From Benjamin Huntington to John Adams, 13 July 1795

From Benjamin Huntington

Norwich July 13th 1795

Sir

At the Request of Capt. Ledlie of Hartford who will Wait on you with this I have presumed to trouble your Excellency with a Line in his Favour as he thinks your Advice in a business he has on hand will be Important.

Capt Hugh Ledlie is a Gentleman who formerly was much Engaged in Mercantile Concerns in this State & by his Industry Economy and Punctuality in Business obtained a large Property and formed good Connections in business and an Extensive Acquaintance with many Gentlemen of Rank and Reputation in this and the Neighbouring States & among other Transactions he unfortunately beame Concerned with General Lyman and others in a Grant of Lands on the East Bank of the Missisippi Soon after the Close of the last French War in which he had served some Years with Reputation as a Captain in the Provincial Service By some means the Grant Obtained by General Lyman never was Settled among the Aventurers before the Death of that Gentleman— Capt Ledlie will lay the Business before you with his Papers, and wishes for Advice in his Claim, what steps can be taken to Obtain his Just Right and whether it can Probably be obtained or not—1 I am with Great Respect and Regard / your Excellencys most humle Servt

Benj Huntington

RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “His Excy / John Adams Esqr / Vice President &c / Boston”; internal address: “His Excy John Adams Esqr”; endorsed: “Governor Huntington / July 13 1795”; notation by Huntington: “per Capt Ledlie.”

1. Benjamin Huntington (1736–1800), of Norwich, Conn., served in the House of Representatives from 1789 to 1791 and as a state supreme court justice from 1793 to 1798. Hartford, Conn., shopkeeper Hugh Ledlie (ca. 1720–1798) and Suffield, Conn., lawyer Phineas Lyman (1715–1774), Yale 1738, were colonial militia officers during the Seven Years’ War. Lyman obtained a grant of twenty square miles of land near Natchez, Miss., where he settled shortly before his death. There is no indication that JA provided further aid (Biog. Dir. Cong. description begins Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, Washington, D.C., 2005; rev. edn., bioguide.congress.gov. description ends ; Doc. Hist. Ratif. Const. description begins The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, ed. Merrill Jensen, John P. Kaminski, Gaspare J. Saladino, and others, Madison, Wis., 1976– . description ends , 3:486; Dexter, Yale Graduates description begins Franklin Bowditch Dexter, Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History, New York and New Haven, 1885–1912; 6 vols. description ends , 1:603–606).

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: From Benjamin Huntington to John Adams, 13 July 1795
Author: Huntington, Benjamin
Recipient: Adams, John
Date: 13 July 1795

Reference

Cite as: “From Benjamin Huntington to John Adams, 13 July 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-21-02-0294. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 21, March 1791–January 1797, ed. Sara Georgini, Sara Martin, R. M. Barlow, Gwen Fries, Amanda M. Norton, and Hobson Woodward. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2022, pp. 408–409.]