Saturday, November 10, 2007

The Military Tract in central NYS

The Town of Scipio was formed on February 6, 1796. It originally was a part of our neighboring Onondaga County until March 8, 1799, when it became a part of Cayuga County.
Scipio is part of an area known as the Military Tract; this was a vast area of about 1.75 million acres located in the heartland of Central NY. Lands purchased by the State from the Onondaga Indian Nation in 1788 and from the Cayuga Nation in 1789 were surveyed into 28 Military Tract Townships to satisfy the claims of veterans of the Revolutionary War, who had been promised acreage as an inducement to enlist in the New York regiments. Townships contained 60,000 acres of land, and were mapped and subdivided into 600 acre lots consecutively numbered from one upward.
Scipio, named for the Roman General, became Township number 12. Our eastern border is Owasco Lake, one of the lovely Finger Lakes of central New York State.
The Town of Ledyard, bordered on the west by Cayuga Lake, was formed off from Scipio January 30, 1823.

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