Manuscripts Collection
This large land grant, which includes the present-day site of Saint Paul and a portion of what is now Minneapolis, was supposedly given to explorer Jonathan Carver by the Dakota chiefs Hawnopawjatin and Otohtongoomlisheaw in a ceremony that took place on May 1, 1767 in Carver's Cave at what is now Saint Paul. For several decades after Carver's death, his heirs and various others tried to capitalize on the grant by petitioning the United States Congress to recognize its validity, and by selling and reselling lands in the region.
Samuel Harrison functioned as the agent for Rufus Carver, the oldest son of Jonathan Carver and administrator of the interests of Carver's American heirs. Harrison allied himself with Samuel Peters, a Connecticut-born minister who claimed to have known Carver. Together, Harrison and Peters spearheaded attempts to validate the grant, and to sell its lands, though the land speculation and sales that ensued quickly grew out of control. Congress never did validate the grant.
Attempts to profit from the Carver Grant lasted decades and enveloped scores of
Carver family members, land speculators, and potential settlers. Many scholars and
historians question whether the grant ever took place at all, particularly in view
of the fact that Carver never mentions it in his
The Carver Grant constituted a tempting prize for promoters, and numerous speculators sought to make money out of it. Its validity was never proven, and hopes to realize financial gain from it are said to have vanished by about 1834.
The notebook features transcriptions of documents related to the Carver Grant issue, including Samuel Harrison's testimony before a United States Senate committee chaired by Vermont senator Israel Smith that was considering issues related to the Carver Grant; a petition presented by Harris to this committee; and transcriptions of evidence submitted by Harris to the committee.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics
should
Access to and use of reserve materials requires the curator;s permission.
Accession number: 16,609
Processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with a Basic Project
grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission
Catalog ID number: 007482784
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A notebook of 134 unnumbered pages containing handwritten transcripts of petitions, testimony, depositions, statements, and other documents concerning actions taken by Samuel Harrison, Samuel Peters, and others to validate the Carver land claim.Carver Samuel Harrison's petition to Congress, transcripts from other Senate proceedings, transcripts, and notes. Following these 134 pages, the remainder of the notebook contains blank pages. It is not immediately apparent who made the transcripts or where the original documents are located.
The contents included within the notebook are:
Petition of Samuel Harrison before the Senate and House of Representatives, Israel Smith, chairman of the committee on Carver's claims (March 8, 1806).
Testimony of Samuel Harrison before Smith's committee (March 15, 1806).
Continuation of Harrison's testimony (March 24, 1806).
Continuation of Harrison's testimony (April 6, 1806).
Continuation of Harrison's testimony (April 9, 1806).
Evidence submitted to the committee by Samuel Harrison consisting of a portion of a letter from Carver to his wife, alluded to in the committee's interrogation of Samuel Peters (March 8, 1806), certification of authenticity of printed copy of grant of land sent to Samuel Peters by Martha Pope (January 31, 1804), testimony of Samuel Peters given at Union Hall, London (April 19, 1805), questions proposed to Samuel Peters by the committee and answers thereto (March 29, 1806) with responses certified by Israel Smith (April 21, 1806), a transcription of Carver deed (April 23, 1806).
Certification by James Madison, Secretary of the Senate, as to the correctness of the above copies (April 23, 1806).
Certification by Samuel Harrison, as to the correctness of the above proceedings, (May 20, 1807).
Statement of Israel Smith (March 20, 1806).
Certification of accuracy of the above transcriptions by Oliver Waldron, notary public, New York (July 2, 1812).
Deposition of Ebenezer Parrish (July 15, 1817).
Memorandum received from Lorenzo Dow (undated).
Notes taken by Robinson Tyndale from conversation with John Wall (December 13, 1817).
Notes taken by Robinson Tyndale from conversation with Lorenzo Dow (undated).
Deposition of Ebenezer Parrish, before Supreme Court of the eastern district of Pennsylvania in the case of Benjamin Connor vs. John Walls (February 23, 1818).
Notes [of Tyndale?] regarding experiences in London in 1818 (undated).
Copy of the 9th article of the treaty between the United States of America and Great Britain (undated).
Newspaper clippings pasted onto inside back cover concerning trade with American Indians and the Red River Colony (undated and 1817).
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With comments dated January 2, 1886.
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Includes annotated envelope.
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Signed by Samuel Stanton, Wayne County treasurer.
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Notation that this bond was satisfied December 23, 1815.
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Land eventually purchased by Robinson Tyndale.
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Land eventually purchased by Robinson Tyndale.
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Reverse of document includes assignation to Hector Tyndale and Edward P. Mitchell, April 10, 1856.
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