Item 14: Letter from Tench Coxe to “Dear sir” (Removed to Legal Box #1), 1793 June 3
Item — Box: 12, Folder: 54
Dates
- Created: 1793 June 3
Creator
- Coxe, Tench, 1755-1824 (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:
Fair. Paper contains a non obstructive tear, and contains signs of age. Ink is severely faded.
Measurements:
12 ¾ in. x 7 ⅞ in.
Description:
The following item depicts a letter written by Tench Coxe to an unknown recipient, dated June 3, 1793. In the letter, Coxe discusses information concerning some lands in Pennsylvania that are being purchased by a number of “French gentlemen,” namely Jacques Donatien Leray de Chaumont, through the lands of Eleazer McComb and lands owned by other people. The beginning of the item details an account being rendered as it stands by Coxe, with the balance being paid totalling to 40 pounds, 11 shillings, and 9 pence. He includes a receipt of the account. The body of the letter states that the accounts have included 32,000 dollars being deposited in the French Banks and that LeRay will receive 1,500,000 for McComb’s lands. There are also lands connected to the Flemming and Dutch, amounting to 6/3 of the remaining cost and comprising 80, 000 acres.
Due to the date of the letter, 1793, the lands being purchased are likely connected to the establishment and creation of the French Azilum in Bradford county the same year. The French Azilum was an asylum settlement that consisted of French royalists, established in Bradford County during the fall of 1793 and the spring of 1794, when Pennsylvania residents sought a way to bolster the economy while aiding French refugees. The purpose of the settlement was to house and support those fleeing the French Revolution primarily, as well as the enslaved rebellions occurring within the French colony of Saint-Domingue, Haiti.A marker of the settlement, as well as further information resources can be found at the Historical Marker Project. An article examining the inciting incidents and early history of the colony can be found in JSTOR’s digitized collection.
The letter specifically mentions Owegy, or Owego, a territory previously owned by Native Americans near the east branch of the Susquehanna.
Location:
Philadelphia, PA
Transcription:
Dear Sir
The instrument having gone
forward last week, I shall Send you an acco[un]t
& Bill rec[eip]t as soon as the Money shall be seen?
By Mr. Lora. I have given him a Note of
the Amo[un]t being £41.11.9. [41 pounds, 11 shillings, and 9 pence]
For the perfect respect
your mo[st]. obedt [obedient] st. [servant]
Tench Coxe
Philad[elphi]a. June 3[r]d. 1793
I find a company of French Gentlemen have purchased 80,000 Acres of land in Penns.[sylvani]a South of the New York line on or about the head waters of the Southern branches of Tyoga (sic) [Tioga]. This purchase was made by an Agent sent over to London with McComb. Mr. LeRay de Chaumont was the Agent & is concerned. They have gone into another considerable purchase, as I suppose of Mr. McComb’s lands in your Washington or Clinton; and one more in the vicinity of Philad[elphi]a. When it comes to be known that our Government has declared in favor of neutrality & that the French have not brought forward the loca[tion] of our engaging, I think much more is to be expected. A gentleman from Martine is with 32,000 Dr. [Dollars] [page 2] Subscribers the whole into the new Penns[ylvani]a Bank. He has had no inducement better but peace & the Education of his the crew. I just learn that LeRay gets 1,500,000 of Mr. McComb’s lands in your northern counties for himself and a number of wealthy Flemings & Dutch who mean to push a settlement from Europe in Division of lot No. 4. thereof his lands in Pennsylvania are on the the Eastern side of Susquehannah (sic) North of Wyoming & South of Owegy [Owego]; a good purchase this last for 6/3 cost for 80,000 A[cres] The parcel of McComb is very much lower.
From Tench Coxe Eq [Esquire]. June 3[r]d 1793
I find a company of French Gentlemen have purchased 80,000 Acres of land in Penns.[sylvani]a South of the New York line on or about the head waters of the Southern branches of Tyoga (sic) [Tioga]. This purchase was made by an Agent sent over to London with McComb. Mr. LeRay de Chaumont was the Agent & is concerned. They have gone into another considerable purchase, as I suppose of Mr. McComb’s lands in your Washington or Clinton; and one more in the vicinity of Philad[elphi]a. When it comes to be known that our Government has declared in favor of neutrality & that the French have not brought forward the loca[tion] of our engaging, I think much more is to be expected. A gentleman from Martine is with 32,000 Dr. [Dollars] [page 2] Subscribers the whole into the new Penns[ylvani]a Bank. He has had no inducement better but peace & the Education of his the crew. I just learn that LeRay gets 1,500,000 of Mr. McComb’s lands in your northern counties for himself and a number of wealthy Flemings & Dutch who mean to push a settlement from Europe in Division of lot No. 4. thereof his lands in Pennsylvania are on the the Eastern side of Susquehannah (sic) North of Wyoming & South of Owegy [Owego]; a good purchase this last for 6/3 cost for 80,000 A[cres] The parcel of McComb is very much lower.
From Tench Coxe Eq [Esquire]. June 3[r]d 1793
Creator
- Coxe, Tench, 1755-1824 (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