May 2, 1764-Dated Colonial Pontiac's War Period, Fort Ontario Issued Discharge Document by Major Alex Duncan, 55th Regiment for soldier James Honeyman, who later, ‘Appeared for Land in New York 24th November 1766” then Selling on December 18th, 1766 “Stamp Act” period, his Awarded Land with a Receipt to Christopher Roosevelt (1739-1793) a Direct Relative of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Two Item Lot, both Very Fine.
1. May 2, 1764-Dated, Manuscript military Field Discharge Certificate, Signed by Major Alex(ander) Duncan Major 55th Regiment, attests "I do hereby certify, that the Bearer of this James Honeyman, has served honestly and faithfully in His Majesty's 55th Regiment, for the space of Eight Years," dated "Given at Fort Ontario the 2nd May 1764," with a further notation that Honeyman "appeared for Land in New York 24th November 1766."

2. Sold Together with a original December 18, 1766-Dated “Stamp Act” period, his Awarded Land being sold with a Receipt to Christopher Roosevelt, a Direct Relative of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This Manuscript Receipt records James Honeyman, who apparently cannot write his name, signing with his “X” mark “His Hand James Honeyman / Mark”, acknowledging receipt from "Christ Roosevelt Eleven Shillings in full for my property of Lands Allotted me," as witnessed by Petrus Boyvanick. CHRISTOPHER ROOSEVELT (1739-1793), was a direct relative of the family that would later produce President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, giving this land transaction an unexpected presidential genealogical connection.

Both documents are well written in rich brown ink on period laid paper, each with vertical folds from storage, some expected age tone, both having some conservation and blank reverses. A very rare original pair of documents regarding the ultimate soldier’s payment in Land for his service, being sold for very little money, the land transferred to CHRISTOPHER ROOSEVELT was a direct relative of the family that would later produce President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, giving this land transaction an unexpected presidential genealogical connection. (2 items)
This remarkable manuscript document combines two distinct moments of documented colonial American history within a single sheet, both connected by the figure of JAMES HONEYMAN, a common soldier of His Majesty's 55th Regiment of Foot.

1. The first document is initially dated May 2, 1764, and was officially field executed at FORT ONTARIO, a strategically vital British fortification on Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Oswego River, during the precise historical timeframe of PONTIAC'S WAR (1763-1766), the major Native American Uprising led by the Ottawa War Chief Pontiac, fighting against British rule in the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions, following the conclusion of the French and Indian War.

Fort Ontario itself holds particular significance to this conflict as the very location where, in July 1766, Pontiac would ultimately meet with Sir William Johnson, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to formally conclude the War and Sign a Peace Treaty bringing the conflict to its close, therefore placing this present document squarely within the geographic and chronological heart of that pivotal frontier conflict.

Christopher Roosevelt (born 1739, died before 1793) was a son of James Jacobus Roosevelt (1692-1776) and Catharina Hardenbroek of New York City. That places him squarely in the Hyde Park branch of the family. His father Jacobus was one of the two progenitor brothers (Jacobus founded the Hyde Park line, Johannes the Oyster Bay line).

Christopher's elder brother was Isaac Roosevelt (1726-1794), the merchant, Co-founder of the Bank of New York, and Federalist politician known in the family as "Isaac the Patriot" and Isaac is Franklin D. Roosevelt's direct great-great-grandfather. So Christopher Roosevelt is FDR's great-great-granduncle, the brother of the President's direct ancestor.

He's also related, more distantly, to Theodore Roosevelt through the common grandfather Nicholas Roosevelt (1658-1742).

One genealogical caution for your description: Jacobus had earlier sons named Christoffel (1724 and 1738) who died young before this Christopher (1739-1793), Dutch families reused names so the 1739 Christopher is the one who lived to adulthood and would be the man documented here in 1766.

Buying up land "issued to soldiers" fits a well-known episode: under the Royal Proclamation of 1763, officers and soldiers who had served in the French and Indian War were entitled to grants of Crown land in New York (ranging from 50 acres for privates up to 5,000 for field officers).

Most veterans had no interest in relocating to frontier wilderness and sold their rights for ready cash, and New York merchants and speculators, the Roosevelts among them, as an established mercantile family. They bought up these soldiers' claims by assignment, accumulating rights to be located in tracts in the Champlain, Mohawk, and upper Hudson country.

A 1766 document showing Christopher Roosevelt purchasing a soldier's land right would be exactly such an assignment.
[Colonial America, French and Indian War, 18th Century America] [Military Discharge, Land Grants, Roosevelt Family] [Manuscripts, Documents, Receipts, Autographs]