the manor. As part of Rennesselaerswyck, the first inhabitants were renters of that estate.

The question of the first settlement of Grafton has never been settled. The names of the first European settlers who built new homes in the wilderness and the date of their coming probably will never be known. In all probability, however, the town was the last in Rensselaer County to be settled. Grafton was formed from the towns of Troy and Petersburgh on March 20, 1807, and even at this comparatively late day it had few inhabitants. Abel Owen