In 1684, the term "Saratoga Patent" is said to have appeared on provincial rolls when Governor Dongan is said to have granted the petition of Pieter Schuyler, Robert Livingston, and others to purchase a tract of land on the upper Hudson from the Mohawk Indians. General Philip Schuyler, a descendant of an original patentee, later claimed that the tract originally was partitioned in 1685. However, not until October 1708 did Governor Edward Hyde (Cornbury) confirm the petition for a deed. At that time, the named patentees were Colonel Peter Schuyler, Robert Livingston, Esq., Dirck Wessels, Esq., Jan Jan Bleecker, Esq., Johannes Schuyler, Esq., and Cornelius Van Dyck - grandson and heir of Cornelius Van Dyck for a tract of land that is said to have embraced six square miles on both sides of the Hudson River. A present-day scholar noted that the patent encompassed some 150,000 acres.
For more than the next hundred years, heirs of those patentees counted their shares in the Saratoga Patent among their treasured possessions. Chief among these were the Schuylers (founding settlers of today's Schuylerville). Over time, a surprising number of other early Albany people as well held title to parcels in this tract. Follow this link to more on the Saratoga Patent in the context of the people of colonial Albany.
Understanding the real property assets of the people of colonial Albany is essential toward more fully appreciating their scope of their activities and lives. Until the 1780s, most parcels in the Saratoga Patent still were owned by Albany people. However, many of those shares were subdivided and leased to tenants. Along with the adjoining Kayaderosseras and Clifton Park Patents, and a number of others as well, the Saratoga tract provided structure for the New York settlement of the land north of the Mohawk and west of the Hudson in the years before and after the American Revolution. In 1791, those entities became Saratoga County. However, until then the Saratoga Patent and the other preferential grants were prime settlement vehicles for the land north of the Mohawk that until then was part of old Albany County.
Albany businessman John R. Bleecker is said to have surveyed and mapped the patent in 1750. A number of others, including William Cockburn, have produced maps and diagrams of parts of the patent. We seek a useful graphic representation (preferably from the 18th century) beyond the diagram shown below.
What follows has been copied from chapter 18 of Nathaniel B. Sylvester's History of Saratoga County (1878): "In the earlier years of the colonial period the old Indian hunting-grounds lying within the boundaries of the county of Saratoga were purchased one after another from their aboriginal owners, and thereafter became known in history as land-grants or patents. The most famous of these old patents still retain their old Indian names, - the patents of Saratoga and Kay-ad-ros-se-ra.
The patent of Old Saratoga, which grew out of the old hunting-ground of the river hills from which the county and the springs derive their name, was among the earliest purchases made of the Indians in Saratoga County. It was purchased of the Mohawks as early as the year 1684, but the Indian deed was not confirmed by the colonial government and the warrant for the patent issued till the year 1708, as will appear by the following copy thereof. An engraving of Saratoga County in 1840 is shown on the map facing this chapter.
WARRANT FOR SARATOGA PATENT:
By his Excellency, Edward, Viscount Cornbury, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of the Provinces of New York and New Jersey, and territories depending on them in America, and Vice-Admiral of the same, etc., in council this 25th day of October, 1708.
Sources: At this time, we have not moved beyond the sources cited within the above as our focus is the people of colonial Albany and their world. However, abundant resources are available to support a CASHP-style enquiry on the people of the old Saratoga Patent. This presenttation was prompted by the mention of the patent in the will of General Philip Schuyler. It is in its early stages of development. We were surprised by the large number of early Albany people whose lives intersected with the Saratoga Patent - more than justifying our venture in this direction.
This Link to patent-related materials represents an essential pioneering effort and is directly responsible as well as enabling for our development of this exposition early in 2013. Thank you to Leslie B. Potter and NYGenWeb!
first posted 10/20/12; last updated 2/22/13