DOCUMENT SIGNED by [MacLean, Norman]: Hjortsberg, William - 1977

New England railroad firm. Printed DS, 1p, 3 4/4" X 2½", Troy, NY, 1864 January 1. Near fine. Clean and attractive, on pale blue stock. "Extended First Mortgage" receipt, indicating this firm will pay $35.00 to the bearer of Bond No. 131. Signed in ink by the company treasurer, one G.M. Selden. His signature as been cancelled with ink slashes and cancellation slashes. Interesting piece of Civil War railroad ephemera.

Printed DS, 4pp (rectos only), 8½" X 14", New York, NY, 1955 November 11. Very good. Staple holes at upper left. Mimeographed press release captioned "Formation of Civil War Centennial Association Announced Before Meeting of the Southern Historical Association," signed on the verso of the last page by eight of the directors named in the text. In order: Robert S. Henry (1889-1979, popular Civil War writer), Robert L. Kincaid (president, Lincoln Memorial University), Bell I. Wiley (1906-80, prolific Civil War scholar), Bruce Catton (1899-1978, Pulitzer prize-winning Civil War historian), Benjamin P. Thomas (1902-56, Lincoln biographer), Ezra J. Warner (1910-74, Civil War author), Joseph T. Durkin (Civil War scholar), and Paul B. Freeland. Civil War scholar E.B. Long (1919-81) also signs, as do two others. An unusual assemblage, a veritable Who's Who of Civil War writers.

This notable railroad was founded in 1865 by a group of San Francisco businessmen, and in recent years merged with Union Pacific. Partly-printed DS, 1p, 5' X 7 3/4', Office of South Pacific Railroad Company letterhead, St. Louis, MO, 1869 Sept. 27. Addressed to Joseph S. Wilson. Near fine. Invitation to attend opening of a new railroad line running between Little Piney and Lebanon, Missouri. Signed by in ink at the close by the South Pacific Railroad Company president, FRANCIS B. HAYES (1810-84), and below this by its resident and managing director, ANDREW PEIRCE JR. (?-?). Choice and attractive and scarce, signed by this railroad's two major figures. This company merged into the Atlantic & Pacific in 1870.

New York, 1765. unbound. A True Copy of Action taken "At Council held at Fort George" in the City of New York, Tuesday the twenty-second, October 1765. Present were Lt. Governor Cadwallader Colden and Messrs: Horsmaden, Smith, Watts, De Lancey, Reade, and Morris, assembled to discuss land matters and deferred grants, in part: "...It is ordered by his Honour the Lieutenant Governor, with the advice of the Council that the Grant of the three-thousand acres of land so Surveyed for the said Captain John Small do pass the Seals - and it being represented to the Board that some part of the Tract of Land which in Pursuance of his Majesty's Order of the 23rd May 1764, hath been Surveyed for James Napier Esquire, Inspector and Director General of his Majesty's Hospitals in North America...It is also Ordered that the Grant to the said James Napier Esquire, do pass the Seals Reserving to the persons in actual possession all the Lands they have improved, not exceeding two-hundred acres… Read More

Confidant of Missouri pioneer Jonathan Bryan (1759-1846) of the noted St. Charles family whose relatives included their neighbor Daniel Boone. DS, 1p, 7½" X 12", St. Charles County, MO, 1847 February 2. Near fine. Acknowledgment that Tuter, who signs himself as "Administrator of the Estate of Johnathan Bryan," has had a writ of replevin made out and issued to the St. Charles sheriff, Edward C. Cunningham (1809-65), for delivery to an unnamed offender. The writ seeks to recover the following property apparently wrongfully taken from Jonathan Bryan's estate: "one negro man a Slave named Heney one Two horse waggon and one pair of Briches Two Black horses one Lorrel horse with bold face one walnut Cupboard one clock one Bureau one bedstead and bedding one walnut Table one Trunk one Bible...." In other words, everything but the kitchen sink. Signed at the conclusion by Tater (in his definitely untutored hand). Tales of slaves are found in the Bryan family lore, such as: "Mrs. Jonathan Bryan, a kinswoman… Read More