Transcribing, word-for-word, a 1765 colonial land grant from King George III may not be everyone's cup of tea but for this history teacher it was like pealing a multiple-layered historical onion but without the tears. This sheet of parchment laying on a folding table in my living room was older than the Declaration of Independence and may have belonged to my 5th great grandfather, Donald Munro. According to the transcription, Donald Munro a "disbanded non Commission Officer" from the "Seventy Seventh Regiment of Foot" fought in the French and Indian War and was granted a tract of land somewhere in the Hudson River Valley for his service to the crown. The transcription of also revealed tangential histories: what was the "Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commonly called Lady Day", who was the "Trusty and Well-beloved Cadwallader Coldon Esquire and Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of our Province of New York"? While my focus was the document's connection to Donald Munro, I could not but help to investigate these historical rabbit holes embedded in this primary source. Donald Munro's land grant was singed on May 14th, 1765. Just a handful of months later this trusty and well-beloved 77-year-old Cadwallader Colden, Lieutenant-Governor of the colony of New York, would not be so "well-beloved" but reviled, embroiled in the widely known pre-Revolutionary War Stamp Act of 1765. (Engelman, p. 560). While Donald Munro clasped the parchment detailing his new found bounty, was he in New York witnessing the evening mob of 2,000 that gathered outside Fort George on a Friday night of November 1st, burning Cadwallader Colden's likeness in effigy along with his coach? A 1772 portrait of Colden presents him with a quizzical expression but still resolute with right arm firmly akimbo, left hand resting on an official document. In the background, masts, most likely from the Royal Navy, punch the sky. Confirming the British Royal Navy's world supremacy in the 18th century, an exclusion in Donald Munro's land grant, aside from gold or silver mines, was also, "ALL WHITE or other Sort of PINE-TREES fit for Masts of the Growth of Twenty-four Inches Diameter and upwards, at Twelve Inches from the Earth for Masts for the Royal Navy." In the decades to come, Donald Munro's New York, along with twelve other colonies would become unhinged from the crown, also putting his land grant into jeopardy. How would he navigate a time where power and social structures would be radically transformed? For Cadwallader Colden, a polymath during his lifetime, and an intriguing historical figure, would be overshadowed by the more celebrated historical narrative of the emergence of the United States. As one historian noted, "Except for this twilight of his life, when he was called upon to serve his king with faith and loyalty, at a time when such service met with bitter opposition and hate, he might have been enshrined in American history." (p. 560) Cadwallader Colden would die in 1776, yet another notable year. SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION/LINKS
Engelman, F. L. “Cadwallader Colden and the New York Stamp Act Riots.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 4, 1953, pp. 560–578. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1923595. Accessed 26 Mar. 2020.
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John A. StempienJohn A. Stempien maintains the blog and website, Family Munro and is the co-editor of The Liberty Hyde Bailey Gardener's Companion. He lives in west Michigan with his family. Archives
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