[EXTRAORDINARY MANUSCRIPT DEED, SIGNED BY MULTIPLE INDIAN LEADERS, CEDING A LARGE TRACT OF LAND ON LONG ISLAND TO THE VAN CORTLANDT FAMILY].
[Colonial Indian Land Cession]:
Long Island. June 1, 1703. Manuscript on paper, 11 3/4 by 14 1/2 inches, with further manuscript text on the verso. Several fold separations, minor marginal chipping and abrasion. Else very good, with sixteen original red wax seals. A very rare, important, and informative document, transferring a large tract of land on Long Island from the local Indian tribes to members of the wealthy and influential Van Cortlandt family. It follows in a long line of similar transactions stretching back to 1626, when Peter Minuet purchased Manhattan Island from the local Indians on behalf of the Dutch West India Company. In 1670, Gov. Francis Lovelace purchased Staten Island from local chiefs. The present contract was made on June 1, 1703, between twelve Indian chiefs and Gertrude Van Cortlandt, widow of the late Stephanus Van Cortlandt, and her children. The names of the chiefs on the document include Wamshas, Suppans, Porspas, Rawson, and others from the local tribes. They agree to sell, "for and in consideration of eighty three pounds currant money of New York to us in hand paid," an extensive tract of land "on the south side of Nassau island." The parameters of the land are described in the document, and it appears to be along the southern shore of Long Island, in the area encompassed by the present towns of Islip and Bay Shore. Stephanus Van Cortlandt, one of the most prominent men of colonial New York in the second half of the 17th century, was granted a royal license by the British to obtain land from the Indians beginning in 1677. His youngest brother, Jacobus Van Cortlandt (1658-1739), was mayor of New York City in 1710 and 1719, and he also set about amassing a large estate through purchases of land from local Indian tribes (a part of which became present-day Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx). The present deed has been signed and affirmed by Jacobus Van Cortlandt on the verso, who attests that the chiefs have presented themselves before him and confirmed the accuracy of the document. The Van Cortlandt family was among the most prominent clans in colonial New York. Stephanus Van Cortlandt (1643-1700) was born in New Amsterdam (now New York), the son of a wealthy merchant. In 1681 he married Gertrude Schuyler of Albany, and they had eleven children. Stephanus Van Cortlandt rose to prominence as a merchant himself, and he successfully negotiated the power struggle between the Dutch and British in New York, being appointed to positions of power by colonial authorities on both sides. In 1677 the British governor of New York, Sir Edmund Andros, appointed him the first native-born mayor of New York City, and he served on the Governor's Council, as receiver of the revenue for New York and New Jersey, and as a judge on several courts. Also in 1677, Andros granted Van Cortlandt a license to obtain land from the Indians, and in 1683 he began buying huge tracts of land along the Hudson River and in western Connecticut. He also owned land in Manhattan, as well as in the counties of Suffolk (on the northeast shore of Long Island), Richmond (on Staten Island), and Kings (in present-day Brooklyn). Upon his death in 1700, Van Cortlandt divided his land among his eleven children, though his widow, Gertrude, largely controlled the estates until her death in 1723. The Van Cortlandts continued to add to the family lands through purchases such as the one executed in this deed. Any such early colonial Indian land cession documents are very rare, and quite under-utilized in telling the history of relations between Indians and colonists. An important historical record. ANB 22, pp.172-73.
(Item ID: WRCAM37244) $37,500.00