Bell family, 1807-1925.

This collection of documents pertains to a tract of land known as the Van Bael Patent, five and a quarter square miles located within the Van Rensselaer Patroonship, around the confluence of the Normans Kill and the Krumkill. During the 18th century, there was a controversy over the ownership of this land, which was settled in favor of the Van Rensselaers in 1775. Stephen Van Rensselaer was allotted the westernmost corner in 1791 and assigned it to the Bruce family in 1792. The land passed to the Veeders, and to the Bells in 1807. The Bells took or gave mortgages on pieces of the land over the course of fifty years in the second half of the nineteenth century (1854-1899). In 1925, it was purchased by the Klings.