1-1/2 pg. ALS & Document, January 3, 1791, Lenox [MA] signed (three times) by Colonel William Walker (1751-1831) Rev. War Officer (crossed Delaware with George Washington) Member Mass Constitutional Convention, Iron Maker, Merchant, Surveyor, Land Agent, Judge. Addressed to Major Jelles Fonda (1727-91) French & Indian and Rev. War Officer, Indian Post Trader mid 1700s (Fonda, NY namesake). The manuscript serves as a letter on one side and a statement of account on the reverse side for money's owed by Jelles Fonda (for goods supplied to a Captain Stone) that covers the period January 1788 through June 1791. Walker asks him to deduct from this amount "the order I gave my brother" and then to pay "Mr. Barlow." Walker's brother was Caleb Walker (1753-90) a Rev. War soldier and pioneer settler who died of bilious colic in Canandaigua, NY in 1790. He is the first white person buried in that town (and reputedly Ontario County). Thus, in this accounting, Walker appears to be trying to settle up some of his deceased brother's debts owed to Mr. Barlow. Walker was born in Rehoboth, MA and moved to Lenox in 1770. He joined the army in May 1775, at Cambridge, immediately after the battle of Lexington. He was in the Canadian expedition in 1776 and afterwards joined Washington's army in New Jersey. He fought in the Battles of Trenton, Princeton, Bennington, VT., and (according his obituary written by his son, a state senator) was with Washington when he crossed the Delaware. He was a member of the Convention which framed the Constitution of Massachusetts. Post War he resided in Lenox and served as a Justice of Peace, Register of Probate, Judge of Probate (1795-24), Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and a U.S. Presidential and Vice Presidential Elector. He was also appointed a state senator but did not take his seat. From 1785-1805 he co-owned and operated the Walker and Goodwin Iron Furnace. He also served as land agent and surveyor for a syndicate put together by Oliver L. Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, who had purchased for $1 million from Massachusetts in 1788 that state's right to over 6 million acres of land in what is now Western New York (west of Seneca Lake between Lake Ontario and the Pennsylvania border). They only purchased the preemptive rights to land, which was still held by the Indians and still had to negotiate with the Indians. Walker was with Phelps and Gorham when they met with the tribal leaders of the Iroquois Confederacy (i.e., Mohawks, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations) at Geneva, NY, (aka the "Council at Buffalo Creek") to obtain clear title to the land. They were only able to obtain clear title for about 2.5 million acres (land which includes Rochester, NY). As their agent Walker set up the Phelps and Gorham Company Land Office in Canandaigua which became the first real estate office opened in the U.S. for the sale of land to settlers. Walker also built the first log cabin in Canandaigua and helped lay out the towns in Ontario County, NY.. The syndicate had sold about 40 townships to investors when they ran into cash problems and had to sell over 1 million acres of unsold property in late 1790 to Robert Morris (Morris later flipped the land to a British investor). As payment for his services, Phelps and Gorham gave Walker a 36 square mile township (now the town of Perinton, NY). He hired his brother, Caleb, who had already come up to Canandaigua in the summer of 1789, and his cousin, Glover Perrin, to survey this town. Glover moved his family there in 1793, becoming its first settler (hence the namesake of the town). Caleb, still living in Canandaigua, died there of colic in 1790. Late in 1789 or early 1790 Walker, still a probate judge and ironmaker, went back to Lenox, MA to attend to his duties there. He died there in 1831. Jelles Fonda, the recipient of this letter and account holder, along with his brothers and father, ran an Indian trading post in the mid 1700s near the Mohawk Indian village of Caughnawaga, N.Y.. He served as a Lt. under General (Sir) William Johnson during the French and Indian War. Rejecting a command in the British Army at the start of the Rev. War., he served as a Major of militia and was temporarily in charge of Fort Paris. His house was burned down by the Indians during the war. After the war Fonda served as a judge of old Tryon county. He was a member of the NY Assembly at the time of his death, which occurred 6 months after this letter/document was written. The Mr. Barlow mentioned in this letter is most probably Abner Barlow, a farmer in Canandaigua who in 1790 harvested the first wheat grown on the land owned by Phelps and Gorham. A really neat association item for those with an interest in upstate N.Y. history. The edges of the document are a little uneven, suggesting a previous mounting, o/w fine condition. Interesting watermark. Buyer pays $2.25 shipping.