Excerpt from University of the State of New York Bulletin: February, 1919 The purpose of these pages is to sketch the life of an interesting Frenchman, Peter Sailly, who for four decades was a striking and influential figure in the pioneer life of northern New York. The appending of his short diary makes available for reference a record of early journeyings in the Chammain and Mohawk valleys. A few letters, his own and by other persons important in the life of the State a hundred years and more ago, are also added. It is hoped that the history of a part of New York State which is not rich in authentic historical publications relating to the formative years, 1780 - 1825, may thus be somewhat illuminated and that incidentally a recognition, delayed but abundantly deserved, may be recorded of the substantial debt which New York and the new nation' owe to a considerable number of French immigrants of condition and character who were attracted to the United States between 1780 and 1800, first by prospect of an alluring political and commercial status to follow their newly gained independence and later as a refuge from danger and distress at home. The main source of information regarding the life of Peter Sailly in America is found in notes made by his grandson, the late Judge Peter Sailly Palmer, of Plattsburg, from original docu ments, most of them papers left by Sailly. Judge Palmer was an able lawyer and a writer and student of local history. The greater portion of the matter he gathered concerning his grandfather was turned into a series of articles which were printed during his life time in the Plattsburg Republican, in the weekly numbers from February 24 to April 20, 1872. Facts concerning the family abroad and Sailly's early. Life in France were gathered about 1882, mainly through personal visits to Europe of John Boynton Palmer, another grandson, and were carefully preserved by Judge Palmer. Most of the foreign information was secured through the assistance of M. Charles de Finance, of Lyons, France, and M. Ernest de Massy, of Langres, both descendants of sisters of Peter Sailly. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.