DEED OF INDENTURE FROM HENRY PRATT, CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, MERCHANT TO CONDY RAGUET, OF THE SAID CITY, MERCHANT FOR A LOT SITUATED ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF WALNUT STREET IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, SEPT. 1, 1818 by Raguet, Condy - 1818

[Philadelphia, PA]: Brown and Merritt, Printers, 1818. One page document on vellum, 38 x 60 cm., partly printed, completed in manuscript. Signed by Condy Raguet, and witnessed by James Dundas and G. Bartran [sp?]. Folded, red wax seals, docketed on verso. Pratt rents to Condy Raguet this lot on Walnut Street for the sum of 312 Spanish milled silver dollars, payable yearly. Raguet likewise agrees to build a brick building on the property valued at at least $7000, within a year of this agreement. Raguet also has the option to purchase the property outright at any time for the "full sum of five thousand two hundred dollars." Very good. A deed of land transfer between two well-known early 19th century Philadelphia residents. Condy Raguet (1784-1842) was an editor and economist, merchant, lawyer, and author. His writings on the question of free trade and currency analysis were published in various periodicals and newspapers. He served a term in the Pennsylvania Senate. Raguet and a number of other Philadelphia merchants organized the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society in 1816, with the express purpose of encouraging the poor and working class of the city to create and contribute to savings accounts. By the 1820s the offices of this Society were located on Walnut Street. [see his biography in the DAB and in the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia online]. Henry Pratt (1761-1838) was an important Philadelphia shipping merchant and land speculator. He owned three square blocks in the center of Philadelphia as well as many other plots throughout the city. He built a country estate named "Lemon Hill" on the Schuykill near Fairmont Park, known for its extensive gardens and greenhouses.