My New York research centers on the family of Col. John Moore (1686–1749) and the related family names of Lambert, Barberie, Axtell, Holland, Bayard, Hoffman, and Livingston. The families of DeLancey, DePeyster, Minveille, Pintard, and Channing are either closely associated or more distantly related, and I include them in my research studies.
The first NYG&B Research Week I attended was in 2002. Most of my time was filled by going to various repositories, but I spent a short amount of time in the G&B Technology Center looking at the microfilmed indexes to New York Land and Property Records. I took notes on the grantor/grantee indexes for names I was particularly interested in (primarily Moore) in hopes that I would have time to devote to looking at some of the deeds. Of course, I barely scratched the surface. During the 2004 Research Week, I had to budget my time between the G&B Library and other repositories, but I allowed a bit more time to look at the deeds and made copies of a few of them from the late 1700s. However, once again, there was much more to be done than time in which to do it. After the 2006 Research Week, during which I made a few more copies of deeds, I finally formulated a systematic plan to find deeds for all the property mentioned in the will of Col. John Moore, who died 29 Oct. 1749.
Col. Moore had come to New York City as a young man about 1703 and was apprenticed to Etienne [Stephen] DeLancey.
Later, DeLancey and Moore became business partners. John Moore became a Warden and Vestryman of Trinity Church, an Alderman, colonel of the New York City Militia, and, eventually, one of His Majesty's Council. He married Frances Lambert, grand-niece of Gabriel Minveille and stepdaughter of Jean Barberie. They raised a family of eighteen children, of whom thirteen survived to adulthood. By the time of John Moore's death, he had acquired several pieces of property at the tip of Manhattan and a large tract of land in Orange County on which West Point Military Academy would be built. His will specified the distribution of the property to his surviving children. It seemed like a good research exercise to track down the deed for each property mentioned. (Silly me!)
I already had a copy of the deed for the West Point property. While at the G&B, I looked at the grantor/grantee indexes for two different record groups: New York Deeds in the Office of the Secretary of State 1659-1846, and New York County Register of Conveyances 1654-1866. Unfortunately, I was not able to search for the deeds themselves at the G&B; there was simply not enough time. When I returned home, I began ordering the corresponding microfilm from Salt Lake City. Searching these indexes resulted in successfully locating some of the deeds mentioned in John Moore's will, as well as one lot in New York City that was not mentioned in the will, and several deeds when the properties were sold out of the family. However, the deed for the lot on which John Moore built his "mansion," which had served as the Custom House shortly before and during the Revolutionary War, remained elusive. The will specified that this lot was "bought of the Corporation." Nowhere in the indexes was John Moore a grantee of this lot, nor was the "Corporation of New York" named as a grantor (nor any known or suggested alternatives for the name).
One of the most important resources used in my study of New York City property is I. N. Phelps Stokes' six-volume Iconography of Manhattan. In the Bibliography of this massive work is a reference to the "Division of Real Estate in the Department of Finance" in the Municipal Building, in which were kept the ten Libers of "City Grants, 1686-1907." Iconography was published in 1922, so I wondered if the Municipal Building was the same as today's Municipal Archives. I checked the web page for the Municipal Archives of New York, and using their contact form, I outlined my quest and asked if they still held the City Grants Libers. I mentioned the specific property I was looking for and the time period (1731) and then waited.
About two weeks later I got a reply from Mr. Kenneth Cobb, confirming that, yes, the Municipal Archives still held these very valuable records. He stated that the books are in very good condition, and he graciously sent me copies of two deeds for lots that Col. John Moore bought from the Corporation of New York. These records have not been microfilmed, and if there are plans to digitize them, I was not informed of it. However, they can be examined in person, which I fully intend to do on my next visit to New York City. Perhaps at NYC2008?
by Terri Bradshaw O'Neill
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