North American Land Company records

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Background Note

Scope and content note

Administrative Information

Related Materials

Controlled Access Headings

Bibliography

Collection Inventory

Summary Information

Repository

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Creator

North American Land Company.

Title

North American Land Company records

ID

1432

Date [inclusive]

1765-1904

Extent

14.0 Linear feet ; 5 boxes, 92 volumes

Author

Finding aid prepared by Diane Biunno.

Language

English

Abstract

Robert Morris (1734-1806), James Greenleaf (1765-1843), and John Nicholson (1757-1800) founded the North American Land Company on February 20, 1795. The North American Land Company was one of the largest land trusts in American history. The land company had 30,000 shares of stock, each valued at $100, and a total of 6 million acres of land in the District of Columbia, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. Some of those associated with the company include: James Greenleaf, Robert James, Tobias Lear, Robert Morris, John Nicholson, Benjamin Tilghman, and James Wilson. The North American Land Company was plagued by serious financial difficulties and all three of its founders were sent to debtors’ prison. The North American Land Company remained in existence until 1872. The North American Land Company records include financial and administrative records as well as correspondence, deeds, and shares of the company’s stock from 1793-1898. The collection includes minutes, 1795-1805; correspondence, 1765-1874; land records including descriptions, maps, deeds, 1793-1898; and financial records including daybooks, ledgers, and receipt books, 1795- 1904.

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Background Note

Robert Morris (1734-1806), James Greenleaf (1765-1843), and John Nicholson (1757-1800) founded the North American Land Company on February 20, 1795. The North American Land Company was one of the largest land trusts in American history. The land company had 30,000 shares of stock, each valued at $100, and a total of 6 million acres of land in the District of Columbia, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia.

From the beginning, the North American Land Company was plagued by serious financial difficulties. Firstly, the authenticity of many of the titles to the lands were questioned. Secondly, the land company owned more than 2 million acres in the Georgia “Pine Barrens.” These large tracts of barren wilderness were uninhabited, covered in sandy soil, and consequently difficult to sell to land purchasers and settlers. Furthermore, Morris, a former delegate to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, sent his son-in-law, James Marshall, to Europe in order to sell shares in the company stock. Due to financial difficulties in Europe and doubts about the value of the North American Land Company’s holdings, Marshall was unsuccessful.

After Greenleaf was unable to secure loans from Dutch investors because of war and political instability in Holland, he used the company’s securities to pay off private debts. Although Morris and Nicholson were heavily in debt, they bought out Greenleaf because he had continued to embezzle company funds and to engage in corrupt business practices. Morris and Nicholson soon became bankrupt and the promissory notes they used as payment to Greenleaf for his share of the company defaulted. Greenleaf became bankrupt and in 1797 was sent to Prune Street Prison in Philadelphia. Nicholson and Morris soon joined Greenleaf in the same debtors’ prison. Morris was released after serving three and half years, but was left penniless and almost $3 million in debt. Nicholson died in prison, but Greenleaf was released in 1798 after serving less than one year.

In order to prevent land companies from making fraudelent claims on land, the Georgia state legislature passed a law in 1798 requiring all land purchasers to conduct a survey of their lands every ten years. It was a costly and impossible task for the heirs to the North American Land Company to conduct the surveys. When the heirs stopped paying taxes on the lands, the government took ownership of the titles. The North American Land Company remained in existence until 1872.

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Scope and content note

The North American Land Company Records include financial and administrative records as well as correspondence, deeds, and shares of the company’s stock from throughout its history. The collection documents the administrative functions and financial hardships of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century land speculation company. The papers are arranged in rough chronological order. The collection contains international correspondence from Amsterdam, London, and Paris (Box 1, Folder 1 and Box 3, Folder 5), James Greenleaf’s request for land patents (Box 1, Folder 5), amendments to the Articles of Agreement (Box 2, Folder 7), as well as papers dealing with stocks and shareholders (Box 1, Folder 9), minutes (Box 1, Folder 9-12), and correspondence between the company’s presidents. Researchers interested in land ownership will find useful the maps illustrating the divisions of plots in New York, South Carolina, and Georgia (Box 2, Folder 1). Those researching the company’s financial and legal challenges may be curious to view the protest of notes (Box 2, Folder 3), refusal of trust (Box 3, Folder 9), legal papers regarding the Parks v. Robbins lawsuit (Box 4, Folder 5), and James Greenleaf’s petition for the relief of insolvent debtors (Box 4, Folder 6). Although the collection contains materials regarding some of the company’s financial hardships, information regarding the dissolution of the company is limited.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania , 2014.

Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Provenance

Purchased, 1950.

Processing information

A portion of the boxed papers in this collection were once part of the Simon Gratz autograph collection (Collection 250A).

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Related Materials

Related materials

At Historical Society of Pennsylvania:

Asylum Company records, 1794-1804 (Am.820)

Frank B. Nead collection, 1663-1866 (Collection 447)

James Gibson papers, 1712-1849 (Collection 236)

Asylum Company records, 1773-1851 (Collection 0021)

Pennsylvania Population Company records, 1792-1834 (Collection 489)

Records of land companies established in Pennsylvania, 1792-1816 (Am.2673)

Articles of agreement and association: made and executed the 26th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nine, between the members of the Asylum Company (Vb*.4981)

Catalogue of the lands and stock of the Asylum Company offered for sale at the Merchants' Coffee House: in pursuance of the 21st article of association of the said company (Vb*.4981)

John Nicholson letterbooks, 1795-1798 (Am.1085)

At other Institutions:

North American Land Company ledger, 1795-1805 (Mss.973.N75), American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pa.

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Controlled Access Headings

Personal Name(s)

• Greenleaf, James, 1765-1843.
• Morris, Robert, 1734-1806.
• Nicholson, John, 1757-1800.

Subject(s)

• Deeds--18th Century.
• Georgia--Land speculation--18th century.
• Kentucky--Land speculation--18th century.
• Land speculation and settlement--Pennsylvania--19th century.
• Land speculation--United States.
• Land speculation--Western Pennsylvania--19th century.
• Real estate--Transactions.
• South Carolina--Land speculation--18th century.

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Bibliography

Friedenberg, Daniel M. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Land: The Plunder of Early America. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1992.

Morris, Robert. "Land Fever: The Downfall of Robert Morris," The Missouri Review 15, no. 3 (Summer 1992): 115-161.

North American Land Company, Observations on the North-American Land-Company: Lately instituted in Philadelphia: containing an illustration of the object of the company's plan, the articles of association, with a succinct account of the states wherein their lands lie: to which are added, remarks on American lands in general, .. in two letters from Robert G. Harper, .. London: printed, by H. L. Galabin, for C. Barrell and H. Servanté, American agents: sold also by J. Debrett; J. Johnson; and W. Richardson, 1796. (Call number LCP Old HSP Vb 496)

Oberly, James. "Land Companies," in Dictionary of American History, ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 5. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003, 26-27.

Sakolski, Aaron M. The Great American Land Bubble; The Amazing Story of Land-Grabbing, Speculations, and Booms from Colonial Days to the Present Time. New York: Johnson Reprint Corp, 1966.

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Collection Inventory