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(VERMONT). ALLEN, ZACHARIAH. ALS, 3 pp., 4to, ink, Providence, [R.I.], July 31, 1830, to Richard Ward. $250.00

 

     This letter concerns a dispute over land in Newark, Vermont. Allen writes to Ward to ask him to shed any light he can on a quitclaim his father conveyed in 1795, which at the time of this letter, serves as the pretext for an effort to dispossess the heirs of Welcome Arnold, who appear to have aquired the land legitimately, and had paid taxes on it in the interval. (Around 1780, the lot had been subscribed for by Welcome Arnold in the name of Samuel Ward.)  In the wake of conflicting grants for portions of Vermont by the provincial governments of both New Hampshire and New York, the question of landownership in Vermont was for many years extremely vexed, and the situation attracted unscrupulous landjobbers, who exploited the amorphous situation for their benefit. As Allen writes "I fear that these landjobbers may have imposed upon your father by representing [this lot] to have been conveyed by him?Ķ." Michael Bellesiles' Revolutionary Outlaws, 1993 offers a lucid account of this problematic situation.

     Allen (1795-1882) was a leading industrialist of his day. He graduated from Brown University at 18, and remained closely associated with the university throughout his life. He owned mills in Rhode Island, and held several patents related to textile production. In his combination of inventive spirit and civic involvement, Allen was much like Benjamin Franklin. He introduced important innovations in fire protection, fire fighting, and fire insurance, and was an important, if paternalistic, industrial reformer in his creation of villages for his workers. He was also an enthusiastic historian, and for many years president of the Rhode Island Historical Society.

     Allen's interest in this case stems from his marriage to Eliza Harriet Arnold, who was the daughter of Welcome Arnold. What is puzzling is the degree of concern Allen shows over a relatively small (320acres) tract of land, in what is still a remote and wild corner of Vermont in the present day. According to Allen, at the news of this rival claim, he set out with his brother-in-law, Richard James Arnold, to investigate, taking about two weeks to complete the trip. Richard R. Ward, the grandson of Rhode Island Governor Samuel Ward, was a lawyer in New York City. A curious letter , involving several of Rhode Island's most prominent families, demonstrating a strong allegiance to family possessions and relations.