HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



83 



^^ Resolved, That George C. Edwards be and is hereby appointed 

 treasurer, for the purpose of receiving all funds that may be paid 

 over for the purpose aforesaid, and whose duty it shall be to dis- 

 burse the same at his discretion, with the advice of the chairman and 

 secretaries, in aid of the object contemplated by this meeting. 



" Resolved, That the chairman and secretaries be authorized to cor- 

 respond with such non-resident land-holders in the said counties as 

 they may deem proper, and which in their opinion may be produc- 

 tive of good to the settlers on such lands. 



" Resolved, That while we will use such measures only as are justi- 

 fied by the laws of the land, to effect the removal of the evils under 

 which the people of this vicinity labor, we pledge ourselves to each 

 other and to the public steadily to pursue the object for which this 

 convention is assembled, until a sense of justice on the part of the 

 land-holders and their agents shall induce them to adopt measures 

 calculated to alleviate existing embarrassments among the settlers on 

 said estates. 



^'Resolved, That the proceedings of this convention be signed by 

 the chairman and secretaries and published in the several public 

 journals of the counties of Steuben, Allegany, and Yates, and that 

 one thousand copies of such proceedings be published in the form of 

 a handbill for circulation. 



'^H. A. TowNSEND, CAfuV/rmH. 

 " Edward Howell, | 

 "George C. Edwards, 



MEMORIAL. 



( Secretaries,'* 



*' To Egbert Troup, Esquire, 



Chief Agent of the Pulteney Estate, and 

 " To John Gregg, Esquire, 



Chief Agent of the Hornby Estate. 



"THE MEMORIAL 



^' of the subscribers, delegates chosen by the settlers resident upon the said 

 estates in the several towns of the cotmties of Steuben and Allegany, 



" Respectfully Sheweth, — 



" That previous to the construction of the great Erie Canal the 

 numerous navigable streams penetrating the count}^ of Steuben, and 

 affording means for the cheap and easy transportation of the products 

 of the soil to a market upon our Atlantic coast, were considered as 

 conferring important advantages over the more fertile country through 

 which the canal now passes, and produced a consequent advancement 

 in the valuation of the land. That at that period of time the com- 

 motions of the French Revolution had involved the whole civilized 

 world, our own country excepted, in a general and sanguinary war. 

 The armies of the several powers of Europe, augmented to the utmost 

 possible extent, had withdrawn from the cultivation of the soil such 

 immense numbers of people that the productions of those countries 

 were found entirely inadequate to the support of their inhabitants, 

 and the whole of Europe, threatened with a general dearth and famine, 

 were compelled to procure their bread from the granaries of this 

 country. The productions of our farms were advanced to a price 

 unprecedented; money was abundant, enterprise high, a spirit of 

 emulation had gone abroad in the community, which impelled thou- 

 sands to leave the older settled parts of the country and press on to 

 the wilderness of the West, calculating upon the continuance of this 

 fictitious prosperity ; and, estimating very extravagantly the local 

 advantages of this country, a large number of settlers located them- 

 selves here, contracted for lands at an extravagant price, and for a 

 time appeared prosperous and happy. Produce of all kinds continued 

 to command a high price in ready money, and a few of the first set- 

 tlers, who had obtained the best lands, succeeded in paying for their 

 farms and establishing themselves in independence and competence. 

 Very different, however, is the fate of a very large portion of the set- 

 tlers upon your agency. The lands were covered with a very large 

 growth of timber, and the labor of clearing excessively great. The 

 first crops upon the new lands were small in quantity and inferior in 

 quality. The occupants were poor; for a long time labored under 

 the greatest difficulties in supporting themselves and their families; 

 and finally, when they had succeeded in making such improvements 

 upon their farms as to enable them to raise some surplus beyond the 

 most indispensable provision for themselves and their families, the 

 fortunate period for drawing profit from the productions of the land 

 had passed away. 



" A general peace had succeeded the commotions and distractions of 

 war ; trade and all the arts of life had settled down into their natural 

 and ordinary channels. A stagnation had succeeded as profound as 

 the excitement and activity which had preceded it was general, and 

 property of all kinds underwent a diminution of more than one-half 

 in value. The productions of the soil, no longer required abroad, 

 glutted our markets at home, remaining on hand for the want of pur- 

 chasers, or selling at prices little better than nominal. In the mean 

 time the debt of the settler, now swelled by the continual accumula- 

 tion of interest, was augmented to a sum beyond his ability or his 

 hope of payment. Add to this that the construction of the great Erie 

 Canal, while it conferred the greatest advantages upon the country 

 through which it passed, operated in the same ratio against this by 

 arresting the tide of emigration from it by the course of its channel 

 to the great regions of the West. By the great reduction in the labor 

 and expense of traveling and transportation, distance has, in effect, 

 been diminished, and the lands of the United States, in the State of 

 Ohio and Territory of Michigan, become accessible with less labor 

 and expense than those on which we reside. The adoption of a new 

 policy by the Government of the United States with regard to the 

 national lands so introduced into the market, has also had a very se- 

 rious effect upon this country. The reduction of the price of those 

 lands to one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and the facility of 

 transporting their products to market by the lake and the Grand Canal, 

 have induced many of our citizens who had the means of emigration 

 thither to do so, and all are prevented from settling here who have 

 the means of purchasing and paying for lands. 



'^ The Holland Land Company, impressed with a belief of the impe- 

 rious necessity of the case, have reduced the price of their lands ac- 

 cording to the exigency of the times, and by their low prices and the 

 superior quality of the soil and advantages of location upon the great 

 canal, draw oflf the settlers from us and prevent the sale of lands here. 

 In sho-rt, the great change which has within a few years taken place 

 in the value of all kinds of property everywhere; the great reduction 

 of the relative value of lands in these counties, occasioned by the 

 construction of the great canal; the reduction in the price of the gov- 

 ernment lands and the lands of the Holland Land Company; the di- 

 version of the tide of emigration, capital, and enterprise to other 

 channels ; the great amount of debt now due for lands which the whole 

 value of real estate now in the hands of the settlers, including the 

 improvements made by them ; the utter impossibility of selling 

 their lands at their estimated value, and their utter inability to dis- 

 charge their debts, have produced a crisis in the affairs of the inhabi- 

 tants of a most momentous character, compelling them to appeal to 

 you for relief from burdens and difficulties too great to be longer 

 borne. 



" Impressed with the truth of these considerations, your memorial- 

 ists, on the part of the whole community whom they represent, earn- 

 estly recommend the situation of this country to your consideration; 

 and fully that you have the power as well as the inclination to afford 

 them the fullest relief, they respectfully suggest the propriety of adopt- 

 ing, with regard to this agency, a policy similar to that lately taken 

 up by the Holland Land Company, which has had the happy effect 

 there of restoring peace and confidence, establishing prosperity and 

 enterprise among the settlers, and effecting the collection of a larger 

 sum of money for the proprietors than was ever before realized for 

 their lands, and which will undoubtedly produce similar effects here. 

 Should you adopt this course, gentlemen, we have no hesitation in 

 saying, that while you most effectually promote the interest as well 

 of the land-owners as of the settlers, you will cause your own names 

 to be handed down to posterity among those of the greatest benefac- 

 tors of mankind. 



^' Dated Jan. 20, 1830." 



COL. TROUP's INSTRUCTIONS. 



About three months after the above memorial was pre- 

 sented, Col. Robert Troup, chief agent of the Pulteney 

 estate, issued the following letter of instruction to Hon. 

 William W. McCay, sub-agent at Bath, in respect to the 

 management of the estate in Steuben and Allegany Counties : 



^^New York, March 14, 1830. 



"Dear Sir, — I am informed that the settlers on the Pulteney 

 estate, in Steuben and Allegany Counties, suppose the debts they owe 



