Oliver Phelps was an American merchant and land promoter.
Background
He was born on October 21, 1749 on a farm near Poquonock, Connecticut, United States, the seventeenth child of Thomas Phelps and the ninth of Ann (Brown), Thomas' second wife. He was a descendant of George Phelps who, with his brother William, came to America in 1630, lived in Dorchester, Massachussets, and in 1635 moved to Windsor, Connecticut.
Oliver's father died when the boy was but three months old, leaving the mother to bring up the large family.
Education
Without formal instruction, the quick-witted lad picked up his education at odd moments, meanwhile reinforcing his natural instincts as a trader.
Career
At the age of seven he started work in a general store at Suffield. He went to Granville, Massachussets, in 1770, and before the outbreak of the Revolution had built up a prosperous mercantile business.
After a brief military service, he was appointed by Massachusetts superintendent of purchases of army supplies (1777). This office he filled with energy and success until the end of the war.
Meanwhile he had entered the lower house of the state legislature (1778 - 80); later he served in the constitutional convention (1779 - 80), in the Senate (1785), and in the governor's council (1786). A prosperous, if not a rich man now he had already proven himself a bold operator in various speculative fields. The great post-war boom in wild lands was just beginning and Phelps saw his opportunity in the desire of Massachusetts to sell its huge holdings in western New York - all the land in the state west of Seneca Lake.
After much bargaining he and Nathaniel Gorham purchased the preemptive rights to six million acres (April 1, 1788) for £300, 000 in state notes. This sum, equal at the time to about $175, 000, was to be paid in three yearly instalments. The following July Phelps bought the Indian rights to the easternmost third of this purchase and arranged for its survey and division into tiers of townships six miles square.
In the meantime he and Gorham sought feverishly to sell enough shares in their enterprise to make possible their payments to the state. They failed, however, and by the successful assertion of the federal government's claim to the triangular tract on Lake Erie, they were also disappointed in a sale they had expected to make of this land to Pennsylvania. Even with an extension of time they were unable to make their first payment as agreed. With the second instalment soon falling due, in March 1790 they turned back to Massachusetts two-thirds of the original purchase, retaining an embarrassed title to that already bought of the Indians. Payment for this remaining third was in fact long drawn out, for by 1791 state notes were worth nearly double their value in 1788 and the debt of Phelps and Gorham was proportionately increased. Though Phelps thus saw a huge profit slip through his fingers, he retained his buoyancy and his speculative fervor.
Within five years he had acquired title to nearly a million acres along the lower Mississippi, to a share in the Western Reserve, and to lands in many other sections. He was operating largely on credit, however, and when the land bubble was pricked in 1796, his affairs became hopelessly involved. Fearful of following William Duer and Robert Morris, fellow land speculators, to the debtors' prison, he went for a time into hiding.
Eventually, after several extended visits to the Genesee, he took up his residence in 1802 at Canandaigua. Here he passed his last years managing the remnants of his once extensive land holdings. He served one term in Congress from 1803 to 1805.
Achievements
Politics
In his late years he promoted the interests of the Jeffersonian party.
Personality
He was self-confident and energetic.
Connections
On December 16, 1773 he married Mary Seymour of Hartford, Connecticut. They had a son, Oliver Leicester, and a daughter, Mary.