MOHAWK - Discovering the Valley of the Crystals  Copyright 2002

Chapter 9 - The Yankee Invasion

After the Revolutionary War most of the settlers that moved into New York State came from the New England states where Europeans had started farming 150 years earlier. As these families grew, farmlands were divided and subdivided among descendants, resulting in a large  population of farmers working fewer and less productive acres. When Tory and Indian lands plus thousands of acres of land patents were opened for settlement after the Revolutionary War, the situation was ripe for an exodus of farm families to the New York frontier. This exodus, sometimes called "The Yankee Invasion" resulted in the settlement of  most of  New York State by 1825.
 
They Burned The Woods and Sold the Ashes  Ties that Bind - Giving Thanks Mohawk Valley in 1789