property ownership and deeds for Great lots 18, 19 & 20 west of Fuller Road (1818 to ~1926)

McKownville Improvement Association
- property ownership and deeds for Great lots 18, 19 & 20 west of Fuller Road (1818 to ~1926)

The area of McKownville west of Fuller Road largely falls into two of the Great lots defined in Evert Van Allen's 1817 survey, lot numbers 18 and 19. James McKown, son of Robert McKown (a brother of William McKown 1763-1843), was the first (joint) owner of these two lots early in the 19th century. Abel French, the other joint first owner, was married to the daughter of another James McKown, the eldest brother of William McKown. [page linking to the McKown family tree]
A half-acre square at the upper corner of lot 18 was sold for a cemetery in 1841, and this Jewish congregation burial ground can be seen on the west side of Fuller Road across from the entrance to the University. Additions were made to this in 1883 (½acre), and 1943 (1 acre).
Fuller Road did not exist in 1818, and only appears on maps after 1854; it is called in the later 19th century deeds the road to the Water Works. Those were the City of Albany dam and reservoir constructed in 1850 across Patroon Creek, and still existing west of Fuller Road, north of I-90. The road was originally constructed along the east edge of, and its 33 ft width entirely within, Great lot 18.

map of Great lots
18-20 (west of Fuller Road)

In 1856, a strip of about 12 acres was divided off the south ends of the two large lots, perhaps because it was crossed by two small streams sourced in springs on or near the property, and the soil was possibly a bit better than in adjacent land. This eventually became the truck farm of Fred Trick from 1913 to the mid-1930's, and his son William until about 1960. It is now occupied by the office buildings of Executive Park Drive.
Extraordinary speculation occurred in properties in the Great Lots, including this area, between about 1865-1875. Some speculators quickly made large profits; others, especially those left holding the properties when the market collapsed, lost equally large amounts (see the deed list below).
The main part of lots 18 & 19 was eventually cut into two pieces, one sold in 1879 and the other in 1885 (and sold again in 1889), each used as a family farm on the poor sandy soil. The southern larger area of 62 acres was bought in 1926 by a developer, William Farley, who designed the set of streets now Mercer, Warren, Tracey, and Providence, calling it Garden Park Estates (lot map), building houses starting in the mid to late 1930's, but with most in this area constructed after 1945.
The northern part of the area, including all of the other, smaller 41 acre farm, lies in the City of Albany, or rather it has done so since 1916, when the Albany city line was revised and a large area of the Pine Bush formerly in Guilderland was annexed*. George Farley bought this property in 1940, and eventually he and William Farley together sold the Loughlin St lots beginning in 1949, with its "mid-century modern"-style houses built in the 1950's, and separate from the Garden Park Estates streets. After the Nanotech campus began expanding, the Loughlin St houses were surreptitiously purchased, and left empty, and eventually destroyed and replaced by the blockhouse apartments. The western section of this area became part of the University lands in the appropriations of 1961.

*see this page for the wandering of the City of Albany - Guilderland boundary. Prior to 1871, all of the Great lots were in the City of Albany (map of the eastern Great Lots).

deeds for Great lots 18 & 19

Deed book, pages	property	Grantors	grantee	date	date recorded
62; 33-5	gt lots 18 & 19 (114.8ac)	City of Albany (Mayor, etc)	Abel French, James McKown	1818-03-23	1838-06-14
62; 35-6	gt lots 18 & 19 (114.8ac)	Abel French, James & Susan McKown	James M French	1836-03-15	1838-06-14
72; 441-2	½ac square NE cnr lot 18	James M & Sarah A French	Bethel Jacob Jewish Congregation	1841-08-10	1841-08-11
89; 312-3	gt lots 18 & 19 (114.8ac)	James M & Sarah A French	Abel French	1846-07-21	1846-07-22
105; 449-50	gt lots 18 & 19 (114.8ac) xc cem, road	Abel French	Stephen Averill	1849-04-01	1850-03-26
126; 218-9	gt lots 18, 19 xc cem, road	Stephen Averill	Alanson Gates	1851-09-21	1854-03-13
137; 300-1	gt lots 18, 19 xc cem, road	Alanson A & Jane Gates	Samuel S Tallant	1856-02-29	1856-02-29
147; 58-60	11.77ac S ends 18 & 19	Samuel S & Matilda Tallant	Jacob Hall	1856-10-10	1857-09-10
188; 202-3	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	Jacob & Martha I Hall	Samuel S Tallant	1864-05-30	1864-05-30
199; 420-2	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20) gt lots 18, 19 xc cem, road	Samuel S & Matilda Tallant	John Rea & James Woodward	1865-11-09	1866-01-11
199; 422-5	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	John & Nancy Rea & James & Amelia Woodward	Samuel S Tallant	1866-01-11	1866-01-11
204; 544-6	gt lots 18, 19, 20 xc cem, road	Samuel S & Matilda Tallant	James L Baker	1867-03-04	1867-03-06
227; 268-70	gt lots 18, 19, 20 xc cem, road	James L & Anna E Baker	George Canaday	1869-11-02	1869-11-05
232; 216-8	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	George & Catherine Canaday	James D White	1870-02-15	1870-05-23
232; 223-5	gt lots 18 & 19 (102.8ac) xc burying gd NE cnr 18 & 11.77ac S ends 18 & 19	George & Catherine Canaday	Benjamin N Finch	1870-04-30	1870-05-23
233; 385-7	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	James D & Mary J White	Thomas Wigfall	1870-08-03	1870-08-12
242; 50-2	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	Thomas Wigfall	Jeremiah P Russell	1871-03-22	1871-05-20
243; 471-3	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	Jeremiah P & Christina Russell	Robert L Fryer	1871-08-06	1871-08-26
244; 390-2	gt lots 18 & 19 xc cem, road & 11.77ac S ends	Benjamin N & Sarah M Finch	Nathaniel Griffith	1870-11-14	1871-10-12
245; 364-7	gt lots 18 & 19 xc cem, road & 11.77ac S ends	Nathaniel Griffith	Lewis H & Eveline Griffith	1871-09-01	1871-11-18
247; 371-2	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	Robert L Fryer	Stephen Rockefeller	1871-10-03	1872-01-25
252; 35-7	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	Stephen & Annis B Rockefeller	James O Woodruff	1872-02-01	1872-03-08
282; 41-4	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	James O & Ermina J Woodruff	Dewitt H Phillips	1872-02-23	1875-05-11
267; 434-6	gt lots 18 & 19 xc cem, road & 11.77ac S ends	Alva H Tremain (Referee)	Benjamin N Finch	1873-11-15	1873-11-21
274; 277-80	gt lots 18 & 19 xc cem, road & 11.77ac S ends	Benjamin N & Sarah Finch	William H Bailey, Thomas Helme	1874-06-11	1874-09-22
279; 473-5	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	Dewitt H & Rachael Phillips	Asahel Dewal	1875-05-10	1875-05-27
308; 334-6	gt lots 18 & 19 xc cem, road & 11.77ac S ends	William H & Ann E Bailey	Charles Baiger	1878-03-18	1878-03-22
309; 223-4	gt lots 18 & 19 xc cem, road & 11.77ac S ends	Charles Baiger	Theresa Lohre (Baiger)	1878-03-29	1878-03-30
322; 314-6	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	Scott B M Goodwin (Referee)	Martha I Hall	1879-05-31	1880-03-17
319; 60-1	41 acres N part lots 18, 19	Theresa Lohre (Baeger)	Agnes Baeger	1879-06-19	1879-06-21
334; 506-	41 acres N part lots 18, 19	D Louis Dreyer & wf	Anna Heim	1881-08-03	1881-09-09
	addn to cemetery NE cnr lot 18		Congregation Sons of Abraham	1883-10-08
369; 258-9	62 acres remainder lots 18, 19	Theresa Lohre (Baeger)	James A Wiltse	1885-10-31	1885-11-09
372; 315-7	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	Martha I Hall	D Oscar Denison	1886-02-13	1886-03-23
378; 56-8	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	D Oscar & Maria E Denison	James A Wiltse	1886-10-04	1886-10-04
406; 447-9	62 acres remainder lots 18, 19	James A & Margaret B Wiltse	Elizabeth Downey (>John J D)	1889-05-01	1889-06-14
456; 378-81	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	Margaret R & David Wiltse	John L Hein	1891-04-23	1895-11-16
456; 381-3	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)	John L & Georgiana Hein	Charles Friebel	1895-11-16	1895-11-16
516; 120-	35ac of lot 20	Charles & Natalie Friebel	Hugh Friebel	1900-09-05
603; 450-2	22.4ac of lot 20; 11.77ac (S18,19)	Natalie Friebel	Fred & Selma Trick	1913-04-10	1913-05-09
651; 122-	22.4ac of lot 20; 11.77ac (S18,19)	Fred & Selma Trick	Mary L Cox	1916-07-14
763; 236-	41 acres N part lots 18, 19	Carl Ziemann	Louis Ziemann	1919-07-19	1925-08-11
774; 54-5	62 acres remainder lots 18, 19	John J Downey	William W Farley	1926-04-07	1926-04-08
925; 181-3	41 acres N part lots 18, 19	Henry Walter (administrator L Ziemann)	George H C Farley	1940-08-29	1940-09-03
951; 207-9	41 acres N part lots 18, 19	George H C & Mary E H Farley	William W Farley	1942-01-21	1942-12-10
945; 495-6	addn to cemetery NE cnr lot 18 (1ac)	William W Farley	Congregation Beth El Jacob	1943-04-14	1943-04-14
1019; 209-12	22.4ac of lot 20; 11.77ac (S18,19)	Mary L Cox	William E & Mary L Trick	1946-06-18	1946-06-20
1048; 18-21	41 acres N part lots 18, 19	William W Farley	William W & George H C Farley	1946-12-24	1946-12-30
1401; 386-8	5.82ac (S pt lot 19); 1.13ac (pt lot 20)	William E & Mary L Trick	Niagara-Mohawk Power Corp	1954-05-07	1954-05-18
1716; 289-90	5.82ac (S pt lot 18)	William E & Mary L Trick	Irving Kirsch & Sidney Albert	1962-04-26	1962-04-26
1871; 535-8	2.15ac (part S pt lot 19)	Niagara-Mohawk Power Corp	Stuyvesant Plaza Inc	1965-09-27	1966-06-21

deeds for Great lot 20 up to 1864

Deed book, pages	property	Grantors	grantee	date	date recorded
25; 2-4	great lots 14, 15, (113.9ac), & lots 4 (43.9ac), 20, 21 (114.8ac)	City of Albany (Mayor, etc)	John Taylor	1818-03-23	1819-01-12
25; 17	great lots 20, 21 (114.8ac)	John Taylor	Thomas Gould	1818-12-31	1819-01-16
188; 202-3	11.77ac S ends 18, 19 (&20)#	Jacob & Martha I Hall	Samuel S Tallant	1864-05-30	1864-05-30

# The grantee index shows no record for Jacob and/or Martha Hall being conveyed lot 20. Nor have we established if anyone else owned it after the sale to Thomas Gould.

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