Jamestown Historical Society

Exhibits - Jamestown Land Agreement
Permanent Exhibit in The Town Hall

      The 1657 Land Agreement is the basis for Jamestown land titles. The prepurchase document among the buyers of Conanicut Island details what percentage of land on the island would belong to each purchaser after the purchase of the land from the Narragansetts was finalized.
      When property is purchased today a title search is done to show a legal chain of ownership from the current owner back through the last 350 years to this first land title document of Jamestown.
      Above right is the first page of the document. Below it is the 7th and last page, which contains 74  of the 101 signatures on the document.  The Land Agreement is displayed in the Town Hall.

Transcription of Land Document
Large Image - Front Panel
Large Image - Panel 7 with Signatures

 The Story
In 1657, 100 colonial Rhode Islanders negotiated the purchase of Quononaqutt, now Conanicut, Island from the Narragansett Indians. Before completing the purchase, the group met to establish how the land would be divided among them. This contract is known as the Quononaqutt Land Agreement. Multiple copies of the agreement were made.
A transcribed copy with a list of the signers but without their signatures rests in the land records of the Town of Jamestown and is the starting place for all titles searches for island property. The town copy has been badly damaged and is virtually unreadable.
In late April 2005, Arlene Petit, the Jamestown Town Clerk, notified the Society that a copy of the agreement with the original signatures was to be auctioned in New York City. A scanned copy of the document was obtained and examined by knowledgeable members of the Society. At an emergency meeting on May 11, the Board authorized our President, Bill Burgin, to bid up to $20,000 to buy the document. The auction was held on May 12. When the bidding went above the authorized amount, an individual Society director, Ken Newman, stepped in to guarantee the additional $4,000 required. " It was bought at an auction the Swann gallery in New York on May 12, 2005. Total cost, including commission, was $27,740.