94
 

THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND
 

William Smith says: "James de Lancey who had fied to
England . . . and there joined the Whig opposition to the
Tory administration, writes to his friends in New York urging
the adoption by the continental congress of Burke's "Bill for a
Reconci illation,"—Chronology.

The De Lancey family suffered heavily by the Act of Con¬
fiscation. Under Chapter 25, Laws of I77g, the entire estate
was sold by Isaac Stoutenburgh and Philip van Cortlandt,
commissioners of forfeiture of the Southern District of New
York.

De Lancey tried to sell part of the property before the act
went into effect. He sold the Plow and Harrow land to Pell,
An advertisement reads: "To be sold at private sale . . .
that elegant and well built mansion house being the property
of the said James De Lancey, with 32 or 64 lots of ground,"—
N, Y. Gaz. and Weekly Mercury, March 11, 1782.

In the Manuscript Division of the N. Y, P. L. there is a
map and a list of papers copied from originals in the Audit
Office, Vol. 88, London.

"List of the papers in the case of James Delancey Esq. in
respect of his property, situated in the Out Ward of the City
of New York called the Bowery."

"The papers I [J. AnsteyJ have thought material to be
obtained in the c.ise are sent herewith and consist of:—

1.  A schedule of the amount of Sales, from the Commis¬
sioners of Forfeiture of the Southern District.

2.   A Map of the Bowry Estate made prior to the war, which
I drew with my own hands from the original lent me for that
purpose by the Commissioners of Forfeiture.

3.  A state of the Title to part of the estate in the Bowry,
and of the subsisting dispute between the Family of De Reimer
and the people of this State, with which I was favoured by the
Attorney General.

4.   An estimate or appraisement of the Value by sworn Ap¬
praisers made in the year 1781.

(The total estimate is given as £94145. Judge Jones com¬
puted the returns from the sale of the lands at £93639.10,
New York currency, in dollars—$234,198.75.)

5.  An affidavit of Geoi^e Stanton, Carpenter, sometime
Agent for James Delancey respecting the Bowery Estate, with
two small papers annexed, one of which is in his own hand-
wriring.

6.   An account of the several Title Deeds transmitted by
Geot^e Stanton to James Delancey soon after the evacua-

7.  A certificate from the Treasury of the State negative of
Debts due upon the Estate.

8.  A cerrificate from the Secretary of the State negative ot
Incumbrances."

The map with these papers is one copied for the librar>- in
1898, by B. F. Stevens. Said to be a copy of an original in the
Audit Office in London.

It differs materially from the map shown in Lamb, Hist.
City of N, Y,, 1: 617, which is also reproduced in Jones, Hist.
ofN, Y. in the Rev., U:   558,

"The subsisting dispute between the Family of De Reimer
and the people of this State" would no doubt be interesting
reading. The De Reimers had sold all their interest in the
property in 1741.

Undoubtedly a map was made ior the State, at the request
of Isaac Stoutenburgh, one of the commissioners of forfeiture.

The history of this map is contained in Bancker's Manu¬
script notes, in N. Y. Hist. Soc.

The.se notes show that the plan by which the commissioners
of forfeiture sold the estate was made between July 27, 1782,
and February 17, 1784. Delancey's Square has disappeared
from this map. Orchard St. is continued north to Stuyvesant's
land.   Two additional streets, not named but now known as
 

Allen and Ludlow Sts., are shown. Bancker's notes explain it
very clearly.

"1782 July 27, 28, 29. Spent most part of these 3 days in
make[ing] two sketches oi Mr. De Lanceys ground to send to
him to have his aprobarion the one in part the old plan by Rat-
zers map the other a new plan that is to say to make every cross
street from the Bowery except the first to be 200 feet apart
and 50 feet wide, which will make 2 more streets than there Is
at present, m.ide remarks on a separate sheet of paper to go
with the plans to England."

1783 July 7. Bancker's field notes of the Survey of James
De Lancey's Land.

Courses and land marks given but no acreage men¬
tioned.

Also notes of survey ofthe northernmost meadow, containing
16 acres: and of several others, one called "the North Cove
Meadow," &c

"Feb'y 17, 1784. Finished (a Plan of James De Lanceys
land on 6 sheets of the lat^est 6i best paper, on a scale of 100
feet to an inch) for the State at the Request of Mr. Isaac
Stoutenburgh it contains upward of 20 square feet."

Among the Steenwyck papers relating to the Dominie's
farm is the following.

"Memorandum, by means of Grontbrieven, Deeds, Leases,
and Moi^en Number, drawn from the Patents of the Hon.
Stuyvesant and Nicolls, Governors of this Province, dated
April 7th, 1660, March 15th, 1666, and August loth, 1667.

"By measurements made April 5th, 1689, by Mr. John Hol-
wel, {sic) sworn surveyor, in presence of the neighbors and
best known persons, there was found to be of clear land, wood¬
land, fresh and salt meadow, as appers by the draft made and
attested by the same, the total of 269 acres, 3 rods, and 38
feet, or reckoning i; acres as 7 morgens of land, it would
amount in quantity to about 125 morgens, 304 rods.

"Remains the amount of 8 m: 308 rods, 'Together 134 mor¬
gens, 12 rods,"

This memo, annotated; "Morgen Number of my Bouwery
on the fresh water. There remains to us according to patents
the quantity of 8 morgens, 308 rods."

Howell measured the Dominie's farm; called it a little more
than269acres. The Mansion House plot called 18 acres. Total
287 acres. The Bancker surveys do not give any acreage.
Edwin Smith thought the farm contained about 339 acres.
These confllcring figures cannot be reconciled.

The Howell Map of April 5, i68g, isnot with the Steenwyck
papers. No copy of It has been found. Bancker usually copied
any map that he thought important. No such copy has been
found, indicating that the map disappeared very early,

THE OLIVER DE LANCEY FARM

Block Check List. 1254-1250-1202-1111-1111-1130-
1187-1254.

The country seat of Stephen De Lancey the elder, called
Bloomingdale, became the Oliver De Lancey farm. It com¬
prised lots 8, 9, and 10 of the "Thousand acre tract," No deeds
to Stephen De Lancey have been found either recorded or
unrecorded.

The four most northerly lots of the thousand acres belonged
to Egbert Wouterse and Jan Vlnge, but the allotments to
these two patentees cannot be proved. From incomplete
evidence, the theory has been deduced that lots 7 and 8 fell
to Egbert Wouterse, lots 9 and 10 to Jan Vlnge.

Lots 7 and 8 were probably sold to Thomas Hall. Hail was
dead by Nov., 1669.—Rec, N. Am., VI:   203.

His widow made her will in August, i66g. In it she manu¬
mitted her slave and left him "a parcell of her lands layelng
about the Great Kill,"   This lot has been identified as lot 7