New York State Department of State Letters Patent Transcribed Pursuant to an Act of 1786

This series consists of the original engrossed (or final) letters patent and military patents, which were transcribed pursuant to Chapter 13 of the Laws of 1786. That law states that these volumes were "by various accidents so injured that a frequent Recourse to them may render them illegible." The volumes of copies were inserted into the books of Letters Patent (Series 12943) and Military Patents (Series A0447).

The original volumes of this series contain excellent examples of various types of handwriting from the 17th and 18th centuries. The volumes were rebound pursuant to the Laws of 1819. All of the volumes in this series except Books 7 and 17 contain indexes to grantees.

In addition to recorded patents, the first two volumes also contain records of confirmations of deeds dating prior to the English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, commissions and appointments of civil and military officers, naturalizations and denizations of non-British subjects, and a few Indian deeds.

An untitled 36-page volume of records, 1664-1668, is bound into the first volume of "Land Patents" and published in: Peter R. Christoph and Florence A. Christoph, eds. New York Historical Manuscripts: English. Books of General Entries of the Colony of New York, 1664-1673. Orders, Warrants, Letters, Commissions, Passes and Licenses Issued by Governors Richard Nicolls and Francis Lovelace (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982).

Selected documents from this series have been digitized and are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

12943Series 12943, Letters Patent, contains certified copies of the engrossed original patents, made pursuant to Chapter 13 of the Laws of 1786.

Container list is available at the repository.

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