Early History of Lansingburgh

It was not long after the Hollanders began to settle upon the fertile meadows and fruitful hills on the east side of the Hudson river, north of Fort Orange, that the broad, level and more elevated area of ground, upon which, at present, Lansingburgh is situated, attracted the attention of Robert Saunders, a resident of Albany. This extensive plateau was called by the Indians, Tascamcatick, and south of it was an adjacent piece of woodland known to them as Passquassick.

The former tract was granted him on the first day of September, 1670, by Francis Lovelace, Governor of the province of New York,under James II. The woodland, together with a small island, known by the name of Whale-fishing Island, was conveyed to him on the 226 . of March, 1679, by Sir Edmund Andros. As quitrents for these several grants, three bushels of good winter wheat were to be paid annually unto the officers of the Crown, if ever such payment should be demanded.

Robert Saunders, on the 19th of September, 1681, sold a portion of the woodland, Passquassick, which lay south of the Piscawen Kill, to Peter Van Woggelum ; the creek being thereafter recognized as the dividing line of the lands of the two proprietors.

The original patentee did not long retain possession of the remaining property, Tascamcatick, but disposed of it to Joannes Wendell, on the 26th day of May, 1683. Joannes Wendell: afterward added to this purchase another piece of woodland which extended along the river northward to a certain Kill called by the Indians, Paensick.

These lands of Joannes Wendell were confirmed to him by Governor Thomas Dongan in a patent, dated the 2 2d day of July,1686, known as the Steene (Stony) Arabia Patent. In the third year of the reign of King George III, and on the twenty-first day ofJune, 1763, Robert Wendell, heir of Joannes Wendell, then in possession of this farm land, sold to Abraham Jacob Lansingh, for thesum of three hundred pounds, that part of his land, beginning opposite the middle branch of the Mohawk river, and running thenceeastward as far as the Stony Arabia patent extended, formerly called and known by the Indian name Tascamcatick, excepting that which had been sold unto Simon Van Antwerpe, but, at that time, in possession of William Rogers.

Roughened by alluvial deposits of gravel and water-worn stones, this tract of land, Stony Arabia, it is likely, had but little agricultural value else than for pasturage. As an eligible and favorable site for a village or a city, it seemingly possessed advantages of situation, soil and scenery surpassing any other locality along the river, between it and Albany. Conjecturing the possibilities of further emigration, and of additional settlements along the upper Hudson, and of an increased productiveness of the surrounding territory, which was in part already under cultivation, it consequently assumed a relative importance and valuation to its owner, far beyond the mere returns of a tilled and pastured farm. In view of such local contingencies it was that Abraham Jacob Lansingh, early in the year 1771, had a portion of his farm surveyed by Joseph Blanchard, and named the newly laid out streets, alleys and lots, the City of Lansingburgh.
Weise, Arthur James. History of Lansingburgh, N.Y., from the year 1670 to 1877. Troy, NY: William H. Young, 1877. 5-6.