Mysterious and Intriguing Notice of Chancery Sale of Pelham Lands on Miniford's Island in 1823

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The legal notice that began appearing in issues of the New-York Spectator nearly two centuries ago in early April, 1823 is intriguing.  It reflects notice of a court-ordered public auction of a 24-acre tract on "Miniford's Island" in the Town of Pelham (today's City Island).  Today's Historic Pelham Blog article attempts to unravel some of the mystery of the legal notice and challenges the many experts on City Island history who regularly read the blog to provide any assistance possible further to unravel this fascinating mystery.

An image of the legal notice (and transcription of its text to facilitate search) appear at the end of today's article.  The notice explicitly states that the tract will be sold at public auction "IN pursuance of a decretal order of the Court of Chancery."

The New York Court of Chancery, first established in 1701 during British colonial rule, was the highest court in the State of New York from 1701 until 1847.  After U.S. independence, the New York State Constitution of 1777 continued the court as a court with jurisdiction on cases of equity (rather than legal damages).  During the period 1777 to 1847 the court also served, generally speaking, as a court of appeals to consider appeals from certain matters decided by the New York Supreme Court.

A Chancery Court "decretal order" such as that referenced in the legal notice was an order entered by the Court of Chancery upon a motion or petition in the nature of a decree finally determining some right of a party to a proceeding in equity (rather than one seeking merely legal damages).  

According to the notice, pursuant to such a decretal order, a 24-acre tract on City Island was to be sold at a public auction at 12:00 Noon on April 28, 1823.  The auction was to be held at a public Inn managed by innkeeper David Smith in Eastchester.  (Pelham seems to have had no such inn or other such "public" place.  The notice failed to identify the owner of the land scheduled to be auctioned; hence, the mystery as to what prompted this decretal order.

The 1820 U.S. Census, taken in Pelham on January 5, 1820, reflects that there were only 41 households in all of the Town of Pelham (with a total of 285 residents including "Free White Males," "Free White Females," "Slaves," and "Free Colored Persons" ). Among the 41 heads of households reflected in that census were Nicholas Haight, Joshua Huested, and George Horton.  See 1820 United States Census - Census Place:  Eastchester, Westchester, New York, Township of Pelham, Page 206 NARA Microfilm Roll M33_75, Images 164-65 (Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29, National Archives, Washington, D.C.) (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

As of 1818, much of City Island was owned by Pelham residents Nicholas Haight and Joshua Huested.  On January 1, 1819, however, Nicholas Haight and his wife, Mary, sold to George Washington Horton 42 acres on the lower (southern) portion of City island.  The Horton family continued to hold most of this tract for much of the next sixty years.

Nicholas Haight, on the other hand, apparently was not so fortunate.  By 1820 Haight seems to have been in financial straits and soon found himself subject to a different decretal order by the New York Court of Chancery directing public auction of Haight's 130-acre farm on Rodman's Neck on the mainland adjacent to City Island.  Indeed, I have written before about Haight's travails in this regard.  See:

Tue., May 19, 2015:  Advertisements for Two Nineteenth Century Sales of Large Properties on Rodman's Neck in the Town of Pelham. 

Mon., Dec. 03, 2007:  Notice of Chancery Court Order Directing Auction Sale of Nicholas Haight's Farm in Pelham in 1820.  

Fri., Nov. 30, 2007:  1820 Advertisement for Sale of Nicholas Haight's Farm on Rodman's Neck.  

Legal notices of the public auction of Haight's farm on Rodman's Neck suggest that Haight's financial difficulties were connected to a lawsuit brought against him, his wife, notable Pelham resident John Hunter of Hunter's Island, and Peter Augustus Jay, a successful lawyer, anti-slavery advocate, philanthropist, and eldest son of John and Sarah Livingston Jay.  The lawsuit was referenced in legal notices published in 1820 as "George Faile, vs. Nicholas Haight and Mary his wife, John Hunter and Peter A. Jay."

George Faile, the plaintiff in the action, was a resident of East Chester who owned a fine estate in the southwestern corner of that settlement with a home, seated upon rising ground that overlooked the valley to the southeast, the Hutchinson River and "the distant waters of the Sound."  See Bolton, Jr., Robert, A History of the County of Westchester From Its First Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. I, p. 154 (NY, NY: Alexander S. Gould 1848). 

Research has not yet revealed the nature of the Chancery Court action brought by George Faile of Eastchester against the Haights, John Hunter, and Peter A. Jay.  It seems at least possible, however, that the legal notice issued in early April, 1823 announcing a public sale of a 24-acre tract on City Island was a further decretal order entered in connection with that action involving a tract owned by Haight on City Island (in addition to his Rodman's Neck property).  

The description of land contained in the legal notice includes a reference that seems to support this theory.  In describing one of the boundary lines of the 24-acre tract, it noted that the boundary separated the tract from "other land of Nicholas Haight" on City Island (emphasis added).  Interestingly, and likely significantly, the Master in Chancery named in both the 1820 and 1823 legal notices of public sales at auction was John M. McDonald, a famous Westchester County resident who later conducted and recorded in writing more than four hundred interviews of soldiers and eyewitnesses involved in the Revolutionary War in Westchester County.  These interviews and other papers were collected into the famed "McDonald Papers" in the 1920s by the Westchester County Historical Society.  See The McDonald Papers (visited Sep. 24, 2018).

The tract of land is described in a version of the legal notice published on April 8, 1823 as follows:

"all that certain tract, piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being on Miniford's Island, otherwise called City Island, in the town of Pelham, county of West Chester, and state of new York, and is bounded as follows, to wit:  Beginning at a stone marked and set in the ground on the west side of said island, running thence north seventy-nine degrees east, by Thomas Pell's land, thirteen chains and twenty-two links, to a stone marked E. by the shore; thence south forty-six and three-fourths east, along by high water mark at common tides, seven chains and twenty-one links -- thence south twenty and an half east, by the said high water mark two chains -- thence south nine and a quarter east to take and give by high water, three chains ninety-six links, to a stone marked F. thence south twenty-seven west, by other land of Nicholas Haight, thirteen chains nineteen links, to a stone wall by land of Cornelius Myers -- thence south eighty-one west, by said Myer's land, seven chains nineteen links -- thence south seventy six west, by said Myer's land, three chains fifty-five links, to a ditch -- thence north one east, by said ditch and shore to take and give seven chains thirty-four links -- thence north eighteen east. by the water, one chain eighty links -- thence north fifty-seven east, by said water, three chains sixteen links -- thence north ten and three fourths east, two chains thirty-seven links, by said high water mark, to the stone or place of beginning, exclusive of a road two rods wide running through said land.  Containing twenty-four acres of land, be the same more or less."

To try to understand this description we first must understand the units of measurement of chains and links.  A "chain" is a unit of length equal to 66 feet   A link is 1/100 of a chain (about 7.92 inches).  The description translates to a rather labyrinthine plot of land wedged between a host of boundaries including Long Island Sound, a stone wall, a ditch, and -- of course -- surrounding properties.  

Clearly an interesting element of this entire "mystery" is the possibility that the land at issue was owned by Nicholas Haight.  If so, his financial difficulties extended well beyond 1820 and seem to have extended at least into 1823.

1823 Legal Notice for Auction of City Island Property

by Decretal Order of the Court of Chancery of New York.

Source:  IN CHANCERY [Legal Notice], New-York Spectator,

Apr. 8, 1823, Vol. XXVI, p. 3, col. 6 (text transcribed immediately

below).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

*          *          *          *          *

"IN CHANCERY.
State of New-York, ss.

IN pursuance of a decretal order of the Court of Chancery, will be sold at public auction at the house of David Smith, innkeeper, in the town of East Chester, in the county of West Chester, and state of New-York, on Monday, the twenty-eighth day of April instant, at 12 o'clock at noon of that day, under the direction of the subscriber, one of the masters of this court, all that certain tract, piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being on Miniford's Island, otherwise called City Island, in the town of Pelham, county of West Chester, and state of new York, and is bounded as follows, to wit:  Beginning at a stone marked and set in the ground on the west side of said island, running thence north seventy-nine degrees east, by Thomas Pell's land, thirteen chains and twenty-two links, to a stone marked E. by the shore; thence south forty-six and three-fourths east, along by high water mark at common tides, seven chains and twenty-one links -- thence south twenty and an half east, by the said high water mark two chains -- thence south nine and a quarter east to take and give by high water, three chains ninety-six links, to a stone marked F. thence south twenty-seven west, by other land of Nicholas Haight, thirteen chains nineteen links, to a stone wall by land of Cornelius Myers -- thence south eighty-one west, by said Myer's land, seven chains nineteen links -- thence south seventy six west, by said Myer's land, three chains fifty-five links, to a ditch -- thence north one east, by said ditch and shore to take and give seven chains thirty-four links -- thence north eighteen east. by the water, one chain eighty links -- thence north fifty-seven east, by said water, three chains sixteen links -- thence north ten and three fourths east, two chains thirty-seven links, by said high water mark, to the stone or place of beginning, exclusive of a road two rods wide running through said land.  Containing twenty-four acres of land, be the same more or less -- together with the hereditaments and appurtenances to the same belonging.

Dated New-York, April 1st, 1823.

JOHN M. MACDONALD,
Master in Chancery.

april 5 C&S2awtds"

Source:  IN CHANCERY [Legal Notice], New-York Spectator, Apr. 8, 1823, Vol. XXVI, p. 3, col. 6.

1868 Map Depicting City Island.  Source: F. W. Beers, "City Island,

Pelham Township, Westchester Co., N.Y. (with) Town of Pelham,

Westchester Co., N. Y." in Atlas of New York and Vicinity, p. 35 

(NY, NY: Beers, Ellis & Soule, 1868). NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.
Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
Order a Copy of "The Haunted History of Pelham, New York"
Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."