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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Adams, John, 1735-1826 [Ohio land grant of 1200 acres made by Congress to Brigade Chaplain Alexander Balmain for three years military service].

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04675.09 Author/Creator: Adams, John, 1735-1826 Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Document signed Date: 6 June 1799 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; Height: 37.7 cm, Width: 32 cm Order a Copy

This document is a record of lands given to Alexander Balmain for three years of military service. It is signed by John Adams as President and countersigned by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering. A grant made in accordance with a 1790 act called "An Act to enable the Officers and Soldiers of the Virginia Line on Continental Establishment to obtain titles to certain lands lying north-west of the River Ohio, between the little Miami and Sciota," and an unspecified amendment to that act passed June 9, 1794 are mentioned as precedent for the certificate's authenticity. The document contains a description of the land Balmain received. Two notes are on verso, one by Secretary of War James McHenry attests to Balmain's entitlement to the land, and the other by Clerk Jacob Wagner states that the grant has been recorded in the office of the Department of State. It is a partially printed document. Accompanied by a paper seal on recto.

Adams, John, 1735-1826
Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829

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