Books and Manuscripts

(Washington, D.C.), April 2, 1829. Partially-printed land patent on vellum (Certificate No. 400), signed by Andrew Jackson as President of the United States, for William Colliver of Pike County, Missouri, for 80 acres of land in Palmyra, Missouri; counter-signed by George Graham, Commissioner of the General Land Office; paper seal intact, bottom left corner. Creasing from contemporary folds; abrasion and small hole in top right, affecting a few manuscript letters; scattered light spotting. In mat with a portrait of Jackson, and in frame, 18 3/8 x 33 1/8 (467 x 841 mm).

A fine land patent signed by President Andrew Jackson for an early settler in Palmyra, Missouri. Located seven miles west of the Mississippi River, Palmyra grew rapidly in the decade following its first non-Native settlement in 1818. In 1826 the County of Marion was organized, and the following year Palmyra was designated the county seat. The first land office was established there in 1825, and over the next 30 years over three million acres of land were sold, largely to settlers from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.