UC-NRLF 
 
 It. Mfil 
 
 LYMAN C. DRAPER 
 
V 
 
 O 
 
Sketch of Lyman C, Draper, L,L, D,, 
 
 The Educator and Historian. 
 
 From the National Educator, May, 188 >. 
 
 The editor is going to talk to his "girls and 
 boys" very familiarly , and all about how to get 
 on in the world under the most adverse circum 
 stances; ancl to do so we must have a subject, 
 a live subject at that, and one too that they 
 have not read much about, but will say that the 
 boy that he will so familiarly talk about was in 
 experiences just about what the average village 
 or farmer boy has had; he was as a boy of the 
 period required to do his share of the family 
 labor, then when there was not much to do at 
 home he did occasional jobs for the neighbors. 
 One season he carried the hod, getting twelve 
 and a half cents a day, called then a York shil 
 ling. In the season of fruit gathering he picked 
 berries, carried them to the village and sold 
 them; in the winter mended shoes and boots for 
 the family. So you see he was hand}-. Then 
 as he grew older he clerked in the village gro 
 cery and dry goods store. At times, when he 
 could be spared, he attended the village school, 
 filling in the odd leisure time by reading any 
 books he could borrow, or when his scant earn 
 ings would permit would buy a book. B} r this 
 close application to study in his spare moments 
 he soon gained the reputation of a bo} r of stu 
 dious habits, a youth of letters. 
 
 Right here the editor may as well tell the 
 name of this boy; Lyman C. Draper, born Sept. 
 4. 1815; and the boy we are writing this truth 
 ful history about, had such a desire for knowing 
 all about the history of his country, that at the 
 age of ten, twelve and up to fifteen he already 
 had acquired a general knowledge of the his 
 tory of the country. He knew all about the 
 Indian Wars, the war for independence, the war 
 of 1812-14. 
 
 He never, boy as he was, neglected an oppor 
 tunity of talking with old pioneers and old 
 soldiers. He met Gen. LaFayette when that 
 great friend of America visited this country in 
 1825. Lyman was then only ten years old and 
 then had" a passion for learning all about the 
 great men. He met Gen. Cass, Gov. Clinton, 
 and other big men of that day. He wrote 
 sketches of them for the newspapers, LaFayette 
 being the subject of his first composition, and 
 also about the signers of the Declaration of 
 Independence. He met many Indians and from 
 their chiefs was always asking questions in re 
 gard to the \vars they had been engaged in. 
 
 The years passed on, and he was every day 
 adding to his stock of knowledge; and when he 
 was 18 years old he traveled from western New 
 York to Mobile, and while there collecting in 
 
 formation from ever} reliable source, particular- 
 ly of the southern Indians who at that time 
 /till occupied parts of Georgia, Alabama and 
 other southern states. 
 
 On his return the next \ r ear, he camero.und bv 
 way of New Orleans, then up the Mississippi 
 and Ohio rivers by steamboat, then across the 
 country to Granville, Ohio, where he entered 
 college, staying over two years, distinguishing 
 himself b\- the rapid progress he made in his 
 studies. He made the best use of his time, and 
 soon acquired an excellent library for those 
 days. In the winter of 1835-36, he journeyed 
 by horseback to Columbus, through thick 
 woods and rough roads. The season was 
 stormy, the roads almost impassable, the 
 bridges being carried away by the floods. On 
 one occasion he and his horse were carried down 
 stream, and he narrowly escaped drowning. 
 But he made the journey safely, accomplished 
 the object he went for, and returned, and then 
 journeyed east and entered a seminary at Stock- 
 port, New York, and was a close student for 
 over one year. Completing his course, he took 
 an extended course of private reading his 
 books the early histories of the border. 
 
 He became so much interested that he con 
 ceived the idea of writing a history of the west 
 ern border life, and this became his controlling 
 thought, and he entered upon it with an en 
 thusiasm that has never faltered. He wrote 
 many letters to prominent pioneers all along 
 the line. 
 
 In 1840 he commenced to travel and visit the 
 old pioneers and revolutionary soldiers in their 
 homes, thus consuming much time, but secur 
 ing information from the actors, as many of 
 these old patriots could tell their story to an 
 interested listener better than they could write 
 it. 
 
 Bo3 s, there were no railroads then, so our 
 young Lyman the collector of historical facts 
 traveled for many years far and wide on foot, 
 horseback, by stage, lumber wagon, and steam 
 boat, his receptacle for his note books being a 
 knapsack. These journeys led him through 
 thick woods and long distances through wilder 
 ness country. He traveled over sixty thousand 
 miles meeting with hundreds of curions inci 
 dents, some accidents, many hairbreadth es 
 capes by runaway horses, great storms, swol 
 len streams, turned over stages, snagged and 
 grounded steamboats, suffering from hunger, 
 not allowing any of these to hinder the mission 
 he had in view. 
 
SKETCH OF I.YMAN C. DRAPER, LL. D. 
 
 Many of the people he sought were far re 
 moved from the common UMIV. rvnces of life, 
 but a hearty pioneer hospitality was extended 
 to the pilgrim explorer, after his arrival the 
 stranger was welcomed to the shelter of the 
 frontier settler s household. He spent weeks 
 together in these crude homes in New York, 
 Ohio, Kentuck3 , Virginia and Tennessee back 
 woods, gaining historical information, valuable 
 reminisences from the old settler, from his rec 
 ollections or from family records, that would 
 add knowledge in regard .to the settlement in 
 early days and the adventures and privation 
 attending them. To give .. list of people visit 
 ed, would take columns of the EDUCATOR, as 
 these searches after knowledge covered in time 
 a space of over a quarter of a century, in which 
 he interviewed the actors in the stirring scenes 
 of the past who still survived. Among these 
 were Major Bland Ballard a noted Indian 
 fighter in Gen. George Rogers Clark s campaigns 
 against the Ohio, Indiana and Illinois Indians. 
 Another one was Major George M. Bedinger, a 
 noted pioneer and Indian fighter of Kentucy; 
 Gen. Whiteman of Ohio and Capt. James Ward 
 of Kentucky, who had fought Indians -with 
 Kenton,and Gen. William Hall who had been a 
 great Indian fighter under Gen. Jackson in the 
 Creek War. He visited many of the old cam 
 paigners who had served with Gen. Clark in all 
 his Indian expeditions, the old associates and 
 their children who had been with Boone, Ken- 
 ton, Sumter, Sevier. Robertson, Pickens, Craw 
 ford, Shelby, Brady, Cleveland and the Wetzels, 
 and from these he gathered particulars in re 
 gard to the career of all these great fighters of 
 the Revolution, the Indian wars and the war of 
 1812-14. He also visited among the aged sur 
 vivors of the Indian tribes the Senecas, Onei- 
 das, Tuscaroras, Mohawks, Chicasaws, Ca- 
 tawbas, Wyandots, Shawanese, Delawares and 
 Pottawattomies. Among these he found the 
 old chief Blacksnake, one of the Seneca war 
 captains at Wyoming with Brant, and the old 
 chief Walker of the Wyandots. He also visited 
 among the Canada Mohawks, who gave him 
 an Indian name. In his southern trips he visit 
 ed Gen. Jackson at his home in Tennessee, and 
 had a long talk with him about his Indian 
 wars and the battle of New Orleans; and com 
 ing up through Kentucky called on Col. R. M. 
 Johnson, the reputed Tecumseh slayer at the 
 battle of the Thames, and who was vice-presi 
 dent under VanBuren. He met Henr}- Cla} r and 
 saw Gen. Harrison in Ohio. 
 
 These distinguished men and those in more 
 humbler station he continued to interview and 
 correspond with for near forty years, gathering 
 authentic material for history. In later years, 
 his activity has known no limit and he has 
 gathered a rich harvest of collections. And 
 now just think of it, boys, there are on the 
 shelves of his library over two hundred and 
 fifty volumes of manuscript, the greater part 
 made up from wholly original matter covering 
 the entire history of the wars from 1742, the 
 date of the first skirmish with the redskins in 
 the valley of Virginia, to 1813-14, when Te 
 cumseh was killed and the Creeks were defeated. 
 
 Among these are the original manuscript nar 
 rative of Gen. George R. Clark s expedition to 
 Vincennes, Kaskaskia and other points in Indi 
 ana and Illinois, to chastise the hostile Indians. 
 The earliest original diary in his possesion, 
 is one kept by Captain Wm. Preston, relat 
 ing to the Sandy Creek expedition in West 
 Virginia, against the Indians, in 1756, and an 
 other by Col. Wm. Fleming of an early trip to 
 Kentucky, and numerons others. Then come 
 original manuscripts relating to St. Clair s and 
 Wayne s campaigns from 1790 to 1795. To 
 obtain all these vast stores of historical data, 
 it required the arduous labors here enumerated 
 to our class. 
 
 Mr. Draper s labors in other fields of literary 
 effort, we have not the space K> give in thi talk. 
 He edited newspapers, lived out \n the woods 
 in a floorless, \vindowlesshut,a dozen miles out 
 in the wilderness from "anywhere," trying to 
 "clear up a new farm," most of his food being 
 sweet potatoes. 
 
 In 1842 he left his "clearing" to take a clerk 
 ship on the Erie Canal. But he did not stay 
 long, but the next year he went back south 
 again and added more to his manuscripts from 
 his intercourse with Mississippi pioneers, stay 
 ing there only one year. He returned east stop 
 ping with a friend, then living near Baltimore, 
 and this friend with his family moving to Phil 
 adelphia, where he accompanied them, still pur 
 suing his labors for historical data. 
 
 From Philadelphia he moved in 1852 to Mad 
 ison, Wis., being invited to assist in the man 
 agement of the State Historical Society of Wis 
 consin, and the following year he was selected 
 as one of the executive committee, and 1854 he 
 was elected Corresponding Secretary, and under 
 his care the Society has progressed at a marvel 
 ous pace ever since. 
 
 In the thirty-three years that he held that po 
 sition, the society s library increased to over 
 one hundred thousand volumes, besides such 
 stores of manuscript, a splendid museum and 
 art gallery, that attracts many thousands of vis 
 itors every year from every section of the union. 
 
 The circle of Mr. Draper s usefulness was en 
 larging all the time, and in 1858, he served as 
 State Superintendent of Public Instruction, hav 
 ing in charge the educational interests of Wis 
 consin. In this enlarged sphere of usefulness he 
 was quite as efficient as he had proved himself 
 collecting historical memoranda. 
 
 The educational system of Wisconsin was at 
 that early day but poorly organized, but he, 
 by dint of perseverance and by his administra 
 tive ability, added new life to the educational 
 system, that was felt in the schools of every 
 part of the state. 
 
 Of the great advances made, the limits of this 
 "talk" to the class will permit of but brief men 
 tion . He recomended the establishment of libra 
 ries; he made visits to other state surerintendents 
 and the leading educators of the day Horace 
 Mann, Presidents Wayland and Sears with such 
 Canadian educators as Dr. Egerton Ryerson. 
 He made a carefnl study of the workings of 
 public school libraries, with the good results 
 from them, and used all the valuable informa- 
 
SKETCH OF LYMAN C. DRAPER, LL. D. 
 
 tion acquired in securing needed legislation at 
 the session of 1859, by which one tenth of the 
 state school fund income was set apart as a 
 township librar\- fund, to which was added one- 
 tenth of a mill tax on the assessed valuation of 
 the property of the state. His plan was to es 
 tablish township libraries, place them under 
 competent management, these to be furnished 
 with books by the State Board. During the 
 first 3 r ear this was in operation, nearly ninety 
 thousand dollars were raised. 
 
 Supt. Draper won golden opinions from the 
 leading educators of the land; his work was , 
 commended by Gov. Randall, br legislative ed- 1 
 ucational committees. ; ns si 3 :n office 
 
 emulated his zeal, adopting his systematic me 
 thod of keeping tt, e records in all the details oi 
 the management of his department. 
 
 He also served as a member of the Board of 
 Regents of the University of Wisconsin and the 
 State Normal Schoo s. In these positions he 
 was very efficient in promoting the interests of 
 these institutions, devoting his energies to 
 founding a library for the University. He be 
 lieved "the true university of these days is a 
 collection of books." This service, with his life 
 labor in promoting the cause of historical liter 
 ature, was formalh- recognized by the Universi 
 ty by conferring upon him the title of LL. D. 
 
 Dr. Draper served only one term in the State 
 Superintendence , and the year of 1860 found 
 him back at his work in "behalf of the State 
 Historical Society, and in its prosecution he 
 brought the industry of an enthusiast, conduct 
 ing the Society s business with energy, presis- 
 tence and business tact of high order. The ad 
 ditions to the great library and museum were 
 made by his selection, and to this task he 
 brought great historical knowledge. Part of 
 his duties was to edit and publish the society s 
 Wisconsin Historical Collections, ten octaVo 
 volumes of some five hundred pages each have 
 been published, thus completing the first series, 
 the last containing a general index to the whole. 
 
 These Collections relate to the history of the 
 State, all gathered by Dr. Draper from early 
 pioneers or by interviews with noted men, white 
 or Indian. In the gathering of these materials 
 in regard to the early history of Wisconsin, he 
 has traveled thousands of miles, written many 
 letters, and interviewed hundreds of persons. 
 
 So completely has the work been done, that is 
 embodied in these Collections, covering all the 
 old territorial history, that they at this time 
 are the accepted authority for writers upon top 
 ics relating to Wisconsin s early history. All the 
 great historians quote from him, and Bancroft, 
 Sparks, Parkman, Shea, Lossing, have compli 
 mented Dr. Draper for the excellence, correctness 
 and great importance to students of American 
 history of these ten volumes of "Collections," 
 in themselves a monument to him. The State 
 Historical Society of Wisconsin is to-day what 
 he has made it. Its near one hundred and 
 twenty thousand volumes cover the entire range 
 of American historical investigation strong 
 in the departments of western history, works 
 on the Indian tribes, their wars a collection of 
 bound newspaper files, extending through a 
 
 period of over two centuries, a genealogical de 
 partment, almost equal in extent to the His 
 toric-Genealogical Society of Boston. 
 
 The museum contains mam- thousand objects 
 of interest a collection of pre-historic copper 
 and stone implements, and an imposing arrav 
 of oil portraits of American pioneers, also a full 
 set of the autographs of the fifty-six signers of 
 the Declaration of ledependence fifty of them 
 being autograph letters, also a full set of auto 
 graph letters of the thirty-nine signers of the 
 constitution, and m irly complete set of the 
 presidents of the Continental Congress, and the 
 presidents of the United States. 
 
 In this hasty recital to the "Girls and Boys" 
 of our class, the editor can truly say "the half 
 has not ijcen told" no, not a tithe of the la 
 bors of this great historian and scholar can be 
 enumerated here. So we will hasten to a con 
 clusion. Of his published works one book was 
 published in 1869, the title, "The Helping Hand, 
 an American Home Book for Town and Coun 
 try," a work of great practical utility. But 
 his great work coming exactly in the range of 
 his special field of scholarship is "King s 
 Mountain and its Heroes," a volume of over 
 six hundred pages, a true narrative of the Whig, 
 Tory and British warefare in the Carolinas dur 
 ing the war of the Revolution. The book was 
 well received, and Bancroft writes of it calling 
 it "a magnificent volume." Parkman says, it 
 "Is truly wonderful, requiring a lifetime of care 
 ful re search a copious record of this ver3 T inter 
 esting passage of our history." Geo. W. Childs 
 says of it, "A delightful book enchains the 
 reader." Gen. Joe E. Johnson, says, "I find it 
 the most interesting American historical work 
 I have ever read." Gen. Sherman says, "The 
 work deserves credit for accuracy and fullness." 
 Hon. Robt. C. Winthrop writes, "Interesting 
 and valuable, exhibiting great research." Gov. 
 Seymour says, "It is a valuable contribution 
 to the history of our country." Gov. Perry 
 writes, " I am amazed at the extent of the his 
 torical information it contains." The Literary 
 World, Boston, "The effort is a master-piece." 
 Prof. Phillips says, "The author has a gift for 
 such work, and may be styled The lover of 
 Patriots. " Hon. J. M. Lee, Tennessee, says, 
 "The book will live; its crowning virtue is, it 
 tells the truth, doing equal justice to Whig and 
 Tory." Such are a few sententious extracts, 
 approving Dr. Draper s great work. 
 
 He is a clear, forcible writer, with pure, ele 
 vated st}4e, a conscientious desire to do exact 
 justice to all the great actors who have moved 
 on the stage of history. He considers a perver 
 sion of truth as the meanest of lies. No living 
 man is so equipped to write the history of the 
 border forays of the Revolutionary epoch, and 
 of the first pioneer settlements, as Dr. Draper, 
 and a great body of students of American his 
 tory are \vaiting his forthcoming works. The 
 " Girls and Boys" of our class, whom we hope 
 are all students of history, will be glad to know 
 by the following letter received by the editor, 
 that the wishes of historical readers are soon 
 to be gratified. 
 
SKETCH OF I.YMAN C. DRAPER, LL. D. 
 
 MADISON, April 12, 1887. 
 Mr. J. BONHAM, 
 
 MY DEAR SIR: Your obliging favor of 9th 
 inst. calls for my kind acknowledgments and 
 for the number of the EDUCATOR, with its 
 friendly notice. At my age, 1 personally have 
 no desire for newspaper and magazine notor 
 iety. 
 
 If notices of any of our toilers, in any pur 
 suit, can be used as exemplars and stimulants 
 to the young, it is very proper to use them. 
 
 While I have withdrawn from the Historical 
 Society as its corresponding secretary and edi 
 tor of its publications, one duty has lapped 
 over for my completion the tenth volume of 
 our Society s Collections, which finishes the 
 first series, and which will contain a full index 
 of the whole ten volumes. I am at work on 
 this, and hope soon to see it through the press. 
 Then I shall "pitch in" to my own personal 
 work probably Boone first; then Gen. G. R. 
 Clark. Boone was the older and preceded 
 Clark in his advent into the West. 
 
 God bless you, my friend, I hope and pray 
 you may long be spared for work and useful 
 ness. Faithfully Yours, 
 
 LYMAN C. DRAPER. 
 
 So, " Boys and Girls," prepare for something 
 that is histor3 , from this prince of American 
 chroniclers. 
 
 Bancroft wrote him sometime ago, saying: "I 
 look forward with eager interest for your lives 
 of Boone, of Clark, of James Robertson, and so 
 many others. Time is short pray do not de 
 lay the country expects of you this service." 
 
 Mr. Bancroft only voices the desire of the 
 public for the early appearance of these vol 
 umes. 
 
 After these will follow others, and no doubt 
 large orders will be waiting them when they 
 issue from the press. 
 
 In addition to lives of Boone, Clark, Robert 
 son and others, he has mapped out the life of 
 Gen. Simon Kenton, the noted "border fighter" 
 whose stiring career was filled with romatic 
 adventure. Then came Sumter, the hero of 
 South Carolina in the Revolution, while Brant 
 and Tecumseh and other Indian chiefs, he de 
 sires to introduce in their true colors to the 
 world of letters. 
 
 The great Indian fighters, Brady and the 
 Wetzel brothers, are down in his stores of 
 manuscripts for "a showing up." A work on 
 Dunmore s Indian war of 1774 is also among 
 those he has blocked out. One w r ould think 
 these were enough, but he has more. But this 
 splendid series of histories, illustrative of early 
 times on the border, should he be spared for the 
 task, will rear for Dr. Draper a lasting literary 
 monument. 
 
 He commenced to gather this matter more than 
 a half century ago. The actors in these grand 
 old scenes have never been fairly represented in 
 any of the histories written. Dr. Draper alone, 
 has the open sesame, atid we know that the 
 wishes of our class and all other readers of the 
 EDUCATOR will go out to him, that lotig life and 
 good health may be vouchsafed him for the 
 prosecution of the great work yet remaining 
 for him to do, is certainly the ardent wish of 
 every lover of truthful history. Dr. Draper is 
 up in the seventies, "full of years and honors." 
 His years sit lightly on his shoulders, and he is 
 a bundle of nervous active, light and rapid of 
 step, he is still as active as many youth. He is 
 slight of stature, his features firiety cut, his face 
 readiby brightens with the most winning smiles. 
 A great part of his time has been passed among 
 his books and manuscripts. 
 
 He is a most amiable old-young gentleman of 
 "ye olden times," the "latch-string" of his lib 
 rary and working "den" is "always out," to 
 those who have a legitimate errand thither, 
 and when found, he is most amiable and 
 charming, and sometimes a merry conversa 
 tionalist. Few are so well informed on public 
 men, current events and the literature of the 
 day. He is a man of generous impulses, is the 
 soul of honor. He has been a tireless brain 
 worker had he not been, he could not have 
 accomplished what he has for the world of let 
 ters, or carved out for himself the eminent posi 
 tion as a historian among the reading people of 
 the world. We are glad in this familiar "talk" 
 to introduce him to our class. The} r will be 
 glad to hear more about him and his " works, 
 that -will follow him" in the future, and no 
 doubt many will further cultivate his acquaint 
 ance after this introduction by reading his 
 works as they shall from time to time appear. 
 
OP THE 
 
 n 
 
AN ESSAY 
 
 AUTOGRAPHIC COLLECTIONS 
 
 OF THE SIGNERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 CONSTITUTION. 
 
 FROM VOL. XTH, WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 
 
 BY 
 
 LYMAN C. DRAPER, LL.D. 
 i\ 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 BURNS & SON, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 744 BROADWAY. 
 
 1889. 
 

 COPYRIGHT, 1889, 
 BY BURNS & SON. 
 
 Press of J. J. Little & Co, 
 Astor Place, New York. 
 
PREFATORY. 
 
 MANY years experience in gathering, in behalf of the State Historical 
 Society of Wisconsin, a set each of the autographs of the Signers of 
 the Declaration of Independence, and of the Constitution, led me to 
 realize the patience and perseverance necessary in making such collec 
 tions, and strongly to impress me with their value in illustrating our 
 Revolutionary and Constitutional history. 
 
 In making a report of these collections of the Wisconsin Historical 
 Society, it seemed most appropriate to introduce the subject with some 
 account of the slow but steady growth in this country, of this beautiful 
 and inspiring employment ; and to note, moreover, other collections 
 extant, complete and incomplete, exhibiting the great labor of bring 
 ing them together, and instituting, to some extent, a just comparison 
 of their relative strength, historic importance, and intrinsic value. 
 
 The gathering of matter for this monograph was commenced in 1883, 
 not then realizing the difficulties attendant upon the undertaking ; but 
 time, perseverance, and patience have resulted in this little contribu 
 tion to the autographic literature of the country. For whatever of 
 value or interest it may contain, the credit is largely due to the 
 several persons mentioned in this essay, whose suggestions and informa 
 tion have been freely and generously contributed in furtherance of a 
 fair and just attempt to portray the growth and extent of this interest 
 ing branch of American literature. 
 
 In examining any array of autographs of the Fathers of the Revolu 
 tion, one cannot but feel in his heart a kindling of patriotism, and 
 cherish a sense of sympathy, as though he lived and shared with those 
 noble patriots in their trials and sufferings, hopes and fears, and in the 
 ultimate triumph that joyfully crowned their long and weary labors in 
 the forum and on the field. 
 
 So useful, patriotic and inspiring an occupation as gathering, arrang 
 ing, and illustrating any series of American autographs is worthy of all 
 
4 PREFA TOR Y. 
 
 praise, and it may well be hoped that such letters and documents as 
 have escaped the thoughtless vandalism of the past may be utilized in 
 forming holograph collections of the great men and worthy women of 
 a former day, who have distinguished themselves in any department of 
 history, literature, or science. When properly grouped, illustrated, 
 and bound, such collections possess an interest that no mere book can 
 ever impart, because such a volume is unique in itself, and the auto 
 graphic specimens which form the collection inspire within us a love 
 and reverence for the writers we should not otherwise feel, and serve, 
 moreover, to give us new sources of studying their lives, characters, and 
 solid worth to their fellows and their country. 
 
 While enjoying, with pardonable pride, the gathering and possession 
 of noble collections of autographs, it is gratifying to note that several 
 of our American collectors design providing for the eventual transfer 
 ence of their treasures to deserving public libraries of our country, 
 where they will be preserved with pious care for all time, and thus be 
 made to subserve the noblest purposes of patriotism and history. 
 This is highly creditable to the foresight and good judgment of such 
 persons, and is worthy of emulation by other possessors of similar 
 inestimable literary gatherings. 
 
 The reproduction of this essay on the autographic collections and 
 collectors of our country, in this neat and tasteful form, is due to the 
 enterprise of Charles De F. Burns, the American pioneer in the distri 
 bution of the written remains of the heroes and worthies of the past, 
 and an expert as well of their genuineness and value. For a long 
 series of years Mr. Burns aid, experience, and judgment have been 
 called into requisition in forming and improving many valuable col 
 lections, gathered by the good taste of not a few persons in our widely- 
 extended country. 
 
 L. C. D. 
 
 MADISON, Wis., March ist, 1889. 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 ALLEN, Mrs. Eliza H., early autograph collector, ir, 30, 32, 81-83, 97- 
 Andrews, Frank D., autograph collection, 98, 109-10. 
 Autographs, origin and growth abroad, 9-11. 
 
 early collections in United States, 1119, IO 3~4- 
 abbreviations used, 46. 
 counterfeits, 20-28, 111-13. 
 
 " difference in character and value, 19, 20. 
 
 of the signers, wrong persons, 28-30. 
 
 slow progress in forming sets, 30. 
 sets extant, 1870-76, 30, 31. 
 subsequent additions, 31, 32. 
 Victoria s supposed set, 31. 
 dispersed sets, 31. 
 transferred sets, 31, 32. 
 classification of, 19, 20, 59, 105. 
 " cost of full sets, 13, 61, 68, 76, 81, 95. 
 
 cost of single specimens, 76, 78, 80, 102. 
 rarity of specimens, 16, 17, 32, 34, 44, 45, 53. 
 judges and experts of, 66, 90. 
 of non-signers, relative rarity, 105, 106. 
 
 names of, 35, 36, 43, 53, 54. 
 
 BAIRD, Henry C., and C. G. Barney, early collectors, n, 103. 
 Bartlett, Josiah, portrait and autographs of, 29, 37, 42. 
 Bell, Hon. Charles H., collections, 98, 99, 109. 
 Borden, Arba, collection, 101. 
 Braxton, Carter, portrait and autographs, 37-43. 
 Brown, Harold, collection, 95. 
 Burns, C. De F., good services, 4, 12, 30, 31, 37-42, 44, 45, 47, 63, 64, 68, 6g, 
 
 77, 80, 103. 
 
 CARROLL, Charles, noticed, 29, 51, 105. 
 
 Chamberlain, Hon. Mellen, collections, n, 19, 30, 32, 68, 74, 86-87, 99, 109. 
 Cist, Lewis J., early collector, n, 18, 28, 30, 31, 102. 
 Cohen, Mrs. D. J., collections, n, 30, 32, 34, 74, 91. 
 Conarroe, Geo. M., collections, n, 95, 109. 
 DANFORTH, Hon. Elliot, collections, 90. 
 Davis, Robert C., early collector, n, 20, 30, 32, 42, 71, 102, 113. 
 
6 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Dickinson, John, noticed, 36, 54-55. 57- 
 
 Dreer, Ferd. J., collections, n, 16, 21, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32-34, 44, 66-68, 95-96, 
 
 97-98, 107. 
 
 Drexel, Jos. W., collections, n, 13, 18, 30, 32, 79~ 81 , lo8 - 
 Dubbs, Rev. Jos. H., D.D., collections, 94-95, 108. 
 EDGERLY, James A., collections, 91. 
 Ely, Mrs. Wm. D., collections, n, 30, 32, 34, 81-83. 
 Emmet, Dr. Thos. A., collections, n, 19, 24-26, 30-34, 37, 38, 75-76, 77~78, 79> 8o - 
 
 " " first set of signers, 60-61. 
 
 " " second set of signers, 60, 61, 77~7 8 - 
 
 " third " " 61, 81. 
 
 " fourth " " 62, 85. 
 
 " " other series, 61-63, 107. 
 
 " " letter on Burns s engravings, 38-42. 
 
 Etting, Col. F. M., collections, II, 24, 25, 27, 30, 34, 44, 101, 108. 
 FAXON, Wm. B., collections, 97. 
 Federal Convention, 1787, sets of signers, 56-57, 61, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70-73, 80, 
 
 82, 86, 87, 89, 90, 96. 
 
 Federal Convention, 1787, Ford s list of members chosen, 106, 114-17. 
 Federal Convention, 1787, autographs of non-signers, relative rarity, 105-6. 
 Fogg, Dr. John S. H., collections, n, 24-27, 69-71, 80, 88. 106-7. 
 Ford, Gordon L., collections, II, 26, 98, 109. 
 
 Ford, Paul L.,list of members of Federal Convention, 106, 114-17. 
 Franklin, Dr. Benjamin, mentioned, 27, 28, 50, 67, 75. 
 GENERALS of the Revolution, sets of autographs, 62, 64, 68, 70-72, 86, 87, 89, 
 
 90, 94, 96, 99, 101. 
 
 Gibbes, Dr. R. W., early collector, n, 19, 31, 32. 
 Gilman, Rev. Samuel, mentioned. 17-19, 32, 53, 66, 67. 
 Gilmor, Robert, early collector, u, 15, 16, 30, 32. 
 Gratz, Simon, collections, u, 20-28, 30-34, 63-66, 87, 106, 112. 
 Greenough, Chs. P., collections, 96, 109. 
 Gunther, Chs. F., collections, n, 91, 108. 
 Gwinnett, Button, rarity of autograph, 16, 32, 33, 37~39. 43, 45> 53, 6o > 6 4, 66 , 
 
 71, 72, 73, 80, 81, 84. 
 
 HALE, John M., collections, n, 32, 85-6, 108. 
 Hall, Lyman, autograph, 17, 32, 34, 37, 38, 43, 45, 72. 
 Hancock, John, autograph, 64, 66, 67, 82, 84, 96. 
 Harrison, Benjamin, portrait, 29, 36-38. 
 Hart, John, portrait and autograph, 16, 29, 34, 37-9, 43, 45, 49> 53, 60, 68, 69, 
 
 7i, 72, 74- 
 
 Hathaway, Miss Mary D., collections, 99. 
 Hewes, Joseph, autograph, 16, 34, 45, 53, 60, 66, 72. 
 
 Heyward, Thomas, Jr., autograph, 29, 32, 34, 45, 52, 53, 60, 69, 71, 72, 74, 81, 82. 
 Hitchcock, Hiram, collections, n, 91. 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 7 
 
 Hoadley, Chas. J., collections, 100. 
 
 Hollingsworth, Z. T., collections, IOI. 
 
 Howarth, James W., collections, 93-4, 100, 108-9. 
 
 INDEPENDENCE, Declaration of, broadsides, 77-8, 79, 88, 96. 
 
 " fac-simile, 1824, note, 26. 
 
 " Charles Carroll s edition, 105. 
 JEFFERSON, Thomas, Mss., 103. 
 
 Jones, Charles C., LL.D., collections, n, 19, 32-34, 72-4, 83, 107. 
 LANE, Eben, collections, 101. 
 Lee, Francis L., portrait, 37-39, 43. 
 
 Leffingwell, Prof. E. H., collections, II, 30, 32, 34, 68-9, 92, 107-8. 
 Lossing, B. J., LL.D., books and engravings, 3943. 
 Lynch, Thomas, Jr., rarity of autograph, 16, 18, 19, 27, 29, 31-2, 42, 45, 52, 
 
 53, 60, 64, 66, 68, 69, 71-4, 76, 79. 84, 85. 
 MADISON, James, Mss., 103. 
 
 Mayer, Col. Brantz and Henry C. Murphy, early collectors, n, 103. 
 McGuire, James C., and F. B., collections, 22, 24, 103. 
 Mickley, Joseph J., early collector, II, 30, 31, 80, 101-2, 
 Middleton, Arthur, autograph, 32, 34-5, 45, 53, 60, 69, 71, 72. 
 Morris, Lewis, autograph, 17, 29, 34, 38, 40, 43, 45. 
 Morton, John, autograph, no portrait, 16, 30, 34, 37, 38, 40, 42-5, 53, 60, 64, 
 
 66, 68, 69, 71, 72, 84, 88. 
 
 Myers, Col. T. B., collections, II, 19, 21, 30, 32, 33, 39, 60, 76, 78-79, 88. 
 NEW YORK State Library, collections, n, 30, 32, 34, 81. 
 OGDEN, Charles S., collections, 99. 
 PAINE, Nathaniel, collections, 96. 
 
 Penn, John, autograph and education, 34, 37 9, 43, 45, 72. 
 Penn, William, Mss., 67, 89. 
 
 Pennsylvania Hist. Society, collections, II, 19, 21, 26, 32, 33, 34, 75-6, 99, no. 
 RAFFLES, T. Stamford, collections, 15, 17-19, 30, 32, 34, 83-5. 
 Reed, Byron, collections, 93. 
 
 Revolutionary and other Ms. collections, 96, 99, 101, 103. 
 Roberts, Charles, collections, n, 30, 32, 42, 44, 71-2, 90, 94, 107. 
 Robeson, Andrew, collections, 83, 97. 
 Rodney, Caesar A., portrait, 37, 38, 41, 43. 
 Roper, Lewis, early collector, n, 101. 
 Ross, George, autograph, 29, 37, 38, 45. 
 Rush, Benjamin, autograph, 75, 88. 
 Rutledge, Edward, autograph and Mss., 34, 38, 66, 67. 
 SANDERSON, Howard K., n, 92-93. 
 Signers of Declaration of Independence, sets, 46-56, 60-87. 
 
 incomplete, 87-105. 
 TrumbulPs picture, 34-38, 40-43. 
 Hunt s engravings, 37-43. 
 
8 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Signers of Declaration Lossing s engravings, 42-43. 
 
 unknown representation, 38-39, 43-44. 
 " Burns engravings, 37-38. 
 
 Emmet s letter on Burns engravings, 38-42. 
 Additional explanations, 42-43. 
 " Constitution, sets, 56-59, 105-9. 
 
 incomplete, 109-10, 
 
 Albany Congress, 1754, 62, 64, 70, 87, 90. 
 of Stamp Act Congress, 1765, 62, 64, 70, 87,90. 
 of old Congress, 1774-89, 61, 62, 64, 70, 72, 75, 86, 87, 89, 97. 
 " of Confederation 1778, 62, 64, 68, 88. 
 
 Annapolis Convention, 1786, 64, 70. 
 Hartford Convention, 1814, 64, 70, 
 Washington s Aides -de-Camp, 65, 70, 89. 
 Presidents and Cabinets, 62, 64, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 83, 86, 88, 89, 
 
 90, 93, 95, 96, 97- 
 
 " Supreme Court Judges, 64, 69, 72, 74, 86. 
 
 Spaulding, Mrs. Sarah J., collection, 101. 
 
 Sprague, Rev. Dr. Wm. B., 12-19, 3~33> 53> 60, 75-76, 83, 85, Io8. 
 Sprague, E. E. & W. B., Jr., 14, 15, 19, 30, 32, 74-76. 
 Spring, Robert, counterfeiter, 27-28, 111-13. 
 
 Stauffer, D. McN., collections, 24, 25, 27, 30, 88-90, 97, 104, 107. 
 Steele, Fred. M., collections, 26, 27, 100. 
 Stockton, Richard, portrait, 16, 29, 34, 38, 45, 73, 74. 
 TAYLOR, George, autograph, 16, 17, 28, 29, 30, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43, 45. 
 Tefft, Israel K., early collector, 11-13, 17, 18, 32, 33, 40, 41, 53, 66, 72, 80, 8l, 85. 
 Thacher, Hon. John Boyd, collections, n, 19, 21, 30, 32, 33, 74-75, 91, no. 
 Thatcher, B. B., early collector, n, 15, 16, 44, 104. 
 Thornton, Matthew, portrait, 17, 37, 39, 43, 66. 
 Trance-speakers, 54-55. 
 Turner, James W. , counterfeiter, 20-28. 
 VAN SCHAACK, Hon. Henry C., early collector, 100. 
 Vroom, Hon. Garret D. W., collections, 98, 109. 
 WASHINGTON, George, Mss., 65, 66-67, 75. 80, 88, 93, 101, 103. 
 
 " counterfeit letters, 27, 28, 111-13. 
 
 Whipple, William, portrait, 37, 46, 60. 
 Willard, Henry A., collections, n, 22, 25-27, 33, 91-92. 
 Williams, William, portrait, 38, 39. 
 
 Wisconsin Historical Society, collections, II, 32, 45-59, 70-71, 107. 
 Wright, Hon. J. Ridgeway, collections, 95. 
 
OF TUB 
 
 17 i 
 
 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 THE London Athenceum declared, in 1855, tnat "the story of 
 what History owes to the autograph collectors would make a 
 pretty book." Interesting as this phase of the subject might be made, 
 it is not the purpose of the present paper to attempt its elucidation. 
 
 Sir Richard Phillips, whose career extended from 1767 to 1840, 
 claimed in his day to have been the pioneer in the collection of auto 
 graphs. This may have been true so far as England is concerned, 
 limiting his collection to varieties made for the single object of 
 curiosity. An autograph collection, in the ordinary acceptation of 
 the term, should not be confounded with collections of historical 
 manuscripts, made and preserved by Governments, Libraries, and 
 historians, for purposes of public records, or as materials for historic 
 literature. Such collections date back to the times of papyrus manu 
 scripts and the Alexandrian Library, long anterior to the discovery of 
 printing. 
 
 Some vague references to autographs may be traced back to the 
 palmy days of Greece and Rome. Autograph signatures in albums, 
 we are told, were known as early as 1466 ; and about the year 1550, 
 persons of quality took about with them elegant blank books for the 
 signatures of eminent persons or valued friends. One of these albums, 
 preserved in the British Museum, bears date 1578. In Germany, 
 over three hundred years ago, the practice of making collections of 
 autographs seems to have been quite common. It began with noble 
 men, and persons of taste and wealth. The custom soon spread to 
 other countries. Many large autograph collections were formed in 
 the sixteenth century, notably those in France of Antoine Lomenie" 
 de Brienneand Le Croix du Maine Brienne s collection reaching 340 
 large folio volumes, preserved in the French National Library. 
 
 Similar collections have been made in England. Sir Robert Bruce 
 Cotton, Sir Hans Sloane, and Sir Thomas Bodley were the pioneers of 
 2. 
 
10 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 this good service in that country. Cotton s career extended from 1570 
 to 1631 ; and his gatherings embraced ancient records, charters and 
 other manuscripts, which had been dispersed from the monastic libra 
 ries during the reign of Henry VIII among which is the original of 
 the famous Magna Charta, the foundation of British constitutional 
 freedom, wrung by the sturdy barons from the reluctant King John, 
 in 1512. His library and manuscripts, which had received numerous 
 additions from his son and grandson, after having been partially 
 destroyed by fire in 1731, were transferred, while still numbering over 
 20,000 articles, to the British Museum, in 1757. This was apparently 
 the earliest collection of the kind made in England. 
 
 Sir Hans Sloane, born in 1660, and dying in 1752, made a wonder 
 ful gathering of autographs in his day, commencing early and continu 
 ing to the end of his extended life of nearly ninety-two years. As a 
 great physician and naturalist, and long president of the Royal Society, 
 his tastes were largely in the line of natural science ; yet his collections 
 embraced many works and manuscripts on history, and his cabinet ot 
 curiosities was the finest of his time. Extremely solicitous that the 
 rich garnerings of a lifetime should not be scattered at his death, and 
 unwilling that so large a portion of his fortune should be entirely lost 
 to his children, he bequeathed the whole to the public on condition 
 that Parliament should make good ^"20,000 to his family. This sum, 
 though large in appearance, was scarcely more than the intrinsic value 
 of the gold and silver medals, the ores and precious stones, in the 
 cabinet alone ; for in his last will he declares, that the first cost of the 
 whole collection amounted to ,50,000. Parliament accepted his 
 legacy, and from this ample beginning the British Museum had its 
 origin, supplemented shortly after by the noble Cottonian collection. 
 Among the Sloane Library of upwards of 50,000 volumes, there were 
 347 illustrated with cuts finely engraved, and colored from nature ; 
 and 4,100 volumes of manuscripts, together with an infinite number 
 of rare and curious works of every kind. 
 
 Sir Thomas Bodley gathered his library and manuscripts in the latter 
 part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, which formed the nucleus of the 
 noble Bodleian Library of Oxford, since augmented by many additions 
 to 22,000 volumes; and in many departments, these collections are 
 unique and invaluable. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. II 
 
 The subsequent manuscript additions to the British Museum, since 
 the Sloane and Cotton foundation, have been very large. The collec 
 tion of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, numbered over 7,600 volumes, 
 containing 40,000 documents; the Lansdowne MSS. consisted o 
 1,245 volumes ; while the Hargrave, Burney, Grenville and other col 
 lections have served to swell this great storehouse of manuscripts to 
 magnificent proportions, enriching and elucidating every department 
 of historic, scientific, and miscellaneous literature. 
 
 Auction sales of autographs began in London early in this century ; 
 and since about 1823 they have been quite frequent both in London 
 and Paris. 
 
 The pioneer autograph collectors in the United States were Israel K. 
 Tefft, of Savannah ; Rev. Dr. Wm. B. Sprague, of Albany ; and Robert 
 Gilmor, of Baltimore : followed by Lewis J. Cist, of Cincinnati ; B. B. 
 Thatcher, Hon. Mellen Chamberlain, Dr. John S. H. Fogg, and 
 Chas. P. Greenough, of Boston ; Howard K. Sanderson, Lynn ; 
 Nathaniel Paine, Worcester ; Maj. B. P. Poore, Newburyport ; Charles 
 H. Morse, of Cambridgeport ; Mrs. Wm. Hathaway, New Bedford; 
 Prof. E. H. Leffingwell, New Haven ; Mrs. E. H. Allen, Providence ; 
 Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, Col. T. B. Myers, Almon W. Griswold, 
 Jos. W. Drexel, Hiram Hitchcock, and D. McN. Stauffer, New 
 York ; Hon. Henry C. Murphy and Gordon L. Ford, Brooklyn ; 
 Hon. H. S. Randall, Cortland Village, N. Y. ; Hon. John Boyd 
 Thacher, Albany ; Hon. Elliot Danforth, Bainbridge, N. Y. ; Hon. 
 Henry C. Van Schaack, Manlius, N. Y. ; G. D. W. Vroom, Trenton, 
 N. J. ; Dr. Lewis Roper, Ferd. J. Dreer, Simon Gratz, Robert C. 
 Davis, J. J. Mickley, Henry C. Baird, Charles Roberts, and Geo. M. 
 Conarroe, Philadelphia ; Col. Frank M. Etting, Ward P. O., Penn. ; 
 John M. Hale, Philipsburg, Penn. ; Rev. J. H. Dubbs, Lancaster, 
 Penn. ; James W. Howarth, Glen Riddle, Penn. ; Dr. J. I. Cohen, 
 and Col. Brantz Mayer, Baltimore ; Henry A. Willard, Washington ; 
 Dr. C. G. Barney, Richmond ; Prof. R. W. Gibbes, Columbia, S. C. ; 
 Col. C. C. Jones, Augusta, Ga. ; Chas. F. Gunther, Chicago ; Byron 
 Reed, Omaha, Neb. ; and State Historical Society, Madison, Wis 
 consin. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Historical Society, and New York State Library, 
 though having valuable sets of autographs, secured them in their col- 
 
12 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 lected condition, by purchase, and were not collectors by piecemeal. 
 Charles De F. Burns, of New York, as a dealer in autographs, and 
 publisher of the American Antiquarian, has, for a long series of years, 
 rendered singular aid to many collectors of the country. 
 
 Mr. Tefft seems to have been the precursor in the collection of auto 
 graphs in this country. Born in Smithfield, R. I., February 12, 1795, 
 he early lost his parents, and was raised on a farm. He acted awhile 
 as a book-keeper in a manufacturing establishment. In 1816, he 
 removed to Savannah, where he engaged in business, till misfortunes 
 overtook him, when he served with credit as a clerk, editor of literary 
 papers, and cashier of a bank. He commenced saving autographs as 
 early as 1815-16, without, apparently, at its commencement any defi 
 nite purpose. "He kept it very quiet at first," as he naively said in 
 after years, "feeling for some time very shy of being known as the 
 collector of such things." He could not have entered very enthusias 
 tically into the work until many years thereafter ; for, Dr. Sprague says, 
 when he visited Mr. Tefft at Savannah, in 1830, his collection was in a 
 very incipient state, probably not numbering more than twenty or 
 thirty letters. But some of these must have been rarities, for when Dr. 
 Sprague made this visit, Mr. Tefft most courteously and generously 
 offered for the Doctor s acceptance such of his autographs as he did 
 not possess. Dr. Sprague selected quite a number, assuring his 
 Savannah friend that he would return their full equivalent. At first, 
 Mr. Tefft grieved not a little over the loss of the gems of his collection, 
 and felt that his spirit for further gathering was broken, and that he 
 should scarcely seek to make good the ravages of this great Northern 
 despoiler. "But," said Mr. Tefft, many years after, "never was 
 promise more faithfully kept ; my gift to Dr. Sprague was literally 
 bread thrown on the water it returned to me a thousand-fold ; and to 
 his steady liberality and friendship have I been indebted, more than to 
 all others, for the value of my collection." * 
 
 Another anecdote is related of Mr. Tefft, which illustrates how acci 
 dent sometimes furnishes what the most patient inquiry had failed to 
 supply. Visiting a gentleman s residence near Savannah apparently 
 after 1845 Mr. Tefft, finding the owner absent, walked out on the 
 
 * American Antiquarian, August, 1870. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 1 3 
 
 lawn, when a paper was blown across his path, and listlessly picking 
 it up, he joyfully discovered it to be one of the rare autographs of -a. 
 Georgia Signer of the Declaration the only one he then lacked to 
 complete his set, and of which he had long been in active pursuit. 
 When the owner returned, and Mr. Tefft had transacted his business 
 with him, he was asked to specify the amount of his fee. " Nothing," 
 said Mr. Tefft, " if you will allow me to keep this piece of paper I 
 found on your lawn." The owner replied that he was welcome to it ; 
 that its writer had once occupied the place, and his own servants had 
 recently cleaned an old garret of papers of which this was a waif. Mr. 
 Tefft related this circumstance with great enthusiasm, and evidently 
 valued this prodigal more than any other of the rarities of his many 
 years of persevering search. * This it would seem was the autograph 
 of Button Gwinnett, the rarest not only of the Georgia signers, but, 
 save Lynch, of the whole immortal fifty-six. 
 
 Mr. Tefft, after having formed one full set of autographs of the 
 Signers of the Declaration, and lacking only three of another, and 
 having made a splendid collection of other notable characters of both 
 continents, died at Savannah, June 30, 1862. He was a noble man, 
 and liberally assisted his fellow collectors with duplicates especially 
 of Thomas Lynch, Jr. , that rarest of autographs of the Signers. In 
 1865, Almon W. Griswold, Esq., of New York, purchased of Mr. 
 Tefft s widow, his incomplete set of autographs of the Signers, which 
 was some years afterward disposed of, through Messrs. Sabin & Sons, 
 to Joseph W. Drexel, of New York ; while the full set of the Declara 
 tion Signers was purchased at the Tefft sale by E. French, at $625.00, 
 and subsequently sold to the New York State Library. The remainder 
 of Mr. Tefft s valuable collection was disposed of at auction in New 
 York, in March, 1867, the catalogue filling 264 pages, and estimated 
 to comprise 25,000 specimens. 
 
 Dr. Sprague commenced his collection apparently as early as the 
 autumn of 1815 as soon, perhaps, as Mr. Tefft, and possibly even 
 earlier. "To him," says Charles F. Fisher, of Philadelphia, "more 
 than to any other single individual in the country, are we probably 
 indebted for the discovery and preservation of large masses of invalu- 
 
 * Historical Magazine, April, 1862; American Antiquarian, Nov., 1870. 
 
14 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 able correspondence of the Colonial and Revolutionary times, which in 
 old trunks and boxes, in garrets and cellars, were fast hastening to 
 decay, and exposed daily by accident or carelessness to destruction, 
 until rescued by his zealous and untiring researches." 
 
 Dr. Sprague was born at Andover, Conn., October 16, 1795, and 
 graduated at Yale College in 1815. During the latter part of his 
 senior year in college, he was invited, through the Hon. Timothy 
 Pitkin and Prof. Silliman, of Yale, to go to Virginia, as an instructor 
 in the family of Maj. Lawrence Lewis, a nephew of Gen. Washington, 
 whose wife, nee Eleanor Park Custis, was the grand-daughter of Mrs. 
 Washington, and the adopted daughter of the Great Chief. He 
 accepted the invitation, and in the autumn of 1815 set out for Maj. 
 Lewis country seat, Woodlawn, which had been a part of Washington s 
 plantation, near Mount Vernon. Here he was cordially received, and 
 remained as a tutor in the family until June, 1816.* 
 
 It was during this period embracing probably nearly all of it 
 that he obtained permission from Judge Bushrod Washington, who 
 inherited the papers of his distinguished uncle, to take whatever letters 
 he might choose from Gen. Washington s voluminous correspondence, 
 provided only that he would leave copies in their stead. The result 
 was, that he came into possession of some 1,500 letters, many of which 
 were included in the three sets of the Signers which he completed. 
 "Of course," writes his son, Wm. B. Sprague, Jr., "many other 
 autographs were obtained from friends by way of exchange, but a very 
 large number of his collections were addressed to Washington, and 
 bear his endorsement." Dr. Emmet had thought, from what Dr. 
 Sprague had told him, that the latter had, with his exchange with Mr. 
 TerTt, made up from his Washington collection a full set of the Signers, 
 and all the Generals of the Revolution. 
 
 Mr. Gratz states that, of Dr. Sprague s best set of Signers, which 
 eventually came into his possession, twenty-one were addressed to 
 Washington ; and, from this set, five had previously been exchanged 
 with Dr. Emmet, including the Lynch letter, and letters of Heyward 
 and Middleton. Mr. Gratz adds, that a few of the letters in his set of 
 
 * Charles B. Moore s Memoir of Dr. Sprague, in IV. Y. Genealogic-Biographi- 
 cal Record, Jan., 1877. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 1 5 
 
 the Signers, obtained by Dr. Sprague from the Washington manu 
 scripts, are represented in duplicate in the second Sprague set of the 
 Signers, now belonging to the Pennsylvania Historical Society. It 
 would appear, therefore, that aside from some duplicates, Dr. Sprague 
 did not acquire from the Washington manuscripts to exceed twenty- 
 nine letters of the Signers, except duplicates, a little more than one- 
 half of the whole number. He probably had to exchange duplicates 
 for many he did not possess, not only with Mr. Tefft, as Dr. Emmet 
 states, but with several others, as indicated by Wm. B. Sprague, Jr. 
 
 There is a pretty general opinion with our oldest and most intelli 
 gent autograph collectors, that Dr. Sprague originated the idea of 
 making a collection of the autographs of the Signers of the Declaration 
 of Independence ; and that he was undoubtedly the first to complete 
 his set. The date of its completion is not known it was, however, 
 prior to 1834 ; for Dr. Oilman s first visit to Mr! Tefft, in 1834, in 
 connection with Benjamin B. Thatcher s* letter of June, 1835, 
 reproduced in Burns s American Antiquarian of September, 1871, 
 show that Robert Gilmor, of Baltimore, had made his collection of 
 the Signers complete, with the single exception of Lynch ; Mr. 
 Thatcher adding : "Rev. Mr. Sprague has outrun him in this field, 
 for he has the whole, and so has Dr. Raffles, of Liverpool, and these 
 are the only two complete sets in the world. Dr. Raffles collection 
 was not yet complete ; it then lacked at least George Taylor s auto 
 graph. 
 
 Dr. Sprague passed away May 7, 1876, but not until he had gathered 
 one of the largest and most valuable private collections of autographs 
 in this country numbering, it is said, 40,000 specimens. He com 
 pleted three sets of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
 two of which remain intact, and hereafter noticed ; while the third 
 set has been broken up, and gone to improve or fill up deficiencies in 
 other sets some in completing that of the Wisconsin Historical 
 Society. 
 
 Mr. Thatcher testified, in 1835, to Dr. Sprague s wonderful collec 
 tion as " at the head of the list longo iniervallo, being composed of 
 
 * This earliest writer on American autograph collections was born in Warren, 
 Me., Oct. 8, 1809, and died in Boston, July 14, 1840. He was the author of a 
 number of useful works. 
 
1 6 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 20,000 specimens, at least an enormous multitude, indicating, most 
 significantly, the vast pains which must have been taken by that intelli 
 gent, amiable, and indefatigable enthusiast to enhance the extent of 
 his treasures." 
 
 Dr. Sprague was a man of remarkable industry. Besides his pulpit 
 ministrations, he wrote no less than sixteen different works between 
 1821 and 1866 one, Annals of the American Pulpit, is a production 
 of great merit, in nine volumes. He also wrote numerous introduc 
 tions to biographical and other works, was a contributor to Appletons 
 New American Cyclopedia, and the author of more than 100 pamphlets. 
 The gathering of book materials, notably for his great work on the 
 American Pulpit, largely contributed to the augmentation of his won 
 derful autograph collection. Take him all in all, Dr. Sprague fills a 
 distinguished and unique place in the history of American literature, 
 and is accorded on all hands the highest rank among the early 
 American autograph collectors. 
 
 Robert Gilmor, of Baltimore, was also an early and successful col 
 lector of autographs. He was a man of liberal means, and one year, 
 while in Europe, expended $30,000 for paintings, autographs, and 
 other objects of virtu. Dr. Jared Sparks, who resided awhile in Balti 
 more, aided Mr. Gilmor very materially. Mr. Thatcher s description 
 of his collection, as it existed early in 1835, represents it as less volu 
 minous, but more general and valuable, autographically considered, 
 than Dr. Sprague s. It was very rich in specimens of noted English 
 and French characters Mr. Thatcher enumerating many of them. 
 Mr. Gilmor lived to supply his wanting Lynch autograph ; and, dying 
 at the age of seventy-four, Nov. 30, 1848, his collection mainly passed 
 into the hands of Mr. Ferd. J. Dreer, of Philadelphia, including his 
 set of the Signers, while another portion was scattered, and aided mate 
 rially in making up and improving other collections. In his lifetime, 
 Mr. Gilmor had bestowed upon the Maryland Historical Society a 
 rich array of manuscripts, illustrating the period of the French and 
 Revolutionary wars ; and these Gilmor Papers will long serve to per 
 petuate his memory. 
 
 The deaths of several of the Signers during the Revolutionary con 
 test Morton and Gwinnett, in 1777 ; Livingston, in 1778 ; Hewes 
 and Lynch, in 1779 ; Hart, in 1780; Taylor and Stockton, in 1781 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. l"J 
 
 so soon after appending their names to the immortal Declaration, 
 have contributed to render their autographs exceedingly rare in any 
 form. These names, with the other North and South Carolina Sign 
 ers, together with Thornton, Samuel Adams, Hopkins, Lewis Morris, 
 Stone, Wythe, and Hall, are among those most difficult to obtain. 
 
 Some time prior to 1834, Dr. Sprague was so fortunate as to obtain 
 a Lynch signature from Gen. James Hamilton, of South Carolina, a 
 nephew of that Signer, which he generously sent to Dr. Raffles, an 
 indication that at this time Dr. Sprague had no thought of attempting 
 the formation of any set of the Signers beyond that which he had 
 already completed ; and Mr. Tefft supplied his English friend with an 
 official order, signed by Gwinnett. Still Dr. Raffles lacked a Taylor 
 autograph to complete his collection so he wrote to Mr. Tefft. This 
 letter was shown to Rev. Dr. Samuel Oilman, of Charleston, S. C., on 
 his first visit to Mr. Tefft, in 1834 : "I now," wrote Dr. Raffles, 
 "possess every Signer of the Declaration of Independence, save one, 
 viz., George Taylor." On Dr. Oilman s second visit, early in 1837,* 
 Mr. Tefft showed him a letter from Dr. Raffles, "recently received," 
 in which he said : " Pray, are your Signers complete ? I look with 
 mingled emotions of sorrow and hope upon the only hiatus I have in 
 mine." How the good Doctor s heart must have leaped for joy 
 when he, not long thereafter, opened a letter from his fellow collector, 
 Dr. Sprague, to find the long-sought "hiatus" supplied. It was a 
 legal document, with the Christian name of the signature unfortunately 
 torn off still it served to perfect his set of the Signers. Its genuine 
 ness was vouched for by Dr. Sprague as an "original manuscript of 
 George Taylor, one of the Signers, "f 
 
 * The dates of these two visits are determined by the time of their publication 
 in The Rose, a literary journal, edited by Dr. Oilman and lady, at Charleston 
 the first part of A Week Among Autographs appearing in the issue of April 18, 
 1835 ; while the results of the second visit are given from June 10 to July 8, 1837. 
 The papers on these visits were reproduced, first in Mrs. Caroline Gilman s charm 
 ing volume, Poetry of Traveling, in 1838 ; and somewhat enlarged in Dr. Gil 
 man s Contributions to Literature, in 1856. A file of The Rose is preserved by 
 Dr. Gilman s daughter, Mrs. Eliza Gilman Lippitt, of Washington, who has kindly 
 furnished these dates from that source. 
 
 f Statement of Hon. T. Stamford Raffles, of Liverpool, son of Rev. Dr. 
 Raffles. 
 
1 8 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Mr. Tefft s first collection of the Signers, at the time of Dr. Oilman s 
 second visit, in 1837, was still far from being complete. He had then 
 recently received from his friend, Dr. Sprague, among numerous other 
 invaluable specimens, the autograph of Richard Stockton. "It had 
 been for years," adds Dr. Oilman, "upon his list of desiderata, and 
 was almost despaired of, as being probably no longer extant. " He 
 still lacked seventeen autographs to make up his set of the Signers 
 those of Thornton, Floyd, Lewis Morris, Hart, Morton, Ross, Smith, 
 Taylor, Wilson, Read, Rodney, Stone, Braxton, Nelson, Penn, Lynch 
 and Middleton. These deficiencies having been made known by the 
 publication of Dr. Oilman s paper, A Week Among Autographs, 
 attracted the notice of persons who furnished him with these desiderata 
 President Sparks alone sending him three letters. Whether the for 
 tunate discovery of the Lynch signatures by Dr. Oilman, in 1845, 
 served to complete Mr. Tefft s first set, we are not informed ; but when 
 Dr. Oilman published his Contributions to Literature, in 1856, in which 
 his autograph essay is reproduced, he states, that since its original pub 
 lication, and in consequence of its appearance, Mr. TefFt had com 
 pleted his collection. Mr. Cist, in the Historical Magazine of August, 
 1859, says " it was perfected many years ago." Mr. Tefft s indomi 
 table perseverance with a supply of the Lynch signature to bank on 
 enabled him, in a few years, and prior to the outbreak of our civil 
 war, to form nearly a second set, lacking only Paine, Sherman, and 
 Stone, which eventually passed into the hands of the late Jos. W. 
 Drexel. 
 
 Up to 1845, no collection of the Signers was complete, save those 
 only of Dr. Sprague and Dr. Raffles. In April and May of that year, 
 Dr. Oilman obtained for Mr. Tefft several signatures of Thomas 
 Lynch, Jr., cut from a volume of Latin translations made by him 
 while at college, preserved by his nieces, the Misses Bowman, of 
 Charleston, and from fly-leaves of printed books formerly belonging 
 to Mr. Lynch, which had been presented by Mr. Bowman, who had 
 married a sister of the Signer, to the Apprentices Library of that city; 
 and these precious signatures were presented by Dr. Oilman to Mr. 
 Tefft, at whose solicitation he had procured them. He at once shared 
 his rich acquisition with Mr. Gilmor, Mr. Cist, and others, thus 
 enabling them to complete their collections, and with Dr. Sprague for 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 19 
 
 his additional sets. Hon. Mellen Chamberlain writes : "I was at Dr. 
 Sprague s house in Albany, I think, in 1848, and he then had two 
 complete sets of the Signers one of which he designed for his son. " 
 The discovery of the Lynch signatures has had the happy effect of 
 completing no less than fifteen collections of the Signers. 
 
 Col. Jones, of Georgia, has succeeded in obtaining four Lynch sig 
 natures, three of them without the prefix, Thomas, or suffix, Jun r ., 
 from the Signer s books purchased while a student at Eton his T. 
 Lynch, Jun r ., signature, in his best set, is accompanied by one of 
 those simply " Lynch ;" another forms the Lynch representation in 
 his second set, while the other fills its proper place in his Old Con 
 gress series. It is, therefore, quite possible for this enterprising collec 
 tor, in the course of time, to emulate Dr. Emmet, in the completion 
 of four sets of the immortal Signers. Col. Jones states that he 
 obtained these four Lynch signatures from a lineal descendant of one 
 of the sisters of the Signer, adding : "I regret to say, that this source 
 of supply is wholly exhausted at least, such is my present informa 
 tion." 
 
 So these fifteen Lynch signatures, not reckoning that of Dr. Gibbes, 
 destroyed at the burning of Columbia, appear to embrace all those 
 discovered by Dr. Gilman, and four since obtained by Col. Jones. 
 These, with the peerless Lynch letter, originally in Dr. Sprague s best 
 set, now in Dr. Emmet s, with the signature furnished by Gov. Ham 
 ilton to Dr. Sprague, and by him transmitted to Dr. Raffles, together 
 with the two land documents, in the collections of Col. Meyers and 
 Mr. Thacher, and a receipt detached from the deed in the Meyer s 
 collection, given by Mr. Lynch and wife just prior to going to sea in 
 1779, which now represents Lynch in the set at the Pennsylvania His 
 torical Society. These make the twenty-four undoubted Lynch auto 
 graphs found, twenty-two in the full sets of the Signers extant, and the 
 two extra signatures of Col. Jones, and no other genuine signatures of 
 this Signer are known to exist. 
 
 The difference in the character and attractiveness of these several 
 collections is very striking. One of the most distinguished collectors 
 in the country very justly remarks : "The different sets of the Signers 
 that are owned in the United States vary greatly in character, interest 
 and value. Some of them are as much superior to others as a perfect 
 
2O AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Caxton imprint is superior to one that is largely made up of leaves in 
 fac-simile. Some are composed, to a great extent, of A. L. S. of the 
 period, on public matters, while others are formed mainly of letters 
 and documents of a private business character, written at a date remote 
 from 1776." 
 
 It is not strange that some autographs of the Signers notably that 
 of Lynch have been counterfeited. "A few years ago," says the 
 American Antiquarian of Nov., 1870, " a well-dressed man called to 
 see one of the most eminent * collectors in Philadelphia, and offered 
 to sell him a letter of Thomas Lynch, Jr., which he claimed to have 
 discovered somewhere in the South. A single glance satisfied the col 
 lector that it was a base forgery, and tearing the document in pieces, 
 he handed back the fragments to the stranger, who accepted them, and 
 retired without saying another word." 
 
 " Many years ago," writes Mr. Gratz, " a man residing in Washing 
 ton, who called himself James W. Turner, f offered for sale in Phila 
 delphia counterfeits of Lynch and other rare Signers. Whether he was 
 the person who actually manufactured these bogus autographs, I can 
 not say ; it is probable, however, that he was. The work was so well 
 done that inexperienced collectors were completely deceived by it ; in 
 fact, some old collectors were imposed upon, and purchased his wares. 
 I have seen not less than half a dozen of them, and two or three 
 recently, all of these Washington city forgeries. 
 
 "Turner s first effort to sell a Lynch letter in Philadelphia was made 
 in the year 1861. It was successful." The prices variously paid for his 
 letters, so far as known, were $10, $30, $50, and in one instance, 
 $100. "Shortly afterwards," continues Mr. Gratz, "he sent a Phila 
 delphia collector jive letters of Lynch, written on paper of different 
 sizes, folio, quarto, and octavo, so that the collector might select the 
 specimen that best suited him. By that time, however, the fact had 
 become known here that his productions were not genuine, and he was 
 
 * The late Robert C. Davis. 
 
 f This was probably an assumed name no such person is recollected by Dr. 
 J. M. Toner, and other intelligent surviving residents of Washington of the period 
 referred to ; nor is any mention made of James W. Turner in the old directories. 
 Letter of W. A. Croffut, Esq., of Washington. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 21 
 
 unable to make any further sales to Philadelphians. He once paid a 
 visit to Philadelphia, and tried to dispose of a lot of counterfeit Signers. 
 He chanced, however, to offer them to a dealer who was posted, and 
 who advised him to leave the city as quickly as possible if he wished 
 to escape arrest. He wasn t slow in getting away. 
 
 " Nor did Turner confine himself to the manufacture of Lynch s 
 autograph ; but supplied, on demand, those of Gwinnett, Hall, and 
 other rare signers." 
 
 Mr. Dreer, of Philadelphia, has preserved two of these spurious 
 Lynch productions : so regarded by Mr. Gratz. One of them was 
 purchased from the widow of the late John M. Siegfried, of Easton, 
 Penn., a prominent autograph collector in his day, and the other at the 
 sale of his literary effects. Both are dated in Philadelphia, one July 
 23d, 1776, referring to "the sudden decease of my father," when, in 
 point of fact, the younger Lynch did not attach his signature to the 
 engrossed copy of the Declaration until nine days afterwards, and then 
 appended "Jun r ." to his name, showing quite conclusively that his 
 father was living at the date of this pretended letter; and Thomas 
 Lynch, Sr., did not die, as Sanderson and others inform us, till some 
 time in the subsequent autumn, at Annapolis, on his way home, ac 
 companied by his filial son. 
 
 In the four undoubted signatures extant written by the younger 
 Lynch after his father s death, that appended to the full letter in Dr. 
 Emmet s collection, and those affixed to the three land documents 
 in the respective collections of the late Col. Myers, Hon. J. B. 
 Thacher, and the Pennsylvania Historical Society, he invariably dis 
 carded the "Jun r . " 
 
 Had the elder Lynch been dead at the time, as is asserted in this 
 pretended letter of July 23d, 1776, there would have been no occasion 
 for the suffix "Jun r ." to his son s name on the Declaration, on the 2d 
 of August thereafter. 
 
 The other Lynch letter from the Siegfried collection, dated July roth, 
 1776, which Mr. Gratz pronounces also as one of Turner s fabrications, 
 and a comparison of the two surely point to the same paternity, 
 simply purports to be a recommendation of a Philadelphian to a 
 Charleston friend, and beneath Lynch s name, signed as in the other 
 instance "T. Lynch, Jun r .," is that of Arthur Middleton ; the latter 
 
22 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 a poor counterfeit, obtained by a rude tracing apparently over the fac 
 simile of his signature in Sanderson s Lives of the Signers ; the size of 
 the tracing is so singularly exact as to prove its origin, as both Dr. 
 Emmet and Mr. Stauffer, as well as the writer can testify. 
 
 The internal evidence alone in the pretended Lynch letter of July 
 23d, 1776, brands it as an imposture and a cheat, while that of July 
 loth of the same year, and confessedly in the same hand-writing, must 
 necessarily partake of the same unreliable origin and character as the 
 other. 
 
 A writer in a recent Washington city paper, in an interesting account 
 of the autograph collection of Mr. Henry A. Willard, of that city, thus 
 refers to his Lynch letter and signature : "Mr. Willard has a Lynch 
 signature, and he has also what he believes to be a Lynch letter. It 
 was submitted to the inspection of Mr. Simon Gratz, of Philadelphia, 
 a well-known collector, who wrote Mr. Willard that he believed it 
 was a forgery. He said that he recognized it as one of the forgeries of 
 a man by the name of James W. Turner, who, Mr. Gratz states, 
 flourished in this city [Washington] some twenty-five years ago, and 
 sent out a number of counterfeit Lynch letters. 
 
 "Mr. Willard, however, believes in the genuineness of the letter. 
 He obtained it from Mr. Fred. B. McGuire of this city [Washington], 
 who found it among the Madison papers, in the possession of his 
 father, the late James C. McGuire, who was the executor of the estate 
 of Mrs. Madison. It had lain among those papers undisturbed, 
 says Mr. McGuire, for the past thirty years, since the settlement of 
 the estate. Mr. Willard thinks it is hardly possible that a forged 
 letter would be found in such a collection." 
 
 And yet the facts are decidedly against its being a genuine Lynch 
 letter. Aside from its having every appearance of being one of 
 Turner s productions, it presents internal evidence that it was not 
 written by the person, nor at the time it purports to have been ; nor 
 could it have been addressed to Gen. Moultrie as stated upon its face. 
 The letter reads as follows : 
 
 " PARISH ST. LUKE S, Jan y -2 d , 1775. 
 " DEAR SIR : 
 
 " I have ordered a squad of ten men under command of S g t 
 M c Dowell to seize provisions at Bache s Mills. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 2$ 
 
 "We captured yesterday, on its way to the interior of the Province, a 
 train loaded with flour and salt beef. I have ordered it to be sent to 
 Charleston under guard. 
 
 " My men are all well and in good spirits. 
 
 " I am very respectfully 
 
 " Your humble serv t, 
 
 "T. LYNCH JR. 
 
 " Capt. S. C. R g t. 
 
 "GEN. MOULTRIE, CHARLESTON, 
 
 per SERG T DRAKE." 
 
 Brief as is this apparently plausible letter, when examined in the 
 light of facts and history, several glaring errors are disclosed, any one 
 of which would sufficiently brand it as the work of an impostor, and a 
 bungling one at that. 
 
 1. There never has been any such parish as St. Luke s anywhere 
 in the Charleston region, either in the revolutionary period or in 
 more modern times. 
 
 2. At the date of this letter, Lynch was no captain, nor was he till 
 nearly six months thereafter. 
 
 3. All evidence is wanting of any such locality as Bache s Mills ; 
 and certain it is that, on the 2d of January, 1775, there was no seizing 
 of provisions, flour nor salt beef, in South Carolina. It was not till 
 some time in June, after the reception of the news of the conflicts at 
 Concord and Lexington, and perhaps at Bunker Hill as well, that the 
 militia of South Carolina were organized and put in motion. 
 
 4. Appended to Lynch s signature we find "Jr." thus abbreviated, 
 when he almost invariably wrote it " Jun r . " 
 
 5. His rank and military organization are imperfectly given, as 
 "Capt. S. C. R g t" conveying the idea that there was only one 
 South Carolina regiment in service, whereas there were several, after 
 their organization in June, 1775, and Lynch was really a Captain in 
 Col. Gadsden s first South Carolina regiment, and would not have been 
 likely to have failed to name the regiment to which he belonged. 
 
 6. The indorsement on the back, supposably by the receiver, is in 
 the same pale ink used in preparing the letter itself, a very suspicious 
 circumstance. 
 
 7. This letter purports to have been addressed to "Gen. Moultrie. " 
 
24 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 It is true, that in June, 1775, not earlier, Moultrie was appointed 
 Colonel of the second South Carolina regiment ; but he was not pro 
 moted to the rank of a Brigadier-General till Sept. i6th, 1776, over 
 twenty months after the time this pretended letter was addressed to 
 him as General. Besides Gadsden, not Moultrie, was Lynch s superior 
 officer, to whom he would properly have addressed his official reports. 
 
 It matters very little how this spurious Lynch letter came among the 
 Madison papers, though perhaps placed there innocently and inadvert 
 ently by the elder McGuire, who may, very likely, have been imposed 
 on by some one ; or it may have become mixed up with these manu 
 scripts in some other way not now explainable. 
 
 Gen. Moultrie, it is understood, belonged in early days to the 
 Federal party, and Madison to the Jeffersonian or Democratic party, 
 and it is quite improbable that they had any intimate or personal rela 
 tions ; nor could Madison s papers be presumably supposed to have 
 been the receptacle of revolutionary documents, in which he could have 
 had no interest whatever other than in those addressed directly to him 
 self; and in the early days of the Revolution, Madison was scarcely 
 known outside of his own neighborhood and county. 
 
 The single signature of Lynch in Mr. Willard s collection, which a 
 good expert who has examined it pronounces as unmistakably one of 
 Turner s wares, has an ear-mark which plainly indicates its origin. It 
 has been shown that Mr. Dreer s bogus Lynch letter, purporting to 
 have been written July 23d, 1776, bears internal evidence proving its 
 historic falsity. In this same letter the latter stroke of the letter h in 
 Lynch s name runs down considerably below the other letters in the 
 signature, and in this particular is very singular, and contrary to the 
 signer s mode of making the terminating h in writing his name. The 
 very same peculiarity occurs in this Lynch signature of Mr. Willard, 
 and as the Dreer letter with this singularity has been proven to be 
 fraudulent, so the Willard signature possessing precisely the same pecul 
 iar formation of the letter h determines beyond a question that both 
 were the production of the same prolific counterfeiter. 
 
 Dr. Fogg, of Boston, has what both Dr. Emmet and Mr. Stauffer 
 agree with me in regarding as a Lynch counterfeit. Some years ago 
 Dr. Fogg purchased a large parcel of Colonial papers, among them 
 quite a number of autographs of members of the old Congress. This 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 2$ 
 
 document signed Thomas Lynch and A. Rutledge was of the number. 
 It is an order on John Calvert, who was probably a resident of Mary 
 land. Dr. Fogg at first supposed it was an autograph of the elder 
 Lynch, until subsequently observing that the date more than a year 
 after his death disproved this supposition. This document, dated 
 Feb. 1 4th, 1778, is apparently a genuine order signed originally by A. 
 Rutledge alone, and both Dr. Emmet and Mr. Stauffer judge from its 
 appearance that it came from the collection of the late Robert Gilmor, 
 of Baltimore, from which source each of these gentlemen has a con 
 siderable number of specimens. Some one, apparently Turner, pre 
 fixed the name of Lynch on the same line with Rutledge s, as there 
 was not space for it below, in such a way as to convey the idea that 
 Lynch signed it at the same time with Rutledge. This Lynch signa 
 ture is in much paler ink than Rutledge s, and paler generally than the 
 rest of the document. The T in Thomas, as well as other letters, has 
 a striking resemblance to Turner s other Lynch productions. 
 
 Comparing all these spurious Lynch fabrications with Dr. Emmet s 
 genuine letter of the signer, with the aid of Dr. Emmet and Mr. Stauf 
 fer, it was apparent, that while Turner had to some extent evidently 
 studied, or attempted to study, the fac-simile of Dr. Emmet s Lynch 
 letter as given in Brotherhead s work, yet this reproduction is not a 
 good copy too coarse in the engraving ; yet it was evident that the 
 counterfeits were penned in a much ruder manner than Lynch ordina 
 rily wrote always, in fact, save when he signed the land documents 
 extant with trembling hand when in failing health. The two figures 
 7, in the year, in Dr. Emmet s letter, and the mode of writing "Sir," 
 are strikingly different from those in the Turner counterfeits. In all 
 three of these Turner letter forgeries, the two in Mr. Dreer s possession 
 and that of Mr. Willard, Charleston is invariably written as in mod 
 ern times ; whereas, in Dr. Emmet s Lynch letter to Gen. Washing 
 ton, Lynch writes it Charles Town, as was the uniform custom at 
 that day, whether in letters or printed books, legislative journals or 
 newspapers; and it was not till a considerable period after the Revo 
 lution that the name was abbreviated as we now have it. The word 
 obedient, which is written in full in the genuine Emmet letter, is 
 abbreviated in the two Dreer letters into "ob d t" and "ob t." 
 
 Besides, in all six of these Turner frauds, the letters composing 
 
 3 
 
26 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Lynch s name excepting T in Thomas are invariably run together 
 after the T in Thomas by one stroke of the pen in each portion of the 
 Christian and surname, which was not usual with the signer, especially 
 in his maturer years. Three of these counterfeits have "T. Lynch, 
 Jun r ," appended to them; one, " T. Lynch Jun.," and the Fogg 
 document and single signature of Mr. Willard are in full, Thomas 
 Lynch, without the Jun. in any form. On the Declaration, as fac 
 similes show, it * is L-yn-ch, and so in Dr. Emmet s letter ; while Mr. 
 Gratz writes that, on carefully inspecting the Lynch signature to the 
 signer s receipt in the collection of the Penn. Historical Society, he 
 finds the Christian name Thomas written thus disconnectedly 
 T-h-om-as, and the surname, L-y-n-ch. His early boy signatures, 
 written while at Eton College, and which form the cut signatures 
 extant clipped from his books and Latin translations, in some instances 
 show possibly his name run together, though generally the letters form 
 ing the Lynch signature are more or less disjointed, as L-y n-ch, or 
 L-yn-ch. The J in junior is separate from the rest of the word, while 
 Turner in his fabrications writes Jun r ., running all the letters together, 
 once writing it only "Jun.," and once "Jr." In none of the genuine 
 Lynch signatures extant do we find "Jun.," and one only where he 
 wrote it "Jr." 
 
 Fred. M. Steele, Esq., of Chicago, has one of these spurious Lynch 
 letters, purporting to have been written Nov. i6th, 1775, addressed to 
 Col. Gadsden, regretting that his feeble condition prevented his join 
 ing his regiment at that time. We have inspected this letter, as have 
 others familiar with Lynch s real signature, and all unhesitatingly pro 
 nounce it a barefaced forgery. Mr. Steele picked it up in Washington 
 several years ago. An able expert says truthfully of it, that "it is 
 written on modern blue sized paper, such as was not made until from 
 
 * On May 26th, 1824, Congress directed the Secretary of State to distribute 
 certain fac-simile copies of the Declaration of Independence, engraved by Wm. 
 J. Stone, of Washington, from the original then in the State Department ; and, 
 on the 3Oih of June following, John Quincy Adams, the then Secretary of State, 
 certified to these Declaration copies. One of them, in an excellent state of 
 preservation, with Mr. Adams well-known autographic attestation, is in the rich 
 antiquarian collection of Gordon L. Ford, of Brooklyn, and there the signature of 
 Mr. Lynch appears, as Mr. Ford unites with me in stating T-h-om-as L-yn-ch 
 Jun r . 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 2J 
 
 fifty to seventy-five years after Lynch s death." The whole letter is 
 very clumsily produced written in two kinds of ink, and Col. Gads- 
 den s name is spelled "Gadsen," a mistake that the Signer would 
 never have made. While it purports to have been written at Charles 
 ton, yet the word Philadelphia is inserted directly under Charleston. 
 It is a miserable sham. 
 
 Neither Mr. Dreer, Dr. Fogg, nor Mr. Steele make any pretense to 
 the genuineness of these Turner fabrications ; nor does Mr. Willard 
 of his Lynch signature ; and it is merely as a warning to others, less 
 experienced, that these several deceptions have been so fully explained 
 and exposed. What has become of Turner, or his alias, is not known 
 he is probably beyond the reach of temptation to counterfeit or 
 impose spurious autographs on the unwary and unsuspecting. 
 
 The successful forgeries of letters of Washington, Franklin, Lord 
 Nelson, and others, by Robert Spring, with several aliases, of Phila 
 delphia, form a curious chapter in the history of American autographs 
 and collections. He was born in England in 1813, but of his English 
 career nothing is known. He settled in Philadelphia as early as 1858, 
 dealing in a small way in prints, autographs, and books relating to 
 the history of America. He appears to have possessed both a facile 
 conscience and pen. On one occasion, Mr. Stauffer relates, Spring 
 ingratiated himself, on some plea of historical research, into the family 
 of a descendant* of Judge Chase at Annapolis, one of the Maryland 
 Signers, and managed to appropriate a goodly number of genuine 
 autographs, from which he must have realized some two or three 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 Unable to meet the demands on him for authentic autographs, he 
 began to fabricate and sell spurious productions. Expert in the use 
 of the pen, he soon acquired a rare facility in imitating the penman 
 ship of Washington, Franklin, Lord Nelson, and others. At this 
 period the temptation was great, as a Washington or Franklin letter 
 would command fully $20. " He had," writes Mr. Gratz, "so famil 
 iarized himself with all the characteristics of the handwriting of Wash- 
 
 * Presumably Hester Ann Chase Ridout, who died in Dec., 1888, leaving the 
 commodious old homestead, erected by Judge Chase in 1770, as a home for desti 
 tute, aged, and infirm women. 
 
28 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 ington and Franklin, that he could write a letter in a similar hand of 
 either, without having an original letter, or any other guide, before his 
 eyes." 
 
 These counterfeits were written on paper apparently of the period, 
 with ink so prepared as to impart the appearance of age to the writing, 
 well calculated to deceive those not well posted in genuine autographs. 
 Mr. Gratz, in his notice of Spring in Appletons Cyclopedia of American 
 Biography, states that this adroit forger was frequently arrested by the 
 civil authorities for obtaining money under false pretenses, but always 
 escaped punishment by freely confessing his guilt, and expressing con 
 trition for the offense. 
 
 His counterfeits of Franklin and Lord Nelson found ready sale in 
 Canada and England. He resorted to various expedients to market 
 his productions ; at one time, to cloak his operations, he assumed to 
 be a daughter of the celebrated Confederate leader, Gen. Thomas J. 
 Jackson, and carried on correspondence in her name. He never 
 attempted, Mr. Gratz states, to fabricate the signature of Lynch he 
 could, in his day, find more ready purchasers and better prices for such 
 as Washington and Franklin. " He told me," adds Mr. Gratz, " the 
 entire story of his forgeries, and showed me specimens of them all." 
 
 He died in poverty in a Philadelphia hospital, of which he was an 
 inmate, Dec. I4th, 1876, at the age of sixty-three. Some of Spring s 
 literary forgeries, as well as those of the persevering Turner, are still 
 afloat ; every now and then some of them turn up in the auction sales 
 of autograph collections, and should be carefully avoided. For a 
 further account of Spring and his fabrications, see Appletons Cyclopcedia 
 of American Biography, and Appendix No. i of this essay. 
 
 As the rare specimens of the Signers become still more rare, and 
 consequently of enhanced value, the temptation to counterfeit will be 
 greater, requiring increased vigilance for their detection. 
 
 "When collectors of so much experience," continues Mr. Gratz, 
 "as the late Dr. Sprague and Mr. Cist, placed autographs of the wrong 
 men in their collections, as Dr. Sprague did with several of his Generals 
 of the Revolution, and as Mr. Cist did in the case of George Taylor, 
 the Signer, it is not surprising that others, through lack of knowledge 
 or the absence of a skilled adviser, should accept of autographs of the 
 wrong person." "At the recent Cist sale," writes Mr. Burns, "his 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 29 
 
 collection of Signers, always counted among complete sets, disclosed 
 the fact that the autographs of both Hart and Taylor were not of the 
 right men." 
 
 One of the most discriminating autograph collectors in this country 
 writes: "There are many collections that would be considerably 
 decreased in size, if an expert were to examine them, and cast out all 
 the letters or documents that are not genuine, or not written by the 
 persons whose handwriting they are intended to represent." 
 
 The danger of taking the son for the father, or vice versa, or the 
 wrong man of the same name, has been very properly suggested by 
 Mr. Burns, as well as by the autograph collector just quoted. There 
 were two Lynches, father and son, so of Hart, Carroll, and Heyward. 
 There were two Richard Stocktons, father and son, both eminent 
 lawyers and statesmen of New Jersey the Signer dying in 1781, while 
 the son outlived the father forty-seven years, and whose autograph, by 
 those not familiar with such things, and unobserving of dates, has 
 been mistaken for the Signer s. 
 
 There were two Benjamin Harrisons, near relatives, and both promi 
 nent in public affairs in Virginia during the Revolution one, the 
 Signer, was contradistinguished from the other as Benjamin Harrison 
 of Berkley ; while his kinsman was known as Benjamin Harrison of 
 Brandon Berkley and Brandon being the names of their respective 
 seats on the banks of the James River. Virginia also furnished two 
 Thomas Nelsons Thomas Nelson, Sr., familiarly known as Secretary 
 Nelson, who resided in York town, was the unsuccessful competitor of 
 Patrick Henry for the first term of Governor of Virginia under the 
 Constitution of 1776, and when, shortly after, chosen one of the Privy 
 Council, he declined on account of the infirmities of age ; while his 
 nephew, Thomas Nelson, Jr., also of York County, who was the 
 Signer, became Governor during the life-time of his namesake uncle. 
 The father of Secretary Nelson, and grandfather of Gov. Nelson, also 
 bore the Christian name of Thomas. 
 
 It may be added, that Josiah Bartlett, Robert Treat Paine, Oliver 
 Wolcott, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris, George Ross, and others of the 
 Signers, had sons of the same name. Col. James Smith, of Pennsyl 
 vania, afterwards of Kentucky, and a James Smith, of Carlisle, 
 Pa., have sometimes been mistaken for their namesake, the Signer. 
 
3O AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 George Taylor, also of Pennsylvania, had a counterpart of the same 
 name. There was a second John Morton, a Philadelphia Quaker 
 merchant, sometimes mistaken for the Signer. "I have," writes Mr. 
 Stauffer, "a series of about thirty-five letters that I call my set of 
 wrong men, who had the same name, and flourished at the same period 
 as the genuine ones." These are points that require the care and 
 knowledge of an expert, in order to prevent errors, which experienced 
 collectors are constantly on the alert to detect, and the mere suspicion 
 of the existence of one of which, would injure the reputation of a set 
 amongst connoisseurs.* 
 
 The progress of forming sets of the Signers has been slow from the 
 start. It took from 1815 to well on toward 1834, for Dr. Sprague to 
 complete his first collection; and till 1837 before Dr. Raffles suc j 
 ceeded in procuring the last of his fifty-six autographs. In 1845, we 
 judge, Mr. Gilmor completed his set ; and Mr. Cist and others prob 
 ably not very long thereafter. 
 
 In August, 1870, Mr. Burns enumerated fourteen sets of the 
 Signers, namely : Those of Dr. Raffles, Dr. Sprague s two sets, New 
 York State Library, A. W. Griswold, Dr. Emmet, Col. Myers, Mr. 
 Chamberlain, Mrs. Allen, Prof. Leffingwell, Mr. Dreer, Mr. Davis, 
 Mr. Mickley, and Mr. Cist. The Griswold set, now Mr. Drexel s, was 
 then incomplete, and the Mickley and Cist collections have since been 
 dispersed, while that of Mr. Davis has been added to the collections 
 of Mr. Charles Roberts. In November, 1870, Mr. Burns announced 
 two others as complete Dr. J. I. Cohen s, and Dr. Sprague s third 
 set, the latter of which passed into the possession of his son, E. E. 
 Sprague, and since transferred to Hon. J. B. Thacher, of Albany. 
 
 Mr. Sabin, in January, 1871, placed the number of sets then in 
 existence at seventeen, without naming them " some of which, " he 
 added, "are very weak in specimens, and perfect in completeness 
 only." It is quite certain that there were not so many complete sets 
 at that day ; some that were so reckoned, doubtless, lacked one or 
 more specimens, as in the case of the Drexel set ; and some, then in 
 complete, have since been dispersed, going to improve and complete 
 others. As late as 1876, Mr. Brotherhead gave a list of seventeen 
 
 * Burns American Antiquarian, Aug., 1870. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS, 31 
 
 persons in this country engaged in making collections of autographs of 
 the Signers ; of these, however, four never completed their sets, and 
 two were afterward dispersed. 
 
 When the first edition of Brotherhead s Book of the Signers appeared, 
 in 1 86 1, reference was made, in a notice of the work in the Philadel 
 phia Press, to Queen Victoria s collection, "which we have seen in 
 the private library at Windsor Castle," etc. The well-known author, 
 Theodore Martin, made inquiries regarding this pretended set, and 
 wrote to Mr. Brotherhead, June 21, 1875 : "In his last letter to me, 
 Gen. Ponsonby, Her Majesty s Private Secretary, says : When Mr. 
 Brotherhead sent a volume through the Foreign Secretary, in 1861, he 
 said : "Your Majesty already possesses nearly a complete set of the 
 original autographs of the Signers. " I can find no trace of this set of 
 autographs, nor can I ascertain that the Queen possessed any of their 
 autographs ; " and in a letter a month later, to Mr. Brotherhead, Gen. 
 Ponsonby further says: "The Librarian assures me that no such col 
 lection is in the library, and his further search has confirmed him in 
 his opinion, that the Queen never did possess these autographs. He 
 also inquired at the British Museum, but no trace of any such collec 
 tion can be found." Dr. Emmet writes : "Queen Victoria has no 
 set ; for I tried to see it at Windsor, and was told positively that she 
 never had one." This should be regarded as conclusive. 
 
 In enumerating the collections of the Signers extant, Mr. Burns, in 
 the August number, 1870, of his Antiquarian, referred to the Queen s 
 supposed set, adding : " Of this, we know nothing further than its ex 
 istence. Can any one tell us whether it is an original collection, or 
 that of the Rev. Dr. Raffles ? " As it was well known that the Queen 
 had secured no set of the Signers in this country, it was very naturally 
 surmised that she had obtained Dr. Raffles collection ; but it trans 
 pires that the Doctor s set has never passed out of the possession of his 
 family. 
 
 During our civil war, a complete collection of the Signers, gathered 
 by the late Prof. Robert W. Gibbes, of Columbia, S. C., was destroyed 
 at the burning of that city of its composition, we have no knowledge ; 
 of course, to have been complete, it must have included a Lynch sig 
 nature. During all these past years, three full sets have been dispersed 
 Mr. Mickley s, one of Dr. Sprague s, and Mr, Cist s; and eight sets 
 
32 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 transferred entire to other collectors, namely : " Mr. Gilmor s to Mr. 
 Dreer, Judge Chamberlain s full set to Prof. Leffingwell, Mr. Tefft s 
 two sets to New York State Library and to Mr. Drexel, Dr. Sprague s 
 two sets to Mr. Gratz and Pennsylvania Historical Society, E. E. 
 Sprague s to Hon. J. B. Thacher, and that of the late R. C. Davis to 
 Mr. Charles Roberts ; and eleven sets, meanwhile, have been com 
 pleted three by Dr. Emmet, two by Col. Jones, and one each by Mr. 
 Gratz, Dr. Fogg, Wisconsin Historical Society, and Mr. John M. 
 Hale. The sets of Messrs. Drexel and Myers, and Mrs. Ely, deceased, 
 pass to their families or descendants. 
 
 It is very doubtful if any additional sets can ever be completed, save 
 by utilizing Col. Jones two duplicates ; or by the transfer or breaking 
 up of sets already formed ; though possibly some of the incomplete 
 sets extant, whose composition is not known, might, if brought into 
 market, help out one or two others. A few of the incomplete collec 
 tions have Gwinnett, which still lack the Lynch signature. 
 
 It would seem that the source of supply of the Lynch signatures is 
 practically exhausted, and perhaps the Gwinnett also. Dr. Gilman 
 stated, in April, 1845, that the Misses Bowman informed him that a 
 large trunk of the papers of their uncle, Thomas Lynch, Jr., had, a 
 few years previously, been deposited for safety with their kinsman, 
 Gen. James Hamilton, and was destroyed by the burning of his 
 residence. They added that they had been accustomed, when they 
 went into the country, to place that trunk, with its precious contents, 
 in the bank, but had unfortunately on that occasion deviated from 
 their usual practice. Other Southern signatures, notably those of 
 Middleton, Heyward, and Hall, seemed almost as difficult of procure 
 ment. 
 
 Of the Lynch signatures, there appears to be fifteen extant obtained 
 by Dr. Gilman, at Charleston, and transmitted to Mr. Tefft namely, 
 three possessed by Dr. Emmet, one each in the collections made or 
 possessed by Gratz, Dreer, Leffingwell, Cohen, Fogg, Ely, Roberts, 
 Drexel, Hale, Chamberlain, and the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin His 
 torical Societies, not counting the one once possessed by the late Dr. 
 Gibbes, not now in existence. The Lynch signature of Judge Raffles 
 came from the same source as Dr. Gilman s ; and the four obtained by 
 Col. Jones, of Georgia, one "T. Lynch, Jun r .," the other three simply 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 33 
 
 "Lynch," came also from the title-pages of books once of the Signers 
 Library. Thus we have twenty to which add the full Lynch letter 
 in Dr. Emmet s best set of Signers, and the three Lynch land docu 
 ments signed, in the set of the Pennsylvania Historical Society and 
 those in the Myers and Thacher collections, will make twenty-two 
 altogether represented in the full sets extant of the Signers recognized 
 and described in this essay, with the two duplicate signatures possessed 
 by Col. Jones. Others there are, which are not regarded as genuine 
 by our best judges. 
 
 Comparing the tracings of all three of Col. Jones simple " Lynch " 
 signatures, without a prefix or suffix, with Dr. Emmet s similar one, 
 which is traced back to Dr. Sprague and Mr. Tefft, all four were found 
 as nearly alike as possible, with a slight upturned curl at the end of 
 the latter part of the h, like a single kink or twist in a pig s tail. This 
 peculiar characteristic of all four of these specimens is very unlike the 
 two Turner counterfeits one in the letter of July 23d, 1776, in Mr. 
 Dreer s possession, the other the Lynch signature of Mr. Willard, in 
 which the last stroke in the h ends, not with an upward curl, but with 
 a slight downward dash. 
 
 Dr. Sprague became possessed of at least two of the three Lynch 
 signatures appended to land documents two on one document these 
 were written in a trembling or shaky hand, and with poor ink just be 
 fore his fatal sea voyage, when in bad health, and hence the signatures, 
 though genuine, are quite unlike that appended to the Declaration. 
 Mr. Gratz owned one of these Lynch documents, that is now in the set 
 of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and before parting with it, and 
 wishing to select the specimen he regarded as most desirable for his 
 own collection, unhesitatingly preferred one of the neatly written cut 
 signatures of Lynch ; and he would not to-day exchange this cut sig 
 nature for either of the three Lynch D. S. extant. It is quite possible 
 that other collectors would act differently ; but, we apprehend, most 
 lovers of autographs would heartily approve the choice Mr. Gratz 
 made. 
 
 The Gwinnett autograph is rare no full letter of his has yet been 
 discovered. Documents signed, of various kinds, have been preserved, 
 so that each of the twenty-two full sets of the Signers have been sup 
 plied, and several of the incomplete sets have also a specimen. 
 
34 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS, 
 
 Only five full Hart letters are known to be extant two possessed by 
 Mr. Gratz, and one each in the collections of Mr. Dreer, Mrs. Cohen, 
 and the Pennsylvania Historical Society. Dr. Emmet states that he 
 is under the impression that no genuine letter or document of Hart is 
 extant, that does not show his lack of scholarship, either in spelling, 
 misuse of capital letters, or want of punctuation, and that his signed 
 letters appear to have been written by some one writing a very similar 
 hand to that of the Signer, without betraying his deficiencies. Mr. 
 Gratz confirms this opinion, adding : " Hart was a poor speller, using 
 capitals at his pleasure, and in utter disregard of rules. These errors 
 are numerous in both of the letters I have of his writing. I have seen 
 some orders of the Assembly of New Jersey that were signed by Hart, 
 but written by a clerk, whose handwriting does bear some resemblance 
 to Hart s. I can scarcely believe that he ever had a private secretary ; 
 but when he was Speaker of the Assembly of New Jersey, and chair 
 man of the Council of Safety, it is likely that he utilized the services 
 of the clerk and his assistants. I have one such specimen, and have 
 seen several others, the bodies of which are written, respectively, by 
 different persons." 
 
 But two full Morton letters are known to exist those in the collec 
 tions of Dr. Emmet and Mr. Stauffer, and an unsigned one in the 
 Raffles collection. 
 
 We are aware of but six full Middleton letters those in the collec 
 tions of Messrs. Emmet, Gratz, Dreer, Leffingwell, Raffles, and Etting. 
 
 Eleven Heyward autographs, A.L.S., are in existence two pos 
 sessed by Dr. Emmet, two by Mr. Gratz, and one each by the New 
 York State Library, the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and in the 
 collections of Dreer, Leffingwell, Cohen, Ely, and Etting. 
 
 Eighteen full Hall letters are represented in the collections described, 
 while Samuel Adams, Hopkins, Lewis Morris, Stockton, Hewes, 
 Hooper, Penn, and Rutledge, though scarce, show a fair representation. 
 
 Intimately connected with a collection of autographs of the Signers, 
 are copies of the engraved portraits, and views of the residences of the 
 writers, for their proper illustration. Such engravings, judiciously 
 selected and properly mounted, add vastly to the interest and attract 
 iveness of any set of the Signers indeed, they are quite indispensable. 
 
 Early as 17^7, while our distinguished American painter, Col. John 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 35 
 
 Trumbull, was yet in Europe, he seems to have formed the design of 
 his great national picture of the Signers probably then painting 
 Adams and Jefferson, our respective representatives at the courts of 
 Great Britain and France, and obtaining their suggestions. In 
 
 1789, he painted portraits of such Signers as were then in Con 
 gress ; or, as he has recorded it in his autobiography, "I arranged 
 carefully the composition for the Declaration of Independence, 
 and prepared it for receiving the portraits as I met with the distin 
 guished men who were present at that illustrious scene." Again, in 
 
 1790, he records : " In May, I went to Philadelphia, where I obtained 
 some portraits for my great work." In September, after passing some 
 time in the country, he went to Boston and New Hampshire in quest 
 of heads; and, in 1791, he says, "In February, I went to Charles 
 Town, South Carolina, and there obtained portraits of the Rutledges, 
 Pinckneys, Middletons, Laurens, Heyward, etc. ... In April, 
 I sailed for Yorktown . . . and then rode to Williamsburg, and 
 obtained a drawing of Mr. Wythe for the Declaration. " Washing 
 ton, in a letter to La Fayette, November 21, 1791, spoke of "the 
 greatness of the design, and the masterly execution of the work. " 
 
 As a few of the members who were present when the Declaration 
 was passed on the 4th of July, retired before the engrossed copy was 
 ready for signing, and thus failed to attach their names to the great 
 American Magna Charta ; while others, who were not present, but 
 subsequently became members, affixed their signatures to the Declara 
 tion, Col. Trumbull was embarrassed in determining how to treat 
 these classes. He finally resolved to include all the Signers of whom 
 he could obtain likenesses, and also those who were present when the 
 Declaration was enacted. Of this latter class, however, he for some 
 reason, omitted John Alsop* and Henry Wisner, of New York, 
 
 * The letter of Thomas McKean, the Signer, to Mr. Dallas, Sept. 26, 1796, shows 
 that Henry Wisner was present in Congress, July 4th, 1776, and voted for inde 
 pendence. Wm. Kelby, the able Assistant Librarian of the N. Y. Historical 
 Society, has aided me in the preparation of this note on John Alsop, and his 
 relation to the Declaration. He is represented as one of those who could not 
 bear the thought of a separation from the mother country, and, besides, the 
 instructions of the New York delegation did not authorize them to support so 
 decisive a measure, and he was consequently opposed to the Declaration, On the 
 
36 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Charles Humphreys and Joseph Galloway, of Pennsylvania, and John 
 Rogers,* of Maryland. 
 
 Speaking of the pictures of the Signers, Col. Trumbull says : "All 
 saw the correctness of the portraits. Many knew the accuracy of the 
 countenances recorded." He has introduced forty-eight heads, and 
 full-length portraits, into his grand representation five of whom were 
 not Signers, namely, George Clinton, R. R. Livingston, Thomas 
 Wharton, John Dickinson, who were in Congress when the act was 
 passed, but not at the signing, and Charles Thomson, the Secretary, 
 whose name attests the accuracy of the document, and genuine 
 ness of the signatures of the Signers. Of these forty-eight persons 
 represented in the picture, Col. Trumbull seems to have faithfully 
 painted thirty-eight from life, copied nine from other likenesses, and 
 painted one, that of Harrison, from directions given him for the 
 purpose. 
 
 In a letter written by Trumbull to Gen. W. H. Harrison, in Feb- 
 
 adoption of the measure, and its immediate ratification by the New York Provin 
 cial Convention, Mr. Alsop resigned his seat ; and, in a letter to the Convention, 
 he expressed surprise and indignation at the slight put upon the New York dele 
 gation in leaving it without instructions on this point, although such instructions 
 had been repeatedly sought for, and he concluded by adding his disapprobation as 
 to the course of Congress in closing the door against reconciliation with Great 
 Britain. If further proof were wanting of Alsop s presence in Congress, on July 
 2d and 4th, 1776, it is to be found inferentially in the fact that the Journals of 
 Congress show that he was appointed on a special committee as late as June 28th, 
 only a few days preceding the vote on independence. Mr. Alsop, when the 
 British took possession of New York, retired with his family to Middletown, 
 Conn., where he remained till the close of the war. He died at Newtown, L. I., 
 Nov. 22d, 1794. See John Austin Stevens valuable paper on the New York 
 Delegates to the Continental Congress, 1774-76, before the N. Y. Historical 
 Society, May 2d, 1876, subsequently given in the Galaxy magazine for August, 
 1876; N. Y. Chamber of Commerce Records, 1768-84, p. 120. 
 
 * With reference to Rogers, see Etting s Hist, of Independence Hall, 85, 96, 
 100, 177. The Journals of Congress show that Mr. Rogers was appointed on 
 important committees, June $th and i8th, 1776. Lanman s Hist, of Congress, and 
 Drake s Biographical Dictionary, state that he served in the Congress of 1775 and 
 1776, was afterwards Chancellor of Maryland, and died at Annapolis, in October, 
 1789. There can be little doubt of his presence in Congress, July 4th, 1776, as 
 Col. Etting asserts. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 37 
 
 ruary, 1818, he states: "Since I wrote you last, I have inquired of 
 Mr. Peale, and have received for answer that he possesses no portrait 
 of your father in his museum. My sole reliance must, therefore, be 
 on such description as you and his friend, Col. Meade, of Kentucky, 
 can furnish me." As Col. Trumbull seems to have been faithful, 
 painstaking, and conscientious, it is but fair to conclude that he 
 painted the Harrison portrait from the suggestions of Gen. Harrison 
 and Col. Meade, and that his drawing was submitted to them, and 
 met their approval. Mr. Brotherhead very pertinently asks: "Is it 
 not better that we should have a portrait of Harrison under these 
 conditions than have none at all ? " We may fairly infer, as we hear 
 of no similar cases, that Col. Trumbull met with no other obstacles in 
 the procurement of the forty-eight portraits introduced into his great 
 picture. The fullest confidence may be reposed in the integrity of 
 Trumbull, and the genuineness of his portraits. 
 
 Of the other thirteen whose heads do not appear in the Declaration 
 painting, eight had passed away before Col. Trumbull commenced 
 securing likenesses for this purpose Gwinnett, Morton, Ross, Hart, 
 Taylor, Rodney, Stone, and Penn. Hall survived till 1790; Francis 
 Lightfoot Lee, and Braxton, till 1797; Thornton till 1803, and Smith 
 till 1806. Why these five survivors were not visited by him, and 
 painted, is a matter of surprise and regret. 
 
 It was not till early in 1817 that Col. Trumbull received from Con 
 gress a commission to paint this and three other historical pictures for 
 the Rotunda of the Capitol. The painting of the Signers was first com 
 pleted in October, 1818, when it was placed on public exhibition. 
 Durand was employed in 1820 to engrave it, but it was not published 
 until 1822, and is the original of the millions of copies of all sizes 
 which have since been in circulation. 
 
 In 1849, William Hunt prepared the Biographical Panorama, printed 
 by Joel Munsell, of Albany, and illustrated with woodcuts, in which, 
 among others, were included the thirteen deficiencies of Trumbull s 
 picture. In 1870, Mr. Burijs commenced the publication of portraits 
 of twenty-two of the Signers from drawings in the collection of Dr. 
 Emmet. They were copied and engraved or etched by H. B. Hall, 
 and more especially designed for purposes of illustration. The twenty- 
 two were made up of Bartlett, Thornton, Whipple, Ellery, Hopkins, 
 
38 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. . 
 
 Williams, Lewis Morris, Clark, Hart, Stockton, Smith, Taylor, Rod 
 ney, Braxton, Harrison, F. L. Lee, Nelson, Hooper, Penn, Gwinnett, 
 Hall, and Walton ; and Mr. Burns added Rutledge from Sanderson s 
 Lives of the Signers thus supplying, in the number, ten of the 
 thirteen deficiencies of Trumbull, leaving only Ross, Stone, and 
 Morton unrepresented. Fifty sets of these Burns engravings were 
 issued, when the plates were destroyed. 
 
 Inquiries having been made concerning the origin of some of these 
 twenty-two Burns engravings, notably that of Hart, prompted Dr. 
 Emmet to write a statement of the matter, in October, 1872, to a 
 friend, which has never been published ; and which he has recently 
 amended and enlarged at the instance of the writer of this paper. As 
 thus corrected, it is well worthy of a place in this connection : 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you," writes Dr. Emmet, "for giving 
 me the opportunity of explanation in regard to the origin of these Burns 
 engravings, as I have been placed in a somewhat false position with 
 reference to them. For many years I have been illustrating Sander 
 son s Lives of the Signers, having had the whole book inlaid to folio ; 
 and, with the illustrations, it has now reached some twenty volumes. 
 As but a small portion of the portraits of these gentlemen had ever 
 been engraved, I had beautiful water-colored drawings made by H. B. 
 Hall of all the Signers given in Trumbull s large picture at the Capitol 
 at Washington, which contained all but thirteen of the fifty-six. They 
 were copied from the original painting. 
 
 "There is a portrait given of Stockton, and also of Williams, in this 
 Trumbull picture ; but the Stockton engraved for Burns was copied 
 from a likeness sent me by his grand-daughter, Mrs. George T. 
 Olmsted, of Princeton the same picture that is in the Princeton 
 College Gallery. The head of this portrait had been cut out by an 
 English officer during the Revolution, and it was thought for a long 
 time to have been lost, but it was at length found behind the picture 
 where it had fallen when decapitated ; but fortunately it was not so 
 injured but that it could be, and was, restored. 
 
 "The Ellery, in the American Biographical Panorama, printed by 
 Joel Munsell, in 1849, for Wm. Hunt, I found was the same as given 
 in an unfinished plate, about the size of Trumbull s, from which I 
 have the only impression I ever saw the plate itself, in a damaged 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 39 
 
 condition, is, I am told, in the Massachusetts Historical Society. Of 
 its history, I know nothing. 
 
 "The Thornton likeness in the Burns set was recognized by rela 
 tives as having been copied from a miniature then lost. A Mr. 
 Thornton, then an officer of the navy, wrote to Col. T. B. Myers, of 
 New York, at the time of publication, for information touching the 
 lost original, stating that the Burns engraving bore a remarkable resem 
 blance to different members of the Thornton family. I afterwards had 
 a correspondence with a descendant, a lawyer in Newburyport, Mass., 
 who had been struck with the family resemblance, and wished to learn 
 from what source it had been obtained. Since then, the Thornton 
 family have had a portrait painted from this Burns engraving, and 
 presented to the State of New Hampshire, which now hangs in the 
 capitol at Concord. 
 
 "The Williams was taken from a recently published history of the 
 Williams family. It resembles very closely the wood-cut in the Hunt 
 work, and both have the same peculiar manner of wearing the hair. 
 The Francis Lightfoot Lee, in Hunt s book, was evidently from the 
 same source that Lossing obtained his, as given in the frontispiece to 
 the second volume of his Field Book ; the Burns engraving of Lee was 
 from the Lossing copy. The Bartlett, in the Burns series, corre 
 sponded with a likeness I had traced to his family. The Hall likeness 
 was taken from Brotherhead s Book of the Signers ; while the Hart, 
 Braxton, Gwinnett, Penn, and Thornton were taken from engravings 
 in Hunt s publication, which were copied to complete my series, and 
 my friends, and all who have seen the collection, are familiar with 
 their source. 
 
 "After Burns issued the series, Charles L. Paschal, of West Phila 
 delphia, a great-grandson of Hart, wrote me in October, 1872, inquir 
 ing about its origin, saying that the Burns engraving of Hart from 
 your collection has been received. His descendants know by tradition 
 that there was, years ago, a portrait of him in existence, and as one of 
 them I am willing to accept this engraving as from the long-lost pic 
 ture, because the family likeness is seen distinctly in the descendants. 
 1 believe, therefore, it is correct, and am willing to accept it as authen 
 tic, and will do all in my power to prove the same, while some of my 
 relatives still live to assist me, though at an old age." 
 
40 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 "Compare the Braxton profile engraving as published by Burns 
 from the Hunt work, with the full-faced etching recently issued, 
 and there can be no doubt that both likenesses were from the same 
 original. 
 
 "There are other curious circumstances and corroborations in 
 regard to these Hunt likenesses, although so roughly executed. 
 That of Lewis Morris is a case in point. I had never before seen a 
 portrait of Morris, except in Trumbull s picture as a young man ; and 
 this Hunt representation bears a remarkable resemblance to his 
 descendants now living in New York, with whom I have been per 
 sonally acquainted both in the present and past generations.* 
 
 "A Miss Morris, of the family of Lewis Morris, Jr., has stated to 
 me that the portrait of Lewis Morris, the Signer, which this wood-cut 
 in Hunt so closely resembles, had been for many years in the posses 
 sion of her father, near Willtown, South Carolina ; but during Sher 
 man s march, a party of officers stopped at the house to obtain some 
 refreshments, which were prepared by the ladies of the family, who 
 were alone. After the meal, one of the officers arose from the table, 
 and with his sword destroyed this picture as he left the room. Miss 
 Morris, on being shown the Hunt likeness of her ancestor, the Signer, 
 said that it had evidently been copied from the family portrait. 
 
 "The Morton was not engraved from the Hunt work, as his 
 descendants held that there never had been a portrait painted of him. 
 Yet I now think that this evidence proves nothing except that they 
 do not happen to know of any ; for it was the custom of the day for 
 every public man to have his portrait painted and the family portraits 
 were then about the only wall decorations in use. 
 
 "The Smith and Taylor were copied from two wood-cuts, 
 which I purchased, among some odds and ends, at the Tefft sale of 
 autographs, in March, 1867; and were of much larger size, and of 
 older date, but evidently from the same source as the wood-cuts in 
 
 * Lossing, in his Field Book, and Brotherhead, in two editions of his Book of 
 the Signers, substantially copy Trumbull; though Brotherhead, in the first edition 
 of his work, reverses the view. \V. A. P. Morris, of Madison, Wis., a grandson 
 of the Signer, has a likeness of his father, Gen. Jacob Morris; and both father and 
 son, in addition to their baldness, indicate other points of resemblance to both 
 the Morris engraving in the Burns series, and in the Trumbull picture. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 4! 
 
 the Hunt book from some older work from which they were copied. 
 The authenticity of these likenesses, however, must remain in doubt. 
 I was surprised to find that the Tefft wood-cuts of Smith and Taylor 
 and the likenesses in Hunt s book were evidently from the same 
 source, though the Hunt ones were only about half the size of the 
 Tefft cuts. While this was on my mind, Dr. B. J. Lossing paid me a 
 visit ; and as he had been an engraver, I showed him one of the Tefft 
 wood-cuts, and asked him if he knew anything about them. He 
 pointed to the engraver s name on the block, showing that the period 
 when these cuts were made antedated Hunt s work the engraver 
 dying about 1820. These two wood-cuts have since been lost. 
 
 "The Rodney was the only make-up of the whole set issued by 
 Burns. It was copied from the St. Memin portrait of the Signer s 
 nephew, Caesar A. Rodney, whose profile bore a remarkable resem 
 blance to his uncle, as I had been informed by different members of 
 his family. 
 
 " Regarding Hunt s Panorama, so often referred to in connection 
 with the Burns engravings, I may add, that it was evidently written for 
 the purpose of utilizing a number of odd plates and wood-blocks of differ 
 ent styles, originally gotten up for other purposes. Munsell told me 
 that he knew nothing of the origin of the portraits, beyond the fact 
 that he had to take a lot of old plates for a bad debt, and these were 
 among the collection and the book was written to utilize them. 
 
 "And yet Mr. Munsell has, in a playful way, stated in the catalogue 
 of his imprints, that these engravings were the result of the imagination 
 of a young English artist, closeted in a room, and inspired by beer and 
 tobacco. I never saw a man laugh more heartily than Munsell did, 
 when telling the late F. S. Hoffman and myself how easily he gulled a 
 friend of his with the story of shutting up an English engraver to pre 
 pare a set of the Signers for him ; that this friend seemed to want some 
 thing of the kind, so he gave him a tough yarn. 
 
 But, instead of these Hunt engravings being a cheat and decep 
 tion, it is evident that those of them with which we are familiar, are 
 fair, as regards likenesses, though very poorly executed. The volume 
 is filled with portraits, and many of them we can identify by compari 
 son with other likenesses, so that it is evident that the artist had an 
 original to copy from in almost every instance. 
 
 4 
 
42 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 "Mr. Burns did a good work in adding so many authentic por 
 traits, while the uncertain ones, to complete the series, were done by 
 request, for illustrations. I wish that we had authentic portraits for 
 the whole number ; but until they can be found, I shall be satisfied 
 with what I have, feeling that full justice has been done them in the 
 ideal, if ever proved so. I believe that portraits once existed of the 
 whole ; for the custom was too general at the time these men lived, 
 and they may yet be found. But until then, no one can say posi 
 tively that some of these portraits are without foundation for the 
 opposite opinion could as well be held." 
 
 These views of Dr. Emmet are thoughtful and judicious. Another 
 well-known and intelligent collector, the late Robert C. Davis, of 
 Philadelphia, remarks: "Some of Mr. Burns series of the Signers 
 are doubtful ; but if we desire to illustrate their writings, what better 
 can we do? " We may feel thankful that we have so many likenesses 
 of the Signers that are of such well-established excellence and authen 
 ticity ; and of the few uncertain ones, we may very properly treasure 
 them in our illustrations until more reliable ones can be discovered. 
 
 One such discovery has recently occurred, as is learned from Mr. 
 Charles Roberts, of Philadelphia, who writes : "At the New Orleans 
 Exhibition of 1885, I found a photograph of Carter Braxton, in the 
 Virginia display. On inquiry, at Richmond, it turned out to be 
 genuine, and we have etched it." Dr. Fogg, of Boston, writes that, 
 in his opinion, the Bartlett likeness of the Hall series bears no resem 
 blance to the painting of that Signer by Trumbull, preserved in the 
 old homestead at Stratham, N. H., which has been engraved at pri 
 vate hands, a copy of which he sent to the Wisconsin Historical 
 Society. It is believed, too, that there is a likeness of Lynch extant, 
 as it has been promised by his friends for Independence Hall. 
 
 Might it not be better to have the Morton likeness, from Hunt s 
 Panorama, reproduced, or one made from prominent family traits sug 
 gested by its members, rather than have none at all ? 
 
 Since Dr. Emmet penned his statement, touching Hunt s Panorama 
 and its engravings of the Signers, he calls attention to the fact, which 
 he had overlooked, that while Hunt s work appeared in 1849, Dr. 
 Lossing had published early in the preceding year, his Lives of the 
 Signers, giving forty-nine wood-cuts of the Signers, lacking only 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 43 
 
 Thornton, Hart, Morton, Rodney, Braxton, Penn, and Gwinnett ; 
 and what is significant, is, that all of these forty-nine likenesses, 
 together with that of R. R. Livingston, are precisely the same as those 
 in Hunt s book, with slight changes, in some instances, in bust or 
 costume, but not in facial expression. Dr. Lossing must have had 
 good foundation for all these representations giving five more than 
 Trumbull ; so that Hunt, after all, copying from Lossing, had high 
 authority for most of the wood-cut engravings of the Signers given in 
 his Panorama. 
 
 The Ellery, Lewis Morris, Smith and Taylor likenesses discussed by 
 Dr. Emmet, are thus shown to have been originally brought forward 
 by Dr. Lossing, a year in advance of Hunt. While in his work on the 
 Signers, Lossing gives George Taylor, as copied by Hunt ; yet from 
 mere accident this Taylor likeness was omitted in his engraving of the 
 Signers, prefixed to the second volume of his Field Book of the Revolu 
 tion, published four years later. 
 
 Dr. Emmet makes reference to Mr. Lossing s likeness of Francis 
 Lightfoot Lee in his representation of the Signers. Much credit is due 
 Dr. Lossing for the pains he took in perfecting this engraving. Forty- 
 eight of the Signers are represented in the picture, together with R. R. 
 Livingston, one of the Declaration committee, not present at the sign 
 ing. Besides F. L. Lee, Dr. Lossing introduces four others, not given 
 by Trumbull Smith, Ross, Stone and Hall. The eight not appearing 
 on Lossing s picture are Thornton, Hart, Taylor, Morton, Rodney, 
 Braxton, Penn and Gwinnett. 
 
 Aside from the group of the Declaration committee, Dr. Lossing 
 thinks he did not copy largely from Trumbull. In his extensive travels 
 over our country in quest of historical matter, and while visiting the 
 families of the Signers, he, with the eye of an artist, not unfrequently 
 discovered better delineations, and thus availed himself of his rare 
 opportunities for improvement. But after a lapse of forty years, and 
 having gathered and engraved so many hundred likenesses, he writes that 
 he cannot, at this late day, recall the sources from which he obtained 
 them. His picture of the Signers must ever be regarded as invaluable 
 by all who take an interest in the pictorial literature of the country. 
 
 Dr. Emmet also refe rs to the Ellery likeness in Hunt s Panorama as 
 being the same as that given in an unfinished plate, in possession of 
 
44 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 the Massachusetts Historical Society. At the sale of the literary 
 effects, some ten or a dozen years ago, of the late John K. Wiggin, a 
 book-dealer of Boston, Mr. Burns, of New York, purchased a copy of 
 an engraving of the Signing of the Declaration, very different from 
 Trumbull s, some of the Signers having only the heads, but the plate 
 contained a large number of the Signers ; that Mr. Wiggin, learning 
 of the plate, got permission to have a few impressions taken from it. 
 Dr. Emmet has the impression obtained by Mr. Burns. Dr. S. A. 
 Green states that the unfinished copper plate, about twenty-two by 
 twenty-eight inches in size, was presented to the Massachusetts His 
 torical Society in 1859, by Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, who says that he 
 obtained it from the treasurer of the Revere Copper Company of Bos 
 ton. The treasurer received it among a lot of scrap copper, and was 
 curious to learn something of its history ; but was unable to discover 
 anything. The artist is unknown, and the plate itself reveals nothing 
 of its origin. 
 
 The Morton engraving in Hunt s Biographical Panorama, Mr. 
 Charles Roberts writes, does not, he is informed, resemble the family. 
 "I remember," he adds, "John S. Morton, who lived near us, and 
 our families visited. I understand that he made every effort to obtain 
 a portrait of his ancestor, the Signer, but without success ; and placed 
 a tablet instead in Independence Hall. I am satisfied that there is no 
 authentic portrait of Morton." Mr. Stauffer adds: There is no 
 portrait extant of Morton, save one through a mediumistic source the 
 family have none ; every branch having been diligently interviewed. " 
 
 The late B. B. Thatcher, of Boston, a noted litterateur and auto 
 graph collector of his day, declared, over fifty years ago, that the forma 
 tion of a set of autographs of the Signers of the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence was the ne plus ultra of American collectors many having 
 attempted it, and but few succeeded. Brotherhead, in his monograph 
 on his visit to Mr. Dreer s collection of autographs, in 1857, speaking 
 of his full set of the Signers, adds : "We know many industrious col 
 lectors, and they find it very difficult to collect even those that are con 
 sidered the most common. In a few years, such a collection will 
 bring an extraordinary price ; " and in the first edition of his Book of 
 the Signers. 1861, he says : "Both at home and abroad, every docu 
 ment, letter, or signature from the hand of a Signer, has become valua- 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 45 
 
 ble ; and the autographs of some of these worthies, it is almost impos 
 sible to obtain. A complete set is of the extremest rarity " adding, 
 that autographs of Heyward, Ross, Harrison, Hall, Livingston and 
 Hopkins are scarce ; while those of Lewis Morris, Stockton, Hart, 
 Morton, Taylor, Wythe, Penn, Hewes, Lynch, Middleton, and Gwin- 
 net "are almost impossible to obtain, even a signature; and that 
 others are becoming rare, and bear a high value in proportion to their 
 scarcity." Mr. Burns declared, in 1870, when the supply was less 
 exhausted than now, that a collection of autographs of the Signers was 
 by no means easy to be brought together ; while the late Mr. Sabin, 
 a year later, said that "the formation of a set now is excessively 
 difficult." 
 
 It is, therefore, no small marvel that our Society should, at this late 
 day, have succeeded in completing our collection, after a quarter of a 
 century s efforts aided by that prince of autograph collectors, Charles 
 DeF. Burns, of New York. Our set is as yet unbound, purposely 
 delaying that final completion of the work, with the hope of possibly 
 substituting full letters for some of the five signed documents of Hart, 
 Morton, Heyward, Middleton and Gwinnett the chances are, how 
 ever, too faint to warrant an expectation ; and of the other, the Lynch 
 signature, which is a good one, there is not the least prospect whatever 
 of improving it. Another motive for delay in binding the collection, 
 is to add somewhat to the number of engravings for appropriate illus 
 trations. 
 
 When ultimately bound, they might possibly be compressed into 
 three volumes ; one for each of the old divisions of the Union the 
 Eastern, Middle, and Southern States. But it is much more probable 
 that the accumulation of illustrative matter, views and engravings, will 
 render it advisable to extend the number of volumes to perhaps eight 
 viz. : New Hampshire and Massachusetts, with their illustrations, eight 
 Signers; Rhode Island and Connecticut, six; New York and New 
 Jersey, nine ; Pennsylvania, nine ; Delaware and Maryland, seven ; 
 Virginia, seven ; North and South Carolina and Georgia, ten. The 
 eighth volume to be composed of fac-similes of the Declaration, a 
 printed broadside of the Declaration, published by order of the General 
 Assembly of Rhode Island, July 12, 1776, a copy of the Pennsylvania 
 Gazette of July 10, 1776, containing the Declaration ; together with 
 
46 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 autographs of Charles Thomson, the Secretary of Congress, and of 
 those members who voted on the question, but were not present when 
 the engrossed copy of the Declaration was subsequently signed. 
 
 Such an arrangement of the autograph letters and documents, with 
 appropriate illustrations, and letterpress of Sanderson s Biography of 
 the Signers, with perhaps selections from Brotherhead s Book of the 
 Signers, all inlaid, and properly bound, would present a noble record 
 of the FATHERS OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 A brief catalogue of our Society s set of these almost priceless letters 
 and documents cannot prove otherwise than interesting noting their 
 dates, number of pages, general condition, and in some instances, the 
 subject matter to which they relate. 
 
 An explanation seems proper of the abbreviations used in describing 
 different kinds of autographs, with their relative rank or value. In 
 making a collection of autographs, all seek to obtain, if possible, A. L. 
 S. autograph letters signed as the best and highest class of specimens. 
 Some regard L. S. letters signed, the body written by a clerk as next 
 in rank of desirableness ; but it would seem that A. D. S. autograph 
 documents signed, entirely in the handwriting of the signer should be 
 preferred. D. S. documents signed, whether printed or written by 
 another ; and cut signatures are the least desirable autographs, yet they 
 often serve to complete sets when nothing better can be obtained. An 
 A. D. auto graph document, not signed, is sometimes called into requisi 
 tion to eke out a collection, as better than no specimen at all, which it 
 surely is. A. N. S. autograph note signed is generally regarded as 
 equivalent to an A. L. S. Collectors constantly endeavor to improve all 
 these classes by better specimens, in date, size, subject matter, or con 
 dition. 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE DELEGATION. 
 
 1. JOSIAH BARTLETT, A. L. S., December 6, 1794, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 2. WILLIAM WHIFFLE, A. L. S., September 7, 1779, two pages, in 
 good condition, addressed to his associate Signer, Mr. Bartlett, con 
 gratulating his friend on "the late happy event between England and 
 Spain " i. e., their getting by the ears, by which the struggling 
 young Republic might hope to profit. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 47 
 
 3. MATTHEW THORNTON, A. L. S., October 9, 1775, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS DELEGATION. 
 
 4. JOHN HANCOCK, A. L. S. , September 9, 1780, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 5. SAMUEL ADAMS, A. L. S., March 14, 1768, addressed to the 
 people of Boston, which, says that experienced and competent judge 
 of autographs, C. DeF. Burns, "is really the most satisfactory speci 
 men of the name I have ever had." It covers two pages, dated, 
 signed, and in the handwriting of Mr. Adams a beautiful sample of 
 chirography, finely preserved. It conveys facts of interest concerning 
 the poverty of the Bostonians, and its causes, a few years anterior to 
 the Revolution, viz. : 
 
 To the Free-holders and other Inhabitants of the town of Boston, in 
 Annual Town Meeting assembled, March i^th, 1768 : 
 
 The Memorial of Samuel Adams showeth : 
 
 That your Memoralist was chosen by said Town in the year 1764, a Col 
 lector of Taxes, in which capacity he had before served the Town for 
 nine years successively and being duly sworn, had the Province, Town 
 and County taxes, assessed the same year, accordingly committed to him 
 to collect; at the same time he became bound to the Town Treasurer, 
 with suretys, in the penal sums of Five thousand Pounds for the payment 
 of the same into the respective Treasurys. 
 
 That with all possible diligence, and with his best discretion, he attended 
 his duty ; but was greatly retarded by means of the small pox, which then 
 prevailed in the Town, and other obstructions : So that he was unable to 
 make any great Progress, till a new year came on, when a new Tax was 
 levied, on the same Persons who remained indebted to him as aforesaid, 
 which Tax was committed to another person to collect. That the Town 
 cannot be unmindful of the difficulties which the next year ensued, by 
 Reason of the Stamp Act, and the Confusion consequent thereupon; which 
 in a great Measure interrupted the course of Business of every kind. By 
 all which there became a Burden of three years taxes upon those Per 
 sons, many of them at least, who had not paid your Memoralist for the 
 said year 1764. 
 
 That the Town, the last year, saw fit to direct their Treasurer to put 
 
48 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 the Bond afore d in suit ; which he accordingly did, and obtained a Judg 
 ment thereon ; and altho your Mem st has since been able to lessen the 
 sum by Payments into the Treasury, yet there still remains a large bal 
 ance due, which your Treasurer, if called on, can ascertain. 
 
 Now your Memoralist prays the Town to take the matter, with all its 
 circumstances, into candid consideration, and grant him a further Time 
 to collect his out-standing Debts, that he may be enabled thereby to com- 
 pleat the Obligation of his Bond : Or otherwise, that the Town will do 
 that which to them all shall seem good. 
 
 With all due respect to the Town, 
 
 SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 6. JOHN ADAMS, A. L. S., November 7, 1789, two pages, in good 
 condition. 
 
 7. ROBERT TREAT PAINE, A. L. S., February n, 1792, two pages, 
 in good condition. 
 
 8. ELBRIDGE GERRY, A. L. S., April 27, 1814, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 RHODE ISLAND DELEGATION. 
 
 9. STEPHEN HOPKINS, A. L. S., June 17, 1758 a note to the House 
 of Deputies of that Province, about surgeons for the R. I. regiment 
 then in service, one page, in good condition. 
 
 10. WILLIAM ELLERY, A. L. S., May 21, 1786, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 CONNECTICUT DELEGATION. 
 
 11. ROGER SHERMAN, A. L. S., July 26, 1765, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 12. SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, A. L. S., April 28, 1785, two pages, in 
 good condition. 
 
 13. WILLIAM WILLIAMS, A. L. S., June 3, 1785, three pages, in good 
 condition. 
 
 14. OLIVER WOLCOTT, A. L. S., June 17, 1786, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 NEW YORK DELEGATION. 
 
 15. WILLIAM FLOYD, A. L. S., dated Philadelphia, August 10, 1776, 
 expressing anxiety to hear about the situation of affairs, after the Brit- 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 49 
 
 ish invasion, on Long Island, where he then resided "What has 
 become of Gen. Woodhull, Mr. Hobart, Treadwell and Smith what 
 about my family who escaped, or what must they submit to ? " Two 
 pages, in good condition. 
 
 1 6. PHILIP LIVINGSTON, A. L. S., November n, 1751, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 17. FRANCIS LEWIS, A. L. S. , July 13, 1779, one page, in good con 
 dition. "Doctor Witherspoon and Col. Atlee," writes Mr. Lewis, 
 "two of the committee sent to Bennington, are returned, and yester 
 day offered their report to Congress, who were of opinion that it could 
 not be officially received, as the two others from Connecticut did not 
 join them at the conference. . . . Our cruisers have of late been 
 successful two valuable prizes arrived here yesterday and the day 
 before." 
 
 1 8. LEWIS MORRIS, A. L. S., March 6, 1784, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 NEW JERSEY DELEGATION. 
 
 19. RICHARD STOCKTON, A. L. S., April 5, 1779, on land matters, 
 one page, in good condition. 
 
 20. JOHN WITHERSPOON, A. L. S., December 19, 1785, one page, 
 in good condition. 
 
 21. FRANCIS HOPKINSON, A. L. S., July 31, 1777 instructions to 
 Capts. Barry and Reed, two pages, in good condition. 
 
 22. JOHN HART, A. D. S., an account of two pages, and indorse 
 ment, January i, 1778, in good condition. 
 
 23. ABRAHAM CLARK, A. L. S., January 9, 1794, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA DELEGATION. 
 
 24. ROBERT MORRIS, A. L. S., March 18, 1795, one page, in good 
 condition acknowledging the receipt of the sword of the late Admiral 
 Paul Jones, which Mr. Morris says he "presented to Com. John 
 Barry, the senior officer of the present American Navy, who will never 
 disgrace it. " 
 
 25. BENJAMIN RUSH, A. L. S., July 25, 1796, two pages, in good 
 condition. 
 
$O AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 26. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,* A. L. S., London, May 2, 1770 ad 
 dressed to Noble Wimberly Jones, Speaker of the Assembly, Georgia : 
 
 " SIR. Your favor of February 21, was duly delivered to me by Mr. 
 Preston, I immediately bespoke the Mace agreeable to your orders, and 
 was assured it should be worked upon with diligence, so that I hope to 
 have it ready to send with the Gowns by a ship that I understand goes 
 directly to Georgia sometime next month. By the estimation of the 
 Jeweller, who undertook it, the cost will not exceed ^80. What the 
 Gowns will amount to, I have not yet learnt ; but suppose ^100 will be 
 more than sufficient for the whole. I esteem myself highly honored by 
 your Government in being appointed, as you inform me, a second time 
 their Agent. I shall rejoice in any opportunity of rendering effectual ser 
 vice to the Province. I beg you will present my thankful acknowledg 
 ments to the several branches of your Legislature, and assure them of 
 my faithful endeavors in the execution of any commands I may receive 
 from them." 
 
 27. JOHN MORTON, D. S., a commission as speaker of the Pennsyl 
 vania Assembly, July 8, 1776, in good condition. 
 
 28. GEORGE CLYMER, A. L. S., May 7, 1794, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 29. JAMES SMITH, A. L. S., August 2, 1779, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 30. GEORGE TAYLOR, A. L. S. , April 18, 1757, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 31. JAMES WILSON, A. L. S., June 18, 1792, three pages, in good 
 condition on land matters, addressed to Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, 
 with a page of holograph notes of Mr. Carroll s reply. 
 
 32. GEORGE Ross, A. L. S., January 20, 1779, one P a o e > i n good 
 condition. 
 
 DELAWARE DELEGATION. 
 
 33. CESAR RODNEY, A. L. S., August 13, 1/79, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 * Dr. Franklin could not probably have had very much to do in the prepara 
 tion of the Declaration of Independence. In a MS. letter of the doctor, dated 
 June 21, 1776, addressed to Gen. Washington, now in Dr. Emmet s collection, 
 occurs this statement : "I am just recovering from a severe fit of gout, so that I 
 know little of what has passed there [in Congress], except that a Declaration of 
 Independence is preparing." 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLEC7IONS. 5 I 
 
 34. GEORGE READ, A. L. S., September 25, 1797, two pages, in 
 good condition. 
 
 35. THOMAS McKEAN, A. L. S., January 4, 1787, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 MARYLAND DELEGATION. 
 
 36. SAMUEL CHASE, A. L. S., March 16, 1785, on business matters, 
 three pages, in good condition. 
 
 37. WILLIAM PACA, A. L. S., April 5, 1772, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 38. THOMAS STONE, A. L. S. , May 26, 1786, two pages, in good 
 condition. 
 
 39. CHARLES CARROLL, of Carrollton, A. L. S., July 18, 1790, one 
 page, in good condition. Also a letter from the Signer s father, dated 
 August 3, 1775, addressed to "Dear Charley" and directed to 
 "Charles Carroll, of Carrollton." 
 
 VIRGINIA DELEGATION. 
 
 40. GEORGE WYTHE, A. L. S., April 26, 1790, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 41. RICHARD HENRY LEE, A. L. S., January 20, 1793, two pages, 
 in good condition. 
 
 42. THOMAS JEFFERSON, A. L. S., August 7, 1814, business matters, 
 two pages, in good condition. 
 
 43. BENJAMIN HARRISON, A. L. S., May n, 1788, two pages, in 
 good condition. 
 
 44. THOMAS NELSON, Jr., A. L. S., July 30, 1785, business matters, 
 three pages, in good condition. 
 
 45. FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE, A. L. S., May 3, 1771, three pages, 
 in good condition. 
 
 46. CARTER BRAXTON, A. L. S., September 8, 1784, two pages, in 
 good condition. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA DELEGATION. 
 
 47. WILLIAM HOOPER, A. L. S., August 2, 1787, two pages, in 
 good condition. 
 
 48. JOSEPH HEWES, A. L. S., May 15, 1776, one page, in good con- 
 
52 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 dition ; stating that about three tons of powder had been voted by 
 Congress for the use of North Carolina, and had been forwarded in 
 twenty-five pork barrels, in three wagons. 
 
 49. JOHN PENN, A. L. S., June 7, 1778, one page, in good condi 
 tion.* 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA DELEGATION. 
 
 50. EDWARD RUTLEDGE, A. L. S., May 12, 1795, two pages, in good 
 condition. 
 
 51. THOMAS HEYWARD, Jr., document signed, March 29, 1788, in 
 good condition. 
 
 Also an autograph document, attributed to him, but probably only 
 a copy, not signed, two pages of doggerel entitled "A song made at 
 St. Augustine," no date, but during i78o- 8i, while a prisoner there, 
 captured at the surrender of Charleston. This song in part appears in 
 Johnson s Traditions of the Revolution, pages 269-270, and entire in 
 American Antiquarian, May, 1871. Garden, in his Anecdotes, mentions 
 that Judge Heyward wrote patriotic songs, with which to enliven his 
 fellow prisoners, copies of which were made for their use. 
 
 While there is little doubt that Judge Heyward composed the song 
 preserved in this copy, yet, on comparison of this manuscript with his 
 autograph signature, and fac-similes of his chirography, it is question 
 able if this is a holograph copy it is, at least, an ancient transcript, 
 made in I78o- 8i, by one of his associates at St. Augustine. 
 
 52. THOMAS LYNCH, Jr., signature only, from the fly-leaf of a book 
 
 * Sanderson , in his Lives of the Signers, followed by other writers, states that 
 Mr. Penn had very deficient school opportunities, his father neglecting to give him 
 the advantages of a seminary education, and that he had merely two or three 
 years instruction at a country school. This is hardly correct. The writer has 
 early manuscript authorities and reliable tradition, showing that Penn, a native of 
 Caroline County, Virginia, attended awhile the very superior private academy kept 
 by Donald Robertson, in the adjoining county of King and Queen, who made his 
 home awhile in the family of the elder Penn. Robertson was a distinguished 
 Scotch scholar, who had taken part in the Scotch rebellion under Prince Charlie 
 in 1745, and subsequently retired to Virginia ; where, among his scholars, was 
 James Madison, who, we are told by the historian Bancroft, rode on his pony from 
 his home in Orange County, a hundred miles away, for the sake of placing himself 
 under the superior instructions of this pre-eminent teacher of his day ; and Jack 
 Penn, as he was familiarly called, was among Robertson s most promising pupils. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 53 
 
 which once belonged to him certified by Rev. Dr. Samuel Oilman, 
 of Charleston, that he presented the Lynch signatures of father and son, 
 to I. K. Tefft ; with Rev. Dr. W. B. Sprague s certificate, that he received 
 these signatures from Mr. Tefft. Fortunate, indeed, is the collector 
 who gets a genuine Lynch signature, even though it be but a signa 
 ture only. 
 
 53. ARTHUR MIDDLETON, document signed May 20, 1782, in good 
 condition. 
 
 GEORGIA DELEGATION. 
 
 54. BUTTON GWINNETT, document signed, May 6, 1777, in good 
 condition, and very neat. Gwinnett s autograph, like Lynch s, is 
 exceedingly rare. 
 
 55. LYMAN HALL, A. L. S., March 30, 1759, one page, in good con 
 dition. 
 
 56. GEORGE WALTON, A. L. S., February 24, 1784, two pages in 
 good condition. 
 
 Thus the catalogue shows fifty full autograph letters in the collection 
 of our Society, of which those of Floyd and Hewes were written in 
 1776, and ten others during the Revolutionary period. There is no 
 hope of improving the Lynch signature, which is a good one ; 
 while the prospect of bettering the others, Hart, Morton, Heyward, 
 Middleton and Gwinnett is scarcely more encouraging. As it is, the 
 set is a fine one, in good condition throughout ; and the members of 
 our Society may well felicitate themselves in the possession of so rich a 
 treasure. 
 
 In addition to these fifty-six autographs proper of the Signers of the 
 Declaration, we have, to appropriately accompany them, an A. L. S., 
 August n, 1782, of Charles Thomson, the Secretary of Congress, 
 whose name attests the passage and the signing of the Declaration ; 
 also an A. L. S. of Robert R. Livingston, August 2, 1810, one page, 
 in good condition, referring to his wool and flocks of sheep ; an A. 
 L. S. of Henry Wisner, October 9, 1778, one page, somewhat stained, 
 otherwise in good condition ; and an A. L. S. of George Clinton, 
 August 2, 1794, referring to supplies for the frontiers of New York, 
 one page, in good condition. Livingston was one of the drafting 
 committee of the Declaration, while Clinton and Wisner s votes were 
 
54 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 recorded in its favor ; but, unfortunately for their fame, all three were 
 called away from Congress by public duties at home, before the final 
 engrossment of the document on parchment for the signatures of the 
 members Livingston even before the vote upon its passage ; but all 
 were in hearty accord with the measure, and in full faith that the times 
 and the circumstances demanded its adoption. 
 
 There is also in the collection an A. L. S. of John Dickinson, of the 
 Pennsylvania delegation, September, 8, 1787, in good condition. He 
 had for many years been one of the most steady and powerful 
 opponents of the arbitrary measures of Great Britain against the Colo 
 nies ; but when Independence was brought forward, he opposed it in 
 debate and vote as premature. It is further to be stated, that the 
 instructions of the Pennsylvania Assembly did not authorize the dele 
 gates to vote for Independence. Referring to Dickinson s hesitation 
 and opposition, Sanderson, in his Lives of the Signers, says : " When 
 we mention the name of that great and good man, John Dickinson, 
 we give sufficient proof that the cause of these sentiments was no 
 unmanly fear." There was no better patriot in the country; and 
 though temporarily retired from Congress, he was the next year made a 
 Brigadier-General of Pennsylvania militia, and two years later re-entered 
 Congress as a member from Delaware. His services were important 
 to his country. He died in 1808, in his seventy-sixth year. 
 
 Mr. Niles, in his Weekly Register of January 3, 1818, relates this 
 interesting incident of Dickinson, " as showing the power of the mind 
 abstracted from personal sensibilities : Fifteen or sixteen years ago, 
 then residing at Wilmington, Delaware, as I passed the house of the 
 late venerable John Dickinson, at 12 o clock in the day, he was stand 
 ing at the door, and invited me in. After reproving me for not having 
 called to see him, for he had been a little unwell, he said that he 
 would have a glass of wine with me the first that he had drank for 
 six weeks. After taking a couple of glasses in instant succession, he 
 suddenly sat down, and abruptly asked me what I thought of the 
 discussion then going on in Congress on the great question about the 
 Judiciary.* Having very briefly given my opinion, he said in a 
 sprightly manner, I ll tell thee mine on which he began an argu- 
 
 * This discussion occurred during the session of Congress of 1801-1802. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 55 
 
 ment ; soon he became animated, and was uneasy in his seat. As he 
 proceeded, he elevated his voice, and, finally, rising slowly and uncon 
 sciously from his chair, he put forth his hand, and addressed me as if 
 I had been the chairman of a Legislative body, with all its members 
 present. I never have heard a discourse that was comparable to this 
 speech for its fire and spirit, poured forth like a torrent, and clothed 
 in the most beautiful and persuasive language. The graceful gestures 
 of the orator, his fine and venerable figure, interesting countenance, 
 and locks white as wool/ formed a tout ensemble that riveted me to 
 the chair with admiration. 
 
 " His delirium, if it may be so called, lasted nearly half an hour, 
 when it was interrupted by one of the family entering the room. He 
 stopped instantly, with a word half-finished on his lips, and sat down 
 in great confusion apologized for his strange behavior, and entirely 
 dropped the subject. Air. Dickinson was an elegant speaker, and 
 one of the most accomplished scholars that our country has produced ; 
 but, perhaps, he never pronounced a speech so eloquent, so 
 chaste, and so beautiful, as that which he delivered before me as 
 stated. It was his soul rather than his person that acted on the occa 
 sion, and a master-spirit it was.* The argument was in favor of a 
 repeal of the Judiciary act." 
 
 Prominent among the few negative votes to the Declaration was that 
 
 * It cannot reasonably be charged, or suspected, that this was a case of simula 
 tion on the part of Mr. Dickinson. Conceding Mr. Niles as a credible and reli 
 able witness, then indeed, a "master-spirit" must have controlled this great 
 statesman of the Revolution on this notable occasion. Mr. Niles had all his life 
 mingled with the great orators of our country, and must have been familiar with 
 their forensic efforts, and yet declares that he " never heard a discourse that was 
 comparable to this speech," 
 
 Such an exhibition serves to remind us of the experiences recorded in the Bible 
 "the gift of tongues," "spiritual gifts," which the Rev. Drs. McClintock and 
 Strong, in their Cyclopedia of Religious Literature, pronounce as " utterances of a 
 spiritual kind;" or, as Smith, in his Dictionary of the Bible, defines spiritual 
 gifts as "a distinctly linguistic power." 
 
 Whatever may be the definition of this power, as God is the same yesterday, 
 to-day and forever, and both He and His laws alike unchangeable, we may very 
 properly conclude, that what was permissible in the days of pentecost, when men 
 began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, was permis 
 sible with John Dickinson, and also with trance-speakers of modern times. 
 
56 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 of Joseph Galloway, also of the Pennsylvania delegation, who had long 
 filled a conspicuous position in the affairs of that Colony. After oppos 
 ing Independence, and retiring from Congress, he became a Tory, and 
 went to England. An autograph document with his signature, August 
 7, 1757, is included in the collection. 
 
 Catalogue of autographs of the Signers of the Constitution, belong 
 ing to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin : 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE DELEGATION. 
 
 1. JOHN LANGDON, A. L. S., October 20, 1809, three pages, in 
 good condition. 
 
 2. NICHOLAS OILMAN, A. L. S., February 9, 1791, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS DELEGATION. 
 
 3. NATHANIEL GORHAM, A. L. S., May 26, 1791, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 4. RUFUS KING, A. L. S., September 20, 1822, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 CONNECTICUT DELEGATION. 
 
 5. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON, A. L. S., August 25, 1772, one page, 
 in good condition. 
 
 6. ROGER SHERMAN, A. L. S., August 28, 1787, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 NEW YORK DELEGATION. 
 
 7. ALEXANDER HAMILTON, A. L. S., October 7, 1794, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 NEW JERSEY DELEGATION. 
 
 8. WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, A. L. S., June 4, 1784, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 9. DAVID BREARLEY, A. L. S., May 21, 1783, two pages, in good 
 condition. 
 
 10. JONATHAN DAYTON, A. L. S., September 26, 1808, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 57 
 
 11. WILLIAM PATERSON, A. L. S., November 29, 1783, one page, 
 in good condition. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA DELEGATION. 
 
 12. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, A. L. S., January i, 1779, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 13. THOMAS MIFFLIN, A. L. S., March 30, 1787, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 14. ROBERT MORRIS, A. L. S., December 21, 1786, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 15. GEORGE CLYMER, A. L. S., January 7, 1799, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 1 6. THOMAS FITZSIMMONS, A. L. S., May 13, 1786, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 17. JARED INGERSOLL, A. L. S., January 27, 1789, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 1 8. JAMES WILSON, A. L. S., June 29, 1792, two pages, in good 
 condition. 
 
 19. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, A. L. S. , December 23, 1805, one page, 
 in good condition. 
 
 DELAWARE DELEGATION. 
 
 20. GEORGE READ, A. L. S., June 10, 1787, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 21. GUNNING BEDFORD, A. L. S., February 3, 1810, two pages, in 
 good condition. 
 
 22. JOHN DICKINSON, A. L. S., August 4, 1788, one page, in good 
 condition. It is addressed to Dr. Rush, tendering his "heartiest con 
 gratulations on the adoption by the eleventh State," of the new Consti 
 tution. 
 
 23. RICHARD BASSETT, A. L. S., January i, 1811, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 24. JACOB BROOM, A. L. S., May 16, 1807, one page, in good con 
 dition. 
 
 MARYLAND DELEGATION. 
 
 25. JAMES McHENRY, A. L. S., March 10, 1780, two pages, in good 
 condition. 
 
58 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 26. DANIEL OF ST. THOMAS JENIFER, A. L. S., December 12, 1785 
 one page, in good condition. 
 
 27. DANIEL CARROLL, A. L. S. , August 16, 1783, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 VIRGINIA DELEGATION. 
 
 28. JOHN BLAIR, A. L. S., March 20, 1787, two pages, in good 
 condition. 
 
 29. JAMES MADISON, A. L. S., February 22, 1823, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 30. GEORGE WASHINGTON, A. L. S., August 28, 1796, one page, in 
 good condition returning thanks for a Fourth of July oration. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA DELEGATION. 
 
 31. WILLIAM BLOUNT, A. L. S., July 5, 1797, one page, in good 
 condition. This letter is interesting, as referring to his impeachment 
 and expulsion from the United States Senate, apparently addressed to 
 some friend in Tennessee, where he resided : 
 
 " In a few days," he writes, "you will see published, by order of 
 Congress, a letter said to have been written by me to James Carey. 
 It makes a damnable fuss here. I hope, however, the people upon 
 the Western W r aters will see nothing but good in it, for so I intended 
 it especially for Tennessee. When I shall be in Tennessee is 
 uncertain ; but come when I will, I trust they will view that particular 
 act as well-intended, as all my political conduct ever has been towards 
 them. 
 
 "I leave Philadelphia in a few hours, probably not to return to it 
 shortly. Allison is incog. Nothing is done for you. You had best 
 look to yourself. I suspect the Natchez will not now suit you. 
 Byers is a rascal." 
 
 32. RICHARD DOBBS SPAIGHT, A. L. S., February 25, 1794, one 
 page, in good condition. 
 
 33. HUGH WILLIAMSON, A. L. S., August 4, 1778, one page, 
 in good condition. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA DELEGATION. 
 
 34. JOHN RUTLEDGE, A. L. S., April 18, 1778, one page, an intro 
 duction, in good condition. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 59 
 
 35. CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY, A. L. S., March 16, 1815, 
 three pages, in good condition. 
 
 36. CHARLES PINCKNEY, A. L. S., no date (but written in 1807), 
 three pages, in good condition. 
 
 37. PIERCE BUTLER, A. L. S., January 15, 1808, two pages, in good 
 condition. 
 
 GEORGIA DELEGATION. 
 
 38. WILLIAM FEW, A. L. S., January 9, 1790, one page, in good 
 condition. 
 
 39. ABRAHAM BALDWIN, A. L. S., January 26, 1791, one page, in 
 good condition. 
 
 Also an A. L. S. of Col. WILLIAM JACKSON, November 2, 1797, the 
 Secretary of the Convention, who attested the Constitution, one page, 
 in good condition. 
 
 This enumeration of the sets of the Signers of the Declaration and 
 of the Constitution, possessed by the State Historical Society of 
 Wisconsin, presents a fine array of autographs in their line of collec 
 tion, exceeded in only a few instances in the Declaration series ; while 
 the Signers of the Constitution are represented by full autograph letters 
 in every instance, and four were written in the year the Constitution 
 was formed, 1787. 
 
 A subject so interesting warrants a reference to similar collections 
 extant, so far as the best attainable information, derived from the prin 
 cipal autograph collectors of the country, will enable us to describe 
 them. The known full sets of the Signers of the Declaration are only 
 twenty-two, and from the rarity of several of the autographs, the num 
 ber can never be very much increased, if at all. 
 
 In noticing these several collections, it is necessary to establish 
 some rules of precedence. On the whole, it would appear most 
 proper to fix upon the number of full autograph letters in a collection ; 
 though their character and condition whether pretty uniformly in 
 folio or quarto size and the extent and value of their illustrations, 
 should have their influence in determining their relative standing. A 
 few collectors have made an interesting consideration of enhanced 
 interest and value, of letters bearing date in the Declaration year, 1776. 
 
 In view of the almost insurmountable difficulties in making a com- 
 
60 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 plete collection of the Signers of the Declaration, it is not a little sin 
 gular that more sets of the Signers of the Constitution have not been 
 brought together. The Declaration Signers number fifty-six those of 
 the Constitution only thirty-nine ; so there are only about two-thirds 
 as many of the latter as of the former, and none of them so practi 
 cally unobtainable as are several of the Signers of the Declaration. 
 While the statistics show twenty-two sets of the Declaration Signers, 
 but nineteen full sets of the Constitution Signers have as yet been 
 brought together. 
 
 OTHER COLLECTIONS OF DECLARATION SIGNERS. 
 
 I. DR. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, New York. His best set for he 
 has four takes precedence by common consent. It includes fifty-four 
 full autograph letters of the fifty-six Signers, the only exceptions being 
 very fine specimens of autograph documents signed of both Hart and 
 Gwinnett. OfGwinnett, no known full letter is extant. Of the fifty- 
 six autographs of the set, fifty-one pertain to the Revolutionary period 
 only Morton, Wythe, and Heyward not ranking as such, while Hart 
 and Gwinnett are documents ; and of these fifty-one Revolutionary 
 letters, thirty- one were written during 1776, a number of them refer 
 ring to the great Declaration. Four of the letters bear date in the 
 Declaration month of that year, Clark s, July uth ; F. L. Lee s, the 
 1 6th ; Wilson s, the 25th ; and Hewes, the 28th. 
 
 The pre-eminent specimen of the collection, which stands unmatched 
 and unapproachable, is the unquestioned genuine Lynch letter, 
 addressed to Gen. Washington, July 5, 1777, having the General s 
 endorsement on the back in his well-known handwriting, obtained 
 from the Washington Papers by Dr. Sprague, who conveyed it to Dr. 
 Emmet in an exchange of autographs, practically costing the latter 
 some seven hundred dollars. The next great rarity of the set is a full 
 Morton letter, formerly of Col. Myers" collection, of which only one 
 other full letter of that Signer is known to exist, that of Mr. Stauffer, 
 and an unsigned one in the Raffles set. Full letters of Heyward and 
 Middleton also grace the collection. 
 
 This fine set was originally placed in what is now Dr. Emmet s 
 second collection, so largely illustrated as to extend to twenty bound 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 6 1 
 
 volumes ; but Dr. Emmet, on further thought, fearing the valuable 
 autographs composing it would be measurably lost sight of while 
 scattered among such a profusion of illustrative matter, concluded to 
 replace it with a less important set, and thus be enabled to give to his 
 best collection of the Signers a more conspicuous exhibition, which it 
 so richly deserves, illustrating it with suitable portrait engravings, short 
 printed sketches of the several Signers, and fac-similes of autographs, 
 etc. It is not yet bound, awaiting other possible changes for the 
 better. 
 
 To give some idea of the cost of such indulgences : "In one way or 
 another," writes Dr. Emmet, "I have spent some twenty-five thousand 
 dollars on the set, and have not yet gotten it to my satisfaction." This 
 was written before he had detached this best set from the multitudinous 
 collection of illustrations in the twenty volumes now comprising the 
 second set, and this estimate of cost includes those numerous and 
 interesting illustrations. All will agree that the right man undertook 
 this herculean labor, and has never faltered for a moment in its prose 
 cution. 
 
 But Dr. Emmet s four full sets of the Signers of the Declaration of 
 Independence, and his collection of the Signers of the Constitution, 
 are by no means the only autograph groupings he has made. His 
 tastes, it will be seen, lead him to profusely and tastefully illustrate 
 them all. His entire collection numbers fifty-three volumes, divided 
 into the following groups or series : 
 
 1. The best set of Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
 unbound, at least one volume. 
 
 2. His second set of Signers, already described, twenty volumes. 
 
 3. The Continental Congress, 1774-1789, of whose membership Dr. 
 Emmet has autographs of over three hundred and sixty ; illustrated by 
 two hundred and thirty-eight portraits, having had several specially 
 made for this purpose seventy-two of the whole number are believed 
 to be without likenesses. This group includes his third set of the 
 Signers. Dr. Emmet has been many years engaged on this collection 
 gathering materials for a biographical sketch of each member, to be 
 printed especially for this series ; and when thus completed, it will 
 embrace six volumes, a wonderful collection, including a large amount 
 of American biography to be found nowhere else. 
 
62 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 4. The fourth set of the Signers is nicely arranged with Sanderson s 
 Lives of the Signers, of which Dr. Emmet has one of the few large 
 paper copies, in eight volumes, fully illustrated. 
 
 5. The Signers of the Constitution, already adverted to, in one 
 volume. 
 
 6. The Albany Congress of 1754, twenty-five members, representing 
 seven Colonies, in one volume. The printed illustrative matter is 
 from the second volume of Documentary History of New Fork, and 
 from Sir William Johnson s papers, giving an account of that Congress. 
 
 7. The Stamp Act Congress, 1765, twenty-three members, repre 
 senting nine Colonies, one volume. The printed matter has been 
 taken from Hughes account in the second volume of Hazard s Register, 
 originally appearing in Almon s Prior Documents, p. 45, et seq., and 
 includes the credentials and journals. 
 
 8. The first Continental Congress, 1774, fifty-two members, repre 
 senting twelve Colonies, one volume. With this set of autographs of 
 the delegates, Henry Armitt Brown s oration on the one hundredth 
 anniversary of the meeting of this Congress, was inlaid, with the addi 
 tion of specially printed matter appropriate to the collection. 
 
 9. Signers of the Articles of Confederation, 1778, forty-one auto 
 graphs, representing thirteen Colonies, one volume. 
 
 10. The Generals of the Revolution, both Continental and State, 
 eighty-six specimens. This collection has been brought together with 
 the greatest care, so that there is scarcely an autograph which is 
 not of especial historical value. Grisvvold s Washington and his 
 Generals, in two volumes, has been brought into requisition for 
 this group, all inlaid, and extended to eight folio volumes, illustrated 
 with portraits, newspapers of the day, and three hundred and forty- 
 one autographs. 
 
 11. Presidents of the Old Congress, and Presidents and Vice-Presi 
 dents of the United States, nearly fifty fine specimens, one volume. 
 Dr. Emmet wrote, and had printed for this collection, a sketch 
 of each President of Congress, etc., on a single page, to face the 
 autograph and engraving. 
 
 12. Paper money issued by the Colonies, about two thousand 
 specimens, all inlaid, with a printed account of each issue, extended 
 to three volumes. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 63 
 
 13. Paper money issued by Congress. Samuel Breck s Historical 
 Sketch of Paper Money, 1843, as republished in 1863, with an appen 
 dix giving in full the issues and denominations, used as the basis 
 for this collection, inlaid to folio size, and illustrated, one volume. 
 
 All these volumes have special title-pages printed for them, with 
 printed text, head and tail pieces. 
 
 Dr. Emmet was born near Charlottesville, Virginia, May 29, 1828. 
 His father, John P. Emmet, was then, and for a period of nineteen 
 years, Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in the University of 
 Virginia. Dr. Emmet s grandfather, Thomas Addis Emmet, with his 
 famous brother, Robert Emmet, were noted leaders in the movements 
 of the "United Irishmen " in 1798 ; and again in 1803, Robert, the 
 younger, losing his young life in the heroic effort to obtain freedom 
 for his distracted country. Thomas Addis Kmmet, the patriot leader, 
 was long imprisoned ; but was finally liberated, settled in New York 
 City in 1804, where in the ensuing twenty-three years he rose to great 
 eminence at the bar. 
 
 While Dr. Emmet has long been ranked among the ablest members 
 of the medical profession in New York City, it is especially as an 
 autograph collector that he stands pre-eminent. He began the collec 
 tion of autographs and illustration of books at the early age of twelve, 
 and commenced the formation of his first set of the Signers about 1860, 
 since which he has prosecuted the collection of American autographs 
 with unusual ardor and remarkable success. 
 
 During the past twenty-five years, probably more autographs of the 
 Signers have passed through his hands than those of any one else in 
 the country ; and while he has been able to improve his own collec 
 tions, he has supplied other collectors with more than a single speci 
 men of all the Signers, save perhaps those of Lynch and Gwinnett. 
 He has thus proved himself a public benefactor well worthy of the 
 high honor Mr. Burns designed to ascribe, when referring to him as 
 " the Premier American Autographer. " 
 
 II. SIMON GRATZ, of Philadelphia. In 1856, at the age of seven 
 teen, an accidental search among an accumulation of family papers in 
 his native city of Philadelphia, gave Mr. Gratz a taste for gathering 
 autographs, which he has prosecuted for thirty years with rare discrim 
 ination and success. Mr. Burns, in the Antiquarian, August, 1870, 
 
64 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 stated that the collection of Mr. Gratz of the Signers then lacked but 
 two autographs, and that it was then regarded as " a fine series." That 
 gap has long since been filled, and the whole set greatly improved. It 
 has now fifty-three full autograph letters in quarto or folio size the 
 other three are Morton, a folio autograph document signed ; Gwinnett, 
 a very fine folio autograph document signed, and Lynch, a cut signa 
 ture. It nearly equals Dr. Emmet s best set in the number of 1776 
 letters, having twenty-seven one of vhich, that of Wilson, was writ 
 ten on the memorable 4th of July in that year; and a Hancock letter 
 of July 5th, 1776, covering a copy of the Declaration to one of the 
 States. 
 
 All the specimens are choice both as regards matter and condition. 
 It is largely illustrated with portraits and views, as yet kept loose in 
 scrap-books for further possible improvement. No pains nor expense 
 has been spared to improve its character. 
 
 Mr. Gratz needs only a Lynch to complete a second set, which is 
 used in his series of the old Congress of 1774-1789. This group of 
 the old Congress lacks but a few names of being complete. A dupli 
 cate of Lynch he once possessed, but spared it to a fellow collector to 
 round out his set. 
 
 In addition to the names contained in this series of the old Con 
 gressmen, Mr. Gratz has complete sets of A. L. S. of the Presidents, 
 and Presidents pro tempore of the Continental Congress, the Signers of 
 the articles of Confederation, the Congress of 1774, excepting Boerum, 
 the members of the Annapolis Convention, and the members of the 
 Federal Convention. His series of the Generals of the Revolution is 
 complete, and is composed entirely of A. L. S., (many of them being 
 addressed to Gen. Washington), with the exception of Baron de 
 Woedtke, which is L. S. 4to, and John Whitcomb, A. D. S., folio. 
 He also has complete sets of the Albany Convention of 1754, the 
 Stamp Act Congress of 1765, the Hartford Convention, the Presidents, 
 Vice-Presidents, and Cabinet officers, Bishops of the Episcopal Church, 
 complete to 1877, moderators of the Presbyterian General Assembly, 
 complete to 1882, Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
 Speakers of the House of Representatives, and Presidents pro tern, of 
 the United States Senate. 
 
 His collection of names of the Colonial period embraces most of the 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 65 
 
 Royal Governors, and of the persons who were prominent, on either 
 side, in the French and Indian wars. 
 
 He has letters of nearly all the Colonels, and noted officers of lower 
 rank, of the Continental Army, 1775 to 1783, most of the French 
 officers who served during the Revolutionary war, and of the Generals, 
 and many of the lesser officers, who served on the British side. 
 
 His series of letters and MSS. of Washington contain specimens of 
 the handwriting of " the Father of his country " from boyhood to the 
 year of his death ; as well as letters of his mother, Mary Washington, 
 and of Martha, his wife, his brother, Lawrence, etc., etc. The total 
 number of Washington letters in the collection is eighty-eight, aside 
 from many A. D. S. and MS. documents. 
 
 The rest of the American portion of the large collection of Mr. 
 Gratz covers a wide field, including naval officers, from the Revolu 
 tionary period to the close of the civil war ; Generals and officers of 
 the war of 1812, the Mexican war, and the Civil war; literary char 
 acters, from John Eliot, of "Indian Bible" fame, and William Hub- 
 bard, the historian of the New England Indian wars, to the writers of 
 the present day ; United States Senators, Governors, artists, actors, 
 scientists, Washington s Aides-de-camp, and a remarkably full series of 
 the American clergy, commencing with the earliest Colonial names, 
 etc., etc. 
 
 His foreign collection numbers about ten thousand letters and docu 
 ments, and embraces series of the European Emperors, Kings, and 
 Queens, the poets and prose writers of Great Britain and Continental 
 Europe, and of the most noted warriors, statesmen, philosophers, artists, 
 composers, men of science, etc., etc., who flourished during the last four 
 centuries. Most of the names are represented by A. L. S. among 
 the rarer of which may be mentioned those of Mary, Queen of Scots, 
 Erasmus of Rotterdam, Macchiavelli, Saint Vincent de Paul, Ninon de 
 Lenclos, Massillon, Spinola, Catherine de Parthenay, the Huguenot 
 heroine, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Stafford, beheaded on Tower 
 Hill, the first Duke of Buckingham, assassinated by Felton, and 
 Richard Bentley, the great classical scholar ; the composers, Mozart, 
 Handel, and Bach ; the painters, Rubens, Poussin, and Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds ; the philosophers and astronomers, Galileo, Kepler, Heve- 
 lius, Sir Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, and Halley ; the reformers, 
 
66 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon, Brentz, Bullinger, and Guillaume Farel ; 
 the French revolutionists, Robespierre and Marat ; the poets and 
 prose-writers, Robert Burns, Richard Baxter, Byron, Charlotte Bronte, 
 Madame D Arblay, Edward Gibbon, John Keats, John Locke, Alex 
 ander Pope, Tobias Smollett, Percy B. Shelley, Jonathan Swift, Jeremy 
 Taylor, and Sir Henry Wotton. 
 
 As a judge of the genuineness of American autographs, particularly 
 of the Signers, Mr. Gratz stands unrivaled. 
 
 III. FERDINAND J. DREER, of Philadelphia. Born in that city, 
 March 2, 1812. Mr. Dreer was for many years laboriously engaged as 
 an assayer and manufacturer of gold ware, retiring from active business 
 in 1862. At twenty-two he broke down from over-work, and has ever 
 since been in feeble health ; yet since he commenced his autograph 
 gatherings, about 1849, ne nas f un d pleasant employment in collect 
 ing, repairing and arranging his thousands of rare letters of both hemi 
 spheres, and illustrating his books and manuscripts, giving occupation 
 to both body and mind, and, as he believes, prolonging his days. 
 
 Mr. Dreer s set of the Signers, like the collection of Mr. Gratz, 
 numbers fifty-three full autograph letters. It has been selected and 
 improved with great care and expense. The three specimens of the 
 set not A. L. S., are Morton, A. D. S., Gwinnett, D. S., and Lynch, 
 a cut signature. Next to the sets of Dr. Emmet and Mr. Gratz, Mr. 
 Dreer s is the strongest extant in 1776 letters, having twenty-one speci 
 mens, no less than seven of which were written during the month of 
 July of that year Rutledge on the ist, Clark on the immortal 4th, 
 John Adams on the 5th, Hancock on the pth and 24th, Hewes on the 
 24th, and Thornton on the 27th. The Adams letter came from Mr. 
 Tefft s incomplete set, and is noticed in Dr. Gilman s paper on the 
 Tefft autographs. 
 
 Such of these as needed it were carefully repaired, and are kept in 
 cases, without yet having determined their final grouping. Mr. Dreer 
 has fifty-one letters and signed documents towards a second set, and 
 forty towards a third. 
 
 His collection of the Signers of the Constitution, limited to those 
 who actually signed the document, are all A. L. S., and is a very fine 
 one. 
 
 Besides these, Mr. Dreer has no less than seventy original letters of 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 67 
 
 Washington, from the earliest date to the time of his death, remarkably 
 complete and interesting undoubtedly the largest accumulation of 
 Washington letters extant next to that of Mr. Gratz, outside of the 
 Washington papers preserved by the Government. He has also over 
 forty letters of William Penn and family ; a large number of Franklin; 
 no less than thirty of Jefferson ; and eleven of Edward Rutledge, 
 written between 1792 and 1797. These Washington, Penn, and 
 Franklin letters are exclusive of those utilized in various book illustra 
 tions. 
 
 In addition to his own varied acquisitions, Mr. Dreer obtained, some 
 thirty years since, the rich collection of the late Robert Gilmor, of 
 Baltimore including his set of autographs of the Signers, and his 
 especially rich array of foreign autographs, comprising the most cele 
 brated sovereigns of Europe, with all the most distinguished generals, 
 naval commanders, statesmen, reformers, authors, artists, scientists, 
 composers, musicians, inventors, astronomers, explorers and travelers. 
 
 Among the set of musicians, are Handel, Hayden, Beethoven, Mo 
 zart, and Bach all A. L. S. ; astronomers, Galileo, Kepler, the elder 
 Herschel, son and daughter, all A. L. S. ; reformers, Calvin, Luther, 
 Melanchthon, and De Beza, fine A. L. S. ; also four of Cowper, four of 
 Pope, four of Burns, two of Gray, and others of Sir Christopher Wren, 
 Thomson, Gay, Byron, Shelley, Campbell, and Leigh Hunt s original 
 of Abou Ben Adhem ; James 1st, of England ; Henry Vllth ; Henry 
 IVth, of France; and Erasmus of Rotterdam. 
 
 In 1857, Wm. Brotherhead wrote, and privately printed, an edition 
 of twenty-five copies of a visit to Mr. Dreer s autograph collection. It 
 is in small folio size ; and three pages of the fifteen descriptive of all 
 the groupings, are devoted to the American portion, while twelve are 
 given to the foreign. It is a very interesting exhibition of a noble 
 gathering of autographs, sparkling with gems of many a noted man 
 and woman of both continents. 
 
 Many patient years has Mr. Dreer spent in arranging, repairing and 
 pressing his autographs, and adding fly leaves for their protection. 
 He devotes more hours to these interesting labors than he ever did to 
 the acquisition of wealth. His avarice is limited to the accumulation 
 of autographs, and grouping and improving them for noble and useful 
 purposes. Though in feeb e health, he declares that his love for col- 
 
68 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 lecting and repairing autographs, and illustrating books has added 
 largely to his happiness as well as augmenting his days. 
 
 IV. The late Prof. EDWARD H. LEFFINGWELL, son of William and 
 Sally Maria Beers Leffingwell, was born in New Haven, April 15, 1803. 
 He was graduated from Yale College in 1822, and two years later was 
 graduated in medicine. In 1825, he went to Lima, South America, 
 remaining there three years in the practice of his profession, when he 
 removed to Lambayque, in Northern Peru, where he resided six 
 years. Returning to the United States in 1834, he received the 
 appointment of Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in the 
 University of Missouri ; and, in 1836, he visited Buenos Ayres, and 
 the next year returning to his native country, located awhile at Bruns 
 wick, Maine, with a view of more thoroughly prosecuting the study of 
 physical science, under the direction of Prof. Parker Cleveland, of 
 Bowdoin College. Returning to St. Louis, he resumed his chair in 
 the University ; and after nearly nine years connection with that 
 institution, owing to ill-health, he resigned in 1852. He subse 
 quently accepted the chair of Chemistry and Toxicology in the Medi 
 cal College of Memphis, Tenn. ; but the condition of his health did 
 not admit his long continuance there. 
 
 From 1855 to 1863, he resided in Boston ; after which he made his 
 home in New Haven. He commenced his autograph collections upon 
 his settlement in Boston, where he purchased, at a cost of some two 
 thousand dollars, the fine set of the Signers made by Hon. Mellen Cham 
 berlain, together with other commenced series, and many foreign auto 
 graphs. This set of the Signers are all in folio size, save that of 
 Middleton, which is a quarto. Mr. Burns pronounces it "a fine" 
 one. In 1857, it lacked only the autograph of Paca, which was 
 soon after supplied. It numbers fifty-one A. L. S. ; of the remaining 
 five, Hart and Morton are A. D. S. ; Hopkins, L. S. ; Gwinnett, D. S., 
 and Lynch, a single signature. The set has several 1776 letters, and 
 is unbound, preserved in cases, and copiously illustrated with por 
 traits and engravings, biographical and historical cuttings. 
 
 Besides his full set of the Declaration Signers, he gathered also an 
 incomplete set, and two full collections of the Signers of the Constitu 
 tion ; he also brought together a set of the Generals of the Revolution ; 
 Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States from Washington 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 69 
 
 to Buchanan inclusive, with the heads of departments, Judges of the 
 Supreme Court, Ministers to Foreign Courts ; Protestant Episcopal 
 Bishops, from Seabury to Green, with many eminent American clergy 
 men and literary characters. He had also a fine set of English sover 
 eigns from Henry IV., with two exceptions, to Queen Victoria ; and 
 of the English Premiers, from 1754 to Lord Beaconsfield, with a single 
 exception. He had also autographs of Shakespeare, it is said, but 
 which is presumably doubtful, of Bacon, Cromwell, Raleigh, Lady 
 Jane Gray, Newton, Cowper, Dryden, Goldsmith, Burns, Byron, and 
 other English notabilities, together with many illustrious names of 
 French royalty and nobility, and of other portions of Continental 
 Europe. 
 
 Professor Leffingwell died at New Haven, June 25, 1888, in his 
 eighty-sixth year, leaving his noble collection of autographs to his 
 niece, Miss Mary Matilda Leffingwell, of that city. 
 
 V. DR. JOHN S. H. FOGG, Boston, Mass. Dr. Fogg was born in 
 Eliot, York County, Maine, May 21, 1826, and commenced picking 
 up autographs about the time of his graduation from college, in 1846, 
 making quite a collection of old commissions, etc. He recommenced 
 their gathering in 1858, and for a year or two collected quite a goodly 
 number. 
 
 In 1873, he was prostrated by paralysis, and has ever since been 
 confined to his room, a constant sufferer. Recovering somewhat from 
 this attack, he turned his attention, in 1875, to forming a set of the 
 Signers, of which he already had a few specimens. He consummated 
 the collection in 1881 a wonderfully short period for such a difficult 
 accomplishment. Many of these specimens he has since very materi 
 ally improved. 
 
 Mr. Burns declares it "really a fine set," which its composition 
 proves. It is made up of fifty A. L. S. ; Heyward and Middleton, L. S. ; 
 Hart, Morton, and Gwinnett, D. S. ; and Lynch, a cut signature. It 
 presents an unusually strong array of letters written during the Revolu 
 tionary period, numbering forty-five A. L. S., and two others, L. S. ; 
 of which nineteen were written in Independence year, 1776 three in 
 July, Witherspoon s the 3d, Clark s the 9th, and Hopkinson s the 23d. 
 Such letters as needed it have been thoroughly repaired ; all are 
 mounted on a fly in a wrapper, and the illustrations are mounted in 
 
70 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 the same wrapper. These illustrations consist of engravings or etchings 
 of all the Signers save Morton ; of some there are several different 
 likenesses, together with Brotherhead s fac-similes and views. As yet 
 they are unbound, awaiting still further possible improvement. 
 
 Dr. Fogg lacks but two, Howard and Barnes, of a complete set of 
 the Albany Congress of 1754, and but two, Murdock and Lynch, 
 Sr., of a full set of the Stamp Act Congress, 1765. He has also 
 a second collection of the Declaration Signers, lacking Lynch only, 
 included in his series of the Old Congress, ij j^-^g, which wants but 
 thirty-five of the whole number of about three hundred and ninety- 
 five. 
 
 Besides his set of the Signers of the Constitution, he has a collection 
 of the members of the Annapolis Convention of 1786 ; the Colonial 
 and State Governors of Massachusetts ; members of the famous Hart 
 ford Convention ; all of the thirty-eight Major-Generals of the Revo 
 lution, and all save eight of the ninety Brigadier-Generals ; Washing 
 ton s Aids, with two exceptions ; Presidents and Vice-Presidents of 
 the United States, with cabinet officers each Administration by itself. 
 In all these series no letter plays a double part ; and all the series are 
 well illustrated with engravings. 
 
 " Here I am," writes Dr. Fogg, "sitting in my chair, utterly help 
 less, and often distracted with pain, as I have been for more than 
 thirteen years. I don t know how I could make life tolerable were 
 it not for the pleasure these autographs afford me. I take com 
 fort in collecting, arranging and repairing them, associated with my 
 companion, whose tastes in these directions are in harmony with 
 mine ; for we work together in repairing old letters, matching the 
 paper used, imitating water marks, texture, color, and other par 
 ticulars mounting them to a uniform size, and inlaying small por 
 traits to the same dimension. Mrs. Fogg in all these labors, is 
 equally enthusiabth with me. Thus, you see, I have some blessings 
 in my cup of afflictions, and they are of a magnitude sufficient 
 to reconcile me to my lot, if anything could do it. I have now some 
 four or five thousand or more autographs altogether." 
 
 VI. STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Madison, Wis. This collection 
 has been some twenty-five years in accumulating originating, in 
 1856, in a donation of autographs of Samuel Adams, Floyd, Lewis, 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. /I 
 
 Robert Morris, McKean, R. H. Lee, Jefferson, as well as R. R. Liv 
 ingston, and Charles Thomson, from the late Hon. Henry S. Randall. 
 It was some time thereafter before the idea of completing a full set 
 was resolved on, and the full quota was made up in 1881, with subse 
 quent improvements. While the collection is not strong in historical 
 documents of the Revolution, it takes high rank in embracing so 
 many full autograph letters fifty A. L. S. ; Hart, A. D. S. ; Morton, 
 Heyward, Middleton, and Gwinnett, D. S. ; and Lynch, an inlaid cut 
 signature. It is illustrated with one or more engravings or etchings of 
 all the Signers save Morton, with Brotherhead s views acci&fac-similes, 
 and other appropriate matter. 
 
 The gift of the Hon. H. S. Randall of one hundred American auto 
 graphs to the Society in 1856, laid the foundation of other series 
 besides that of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. We 
 have now a full set of the thirty-nine Signers of the Constitution, 
 including their Secretary, William Jackson, all A. L. S., with appro 
 priate illustrations ; a nearly complete set of the Presidents of the Old 
 Congress, and Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States, 
 together with a portion of the Generals of the Revolution, and the Gov 
 ernors of Wisconsin. These constitute the autograph collections 
 proper of the Wisconsin Historical Society. 
 
 VII. MR. CHARLES ROBERTS, of Philadelphia. His ancestors 
 migrated from Wales to Pennsylvania about 1695. Mr. Roberts was 
 born in Philadelphia in 1846, and, at the age of fourteen, entered 
 Haverford College, and while there commenced gathering autographs 
 in a small way. After graduating, he added little to his collections 
 until about the time of the Centennial. He was an original member 
 of the Committee of One Hundred, a city reformatory body who did 
 good work in the interests of the people, and is serving his third term 
 in the Common Council. He was for many years a partner in one of 
 the largest glass manufacturing establishments in the country, from 
 which he retired in 1885. He is a member of the council of the Penn 
 sylvania Historical Society, one of the managers of Haveiford Col 
 lege, and of several charitable institutions. He finds time to indulge 
 in the fascinating pursuit of gathering and arranging autographs. He 
 had made a fine collection of the Signers, lacking Lynch only, with 
 other series, when he recently purchased the entire collection, one of 
 
72 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 the best in the country, gathered by the late Robert C. Davis, of Phila 
 delphia, which not only enabled him to complete and improve his own 
 set, but to place it considerably higher in rank than that occupied by 
 Mr. Davis collection. As now improved, Mr. Roberts set of the Signers 
 embraces forty-nine A. L. S. ; Hart, Morton, and Heyward, A. D. S. ; 
 Livingston, L. S. ; Middleton and Gwinnett, D. S. ; and Lynch, a fine 
 cut signature which came from Mr. Tefft to the late Mr. Davis. 
 Thirty-six of the number were written during the Revolutionary 
 period, of which those of Clark, Franklin, R. Morris, Wilson, and 
 Hewes were penned during 1776. 
 
 In the estimation of some of our best autograph judges, Mr. 
 Roberts set of the Signers, as now improved, takes very high rank on 
 account of the fine condition and beauty of many of the rare specimens, 
 such as that of Lyman Hall, which is a superb folio ; and that of 
 Joseph Hewes, which is a six page A. L. S., dated Philadelphia, July 
 8th, 1776, in which he asks, "What has become of my friend 
 Hooper?* . . . My friend Penn came time enough to give his 
 vote for independence, " etc. 
 
 Mr. Roberts other series deserve special notice. He has two full 
 sets of the Signers of the Constitution, one of them including all who 
 were chosen, and at any time attended, but failed to avail themselves 
 of the opportunity of signing that instrument ; all the Generals of the 
 Revolution, save Moore and de Borre ; a full set of the Presidents and 
 their Cabinets, together with the Vice-Presidents, Chief Justices and 
 Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, nearly complete ; and only 
 wanting Lynch of a second set of the Signers, which go to make up 
 the series of members of the old Congress, 1774-89. 
 
 VIII. CHARLES C. JONES, Jr., LL. D., Augusta, Georgia. It is 
 very fitting that Col. Jones should have made up a set of the Signers. 
 Descending from a prominent Revolutionary family of his State, he was 
 born at Savannah, October 28, 1831. With a good education, he is 
 well equipped for his profess on, and for an antiquary and historian 
 as well taking the very front rank, in these particulars, of his fellow 
 
 * This would imply, notwithstanding his biographers assert that Hooper voted 
 for the Declaration, that he was absent at the time of the vote on July 2d, and 
 its proclamation July 4th ; but, approving the measure, subsequently signed this 
 great charter of American freedom. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 73 
 
 citizens of Georgia, and of the Southern States. Aside from his numer 
 ous historical, antiquarian, and military addresses and brochures, in 
 pamphlet form, his more substantial works, Historical Sketch of 
 Chatham Artillery, 1867; Historical Sketch of To-mo-chi-chi, Mico of 
 the Yamacraws, 1868; Antiquities of the Southern Tribes, 1873 ; Siege 
 of Savannah, 1874 ; Dead Towns of Georgia, 1878 ; History of 
 Georgia, in 2 vols., 1883, with two more in preparation, and Sketch 
 of Maj. John Habersham, 1886, have deservedly given him a high 
 reputation. 
 
 In 1866, he commenced collecting his first set of the Signers, com 
 pleting it in 1880, though improvements have been subsequently made. 
 This collection, which is really a very fine one, consists of forty-nine 
 full letters, with Stockton and Gwinnett, A. D. S. both remarkably fine 
 specimens ; Livingston, L. S. ; Morton, Heyward, and Middleton, 
 D. S. ; and Lynch the usual cut signature. Thornton, Whipple, and 
 Hevves are 1776 letters; while those of Hancock, Ellery, Wolcott, 
 Lewis, Taylor, Ross, Rodney, Paca, Stone, Wythe, Harrison, Nelson, 
 Hooper, Penn, Hall and Walton, sixteen in number, were written 
 during the Revolutionary period, that of Hall in 1777, on public 
 affairs and of the highest interest. This series is inlaid on Whatman 
 paper, and illustrated with the best engraved portraits extant, and 
 views of residences, etc., and is neatly bound in two volumes, size of 
 page, 1 6 by 12^ inches. 
 
 While a student at law in London, Mr. Lynch wrote his name on 
 the title-pages of books he purchased, sometimes T. Lynch, Jun r ., and 
 at other times simply " Lynch." Col. Jones has had the good fortune 
 to obtain one of the former and three of the latter from a lineal 
 descendant of one of the sisters of the Signer, who inherited a portion 
 of his library, and all are genuine beyond a question. The T. Lynch, 
 Jun r ., signature, accompanied by one of the others, represents the 
 Signer in Col. Jones best set of the Signers, another in his second set, 
 while the other fills its place in his set of the Old Congress. Thus all 
 are placed in his collections. 
 
 Col. Jones has a full set of the Signers of the Constitution, also of 
 the Presidents of the Continental Congress, and of the Presidents and 
 Vice-Presidents of the United States, nearly all A. L. S., inlaid, 
 illustrated, and bound. 
 6 
 
74 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 A complete set of the Chief Justices and Associate Justices of the 
 Supreme Court, and Attorneys-General of the United States, is also 
 inlaid, illustrated and bound. 
 
 A complete set of the Colonial and the State Governors of Georgia, 
 inlaid, illustrated and bound. 
 
 A complete set of the Signers of the Confederate Constitution, all 
 A. L. S., inlaid, illustrated and bound. 
 
 His series of members of the Continental Congress is in an advanced 
 condition, including a "Lynch," and lacking only twenty-nine of 
 completion ; his series of Confederate autographs is also well advanced, 
 and will embrace five volumes. He also has over two hundred 
 volumes of printed books, privately illustrated with maps, views, auto 
 graphs, and portraits, all inlaid and handsomely bound, while his exten 
 sive archaeological collection embraces nearly 20,000 objects. 
 
 IX. MRS. DAVID J. COHEN, Baltimore. This collection was 
 formed by the late Dr. Joshua I. Cohen, of that city commenced in 
 1836, and completed in 1850. A second set was lacking only two 
 names at the close of 1870. Dr. Cohen passing away, his autographs 
 came into the possession of his sister-in-law, the present owner. The 
 full collection of the Signers consists of forty-nine A. L. S., with Thorn 
 ton, Livingston, Morton, Wythe, Middleton and Gwinnett, D. S., and 
 Lynch, as usual, a signature only. Among the rarities may be men 
 tioned the full letters of Sherman, Stockton, Hart and Heyward. The 
 set is unbound, preserved in cases, without illustrations. 
 
 X. Hon. JOHN BOYD THACHER, formerly State Senator, and Mayor 
 of Albany, after many years efforts, has gotten together a full set of the 
 autographs of the Signers. Mr. E. E. Sprague, of New York, son of 
 Rev. Dr. Sprague, became possessed of one of the three full sets 
 made by his father, and which was completed, as Hon. Mellen Cham 
 berlain believes, as early as 1848. It consisted of forty A. L. S., the 
 rest being made up of less valuable specimens ; but among them the 
 Lynch and Gwinnett being both documents signed. The Lynch signa 
 ture is attached to a conveyance of land made in 1779, at Charleston 
 a counterpart to Mr. Lynch s deed of March in that year in the late 
 Col. Myers collection, from which was detached a receipt which 
 represents Lynch in the collection of the Pennsylvania Historical 
 Society. Mr. Thacher and Mr. E. E. Sprague were early boy friends, 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 75 
 
 and in that way apparently, Mr. Thacher formed his taste for auto 
 graphs ; and recently, an opportunity occurring, he purchased Mr. 
 Sprague s entire collection, and has thus been enabled to complete and 
 enrich his set. As it now stands, it numbers forty-eight A. L. S. ; 
 with Hart, Morton, Stone, and Gwinnett, A. D. S. ; Hopkins, L. S. ; 
 and S. Adams, Heyward, and Lynch, D. S. Of these, five are 1776 
 letters Williams, Witherspoon, Franklin, R. H. Lee, and Wythe. 
 This set has some special merits the R. H. Lee letter, and those of 
 Lewis, Witherspoon, and Chase, were addressed to Gen. Washington, 
 and of course were of the rich selection made by Rev. Dr. Sprague 
 from the Washington Papers ; the Walton letter was written to Gen. 
 Lincoln, complaining of his captivity ; the Rush letter, penned imme 
 diately after the death of Franklin, refers to the deathbed scene of that 
 great patriot and philosopher. 
 
 This collection, yet unbound, is partially illustrated, and Mr. Thacher 
 is gathering additional illustrative material, and designs securing draw 
 ings of a unique set of plaster busts of the Signers made by a genius 
 for the Centennial, but who failed to complete and place them upon 
 the market. 
 
 Mr. Thacher has autographs of about two-thirds of the members of 
 the Old Congress, 1774-89, of which his duplicate Signers, fifty-three 
 in number, form a part ; and he has also a partial set of the Signers of 
 the Constitution, and some of other American series. 
 
 XI. PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Philadelphia. Some two 
 years before the death of the Rev. Dr. Sprague, Dr. Emmet offered 
 him $50 each for the choice of certain specimens of his best set of the 
 Signers, or $25 each for the whole. Dr. Sprague replied that he had 
 no idea that they could be worth any such sum ; but he could not per 
 mit himself to think of parting with them, as nearly all of them had 
 been gifts from friends, and the love of collecting, rather than dispers 
 ing, was still on him. 
 
 After thinking the matter over, however, he stated to Dr. Emmet 
 that, as he had done so much more than any one else to perpetuate the 
 memory of the Signers, his set should very properly be made the best 
 Dr. Sprague adding, that he ought not to be selfish, and kindly 
 offered to exchange such specimens in his collection as would improve 
 Dr. Emmet s, but would not consent to sell them. This resulted in 
 
76 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 an exchange Dr. Emmet taking the peerless Lynch autograph letter, 
 a Heyward, a Middleton, and two others, promising to satisfactorily 
 square the account before Christmas. 
 
 Dr. Sprague furnished fourteen autographs of the Signers, not the 
 most valuable, and Dr. Emmet supplied a Lynch cut signature, and 
 forty-one others, thus making a full set some of these forty-two Dr. 
 Emmet already possessed, while others he purchased for this special 
 purpose. This collection was arranged with the fourth edition of 
 Sanderson s Lives of the Signers, 1865, with portraits, views, and docu 
 ments, extending the whole to three volumes, bound in half red levant 
 morocco. Dr. Emmet expended for the autographs he especially pur 
 chased for the set, the inlaying, binding, etc., only three dollars short 
 of $700, which he regarded as practically the cost to him of the famous 
 Lynch letter. The cut Lynch signature, which Dr. Emmet supplied 
 for this set, was subsequently exchanged by Dr. Sprague with Col. 
 Myers for a Lynch signature attached to a receipt ; and Col. Myers 
 having the deed with Lynch s autograph attached, from which the 
 receipt was taken, disposed of the Lynch cut signature to some other 
 collector. 
 
 This is the collection which has since passed into the possession of 
 the Pennsylvania Historical Society, at a cost, it is understood, of two 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 It is pronounced by Mr. Burns, and corroborated by others who 
 have seen it, as "a good set." Among them is a very fine letter of 
 Hart ; and six of the letters, those of Carroll, Read, Stone, Harrison, 
 Penn, and Hall, are addressed to Washington. Forty-eight are A. L. 
 S., while Livingston and Middleton are A. D. S. ; Hall, L. S.; Morton, 
 Taylor and Gwinnett, D. S., and Heyward and Lynch are signatures 
 only. That of Wolcott is the only one mentioned as written in 1776. 
 
 It is proper to explain about the Lynch signature, as it is not one of 
 those cut from books. It would seem that Dr. Sprague obtained it 
 from Col. T. Bailey Myers, as it has this indorsement written on the 
 back : " The original deed from which this receipt is cut, executed by 
 Thomas Lynch and wife, just prior to their sailing in a vessel, which 
 was never heard of afterwards, for the restoration of his health, is in my 
 collection. The signature, it will be seen, shows the feeble state of 
 the writer. T. BAILEY MYERS." 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS, 77 
 
 The receipt is for _^~io,ooo, S. C. currency, paid by Martin Savage 
 to Thomas Lynch. 
 
 As the Society had perhaps half of the autographs of the Signers 
 before this purchase, they expect, by the aid of these duplicates, at 
 some future day, to improve the collection. The Society has no com 
 plete set of the Signers of the Constitution. 
 
 XII. Dr. EMMET S second set. This collection consists of forty- 
 four A. L. S. ; Bartlett, Thornton, Hancock, Hopkins, Morton, Tay 
 lor, Rush, and Hall, A. D. S. ; Hart and Middleton, L. S. ; Gwin- 
 nett, D. S. ; and Lynch, cut signature. The autograph document of 
 Hancock, a very important historical one, bears date July n, 1776 ; 
 while thirty-one of the full letters were written during the Revolution 
 ary period, of which six bear date during the Declaration year, besides 
 Hart s L. S. 
 
 This excellent set is greatly enhanced by the elaborate extent of its 
 illustrations. Dr. Emmet s patience and success in bringing together 
 his illustrative matter is not merely remarkable, but is truly wonderful 
 greatly excelling any effort of the kind ever attempted. Taking the 
 historical matter of Sanderson s Lives of the Signers, and the whole of 
 Brotherhead s Book of the Signers, as the basis, all inlaid to folio size, 
 Dr. Emmet has extended the work to twenty volumes. The illustra 
 tions are almost innumerable, including twelve hundred autographs, 
 many valuable historical documents, old newspapers, original water- 
 color portraits of the Signers, together with a large number of portraits 
 of the Revolutionary period, many of which are now almost extinct, 
 of persons mentioned in the papers or text, rare contemporaneous 
 views of places, coats of arms of States, and many other appropriate 
 illustrations, all inlaid by Trent on Whatman s drawing paper, of a 
 uniform royal folio size. "When completed," says Mr. Burns, "it 
 wiil be the grandest monument ever erected to the memory of the 
 Signers by private hands ; and on it no expense has been spared, and 
 the print collections of both continents laid under heavy contribu 
 tions." 
 
 Among the unique illustrations of this noble set of the Signers are 
 two early printed broadsides of the Declaration. One must have been 
 issued as early as July 5, 1776, as John Adams on that day inclosed a 
 copy to a lady correspondent, the letter to whom, now in Mr. Dreer s 
 
78 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 collection, is copied into Dr. Oilman s paper on the Tefft autographs. 
 But the second one, which was sent out by order of Congress, January 
 18, 1777, to each of the States fora public record, also in printed form, 
 is properly attested by their own signs manual, by President Hancock 
 and Secretary Thomson. Both of these broadsides are about fifteen 
 by eighteen inches in size. 
 
 XIII. The late Col. THEODORUS BAILEY MYERS, of New York, 
 descended from noble Revolutionary ancestry, and was born in that 
 city, December I3th, 1821. After receiving a suitable education, he 
 studied law, and was a member of the military staff of Govs. Wright 
 and Bouck. He raised a company for the Mexican War, and on the 
 breaking out of our Civil War he entered the I2th N. Y. regiment, 
 and then served on Gen. Butler s staff as quartermaster, and subse 
 quently on Gen. Wool s military staff. He was President of the 
 Sixth Avenue R.R. , and was a member of the American Geographi 
 cal Society, and of the Union and Century Clubs. He was also a 
 director in the Samaritan Home, the Institution for the Blind, and 
 other humanitarian societies. 
 
 He began to value and collect historical documents when he 
 came of age. His was "an excellent set" of the Signers, as asserted 
 by Mr. Burns several years since. In the Historical Magazine for 
 November, 1868, all the letters and documents of the collection were, 
 as it then existed, given in extenso. Col. Myers there says of the 
 collection: "It was made without reference to size; but the object 
 has been, as far as possible, to obtain papers of historical interest." 
 He subsequently made many changes in it. 
 
 It has one great rarity among its illustrations, of which but one 
 other is in private hands, that of Dr. Emmet an original printed 
 copy of the Declaration, with the signs-manual of the President and 
 Secretary of Congress, perhaps one of those sent to each of the 
 thirteen States, by order of that body, January 18, 1777 : "It was for 
 many years, " says Col. Myers, "the property of a gentleman in the 
 South, from whom the collector procured it, like the other specimens, 
 without making a raid, or incurring an obligation which he did not 
 attempt to acquit." 
 
 This Myers set of the Signers numbers forty-three A. L. S. ; with 
 Thornton, Livingston, Hart, Morton, Taylor, Middleton and Wythe, 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 79 
 
 A. D. S. ; Hopkins and Smith, L. S. ; Heyward, Lynch, Gwinnett and 
 Hall, D. S. The Lynch document is a deed of land, dated March 
 3<Dth, 1779, but one other of the kind is known to be extant ; from 
 this Lynch deed Col. Myers detached a receipt signed by Lynch, 
 which was passed over in exchange to Dr. Sprague, and now forms 
 the Lynch representation in the set of the Signers of the Pennsylvania 
 Historical Society. Of the forty-three full letters, twenty-six were 
 written during the Revolutionary period ; while seven of them bear 
 date in 1776 Bartlett, Whipple, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Lewis 
 Morris, Wilson and Chase. Judge Wilson s was written on the 4th 
 of July in that year, recommending some company officers. 
 
 Col. Myers poor health forbidding his further attention to his 
 autographs, Dr. Emmet writes: "Recently his general collection has 
 been arranged and bound up in seven volumes in alphabetical order, 
 as he had no series complete but the Signers. This work has been 
 done under my direction as an old friend. I have put the Signers 
 into a special volume with their portraits, fac-similes of their letters, 
 and one of the broadsides of the Declaration of Independence, signed 
 by Hancock and Thomson, already mentioned. In the beginning of 
 the volume is given a printed account of the drawing up of the 
 Declaration, with an autograph and portrait of each member of the 
 committee. There are also an autograph and portrait of the President, 
 Secretary and Chaplain of Congress then a fac-simile of the Decla 
 ration, and afterwards, in their order, the Signers from the different 
 States. The result has been a superb volume, very handsomely 
 bound something which would have given Col. Myers great satis 
 faction could he have seen it in his best days. " 
 
 Col. Myers delighted in collecting works and manuscripts illustra 
 tive of American history. For some time before his health failed 
 him, he was engaged on a memoir of the members of the New York 
 Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
 His death resulted from a stroke of apoplexy in New York City, 
 June 1 6th, 1888, in his sixty-seventh year. He was a man of many- 
 virtues and acquirements, and left his fine autograph collections 
 to his son and daughter, who will no doubt highly prize so precious 
 an inheritance. 
 
 XIV. The late JOSEPH W. DREXEL, of New York. This is the 
 
8O AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 second set formed by Mr. Tefft, and was purchased, in 1865, by 
 Almon W. Griswold, of New York, from Mr. Tefft s widow, and sub 
 sequently passed into Mr. Drexel s possession. It lacked Paine, Smith, 
 and Stone of completion, which Mr. Drexel has since supplied, as well 
 as otherwise improved the collection. Thirty-nine are A. L. S. ; while 
 Hart, Harrison, Wythe, and Middleton are A. D. S. ; Hancock, Jeffer 
 son, and Gwinnett, L. S.; Thornton, Paine, Hopkins, Morton, Taylor, 
 Ross, Stone, Hey ward, and Walton, D. S., and Lynch, a cut signature. 
 The specialty of the collection is a brief Gwinnett letter written in 1777, 
 purchased at the Mickley sale, in Nov., 1878, at a cost of $110. Some 
 one treated it with a dose of acid, for the purpose of darkening the 
 ink, which had become pale, and caused the ink to spread, so that it 
 looked like a letter-press copy, thus unfortunately injuring its appear 
 ance. Mr. Drexel, and perhaps others, have latterly thought this a 
 full autograph letter ; but in the Mickley catalogue it was recorded 
 simply as an L. S. ; and a comparison of the body of the letter as given 
 in Brotherhead s Book of the Signers, with the signature, and with a 
 few lines written by Gwinnett in Dr. Emmet s collection, prove that it 
 is only a signed letter. Such is the decided understanding of Messrs. 
 Gratz, Dreer, Davis, and Burns, who examined it at the time of the 
 Mickley sale, and Messrs. Emmet, Fogg, and StaufFer concur in this 
 opinion. The capital B and G in the signature are different from 
 those in the body of the letter. 
 
 Five of the full letters of the collection were written in 1776 Wol- 
 cott, Livingston, Clark, R. Morris, and Wilson the latter, dated June 
 26th, relates to a debate in Congress on independence. The collection 
 is yet unbound, and is illustrated with engravings and etchings of the 
 Signers, views, etc., with printed biographies. 
 
 Mr. Drexel had also a set of the Signers of the Constitution, and a 
 collection of over thirty Washington letters, including a plan of his 
 Mount Vernon estate drawn by himself. 
 
 After a long illness, Mr. Drexel died in New York, March 25, 1888, 
 in his fifty-sixth year. He was born in Philadelphia, January 24, 1833 
 the youngest of the sons of Francis Martin Drexel, the founder of 
 the banking house of Drexel & Co., in that city. He inherited his 
 father s love and taste for music and art. His collection of paintings 
 was valued at $500,000 ; and his musical library was the most complete 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 8 1 
 
 in the country, which he designed for one of the public libraries of 
 New York. He established soup-houses for the poor, and provided for 
 the wants of many of the unfortunate families of convicts left destitute, 
 and in many other ways proved himself a real lover of his race. 
 
 XV. Dr. EMMET S third set. This forms a portion of his fine 
 series of members of the Old Congress, ryy^ Sg. They number 
 thirty-nine A. L. S. ; Thornton, Whipple, Paine, Williams, Wolcott, 
 Hart, Hopkinson, Stockton, Morton, Taylor, Read, and Wythe are 
 A. D. S. ; L. Morris, Heyward, Middleton, and Gwinnett are D. S. ; 
 and Lynch a signature, from the Bolton sale, originally from Mr. 
 Tefft. Sixteen of the full letters were written during the Revolution 
 ary period, of which Witherspoon and Hewes were penned in the Dec 
 laration year. 
 
 XVI. STATE LIBRARY, Albany, N. Y. This was the first and only 
 complete set formed by Mr. Tefft ; and after its purchase, at the Tefft 
 sale, in March, 1867, at $625 by Mr. E. French, it was sold to the State 
 of New York, with only twenty-seven full letters, for the moderate 
 sum of $800, the Legislature having made a special appropriation for 
 that purpose. Since it went into the possession of the State, a number 
 of improvements have been made, by the care and good judgment of 
 the Librarian, the late Dr. Homes, in the substitution of better speci 
 mens, including eleven full letters. It now numbers thirty-eight 
 A. L. S. ; while Samuel Adams, Paine, Sherman, Hart, Stockton, 
 McKean, Paca, Gwinnett, and Hall, are A. D. S. ; Lewis and Living 
 ston, L. S. ; Thornton, Hopkins, Lewis Morris, Morton, Stone and 
 Middleton, D. S., and Lynch, a cut signature. Of the full letters, 
 Clark and Smith were written in 1776, and fifteen others during the 
 Revolutionary period. The rarities of the collection are the full letter 
 of Heyward, and the fine A. D. S. of Gwinnett. The set is nicely 
 bound in dark Turkey morocco, in quarto size, with thirty -four 
 engraved likenesses, and engravings of the Declaration ; and in the 
 volume are included letters or documents of R. R. Livingston, John 
 Dickinson, and Thomas Willing, members of the Congress of 1776, 
 but not Signers, and of Charles Thomson, the Secretary, together with 
 one of Washington. 
 
 XVII. The late MRS. WM. D. ELY, Providence, R. I. This col 
 lection was made by Mrs. Eliza H. Allen, a daughter of Welcome 
 
82 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Arnold, of Providence, a descendant of the first Governor Green, of 
 the Colonial days of Rhode Island. She was born in Providence, 
 October 5, 1796 ; and was united in marriage to Hon. Zachariah 
 Allen, LL. D., of that city. Mrs. Allen inherited from childhood 
 many old ancestral papers, which inspired in her an early love for 
 autographs. She must have commenced her set of the Signers not 
 very long after Dr. Sprague, and by indefatigable industry she suc 
 ceeded in securing her group of autographs, without the necessity of 
 purchasing many of them, as at that early day they had not, to any 
 extent, become a marketable commodity. She substantially com 
 pleted her collections before 1850 her full set of the Signers some 
 what earlier. She has the honor of having been the only lady who 
 has succeeded in forming a complete collection of the Signers Mrs. 
 Wm. Hathaway, of New Bedford, Mass., having gathered a partial set. 
 
 It consists of thirty-seven A. L. S. ; with Thornton, Floyd, Lewis, 
 Stockton, Witherspoon, Morton, Taylor, Smith, McKean, Chase, 
 Wythe, Middleton, Gwinnett, and Walton, A. D. S. ; Livingston and 
 Clymer, L. S. ; and signatures only of Hart, to a Continental bill, F. 
 L. Lee, and Lynch. Three of the full letters bear date in 1776 Wol- 
 cott, February loth, Hancock, July 6th, and Gerry, October 4th, 
 while eleven others were written during the Revolutionary war. The 
 set is bound in a volume with thirty-five engraved likenesses. The 
 Hancock and Heyward letters, and A. D. S. of Gwinnett, form the 
 special features of interest in the collection. 
 
 Besides this full collection of the Declaration Signers, Mrs. Allen also 
 formed nearly another set, together with many of the Signers of the 
 Constitution ; all of the Presidents of the United States ; all of the 
 Bishops of the Episcopal Church, from Bishop Seabury down to within 
 a short time of her decease, illustrated with old engravings or photo 
 graphs. Also many Huguenot letters in French, dating back to 1669, 
 noted German autographs, many crowned heads, English and French; 
 an original letter of Louis Philippe, written expressly for Mrs. Allen, 
 with his signature and seal, alluding to his "chequered life," and his 
 early visit to this country ; together with letters of Voltaire, Addison, 
 William Penn, Roger Williams, and many other notable personages. 
 
 Mrs. Allen also secured a superb work, in six folio volumes, con 
 sisting of autographs of all the persons, and illustrations of all the 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 83 
 
 places, mentioned in Cowper s poems and works, and is more particu 
 larly referred to in the notice of Andrew Robeson s incomplete set of 
 the Signers, to whom these rare and beautiful volumes went by 
 bequest. 
 
 Mrs. Allen passing away August 30, 1873, in her seventy-seventh 
 year, her collection of the Signers and others was inherited by her 
 daughter, Mrs. Ely, and by her grandson, Andrew Robeson. Mrs. 
 Ely died at Providence, Oct. 15. 1888, at the age of seventy years. 
 Her autograph collection will doubtless descend to her only surviving 
 child, Mr. William Ely. 
 
 XVIII. Col. C. C. JONES second set consists of thirty-six A. L. S. ; 
 Bartlett, Thornton, Hopkins, Sherman, Williams, Stockton, Clark, 
 Ross, and Read, A. D. S. ; Wolcott, Livingston and R. H. Lee, 
 L. S. ; L. Morris, Hart, Morton, Taylor, Heyward, Middleton, and 
 Gwinnett, D. S. ; and Lynch, a signature. This set is designed for his 
 son, and is inlaid on Whatman paper, and illustrated with the best 
 engraved portraits extant, and views of residences, etc. Of the letters, 
 eight were written during the Revolutionary period Whipple in 1775, 
 Smith in 1776, Hewes in 1777, Wythe and Penn in 1780, Nelson in 
 1781, Harrison in 1782, and Paca in 1783. 
 
 XIX. Hon. T. STAMFORD RAFFLES, Liverpool, England. This 
 collection was made by his father, the late Rev. Thomas Raffles, D. D., 
 and LL. D. , of that city, who was a much older man than any of our 
 American collectors, having been born in London, May 17, 1778. He 
 used to say, that the gift of a letter of the celebrated traveler, Mungo 
 Park, first " inoculated " him with a passion for autographs. This 
 was some time prior to 1814, when we find him securing valuable 
 additions to his collection. Making journeys in Great Britain and on 
 the Continent, he never returned without adding to his autograph 
 accumulations. He received his first visit in 1828, from Rev. Dn W. 
 B. Sprague, with whom he had previously been in correspondence ; 
 and for many years they rendered each other much mutual aid in the 
 exchange of autographs. While it is not now known, yet it is quite 
 likely that Dr. Sprague inspired in Dr. Raffles the idea of making a 
 collection of the Signers. After many patient years of effort, Dr. 
 Raffles completed his set in 1837. 
 
 This collection of the Signers numbers thirty A. L. S. ; Hart and 
 
84 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Paca, A. D. S. ; John Adams, Hopkins, Lewis, McKean, Hooper, 
 and Walton, L. S. ; Thornton, Hancock, Huntington, Livingston, 
 Lewis Morris, Clymer, Morton, Ross, Smith, Taylor, Wilson, Jefferson, 
 F. L. Lee, Wythe, Heyward and Gwinnett, D. S. ; with Hewes and 
 Lynch, signatures the latter a cut one, " T. Lynch, ] .," attached to 
 a letter of his father signed "Tho. Lynch," with Dr. Sprague s cer 
 tificate, that the autograph of the younger Lynch was taken from a 
 book used by him while a student at Eton College, and furnished by 
 his nephew, Gov. Hamilton, of South Carolina. The Gwinnett is an 
 order on the Treasurer to pay an express rider six pounds, dated March 
 
 4,1777- 
 
 Among the rarities of the collection are the full letters of Samuel 
 Adams, Sherman, Stockton, and Middleton, with a fine historical 
 document of Hancock to Washington, October n, 1776, directing 
 him "by every art, and at whatever expense, to obstruct effectually the 
 navigation of the North River, between Fort Washington and Mount 
 Constitution." The special defects of the collection are, that while the 
 Morton is a finely written holograph letter, June 20, 1765, addressed 
 to Sir Wm. Johnson, and certified as such by Dr. Sprague, it is not 
 signed ; and the signature of George Taylor is imperfect, the Christian 
 name having been torn off. Besides the Hancock document, the 
 Stockton letter was written in 1776. 
 
 A writer, nearly thirty years ago, said of this collection : " Dr. 
 Raffles has his set bound in a beautiful volume, and values it almost as 
 he would the famous Koh-i-noor. A wealthy Boston merchant once 
 introduced himself to him in the street, and requested the privilege of 
 seeing his collection. He then told the Doctor that he wished to make 
 a present to his native city, and had seen nothing which so pleased him 
 for that purpose as this set of autographs, and asked if there was any 
 sum which would induce him to part with it ? The Liverpool Doctor, 
 however, who was wealthy, and besides considers a first-rate autograph a 
 luxury greater than a miser s gold heap, was not to be tempted." 
 
 Dr. Raffles wrote many works of merit, and prepared a lecture on 
 his favorite autograph hobby. He purchased comparatively few of his 
 large manuscript collections, but arranged and illustrated them, accu 
 mulating as many as forty folio volumes, and fully as many more 
 quartos, besides his seven volumes of American celebrities. He died 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 85 
 
 in Liverpool, August 18, 1863, leaving his noble autograph collections 
 to his worthy son, Judge T. Stamford Raffles, of that city. 
 
 XX. Dr. EiMMEx s fourth set is made up of less desirable specimens 
 than those comprising his other full sets ; it is, however, a very neat 
 and creditable collection. It numbers twenty-nine A. L. S. ; with 
 Bartlett, Whipple, Hancock, Paine, Hopkins, Sherman, Floyd, Lewis, 
 L. Morris, Clark, Wither-poon, Clymer, McKean, Morton, Rush, 
 Wilson, Hooper, Heyvvard, and Hall, A. D. S. ; Livingston, Hart, 
 Stockton, Taylor, Wythe, Middleton, and Gwinnett, D. S. ; and 
 Lynch, a signature cut from a book. The Lynch signature, which 
 was long lacking, was secured from Mrs. Ely s incomplete set, and 
 though it is signed simply "Lynch," without the prefix Thomas, or 
 suffix Jr., yet it may be regarded as genuine, as Col. Jones has a simi 
 lar one in his second set, whose genuineness is well attested. Besides, 
 this signature in Dr. Emmet s collection came from Dr. Sprague to 
 Mrs. Ely s mother, Mrs. Allen, and it is highly probable that Dr. 
 Sprague had it, as he did several others, from Mr. Tefft. 
 
 Of the twenty-nine full letters, fourteen bear date during the Revolu 
 tionary period, of which five were written in 1776 that of Ross, only 
 two days before the Declaration. This set is made up of letters and 
 documents in quarto and octavo size thirty-nine in octavo, sixteen in 
 quarto, with the Lynch signature. It is used to illustrate Sanderson s 
 Lives of the Signers, in eight volumes, uncut, with just enough rare 
 prints and engraved likenesses to render the volumes attractive and of 
 convenient size. It is neatly bound. 
 
 XXI. JOHN M. HALE, attorney at law, Philipsburg, Pa., has 
 recently completed his set of the Signers. He was born in Lewistown, 
 Pa., February 18, 1839, and graduated from the University of Penn 
 sylvania in 1862. He commenced the collection of autographs in 
 1853, first finding rare letters and documents among some old papers 
 he had occasion to examine; and commenced by exchanging dupli 
 cates, and since has purchased many autographs from various auctions 
 and other sources, securing his Lynch and Gwinnett at the recent Cist 
 sale. 
 
 His collection of the Signers consists of thirty A. L. S. ; Bartlett, 
 Thornton, Whipple, Hancock, Paine, Hopkins, Sherman, Williams, 
 Wolcott, Livingston, Lewis Morris, Clark, Hopkinson, Stockton, Tay- 
 
86 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 lor, Rutledge, and Walton, are A. D. S. ; S. Adams, L. S. ; Morton, 
 Taylor, Heyward, Middleton, Gwinnett, and Hall, D. S., and Smith, 
 in both D. S. and A. D. ; Hart and Lynch, signatures. Fourteen are 
 Revolutionary letters Stone, Read, Hewes, and Penn, 1776 ; R. H. 
 Lee, 1777; Lewis, 1778; Witherspoon, 1779; John Adams and Har 
 rison, 1780; McKean and Nelson, 1781; Rodney, 1782; and Paca 
 and Braxton, 1783. 
 
 Mr. Hale has nearly complete several other series Presidents of the 
 Continental Congress, and Presidents of the United States ; Signers of 
 the Articles of Confederation ; members of the Continental Congress ; 
 Chief Justices and Associates of the Supreme Court ; officers of the 
 Revolutionary war ; Episcopal Bishops of the United States Governors 
 of Pennsylvania ; also a full set of the Signers of the Constitution. 
 All these groups are finely illustrated. 
 
 XXII. Hon. MELLEN CHAMBERLAIN, Boston. Though not the oldest 
 in years, Mr. Chamberlain has been the longest engaged in making auto 
 graph collections of any of his surviving fellow collectors of sets of the 
 Signers. He was born in Pembroke, N. H., June 4th, 1821 ; gradu 
 ated at Dartmouth in 1844, and from the Dane Law School in 1848 ; 
 and, in 1885, had conferred on him by Dartmouth the degree of LL. D. 
 He has served as a judge, and has been many years Librarian of the 
 Boston Public Library. He began to collect autographs as early as 
 1836, and made the fine set of the Signers, and other series, now 
 in the Leffingwell collection. Judge Chamberlain s present set of the 
 Signers is unique in its character and arrangement. It is made up of 
 the genuine signatures, pasted on a fine copy of the Declaration in fac 
 simile, of full size, on parchment colored paper. The document is 
 glazed and framed. It thus faithfully represents the great Declaration, 
 and is infinitely more pleasant to look at than the misused and time- 
 worn original at Washington. This set was completed about 1865. 
 
 He has sets of the Signers of the Constitution and of the Confedera 
 tion ; also, an address of the Continental Congress to the King of 
 Great Britain in 1774, all represented in the same way as the Signers. 
 These Judge Chamberlain calls Tablets ; and it must be confessed 
 that they present a very attractive appearance. 
 
 His general collection, American and European, will, when bound, 
 with portraits and other illustrations and letterpress, make some 200 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 87 
 
 volumes. He has made a specialty of illustrating books, such as 
 Duyckinck s Cyclopedia of American Literature, which has grown to 
 about sixty volumes ready for binding. 
 
 Whether expressed or otherwise, the autograph of Charles Thomson, 
 the faithful Secretary of Congress, may always be regarded as finding an 
 appropriate place in every collection of the Signers of the Declaration 
 of Independence. 
 
 INCOMPLETE SETS OF THE SIGNERS. 
 
 Concise notices will now be given of the incomplete collections 
 extant of the Signers, so far as we have been able to obtain any 
 knowledge of them giving their strength so far as known. These 
 representations tend to show the scarcity of certain autographs, and the 
 difficulty nay, almost impossibility of securing them. 
 
 1. SIMON GRATZ, of Philadelphia, has all save Lynch of a second 
 set which he once possessed, but spared it to round out another col 
 lection. This set forms a part of his series of the Old Congress, and 
 consists of fifty-one A. L. S., with Hopkins and Gwinnett, L. S. ; and 
 Morton and Middleton, D. S. The character and condition of the 
 specimens are very little inferior to his complete set. There are some, 
 though not many, 1776 letters among them. The collection is well 
 illustrated. 
 
 2. Col. FRANK M. ETTING, Ward P. O. , Delaware Co., Penn., 
 has fifty-five of the Signers, lacking Lynch ; fifty are A. L. S. ; Hart 
 and Morton, A. D. S. ; Hopkins, Smith, and Gwinnett, D. S. Mr. 
 Tefft once tendered Colonel Etting a Lynch signature, which he 
 declined, saying he never admitted such specimens into his col 
 lection. 
 
 Besides this set and many duplicates of the Signers, he has two sets 
 of the Signers of the Constitution ; the Albany Congress of 1754, 
 nearly complete ; the Congress of 1765, with the Colonial Governors 
 of the period, and letters of Braddock, Wolfe, and other officers of the 
 Seven Years War ; the Congress of 1774, complete and unique, includ 
 ing an original printed copy of the association of 1774, signed in 
 written signatures by the members this copy was sent to Maryland, 
 and purchased from a descendant of Col. Tench Tilghman, who 
 inherited it ; a set of the Generals of the Revolution, nearly complete ; 
 
88 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 the Confederation of 1778, nearly, if not quite, complete ; Presidents, 
 Vice-Presidents, and Cabinet members, from Washington to Johnson. 
 Colonel Etting has devoted to Washington, Byron, and Napoleon, 
 each a separate volume of autographs and illustrations, giving each his 
 associates and surroundings, his loves and his hates, and everything 
 going to make up a unique and interesting collection. Among all 
 these are many great rarities one a letter from Mary, the mother of 
 Washington, in which she familiarly writes of her " George " with her 
 own hand. 
 
 Colonel Etting has one-half of a copy of the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence, which he believes was the one John Nixon read from when 
 the great act was proclaimed in Independence Square, on the 8th of 
 July, 1776. It came from Mr. Nixon s papers, and is very much worn, 
 as if carried in his pocket in hot weather ; but unfortunately only the 
 latter half of the document is preserved, the signatures being printed. 
 
 Colonel Etting, now fifty-five years of age, commenced his auto 
 graph gathering many years ago ; but poor health in recent years has 
 prevented him from prosecuting and completing his collections, 
 which, it is understood, he designs eventually to bequeath to the 
 Pennsylvania Historical Society. 
 
 3. Dr. JOHN S. H. FOGG, of Boston, has a second set of the Signers, 
 fifty-five in number, lacking Lynch only. It is used in his group of 
 the Old Congress ; forty-eight are A. L. S. ; Taylor and Read, A. D. S. ; 
 Morton and Middleton, L. S. ; Hart and Heyward, D. S. ; and Gwin- 
 nett, A. D. Of the full letters, twenty-seven were written in 1776, and 
 Morton, L. S. also. Fully illustrated. 
 
 4. D. McN. STAUFFER, of Ne^v York, having fifty-five autographs 
 of the Signers, lacks only Lynch of a full set ; of which forty-five 
 are A. L. S., having the rarity of a full Morton among them, which 
 with Dr. Emmet s, formerly Colonel Myers , are the only two full 
 Morton letters known to be extant, an unsigned one being in the 
 Raffles collection. Thornton, Wolcott, and Read, are A. D. S. ; 
 Hopkins, Livingston, and Middleton, L. S. ; Lewis Morris, Hart, 
 Heyward, and Gwinnett are D. S. Twenty-two of the full letters are 
 of the Revolutionary period, nine of which are 1776 letters nearly all 
 are of historical interest, particularly that of Rush, which was written 
 in old Independence Hall, and refers at length to the Declaration. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 89 
 
 Mr. Stauffer has completed a set of the Signers of the Constitution, 
 as well as of the non-signers, largely illustrated. 
 
 He has besides several other interesting series : 
 
 (i). The Old Congress, ijj^-Sg, lacking only twenty-eight, which 
 includes forty-one specimens of a second set of the Signers. 
 
 (2). Generals of the Revolution, wanting only thirteen names. 
 
 (3). Aids to General Washington, thirty in number, lacking one 
 only. 
 
 (4). Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and Cabinet Officers, arranged in 
 separate administrations, from Washington to Lincoln inclusive. All 
 A. L. S., and each administration complete, though necessarily in 
 some instances duplicating specimens. 
 
 (5). Governors of Pennsylvania to date. 
 
 (6). Mr. Stauffer has used about three thousand letters and docu 
 ments in illustrating a History of Philadelphia, from 16301830, which 
 fills by the expansion of these profuse illustrations, twenty-five folio vol 
 umes, and contains, besides the autograph letters and documents, some 
 thousands of engravings, views, broadsides, pen drawings, water- 
 colors, etc., etc. This splendid work is not yet complete. The col 
 lection is particularly rich in autographs of the Penn family, eighteen 
 letters in all, commencing with an A. L. S. of Admiral William Penn, 
 the father of the founder of Pennsylvania. 
 
 (7). Of the Colonial and Revolutionary period, he has arranged in 
 miscellaneous lots the "officers of the Revolution," numbering over 
 five hundred names. 
 
 Mr. Stauffer has also numerous minor series, chiefly Pennsylvania 
 groups Mayors of Philadelphia, 1700-1876, wanting two only; 
 Attorneys-General of Pennsylvania, 1682-1876, lacking only four ; U. 
 S. Senators from Pennsylvania, complete ; Judges of Pennsylvania 
 Supreme Court ; members of Pennsylvania Convention, and Com 
 mittees of Safety ; Governors of other States ; officers of French and 
 Indian War, 1755, etc.; medical, literary men, clergymen, etc., etc. 
 
 He has between ten and twelve thousand letters and documents in 
 all, including a goodly number of foreign names, French marshals, 
 kings of England, and British officers of the Revolution, etc. 
 
 Mr. Stauffer, the collector of all these interesting series of auto 
 graphs, was born in Lancaster, Pa., in 1845, and commenced collect- 
 7 
 
9O AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 ing his rich gatherings in 1876, when he fell heir to the papers of 
 Chief Justice Jasper Yeates, of Pennsylvania, a large and valuable 
 accumulation of papers and correspondence of a man who figured 
 prominently in public affairs in that State from 1774 until his death in 
 1817. Mr. Stauffer, as well as Mr. Gratz, is justly regarded as a judge 
 and expert in American autographs. 
 
 5. CHARLES ROBERTS, of Philadelphia, has fifty-four of a second set 
 of the Signers, which form part of his members of the Old Congress and 
 of the Confederation, lacking only Lynch and Gwinnett ; forty-two are 
 A. L. S. ; the other thirteen are made up of less desirable specimens. 
 
 6. Hon. ELLIOT DANFORTH, of Bainbridge, N. Y., was born in 
 Middleburgh, Schoharie County, in that State, March 6, 1850, and 
 after receiving a liberal education, and making some journeys to the 
 Pacific coast, he studied law under the direction of his father, Judge 
 Peter S. Danforth, of Middleburgh ; and since his admission to the bar, 
 in 1871, he has, besides successfully practicing his profession, filled 
 many local positions of honor and responsibility, once declining a 
 candidacy for Congress, and twice has represented his district in 
 National Democratic conventions. He is now worthily serving his 
 second term as Assistant State Treasurer of New York. He is a hard 
 student in solid literature, and a successful collector of autographs and 
 manuscripts. 
 
 Mr. Danforth s collection of the Signers numbers fifty-four, lacking 
 Lynch and Gwinnett ; of which thirty-six are A. L. S. ; Thornton, Han 
 cock, Sherman, Wolcott, Livingston, Clark, Hopkinson, Stockton, 
 Ross, Read, Heyward and Hall, A. D. S.; S. Adams and Middleton, 
 L. S. ; Paine, Hopkins, Hart and Morton, D. S. Of the full letters, 
 fifteen were written during the Revolutionary period, one of them a 
 1776 letter. 
 
 Mr. Danforth has an Old Congress series well advanced, in which 
 are scattered nearly all of the Signers of the Constitution ; a set of 
 the Generals of the Revolution to the number of sixty-seven ; the 
 Albany Congress and Stamp Act Congress lack only a few names ; and 
 he has a complete set of the Presidents, Vice- Presidents, and Cabinet 
 officers, together with a very fine series of the leading Union and Con 
 federate generals, and many literary and other celebrities. 
 
 7. Dr. EMMET has a fifth collection of the Signers numbering fifty- 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. pi 
 
 four, embraced in his special set of the Congress of 1774, and among 
 other groups, all or nearly all in A. L. S. form, and lacking Lynch and 
 Gwinnett. Although unambitious of completing a fifth set, this suc 
 cessful collector may yet surprise both himself and friends with the 
 accomplishment of this remarkable feat. 
 
 8. HIRAM HITCHCOCK, of New York, has fifty-four of the Signers, 
 lacking Lynch and Gwinnett ; of which John Adams, Gerry, Paine, 
 Ellery, Huntington, Lewis, Witherspoon, Franklin, R. Morris, Rush, 
 Wilson, Rodney, Carroll, Chase, Braxton, Jefferson, one of the Lees, 
 Nelson, Hooper, and Walton are A. L. S. ; while the others are 
 A. D. S. or D. S. 
 
 9. CHARLES F. GUNTHER, of Chicago, has fifty-four of the Signers, 
 wanting Lynch and Gwinnett, said to be largely of a good character ; 
 but Mr. Gunther neglects to give any information concerning them. 
 
 10. The second set of Mrs. D. J. COHEN, of Baltimore, gathered by 
 the late Dr. Cohen, lacked two of completion in 1870, apparently 
 Lynch and Gwinnett ; and, it is believed, the collection has received na 
 addition or improvement since that time. 
 
 11. JAMES A. EDGERLY, of Great Falls, N. H., has a set wanting 
 Lynch and Gwinnett. We only learn that it is not strong in full auto 
 graph letters. 
 
 12. The second set of Hon. JOHN BOYD THACHER, of Albany, num 
 bers fifty-three, lacking Lynch, Gwinnett, and Hall, made up mostly 
 of A. D. S., and D. S., and with but few full letters in the collection. 
 
 13. HENRY A. WILLARD, of Washington, D. C., has fifty-three of 
 the Signers, which includes a Gwinnett signature, and lacks Lewis 
 Morris, Hooper, and Lynch. He has both a Lynch letter and signa 
 ture, but they are undoubtedly spurious, as elsewhere fully explained. 
 
 There are twenty-six A. L. S. in the collection ; Clymer, Stone, and 
 Middleton, A. D. S. ; S. Adams, L. S. ; Bartlett, Thornton, Whipple,. 
 Paine, Hopkins, Williams, Lewis, Hart, Hopkinson, Clark, Smith, 
 Taylor, Wilson, Rodney, McKean, Harrison, and Hall are D. S. ; 
 Sherman, Morton, Wythe, Hewes, Heyward, and Gwinnett, are signa 
 tures. The set is handsomely bound in leather, and illustrated with 
 engravings. 
 
 Mr. Willard had his interest first attracted to autographs by coming 
 into possession of many of the papers and letters of his wife s grand- 
 
92 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 father, Hon. Stephen R. Bradley, who was an aid to Gen. Wooster in 
 the Revolution, and represented Vermont in the United States Senate 
 from 1791 to 1795, and again from 1801 to 1813. He survived till 
 1830, was a man of eminent ability but eccentric habits, and had an 
 extensive correspondence in his day, from which Mr. Willard selected 
 many valuable autograph specimens. 
 
 Some years ago Mr. Willard, in passing along one of the streets of 
 Washington, was prompted to step into a junk-shop, where was a 
 great pile of paper heaped up in the middle of the floor awaiting assort 
 ment for the paper mill. Happening to turn some of the papers over 
 with his foot while chatting with the proprietor of the shop, Mr. Wil 
 lard was surprised to see that they consisted mainly of old letters and 
 manuscripts of various kinds, and picking one up discovered that it 
 was a valuable autograph letter. He then requested that the pile be 
 left for his further examination, to which the proprietor said that his 
 employees would soon be ready to assort the papers, so as to have them 
 in readiness for shipment the next day. After considerable negotia 
 tion and the payment of fifty dollars, Mr. Willard arranged to have the 
 pile left undisturbed till the following day, with permission to select 
 such as he might choose. It proved to be a rich vein he had struck, 
 and many valuable additions were made to his collections. 
 
 Mr. Willard has among his rich gatherings a set of all the Presidents 
 and their Cabinets down to Lincoln s administration, and many manu 
 script speeches of Clay, Webster, Hayne, Benton, Polk, Choate and 
 others. 
 
 14. The second set of Miss MARY M. LEFFINGWELL, of New Haven, 
 Conn., numbers fifty-two of the Signers, lacking Taylor, Lynch, Mid- 
 dleton, and Gwinnett ; forty-six are A. L. S., with Bartlett, Hopkins, 
 and Hey ward, L. S. ; Hart and Livingston, D. S. ; and Morton, a sig 
 nature to a Continental bill. Unbound, and copiously illustrated. 
 
 15. HOWARD K. SANDERSON, of Lynn, Mass., probably the youngest 
 collector of autographs of the Signers, is only twenty-two years of age, 
 and commenced his collection in 1884. His set numbers fifty-two, of 
 which twenty-six are A. L. S. ; Bartlett, Sherman, Williams, Wolcott, 
 Floyd, Stockton, Read, Hooper, and Rutledge, are A. D. S. ; Living 
 ston, Lewis, L. Morris, Smith, Taylor, Harrison, Heyward, and Wal 
 ton are L. S. ; Thornton, Hancock, S. Adams, Hopkins, Hart, 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 93 
 
 Witherspoon, Franklin, Morton, and Wythe are D. S. ; and Lynch, 
 Middleton, Gwinnett, and Hall lacking. Of the full letters, twelve 
 are of the Revolutionary period, as are also five of the L. S. ; the full 
 letters of Chase and Penn were written in 1776. 
 
 Mr. Sanderson has also several other series well advanced the Presi 
 dents, Governors of Massachusetts ; and of the kings and queens of 
 England, from Henry VIII. to Victoria, fifteen in number. 
 
 16. BYRON REED, of Omaha, Nebraska, commenced collecting auto 
 graphs about forty years ago, but much of his gatherings has been 
 brought together within the past ten years. While his collection is 
 genera 1 , his set of the Signers numbers fifty-two, lacking Hooper, 
 Lynch, Gwinnelt, and Hall. It consists of twenty A. L. S. ; thirteen 
 A. D. S., some of which are important historical documents ; sixteen 
 D. S. ; and three L. S. 
 
 17. JAMES W. HOWARTH, of Glen Riddle, Pa., has fifty-two of the 
 Signers, of which nineteen are A. L. S.; while Paine, Floyd, Ciark, 
 Stockton, Ross, Rush, Wilson, Chase, Stone, and Rutledge, are A. D. 
 S. ; Whipple and Livingston, L. S.; Bartlett, S. Adams, Hopkins, 
 Huntington, Hart, Franklin, Morton, Smith, McKean, Harrison, 
 Nelson, Hewes, Hooper, and Heyward, D. S. ; Lewis, L. Morris, 
 Rodney, Read, F. L. Lee, and Middleton, signatures, and Wythe, a 
 specimen of writing. The lacking autographs are Penn, Lynch, 
 Gwinnett, and Hall. Nine of the full letters are of the Revolutionary 
 period, of which Taylor s was written in 1776. The set is arranged in 
 a large book, illustrated with forty-four portraits and forty-eight 
 views. 
 
 Besides a full set of the Signers of the Constitution, Mr. Howarth 
 has all but four of the Generals of the Revolution, including eight 
 specimens of Washington ; also the Presidents and Vice-Presidents, with 
 the Cabinet officers, neatly bound, and, so far as obtainable, illustrated 
 with portraits, views, and biographical sketches. He has another full 
 set of the Presidents, and a third one nearly complete ; and a volume 
 of President Jefferson Davis of the Southern Confederacy, and his 
 Cabinet, with personal sketches, engravings, and views. 
 
 He has twenty autographs towards a second set of the Signers. He 
 has, moreover, series of our American judiciary, members of Congress, 
 eminent political and literary characters, distinguished divines, 
 
94 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 together with a full set of the Generals on both sides of our civil war, 
 also fully illustrated. 
 
 Mr. Howarth has several finely printed books, illustrated with auto 
 graphs Duyckinck & Chappell s Lives of the Presidents, Tome s 
 War in the South, in three volumes ; National Portrait Gallery, two 
 volumes ; Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania, with thirty-eight 
 autograph illustrations designing to arrange his autographs, colonial 
 and modern, of the Governors of other States and Territories in sepa 
 rate volumes. He has also a large album, with portrait engravings and 
 autographs of many American celebrities. 
 
 Mr. Howarth was born in Delaware County, Pa., in 1847, where he 
 fills an honored and useful position in society. He commenced gath 
 ering autographs in 1864, and his varied and growing collections now 
 exceed seventeen thousand, which include Napoleon and Wellington, 
 with many foreign potentates and celebrities. 
 
 1 8. The third set of CHARLES ROBERTS, of Philadelphia, numbers 
 fifty-one of the Signers, of which thirty-five are A. L. S. ; the others are 
 either A. D. S., L. S., or D. S. Fully illustrated. 
 
 19. Rev. Jos. H. DUBBS, D. D. , of Lancaster, Pa., has fifty of the 
 Signers, made up, as a rule, of letters or fine A. D. S. , and not in 
 cluding any cut signatures. The lacking autographs are Penn, Hey- 
 ward, Lynch, Middleton, Gwinnett, and Hall. 
 
 Dr. Dubbs has also a complete set of the Signers of the Con 
 stitution ; and other series, yet incomplete, of the Generals of the 
 Revolution, Presidents, Vice-Presidents and Cabinet members, Judges 
 of the Supreme Court, naval officers, American authors, and American 
 divines, including more than a hundred Episcopal bishops ; together 
 with series of Pennsylvania members of the Continental Congress and 
 down to the present time, Governors, Senators and Attorneys-General. 
 Dr. Dubbs commenced making his collections in 1860, and has been 
 very successful, giving, however, but little attention to them of late 
 years. 
 
 Dr. Dubbs was born at North White Hall, Pa., October 5th, 
 1838. He graduated from college in 1856, and from the Mercers- 
 burg Theological Seminary in 1859 ; and acceptably served as rector 
 of Zion Church, Allentown, Trinity Church, Pottstown, and Christ 
 Church, Philadelphia, and since 1875 has served as Professor of His- 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 95 
 
 tory and Archaeology in Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster. 
 He has been honored with membership in several learned institutions ; 
 serving also as editor and newspaper correspondent and author of 
 Historic Manual of the Reformed Church. 
 
 20. HAROLD BROWN, of Providence, R. I., has forty-eight specimens 
 of the Signers, of which thirty-five are A. L. S. ; Bartlett, Hart, Read, 
 Wythe and Hewes, A. D. S. ; Livingston, L. S. ; S. Adams, Hopkins, 
 Floyd, Morton, Ross, McKean and Heyward, D. S. ; wanting Hancock, 
 Paine, Taylor, Hooper, Lynch, Middleton, Gwinnett and Hall. This 
 set was originally made by the late Hon. Henry C. Murphy, of 
 Brooklyn, and was purchased for the Hon. John Carter Brown, at the 
 Murphy sale, in March, 1884, at a cost of $445, and has since been 
 improved. On the death of Mr. Brown, the set passed into the hands 
 of Mr. Harold Brown. There are nine duplicates of the Signers, in 
 some form, in the collection. 
 
 21. GEO. M. CONARROE, attorney at law, Philadelphia, commenced 
 his collections about 1850, and gathered the most of them during the 
 ensuing ten years. His set of the Signers numbers forty-eight, of 
 which thirty-three are A. L. S. ; Paine, Witherspoon, Morton, Ross, 
 Smith, Taylor, and McKean, A. D. S. ; Harrison, L. S. ; J. Adams, a 
 note signed with initials ; Bartlett, Thornton, Hopkins, Stone, Middle- 
 ton, and Gwinnett, D. S. ; lacking Wythe, Hewes, Hooper, Penn, 
 Heyward, Lynch, Gwinnett, and Hall. 
 
 Mr. Conarroe has also made incomplete series of Generals of the 
 Revolution, Presidents and Cabinet members ; together with interest 
 ing collections of literary, scientific, and legal autograph letters and 
 documents. 
 
 22. The late HARRISON WRIGHT, of Wilkesbarre, Pa., commenced 
 collecting autographs in 1864, and continued it until his death, Feb. 
 20, 1885. His collections include a set of the Presidents and their 
 Cabinets, and forty-eight of the fifty-six Signers of the Declaration of 
 Independence of which fourteen are A. L. S., one L. S., and seven 
 signatures. The lacking autographs are those of Bartlett, Williams, 
 L. Morris, Hooper, Hewes, Lynch, Middleton, and Gwinnett. On 
 Mr. Wright s death, his autographs fell to his brother, Hon. J. RIDGEWAY 
 WRIGHT, of Wilkesbarre, who has concluded to retain and improve them. 
 
 23. The second set of F. J. DREER, of Philadelphia, numbers forty- 
 
96 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 seven ; of which forty-three are A. L. S. ; Morton, A. D. S. ; Hopkins 
 and Livingston, L. S. ; and Heyward, D. S.; lacking Thornton, Paine, 
 Stockton, Ross, Stone, Penn, Lynch, Middleton and Gwinnett. Copi 
 ously illustrated. 
 
 24. CHARLES P. GREENOUGH, of Boston, has forty-seven autographs 
 of the Signers, including a D. S. of Gwinnett; twenty are A. L. S., 
 nine A. D. S., one L. S., thirteen D. S., two A. D., and two signa 
 tures ; all are utilized in a series of members of the Old Congress, of 
 which he has a large majority. Besides nearly all of the Signers of the 
 Constitution, Mr. Greenough has a complete set of the Presidents and 
 Vice-Presidents and Cabinet officers, and a nearly full set of the Gen 
 erals of the Revolution. From the John Hancock papers, he selected 
 for his general collection 1,500 letters, and 2,000 from Daniel Web 
 ster s correspondence. 
 
 25. NATHANIEL PAINE, Worcester, Mass., has forty -five of the Sign 
 ers in his collection, of which eighteen are A. L. S. ; Whipple, Sher 
 man, Wolcott, McKean, Paca, Wythe, and Rutledge, A. D. S. ; S. 
 Adams, Hancock, Paine, Ellery, Williams, Floyd, Livingston, L. 
 Morris, Hopkinson, Witherspoon, Morton, Ross, Taylor, Wilson, 
 Chase, and Walton, D. S. ; Hart, Stockton, Harrison, and Heyward, 
 signatures ; lacking Hopkins, Clark, Read, Stone, Hewes, Hooper, 
 Penn, Lynch, Middleton, Gwinnett, and Hall. 
 
 Mr. Paine s collection of the Signers is bound up in two volumes, in 
 half red crushed levant morocco, with illuminated titles especially pre 
 pared for them. The first volume contains an historical monograph, 
 handsomely printed, with fourteen engravings of the Signers mentioned 
 in that collection ; a brief history of the thirteen original States, and 
 lives of the Signers properly illustrated; two finely printed copies of 
 the Declaration, with an early broadside of that document ; then 
 Broiherhead s fac-simttes from his Book of the Signers, with portraits, 
 and before each fac-simile is placed the original autograph on the space 
 left vacant for that purpose. This volume embraces the New England 
 States and New York, with an illuminated coat of arms of each of those 
 States. The second volume includes the remaining States, with auto 
 graphs and illustrations similarly arranged, together with fac-similes of 
 the original Declaration and signatures, and chronological tables of the 
 principal events of the country from 1776 to 1876. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 97 
 
 26. ANDREW ROBESON, of Brookline, Mass., inherits from his grand 
 mother, the late Mrs. Eliza H. Allen, of Providence, her incomplete 
 set of the signers, numbering some forty-three, lacking Whipple, Floyd, 
 Stockton, L. Morris, Smith, Read, R. H. Lee, Nelson, Middleton, 
 Lynch, Gwinnett, and two others not designated. 
 
 Mr. Robeson also inherits from Mrs. Allen a unique collection of 
 autographs of all persons or places mentioned in Cowper s poems or 
 works, in six large folio volumes, beautifully bound and illustrated by 
 engravings and pen and ink sketches by a son of a Mr. Thompson, an 
 engineer in the British army. In one of these volumes is an autograph 
 of Bunyan, with its history. It is said that there are only thirteen 
 known autographs of Bunyan in existence. 
 
 27. WM. B. FAXON, New York City. His incomplete collection was 
 made several years past by his father, the late Hon. Wm. Faxon, of 
 Hartford, Conn., at one time Assistant Secretary of the Navy. It 
 consists of forty-three of the Signers, of which J. Adams, Gerry, Sher 
 man, Stockton, R. Morris, Rush, Clymer, Rodney, Carroll, Paca, 
 Jefferson and Braxton are A. L. S. ; Bartlett, Thornton, Whipple and 
 Paine, A. D. S. ; Hancock, Huntington, Livingston and Harrison are 
 L. S. ; S. Adams, Hopkins, Ellery, Williams, Wolcott, Lewis, Wither- 
 spoon, Franklin, Ross, Wilson, McKean, Chase, Stone, R. H. Lee, 
 Wythe and Rutledge are D. S. ; Hopkins, Hart and Morton are bills 
 signed ; Hewes and Penn, letter franks ; Nelson and Walton, signa 
 tures. Those wanting of the Signers are Floyd, L. Morris, Clark, 
 Smith, Taylor, Read, F. L. Lee, Hooper, Heyward, Lynch, Middle- 
 ton, Gwinnett and Hall. 
 
 Mr. Faxon s other collections embrace autographs of nearly all the 
 Presidents, Vice-Presidents and Cabinet officers, many army and naval 
 officers, congressmen and literary characters. 
 
 28. The second set of D. McN. STAUFFER, of New York, numbers 
 forty-one, which goes towards forming a collection of the members of 
 the Old Congress some three hundred and eighty in all, of which he 
 lacks but twenty-three. 
 
 29. The third set of F. J. DREER, of Philadelphia, numbers forty, 
 thirty-five of which are A. L. S. ; S. Adams, Livingston, Smith arid 
 Paca, L. S. , and Morton, D. S. ; while sixteen are lacking, viz. : 
 Thornton, Paine, Hopkins, Williams, Hart, Stockton, Ross, Stone, 
 
98 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Hewes, Hooper, Perm, Heyward, Lynch, Middleton, Gwinnett and 
 Hall. 
 
 30. GORDON L. FORD, of Brooklyn, has thirty-seven of the Signers 
 thirty A. L. S. , and seven either A. D. S. or D. S. There are none 
 of the Signers of the Carolinas or Georgia represented in the collection, 
 save a signed document by Rutledge. His collection was commenced 
 in 1839, at which time Mr. Ford states that he knew but four other 
 collectors in this country j namely : Dr. Sprague, Mr. Tefft, Mr. Gil- 
 mor and Mr. Cist. His aim was not so much to form any complete 
 series, as to secure letters of historic interest and value. His incom 
 plete set of the Signers is alphabetically arranged, illustrated with por 
 traits, views and short sketches, but not bound. His entire autograph 
 collection is one of the largest in our country, reaching probably the 
 great number of a hundred thousand letters and documents. Mr. 
 Ford, a native of Connecticut, who has passed his sixty-fifth milestone 
 in life, enjoys the company of his surroundings with unflagging 
 pleasure and pardonable pride. 
 
 31. FRANK D. ANDREWS, of Vineland, N. J., has a general collec 
 tion of some ten thousand specimens. Among them are thirty-four 
 autographs of the Signers, of which Ellery, Huntington, McKean, 
 Paca, Chase, Carroll, Jefferson, Harrison and R. H. Lee are A. L. S. ; 
 Bartlett, Thornton, Paine, Williams, Clymer, Smith and Wilson are 
 A. D. S. ; Hopkinson and R. Morris are L. S. ; J. Adams, S. Adams, 
 Gerry, Hancock, Wolcott, Livingston and Ross are D. S. ; Sherman, 
 Franklin, F. L. Lee, Nelson and Wythe are signatures ; Lewis, auto 
 graph specimen of writing, and Hart and Morton, colonial bills signed, 
 and one other not classified. 
 
 32. Hon. GARRET D. W. VROOM, of Trenton, N. J., has twenty-six 
 of the Signers, of which Hancock, Livingston, Clark, Stockton, Wither- 
 spoon, Clymer, Morris, McKean, Jefferson and Walton are A. L. S. ; 
 while Bartlett, Thornton, Sherman, Floyd, Lewis, Hart, Ross, Smith, 
 are A. D. S.; John and Sam. Adams, Gerry, Huntington and Franklin 
 are L. S. ; and L. Morris, Hopkinson and Hall are D. S. 
 
 Mr. Vroom has also a number of letters, of the Revolutionary period, 
 in other series. 
 
 33. Hon. CHARLES H. BELL, of Exeter, N. H., has a general collec 
 tion of most of the officers and patriots of the Revolution as well as 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 99 
 
 foreign officers, which include twenty-one of the Signers of the Declara 
 tion of Independence, of which about one-half are A. L. S. 
 
 Mr. Bell s special attention has been given mostly to a collection of 
 autographs of the Generals and other distinguished officers of the Rev 
 olution, which have been inlaid with appropriate letterpress, illustrated 
 with engravings. His autographs have been divided into the following 
 groups : 
 
 I. Preliminary, including George III. and his principal ministers, 
 and the leading patriots of the ante-Revolutionary period. 
 
 II. Concord, Bunker Hill, and the siege of Boston. 
 
 III. Canada and Burgoyne s expedition. 
 
 IV. Battle of Long Island to Valley Forge. 
 
 V. Monmouth to Arnold s treason. 
 
 VI. Southern officers and events. 
 
 VII. Yorktown, and end of the war. 
 
 These groups embrace nearly all of the American Revolutionary 
 Generals and a good proportion of the British and other foreign 
 officer, and is particularly strong in the French officers in the American 
 service. When possible, specimens of the officers written during the 
 campaign in which they more especially figured, have been obtained. 
 
 34. Hon. MELLEN CHAMBERLAIN, of Boston, besides his set of 
 mounted signatures of the Signers, has some thirty letters and docu 
 ments towards a second collection, of which we have no classification. 
 
 35. The PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY has about one-half of 
 the Signers in separate letter form, which they design utilizing, at some 
 future time, in improving their set, which came from the collections of 
 the late Dr. Sprague. 
 
 36. Miss MARY D. HATHAWAY, of New Bedford, Mass., inherited 
 from her mother, Mrs. William Hathaway, several years since, an 
 incomplete collection of the Signers. Of its composition we have no 
 information. 
 
 37. CHARLES S. OGDEN, of Philadelphia, is mentioned as an auto 
 graph collector as early as 1853. "Some twenty years or more ago," 
 wrote the late R. C. Davis, " Mr. Ogden had the nucleus of a nice col 
 lection of the Signers, which was given to his son Henry Corbit 
 Ogden, of New York." We have no knowledge of its strength or 
 classification. 
 
IOO AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 38. The second set of J. W. HOWARTH, of Glen Riddle, Pa., num 
 bers twenty specimens. 
 
 39. Hon. HENRY C. VAN SCHAACK, of Manlius, N. Y., made some 
 general autograph collections in his day. He was born at Kinderhook, 
 N. Y. , April 3, 1802. For sixty-four years he practiced law ; declin 
 ing public employments, he devoted himself to his profession and to 
 literary pursuits. His chief literary productions were, Life of Peter 
 Van Schaack, LL.D., his worthy parent ; A Kinderhook Mansion ; Henry 
 Cruger, the Colleague of Edmund Burke ; Captain Morris, of the Illinois 
 Country ; a History of Manlius ; and a Life of Major Harry Van 
 Schaack, who figured largely in the Revolutionary War in the New 
 England States, in manuscript, which his descendants intend publishing 
 in accordance with the author s wishes. He was fond of saving histori 
 cal newspaper scraps, and left many volumes systematically arranged, 
 twelve of which relate exclusively to historical and biographical selec 
 tions, and three to the history of Onondaga County, N. Y. 
 
 His collection of autographs was designed to illustrate the period 
 of the war of the American Revolution, among which were at least 
 eighteen full letters of the Signers all bound in three fine volumes, 
 and fully illustrated with engravings, sketches, newspaper articles, 
 etc., descending to his children, Mrs. Wm. G. Hibbard, of Chicago, 
 Mrs. A. J. Vanderpoel, of New York, and Peter Van Schaack, of 
 Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Van Schaack died at Manlius, N. Y., Dec. 18, 1887, in his 
 eighty-sixth year, leaving behind him a stainless name, and a reputa 
 tion for ability, goodness and integrity, second to none of his day and 
 generation. 
 
 40. CHARLES J. HOADLY, of Hartford, Conn., has eighteen auto 
 graphs of the Signers of which Huntington, Sherman, Williams, 
 Wolcott, Hopkinson, Carroll, and Braxton are A. L. S. ; Hancock 
 and R. Morris are L. S. ; Bartlett, Thornton, Hopkins, Clymer, 
 Franklin and Jefferson are D. S. ; and Hart, Morton, and Heyward 
 signatures on Colonial bills. 
 
 41. FRED. M. STEELE, of Chicago, has a few specimens of the Sign 
 ers. His collection numbers some four thousand altogether, which 
 include Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and Cabinet officers, military 
 characters, and literary and musical celebrities. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. IOI 
 
 42. EBEN LANE, of Chicago, has autographs of several of the Signers, 
 including one of Hart, but seems not to have made any special effort 
 towards perfecting the series. He has what he regards as a Lynch 
 signature, which he has had several years, but is unable to trace its 
 origin. The chances are ten to one that it is spurious. Mr. Lane is 
 a grandson of Chief Justice Ebenezer Lane, of Ohio, related to Oliver 
 Wolcott, the signer, and Governor Griswold, of Connecticut, and in 
 this way Mr. Lane got quite a start in his autograph collection. 
 While he has many groups, none of them seem to be complete ; among 
 them are the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and Cabinet officers, the 
 Chief Justices and Associates, American statesmen, many of the 
 Generals of the Revolution, the American Episcopal bishops, and 
 many dramatic personages the latter used in illustrating Maclise s 
 Portrait Gallery, and Matthews and Hutton s Actors and Actresses 
 of Great Britain and America. 
 
 43. Z. T. HOLLINGSWORTH, of Boston, has a large but general col 
 lection of autographs, with no completed group. He has quite a 
 number of specimens of the Signers of the Declaration and of the 
 Constitution. On Washington and the Revolutionary War, it is under 
 stood that his collection is quite strong and interesting, including 
 many papers and correspondence of General Jethro Sumner, of North 
 Carolina, during the campaign of 1780. 
 
 44. Mrs. SARAH J. SPALDING, of Newburyport, Mass., has an inter 
 esting general collection, which came down to her in part from her 
 Revolutionary ancestry. They embrace, among others, a fine repre 
 sentation of our modern American writers of prose and poetry. There 
 is no series complete, but the collection contains quite a number of 
 the Signers. 
 
 45. AREA BORDEN, of Boston, has recently commenced the formation 
 of a set of Signers, and has specimens, mostly in letter form, of about 
 twenty. 
 
 46. Col. F. M. ETTING, of Ward, Pa., in addition to his set of fifty-five 
 of the Signers, has nearly a full collection of the signatures of the 
 Signers, mounted and framed, with likenesses. Of their exact num 
 ber and deficiencies, we are without information. 
 
 The incomplete set of Signers made by Dr. LEWIS ROPER, of Phila 
 delphia, was purchased at his death by the late Jos. J. MICKLEY, of 
 
102 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 that city, at a sale in Feb., 1851, which took place on a wet night 
 when there were but few or no competitors ; and after much improving, 
 and completion prior to 1860, it was finally dispersed at auction, after 
 Mr. Mickley s death, in Nov., 1878 many of the specimens bringing 
 good prices for that day Gwinnett, L. S. , $110; Lynch signature, 
 bought for Dr. Fogg, $95 ; Hall, A. L. S., $60 ; Hewes, A. L. S., 
 $37.50; Hooper, A. L. S., $32 ; Middleton, L. S., $29; Penn, A. 
 L. S., $27.50 ; F. L. Lee, A. L. S., $21 ; Heyward, D. S., $15. 
 
 LEWIS J. CIST, of Cincinnati, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1818, 
 was an early collector, commencing in 1835, but did not complete his 
 set of the Signers until 1850, when he received a Lynch signature from 
 Mr. Tefft. His collection seems to have been the fifth completed set 
 Sprague, Raffles, TefFt and Gilmor preceding him in this honor. 
 Mr. Cist, quite a poet and litterateur, spent his life mainly in the em 
 ploy of banks and insurance companies. But his set, after all, was 
 deficient of two of the Signers, from his having been misled by two 
 wrong specimens. His death at Cincinnati, March 31, 1885, caused 
 the dispersion, separately, of his large collection of autographs at auction. 
 
 ROBERT COULTON DAVIS, of Philadelphia, was a prominent and suc 
 cessful autograph collector for a period of some forty-seven years 
 making one full set of the Declaration Signers and of the Signers of 
 the Constitution, with other notable series, all of which since his death 
 have passed into the possession of Mr. Charles Roberts, of Philadelphia. 
 Mr. Davis was born in Philadelphia, Aug. 3, 1833, where he was long 
 engaged in the business of a druggist. The political campaigns of 
 1840 and 1844 inspired within him a love for autographs; prior to 
 1845 ne had secured but a few, which were pasted promiscuously in a 
 scrap-book. Obtaining from Mr. Clay an autograph letter, he began 
 in earnest to gather those of other celebrities. He commenced form 
 ing his set of the Signers in 1850, completing it in 1870, and was ever 
 after improving and perfecting his specimens to folio size as opportuni 
 ties offered, so that all, save about half a dozen, were of that size. Mr. 
 Davis died in Philadelphia, in the midst of his usefulness, Aug. 24, 
 1888, at the age of fifty- five years. His splendid autograph collection 
 has gone to enrich Mr. Roberts several series thus doubling up two 
 fine gatherings, and adding very much strength and completeness to 
 the combined collection. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 1 03 
 
 The late JAMES C. McGuiRE s manuscript collections are of an histori 
 cal character ; the Washington papers alone fill two volumes, relating 
 to the movements of the army during the Revolution, and questions of 
 state, including a draft of the original first Farewell Address submitted to 
 Mr. Madison. There are several volumes of Madison letters, published 
 some years ago for private distribution. Many letters of Jefferson, 
 Gen. Knox, Adams, and Clay ; a volume of letters of Edmund Ran 
 dolph ; of Joseph Jones, a prominent member of Congress from Virginia 
 during the Revolution ; of John Drayton, and of Edmund Pendleton. 
 Here may be seen the ciphers of Madison and Jefferson during the 
 Revolution, and Tobias Lear s account of expenses for the first eleven 
 weeks of Washington s residence in New York as President, in 1789 ; 
 and a large number of other Colonial and Revolutionary manu 
 scripts. 
 
 GEORGE W. CHILES, the distinguished Philadelphia philanthropist, 
 has a very fine general collection of manuscripts and autographs, em 
 bracing twenty thousand names. They include the most celebrated 
 literary men of both continents, each letter containing some sentiment 
 characteristic of the writer. He has the manuscript of Dickens s Our 
 Mutual Friend, for which he has refused $6,000. He has also auto 
 graphs of all the Presidents, bound and illustrated. We do not learn 
 that he has made any collection of the Signers. 
 
 The collection of HENRY C. BAIRD, of Philadelphia, commenced in 
 1842, and described in the Bizarre magazine, April, 1853, included a 
 goodly portion of the Signers, which have been dispersed. Dr. C. G. 
 BARNEY, of Richmond, Va. , made a fine collection of the Signers, con 
 taining many valuable historical letters, and lacking only Lynch and 
 Gwinnett ; but despairing of securing these, he sold his autographs 
 separately to other collectors. Col. BRANTZ MAYER, of Baltimore, a lit 
 erary man of much repute, made a collection of the Signers, which 
 lacked Taylor, Lynch, Middleton, Gwinnett, and Hall ; he dying in 
 February, 1879, his autographs were dispersed at auction in November 
 following. The late Hon. HENRY S. RANDALL, of Cortland, N. Y., 
 also made a collection of the Signers, which needed only Gwinnett of 
 completion, which since his death, August 14, 1876, passed, with his 
 other autograph groups, which he had been some thirty years gather 
 ing, into the hands of Mr. C. DeF. Burns, and have been dispersed. 
 
104 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Other collections notably those of B. B. THATCHER, of Boston ; 
 CHARLES H. MORSE, of Cambridgeport, Mass. ; E. D. INGRAHAM, 
 ALFRED B. TAYLOR. JOSEPH H. TODD, JOHN G. HOWARD, JOHN M. 
 SEIGFRIED, and EDWARD HERRICK, of Pennsylvania ; JOHN R. THOMP 
 SON, of Richmond, Va. ; JOSEPH B. BOYD, of Maysville, Ky. ; JOHN 
 B. MOREAU, of New York ; OSCAR T. KEELER, of Columbus, Miss. ; 
 and W. T. BLOCK, of Pittsburgh have been disposed of, and served 
 to strengthen other sets of autographs. 
 
 The autographs of extreme rarity, of some of the Signers, are steadily 
 but surely enhancing in value. The Lynch signature, which, in 1845, 
 had no pecuniary value, Mr. Davis paid $5 for in 1861, and four or 
 five years later Mr. Gratz paid $10 for his ; Dr. Fogg $95 in 1878 ; 
 subsequently it brought $145, $150 in 1881, and $210 at the recent 
 Cist sale. The Gwinnett, in document form, which brought $no in 
 1878, and the same in 1881, commanded $185 at the Cist sale; and 
 at this sale also a Lewis Morris letter brought $85, while a Stockton 
 letter netted $50. Mr. Stauffer has refused $300 for his full letter of 
 John Morton, of which only one other is known to be in existence, 
 save the unsigned one in the Raffles collection. 
 
 Still other autograph collectors have been in the field. Col. PETER 
 FORCE, of Washington, gathered many manuscripts and documents, 
 which since his death have passed into the library of Congress. In 
 the Bizarre magazine, Philadelphia, Oct. 29, 1853, quite a list of 
 other known autograph collectors of that period is given : JAMES T. 
 FIELDS, of Boston, chiefly of literary characters ; Capt. FURMAN SEY 
 MOUR, U. S. A., West Point ; Dr. THEO. L. CUYLER, Trenton, N. J. ; 
 Dr. L. R. KOECKER, WM. SCHOTT, Jos. H. HEDGES and Dr. S. A. 
 ALLIBONE, all of Philadelphia the latter since of the Astor Library, 
 New York ; HENRY T. OATES, Charleston, S. C.; and WM. L. MAC 
 KENZIE, Toronto. It is not probable that any of these collections 
 embraced any considerable number of the Signers, nor have we any 
 definite information whether any of these autograph garnerings, save 
 those of Colonel Force, are still preserved intact, or have been dis 
 persed. Such manuscript collections as those of JARED SPARKS, GEORGE 
 BANCROFT, PETER FORCE, FRANCIS PARKMAN, and the writer of this 
 essay, as well as those of the Historical Societies of our country, do 
 not properly come within the scope of this paper, as they were 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 1 05 
 
 gathered, not for any autographic display and embellishment, but for 
 the sole object of subserving the purposes of history. 
 
 In this connection it may be mentioned, that on the remarkable 
 coincidence of the deaths of Adams and Jefferson, July 4th, 1826, the 
 fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Declaration, Charles Carroll 
 alone remained of that illustrious body who ventured on the experiment 
 of American Independence. This venerable patriarch had several 
 copies of the engrossed Declaration prepared, which he signed as the 
 sole survivor, on the 2d of August, 1826 just fifty years after the 
 signing of the great original. One of these he presented to John 
 McTavish, who, we believe, married a daughter of the Signer, and is 
 yet preserved in the family ; another copy was presented to the New 
 York City Library, countersigned by President J. Q. Adams and 
 several of his cabinet officers and some other public characters, and 
 also indorsed by Gov. DeWitt Clinton and others of the State of New 
 York. This copy is bound in folio form in vellum, and after having 
 been misplaced for many years, has recently been recovered. 
 
 SETS OF SIGNERS OF THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Besides the thirty-nine Signers of the Constitution, there were thirty- 
 four others chosen, who either declined acceptance of the membership, 
 or failed to attend, or, though attending part or all of the session, did 
 not affix their names to the instrument adopted by the Convention. 
 Autographs of several of the Signers proper are difficult to obtain. A 
 distinguished collector states that his personal experience leads him to 
 declare that the relative rarity of the autographs of the delegates who 
 did not sign the Constitution would be fairly expressed, at this time, 
 by the following classification, referring to A. L. S., and not those of 
 inferior grades : 
 
 1. Those most readily obtained : E. Gerry, Caleb Strong, Robert 
 Yates, John Lansing, Luther Martin, Edmund Randolph, Nathl. 
 Pendleton. Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Gabriel Duvall, Thomas 
 Sim Lee, Henry Laurens, Wm. R. Davie, John Pickering, Oliver 
 Ellsworth, Richard Henry Lee, John Neilson, John F. Mercer and 
 Patrick Henry. 
 
 2. Richard Caswell, William Pierce, George Walton, Abraham 
 
106 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Clark, James McClurg, Alexander Martin, George Mason, Robert H. 
 Harrison and Thomas Nelson. 
 
 3. Benjamin West, Wm. Churchill Houston, Francis Dana, George 
 Wythe, Wm. Houstoun and Thomas Stone. 
 
 4. Willie Jones.* 
 
 In briefly describing the full collections of the Constitutional 
 Signers, and the incomplete sets as well, any mode of discrimination 
 is not without its difficulties. In following the rule laid down in 
 classifying the sets of the Declaration Signers, giving those precedence 
 having the largest number of A. L. S., there is no certainty that really 
 the best collections, if judged by their condition or historical value, 
 are properly recognized. At present, however, we see no better way to 
 get at the matter ; and if not deemed the best, each one must readjust 
 the list to suit his own judgment, with the facts as they are reported 
 and presented. If a committee of experts, as at a fair, were person 
 ally and carefully to examine the several collections in detail, they 
 might reach very different results. 
 
 1. SIMON GRATZ, of Philadelphia. His set of the Signers of the 
 Constitution is a superior one undoubtedly the best extant. It is 
 composed wholly of A. L. S., and includes not only the thirty-nine 
 Signers proper, but the thirty-four others who were chosen delegates, 
 and who either failed in their attendance or, from some other cause, did 
 not sign the Constitution. Eight of the letters of the Signers are 
 addressed to Washington, and nine others relate to the business of the 
 Convention. Several of the autographs of the thirty-four non-Signers 
 are more difficult of obtainment than those of any of the Signers 
 proper. 
 
 2. Dr. J. S. H. FOGG, of Boston. Of his set of the thirty-nine Sign 
 ers of the Constitution, all are A. L. S. , except Blair, D. S. He has 
 also full autograph letters, save of Wythe only, which is a signed 
 document, of the other thirty-four who were chosen members of the 
 Convention of 1787, but failed to sign the Constitution. Including 
 
 * For a full list of all the seventy-three persons chosen by States to the Federal 
 Convention of 1787, whether they attended or not, and whether they signed the 
 Constitution, or failed for any reason to do so, see Mr. P. L. Ford s carefully 
 prepared paper, Appendix No. 2. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. IO/ 
 
 William Jackson, the Secretary, the collection is illustrated with fifty 
 engravings, leaving twenty-four without likenesses. 
 
 3. and 4. CHARLES ROBERTS, of Philadelphia, has two full sets of 
 the thirty-nine Signers proper, all in A. L. S., with appropriate illus 
 trations. He has also one full set, and nearly another, of the non- 
 Signers. 
 
 5. D. McN. STAUFFER, of New York, has a full set of the Signers 
 of the Constitution, and also of the non-Signers, and all in A. L. S., 
 save Bedford, Read, Jones, and West, A. D. S. ; Dana, Blair, Wythe, 
 and Houstoun, D. S. There are illustrations of fifty-six of the num 
 ber ; among the lacking likenesses are those of Pickering, Yates, 
 Houston of New Jersey, Brearley, Broom, Fitzsimmons, Caswell, 
 Pierce, Houstoun of Georgia, and Pendleton. 
 
 6. Col. C. C. JONES, Jr., of Augusta, Georgia. His set of the Signers 
 of the Constitution is complete all A. L. S., save Wilson and Read, 
 A. D. S., and Franklin and Mifflin, D. S. The collection also 
 includes all the members elect to the Convention of 1787, who were 
 either not present, or failed to sign the engrossed document ; and all 
 these also are A. L. S., except Benjamin West, A. D. S. This series 
 is likewise illustrated with portraits, inlaid on Whatman paper, and 
 bound. 
 
 7. FERD. J. DREER, Philadelphia, has all the Signers in A. L. S., 
 and quite a portion, in some form, of those chosen who did not 
 attend, or did not sign. Properly illustrated. 
 
 8. Dr. THOMAS A. EMMET, of New York. Of his collection of the 
 Signers of the Constitution, thirty-seven are A. L. S., and only Broom 
 and Carroll are A. D. S. ; fifteen are of folio size, and twenty-four are 
 quartos. The set also includes sixteen others who were chosen mem 
 bers, but did not sign the Constitution of which thirteen are full 
 letters. It is an excellent set, and illustrated with portraits, views, etc. 
 
 9. STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Madison, Wis., has all the Signers 
 proper in A. L. S., with suitable illustrative matter. 
 
 10 and ii. The late PROF. LEFFINGWELL had two sets of the 
 Signers of the Constitution the first consists of thirty-six A. L. S. ; 
 with Blair, L. S., and Bedford and Read, D. S. The second col 
 lection has thirty-five A. L. S., with Bedford, G. Morris, Read, and 
 Blair, D. S. He had also a set of those who were elected to the 
 
108 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Convention of 1787, but failed from various causes to sign the Con 
 stitution. These descended to his niece, Miss Mary M. Leffingwell, 
 of New Haven, Conn. 
 
 12. The late JOSEPH W. DREXEL, of New York, possessed the set 
 made up by Mr. Tefft, of Georgia, consisting of thirty-two of the 
 Signers proper, in A. L. S., with Sherman, Paterson, and Bedford, 
 A. D. S. ; Wilson, Bassett, and Rutledge, autographs not signed, and 
 Blair, D. S. This set was purchased at the Tefft sale, in March, 1867, 
 by the late Wm. Menzies ; and at the sale of the Menzies library and 
 manuscripts, in Nov., 1876, it was bought by Joseph Sabin & Sons at 
 $290, and passed over to Mr. Drexel. After its purchase by Mr. 
 Menzies, it received a full Washington letter in place of a D. S. It 
 has printed biographies, is illustrated, and handsomely bound, with 
 twenty-nine portraits which were inlaid by F. Bedford, and a rubricated 
 title-page and special table of contents printed for the volume by Mun- 
 sell. 
 
 13 and 14. Col. FRANK M. ETTING, of Ward, Pa., has two sets, 
 which he represents as full, of which we have no classification. 
 
 15. C. F. GUNTHER, of Chicago, has the thirty-nine Signers proper 
 not reported in detail, but supposed to be nearly all in full letter 
 form. 
 
 1 6. Rev. Dr. J. H. DUBBS, of Lancaster, Pa., has all the Signers 
 proper, and only wanting three or four of the others chosen to the 
 Convention ; twenty-eight are A. L. S. ; six A. D. S. ; and the others 
 D. S. 
 
 17. JOHN M. HALE, of Philipsburg, Pa., has a full set of the Signers 
 of the Constitution, of which twenty-five are A. L. S. ; four A. D. S. ; 
 five D. S. ; three L. S. ; and two signatures. He has also in some form 
 autographs of all save nine of the non-Signers. The set is finely illus 
 trated. 
 
 1 8. JAMES W. HOWARTH, of Glen Riddle, Pa., has a full set of the 
 thirty-nine Signers of the Constitution, of which eleven are A. L. S. 
 namely, King, Clymer, Ingersoll, R. Morris, Wilson, Dickinson, Mc- 
 Henry, Madison, Washington, Rutledge, and Butler; Gorham, John 
 son, Sherman, Dayton, Jenifer, and C. C. Pinckney, are A. D. S. ; Gil- 
 man, Langdon, Livingston, Paterson, Franklin, Fitzsimmons, Mifflin, 
 G. Morris, Bassett, Bedford, Broom, Blair, Blount, Spaight, William- 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 1 09 
 
 son, Charles Pinckney, Baldwin, and Few, are D. S.; Brearley, Read, 
 and Carroll, signatures. Also thirteen who were chosen members but 
 failed to be present to attach their names to the Constitution Gerry, 
 Martin, Randolph, and West, A. L. S.; Ellsworth and Walton, A. D. 
 S. ; Strong, Yates, Clark, Mercer, and Pendleton, D. S. ; Patrick 
 Henry, L. S. ; and Wythe, signature. Illustrated as far as possible. 
 
 19. Hon. MELLEN CHAMBERLAIN, of Boston, has a unique set of 
 signatures of the Signers, appended to a neat copy of the Constitution. 
 
 INCOMPLETE SETS. 
 
 1. CHARLES P. GREENOUGH, of Boston, has thirty-six of the Signers 
 proper to the Constitution, of which twenty-one are A. L. S. ; Gilman, 
 Langdon, Sherman, Bassett, Bedford, and Wilson, are A. D. S. ; 
 Gorham, A. N. S. ; Dickinson, L. S. ; Johnson, Paterson, G. Morris, 
 Read, Jenifer, and Blair, D. S. ; Spaight, signature ; with Brearley, 
 Carroll, and Blount wanting. 
 
 2. G. M. CONARROE, Philadelphia, has thirty-five of the thirty-nine 
 Signers, lacking Johnson, Washington, Rutledge and Few. 
 
 3. Hon. CHARLES H. BELL, of Exeter, N. H., has autographs of 
 twenty-nine of the Signers of the Constitution, about one-half of which 
 are A. L. S. They form a part of his general collection of patriots of 
 the Revolution, and are inlaid and illustrated. 
 
 4. GORDON L. FORD, of Brooklyn, N. Y., has about two-thirds of 
 the Signers of the Constitution, scattered through his large general 
 collection of autographs, alphabetically arranged the exact number 
 is not easily ascertained. 
 
 5. Hon. GARRET D. W. VROOM, Trenton, N. J., has twenty-six of the 
 Constitution Signers. Langdon, King, Hamilton, Brearley, Dayton, 
 Livingston, Paterson, Clymer, Dickinson, Fitzsimmons, Ingersoll, 
 Gouv. and R. Morris, Spaight, Butler, and Few, A. L. S. ; while 
 Madison and Sherman are A. D. S. ; and Gilman, Franklin, Mifflin, 
 Washington, Blount, and Rutledge, are L. S. ; and McHenry and 
 C. C. Pinckney, signatures. 
 
 6. FRANK D. ANDREWS, Vineland, N. J., has autographs of twenty- 
 one of the Signers proper of these King, Fitzsimmons, Ingersoll, 
 Jenifer, and Butler are A. L. S. ; Clymer, Wilson, and Rutledge are 
 A. D. S. ; Hamilton and R. Morris are L. S. ; Gilman, Langdon, 
 
1 10 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Livingston, Mifflin, and Washington are D. S. ; and Johnson, Sher 
 man, Dickinson, Madison, Blount, and C. C. Pinckney are signatures. 
 
 Wanting to complete a set Gorham, Dayton, Brearley, Paterson, 
 Franklin, G. Morris, Bedford, Bassett, Broom, Read, Carroll, Mc- 
 Henry, Blair, Spaight, Williamson, C. Pinckney, Baldwin, and Few. 
 
 Of the non-Signers, Mr. Andrews has Strong, D. S. ; Pickering, 
 Ellsworth, Yates and Henry, A. D. S. 
 
 7. Hon. JOHN BOYD THACHER, of Albany, N. Y., has the partial 
 set, late E. E. Sprague s, of which several rare names are wanting. It 
 is believed Mr. Thacher has considerably improved it. 
 
 8. The PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY has an incomplete 
 collection. 
 
 In all the complete collections of autographs of the Signers of the 
 Constitution, and probably in most of the partial ones as well, the 
 autograph of William Jackson, the Secretary, is very properly included. 
 
APPENDIX No. i. 
 From the American Antiquarian, May, 1888. 
 
 THE "SPRING" AUTOGRAPH FORGERIES. 
 
 A NUMBER of these forgeries, well known to older collectors, have recently 
 been offered, both privately and at New York auction sales. We can only advise 
 beginners, or those who are not familiar with autographs, to examine carefully 
 before purchasing, and, in case of doubt, to take the opinion of an expert. As a 
 matter of interest we reprint, from a Philadelphia paper of November 5, 1869, an 
 account of the forger and his peculiar transactions : 
 
 MAKING AND SELLING BOGUS AUTOGRAPHS HEARING BEFORE THE MAYOR. 
 Yesterday afternoon a man by the name of Robert Spring, residing at No. 
 2,132 Christian Street, was before the Mayor, charged with obtaining money by 
 false and fraudulent pretenses, by selling what purported to be autograph letters 
 of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and other persons of eminence. To facilitate 
 his designs he went under the names of William Emmerson, Thomas French, 
 Samuel Hawley, M.D., and Samuel R. Hampton, M.D. 
 
 He would obtain genuine letters of those he wished to use, and trace them upon 
 a sheet of old paper procured from the backs of old books, or stain the paper with 
 coffee grounds, or some other preparation, to give it an ancient look. These 
 fraudulent letters would then be addressed to parties having fine libraries, or who 
 were fond of collecting such articles. In the note accompanying the bogus letter, 
 the writer would state that he was sadly in need of money, and if the recipient 
 wished the autograph letter, he could send a certain sum of money to an address 
 given, which would in nearly all cases be outside of Philadelphia, Camden being 
 one of the principal points of operation. 
 
 A large number of replies were received to letters of this kind, and remittances 
 varying from $10 to $15, and even more, were sent to him. He has operated in 
 this manner for years. In 1859, he was arrested by Detective Franklin, the same 
 who arrested him in the present instance, and taken before Mayor Henry, who 
 held him to appear when desired. After this he left Philadelphia and went to 
 Canada, writing several letters from that point in the name of " Emma Harding," 
 which stated that she had in her possession a large collection of autograph letters, 
 and being in destitute circumstances, owing to the recent death of her husband, 
 she would be obliged if they were purchased, provided any were desired. She 
 was to be addressed in the care of Samuel Hawley, M.D. 
 
 Several responses were received, a number of them containing money. From 
 Canada he went to Baltimore, and wrote several letters in the name of Fannie 
 Jackson, stating that she was a daughter of General Stonewall Jackson, and gave 
 as an excuse for writing, that she was in poor circumstances and urgently needed 
 money. They were principally sent to the rebel bondholders in England, but 
 the whole thing was almost immediately exposed, and very little or nothing was 
 
112 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 obtained. After this he went to England, and was exposed in London, but never 
 brought to justice. 
 
 He wrote about eighty letters in November year ago, and requested the answers 
 to be sent to Richmond, Va. Seventeen letters were received in response, directed 
 to the name of Dr. S. R. Hampton. Three of them contained money. In his 
 attempt to obtain money by the Jackson letters, sent to England, he received 
 about 10. 
 
 Detective Franklin, sworn. Complaint was made here a few days ago, in refer 
 ence to a man named Spring, who is a dealer in autographs, charged with defraud 
 ing certain parties, by passing upon them fraudulent autograph letters ; went down 
 to his house to see him, and found a number of manuscripts ; he was arrested in 
 1859, and came before Mayor Henry, charged with dealing in forged letters of 
 General Washington ; he then lived in Anita street, near Tenth ; bought one of 
 these letters myself ; the paper he uses for these letters is prepared by himself, 
 being generally stained with coffee ; he frankly acknowledged his guilt yesterday 
 when arrested ; he also wrote me a letter at my request, and gave me the list of 
 postmasters, where the letters had been sent from time to time. 
 
 The letter was here read by the detective, and is as follows : 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, October 4, 1869. 
 
 SIR : Hearing there have been several complaints made, I beg to state to you, 
 from the remembrance of your fair and honorable treatment of my case with 
 respect to the bogus Washington autographs, in the year 1858, that since I have 
 resided in this city (June 6, 1868), I have never, by word or act, wronged any 
 person in the United States, though I have obtained, in several instances, small 
 sums from England, driven to such from dreadful home affliction, and to aid in 
 supporting a large family of seven children, the youngest of whom died three 
 months ago, at a moment I had not a dollar. 
 
 Mr. Gratz can inform you I have tried by every effort to obtain a creditable 
 livelihood, and it was only to spin out my shortcomings that I solicited and ob 
 tained the small assistance I did from England about ten months since. I prom 
 ised Mr. Gratz I would never do another dishonorable act, and with the exception 
 of receiving replies to letters written to Europe before that period, and which, 
 from my urgent affliction and often absolute want, I could not resist the tempta 
 tion to keep. I have kept my promise. You know, Mr. Franklin, the affliction to 
 which I allude. I am writing this under the greatest distress. I write this to 
 you at four o clock in the morning. 
 
 I am willing you should know all, and have it in your power to stop in future 
 any dishonest attempt, should I make any. In November, 1868, I wrote about 
 eighty letters. The replies were to be sent to Richmond, Va., and Baltimore. The 
 postmasters of Richmond and Baltimore were requested to re-direct to Camden, 
 N. J. I received, as far as I can remember, seventeen letters, three containing 
 money, 10, $, i (a sovereign). They were in the name of Dr. S. R. Hamp 
 ton, and, of course, are all run out. 
 
 My second attempt was the Jackson letters, which were immediately exposed in 
 England, though not before I had received several letters, two containing money, 
 $ and ^5, and were received at Fairfax, Va., Bloom field, N. J., &c., postmas 
 ters of which forwarded to Lenwood, Pa. The latter were the same letters as Dr. 
 Hampton s, only in name of Hawley. These were written in July, and received 
 ^25. These were sent to Bordentown and Elkton, Md., postmasters to re-direct 
 to Eddenton, Pa., Kelleysville, Pa., Lazaretto, Philadelphia. At the same time 
 I wrote ten letters almost similar to the Jackson, from two of which I received 
 10, and although so late, I last week saw an advertisement in Baltimore, and 
 requested the postmaster at Lazaretto to send the letter to Philadelphia. I send 
 you orders on all the postmasters, so that in future if any more arrive they may 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 11$ 
 
 reach you not me. Anyhow, I promise you, without any reservation, never 
 again to use any dishonorable means to procure money. I will rather starve first. 
 I gave my word in Boston I would never write to any one in the United States. 
 I kept my promise. I now make it to you, without any reservation. 
 
 Yours, in great affliction, W. E. 
 
 The second letter was the Jackson letter, stated to have been written by a 
 daughter of Stonewall Jackson, and which was sent all over Europe ; he had 
 answers to this letter sent to different sub-post-offices, so that they should not 
 come direct to Philadelphia. He has admitted the whole thing to be a forgery, and 
 I have recovered some fifty letters from him. I have his post-office book with the 
 addresses of the people to whom he wrote. 
 
 Detective Franklin then took the prisoner down stairs to see the Washington 
 letter in Independence Hall, and to discover if it was original. Upon his return 
 the detective reported that it was a forgery, and that it had been written by the 
 pr soner himself. 
 
 Robert Coulson Davis, druggist, residing at Sixteenth and Vine Streets, sworn. 
 Have known the prisoner personally for a good many years ; became acquainted 
 with him through having a fancy for collecting autographs and things of that 
 nature ; he was residing in Lombard Street when I first knew him. What led me 
 to know about these forgeries was that they were repeatedly handed to me by the 
 parties to whom they were addressed ; being expert in distinguishing such matters 
 was the cause of their being sent to me ; I have also had several conversations 
 with the prisoner in relation to the forgeries some years ago, but have not seen 
 him before since 62 or 63, when he left here and went to Baltimore. 
 
 Mr. Davis exhibited a book, which contained a large number of the forgeries of 
 the accused. We give a few of those of Washington, which may be interesting to 
 the general public : 
 
 HEADQUARTERS VALLEY FORGE, Jan. 29, 1778. Sir: Send to General 
 Mclntosh s quarters the two men arrested last night at the King of Prussia Inn, 
 and again at dark order a picket of eight men to patrol on the Norristown road 
 some distance beyond the tavern, with orders to bring in all strangers unable to 
 give a good account of themselves found on the road. Go. WASHINGTON. 
 
 To General Huntingdon. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS VALLEY FORGE, Feb. 4, 1778. Permission is granted to Mr. 
 Clymer, with his negro man Ben, to pass and repass the pickets at the bridge and 
 on the Norristown road. Go. WASHINGTON. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS, BERGEN COUNTY, Sept. 7, 1780. Permission is granted to 
 Mr. Lewis Stevens, with his negro boy Nat, to pass and repass the picket at 
 Rambo. Go. WASHINGTON. 
 
 MOUNT VERNON, Dec. 18, 1798. To the Cashier of the Office of Discount and 
 Deposit, Baltimore : Will please pay General Samuel Smith or bearer, the sum 
 of eight hundred dollars, and charge the same to my account. 
 
 $800. Go. WASHINGTON. 
 
 At the conclusion of the testimony of Mr. Davis, the Mayor held the accused in 
 $500 for a further hearing. 
 
114 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 APPENDIX No. 2. 
 From the Collector, September and October, 1888. 
 
 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION, 1787. 
 BY PAUL LEICESTER FORD. 
 
 IN 1819, when John Quincy Adams, by direction of Congress, edited and pub 
 lished ihejotirnal of the Federal Convention, he drew up from the commissions, etc., 
 filed by the attending delegates, a list of the members, including those who were 
 appointed but did not attend, and those who attended and did not sign the com 
 pleted instrument, making in all a list of sixty-five names. 
 
 This list was accepted and republished by Elliot in his Debates in the State 
 Convention, by Curtis, in his History of the Constitution, and more recently in the 
 Official Programme of the Constitutional Centennial, and no additions are promised 
 in the forthcoming memorial volume of that celebration. Thus, this list, prepared 
 in 1819, has become a fixture, and both students and autograph collectors have 
 accepted it as correct. 
 
 There are, however, several omissions, and by reference to original documents, 
 acts, journals, etc., I have increased the list to seventy-four names. To this I 
 have added, in such cases as I have been able, the reasons of members for declin 
 ing the appointment, and for the non-attendance of such as failed to be present in 
 the Convention ; the day of arrival of the attending members ; their absences ; the 
 date of leaving of those who failed to sign the Constitution, with their reasons ; and 
 the part the non-attending or non-signing members took in their own States in 
 support of or opposition to the ratification. 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 Appointed delegates by Act of Legislature. June 27, 1787. 
 
 Langdon, John. Attended Convention July 23. Signed. 
 
 Pickering, John. Did not attend Convention. Voted to ratify the Constitution 
 in the New Hampshire Convention. 
 
 Oilman, Nicholas. Attended Convention July 23. Signed. 
 
 West, Benjamin. Did not attend Convention. Voted to ratify Constitution in 
 New Hampshire Convention. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Appointed delegates by Act of Legislature, March 10, 1787. Commissioned by 
 Governor, April 9, 1787. 
 
 Dana, Francis. Did not attend Convention owing to judicial duties and ill- 
 health. Voted to ratify the Constitution in Massachusetts Convention. 
 
 Gerry, Elbridge. Attended Convention May 29. Sat through the session, but 
 refused to sign. Was strongly opposed to the adoption of the Constitution by 
 Massachusetts, but was defeated in his election to the State Convention. 
 
 Gorham, Nathaniel. Attended Conveiition May 28. Signed. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 115 
 
 King, Rufus. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Strong, Caleb. Attended Convention May 28. Left Convention some time 
 after August 16. Voted in favor of ratifying Constitution in Massachusetts Con 
 vention. 
 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Appointed delegates by Act of Legislature, May, 1787. 
 Johnson, William Samuel. Attended Convention June 2. Signed. 
 Sherman, Roger. Attended Convention May 30. Signed. 
 
 Ells-worth, Oliver. Attended Convention May 28. Left Convention some time 
 after August 23. Voted to ratify Constitution in Connecticut Convention. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 Act providing for appointing delegates passed February 28, 1787. 
 
 jilected by Legislature, March 16, 1787. 
 
 Yates, Robert. Attended Convention May 25. Left Convention July 5. Voted 
 against ratification of the Constitution in the New York Convention. 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander. Attended Convention May 25. Was in New York July 
 3-26. Again in Convention August 13, and was in New York August 20-26. 
 Signed. 
 
 Lansing, John, Jr. Attended Convention June 2. Left Convention July 5. 
 Voted against ratification of the Constitution in New York Convention. 
 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 Appointed delegates by Acts of Legislature, 1786-7. 
 
 Commissioned by Governor, November 23, 1786, May 18 and June 5, 1787. 
 
 Brearley, David. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Houston, William Churchill. Attended Convention May 25. Ill health com 
 pelled him to leave some time after July 23. 
 
 Paterson, William. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Neilson, John. Did not attend Convention. Voted to ratify the Constitution 
 in New Jersey Convention. 
 
 Livingston, William. Attended Convention June 25, having been delayed by 
 his official duties as Governor of New Jersey. Was absent from Convention July 
 3-19. Signed. 
 
 Clark, Abraham. Did not attend Convention, being present in the Continental 
 Congress. Opposed to the adoption of the Constitution in New Jersey, but 
 though elected to the State Convention was prevented by ill health from attending. 
 
 Dayton, Jonathan. Attended Convention June 23, not having, been appointed 
 until June 5. Signed. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Appointed delegates by Act of Legislature, December 30, 1786. Supplement 
 ary act, appointing Franklin, passed March 28, 1787. 
 
 Mifflin, Thomas. Attended Convention May 28. Signed. 
 Morris, Robert. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 Clymer, George. Attended Convention May 28. Signed. 
 Ingersoll, Jared. Attended Convention May 28. Signed. 
 Fitzsimmons, Thomas. Attended Convention May 28. Signed. 
 Wilson, James. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Morris, Gouverneur. Attended Convention May 25. Was absent for some 
 time prior to July 2. Signed. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin. Attended Convention May 28. Signed. 
 
Il6 AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. 
 
 DELAWARE. 
 
 Appointed delegates by Act of Legislature, February 3, 1787. Commissioned 
 by Governor, April 2, 1787. 
 
 Read ^George. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 Bedford, Gunning. Attended Convention May 28. Signed. 
 Dickinson, John. Attended Convention May 29. Signed. 
 Bassett, Richard. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 Broom, Jacob. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 Elected delegates by Legislature, April 23, 1787. Vacancies filled by Legisla 
 ture, May 5, 8, and 22. Commissioned by Act of Legislature, May 26, 1787. 
 
 Harrison, Robert Hanson. Declined. 
 
 Carroll, Charles of Carrollton. Declined. Favored adoption. 
 
 Stone, Thomas. Declined. Died just after publication of the Constitution. 
 
 McIIenry, James. Attended Convention May 28. Left June I, owing to the 
 illness of his brother. Returned prior to August 13. Signed. 
 
 Lee, Thomas Sim. Declined. Voted in favor of ratifying in Maryland Con 
 vention. 
 
 Duvall, Gabriel. Declined. 
 
 Jenifer, Daniel, of St. Thomas. Attended Convention June 2. Signed. 
 
 Carroll, Daniel. Attended Convention July 9. Signed. 
 
 Mercer, James Francis. Attended Convention August 6. Left September 4. 
 Opposed the adoption of the Constitution in Maryland. 
 
 Martin, Luther. Attended the Convention June 9. Left September 4. 
 Opposed the adoption of the Constitution in Maryland. 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 Elected delegates by Legislature, December 4, 1786. Vacancies filled by Gov 
 ernor. 
 
 Washington, George. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Henry, Patrick. Declined. Voted against the ratification of the Constitution 
 in the Virginia Convention. 
 
 Randolph, Edmund. Attended Convention May 25. Sat through the session, 
 but refused to sign. Voted in favor of ratifying in the Virginia Convention. 
 
 Blair, John. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Madison, James. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Mason, George. Attended Convention May 25. Sat through the session, but 
 refused to sign. Voted against the ratification of the Constitution in the Virginia 
 Convention. 
 
 Wythe, George. Attended Convention May 25. Left June 5, owing to "the 
 serious declension of his lady s health." Voted in favor of ratification in Virginia 
 Convention. 
 
 Lee, Richard Henry. Declined, "for family reasons," and because he did not 
 approve that the same men who had framed the Constitution should pass upon it 
 in the Continental Congress. Opposed the adoption of the Constitution. 
 
 Nelson, Thomas. Declined, having retired into private life. Was opposed to 
 the adoption of the Constitution. 
 
 McClurg, James. Attended the Convention May 25. Left Convention some 
 time after July 20. Favored the adoption of the Constitution. 
 
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS. II? 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Appointed delegates by Act of Legislature, January 6, 1787. Vacancies filled 
 by Governor, April 3 and 23, 1787. 
 
 Caswell, Richard. Declined. Favored adoption of the Constitution, but was 
 defeated in his election to the first North Carolina Convention. 
 
 Martin, Alexander. Attended Convention May 25. Left Convention after 
 July 26. Favored adoption of the Constitution, but was defeated in his election 
 to the first North Carolina Convention. 
 
 Davie, William Richardson, Attended Convention May 25. Left after July 
 26. Voted to ratify the Constitution in the North Carolina Convention. 
 
 Spaight, Richard Dobbs. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Jones, Willie. Declined. Voted against the ratification of the Constitution in 
 the first North Carolina Convention. 
 
 Blount, William. Attended Convention June 20, being "detained by indis 
 position in New York." Was in Continental Congress July 13-August 24. Dis 
 approved the Constitution, but signed. Was defeated in his election to first North 
 Carolina Convention. 
 
 Williamson, Hugh. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Act providing for delegates passed by Legislature, March 8, 1787. Elected by 
 first ballot of Legislature. Commissioned by Governor, April 10, 1787. 
 
 Rutledge, John. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Pinckney, Charles. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Butler, Pierce. Attended Convention May 25. Was present in the Continen 
 tal Congress August 2-5. Signed. 
 
 Laurens, Henry. Never attended, being " kept away by ill health." Voted 
 in favor of ratifying the Constitution in South Carolina Convention. 
 
 GEORGIA. 
 
 Appointed delegates by Act of Legislature, February 10, 1787. Commissioned 
 by Governor, April 17, 1787. 
 
 Few, William. Attended Convention May 25. Signed. 
 
 Baldwin, Abraham. Attended Convention June n. Signed. 
 
 Pierce, William. Attended Convention May 31. Was present in the Con 
 tinental Congress July 13-September 24. 
 
 Walton, George. Did not attend Convention. 
 
 Houstoun, William. Attended Convention June I. Left some time after July 
 1 8. 
 
 Pendleton, Nathaniel. Did not attend Convention. 
 
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