Colonel William Edmeston was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 veteran of the French and Indian War

French and Indian War

The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

. In 1763 under royal proclamation, he and his brother Lieutenant Robert Edmeston were each awarded 5,000 acres (20 km²) in the colonies for their service in the 48th Regiment.

They attempted to establish their claims in what was then a disputed part of the New Hampshire Grants

New Hampshire Grants

The New Hampshire Grants or Benning Wentworth Grants were land grants made between 1749 and 1764 by the provincial governor of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth. The land grants, totaling about 135 , were made on land claimed by New Hampshire west of the Connecticut River, territory that was also...

, now Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

. However, in 1770 they decided to locate on the east bank of the Unadilla River

Unadilla River

The Unadilla River in New York State flows from south of Utica to the village of Sidney, where it flows into the Susquehanna River, which eventually empties into the Chesapeake Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean....

 in New York State just west of George Croghan

George Croghan

George Croghan was an Irish-born Pennsylvania fur trader, Onondaga Council sachem, land speculator, British Indian agent in colonial America and, until accused of treason in 1777, Pittsburgh's president judge and Committee of Safety Chairman keeping the Ohio Indians neutral...

's Otsego

Otsego

-Places:United States* Otsego County * Otsego Township * Cities and towns:** Otsego, Michigan, mentioned in songs** Otsego, Minnesota** Otsego, New York** Otsego, Wisconsin, a town...

 patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

, in what is now the Town of Edmeston

Edmeston, New York

Edmeston is a town located in Otsego County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 1,824.The Town of Edmeston is at the western county line. Edmeston is also the name of the largest hamlet in the town...

 in Otsego County

Otsego County, New York

Otsego County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. The 2010 population was 62,259. The county seat is Cooperstown. The name Otsego is from a Mohawk word meaning "place of the rock."-History:...

. They did this because of tax purposes. The transactions were facilitated by Percifer Carr

Percifer Carr

Percifer Carr was a British allied Loyalist living in what is now Otsego County, New York around the time of the American Revolution....

, who had been a sergeant in the 48th regiment with Edmeston.

The brothers' properties became known as the Mount Edmeston Tracts. When the Edmeston brothers returned to England, Carr was employed as caretaker

Property caretaker

A Property caretaker is a person, group or organization that cares for real estate for trade or financial compensation, and sometimes as a barter for rent-free living accommodations...

of their land.