Research


Scope and Content Note

This series is comprised of land records (survey notes, copies of deeds, maps, quit claims, and indentures) created or accumulated by William Cockburn, his sons William Jr. and James, and his grandson Walter A. Cockburn, and maintained by the Division of Lands and Forests. The series contains three small bound volumes; miscellaneous survey notes, drawings, and maps arranged by date; and one disbound folio containing miscellaneous large maps. The three small bound volumes include: One household account book created by an unidentified member of the Cockburn Family (ca. 1881-1882); Survey notes of William Cockburn (ca. 1755), which appear to be copies of the original narrative courses and distances included in letters patents for lands along the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers and including Dutchess, Ulster, Greene, Albany, Rensselaer, and Saratoga Counties;

survey notes of Walter A. Cockburn (1859-1884), which contain a variety of surveys performed under contract to individuals and relating to the Hurley Patentee Woods in Ulster County. The miscellaneous survey notes, drawings, and maps (1766-1822) relate primarily to the Hurley Patentee Woods, the Saw Kill Road/ Jockey Hill region outside Kingston, and the town of Duane in Franklin County. Included in the material removed from the disbound folio are approximately 23 monochrome and hand-colored maps of towns and allotments in Clinton, Delaware, Franklin, Greene, Oswego, and Ulster Counties. The disbound folio also contains miscellaneous survey notes, maps, and two items of personal correspondence of Walter A. Cockburn.