I wrote Amanuensis Monday -- 1772 Mortgage Deed of Abel Jennings and George Wakeman Buying Land in Ballston, Albany County, New York From Dirck Lefferts for 1,600 Pounds on 26 January and wanted to know if I interpreted the mortgage deed correctly.
After creating a PDF of the blog post using the PrintFriendly Chrome extension, I asked OpenAI ChatGPT 5: "Please analyze the deed in the attached document and summarize the record."
And it did - here is the description and analysis of the Deed bu OpenAI ChatGPT5:
I’ve reviewed the attached mortgage deed and will summarize it plainly and practically, focusing on what the record does and why it matters for historical and genealogical work.
Summary of the 1772 Mortgage Deed (Abel Jennings & George Wakeman → Dirck Lefferts)
- Record type: Mortgage indenture
- Jurisdiction: Albany County, Province of New York
- Execution date: 7 February 1772
- Recording date: 10 June 1772
- Record location: Albany County Mortgages, 1765–1775, pages 564–566
Parties
Mortgagors: Abel Jennings and George Wakeman, both described as farmers of Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut.
Mortgagee: Dirck Lefferts, merchant of the City of New York.
Financial Terms
The mortgage secures four separate bonds, executed the same day, totaling approximately £805 6s principal, payable in installments:
£205 6s due 1 May 1772
£200 due 1 May 1773
£200 due 1 May 1774
£200 due 1 May 1775
Each bond carries lawful interest, with penalty sums of roughly double the principal, which was standard legal practice at the time.
Although often summarized as a £1,600 transaction, this figure represents the penalty amounts, not the actual principal owed.
Property Description
The mortgaged land consists of 1,006⅔ acres in the Town of Ballston, Albany County, within the Kayaderossers Patent.
The land lies in the Third and Fourth Divisions of Ballston.
The parcel is described in full metes and bounds, using trees, chains, and links, forming a large, contiguous tract.
Purpose and Legal Effect
The mortgage was created to secure repayment of the bonded debts, not as an outright conveyance.
Title would remain with Jennings and Wakeman unless they defaulted, at which point Lefferts could enforce the mortgage.
The deed was acknowledged before Daniel Horsmanden, Chief Justice of the Province of New York, lending strong legal authority.
Recorded by Stephen DeLancey, Clerk.
Historical and Research Significance
Confirms that Jennings and Wakeman were Connecticut residents investing heavily in New York frontier land prior to the Revolutionary War.
Establishes Wakeman’s involvement in large-scale land speculation in Ballston.
Provides a precise land description useful for:
Tracing later deeds or foreclosures
Mapping early settlement patterns
Correlating later mortgage records from the 1780s
Bottom Line
This deed documents a substantial pre-Revolutionary War land investment secured through a multi-year mortgage. It ties Abel Jennings and George Wakeman of Fairfield, Connecticut, to over 1,000 acres in Ballston, New York, and firmly places George Wakeman within the circle of colonial-era landholders and speculators in Albany County.
If you’d like, the next logical step would be to trace subsequent mortgage releases, defaults, or conveyances tied to this tract after 1775, especially given the disruption caused by the war.
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How did ChatGPT do with this analysis and summary? My opinion is that it analyzed and summarized the deed correctly, presenting the description in an organized manner. Was I wrong to assume it was a £1,600 transaction? It appears I was wrong - the (apprximately) £400 due each year was contingent on payment of (approxmately) £200 each year. In 1784, it appears that the lapsed mortgage was £888 which might have been two years worth of the non-payment of £200 each year.
I wonder if I had just copied the FamilySearch Full-Text Search transcription, without my own conclusion, would ChatGPT5 have come to the same conclusion?
Here is the Wikipedia description of the Kayaderossera Patent in Sarataga and surrounding counties of New York. There is not enough information to easily identify the location of the lots described in the deed.
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