LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - FEBRUARY 26, 2012 LeRoy, ? by Lynne Belluscio I’ve been writing an article for the Historical Society Newsletter about the land transactions in this neck of the woods before the Town of LeRoy was formed in 1812. At first I thought I’d never understand all the twists and turns, but I think I’ve been able to make some sense of most of it. I relied mainly on the research done by Alvin Stripp who lived in the house on Trigon Park next to the Methodist Church. Alvin died several years ago, and we received many boxes of his papers, including several copies of his typewritten research on the political history of the Town of LeRoy. He told me that he went to Albany to read the original documents. That impressed me. In the 1600s, the land in Western had been given to both the colonies of Massachusetts and New York. Charles I, King of England, had given the Massachusetts Bay Colony, all the land from their the land ceded to Massachusetts and he would use that land for the Genesee River – minus the Eastern Atlantic shore westward was to be exempt from all taxes. that purpose. That tract of land Mill Tract and the strip along to “the Pacific” which included When Massachusetts sold the that would eventually become the Niagara River - reverted most of the State of New York. land, it would only be subject to part of the Town of LeRoy was back to Massachusetts which Later, in 1664, Charles II, gave town or county taxes for a period known as the Phelps and Gorham lost no time in finding another to the Duke of York the land of fifteen years. To the State of Mill Tract. When the Mill Tract land speculator, Robert Morris. within the present day State of New York, who would not be able was first surveyed, an error was He was no more fortunate than New York. After the Revolution, to collect taxes on this land for 15 made – a rather large error. Phelps and Gorham and in turn this issue had to be settled. There years, this decision proved to be Eighty seven thousand acres of he had to sell off his land venture. was a voracious appetite for land unfortunate. land that rightfully belonged to The largest section was sold to after the Revolution and before Massachusetts needed money the Indians was included in the a consortium of foreign Dutch anyone could buy land the issue to recover from the Revolution, Mill Tract. When the correction investors and became known as of which state owned the land and was anxious to sell their was made, the Triangle Tract the Holland Purchase. The tract had to be settled. preemptive rights to Western was created and was returned to of land east of the Purchase, and In 1786, Commissioners from New York. , a well the Indians. Eventually it was adjacent to the west side of the New York and Massachusetts known citizen of Massachusetts, purchased by Herman LeRoy Genesee River, became known as met at Hartford, Connecticut to who had parlayed many business and became part of the Town and the Morris Reserve. Once again, hammer out the details. It was dealings during the Revolution Village of LeRoy. the land changed hands, and the decided that New York would and Nathaniel Gorham, who (If you ever have the chance to Morris Reserve was carved up have the right to govern the had served as President of the read your deed, you may notice into smaller tracts. territory, (which removed the Continental Congress, were a reference to the “Mill Tract” or Land speculation was possibility of LeRoy being in ready and willing to invest in the Triangle Tract, however, they a dangerous venture. People Massachusetts) but they ceded . The land deal are not the only tracts that are part were anxious to invest in a high to Massachusetts the right of amounted to about 3 cents per of LeRoy.) risk business, only to lose their “preemption”. This meant that acre for 6 million acres, payable Well, unfortunately, land reputation and financial security. Massachusetts had the first right in three annual installments. didn’t sell as quickly as Phelps Robert Morris, once considered to negotiate with the Indians for Phelps and Gorham wasted no and Gorham had hoped for and one of the richest men in America, the sale of the land west of the time in meeting with the Indians they weren’t able to make their paid dearly for his mistakes and “Preemption Line”. and in July 1788 met at Buffalo payments. The land west of landed in debtors prison. This line passed from the Creek. The Indians refused to Pennsylvania border, north sell the land west of the Genesee through to Lake River. Phelps persisted and talked Ontario. A strip of land that ran them into a deal for a tract of along the Niagara River was not land along the west side of the lpgraphics.net included in the Massachusetts Genesee, from about Avon north preemptive rights. The Hartford to Lake Ontario. He convinced Treaty of 1786, also stated that all them that they needed a grist mill,