Tryon County Committee of Safety

Prior to the American Revolution the colonies formed Committees of Safety to represent the interests of their respective communities. They determined civil cases, officered and organized the militia, arrested and tried suspicious persons, some of whom they fined, and others they imprisoned. Ordered that no person should come into or go out of the county without a pass from some acknowledged public body.

The Tryon County, New York Committee of Safety was formed on August 27, 1774 and was an extralegal body which was the de facto government of Tryon County until 1778. Its first chairman was Christopher Yates. In August, 1774 they drafted a document protesting the British naval blockade of Boston harbor. They held 16 of their 31 meetings in the home of Goshen Van Alstyne in Canajoharie, New York.

The New York Provincial Congress convened in May, 1775 and on June 11, 1775 Christopher Yates, John Marlatt and John Moore were appointed deputies for Tryon County.

In January, 1776 Isaac Paris Chairman of the Committee of Safety sent a letter to General Schulyer that six or seven hundred Loyalists had gathered and were under arms at Johnstown. In May 1776, the committee instructed its representatives in the New York Provincial Congress to vote for independence.

At the Battle of Oriskany, Samuel Billington, John Dygert, and Jacob Snell, members of the Tryon County Committee of Safety were killed. After this battle, radicals led by Moses Younglove and Isaac Paris controlled the committee. The radicals continued to imprison suspected Loyalists. They imprisoned Peter Bellinger and other Patriots who refused to sell wheat to the committee at a price below market value. They encouraged Oneida Indians to attack and burn suspected Loyalists. In March 1778, General Schuyler warned the committee to stop, but by then most of the Loyalists had fled.

The authority of the Tryon County, New York Committee of Safety was superseded by the New York state legislature on February 7, 1778. In March 1778, Isaac Paris was elected to the New York Assembly. In the spring, the state legislature abolished all committees in New York in favor of "Commissioners of Conspiracy" appointed by the governor. The committee of safety last met on April 21, 1778.

References

* "The minute book of the Committee of Safety of Tryon County", 1905