Item 32: Letter from John Crittenden to Zebulon Butler, 1781 April 27
Item — Box: 10, Folder: 32
Dates
- Created: 1781 April 27
Creator
- Crittenden, John, Sr., 1754-1809 (Person)
Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities
Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Letter.
Condition Note:
Good. Paper is lightweight but intact. Handle with care.
Measurements:
13 ⅛ in. x 8 in.
Description:
This letter, dated April 27, 1781, is written by John Crittenden Sr., a Revolutionary War veteran and eventual Virginia House of Delegates member, and is addressed to Zebulon Butler, a lieutenant colonel during the American Revolutionary War. In the letter, Crittenden is writing to Butler about a requisition of land they have been in discussion over along the Tennessee and Ohio River. Crittenden, being in the region, asks that Butler defer to his judgement, as he believes it is the time to settle the matters of their interest in the land. This is because another person, George Clark Rogers, has mentioned a desire to place his residence on the same spot. Crittenden writes that the entry contains 70,000 acres and has been previously surveyed by the principal surveyor.
Location:
Fort Pitt, (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania
Transcription:
Fort Pitt Ohio River 27 April 1781
D[ea]r Sir
Agreeable to the Requisition of the Gentleman aponates (sic) [opponents] on the land scheme, on my departure from the northward I have with the utmost difference made the necessary Inquiry Related to the spot of ground on which you have so Judiciously fix[e]’d on for your abode after the happy Period of this war without making the smallest discovery meaning the mouth of the Tennessee River, But to my great mortification am this day Informed with greatest Authenticity by General G. R. Clark that he has made an Entry of Seventy Thousand acres beginning at the Junction of that River & the Ohio Running down for Quantity, a Copy of which Entry have seen under the authority of the principal surveyor of the County wherein that land lies, Those assertions being unquistionable (sic) [unquestionable] a second choice must necessarily be made.
The general who intends to make the aforementioned land his Residence assures me that he is Doubly Interested in promoting so laudable a disign (sic) [design] therefore most sincerely wishes for an Opportunity to manifest it by procuring a tract of country Equally desirable contagious thereto sufficient for the purpose, Which will in the first Instance Render his Pretentions far more Valuable, And what is much higher in his Esteem the Enjoyment of that Society amongst whom alone he has the Smartest hopes of solid pleasure.
I have once urg[e]’d it as my opinion that you ought to procure a Sufficient Quantity of
Back:
Warrants for the treaty of the whole in which should now be happy to meet your approbation— I am to be found on the Kantucky (sic) [Kentucky] within a small distance of wish[e]’d(?) for abode in perfect Readiness to honour the Commands of you or any of you, Having Return[e]’d myself a few days past a supernumerary affair for that alone purpose— As being on the spot and Consequently more capable of Judging give me Leave to tell you that this is the time in which our matters may be accomplish[e]’d I have the Hon[o]rto be with sincere Respect Your Devoted Serv[an]t John Crittenden J Chittondon (sic) [Crittenden] To Col[onel] Z Butler 27 April 1781
Back:
Warrants for the treaty of the whole in which should now be happy to meet your approbation— I am to be found on the Kantucky (sic) [Kentucky] within a small distance of wish[e]’d(?) for abode in perfect Readiness to honour the Commands of you or any of you, Having Return[e]’d myself a few days past a supernumerary affair for that alone purpose— As being on the spot and Consequently more capable of Judging give me Leave to tell you that this is the time in which our matters may be accomplish[e]’d I have the Hon[o]rto be with sincere Respect Your Devoted Serv[an]t John Crittenden J Chittondon (sic) [Crittenden] To Col[onel] Z Butler 27 April 1781
Creator
- Crittenden, John, Sr., 1754-1809 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu