APS Members Bibliography

Samuel Wharton (260)

Election date: 1768 (Elected to the American Society.)

Samuel Wharton (3 May 1732– March 1800) was a merchant and public officeholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society via his 1768 election to the American Society. Wharton followed his father into the mercantile business. By 1762 he turned his attention westward and began trading with Indian nations west of the Allegheny Mountains. After heavy financial losses in the wake of Pontiac’s War (1763–66), Wharton secured a windfall when the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) compensated his earlier losses in the form of 200,000 acres in what is now West Virginia. In 1769, Wharton and his business partner traveled to England to secure crown approval of the land cession, but this acquisition of acreage proved but an opening salvo of much grander plans. Joined with other English speculators, Wharton helped form the Grand Ohio Company (also known as the Walpole Company) which proposed a new colony of 20 million acres named Vandalia. The outbreak of the American Revolution, however, eventually ended their grandiose schemes. During this time his expensive lifestyle impressed friends such as Benjamin Franklin and William Johnson, but the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting did not approve and disowned him in 1774. Wharton continued to do business in Europe through the war years, taking an oath of loyalty to the United States in France in 1779. Following the war, he petitioned the newly formed Continental Congress to revive his earlier western land claims. He finally returned to the new United States in 1781 and was elected a representative for Delaware in 1782 despite the fact that he lived in Philadelphia. Financially, however, Wharton was ruined. Though his friends arranged for his appointment to Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas to provide him some income in 1784, by 1786 he was bankrupt and his extensive library was sold at auction to help cover his debts. His brother, Isaac Wharton, was also an APS member. (PI)

Member(s): Samuel Wharton

260.001

The advantages of a settlement upon the Ohio in North America.

Creator(s):

Wharton, Samuel, 1732-1800 (Author)

Publication:

London: Printed for J. Ridley, bookseller, St. James’s-Street, [1763]

Subjects:

Great Britain -- Colonies -- America. | Ohio River Valley -- Description and travel. | Great Britain -- Colonies -- Administration. | United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.

Record Source:

ESTC

References:

Sabin 56875 | Howes W 304

APS Subjects:

Commerce | Surveying | Travel

Editions:

1x 1763

Editions Note:

At least one edition. ESTC notes that some copies have been located that amend (by hand) the publication date from 1763 to 1773. ESTC also notes that Anselm Yates Bayly is sometimes mentioned as a co-author with Samuel Wharton.

Holding Note: APS does not own this text. Help the APS acquire this item.

Member(s): Samuel Wharton

260.002

Case of William Trent and other traders.

Creator(s):

Wharton, Samuel, 1732-1800 (Contributor) | Trent, William, 1715-1787? (Author)

Publication:

[London?: s.n.], [1770?]

Subjects:

Indians of North America -- Iroquois -- Land transfers -- Early works to 1800. | Land grants -- United States -- Ohio Valley -- Early works to 1800. | Ohio River Valley -- History -- Early works to 1800.

Record Source:

ESTC

APS Subjects:

Economics | Indian | Native American

Editions:

1x 1770

Editions Note:

One edition. NYPL notes that Wharton most likely compiled the appendix.

Holding Note: APS does not own this text. Help the APS acquire this item.

Member(s): Samuel Wharton

260.003

Considerations on the agreement of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, with the Honourable Thomas Walpole and his associates, for lands upon the river Ohio, in North America : in a letter to a member of Parliament.

Creator(s):

Wharton, Samuel, 1732-1800 (Author)

Publication:

London, 1774.

Subjects:

Ohio River Valley -- History -- To 1795. | Ohio River Valley -- History. | Iroquois Indians -- Land transfers. | Walpole grant.

Record Source:

NYPL

References:

Sabin 101150 | Howes W 305

APS Subjects:

Diplomacy | First Nations | Indian | Native American | Surveying

Editions:

1x 1774

Editions Note:

One edition. This text may have been authored by Benjamin Franklin, see Sabin 101150.

Holding Note: APS does not own this text. Help the APS acquire this item.

Member(s): Samuel Wharton

260.004

Facts and observations, respecting the country granted to His Majesty by the Six United Nations of Indians, on the South-East side of the river Ohio, in North America; the establishment of a new colony there; and the causes of the Indian war, which, last year, desolated the frontier settlements of the provinces of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.

Creator(s):

Wharton, Samuel, 1732-1800 (Author)

Publication:

London: [s.n.], 1775.

Subjects:

Iroquois Indians -- Land tenure -- Early works to 1800.

Record Source:

ESTC

References:

Sabin 103107 | Howes W 306

APS Subjects:

Editions:

1x 1775

Editions Note:

One edition.

Holding Note: APS does not own this text. Help the APS acquire this item.

Member(s): Samuel Wharton | Member(s): Benjamin Franklin | Member(s): Thomas Paine

260.005

Plain facts : being an examination into the rights of the Indian nations of America, to their respective countries; and a vindication of the grant, from the Six United Nations of Indians, to the proprietors of Indiana, against the decision of the legislature of Virginia; together with authentic documents, proving that the territory, westward of the Allegany mountain, never belonged to Virginia, &c.

Creator(s):

Wharton, Samuel, 1732-1800 (Author) | Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 (Contributor) | Benezet, Anthony, 1713-1784 (Contributor) | Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809 (Contributor)

Publication:

Philadelphia: Printed and sold by R. Aitken, bookseller, in Market-Street, three doors above the Coffee-House, [1781]

Subjects:

Iroquois Indians -- Land tenure. | Indian land transfers -- West Virginia. | Land grants -- West Virginia.

Record Source:

ESTC

References:

Sabin 63221 | Evans 17437 | Howes W 307 | Streeter III: 1302

APS Subjects:

Economics | First Nations | Foreign Relations | Indian | Native American

Editions:

1x 1781

Editions Note:

One edition. Per the catalogue records at APS, "This pamphlet, which has been variously attributed to Anthony Benezet, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine, was prepared by Samuel Wharton, as is attested by P. E. Du Simitière in his notebooks preserved in the Library of Congress." The present pamphlet is an enlargement of Wharton's View of the title to Indiana, published in in 1776.

Holding Note: APS owns one copy. View Holding

Member(s): Samuel Wharton | Member(s): Benjamin Franklin

260.006

Report of the Lords Commissioners for trade and plantations on the petition of the Hon. Thomas Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, John Sargent, and Samuel Wharton, Esquires, and their associates : for a grant of lands on the River Ohio, in North America; for the purpose of erecting a new government : with observations and remarks.

Creator(s):

Wharton, Samuel, 1732-1800 (Author) | Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 (Author) | Great Britain. Board of Trade (Corporate Author)

Publication:

London, Printed for J. Almon, 1772.

Subjects:

Record Source:

APS

References:

Sabin 101150b | Howes W 63 | Streeter III: 1296

APS Subjects:

Economics | First Nations | Indian | Native American | Surveying

Editions:

1x 1772

Editions Note:

One edition.

Holding Note: APS owns one copy. View Holding

Member(s): Samuel Wharton

260.007

[Statement for the petitioners in the case of the Walpole Company grant.]

Creator(s):

Wharton, Samuel, 1732-1800 (Author) | Walpole, Thomas, 1727-1803 (Corporate Author)

Publication:

[n.p.], [1771]

Subjects:

Ohio River Valley - History - To 1795.

Record Source:

References:

Sabin 101150

APS Subjects:

Economics | Surveying

Editions:

1x 1771

Editions Note:

One edition. All three known extant editions lack a title page. According to Sabin, Samuel Wharton is the author.

Holding Note: APS does not own this text. Help the APS acquire this item.

Member(s): Samuel Wharton

260.008

To the King’s most excellent Majesty in Council : the memorial of the Honourable Thomas Walpole, in behalf of himself and the Earl of Hertford, Earl Temple, the Right Honourable Charles Lord Camden, the Honourable Richard Walpole, the Honourable Robert Walpole, in Behalf of himself and the Earl of Hertford, Earl Temple, the Right Honourable Charles Lord Camden, the Honourable Richard Walpole, the Honourable Robert Walpole, Sir Harry Featherstonhaugh, Baronet, Sir George Colebrooke, Baronet, Thomas Pitt, Esq. Richard Jackson, Esq. John Sargent, Esq. and Samuel Wharton, Esq. and thei associates.

Creator(s):

Wharton, Samuel, 1732-1800 (Author) | Walpole, Thomas, 1727-1803 (Corporate Author)

Publication:

[London: s.n.], [1774]

Subjects:

Land grants -- United States -- Early works to 1800.

Record Source:

ESTC

References:

Sabin 101150 | Streeter III: 1298

Editions:

1x 1774

Editions Note:

One edition. Though seemingly authored by Thomas Walpole, Sabin notes that it was probably authored by Samuel Wharton.

Holding Note: APS does not own this text. Help the APS acquire this item.

Member(s): Samuel Wharton

260.009

View of the title to Indiana, a tract of country on the river Ohio, containing Indian conferences at Johnson-Hall in May, 1765; the deed of the Six Nations to the proprietors of Indiana; the minutes of the congress at Fort Stanwix, in October and November, 1768; the deed o the Indians, settling the boundary line between the English and Indians lands; and the opinion of counsel on the title of the proprietors of Indiana.

Creator(s):

Wharton, Samuel, 1732-1800 (Co-Author) | Bancroft, Edward, 1744-1821 (Co-Author)

Publication:

[Philadelphia?: s.n], [1775]

Subjects:

Indians of North America -- Treaties. | Iroquois Indians -- Treaties. | West Virginia -- History -- To 1950. | Ohio River Valley -- History -- To 1795.

Record Source:

ESTC

References:

APS Subjects:

Editions:

1x 1775 (Phiadelphia) , 1x 1776 (Philadelphia), 1x 1779 (Williamsburg, VA)

Editions Note:

Three editions: one in 1775 ([Philadelphia]), one in 1776 (Philadelphia), one in 1779 (Williamsburg, VA). ESTC writes that Edward Bancroft claimed co-authorship with Wharton in a personal correspondence to Benjamin Franklin.

Holding Note: APS does not own this text. Help the APS acquire this item.