Collections in Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division

Martha Bradstreet (1780-1871) was born in Antigua, West Indies and died in Bennettsville, New York. Through her Bradstreet relatives, Martha inherited lands in New York State, notably tracts in Cosby's Manor in the Mohawk River Valley from the estate of Major General John Bradstreet (1714-1774). Her inheritance was legally jeopardized by her early marriage in Ireland to Mathew Codd in 1799. They emigrated to New York later that year, and in 1801 they began a lengthy legal battle to regain her property rights. She restored her maiden name after their divorce in 1817. The Martha Bradstreet land papers, dated circa 1801-circa 1871, contain manuscript maps and documents pertaining to Bradstreet's legal defense of her property interests in an area known as Cosby's Manor in the Mohawk River Valley of New York, in what are now Herkimer and Oneida Counties. They comprise an exemplified copy dated 1828 of a court document dated 1806 in the case of Mathew Codd and Martha his wife v. Richard Harison and others, partitioning properties in Cosby's Manor, with an attached survey map; a separate copy of a portion of the survey map; and an undated tabulated list of related property transactions. The documents and the survey map bear annotations by "M.B." [Martha Bradstreet]. The maps are copies made by John T. Ludlam, in 1819, of maps made by Charles C. Brodhead in 1805. less

The collection consists of an assortment of individual property, subdivision maps, as well as maps of entire cities, villages, towns, created and surveyed by various individuals and companies dating from 1850 to about 1951. They are manuscripts, copies, or reprint from a collection of property maps filed with various Register Offices in Westchester County. Maps show lots; some show existing buildings and names of property owners. Some of the maps' announce auctions for properties comprising estates of named decedents. less