Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Knox, Henry (1750-1806) to John W. Wendell

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.04951 Author/Creator: Knox, Henry (1750-1806) Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 18 May 1791 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 31.6 x 20 cm. Order a Copy

Received Wendell's letter of 27 April, which offered to sell Knox 2,500 acres of land in the Muscongus Patent (a portion of the Waldo Patent). Says he would not be unwilling to buy the land at a good price, but that it would be "improper" to do so. Tells Wendell that he should not feel "under the least engagement to me" and that he should get the best price he can for the land. Pencil note below docket says "Recd from Mrs. Husther(?) Nov. 6 1844."

According to the docket Wendell was in Albany. This could be the Albany hatmaker who joined the revolutionary cause in 1775. This Wendell was appointed Quartermaster for the Second New York Regiment of the Continental army and was keeping the Continental stables in Albany in 1779. He also contributed financially to the American cause and later received a number of land bounty rights.

The Waldo Patent was also known as the Muscongus Patent from the Muscongus River that formed a part of the western boundary. From the seacoast, it extended northerly between Penobscot Bay and Penobscot River on the east, and the Muscongus River on the west, to the line that constitutes the southern boundary of the towns Hampden, Newburgh and Dixmont.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Wendell, John, 1731-1808

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