Early Settler
Current Sign Text |
EARLY SETTLER |
Problematic issues |
- In March 1781 as a recruitment device, New York promised potential soldiers "bounty pay" - land acreage instead of cash. New York identified nearly two million acres as the "Military Tract of Central NY" However, the land in the Military Tract was actually the territory of the Onondaga and the Cayuga peoples. Neither New York nor the Congress had legal or ethical rights to that land. Once the war was over, New York politicians spent almost ten years in a series of treaties and questionable land deals, displacing the Onondaga and Cayuga peoples. |
Location |
Intersection of NYS 41 & 41A at the Atwater Cemetery, about four miles from Homer, NY. |
Significance |
- Thomas Gould Alvord, Sr. was a soldier in the French & Indian War and in the Revolutionary War. His son, Thomas Gould Alvord, Jr. was also a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Both were at the surrender of the British at Yorktowne. The Alvords were each paid for their services in the American Revolution with 600 acres of bounty land that was in the Military Tract. (2) |
Indigenous Place Names for Site |
None noted |
Circumstances of Marker Placement |
No date or indication of sponsor on sign. However, it was likely posted in the mid 1930s as part of New York State's Historic Marker Program -- a program of the State Education Department to commemorate the Sequicentennial of the American Revolution. Over 2,800 of the small, cast iron site markers ... were erected statewide during the duration of this program (1926-1939)."(4) |
Additional Information |
- Two other sons, Elisha and Dioclesian, Alvord arrived in Salina. Elisha was superintendent of the Federal Salt Company. Both men were instrumental in the development of the salt industry.(1,2) |
Sources |
1. Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: Lawrence,
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/lawrence.html. Accessed July 1,
2011. |
Last Updated |
Gail Bundy, July 3, 2011 |