Kaaterskill Books

Van Horne, Augustus C.; Speyer, John; Rivington, Susan; Morris, James.

[Rare 18th c. Manuscript Bond Signed] Fifty Thousand Dollars Jail Bond for Augustus C. Van Horne.

New York: 1799. 1 sheet. 10 x 16 inches. Very good, edge worn, light soiling, contents clean. Item #44676

All manuscript [not partially printed] bond dated February 1, 1799, signed by August C. Van Horne and John Speyer, to which as been added the name of Susan Rivington, in the amount of $50,000. With seals after each of the names.

"Know all men by these presents, that we Augustus C. Van Horne, John Speyer, and Susan Rivington are jointly and severally held and firmly bound unto James Morris Esqr. Sheriff of the City and County of New York... Whereas the above bounden Augustus C. Van Horne is now in the custody of the above named James Morris... on civil process only, and is permitted by the said Sheriff to go at large within the liberties of the jail of the City of New York, as the same liberties and limits thereof are designated by the Court of Common Pleas..."

Augustus C. Van Horne (1765-1853), son of Cornelius Van Horne, was a well-known merchant.

John Speyer was a merchant in a partnership with Jacob Mark, their company, Mark & Speyer, failing spectacularly in 1799, growing into an immense lawsuit not settled until 1820.

Susan Rivington was the daughter of James Rivington, publisher, sometime loyalist and later spy for Washington. There is a separate bond of James Rivington, Jr. and Susan Rivington to James Morris, Sheriff of New York City, also dated February 1, 1799, at the New York Historical Society. The Rivingtons and Van Hornes were related by marriage.

James Morris (1764-1827) was Sheriff of New York County from 1798-1801.

The cause for the bond is not known, though the three incidents, the two bonds signed by Rivington and the failure of Speyer's firm, all in the same year, would suggest a relationship

See:
1. Scoville: The Old Merchants of New York City, p. 88.
2. Murray v. De Rottenham, 6 Johns. Ch. 52 (1822). March 10, 1822. New York Court of Chancery. 6 Johns. Ch. 52.
3. New York Historical Society Museum at nyhistory.org/exhibit/augustus-cornelius-van-horne-1765-1853.

Price: $500.00