Curious document in the Barnum bankruptcy proceedings
Deed of Mortgage from Edward T. Nichols.
Cleveland, Ohio: May 4, 1855. 13" x 16" sheet folded into 4 pages; signed and sealed by Jacob Miller, Notary Public, and recorded May 17, 1855, Cuyahoga County, vol. 81, pgs 113-115. In ink, small tear at fold, minor wear and discoloring. Particularly interesting in that this was the year P.T. Barnum went bankrupt from a bad deal involving the Jerome Clock Company, to which he had lent the company over $110,000. When they had failed to perform, in the summer of 1855, Barnum also sold his American Museum in New York City. "Barnum therefore turned over his Bridgeport property to Connecticut assignees, moved his family to New York, and made an assignment there of all his other property, real estate and personal effects. They went to live in a hired furnished house in New York, the landlady and her family boarding with them. At forty-six Barnum found himself once more at the foot of the ladder -- beginning life anew" (see A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career. Life of Hon. Phineas T. Barnum, by Joel Benton). Was this land purchase from Cleveland an action to pay a debt as part of the bankruptcy proceedings, or was Barnum creating the option to move his family to Ohio? "Edward T. Nichols of Cleveland, Ohio" sells to "Phineas T. Barnum of the city of New York" lots Nos. 3 and 4 near Euclid Street for $12,100, land which had previously been deeded from P. T. Barnum. Nichols also includes certain lots in University Heights in the township of Brooklyn as part of the deed, previously recorded in Vol. 73, p. 267. There is also a long foreclosure clause wherein "the said P.T. Barnum as trustee...may proceed to make public sale...of any or all parts of the lands & premises herein described--or to foreclose as upon common mortgage." Edward Nichols was a farmer in Ohio. Item #55575
Price: $350.00
