HISTORY: Chapter 5, History of Cayuga Co., NY 1879; Cayuga co., NY

submitted by W. David Samuelsen
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1789 - History of Cayuga County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical
Sketches of some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, by Elliot G. Storke,
assisted by Jas. H. Smith. Pub. by D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, N.Y. 1879

CHAPTER V.
LAND TITLES-MILITARY TRACT.

UNCERTAINTY OF MILITARY LAND TITLES - CONGRESSIONAL LAND BOUNTIES - BOUNTIES
TO HIGHER OFFICERS - STATE BOUNTIES - CONDITIONS OF THE GRANT - SURVEY OF THE
MILITARY TRACT - ITS LOCATION AND EXTENT - NAMES OF THE ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS -
DISTRIBUTION OF THE GRANTS - CONFLICT OF CLAIMANTS - LITIGATION - DEEDS TO BE
RECORDED IN ALBANY - COMMISSION OF AWARDS - REPORTS ON FILE IN CLERK'S OFFICE.

AS the first settlers of this County and of this part of the State suffered
greatly from the uncertainty of their land titles, being frequently ousted
from their possessions by previous claimants, a brief history of the tenure by
which the first lands were held, becomes necessary.

Cayuga County formed a part of what was called the " Onondaga Military Tract,"
embracing the present counties of Cayuga, Seneca, Onondaga, Cortland and parts
of Wayne, Steuben and Oswego, which was set apart for the payment of land
bounties to the soldiers of the Revolution under the laws of Congress and of
this State.

The Congress of the United States, on Sept. 16th, 1776, enacted :

"That Congress make provision for granting lands in the following proportions
to the officers and soldiers who shall engage in the military service of the
United States and continue therein to the close of the war, or until
discharged by Congress, and to the representatives of such officers and
soldiers as shall be slain by the enemy.

"Such lands to he provided by the United States ; and whatever expense shall
be necessary to procure such lands, the said expense shall be paid and borne
by the United States, viz :

" To a Colonel, 500 acres.
" To a Lieutenant-Colonel, 450 acres.
" To a Major, 400 acres.
" To a Captain, 300 acres.
" To an Ensign, 200 acres.
" To each non-commissioned officer and private, loo acres."

By an Act of August 12th, 1780, Congress made the following provisions for the
higher officers, viz :

" To a Major-General, 1,100 acres.
" To a Brigadier-General, 850 acres."

The Legislature of this State, on March 27, 1783, after referring to the above
action of Congress, resolved as follows:

"And, whereas, the Legislature of this State are willing to take upon
themselves the said engagement of Congress, so far as it relates to the line
of this State, but likewise as a gratuity to the said line, and to evince the
just sense this Legislature entertains of the patriotism and virtue of the
troops of the. State serving in the army of the United States :

"Resolved, therefore, that besides the bounty of land so provided as
aforesaid, the Legislature will, by law, provide that the Major-Generals and
Brigadier-Generals now serving in the line of the army of the United States,
and being citizens of this State ; and the officers, non-commissioned officers
and privates of the two regiments of infantry, commanded by Colonels Van
Schaick and Van Cortlandt, such officers of the regiment of artillery
commanded by Colonel Lamb, and of the corps of sappers and miners as were,
when they entered the service, inhabitants of this State ; such of the
non-commissioned officers and privates of the said last mentioned two corps,
as are credited to this State as parts of the troops thereof ; all officers
designated by any acts of Congress subsequent to the 16th of Sept. 1776 ; all
officers recommended by Congress as persons whose depreciation of pay ought to
be made good by this State, and who may hold commissions in the line of the
army at the close of the war ; and the Rev. John Mason and John Gano shall
severally have granted to them the following quantities of land, to wit:

" To a Major-General, 5,500 acres.
" To a Brigadier-General, 4,250 acres.
" To a Colonel, 2,500 acres.
" To a Lieutenant-Colonel, 2,250 acres. 
" To a Major, 2,000 acres.
" To a Captain and Surgeon, 1,500 acres. 
" To a Chaplain, 2,000 acres.
" To every Subaltern and Surgeon's Mate, 1,000 acres.
" To every non-commissioned officer and private, 500 acres."

On the 10th of March, 1781, the Legislature of this State authorized the
raising of two regiments for the defense of the frontiers and offered a bounty
to the officers and men equal to five times the grant of the United States.
The Act of March 28th, 1783, further provided :

"That these lands so to be granted as bounty from the United States, and as a
gratuity from this State, shall be laid out in townships of six miles square ;
that each township shall be divided into one hundred and fifty-six lots of one
hundred and fifty acres each, two lots whereof shall be reserved for the use
of a minister or ministers of the gospel, and two lots for the use of a school
or schools ; that each of the persons above de-scribed shall be entitled to as
many such lots as his bounty and gratuity lands as aforesaid, will admit of ;
that one half of the lots each person shall be entitled to shall be improved
at the rate of five acres for every hundred acres within five years next after
the grant, if such lots are sold by the original grantee, or within ten years
from such grant, if the grantee shall retain possession of such lots ; and
that the said bounty and gratuity lands be located in the district of this
State reserved for the use of the troops by an act en-titled ` An Act to
prevent grants or locations of the lands therein mentioned,' passed the 25th
day of July, 1782."

Delay ensued in surveying the land and in awarding the grants, and the
soldiers became clamorous for the promised bounties. After various
modifications of the law, the act of Feb. 28th, 1789, finally directed :

"That the Commissioners of the Land Office shall be, and they are hereby
authorized, to direct the Surveyor-General to lay out as many town-ships in
tracts of land set apart for such purposes as will contain lands sufficient to
satisfy the claims of all such persons, who are or shall be entitled to grants
of land by certain concur-rent resolutions, and by the eleventh clause of the
act entitled 'An Act for granting certain lands promised to be given as bounty
lands by the laws of the State and for other purposes therein mentioned,'
passed the eleventh day of May, 1784, which townships shall respectively
contain 60,000 acres of land, and be laid out as nearly in squares as local
circumstances will permit, and be numbered from one progressively to the last
inclusive ; and the commissioners of the land office shall designate every
township by such name as they shall deem proper."

The several townships were to be mapped, subdivided into six hundred acre
lots, and consecutively numbered from one upward. The quantity of fifty acres
in one of the corners of each lot was made subject to a charge of forty-eight
shillings to meet the cost of survey, and if not paid within two years, the
same was to be sold.

By the Act of February 28th, 1789, six lots were reserved in each township,
one for promoting the gospel and public schools ; another for promoting
literature; and the four others to equalize fractional divisions, and to meet
the cases of such as drew lands covered with water. One million eight hundred
thousand acres were set apart for this purpose on the Indian lands in the
western part of the State, their title to which had previously been
extinguished. It was surveyed and mapped as speedily as possible, and on the
third day of July, 1790, the following twenty-six towns were reported as
surveyed, mapped and numbered, and they were designated by the following
names:

" Township No. one, Lysander
" Township No. two, Hannibal
" Township No. three, Cato
" Township No. four, Brutus
" Township No. five, Camillus
" Township No. six, Cicero
" Township No. seven, Manlius
" Township No. eight, Aurelius
" Township No. nine, Marcellus
" Township No. ten, Pompey
" Township No. eleven, Romulus
" Township No. twelve, Scipio
" Township No. thirteen, Sempronius
" Township No. fourteen, Tully.
" Township No. fifteen, Fabius.
" Township No. sixteen, Ovid.
" Township No. seventeen, Milton.
" Township No. eighteen, Locke.
" Township No. nineteen, Homer.
" Township No. twenty, Solon.
" Township No. twenty-one, Hector.
" Township No. twenty-two, Ulysses.
" Township No. twenty-three, Dryden.
" Township No. twenty-four, Virgil.
" Township No. twenty-five, Cincinnatus.
" Township No. twenty-six, Junius."

"Galen" was added in 1792, to comply with the law requiring grants to
hospitals, and " Sterling" in 1795, to meet the still unsatisfied claims for
bounty lands, so that the military townships reached the aggregate number of
twenty-eight.

On the first of February, 1791, the commissioners began to draw the lots for
the claimants. There were ninety-four in each town. One lot was drawn for the
support of literature ; one, near the center of the town, was set aside for
the support of the gospel and common schools. The balance went to compensate
the officers and to those who drew lots covered with water. This distribution
extended at intervals over two years, and great embarrassments arose from
conflicting claimants. The soldiers, in some cases, had sold their claims to
different parties, and a large amount of litigation resulted, extending 'over
many years. In January, 1794, an act was passed to prevent in the future the
frauds, by which so many titles to the military lands had been decided to be
illegal. It required all the existing deeds, conveyances and contracts for the
military lands, to be deposited with the clerk of the county at Albany, and
those not so de-posited, after a specified date, were declared fraudulent. The
names of the claimants were posted in the clerk's offices in Albany and
Herkimer counties.

So general and widespread was the confusion and uncertainty as to the titles
to lands, that the courts could not dispose of the accumulated cases, and a
commission was appointed by the Legislature consisting of Robert Yates, James
Kent and Vincent Matthews, to hear and finally determine all cases of disputed
military land titles. After years of tedious and laborious investigation, the
docket was cleared and the military land titles finally settled.

The " balloting book " in which are entered the names and lots respectively
drawn by the several claimants in the entire military tract;  the " book of
awards," in which are entered the awards of the commissioners and the
"dissents " therefrom, are all filed in the county clerk's office of this
County, and date back to 1798.