The History of Cayuga County 1789-1879 page 33
Land Bounties Granted to Soldiers

they entered the service, inhabitants of this State ; such of the non-commissioned officers and privates of the said last mentioned two corps, as are credited to this State as parts of the troops thereof ; all officers designated by any acts of Congress subsequent to the 16th of Sept. 1776 ; all officers recommended by Congress as persons whose depreciation of pay ought to be made good by this State, and who may hold commissions in the line of the army at the close of the war ; and the Rev. John Mason and John Gano shall severally have granted to them the following quantities of land, to wit

" To a Major-General, 5,500 acres.
" To a Brigadier-General, 4,250 acres.
" To a Colonel, 2,500 acres.
" To a Lieutenant-Colonel, 2,250 acres.
" To a Major, 2,000 acres.
" To a Captain and Surgeon, 1,500 acres.
" To a Chaplain, 2,000 acres.
"To every Subaltern and Surgeon's Mate, 1,000 acres.
" To every non-commissioned officer and private, 500 acres."

On the 20th of March, 1781, the Legislature of this State authorized the raising of two regiments for the defense of the frontiers and offered a bounty to the officers and men equal to five times the grant of the United States.

The Act of March 28th, 1783, further provided :

" That these lands so to be granted as bounty from the United States, and as a gratuity from this State, shall be laid out in townships of six miles square ; that each township shall be divided into one hundred and fifty-six lots of one hundred and fifty acres each, two lots whereof shall be reserved for the use of a minister or ministers of the gospel, and two lots for the use of a school or schools ; that each of the persons above described shall be entitled to as many such lots as his bounty and gratuity lands as aforesaid, will admit of ; that one half of the lots each person shall be entitled to shall be improved at the rate of five acres for every hundred acres within five years next after the grant, if such lots are sold by the original grantee, or within ten years from such grant, if the grantee shall retain possession of such lots ; and that the said bounty and gratuity lands be located in the district of this State reserved for the use of the troops by an act entitled ` An Act to prevent grants or locations of the lands therein mentioned,' passed the 25th day of July, 1782."

Delay ensued in surveying the land and in awarding the grants, and the soldiers became clamorous for the promised bounties. After various modifications of the law, the act of Feb. 28th, 1789, finally directed:

"That the Commissioners of the Land Office shall be, and they are hereby authorized, to direct the Surveyor-General to lay out as many townships in tracts of land set apart for such purposes as will contain lands sufficient to satisfy the claims of all such persons, who are or shall be entitled to grants of land by certain concurrent resolutions, and by the eleventh clause of the act entitled `An Act for granting certain lands promised to be given as bounty lands by the laws of the State and for other purposes therein mentioned,' passed the eleventh day of May, 1784, which townships shall respectively contain 60,000 acres of land, and be laid out as nearly in squares as local circumstances will permit, and be numbered from one progressively to the last inclusive ; and the commissioners of the land office shall designate every township by such name as they shall deem proper."

The several townships were to be mapped, subdivided into six hundred acre lots, and consecutively numbered from one upward. The quantity of fifty acres in one of the corners of each lot was made subject to a charge of forty-eight shillings to meet the cost of survey, and if not paid within two years, the same was to be sold.

By the Act of February 28th, 1789, six lots were reserved in each township, one for promoting the gospel and public schools ; another for promoting literature ; and the four others to equalize fractional divisions, and to meet the cases of such as drew lands covered with water.

One million eight hundred thousand acres were set apart for this purpose on the Indian lands in the western part of the State, their title to which had previously been extinguished. It was surveyed and mapped as speedily as possible, and on the third day of July, 1790, the following twenty-six towns were reported as surveyed, mapped and numbered, and they were designated by the following names

"Township No. one, Lysander.
"                No. two, Hannibal.
"                No. three, Cato.
"                No. four, Brutus.
"                No. five, Camillus.
"                No. six, Cicero.
"                No. seven, Manlius.
"                No. eight, Aurelius.
"                No. nine, Marcellus.
"                No. ten, Pompey.
"                No. eleven, Romulus.
"                No. twelve, Scipio.
"                No. thirteen, Sempronius.
"                No. fourteen, Tully.

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