Burlington Company
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Burlington_Company".

The Burlington Company was a group of eight investors involved in a variety of land transactions. The company was named after the town they all resided in, Burlington, New Jersey.

History

The Burlington Company absorbed various mortgages of George Croghan between 1768 and 1770. The mortgages, issued to William Franklin, the last Colonial Colonial Governor of New Jersey and assigned by him to the company, included one for 40,000 acres (160 km²) of Croghan's Otsego County, New York, purchase. Franklin was the illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin, and a British loyalist.

Besides making personal loans to Croghan, Franklin purchased a 50% stock interest in the Burlington Company in 1772. In 1773, the remaining original shareholders sold their stock and rights, including Franklin's mortgages, to Andrew Craig and William Cooper. Cooper was the father of author James Fenimore Cooper.

Soon after Cooper and Craig instituted sheriff's sale proceedings under a judgment of 1773, neglecting to inform Franklin. After that Craig and Cooper purchased the Otsego tract for $2,700 by questionable means. Efforts of Franklin and Croghan's heirs to contest title proved fruitless. Cooper went on to found Cooperstown and Burlington on this land.

See also

• List of real estate topics
• History of New York

References

• Adams, J.T. (1940) Dictionary of American History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
• Cooper, W. (1810) "How Settlements were Promoted" from A Guide in the Wilderness
• Cooper, J.F. (1931). William Cooper and Andrew Craig's Purchase of Croghan's Land.
• Butterfield, L. (1949) Judge William Cooper (1754-1809): A Sketch of his Character and Accomplishment.