Rodman M. Price papers

Dates

1842-1901

Abstract

Correspondence (1840-1900), chiefly of the Price family, but including letters received by Rodman Price; bills, receipts, and accounts (1842-1898); miscellaneous items including broadsides, clippings, pamphlets, calling cards, and map and description of placer gold mining claim (1876), Jefferson County, Mont. Other places represented include Morristown, N.J.

The following description was provided by the auction house from which the materials were purchased as related to Price v. Dewey, et al. (Box 5):

"Depositions, manuscript copies of deeds of sale, court summaries, lists of property, etc. relating to a suit brought by Rodman M. Price against Squire P. Dewey, Theodore Payne, Erasmus D. Keyes, and Edmund Scott, attempting to recover some five hundred thousand dollars. The four were alleged to have defrauded him of in San Francisco real estate. The case eventually wound up in the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey."

Extent

2.25 Cubic Feet (four manuscript boxes and one half-sized manuscript box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Rodman M. Price Biography

Rodman McCamley Price was born in Sussex County, New Jersey on May 5, 1816. His early education was attained in the common schools in New York and New Jersey. He later attended Princeton University, but did not graduate. He also studied law for a short time, but gave up his studies when he secured an appointment in 1840 to serve as a purser in the U.S. Navy. During the Mexican War, he served as an officer on the fleet that took Monterey, California. He also served as prefect and alcalde of Monterey in 1846; and was the naval agent from 1848 to 1850. Price first entered politics in California, serving as a delegate to the first constitutional convention. After moving back to New Jersey, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, a position he held from 1851 to 1853. He next secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, and was elected governor by a popular vote in 1853. During his tenure, a geological survey was authorized; a railroad monopoly question was resolved; the state militia was restructured; and the state’s school system was vastly improved. After completing his term, he served as a delegate to the 1861 peace convention that was held in Washington, D.C. Governor Rodman M. Price passed away on June 7, 1894, and was buried in the Reformed Cemetery in Mahwah, New Jersey.

Source: National Governor's Association

Court Case

"Rodman M. Price vs. Squire P. Dewey, Erasmus D. Keyes, et al. was an action brought by the plaintiff, Ex-Governor of New-Jersey, against the defendant, for an alleged conspiracy to defraud. The plaintiff alleges that about the year 1851 he was the owner of a large property in the State of California; that being about to leave that State, he appointed as his agent and attorney the defendant, Erasmus D. Keyes (now Major-General of volunteers), then a Captain in the United States army, commanding a fort near where plaintiff's property was situated; that after his departure from the State, the defendant Keyes conspired with the other defendants, and sold the entire property for $135,000, when its actual value was $300,000; that the other defendants were the purchasers of it.

The defendant maintain that the property was incumbered; that it was sold for its full value, and that the sale was made to secure the best interests of plaintiff." (1)

Squire P. Dewey was arrested on April 9, 1880 on two charges of libel after publishing his writings explaining the suits brought by Price. (2) Later that year, a Circuit Court ruled for Dewey and the other defendants. (3)

In 1891, Congress passed an act directing the Secretary of the Treasury to adjust Price's account "on principles of equity and justice," and to pay to him "or to his heirs" the sum found due him on such adjustment. It was adjusted by the Secretary, and in August, 1892, it was decided that there was due to Price from the United States $76,204.08. (4)

Notes:

(1) "LAW REPORTS," New York Times, 24 May 1864. https://www.nytimes.com/1864/05/24/archives/law-reports-court-calendar-this-day-exgov-price-of-newjersey-and.html

(2) "CRIME AND ITS RESULTS," New York Times, 10 APril 1880. https://www.nytimes.com/1880/04/10/archives/crime-and-its-results-proceedings-in-criminal-casesoffenses.html

(3) "NEWS OF THE WEEK," The Lexington Dispatch, 15 September 1880. https://historicnewspapers.sc.edu/lccn/sn84026907/1880-09-15/ed-1/seq-4/

(4) Price v. Forrest, 173 U.S. 410 (1899). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/173/410/