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57-989: Company lawyer David A. Ogden purchased the pre-emption rights for the remaining Seneca reservation lands from the Holland Land Company in 1810 and established another unincorporated syndicate, the Ogden Land Company . The company purchased much of the Seneca lands in the 1820s and 1830s, often fraudulently. Dutch interest in American investments began during the American Revolution. In 1789, four Dutch firms, Pieter Stadnitski and Son, Nicolaas and Jacob Van Staphorst, P. & C. Van Eeghen, and Ten Cate & Vollenhoven, joined together and hired Theophile Cazenove as their purchasing agent to engage in land speculation. Cazenove's office, and later

114-654: A degree of cold indifference, which I thought I could not endure." In 1823, the Seneca sold most of their remaining land in that area, except for a 2-acre (8,100 m ) tract of land reserved for Jemison's use. Known by local European-American residents as the "White Woman of the Genesee", Jemison lived on the tract for several years. In 1831 she sold it and moved to the Buffalo Creek Reservation , where some Seneca lived (others had gone to Ontario, Canada ). Jemison died on September 19, 1833, aged 90. She

171-604: A handsome girl, or a pleasant, good thing." When she came of age, Mary married a Delaware man named Sheninjee, who was living with the band. They had a son whom she named Thomas after her father. Sheninjee took her on a 700-mile (1,100 km) journey to the Sehgahunda Valley along the Genesee River in present-day Western New York state. Although Jemison and their son reached this destination, her husband did not. While hunting one day on their journey, he

228-474: A hope of your being rescued? Oh! that death had snatched you from my embraces in your infancy: the pain of parting then would have been pleasing to what It now is; and I should have seen the end of your troubles! Alas, my dear! my heart bleeds at the thought of what awaits you; but, if you leave us, remember, my child, your own name, and the names of your father and mother. Be careful and not forget your English tongue. If you shall have an opportunity to get away from

285-537: A law taxing debts due to foreign landowners, targeted specifically at the company. The company responded by ending its lenient policies to increase profits. It also began selling its land deeds to local investors, who enforced collections and evictions even more strictly. Events came to a head in 1836 when the Mayville and Batavia offices were both attacked by mobs. In 1839, the last land in Western New York

342-798: A main land office in 1801 in Batavia, New York , which later became the county seat of Genesee County . A second office was opened in Danby, Vermont . Busti also appointed local agents at other offices within different parts of the area. They located subagents in Mayville in 1810, Ellicottville in 1818, Buffalo in 1826, Meadville , Instanter (a small village of German settlers in McKean County, Pennsylvania), two districts in Eastern Alleghany , Lancaster , Cazenovia , and Barneveld . From

399-502: A prisoner or obtain an enemy's scalp to compensate them. The 12-year-old Mary and the young boy were spared, likely because they were of suitable age for adoption. Once the party reached Fort Duquesne, Mary was given to the two Seneca women, who took her downriver to their settlement. After a short ceremony, a Seneca family adopted Mary, renaming her as Deh-he-wä-nis (other romanization variants include: Dehgewanus, Dehgewanus and Degiwanus, Dickewamis). She learned this meant "a pretty girl,

456-519: A short distance, we stopped to encamp for the night. Here we had some bread and meat for supper; but the dreariness of our situation, together with the uncertainty under which we all labored, as to our future destiny, almost deprived us of the sense of hunger, and destroyed our relish for food. As soon as I had finished my supper, an Indian took off my shoes and stockings, and put a pair of moccasins on my feet, which my mother observed; and believing that they would spare my life, even if they should destroy

513-517: A tax on nonresidents to support government improvements starting in the 1810s. The company lobbied for the construction of the Erie Canal to improve land values further, and Ellicott was appointed to the canal commission in 1816. The company donated 100,000 acres of land for the canal's right of way. In the 1830s, after years of petitions from Western New Yorkers, the New York legislature passed

570-842: The Cattaraugus Reservation were adjusted and a strip of Seneca lands along the Niagara River was acquired by the company. In 1798, the New York Legislature, with the assistance of Aaron Burr , authorized aliens to hold land directly, and the trustees conveyed the Holland Purchase to the real owners. It was transferred to two sets of proprietors, and one of these sets soon divided into two, making three sets of owners altogether. Each set of proprietors owned their tract as "joint tenants" with right of survivorship, which means as proprietors died off,

627-592: The Morris Reserve . The right for the remaining four parcels, comprising the westernmost 3,250,000 acres (13,200 km) was then purchased between December 1792 and July 1793 from Morris by the Dutch investors comprising the syndicate, through Cazenove and trustee Herman LeRoy. Before Morris could give the Holland Land Company title to this land, it was still necessary to extinguish the Indians' title to it. This

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684-539: The 185,000 acres (750 km) of the Mill Yard Tract , which Phelps and Gorham retained along with their other lands east of the Genesee. He was soon pressed by his own debts and sought another purchaser for the land. He kept one parcel of 500,000 acres (2,000 km) for himself in a tract 12 miles (19 km) wide and running the breadth of Western New York from Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania, known as

741-673: The Holland Land Company would own the land around the mouth of the creek where the village of Buffalo was to be built. In 1799, Paul Busti (Paolo Busti) succeeded Cazenove as General Agent. Busti was a native of Milan who had made his career in Amsterdam where he married Elizabeth May, a sister-in-law of one of the syndicate members, Isaac ten Cate. Other agents with Dutch roots included John Lincklaen , Gerrit Boon , Adam Gerard Mappa , and Mr. Busti's assistants Harm Jan Huidekoper and John Jacob Vanderkemp . Vanderkemp succeeded Busti as Agent General after his death in 1824 and served until

798-474: The Indians don't try to escape; for if you do they will find and destroy you. Don't forget, my little daughter, the prayers that I have learned you - say them often: be a good child, and God will bless you! May God bless you, my child, and make you comfortable and happy.' During this time, the Indians stripped the shoes and stockings from the little boy that belonged to the woman who was taken with us, and put moccasins on his feet, as they had done before on mine. I

855-672: The Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison (1824). It was reprinted in the late 20th century. In 1874 her remains were reinterred near a historic Seneca council house on a private estate, in what is now Letchworth State Park . Mary Jemison was born to Thomas and Jane Jemison aboard the ship William and Mary in the fall of 1743, while en route from British Ireland (in today's Northern Ireland) to America . They landed in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and joined other Protestant Scots-Irish immigrants in heading west to settle on cheaper available lands in

912-594: The North American front of the Seven Years' War between France and Britain. Both sides made use of Native American allies, especially in the frontier areas where they had few regular forces. One morning in early 1755, a raiding party consisting of six Shawnee Indians and four Frenchmen captured Mary, the rest of her family (except two older brothers), and a young boy from another family. En route to French-controlled Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh ),

969-487: The Seneca tribe. She helped win more favorable terms for surrendering their rights to the land at the Treaty of Big Tree (1797). Late in life, Jemison told her story to the minister James E. Seaver, who published it as Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison (1824; latest ed. 1967). It is considered a classic captivity narrative . Although some early readers thought that Seaver must have imposed his own beliefs, since

1026-535: The Shawnee killed Mary's mother, father, and siblings, and ritually scalped them. Mary later learned that it was a Seneca custom, when one of their own was killed or taken prisoner in battle, to take an enemy as prisoner or to take their scalp in a mourning ritual. Two Seneca women had lost a brother in the French and Indian War a year before Mary's capture, and in this mourning raid, the Shawnee intended to capture

1083-913: The United States government for $ 300,000, and funds were appropriated for the purchase in that year's Indian Appropriations bill. This measure was supported by David Hill in the Senate but opposed in the House of Representatives and ultimately defeated. David A. Ogden Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 196855492 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:39:16 GMT Mary Jemison Mary Jemison ( Deh-he-wä-nis ) (1743 – September 19, 1833)

1140-542: The backcountry, what was then the western frontier (now central Pennsylvania). They "squatted" on territory that had been purchased by the Penn family in 1736 from chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy , six nations that were based in central and western New York. The Jemisons had cleared land to develop their farm, and the couple had several children. By 1755, conflicts had started in the French and Indian War ,

1197-442: The company goodwill with the settlers for many years. The company worked on several investments to local infrastructure to make the land more profitable and attractive, including roads, irrigation systems, canals, and mills. Free tracts of land were set aside for the construction of private roads, inns, churches, and other structures. In 1802, the company laid out the first street plan for the city of Buffalo. Ellicott recognized that

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1254-627: The company headquarters, were based in Philadelphia. The four houses soon expanded to six when they were joined by Willem Willink and Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck in 1792, and established shares for the Holland Land Company in 1795. In 1791, Cazenove purchased 80,000 acres (320 km) north of the Mohawk River and 120,000 acres (490 km) in central New York, organized under the Cazenovia Establishment, on behalf of

1311-561: The company lacked the resources to build and maintain roads, and so he lobbied the state legislature for the creation of Genesee County, which initially encompassed all of the Holland Purchase lands, so that it could assume control over local road construction. After succeeding, Ellicott ensured that all of the county's officials would be favorable to the company. Most settlers believed that company and government services were still inadequate, and public campaigns were organized to levy

1368-576: The company were successfully sued by Seneca John Blacksmith for forcibly evicting him from his sawmill in Fellows v. Blacksmith . In 1895, the sole surviving trustee of the Ogden Land Company, Charles Appleby, falsely claimed the company had extinguished the aboriginal title to the Allegany and Cattaraugus Reservations, and possessed clear title to them. He attempted to sell the lands to

1425-535: The dawn of day we were again started on our march, in the same order that we had proceeded the day before. About sunrise we were halted, and the Indians gave us a full breakfast of provision that they had brought from my father's house. Each of us, being very hungry, partook of this bounty of the Indians, except father, who was so much overcome with his situation, so much exhausted by anxiety and grief, that silent despair seemed fastened upon his countenance, and he could not be prevailed upon to refresh his sinking nature by

1482-657: The four houses. In 1792, Cazenove arranged for the purchase of 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km) in northwestern Pennsylvania on behalf of the six houses. In addition to land, the Dutch investors bought American funds, including the South Carolina Funded Debt and the Massachusetts Deposit, and shares in the Pennsylvania Population Company. On the advice of Cazenove, they also obtained shares in canal companies in

1539-421: The hair in the neatest manner, and then painted it and the edges of the scalps, yet on the hoops, red. Those scalps I knew at the time must have been taken from our poor family, by the color of the hair. My mother's hair was red; and I could easily distinguish my father's and the children's and babies from each other. That sight was most appalling and horrifying; yet I was obliged to endure it without complaining. In

1596-406: The land. They held out for reservations, lands which the Indians would keep for their own use. After much discussion, the Treaty of Big Tree was signed Sept. 15, 1797. The native Indians were to receive $ 100,000 (about $ 1.8 million today) for their rights to about 3.75 million acres (15,000 km), and they reserved about 200,000 acres (809 km) for themselves. In 1802, the boundaries of

1653-462: The late 20th century, many history scholars have thought the memoir is a reasonably accurate account of Jemison's life story and attitude. When she was given her liberty, she decided to stay with the Senecas, because her eldest warrior son was not allowed to go with her and, mostly, she feared her relatives "... would despise [my Indian children] if not myself; and treat us as enemies; or, at least with

1710-566: The liquidation of the Holland Land Companies assets in the 1840s. Ellicott was then the resident agent in charge of the Holland Tract land sales in 1800. After Ellicott's resignation in 1821, the Holland Tract sales were overseen by Jacob S. Otto from 1821 to 1827, and David E. Evans from 1827 to 1837. David A. Ogden and his brother Thomas Ludlow Ogden were legal advisors to the company. The Holland Land Company opened

1767-518: The market, or to keep without spoiling, by straining them over small hoops which they prepared for that purpose, and then drying and scraping them by the fire. Having put the scalps, yet wet and bloody, upon the hoops, and stretched them to their full extent, they held them to the fire till they were partly dried, and then, with their knives, commenced scraping off the flesh; and in that way they continued to work, alternately drying and scraping them, till they were dry and clean. That being done, they combed

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1824-554: The night, the little boy begged of me earnestly to run away with him, and get clear of the Indians; but remembering the advice I had so lately received, and knowing the dangers to which we should be exposed, in traveling without a path and without a guide, through a wilderness unknown to us, I told him that I would not go, and persuaded him to lie still till morning. My suspicion as to the fate of my parents proved too true; for soon after I left them they were viciously tomahawked to death and scalped, together with Robert, Matthew, Betsey, and

1881-434: The other agents that these prices were unaffordable to nearly all of the arriving settlers, some of whom were entirely cashless. In the sparsely populated region, eviction was also difficult to carry out once land had been settled on. As a result, conditional sales were made ad hoc by the agents, involving discounted prices, lower down payments, longer mortgages, or labor from the settlers on the company's behalf. Leniency earned

1938-448: The other captives, addressed me, as near as I can remember, in the following words: 'My dear little Mary, I fear that the time has arrived when we must be parted for ever. Your life, my child, I think will be spared; but we shall probably be tomahawked here in this lonesome place by the Indians. Oh! how can I part with you, my darling? What will become of my sweet little Mary? Oh! how can I think of your being continued in captivity, without

1995-668: The pre-emption right from Massachusetts in 1791 for $ 333,333.34 (about $ 5.98 million today). Morris was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and a financier of the American Revolution , and at the time was the richest man in America. His purchase from Massachusetts was for some 3,750,000 acres (15,200 km), divided into five parcels, which contained all lands west of the Genesee River except for

2052-562: The right to a new syndicate called the Ogden Land Company in 1821, led by Robert Troup , Thomas Ludlow Ogden, and Benjamin W. Rogers. In 1826, the syndicate negotiated a treaty to purchase several reservation lands, including the Caneadea Reservation, Canawagus Reservation, Big Tree Reservation, Squawky Hill Reservation, and portions of the Gardean, Tonawanda , Cattaraugus, and Buffalo Creek Reservations, for $ 48,216. The treaty

2109-498: The right to purchase the land from the Seneca, based on their colonial charters. In 1786, the two states negotiated an agreement in the Treaty of Hartford that would allow Massachusetts to retain the pre-emption right. Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham then purchased the pre-emption right from Massachusetts, but failed to extinguish the Indian title to this tract and defaulted on their purchase in 1790. Robert Morris next purchased

2166-430: The surviving proprietors took the deceased's share, and that share did not pass by will or inheritance, except in the case of the last survivor. The first transfer by the trustees was all of the Holland Purchase except 300,000 acres (1,200 km), which went to Wilhelm Willink , Nicolaas van Staphorst , Pieter van Eeghen, Hendrick Vollenhoven, and Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck . The 300,000 acre (1,200 km) remainder

2223-513: The use of a morsel of food. Our repast being finished, we again resumed our march; and before noon passed a small fort, that I heard my father say was called Fort Canagojigge. That was the only time that I heard him speak from the time we were taken till we were finally separated the following night. Toward evening, we arrived at the border of a dark and dismal swamp, which was covered with small hemlocks or some other evergreen, and various kinds of bushes, into which we were conducted; and having gone

2280-409: The very beginning the agents were urged to keep the records in stone fireproof safes or to deposit them with banks. The company struggled to sell its Pennsylvania lands, which were unsuitable for farming and today remain sparsely populated. The four houses similarly struggled to find buyers in the northern New York tracts, which were sold to Michael Hogan in 1806, and the Cazenovia Establishment, which

2337-629: The war, the British ceded their holdings east of the Mississippi River to the United States, without consulting their Native American allies. The Seneca were forced to give up their lands to the United States. In 1797, the Seneca sold much of their land at Little Beard's Town to Americans. At that time, during negotiations with the Holland Land Company held at Geneseo, New York , Mary Jemison proved to be an able negotiator for

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2394-445: The woman and her two children, and mangled in the most shocking manner After a hard day's march we encamped in a thicket, where the Indians made a shelter of boughs, and then built a good fire to warm and dry our benumbed limbs and clothing; for it had rained some through the day. Here we were again fed as before. When the Indians had finished their supper, they took from their baggage a number of scalps, and went about preparing them for

2451-439: The woods, without fire and without shelter, where we were watched with the greatest vigilance. Extremely fatigued, and very hungry, we were compelled to lie upon the ground, without supper or a drop of water to satisfy the cravings of our appetites. As in the daytime, so the little ones were made to drink urine in the night, if they cried for water. Fatigue alone brought us a little sleep for the refreshment of our weary limbs; and at

2508-406: The woods. On our march that day, an Indian went behind us with a whip, with which he frequently lashed the children, to make them keep up. In this manner, we traveled till dark, without a mouthful of food or a drop of water, although we had not eaten since the night before. Whenever the little children cried for water, the Indians would make them drink urine, or go thirsty. At night, they encamped in

2565-745: The years 1791–1792, including the Patowmack Canal , James River and Kanawha Canal , Santee Canal , Western Canal and the Connecticut Canal. The tract purchased in Western New York was the portion of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase that lay west of the Genesee River . The aboriginal title to the land belonged to the Seneca people at the time. During the colonial area, New York and Massachusetts had both claimed pre-emption ,

2622-457: Was a Scots-Irish colonial frontierswoman in Pennsylvania and New York, who became known as the "White Woman of the Genesee." As a young girl, she was captured and adopted into a Seneca family, assimilating to their culture, marrying two Native American men in succession, and having children with them. In 1824, she published a memoir of her life, a form of captivity narrative . During the French and Indian War , in spring 1755, Jemison at age 12

2679-677: Was achieved at the 1797 Treaty of Big Tree , executed on the Genesee River near modern-day Geneseo , south of Rochester, New York . Representatives of the Holland Land Company, Robert Morris's son Thomas, the Senecas, and a commissioner for the United States named Jeremiah Wadsworth gathered at Big Tree in August, 1797 and negotiations began. Mary Jemison attended as the leader of the Seneca, and proved to be an able negotiator. Chiefs and Sachems present included Red Jacket , Cornplanter , Governor Blacksnake , Farmer's Brother and about 50 others. Red Jacket and Cornplanter spoke strongly against selling

2736-500: Was captured with most of her family in a Shawnee raid in what is now Adams County, Pennsylvania . The others of her family were killed. She and an unrelated young boy were adopted by Seneca families. She became fully assimilated, marrying a Delaware (Lenape), and, after his death, a Seneca man. She chose to remain a Seneca rather than return to American colonial culture. Jemison told her story late in life to an American minister, who wrote it for her. He published it as Narrative of

2793-461: Was conveyed to Wilhelm Willink , Wilhelm Willink, Jr., Jan Willink and Jan Willink, Jr. About two years after the first transfers, the proprietors of the large tract reconveyed title to the original five, plus Wilhelm Willink, Jr., Jan Willink, Jr., Jan Gabriel van Staphorst, Roelof van Staphorst, Jr., Cornelius Vollenhoven, Hendrick Seye and Pieter Stadnitski. The members of the Holland Land Company never travelled to America. In 1795, Joseph Ellicott

2850-448: Was crying. An Indian took the little boy and myself by the hand, to lead us off from the company, when my mother exclaimed, 'Don't cry, Mary! - don't cry, my child! God will bless you! Farewell - farewell!' The Indian led us some distance into the bushes or woods, and there lay down with us to spend the night. The recollection of parting with my tender mother kept me awake, while the tears constantly flowed from my eyes. A number of times in

2907-418: Was hired as the chief surveyor for the company. Beginning in 1798, he formed a surveying team including his brother Benjamin , Augustus Porter , and 130 men. Over the next three years they surveyed the Holland Tract at a total cost of US $ 70,921.69½ (about $ 1,273,241 in today's dollars). While surveying the boundaries of the Buffalo Creek Reservation , Porter bent the northwest corner of the reservation so that

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2964-724: Was initially buried on the Buffalo Creek Reservation. Jemison's heirs later changed their surname to "Jimerson" and established the community of Jimersontown on the Allegany Indian Reservation . "The party that took us consisted of six Indians and four Frenchmen, who immediately commenced plundering, as I just observed, and took what they considered most valuable; consisting principally of bread, meal, and meat. Having taken as much provision as they could carry, they set out with their prisoners in great haste, for fear of detection, and soon entered

3021-492: Was later also killed. During the American Revolutionary War , the Seneca allied with the British, hoping that a British victory would enable them to expel the encroaching colonists. Jemison's account of her life includes observations of this time. She and others in the Seneca town helped supply Joseph Brant (Mohawk) and his Iroquois warriors from various nations, who fought the rebel colonists. After

3078-743: Was never ratified by the Senate, and in 1896 the Seneca Nation unsuccessfully attempted to recover the land in Seneca Nation of Indians v. Christy . In 1838, after Ogden's death, the company was party to the Second Treaty of Buffalo Creek for all of the remaining Iroquois lands in New York, which was ratified but was also disputed as fraudulent. This land purchase was modified by the Third Treaty of Buffalo Creek in 1842 and Fourth Treaty of Buffalo Creek in 1857. In 1856, agents of

3135-491: Was sold off to local investors and settlers, and the Batavia office was closed. Land sales in Pennsylvania were concluded in 1849, and in 1856, the Philadelphia headquarters closed. The company was formally dissolved in 1858. The town of Holland, New York was named after the company. David Ogden purchased the pre-emption right for the remaining Seneca reservation lands from the Holland Land Company in 1810, and transferred

3192-488: Was sold to John Lincklaen in 1818. After years of preparation, the first land sale in the Holland tract was made in 1804. Tension between the company and the residents of Western New York began almost immediately due to the structure of the land sales. The Dutch investors had instructed for land to be sold for $ 2.75 per acre with a down payment of one-quarter to one-third its value, but it soon became apparent to Ellicott and

3249-454: Was taken ill and died. As a widow, Mary and her child were taken in by Sheninjee's clan relatives; she made her home at Little Beard's Town (where present-day Cuylerville, New York later developed). She married again, to a Seneca named Hiokatoo , and together they had seven children: Nancy, Polly, Betsey, Jane, John, Thomas, and Jesse. John had a troubled life. He killed his brother Thomas in 1811, then killed his brother Jesse in 1812, and

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