Low v. Webb

268 A.D. 104, 48 N.Y.S.2d 506, 1944 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3118
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJune 3, 1944
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 268 A.D. 104 (Low v. Webb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Low v. Webb, 268 A.D. 104, 48 N.Y.S.2d 506, 1944 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3118 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1944).

Opinion

Schenck, J.

In this action for partition of forest lands, the plaintiff-respondent alleges that he and the respondent J. Watson Webb are the sole owners of the lands in question. The People of the State of New York, claiming an interest in said lands, have been made parties defendant. The action was tried without a jury and the court found that the State had no title to the lands in controversy and directed judgment of partition between the plaintiff, as owner of an undivided one-sixth interest, and the defendant Webb, as owner of a five-sixths interest therein.

Totten and Crossfield’s Purchase (known also as Jessup’s Purchase), of which the parcel of land in dispute is a part, consisted of an area of some 800,000 acres lying within the counties of Essex, Hamilton, Herkimer and Warren. It was purchased from the Indians in 1772 in the name of King George III of England by Joseph Totten and Stephen Cross-[108]*108field and their associates. Before a deed could be obtained it was required that a survey be made in order that the Indians might be shown the lands they were to convey. In 1772, Archibald Campbell made up a survey party, which included one Adonizah Stanborough, sometimes referred to as Starborough, and proceeded to lay out the boundaries of this extensive patent upon the ground. Accompanying the survey' party' were a number of Indians representing the proposed grantors of the Indian deed. Commencing near the southeasterly portion of the purchase, Campbell ran a line westerly to the proposed southwest corner of the tract and then proceeded northwesterly to a point which marked the northwest corner of the Purchase. Campbell was required to locate this northwesterly corner of the Purchase at a point due west from a point ten miles north of Crown Point on the westerly shore of Lake Champlain. This northwesterly corner of the Purchase, as established by Campbell in 1772, has seemingly neVer been questioned and is important from the standpoint of determining the northerly line of the Purchase. From this northwesterly point Campbell ran the northerly line to the east for a distance of some twenty-seven miles. He did not continue the survey but pointed out to the Indians where the line would continue to the east and his survey notes indicate that the Indians were satisfied. Later, the Campbell line was extended to the east by other surveyors. Campbell then proceeded to divide the Purchase • into townships and directed Stanborough to lay out Township 38. Following such directions, Stanborough located the northeasterly corner of Township 38 at a point in Campbell’s north line of the Purchase in a lake. This lake is known as Mud Lake and is shown on the survey made by Ebenezer Jessup in 1772, which places the northeast- corner of- Township 38 in the lake where it is crossed by Campbell’s north line.

Jessup in his survey marked a 55-mile line of mile trees from the southerly to the northerly boundary of the Purchase, the line running about through the center thereof. This line of marked trees is parallel to the westerly line of the Purchase and the north and south lines dividing the various townships were laid out parallel to both the westerly line of the Purchase and the 55-mile line of mile trees. Following the making of the map of the Totten and Crossfield Purchase and the laying out of the greater portion of the tract into townships shown on the Jessup maps, one known as Big Jessup Map ” and the other as Little Jessup Map ”, both of which are exhibits in this case, plans were made for a division of the townships among [109]*109various interested persons. The Revolutionary War intervened and it was not until 1786 and 1787 that the Commissioners of the Land Office authorized the patent of Township 38. On February 28, 1787, letters potent to Alexander Macomb of the following described tract oi land were issued:

‘ ‘ All that certain tract of land situate in the county of Montgomery, being part of the Indian Purchase made by Edward and Ebenezer Jessup and their associates, under a license granted to Totten & Crossfield, known and distinguished in a division of the said purchase into townships by being part of township number thirty-eight, beginning at the most northerly corner of the said township, and running thence, as the needle pointed in the year 1772, south thirty degrees, east two hundred and sixty-two chains and fifty links; south sixty degrees, west two hundred chains; north thirty degrees, west eighty chains; south sixty degrees, west forty chains; north thirty degrees, west one hundred and eighty-two chains and fifty links, and north sixty degrees, east two hundred and forty chains to the place of beginning, containing five thousand nine hundred and eighty acres, together with all and singular the rights, hereditaments and appurtenances ” et cetera.

This grant to" Macomb was made pursuant to certain provisions of chapter 67 of the Laws of 1786, effective May 5th of that year, the land so sold being part of the Totten and Cross-field Purchase. Before the issuance of the patent to Macomb, the State prepared a diagram of Totten and Crossfield’s Purchase, which is in evidence as defendant’s Exhibit K, It is not clear as to the source or purpose of this map or diagram. Suffice to say that the north line of Township 38 on Exhibit K is considerably to the south of the north line delineated on all other maps and surveys. While the State to a considerable extent predicates its title to the relatively small portion of land here involved upon Exhibit K, there is no evidence that would warrant a finding that this map or diagram was correct and that the land conveyed was that contained within the boundaries thereon shown. The Commissioners of the Land Office, at its session of May 10, 1786, authorized the Surveyor General to sell all the several townships and smaller tracts which remained unpatented in Jessup’s Purchase, commonly known as Totten and Crossfield’s Purchase. And that his sales of that part of the Tract which was divided into Townships be in parcels, each parcel to be equal to one fourth part of its respective township as originally laid out. And that the several smaller tracts therein be respectively sold agreeable to their respective contents.”

[110]*110The Act of'May 5, 1786, made specific reference to Jessup’s Purchase, being Totten and Crossfield’s Purchase, and contained this provision: “ And whereas a tract of land, commonly called Jessups purchase was heretofore laid out into townships of six miles square, and into' tracts of less dimension, a great part whereof remains unpatented. Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said commissioners to direct the surveyor general, to sell all or any of the said townships and smaller tracts remaining unpatented, in such parts and parcels, as they shall direct, and the said surveyor general shall advertise, sell and certify the same in manner herein before directed; and the treasurer shall endorse on every such certificate on payment of the purchase-money, and letters patent shall pass for the same, as herein before directed.”

To accept Exhibit K as an attempted reallotment of the townships of Totten and Crossfield’s Purchase would be outlining and establishing a new north boundary. The Campbell north line, surveyed in 1772, has consistently been accepted and determined by the courts as the true north line to Totten and Crossfield’s Purchase and the true south line of the Macomb’s Purchase, the latter being an extensive tract of land running from the north line of Totten and Crossfield’s Purchase to the St.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Koepp v. Holland
688 F. Supp. 2d 65 (N.D. New York, 2010)
Low v. State
202 Misc. 455 (New York State Court of Claims, 1952)
Low v. People
195 Misc. 947 (New York Supreme Court, 1949)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 A.D. 104, 48 N.Y.S.2d 506, 1944 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/low-v-webb-nyappdiv-1944.