Issue 1
March 2017
Milan NY Histor Why There Is Much To Celebrate
~ Patents, Lots, Partitions ~ The Evolving Framework That Created Milan
Bicentennial Logo Milan resident and Bicentennial Committee member Bobbi Egan designed the Bicentennial Logo. It includes a depiction of the front door of Wilcox Memorial Town Hall, today’s location of town government, which opened in 1966. There is a depiction of Irene Kilmer Wilcox, a life-long resident, who generously gave the town its town hall and the property on which it stands. The sheep represents farming, which for most of the town’s history was the basis of its economy. The tree reflects the town’s continuing rural character. The Milan Town Board established the Bicentennial Committee to “Collect. Preserve. Share. Celebrate 200 Years of Milan History.” Members of the committee are Johanna Bard, Liz Burns, Jack Campisi, Reg Coon, Bobbi Egan, Wendy Foss-Jeffries, Cathie Gill, Bill Jeffway, Alan Kulick, Ingrid Kulick, Vicky LoBrutto, and Jackie Reynolds. We invite every resident to participate in some way and be part of Milan’s evolving history.
Visit Our Website www.milanNYhistory.org for our 2018 schedule of events The articles without attribution are the collaborative work of Bill Jeffway, Victoria LoBrutto and Jack Campisi.
The 1609 journey of Henry Hudson up what we now call the Hudson River on behalf of the Dutch led to a large regional claim called New Netherland. The 1664 take-over by the British (without a shot being fired) changed the regional name to New York. It also marked a more concerted effort to build settlements for those of European and African heritage for both economic and security reasons. Dutchess County was created in 1683 under the jurisdiction of Ulster County and remained so until 1714. It stretched from the Cortland Manor (Westchester County) to Livingston Manor (Columbia County). Between 1685 and 1706 the county was divided into 13 patents granted by the Colonial Governor to friends and political allies (see map). The last of these patents, the one that encompasses the future town of Milan, was the Little Nine Partners, formed in 1706. There appears to have been little or no effort made to sell off the land until 1744 when the Little Nine Partners patent was subdivided into 63 lots (see map), which were in turn assigned to the partners, one of whom was Robert Lurting, Mayor of New York. Lurting died in 1735, and by means not at all clear, one of his lots — Number 22 — came into the possession of Robert Livingston, Third Lord of the Manor, grandson of Robert Livingston, First Lord of the Manor. Besides being significant landowners, the Livingstons, like many of their contemporaries, were land speculators. Lot 22 offered an opportunity for profit, if buyers could be found. One group of potential buyers was made up of Palatine Germans and their descendants, who originally settled in what is today Germantown. By the second half of the 18th century many had moved, looking for land of their own. One such family was the Rowe family. In 1760, Johannes Rowe, Jr. bought Lot No. 22 from Robert Livingston. Originally, the German family name was Rau, which came to be spelled in English “Row” and eventually Continued on Page 2...