EARLY HISTORY
     The History of the Settlement of this area may be said to have begun on, or about, September 29, 1710, when Robert Hunter, newly appointed Royal Governor of New York Province, purchased some 6,000 acres of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, from Robert Livingston, First Lord of the Manor.

     This land was purchased for the purpose of settling some 1,400 or more German-speaking Refugees from the war-torn Rhine Valley and adjacent areas.  These people, more commonly known to history as the Palatines, were a portion of the more than 13,000 who had left their homeland in the so-called Great Migration of 1709. The Rhenish Palatinate, a small Electorate located near the junction of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers, was the area hardest hit; hence the name given the Refugees.

     These people were to be settled along the Hudson River, and put to work manufacturing Naval Stores, products of the pine tree, for the British Navy. 

     There were two species of pine trees predominant  here along the Hudson, the White Pine, one of the noblest trees that grows, and the Pitch Pine. The White Pine was most numerous here along the river, but was not suited to the purpose in mind, The Pitch Pine also grew here, but was most numerous some little distance inland from the river. This tree was suited to the project under consideration.

     The undertaking proved a failure and, in the autumn of 1712, the Colony split, with many of the settlers moving over into the Schoharie Valley.  Others spread northward as far as Kinderhook, and southward as far at least as Rhinebeck, and eastward over the faces of Livingston Manor and Rensselaerwyck. Others however refused to be pushed any further and elected to remain and fight the thing through.  This they did. Conditions terribly hard for a time, but, by 1724, these people,some 63 families in all, were firmly enough established to petition for title to the 6,000 acres purchased by Governor Hunter in 1710. This petition was granted in 1725.  In 1740 the area was surveyed and mapped, and those remaining there given Indentures of Ownership for their lands.  It was not until 1724, after Governor Burnett's arrival, that the 6000 acres purchased by Gov. Hunter of Mr. Livingston fourteen years before, was secured by patent to the Palatines remaining on Livingston's Manor. Justice, though slow, came with a liberal hand at last, for each of the sixty-three families took what they had in possession improved, and the residue of the 6000 acres in common.(CHAPTER III. Benton History of Herkimer County)

     It is regrettable indeed that time, and the hand of man, have removed so many tangible reminders of bygone days here in this area. We do have however, pictures of some of these places and localities related to the early days here in this area, and for this we may be duly thankful.

                                                                         SETTLEMENT
     The Germans brought here in 1710 were located in four settlements, or hamlets, located a little distance back from the river and about equidistant from one another north to south. Sites of these old settlements may be picked out with reasonable certainty on the map made of the area in 1740 by Cadwallader Colden, Surveyor General of the Province. These sites, reading from north to south, place these settlements as follows.

     ANNESBURY    In the Snyder's Corners-Half Moon Anchorage area

     QUEENSBURY    In the vicinity of Sharp's Landing Road, Maple Avenue, Maple Avenue Extension, and Highway 9G

     HAYESBURY    In the area around the junction of County Road No. 8 and Highway 9G

     HUNTERSTOWN - In the vicinity of present-day Cheviot