David  SALISBURY

According to Army of the United States Certificate of Disability Discharge found at National Archives (Cert. 134373), David Salisbury was 5' 5", light complexion, blue eyes, black hair. His occupation was a cooper.

Buried in Section 1, Lot 345 of Chestnut Hill Cemetery. Plot is owned by David Salisbury and George Redman. What is the connection between these two men?


See 1824 Mortgage below. Here are some notes pertaining to it:

Sylvester's 1878 "History of Saratoga County, New York"

Direct confirmation of your document

The book's official legal description of Greenfield's boundaries opens with: the town of Greenfield begins "at the southeast corner of lot number seven, in the seventeenth allotment of the patent of Kayadrossera," running along the bounds of the sixteenth allotment — this is the exact same 17th allotment cited in your 1824 mortgage. Confirms you're reading the tract description correctly and that Greenfield sits entirely within that allotment system.
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A strong lead on James Vail (the mortgage assignee)

James Vail came to Greenfield in 1787 and settled at Porter's Corners, where he was an early merchant. He later moved to St. John's Corners, then to Saratoga Springs, where he died in 1832. Your mortgage shows a James Vail as assignee who certified the Salisbury mortgage paid off in 1828 — four years before this man's death in 1832. Given the small population and tight social-business network of Greenfield at the time, this is very likely the same person, and worth treating as a probable match unless later chapters name a distinct second James Vail.
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No "Salisbury" in this chapter — but a rich Wood family thread

Lewis and David Salisbury aren't named in this part of the chapter. However, there's a substantial Wood family presence in early Greenfield worth pursuing given your Maria Wood research:

Jonathan Wood settled about one mile east of the Congregational church before 1790, and had two sons, James and Jeremiah, who graduated from Union College and became ministers
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Among the original 1790 signers of the Congregational church covenant were Jonathan Wood, Joseph Wood, and Martha Wood
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Joseph Wood served as town supervisor in 1843, and Joseph Wood and Samuel Wood both later served as deacons of the Congregational church, along with Jonathan Wood
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Daniel Wood was one of the first deacons of the First Baptist Church of Greenfield, formed in 1791
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Later generations: Norton Wood attended an 1839 meeting to organize the Methodist church, and Lewis Wood served as town supervisor in 1857 and 1858, with a Henry C. Wood serving as collector in 1869
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This is a dense cluster of Wood men in exactly the right place and time — but Reuben Wood specifically isn't named in this chapter. He may appear in Part 2 (burial records, cemetery lists) or in a different Sylvester chapter (Ballston, since your mortgage's neighboring landowner George Benton also appears here as a Jamesville Baptist deacon in 1846).