Here is some of the data from the BRHIS.htm page on the Broome Co. GenWeb site I maintain: From: Smith's Valley of Opportunity In 1787, a treaty with the Indians in the Otsiningo area finally opened the door to permanent settlement in what would eventually become Broome County. The largest block of land covering 230,000 acres was sold to a group of Massachusetts speculators and became known as the 'Boston Purchase'. It was purchased at just 12.5 cents per acre and encompasses a large area north of present day Binghamton. A more strategic part of the valley, located at the confluence of the 2 major rivers eventually found its way into the hands of William Bingham. In 1801, the newborn village growing up at the junction of the two major rivers was known as Chenango Point and was part of Tioga County. It wasn't until March 28, 1806 that Broome County was created with Chenango Point designated as the county seat. Chenango Point later became Binghamton and was officially incorporated into a village on May 3, 1834. Daniel S. Dickenson was elected as the new village's first president. In later years Daniel Dickenson would go on to be elected to the U.S. Senate and come into national prominence. From: French's Gazeetteer: By a treaty held at Fort Herkimer, June 28, 1785, between the Governor and Commissioners of Indian Affairs in behalf of the State, and the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, the latter for $11,500 ceded all their lands, bounded N. by an E. and W. line from the Chenango to the Unadilla, 10 mi. above the mouth of the latter, E. by the Line of Property,1 S. by Penn., and W. by the Chenango and Susquehanna. At the Hartford Convention, in 1786, a tract of 230,400 acres, between the Chenango and Tioughnioga on the E. and Owego River on the W., was ceded to Massachusetts. This tract was afterward known as the "Boston Ten Towns," and was sold by Mass. (Nov. 7, 1787) to 60 persons for ?1500. It is embraced in Broome, Tioga, and Cortland cos. The Indian title to this tract was extinguished in 1787, and the remaining Indian titles within the co. were extinguished by the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1788. The S. and E. parts of the co. were granted to Hooper, Wilson, Bingham, Cox, and others, several of whom resided in Philadelphia. The first settlements in the co. were made in the valleys of the Susquehanna and Chenango, in 1785. The settlers were people who had traversed the region in the Revolution; and they located while the country was still threatened with Indian hostilities, and before Phelps and Gorham had opened the fertile lands of Western N. Y. to immigration. The early settlement was retarded by a remarkable ice freshet in 1787-88, which destroyed most of the property of the settlers upon the river intervales. Scarcely less calamitous to life and property was the scarcity that followed in 1789. Oquaga, on the E. branch of the Susquehanna, was a noted rendezvous of tories and Indians during the Revolution.5 Most of the invasions into the Schoharie and Mohawk settlements, as well as those upon the frontiers of Ulster and Orange cos., were by way of the Tioga and Susquehanna Rivers from Niagara; and this war path, with its sufferings and cruelties, has been often described in the narratives of returned captives. Hope this helps.... If you are looking for Brink info, you might want to check Cortland Co. right above it. I Co ordinate that one too and I know there were a lot of Brinks there; they married into "my" Hunt family. Vicki Hall Titus -----Original Message----- From: JelenBrink@aol.com [SMTP:JelenBrink@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2000 10:07 AM To: NYBROOME-L@rootsweb.com Subject: What is Boston Purchase? Dear NY researchers, I am looking in Broome Co. NY land records, and I have seen mentioned in some deeds a reference to Boston Purchase. Would someone, off hand, know to what this refers? Or to where I might find information about this? Thanks in advance. Sincerely, Linda Brink ============================== Search ALL of RootsWeb's mailing lists in real time. RootsWeb's Personalized Mailing Lists: http://pml.rootsweb.com/