Deed from Isaac and Elizabeth Hale, 25 August 1830
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Source Note
and , Deed for property in , Susquehanna Co., PA, to JS, 25 Aug. 1830; printed form with handwriting of ; signatures of and ; witnessed by and ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL.Single leaf measuring 15⅝ × 12½ inches (40 × 32 cm). Printed form filled in with ink. Portions of the paper are ruled with graphite. On the verso, the document bears a docket in the handwriting of , identifying it as a deed from to JS, and an endorsement in the handwriting of Norman I. Post, recording fees and taxes paid. Seals on recto, likely stamped after signing, and embossed seal on verso with possible image, partially legible: “[SU]SQUEHANNA. CO. [S]EAL.”
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Historical Introduction
On 6 April 1829, JS entered into an agreement with his father-in-law, , to purchase for $200 a thirteen-and-a-half-acre portion of the Hales’ property in , Pennsylvania, including a frame home, a barn, and other improvements. The agreement required JS to pay $114 by 1 May 1829 and the balance of $86 by 1 May 1830. JS paid the first installment but when he missed the second, Hale allowed him to pay interest on the payment and extended the due date, rather than rescinding the contract. By 26 August 1830, the property was transferred to JS.The deed, featured here, acknowledges that JS made payment in full on 25 August 1830. At the time and signed the document, two brief additions were inserted, as was a notation acknowledging the insertions. Two witnesses also signed the deed: JS’s friend and Justice of the Peace . The following day an addendum was added in which Isaac and Elizabeth Hale jointly acknowledged before Lane that the document represented “their act & deed,” and Elizabeth separately affirmed that she signed “of her own free will & not from any fear or Coersion on the part of Her said Husband,” a statement confirming that she received a privy examination separate from her husband as required by law in land transactions involving the “estate of the wife.” This interest was commonly called the wife’s “dower interest.”Within a few days of concluding this transaction, JS and departed , never to reside there again. They moved to ’s home in , New York, staying there until they moved to in January 1831. In June 1833, JS and Emma sold the Harmony property for $300 to , the neighbor on the east side of the property.
Footnotes
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1
Agreement with Isaac Hale, 6 Apr. 1829; Knight, Reminiscences, 3; Susquehanna Co., PA, Tax Assessment Records, 1813–1865, Harmony Township, PA, Tax Record for 1829, p. [12]; Tax Record for 1830, p. [12], microfilm 1,927,832, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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2
An Act for the Better Confirmation of the Estates of Persons Holding or Claiming under Feme-Coverts [24 Feb. 1770], Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, 329–332.
The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801. Vol. 7, 1765–1770. [Harrisburg, PA]: Wm Stanley Ray, 1900.
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Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
An “indenture” is a deed or agreement executed in two or more copies, originally with edges correspondingly indented.
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Underlining with leading and trailing spaces indicates handwritten portions of this preprinted form. Jesse Lane handwriting begins.
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2
The addition of Elizabeth Hale’s name here, as well as the later date on her affirmation at the end of the document, suggests that Isaac Hale was not initially aware on 25 August that Elizabeth’s permission was needed for the transaction. It is likely that Justice Lane suggested the insertion before he witnessed the execution of the deed so that it conformed to existing legal requirements.
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3
As a measure of length, a “perch” is equal to sixteen and one-half feet. As a measure of area, a “rod” is equal to 272¼ square feet. Eighty rods is one-half acre, so the deed is indicating the Hales transferred thirteen and one-half acres. The total acreage may have actually exceeded fourteen acres.
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Signatures of Isaac and Elizabeth Hale.
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TEXT: Stamped seal, “LS” (locus sigilli, the place of the seal). By 1830, Pennsylvania no longer required actual wax seals on deeds but still required this or a similar mark to be either printed or inscribed on the document next to the signatures.
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TEXT: Stamped seal, “LS”.
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Insertion in the handwriting of Jesse Lane. The insertion identifies words that were added after the initial completion of the document.
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Signatures of John Whitmer and Jesse Lane.
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TEXT: Printed form ends.
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Handwriting of Jesse Lane.
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Jesse Lane handwriting ends; Norman I. Post begins.
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TEXT: Embossed seal, “[SU]SQUEHANNA. CO. [S]EAL.”
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8
Susquehanna Co., PA, Deeds, 1812–1922, vol. 8, p. 59, microfilm 1,927,992, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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The county seat of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.
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William Jessup was Susquehanna County recorder from January 1824 to January 1833. (Blackman, History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, 42.)
Blackman, Emily C. History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. From a Period Preceding Its Settlement to Recent Times. . . . Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger, 1873.
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Docket, inscribed after leaf was folded, begins. Norman I. Post handwriting ends; Jesse Lane begins.
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Jesse Lane handwriting ends; Norman I. Post begins.
