Manorial Records

A manor was a tract of land granted by the governor. In some cases, manors had their own courts and exercised civil and criminal jurisdiction over the tenants who leased land. Manorial records are used to establish a place of residence.

The largest manors were Rensselaerswyck (granted in 1630 and 1685), Livingston (granted in 1686), Philipsburgh (granted in 1693), Cortlandt (granted in 1697), Fordham (granted in 1671), Pelham (granted in 1687), and Morrisania (granted in 1697).

The Family History Library has few records about the Hudson Valley manors. However, it does have the Livingston Family Papers, 1630–1929, from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park (FHL films 1421078–90; computer number 339167). The library also has a helpful index, Van Rensselaer Manor Papers, published about 1990 (FHL book 974.7 R2r; film 1697716; computer number 554277). This manor was located in what is now Albany and Rensselaer Counties. The original records are at the New York State Library.

A source for more historical information about the manors is Kim, Sung Bok, Landlord and Tenant in Colonial New York: Manorial Society, 1664–1775 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1978; FHL book 974.7 R2k; computer number 281407). The appendix, “A Note on Sources,” describes the manorial records that exist and where they are located.

Military Bounty Land

New York granted military bounty land patents for service in the French and Indian War, and in the Revolutionary War, but did not grant lands to veterans of the War of 1812. Most French and Indian War grants were in the region of the upper Hudson River. In 1782, Revolutionary War veterans were issued land by lottery in the Finger Lakes region of central New York (28 townships in the present counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Cortland, Oswego, Wayne, Schuyler, and Tompkins). Many men sold their grants and never settled the land. Before this, lands were made available in the Old Military Tract—located in present-day Clinton, Essex, and Franklin counties—but few soldiers settled there.

The military bounty land patents are at the state archives:

New York. Secretary of State. Military Patents and Abstracts, 1764–1846. 10 vols. The first 8 volumes (to 1797) are available on microfilm at the Family History Library (FHL films 945291–95; computer number 481631). The patents give the name of the patentee, reason for the grant, location by township, lot number, and acreage. Each volume is indexed by the name of the patentee.

The names of Military Tract and Old Military Tract patentees are indexed by the Grantee Card Index to Patents, 1775–1912. There is also a card index for the Military Tract. It is arranged by the township and lot number and found in the Family History Library Catalog Author/Title Search under New York, Secretary of State, Military Card Index for Patents (FHL films 946418–20; computer number 481631).

Soldiers that drew land are listed in The Balloting Book, and Other Documents Relating to Military Bounty Lands in the State of New York (Albany, N.Y.: Packard & Van Benthuysen, 1825; FHL film 812864 item 4; computer number 316076). The book is arranged by township, lot number, and grantee name. There are volume and page cross references to the military patent books. An index to this source is M. Frances Ferris, Index, the Balloting Book and Other Documents Relating to Military Bounty Lands in the State of New York (Syracuse, N.Y.: Onondaga Historical Association, 1954; FHL film 896803 item 6; computer number 316079).

The state archives has Revolutionary War Accounts and Claims. These records were abstracted in James A. Roberts, New York in the Revolution as Colony and State, rev. ed. (Albany: 1904). See Revolutionary War under the “Military Records” section of this outline. About two-thirds of the original documents plus the entire name index were destroyed in the Capitol fire of 1911. The surviving records have been microfilmed and the films are available for purchase or interlibrary loan from the New York State Archives.

Land Companies

Between 1786 and 1791, the New York Land Commission sold 5.5 million acres of western New York to speculators. Many settlers first obtained land from companies such as the Holland Land Company. The Hartford Treaty of 1786 gave Massachusetts the title to land in western New York but reserved political governance to New York.

Massachusetts sold this land, which ultimately resulted in three large tracts: the Holland Land Purchase (present Niagara, Erie, Chautauqua, and Cattaraugus counties and the western parts of Allegany, Wyoming, Genesee, and Orleans counties); the Morris Reserve (eastern Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, and Allegany counties plus the western portions of present Monroe and Livingston counties); and the Phelps and Gorham Purchase (Ontario, Yates, and Steuben counties; the eastern portions of present Monroe and Livingston counties; the western parts of Wayne and Schuyler counties; and part of Allegany County).

The Holland Land Company surveyed the land and then sold it to individuals. The records are described in Wilhelmina C. Pieterse's Inventory of the Archives of the Holland Land Company . . . 1789–1869 (Amsterdam, Netherlands: Municipal Printing Office of Amsterdam, 1976; FHL book 974 A1 no. 4; film 1421412; computer number 266706).

A partial index to the collection is Karen E. Livsey, Western New York Land Transactions, 1804–1835: Extracted from the Archives of the Holland Land Company, 2 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1991, 1996; FHL book 974.7 R28L; computer number 607047). This record indexes land tables (company accounts) and is useful for finding someone in a particular place at a particular time. The collection is at the Municipal Archives of Amsterdam and on microfilm at the state library, the Daniel E. Reed Library at the Statue University of New York at Fredonia, the Library of Congress, and the New York Public Library. The largest single set of Holland Land Company records at the Family History Library is the Van Eeghen collection, Holland Land Company Records (FHL 202 microfilms; computer number 305375).

A history of the Holland purchase is Wyckoff, William, The Developer's Frontier: The Making of the Western New York Landscape (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988; FHL book 974.7 E3w; computer number 497999).

Another large tract was purchased by Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham. The Phelps and Gorham Papers are located at the New York State Library. The Family History Library does not have these records. A history is Orsamus Turner, History of Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham Purchase and Morris' Reserve (1851; reprint with supps. and indexes by LaVerne C. Cooley and George E. Lookup, Interlaken, N.Y.: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1976; FHL book 974.7 H2t index; film 871566 item 3; computer number 152356).

The Macomb Purchase was made in 1792. This four-million-acre tract included all of modern Lewis County; most of modern St. Lawrence, Franklin, and Jefferson counties; and parts of Oswego and Herkimer counties.

County Land Records

Deeds and Mortgages. After land was transferred from the proprietors to individual owners, county clerks were to record subsequent transactions. Sadly, in many cases the deeds were never recorded. Some colonial deeds were, however, recorded in town records.

Recorded deeds and mortgages are found at the office of the county clerk. These begin with the date when the county was set off from the parent county. Recording of deeds in county clerks' offices became mandatory statewide in 1830. If a deed was not recorded at the time of the sale, a subsequent recorded deed for the same property was valid. In New York City, land records are maintained at the city register's office. The mortgages often include a schedule of payments, the names of assignees, and the name of the mortgagor.

The Family History Library has hundreds of reels of New York county land records. Grantee (buyer) and grantor (seller) and mortgagee and mortgagor indexes are available on microfilm for most counties, as are the deeds, to about 1900. The indexes for Albany and New York counties have been published.

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