Tri-Counties Genealogy &
History by Joyce M. Tice
Local History Articles of Tri-Counties
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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| Article Submitted by Dan McDonald |
| Most taken from an 1853 Article in The People's
Journal |
| Page Created by Joyce M. Tice |
Photo of Bingham Portrait will be added later
(When I get back to my book in PA [JMT] |
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WILLIAM BINGHAM was born in Philadelphia on the
8th of March, 1753. He was educated at the academy and
college in that city. On the 29th of November, 1768, he received a diploma,
as Bachelor of Arts, and on the 28th of June, 1771, a diploma as
Master of Arts.
In 1778, Congress appointed him Consul
of the United States for the French West India Islands, resident in Martinique.
In the spring of 1780 he returned to Philadelphia, and on the 26th of October
of that year he married Ann Willing, the eldest daughter of Thomas Willing,
a merchant in that city. The marriage was performed by the Rev. William
White, Rector of Christ Church, and afterward the venerable
Bishop of the Pennsylvania diocese. His wife Ann
was also very beautiful,and the US Mint used her likeness on early american
coins.
Mr. Bingham was, for several years,
a member of the legislature of his native state, and was Speaker of both
Houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. From the 4th of March,
1795 to the 4th of March, 1801, he was a Senator in the Congress of the
United States, and an ardent supporter of the administration of Washington,
with whom he was on terms of great personal intimacy. While the election
between Jefferson and Burr was the subject of contest, Mr. Jefferson did
not take his seat in the Senate, over which body he presided, as Vice-President
of the United States. In his absence, Mr. Bingham occupied the Chair as
presiding officer.
Mr. Bingham was an enterprising and
successful merchant; but he did not confine his attention merely
to mercantile pursuits. He had valuable property in the city and county
of Philadelphia, and large landed estates in Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania.
From the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania he purchased over a million acres.
His title to those acres, lying chiefly in the northern counties, (Tioga,Bradford,Potter
counties). In Tioga county alone, Bingham owned 229,343 acres of land.This
was founded upon WARRANTS, granted to him by the Commonwealth, in
the years 1792 and 1793, upon SURVEYS, made by the officers of the Commonwealth,
and
regularly returned by them into the office of the
Surveyor General, and upon PATENTS, issued to him, or to the Trustees appointed
in his will, and signed by the Governor or Secretary of the Land Office.
The evidence of this title is in the Surveyor’s Office at Harrisburg; and
any person who will write to the head of that Department for a copy of
any paper in his office, will be sure to get it in a week. The cost for
a copy of a warrant and survey was half a dollar
each, for that of a patent, seventy five cents. No one, then, needed be
in ignorance of the BINGHAM TITLE, when he can satisfy himself upon it
on terms so easy. Most of the lands were originally purchased from
the State by Mr. Bingham and the title to them is plain and undoubted.
Mr. Bingham died on the 6th of February,
1804, in the 51st year of his age, having survived his wife, who
died in May, 1801. His will, bearing date of January 31, 1804, was duly
proved and filed in the Register’s Office in Philadelphia, and copies
of it are upon the records of some of the counties in which the lands lie.
He delivered his Estate to five Trustees, for the benefit of his son and
two daughters, his only children. The Trustees were his two sons-in-law,
Alexander Baring, (afterwards Lord Ashburton) and Henry Baring, and his
three friends,
Robert Gilmore, of Baltimore, and Thomas Mayne Willing
and Charles Willing Hare, both of Philadelphia. These Trustees are dead,
and the estate is now represented by five other Trustees, appointed in
the manner prescribed in the will. They are Joseph Reed Ingersoll, and
John craig Miller, and three of Mr. Bingham’s grandsons, William Bingham
Baring, (Lord Ashburton,) Francis Baring, and Henry Bingham Baring.
Lord Ashburton and Francis Baring were
born in Philadelphia. They are both in the Parliament of Great
Britain, the former in the House of Lords, the latter in the House
of commons. Mr. Ingersoll was, for several years, the Representative of
Philadelphia in Congress, and last summer the President of the United
States appointed him Minister to England. The other gentlemen, from time
to time, connected with the trust, were held in high estimation in the
communities in which they lived; and no person in Philadelphia has a better
reputation than Mr. Miller. Such are the persons who have represented and
do represent the large interests of the Bingham estate, as well in Pennsylvania
as elsewhere.
The daughters of Mr. Bingham are dead.
One died December 5, 1848; the other, March 9th following.
The son, William Bingham, born in Philadelphia, on December 29, 1800, lived
in Paris France more many years.
(From People’s Journal, December 18, 1853)
Editorial Comment: We publish on the first page a short sketch of
the life and character of the late William Bingham, which we hope will
receive the attention of every reader.
"We believe no man of sense in this country has ever
had any doubt on this subject, and we shall not waste words in trying those
who will not listen to reason. The following fact is too seldom thought
of by the inhabitants, and is not appreciated even when mentioned. Look
at it"
For more than half a century, the Estate has paid
taxes on these lands, which went to defray county expenses, to build roads
and bridges, to pay interest on the State debt, and to support schools,
etc.
The Bingham Estate office which was located in Wellsboro,Pennsylvania
did not close until 1964.
William Bingham, never personally viewed the lands
he had purchased. He purchased the vast lands as an investment.
So as one can see Bingham was a speculator and with
his other enterprises was known as the richest man in America!
