William Bingham of Philadelphia and his Maine Lands

PUBLICATIONS OF THE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. . . MARCH, 1926. Vol IX No. 3. P WILLIAM BINGHAM OP PHILADELPHIA AND HIS MAINE LANDS. BY WILLIAM OTIS SAWTELLE. S AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, AT THE ANNUAL MEETING , MARCH 1, 1926. G Prince Talleyrand, in his memoirs, says that during his eastern travels in America, in 1795, he was storm-bound at Machias, a little frontier settlement in the Province of Maine. Having conversed with his host, Phineas Bruce, about the value and price of land until that subject was exhausted, he asked if Mr. Bruce had ever been in Philadelphia, or had seen General Washington. Receiving a negative reply Talleyrand enquired further : “ If you should go to Philadelphia you will be pleased to see that Gentleman ? ” And the answer : ‘ 1 Why yes, I shall ; but I should very much like to see Mr. Bingham who, they say is so wealthy / A re mark attributed by Napoleon ’s future foreign minister to promptings of an inborn love of money so characteristically American. But Talleyrand was not always right in his conjectures, and if Mr. Bruce preferred to see Mr. William Bingham rather than President Washington the determining factor was beyond the comprehension of his French visitor. ( 207 ) f 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania - PGM Vol IX William Bingham of Philadelphia 208 It is not to be supposed that knowledge of William Bingham had reached this far- off comer of the country, literally the northeastern limit, because of the elaborate social functions which took place in what John Adams was pleased to call ** the pompous Mansion House ” at Third and Spruce, or be cause of Mr Bingham 's social position, political activities, or display of wealth in the city of Philadelphia. Bruce was a pioneer, the first lawyer in his region, and he sensed the magnitude and importance of Mr. Bingham ’s then recent purchases of wild lands in a territory where others had feared to venture an investment ; for not only in Maine but in New York and Pennsylvania as well, had he and his associates acquired large land holdings, not fearing to venture their wealth in the settlement and development of their own . P country. It is not surprising that the Machias man wished to see the gentleman from Philadelphia who had gained control of some two and a half millions of acres of the ‘‘ Eastern Lands,’’ the purchase of which was turning into the treasury of the Com monwealth of Massachusetts considerable sums of real money. S In the State of Maine, today, lumber operators, tourists, and sportsmen are familiar with the term l i Bingham Pur chase, though somewhat ignorant of its real significance ; ” and a fairly general impression prevails that Mr. Bingham obtained these properties at a ridiculous, or even almost scanda lous figure. In the City of Philadelphia, Mr. Bingham’s birthplace, his residence to within a few years of his death, and for three generations the home of his forebears, nothing remains obviously reminiscent of him except a small statue of Benjamin Franklin his gift to the City high up on the facade of the Philadelphia Library, diagonally across the street from the Historical Society. Beyond the confines of the manuscript volumes preserved in the archives of the Bingham Estate in the Morris Building on Chestnut Street, not more than a few lines are to be found referring to Mr. Bingham ’s land transactions during the seventeen nineties, while whole pages of social froth and gossip about him and his family have been printed and republished in tiresome reiteration. A lot of letters written by William Bingham during the years 1795 and J 96 to his eastern land agent, General David G - — 1924 — Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX and his Marne Lands . 209 S P Cobb, has recently been located ; and in the construction of the story of the Kennebec and Penobscot Purchases these Cobb Papers * will form the framework. Before referring to them, however, since I am speaking to the members of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, no apology is necessary for the introduction of a report on the ancestry of William Bingham of Philadelphia ; a report based exclusively upon material housed within the building where we now gather. A BIT OP GENEALOGY, f In the patronymic * 1 Bingham ’ 5 is recognized an ancient location name of Saxon origin ; there being found among our English surnames other examples of like derivation such as Bing, Bingfield, and Bingly. The original seat of the Binghams was at Sutton Bingham, Somersetshire, the manor of Sutton having been given by the Conquerer to Roger Arundel ; and to quote the records, * * Roger Buissel holds of Roger Sutone.’’ This Roger Buissel, or de Bussel, was the progenitor of the Bingham family of Sutton Bingham, from whence descendants early spread to other parts of England. In the time of King Henry I, a certain John de Bingham assumed the name ; and as early as 1250 a branch of the family took root at East Mel combe, Dorsetshire, where, from that date an unbroken line has been maintained at Meleombe Bingham to the present. In the northern counties there is among the Yorkshire deeds a record of Henry de Bingham, of Abersford, 1281; also of John de Bingham and wife Margaret, 1348, of the same parish ; in which name, by the way, is to be recognized an early form of Haverford. There is mention in the Descriptive Catalogue of Derbyshire Charters of a Richard Bingham who granted land in Boythrop, May 7, 1307, to son Richard. Richard, senior, is also described as Sir Richard, and as the father of Thomas Bingham, one time warden of Pembroke College, Cambridge, canon and subdeacon of Wells, later a resident of Bingham, Notting hamshire, who died, according to Musgrave’s Obituary, in 1392. G - - * In the possession of Gen. Cobb’s great grandson, George Nixon Black, Esq. to whom I am indebted for much information in regard to his ancestor. t Information gathered from various English County Histories Burke’s Peerage, etc. 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania — • PGM Vol IX William Bingham of Philadelphia 210 - It may be noted, parenthetically, that the arms of the Bing hams borne by Knights of the name in both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire are the same : Or, on a fesse between three mullets gules, as many water bougets argent Also, that the Binghams of Surry, to whom reference will be made later, were entitled to the same arms. In London there was a William Bingham, described in the Cambridge alumni records as a cleric, founder and first proctor of God ’s House, 1439, which was later to become a part of Christ College under incorporation by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII Of the Meleombe Dorset bran eh may be noted Robert de Bingham, Bishop of Salisbury, died November 2, 1246 ; also John de Bingham in Essex who, in 1347 gave property to the Hospital of St John, Cambridge, now part of St John ’s Col lege, which still enjoys the estate Though the temptation is strong to tell something of the many illustrious Binghams who, generations ago played their part as lawyers, students, educators, and soldiers, whose memorials are to be found in university records, parish churches, and cathedrals, all must be passed over. Attention ought to be called , however, to Sir Richard Bingham, of Meleombe, died 1598 ; a naval officer who distinguished himself in the wars of Mary and Elizabeth. He was governor of Connaught in Elizabeth ’s time and “ suppressed dyvers rebellions 9 9 The visitor to Westminster Abbey may see a small black tablet bearing a somewhat lengthy epitaph record ing his exploits Sir Richard died without issue and was succeeded by his brother, Sir George who also fought in Ireland as did another brother, Sir John, From these two brothers descended the Binghams of County Mayo, Ireland, among whom were to be included later the Barons Clanmorris and the Earls of Lucan Attempts have been made by some genealogists to make plausible the descent of the Connecticut Binghams from the Bingham Meleombe family ; but as several generations of ancestors of Thomas Bingham, the Connecticut immigrant, have been located in Sheffield, and thence from Nottingham shire, this assumption is untenable On the other hand, there are in Philadelphia collateral descendants of Charles Bingham, first Earl of Lucan, since his kinsman, Charles Bingham, a major in the British Army, . . - S . . P . G . - . . . 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania - PGM Vol IX 211 and his Maine Lands. stationed at New York during the Revolution, married Anne Howard , daughter of Sheffield Howard , a New York merchant. Major Charles and Anne Howard Bingham had a daughter, Anne, who married on August first, 1796, Clement Biddle Penrose, of Philadelphia .* ENGLISH ANCESTRY OF WILLIAM BINGHAM OF PHILADELPHIA. In 1675 John Bingham,f citizen and goldsmith of London, and wife Mary, received a patent from John Fenwick for one thousand acres of land to be surveyed in New Jersey. A careful scrutiny of the English parish records in the Library of the Historical Society shows that a John Bingham and Mary Sheldon were married at St Thomas the Apostle, near the north end of Southwark Bridge, April 11, 1648. Among the marriage records of St. Saviour ’s Church, Southwark, is that of John Bingham and Anne Cownden , Septem ber 26, 1611 ; while in the church itself is a monument to John Bingham, “ saddler to Queen Elizabeth and King James, ” who died in September, 1625, in the 75th year of his age J The Visitations of Surry show this John Bingham to have twice married ; his first wife, Alice Vickers died without issue ; his second , Anne Payne, daughter of John, was the mother of his children. The same source of information gives the names of John the sadler ’s parents as Gerald Bingham, of the town of Nottingham, and Alice, daughter of Robert Penthorne, of St Martin ’s-in-the-Fields, London ; and his grandparents, Bingham and a daughter of Lascelles, the latter name better known in America since the marriage of Princess Mary As already noted, this Surry family of Binghams bore the same arms as did the knights of Derby and Notts, which is evidence, though not conclusive, of descent from John Bingham of the time of Henry VI, (1422-61) and wife Elizabeth de Marston, through their son Sir Richard, died 1476, < t a Justice of the King’s Bench, ” and wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Baldwin Frevill, who had a son, John Bingham, of Walnow, Notts, wife’s name unknown . P - . . G S . . * Leach, Hist , of Penrose Family of Pkila., 66n. f New Jersey Archives , ist ser., 21 : 560. t Maitand’s, London, 798. 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX 212 William Bingham of Philadelphia G S P JOHN BINGHAM OP LONDON AND BURLINGTON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY. John Bingham, citizen and goldsmith of London, removed to Evesham, Burlington County, New Jersey, where he was living with his second wife, Bridget, daughter of Benjamin Scott, in the early sixteen eighties. The New Jersey records * contain reference to a Mary Bingham who married George Elkinton, January 13, 1683, and to an Alice Bingham j evidently daughters of J ohn. by his first wife, Mary Sheldon. In the records of the Burlington Meeting it is found that Bridget Bingham and William Watson were proposed for the second time, 8m, 3, 1687, a fact which fixes the approximate date of death of John Bingham , immigrant, though mention of Widow Bridget Bingham is made a year or so before this date. John ( I ) and Bridget Scott Bingham had a son James who and later removed from Evesham to married Ann Philadelphia where he was a blacksmith by trade ; died December 21, 1714, possessed of considerable property for his time. He and his wife were members of Christ Church, of which he was a vestryman ; they are buried in Christ Churchyard. In his will James mentions wife Ann , son James, and daughters Ann, Mary, Elizabeth, and Hannah. James ( HI ) , son of James and Ann, married about 1726, Ann, daughter of William and Ann Clapgut Budd, granddaughter of Reverend Thomas Budd, an early convert to Quakerism, who died a martyr to his faith in Ilchester jail. James ( III ) , a sadler by trade, died August 24, and his will was proved November 18, 1737, James and Ann Budd had three sons, William, Thomas, and James, and a daughter Susannah ; Thomas and Susannah died in infancy, and James in early manhood, unmarried. These facts are here mentioned to show how the Bingham property, which was now considerable, concentrated in the hands of William ( IV ) who was also to benefit by certain Budd holdings inherited from his mother. William ( IV ) , also a sadler, married September 19, 1745, Mary, daughter of Mayor John and Hannah Stamper. Wil liam and Mary Stamper were the parents of five children, - * New Jersey Archives , 23 : 48. 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX 213 and his Maine Lands . three sons and two daughters, of whom the fourth child and youngest son, William, bom March 3, 1752, is the subject of this discourse Of Molly Stamper, William Bingham’s mother, a contem porary has left a description which from its effusiveness would indicate that the young gentleman from Virginia, William Black, who penned the following lines in his diary * on a June day in the year 1744 had fallen a victim to the charms of the pretty daughter of the Mayor of Philadelphia . - . — — — — ‘ She was of the Middle Size very well shap ’d her eyes were black, full of Fire they had something in them Remarkably Languishing and seem’d to speak the softness of * — — a Soul Replete with Goodness her eyebrows black and finely arched her Nose was well turned and of a Just Bigness and her Mouth was Neither wide nor very Little with Lips of a fine Red, and when they moved discovered two Rows of Teeth white as Ivory and Regularly well Set. Her Forehead round and smooth her Hair was shining black but no way harsh Her Neck, her Arms and hands seem to have been fitted for her Face which was of a Complection made up of the Lilly and the Rose. Such was her Person and I assure you the charms of her Mind and Conversation was not less Amiable ; but I must confess myself unable to say Anything Adequate to this Lovely Young Creature. The Bloom of Roses and Lillies might a little Illustrate her Countenance or their Smell her Sweetness But to Com prehend her entirely Conceive Youth, Health, Beauty, Neatness, and Innocence, Imagine all those in utmost of Perfection [and you have ] the charming Molly ’s Picture before your Eyes.’* P — S G — . — J - . — As William and Mary Stamper Bingham were among those present at what has since become the memorable ball held in the warehouse on Hamilton ’s wharf in 1748, it might be men tioned that should their descendants among the English and French nobility attend en masse a present-day Philadelphia Assembly the Bellevue-Stratford. ball room would be somewhat - - overcrowded. Of their son, William Bingham, accounts are to be found in biographical dictionaries and need not here be repeated, though certain high lights may be noted r . * Journal of Win. Black, Penna. Magazine, 2 : 40 . 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX 214 William Bingham of Philadelphia He was a man of education, having been graduated at the age of sixteen from the College of Philadelphia, now the Uni versity of Pennsylvania. In 1771, at the age of nineteen, he received an appointment under the British Government as consul at St. Pierre de Myzen ; something which influenced his subsequent career, since in 1776 he was made agent for the Continental Congress in the West Indies. Here his lot was none too easy as may be gathered from letters, now in the Dreer Collection, written by him to the Secret Committee of - . Congress Prom Saint Pierre, Martinique, much disturbed over the non-arrival of remittances for governmental purposes, he writes under date of February 8, 1778 : “ However the Duty I owe to my own Feelings & my Re gard for your Interests still urge me to make another Effort to procure Remittances & save the Sinking Credit of the Con gress in this place whose Affairs have materially suffered by my Inability to fulfil my engagements.” * * I have had Judgment recorded against me several Times in the Courts, but the General has suspended the Execution by perverting the Courts of Justice.” “ The Impropriety of having recourse to his Authority for such a purpose must appear strikingly obvious. It will tend to sink me into Disgrace and to lessen the Esteem I might otherwise be held in, and which esteem is absolutely necessary for the successful Negotiations of the Business of a Political Nature committed to my care.f t U The arrival of the Continental Briga [ntine] Resistance has thrown me into new Difficulties j her Disbursements here will amount to a considerable Sum which I am by no Means in a Situation to advance.” a Should other Demands be made upon me which require the advancing of Cash before I receive Remittances your Affairs must suffer for want of Funds. In 1780 Mr. Bingham returned to Philadelphia, and on October 26th of that year, married at Christ Church, Ann, daughter of Thomas and Ann McCall Willing, bora at Phila delphia, August 1, 1764 a wondrously beautiful girl. 5 1 * writes Anna Rawle * to women of handsome Speaking , ‘ her mother, ‘* brings Nancy Willing to mind. She might set for the Queen of Beauty, and is lately married to Bingham, - G S P - — - * Penna. Magazine, 35 : 398. 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX 215 and his Maine Lemds . who returned from the West Indies with an immense fortune. They have set out in highest style ; nobody here will be able to make the figure they do ; equipage, house, cloathes all the newest taste, and yet some people wonder at the match. She but sixteen and such a perfect form. His appearance is less amiable.” Of the Bingham ’s town house at Third and Spruce, their country home was Lansdowne, occupying a portion of the site of the present Horticultural Hall, Fairmount Park much has been written. But one brief description, found in the Diary * of Ann Warder, 9th mo. 26th, 1786, must here suffice i i On my way home looked at Bingham ’s new house which causes much talk here being upon a new plan, but very ungenteel, I think, as it much resembles some of our heavy public buildings bow windows back and front with figures of stucco — —. — . P work — - In 1807 a Mr. Renshaw leased this property for hotel pur poses, and it became known as the Mansion House Hotel. Some six years later Renshaw built, on the southwest corner of Eleventh and Market, the first building in Philadelphia expressly designed as a public house This he called the Mansion House after Mr. Bingham ’s former residence which now became known as Head !s Mansion House Hotel, destroyed by fire in 1847 and never rebuilt • Years after Renshaw ’s time, upon the site of his hotel, the Bingham House was built, its name a heritage from Third and Spruce ; but destined to pass with the erection of the Earle Theatre S . G . . THE EASTERN LANDS .f At the close of the Revolution, with treasury empty, commerce destroyed, and debt of staggering magnitude, Massa chusetts, to whom title to lands between the Kennebec and St Croix rivers was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris, now looked to this region as a source of revenue A committee on Eastern Lands was appointed, and legislation enacted whereby soldiers’ notes and other evidences of public debt would be accepted in payment for lands along the coast, while territory inland was offered free to prospective settlers. -. . * Penna. Magazine, 18 : 52. f Moses Greenleai’s Survey of the State of Maine, Portland, 1829, p. 400 ; also Col ., Me. Hist . Soc ., 7 : 353-60 ; Bangor Hist . Magazine, 1 : 39. 4 : 79, 5 : 105, 164, 165, 6 : 115. 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX 216 William Bingham of Philadelphia G S P As few were interested in tide- water holdings, and as iand elsewhere could not be given away, a lottery was proposed as a method of disposal of the lands in question ; but to no avail , for although there were no blanks and a purchaser stood chance of drawing anything from a bit of land half a milq square to a whole township containing thirty-six square miles, the tickets did not sell to any extent. Determined to find buyers of the wild lands, the General Court appointed a new committee which made a contract with General Henry Jackson, of Boston, and Royal Flint, of New York , to take about two million acres of Maine lands at the rate of ten cents per acre ; one million near the headwaters of the Kennebec, and a like amount in the present Hancock and Washington counties, together with the unsold lottery tickets. For some reason Jackson and Flint assigned their contract to General Henry Knox, “ Secretary of the Department of War, ” and William Duer, of New York, on July 25, 1791 ; consideration ten shillings. Unfortunately, Duer failed in December, 1792, for large sums, precipitating the first financial panic in New York, and Knox was left without a partner, though not for long. General Knox and William Bingham were friends, and before the month expired the jovial general , in his unbounded enthusiasm for Maine lands, had convinced Mr. Bingham that in Eastern Maine lay a golden opportunity ; but not to be realized , as time was to prove, by either Knox or Bingham. So Mr. Bingham agreed to take over Duer ’s share of the lands, and was willing to advanee the money which Knox still owed on the original contract ; for an agreement * is in existence, dated December 31, 1792, wherein it is stated that ‘ ‘ W. B. engages to make all advances and secures to H. Knox one-third part of the residuary profits. ” Within a month sixteen deeds, conveying in total two million acres of land to Jackson and Flint were executed by the committee on Eastern Lands, and by subsequent transactions and transfers the entire property came under the control of William Bingham, while General Knox could claim but a third part of the residuary profits, if any. Not satisfied with the amount of land ealled for in the sixteen deeds, Mr. Bingham entered into negotiations with * New England Hist and Geneal . Reg ., 30 : 36m. , 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX and his Maine Lands. 217 - William Shaw,*of Gouldsboro, on the eastern side of French man ’s Bay, and within a few years became possessed of practically the entire township, paying for his holdings some six thousand pounds. In addition to his Gonldsboro property Mr. Bingham bought of General Henry Jackson f the eastern half of Mount Desert Island for one hundred pounds, together with various islands in the vicinity ; settlers’ lots excepted. It may be mentioned in passing that by this latter acquisition Mr. Bingham became proprietor of a considerable portion of what was in 1689, a feudal grant of Acadia bestowed by King Louis XIV upon Sieur Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac ; a hundred years later to be validated in favor of Cadillac’s granddaughter, Marie Therese de la Mothe Cadillac de Gregoire, who soon disposed of the most of it to General Henry Jackson, who in turn sold to Mr. Bingham a few years later. j: William Bingham foresaw, or thought he did, a prosperous town growing upon the Gouldsboro property with its numerous bays, harbors, mill seats, and water power ; and he offered free transportation thither to all who would become settlers. No one then knew that many of these settlers would later remove to Ellsworth, Cherryfield , and elsewhere and that Bingham ’s plans would never materialize. General Cobb was instructed by Mr. Bingham to procure every mill seat, as he calls them, on navigable waters, to derive all advantages possible from the preparation of lumber for export, and to repress in every way depredations of the timber tracts an early attempt at forest conservation. That Mr Bingham keenly appreciated the value of advertising is shown by the following extract from one of his many letters to Cobb: *‘ I have received with pleasure the Paragraph in the Boston Centinel on the subject of the Province of Maine, which has been inserted in all our Papers. Such communications have a Tendency to bring an object to the public attention, which otherwise would not have been the reach of its recollections, & thereby impress the Mind favorably towards it.” G S P , — . * Hancock County Reg . , 4 : 54, 78-80, 6 : 96. t Id ., 1 : 518 and 4 : 74. t See my Mount Desert : Champlain to Bernard, Sprague’s Jour of , Maine History , 13, no. 3, also issued in reprint. 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX WiUiam Bingham of Philadelphia 218 Of Maine lands in general Bingham writes Cobb, May 15, 1795: f ‘ There is no part of the United States that stands so much in need of a helping Hand, as the Character of this Country has been depreciated by Ignorance or Design. I would recommend your writing Letters after your arrival [at Gouldsboro] to Gen. Jackson , conveying the Traits that appear most favorable in the Country, extracts of which to be published in the Boston Newspapers as well as the adop tion of other means that you may think advisable to place this Country on the Footing it merits, ’ * Later in the same month there is sent along a carefully prepared letter accompanied by maps of the respective purchases, recently surveyed ; with comments upon water-power development, means of communication for carrying produce to market, with again emphasis upon the necessity of obtaining reliable settlers as their coming will not only increase the value of the remaining lands, but will bring the region into repute. With General Cobb at Gouldsboro, resident manager, Gen eral Knox was soon to_ __ make his headquarters at Thomaston, a few miles west of Penobscot Bay, where he built a most pretentious house to which Mrs. William Bingham gave the name of Montpelier. This move of General Knox gratified Mr. Bingham who writes thus optimistically to Cobb: “ Gen. Knox ’s Establishment in that Country will have a surprising effect on the public Mind, as relative to its resources.7 7 But in October, 1795, Mr. Bingham, by the unsettled politi cal conditions, is frankly disturbed. Trouble is brewing in the country and he realizes that the situation relative to his Maine lands is rapidly becoming serious ; that it is essentially necessary to take vigorous and energetic measures to dispose of one half the lands immediately, in order that requisite resources may be found to offset the heavy expenditures called for by improvements, to say nothing of prospects of profit to those engaged in the speculation. In a letter to Cobb, October 17th stress is laid upon the * ‘ present appearances of a Combination of all Circumstances that are likely to happen,*’ which in the near future may be such as to prevent profitable sales of land , or sales at any rate. Thus would a property which promised to be highly advantageous to its owners “ beeome so oppressive on their Finances, as to reduce them to the greatest Distress.’ 5 — P - - G S m * - - 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX and his Maine Lands . 219 Bingham then informs Cobb that he has “ strong reasons to suppose that a Gentleman will arrive here in a short time whose object will be a Purchase of a great Portion of these , Lands.’* If , however, this nameless gentleman should not have such an object in view, General Cobb is to hold himself ready to sail for England where a group of capitalists known to Mr. Bingham “ may be combined in order to purchase, on reason able terms, one half of the Property ; ” Cobb to interview these gentlemen, and from his “ Communications & perfect Knowledge of all Circumstances connected with the subject/ ’ to effect an advantageous sale. i t I would not hesitate a moment in embarking for Europe on this business/ ’ writes Bingham, “ If I was not prevented by necessity of my attending the next session of Congress. ” ( He was United States Senator from Pennsylvania.) “ I shall be very impatient to receive your answer to these Proposals being fully convinced , from the present State of Europe & of this Country, that a Postponement in the Execution of this Business will be fatal to its Success.” A trip to Europe was unnecessary, for a representative of certain English monied interests in the person of young Alexander Baring, commissioned to make purchases of Amer ican lands was soon to arrive in this country. On December 9, 1795, Mr. Bingham writes General Cobb: 1 ‘ I have been informed that Mr. Baring has absolutely arrived in Boston & it would be particularly unfortunate that Gen, Knox, Gen. Jackson & yourself should be absent at this critical time, for his object is to make every important enquiry bo fore he concludes the purchase of a Portion of these Lands, & I ardently wish such an impression to be made upon his Mind, as the State of the Country & its future Prospects will justify and support.” Bingham left not a stone unturned, so critical was the land situation Baring seems to have been the only hope ; and plans to engage his interest were well laid. General Cobb was to be the chief emissary ; General Jackson was to be in Boston to clear the way for Cobb ’s operations. Should Baring, by any chance, get to New York before the interview could take place, General Knox would be there on the lookout, and Cobb had been instructed to report to him post haste. Cobb’s instructions were, in part, as follows : ** You will — — G S P n» - - - . 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX William Bingham of Philadelphia 220 . soon discover what Society he [Mr Baring] has frequented & whether there is any reason to suppose that he has had his Mind poisoned or perverted. I do not want him to think that I have great Solicitude on the subject but am rather desirous that your Interview with him should appear to be the result of accident, rather than Design.1 * i It will naturally occur to you,1* Bingham continues, ‘ * that an indirect Impression of the most forcible nature may be made on his Mind , throJ the medium of Conversation held with Persons that he is intimate with, who will naturally retail the same to him , ” Cobb met Baring in Boston, kept an eye on him and evi dently followed instructions to the letter Meanwhile, Bingham in Philadelphia was on the anxious seat, because Baring would not in any way commit himself with reference to pur chase, although the original offer to him had been made some time before. i i Altho’ I am very desirous of engaging an association so respectable, J 1 Bingham confides to Cobb in a letter of January 7, 1796, ‘ £ yet I am very averse to the delay in giving me an explicit answer. . . I am convinced I could form a Company that would give me much higher Terms than I shall procure by the offer to Mr. Baring. But this would occasion delay, & the Payments would not be so regular.” To this letter Bingham adds the postscript : u I think if Baring could be alarmed at an apparent indifference or in disposition to Bargain on my part it would have a good effect.’’ Two days later Bingham again writes to Cobb, still harping on the delay of Mr Baring, whom he cannot hut commend for his “ very circumspect & prudent conduct . . . in concealing " Views from as it will prevent the imthe World, his pertinent Curiosity & Interference of Strangers.” Bingham continues : “ I am happy to find that Mr Baring has expressed a Wish of accompanying you to Philadelphia as it indicates the Idea of his Mind being arranged to meet the Subject I wish very much that you may come on together, as you will have a further opportunity of extracting Senti ments, which may he useful to know in the Progress of our Negotiations, as well as making stronger Impressions on his Mind. ” And finally : “ Can you find out, what is the Nature of the Business he has to transact for Messrs. Hope & Co. ? 9 * Within four days Bingham writes three letters to Cobb ; — — ( - . P - S . G - . ... . . 1924 - Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX cmd his Maim Lands. 221 in the last one, excedingly annoyed because by the slowness of Ms watch he missed the post, but more perturbed since the text of the Jay treaty is under discussion “ In the Case it is possible, '’ he continues, “ that some political Collisions may take place in the House of Representatives, which may have a Tendency to work on the opinions of Strangers, in an unfavorable Manner I shall expect you to leave New York on Wednesday, & shall defer any further Communications until I have the pleasure of seeing you. *’ There are entries in General Cobb's diary * which aid the arrived in Philadelphia narrative : Friday, Jan. 15, 1796 : at 3 o 'dock afternoon Conducted Mr Baring to his Quarters I wrote a letter to Mr. Bingham, informing him of my arrival ; at the dose of the evening at his request I called upon him ; he appeared to be happy in seeing me and was much satisfied with my conduct ” 44 Sat 16th Called upon Bingham at 12 o 'clock where I found Mr Baring ; they were conversing on the subject of the Maine lands j called upon some of my old acquaintances, particularly Mr Breek 's Family '' ii Sunday, 17th Dined with Mr, Bingham, en famile, where I had an opportunity of giving him the full account of my embassy ; he was pleased with it.’' 4 4 Wed 20th. Dined with Mr Willing, in company with Me Baring in conversation with him [ Mr Baring] I en forced the necessity of Ms soon making arrangements respect ing the Lands ; . . . Ms answer was that by Friday next he would complete the business.” But time dragged on with Baring non-commital, Cobb eager to return to Maine, and Bingham decidedly uneasy, though the three gentlemen spent many an evening at the Mansion House discussing Maine lands and consuming, so Cobb con fides to his diary, vast quantities of oysters. More than a week passed ; but on January 28, Cobb notes : * called upon Baring this morning and had a long conversation with Mm ; he will soon make known his terms ; called upon Bingham who is still very anxious about Baring.* 9 On the Saturday following, the 30th Cobb records : 1 1 Called upon Bingham who had received Baring 's lengthy epistle with a proposal of purchase, but on terms not agreeable ; but I . — ... . . . . ... — . — . . . G . . P — . S . . . - - 4 * Bangor Me. Hist . Magazine , $ : 49 and Historical Researches of Couldsboro , Me . pub. by D. A , R. Chapter, 1904. 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX 222 William Bingham of Philadelphia think Bingham has him so completely in possession that the price first proposed will be agreed to.” The next Tuesday Bingham and Cobb were closeted together all day, Bingham despatching a letter to Baring asking for a conference on the morrow, to which Baring agreed, stipulat ing that General Cobb should not be present Consequently, Cobb spent the Wednesday at his quarters, awaiting the time when he could see Mr. Bingham ; but let the General tell his - . own story. In the evening visited Bingham who informed me of the conversation between him and Baring, by which it appears that my conjectures of him were justly founded, i, e. that he G S P came into this country for the purpose of purchasing of Bingham a part of his lands in Maine, that the purchase price was determined upon before he left England , as well as the spot of Land he intended to be concerned with, but if he could, he was to obtain it a little cheaper ; he cannot however, the terms of the purchase are in general agreed to, but some little difficulties arise respecting the subsequent purchases adjoining the lower million, they will however soon disperse and the contract will be completed.” In the General’s diary Thursday, February 11, 1796, is the statement : “ All this day with Bingham , The contract between him and Baring adjusted and general directions given to me for my conduct. ” In the Bingham Estate records * in Philadelphia is this entry : ” Original purchase of Maine. William Bingham in his lifetime sold to Alexander Baring for Messrs Hope & Co , of Amsterdam and Sir Francis Baring 599,788 Acres and 58 perches in Penobscot and Kennebec Behind this prosaic paragraph lies a good story for him who will but read between the lines. Had it not been for Baring’s timely purchase Bingham would have been unable to meet his obligations and serious results would have followed. Baring paid in a quarter of a million dollars for his purchase, and by a private loan to Mr Bingham saved that gentleman’s personal credit At the same (time he loaned General Knox money on Bingham ’s security ! .. . . . . . . * To Effingham B. Morris, Esq;, trustee of the Bingham Estate, to Thomas E. Shipley , Esq., secretary, and to Hannibal E. Hamlin, Esq., of Ellsworth, Me., eastern agent, I am under obligation for permission to examine records, maps, etc. relating to the Bingham Purchases. t Channing, Hist , of U , S ., 4 : no- ri 2. 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX 223 and his Maine Lands . THE BINGHAMS VISIT MAINE.* No tale worth the telling is complete without a touch of romance ; and though one would scarce expect to find in the story of the Eastern Lands anything savoring of the tender — passions, nevertheless, the truth of the old adage Tis Love that mates the World go round is here apparent. Tucked away midst lengthy instructions to General Cobb, Mr Bingham writes the latter part of March, 1796 : 1‘ We shall certainly have the pleasure of seeing you in the Summer very early ’’ There are also among the Cobb Papers several letters from Alexander Baring ; one dated at Philadelphia, June 13, 1796, s a y s I set off tomorrow with Mr Hope for Canada through New Vork to the Genessee. We shall descend the St Lawrence to Quebec from there proceed through New Brunswick to St. John St Andrews to Maine We shall certainly find you at Gouldsboro 7 the beginning of August ” Though it is somewhat irrelevant, there is a temptation to quote further from this letter since it is the future Lord Ash burton of Webster-Ashburton Treaty fame wbo is writing : “ As we are not known to the Backwoodsmen you will oblige me to write a line to Judge Jones (in ) our favor. We may perhaps want to borrow horses. I wish the people to be per suaded we shall not run away with them 5 7 Of the numerous Philadelphians, who, at the approach of the vacation season gather at the Broad Street Station pre paratory to leaving on the Bar Harbor express for a holiday in Maine, but few have knowledge of a group of ladies and gentlemen wbo left the city for the same purpose the Summer before President Washington ’s second term of office expired. It was William Bingham who led the way On June 28, 1796, he wrote from Boston to General Cobb : “ We have arrived thus far on our Route to the District of Maine, . . My present intention is to continue my Journey by Land, as far as Wiscasset, & there embark for St Georges, as the Ladies are very averse to the Sea , from the Sufferings they experienced on their voyage from New York to Newport A packet boat will be ready to receive us at Wiscasset, which we shall retain in order to visit the different Rivers & Seacost 99 Situations in our Territory & its neighborhood. — ' . . . .... P . . . S - - . G - . . . . ... * Cyrus Eaton, Hist , of Thomaston , Rockland and S. Thomaston, Me., i : 23on. Diary of Paul Coffin, D . D ., Missionary tour in Maine, Me. Hist. Soc. Coll ., 4 : 327. 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX William Bingham of Philadelphia 224 A postscript to this letter reads : f < Our party consists of Mrs. B. & the Misses B., Miss Willing, General de Noailles, Mr. Baring and a Mr. Richards, an English Gentleman, who is a friend of Mr. Baring.” Further, upon authority of Mrs, Thatcher, she that was Lucy Knox, daughter of the General, it is learned that Mr. Bingham’s family and friends spent six weeks at Thomaston, guests of General Knox—l i a gay and brilliant party in the wilds of Maine. J The stage is set : midsummer sun, brilliant days, interludes of luminous nights. The time August, 1796. The Place The Knox House, at Thomaston on the coast of Maine. The Girl Ann Louise Bingham. Little wonder that Alexander Baring soon qualified as son in-law of William Bingham. Sometime later Mr. Henry Hill * writes to Mrs. Bache : “ No one here [ Philadelphia] seems doubtful that the loves of Mr. Baring and Miss Bingham will hold over the warm season , when he takes her name with 50 thousand charms. ” WILLIAM BINGHAM S LAST DAYS. There are tragedies in every life ; there are sorrows whose keen edge no power on Earth can blunt ; and before William Bingham’s course was run he was destined to receive a blow which literally broke his heart. His wife, Ann Willing, attending some social function too soon after the birth of their only son, William, contracted a severe cold which rapidly developed into a dangerous pulmonary disease. The frantic efforts to prolong her life are briefly told in a letter from Benjamin Latrobef in Philadelphia to his friend James Eakin in Washington. The date is April 13, 1801. “ . . . Mrs. Bingham, as a last resource for life goes this day on board a Vessel intending to carry her to Lisbon. Her husband & daughter & Abbey Willing accompany her & as she is scarcely expected to live a week her leaden coffin is part of the Cargo. What a melancholy set. ” Mrs. Bingham died on the island of Bermuda, May 11, 1801, at the age of thirty-seven, and was there buried. Recently, Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Ingersoll visited her grave ; and the old verger who indicated the spot was much elated to meet someone associated with the Bingham Estate. * Genealogical Soc, of Penna., 3554, 1 : 121 ) — — — P - # G S B — t Penna. Magazine, 42:237. 1924 . Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX 225 and his Maine Lands . Mr. Bingham with daughter Maria Matilda and his infant son William removed to England. In the Dreer Collection is a pathetic letter from Mr. Bingham to his friend General de Noailles, dated at Bath, England , November 27, 1801 : “ We shall pass our Winter in London which from the hospitable friendly attentions on the part of Mr. Baring’s family and relations as well as of many of my former ac quaintances has many attractions. Indeed the kindness we have received from the former has been of so endearing a Nature as to create in my Mind the strongest Impressions of Gratitude ” Mr Bingham then feelingly refers to his wife : “ Irreparable loss I have sustained casts a Gloom over all my Pursuits & blunts the edge of every Enjoyment of Life. Whether Time will moderate my Feelings is an Experiment yet to be tried It may habituate me to a State of Depression, but it can never obliterate from my Mind the Recollection of those Virtues . nor the reflection that they can never be restored. 7 A year or so before the death of Mrs. Bingham the sad affair of his daughter, Maria Matilda, had deeply affected Mr. Bingham. A contemporary who saw him at Lancaster in 1800, during the session of the legislature which annulled Maria ’s clandestine marriage with that rare scamp, Count de Tilly, reports that he appeared very careworn and aged. The sudden, tragic death of Mrs. Bingham, to whom he was deeply devoted, was a blow from which recovery was impossible j for he died at Bath on February 7, 1804, at the early age of fifty two, and is there buried in the Abbey Church * where a monument by Flaxman records his passing William Bingham made his will on January 30, 1804 ; it was proved in Philadelphia, September 17, 1805, and registered at Ellsworth , Hancock County, Maine, February 27, 1810. Under its provisions there was < c devised and be queathed unto Alexander Baring of the city of London, Henry Baring of the same place, Robert Gilmore of Baltimore, Thomas Mayne Willing and Charles Willing Hare of the city all his real estate of of Philadelphia, their heirs, etc. . whatever nature or kind and wheresoever the same may be situate whether in America or elsewhere 7 After just debts had been paid and a valuation of the estate obtained , the trustees were directed to divide the whole . . P . .. J G S ' - . - .. . ) * Burial of William Bingham, Feb. io, 1804, Bath Abbey Records. 1924 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol IX William Bingham of Philadelphia 226 of the real and personal estate into five equal parts; two of such parts in trust for the son, William Bingham, and the other three equal five parts in trust for the daughters, Ann Louise, wife of Alexander Baring, and Maria Matilda, wife of Henry Baring, as tenants in common and not as joint tenants, with the power of substitution and appointment as to the said trustees in case of death, etc It would be interesting to dwell upon certain aspects of the Bingham Estate during the many years of its existence ; but that is here impossible The succeeding English heirs made the trustees their agents for the management of their individual interests, as did later .William Baring de Lotbiniere Bingham, Mr Bingham 's grandson, and his three sisters, all of whom married titled Frenchmen The trustees, a self - perpetuating body, in filling vacancies associated with the Bingham Estate many prominent Phila delphia gentlemen ; and Mr. Effingham B. Morris and Mr. Charles E Ingersoll occupy today positions once held by the brothers Baring, Alexander, Lord Ashburton, and Hemy, Thomas Mayne Willing, Charles Willing Hare, Joseph Reed Ingersoll, Richard Willing, John Craig Miller, William B Clymer, Charles Willing, Chapman Biddle, George W. Morris, Phineas Pemberton Morris, Harry G Clay, and others. For many years the late John G Johnson was council for the Estate, the income from which, once divided among Wil liam Bingham 's three children, is now distributed, so Mr Morris tells me, to some three hundred beneficiaries in England and in France, Considered from any angle William Bingham does not ap proach the calibre of a great man. By his prodigal display of wealth it is not surprising, veneered as he was with snobbishness and affeetation, that he should figure in the lampoons of the time Stories in which he is ridiculed are still current, and he is often held in light esteem Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that he was an asset to the city in which he dwelt ; for in the days when the prototype of the modem hotel was but a meagre affair the doors of the Mansion House were thrown open to distinguished visitors from other lands who returned with glowing accounts of courteous Philadelphian hospitality. Many a man far less public-spirited has been commended again and again for something far less important than were William Bingham ’s sedulous endeavors to populate and de velop a portion of Eastern Maine . . . P . . . . G S . -. - . 1924 - . . Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania - PGM Vol IX