Few of us think back to the troubled times when the farmers of Rensselaer, Columbia and Albany counties were involved in sometimes violent demonstrations against rents collected by the Manor of Rensselaerswijck and the feudal conditions imposed by the land leases of the semi-feudal patroon.
It can be said to have started in the 1790s when Stephen Van Rensselaer III encouraged the development of his land holdings stretching from the Helderbergs in Western Albany County east to the Rensselaer Plateau in Eastern Rensselaer County, which dated back to the original Dutch grants in 1629 made to Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586-1643).
Stephen Van Rensselaer III offered farms of 120 acres to any farmer who would develop them. Someone who took him up on the offer would be given a farm, seven years rent-free, to clear the land and plant crops. At the end of that time, he was promised a viable deed.
When the time came to sign the deed indentures at the end of their original tenure, the farmers were surprised to find a few unexpected clauses. Generally, the farmer purchased the land for five shillings plus a perpetual rent of a number of bushels of good clean winter wheat, four fat hens and one day of service.
There was also a “quarter sale” provision which required that one-quarter of the proceeds of any farm’s sale would go to the Van Rensselaers. In addition, all timber, mineral and water rights were retained by the patroons.
If a farmer objected to these provisions, he was told that those were the conditions – take them or leave them. Since the farmers had put years of labor into the farms and built homes, most signed the indentures.
Stephen Van Rensselaer III died in 1839, and his two sons inherited the manor. Stephen IV became patroon of the West Manor, in Albany and Schoharie Counties on the west side of the Hudson River.
William inherited the East Manor, then comprised of all of Rensselaer County with the exception of towns of Schaghticoke, Hoosick, Pittstown and the City of Troy, along with parts of Columbia and Greene Counties.
(At the time of his death, Stephen III – known as the “Good Patroon” for failing to enforce the rents – was worth about $10 million (about $133 billion in 2025 dollars) and is considered to have been the tenth-richest American in history.)
To settle the estate and leave it unencumbered, it was decided to collect all back rents and evict farmers who were in arrears. At the time the United States was just coming out of an economic depression caused by the Panic of 1837. Many farmers had fallen behind in their rent payments.
In the face of sudden evictions, it was decided that a strong, organized resistance was needed. Communities of Rensselaer County – Sand Lake, Hoag’s Corners and Stephentown (named in honor of Stephen Van Rensselaer III – became centers of the resistance.
One of the primary leaders was Dr. Smith A. Boughton (1810-1888), a family doctor who had a home in the Sand Lake mountain community of Alps, NY. (His home still stands today, on Route 43, about a mile east of the intersection of Route 66).
Boughton organized the East Manor Anti-Rent Association and received almost unanimous support. By May 1844, about 4,000 members had signed up.
Since the Van Rensselaers had the power of government to enforce the evictions, Boughton saw the need for a secret society to prevent the sheriff from serving eviction papers. This secret group dressed as Native Americans and wore calico (a cheap cotton cloth), as the Patriots had done at the Boston Tea Party.
“This force was to be on hand to protect the tenants from legal hounds,” Boughton is said to have proclaimed. “They were not to disturb the community in any other form, socially or legally, no one knew who they were, except the individuals themselves. This force is to be used only until we could get judicial or legislative redress.”
Each locality in Rensselaer County organized its own unit. A tin dinner horn was used as a call to dinner was utilized as a call to arms. The men assembled in their communities for drills in order to train for the coming conflict.
Boughton became their overall leader and was known as “Chief Big Thunder.” An assistant, Mortimer Belden, also from the Alps, was called “Little Thunder.” Local units also had their own “chiefs.”
On July 4, 1844, a call was made for an Independence Day drill and parade at Hoag’s Corners in the mountains of East Nassau, NY.
“Brother serfs of Lord Van Rensselaer, these Indians have a battle cry that means your safety and your future,” Boughton said to the assembled men. “Down with the rent.” He warned that William Van Rensselaer was preparing for evictions.
On July 24, County Sheriff Gideon Reynolds of Hoosick was given several writs to be served on anti-rent leaders in the Alps. Proceeding on his way, he heard a chorus of tin horns and was soon surrounded by the calico-dressed “Indians.” The sheriff turned back.
The following day, a posse of about 30 men set out from Troy to serve the eviction papers on the Association leaders. The sound of tin horns again reverberated through the area, and the posse was soon surrounded by over 100 men armed with pistols, knives and tomahawks.
As the number grew to some 600, horses were unhitched from the sheriff’s carriages and turned loose and the sheriff’s men were seized and searched.
The Deputy Sheriff was found to be carrying eviction papers. After much shouting and fanfare, the papers were burned. To set an example of what was in store for the future, the Sheriff Reynolds was tarred and feathered before being set free to find their way back to Troy.
(Gideon Reynolds would serves as Sheriff from 1843-1846, when he was elected to Congress, serving from 1847-1851.)
An angered William Van Rensselaer demanded that the sheriff appeal to Governor William C. Bouck for troops to assist him in carrying out his duties. A farmer from Schoharie County, Bouck was elected Governor in 1842 and took office on January 1, 1843.
With this background, he was not about to send troops into Rensselaer County and instead arranged a meeting with the East Manor Anti-Rent Association. The committee invited representatives from the eight towns of the county to attend; they were looking for a large crowd to impress the Governor.
On August 10, 1844, the Governor set out for West Sand Lake where he received a welcoming ovation, including a cannon salute. A crowd of over 1,000, according to the Albany Argus, or about 3,000 according to Henry Christian in his book Tin Horns and Calico (1978), were assembled in the center of West Sand Lake.
The gathering was orderly and waited a number of hours to hear the results of the meeting.
The meeting between the Governor and the Association was held in Thomas Burton’s home near the southwest corner of Routes 43 and 150. (In 1976, during celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial, a mural showing his Burton’s home was painted on the wall of the Park Pharmacy.)
Joseph Gregory, President of the Association, along with Burton, Corresponding Secretary of the Association, Association Treasurer George Cipperly, and presumably others met with the Governor.
Gregory was a descendant of an early family who had settled in Sand Lake at Averill Park. George Cipperly operated a mill on the Wynantskill (where Bonded Concrete now stands), and served as Town Supervisor in 1845.
Thomas Burton was a surveyor and engineer who designed the dikes and dams which created the Burden Lakes in 1865-66. So it can be judged that the Anti-Rent Association, although radical in its aims, was led by prominent, respected citizens.
At the end of the meeting, they mounted a platform to address the assembled crowd. The Governor did not speak but sat by as Gregory gave an account of the meeting.
The Governor had no intention of sending the militia to occupy Rensselaer County and directed the County Sheriff to serve no more processes without first consulting the State Attorney General. He was assured by the Association that the masked men were only an expedient to restrain the landlords from making wholesale evictions.
The only hitch in the day was when a band of about 200 calico-dressed demonstrators on horseback galloped into the crowd, circled twice and left, causing no further disturbance. The only casualty was accidental, when one of the departing protestors was thrown from his horse and killed.
A version of this essay by Bob Lilly was first published in the Sand Lake Historical Society‘s History Highlights. You can become a member of the Sand Lake Historical Society here, and read back issues of the Historical Highlights here.
Read more about the Rent War in New York.
Illustrations, from above: Detail of map of Manor of Rensselaer made by Claude Joseph Sauthier on order of NY Gov William Tryon, engraved and printed in London by William Faden, 1776; Stephen Van Rensselaer III (Natural Portrait Gallery); a portrait of Smith A. Boughton; and a re-creation of the Anti-Rent War and an Anti-rent poster calling for the meeting in Hoags Corners.
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