Copies of letters written by a prominent hardware merchant of New York City and a land agent in Ohio. The letters dated 1825-1826 were written from New York and discussed business items such as pig iron contracts for the U.S. Navy, and the appraisal and acquisition of certain mills. Other letters indicate he had interests in land in Albany and Steuben County, New York. He also wrote to his brother-in-law George Hoadley with the Eagle Bank of New Haven, Connecticut. Most important in this volume are the 66 letters written from Cleveland, Ohio, in which Wolsey described his activities on his trips to Ohio acting as a land agent for his father, William W. Woolsey, and brother-in-law George Hoadley. In the letters he described the land, the types of development he proposed, such as bridges and turnpikes, and legal matters such as road contracts and land deeds. He also took instructions from his father and George Hoadley on what to do with their investments, their tenants and their contracts. The land in Ohio in which this took place was known as the Western Reserve.
