By Erica Barnes
For the Cazenovia Public Library
The year 2018 marks the 225th anniversary of Cazenovia’s founding in 1793. As part of the celebration, the Cazenovia Public Library is publishing a series of articles highlighting the village’s founding and development.
Cazenovia owes its foundation to John Lincklaen, an 18th century land agent, who left a career in the Dutch Navy to explore the vast New York wilderness.
Lincklaen was born in Amsterdam to a wealthy family in 1768, at a time of slow economic decline for the Netherlands. The region had led the world in scientific, artistic and trading developments, but was sinking under the weight of foreign competition and domestic mismanagement. World trading supremacy was giving way to a reliance on foreign land speculation and investment, which brought little material development to the country.
During the American Revolution, the Dutch remained officially neutral but continued covert trade with the Revolutionary forces. This lead to increased hostilities between the Dutch and English, culminating in the ruinous Fourth Anglo-Dutch War.
Like the sons of other wealthy families, John Lincklaen attended school in Switzerland with a private tutor. After the loss of his father at age 13, John’s comfortable world was turned upside down and he returned from school to very different circumstances.
He was fortunate to be offered a commission in the Dutch Navy by a family friend, and at age 14 was made “Lieutenant ter Zee,” a junior officer. He served in the Navy for five years, visiting ports all over the world.
In 1790, at the age of 22, John was granted a two-year’s leave to act as a field representative of the Holland Land Company, exploring and surveying lands in New York and Pennsylvania. It was during this time, in 1792, that he visited the Cazenovia tract and began plans for its development.
