Raynor HCA 2013-01
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/10/2013
Document Signed “Benj Harrison” as Governor of Virginia, 1p, 12.75” x 16.25”. Richmond, Virginia, November 20, 1784. On watermarked laid paper. Partial seal at lower left. Signature a bit light, lower stroke of “j” missing. Soiling on verso with light show-through. Filling in holes, missing portions, and tears, the entire document has been expertly silked. Legibly penned. Good condition. Signer of the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Harrison was the father of 9th President William Henry Harrison and great grandfather of 23rd President Benjamin Harrison. Document Signed, “Benj. Harrison,” as Virginia governor, whereby Theophilus Phillips is granted “Five Hundred Acres … in the County of Monongalia on Brush Creek … Branch of Hugh’s River…” Monongalia County, Virginia, was established on October 9, 1776. A small farm building located on Theophilus Phillips' plantation, near the town of New Geneva, was used for the Monongalia County courthouse in 1776 with Phillips as County Clerk. Nine years later the General Assembly of Virginia found the site of the court to be in Pennsylvania because of the extension of the Mason and Dixon line. The Assembly ordered the county seat moved into Virginia. Theophilus Phillips (1743-1789) was a Colonel in the Monongalia County, Virginia, Militia during the Revolutionary War. In 1789, he was elected as a Representative to the Pennsylvania Legislature. A distiller, rather than going overland to Philadelphia, Col. Phillips decided to accompany his keelboats, loaded with his grains and whisky, down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Spanish New Orleans and then take a ship to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, he died outbound from New Orleans of ship fever and was buried at sea.
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