1855 Maine Handwritten Indenture Land & Timber Contract Lumber Poor Sebago For Sale

A handwritten indenture, dated September 29, 1855, records a complex land and timber transaction involving Mark Richardson and a grantor identified as Lumber Poor, concerning two pond lots in Sebago, Maine. The document is a manuscript legal agreement on laid paper, executed in a flowing cursive script typical of mid-19th century American conveyancing. It details that on that date, Richardson received a deed for twenty-five acres of lot number seven, a pond lot in Sebago, valued at one hundred dollars, alongside his promissory note for one hundred and fifty dollars, payable in ten years with interest. These instruments served as the purchase money for seventy-five acres of lot number six, another pond lot in the same town, the bounds of which are described as beginning at the south west corner of said lot and running northerly on the westerly line one hundred rods.The verso of the document continues the contractual stipulations, reserving all pine, spruce, and hemlock growth for three years from the first of April next, granting the right of removal at any time within that term. The grantor, Lumber Poor, binds himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators to deliver a good and sufficient deed to Richardson upon the faithful performance of the note, under a penal sum of three hundred dollars. The instrument is witnessed by David Potter and executed with a seal. This artifact is a pristine example of a mid-19th century private land contract, reflecting the granular specificity of property rights and timber reservations in rural Maine, with Sebago located in Cumberland County. The document’s survival offers a recondite glimpse into the credit-based economy and legal formalities governing the transfer of undeveloped pond lots, a common feature of the region’s antebellum landscape.