This essay was originally published in the 1939 OCHS Yearbook. Please note that this essay was published over 80 years ago. While still useful for general education, language may be outdated and at times offensive. The Oswego County Historical Society does not stand by the language used in this essay. All photos were added in 2026 when this article was uploaded to the web. To view the original document, please visit NYHeritage.org.
Paper presented before joint meeting of Oswego Historical Society and Central New York Association of Local Historians at Mexico, N. Y., June 3, 1939,by Ralph M. Faust
“If our country had an aristocracy in the days immediately following the American Revolution, it intended to resemble somewhat the aristocracy of pre-Revolutionary days when socially, economically and politically the landholders, lawyers and merchants formed a single, privileged, important ruling class as against the lowly dependent and largely unenfranchised body of tenant farmers, shopkeepers and artisans. The aristocracy of New York was even then an aristocracy of wealth rather than of lineage, the latter being somewhat difficult to establish in barely a century; and in the city wealth centered in the hands of the merchant prince making him the inevitable leader in fashion, in intellectual and philanthropic projects, in polities’. Those from this group who backed the Revolution, when it came, founded and supported the Federalists party and for all their adherence to the Revolutionary cause, believed in the “rule of the rich, the well born and the able.” Among them could be marshalled much of the wealth of the infant republic. Among them were friends of George Washington, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. There were the men who plunged into the great speculation frenzy which characterized the putting up for sale of New York’s “wild lands” at the close of the Revolution and after the Indian title had been extinguished.
The land in Oswego County was included in those “wild lands” as they were referred to at the time.
“The story of one of the first land speculators in Oswego lands begins with Alexander Macomb, a colorful member of this merchant-prince class of New York City. He is reputed to have made a fortune with John Jacob Astor in the fur trade. It was at his home on lower Broadway, a little below old Trinity church, that President George Washington resided when New York City was the capitol of the nation. Soon after the treaty with the Indians by which New York State acquired its lands (1791), Macomb purchased 4,000,000 acres at the very low price of 16 cents an acre. The tract, which embraced lands in several present day counties, extended from along the St. Lawrence River down through St. Lawrence County, Jefferson County, Lewis County, and included present day towns in the upper part of Oswego County; namely Sandy Creek, part of Richland, Orwell, Boylston and Redfield. The line running southwest marking the lower limits of these towns is the exact southern boundary of Macomb’s great purchase.
“The sale of such a great tract at such a low price caused a storm of criticism from enemies of the administration. The Land Commissioners, who had charge of the sale of lands, were accused of dishonesty and of aiding in a plot to quietly transfer the area to Canada. In this connection it is interesting to note that legislative investigations were in fashion even in those days for one was immediately ordered to investigate the purchase. While everyone concerned was ‘indicated, still it is reasonable to suppose that inside influence played its part at Albany.
“Speculation was, without doubt, the object of this vast purchase. But an effort was made by Governor Clinton to place some responsibility for settlement upon the purchasers. Letters Patent issued to Macomb carried the requirement that settlement must be made on each of 640 acres of the patent within a period of seven years, otherwise the state could retake title to the land. It Is apparent from the sources that the meaning of the word “settlement” in the patent must have been interpreted in various ways, for it is found that Clinton insisted that settlement mean one family and this change was added to the bottom of Macomb’s Patent. This was a straight condition and must have caused the speculators much concern.
Constable Succeeds Macomb
‘For some reason, perhaps the settlement condition but more likely because he became financially embarrassed, Macomb’s title to the lower part of the tract, including the area in Oswego County, passed to William Constable, another great land baron of the period, who came to own a large part of Northern New York. Constable’s name is closely identified with prominent figures of that day. In the Revolution he had been an aide-de-camp to LaFayette. His wife was a close friend of Martha Washington.
Their home was on Wall Street and their children married into the famous Livingston and Pierrepont families. Their son, William Constable, Jr., came to the North Country with his bride in the early 1800’s and built the Manor house ‘Constable Hall’ which still is occupied by Constables, a great high columned mansion of gray stone, looking down from an eminence upon the broad reaches of the Black River valley with the blue peaks of the Adirondacks in the distance. The Constables were largely responsible for the settlement and development of northern New York, and it is interesting to note in passing that the contract executed in selling off some of his land holdings was written by Alexander Hamilton.
“From Constable the Oswego lands were soon acquired by Thomas Boylston, another speculator from Boston. It was Boylston who had the area surveyed and named. Today the tract is still known in the records as ‘the Boylston tract’ even though ownership passed from him subsequently.
“No sooner had Macomb applied for his patent (1791) than the lands directly to the south and west, extending to the Oswego River and embracing the area between Oneida Lake and Lake Ontario, were applied for by John and Nicholas Roosevelt. This family was another prominent family of the day and are among the ancestors of our President. Nicholas was a merchant and manufacturer of New York. His father, Isaac, had been a member of the New York Provincial Congress and for many years was president of the Bank of New York. John Roosevelt was a law partner of John Jay. The tract of land comprised roughly about a half million acres and covered the greater part of what is today Oswego County.
“Within the limits of this general area, however, some twelve minor g;rants had been made by the state mostly along the fringes of the great tract such as at Three Rivers, and Phoenix, etc. Only two of these shall be noted to show again the men interested in these lands. The so-called Lush location along the banks of the Oneida River was purchased by Stephen Lush who at the time of the purchase was secretary of his excellency Governor Clinton. Other parcels to the amount of 7,000 acres around Phoenix and elsewhere were granted to JEzra L’Hommedieu. He was a lawyer from Long Island and earlier had been appointed as one of the State Commissioners to aid in getting titles from the Indians to the so-called Military lands. His portrait which hangs today in the office of the President of the University of the State of New York at Albany leads me to believe that he also served on the Board of Regents, although I have not verified this observation.
Scriba’s Development Effort
“But it is necessary to return to the Roosevelts. For some reason they soon gave up their intention of developing “wild lands” and immediately (1792) a patent for this same area was granted to another New York merchant by the name of George Frederick William Augustus Scriba.
“To George Scriba must go the credit for making the first real effort to develop lands in Oswego county. He was a German merchant from Holland, who had come to America during the Revolution, sought to purchase “Western lands ” of Congress in 1790, but was unsuccessful. He did some correspondence on the matter with Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury. A year later he seems to have been involved with the New York syndicate headed by the Roosevelts for the purchase referred to above. With the withdrawal of the Roosevelts, Scriba pushed through the gigantic purchase. He paid forty cents an acre for the 500,000 acres. From the beginning Scriba’s interest in developing the State’s “wild lands” was more than speculation as such. It seems reasonable to assume that through it he saw the opportunity to expand his business as a merchant by importing from Europe the products of their labor. Scriba came up to his patent to establish his home and to follow the development of the tract. When he plunged into Oswego lands he is reported to have been a wealthy man. Events leading up to the war of 1812, which greatly disturbed business conditions in the mercantile trade, with embargoes placed on goods, and the actual hostilities that followed, seriously handicapped settlement of the Scriba tracts. Settlers came slowly into the area which was to receive attacks from English forces in 1814. Scriba was not alone in his venture but headed a syndicate of five other New York City merchants who immediately took title to certain sections of the patent. Their interest, however, was entirely speculative. Living now in Constantia on a section of the lands once held by his ancestor is George Fred Scriba, descendant of the purchaser of the tract.
Hamilton’s Holdings
“The incredible optimism of the 1790’s ensnared still another great public figure of his day. This was Alexander Hamilton. The “wild land” speculations of Hamilton consisted of at least five shares in the unfortunate Ohio Company of Manasseh Cutler, and a large interest in Oswego lands. According to his son James, Hamilton early became interested in the possibilities of land speculation up-state. Some authorities say boldly that he purchased 75,000 acres in the present town of Richland, Oswego county, from Scriba in 1795. The records in our County Clerk’s office, however, show that John Mark, one of Scriba’s associates, persuaded ex-United States Senator John Laurence to purchase his share. Laurence then borrowed money from Hamilton and John Church and lated deeded them the land in payment. The fact remains, however, that Hamilton owned many thousand acres in Oswego County some of which were located within the limits of Oswego city, and known to this day as ‘Hamilton s Gore.’ The County records also contain a document which is a sad commentory on the affairs of the man who was Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. It forms a little story of its own.
“The sad and dramatic death of Hamilton in 1804, the day following his duel with Aron Burr on Weehawken Heights, left Hamilton’s family in an unfortunate situation. He owed more money on personal notes and bonds than an immediate sale of the properties he possessed would have realized. Although the political movement which he led had secured for many others the considerable economic fruits of the Revolutionary era, Hamilton died heavily in debt. The Grange, the New York Mansion he built himself; an interest in the Ohio Company; and the tracts in Oswego County; these were the various properties left by Hamilton in 1804. If the estate had been forcibly liquidated, the family would have been left very badly off. It was this eventuality Hamilton feared, although to the last he considered his lands in Oswego as potentially productive of the greatest profits. Gouverneur Morris summoned the matter up thus: ‘Our friend Hamilton has been suddenly cut off in the midst of embarrassment which would have required years of professional industry to set straight; a debt of between fifty thousand and sixty thousand dollars hanging over him, a property which in time may sell for seventy or eighty thousand, but which, it brought to the hammer, would not in all probability, fetch forty; a family of seven young children.’
“Now the old Federalists of New York City were a tightly knit social group; the situation of Hamilton’s family was immediately recognized as a challenge to their honor. Four days after the funeral, one of them was writing abroad, ‘A number of gentlemen here have resolved to raise a fund among the friends of the dead (sic). The design is that a select number of gentlemen of easy fortunes shall, without much eclat and publicity, subscribe what may be sufficient.’ The writer of this letter thought that all ‘Men of Property’ would respond in the right way when they considered how greatly they were indebted to the labors of General Hamilton.
“Men in Boston and Philadelphia were appealed to as well as those in New York to thus prevent Hamilton’s properties from going to forced sale. It was only in New York City, however, that anything substantial was done for the immediate aid of the family. A considerable amount was raised by the subscription which took the form of a trust fund, each of the 400 shares having a value of $200. Thus, if all the certificates were eventually paid for, a sum of $80,000 was realized for the benefit of Hamilton’s widow, the daughter of Philip Schuyler of Albany, and her seven children.
“In the County records here is recorded the names of the individuals, prominent in national affairs at the time, who formed the association. Eighteen years after Hamilton’s death, his son, James, drew from the reluctant lips of one of the trustees the fact that his father’s holdings in Scriba’s Patent had been received in return for the shares subscribed, ‘at prices which were perhaps more than they were worth at the time.’ The secret of the settlement subscription and of the disposal of the property was well kept by these gentlemen of the old Federalist school.”
