AMERICAN AND GENERAL HISTORICAL
AUTOGRAPHS AND MANUSCRIPTS
ADAMS, JOHN, President. Autograph document signed ("John Adams"), headed "Petition to the Justices of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace held at Charlestown..." Middlesex County, 30 November 1767. 1 page, folio, 310 x 200 mm. (12¼ x 8 in.), a few text corrections, petitioners' names lined out at bottom, matted and glazed in a giltwood frame incorporating an engraved portrait. Unexamined out of frame.
Details
ADAMS, JOHN, President. Autograph document signed ("John Adams"), headed "Petition to the Justices of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace held at Charlestown..." Middlesex County, 30 November 1767. 1 page, folio, 310 x 200 mm. (12¼ x 8 in.), a few text corrections, petitioners' names lined out at bottom, matted and glazed in a giltwood frame incorporating an engraved portrait. Unexamined out of frame.
POVERTY AND CHARITY IN COLONIAL MASSSACHUSETTS
An unusually early Adams document, written nine years after Adams was admitted to the bar and the year before he successfully defended John Hancock against charges of evading the duty on a shipment of wine. The case presented in this lengthy petition, concerning the case of a poor family being supported by the town of Stoneham, is typical of his practice at this time. Adams records the petition: "...James Holden and Rebekah his wife and Daughter Naomi...were poor and properly belonged to the Town of Stoneham...were ordered...to be removed from Farmingham...and the said James and Rebekah and Naomi were...delivered to Deacon Jonathan Lawrence, one of the overseers of the Poor...and the said...have remained in Stoneham...ever since, and been unable to support themselves, and the Town of Stoneham...have been obliged to expend the sum of Three Pounds for the necessary support...Now your Petitioners in fact say that neither [of the Holdens]...were inhabitants of or had any settlement in Stoneham...at the time they were so ordered...to be removed there...nor did they belong to the Town of Stoneham...Wherefore your Petitioners pray your Honours to take the Premises under your Consideration and determine the matter..."
Towns in Colonial America were expected to take responsibility for their less fortunate members; they would not, however, accept responsibilty for poor families who were not residents of their respective communities.
POVERTY AND CHARITY IN COLONIAL MASSSACHUSETTS
An unusually early Adams document, written nine years after Adams was admitted to the bar and the year before he successfully defended John Hancock against charges of evading the duty on a shipment of wine. The case presented in this lengthy petition, concerning the case of a poor family being supported by the town of Stoneham, is typical of his practice at this time. Adams records the petition: "...James Holden and Rebekah his wife and Daughter Naomi...were poor and properly belonged to the Town of Stoneham...were ordered...to be removed from Farmingham...and the said James and Rebekah and Naomi were...delivered to Deacon Jonathan Lawrence, one of the overseers of the Poor...and the said...have remained in Stoneham...ever since, and been unable to support themselves, and the Town of Stoneham...have been obliged to expend the sum of Three Pounds for the necessary support...Now your Petitioners in fact say that neither [of the Holdens]...were inhabitants of or had any settlement in Stoneham...at the time they were so ordered...to be removed there...nor did they belong to the Town of Stoneham...Wherefore your Petitioners pray your Honours to take the Premises under your Consideration and determine the matter..."
Towns in Colonial America were expected to take responsibility for their less fortunate members; they would not, however, accept responsibilty for poor families who were not residents of their respective communities.
Provenance