Rombout Patent facts for kids
The Rombout Patent was a special land grant given by King James II of England in 1685. It allowed Francis Rombouts and his friends Stephanus Van Cortlandt and Jacobus Kip to officially own about 85,000 acres of land. They had bought this land from Native Americans.
This land included most of what is now southern Dutchess County, New York. The Rombout Patent was the very first of fourteen such land grants given between 1685 and 1706. These grants eventually covered all of historic Dutchess County. Until 1812, this area also included what is now Putnam County.
The first eleven patents, given between 1685 and 1697, covered all the land along the Hudson River in the original county. The last three, given between 1703 and 1706, claimed the remaining land further inland.
Contents
How the Rombout Patent Began
Francis Rombouts used to be the mayor of New York City. He started a business trading furs with a merchant named Gulian Verplanck.
On February 8, 1682, Governor Thomas Dongan gave them permission to buy 85,000 acres from the Wappinger people. In 1683, Stephanus Van Cortlandt joined them. He was the first mayor of New York City who was born in America. He also owned a large estate called Van Cortlandt Manor in Westchester County. Van Cortlandt offered to pay one-third of the money in exchange for one-third of the land.
The land purchase was finished on August 8, 1683. It cost about $1,250 worth of items like guns, blankets, and wampum (Native American shell beads). Three buyers' representatives, a Dutch interpreter, and twenty-two Wappinger sachem (chiefs) signed the deed. The sachems made their marks on the document.
Before the King could officially grant the land to the three men, Verplanck sadly passed away. His widow, Henrica, then married Jacobus Kip. So, when the patent was officially granted on October 17, 1685, Verplanck's share of the land went to the Kip family.
What Was Traded for the Land?
The official document, called the deed, listed all the items that were traded for the land. It shows what was valuable at that time:
- 100 "Royalls" (a type of coin)
- 100 pounds of gunpowder
- 200 fathoms of white wampum
- 100 bars of lead
- 100 fathoms of black wampum
- 30 tobacco boxes
- 10 "holl adges" (a type of axe)
- 30 guns
- 20 blankets
- 40 fathoms of "Duffills" (a type of coarse cloth)
- 20 fathoms of "stroudwater Cloth" (another type of cloth)
- 30 kettles
- 40 hatchets
- 40 "Homes" (possibly hoes or combs)
- 40 shirts
- 40 pairs of stockings
- 12 "coattis of R. B. & b. C" (possibly coats of red, blue, and black cloth)
- 10 drawing knives
- 40 earthen jugs
- 40 bottles
- 40 knives
- 4 "ankers" of rum (an anker was a measure of liquid)
- 10 "halfe fatts" of beer (a "fatt" was a barrel)
- 200 tobacco pipes
- 80 pounds of tobacco
Maps of the Patent
You can see an old map of the Rombout Patent here at the Mount Gulian Historical Site.
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Images for kids
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The Hudson River shore of the Rombout Patent in the town of Wappinger, New York
