In 1787, Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer III sent an agent to Rensselaerville in Albany County, NY to conduct a land survey. At that time there were 60 occupied lots in the village, rented by tenants.
Among them was Captain Daniel Shay, known as the leader of “Shays’ Rebellion” in Massachusetts, who purchased a farm from David Williams and settled in the vicinity of Preston’s Hollow in 1795. David Williams had been one of the captors of British spy, Major John André. [Read more…] about Judge Rufus Wheeler Peckham & The McCann Murder
