BIB_ID
80124
Accession number
MA 948
Display Date
Schenectady, New York, 1714 April 13
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan; 1910.
Description
1 item (1 p.) ; 392 x 315 mm
Notes
According to Dr. John P. Ferguson of the Iroquois Indian Museum (2003), this is the earliest known original deed to property in present-day Schoharie County.
With docketing stating that the transfer has been recorded in the Book of Warrants.
With the marks and seals of eight members of the Mohawk tribes.
Deed dated April 30, 1714, and containing the eight following names: 'Sinonneequerison, Tanuryso, Nisawgoreeatah, Turgourus, Honodaw, Kannakquawes, Tigreedontee, Onnodeegondee, all of the Maquaes country, native Indians, owners and proprietors,' (cf. Simms) ... each name is placed before a seal to which he had made his mark. The ensigns of the three Mohawk tribes [Turtle, Wolf, and Bear] are conspicuously traced in the midst of the signatures. One of the two witnesses to both deeds was Leo [i.e. Lea or Leah] Stevens (1646?-1724?), a daughter of Cornelis Antonisen Van Slyck and a Mohawk woman identified in some sources as Owasto'k or Ots-Toch (Hertel) van Slyke (1620-1680); Adam Vrooman had been formerly married to Margarita Harmense (Ryckman) (died 1695), widow of Lea's brother, Jacques Cornelise "Itsychosaquachka" Van Slyk (1640-1690), with whom she had had 12 recorded children; Lea (Van Slyck) Stevens acted as interpreter on the occasion of granting each conveyance.
With docketing stating that the transfer has been recorded in the Book of Warrants.
With the marks and seals of eight members of the Mohawk tribes.
Deed dated April 30, 1714, and containing the eight following names: 'Sinonneequerison, Tanuryso, Nisawgoreeatah, Turgourus, Honodaw, Kannakquawes, Tigreedontee, Onnodeegondee, all of the Maquaes country, native Indians, owners and proprietors,' (cf. Simms) ... each name is placed before a seal to which he had made his mark. The ensigns of the three Mohawk tribes [Turtle, Wolf, and Bear] are conspicuously traced in the midst of the signatures. One of the two witnesses to both deeds was Leo [i.e. Lea or Leah] Stevens (1646?-1724?), a daughter of Cornelis Antonisen Van Slyck and a Mohawk woman identified in some sources as Owasto'k or Ots-Toch (Hertel) van Slyke (1620-1680); Adam Vrooman had been formerly married to Margarita Harmense (Ryckman) (died 1695), widow of Lea's brother, Jacques Cornelise "Itsychosaquachka" Van Slyk (1640-1690), with whom she had had 12 recorded children; Lea (Van Slyck) Stevens acted as interpreter on the occasion of granting each conveyance.
Provenance
Collection of A.G. Richmond; Anderson Gallery; J. Pierpont Morgan.
Summary
Deed of transfer of 340 acres of land near Schoree [Schoharie] from eight Native Americans of the Mohawk tribe to Adam Vrooman, a European from Schenectady. The deed conveys to Vrooman part of the settlement of the Schoharie Mohawk at the foot of a hill now known as Vroman's Nose, just southwest of Middleburg, New York.
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