To all to
whom these Presents shall come Greeting.
Whereas John Harper Senior, William Harper, John Harper Junior,
Joseph Harper and Alexander Harper by their humble Petition
in Behalf of themselves and their
Associates presented unto his late Excellency Sir
Henry Moore Baronet then Captain General and Governor in Chief of the said
Province and read in Council on the twenty ninth day of August one thousand
seven hundred
and sixty eight did set forth among other
Things, That the Petitioners and their Associates had in conjunction with
sundry other Persons at a Publick Meeting of the Indians held before his
said late Excellency
at the House of Sir William Johnson Baronet
in the County of Albany on the fourteenth day of June in the Year afore
said purchased of the Native Indian Proprietors Thereof a certain Tract
of Land situate
lying and being in the said County of Albany Beginning at
small Lake at the Head of the Cookquago Branch of the Delaware River and
runs thence down the said River to the Mouth of a certain Creek called
Canuskully
Thence upon a direct Line to a certain Cfreek called Aulyaulet
within one Mile of the Mouth then up the River Susquehannah at the Distance
of one Mile from the same on a Westerly Course to the aforesaid small Lake
being
the place where the said Land first began
Containing in the whole the Quantity of two hundred and fifty thousand
acres be the same more or less. That the Petitioners and their Associates
had borne
a Proportionable part of the Expences attending the
said Purchase in order that they might thereupon be enabled to obtain his
Majesty's Letters Patent for the Quantity of one hundred thousand Acres
of the said Lands
which the Petitioners and their Associates were
in order that they might thereupon be enabled to obtain his Majesty's Letters
Patent for the Quantity of one hundred thousand Acres of the said Lands
which the Petitioners and their Associates were
desirous to settle cultivate and improve. And therefore the Petitioners
did humbly Pray that his said late Excellency would be favourably pleased
by one or more
Patents in his Majesty's Name holy and unto
the Petitioners and their Associates and their Heirs the Quantity of one
hundred thousand Acres of the Lands aforesaid. Which Petition having been
then and there
read and referred to a Committee of his Majesty's
Council of the said Province; His Majesty's said Council did afterwards
on the same Day, in Pursuance of the Report of the said Committee humbly
advise and
consent that his said late Excellency Should
by one or more Letters Patent grant to the Petitioners and their Associates
and their Heirs the Quantity of One hundred thousand Acres of the Lands
aforesaid
under the Quit Rent, Provisoes, Limitations and
Restrictions prescribed by his Majesty's Instructions, #And Whereas the
said John Harper Senior, William Harper, John Harper Junior, Joseph Harper,
and Alexander
Harper by their Humble Petition on Behalf of
themlefves and their Associates presented to the said Honourable Cadwallader
Colden Esquire, his Majesty's Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief
of the said Province, and read in Council on the twenty eighth
day of November now last past, did set forth that the Petitioners were
desirous that such part of the Lands formerly advised to be Granted to
the Petitioners
and their Associates, as had been lately Surveyed in Sum
containing Twenty Two thousand Acres should be created a Township by the
Name of Harpersfield with the usual Priviledges, and that the Letters Patent
for the
same, should Issue in the Names of the Petitioners
and such of their Associates as are mentioned in the List or Schedule to
the said last recited Petition Subjoined; Which Petition having been then
and their
read and Considered. It was Ordered by the said honourable
by and with the consent of the
Cadwallar Colden Esquire Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief as
afore said ^ that the Letters Patent for the Lands so Surveyed for the
Petitioners
and their said Associates, containing the Quantity of Twenty
two thousand Acres, should Issue in the Names of the above mentioned Petitioners
and the Persons named in the Schedule aforesaid, to wit, Andries Rebar,
William Golt, Thomas Henry, John Wells, Robert
Campbell, James Scott, John Wells Junior, Joseph Harper Junior, John Thompson,
Robert Thompson, John Thompson Junior, James Moore, Robert Wells, James
Harper, Timothy McIlvain, John Rebar, and Johannes
Walrad, and that the said Lands should by the said Letters Patent be erected
into a Township by the Name of Harpersfield with the usual priviledges.
In Pursuance whereof and in Obedience to his Majesty's
said Instructions, We the said Commissioners Do hereby certify that We
have set out for them the said John Harper Senior, William Harper, John
Harper Junior,
Joseph Harper, Alexander Harper, Andries Rebar,
William Golt, Thomas Henry, John Wells, Robert Campbell, James Scott, John
Wells Junior, Joseph Harper Junior, John Thompson, Robert Thompson, John
Thompson Junior,
James Moore, Robert Wells, James
Harper, Timothy McIlvain, John Rebar, and Johannes Walrad, #All that certain
Tract or parcel of Land within the Province of New York situate lying and
being in the County of Albany between the ~
Cookquago Branch of the Delaware River, and the Branch of the Susquehannah
River called Adiquitange, Beginning at a Rock maple Tree marked on four
sides with
a Blaze and three Notches and with the
Letters and figures AC 1768 standing on a High point of Land at the South
side of a small Pond of Water called by the Indians Utstayantho from whence
the said
Branch of the Delaware called by the
Indians Cookquago Issues, and runs thense North thirty degrees West five
hundred and forty nine chains; Then South eighty six Degrees West two hundred
and fifty
chains; Then South sixty three Degrees West one hundred and eleven
chains; then South thirty Degrees East seven hundred chains, to a Tract
of six thousand Acres of Land granted in the year one thousand seven hundred
and forty
to Arent Bradt, Volker VanVechten and others, then~
along the Northern and Eastern bounds of the last mentioned Tract, Northeasterly
and Westerly as they run, to the said Branch of Delaware River called Cookquage,
Then up the Northern Bank of the said Branch
as it winds and turns to the Rock maple Tree where the this Tract first
began: Containing Twenty two thousand Acres of Land and the usual Allowance
for Highways.
And in setting out the said Tract or parcel of
Land We the said Commissioners have had Regard to the profitable and unprofitable
Acres, and have taken Care that the Length thereof doth not extend along
the Banks of any River, otherwise than is Conformable
to his Majesty's Instructions. Given under our Hands at the City of New
York the twenty ninth day of November one thousand seven hundred and sixty
nine, in
the tenth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord
Ex=George the Third by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland
King Defender of the faith and so forth./~
Recorded in the Secretary's Office of the Province L.S. Cadwallader Colden
of New York in Lib. Patents No 14 page 471
t L.S. Andrew Elliot
GwBanyar D.Secry
L.S. Alexr Cohen
