To Benjamin Franklin from R. Haines, 18 June 1777
From R. Haines5
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Rue de Seine June 18th. 1777.
Sir
My Sister (Sarah Evans) in several Letters from England has desired Me to take the Liberty of writing to You, assuring Me it would not give Offence. I, however, could not determine untill now. The Subject is the Sale of 20337 Acres of Land, situated on Wood Creek, towards the Northern Boundary of the Province of New York, the property of Mr. John Henry Lydius,6 who has sent Me a Copy of the Indian Grant, Another of Governor Shirley’s Patent, and a Plan of the Estate. I beleive Mr. Lydius flatters himself that You, Sir, may know a purchaser for them. I have the Honour to be with the greatest Respect Sir Your most humble and most obedient Servant.
R: Haines
Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur Franklin / chez Monsieur Chaumont / a Passy / sur Seine
Notations: R. Haines Paris 18. juin 1777. / Haines
5. In a later letter he identified himself as a dealer in maps and prints, who had been in business in Paris for some time, and gave his sister’s address in Kensington Gore: to BF, March 19, 1780, APS. If she was known to BF, as he seems to imply here, she is not known to us.
6. Wood Creek flows into the southern end of Lake Champlain. Lydius (1694–1791), a land speculator and trader with the Indians, held a tract in the region that rivaled Sir William Johnson’s in size. Lydius left America for Europe in 1776, and after 1788 lived in London. Gent. Mag., LVI (1791), 383–5; Vermont Hist. Soc. Proc., new ser., I (1930), 177–81; The Papers of Sir William Johnson, (14 vols., Albany, 1921–65), I, 645 n and passim.