Balloting Book
This book, printed in 1825, begins with the laws relative to Revolutionary War bounty lands.
Journal of Congress Excerpt
First is an extract from the Journal of Congress dated September 16, 1776 pertaining to the pay of officers and soldiers for service in the war. The payment includes monetary bounties and a schedule for land grants according to rank. This is followed by several pages of New York State law, and extracts from the minutes of the Land Office. The surveyor-general was directed to lay out twenty-five townships which were each subdivided into 100 lots, as square as possible, of 600 acres each.
Listing of Soldiers
The commissioners of the Land Office then examined the claims on the lots, adding 3 more townships to meet with the amount of unsatisfied claims. At this point the book begins an alphabetical listing of names of soldiers in each regiment. The columns list:
- Acres
- Company (where applicable)
- Date of patent
- Lot number
- Name and rank
- Township number
Commissioned Soldiers & Listing of the Dead
The next section lists commissioned officers, followed by a list of the dead, and a miscellaneous listing of persons who also had claim to land.
Continental Army
The next segment details Lieutenant Michael Connolly's return of names taken from the muster rolls of the Continental Army, with an accompanying list of names from the return of Colonel John Lamb. Connolly's return also lists the dead, officers resigned, invalids and discharged. The information is then listed in numerical order by each military township and lot.
Book of Delivery of Patents
The included "Book of Delivery of Patents for Lands in the Military Tract" is an alphabetical listing of the patentee's name and to whom the patent was delivered, as the original patent may have been sold or in some way passed on to a different person.
Canadian & Nova-Scotia Refugees
The final section lists alphabetically the names and lots of Canadian and Nova-Scotia refugees.