STONECREST INDUSTRIES
Publishing for the Northern Catskills
     

The Anti-Rent War on Blenheim Hill:
An Episode of the 1840s
by Albert Champlin Mayham

Centennial edition
ISBN 0-9712057-6-0
154 Pages
$14.95

Originally published in 1906,
this centennial edition has been
completely reset and proofed
against the original edition.

  
In what is now New York State, the Dutch—and later the British—employed a system of granting huge tracts of land as incentive to tame the vast wilderness. The patroons, or landlords, would then lease the land to settlers who cleared it, raised
crops, paid taxes, and paid rent.

Over time these tenants began to consider the
system unfair. Was it right that they could not buy the land they worked? Was it right that they had no mineral, hunting, and fishing rights? Was it right that their labor financed the patroon lifestyle? But landlords asked: Was it right for the tenants to refuse to live up to the terms of their agreements?

Anti-rent emotion gripped these lands from 1839 to 1846. Rioting started in Albany County and swept west and south, culminating in the death of Sheriff Osman Steele in the Delaware County town of Andes.

Although the book focuses on the events as they happened and were reported in a small Schoharie community, it is a tale of interest to readers other than local history buffs. Mayham used elements of fiction to enliven his history— we see and hear these people live this story. The people of Blenheim Hill discuss state and national politics and the anticipated results if certain candidates succeed. Mayham included general discussions of feudal systems globally and historically. And it is a study of the philosophical question that has driven many revolutions: Is it right because it is the law?

The Stonecrest centennial edition of Mr. Mayham’s history includes current maps and an updated list of place names and buildings to clarify for the modern reader things that were obvious to the reader of a century ago. It is lively, entertaining, and informative.
 
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