Treaty with The Seven Nations of Canada
May 31, 1796
At a treaty held at the city of New York, with the Nations
or Tribes of Indians, denominating themselves the Seven Nations
of Canada; Abraham Ogden, Commissioner, appointed under the
authority of the United States, to hold the Treaty; Ohnaweio,
alias Goodstream, Teharagwanegen, alias Thomas Williams, two
Chiefs of the Caghnawagas; Atiatoharongwan, alias Colonel
Lewis Cook, a Chief of the St. Regis Indians, and William
Gray, Deputies, authorized to represent these Seven Nations
or Tribes of Indians at the Treaty, and Mr. Gray, serving
also as Interpreter; Egbert Benson, Richard Varick and James
Watson, Agents for the State of New York; William Constable
and Daniel M'Cormick, purchasers under Alexander Macomb:
THE agents for the state, having, in the presence, and with
the approbation of the commissioner, proposed to the deputies
for the Indians, the compensation hereinafter mentioned, for
the extinguishment of their claim to all lands within the
state, and the said deputies being willing to accept the same,
it is thereupon granted, agreed and concluded between the
said deputies and the said agents, as follows: The said deputies
do, for and in the name of the said Seven Nations or tribes
of Indians, cede, release and quit claim to the people of
the state of New-York, forever, all the claim, right, or title
of them, the said Seven Nations or tribes of Indians, to lands
within the said state: Provided nevertheless, That the tract
equal to six miles square, reserved in the sale made by the
commissioners of the land-office of the said state, to Alexander
Macomb, to be applied to the use of the Indians of the village
of St. Regis, shall still remain so reserved. The said agents
do, for, and in the name of the people of the state of New-York,
grant to the said Seven Nations or tribes of Indians, that
the people of the state of New-York shall pay to them, at
the mouth of the river Chazy, on Lake Champlain, on the third
Monday in August next, the sum of one thousand two hundred
and thirty-three pounds, six shillings and eight-pence, and
the further sum of two hundred and thirteen pounds six shillings
and eight-pence, lawful money of the said state, and on the
third Monday in August, yearly, forever thereafter, the like
sum of two hundred and thirteen pounds six shillings and eight-pence:
Provided nevertheless, That the people of the state of New-York
shall not be held to pay the said sums, unless in respect
to the two sums to be paid on the third Monday in August next,
at least twenty, and in respect to the said yearly sum to
be paid thereafter, at least five of the principal men of
the said Seven Nations or tribes of Indians, shall attend
as deputies to receive and to give receipts for the same:
The said deputies having suggested, that the Indians of the
village of St. Regis have built a mill on Salmon river, and
another on Grass river, and that the meadows on Grass river
are necessary to them for hay; in order, therefore, to secure
to the Indians of the said village, the use of the said mills
and meadows, in case they should hereafter appear not to be
included within the above tract so to remain reserved; it
is, therefore, also agreed and concluded between the said
deputies, the said agents, and the said William Constable
and Daniel M'Cormick, for themselves and their associates,
purchasers under the said Alexander Macomb, of the adjacent
lands, that there shall be reserved, to be applied to the
use of the Indians of the said village of St. Regis, in like
manner as the said tract is to remain reserved, a tract of
one mile square, at each of the said mills, and the meadows
on both sides of the said Grass river from the said mill thereon,
to its confluence with the river St. Lawrence.
In testimony whereof, the said commissioner, the said deputies,
the said agents, and the said William Constable and Daniel
McCormick, have hereunto, and to two other acts of the same
tenor and date, one to remain with the United States, another
to remain with the State of New York, and another to remain
with the said Seven Nations or tribes of Indians, set their
hands and seals, in the city of New York, the thirty-first
day of May, in the twentieth year of the independence of the
United States, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six.
- Abraham Ogden, [L. S.]
- Egbert Benson, [L. S.]
- Richard Varick, [L. S.]
- James Watson, [L. S.]
- William Constable, [L. S.]
- Daniel McCormick, [L. S.]
- Ohaweio, alias Goodstream, his x mark, [L. S.]
- Otiatokarongwan, alias Col. Lewis Cook, his x mark, [L. S.]
- William Gray, [L. S.]
- Teharagwanegen, alias Thos. Williams, his x mark, [L. S.]
Signed, sealed, and delivered, in the presence of
- Samuel Jones, recorder of the city of New York,
- John Tayler, recorder of the city of Albany,
- Joseph Ogden Hoffman, attorney general of the State of New York.
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