meredith william tuckey (1 Ergebnisse)

Other. ALS, 1 page (one leaf, folded once with integral fly leaf). In Good condition. Some moderate uneven age toning overall, with one-inch tear to contemporaneous horizontal fold-line (not impacting legibility). Approximately 25% of fly leaf has been excised (not impacting text), and there is a half-inch puncture from the wax seal (residue still intact). Addressed to John Hall, Esq., care of Robert Harris, Esq., Harrisburg, Pa. One page of text in William T. Meredith's hand, with a long postscript in Lowrie's hand and signed by him. Red "PHILA" postal stamp and remnants of red wax seal. RW Consignment. Shelved at Rockville, Room A, General Ephemera Part 2. William Tuckey Meredith (17721844) was a prominent Philadelphia lawyer and conveyancer, active in land transactions and civic affairs. He served as President of Schuylkill Bank, and narrowly lost to Nicholas Biddle the presidency of the Bank of the United States. Well connected through the Ogden and Gouverneur families, he specialized in property law and often acted as intermediary between Philadelphia investors and frontier landholders. He was the father of William M. Meredith (17991873), later Secretary of the Treasury under President Zachary Taylor. In the present letter, Meredith writes from Philadelphia to John Hall, forwarding a William Lownes' proposal for the purchase of tracts of land on the northwest side of the Allegheny River, opposite the mouth of Toby's Creek (Clarion River). The surviving assignees of John Field, he reports, are willing to sell provided the purchaser take all seven tracts together. Meredith urges a prompt response. The integral postscript is in the hand of Walter Lowrie, later U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (18191825). Lowrie clarifies that he and his brother wish to purchase only two tracts, adjoining land they already own: "These two tracts are not as good as some of the others are; but they are more valuable to us because they are adjacent. I therefore only renew my first offer for two tracts. If the seven tracts were taken out the whole could soon be sold; if nothing be done this winter they will all be sold next summer for taxes." This letter draws together three strands of early nineteenth-century Pennsylvania history. William T. Meredith, a leading Philadelphia lawyer and land speculator (and father of Secretary of the Treasury William M. Meredith), here acts as intermediary between Philadelphia capital and frontier landholders. Walter Lowrie, then a young Butler County attorney and landowner, reveals his active role in Allegheny River land consolidation just five years before entering the U.S. Senate. The addressee, John Hall, received the letter in Harrisburg "care of Robert Harris, Esq." (almost certainly Robert Harris (17681851), founder and postmaster of Harrisburg, whose family gave the capital its name). As such, the letter is not only a primary document of Pennsylvania frontier land speculation but also a convergence of several figures who played significant roles in Pennsylvania's political, legal, and civic development. The dual signatures (Meredith and Lowrie) provide early autographs of two men whose families would later play significant national political roles. 1402585. Special Collections.