A 1767 survey map by John R. Bleeker of the entire Rensselaerwyck Manor, shows 133 lots on the west side of the Hudson River and 148 on the east side. An index on the map identifies the families that lived there. There are two clear leases above the Helderberg Escarpment in what is now the Town of Westerlo, one was to Koenard Hogteling and the other to Casper Fouser. In what is now the Town of Knox near the Schoharie County line, along the wagon road between Altamont and Schoharie, are two names, Hett? and Smith. To the east along the road are four other scattered houses with no names.
The area in what is now the Town of Berne shows a lake, but no
houses, even though two years earlier there were enough people living
at the Beaver Dam (now Berne) to organize the Dutch Reformed Church. Since the
survey map covers the entire Manor, and gives the name of each person
below the Helderberg Escarpment holding a lease, it is reasonable to
assume that the only leases above the Escarpment at the time were as
previously mentioned.
The NYS Archives reports that records of early leases in the Western Manor were destroyed by the Capitol fire. It seems hard to believe that all evidence of early leases in the Hilltowns were destroyed including the leases themselves, survey maps, survey books, account books, and all other records that would point to the existence of pre-Revolutionary War leases.
Still, a few pre-War leases have come to my attention. In 1774 Catherine Van Rensselaer, the widow of Stephen Van Rensselaer
II, issued a lease to Jacob Weidman for land on
Fox Creek in the Beaver Dam upon which Weidman had constructed the
first sawmill and gristmill almost 20 years earlier. Surveys were also
made for the homesteads of Peter Dietz and Conrad Swart in the
Switzkill Valley, and leases signed by the Catherine Van Rensselaer.
These are the only leases I have been able to find so far dated before the Revolutionary War. The majority of the leases known to me in the Hilltowns were at the time of 1787 survey for German and Dutch squatters, and a few years later for new settlers from New England and Downstate.
Is anyone aware of other pre-Revolutionary War leases in the Hilltowns?
Harold (Hal) Miller
ALBANY HILLTOWNS - sharing information on our Berne, Knox, Westerlo, and Rensselaerville ancestors
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