Property of a New York Collector
Nicholson, JohnArchive of 33 autograph letters signed ("Jno. Nicholson"), most to either Sharp Delancy or William Sansom
33 autograph letters signed, together with an autograph receipt signed and a transcribed deed signed ("Jno. Nicholson"), the whole totaling 36 pages (various sizes), various places, 1786–1795, many letters with integral autograph address leaves; scattered browning, fold separations, and seal tears, but generally very good.
John Nicholson (1765–1852) was a Welsh-born émigré to Pennsylvania who engaged in a variety of business ventures in revolutionary-era Philadelphia. In 1778 he was appointed clerk to the Board of Treasury of the Continental Congress. In 1781, he accepted a position in Pennsylvania settling the outstanding accounts of the Pennsylvania line. His good performance brought him appointment as state Comptroller General in 1782. He was empowered to collect and receive taxes and to liquidate the estates of those convicted of treason (Loyalists). In 1793, he was impeached for personally speculating in federal securities with state funds. He was acquitted but forced to resign because he was by this time a large public defaulter. In 1795, he joined Robert Morris and James Greenleaf in creating the North American Land Company, which invested in six million acres of lands in six states. Stung by the worldwide panic of 1797 and the Napoleonic Wars (which drove down the European market for speculating in American lands), Morris and Nicholson were each imprisoned for debt. Nicholson died in 1800, more than four million dollars in debt. His estate was not satisfactorily settled for over a half-century, and required the creation of a special Nicholson Court of Pleas in 1843.
Several of Nicholson’s letters were written to Sharp Delancy, a Pennsylvania Customs Collector. On October 4, 1786, Comptroller General Nicholson threatened Delancy with legal action if he did not properly carry out the unpleasant duties of his office: "The exigency of the case makes it necessary that the debts due to your office should be paid into the Treasury as soon as the law directs they should be paid. You will therefore be charged and made to account for and pay all monies … as if the same was collected whether you may have received it or not at the time the law makes you chargeable with and accountable for the same … I write this that you may take the steps to compel payment of duties from those in arrears." On 16 July 16 1787, Nicholson again instructed Delancy to proceed "with decision and vigor to recover all bonds that are due, 'tis a pity there are so many outstanding."
The most fascinating and extensive grouping of letters are addressed to William Sansom, a director of the Bank of Pennsylvania and a Philadelphia land developer. He purchased Robert Morris’s Philadelphia mansion at sheriff’s sale, and converted the lands into the first speculative housing development in American history, paving the main road (Sansom Street, now Jewelers’ Row) himself.
The letters document Nicholson’s descent into debt and legal difficulties. Most show Nicholson desperately fending off his impatient creditors. On 31 December 1794, he writes, "I am not insensible to the approaching pay day of my notes to you. … I am doing all I can to face them. Whether I shall accomplish it, I cannot yet say. If you can point me out any assistance in the business I pray you do, for I need it." And on 27 February 1795: "I now feel confident that I shall tomorrow or Monday meet your wishes in the 15000 Dollars but do not make engagements or reliance thereon. You know I have been disappointed here before. Hope I will not again."
His difficulty, as he explains on 10 March 1795, was that most of his debts were secured by other debts: "I declare to you my regret at the situation I am in. I declare to you that it hath been, and is yet, out of my power to discharge this firm without prejudice to others who hold my paper also being over owing to my being disappointed in the receipt of money which was due to me. …" Litigation against Nicholson and Robert Morris had erupted by 24 June 1795, when Nicholson protests losing his place on "the change."
On September 26 of that year, he revealed that "Mr. Morris told me yesterday he thought he would be able to pay you his notes shortly, say a few days. If so this will settle one difficulty as to the balance due. …" But in a postscript to his letter of 23 November 1795he admits, "I called on R. M. but he was out & I have not seen him since." Such excuses permeate the correspondence.
An example of a full letter, addressed to Sansom and the other directors of the Bank of Pennsylvania on 10 March 1795, offers further insight into Nicholson’s slick ways and the manner in which his outstanding debts were all tied into reckless real estate speculation. "I find myself the payer of 6000 Dollars of my notes lieing over at the Penna Bank at the same time that I declare to you my regret—at the situation I am in, I declare to you that it hath not been and is yet out out [sic] of my power to discharge this sum without prejudice to others who hold my paper also lieing over owing to my being disappointed in the receipt of money which was due to me—I would propose however to pay 1/6th and renew the remainder at 60 days with the same indorser, before the end of which time I hope to regain my wonted punctuality—and as I do not wish full credit to be attatched to my name until it deserves it I propose to add any security that may be deemed adequate in any part of my Estate—which consists of unseated lands in Penna or almost any other state for the thereof."
There is also one letter addressed to Philadelphia merchant Clement Biddle on 10 October 1787, interesting insofar as it involves the famous Yankee-Pennamite land dispute in northeastern Pennsylvania. Nicholson had speculated in lands held under Pennsylvania title in the Wyoming Valley. Those lands, however, had been claimed under Connecticut title based on its colonial charter and the Indian purchase of the Susquehannah Land Company in 1754. Armed conflict between rival claimants ensued in the early 1770s and again in the mid-1780s, prompting Pennsylvania officials to call out the state militia. Here, Nicholson wishes Biddle to inform him "your proposals what is the lowest rate at which you would furnish from 80 to 100 militia with rations the same to be sett in Berks or Northd and Luzerne Counties." Luzerne County, centered on Wilkes-Barre, was the focus of conflict between Yankees and Pennamites. Many years later, a settlement was finally brokered by the state government allowing Connecticut settlers to purchase Pennsylvania title to the lands they had improved at reduced rates, offering Pennsylvania speculators equivalent lands in the western part of the state.
Sotheby's is grateful to Seth Kaller for his assistance with this description.
PROVENANCE:The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (Christie's New York, 19 June 2007, lot 286)
Property of a New York Collector
Nicholson, JohnArchive of 33 autograph letters signed ("Jno. Nicholson"), most to either Sharp Delancy or William Sansom
33 autograph letters signed, together with an autograph receipt signed and a transcribed deed signed ("Jno. Nicholson"), the whole totaling 36 pages (various sizes), various places, 1786–1795, many letters with integral autograph address leaves; scattered browning, fold separations, and seal tears, but generally very good.
John Nicholson (1765–1852) was a Welsh-born émigré to Pennsylvania who engaged in a variety of business ventures in revolutionary-era Philadelphia. In 1778 he was appointed clerk to the Board of Treasury of the Continental Congress. In 1781, he accepted a position in Pennsylvania settling the outstanding accounts of the Pennsylvania line. His good performance brought him appointment as state Comptroller General in 1782. He was empowered to collect and receive taxes and to liquidate the estates of those convicted of treason (Loyalists). In 1793, he was impeached for personally speculating in federal securities with state funds. He was acquitted but forced to resign because he was by this time a large public defaulter. In 1795, he joined Robert Morris and James Greenleaf in creating the North American Land Company, which invested in six million acres of lands in six states. Stung by the worldwide panic of 1797 and the Napoleonic Wars (which drove down the European market for speculating in American lands), Morris and Nicholson were each imprisoned for debt. Nicholson died in 1800, more than four million dollars in debt. His estate was not satisfactorily settled for over a half-century, and required the creation of a special Nicholson Court of Pleas in 1843.
Several of Nicholson’s letters were written to Sharp Delancy, a Pennsylvania Customs Collector. On October 4, 1786, Comptroller General Nicholson threatened Delancy with legal action if he did not properly carry out the unpleasant duties of his office: "The exigency of the case makes it necessary that the debts due to your office should be paid into the Treasury as soon as the law directs they should be paid. You will therefore be charged and made to account for and pay all monies … as if the same was collected whether you may have received it or not at the time the law makes you chargeable with and accountable for the same … I write this that you may take the steps to compel payment of duties from those in arrears." On 16 July 16 1787, Nicholson again instructed Delancy to proceed "with decision and vigor to recover all bonds that are due, 'tis a pity there are so many outstanding."
The most fascinating and extensive grouping of letters are addressed to William Sansom, a director of the Bank of Pennsylvania and a Philadelphia land developer. He purchased Robert Morris’s Philadelphia mansion at sheriff’s sale, and converted the lands into the first speculative housing development in American history, paving the main road (Sansom Street, now Jewelers’ Row) himself.
The letters document Nicholson’s descent into debt and legal difficulties. Most show Nicholson desperately fending off his impatient creditors. On 31 December 1794, he writes, "I am not insensible to the approaching pay day of my notes to you. … I am doing all I can to face them. Whether I shall accomplish it, I cannot yet say. If you can point me out any assistance in the business I pray you do, for I need it." And on 27 February 1795: "I now feel confident that I shall tomorrow or Monday meet your wishes in the 15000 Dollars but do not make engagements or reliance thereon. You know I have been disappointed here before. Hope I will not again."
His difficulty, as he explains on 10 March 1795, was that most of his debts were secured by other debts: "I declare to you my regret at the situation I am in. I declare to you that it hath been, and is yet, out of my power to discharge this firm without prejudice to others who hold my paper also being over owing to my being disappointed in the receipt of money which was due to me. …" Litigation against Nicholson and Robert Morris had erupted by 24 June 1795, when Nicholson protests losing his place on "the change."
On September 26 of that year, he revealed that "Mr. Morris told me yesterday he thought he would be able to pay you his notes shortly, say a few days. If so this will settle one difficulty as to the balance due. …" But in a postscript to his letter of 23 November 1795he admits, "I called on R. M. but he was out & I have not seen him since." Such excuses permeate the correspondence.
An example of a full letter, addressed to Sansom and the other directors of the Bank of Pennsylvania on 10 March 1795, offers further insight into Nicholson’s slick ways and the manner in which his outstanding debts were all tied into reckless real estate speculation. "I find myself the payer of 6000 Dollars of my notes lieing over at the Penna Bank at the same time that I declare to you my regret—at the situation I am in, I declare to you that it hath not been and is yet out out [sic] of my power to discharge this sum without prejudice to others who hold my paper also lieing over owing to my being disappointed in the receipt of money which was due to me—I would propose however to pay 1/6th and renew the remainder at 60 days with the same indorser, before the end of which time I hope to regain my wonted punctuality—and as I do not wish full credit to be attatched to my name until it deserves it I propose to add any security that may be deemed adequate in any part of my Estate—which consists of unseated lands in Penna or almost any other state for the thereof."
There is also one letter addressed to Philadelphia merchant Clement Biddle on 10 October 1787, interesting insofar as it involves the famous Yankee-Pennamite land dispute in northeastern Pennsylvania. Nicholson had speculated in lands held under Pennsylvania title in the Wyoming Valley. Those lands, however, had been claimed under Connecticut title based on its colonial charter and the Indian purchase of the Susquehannah Land Company in 1754. Armed conflict between rival claimants ensued in the early 1770s and again in the mid-1780s, prompting Pennsylvania officials to call out the state militia. Here, Nicholson wishes Biddle to inform him "your proposals what is the lowest rate at which you would furnish from 80 to 100 militia with rations the same to be sett in Berks or Northd and Luzerne Counties." Luzerne County, centered on Wilkes-Barre, was the focus of conflict between Yankees and Pennamites. Many years later, a settlement was finally brokered by the state government allowing Connecticut settlers to purchase Pennsylvania title to the lands they had improved at reduced rates, offering Pennsylvania speculators equivalent lands in the western part of the state.
Sotheby's is grateful to Seth Kaller for his assistance with this description.
PROVENANCE:The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (Christie's New York, 19 June 2007, lot 286)
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