Jim Darlingotn asked:

"Can anyone tell me where the papers associated with the Chenango Twenty
Towns land track are located?"


Officially they are known as the "Governor's Twenty Towns" the "Governor's
Purchase" or the "Clinton Purchase" but because they were mostly within
Chenango County until Madison County was formed in 1806, they are often
called the Chenango Twenty Towns.  Only Towns 7 to 17 are in present
Chenango County, while 1 to 6 and 18 and 19 are in Madison County and 20 is
in Oneida County.  I have a great map up on my wife's web space:
http://users.erols.com/jpley/1801map.html

Settlement of each town was often very different from that in the adjoining
towns.  In some parts settlement was made as early as 1791, in others lots
were not laid out until 1802, in some cases the proprietors or their agents
were present, in others purchasing was difficult and done over long distances.

The twenty Towns were laid out by Horace P. Schuyler in 1789, and I believe
that the survey records are in the State Archives in Albany.  Unfortunately
many of the towns were purchased by individual speculators and their agents
such as Robert Troup, Dominick Lynch, William S. Smith, Robert Ludlow,
David Cathcart, Masterton Uri, Sir William Pultney and John Lowther
Johnstone, and any records would have been in their papers.  I do not know
of any extant family or business papers that would still contain these records.

In the Surveyor General's Collection of maps and surveys at the State
Archives are several field books of the original survey notes for the 20 Towns:
http://users.erols.com/weiskotten/SGCazMaps.html

Field Book Volume 40, George Flemming's field book ... with surveys in the
Twenty Townships.  Pages 1 and 50.  Index to above on page 237.
Field Book Volume 41, Chenango Twenty Townships, Mitchell's field book of
surveys.  Page 182.
Field Book Volume 42, Chenango 20 Townships, surveys by H.P. Schuyler,
1789; see also page 363.  Page 247.
Field Book Volume 43, Chenango 20 Townships, H.P. Schuyler's field book,
1789.  Page 65.

The one exception that I know of in the way of existing records is Township
No. One, the Town of Nelson, in Madison County which was originally
patented by the state to speculators Willams, Webster and Savage (John,
Edward and Alexander respectively).  Their application was accepted on July
15, 1791 at a price of 3 shillings 6 pence per acre.  The whole township
contains 27,187 acres (actually 27,652.66 acres but who is counting besides
me).  WW&S never did anything with it, and the lack of transportation into
that region kept settlers out of much of the 20 Towns until a few years later.

In the fall of 1792 John Lincklaen, under the sponsorship of a group of
Dutch investors, made a tour of the wilderness of the "Gore" that runs
along the western side of the 20 Towns and he also inspected Township No.
One, which he found to contain incredibly beautiful lands.  Following
Lincklaen's favorable report WW&S sold Township No. One to New York City
merchants Herman LeRoy and William Bayard on November 9, 1792, for 5
shillings per acre.  These investors and others would soon form the Holland
Land Company, but their early purchases here were under what became known
as the "Cazenovia Establishment."  They owned other small tracts across the
area, and later purchased much of western NY.

It was under Lincklaen's guidance that the land was finally opened to
settlers.  Following a survey into 150 acre lots in 1793 by Nathaniel
Locke, the land in Township No. One was opened for sale to settlers on
August 1, 1793.

If you are looking for deeds and such, then the Oneida County Clerk's
Office has early deeds of Herkimer Co. (1790s to 1798), Chenango County has
them for Towns 1 to 19 (1798-1806) (20 is in Oneida County).  From 1806 on
Towns 1 to 19 have been spilt between Madison and Chenango Counties.  All
of these records are intact, though completeness of all transactions made
is general at best (I have not found about 20% of known transactions).

The rest of the history of Township No. One (Nelson) can be found in the
extensive Holland Land Company Archives, the archive at Lorenzo State
Historic Site, and on my Cazenovia, Fenner and Nelson History Pages:
http://www.fredonia.edu/library/hlc.htm

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyccazen/

Local repositories and historical societies in the Twenty Towns area may
know more about their respective locales.  I did a web search and found
nothing but material that is on my own pages.

        Dan W.