Perhaps this information will help out Bob and Carol Swenson in their search for a location in Cayuga County that was recorded before Cayuga County was formed. The text is taken from the Onondaga County Rootsweb page link on Onondaga County history. www.rootsweb.com/~nyononda Tioga or Herkimer counties could be a possibility for where this deed was recorded based upon this information and how early in 1794 the deed was actually filed. The information is also of interest to other researchers looking for records during this period for many of the counties in the Finger Lakes region. French's Gazateer for New Yorlk State, 1857, is also an excellent source for this type of information. Here is an extract from the Onondaga County website link: Onondaga County was formed 5 March 1794 from Herkimer and Tioga Counties (Laws of Session 17 Chapter 18). The County of Onondaga was the twenty-first of New York State's present sixty-two counties. The new county of Onondaga included "All that tract of land called the Military Tract, bounded westerly by the county of Ontario, northerly by Lake Ontario, the Onondaga river (the Oswego and Oneida rivers were then so called) and the Oneida lake, easterly by the east bounds of . . . Cincinnatus, Solon, Fabius and Pompey and easterly and north-easterly bounds of . . . Manlius and Cicero. . . and southerly by the south bounds of . . . Cincinnatus, Virgil, Dryden, Ulysses and Hector . . . and the same line continued to the east bounds of the county of Ontario." This description included a section extended to the preemption line west of Seneca lake and bounded north and south by lines continuing from the north and south bounds of a southern tier of military townships. This strip, running from Watkins to Starkey Landing, forms today part of the towns of Reading in Schuyler county and Starkey in Yates. The original Onondaga county embraced about one and three-quarter million acres, close to a fifteenth of the present area of New York State. All of Onondaga, Cortland, Cayuga, and Seneca Counties and parts of Oswego, Tompkins, Schuyler, Wayne and Yates now line within the first lines of Onondaga. Tioga County, as well as Herkimer, contributed territory to form Onondaga. This fact does not appear ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert S Swenson" <rswenson@Stanford.EDU> To: <NYCAYUGA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2000 7:37 AM Subject: [NYCAYUGA] VANATTER (VAN ETTEN), CONNELLY in 1794 Deeds > RE: Surnames in Cayuga County: VANATTER (VAN ETTEN) and CONNELLY > > To: NYCAYUGA-L@rootsweb.com > > Dear Subscriber, > > >From the Cayuga County *Grantor*s Deed Index 1793 -1956* - microfilmed by > LDS, number 850914 - we determined that at least four Deeds involved our > potential ancestors, Joseph Vanatter and Michael Connelly. > > 1. Joseph N. VAN NORTH to Benjamin Ledyard , *by assignment*, in Liber > HH/HA/FA , page 30; in the year, 1794. > > 2. Joseph VAN NORTH or Joseph VAN ETTEN, Joseph to Forman Mount: *by > assignment*, in Liber HH/HA/FA, p 35; in the year 1794. > > Comment: From Revolutionary War Pension Records, we know that Joseph > Vanatter (Van Etten) was illiterate and that English was probably the > second language spoken in his home, explaining why the writer of these > Deeds had difficulty establishing the surname of the grantor. Because the > Deeds include Joseph*s Military Bounty Land Record number, we now know > that the grantor was Joseph Vanatter (Van Etten), baptized 17 October, > 1761 in Minisink-Machackemeck Church (Deerpark, Orange County, New > York) to parents Dirck Van Etten & Rusje Westfall. > > By 1794 the family of Joseph Vanatter & wife Hannah Unknown should have > included Mary (Polly) born 1784, Jerustha b. 1785, twins John & Richard > b. 1787, Henry Benjamin b. 1789, and Elizabeth b. 1791. Joseph & family > left Cayuga County for Ontario, Canada about 1800-1. > > 3. CONNELLY, Michael to Brockholet Livingston, p. 239, Book HA/FA, in the > year 1794. > > 4. Scudder, William to Michael CONNELLY, p 323, Book February, 1794. > > Comment: There are several more Deeds involving Michael CONNELLY, but the > two above are representative. RSS > > Our Problem: When the above Deeds were executed in 1794, this area, which > is nearby Owasco Lake, was apparently Onondaga County, and seems to have > become Cayuga County around 1799. We therefore examined the actual Deed > Records listed below: > > Deeds, Onondaga Co. v. A-B 1794-1795, FHL Film 852075 > > Deeds, Cayuga Co. v. A-C 1799-1802, FHL Film 851930 (this is the > earliest Deed record listed under Cayuga County per se.) > > To our reading, neither of these Deed Books contained the indexed 1794 > Deed records of Joseph Vanatter & Michael Connelly. We wonder if your > subscribers have any suggestions as to location of early 1794 Deeds? > > Sincerely, Bob & Carol Swenson > > rswenson@stanford.edu > > > > ==== NYCAYUGA Mailing List ==== > Have you visited the Cayuga County NYGenWeb project home page lately? > Check out the changes at > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycayuga > > ============================== > The RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: > Tens of millions of individuals... and counting. > http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/ >