Know all Men by these Presents, That I Ira Allen of Colchester County of Chittenden & State of Vermont do for & in consideration of Sixty Pounds in hand paid by Samuel Austin of Sd. Colchester...give, grant, bargain, and sell unto the Samuel Austin...100 Hundred Acres of Land in Sd. Colchester....

Partly-printed land indenture signed and accomplished in part by Ira Allen, colonel of the famed Green Mountain Boys, founder of the University of Vermont, founding father of the state of Vermont, and brother of General Ethan Allen. 22 June 1795, N.p. [Colchester, Vermont?]. 1p, approx. 8 1/4 x 12 3/4 in. Signed by witnesses Dennis and John Downing. Allen completes a document certifying that he has sold to Samuel Austin, for the sum of sixty pounds, a tract of land containing one hundred acres. The purchaser "Samuel Austin" is likely a Quaker of that same name who came from New Hampshire to Colchester in 1790.

Ira Allen (1751-1814), though less well-known than his brother Ethan Allen, played arguably an equally significant part in the early history and establishment of the state of Vermont. Alongside his older brother, Ira served in the Green Mountain Boys militia and resisted New York's attempts to control land in the disputed New Hampshire Grants. During the American Revolution, Allen advocated confiscating Loyalist property, a plan that earned money for Vermont and allowed Allen to buy desirable property at a heavily discounted rate. After the war, Allen continued to buy land on behalf of himself and the Onion River Company which he had formed with his brothers. Severn years after the Revolution, Ira Allen was the largest landowner in the state of Vermont with approximately 200,000 acres. Amongst these vast holdings was this parcel in Colchester, located just north of Burlington, Vermont. Ira Allen was Colchester's first town clerk and treasurer, and its most significant landowner buying 15,000 of the town's 23,000 acres. He settled in the Winooski Falls area of Colchester. Less than a year after signing this document, Allen would depart Vermont for France seeking French army intervention for seizing Canada in order to create an independent republic. Captured at sea on his return voyage and subsequently imprisoned, Allen would return to Vermont years later to find much of his property and wealth confiscated. He died in 1814 in Philadelphia where he had fled to escape imprisonment for debt.

A scarce autograph document and signature from a legendary Vermonter with strong Colonial America and Revolutionary War associations.

[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [Colonial America, 13 Colonies, Revolutionary War, Republic of Vermont]

Creasing at folds, slight tears and creasing alonf edge lines, toning.