Monumental 1796 Georgia Land Deed — 90,715 Acres — Signed Twice by Huntsville Founder LeRoy Pope, with Thomas Mifflin and Alexander J. Dallas
An extraordinary early American land document conveying approximately 90,715 acres in Franklin County, Georgia, from LeRoy Pope of Petersburg, Georgia, to prominent Philadelphia financier and land speculator John Nicholson. Executed in August 1796, the massive vellum indenture describes numerous named tracts assembled into one of the most remarkable Georgia land transactions of its period.
Measures 28 x 28 inches!
LeRoy Pope was a wealthy planter and land speculator who later acquired the land surrounding Big Spring in the Mississippi Territory and became the principal founder of what is now Huntsville, Alabama. Known as the “Father of Huntsville,” Pope established the town first called Twickenham and built the celebrated Poplar Grove, or LeRoy Pope Mansion. This document bears two manuscript signatures of LeRoy Pope, accompanied by two original red wax seals.
The purchaser, John Nicholson, had served as comptroller general of Pennsylvania and became one of the most ambitious—and ultimately ill-fated—land financiers of the early Republic. In partnership with Declaration signer Robert Morris and James Greenleaf, Nicholson organized the North American Land Company in 1795, assembling speculative claims to millions of acres throughout the developing United States. This 90,715-acre Georgia conveyance dates from the height of that enterprise.
Because the deed was acknowledged in Philadelphia, it carries an elaborate governmental certification signed by Thomas Mifflin, Revolutionary War major general, president of the Continental Congress, signer of the United States Constitution, and first governor of Pennsylvania. It is countersigned by Alexander J. Dallas, then Pennsylvania secretary of state and later United States secretary of the Treasury. Philadelphia alderman and future mayor Hilary Baker also signs the acknowledgment.
The document survives with two red wax Pope seals, two additional red official seals, and Pennsylvania’s imposing embossed Great Seal beneath an elaborate star-shaped paper covering. Written in accomplished eighteenth-century calligraphy, it begins with an exceptionally large ornamental heading, “This Indenture.”
Condition: Original storage folds, overall rippling and handling wear, scattered toning and soiling, several holes and losses along fold intersections, and some light or faded writing. The wax seals show age cracking and partial losses, while the large paper-covered Pennsylvania seal remains substantially present with tears and displaced points. Despite these faults, the document is remarkably complete and impressive for an eighteenth-century vellum instrument of this exceptional size.
A commanding artifact connecting the early settlement of Georgia, the founding of Huntsville, speculative expansion in the new American republic, and four consequential figures of the Federal period.
An extraordinary early American land document conveying approximately 90,715 acres in Franklin County, Georgia, from LeRoy Pope of Petersburg, Georgia, to prominent Philadelphia financier and land speculator John Nicholson. Executed in August 1796, the massive vellum indenture describes numerous named tracts assembled into one of the most remarkable Georgia land transactions of its period.
Measures 28 x 28 inches!
LeRoy Pope was a wealthy planter and land speculator who later acquired the land surrounding Big Spring in the Mississippi Territory and became the principal founder of what is now Huntsville, Alabama. Known as the “Father of Huntsville,” Pope established the town first called Twickenham and built the celebrated Poplar Grove, or LeRoy Pope Mansion. This document bears two manuscript signatures of LeRoy Pope, accompanied by two original red wax seals.
The purchaser, John Nicholson, had served as comptroller general of Pennsylvania and became one of the most ambitious—and ultimately ill-fated—land financiers of the early Republic. In partnership with Declaration signer Robert Morris and James Greenleaf, Nicholson organized the North American Land Company in 1795, assembling speculative claims to millions of acres throughout the developing United States. This 90,715-acre Georgia conveyance dates from the height of that enterprise.
Because the deed was acknowledged in Philadelphia, it carries an elaborate governmental certification signed by Thomas Mifflin, Revolutionary War major general, president of the Continental Congress, signer of the United States Constitution, and first governor of Pennsylvania. It is countersigned by Alexander J. Dallas, then Pennsylvania secretary of state and later United States secretary of the Treasury. Philadelphia alderman and future mayor Hilary Baker also signs the acknowledgment.
The document survives with two red wax Pope seals, two additional red official seals, and Pennsylvania’s imposing embossed Great Seal beneath an elaborate star-shaped paper covering. Written in accomplished eighteenth-century calligraphy, it begins with an exceptionally large ornamental heading, “This Indenture.”
Condition: Original storage folds, overall rippling and handling wear, scattered toning and soiling, several holes and losses along fold intersections, and some light or faded writing. The wax seals show age cracking and partial losses, while the large paper-covered Pennsylvania seal remains substantially present with tears and displaced points. Despite these faults, the document is remarkably complete and impressive for an eighteenth-century vellum instrument of this exceptional size.
A commanding artifact connecting the early settlement of Georgia, the founding of Huntsville, speculative expansion in the new American republic, and four consequential figures of the Federal period.
