1791 George Clinton Signed New York Land Patent — 400 Acres at Historic Catharine’s Town, Destroyed During the Sullivan–Clinton Campaign
An exceptional early New York land patent personally signed by George Clinton, Revolutionary War general, first governor of New York, and future vice president of the United States, granting 400 acres within the former Seneca homeland at historic Catharine’s Town.
Issued March 26, 1791, the manuscript patent grants the property to John Carpenter, pursuant to a survey and location made by Henry Wisner and certified in the office of New York’s surveyor general on January 21, 1791.
The tract is described as lying north of Chemung “at a place called Catharines Town.” Beginning at the northeastern corner of an adjoining 400-acre tract, the boundaries extended sixty-three chains and twenty-five links in each direction, forming a square tract containing exactly 400 acres.
The patent is personally signed “Geo: Clinton” by Governor George Clinton and countersigned “Robt Harpur, D. Sec’y” by Deputy Secretary Robert Harpur.
Catharine’s Town was a prominent Seneca settlement near the southern end of Seneca Lake, in the vicinity of present-day Montour Falls. Traditionally associated with the influential interpreter Catharine Montour, it stood in the path of the 1779 Sullivan–Clinton Campaign—the major Continental Army expedition ordered by George Washington against Britain’s Haudenosaunee allies. American troops destroyed the evacuated village along with its houses, crops, orchards, and food supplies.
Issued only twelve years after that campaign, the patent documents the next stage in the transformation of the region: New York’s surveying and transfer of former Indigenous territory to private landholders. The grant required an actual settlement upon the property within seven years or the estate would revert to the state.
George Clinton served as a Revolutionary War brigadier general and became New York’s first governor in 1777. He later served as vice president under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Robert Harpur was an educator, New York legislator, longtime deputy secretary of state, and an early instructor associated with Alexander Hamilton at King’s College.
An unusually significant George Clinton land patent uniting the American Revolution, the Sullivan–Clinton Campaign, Haudenosaunee history, early New York expansion, and the settlement of the Finger Lakes frontier.
Date: March 26, 1791
Signed: George Clinton and Robert Harpur
Grantee: John Carpenter
Property: 400 acres
Location: Catharine’s Town, north of Chemung, then Montgomery County, New York
Survey: Henry Wisner, certified January 21, 1791
Condition: Original folds, toning, staining, wrinkles, fold wear, and old reinforcement or repairs. Signatures and principal text remain legible. The state seal is missing.
An exceptional early New York land patent personally signed by George Clinton, Revolutionary War general, first governor of New York, and future vice president of the United States, granting 400 acres within the former Seneca homeland at historic Catharine’s Town.
Issued March 26, 1791, the manuscript patent grants the property to John Carpenter, pursuant to a survey and location made by Henry Wisner and certified in the office of New York’s surveyor general on January 21, 1791.
The tract is described as lying north of Chemung “at a place called Catharines Town.” Beginning at the northeastern corner of an adjoining 400-acre tract, the boundaries extended sixty-three chains and twenty-five links in each direction, forming a square tract containing exactly 400 acres.
The patent is personally signed “Geo: Clinton” by Governor George Clinton and countersigned “Robt Harpur, D. Sec’y” by Deputy Secretary Robert Harpur.
Catharine’s Town was a prominent Seneca settlement near the southern end of Seneca Lake, in the vicinity of present-day Montour Falls. Traditionally associated with the influential interpreter Catharine Montour, it stood in the path of the 1779 Sullivan–Clinton Campaign—the major Continental Army expedition ordered by George Washington against Britain’s Haudenosaunee allies. American troops destroyed the evacuated village along with its houses, crops, orchards, and food supplies.
Issued only twelve years after that campaign, the patent documents the next stage in the transformation of the region: New York’s surveying and transfer of former Indigenous territory to private landholders. The grant required an actual settlement upon the property within seven years or the estate would revert to the state.
George Clinton served as a Revolutionary War brigadier general and became New York’s first governor in 1777. He later served as vice president under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Robert Harpur was an educator, New York legislator, longtime deputy secretary of state, and an early instructor associated with Alexander Hamilton at King’s College.
An unusually significant George Clinton land patent uniting the American Revolution, the Sullivan–Clinton Campaign, Haudenosaunee history, early New York expansion, and the settlement of the Finger Lakes frontier.
Date: March 26, 1791
Signed: George Clinton and Robert Harpur
Grantee: John Carpenter
Property: 400 acres
Location: Catharine’s Town, north of Chemung, then Montgomery County, New York
Survey: Henry Wisner, certified January 21, 1791
Condition: Original folds, toning, staining, wrinkles, fold wear, and old reinforcement or repairs. Signatures and principal text remain legible. The state seal is missing.
