Evy Smith signed 100 acres of land south of the Mullica River over to Joseph Johnson for the sum of 112 British pounds, according to a deed dated June 13, 1761. At the time, the area was part of Egg Harbor Township.
Today, that’s the equivalent of $22,232 — barely enough for a down payment on a one-acre residence in Galloway Township, where the property is now — according to a historical conversion formula created by the University of Wyoming.
“These documents really do put things into perspective,” said Egg Harbor Township Historian June Sheridan, who coordinated the deed’s preservation with the Atlantic County Clerk’s Office.
The preserved document was returned to the clerk’s office Friday and will soon be put on display there. It was restored by the Philadelphia-based Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts.
One of the two oldest surviving deeds from the area, the document pre-dates even the county, all of which was known as Egg Harbor Township until it officially separated from Gloucester County in 1837. Another deed, also from Egg Harbor Township, is from 1734.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_5a008094-61b5-11e1-9052-0019bb2963f4.html
Today, that’s the equivalent of $22,232 — barely enough for a down payment on a one-acre residence in Galloway Township, where the property is now — according to a historical conversion formula created by the University of Wyoming.
“These documents really do put things into perspective,” said Egg Harbor Township Historian June Sheridan, who coordinated the deed’s preservation with the Atlantic County Clerk’s Office.
The preserved document was returned to the clerk’s office Friday and will soon be put on display there. It was restored by the Philadelphia-based Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts.
One of the two oldest surviving deeds from the area, the document pre-dates even the county, all of which was known as Egg Harbor Township until it officially separated from Gloucester County in 1837. Another deed, also from Egg Harbor Township, is from 1734.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_5a008094-61b5-11e1-9052-0019bb2963f4.html