COLUMBIA COUNTY, 20 MARCH 1788

6. On 1 March 1788 "A petition of Peter Van Brugh Livingston, Nicholas Bayard and
others, on behalf of themselves and the other proprietors of lands called Westenhook" was
read in the state Assembly. The petition asked "leave to present a bill for appointing
trustees for all the proprietors of Westenhook, vesting in them all the said Lands not
conveyed to John Van Rensselaer, with full powers to the said trustees, to compromise
with any persons settled upon the said Lands, to enter upon any parcels of them that are
not actually occupied and possessed by others, to bring such actions for the trial of their
title as they may judge expedient, and to divide such parts as they may obtain the pos-
session of, and any sums of money that may be paid to them for their releases, among
the proprietors and the State, according to their respective interests in the same."
The petition was referred to a committee, which reported on 15 March "that the
prayer of the petitioners should be granted; and that they should have leave to present
a bill at the next meeting of the Legislature, for the purposes in their said petition prayed
for, upon giving due notice thereof, by advertisements in the public news-papers." After
the report was read, the Assembly resolved not to approve the committee's report.
See Assembly Journal [9 January-22 March 1788] (Poughkeepsie, 1788), 100, 132-33
(Evans 21314).
7. In the 1780s the two branches of the Livingston family were engaged in a bitter
dispute over Robert R. Livingston's construction of a gristmill on the RoeliffJansen Kill
without the consent of the Upper Manor Livingstons. The stream separated the Upper
Manor from Clermont.
Robert R. Livingston to Philip Schuyler
New York, 20 March 17881
I forgot when I left you to give you the name of William Wilson whom
I much wish to be appointed one of the justices for the county of
Columbia, he lives in Clermont district & is a sensible man of liberal
education. Our friends in Columbia I fear have acted with too much
precipitation-They have named Ford without being sure of his prin-
ciples, they have passed by Powers, who [se] conduct in the legislature
has been strait, to make room for Wm. Ludlow & they have in some
measure connected the business of the convention with that odious
business of the western Lands-If they still persist in persuing this un-
popular & dangerous plan, they will not only destroy their own con-
sequence & ability in the state but involve their friends & connections
& perhaps the state itself in ruin-The nomination of two brothers in
a county where they are already jealous of family interest is to the last
degree imprudent2-If you have any influence with them exert it upon
this occasion-This business grows every day more serious-The folly
& precipitation of the governing party in Pensilvania has occasioned
associations to resist by arms3-Should this State not accede to the pro-
posed government It may place the parties upon such ground that arms
may determine the controversy. [Egbert] Benson & our friends in
Dutches County as far as I have yet learned are unpardonably negligent
endeavour if possible to rouse them to exertion, This County & Kings
there is no doubt about, I hope there is as little of Albany, & that

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