Aroostook County
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(continued from page 47) unable to meet his payments” by the mid-1790s. American banks would no longer finance the Bingham Purchase, a name that echoes through Maine history, but Barings House might buy the property if Lord Ashburton deemed the land a worthy investment. So Ashburton traveled to Maine with Bingham, his wife Anne, and their daughters Anne Louisa and Maria. Ashburton inspected Bingham’s extensive woodlands, chatted affably with the Bingham girls, and recommended that Barings House purchase from Senator Bingham approximately 2 million acres in eastern Maine. Stretching north from modern Route 1 across Routes 9 and 6, the land encompassed interior Hancock and Washington counties. Barings House relieved William Bingham of 2 million acres (and its affiliated debt), and Lord Ashburton relieved him of Anne Louisa by marrying her in August 1798. Ashburton’s younger brother would later marry Maria Bingham. Lingering in the United States into the early 19th century, Ashburton played a critical role when Barings House provided the necessary financing so the United States could acquire the Louisiana Purchase from France. Ashburton later returned to Britain and won election to Parliament in 1806. He remained active in business and, to a lesser extent, in politics for the next
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