10 
Indiana University Studies 
of that month he gave bond to Isaac Hite of Jefferson County 
for £300 to secure payment of £150 for an interest in land on 
which they, together with Amos Ogden, agreed to erect iron 
works."® On November 5 the three promoters signed articles 
of agreement governing the projected development of their 
pioneer venture.-^ Hardly had Imlay become a partner in 
this ambitious scheme, however, before he left Kentucky, prob- 
ably never to return. The Virginia settlements were once 
more his first objective. He was likely already in Richmond 
when Patrick Henry, on December 9 and 12, granted him let- 
ters patent for over 12,000 acres of land in Jefferson County, 
Kentucky."® He had certainly arrived there before the end of 
that month, when another of his numerous creditors attempted 
to secure some satisfaction on account of a bond which he had 
received from Imlay for debt."® A few weeks later, while 
Benjamin Sebastian was disposing of a part of his principal’s 
interest in the Green River Company,®® as the Kentucky iron 
works project was now called, Imlay himself was moving 
northward. He spent some time in the Jerseys — probably 
early in April — and may have remained there thru the sum- 
mer.®^ In May he was vainly expected in Baltimore, but ap- 
parently had failed to arrive there at the end of July.®® It is 
clear that the Green River Gompany, for which Imlay’s part- 
ner, Ogden, according to his own account, had vainly at- 
tempted to raise funds, was doomed to failure; and Imlay 
seems to have abandoned his associates without any warn- 
ing. On September 7 he appeared before Edward Shippen®® 
See file of Chancery Decrees, 1798 to 1800, in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit 
Court of Nelson County, Bardstown, Kentucky. There are twelve MS. documents in this 
file bearing on Imlay’s dealings with Hite. Only a few of these are numbered. 
Ibid., document 3. 
28 Deed Records, Book I, Nelson County Court, pp. 96ff. 
““ See order from John Rogers on Imlay for payment of £18 to Colonel John Camp- 
bell, dated December 22, 1785, in Durrett Collection, University of Chicago. On December 
23 Imlay indorsed his acceptance of this order as part payment of his debt to Rogers. 
To Daniel Hem y of Jefferson County, Kentucky, formerly of Maryland. The deed 
for one-third of Imlay’s interest in the iron works is dated January 15, 1786, and was 
ordered recorded on April 4. Imlay’s name was signed by Benjamin Sebastian, his 
attorney. (Deed Book No. 1, Jefferson County, p. 190.) 
Amos Ogden to Isaac Hite, July 28, 1786, in file of Chancery Decrees, 1798 to 
1800, Circuit Court, Nelson County, as cited above. 
32 Ibid. 
33 What may be an insignificant coincidence is the juxtaposition of the names Imlay 
and Shippen in a letter written by Miss Becky Franks to Miss Shippen of Philadelphia, 
about July, 1778, and reproduced in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 
XXIV, 417-418. It is interesting to note that the Imlay here mentioned appears in the 
character of a fashionable beau, and that the date corresponds with that of Imlay’s 
