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 246 HISTORY OP upon both sides of the West Branchy near its source. The whole patent contained ten thousand five hundred acres. In 1769, Dec. 8, John Harper, and twenty-one other asso- ciated individuals, obtained a patent of a tract of land contain- ing twenty-two thousand acres. In 1770, Lawrence Kortright and his associates, obtained a patent of a large tract of land, principally contained within the limits of the present town of Kortright. The same year the following tracts of land, which, together with those already specified, comprised nearly all the territory of the county, were granted to various associations. The Groldsborough patent, of 18,000 acres, to Alexander McKee, and others. The " Franklin patent,'^* of thirty thousand acres, to Thomas Wharton, Rees Meredith,"!" and others, situate in the towns of Delhi, Meredith and Davenport. The Adaquaintance, or Charlotte river patent of twenty-six thousand acres, in the valley of the Charlotte river, in the coun- ties of Otsego, Delaware and Schoharie, was granted to Sir Wm. Johnston and others. The Bedlington patent, containing twenty-seven thousand acres, in the towns of Franklin and Walton, was granted to John Leake, and his associates. J John Clark obtained a patent for two thousand acres in the town of Franklin. Charles Babington, also procured a grant for a like quantity. Called Franklin patent, after Wm. Temple Franklin, who became proprietor of a portion in 1785 ; hence, also, the origin of the town of Franklin. f Rees Meredith, after whom the town of Meredith took its name. % This was the patent which escheated to the State, the proceeds of which were appropriated by the legislature to the use of the Delaware academy.