Main content
North American Land Company records
Notifications
Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Robert Morris (1734-1806), James Greenleaf (1765-1843), and John Nicholson (1757-1800) founded the North American Land Company on February 20, 1795. The North American Land Company was one of the largest land trusts in American history. The land company had 30,000 shares of stock, each valued at $100, and a total of 6 million acres of land in the District of Columbia, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia.
From the beginning, the North American Land Company was plagued by serious financial difficulties. Firstly, the authenticity of many of the titles to the lands were questioned. Secondly, the land company owned more than 2 million acres in the Georgia “Pine Barrens.” These large tracts of barren wilderness were uninhabited, covered in sandy soil, and consequently difficult to sell to land purchasers and settlers. Furthermore, Morris, a former delegate to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, sent his son-in-law, James Marshall, to Europe in order to sell shares in the company stock. Due to financial difficulties in Europe and doubts about the value of the North American Land Company’s holdings, Marshall was unsuccessful.
After Greenleaf was unable to secure loans from Dutch investors because of war and political instability in Holland, he used the company’s securities to pay off private debts. Although Morris and Nicholson were heavily in debt, they bought out Greenleaf because he had continued to embezzle company funds and to engage in corrupt business practices. Morris and Nicholson soon became bankrupt and the promissory notes they used as payment to Greenleaf for his share of the company defaulted. Greenleaf became bankrupt and in 1797 was sent to Prune Street Prison in Philadelphia. Nicholson and Morris soon joined Greenleaf in the same debtors’ prison. Morris was released after serving three and half years, but was left penniless and almost $3 million in debt. Nicholson died in prison, but Greenleaf was released in 1798 after serving less than one year.
In order to prevent land companies from making fraudelent claims on land, the Georgia state legislature passed a law in 1798 requiring all land purchasers to conduct a survey of their lands every ten years. It was a costly and impossible task for the heirs to the North American Land Company to conduct the surveys. When the heirs stopped paying taxes on the lands, the government took ownership of the titles. The North American Land Company remained in existence until 1872.
The North American Land Company Records include financial and administrative records as well as correspondence, deeds, and shares of the company’s stock from throughout its history. The collection documents the administrative functions and financial hardships of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century land speculation company. The papers are arranged in rough chronological order. The collection contains international correspondence from Amsterdam, London, and Paris (Box 1, Folder 1 and Box 3, Folder 5), James Greenleaf’s request for land patents (Box 1, Folder 5), amendments to the Articles of Agreement (Box 2, Folder 7), as well as papers dealing with stocks and shareholders (Box 1, Folder 9), minutes (Box 1, Folder 9-12), and correspondence between the company’s presidents. Researchers interested in land ownership will find useful the maps illustrating the divisions of plots in New York, South Carolina, and Georgia (Box 2, Folder 1). Those researching the company’s financial and legal challenges may be curious to view the protest of notes (Box 2, Folder 3), refusal of trust (Box 3, Folder 9), legal papers regarding the Parks v. Robbins lawsuit (Box 4, Folder 5), and James Greenleaf’s petition for the relief of insolvent debtors (Box 4, Folder 6). Although the collection contains materials regarding some of the company’s financial hardships, information regarding the dissolution of the company is limited.
Purchased, 1950.
A portion of the boxed papers in this collection were once part of the Simon Gratz autograph collection (Collection 250A).
People
Subject
- Deeds--18th Century
- Georgia--Land speculation--18th century
- Kentucky--Land speculation--18th century
- Land speculation and settlement--Pennsylvania--19th century
- Land speculation--United States
- Land speculation--Western Pennsylvania--19th century
- Real estate--Transactions
- South Carolina--Land speculation--18th century
- Publisher
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Diane Biunno.
- Finding Aid Date
- , 2014.
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research.
Collection Inventory
Folder contains deeds, division of lands, an assignment in trust from James Greenleaf to George Simpson, and a Letter of Attorney from Daniel Darby to James Crawford.
Contains a copy of a mutual agreement between James Greenleaf, Edward Fox, Robert Morris, John Nicolson and K. Pratt, T. W. Francis, John Ashley, Jacob Baker to secure certain engagements of James Greenleaf and Edward Fox. Recorded in the District of Columbia in the Office of Records.
Contains article of agreement between Daniel Rogoy, William Smith, John Millor, William Branch and Claude Grommetier, Julian Grommetier. Also contains original agreement of Greenleaf, Pratt, Ashley and Francis that the first monies received by the North American Land Company shall be appropriated to pay the state $11877.31.
Contains a copy of the 1803 agreement of James Greenleaf and Henry Pratt.
Contains land deeds from Henry Pratt to Benjamin Tilghman.
Notes from inside cover 1839-1849
With notes and annotations (1844)
With notes and annotations (1839-1842). Contains accounts of Greenleaf, Morris, and Nicholson.
Mostly blank except for loose notes
Mostly blank except for loose notes