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Sale 2
Lot 7
Burr, Aaron. The "copy" mentioned in the letter is on the first two integral pages of the letter in a clerical hand, and concerns the upcoming marriage of Elizabeth Eden to Isadore Guillet of Paris and Burr's control of Elizabeth's estate. Also included is a four-page folio document in a clerical hand concerning an indenture of some land that belonged to Miss Eden's father, Medcef Eden the Younger.
History is no stranger to the Medcef Eden case, the absorbing occupation of Burr's life for many years after his return from Europe (1812). His management of the case was so remarkable and characteristic, that an outline of its history was set forth in Parton's favorable biography of Burr in 1893: "Medcef Eden was a New York brewer who made a great fortune, and, dying in 1798, left his two sons a large amount of real estate upon the island of Manhattan. The two sons were to share the property equally, and if either died childless the survivor was to inherit the deceased's share. These young men, partly through their own extravagance, but chiefly through the dishonest sharpness of creditors, ran through their property in two or three years, and becoming bankrupts, were reduced to utter poverty. Their case was submitted afterward to the two leaders of the New York bar, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and the question was proposed, whether the estate could be recovered. Hamilton said it could not; Burr was of the opinion that it could. Hamilton's opinion was adopted: no proceedings were attempted; the matter was forgotten; and the Edens lived on in poverty. A year after Burr's return, he was reminded of the case by hearing of the death of one of the brothers. Meanwhile, the estate had enormously increased in value. Inquiring for the surviving brother, he found him Westchester county, immersed in debt, and residing within debtors' 'limits.' The result was, that Burr, moneyless and in debt as he was, undertook to recover the estate, Eden agreeing to follow his advice in all things--to be, in fact, a passive instrument in his hands. Eden, his wife, and two daughters, Burr brought to the city, established them in his own house, sent the daughters to school, and amused his leisure hours, for ten years, by laboring with the same assiduity for their mental improvement as he had done in former times for Theodosia's. / He went to work craftily. The valuable parts of the estate lay in the city itself, several lots being held by banks and other wealthy corporations. He let those alone, for a while, and confined his first efforts to the recovery of a small farm in the upper in the upper part of the island, his object being to get the principle quietly established, upon which to found the more important suits. The owner of the farm was informed of this intention, and it was further intimated to him, that if he would not too seriously contest and prolong the suit, he should be allowed to buy back his farm on his own terms. Burr won the suit. The case was appealed. He was again successful. Then he came down upon the holders of the city lots with a pelting storm of writs of ejectment--to their equal surprise and alarm. The litigation was then fairly begun, and the courts were kept busy at it for many years." A most interesting Burr gathering. Vice President, shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
Autograph Letter Signed. One page, Folio with integral leaf, New York, Dec. 27 (1828?), to John Lyde Wilson, former Gov. of South Carolina, now a State Senator; addressed, with interesting postal markings, on the verso. Arron Burr writes:
"Your kind letter announcing the fate of our dear Elizabeth was rec'd on Sunday. Her friends have much to regret--She, nothing, in leaving a world in which she [had] not a hope of happiness or comfort. I wrote R. a few lines last night. It is only a few minutes before the closing of the mail that it has occurred to me that you ought to be forthwith possesed of the instrument of which a copy is on the preceding pages. You will see that Is. [adore Guillet] has no claim to any part of E's property. Let no article nor any paper of any kind go out of your possession till you shall hear further from, your friend, A. Burr."
Fine.
Estimated Value $2,000-UP.
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