William Chazanof

An excellent historical account of the initial purchase and development of modern day Western New York by the Holland Land Company and their principal agent Joseph Ellicott. Covering approximately 1800-1820, the account includes many significant local, state and national events including the Treaty of Big Tree (when the Seneca tribe sold most of its land rights to the frontier), the War of 1812 and the formation of the Erie Canal. Mr. Ellicott was a complicated but undeniably impressive and profound figure to the development of Western New York.

The book was written in 1970 but remains preeminent as to both Mr. Ellicott and the growth of Western New York from a unpopulated wilderness into a burgeoning community.… (meer)