You may have seen the discussions on the
Joel Campbell Family Facebook page regarding the location of the first New York farm of Joel's father, Samuel.
I had presumed the farm was close to the still-standing 1760 home of Benjamin Haines. The Campbell name appeared very close to the Haines name in the 1790 census.
Bob Goodwin placed it about 3 miles further north. A 1783 deed between Israel Brown and Benjamin Wood mentions the Campbell lands. The Brown/Wood property is in the "Brashier patent" which is north of the Haines home. In fact, it shares a common border with the north edge of the Brashier patent. The 1783 deed says the Campbell lands were north of that line.
The commonality between the family names in the 1790 census and the names of farms in the "Brown/Wood" section of the Brashier patent supports Bob's argument that the Campbell farm was in this area. Indeed it is about 3 miles northeast of the still-standing Haines home. It is about that same distance from
Samuel's second farm on Rt 208 (the one mentioned in the 1793 deed.)
The false lead with the Haines home was due to the size and number of Haines properties and homes. It appears that by the 1790 census, Haines had moved from the historic 1760 home on Coleman Road to another one of his properties to the north.
The location of the 1760 Campbell farm is about 10 miles from the commercial centers of Newburgh and New Windsor on the Hudson river to the East. There were also mills on the Wallkill River less than 3 miles to the West, but the markets for goods were reached via the Hudson, not the Wallkill.
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| Location of Campbell Farms on a modern map. Newburgh, New York to the right on the Hudson River. |
The placement of the 1760 farm can be fine-tuned by using some old maps and deeds. Let's start with a 1862 map of this area. The red lines show the extent of the Brashier patent. All early properties were laid out with respect to these borders. More than 100 years after the patent was surveyed, very few properties overlapped those borders.
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| 1862 "Farm Map of the Town of Montgomery, Orange Co., N.Y., Surveyed Drawn & Published by Michael Hughes, N Friend Lith, 332 Walnut St., Philadelphia" with extent of Brashier Patent outlined in red. |
As you can see, by 1862 there were no Woods, Perrys, or Campbells on the map. A few names from the 1790 census survive. For example, there is a "Haines" home on 40 acres where the Tin Brook makes a turn from SW to NW (it flows west to the Wallkill). The "McKenny's" (or McKinney) are also in the 1790 census and have three properties on this map. The property to the north where the Tin Brook makes a loop across the "Newburgh-Ellenville Turnpike" (also known as S Plank Rd and Rt 52) contains the McKinney Home. The "Brown" name appears in the lower right and the road bounding it to the West is still called "Brown Road."
The 198 acres owned by Obadiah Newkirk (at the crossroads of the Turnpike and the Road to St. Andrews) was acquired in 1843 from the heirs of Abraham Wood. Abraham had apparently died and his descendents had scattered. One of his sons signed the deed from his home in Michigan. The guardian of his "Crowell" grandchildren also signed. Abraham's late daughter had married a "Crowell." [his pension application says that his oldest brother's daughter married a Crowell.] Note the placement of the Crowell property on the map. The description of the Wood/Newkirk property is given in the Orange County Land Records, Liber 78, p. 42 (Image 26).
" ... beginning at the corner of the lands of James Beattie and John Arthur, and runs from thence North sixty nine and one quarter degrees West forty seven chains and twenty two links, thence South twenty two and one quarter degrees West, forty four chains and fifty five links, then South sixty seven and a half degrees East, seventeen chains and ten links; thence South twenty two and one quarter degrees West, twenty seven chains and thirty six links; thence South sixty seven and one quarter degrees East, eight chains and forty three links; then North twenty two and one quarter degrees East, forty four chains and seventy eight links; thence South seventy degrees East, twenty two chains and one link; thence North twenty one and a half degrees East twenty seven chains and sixty seven links to the place of beginning; Containing one hundred and ninety eight acres and thirty four rods of land ... "
The shape of this parcel matches exactly the parcel labeled Obadiah Newkirk in the 1862 map (see blue outline).
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| 1862 Map with Obadiah Newkirk purchase from Wood heirs outlined in blue. |
This "Wood" property, however does not match the shape of the two Wood purchases in the 1700s. Are they related? Here is my working hypothesis:
First, the slender piece of property extending to the south, is part the purchase mentioned earlier that Benjamin Wood made from Israel Brown. [Deed of Israel Brown to Benjamin Wood, 2 Nov 1783, Ulster Co., Deeds, Vol II, page 23. (note that "Vol. II" comes after "HH" and before "KK". It is not a Roman numeral.) It is out of order in the Book of Abstracts. In the familysearch.com microfilm it is located as Image 189 where page 32 should be:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-33172-13439-70?cc=2078654&wc=M7CX-FMQ:359005801,360657301]
This 1783 purchase was tall (1.6 miles) and very slender (about 200 yards). It stretched from top to bottom of the Brashier patent. I have colored that parcel in green. Other hints in the description say the NW corner was at a "Rode" which matches with the placement of this plot on the road to St Andrews. It also says that his existing property borders to the east. Which brings us to the 1771 deed in which Wood purchases his original farm from Tuthill.
Parts of the Brashier patent had been purchased by speculators, Samuel Tuthill and Benjamin Brown. The line that divided their purchases ran north and south. The line was marked "T.BB" (Presumably for Tuthill/BenjaminBrown). The line became less important in 1783 when Benjamin Wood owned property on both sides of the line. But in 1771, Wood purchased a parcel which sat in the Tuthill lands and bordered the Brown lands. It also shared a border with the southern border of the Brashier patent. Like the other parcels it was tall (0.9 miles) and slender (300 yards). It is shown on the map in yellow. [Deed of Samuel Tuthill to Benjamin Wood, 7 Jun 1771, Ulster Co., Deeds, Vol II, page 30 (Image 188)
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-33172-12857-72?cc=2078654&wc=M7CX-FMQ:359005801,360657301]
This deed also tells us that it was bordered on the north by "a lot of one hundred acres formerly granted to John Perry." Perry's lot was not quite as tall (0.7 miles) and not quite so slender (~400 yards). [See Deed from Samuel Tuthill to John Perry, 4 Dec 1760, Book GG, p.388 (Image 568 at
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-33171-1090-40?cc=2078654&wc=M7CX-6PX:359005801,360654001)] Its shape fits nicely to the north of the original Wood purchase. It is shown in blue. The "swamp" mentioned in the NW corner, still exists today.
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| 1862 map with 1783 Wood (green), 1771 Wood (yellow), and 1760 Perry (blue) deed information. The estimate of the Campbell property is in purple at the very top and extends off the map. |
The Campbell property is mentioned in both the 1783 Wood Deed (" ... Beginning at a Maple Tree standing in the Line between the said lot and a lot belonging to one Cammel being the Northeast corner of the said Tract ...") and in the 1784 Deed where he gave part of the former property to, Abraham Wood (his brother?) (" ... Beginning at a Maple Tree standing in the Lane [Line?] between the said Land & a Lot of Land belonging to one Camel [Campbell] being the North East Corner of the said Lands ..."). Daniel Campbell is a witness to the 1760 Perry deed, adding credence to the proximity of Campbell lands. No deed exists for the Campbell purchase but as it was north of the Wood and Perry land it is estimated to be where the purple rectangle sits and extends off the map northward.
Some areas of further research are obvious from this. For example, is there a deed from Wood to Whigam (or Wickham or Wigham) in the Abstracts? Or is there a deed from Perry to Wood? I have searched for both of those without success.
Is there a deed from Perry to Snyder or from Perry to Brannan (the two small parcels in blue)? These I have not searched for. [See addendum below!]
I am sure there is something missing here. For example, were there other relatives of Samuel Campbell with property in this area in 1760? We know there was one other Campbell in this area at the time who cavorted with Arthur McKinney (McKenny). (See McKinney lands on the map.) More on that story in a future blog.
[See my
google map doodles of the Brashier Patent.]
ADDENDUM
Shortly after this was published, Robert Goodwin shared the will of Joseph Hunt which locks down with certainty that this is the location of the Wood and Perry tracts. The Campbells were to the north of these tracts, but the exact property lines have not been confirmed. They are likely where the Beattie property is in the 1862 farm map, just to the north of the Newkirk property.
The will is that of Joseph Hunt of Montgomery, Orange Co., NY made 9 March 1807 found in Will Book D, pages 9 to 13.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-28504-54524-38?cc=1920234&wc=9VSY-GP6%3A213303201%2C215218001
In it he leaves the following bequest:
"Thirdly I give devise and bequeath unto my son Joseph Hunt and my daughter Lydia the present wife of William Brannon Jr. the farm I purchased of David and John Perry containing fifty acres of land and lot Number thirty six commonly called King’s hill lot which I purchased of James Duane containing forty five acres of land to be equally divided between them share and share alike Together with the appurtences to have and to hold the same for and during their natural lives and at their decease to their heirs and assigns forever.”
In Robert Goodwin's words, "Apparently Joseph Hunt bought from David and John Perry the south half, 50 acres, of the John Perry 1760 purchase of 100 acres. He then left his land to his son Joseph Hunt and daughter Lydia who was the wife of William Brannon. Lydia and her husband kept their half of that farm, and were apparently still residing on it in 1862. Joseph Hunt Jr. sold his portion to Abraham Snyder (Snider) 9 Dec 1848 Deed Book 98 page 94, who was still in possession when the 1862 farm map was made. This would be the W. Brannen and A Snyder, as listed on the map and represents the south half of the John Perry 1760 farm. The importance of this is that it positively locates where in the Brashier patent the John Perry, and the Abraham Wood/Benjamin Wood farms were."
