From John Jay to Henry Oothoudt, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, and Christopher Yates, Commissioners of Forfeitures for the Western District, 5 September 1784
To Henry Oothoudt, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, and
Christopher Yates, Commissioners of Forfeitures
for the Western District1
N York. 5 Sep. 1784
Gent.
I observe by the news Paper that ^you have advertized^ the Interest of Henry White Esqr. in the Township of Whiteborough is to be sold at public auction next month— It is therefore necessary that you should be informed of the following Facts respecting my Claim ^Right^ to a 1000 acres of his Share in that Grant—2
The britsh Instruction to their Govrs. to ^The former Governmt. being restrained by the Kings Instructions from^ granting only ^more than^ 1000 acres to one Man; made it necessary ^was usual^ for those who wanted to [illegible] and from ^wished to obtain^ larger Grants to obtain [illegible] ^use^ their Friends to [illegible] use their names on the occasion, & after the Patent had passed the Seals, those Friends released to them.
When Mr White was applying for ye Grant in Quesn. he with my Consent used my Name, and you will accordingly find ^by the Patent^ that I was one of the Grantees.3 After the Patent had passed the Seals, the ^usual^ Releases were prepared—but at that Time I agreed with Mr White to retain the 1000
acres granted to me, on paying my Share of the Expences hence it happened that I did never release my 1000 acres to him, and as will appear by a Release wherein my name is mentioned, and which tho’ executed by all the others named in it, was not executed by me. I expected when the Patent shd. be divided to have taken by ^my^ Share out of Mr Whites Lotts, & that Matter would have been settled between us if the War had not come on. On this State of Facts I presume you will think it right to ^think it reasonable to propose that you should^ reserve one of his Lotts to satisfy this Demand in which Case ^& in that Case that^ I will ^shd^ release my Right in Common to ^in^ the Residue, either to you or to the purchasors and on your executing ^to me^ a Release ^for the Lott reserved ^ to me— You will find no Difficulty in satisfying yourselves of the Facts—by ^on^ reading the Patent you will find my name in it, and the Release which I have obtained fr Mrs. White has just put into my Hands will shew that I have not executed it—4 I am Gent your most obt. Servt.
Henry Oothoudt / Jer. V. Renselaer / Christopher Yates Esqr / Comrs. of Forfeiture for the / Western District—
Dft, NNC (EJ: 8856).
1. Henry Oothoudt (1742–1818), Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (1738–1810), and Christopher Yates (1737–85), a nephew of Abraham Yates, served as commissioners of forfeiture for the Western District, along with Jacob G. Klock (1738–1814).
2. For the commissioners of forfeiture’s notices, dated 24 July and 19 Aug. 1784, regarding the sale of lots forfeited by Henry White and others, see the New York Journal, and State Gazette, 5 and 12 Aug., and 2, 9, 16, and 23 Sept. 1784. Forfeited estates in the Western District were sold during three periods: 1780–83, under the Act of Attainder of 22 Oct. 1779; 1784–88, under the Act of 12 May 1784, in disregard of the 1783 Treaty of Paris; and the final period beginning in 1788. The second period was marked by the greatest activity; 142 new owners then acquired the property of 34 Loyalists. While the properties of the prominent Loyalist Henry White, husband of JJ’s cousin Eva Van Cortlandt, were forfeited, the commissioners made an exception and recognized JJ’s claim. According to the New York State Tax Assessment Rolls of Real and Personal Estates, 1799–1804, JJ was assessed taxes on lots 34 and 35, in Whitesborough, in the town of Franklin, county of Delaware. Claims of others in the Western District until 1797 had been handled by a special Commission for Extinguishing Claims. See Catherine S. Crary, “Forfeited Loyalist Lands in the Western District of New York— Albany and Tryon Counties,” New York History 35 (1954): 239–58. By his will, 19 May 1786, Henry White devised to his son Henry Jr., “all my real estate in North America and all my property there,” New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, 36: 4 (October 1905): 263. Despite the confiscation of White’s property under the Act of 1779, his son Henry was able to purchase a substantial part of his father’s property in New York City, while the state in May 1786 acquired White’s impressive mansion on Queen (now Pearl) Street for use as the governor’s residence. , 218, 228, 238; , 41–42; Magazine of American History, 1, pt. 2 (1877): 729. Henry White Jr. had returned to New York on the same ship that carried the Jays. See JJ to the President of Congress, 25 July 1784, note 2.
3. Patent not located.
4. Eva Van Cortlandt (Mrs. Henry) White’s release, not located.