ThePhelps and Gorham Purchase was the 1788 sale by the state ofMassachusetts of itspreemptive right to a portion of a large tract of land in westernNew York State owned by theSeneca nation of theIroquois Confederacy to a syndicate of land developers led byOliver Phelps andNathaniel Gorham. The larger tract of land is generally known as the "Genesee tract" and roughly encompasses all that portion of New York State west ofSeneca Lake, consisting of about 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km2).
According to theTreaty of Hartford (1786), it was agreed that the Genesee tract was owned by the Senecas, was a part of and under the jurisdiction of New York State, and thatMassachusetts had the preemptive right to purchase the land from the Senecas. In other words, the Senecas could sell the land only to the owner of those preemptive rights (unless those rights were relinquished), and that those rights were owned by Massachusetts.
In 1788, Phelps and Gorham purchased these preemptive rights to the Genesee tract from Massachusetts for about $1,000,000 (£300,000), to be paid in three annual installments. Some sources refer to this purchase of preemptive rights as the "Phelps and Gorham purchase". On July 8, 1788, at theFirst Treaty of Buffalo Creek, Phelps and Gorham petitioned the Senecas to sell them the entire parcel, but the Senecas agreed to sell only the easternmost third of the tract, for $5000 and a perpetual annuity of $500 per year. This portion consisted of about 2,250,000 acres (9,100 km2)[1] east of theGenesee River plus the 12 miles (19 km) by 24 miles (39 km) Mill Yard Tract along the river's northwestern bank.
Within a year, monetary values rose and, in combination with poor sales, the syndicate was unable to make the second of three payments for the land west of the Genesee River, forcing them to default on exercising the remainder of the purchase agreement. They were also forced to sell at a discount much of the land they had already bought title to but had not yet re-sold; it was purchased byRobert Morris ofPhiladelphia, financier, U.S.Founding Father, andU.S. Senator.
Much of the land south of theSt. Lawrence River andLake Ontario, and west of theHudson River, had been occupied by theIroquoian-speaking Five Nations of theIroquois Confederacy before any encounter with Europeans.Archaeological evidence suggests that Iroquoian peoples lived in theFinger Lakes region from at least 1000 CE; the nations known to the colonists are believed to have coalesced after that time, and formed their confederacy for internal peace among them.[2]
TheMohawk were the easternmost Iroquois tribe, occupying much of theMohawk Valley west ofAlbany. TheOnondaga andOneida tribes lived near the eastern edge of this region of land purchases, closer to their namesake lakes,Lake Oneida andOnondaga Lake. (Onondaga territory had extended up to Lake Ontario). TheCayuga andSeneca nations lived to the west in theFinger Lakes region, with the Seneca the westernmost tribe.
Major Iroquois towns in the Finger Lakes region included the Seneca town ofGen-nis-he-yo in present-dayGeneseo,Kanadaseaga near present-dayGeneva,Goiogouen (Cayuga Castle, east ofCayuga Lake),Chonodote, Cayuga town in present-dayAurora, andCatherine's Town near present-dayWatkins Glen.
The Iroquois nations had earlier formed a decentralized political and diplomaticIroquois Confederacy. Allied as one of the most powerful Indian confederacies during colonial times, the Iroquois prevented most European colonization west of the middle of the Mohawk Valley and in the Finger Lakes region for nearly two centuries after first contact.
During thecolonial era, some smaller tribes moved into the Finger Lakes region, seeking the protection of the Iroquois. In about 1720, theTuscarora tribe arrived, having migrated from the Carolinas after defeat by European colonists and Indian allies. They were also Iroquoian-speaking and were accepted as "cousins", forming the Sixth Nation of the Confederacy.
In 1753 remnants of several VirginiaSiouan tribes, collectively called theTutelo-Saponi, moved to the town ofCoreorgonel at the south end of Cayuga Lake (near present-day Ithaca). They lived there until 1779, when their village was destroyed during the Revolutionary War by allied rebel forces.
The French colonized northern areas, moving in along the St. Lawrence River from early trading posts amongAlgonquian-speaking tribes on the Atlantic Coast; they foundedQuebec in 1608. WhenSamuel de Champlain explored the St. Lawrence River, he claimed the regionFrench Canada as including Western New York. The French sent traders and missionaries there, but ceded any claim in 1759 during theFrench and Indian War, the North American front of theSeven Years' War, in which they were defeated by Great Britain.[3]
During theAmerican Revolutionary War, four of the six Iroquois nations allied with the British, hoping to push American colonists out of their territory. The Oneida and the Tuscarora became allies of the rebel Americans. Within each tribe, there were often members on either side of the war, as the tribes were highly decentralized. Led byJoseph Brant, a war leader of the Mohawk, numerous Iroquois warriors joined in British attacks against the rebels, particularly in the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys. They attacked and killed settlers, took some women and children as captives, drove off their livestock, and burned their houses and barns.[4] The Iroquois resisted colonists encroaching into their territory, which roughly comprised the Allegheny, Genesee, Upper Susquehanna, and Chemung river basins. The Iroquois nations also raided American settlements inWestern New York and along theSusquehanna River.[4]
The colonists were angry and hungry for retaliation. In response, on July 31, 1779,George Washington, who was then commanding theContinental Army, ordered Gen.James Clinton and Gen.John Sullivan to march from Pennsylvania near present-dayWilkes-Barre to theFinger Lakes area ofNew York. The campaign involved mobilizing 6,200 Colonial Army troops, which represented about 25% of the entire rebel army at the time.[5] Their orders were to
destroy all Indian villages and crops belonging to the six nations, to engage the Indian and Tory marauders under Brandt and Butler whenever possible, and to drive them so far west that future raids would be impossible.[4]
Sullivan led his army on anexpedition with the goal of subduing the Iroquois in the region. Although they did not kill many Natives, his forces destroyed much of the Iroquois homelands, including 40 villages such as the major Cayuga villages ofCayuga Castle andChonodote (Peachtown) and their surrounding fields. In the area from Albany to Niagara, they emptied their winter stores, which included at least 160,000bushels of stored corn along "with a vast quantity of vegetables of every kind".[5] These actions denied both the Iroquois and the British the food needed to sustain their war effort. The formerly self-sufficient Iroquois fled as refugees, gathering atFort Niagara to seek food from the British. Weakened by their ordeal and famine, thousands of Iroquois died of starvation and disease. Their warriors no longer were a major factor in the war. The Continental Army took heart from their punishment of the Iroquois on the frontier.[4]
During their advance west, Sullivan's army took a route to New York through northeast Pennsylvania. They had to cut a new road through lightly inhabited areas of thePocono Mountains (this trail is known today as "Sullivan's Trail"). When the troops returned to Pennsylvania, they told very favorable stories of the region that impressed potential settlers.[4]
Following theAmerican Revolution, there were a confusing collection of contradictory royal charters fromJames I,Charles I, andCharles II, mixed with a succession of treaties with the Dutch and with the Indians, which made the legal situation for land sales intractable.[6] Following the war, Great Britain ceded all its claims to the territory, including lands controlled by the Iroquois, who were not consulted.
To stimulate settlement, the federal government planned to release much of these millions of acres of land for sale. Before that could happen, New York and Massachusetts had to settle their competing claims for a region west of New York. (Massachusetts' colonial claim had extended west without end.) The two states signed theTreaty of Hartford in December 1786. With the treaty, Massachusetts ceded its claim to the United States government, and sovereignty and jurisdiction of the region to New York State.
The treaty established Massachusett'spre-emptive rights right to negotiate with the Iroquois nations for theiraboriginal title to the land ahead of New York, and also gave the two states the exclusive rights ahead of individuals to buy the land. Anyone else who wanted to purchase title to or ownership of land from the Iroquois was required to first obtain Massachusetts' approval.[6]
After the adoption of theUnited States Constitution in 1787, the federal government ratified the states' compact.[7] In April 1788, Phelps and Gorham bought the preemptive rights from Massachusetts, but this did not get them the right to develop or re-sell the land. They only obtained exclusive right to negotiate with the Iroquois and obtain cleartitle to the land. For this preemptive right, they paid Massachusetts $1,000,000 (£300,000) (about $26.1 million in 2024)). This was to be paid in three annual installments.[8]
By an act of the Massachusetts Legislature approved April 1, 1788,[9] it was provided that "this Commonwealth doth hereby agree, to grant, sell & convey to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, for a purchase price of $1,000,000, payable in three equal annual installments all the Right, Title & Demand, which the said Commonwealth has in & to the said 'Western Territory' ceded to it by the Treaty of Hartford."[9] But first Phelps and Gorham had to go up against competing companies and persuade the Iroquois to give up their title to the land.
The New York Genesee Land Company, led by John Livingston, was one of the competitors to acquire title to these lands. He gathered several of the chiefs together at Geneva. To circumvent New York state law that only permitted the state to buy land from the natives, he negotiated a lease[when?] for a term of 999 years for all the Iroquois lands of Western New York. This included a down payment of $20,000 and an annual payment of $200 to their heirs. But when New York state learned of his agreement, it advised all parties including the natives that the lease had no standing in either Massachusetts or New York.[10]
Another competitor was the Niagara Genesee Land Company formed by ColonelJohn Butler,Samuel Street, and other Tory friends of the Iroquois. They tried to persuade the Iroquois to grant them a lease.[when?] Some proposed that an independent state be created in western New York.[10][11]
Phelps eliminated many of his competitors by persuading them to join his syndicate. Phelps and Gorham retained 82 shares for themselves, sold 15 shares to the Niagara Genesee Land Company, and divided another 23 shares among 21 persons.[12]
On July 8, 1788, Phelps met with the original Five Nations of theIroquois Confederacy, including theMohawk,Oneida,Onondaga,Cayuga, andSeneca nations, atBuffalo Creek. His goal was to execute a deed or treaty and obtain title to a portion of their land.[13] The Oneida were split by internal divisions over whether they should give up their title.[14]
Phelps was aided bySamuel Kirkland, a Presbyterian minister andmissionary among the Oneida. Kirkland had been appointed by the state of Massachusetts to oversee the transaction. Kirkland had previously taken part in six prior illegal land treaties made by individual states with the Indians, in violation of federal authority over Indian affairs. Only the US government had the authority to make treaties with the Native American nations.
Kirkland encouraged the Oneida and other Iroquois to sell their land to the whites in part because he was convinced that they "would never become farmers unless forced to by the loss of land for hunting."[14] Kirkland also benefitted from the land sales, receiving 6,000-acre (24 km2) around present dayUtica from New York State and from the Oneida people. Kirkland was determined to build the Hamilton-Oneida Academy and needed financial support from the wealthy land speculators.[14] In November 1790, some Iroquois, includingCornplanter, accused Phelps, Kirkland, and the Mohawk chiefJoseph Brant of altering deeds in order to favor Phelps.[14]
The Indians believed they were owners of the land, but Phelps persuaded the Chiefs that, since they had been allies to the defeated British during the Revolutionary War, and since the British had given up the lands in the1783 peace treaty, the tribes could expect to retain only the lands granted by the United States.[10] Phelps and Gorham wanted to buy 2,600,000-acre (11,000 km2), but the Iroquois refused to sell it all.
Phelps suggested that the Iroquois could use a grist mill to grind their maize which would relieve the women of the grinding work. The Indians asked how much land was needed for a grist mill, and Phelps suggested a huge section of land, 185,000 acres (750 km2), west of theGenesee River. west of the Genesee River, much larger than actually required, extending west from the river 12 miles (19 km), running south fromLake Ontario approximately 24 miles (39 km), and totaling about 288 square miles (750 km2). The section stretches from near the present-day town ofAvon north to the community ofCharlotte atLake Ontario and encompassesRochester. The Iroquois agreed.
After acquiring the parcel, Phelps and Gorham gave 100 acres (0.40 km2; 0.16 sq mi) at the high falls of the Genesee River toEbenezer "Indian" Allen, on the condition that he build the grist mill and sawmill. The grist mill was distant from potential customers—only about 25 families lived on the west bank at the time—and there were no roads going to it from the few nearby farms on the west bank of the river. It never prospered.[15] Allen's tract became the nucleus of modernRochester, New York. The section of land on the west bank of the Genesee River became known as the Mill Yard Tract.[16]
In return for title to 2,250,000 acres (9,100 km2), Phelps and his company paid the Indians $5,000 cash and promised an annual annuity of $500 to their heirs forever.[when?][12] The agreement included approximately the eastern third of the territory ceded to Massachusetts by the Treaty of Hartford, from theGenesee River in the west to thePreemption Line in the east, which was the boundary that had been set between the lands awarded to Massachusetts and those awarded to New York State by the Treaty of Hartford.
Boundaries established by Phelps' agreement were reaffirmed between the United States and theSix Nations by Article 3 of theTreaty of Canandaigua in 1794.[17] The scrip's low value substantially reduced Massachusetts' proceeds from the sale.[18]
After the Revolutionary War ended, the Iroquois chiefs had been assured by the US government in the 1784Fort Stanwix treaty that their lands would remain theirs unless the Indians made new cessions—as a result of regular councils duly convened and conducted according to tribal custom.[10] The eastern boundary was defined by aPreemption Line, which was anchored on the south at the 82nd milestone on the New York-Pennsylvania boundary line and on the north byLake Ontario. The treaties gave Massachusetts the right to buy from the Native Americans and resell all territory west of the Preemption Line, while New York State retained the right to govern that territory. New York State would add to its territory all land east of the Preemption Line.
The Fort Stanwix Treaty and earlier treaties established the approximate western boundary, but a survey was required to establish the exact line.[6] Phelps believed that the line ran throughSeneca Lake and included the former Cayuga settlement of Kandesaga, present-dayGeneva, New York. He planned to make Geneva the headquarters and location of the land sales office. He hired Col. Hugh Maxwell, a man of high reputation, to perform the survey. During his original survey for Phelps and Gorham, Maxwell was assisted by Augustus Porter and other surveyors.[8]
Maxwell and his assistants started a preliminary survey on June 13, 1788, from the 82-mile stone on the Pennsylvania Line. The trial survey reached Seneca Lake. The actual survey was started on July 25, 1788,[19] and when the surveyors reached the area of Kandesaga, the line was fixed west of Seneca Lake and Kandesaga, which survived as a key town in the region. Oliver Phelps was extremely upset when he learned that the survey did not include Seneca Lake or the Indian village. He wrote a letter to Col. William Walker, the local agent responsible for the survey, and requested that they survey be redone in that area. For unknown reasons, it was not completed.[8]
On the west, the survey ran north from the Pennsylvania border to the confluence ofCanaseraga Creek and the Genesee River. The survey line followed the river to a point 2 miles (3.2 km) north ofCanawagus Village, and then due west 12 miles (19 km) distant from the westernmost bend, and then due north to the shore of Lake Ontario. Maxwell divided the land intoranges 6 miles (9.7 km) wide from north to south.[6] Maxwell's work later became known as "The First Survey."[11]
Phelps opened one of the first land sales offices in the U.S. inSuffield, Connecticut,[20] and another inCanandaigua. During the next two years, they sold 500,000-acre (2,000 km2) at a higher price to a number of buyers. People arrived from New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and from across the Atlantic, from England and Scotland. Settlers also included veterans who had fought under General Sullivan.[11] There was considerable land hunger among people in New England, who had been crowded for some time.
Many purchasers were buying land for speculative purposes and quickly resold it. For example, Oliver Phelps sold township 3, range 2, to Prince Bryant of Pennsylvania on September 5, 1789. Prince Bryant sold the land a month later to Elijah Babcock, who in turn sold various parcels to Roger Clark, Samuel Tooker, David Holmes, and William Babcock.[6] The syndicate was able to sell about half of its holdings.
However, within the year, currency values rose in anticipation of Treasury SecretaryAlexander Hamilton's plan to nationalize the debts of the states forming the new nation. This raised the value of the consolidated securities Phelps and Gorham had used to buy the land, effectively quadrupling the syndicate's debt[6] and substantially inflating the amount required to purchase title from the Iroquois for the remaining 1,000,000-acre (4,000 km2).[12] The syndicate sold about 50 townships but the purchasers were mainly stockholders who had accepted land in exchange for interest on the loan principal.[8] Fewer emigrants bought land than expected, reducing the income expected by the syndicate. Two of the three bonds financing the purchase were canceled, but even when the debt was reduced to $109,333 (£31,000) (about $2.9 million in 2024), the syndicate was unable to make the next payment. In August 1790, the reverses forced Phelps to sell his Suffield home and his interest in the Hartford National Bank and Trust Co. of Connecticut
In early 1791, the syndicate was unable to make the second payment on the preemptive right to the lands west of the Genesee River, comprising some 3,750,000 acres (15,200 km2), and these preemptive rights reverted to Massachusetts on March 10, 1791. On March 12, Massachusetts agreed to sell these rights toRobert Morris for $333,333.33 (about $8.8 million in 2024). Morris was a signatory of theDeclaration of Independence and theUnited States Constitution, and was the major financier of theAmerican Revolution. At the time, he was the richest man in America. Morris paid about 11 or 12 cents an acre for the land, or about $9,878 (£24,695) (about $261 thousand in 2024). The land was conveyed to Morris in five deeds on May 11, 1791. On August 10, 1790, the syndicate sold the remaining lands of the Genesee tract directly to Morris, with the exception of about 47,000 acres retained by Phelps and Gorham. The deed was conveyed on November 18, 1790, and specified that the tract should contain 1 million acres, and any amount over that would require further payment.[8]
On September 21, 1791,Geneva was described as "a small, unhealthy village with about 15 houses, all of log construction except three. There are about 20 families."[8]
When Morris bought the property, issues with the first survey were well known. The purchase deed stated, "A manifest error has been committed in the laying out and dividing the same, so that a new survey must be laid in order to correct the said error."[21] Some accounts from early in the 20th century attribute errors discovered during the second survey to the primitive instruments used by the surveyors, but allegations of fraud were also made. A description of the survey in 1892 cast suspicion on an assistant surveyor named Jenkins, who was supposed to have altered the survey line to favor his employer, Peter Ryckman. He wanted to control the site of present-dayGeneva.[8] Ryckman had previously sought to buy the land directly from the Iroquois, but it was illegal under New York state law for him to buy land from the natives, and his contract was voided by the state. When a new survey was commissioned, Maxwell's survey became known as "The First Survey."[22]
Adam Hoops was hired to lead a team of new surveyors, who discovered that Maxwell erred on both the eastern preemption line and the western boundary. Maxwell had located the westernmost boundary of the Millyard Tract in the belief that the Genesee River ran due north. Hoops' team found that Maxwell had made a serious error when he ignored the variance betweenmagnetic north andtrue north.[6] A survey team thatBenjamin Ellicott headed found in November–December 1792 that the preemption line ran through Seneca Lake and north along a line to Lake Ontario near the center of Sodus Bay, about four miles west of the line surveyed by Maxwell.[8] The line now divides the city of Geneva and theTown of Waterloo in Border City. The old preemption line reached Lake Ontario, three miles west of Sodus Bay. The new line terminated near the center of the head of the bay. The new preemption line traveled in a northeasterly direction from the west end of the southern boundary.[19]
In his new survey, Hoops established that the western boundary of the Mill Yard tract included agore-shaped tract of land about 85,896 acres (347.61 km2; 134.213 sq mi) west of the Genesee River, that should have been retained by the Iroquois. To make it easier, Morris' syndicate returned an equivalent amount of land on the west, a 87,000 acres (350 km2; 136 sq mi) parcel known as the Triangle Tract, to the Iroquois. Morris then purchased the rights to the Triangle Tract from the Iroquois; this land became part of the Morris Reserve.[6] The area of land purchased by Morris was fixed at 1,267,569 acres (5,129.67 km2; 1,980.577 sq mi).[8] Hoop's corrected survey became known as the "Second Survey" and was accepted by Simeon DeWitt, New York's surveyor-general, in a resolution passed by the state on March 24, 1795.[8]
After buying the land from the state of Massachusetts in early 1790, Morris almost immediately resold 12,000,000 acres (49,000 km2; 19,000 sq mi)(Error: Total land in New York State west of the Pre-emption line is only about 6 million acres.) through his London agentWilliam Temple Franklin tothe Pulteney Associates, led by Sir William Pulteney. He sold at more than double the price he had paid. SirWilliam Pulteney bought 9/12ths interest,William Hornby 2/12ths, andPatrick Colquhoun 1/12th interest. At the time non-citizens could not legally hold title to land. The buyers sent Charles Williamson from Scotland, and he was naturalized on January 9, 1792, in order to permit him to hold the land in trust for the owners. He relocated to the United States in February 1792 and settled on the tract.[6] Morris conveyed the deed to Williamson on April 11, 1792, and was paid $333,333 (£75,000). The U.S. Congress had passedThe Coinage Act which established theU.S. Mint and the dollar as its official currency only a week before.[8] Morris made a profit of over $160,000 on the transaction.[21]
The Pulteney Purchase, or the Genesee Tract, as it was also known, comprised all of the present counties ofOntario,Steuben andYates, as well as portions ofAllegany,Livingston,Monroe,Schuyler andWayne counties. After Sir William Pulteney's death in 1805, it was known as the Pulteney Estate.
Morris sold additional land in December 1792 and in February and July 1793 to theHolland Land Company, an unincorporated syndicate formed byWillem Willink and thirteen otherDutch bankers. The bankers hired American trustees in theUnited States to take title to the land, because New York state law made it illegal for them to own the property directly. Robert Morris prevailed upon the New York Legislature to repeal that ordinance, which it did shortly thereafter, as it was eager to have the lands developed into settlements.
The investors of the Holland Land Company could in a worst-case scenario resell their property, i.e. the right to purchase aboriginal land. The investors expected a significant profit if they could obtain clear title from the Iroquois and sell unencumbered parcels of land. They organized a council at Big Tree in the summer of 1797. The council was attended by the Iroquoissachems, Robert Morris,James Wadsworth (who represented the federal government), andJoseph Ellicott, who represented the Holland Land Company. The Europeans and Americans foundRed Jacket, chief of theSeneca, very difficult to negotiate with. The Dutch gave presents to the influentialwomen of the tribes, and offered generous payments to several other chiefs to influence their cooperation. They offered the Iroquois about 200,000 acres in return as reservations for the tribes. The result was theTreaty of Big Tree.
In 1802, the Holland Land Company openedits sales office inBatavia, managed by surveyor and agentJoseph Ellicott.[23] The office remained open until 1846 when the company was finally dissolved. The Company granted some plots of land to persons with the condition that they establish improvements, such as inns and taverns, to encourage growth. The building that housed theHolland Land Office still exists; it is operated as a museum dedicated to the Holland Purchase and is designated aNational Historic Landmark.
Morris kept 500,000 acres (2,000 km2) in a 12-mile-wide (19 km) strip along the east side of the lands acquired from Massachusetts, from the Pennsylvania border to Lake Ontario. This later became known as the Morris Reserve. At the north end of the Morris Reserve, Morris sold a 87,000-acre (350 km2) triangular-shaped tract to Herman Leroy, William Bayard, and John McEvers. This was nicknamed the Triangle Tract. A 100,000-acre (400 km2) tract due west of the Triangle Tract was sold to the State ofConnecticut.
In May 1796,John Barker Church accepted a mortgage on another 100,000 acres of the Morris Reserve in present-dayAllegany County andGenesee County, against a debt owed to him by Morris.[24] After Morris failed to pay the mortgage, Church foreclosed, and Church's sonPhilip Schuyler Church acquired the land in May 1800.[24] Philip began the settlement of Allegany and Genesee counties by founding the village ofAngelica, New York.[25]
As noted above, in September 1797 under the Treaty of Big Tree, negotiated and signed atGeneseo, New York, Morris gained the remaining title to all the lands west of the Genesee held by theIroquois. Morris paid $100,000 (equivalent to about $1.8 million in 2024) along with perpetual annuities, among other concessions. He created ten reservations for the Iroquois nations within the purchase; these totalled 200,000 acres (800 km2), in comparison to the millions of acres they had ceded. The remainder of the Morris Reserve was quickly subdivided and settled.
In 1802, the entire Holland Purchase, as well as the 500,000 acre (2,000 km2) Morris Reserve immediately to the east, was split off fromOntario County and organized asGenesee County.
In the ensuing 40 years after Genesee County was formed, it was repeatedly split to form all or parts of the counties ofAllegany (1806),Niagara (1808),Cattaraugus (1808),Chautauqua (1808),Erie (1821),Monroe (1821),Livingston (1821),Orleans (1824), andWyoming (1841).
Many of the men who were active in these land sales were honored, either by their business associates or by settlers, in the place names of new villages. Many of the original villages have retained their identity as the central district of a larger town:
In contrast,Angelica, a town andits village in Allegany County, were named by landowner Philip Church for his mother,Angelica Schuyler Church.[24][25]
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