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Auction: 317 - The Collector's Series
Lot: 1003

Ulster & Albany Counties, NY; Hardenbergh Patent; Verplanck, Gulian; Livingston, Robert ("Robert of Clermont", 1688-1775). A pair of Indentures between "Robert Livingston of the City of New York Merchant… and Gulian Verplanck…Merchant", for the release of certain lots and parcels of land, being part of the Hardenbergh patent (of 1708) {these lots may now be in Delaware County, NY}. 1) One and one half pages, 28 ¾ x 22 ¾" (to bottom fold), on vellum, Dec. 12, 1749. The bottom fold bound in four spots with pink ribbon. Signed "Robt. Livingston" at center of bottom fold, by red wax seal. Recorders notations and signatures on verso. Light soiling, a Fine document; 2) One page, 23 ¾ x 16" (to bottom fold), Dec. 11, 1749. Signed "Robt. Livingston" on bottom fold beside dark wine-red wax seal with bust of Queen Anne. Secretary of NY notation and appearance before Council Edward Holland signed citation on verso. Splits along folds, bottom quarter separated. Very Good. The Hardenbergh Patent encompassed approximately 2 million acres of land situated in the New York counties of Ulster, Greene, Orange, Sullivan and Delaware. It was purchased - a term in retrospect used quite loosely --by Johannes Hardenbergh a merchant in Esopus, on March 22, 1707 from Nanisinos, the sachem of the Esopus Indians for the sum of 60 Pounds current money of New York. The transaction was confirmed in April 1708 by royal grant from Queen Anne. The Livingtons, a prominent New York family who had emigrated from Scotland via the Dutch Republic in the 17th Century, were very active in the Hudson Valley region, and the lands of the patent. Robert Livingston Sr. devoted his life to acquiring land and property, while the interest of his son, the signor of this document, in land was motivated by a desire to "found a family" (See: Evers, Alf "The Livingston Presence in the Great or Hardenbergh Patent", The Hudson Valley Regional Review, March 1988, volume 5, No. 1) and to develop the land. [2]

Estimate
$300 to $500