|
||
|
|
|
|
This sheet comprises two related maps forming part of an 1858 promotional land sale document: “Map of the Van Rensselaer Estate in St. Lawrence Co. N.Y.”, which was prepared for public auction by A.J. Bleecker, Son & Co. of Ogdensburgh, New York. The auction was scheduled for Wednesday, June 16, 1858, and the estate lands mapped here were formerly held by the powerful Van Rensselaer family, significant landholders in upstate New York since the colonial period.
These maps were published specifically to support the sale of lands previously controlled by one of the last vestiges of New York’s manorial system, the Van Rensselaer estate, a remnant of 17th-century Dutch patroonship. By the 1850s, such feudal-style landholding structures were under considerable legal and political pressure, and estate liquidation through auction was a common strategy to divest large landholdings.
Map of Gallooville and Lisbon Farm, Town of Lisbon
This map depicts a waterfront tract along the St. Lawrence River, opposite Galloo Island, near a proposed dam site and river rights. The village of Gallooville appears as a grid of numbered lots, fronting the river and situated adjacent to Lisbon Farm, a large estate property of approximately 250 acres. Parcel numbers are aligned neatly within rectangular blocks, likely representing prospective village lots offered for development or sale. The map indicates infrastructure such as roads, water rights, and surveyed lot boundaries, with a few labeled acreage values and one prominently labeled 200-acre parcel.
Map of the Van Rensselaer Estate
This larger and more detailed plat map lays out a patchwork of surveyed land parcels forming the bulk of the Van Rensselaer holdings in the towns of Oswegatchie and Canton. Subdivided into a grid by “Ranges” and numbered lots (e.g., “Range 5, Lot 6”), the map shows the division of rural land into individually marked farms or properties, each annotated with acreage values and ownership or tenancy names in small print. Several roads and pathways are sketched in, providing a sense of access and transport.
Rarity
The map is very rare.
We locate a single example of the map at the St. Lawrence University Library.
