[Franklin Imprint]. Know all Men by these Presents That [William Trent & George Croghan

(FRANKLIN IMPRINT). Know all Men by these Presents That

[William Trent & George Croghan of Pennsborough in Cumberland

County and in the Province of Pennsylvania Merchants are] Held and firmly bound unto [Jeremiah Warder of the City of Philadelphia &

Province aforesaid Hatters] in the Sum of [Five Thousand & Seven pound Six shillings] Lawful Money of [Pennsylvania] to be paid to the said [Jeremiah Warder or his] certain Attorney, Executors,

Administrators or Assigns, To which Payment well and truly to be made, [We do Bind ourselves Jointly & Severally our] Heirs,

Executors and Administrators, [and Every of them] firmly by these

Presents Sealed with [our] Sea. Dated the [Seventh] Day of

[September[ in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and

[Fifty] and in the [24th] Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord

George the Second by the Grace of God, King of Great-Britain, &c..

Similar to Miller 10 (Variant).

Though this lacks an imprint, it is clearly the work of Franklin's press.

This is a bond and judgment in which

William Trent and George Croghan promise to pay £2000 to Jeremiah Warder by 1 October 1751. It is signed and sealed by Trent and Croghan and witnessed by John Biddle and John

Barnes, and docketed on the back.

William Trent (1715-1787) was a

Philadelphia fur trader and merchant. He was commissioned as a captain of the Virginia Regiment in the early stages of the French and Indian War, when he served on the western frontier with the young Lt. Colonel George Washington. Trent led an advance group who built forts and improved roads for troop access and defense of the western territory. He was later promoted to the rank of major. In 1744, Trent purchased vast lands in the Ohio country west of the

Appalachians. From then through the 1780s, he was a key figure in encouraging westward expansion by Anglo-American settlers past the

Appalachians, as he wanted to sell his land in parcels for development. William Trent along with twenty-two other fur traders formed a group in 1763 that was known as the Indian Company.

Because of the losses the Indian Company members experienced in the

French and Indian War, they were seeking land grants. During this time, Trent's longtime friend and previous business partner, George

Croghan, decided to embark on a journey to London and present the

Indian Company's case. While Croghan was in England asking for reparations on behalf of the Indian Company, Trent immediately began concerning himself with new business endeavors in hopes to regain the fortune he lost during the French and Indian War. In

December of 1763, Trent began a partnership with John Baynton and

Samuel Wharton. Samuel, Baynton, and Wharton were all equally interested in land speculation of 1,700 acres of Cumberland County land.

George Croghan, (1720-1782), was a Philadelphia trader who won the confidence of Indian tribes and negotiated numerous treaties of friendship with them in behalf of the British government. He was deeply involved in the beginnings of the French and Indian war and was with Washington at Fort Necessity. He worked to keep the Indians neutral during the

Revolution.

Jeremiah Warder (1711-1783) was a wealthy Philadelphia merchant. John Biddle (1707-1789) moved with his brother William to

Philadelphia from Mount Hope, New Jersey, in the 1720s, becoming the first of the Philadelphia Biddle family.

From Catalog III

A Franklin bond form by which Trent and Croghan, 'merchants' of Pennsborough in Cumberland County, bind themselves to the Philadelphia hatter Jeremiah Warder, signed and sealed by both. Trent would build the fort at the Forks of the Ohio that the French took and renamed Duquesne; Croghan was the greatest Indian trader of his age. The press at the service of the frontier.