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Manuscript notebook, small 4to, pp. 149; neatly written transcript of a legal abstract on blue lined paper, marbled boards backed in calf; title page separated, text clean and legible. Joseph Whittier (1793-1889), the main defendant, was born in Dover, New Hampshire, of Obadiah Whittier, who was an uncle to John Greenleaf Whittier. Joseph's sister Anna was married to Isaac Wendell, another defendant in the case. Isaac Wendell was a wealthy businessman who was cofounder of the Dover Cotton Factory, an early and successful example of the Industrial Revolution in textile manufacture. In 1836 about 600 acres of land, known as the Mattanawcook Purchase (including the town of Lincoln, Maine) were bought as an investment for about $20,000 for Wendell and Perkins, under the name I. P. Wendell and Co. An agreement was made to pay Whittier to manage the property along with a complicated series of arrangements to work the land and a gristmill, hold various mortgages and notes, and eventually turn a profit for the group. The venture was not successful and I. P. Wendell and Co. sold their interest in the land to Daniel L. Miller, who sought to settle obligations of the company and take control of the land more directly. The suit alleges that Whittier refused to acknowledge the receipt of the bills due him and was claiming land as his own property and threatening to sell, and demands that Whittier convey all land and property, and provide accounts of what has been sold and earned. Whittier argued that there was no contractual trust, that he was not compelled to act by the notes due him being in Miller's possession, and that standing to sue on the particulars brought up was not transferred to Miller. The transcription provides the text of the bill, exhibits (letters and contracts), Whittier's answer to the bill, including a record of expenses and receivables, and depositions by co-defendants. P. 68 includes a bracketed note "Pencil marks on original copied in red ink here." The final disposition was not included, but it appears that ultimately the case was found in favor of the plaintiff.
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