New York State Department of State Abstracts of Letters Patent

Chronological.

This series consists of a partial set of volumes containing summary information about land patents awarded by New York Colony and New York State. The volumes abstract, in rough chronological order, patents awarded from 1664-1679 and 1695-1842; however, patents awarded to veterans of the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War as payments for military service are not included. Patents granting lands that New York ceded to Vermont, ca. 1820, are scattered throughout the volumes.

Each abstract states the date on which the patent was granted, the name(s) of the patentee(s), the name of the locality in which the land parcel was situated at the time the patent was issued, the number of acres granted, the lot number, and the names of the town and county in which the parcel was located at the time these volumes were compiled (ca. 1850). Volume 1 identifies purchasers of designated "negro lots" on Manhattan Island in the 1660s. The part of Volume 9 which includes out-of-sequence transactions from 1812-1842 appears primarily to cover lands released to the state and mortgage defaults.

A3123Series A3123, Abstracts of military patents, contains abstracts of patents awarded to veterans of the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War as payment for service

12943Series 12943, Letters patent, contains the original patents from the Secretary of State's office from which these abstracts were prepared.

Each volume contains an alphabetical name index of lead patentees and a geographical index of towns (as they existed ca. 1850) in which the patents were granted.

Collation date ca. 1850.

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