Description:

JAMES SHEAFE'S SHARE IN THE PISCATAQUA BRIDGE
JAMES SHEAFE (1755 – 1829) United States representative and Senator from New Hampshire, candidate for governor, and successful merchant. Fine content partly-printed D.S., 4pp. 8vo., [Portsmouth], Dec. 7,1793, a certificate awarding Sheafe 'Share Number Eighteen in the Picataque Bridge', boldly signed by Sheafe and two other at bottom. The attached printed leaf bears share transfer information: in 1854 a family member, J. Fisher Sheafe, sold the share in New York for $4.00. Fine condition. In 1793 the New Hampshire legislature granted the exclusive right to build a toll bridge from Concord to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to petitioners who incorporated as the Piscataqua Bridge Corporation and organized a subscription of 500 shares. Many shareholders were Portsmouth merchants; familiar names such as Sheafe, Haven, Rundlett, and Cutts appear among them. Bostonians and banks purchased other shares in hopes of earning handsome profits from tolls to be charged for crossing the bridge. The bridge was a masterpiece of engineering, completed between early April and November 22, 1794, when the first traffic crossed it.

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May 4, 2025 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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