Research


Scope and Content Note

The series consists of applications for grants of unappropriated land by letters patent from New York Colony and State. Along with the applications are related reports, surveys, maps, warrants for surveying lands and drafting of letters patent, objections to title (caveats), and letters. The bulk of the series is an amalgam of two large pre- and post-revolutionary series held originally by the Office of Secretary of State. Each of these, the "Colonial Council Papers" (1668-1783) and the "Papers of the Land Office" (from 1784) are readily identifiable within the combined series and are described in brief below. Certain volumes in the series also contain smaller groups of documents which were originally unique series; these were combined with the larger two groups to form the current series in 1819.

Colonial records. Most documents in this group concern original land grants made by the governor with approval of the colonial council. Documents found in the series to varying degrees include a petition for license to purchase land from the Indians; license to purchase land from the Indians; Indian deeds, in the form of a "bargain and sale" conveyance (sometimes marked with totems of Indians conveying the land); warrant of survey (governor's order to the surveyor general to survey land for a petitioner); return of survey (gives metes and bounds and acreage of the tract surveyed, but actual surveys are often lacking, especially before 1700); petition to the governor for a land grant by letters patent; a report of a council committee approving the grant; and warrant to prepare letters patent (order from the governor to the attorney general or the solicitor general to prepare a draft of the patent).

Also found in this group are caveats, or formal objections to granting letters patent because of a conflicting title; petitions for grants of land under water (often including the right to erect a wharf or pier); descriptions of town boundaries; petitions for licenses to operate ferries; and assorted notices, affidavits, and letters related to petitions for land grants.

Of special note are 17th century Dutch "deeds of confirmation" and petitions; land grants by courts in Kingston, Hurley, and Marbletown; petitions for remission of quit rents accruing during Queen Anne's War; the Schenectady patent; documents on Palatine German settlement on the Mohawk River; petitions for land grants to French and Indian War officers and soldiers (including affidavits or certificates of war service and returns of surveys) and additional petitions submitted by those veterans after the Revolutionary War; petitions and returns of survey (with maps) for tracts in what is now Vermont; and petitions for grants (most prior to 1681) on the west side of the Delaware River and Bay in what are now Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Post-revolution records. The series also contains applications for letters patent after the Revolutionary War. No original letters patent were issued by New York State for lands west of the 82nd milestone on the Pennsylvania border. Most post-revolutionary "land papers" relate to land grants in the new Military Tract in central New York. Records in this group include applicant's claim or petition to the Commissioners of the Land Office; order of the surveyor general to survey the tract; the resulting return of survey; certificate of location certifying the grant of land (described in detail); and assignments of certificates by veterans to others. Other documents relating to military land bounty rights include powers of attorney; state treasurer's receipts; and letters and affidavits in support of claims.

Documents associated with survey and sale of public lands include petitions for land grants, returns of survey, and certificates of locations similar to those for military grants; certificates of purchase at public vendue; proposals (bids) for purchase of lands, with correspondence; assignments of certificates of location; drafts of letters patent; caveats, or affidavits of claims to lands already granted; powers of attorney; and letters and reports concerning land grants. Special categories of records found after 1784 are applications for ferry licenses and petitions for grants of land under water, with attorney general reports; applications for surveys of new roads in central, northern, and western New York, with surveyor general reports; related road surveys and maps; certificates of completion of roads; and a few petitions by Indians for land grants for Revolutionary War service.

Other record groups. Found among several volumes in the series are smaller groups of documents which were separate series before being combined into this series by the Office of Secretary of State. These include items relating to a land dispute between heirs of general John Bradstreet and the proprietors of the Hardenbergh Patent (1785); land grants to patriot refugees who left Canada and Nova Scotia during the Revolutionary War, including lists of refugees, petitions and claims for land grants, certificates as to the authenticity of claims, and related letters (1789-1790); the "Chemung Papers" concerning surveys and sales of land in what is now Tioga and Chemung counties (1788, 1793); and a few deeds or releases of property to the state (1794-1796).

A0272-19: This accretion consists of one map, referenced on page 11 in Mix's Catalog as Map #44 filed in the Secretary's Office.