Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-10-15
AREn.RE&AHLE LAWSUIT.
Legacy from GDorge EsE-HUsv
FeRinOre C-'Opcr's Father GSe
came Landed Proprietor
1'he EEey. TEr Har.yvICA's

The Hartwick Seminary IS an insti-
tuition OF theological learning IN th,.
town Of Hartwick, Ot4egO couutv,
State of New York. It waE founded .
1916 pursuant 10 the last will and trstI-
ment of the Rev John Chrlstophsr
Hnrtwick, 3 Lutherar minister from
SAKE Gonna. IN Germany. who came to
the american Shores as chaplain to II
body If German sold ers IL the s,ryice
OF Eugle.t during the Frozen a:aI
EIErsh war. Hhutw,ck obtain. d :
Iiccuse from the E1giish goverumen
to hey isid. FRI he Indians, and H.
OEr fiunlrcd ponds rccciv d iced
cpnj Jointly VITA two or three Oth.cs
frJ1n :,4ree lEd'au cLiefs, to a tract Of
tUerty-three Thousand acres OF land,
foculipg plot six miles square n the
w"st bat.k of the ou~QuNiIan river.
This deed was subsequently authUt lz
ed unG rendered vliId by letters patent
from George the Third, n l761.
Hartwick' S share of the land was
16. 900 acres He retained this thirty
years, and then placed ID, 00O acres by
power of attornev IN the hands of Viii
ham Cooper, father of James Fcni-
gore, the novelist, with the right to
lease and otherwise dispose OF it.
y
in the course Of time he became sO.e
proprietor Of it. Cooperstown is sad
to be founded on part of this tract.
HaTtvlck retained ownership OF only
3 600 acrea sup 0Osed at I'll at time to
be worth only about two dollars AZ
acre. This he devised, together with
his personal property, consisting Of
bonds and mortgages, notes and stocks,
M a a
seminary, at which orthodox Lutheran
doctrines, should be expoundei. He
had previously Intended to establish
q town upon his land. breaking 1t up
into smaii farms, of which the tenauts
were to bind themselves to accept hum
a. their pastor, to attend regularly at
'd.yine service and instruction., per
formed and given by them, and t"
assist in building and supp1rtln &
church and schools. This project he
abandoned III conse quence OF Cooper's
alienation of the land.
Hartwick was a very singular man
in muLy respects. Unfortunately for
his pious purposes, he drew up his
own will, and made an extraordinary
mess of it. He wrote to dlstln-
euished lawyer of that day, Peter W.
Yates, asking him his opinion of it,
and was assured that it would mot
stand the test of law" being legally
defective in every part and almost
eyerv sentence He was advised to
have a new will drawn up, but he did
nothing further thnn make the old
viii stall worse by adding another in
C ,reruous codicI to it. He died IN
1896, aged 81. Hartwlck was never
married. He was said to have had
a great aversion to female society; but
he enjoyed the friendship of dlstln-
guished families, such as the Living
stens, Van Rensselaers, and Mullen
bergs.
The will opened thus:
Emmanuel, to Thee, Jesus Christ,
Son of God and man, head OF tho
Church, of which | have bsen made a
member 10y being baptized N Thy
name, and to whom L have sworn allie
glance at my confirmation, whose ser
want and minister in the Gospel have
been consecrated at my ordination,
Whose [ am and whom L serve with
all nv power, faculties and estate, both
alive and dead, 1t l. on account OF this
last that [ take the liberty of writing
this humble address to Tnee, &c.
1t has eight codicils of which the
mr. [, puTe udDb 10 Ills ~. ~ IAol AhU' ~
gives all his land to be laid out III a
fowp, closely built, to be called the
New Jerusalem, with buildings and a
| hall for gymnasium, winch he Calls a
G.ynanasi,lne Euangeticuna MniSteriate
| IrO prOpugattoae EUangeticat Chris
ti1'aat rctigionis inter GentiL0s-
The last codicil appoints FTeleric
| aug. Muhlenberg, then Spt aker OF
| the House of Repres entatlvea, exe Gu
! tor aud President of the society for
| establishing his seminary.
The heirs at law of Hartwick made
no trouble, for they made no appear
! aucc, Nevertheless 1t was twenty years
before Hartwick Seminary, the oldest
theological institute in New York, was
Set on foot. Since then it has pros
pered Hartwick's personal prop Ity
wns worth nearly fifteen til )usand dol
lars, and the value of his land has If
course incr ased hundred told, De
ing to day estimated to worth nearly a
million.
And now, sixty years after the fonn-
dation of the SemitaJy, and eighty af-
ter Hartwicks death, the heirs-at law
step forward to claim their property,
swenty-seYen in number. they live in
the dukedom of Saxe-Gotha, Ill Ger
many, where John Christopher Hart
wick himself was born, and are as poor
as poor can be The husband of one
OF the female heirs man by the
name of Meng- with powers of attor-
ney from all the others, has come tC
New York to Institute suit, and has
retained William III. Duryea, the law
4 he Sc.