Armed soldiers, a revolt and a change of state

Bedford, Connecticut?

Armed soldiers, a revolt and a change of state

In 1680 when the first settlers came from Stamford to buy a 7,673 acre tract of land, they thought they were settling a township in Connecticut. Seventeen years later King William, III finally confirmed an agreement between the Colony of Connecticut and the Province of New York that fixed the boundaries of the town we now call Bedford.

What the settlers didn't know was that a surveying error had improperly placed Bedford in Connecticut though it really belonged in New York. Over the years from 1683 to 1700, Bedford along with Rye, battled with New York in the hopes that it could remain in Connecticut.

In 1700, Bedford officially became part of New York and this is why the Town Seal has two dates. The first date, 1680, is the date the land was originally purchased and the second date, 1700, is the year the town became part of New York. Below is a more detailed description of the boundary dispute along with supporting
documents.

_____________________________________________________________

How Bedford
Became a New York State

In 1664 the Colony of Connecticut and the Province of New York agreed upon a boundary line between them that would run 20 miles east of the Hudson River, parallel to it and straight north to the border of Massachusetts.

But the line was never surveyed and a lack of markers and general misperceptions of the direction of this line placed both Rye and Bedford in the Colony of Connecticut which is where both towns felt they belonged. In 1683, a new settlement, known as the "Oblong Agreement", corrected the line and placed both Bedford and Rye in New York, the Byram River at the south dividing Rye from Greenwich. In the settlement New York agreed to modify the line to permit Connecticut to keep several towns along Long Island Sound which they had settled in exchange for an "Equivalent Tract" to run north along Connecticut's western boundary.

But Bedford and Rye asserted their independence from New York and neither town recognized the agreement of 1683. Each continued to give its allegiance to Connecticut and sent their representatives to its General Court. In the minds of the people, they were New Englanders as they had been settled by the English, where New Amsterdam had been settled by the Dutch. It was relatively recent history that the English had driven out the Dutch and the King had given his brother, James, the Duke of York, a patent including the former Dutch territory and renamed it New York.

In 1685 the Governor of New York issued a proclamation demanding that the inhabitants of Bedford and Rye appear before the Governor and council to show what right and title they had to their possessions. But both towns ignored the summons.

This became known as the Revolt of Rye and Bedford with Connecticut even sending 50 armed men to protect Bedford. According to James Wood's History
of Bedford to 1917, "They appealed to the General Court of Connecticut for protection and on May 21, 1697, a patent was issued to confirm the rights of the towns under Connecticut and that colony 'undertook their protection.' This made the dispute more acute, but finally it was settled by the act of King William, III, March 29, 1700, confirming the agreement of 1683, whereby Rye and Bedford were included in New York. Further resistance was useless, and on the tenth day of October following, the General Court at Hartford released Bedford and Rye from all allegiance."

The 17 year battle to remain New Englanders was lost and Bedford accepted this as gracefully as it could, applying to the Province of New York for a patent which was granted on April 18, 1704.