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THE HOLLAND LAND COMPANY in WESTERN NEW YORK by Robert Silsby

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THE HOLLAND LAND COMPANY in WESTERN NEW YORK by Robert Silsby * * * * * THE HOLLAND LAND COMPANY IN WESTERN NEW YORK By Robert Silsby T HE hopeful settler who traveled into the wilderness of West- ern New York during the early 1800's faced many problems and dangers which would have discouraged lesser men. Like most of the pioneers who chose to attack and subdue the un- settled West, he was full of courage and looking for a new way of life. Packing his most necessaryhousehold and farm goods and supplies into his covered wagon or even onto the back of his single ox, he headed westward. Behind him came his sons -driving a cow, a few sheep, and hogs. Often his wife and daughters trudged along on foot with a few precious treasures in packs on their backs. Which route westward did the family take? Was it the Great Western Turnpike, which ran over the hills from Albany to Ithaca and Bath? Was it the Hudson-Mohawk and Seneca Turnpikes to Canandaigua, then on to Buffalo? They might even follow one of the ancient Indian trails. Whichever route the family had to take, it was through a for- ested wilderness they passed.Many farms were still covered with a mass of fallen trunks, branches of trees, piles of split logs and of squared timbers, planks and shingles. ". ..often in the midst of all this. could be detected a half-smothered log-hut without windows or furniture, but well stocked with people." Where fields were being cultivated, the tops of tree stumps stood surrounded by the young grain. These were common sights as the pioneer family slowly made its way westward through the GeneseeCountry. They crossedthe GeneseeRiver at Avon then pushed through the wilderness to the frontier village of Batavia. Here the heavy wagon turned into the yard of Rowe's tavern, just acrossfrom the most imposing building in the village, the office of the Holland Land Company. During a visit to the land office, the family learned which areas were best for settlement and what the terms of purchase were to be. Once located on the land, it would be necessaryto visit the land office again to comolete the rleal and to sign the papers. During the early 1800's, hun- dreds of families purchased property from this company which owned most of the land west of the GeneseeRiver . The large holdings of the Holland Land Company in Western New York had a varied history of ownership. In early colonial days, the Kings of England granted the rights to huge pieces of land in the new world to friends and relatives. Because of grants to the Plymouth Company and the MassachusettsBay Colony, the State of Massachusetts claimed t},is territory. However, because a similar grant had been made to the Duke of York, after whom the State was named, New York also claimed the western area. To complicate the situation, the United States Govern- ment had recognized the rights of ~ the Iroquois to this same land. In 1786, representatives of the j~ State of Massachusetts and New ~ York met in Hartford, Connecticut. 'T'\ '\'" Here, Massachusetts agreed to give up its claim and the Iroquois terri- tory was recognized as part of New ; York. However, it was decided that '; if these lands were purchased from the Iroquois, Massachusetts would receive payment for them. After the Hartford Convention, a company organized by Phelps and Gorham contracted with Massachusetts for PaulBusti -General Agent the rights to the land in Western of theHolland Land Company. New York. When they were not able to keep up the payments to the State of Massachusetts, the right to purchase land was sold by Massa- chusetts to Robert Morris. In 1791, Robert Morris -financier of the American Revolution -bought 3,000,000 acres of land in Western New York. Morris, who had large investments in Europe, was pressed by debts. So in 1793 he sold most of his holdings to a group of merchants in Holland. Although five banking houses in Holland were involved, their inter- ests were so closely related that they picked a single agent to manage their lands. This group became known as the Holland Land Company with headquarters in Philadelphia. Before The Holland Land Company could begin to resell their land, the Indians title to it had to be transferred to them. A council was held at Big Tree in the summer of 1797 attended by the Iroquois sachems and their tribes; Morris; James Wadsworth, representing the Federal Government; and Joseph Ellicott on behalf of the Holland Land Com- pany. The Seneca chief, Red Jacket, was difficult to deal with. It was necessaryto give presents to influential women of the tribe and to make generous bribes to several chiefs in order to persuade the Indians to grant their land rights to the Holland Land Company. About 200,000 acres were set aside for reservations. The way was now clear for a survey of the great tract of wilderness. Indian reservations as well as the mile-strip belonging to the State of New York, had to marked out. The areas had to be divided into town- ships, six miles square. In all, fifteen ranges or tiers of townships were 2 StoneMarker on Transit Line Nowin Buffaloand Erie County Historical Society. marked out. The townships were divided into lots of 320 acres each. Where necessary, these lots were subdivided into 120 acre tracts. It was a trying task, even for the most courageous person. Courage and devotion to duty were traits that marked Joseph Ellicott, the man who was selected to supervise this huge survey. Born into a family of surveyors, J oseph was trained by his elder brother, Andrew. He had assisted his brother in surveying the city of Washington soon after it had been picked as a site for the capital. In 1791, he was com- missioned by the Secretary of War to run a boundary between Georgia and the Creek Indians. He then aided in surveying a great tract of land in nortpwestern Pennsylvania. In 1789, as an employee of the U. S. Government, he had determined the boundary between Pennsylvania and New York and set the location of Erie as being in Pennsylvania. As well as being in charge of the survey, Joseph Ellicott was ap- pointed agent in charge of land sales for the Holland Land Company in Western New York. He held this post until 1821. Ellicott entered the woods in the spring of 1798 with about 150 men to begin the survey. With the aid of a movable transit that he and his younger brother had constructed, he began a very careful marking out of the boundaries. Often it was necessary to cut a path through the dense forests. Permanent stone markers were set in regular intervals along the boundaries of the Indian reservations and other large tracts. By the end of 1800 the main part of the survey was complete and the ranges and townships were marked out. The year 1801 marked the be~inning of land sales on the Holland Purchase. Ellicott's first land office was located in the tavern of Asa Ransom at Clarence Hollow. However, he soon moved to Batavia where 3 he set up a permanent office. During the next twenty-five years, as set- tlement spread to various parts of the Purchase, sub-agents were es- tablished in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties and in the Village of Buffalo. Among these men were two who are prominently related to the growth of their areas, William Peacock in Mayville arid Erastus Granger in Buffalo. But Batavia remained the main office. The first recognized land deed in the Purchase was issued to William Johnson in 1804. J ohnson had been given a tract of land on Buffalo Creek by the Senecaswhen he was the British Indian agent. This tract was included as Seneca land in the Holland Purchase and in return, Johnson was given deeds to lots in the newly-surveyed Village of Buffalo. Ellicott possesseda wide understanding of frontier problems. A big man, well over six feet in height, he was industrious, careful, and orderly in his businessdealings. He hoped to set up a reasonable plan for sales of land to the settlers. Realizing the poverty of many who chose to move West, he favored a system of credit that would give settlers ten or twelve years to pay. The proprietors of the Holland Land Company, however, were far removed from the problems of frontier life. They directed that sales should be made on a four- or six-year contract. If a person chose the four-year contract, he was to pay one-third of the price down; if he chose the six-year contract, he was to pay one-fourth down. No doubt, Ellicott smiled as he read the instructions. He must have known that both the credit terms and the downpayment required would be impos- sible for most of the new settlers to meet. Even before salesbegan, Ellicott received a letter from Paul Busti who was the general agent for the company in Philadelphia. This letter instructed Ellicott to lower the required down payment to 15 percent for large-scale buyers and to 10 percent for purchasers of small lots. But experience soon proved that even this decrease was not enough. Many settlers arrived with little or no cash at all for the purchase of land. One pioneer, Richard Cary, who settled on Eighteen Mile Creek, arrived with just three cents in his pocket. He was two dollars in debt. Pioneers who had money were concerned with the cost of settling and living through the first year on the frontier.
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