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1844 - Stampless Land Speculation Letter from Western (now West) Virginia 1844 - Stampless Land Speculation Letter from Western (now West) Virginia
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Description 1844 – Letter from a land speculator to a potential investor regarding the difficulty in purchasing a large tract of land near Kingwood in western Virginia
Kingwood, Virgina (West Virginia today): 1844. Envelope or Cover. This four-page stampless folded letter measures 15” x 10” unfolded and is datelined “Kingwood February th 22 1844”. It was sent by John Ames to John L. Newbold in Philadelphia. It bears a circular “Morgantown / Va.” Postmark and a “18 ¾” rate mark. There is a two-inch separation beginning along one mailing fold, but still in nice shape. A transcript from a prior owner will be included.
In this letter, Ames reports the complications he has encountered by trying to purchase a huge contiguous plot of land in western Virginia (today West Virginia) for resale in a booming settlement market due to small conflicting claims to small plots of land.
The letter reads in part:
“I [appreciate] that you will give me more time to complete the contract. [As I previously noted] nothing but a legal suit could put it in sutch a situation or as I said before what the surveyor would say would be that Mr. Young had a survey on several joining surveys that covered all of the tidhall surveys . . . and has surveyed it out into small tracts of 1000 acre each and that they had been sold at publick sale and I expect bought by different persons. I could get perhaps the surveyor to gow with me if I could get the other men on the ground and they could tell the surveyor what they knew about it and I could get the clerk to gow to but what it amounts to . . . would be like a lawsuit without a defendant. [I could] gow and take possession of the land and let them bring a suit if they will there is no other way if the Clerk and Surveyor should say the title was good [as the suit] would be of no use [because] if you bring a suit you have to show a perfect title according to law. . .. My plan is to gow and put persons upon it [and] commence improvements by putting up a long house and get some one to move on to it [letting] the people know we are determined to fite it out. [It would cost our opponents] more litigation than it is worth [since] a log house can be built for $25. . .. I fritened one man when I would out that had bought 1000 acres at the sale he had paid $40 dollars towards it and had made some improvement but he said he would not to anything more. . .. I would be glad if you could come out and gow out with me it will take only 2 days to get to Morgantown and cost about $15 then you will be about 100 miles from the land. Morgantown is about 20 miles from Kingwood. [If you come, you] will be better able to judge what laws to take if you do not com on you had better send me power of attorney to sell to the settlers. [I will then] make special warrants. . ..
“P.S. If you should conclude to com on . . . leve the Raleroad a little before you get to Cumberland and take the stage for Rumley the rout leads to Parkersburg on the Ohio River at stage will take you to Clarksburg, Harrison Co. [not far] south of Kingwood.\"
Virginia\'s original 1609 charter granted the colony the lands between 200 miles north and south of Old Point Comfort from the eastern to western seashores. However, France also claimed the area within the Ohio Valley. The colonial government struck deals with speculators who purchased the land in 1,000-acre plots for resale to settlers. The French and Indian War brought settlement to a close, and almost all of these pioneers abandoned their homesteads to escape slaughter by France’s Native American allies. Following the war, King George prohibited any settlements west of the Allegheny Mountains, which made it impossible for returning families to have their homestead claims verified by survey. Adding to the confusion, following the American Revolution, Virginia offered land grants to veterans, many of whom sold their claims to others. All of these grants required settlers to improve the land, usually by building and living in a dwelling upon it. Finally, in an attempt to sort out the many competing claims, the state established the Virginia Land Office and a legal system for settling disputes.
(For more information, see “Land Disputes in Western Virginia” at the College of William and Mary’s Law Library Wythepedia website.)
Apparently scarce. At the time of listing, this appears to be the only extant first- hand account of the difficulties encountered by investors in purchasing land for resale to settlers in western Virginia during the land boom of the early 19th century. Nothing similar is for sale in the trade, the Rare Book Hub shows no similar descriptions have ever appeared at sale, and OCLC shows none are held in institutional collections.
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