Landlord and Tenant in Colonial New York: Manorial Society 1664-1775

by Sung Bok Kim

Book by Sung Bok Kim

Genres: History

478 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1978

Reviews

[Lynn]

This kind of in-depth research into a very specialised area of history is fantastic if you happen to have ties to that area of history, probably a waste of time otherwise. I found this quite interesting, though I wish he had covered Beekman's Patent as well as those north and south of it. However, I gather Beekman's was quieter for much of the period than some of the other manors. The book provided a lot of information about Samuel Monrow, who appears in several documents relevant to my own research; those documents make more sense now.

[Scott Jackson]

You should read the article "The Limits of Politicization in the American Revolution" if you enjoyed this, and probably even if you did not.

[kathleen]

Excellent history of the unique characteristics of land ownership in Colonial New York. When the British acquired New York from the Dutch, they found there were significant barriers to settlement not found in neighboring colonies -- most notably a rugged and difficult terrain as well as frequent and severe Indian attacks. The region was not perceived to be attractive to individual settlement, so the Crown made large land grants to wealthy individuals who could share the cost of developing the land and attracting settlers in return for their estates. As time went on, the manorial lords also served as allies of the royal governors against the growing power of the towns, and encroachments by neighboring colonies.

Previous scholarship had suggested that the New York manors were a continuation of the feudal English manor system, i.e., the manor lord held complete power over his tenants. However, Kim has shown that relations were in fact much more equitable. By examining not only the wording of official agreements, but the actual records of financial transactions and written correspondence, he found that landlord/tenant agreements were written one way but understood completely differently.

I would highly recommend this book to any genealogist with ancestors in colonial New York -- especially if they wonder why they can't find records of their ancestor's land transactions!