The Huyck Bain Crandell Collection, Document BH010
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1739-06-20 Litigation Bond, Huyck Patentees vs. Cornelius Schermerhoorn, Witnessed by Philip Livingston Jr.
This is a litigation bond — ten of the Huyck Patent patentees are agreeing to share equally in the legal costs of suing Cornelius Schermerhoorn in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for Albany County for failing to pay his one-eleventh share of the patent costs. Burger Huyck is acting as the lead plaintiff and financing the litigation, with the others bonding themselves to reimburse him their proportionate shares.
Image: BH010 obv right.jpg
Image: BH010 rev left.jpg
Image: BH010 rev right.jpg
Transcription
Spine
Bond Lambert Huyck and others to Burger Huyck
Obverse
Know all men by these presents that we Lambert Huyck Peter van Alen Johannis Vosburg Peter Vosburgh Joachim Kallier Isaac Vosburgh John van Alstyn Johannis TenBroeck and Casper Roush are held and firmly bound unto Burger Huyck in the penal Sum of one hundred pounds Currt Money of the province of New York to be paid unto the said Burger Huyck his Certain Attorney Heirs Exers or Admrs. for the wch paymt. well and truly to be made and done We do hereby bond our Selves our Heirs Exers and Admrs and every of them firmly by these presents - Sealed with our Seals Dated this Twentieth Day of June in the Twelfth year of his Maj.es Reign A. D. 1739 The Condition of the above Obligation is such that whereas Cornelius Schermerhoorn of Kinderhook in the County of Albany and province of New York Black Smith by his bond bearing Date the third Day of September in the fifth year of his Majesties Reign Anno & Domini 1731 Reading that whereas they the said Burger Huyck Lambert Huyck Peter van Alen Johannis Vosburgh Peter Vosburgh Joachim Kallier Isaac Vosburgh John van Alstyn Johannis Tenbroeck and Casper Roush have obtained a Warrant of Survey from the honourable Kyr van Dam Esq Dated the 12th day of August 1731 Directed to the Surveyor Genl of the province for the laying out of Six thousand Acres of Land adjoining to the Land in their possessions and to the Northward of the South End of the Lands formerly belonging to Dirck Wesselse & Gerrit Teunissen and to the Southward of the South Boundy () of the Mannor of Renselaerwyck wch Land is already surveyed and laid out by (..) Jacobus Bruyn Junr Deputy Surveyor and for wch they Intend to obtain his Majes Grant and Confirmation And whereas they have entered into a Bond upon Condition that they should Convey and Release unto the sd Cornelis Schermerhoorn his Heirs and Assigns the one full undivided Eleventh part of the afd Trust of Land after they shall have abtained a Patent for the Same Conditiones that of the above bound Cornelius Schermerhoorn his Heirs Exer or Admrs Doth well and truly pay or Cause to be paid unto them the sd Burger Huyck Lambert Huyck Peter van Alen Johannis Vosburgh Peter Vosburgh Joachim Kallier Isaac Vosburgh John van Alstyn Johannis Tenbroek and Casper Roush and every of them their or either of their Heirs Exers or Admrs the one Eleventh part of the Charges and Expenses already been at in
Reverse
In obtaining the said Patent when the Same shall become due and payable as in by the sd Obligation relation Thereunto being had may more Clearly appear Now the Condition of the above Obligation is such that if the sd Lambert Huyck Peter van Alen Johannis Vosburgh Peter Vosburgh Joachim Kallier Isaac Vosburgh John van Alstyn Johannis Tenbroeck and Casper Roush they and each of them their or either of their Heirs Exers or Admrs Do well and truly pay or Cause to be paid unto the abovenamed Burger Huyck his Certain Attorney Heirs Exers or Admrs their Equal Shares (in) Proportions of the Costs and Charges which shall be expended in prosecuting their Actions now expending in the Super Court of Comon pleas held for the City and County of Albany against him the said Cornelius Schermerhoorn for not performing the Condition of the Obligation as above Recited and their Equal Shares and Proportions of the Costs and Charges by him the said Burger Huyck necessarily expended in any other Action which he or they may be obliged to lay out to oblige him the sd Cornelius Schermerhoorn his Heirs Exers or Admrs by any lawful ways or means to perform the Condition of the above mentioned bond as above Recited then this Obligation to be Void Else to remain in full force and Existance(?) his Signed Sealed & Delivered in Lambert H uyck the presence of Us by mark Lambert Huyck Peter Vosburgh pieter van alen {sig} Johanis Vosburgh & John vAlstyn his Ja Stevenson Johannis I Vosburgh Philip Livingston Junr. . johannnis van allstyn {sig}
{nine seals down right edge --->>}
Commentary
NOTE: These three documents were written in the same hand, apparently that of Ja Stevenson, Clerk. It seems likely they were all written at the same time since the first two are dated the same day and the latter affirms Burger Huyck's title to his farm covered by the litigation bond.
- BH015 ~ 1739-06-20 Bill of Sale of Negro Boy, Quash, by Johannis Beeckman Jr. to Burger Huyck
- BH010 ~ 1739-06-20 Litigation Bond, Huyck Patentees vs. Cornelius Schermerhoorn, Witnessed by Philip Livingston Jr.
- BH016 ~ [[1679-07-01 - Affirmation of Title? - To Farm of Andres Hanse Huyck]]
All requiring a trip from Kline Kill to Albany, not insignificant in those days.
Notes:
This is extraordinary. Here for the first time we have the complete list of patentees:
- Burger Huyck
- Lambert Huyck
- Peter van Alen
- Johannis Vosburgh
- Peter Vosburgh
- Joachim Kallier
- Isaac Vosburgh
- John van Alstyn
- Johannis Tenbroeck
- Casper Housh
- Cornelius Schermerhoorn
Eleven patentees — each holding one undivided eleventh part — exactly the dozen or so you anticipated.
Key revelations:
- Cornelius Schermerhoorn is identified as a blacksmith of Kinderhook — which connects directly back to the disputed 1730 Schermerhoorn slip we translated earlier. His dispute with the other patentees apparently festered from 1730 through at least 1739.
- The warrant of survey was dated August 12, 1731, directed to the Surveyor General, with Jacobus Bruyn Junior as Deputy Surveyor — another Bruyn, connecting back to the 1679 root deed family..
- Kyr Van Dam signed the warrant, confirming what the History of Columbia County told us.
- The bond is dated June 20, 1739 — eight years after the original patent warrant, suggesting the Schermerhoorn dispute over his eleventh share had been festering throughout the 1730s.
- “Dirck Wesselse & Gerrit Teunissen” named as former landowners to the south — Dirck Wessels appears in the 1679 root deed as a commissioner, confirming continuity of these family land holdings across generations.
This is a litigation bond — the patentees are binding themselves to share equally in the legal costs of suing Cornelius Schermerhoorn in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for Albany County for failing to pay his one-eleventh share of the patent costs. Burger Huyck is acting as the lead plaintiff and financing the litigation, with the others bonding themselves to reimburse him their proportionate shares.
Several striking details:
- Philip Livingston Junr. as witness — the Livingston family appears yet again, now in the third generation connected to this archive. Philip Livingston Jr. (1716-1778) was a prominent Albany merchant and later a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His presence as witness gives this document considerable social weight.
- Jas. Stevenson as co-witness — likely James Stevenson, another Albany figure of the period.
- Two of the nine signatories sign with marks — Lambert Huyck and Johannis Vosburgh were illiterate, as was Johannis Huyck in the land documents. Pieter Van Alen's signature is barly literate. Literacy was clearly uneven among this group of yeoman farmers.
- Nine red wax seals down the right margin, corresponding to the nine obligors — Lambert Huyck, Peter van Alen, Johannis Vosburgh, Peter Vosburgh, Joachim Hallier, Isaac Vosburgh, John van Alstyn, Johannis Tenbroeck, and Casper Housh.
The signatories visible are:
- Lambert (H mark) Huyck — his mark
- Pieter Van Alen
- Johannis (his mark) Vosburgh — his mark, an "I"
- Johannis Van Alstyn — signed in his own hand, lower right
And the witnesses:
- Jas. Stevenson
- Philip Livingston Junr.
The remaining five obligors — Peter Vosburgh, Joachim Hallier, Isaac Vosburgh, Johannis Tenbroeck, and Casper Housh — apparently did not sign on this page. Yet all nine seals are present, which in 18th century legal practice was sufficient — the seal itself constituted execution of the document even where a signature was absent or replaced by a mark.
The nine seals in a vertical column is visually striking — a formal, deliberate legal instrument. This document would have been kept by Burger Huyck as lead plaintiff, which is exactly why it survives in his archive.
The dispute now has a legal venue — Albany County Court of Common Pleas, confirming this was a serious enough matter to pursue through the colonial court system.
The Schermerhoorn dispute that first appeared as a cryptic 1730 memo has now fully revealed itself — eight years of Cornelius Schermerhoorn refusing to pay his one-eleventh share of the patent costs, culminating in a formal lawsuit in 1739 with Philip Livingston Jr. himself as witness.
This is the most legally and historically significant document in the archive so far.
— Notes by Claude.ai 4.6 2026-04-30 - jhc
Metadata
Document: BH010
Date: 1739-06-20
Language: English
Type: Agreement, Bond
Subject: Land records, Law
Principals: Burger Huyck, Lambert Huyck, Peter Van Alen, Johannis Vosburg, Peter Vosburgh, Joachim Kallier, Isaac Vosburgh, John Van Alstyn, Johannis TenBroeck, Casper Roush, Cornelis Schermerhoorn
Other Persons Mentioned: Dirck Wessels, Gerrit Teunissen, Jacobus Bruyn, Ja Stevenson, Philip Livingston Jr, Kyr Van Dam Esq
Places Mentioned: Kinderhook, Renselaerwyck Manor
— page revised 2026-05-26 - jhc
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Huyck Bain Crandell Collection © 2026 by John H. Coxon is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
