A 1762 BUTTON GWINNETT SURPRISES YALE AND DONOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000300010014-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 22, 1999
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: June 24, 1956
• Content Type: NSPR

NFw YORK JUN 2 41956
-1 P R A l D -M811 fifflzed - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-06i'003
A 1,762
Surprises Yale and Dolt .o r
Signature of Button Gwinnett found at Yale University.-
Special to the Herald Tribune d. It was discovere
NEW, HAVEN, Conn., June 23. w i e'`Athe papers were bein;r,
erosity of an alumnus, Yale Uni-
versity has acquired a receipt
signed by Button Gwinnett,
whose signature is considered
the rarest among the signers of
she Declaration of Independ-
ence.
The document was among
family papers dating back to
the period of the American Rev-
olution which were given to Yale
y Craig C, lgaatejr of Beth-
sorted at the Yale Library. Mr.;
Colgate had not known the re-
ceipt was among them.
Notified of the discovery, Mr.
Colgate reaffirmed it as a gift to'
Yale. Fewer than fifty specimens
of Gwinnett's writing are known
to exist, and only four of these
are more than mere signatures.
One Gwinnett autograph sold
,for $14,000 in 1924, .
The Yale document ?e,2ds:
"Reed. October 12th. 1762 of Mr.
-
seven pounds fourteen shillings
seven pence in Ballance of all
Accounts as witness my hand--
'New York Is/ Button Gwinnett."
Born in Gloucestershire, Eng-
land, about 1735, Gwinnett came
to America and settled in Geor-
-gia as a merchant and planter.
He served as ?a member of thei
Georgia Colonial 46embly and
briefly in 1777 as `:`fesident of
the State of Georgia." In. the
,same year, he was . fatally
wounded in a duel. The impor-
tance of the Yale document is
increased by the fact that it
locates Gwinnett in America six
months earlier than any previ-
Eus record.
--_,
CPYRGHT
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000300010014-9