paid in three annual installments, and the pre-emptive right to the title on the land from the Six Nations of the
Iroquois Confederacy The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
for $5000 (£12,500). A syndicate formed by Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham bought preemptive rights to the parcel - larger than six present U.S. states: Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island - in New York, west of Seneca Lake between
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and the
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border, from the
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. Phelps and Gorham then negotiated with the
Seneca nation The Seneca Nation of Indians is a federally recognized Seneca tribe based in western New York. They are one of three federally recognized Seneca entities in the United States, the others being the Tonawanda Band of Seneca (also in western Ne ...
and other Iroquois tribes to obtain
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for the entire parcel. They acquired title to only about east of the
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plus the by Mill Yard Tract along the river's northwestern bank. Within a year, monetary values rose and, in combination with poor sales, the syndicate was unable to make the second of three payments for the land west of the Genesee River, forcing them to default on exercising the remainder of the purchase agreement. They were also forced to sell at a discount much of the land they had already bought title to but had not yet re-sold; it was purchased by Robert Morris of Philadelphia, financier, U.S.
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, and Senator. In some sources, the Phelps and Gorham Purchase refers only to the on which Phelps and Gorham were able to extinguish the Iroquois'
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.


Origins and background

Much of the land south of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, and west of the Hudson River, had been historically occupied by the Iroquoian-speaking Five Nations of the
Iroquois Confederacy The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
well before any encounter with Europeans.
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evidence suggests that Iroquoian peoples lived in the
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from at least 1000 CE; the nations known to the colonists are believed to have coalesced after that time, and formed their confederacy for internal peace among them. The Mohawk were the easternmost Iroquois tribe, occupying much of the Mohawk Valley west of Albany. The Onondaga and
Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida ...
tribes lived near the eastern edge of this region of land purchases, closer to their namesake lakes, Lake Oneida and
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. (Onondaga territory had extended up to Lake Ontario). The
Cayuga Cayuga often refers to: * Cayuga people, a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy * Cayuga language, the language of the Cayuga Cayuga may also refer to: Places Canada * Cayuga, Ontario United States * Cayuga, Illinoi ...
and Seneca nations lived to the west in the
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region, with the Seneca the westernmost tribe. Major Iroquois towns in the Finger Lakes region included the Seneca town of ''Gen-nis-he-yo'' (present-day Geneseo), '' Kanadaseaga'' (Seneca Castle, near present-day Geneva), '' Goiogouen'' (Cayuga Castle, east of
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), '' Chonodote'' (Cayuga town, present-day Aurora), and Catherine's Town (near present-day Watkins Glen). The Iroquois nations had earlier formed a decentralized political and diplomatic
Iroquois Confederacy The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
. Allied as one of the most powerful Indian confederacies during colonial times, the Iroquois prevented most European colonization west of the middle of the Mohawk Valley and in the Finger Lakes region for nearly two centuries after first contact. During colonial times, some smaller tribes moved into the Finger Lakes region, seeking the protection of the Iroquois. In about 1720, the
Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **'' Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...
tribe arrived, having migrated from the Carolinas after defeat by European colonists and Indian allies. They were also Iroquoian-speaking and were accepted as "cousins", forming the Sixth Nation of the Confederacy. In 1753 remnants of several Virginia
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tribes, collectively called the Tutelo- Saponi, moved to the town of Coreorgonel at the south end of Cayuga Lake (near present-day Ithaca). They lived there until 1779, when their village was destroyed during the Revolutionary War by allied rebel forces. The French colonized northern areas, moving in along the St. Lawrence River from early trading posts among Algonquian-speaking tribes on the Atlantic Coast; they founded
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in 1608. When
Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fr ...
explored the St. Lawrence River, he claimed the region
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as including Western New York. The French sent traders and missionaries there, but ceded any claim in 1759 during the
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, the North American front of the
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, in which they were defeated by Great Britain. During the
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, four of the six Iroquois nations allied with the British, hoping to push American colonists out of their territory. The Oneida and the Tuscarora became allies of the rebel Americans. Within each tribe, there were often members on either side of the war, as the tribes were highly decentralized. Led by
Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York, who was closely associated with Great Britain during and after the American Revolution. Perhaps ...
, a war leader of the Mohawk, numerous Iroquois warriors joined in British attacks against the rebels, particularly in the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys. They attacked and killed settlers, took some women and children as captives, drove off their livestock, and burned their houses and barns. The Iroquois resisted colonists encroaching into their territory, which roughly comprised the Allegheny, Genesee, Upper Susquehanna and Chemung River basins. The Iroquois nations also raided American settlements in Western New York and along the Susquehanna River. The colonists were angry and hungry for retaliation. In response, on July 31, 1779, Gen. George Washington ordered Gen. James Clinton and Gen. John Sullivan to march from Pennsylvania, near present-day
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, to the
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area of New York. The campaign mobilized 6200 Colonial troops, about 25% of the entire rebel army. Their orders were to
destroy all Indian villages and crops belonging to the six nations, to engage the Indian and Tory marauders under Brandt and Butler whenever possible, and to drive them so far west that future raids would be impossible.
Sullivan led his army on an expedition with the goal of subduing the Iroquois in the region. Although they did not kill many Natives, his forces destroyed much of the Iroquois homelands, including 40 villages such as the major Cayuga villages of Cayuga Castle and '' Chonodote'' (Peachtown) and their surrounding fields. In the area from Albany to Niagara, they emptied their winter stores, which included at least 160,000
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s of stored corn along "with a vast quantity of vegetables of every kind". These actions denied both the Iroquois and the British the food needed to sustain their war effort. The formerly self-sufficient Iroquois fled as refugees, gathering at
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to seek food from the British. Weakened by their ordeal and famine, thousands of Iroquois died of starvation and disease. Their warriors no longer were a major factor in the war. The Continental Army took heart from their punishment of the Iroquois on the frontier. During their advance west, Sullivan's army took a route to New York through northeast Pennsylvania. They had to cut a new road through lightly inhabited areas of the
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(this trail is known today as "Sullivan's Trail"). When the troops returned to Pennsylvania, they told very favorable stories of the region that impressed potential settlers.


Treaty of Hartford

Following the
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, there were a confusing collection of contradictory royal charters from
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,
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, and Charles II, mixed with a succession of treaties with the Dutch and with the Indians, which made the legal situation for land sales intractable. Following the war, Great Britain ceded all its claims to the territory, including lands controlled by the Iroquois, who were not consulted. To stimulate settlement, the federal government planned to release much of these millions of acres of land for sale. Before that could happen, New York and Massachusetts had to settle their competing claims for a region west of New York. (Massachusetts' colonial claim had extended west without end.) The two states signed the Treaty of Hartford in December 1786. With the treaty, Massachusetts ceded its claim to the United States government, and sovereignty and jurisdiction of the region to New York State. The treaty established Massachusett's pre-emptive rights right to negotiate with the Iroquois nations for their
aboriginal title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal titl ...
to the land ahead of New York, and also gave the two states the exclusive rights ahead of individuals to buy the land. Anyone else who wanted to purchase title to or ownership of land from the Iroquois was required to first obtain Massachusetts' approval. After the adoption of the
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in 1787, the federal government ratified the states' compact.''Seneca Nation'', 162 U.S. at 285 In April 1788, Phelps and Gorham bought the preemptive rights from Massachusetts, but this did not get them the right to develop or re-sell the land. They only obtained exclusive right to negotiate with the Iroquois and obtain clear
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to the land. For this preemptive right, they paid Massachusetts $1,000,000 (£300,000) (equivalent to about $ million today) or 16 and 2/3 cents an acre ($41.18/km2). This was to be paid in three annual installments. By an act of the Massachusetts Legislature approved April 1, 1788, it was provided that "this Commonwealth doth hereby agree, to grant, sell & convey to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, for a purchase price of $1,000,000, payable in three equal annual installments all the Right, Title & Demand, which the said Commonwealth has in & to the said 'Western Territory' ceded to it by the Treaty of Hartford." But first Phelps and Gorham had to go up against competing companies and persuade the Iroquois to give up their title to the land.


Council at Buffalo Creek

The New York Genesee Land Company, led by John Livingston, was one of the competitors to acquire title to these lands. He gathered several of the chiefs together at Geneva. To circumvent New York state law that only permitted the state to buy land from the natives, he negotiated a lease for a term of 999 years for all the Iroquois lands of Western New York. This included a down payment of $20,000 and an annual payment of $200 to their heirs. But when New York state learned of his agreement, it advised all parties including the natives that the lease had no standing in either Massachusetts or New York. Another competitor was the Niagara Genesee Land Company formed by Colonel John Butler, Samuel Street, and other Tory friends of the Iroquois. They tried to persuade the Iroquois to grant them a lease. Some proposed that an independent state be created in western New York.Robortella, John M.
Steps West: The Field Notes of Col. Hugh Maxwell's Pre-emption Line Survey in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase
Phelps eliminated many of his competitors by persuading them to join his syndicate. Phelps and Gorham retained 82 shares for themselves, sold 15 shares to the Niagara Genesee Land Company, and divided another 23 shares among 21 persons. On July 8, 1788, Phelps met with the original Five Nations of the
Iroquois Confederacy The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
, including the Mohawk,
Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida ...
, Onondaga,
Cayuga Cayuga often refers to: * Cayuga people, a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy * Cayuga language, the language of the Cayuga Cayuga may also refer to: Places Canada * Cayuga, Ontario United States * Cayuga, Illinoi ...
, and Seneca nations, at Buffalo Creek. His goal was to execute a deed or treaty and obtain title to a portion of their land. The Oneida were split by internal divisions over whether they should give up their title.


Missionary influence

Phelps was aided by Samuel Kirkland, a Presbyterian minister and
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
among the Oneida. Kirkland had been appointed by the state of Massachusetts to oversee the transaction. Kirkland had previously taken part in six prior illegal land treaties made by individual states with the Indians, in violation of federal authority over Indian affairs. Only the US government had the authority to make treaties with the Native American nations. Kirkland encouraged the Oneida and other Iroquois to sell their land to the whites in part because he was convinced that they "would never become farmers unless forced to by the loss of land for hunting." Kirkland also benefitted from the land sales, receiving around present day Utica from New York State and from the Oneida people. Kirkland was determined to build the Hamilton-Oneida Academy and needed financial support from the wealthy land speculators. In November 1790, some Iroquois, including Cornplanter, accused Phelps, Kirkland, and the Mohawk chief
Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York, who was closely associated with Great Britain during and after the American Revolution. Perhaps ...
of altering deeds in order to favor Phelps.


Land ownership

The Indians believed they were owners of the land, but Phelps persuaded the Chiefs that, since they had been allies to the defeated British during the Revolutionary War, and since the British had given up the lands in the 1783 peace treaty, the tribes could expect to retain only the lands granted by the United States. Phelps and Gorham wanted to buy , but the Iroquois refused to sell the rights to 185,000 acre (749 km2) west of the
Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides h ...
.


Mill Yard Tract

Phelps suggested that the Iroquois could use a grist mill to grind their maize which would relieve the women of the grinding work. The Indians asked how much land was needed for a grist mill, and Phelps suggested a huge section of land west of the Genesee River, much larger than actually required, extending west from the river , running south from
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approximately , and totaling about . The section stretches from near the present-day town of Avon north to the community of
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at
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and encompasses Rochester. The Iroquois agreed. Within this area on the west bank, Phelps and Gorham gave at the high falls of the Genesee River to Ebenezer "Indian" Allen, on the condition that he build the grist mill and sawmill. The grist mill was distant from potential customers—only about 25 families lived on the west bank at the time—and there were no roads going to it from the few nearby farms on the west bank of the river. It never prospered. Allen's tract became the nucleus of modern
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. The section of land on the west bank of the Genesee River became known as the Mill Yard Tract.


Purchase agreement

Phelps and his company paid the Indians $5,000 cash and promised an annual annuity of $500 to their heirs forever. The agreement gave them title to , included approximately the eastern third of the territory ceded to Massachusetts by the Treaty of Hartford, from the
Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides h ...
in the west to the Preemption Line in the east, which was the boundary that had been set between the lands awarded to Massachusetts and those awarded to New York State by the Treaty of Hartford. Boundaries established by Phelps' agreement were reaffirmed between the United States and the Six Nations by Article 3 of the
Treaty of Canandaigua The Treaty of Canandaigua (or Konondaigua, as spelled in the treaty itself) also known as the Pickering Treaty and the Calico Treaty, is a treaty signed after the American Revolutionary War between the Iroquois#Government, Grand Council of the Si ...
in 1794. The scrip's low value substantially reduced Massachusetts' proceeds from the sale.


Area boundaries

After the Revolutionary War ended, the Iroquois chiefs had been assured by the US government in the 1784
Fort Stanwix treaty The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was a treaty signed between representatives from the Iroquois and Great Britain (accompanied by negotiators from New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania) in 1768 at Fort Stanwix. It was negotiated between Sir William ...
that their lands would remain theirs unless the Indians made new cessions—as a result of regular councils duly convened and conducted according to tribal custom. The eastern boundary was defined by a Preemption Line, which was anchored on the south at the 82nd milestone on the New York-Pennsylvania boundary line and on the north by
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
. The treaties gave Massachusetts the right to buy from the Native Americans and resell all territory west of the Preemption Line, while New York State retained the right to govern that territory. New York State would add to its territory all land east of the Preemption Line. The Fort Stanwix Treaty and earlier treaties established the approximate western boundary, but a survey was required to establish the exact line. Phelps believed that the line ran through Seneca Lake and included the former Cayuga settlement of Kandesaga, present-day
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. He planned to make Geneva the headquarters and location of the land sales office. He hired Col. Hugh Maxwell, a man of high reputation, to perform the survey. During his original survey for Phelps and Gorham, Maxwell was assisted by Augustus Porter and other surveyors. At
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.
Maxwell and his assistants started a preliminary survey on June 13, 1788, from the 82-mile stone on the Pennsylvania Line. The trial survey reached Seneca Lake. The actual survey was started on July 25, 1788, and when the surveyors reached the area of Kandesaga, the line was fixed west of Seneca Lake and Kandesaga, which survived as a key town in the region. Oliver Phelps was extremely upset when he learned that the survey did not include Seneca Lake or the Indian village. He wrote a letter to Col. William Walker, the local agent responsible for the survey, and requested that they survey be redone in that area. For unknown reasons, it was not completed. On the west, the survey ran north from the Pennsylvania border to the confluence of
Canaseraga Creek Canaseraga Creek is a stream that flows through Livingston, Steuben, and Allegany Counties in western and central New York. It is a tributary of the Genesee River, and its watershed is the largest sub-watershed of that river. The creek's nam ...
and the Genesee River. The survey line followed the river to a point north of Canawagus Village, and then due west distant from the westernmost bend, and then due north to the shore of Lake Ontario. Maxwell divided the land into ranges wide from north to south. Maxwell's work later became known as "The First Survey."


Settlers arrive

Phelps opened one of the first land sales offices in the U.S. in Suffield, Connecticut and another in Canandaigua. During the next two years, they sold at a higher price to a number of buyers. People arrived from New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and from across the Atlantic, from England and Scotland. Settlers also included veterans who had fought under General Sullivan. There was considerable land hunger among people in New England, who had been crowded for some time.


Financial difficulties

Many purchasers were buying land for speculative purposes and quickly resold it. For example, Oliver Phelps sold township 3, range 2, to Prince Bryant of Pennsylvania on September 5, 1789. Prince Bryant sold the land a month later to Elijah Babcock, who in turn sold various parcels to Roger Clark, Samuel Tooker, David Holmes, and William Babcock. The syndicate was able to sell about half of its holdings.


Syndicate defaults

However, within the year, currency values rose in anticipation of Treasury Secretary
Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charle ...
's plan to nationalize the debts of the states forming the new nation. This raised the value of the consolidated securities Phelps and Gorham had used to buy the land, effectively quadrupling the syndicate's debt and substantially inflating the amount required to purchase title from the Iroquois for the remaining . The syndicate sold about 50 townships but the purchasers were mainly stockholders who had accepted land in exchange for interest on the loan principal. Fewer emigrants bought land than expected, reducing the income expected by the syndicate. Two of the three bonds financing the purchase were canceled, but even when the debt was reduced to $109,333 (£31,000) (about $ today), the syndicate was unable to make the next payment. In August 1790, the reverses forced Phelps to sell his Suffield home and his interest in the Hartford National Bank and Trust Co. of Connecticut In early 1791, the syndicate was unable to make the second payment on the preemptive right to the lands west of the Genesee River, comprising some , and the land reverted to Massachusetts on March 10, 1791. On March 12, Massachusetts agreed to sell these rights to Robert Morris for $333,333.33 (about $ today). Morris was a signatory of the
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and the
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, and was the major financier of the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
. At the time, he was the richest man in America. Morris paid about 11 or 12 cents an acre for the land, or about $9,878 (£24,695) (about $ today). The land was conveyed to Morris in five deeds on May 11, 1791. On August 10, 1790, the syndicate sold the remaining lands of the Genesee tract directly to Morris, with the exception of about 47,000 acres retained by Phelps and Gorham. The deed was conveyed on November 18, 1790, and specified that the tract should contain 1 million acres, and any amount over that would require further payment. On September 21, 1791,
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...
was described as "a small, unhealthy village with about 15 houses, all of log construction except three. There are about 20 families."


Survey inaccuracies

When Morris bought the property, issues with the first survey were well known. The purchase deed stated, "A manifest error has been committed in the laying out and dividing the same, so that a new survey must be laid in order to correct the said error." Some accounts from early in the 20th century attribute errors discovered during the second survey to the primitive instruments used by the surveyors, but allegations of fraud were also made. A description of the survey in 1892 cast suspicion on an assistant surveyor named Jenkins, who was supposed to have altered the survey line to favor his employer, Peter Ryckman. He wanted to control the site of present-day
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...
. Ryckman had previously sought to buy the land directly from the Iroquois, but it was illegal under New York state law for him to buy land from the natives, and his contract was voided by the state. When a new survey was commissioned, Maxwell's survey became known as "The First Survey." Adam Hoops was hired to lead a team of new surveyors, who discovered that Maxwell erred on both the eastern preemption line and the western boundary. Maxwell had located the westernmost boundary of the Millyard Tract in the belief that the Genesee River ran due north. Hoops' team found that Maxwell had made a serious error when he ignored the variance between magnetic north and
true north True north (also called geodetic north or geographic north) is the direction along Earth's surface towards the geographic North Pole or True North Pole. Geodetic north differs from ''magnetic'' north (the direction a compass points toward t ...
. A survey team that
Benjamin Ellicott Benjamin Ellicott (April 17, 1765 – December 10, 1827) was a surveyor, a county judge and a member of the United States House of Representatives from the State of New York. Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1765, Benjamin Ellicott accom ...
headed found in November–December 1792 that the preemption line ran through Seneca Lake and north along a line to Lake Ontario near the center of Sodus Bay, about four miles west of the line surveyed by Maxwell. The line now divides the city of Geneva and the Town of Waterloo in Border City. The old preemption line reached Lake Ontario, three miles west of Sodus Bay. The new line terminated near the center of the head of the bay. The new preemption line traveled in a northeasterly direction from the west end of the southern boundary. In his new survey, Hoops established that the western boundary of the Mill Yard tract included a gore-shaped tract of land about west of the Genesee River, that should have been retained by the Iroquois. To make it easier, Morris' syndicate returned an equivalent amount of land on the west, a parcel known as the Triangle Tract, to the Iroquois. Morris then purchased the rights to the Triangle Tract from the Iroquois; this land became part of the Morris Reserve. The area of land purchased by Morris was fixed at . Hoop's corrected survey became known as the "Second Survey" and was accepted by Simeon DeWitt, New York's surveyor-general, in a resolution passed by the state on March 24, 1795.


London investors purchase land

After buying the land from the state of Massachusetts in early 1790, Morris almost immediately resold through his London agent William Temple Franklin to the Pulteney Associates, led by Sir William Pulteney. He sold at more than double the price he had paid. Sir William Pulteney bought 9/12ths interest, William Hornby 2/12ths, and Patrick Colquhoun 1/12th interest. At the time non-citizens could not legally hold title to land. The buyers sent Charles Williamson from Scotland, and he was naturalized on January 9, 1792, in order to permit him to hold the land in trust for the owners. He relocated to the United States in February 1792 and settled on the tract. Morris conveyed the deed to Williamson on April 11, 1792, and was paid $333,333 (£75,000). The U.S. Congress had passed The Coinage Act which established the
U.S. Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...
and the dollar as its official currency only a week before. Morris made a profit of over $160,000 on the transaction. The Pulteney Purchase, or the Genesee Tract, as it was also known, comprised all of the present counties of
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Steuben and
Yates Yates may refer to: Places United States * Fort Yates, North Dakota *Yates Spring, a spring in Georgia, United States *Yates City, Illinois * Yates Township, Illinois *Yates Center, Kansas * Yates, Michigan * Yates Township, Michigan *Yates, Misso ...
, as well as portions of Allegany,
Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American customs ...
, Monroe, Schuyler and Wayne counties. After Sir William Pulteney's death in 1805, it was known as the Pulteney Estate.


Holland Land Purchase

Morris sold additional land in December 1792 and in February and July 1793 to the Holland Land Company, an unincorporated syndicate formed by
Wilheim Willink Wilhelm Willink (sometimes Willem, Wilheim or Wilhem) (1750 – 1841) was a wealthy Amsterdam merchant, and one of the investors in the Holland Land Company,Evans, Paul D (1924). ''The Holland Land Company.'' Buffalo Historical Society Public ...
and thirteen other Dutch bankers. The bankers hired American trustees in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
to take title to the land, because U.S. law made it illegal for them to own the property directly. Robert Morris prevailed upon the New York Legislature to repeal that ordinance, which it did shortly thereafter, as it was eager to have the lands developed into settlements. The investors of the Holland Land Company could in a worst-case scenario resell their property, i.e. the right to purchase aboriginal land. The investors expected a significant profit if they could obtain clear title from the Iroquois and sell unencumbered parcels of land. They organized a council at Big Tree in the summer of 1797. The council was attended by the Iroquois
sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
s, Robert Morris, James Wadsworth (who represented the Federal Government), and Joseph Ellicott, who represented the Holland Land Company. The Europeans and Americans found
Red Jacket Red Jacket (known as ''Otetiani'' in his youth and ''Sagoyewatha'' eeper Awake''Sa-go-ye-wa-tha'' as an adult because of his oratorical skills) (c. 1750–January 20, 1830) was a Seneca orator and chief of the Wolf clan, based in Western New York ...
, chief of the
Seneca nation The Seneca Nation of Indians is a federally recognized Seneca tribe based in western New York. They are one of three federally recognized Seneca entities in the United States, the others being the Tonawanda Band of Seneca (also in western Ne ...
, very difficult to negotiate with. The Dutch gave presents to the influential
women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
of the tribes, and offered generous payments to several other chiefs to influence their cooperation. They offered the Iroquois about 200,000 acres in return as reservations for the tribes. The result was the
Treaty of Big Tree The Treaty of Big Tree was a formal treaty signed in 1797 between the Seneca Nation and the United States, in which the Seneca relinquished their rights to nearly all of their traditional homeland in New York State—nearly 3.5 million acres. In ...
. In 1802, the Holland Land Company opened its sales office in Batavia, managed by surveyor and agent Joseph Ellicott.History of Batavia, New York
from ''Our County and Its People: A Descriptive and Biographical Record of Genesee County, New York (1899)
The office remained open until 1846 when the company was finally dissolved. The Company granted some plots of land to persons with the condition that they establish improvements, such as inns and taverns, to encourage growth. The building that housed the
Holland Land Office The Holland Land Office building is located on West Main Street (New York state routes New York State Route 5, 5, New York State Route 33, 33 and New York State Route 63, 63) in downtown Batavia (city), New York, Batavia, New York, United States. ...
still exists; it is operated as a museum dedicated to the Holland Purchase and is designated a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
.


Morris Reserve

Morris kept in a strip along the east side of the lands acquired from Massachusetts, from the Pennsylvania border to Lake Ontario. This later became known as the Morris Reserve. At the north end of the Morris Reserve, Morris sold a triangular-shaped tract to Herman Leroy, William Bayard, and John McEvers. This was nicknamed the Triangle Tract. A tract due west of the Triangle Tract was sold to the State of
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
. In May 1796,
John Barker Church John Barker Church, John Carter, (October 30, 1748 – April 27, 1818) was an English born businessman and supplier of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He returned to England after the Revolutionary War and served in the Hous ...
accepted a mortgage on another 100,000 acres of the Morris Reserve in present-day Allegany County and Genesee County, against a debt owed to him by Morris. After Morris failed to pay the mortgage, Church foreclosed, and Church's son
Philip Schuyler Church Philip Schuyler Church (April 14, 1778 – January 1, 1861) was an American judge, landowner, and founder of the town of Angelica, New York. From 1798 to 1800, during the Quasi-War with France, he was a captain in the U.S. Army and '' aide-de-cam ...
acquired the land in May 1800. Philip began the settlement of Allegany and Genesee counties by founding the village of Angelica, New York. As noted above, in September 1797 under the Treaty of Big Tree, negotiated and signed at
Geneseo, New York Geneseo is a town in Livingston County in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. It is at the south end of the five-county Rochester Metropolitan Area. The population of the town was 10,483 at the 2010 census. The English nam ...
, Morris gained the remaining title to all the lands west of the Genesee held by the
Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...
. Morris paid $100,000 along with perpetual annuities, among other concessions. He created ten reservations for the Iroquois nations within the purchase; these totalled 200,000 acres (800 km2), in comparison to the millions of acres they had ceded. The remainder of the Morris Reserve was quickly subdivided and settled.


Subdivision into counties of New York

In 1802, the entire Holland Purchase, as well as the 500,000 acre (2,000 km2) Morris Reserve immediately to the east, was split off from Ontario County and organized as Genesee County. In the ensuing 40 years after Genesee County was formed, it was repeatedly split to form all or parts of the counties of Allegany (1806), Niagara (1808), Cattaraugus (1808),
Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua br ...
(1808), Erie (1821), Monroe (1821),
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(1821), Orleans (1824), and
Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...
(1841).


Legacy

Many of the men who were active in these land sales were honored, either by their business associates or by settlers, in the place names of new villages. Many of the original villages have retained their identity as the central district of a larger town: * Busti, a town in Chautauqua County, named for agent Paolo Busti * Cazenovia, a town and its village in Madison County, named for agent Theophilus Cazenove * Ellicott, a town in Chautauqua County, named for surveyor Joseph Ellicott * Ellicottville, a town and its village in Cattaraugus County, also named for Joseph Ellicott * Franklinville, a town and its village in Cattaraugus County, named for agent William Temple Franklin, a grandson of
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...
* Gorham, a town in Ontario County, named for Nathaniel Gorham *
Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former Provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...
, a town in Erie County, named for the Holland Purchase or the Holland Land Company *
Leroy, New York Le Roy, or more commonly LeRoy, is a town in Monroe County, New York or Genesee County, New York, United States. The population was 7,641 at the time of the 2010 census. The town is named after one of the original land owners, Herman Le Roy. Th ...
, a town in Genesee County, named for Herman Le Roy, one of the purchasers of the Triangle Tract. * Mount Morris, a town and its village in Livingston County, named for Robert Morris * Phelps, a town and its village in Ontario County, named for Oliver Phelps * Williamson, a town in Wayne County, named for Charles Williamson In contrast, Angelica, a town and its village in Allegany County, were named by landowner Philip Church for his mother,
Angelica Schuyler Church Angelica Church (née Schuyler ; February 20, 1756 – March 6, 1814) was an American socialite. She was the eldest daughter of Continental Army General Philip Schuyler, and a sister of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton and sister-in-law of Alexand ...
.


See also

* '' Fellows v. Blacksmith'', 60 U.S. 366 (1857) * '' New York ex rel. Cutler v. Dibble'', 62 U.S. 366 (1858) * ''
Seneca Nation of Indians v. Christy ''Seneca Nation of Indians v. Christy'', 162 U.S. 283 (1896), was the first litigation of aboriginal title in the United States by a tribal plaintiff in the Supreme Court of the United States since ''Cherokee Nation v. Georgia'' (1831). It was th ...
'', 162 U.S. 283 (1896)


References


Further reading

* * * *
PDF format


External links

* Animations of Land Acquisitions
Map Scene 5
– video for
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{{coord missing, New York (state) Former regions and territories of the United States History of New York (state) Aboriginal title in New York Iroquois