1814 Columbia Turnpike Account Signed Revolutionary War Major Roger Bulkeley CT For Sale

Original oversized Columbia Turnpike financial account dated 1814.

Approximate size is 36”x24”

This early printed and handwritten document records the finances of Connecticut’s Columbia Turnpike, a privately operated toll road running through the Columbia, Hebron and Willimantic area. It is an interesting piece of early American transportation and business history from the War of 1812 period.

The document is signed by Major Roger Bulkeley (1751–1819) of Colchester, Connecticut, a Revolutionary War officer and later Connecticut legislator. Bulkeley served as a lieutenant of the Colchester troops responding to the Lexington Alarm in April 1775. In 1777 he supervised a group of ten teamsters supplying the Continental Army, and during the 1781 Washington–Rochambeau campaign he helped arrange blacksmith services for the allied forces. He later represented Colchester in the Connecticut General Assembly in 1798 and 1800.

This 1814 account was signed only five years before Bulkeley’s death and connects his postwar civic and business activities with Connecticut’s early privately operated toll-road system. It is also signed by John H. Wells, apparently serving alongside Bulkeley as a commissioner or examiner of the turnpike accounts.

More than 210 years old and showing substantial age and handling wear. The sheet has numerous original storage folds, wrinkles, toning, scattered spotting and stains. There are separations, holes and tears along several folds and fold intersections, along with edge tears and small areas of paper loss. The right side is irregular and damaged. The printed headings, handwritten figures, dates and signatures remain generally readable.

Please examine every photograph carefully. The document is offered exactly as shown and has not been restored.

It will be shipped folded along its existing historical folds, protected with archival-safe material and placed in a sturdy box.