Beschreibung:

(Six Nations)An important archive related to the Six Nations land cessions, and the subsequent settlement of Ontario County, New York Together 9 documents, various places including Canandaigua, Suffield, and Buffalo: 1789-1825. Housed in morocco-backed clamshell box with folding cloth chemise. Comprising: 1. Oliver Phelps and William Walker Document signed ("Oliver Phelps" and "William Walker"), partially printed and accomplished in manuscript, 1 p. (310 x 371 mm), Canandaigua, 22 August 1789; silked, split along central vertical fold, small losses along folds costing a few words. Being an indenture for a parcel of land in Ontario County. 2. Oliver Phelps. Manuscript notebook, 8vo (165 x 100 mm), 19 April – 12 May 1790, 32 pp., comprising a 6-page letter in a secretarial hand, presumably dictated by Phelps, and 25 pp. of autograph manuscript accounts of the settlers; a few stray spots, section of one leaf excised. Includes the names of settlers, the lots assigned, and monies paid. Original plain wrappers; a few chips to spine and extremities. 3. William Walker Document signed ("William Walker"), partially printed and accomplished in manuscript, 1 p. (310 x 180 mm), 2 May 1791; silked, a few stray spots. Selling a parcel of land back to Oliver Phelps for the sum of 130 pounds. 4. William Walker Manuscript document signed ("William Walker"), 1 p. (205 x 200mm), Suffield, 2 May 1791; lightly browned along the top, just splitting at a couple folds. An account for expenses, including surveying and attending a treaty, possibly the Phelps and Gorham purchase. 5. Oliver Phelps and Samuel Kirkland. Autograph account by Phelps, signed by Kirkland ("Sam Kirkland") along bottom, 1 p. (220 x 190 mm), 9 May 1792; just splitting at folds. Giving up land and charging 6.10 for, "my time and expense in Philadelphia in giving my Deposition respecting the Indians." 6. (Six Nations). Manuscript document signed (with their marks) by RED JACKET, CORN PLANTER, YOUNG KING, LITTLE BILLY, BLACK SNAKE, CAPTAIN POLLARD, CAPTAIN SHONGO, CAPTAIN STRONG, LITTLE BEARD, and CHIEF WARRIOR, and witnessed by 4 United States Indian agents, 1 p. (323 x 195 mm), Buffalo, 28 May 1821. Being a receipt for $500 paid to the Six Nations, extending the annuity provided by the Phelps and Gorham purchase. 7. (Six Nations). Manuscript document, 3½ pp. (320 x 203 mm), Buffalo, 5 June 1821; a few chips to edges, just separating at fold. Detailed account and receipt for $158.15 for blacksmith work provided to the Six Nations by James Harris 8. (Six Nations). Manuscript document signed (with his mark) by CORN PLANTER and witnessed by 3 agents, 1 p. (162 x 200 mm), Buffalo, 14 June 1822; minor spotting. Being a receipt for $250 paid to the Six Nations for an annuity due from an agreement made with Robert Morris at Big-Tree in September 1797. 9. (Cayuga Nation). Manuscript document signed (with their marks) by TALL CHIEF, CAPTAIN SMITH, THOMAS DOCTOR, CONNEWADDEA, JOHN SMITH STUTTERING JOHN and witnessed by 4 Indian agents, 1 p., (326 x 200 mm ), Buffalo, 2 June 1825. Being a receipt for $2300 paid to the Cayuga Nation from an agreement made at Cayuga Ferry in July 1795. An important archive tracing the settlement of Ontario County in Western New York in the decades following the Phelps and Gorham Purchase of 1788, including the scarce signatures of Seneca chiefs Cornplanter and Red Jacket. In 1788, a syndicate led by Oliver Phelps and Nathanial Gorham purchased the preemptive rights to six million acres of land in what is now western New York from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the preemptive right to the title on the land from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Their negotiations to secure clear title from the Iroquois resulted in the purchase of a tract of about two million acres, marking the beginning of a period of active surveying, speculation, and European settlement. A number of documents relate to Phelps' activities on behalf of his land sale