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William Bingham estate papers
This collection pertains primarily to the administration of the estate left by William Bingham, financier and United States senator from Pennsylvania. Some letters, 1783-1784, from William Bingham in Europe to Thomas Willing, deal with business matters. Some of the early papers, 1777- 1779, pertain...
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| Corporate Author: | |
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| Collection: | William Bingham Estate Papers |
| Collection Number: | 1583 |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects and Genres: | |
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| Physical Description: |
69.0 Linear feet 69 linear feet, 177 boxes, |
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| Summary: |
This collection pertains primarily to the administration of the estate left by William Bingham, financier and United States senator from Pennsylvania. Some letters, 1783-1784, from William Bingham in Europe to Thomas Willing, deal with business matters. Some of the early papers, 1777- 1779, pertain to the business interests of Bingham during the Revolutionary War.
The estate was invested primarily in undeveloped lands in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maine.
The papers on the Maine lands include most of the important papers connected with the Knox-Duer purchase of Maine lands in 1791; descriptions of the country, surveyors' field books, and similar accounts of Maine in the 1790's; papers on the attempt to plant a French colony in Maine under Madame Leval; documents on the transfer of this purchase to William Bingham in 1792-1793; a series of letters, 1793-1795, from William Jackson while he was in Europe attempting to sell Maine lands to British capitalists and the French government; correspondence with Generals Henry Knox, Henry Jackson, and David Cobb, all concerned in one way or another in the development of the purchase; material on the sale of one half of the Penobscot Tract in 1796 to Alexander Baring, acting for the house of Baring and Hope; letters from Harrison Gray Otis, Thomas Russell, John and Stephen Codman, John Richards, and other prominent Massachusetts citizens, 1791-1830; papers explanatory of the suit of Cabot et al v. Bingham, arising from Bingham's actions while agent for the Continental Congress in Martinique, 1779-1804; reports on Maine developments from General David Cobb, John Black, and other agents, 1795-1850; reports of the trustees of the Bingham estate on the Maine property, together with their correspondence with various agents, 1804-1850; and numerous accounts, vouchers, deeds, contracts and court papers illuminating almost every phase of this venture.
The papers on the Pennsylvania and New York lands are similar in content. They contain many letters and reports from the agent at Wellsboro, 1855-1917, to the trustees of the estate. A few letters, 1879-1911 mention oil leases. |