New York Land and Property

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Land and Property

Online Resources

• 1630-1975 New York, Land Records, 1630-1975 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Browse images only
• 1643-1676 New York Indorsed Land Papers, 1643-1676
• 1739-1802 Landholders of Northeastern New York, 1739-1802 ($)
• 1762-1830 New York, Sales of Loyalist Land, 1762-1830 ($) index/images
• 1804-1824 Western New York Land Transactions, 1804-1824 ($)
• 1825-1835 Western New York Land Transactions, 1825-1835 ($)
• New York Will Books Testators Records, In the FREEFind box, type the last name first and put quotations around the name to search on the phrase, such as “Robertson John.” Optionally, add a town or county (“Robertson John” Worcester) to narrow the search.
• Lords of Manors of New York, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record at Internet Archive
• Full-Text Search - Land Records at FamilySearch - index & images; dates, records, and places vary; How to Search

New York Land Records

Early Land Records

There are few pre-1660 New York land records. Some records of earliest land grants during the Dutch period are in the following publications:

• Gehring, Charles T., translator and editor. New York Historical Manuscripts. Dutch. Land Papers, Volumes GG, HH, and II, 1630-1664. This book is a translation of land patents, 1630–1651 and 1654–1664, the earliest land records of New Netherland. FS Catalog book 974.7 R2lp.

• O'Callaghan, Edmund Bailey, comp. Calendar of New York Colonial Manuscripts, Indorsed Land Papers in the Office of the Secretary of State of New York, 1643–1803. 1864. FS Catalog book 974.7 R2n; older edition FS Library film 947853. This indexes the Land Grant Application Files, 1642–1803, commonly referred to as the New York Colonial Manuscripts, Endorsed Land Papers, in 63 volumes at the state archives (not at FamilySearch Library). The records pertain to New York and Vermont. They give name and date and place of residence. These records have been microfilmed by the New York State Archives, and the films are available for sale by the New York State Archives or through interlibrary loan.

• Van Laer, Arnold Johan Ferdinand, translator. New York Historical Manuscripts. Dutch. Register of the Provincial Secretary. Volumes 1-3 contain translations of conveyances recorded in the minutes of the provincial secretary, 1638–1660. Gives name, date, and location of the patent. FS Catalog book 974.7 H2vL v. 1–4.

Patents

A patent is a right to a parcel of land granted by the governor. A map and information about the larger patents can be found in:

• Ruth L. Higgins, editor, Expansion in New York with Especial Reference to the Eighteenth Century. FS Catalog book 974.7 H2h 1976, film 1036688 item 2

For more information about patent maps, see New York Maps. .

All colonial patents and land grant applications and many deeds are in the State Archives. Patents and deeds from 1664 on are also on microfilm at the FamilySearch Library. Some of the major collections of early land records are described in the following sections.

New York. Secretary of State. Patents of the State of New York 1664–1912 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973. FS Library 60 films. May give name, location (residence), and volume number. Indexes include:

• Colonial Patents Grantee Card Index, 1649-1912, FS Library film 947096
• Grantee Card Index for v. 18–53, ca. 1775–1912 FS Library films 945386-97
• Index to Patents, ca. 1664–1864, FS Library film 947116 Item 2
• Military Card Index for Patents, 1764–1797, FS Library films 945291-95

Bowman, Fred Q. Landholders of Northeastern New York, 1739–1802 (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1983). Indexes patents, 1739–1775, and deeds and mortgages, 1764–1802, for the present-day counties of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Warren, and Washington. FS Catalog book 974.7 R24b; film 1321009 item 8. Other libraries with this book.

Surveys

Surveys sometimes contain descriptions, proprietor's records, names of buyers, names of neighbors, and maps. These surveys and accompanying maps sometimes show settlers or occupants of property; most of the surveys were made prior to subdivision of patents or other tracts.

New York. Secretary of State. Field Books, New York, 1701–1848 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973; on 12 FS Library films), FS Library Collection. These 53 volumes are at the state archives and contain the state's official surveys, accompanied by maps.

New York. Department of Transportation. Land Survey Field Notes, 1665–1927. These are at the State Archives and consist of notes and maps of land surveyed as well as books of sale, cashbooks, and registers.

Secretary of State's Deeds and Mortgages

Some pre-1810 land sales between individuals were recorded by the secretary of state instead of a county clerk. Many are deeds in which one of the parties resided in another county, state, or country. Many are transfers between wealthy people. The deeds are not recorded chronologically. Deeds deposited with the Secretary of State are now at the State Archives.

Deeds

Deeds usually show buyer, seller, residence, and dates. Sometimes they show previous residence and give relationships.

• New York. Secretary of State. Grantor Card Index to Deeds, abt 1640–1973. FS Library films 947643–51, FS Library Collection.

• New York. Secretary of State. Grantee Card Index to Deeds, abt 1640–1973. FS Library films 947652–54, FS Library Collection and 947838–41.

• New York. Secretary of State. Deeds, 1659–1846. 43 Volumes. FS Library films 945268–8], FS Library Collection. Deeds in volumes 40–43, 1810–1855, are Deeds to State-Owned Real Estate, where the state is represented as the grantee or the grantor. These valuable indexes refer to deeds, manors, patents, military bounty lands, Vermont lands, court, probate, Indian, and other records.

• New York. Secretary of State. Abstracts and Indexes of Deeds. Seven Volumes. FS Library Collection, FS Library films 947105–106 and 947114–15. These are handwritten ledgers indexing and abstracting the 43 volumes of deeds, years 1659–1846, giving volume and page references.

Mortgages

Mortgages establish when a family resided at a specific place. Mortgage information is found in:

• New York. Secretary of State. Mortgages Grantor Card Index, 1784–1973. FS Library film 945399, FS Library Collection.
• New York. Secretary of State. Loan Mortgages, Volume 3, 1807–24. FS Library film 947121, FS Library Collection.
• New York. Secretary of State. State Mortgages, 1807–42, Four Volumes. Volumes. 1–3, 1807–24 FS Library film 947101, FS Library Collection.
• New York. Secretary of State. Index to Deeds and Mortgages, 1641–1842. FS Library film 947116, FS Library Collection.
• New York. State Comptroller. Bonds and Mortgages for the Sale of State Lands, 1797–1878. 38 Volumes. (Not at FamilySearch Library.) These are account books recording mortgage payments on land purchased from the state.

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 FamilySearch 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; FS Library films 1421078–90, FS Library Collection. The library also has a helpful index, Van Rensselaer Manor Papers, published about 1990; FS Library book 974.7 R2r; film 1697716, FS Library Collection. 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 Landlord and Tenant in Colonial New York: Manorial Society, 1664–1775 The appendix, "A Note on Sources," describes the manorial records that exist and where they are located. (FS Catalog book 974.7 R2k).

The Viscount de Fronsac compiled a list of "Lords of Manors of New York:"

• The Viscount de Fronsac. "Lords of Manors of New York," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Oct. 1908):292-300. Digital version at Internet Archive - free; New York Family History ($); FS Library Book 974.7 B2n v. 39.
  

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. Ten Volumes. 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 first eight volumes (to 1797) are available through the FamilySearch Library,films 945291–95, as part of the Patents of the State of New York, 1649-1912.

• 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 as part of the Patents of the State of New York, 1649-1912 under Military Card Index for Patents FS Library films 946418–20.

• Soldiers that drew land are listed in The Balloting Book, and Other Documents Relating to Military Bounty Lands in the State of New York The book is arranged by township, lot number, and grantee name. There are volume and page cross references to the military patent books. FS Library film 812864 item 4. Online PDF pages available at: Tompkins County Public Library
  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.FS Library film 896803 item. Available online at: Hathitrust

• 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. See Revolutionary War at New York Military Records. 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 on interlibrary loan from the New York State Archives. Online at: Vol. I - Internet Archive, Vol. II - Internet Archive; Vols. I & II - Ancestry ($). The first volume lists some 45,000 names from regimental rosters. The second volume has lists of bounty land recipients, refugees, naval lists, prisoner of war lists, lists of suspected Loyalists, claimants for damages, and information about confiscated estates.

For a history, see:

• Pierce, Grace M. "The Military Tract of New York State," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Jan. 1909):15-22. Digital versions at Internet Archive - free; New York Family History ($); FS Library Book 974.7 B2n v. 40.

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, the Morris Reserve, and the Phelps and Gorham Purchase.

In 1791, New York sold a large area of northern New York to Alexander Macomb.

The Holland Land Purchase

The Holland Land purchase included present Niagara, Erie, Chautauqua, and Cattaraugus counties and the western parts of Allegany, Wyoming, Genesee, and Orleans counties. The Holland Land Company surveyed the land and then sold it to individuals from 1800 to 1835.

Holland Land Company Records
The collection is at the Municipal Archives of Amsterdam and on microfilm at the New York State Library, the Daniel E. Reed Library at the State University of New York at Fredonia, and the Library of Congress. This set of films is also available at the FamilySearch Library as the Holland Land Company Records, also known, as The Van Eeghen collection.

• Holland Land Company Records; The Van Eeghen collection(*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images; 202 microfilms
  

Inventory of Holland Land Company Records

• Inventory of the Archives of the Holland Land Company. 1789–1869 By Wilhelmina C. Pieterse. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Municipal Printing Office of Amsterdam, 1976. FS Catalog book 974 R2p; film 1421412 item 2; At various libraries (WorldCat) - The inventory identifies 932 items, cross referencing them to 202 reels of microfilm.
  

Partial Index to Holland Land Company Records

• Western New York Land Transactions, 1804–1835: Extracted from the Archives of the Holland Land Company. By Karen E. Livsey. Two Volumes. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1991, 1996. , FS Library Collection; At various libraries (WorldCat)

This record indexes annual land tables (company accounts) covering 1804–1835 and is useful for finding someone in a particular place at a particular time. The settler’s name is indexed to an inventory reference number and page number within that reference. The table below cross references the year of the land table to the archive inventory reference number to the FamilySearch film and DGS numbers and should be used to locate the proper FamilySearch film containing the indexed settler’s name.

Archive Ref No.	Year	Archive Reel No.	FamilySearch Film No.	FamilySearch DGS No.
Inventory	-	1	1421412	8346265
484–487	1804–1809	109	1414983	7858059
488­–497	1810–1819	110	1414984	7769136
498–506	1820–1828	111	1414985	7858058
507–511	1829–1833	112	1414986	7858057
512–513	1834–1835	113	1414987	7858056

Histories of the Holland Land Purchase

• The Developer's Frontier: The Making of the Western New York Landscape. By William Wyckoff. New Haven, Connecticut and London, England: Yale University Press, 1988. FS Catalog book 974.7 E3w; At various libraries (WorldCat)
• The Holland Land Company. By Paul Demund Evans. Buffalo, New York, Buffalo Historical Society, 1924. FS Catalog book 974.796 B4b v. 28 & microfilm 872579 Item 3; At various libraries (WorldCat)
• Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York: Embracing some Account of the Ancient Remains, and a History of Pioneer Settlement Under the Auspices of the Holland Company; Including Reminiscences of the War of 1812; the Origin, Progress and Completion of the Erie Canal, etc., etc., etc. By Orsamus Turner. Buffalo, New York: Jewett, Thomas & Co., 1850. FS Catalog book 974.79 H2t 1991 v. 1 & microfilm 871562 Item 1; At various libraries (WorldCat) Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library; HathiTrust

The Phelps and Gorham Purchase

This purchase consisted of a sale of six million acres from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $1,000,000 and included 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. It was purchased by Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham. The papers of Oliver Phelps survive and were originally housed at the Canandaigua homestead. When the last surviving family member moved from Canandaigua, the papers were divided into three collections. The majority of the Phelps and Gorham Papers were deposited with the New York State Library, Albany. A smaller portion were donated to the Ontario County Historical Society, Canandaigua and a third collection was eventually deposted in the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan. The latter collection contains the most genealogical material on the Phelps family.

A history is Orsamus Turner, History of Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham Purchase and Morris' Reserve (1851; reprint with supplements and indexes by LaVerne C. Cooley and George E. Lookup, Interlaken, New York: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1976; FS Library book 974.7 H2t index; film 871566 item 3, FS Library Collection.

The Morris Reserve

The reserve included eastern Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, and Allegany counties plus the western portions of present Monroe and Livingston counties. Robert Morris bought the land in May 1791 from Massachusetts. Morris sold most of the lands in 1792 and 1793 to the Holland Land Company.

The Macomb Purchase

The Macomb Purchase was made in 1791. 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 FamilySearch 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.

Deeds and other land records for much of New York are on film and can be found in the FamilySearch Catalog by using a Place Search under:

New York - LAND AND PROPERTY

New York, [COUNTY]- LAND AND PROPERTY

New York, [COUNTY], [TOWN]- LAND AND PROPERTY