[AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM WILLIAM SHEPARD TO JUSTIN ELY, REGARDING LAND TRANSACTIONS AND DEBTS OWED ON LANDS IN OHIO]

Canandaigua, March 27, 1812.. [3]pp., docketed and addressed on verso. Folio, on a folded sheet. Old fold lines. Slight loss from wax seal. Light toning and soiling. Very good. Letter written by Maj. William Shepard to Justin Ely regarding some of Ely's real estate transactions and holdings in the Western Reserve. William Shepard (1759-1821) served as sheriff and magistrate for Canandaigua and was a founding member of the Congregational Church there. His correspondent, Justin Ely, was a native of West Springfield, Ma., who invested heavily in real estate in western New York and in the Connecticut Western Reserve - what would later become northern Ohio. (truncated) The present letter concerns debts (noted in the letter as "bonds") owed to Ely by several men in Canandaigua, and also the sale of some of his lands in the area. Shepard details who has been able to pay and who has not, listing reasons and excuses and possible dates by which the bonds might be paid. Much of the final page is comprised of a list of lots sold by Shepard on Ely's behalf, with dates, lot numbers, and amounts paid. He writes, in part: "In the meantime on the 3d March I wrote you in haste a few lines and sent by Mr. Zachariah Seymour $165 to be left in the Albany bank for you to draw for & sent your signature to the cashier of that bank....I have not rec'd any money for you since that of Munford or McKays bond I expect to receive all that McKay owes you in May. Williams & Close have sent to their friends in Columbia County to raise and send on the money to pay up their bonds. J.D. Nelson to whom I wrote, was written me that he is very poor and not able to pay a cent on his bond & wishes to give up his contract - Comfort Smith has called on me repeatedly but cannot pay a cent on his bond before next Decr. unless he gets help from his brother, which is uncertain." An interesting letter detailing the difficulties of regulating tenancy from afar, out on the western frontier. (Inventory #: WRCAM50297)