ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Title
Deed, Samuel Blackwell, Jr. and Margaret Ann Blackwell to Samuel Vandervoort, 1827 

Collection Number
SC 480

OCLC Number
1128817587

Creators
Samuel Blackwell, Jr. (1791-1857)
Margaret Ann Rea Blackwell (1796-1869)
Samuel Vandervoort (1797-1887)
Jacob Field (unknown-1847)

Provenance 
Gift of Cornell Jaray to Special Collections, Stony Brook University Libraries. 
Possible former owner: handwritten in script on the document is the notation, “Property of GW? Smith"

Extent, Scope, and Content Note 
Physical description: 1 leaf; 26cm x 40cm; evidence of previous repair work in the form of mending tape.
Date: signed May 1, 1827; received September 28, 1827

Abstract: This original manuscript deed is from grantors Samuel Blackwell Jr. and Margaret Ann Blackwell to grantee Samuel Vandervoort. The commissioner of this deed is Judge Jacob Field. The content of the deed describes the purchase of a parcel of land in Hallets Cove; which was located in the town of Newtown of Queens County for the sum of five hundred dollars.

Arrangement and Processing Note
Processed by Matthew Burke (intern, Stony Brook University) under the supervision of Kristen J. Nyitray in November 2019.

Language
English      

Restrictions on Access
The collection is open to researchers without restriction.

Rights and Permissions 
Stony Brook University Libraries' consent to access as the physical owner of the collection does not address copyright issues that may affect publication rights. It is the sole responsibility of the user of Special Collections and University Archives materials to investigate the copyright status of any given work and to seek and obtain permission where needed prior to publication.

Citation
Deed, Samuel Blackwell, Jr. and Margaret Ann Blackwell to Samuel Vandervoort, 1827, Special Collections and University Archives, Stony Brook University Libraries.

Historical Note    
A deed is a legally binding written instrument which passes rights and ownership between parties, typically land.

Grantor: Samuel Blackwell, Jr. (1791-1857) was born in Queens County, New York to Samuel Blackwell (1757-1832) and Mary Whitehead field Blackwell (1766-1841). He was the spouse to Margaret Ann Blackwell (1796-1869). He was also the grandson of Jacob Blackwell (1717-1780), a captain in the militia during the French and Indian war and a colonel during the Revolutionary war; who served as a delegate to the Provincial Congress as well. The Blackwells were well-known throughout Queens County and had for a time inherited what is now known as Roosevelt Island, which lies in the middle of the East River between Manhattan and Long Island. Previously named Blackwell Island, the family farmed it for over a century before the city purchased it in 1828. 

Grantor: Margaret Ann Rea Blackwell (1796-1869) was born in North Carolina and was the spouse to Samuel Blackwell Jr. They had two children: an unnamed infant daughter who died in 1825 and a son William Rea Blackwell (1814-1904).

Grantee: Samuel Vandervoort (1797-1887).

Judge: Jacob Field (unknown-1847) was a judge who is buried at Old Newtown Cemetery in Elmhurst, Queens County, New York. 

Geographical location: The location is Newtown, a former town in Queens, County, New York and now present-day Elmhurst. Newtown’s township was bounded by the East River to its west, Jamaica’s township to the southeast and Flushing’s to the northeast. The neighborhood of Glendale was situated the furthest east within Newtown. The parcel of land described in this deed stretches from Hallett's Cove (eastern area of present-day Astoria) to a location formerly known as Middletown (a very small area located in the center of present-day Astoria). Hallett's Cove was founded by an Englishman named William Hallett in 1652 with his wife Elizabeeth Fones, and extends from the area of present-day Robert F. Kennedy Bridge to Vernon Boulevard along the East River.

Sources
1. Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com
2. Long Island Surnames: https://longislandsurnames.com
3. Skal, G. von., Smiley, F. T. (1908). Illustrated history of the borough of Queens, New York City. [Flushing, N.Y.]. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t1fj3888h
4. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/nyregion/before-it-was-called-roosevelt-island.html
5. www.deeds.com
6. https://archive.org/details/annalsofnewtowni00rike/page/258
7. http://bklyn-genealogy-info.stevemorse.org/Map/16.1700.Queens.html
8. http://bklyn-genealogy-info.stevemorse.org/Map/5.Bor.Q.Rich.html
9. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/d0a42070-0dbb-0131-617f-58d385a7b928
10. FamilySearch Record Collection: New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949

Subjects
Deeds -- New York (State)
Real property -- New York (State) -- Queens County.
New York (State) -- Newtown (Queens County)
Newtown (Queens County, N.Y.) -- History.
Deeds.
Blackwell, Jr., Samuel (1791-1857).
Blackwell, Margaret Ann (1796-1869).
Vandervoort, Samuel (1797-1887). 

TRANSCRIPTION

Page 1

Saml. Blackwell Junr. & Wife
To
Saml. Vandervoort Deed 
1827
Recorded Sept 28th 1827 at 3 o’clock p.m

Page 2

State of New York
Queens County ?
On the 27th day of Sept 1827 personally appeared
before me Jacob Field Commissioner Saml. Blackwell Jr and 
Margaret Ann his wife to me known to be the same persons
described in and who executed the within Deed and duly
acknowledged that they executed the same and the said
Margaret Ann being by me privately examined apart 
from her Husband, acknowledged that she executed the
same without any fear or compulsion from her said 
Husband and their being no material erasures nor
Interlineations therein
I allow the said to be recorded 
Jacob Field, Commissioner
Recorded in Queens County Clerks Office in Liber
of records of Deeds pages 252. 253. 254. this 28th
day of September 1827 at 3 o’clock p.m Examined by
Samuel Sherman Clerk

Note: handwritten "property of GW? Smith"

Page 3 (Paragraph 1 of 2)

This Indenture, made the First day of May in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred
and twenty seven Between Samuel Blackwell Junr. of Newtown in Queens County of State of New York and Margaret  Ann his wife of the first
Part, and Samuel Vandervoort Of the same town of the second part,
Witnesseth, that the said parties of the first part, for and in consideration of the Sum of five hundred dollars lawful money 
of the United States of America, to them in hand paid, at or before the ensealing and delivery of these presents, by the said party of the second part, the receipt whereof is hereby acknow=
ledged, and the said party of the second part his heirs, executors and administrators, for ever released and discharged from the same by these Presents, Have granted, bargained, sold, re=
leased, conveyed and confirmed; and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, release, convey, and confirm, unto the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns for ever, 
All that certain lot, piece or parcel land, Situate lying and being at Hallett’s Cove in the town of Newtown aforesaid. Bounded and described as follows
Viz. Beginning on the highway that leads from Hallett’s Cove aforesaid to Middletown, by land of  Miller, and running from thence along his land
North one & a half degrees East- three Chains and Eight links to land of sd. Saml. Blackwell Junr. Thence along his land South Eighty nine and a half degrees East, two
Chains and Eighty four links to a lane. Thence along the lane South ten and three quarter degrees West- three chains and nineteen links to the said Highway
And thence along sd. highway North Eighty seven and three quarter degrees West- two chains and thirty four links to the place of beginning; containing ac-
cording to this Survey Three roods And six perches of land It is understood and agreed that the said Party of the
Second Part keep Said Premises in good and sufficient fence at his own expense