M & S Rare Books

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This is a rare document from one of the most interesting pre-Revolutionary land companies. In 1775, after recent controversial legislation in England aimed at securing sound claims to western land, Michael Gratz (1735-1811), began the Illinois-Wabash Land Company with the purchase of two territories, one from the Illinois tribe, the other from the Piankeshaw Indians in what is now Indiana and eastern Illinois. The company operated on the supposition that American Indians could legally sell land, a contention later disputed first by the colony, then the state, of Virginia, which also claimed the lands.Virginia eventually won the dispute and as a result the company failed in the eighteen-teens.

Meanwhile, the Illinois-Wabash Land Company actively sold parcels of land to settlers. By 1809, the Illinois-Wabash Land Company shareholders knew their claim was doubtful to succeed, but the minutes for these meetings on 30 Nov. 1809 and 5 March 1810, make no mention of the company's difficulties. Michael Gratz, the company's founder, was an early Jewish immigrant to America, who became one of the most influential eighteenth-century businessmen in Philadelphia, dealing primarily in fur.

The minutes list attending shareholders, or their representatives, including Simon (1773-1839), who became chairman at the second meeting, and Hyman (1776-1857) Gratz, sons of Michael and representing him. Both, particularly Hyman, would later become prominent businessmen in their own right. (It was Hyman who founded Gratz College in 1895, the oldest independent college of Jewish studies in the Western Hemisphere). The list also names Aaron Levy, and Moses and Jacob Franks of London. Next to each attending shareholder's name, the minutes list his stake in the company (e.g., Jacob Franks 2/84).

The minutes also record daily business, e.g., "On motion, it was resolved that the Secretary be desired forthwith, to collect the arrears due on the two assessments of 1805 & 1807" and "Resolved that the ballance due to Messrs. Gratz for advances be pd. by the Secty. out of the first monies recd."

On the verso, the word "copy" appears; it is written in the same hand as the minutes themselves. Apparently, the minutes were copied for the benefit of other company shareholder meetings, a common practice, as evidenced by a line in this document: "A copy of the minutes of a meeting of the members of the companies residing in Maryland . . . read & evidenced."