Peter Warren was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1703. By 1744 he was in command of a 16 ship
squadron of the English Royal Navy. He
had become a wealthy man. Using some of
that wealth he purchased thousands of acres of land along the Mohawk River in
central New York in the colonies in 1738.
Peter hired his nephew William Johnson, born in 1715, to manage his
property.
William sold farms to settlers, and then opened a store to
sell goods to those farmers. He also
began dealing as a fur trader which earned him vast sums of money. William took Molly, sister of Mohawk Chief
Joseph Brant, as his common law wife giving him special status with the
tribe. In 1746 he became Britain’s
Manager of Indian Affairs. That same
year he was awarded a Chieftainship in the Mohawk Nation.
In 1760 he was “given” 66,000 acres of land by the
Mohawks. He reciprocated with a gift of
$24,000 and some trade goods. In 1763 a
Royal Proclamation forbid individuals from purchasing Indian lands. William applied for a special confirmation
stating he had not purchased his land, but that it was given to him, which was
approved in 1769. His land then became
known as the Royal Grant. In 1775
William died leaving the bulk of his estate to his son James.
The next year the Revolutionary War began, and James made
the decision to side with the British, rather than the upstart rebels. After the war the heavily in war debt New
York State confiscated William’s lands and began to sell the first allotment of
them at public auction in 1784. They
were all sold by 1789 at which time a second allotment was offered. Oliver Lawton of Rhode Island purchased 500
acres as the first lot, located in what became Herkimer County, of that second
allotment.
