Person:Mary Hitchcock (6)

Certificate No. 028299 Columbia County, taken from Albany in 1786: its greatest length on the E. line 36, medium breadth 18 miles. Centrally distant N. from New York 125, from Albany, SE., 34 miles. The surface of the county is considerably diversified, though no part can be called mountainous. Ranges of small hillocks are interspersed with extensive plains or valleys, and much of rich alluvion. There are some excellent lands, and much of the larger portion may be, by judicious culture, rendered highly productive. Nature, in the abundant beds of lime, has furnished the means, as if by a special providence, of tempering the cold and ungrateful constituents of the clay; and in many places the lime in the form of marl does not require burning to become a stimulant. Scarce any portion of the state is better adapted to the raising of sheep, and the profits from this source, already great, are yearly increasing. This county is famed for the quantity and quality of its Indian corn. Lead and iron ore are found in this county. It is divided into 19 towns. (Historical Collections of the State of New York, Past and Present, John Barber, Clark Albien & Co, 1851)