The Archives of The Holland Land Company in Reed Library and Related New York State Collections
Introduction:
The use of manuscripts greatly enhances in-depth research in any discipline. Some original sources relating to a certain topic are self-contained and can be found in one place while others are interdisciplinary and are scattered among several repositories. Generally, manuscript material is housed at special research centers and its use is restricted. However, microreproductions of many collections are available to potential users.
Microfilming manuscript collections is time-consuming and costly so funds are often sought by grant applications. The Holland Land Company Manuscript Preservation Project in Reed Library, SUNY, College at Fredonia is a grant-supported project. it concentrates on locating, assessing, and reproducing primary source material that relates to the activities of the Holland Land Company in the United States.
The Holland Land Company was a conglomerate of six Dutch banking houses. In the 1790s it purchased over five million acres of land in central and western New York and in northwestern Pennsylvania and sold it to homestead-seeking settlers until about 1840. The Project is also concerned with material that was generated by land speculators who bought large parcels from the Dutch and continued selling the land throughout the nineteenth century.
The most significant Holland Land Company collection is deposited in the Municipal Archives of Amsterdarn in the Netherlands. In New York State, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Ohio, various libraries and historical societies house either Holland Land Company documents or material that was generated in the land offices of agents who bought land from the Dutch. The ultimate aim of the Holland Land Company Project is to provide listings of all located material and to make the collections available on microfilm in Reed Library.
The Holland Land Company collections are valuable records of early foreign and domestic investment companies that capitalized on land speculation. In addition, the collections contain useful material that reflect the social, political, economic and land use development on Holland Land Company territories from the 1790s well into the second half of the nineteenth century. Therefore, they are important primary sources for research in history, political science, business, ecology, economics, anthropology geography, biology, and other related fields. However, the material is most often used for the study of regional or grassroots history. Therefore, the purpose of this RESEARCH GUIDE is to aid students who wish to study the distribution of land, Indian affairs, and the history of regions and localities.
To broaden the scope of this Guide, the following related Guides should also be consulted:
RESEARCH GUIDE NO. 8: BASIC SOURCES OF INFORMATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY
RESEARCH GUIDE NO. 53: CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY: PAST AND PRESENT
RESEARCH GUIDE NO. 55: GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE HOLLAND LAND COMPANY RECORDS
RESEARCH GUIDE NO. 45: FAMILY HISTORY: BASIC RESEARCH METHOD
The following portion of this Guide is divided into three major sections:
I.REFERENCE MATERIAL
II.GENERAL SOURCES
III.MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS
IV. HOLLAND LAND COMPANY AND RELATED RECORDS IN NEW YORK STATE
To maintain a manageable length, none of the sections contain comprehensive listings of material available for in-depth research.
In this section the several listed sources help to put the Holland Land Company in an historical framework as it pertains to the general evolution of land history. Other items help locate material that deals more implicitly with the Company and with the regions in question.
Dictionary of American History; 8 volumes
Ref/E/174/D52/1976
This set provides material necessary for a wider historical framework into which the mosaics of regional history can he placed.
Summaries of state-wide and national events such as the War of 1812, the construction of the Erie Canal, and the opening of westward migration help explain the impact severely felt on the Holland Purchase. Volume 8 contains a detailed index.
Guide to Historical Resources in Chautauqua County, N.Y., Repositories
Ref/CD/3407/C7/1982
Library has: Guides for other counties on the Holland Purchase are in the stacks in the CD/3407 area.
This guide is one example of several
others that list manuscript and printed material available in regional repositories. When using the subject index in the individual guides, remember to check the names of more prominent employees in addition to the Holland Land Company. Checking names of other land companies that purchased land from the Dutch is also helpful.
Research Publications in New York State History
Ref/Z/131 7/A67
Library has 1968-1972, 1976-date
This somewhat irregular bibliography lists a number of secondary source publications that relate to the Holland Land Company, its employees, and the regions they once owned.
Township Atlas of the United States
Ref/G/1201/F7/A5/1979
This unique reference source is helpful when maps of civil division townships are compared to townships that were designated by the rectangular survey system. These two distinctly different land divisions are particularly important in Western New York.
FOR OTHER USEFUL REFERENCE MATERIAL, CONSULT THE RELATED RESEARCH GUIDES.
This section includes examples of general county histories and other publications that relate, either entirely or in part, to the history of the Holland Land Company.
Buffalo Historical Society: Publications; 34 volumes
WNY/F/129/B8/B88
This set is in Special Collections.
This series was published during the first half of the twentieth century. Several volumes are devoted mainly to the Holland Land Company. Others contain reprints of journals and reminiscences by pioneers, and a variety of related reports. Some volumes have extensive correspondence between Holland Land Company agents, politicians, municipal officers, and settlers.
The following volumes are of vital importance for research:
Bingham, Robert N., ed. Reports of Joseph Ellicott, 2 vols.
WNY/F/129/B8/B88, v. 32-33
These two volumes contain survey-related correspondence and the comprehensive report of the grand survey of the Holland Purchase that was completed in November 1800. In addition, reprinted are the Batavia Land Office annual reports between 1801 and 1835. There was no report for 1821. These reports record the detailed account of Company activities and the development of western New York. Each volume has an index. Volume 33 has a comprehensive index.
Correspondence on the Holland Land Company and Canal Construction in Western New York
WNY/F/129/B8/B88, v. 14
In this volume, a large group of well-selected letters recreate the planning and the construction of the Erie Canal and the controversial placing of the terminal.
Evans, Paul D. The Holland Land Company
WNY/F/129/B8/B88, v. 2B
This publication is the only extensive scholarly study of the Holland Land Company. It gives details on the formation of the Company, of its various land purchases in New York and in Pennsylvania, and on the management of the lands. It also analyzes problems inherent in foreign land speculation that eventually prompted the Company to sell out to domestic land developers.
Severance, Frank., ed. Pioneer Days
WNY/F/129/B8/B88, v. 26
Library also has a circulating copy.
This volume contains a variety of sketches including a short biography of Andrew and Joseph Ellicott. A sampling of letters between 1797 and 1816 from the Joseph Ellicott letter books is also included.
Other monographs include:
Barden, Virginia W. Earliest Holland Land Company Sales in Chautauqua County, New York
WNY/HD/266/N72/C7/B3/1990
These entries were collated from the early land sales ledgers kept in the Land Office in Batavia up to 1810 and later in the Mayville Subagency of the Holland Land Company. The date of land contracts and the exact creation of the plot is given.
Brooks, Charles E. Economic Change and Agrarian Conflict in the Holland Land Purchase of Western New York, 1800-1845
WNY/F/127/H73/B86, 1990
An excellent dissertation for the serious researcher with special emphasis on the economical development of the region.
Brooks, Charles E. Frontier Settlement and Market Revolution; The Holland Land Purchase
WNY/F/127/H7/B76, 1996
A more focused book version of the dissertation.
Burges, George. A Journal of a Surveying Trip into Western Pennsylvania Under Andrew Ellicott in the Year 1795;
When the Towns of Erie, Warren, Franklin, and Waterford Were Laid Out
WNY/F/149/B84/1795
The journal entries comment on dense forests and lands, sprawling rivers and streams, and the sparse population in already established towns. The everyday life of the surveying group at work and at campsites with rifled guards in fear of hostile Indians are in spots minutely described. A short sketch at the end puts Andrew Ellicott and his surveying event into proper historical frame.
Cazenove, Theophile. Journal
WNY/F/138/C38, 1922
This translated version of the Journal reports on Cazenove's trip through Pennsylvania and New York State between October 28 and November 25, 1794. Cazenove was the first Agent General of the Holland Land Company, opened the Company's headquarters in Philadelphia, and completed the major land purchase transactions before he left America in 1800. There are maps and an index.
Chazanof, William. Joseph Ellicott and the Holland Land Company
WNY/F/123/E394/C48
Library also has circulating copies.
This is mainly a biographical study of the Company's chief surveyor and resident agent of the Batavia Land Office between 1797-1821. It also paints a vivid picture of the general milieu of the times, and of the political power of Ellicott as well as of the foreign landowners.
History of Cattaraugus County, N.Y.
WNY/F/227/C4/E4/1879
Aside from being a typical county history, this source provides a more extensive coverage of the activities of the Holland Land Company in western New York. A table of contents and a name index serves as a key to this hefty volume.
The History of Oneida County
WNY/F//127O5/ H58, 1977
This historical account of a northern New York County was compiled for the commemoration of its bicentennial. The Holland Land Company held in the County about 80,000 acres, which included the present day Utica. Illustrations, maps and an index enhance the usefulness.
Holland Land Company Delinquent Contracts in Chautauqua County, NY, compiled by Lois M. Barris, artwork by Norwood Barris.
Part of the contents of this publication was extracted from the Archives of the Holland Land Company. It is listed as item no. 555. As it is indicated in the short introduction the other part of it was found in the Chautauqua County Historical Society. It is a useful item for genealogists as well as for researchers who are interested in the status of development of this region during the 1820s.
Late eighteenth century vegetation of central and western New York State on the basis of original land survey records, by P.L. Marks and Sana Gardescu and Franz K. Seischab.
Special Collections WNY New York Museum Bulletin no. 484
This important biological study was extracted from the original surveys of the New York tracts that were conducted between 1797 and 1800. The article covers the Holland Land Company lands and the Finger Lakes region. Naps and charts enrich the text. The original hefty study by Franz Seischab is also available.
Lewis, Clifford. Devereux of the Leap
WNY /CS/72 /D4895/1974
This is a genealogical history with a descriptive introduction of Nicholas Devereux's activities mainly in Utica where he lived. The management of his sizable western New York land holding, which he purchased from the Dutch in 1835 and continued selling it in the Ellicottville Land Office, is also discussed. There are some maps and an index.
Lincklaen, John. Travels
WNY/F/1232/L73, 1896
This is a detailed description of travels in Pennsylvania, New York State and Vermont during 1791 and 1792, shortly after which Lincklaen became the resident agent of the Cazenovia Establishment. An index and several maps are available.
Matthews, Catherine Van Cortlandt. Andrew Ellicott, His Life and Letters
WNY/F/106/E46, 1908
The subject of this book is the renowned surveyor brother of Joseph Ellicott. While he gained his fame for surveying nationwide, he is known in this region for his pre-Holland Land Company surveys of the Niagara; the pre-emption line; and the New York-Pennsylvania border. He also surveyed for the Dutch in Pennsylvania.
Safran, Franciska. William Peacock, Holland Land Company Subagent in Chautauqua County, New York
Special Collections WNY/F/123/P4/S23
The major manuscript collections in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society were used for this 1983 thesis on the life and activities of Peacock as Holland Land Company surveyor, subagent and private citizen of wealth. Bibliography is included.
The Sesquicentennial of Genesee County, 1802-1952
WNY/F/127/GI9/A5, 1952
This is a typical homage, designed for the 150th anniversary of the County, known as the Mother of Counties of the Holland Land Purchase. Descriptions of the early years include the establishment of the Holland Land Office in Batavia and the divisions of the region to several counties. Included are several maps and illustrations.
Smith, Perry., ed. History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County, 2 volumes
WNY/F/127/E6/S6, 1884
The first volume is a chronological tracing of the earliest history of the County up to about 1880. The second volume concentrates on the historical development of Buffalo which was laid out by Holland Land Company surveyors.
Tiffany, Nina Moore. Harm Jan Huidekoper
WNY/F/159/M46/T5
This biography of the first land agent of the Holland Land Company lands in Pennsylvania integrates many anecdotes of the lives of family members and early settlers. References to land sales management make it useful for historians and others. Index, maps and some illustrations embellish the text.
Turner, Orsamus. Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York
WNY/F/127/H7/T7 1849
Library also has the reprint volume of 1974 with a name index.
Although this volume is based mostly on reminiscences by settlers, it provides a fairly realistic scene of the early years of the region. The table of contents serves as a general index.
Winter, Pieter J. van. American Finance and Dutch Investment, 1780-1805 with a Prologue to 1840 by James Riley;
2 volumes
WNY/HJ/247/R54/1977
This is an extremely detailed survey of Dutch investment in the financially struggling country during the post-revolutionary period. The investment of the Holland Land Company bankers is explored in chapter 9, and throughout the volumes.
Wyckoff, William. The Developer's Frontier: The Making of the Western New York Landscape
WNY/F/128. 44/W93, 1988
A geographer's analysis of the physical assessment of the Holland Purchase during the early years. All available Holland Land Company resources were heavily used for this vital study of the region. Illustrations and a use index enhance its usage.
Wyckoff, William. Joseph Ellicott and the Western New York Frontier: Environmental Assessment, Geographical
Strategies, and Authored Landscapes, 1797-1811
WNY/HD/H64/W93/1985
This dissertation preceded the above listed monograph.
Young, Andrew. History of Chautauqua County, N.Y.
WNY/F/127/C7/Y6, 1875
Library also has the reprint of 1974 with a name index.
This is a rather straightforward county history based on extensive notes, letters and reminiscences that were collected by a history conscious county lawyer, E.T. Foote.
BESIDES THE LISTED PUBLICATIONS, A NUMBER OF ADDITIONAL SOURCES ARE AVAILABLE IN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND IN THE REGULAR COLLECTION.
Material listed in this section is either available in manuscript form at the cited repository and/or a microfilm version of it is deposited in Reed Library. The microfilm collections are located in the Microform Room under the given call number.
Archives of the Holland Land Company, 1789-1869
Microform/HD/195/H64/H6, 1984, 202 reels
This extensive collection contains investment records, land purchase negotiations, surveys, financial records, land sales ledgers with contracts and payments, deeds, warrants, patents and tax assessments. There are court records and related papers and a wealth of correspondence between the owners, land agents, bankers, legal representatives and the settlers. Much of the material is in English, although most of the earlier intercontinental correspondence is in either French or in Dutch.
The Archives also contains a valuable collection of maps, including field notes of the surveys, village and city layouts, regional and state maps, and maps of the United States. All maps were microfilmed with the documents in black and white, and most are also reproduced on colored microfiche. Groups of maps are listed in the Inventory of the Archives of the Holland Land Company, and a list is available of the maps on microfiche.
Reel Number One of the Archives of the Holland Land Company contains an introduction to the Company and to the manuscript collection in the Municipal Archives of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Additional comments pertain to the evolution and the process of the microfilming project. There are also bibliographic notes on collections located in the United States up to 1984. This reel also contains an annotated Inventory of the Archives of the Holland Land Company and a Microfilm Reel List.
Pieterse, W. Wilhelmina. Inventory of the Archives of the Holland Land Company, 1789-1969
Ref/HD/295/H64/P532
Copies are also in the Microform Room and in the Special Collections Room.
The Inventory serves as a general finding aid of groups of documents in the Archives of the Holland Land Company.
After a useful introduction of the organization and function of the Company, the Collection is divided into four major parts:
I.Archives of the Board of Directors in Amsterdam;
II.Archives of the Representatives in the U.S.A.;
III.Miscellaneous material;
IV.Appendix
Parts I and II are further divided by the subjects of documents, such as: documents of general nature; domestic matters; personnel; operation; finance and other topics. Within these groups further geographic subdivisions appear under which materials generated by the several individual land offices are listed. There are 932 enumerated document groups. A group can consist of only a few items, or as many as 30 volumes or hundreds of letters. The Inventory has several indexes of the cited names, subjects and places. However, the Archives of the Holland Land Company does not have a comprehensive index. Sectional name indexes to correspondence and in certain other ledgers are available.
Livsey, Karen E.
Western New York land transactions, 1804-1824: extracted from the archives of the Holland Land Company.
WNY/HD/195/H64/L5/1991; 2 volumes.
Karen Livsey prepared a 2 volume computer generated name index to the 29 volumes of the "Report of Land Tables," that are listed as document groups 484-513 in the INVENTORY OF THE ARCHIVES OF THE HOLLAND LAND COMPANY. A chronological listing in the INVENTORY indicates what periods are contained on the corresponding microfilm reels 109-113. This immensely helpful index makes genealogical- research immeasurably easier.
Both volumes consist of two parts.
Part II, the name index should be used first. There, page numbers refer to Part I where the original date of the initial land contract and exact location of the land (Range, Township and Lot number) is listed. Reference is also made to the document group item number and the page on which the contract entry can be found in the original ledgers. The listings are preceded by useful introductions, and with historical capsules of the Holland Land Company and its collections. The "How to Use This Book" and following sections must be read before using these two volumes.
IV. HOLLAND LAND COMPANY AND RELATED RECORDS IN NEW YORK STATE
In the 1830s the Holland Land Company sold all its land holdings and outstanding contracts to domestic land speculators. Most of the established land offices remained open and some of the generated documents were turned over to the newly formed land companies. These offices either continued to enter land sales in the original ledgers or started new ones. Almost all of the new owners were selling Holland Land Company lands in New York State and Pennsylvania until the 1860s and even up to the 1880s. Later, their cumulated documents were turned over to public repositories where they have been preserved throughout the years. During the 1980s the Holland Land Company Manuscript Preservation Project prepared assessment lists of the existing collections and microfilmed most of them. Some were filmed by others.
Reed Library at SUNY College at Fredonia has nearly a complete set of all available microfilms of Holland Land Company collections and related records. Individual annotated assessment lists, patterned after the Wilhelmina Pieterse INVENTORY OF THE ARCHIVES OF THE HOLLAND LAND COMPANY, are also available.
The rest of this Guide describes these related New York State collections:
1.Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society
2.New York State Archives, Albany
3.Holland Land Office Museum, Batavia
4.Erie County Courthouse, Buffalo
5.Patterson Library, Westfield
6.Chautauqua County Historical Society, Westfield
7.Cornell University, Ithaca
8.Lorenzo Historic Site, Cazenovia
9.Oneida County Historical Society, Utica
BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, BUFFALO
The Society houses three major and several smaller collections. They were microfilmed by the Holland Land Company Project in 1987-88. Microfilm/HD/195/H64/H669/ 25 reels
Holland Land Company Records, 1789-1839
This includes the Joseph Ellicott Correspondence in 26 volumes, and his memoranda in 2 volumes. Also included are articles of agreements and deeds of the early city of Buffalo and other miscellaneous papers.
Henry Glowacki Papers
The private collection of Henry Glowacki, attorney of Jacob LeRoy and Heman Redfield, who purchased land from the Holland Land Company in Allegany, Erie, Genesee, Niagara and Orleans Counties. The collection contains land transfer records, mortgage agreements with the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, legal papers relating to certain Indian affairs and other items.
Charles W. Evans Collection
This collection contains correspondence between Holland Land Company employees, some surveys, and other miscellaneous
material relating to the Peacock and Evans families.
Other smaller collections that were microfilmed include:
Ira A. Blossom Letters
Trumbull Cary Papers
Journals of Andrew Ellicott
Joseph Ellicott Papers (a small miscellaneous collection)
Holland Land Company Papers from the Peter B. Porter Papers
William Peacock's Notes of Survey of the Tonawanda Swamps
Holland Land Company Papers from the Erie County Papers
The George Hunter Papers include extensive records of the Peacock, Evans and Ellicott families. This collection will not be microfilmed in the near future.
NEW YORK STATE ARCHIVES, ALBANY
The Archives house a large group of ledgers and the original land transfer records between Robert Morris and representatives of the Holland Land Company. There are also survey records and some maps that were submitted to the Secretary of the State by the Holland Land Company as stipulated by the Act of April 30, 1839. The State Archives may microfilm the entire collection . The Field Notes have already been microfilmed.
The Holland Land Company Records, 1792-1857
This collection consists of over 100 volumes of land sale ledgers and deed books of the Holland Purchase, some of which were continued by the LeRoy and Redfield Land Offices.
The survey records in this collection include:
Field Notes of the Grand Survey of the Holland Purchase in Ranges 1-15, 1797-1800 69 notebooks
Microfilm/HD/195/H64/H6594, 2 reels
Field Notes of the Survey of Township
Lines on the Holland Purchase in Ranges 1-15, 1797-1800, 16 volumes
Microfilm/HD/195/H64/H6595, 3 reels
Field Notes of the Range, Township and Lot Lines on the Holland Purchase in Ranges 1-15, 1800-1819, 662 numbered notebooks (23 are missing). There is an itemized list.
Microfilm/HD/195/H64/H67, 23 reels
Conveyances of Deeds of Holland Land Company Lands, 1828
Microfilm/HD/195/H64/H675, 1 reel
Deed Tables Regarding the Sale of Some Holland Land Company Lands, 1802-1833
Microfilm/HD/195/H64/H674, 1 reel
Maps of Land Purchased from the Holland Land Company, 1804-
Microfilm/HD/295/864/8676, 1 reel
Miscellaneous Field Notes Relating to Holland Land Company Holdings and Adjoining Tracts, 1806-1890
Microfilm HD/195/H64/H673, 1 reel
The Archives has the most valuable collection of Holland Land Company related maps in the United States. Among them are several atlases of township maps which include lands purchased in certain Townships by various land speculators, such as Washington Hunt, Pardon C. Sherman, Daniel C. Chandlers and others.
HOLLAND LAND OFFICE MUSEUM IN BATAVIA
Holland Land Company Records, 1801-1841
This collection contains mostly ledgers for land sold in Ranges 1-9 on the Holland Purchase. The ledgers were started by the Holland Land Company and were continued by the LeRoy and Redfield Land Offices. This collection includes a set of plat maps from the lower townships in Ranges 1-9. The maps were not microfilmed.
Farmers' Loan and Trust Company Records, 1838-late 1860s
Includes 26 volumes of land sales, payments, mortgage records, and deeds for transactions conducted in the LeRoy and Redfield Land Offices in Batavia and Buffalo.
Trumbull Cary Papers
It consists of over 600 items of correspondence and early business papers that are not connected with his purchase of Holland Land Company lands. This collection was microfilmed with the more pertinent Trumbull Cary Papers deposited at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.
Triangle Tract Deed Books, 1817-1839
Records over 800 deeds of land in Monroe County owned by Herman LeRoy, William Bayard and James McEvers who were the American business representatives of the six Dutch Banking Houses.
These collections, with the noted exception, were microfilmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (The Mormons) Microfilm/HD/195/H64/H66, 27 reels
ERIE COUNTY COURT HOUSE, BUFFALO
Holland Land Company Records, 1798-1862.
This collection contains the range books for Erie County land contracts between 1799 and 1844. There are also a couple of deed books of actual sales between 1803-1859 first by the Holland Land Company and later by the staff of Heman LeRoy and Jacob Redfield, who purchased the land from the Dutch in 1835. Microfilm/HD/195/H64/H654, 10 reels
The atlas of the Erie County Townships in Ranges 5-9 was not filmed.
PATTERSON LIBRARY, WESTFIELD The two major collections in this repository complement one another and thus record land sales from 1801 to about 1870 in Chautauqua County.
Holland Land Company Records, 1801-1836
This collection includes over 40 land ledgers for each Township in Ranges 10-15. There are also about 175 Field Notes and a valuable plat map for each Township of the County.
Chautauqua Land Office Records, 1836- ca. 1870
This collection comprises over 100 volumes of land sales, mortgate- gage, deed and other financial records. In addition, there are over eight cubic feet of documents that pertain to the transfer of land from the Holland Land Company to the new owners, and negotiations with the American Life Insurance and Trust Company, the mortgage provider. Among the correspondence are valuable letters by William Henry Seward, George W. Patterson and other Land Office employees. Several sets of township maps are also available. Microfilm/WNY/HD/295/H64/H67, 52 reels
Reel 0 contains valuable introductory material pertinent to the history of the Holland Land Company, the Chautauqua County land offices and the preservation of the records. Instructions to researchers and extensive listings of the collections is also found here with a name index of settlers who contracted land in this county.
Reel 50 includes Holland Land Company related items found in the Chautauqua County Historical Society.
Reel 51 contains land sales records and maps housed in the Chautauqua County Historical Society and in the County Clerk's Office in the Mayville Court House.
CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, WESTFIELD
Holland Land Company Miscellanea, 1808-1879
This collection includes original articles of agreements, deeds, land sales and financial records, and a number of field notes of surveys in Chautauqua County. Two volumes of land sales of the Samuel A. Brown Land Agency, a group of minor land speculators, is part of this collection. This small collection was microfilmed with the Holland Land Company and Chautauqua
Land Company Records in Patterson Library. See reel number 50 in Microfilm/HD/195/H64/H67
E.T. Foote Papers, 1755-1877
This collection of manuscripts was compiled by a Jamestown lawyer and Chautauqua County judge, who had a long-held controversial interest in the Holland Land Company. It is comprised largely of letters and reminiscences, intended as a history of the County. Some correspondence, reports, and land records were copied at the Batavia and Chautauqua County Land Offices. Andrew Young used much of the material for his History of Chautauqua County. There is a card-index to the manuscripts at the Society. This collection was filmed on 16mm microfilm. It is not cataloged.
REED LIBRARY, SUNY COLLEGE AT FREDONIA
Holland Land Company Records, 1806-1863
This collection contains over 70 ledgers for lands sold first by the Holland Land Company and later by the Devereux Land Company in the Ellicottville Land Office in Cattaraugus County. The Land Office kept separate sales and mortgage records for several individuals who purchased larger tracts for resale. Such persons were George F. Tallman, Thomas Suffern, Joseph Kernochan and David E. Evans, among others. Microfilm/HD/195/H64/H68 23 reels
Most volumes were microfilmed by Cornell University. Others were microfilmed by the Holland Land Company Project.
DEPARTMENT OF MANUSCRIPTS AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
JOHN M. OLIN LIBRARY
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA
The University Archives house a variety of pertinent land records. Of interest are:
Devereux Family Papers, 1825-1888
The collection consists of land transfer documents between the Holland Land Company and Nicholas Devereux who purchased large parcels in Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Wyoming and Allegany Counties during the mid-1830s and continued selling the land in the Ellicottville Land Office. Other records include land sale ledgers, mortgage and deed books, financial records, surveys, maps, and miscellaneous records. Land related correspondence spans the years between 1825-1855.
Nicholas Devereux Account Books, 1833-1891
This collection has six volumes of land ledgers, deed books and financial records mostly of land sales at the Ellicottville Land Office. One volume lists lands in Herkimer and Oneida Counties.
Nicholas Devereux Land Records, 1843-1897
There are four volumes of land sales, deeds and financial records from the Ellicottville Land Office.
The Farmers' Loan and Trust Company Records, 1829-1866
This collection contains land transfer documents and mortgage records from the Trust Company for lands held by Jacob LeRoy and Heman Redfield. There are also 3 volumes of land tables, some deeds, statements, receipts, correspondence and miscellaneous papers.
The above listed collections were microfilmed but the master negative reels perished in a fire, therefore a microfilm version is not avai2able of these collections.
Farmers' Loan and Trust Company Correspondence, 1832-1854
This collection contains hundreds of letters between the mortgage providers; the owners and employees of the lands; and prospective buyers. Among other prominent names, those of Henry Seymour, R. C. Cornell, Dow D. Williamson, R.K.
Delafield, Heman Redfield, Washington Hunt, John Lowber, and Stanley N. Clarke occur often. The manuscript volumes are deposited at the Archives of Citibank in New York City. Cornell University microfilmed the set. There is a name index.
Microfilm/HD/195/H64/F3, 5 reels
LORENZO HISTORIC SITE ARCHIVES, CAZENOVIA
The Archives house approximately 50,000 items that relate either directly to the Holland Land Company or to the families of the two major company employees, Jan Lincklaen and Samuel S. Forman.
The Lincklaen and Ledyard Familv Papers, 1783-1983
This collection contains the majority of land related documents in the Archives. There are over 100 ledgers recording land sales in the Cazenovia Establishment first from 1793 to 1816 by Lincklaen as a company agent, then from 1817 to 1880 as owner of the land. After Lincklaen's death in 1822 his stepson, Jonathan Ledyard, managed the land office. In addition, over 5,000 "articles of agreements", individual land contracts with settlers, have been preserved. Some letters and letter copybooks and other documents make this rich collection invaluable.
Samuel S. Forman Papers, 1760-1930
The Holland Land Company related portion of this collection dates back to the 1790s. Over 50 ledgers offer detailed documentation on mercantile activities in the Cazenovia Establishment where Forman was a Holland Land Company store manager. It is presumed that in the early 1800s Forman bought the store.
Parts of these two collections have been microfilmed by Syracuse University and by the New York Public library, respectively.
Many additions were mad.e since, and the collections have been reorganized. Eventually a comprehensive microfilm edition is highly desirable. At the present time the following microfilm collection is available at Reed Library.
Holland Land Company and Related Records in Cazenovia, 1793-1897
This collection contains land sales ledgers, day books and other account books that were kept by John Lincklaen for the Holland Land Company until 1816 when he purchased the land from the Dutch. After Lincklaen's death in 1822 his family and their descendants continued selling the land until the late 1880s. Cornell University filmed these segments of the collection.
Microfilm/HD/195/H64...., 9 reels
ONEIDA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, UTICA
The Society Library has partial records of the purchases, surveys, maps and land sales of the several tracts in Oneida County that were purchased by the Holland Land Company and later sold to other speculators.
Included are the:
Abraham Varick Papers, 1797-1839
Adgate Patent Papers 179&-1852
Charles A. Mann Papers, 1834-1857
Oodhoudt Patent Records, 1795-1831
Service Patent Records, 1769-1848
This collection vas not filmed.
In addition, the following repositories, among others, have Holland Land Company related documents:
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library
Harvard University - Baker Library
New York Historical Society
New York Public Library
Orleans County Court House
Syracuse University
University of Rochester
Lists of holdings of all of the above listed collections are available at the Holland Land Company Project Office in Reed Library. The lists describe in more specific detail the volume and nature of the available documents, the time period they cover and the locality they pertain to.
Reed Library is constantly procuring secondary sources that deal in some detail with the Holland Land Company, its employees and with the domestic speculators who purchased land from the Dutch and continued selling it to settlers.
PLEASE NOTE:
The staff at Reed Library does not provide genealogical research!