Question - Pynchon vs. Stearns 1846

[kelber at mindspring.com]

I'm guessing that the Stearns in question must be a forerunner to today's huge brokerage firm/investment bank, Bear-Stearns.  Neither the company web site nor the wikipedia article offers any history of the company.  Have you found any info on this?

Laura

----Original Message-----
>From: "grladams at teleport.com" <grladams at teleport.com>
>Sent: Dec 26, 2007 11:45 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Question - Pynchon vs. Stearns 1846
>
>I've been doing extensive research lately.
>
>I've discovered that it truly is the Stearns ancestor of TS Eliot (the
>Waste Land) who appears in the precident setting case vs Pynchon on waste
>in real estate inheritance, specifically who can commit waste and what
>constitutes waste. The gist of the history is, that English law was not
>applicable to American land, with vast forests that were seen as lacking in
>value until they were cultivated. _The Antiwilderness Bias in American
>Property Law_ John G. Sprankling _The University of Chicago Law Review_,
>Vol. 63, No. 2. (Spring, 1996), pp. 519-590. is a great resource on
>background of that... And I'm sure many of you are familiar with OBA's
>decendants, but did you really know the extent to which land ownership
>shaped the relations between the first couple three generations of Pynchons
>in MA and CT and their countrymen? _Land Tenancy and Social Order in
>Springfield, Massachusetts, 1652 to 1702, by Stephen Innes is a good
>article that focused on John Pynchon's land ownership. For example,
>typically at the time of about oh 1690 or so, about half of real estate
>inventories were typically valued at under £ 100.  The value of Colonel
>John's (at his death in 1703) real estate holdings alone exceeded £ 8,000.
>The reason why most men had so little land was because John Pynchon and his
>kinsmen had so much. You had to rent or leave. They had to improve his
>land, rent their tools from him, construct fences and nourish the
>livestock. Many lost sizable amounts of land, houses, became chronic
>debtors, etc.  I mean, some of the Pynchons would loose out on inheritances
>and speculation later, why, Joseph b. 1737 (who married Sara Ruggles) was a
>Tory and would go to Nova Scotia and have his property confiscated at the
>Revolution and all, but I'm focused right now on the Pynchon v Stearns case
>which occurred in 1846 I think.  OK. SO my question is does anyone have the
>original case of this? Can we know for certain who was pleading what? Was
>the first name of the Pynchon guy named anywhere? Are there any legal
>research people out there who can look up this case and see who was on what
>side? It would save me some time if someone somewhere knows how to find
>historical documents like the actual case. Probably have to go to a law
>library. 
>
>Thanks
>Jill
>
>
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