Tyndale, Robinson, 1778 or 1779-1842

This large land grant, which includes the present-day site of Saint Paul and a portion of what is now Minneapolis, was supposedly given to explorer Jonathan Carver by the Dakota chiefs Hawnopawjatin and Otohtongoomlisheaw in a ceremony that took place on May 1, 1767 in Carver's Cave at what is now Saint Paul. For several decades after Carver's death, his heirs and various others tried to capitalize on the grant by petitioning the United States Congress to recognize its validity, and by selling and reselling lands in the region.

Samuel Harrison functioned as the agent for Rufus Carver, the oldest son of Jonathan Carver and administrator of the interests of Carver's American heirs. Harrison allied himself with Samuel Peters, a Connecticut-born minister who claimed to have known Carver. Together, Harrison and Peters spearheaded attempts to validate the grant, and to sell its lands, though the land speculation and sales that ensued quickly grew out of control. Congress never did validate the grant.

Attempts to profit from the Carver Grant lasted decades and enveloped scores of Carver family members, land speculators, and potential settlers. Many scholars and historians question whether the grant ever took place at all, particularly in view of the fact that Carver never mentions it in his Travels through the Interior Parts of North America (1778) nor in his other surviving writings, and because the original deed granting the lands to Carver is said to have disappeared long ago.

The Carver Grant constituted a tempting prize for promoters, and numerous speculators sought to make money out of it. Its validity was never proven, and hopes to realize financial gain from it are said to have vanished by about 1834.

From the guide to the Papers relating to the Carver land grant., 1804-1912 (bulk 1806-1821)., (Minnesota Historical Society)