Oct 10, 2013 - Sale 2324

Sale 2324 - Lot 404

Price Realized: $ 3,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(PANAMA.) Family papers of U.S. Consul John P. Adams concerning a railroad across Panama and more. More than 400 manuscript items (0.8 linear feet), various sizes and conditions. Vp, 1822-89 (bulk 1842-71)
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Additional Details

John Peabody Adams (1813-1856) was appointed the United States Consul at La Guaira, Venezuela. There he became involved in the early efforts to plan a transoceanic railroad across Panama, which was begun in 1850 and completed in 1855.
The archive also includes extensive documentation of the $100,000 claim of Adams's father-in-law Commodore John D. Daniels against the governments of Colombia and Venezuela stemming from two prize ships lost in 1818 and 1820. Adams's brother-in-law Bolivar Daniels (godson of Simon Bolivar) was involved in the case. Many of the letters are from Seth Driggs (1792-1884), a speculator who apparently received the family's $75,000 payment on the claims and retained the great bulk of it for himself. Their persistent efforts to press their case in court and Driggs's chilling, almost taunting responses offer a bit of drama to the archive.