Kortright’s Quiet Role in the American Revolution Still Written on the Land

Photos courtesy of Delaware County Historical Association

KORTRIGHT — As the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Town of Kortright offers a powerful reminder that the American Revolution’s impact reached far beyond famous battlefields and shaped settlement, land ownership and daily life in rural Delaware County for generations.

Although Delaware County was not officially formed until 1797, many Revolutionary War veterans lived, settled and were buried there, making Kortright part of a hidden landscape tied directly to the fight for independence. According to W.W. Munsell’s History of Delaware County (1880), Kortright itself was formed from Harpersfield on March 12, 1793, with land added between 1798 and 1834 — territory that had already experienced upheaval caused by the Revolutionary War and frontier conflict.

Land ownership in Kortright was profoundly shaped by military service and wartime loyalties. Samantha Misa, an author and educator with the Delaware County Historical Association, explained that “The Confiscation Act of 1779 took land from Quakers and loyalists to redistribute to the veterans.” The policy permanently altered who owned land, encouraging settlement by former soldiers while displacing those whose loyalties lay with the British.

A clear local example of that shift is the historic Frisbee House, built by Gideon Frisbee in 1797. Misa, who also teaches at SUNY Delhi, said, “Frisbee received land as compensation for his military service.” Frisbee served in the 17th Regiment of the Albany County Militia during the Revolutionary War. His home stands today as a reminder that Revolutionary service often translated directly into land and long-term influence in Kortright’s early development. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Frisbee House & Museum is located at 46549 State Highway 10 in Delhi. 

Munsell documents how early settlement in Kortright was unstable during the war years. Many families fled repeated danger from raids and frontier violence, abandoning farms and mills until peace was restored. All settlements formed under the Kortright patent prior to the Revolution were broken up, with only a few families returning after the conflict ended. After the war, forests once used as travel corridors during wartime echoed with renewed construction, road building and farming.

The town’s Revolutionary legacy is also preserved through the individual stories of those who served. Thomas McLaughry, born in County Longford, Ireland, in 1747, initially moved north with his family to avoid the conflict. Ultimately, however, McLaughry and his brothers became involved in the war. According to Misa, he served as a spy whose efforts helped prevent enemy advances during the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 — a turning point for American forces.

Munsell notes that members of the McLaughry family established long-standing roots in Kortright following the war, settling on farmland near Kortright Centre that remains in family hands generations later. Their experience reflects the broader pattern of postwar resettlement by families shaped both by immigration and military service.

Another veteran connected to Kortright is Joshua Webster, who marched with George Washington and served three years in the Continental Army. His service ended after he received a wound that prevented him from continuing. “He went back and was wounded again in a farming accident,” Misa said. The pension he left behind provides valuable insight into his service and later life.

Kortright and surrounding areas were crossed by important Indigenous American trails during the Revolutionary era, particularly along the Delaware River. According to Munsell, settlers lived with constant uncertainty as allegiances shifted and violence threatened frontier homes. While Kortright did not experience large-scale battles, its residents endured the war’s consequences through displacement, fear and economic upheaval.

Today, Kortright’s cemeteries hold some of the clearest physical records of that era. The McLaughry Family Cemetery (south side of North Road just outside North Kortright), Valley View Cemetery (on State Highway 10), the Gilchrist Cemetery (adjacent to the Mountaintop Christian Fellowship Church, along County Route 33), North Kortright Cemetery (off Route 23 along North Kortright Church Road), and Doonans Corners Cemetery (off County Route 12 outside Doonans Corners) all contain early land patents and graves of Revolutionary veterans. Misa noted that “the land was well owned by landmarks next to Harpersfield, which was settled before the Revolution with early settlers there prior.”

As part of the America250 commemoration, the Delaware County Historical Association continues efforts to highlight these local stories. While Kortright’s role in the Revolutionary era rarely appears in textbooks, its landscapes, homes and burial grounds remain lasting reminders that the town — formally organized after the war — was deeply shaped by the sacrifices, policies and migrations it set in motion. 

This story was created by student reporters through the OnNY Community Media Lab, a program of SUNY Oneonta and the SUNY Institute for Local News.