Dec 01, 2010 - Sale 2232

Sale 2232 - Lot 101

Price Realized: $ 8,400
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,500 - $ 5,000
(VERMONT and NEW YORK.) Stevens, Benjamin; surveyor. A Map of Newbrook in the County of Gloucester in the Province of New York, Surveyed in June & July 1771. Manuscript map on vellum of a disputed area in present day Vermont, in the form of a plat showing land holdings by various gentlemen, 25x24 1/2 inches sheet size (640x620 mm). Gloucester County, NY, 1771
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Important manuscript map related to ongoing land disputes in present day Vermont. Surveyed by Benjamin Stevens for Goldsbrow Banyar, John Tabor Kempe, Alexander Colden, John Levine, Crean Brush, and John Bowles - all landholders in the area.
In 1764 in answer to disputes over frontier land in present day Vermont, George II issued a proclamation establishing the Connecticut River as the boundary between New York and New Hampshire. Royal Governor Bennington Wentworth of New Hampshire had made land grants in the area of Vermont beginning in 1760. He continued to do so illegally after the decree. These claims are generally referred to as the Wentworth grants. These grants became the bone of contention between New York and New Hampshire and became so serious that another royal decree was issued in 1767 forbidding New York from issuing grants which conflicted with the already established Wentworth grants.
New York chose to ignore the decree and began issuing grants on new land and on existing Wentworth grants. Subsequently, New York officials began an attempt to eject settlers holding Wentworth grants from their holdings. This gave birth to the movment led by Ethan Allen which was known as the Green Mountain Boys.
The present map is a clear example of the New York rush to take over lands held under Wentworth grants. The area shown on the map is along the Onion River (or Winooski) between Montpelier and Barre. The survey makes no pretence of encouraging New York settlers. All grantees shown on this map were high-ranking New York officials, including Goldsbrow Banyar (Deputy Secretary of the New York Council), John Tabor Kempe (Attorney General of New York), Alexander Colden (son of Lieut.-Gov. Cadwallader Colden), Crean Brush (Court Reporter and Registrar Probate for Cumberland County, VT - appointed to further NY claims), and James Duane (influential lawyer representing New York in legal cases concerning the grants). Both Duane and Kempe became so odious to the Green Mountain Boys that the Boys offered a reward for their capture.
The dispute over the grants continued through the early 1770s but became less of an issue with the beginning of the American Revolution. But the issue had not died. Ethan Allen took the matter up and Vermont was declared independent in January 1777.