The Burlington Company included
William Franklin, the last
Colonial Governor of New Jersey (1763–1776). The company purchased various mortgages of
George Croghan between 1768 and 1770. The mortgages, issued to
William Franklin and assigned by him to the company, included one for 40,000 acres (160 km2) of Croghan's
Otsego County, New York, purchase. Franklin was an attorney, a
British Loyalist, and the son of
Benjamin Franklin. In addition to making personal loans to Croghan, Franklin purchased a 50% stock interest in the Burlington Company in 1772. In 1773, the remaining original shareholders sold their stock and rights, including Franklin's mortgages, to
Andrew Craig (merchant) and
William Cooper. Cooper was a merchant in Burlington. Cooper and Craig instituted
sheriff's sale proceedings under a judgment of 1773, neglecting to inform Franklin. After that, Craig and Cooper purchased the Otsego tract for $2,700 by questionable means. Efforts of Franklin and Croghan's heirs to contest the title proved fruitless. Cooper later founded
Cooperstown and
Burlington, New York on this tract of land after the
American Revolutionary War. Among his children was
James Fenimore Cooper, who later became a noted author and set some of his work in this frontier region. ==See also==