I am looking for information that would help explain why some land owners and "Manors" would be motivated to sell land in scattered parcels. Specifically the Manor of Fordham in Westchester county NY in 1678. Why did settlers need salt marshes? Was the salt marsh used for feeding or for preparing the meat?
This practice makes it very hard to locate deeds and boundaries and led to many arguments. Thank you.
Salt marshes where I live (Eastern Shore of Virginia) were used to pasture cattle and in some cases, horses. You can still see fence posts in some places, They are also waterfowl habitat and were hunted by both Native Americans and Europeans and sources for oysters. Salt making here did not utilize salt marshes because they contain lots of organic matter and mud. Water to boil into salt was collected in deeper, cleaner areas on the seaside (as opposed to the Chesapeake Bay).