Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II THE COMING OF SUTHERLAND AND OTHER PIONEERS FIRST HOUSE AT THE FALLS THE SUTHERLAND MILLS SOCIALBORO LAND CONTROVERSIES SUTHERLAND AND HIS NEIGHBORS THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD AND THE MAKING OF THE STATE WHEN Cooley drove his first stake in the wilderness, he thought only of the land and of the home he proposed to build. His plan contemplated the clearing away of the trees and the tilling of the soil; to him the river was simply a thing that must be forded. But not all the prospectors who passed that way were inclined to look upon the river as an obstacle. Hardly had the Cooley brothers started their work in the valley when there came a man who believed he could divert the power of the falls to his own enrichment. That man was John Sutherland. The date of Sutherland's coming has never been definitely fixed although it is fairly certain that it was not later than 1767. What we do know is that he took up his claim at the Falls under a New York charter in what was then designated as the town of Socialboro. A number of New York land traders had applied to the governor of New York, John Henry Lydens, for a new town. It was to comprise all of the present towns of Rutland and Pittsford and a part of Brandon. Sutherland was one of the men whose names appear on this petition and a likeness of the governor's original charter is even now one of the treasured legacies of a certain Clarendon family. The mere fact that Sutherland was intimate with the British officers at Whitehall was enough to bring him trouble. When in 1771 William Cockburn, a surveyor and a friend of Sutherland, was sent down by the New York governor to survey the Socialboro acres, he was met by James Mead and Asa Johnson, the selfappointed delegates of the Hampshire Grant...