Talk:Scioto Company

The Scioto Company (1802, CT) Versus The Scioto Land Company (1787, France)
I discovered today during a Google search that when someone searches for The Scioto Company, the company which bought millions of acres of Ohio land before it became a state and resold them to settlers, they instead get a description of the French-based Scioto Land Company, which sold land not owned by themselves for purposes of defrauding French people. The former company was founded in Connecticut in 1802 by 38 upstanding citizens, including my ancestor, Dr. Jonas Stanbery, a New York City physician. This man was anything but a huckster, in fact taking almost anything in trade for land, thereby assisting those with limited means in acquiring land in Ohio.

There need to be TWO pages: 1) The Scioto Company, describing the company founded 1802 in Connecticut; 2) the Scioto Land Company (this appears to have been its name?) describing the company founded 1787 in France, with an American legal representative. The latter page needs to be moved to a new link ending in Scioto_Land_Company, leaving Scioto_Company for the American company of upstanding and reputable founders.

Mrs rockefeller (talk) 21:53, 1 December 2015 (UTC)


 * I wonder where the "millions of acres" comes from for the 1802 company. The linked website from Worthington makes no mention of that much. That is an awfully big piece of land! If it turns out that it was just a piece of land that ended up being Worthington, Ohio, whose article says 16,000 acres, it could be included in the History section the article for Worthington. A note could be included in this article pointing to the Worthington article to avoid confusion.  Roseohioresident (talk) 22:15, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Wbgeauga (talk) 12:44, 31 October 2018 (UTC)'Envoy to the Terror', by Melanie Randolph Miller, 2006, plows through the transatlantic paper trail (letters) between Governeur Morris, the US envoy to France selected by GW, and early Administration leaders (GW, Jefferson), and adds perspective to the 'land fraud' known and unknown. Picture the time frame, the French monarchy collapsing, slowly - which is not well understood - and volatile civic chaos racheting to the Terror. Under Louis, and with the understanding of the new US government formed under the Constitution, war debt went to the collections mode. The money owed France, specifically the King, who, fascinated with the ideals of the US revolution, had financed a great deal of it. Of course it secured victory at Yorktown with the massive commitment of the King's fleet. Shrewd real estate savvy leaders all, US leaders sought a payback time out or at least a waffle as Louis' fate unraveled. G Morris, with an sophisticated understanding of international securities, went as envoy, and right or wrongly had a hand in re-selling some of the debt as securities, which evidently were traded for land in the 'Scioto' project. At that point this article picks up the action, the land titling was contested or invalidated, and, somewhat respectfully for the French settlers fleeing the Terror, some accommodation made locally and by the Congress. Anyways, the role of revolutionary war debt in this interesting story is a thread of interest all on its own and merits development in the article. While certainly there may have been fraud, the long lead time in transatlantic communications may have contributed to the air of scandal, but who can be sure. In the end, Jefferson as President repudiated the debt in the aftermath of the Terror; there was no stable leadership in place in France until Napoleon, which leads into the Louisiana sale time frame and maybe hints why that ended up as a good deal for the US. So the scholarship continues.Wbgeauga (talk) 12:44, 31 October 2018 (UTC)