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Treaty

Seneca at Buffalo Creek, New York (1802)

In 1802 at Buffalo Creek, the Seneca exchanged lake-shore lands with nine Amsterdam investors, under a United States commissioner's watch.

Signed
June 30, 1802
Senate
Ratified

What happened

On 30 June 1802 the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Seneca nation signed an indenture at Buffalo Creek, New York. The other side was nine men of Amsterdam, in the republic of Batavia, acting through their agent and attorney, Joseph Ellicott. John Taylor sat as the commissioner appointed by the President to hold the treaty. The indenture says the full treaty council was held on 13 June 1802.

The Seneca agreed to "exchange, cede, and forever quit claim" to the Amsterdam owners certain lands in Ontario County, New York. These were part of the lands the Seneca had reserved at a 1797 treaty on the Genesee River. The description begins at the mouth of Eighteen Mile Creek and runs along Lake Erie to Cattaraugus Creek, with strips one mile from the lake, and it takes in a second piece at Cattaraugus.

In return the Amsterdam owners ceded back to the Seneca a described tract starting at the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek. They kept the right of preemption, meaning the first right to buy if the Seneca later sold it. The tract is to be held by the Seneca in the same way as the lands reserved in 1797.

Copies were signed for the United States, the Seneca and the owners. It was ratified and proclaimed on 12 January 1803. The indenture gives no acreage or price.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.

  1. do hereby exchange, cede, and forever quit claim to the said parties of the second part, their heirs and assignsTreaty with the Seneca, 1802 (7 Stat. 70), Tribal Treaties Database
  2. reserving to themselves the right of preemptionTreaty with the Seneca, 1802 (7 Stat. 70), Tribal Treaties Database
  3. by the honorable John Taylor, esquire, a commissioner appointed by the President of the United States to hold the sameTreaty with the Seneca, 1802 (7 Stat. 70), Tribal Treaties Database
  4. being part of the lands described and reserved by the said parties of the first part, in a treaty or convention heldTreaty with the Seneca, 1802 (7 Stat. 70), Tribal Treaties Database

Research notes. The indenture gives no acreage or price, and names the Amsterdam parties as individuals, not a company. It is dated 30 June 1802; the text also says 'a full and general treaty ... thirteenth day of June'.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-seneca-1802-0060reference work
    June 30, 1802. | 7 Stat., 70. / scan: 60 TREATY WITH THE SENECA, 1802.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.