If......Schaghticoke - was formed as a district, March 24, 1772, and as a town, March 7, 1788. Question Would anyone on the list know what the area was called BEFORE .......1772 ? Thank you , Marlene

At 06:58 AM 2/19/01 -0800, Marlene Hartle wrote: >If......Schaghticoke - was formed as a district, March 24, 1772, and as a >town, March 7, 1788. > >Question > >Would anyone on the list know what the area was called BEFORE .......1772 ? Albany was granted a 500 acre tract of land at "Schaghticoke" in its municipal charter of 1686. Initially, the Albany government did not follow up on its obligation to purchase the land from the Schaghticoke Indians. Instead, in 1698 Hendrick Van Rensselaer was authorized to obtain an Indian deed. In 1707, he then sold the rights to the six square-mile tract east of the Hudson River and north of Rensselaerswyck to the city of Albany. The heart of the Schaghticoke tract was desirable farmland in the Hoosick Valley about sixteen miles northwest f Albany. In 1709, the Albany government conveyed lots to Johannes De Wandelaer, Jr., John Harmanse Visscher, Corset Veeder, Daniel Kettelhuyn, Johannes Knickerbacker, Louis Viele, and Dirck Van Vechten - all of whom went there to live. Additional plots later were granted to Martin de Lamont, Wouter Quackenbush, Peter Yates, David Schuyler, Wouter Groesbeck, Philip Livingston, Ignace Kip, Cornelis Vandenbergh, and others. Initially, these "sales" were leases. Later, leases became ownership deeds. Some of the first Schaghticoke landholders were younger sons of established Albany families. Others were more marginal but long-standing city people seeking a new start in the Hoosick Valley. Livingston and others obtained Schaghticoke titles for investment purposes. With tenants farming good Hoosick Valley bottomland and paying annual rents in wheat and wood to their Albany landlord, Schaghticoke figured to become a successful agricultural enterprise. But because those farms were vulnerable to Indian attack, after 1745 the agricultural settlement did not flourish. Only the most determined settlers were able to resist the temptation to take refuge in Albany during the darkest days of the colonial wars and the War for Independence. Schaghticoke officially became a district of Albany County in 1772 and a town in 1788. The census of 1790 showed the town with a population of 1,838 including 348 slaves. Schaghticoke became part of new Rensselaer County in 1791. http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/sgtke.html

At 06:58 AM 2/19/01 -0800, Marlene Hartle wrote: >If......Schaghticoke - was formed as a district, March 24, 1772, and as a >town, March 7, 1788. > >Question > >Would anyone on the list know what the area was called BEFORE .......1772 ? > The sourcce of info for my earlier posting with the dates as quoted here is: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyrensse/schag.htm Sorry I neglected to include it before :-) Florence