The land east of the Pre-emption Line was the Military Tract, bounty land opened up for Revolutionary veterans; the land west of the Line was only opned to white settlers in 1788 after the treaty was made with the Senecas. In general, until after the Revolution ended with the Treaty of Paris, the colonies huddled up against the seaboard, and the British forbade expansion into the interior. As soon as these restrictions were lifted, there was a tremendous land rush from New England, eastern NY, northern NJ and northeastern Pa., all of which were overcrowded, full of families who wanted farms of their own. Sullivan's expedition against the Indians in 1779 contained many NJ and New England troops, and there is some evidence that they went home and touted the rich farmlands that they had cleared of their original settlers, as the Senecas fled their villages into the willing arms of the British at Niagara. The machinations of the Lessee Companies brought many settlers in from Columbia and adjacent counties in NY and next-door Massachusetts beginning in 1789, and the first permanent white settlements in western NY began in the summer of 1788 with the Society of Universal Friends, most of whom were from RI and Pa. around Philadelphia. They thought they were going out into the wilderness to separate themselves from the rest of the world, and instead wound up running afoul of the first real land-boom in American history. Fran Dumas Penn Yan Gordon J. Lever wrote: >I also have relatives that came from N.J. in 1807 and died in Seneca Co. in >the mid 1800's. >They may have had ties to the Castner line in Penn Yan ?!? (not sure) >I also have noticed that there are many people that moved from New England >and Penn. >(Hence the name Penn Yan). >I too wonder what motivated them to move to this area >Gordon > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "William Rosenbaum" <[email protected]> >To: <[email protected]> >Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2003 5:24 PM >Subject: [NYFL] Need a history lesson! > > >Hi researchers, > I need a history lesson. Why was there such a influx of settlers >into this area around the early 1800's? I have 3 families that >relocated from NJ to Ovid and Trumansburg right after the turn of the >century. > The families I am researching are; >Creque----Abraham b NJ d Trumansburg NY--Believe father of Frances >(need more proof) >Creque---Frances b 1807 NJ d 1871 Trumansburg NY > >DeMund/Demun/Demunn----Cornelius b 1805 NJ d 1881 Seneca Co. NY >Dunun---- John L. b 1829 NY d 1917 Ovid, NY (son of Cornelius) > >Bryant---- John K. b 1800 NJ d 1873 Seneca Co. NY >his wife >Thurston----Mary b 1822 Indiana or Ohio d 1896 > >If anyone can share more info on these families---I'm all ears:-) > >May God Bless >Deb > > > >

This has been a very interesting thread! The research that I have done for my ancestors supports several of the theories. First, the eldest son would receive the homestead (in my case in PA) so the other sons needed to go further afield. Sullivan's campaign acquainted many soldiers with the unspoiled, fertile, beautiful land in upstate NY so when the land became available for purchase, many returned or those they had told of it went. The vast majority of the land in the military tract was not settled by the NY soldiers who were granted the land patents. Land speculators bought most of these patents and, in turn, sold the land to eager settlers. My ancestors (Lerch) settled in Fayette, Seneca Co. from Northampton County, PA. Many of the names of the German settlers from PA (on the Seneca Co. website from the Centennial History of Fayette - http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyseneca/egle.htm ) are found in the same area of Northampton and nearby counties in PA. Diane Diane Lerch Kurtz [email protected] http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyseneca List Moderator for NYFingerLakes-L, NYSENECA-L and LERCH-L