Hi Kiris, Thank you for responding. The more I pondered the situation in the colonial Saratoga Patent, the more I realized the I had to go the law library. I have searched the on line catalog for the library of Widener University's Law School. I think that I have found several books on New York legal history that will answer my questions about conveyancing in colonial New York. I really do not understand why the proprietors of the Saratoga Patent had to petition the Provincial Legislature for a statute to permit them to subdivide the lands that they held as tenants in common. When I find the answers, I shall share them with the list. Leslie ----- Original Message ----- From: <KVLiddle@aol.com> To: <dutch-colonies@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 9:04 AM Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] Conveyancing in Colonial New York > > In a message dated 3/15/2007 6:56:22 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > pchrist1@nycap.rr.com writes: > > >> Leslie asked for a legal scholar. Sorry to disappoint, but we'll see if >> a >> layman can help here. >> >> My questions are: >> >> 1. Once a patent had been granted for land in Albany County in 1684 and >> a >> portion of that land hand been occupied by the Patentees, Why would that >> patent need to be reconfirmed and apparently reissued to the same >> Patentees >> in 1708? >> ----- >> I think the owners must have perceived some defect in the prior patent >> that >> they hoped to resolve. The other possibility, given the year, was that >> it >> may have been a Dutch patent that needed re-confirmation from the >> British >> colonial government. >> >>>From what little I have seen it seems safe to say that many patents had >> poorly defined borders. For instance, suppose two patents that describe >> boundaries as measured inland for ten miles from the Hudson River, >> further >> supppose that those two patents are separated only by a much smaller >> patent >> and that the shoreline curves slightly, it's not hard to see that those >> two >> perpendicular boundaries might intersect further inland. >> >> 2. In 1743, why did the proprietors of the Saratoga Patent (descendants >> of >> the original patentees) have to petition the legislature for permission >> to >> subdivide the undeveloped lands within the Saratoga Patent, which the >> aforementioned proprietors held as tenants in common. >> ---- >> Pure speculation on my part here. Did they HAVE to petition or did they >> want >> to petition? Did the owners seek to gain a more easily transferable >> title? >> Or did the colony have an interest in seeing that is wasn't called in >> later >> to adjudicate issues, that is, that it was providing equal pro > > > land was sometimes purchased by a "corporation" of several individuals, > who > then developed part of it, and held the rest in common. (It took about 10 > years to wrest a 10 acre farm from the wilderness) Each partner held > shares, > and that determined the amount of land he was entitled to. If part of the > land > was not developed within a certain period of time, the government could > take > it back and sell it to someone else, and they often did particularly in > the > late 17th century early 18th. This happened with Harrison's Purchase in > Westchester County. By confirming the patent, it shows the settlers > learned > their lesson. best wishes, Kris Liddle > <BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free > email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at > http://www.aol.com. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DUTCH-COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Leslie, From: "Leslie B. Potter" <lbpotter@comcast.net> Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2007 6:48 PM Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] Conveyancing in Colonial New York > Hi Kiris, > > Thank you for responding. > > The more I pondered the situation in the colonial Saratoga Patent, the more > I realized the I had to go the law library. I have searched the on line > catalog for the library of Widener University's Law School. I think that I > have found several books on New York legal history that will answer my > questions about conveyancing in colonial New York. I really do not > understand why the proprietors of the Saratoga Patent had to petition the > Provincial Legislature for a statute to permit them to subdivide the lands > that they held as tenants in common. When I find the answers, I shall share > them with the list. One set of books that might be worth checking is: Title: The colonial laws of New York from the year 1664 to the revolution ... Imprint: Albany, J.B. Lyon, state printer, 1894. Physical Description: 5 v. 24 cm. Those are where I found the laws about the assessments that showed the age at which a young man was counted as a "head" to be taxed. Regards, Howard hswain@ix.netcom.com