DESCRIPTION: One of a kind manuscript map ca. 1859 of a plat of land in the city of Newtown, borough of Queens, New York. Newtown was founded as Middenburgh by the Dutch in 1652. In the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland, Newtown was a suburb of New Amsterdam, and was renamed "Elmhurst" in 1897.
Shows a tract of woodlands, owned by farmer Abraham de Bevoise. Contains surveyors' field notes including the metes and bounds [1] of the plat relating it to land owned by Theodorus Kolyer (d. 1854). A fine, piece with a simple, pastoral view of the woodlands owned by de Bevoise, totaling two acres and 4 perches. A perch is a unit of area equal to 1/160 of an acre.
Abraham de Bevoise (1819 - 1887) was a farmer originally of French Huguenot ancestors.
[1] The term "metes" refers to a boundary defined by the measurement of each straight run, specified by a distance between the terminal points, and an orientation or direction. A direction may be a simple compass bearing, or a precise orientation determined by accurate survey methods. The term "bounds" refers to a more general boundary description, such as along a certain watercourse, a stone wall, an adjoining public road way, or an existing building. (Online Source: https://definitions.uslegal.com/m/metes-and-bounds/)
The appeal also reveals how intertwined speculation and infrastructure were along the Georgia coast. The same investors held stock in the City of Brunswick Land Company, the Canal Company, and related ventures such as the Brunswick Land Company trust deed later cited in congressional records. The letter’s rhetoric promised that, once the canal opened, emigrants from Maine would build sawmills, lots near the wharves would sell instantly, and the city would finally justify earlier hopes of becoming a major southern port. It was both a financial circular and a piece of booster propaganda.
In the broader context, the letter marks one of the last organized attempts to complete the antebellum Brunswick Canal before the project faded into insolvency. It ties together every thread found in later documentation—the Ocean Bank trusteeship, D. Randolph Martin’s role as fiduciary, and the continuing pattern of Georgia infrastructure financed through northern capital. The document stands as a vivid example of how local ambition, speculative land companies, and Wall Street banking combined in the mid-nineteenth century to promote internal improvements along the southern seaboard.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1859
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United States
BODY OF WATER: N/A
CONDITION: Good.
Intact, laid to linen. Browned with a few light stains.
COLORING: Fine original hand-coloring.
ENGRAVER:
SIZE: 10
" x
11 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 200
PRICE: $500
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