Little Nine Partners Patent


The Little Nine Partners Patent was the final land patent granted in Dutchess County, New York, United States.

History

The patent was located in the northern part of the county, and comprises all or parts of the modern towns of Milan, Pine Plains, and North East. Roughly triangular in shape, it was bounded on the north by Columbia County, on the south by the Great Nine Partners Patent and on the west by the Schuyler and Rhinebeck patents. Its eastern boundary was the area known as The Oblong, a narrow strip of land along the eastern edge of Dutchess County, bordering the state of Connecticut.
Although awarded in 1706, it was not until 1744 that the allocation of each of the nine partners was associated with a specific lot through a Dutchess County Court process that involved a lottery system, drawn by "two boys...under the age of sixteen."