The Old New York Frontier/Part 3/Chapter 3

P. 106
B Y the terms of the Fort Stanwix deed, that portion of Sir William Johnson’s Susquehanna domain which lay west of the mouth of the Unadilla had passed again into the hands of the Indians. To the remainder, being lands between the mouth of the Unadilla and the mouth of the Charlotte, a new patent in 1770 was granted to Alexander Wallace and many associates. An account of this patent may be given in detail to illustrate the circumstances in which so many patents on this frontier were in that period obtained.

In the year of the Fort Stanwix deed two well-known merchants of New York were Hugh Wallace and a younger brother Alexander, both natives of Ireland. Hugh had been in the country as early as 1753, but Alexander came several years later. Each had married a daughter of Cornelius Low, and thus was connected with some of the most distinguished families in the New York colony. The name of Low ranked among the best names in the aristocracy of that seaport town whose population was then under 20,000. For several years the brothers were prominently engaged in the Irish trade, their ships making voyages to Cork and Dublin. Hugh was the second president of the Chamber of Commerce. In 1769, the year following the deed, Hugh was chosen a member of the Provincial Council and continued to hold the office until