New York Colony Governor Returns of Surveys

Chronological.

Philip Welles did most of the surveys; a few were done by Robert Fullerton. They contain information on: description of land; purchaser's name; location of land; and return date. The warrant of survey, giving government authorization for the survey to be done, is sometimes included also.

A1886-78: Governor Thomas Dongan generally required land purchasers to have surveys made before he would approve a purchase. These returns of surveys report the survey results to the governor.

A1886-98: This 3-volume accretion consists of "returns" reporting results to various provincial governors who authorized surveys by warrant. Among others, George Clinton, Cadwallader Colden, John Earl Dunmore, Henry Moore, and William Tryon authorized the warrants. The returns contain information on the warrant of survey; location and description of land; patent holder's name; and return date. Volume 1 includes returns from 1750 through 1770; volume 2 consists of returns solely for 1764. The final volume is an index by name of patentee. The index shows year, county, governor's name, quantity of acres, and folio number.

A1886-78: Microfilm is available at the New York State Archives through interlibrary loan.

Series B0264, Returns of surveys of state land, contains later surveys maintained by the Surveyor General of the State of New York.

A1886-78: List of purchasers.

A1886-98: An alphabetical index by patentee is Volume 3 of the accretion.

A1886-98: These volumes are part of old collection #94, volumes 95, 96, and 59 (index). The accretion resulted from work by Archives staff in 1998 to reconstitute series formed from that old collection.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.