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New England 100 Years before the Revolution: From Plymouth Colony to the Salem Witch Trials The Victor Gulotta Collection
NEW ENGLAND 100 YEARS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION: FROM PLYMOUTH COLONY TO THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS THE VICTOR GULOTTA COLLECTION Auction Tuesday, November 7, 2023 at 10am Eastern Exhibition Saturday, November 4, Noon – 5pm Sunday, November 5, Noon – 5pm Monday, November 6, Noon – 5pm And by Appointment at other times Location Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers 175 East 87th Street New York, NY 10128 212-427-2730 Please check DOYLE.com for our Terms of Guarantee and Conditions of Sale.
Peter Costanzo Senior Vice President Executive Director, Books, Autographs & Photographs 212-427-4141 ext 248 Peter.Costanzo@doyle.com
Please note this is a promotional publication and not the auction catalogue. Lot numbers, estimates and descriptions are subject to change. Please see Doyle.com for more images, information and bidding.
New England 100 Years before the Revolution: From Plymouth Colony to the Salem Witch Trials The Victor Gulotta Collection By Victor Gulotta The American Revolution has long fascinated me, as it has many Americans. Studying the origins of our country in grade school piqued my imagination, and I found myself craving more information about the history of the colonies. New York City’s school system provided me with a smattering of earlier colonial history, with a focus on the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam and personalities like Peter Minuit and Peter Stuyvesant. But except for the signing of the Mayflower Compact and the landing of the Pilgrims, I don’t recall learning much about New England, specifically Massachusetts, history—at least not until I started devouring books about the early settlements on my own. In retrospect, it doesn’t surprise me that I eventually began collecting 17th-century documents from the Bay State, where I ultimately settled in 1987.
I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight a few of my favorite pieces. Perusing this catalog, you will find:
Amassed over a decade, this is a collection of documents signed by Massachusetts Colonial officials—governors, judges, lawyers, military leaders, constables, secretaries, deputies, clerks, marshals, assistants, and others—ordinary citizens—who played an important role in the functioning of early New England life. Documents signed by prominent officials from the courts of Plymouth, Boston, Cambridge, Salem, and other communities, including those of Maine and New Hampshire (both still part of Massachusetts during this early period), are represented here.
• A document from 1668 signed by Richard Bellingham, three-time governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1637, Bellingham was one of the magistrates who helped convict religious dissenter Anne Hutchinson and voted for her to be banished from the colony. Bellingham also figures in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.
Framed by several English documents of the 17th century (signed by Sir Henry Vane, King Charles II, King James II, and diarist Samuel Pepys), the collection begins chronologically with a manuscript signed in 1652 by Daniel Gookin, Deputy from Cambridge to the General Court in Boston. For perspective, the population of Boston at the time was 2,000. Little more than two decades earlier, future Governor John Winthrop had arrived from England with his fleet of eleven ships and settled Boston, the “City on the Hill.” The collection continues into the 18th century, with the final example being a passionate letter from Salem witch-trial judge Samuel Sewall to his son in 1720. Besides being the only judge to publicly apologize for his role in the trials, Sewall was the author of The Selling of Joseph (1700), the first antislavery pamphlet published in North America.
• A document from 1692, signed by William Bradford Jr. (1624–1703), son of Mayflower passenger William Bradford, second governor of Plymouth Colony. Bradford Jr. succeeded Myles Standish as the chief military man in the colony. He was commander of the Plymouth forces in King Philip’s War and later served as deputy governor of Plymouth Colony. • A deed, signed by Constant Southworth, stepson of Governor William Bradford, in Taunton, Plymouth, in 1668, granting land to a Welsh settler who established the first iron works in Plymouth Colony.
• A rare manuscript deposition, written in Boston in 1656, involving an attempted divorce on the part of a woman who “never loved” her husband and “never had societie with him nor ever the desire to have, and that she loved one that went out of Salem better than her husband.” More generally, the signatures of many of the judges who participated in the Salem Witch Trials are represented here. There are also several documents that Anne Hutchinson's and John Alden’s direct ancestors have signed. In my pursuit of the earliest obtainable manuscripts from colonial Massachusetts, I have always insisted on acquiring only those signed by historically significant people. In so doing, I have had to practice patience, for they are scarce and sometimes rare, and so there have been times when I’ve waited a year or more before finding a worthy acquisition. Bidders can now select what interests them from this curated collection that has brought me great pleasure over the years.
From Plymouth Colony to the Salem Witch Trials: an Introduction by Peter Costanzo
New England 100 Years before the Revolution: From Plymouth Colony to the Salem Witch Trials is a curated collection of 17th and 18th century manuscripts documenting life in colonial New England. Handwritten material originating from first- and second-generation settlers at Plymouth and the nearby Massachusetts Bay Colonies is naturally scarce; now, 400 years after the 1620 landing at Plymouth, fire, water, and other ravages of time have destroyed many a paper record. The collections of documents held by institutions throughout the region are cherished and oftentimes represent the core of an institution’s identity. Despite the existence of earlier colonial efforts, such as the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine or the extensively developed English plantations in Virginia, the hardships and personalities of early New England have endowed our national origin story like no other. In early New England, many aspects of later American culture took root, and it is from that first winter at Plymouth and the intervention of Native Americans that Thanksgiving was developed, the humblest and most unique of American holidays. Collectors also value documents bearing the signatures of early notables. Before 1700, personal correspondence was not commonplace in New England, but an extensive record of legal documents such as wills, promissory notes, land deeds, and personal complaints, small and large, were painstakingly recorded, offering insight into the interpersonal history of colonial society. Individual examples of 17th-century documents are rare, let alone full collections offering a variety of them, and they are infrequently encountered at auction. Outside of institutions, material relating to the Salem Witch Trials is virtually unobtainable. Thus, the opportunity to study a group of these papers and potentially procure them for collections lacking holdings of such material is unparalleled. The documents within New England 100 Years before the Revolution: From Plymouth Colony to the Salem Witch Trials offer interesting, inspiring, and unusual episodes of 17th-century New England using the 1692 Salem Witch Trials as their lens. This disturbing event provided a bookend to the Pilgrim Century that had begun with the arrival of the Mayflower in the winter of 1620. From the outside in, the collection contextualizes the period by including documents signed by King James II, Samuel Pepys, and other influential figures in England in whose politics and religion the seeds of Puritanism and separatism were sown. From about 1640, once those first separatists
and subsequent colonists had settled themselves into various towns and begun to grow their population in New England, the collection focuses deeply on not only documents signed by historically recognized officials such as John Endecott, William Bradford the Younger, and Samuel Mather but also stories of ordinary citizens whose lives are understood through their legal exchanges. An example of this is a very rare document relating to an attempted divorce in Boston in 1656, one of about 20 such cases in colonial New England. As the decades passed, the collection turns to figures relating to the Salem Witch Trials. Following the harsh first winters and Great Migration, increasingly quarrelsome New Englanders tended to air their grievances, small and large, in public at the local general court. More legal documents survive than any other, as every dispute over small amounts of money owed, wandering animals, missing sundry objects, and unfulfilled obligations was recorded and heard by local magistrates so that rulings could be delivered. At Salem, the first large town settled after Plymouth in 1625, residents are known to have grown aggressively quarrelsome over time, recalling the old adage that “familiarity breeds contempt.” What started in February 1692 as the troubling, fitful outbursts of two young girls, Betty Parris, 9, and her cousin Abigail Williams, 11, grew into the region-gripping hysteria known now as the Salem Witch Trials. In the fits, the girls screamed and contorted and complained of being pricked by pins. Other young women in the town came to exhibit similar behaviors. The first accused and arrested for witchcraft were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, an enslaved West Indian woman. The accused are thought to have been targeted for their outcast positions in Salem’s society: Good was destitute, Osborne rarely attended church and had married an indentured servant, and Tituba, owned by Samuel Parris, father of one of the accusers, had confessed to practicing witchcraft and other cultural practices that were highly foreign in 17th-century Salem. All three were sent to jail in Boston to await trial as magistrates awaited the arrival of a new governor carrying a new charter for the colony. Once arrived, the Court of Oyer and Terminer was created, and the next few months brought chaos and much unnecessary death to Salem.
Witchcraft had been heavily punished in Europe over the previous centuries, and there are several recorded instances of similar concerns in New England in the decades before the Salem Witch Trials. In the hysteria that overtook Salem in 1692, over 200 people were accused, 30 were found guilty, 19 were hanged, four people died in jail, and one man, 81-year-old Giles Corey, died due to the torture of “pressing,” in which he was slowly crushed for refusing to enter a plea. Without a doubt, it was the admission of “spectral evidence” (the testimony of those who claimed to see or be attacked by apparitions) into the courtroom that doomed many. The choice was not uncontroversial; both Increase and Cotton Mather condemned it, but it was allowed until accusations of witchcraft reached the wife of colonial governor William Phips, and he put an abrupt end to the trials in October 1692. Two of the most notorious figures of the Witch Trials are judges John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin (the latter’s Salem home is the only structure still standing where questioning during the hysteria took place). Hathorne and Corwin are known to have been unrelenting in their questioning of the accused to secure confessions of witchcraft, which condemned many to death after sham trials. The two are also known to have defended the admission of spectral evidence into the courtroom. Corwin, born at Salem in 1640, served on the Superior Court and as a Judge of Probate after the trials and never expressed remorse for his role in the investigations (he died in 1718). John Hathorne, born at Salem in 1641, the notoriously harsh sentencing judge of the Salem Witch Trials, is best remembered for the shameful recollection of him by a later family member. One of the great figures of 19th-century American literature is Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter and other indictments of early New England. He was the great-grandson of John Hathorne. It is thought that Nathaniel added the “w” to the family name to distance himself from this notorious ancestor. The present collection offers a good example of the signatures of these notorious judges on an arrest warrant dated 1691. As mentioned, “spectral evidence” collected in the interrogations led to many witchcraft convictions, including the case against a pious 71-year-old woman named Rebecca Nurse. The collection offer a document signed by Thomas Fiske, the foreman of the jury that convicted Nurse. Fiske is one of several central figures to later express remorse for his role in the outcomes of the trials. Another
scarce signature is that of Thomas Bradbury, whose wife Mary was convicted of witchcraft but escaped, eluding the gallows until the events of that spring, summer, and early fall had blown over. Other documents signed by Salem Witch Trials judges Thomas Newton, Nathaniel Saltonstall, and the wonderfully named Waitstill Winthrop further evoke this dark period of colonial history. The scarce signatures of these figures, whose actions and decisions were critical to events of their time and came to greatly influence American history, offer a great opportunity to us now: a chance to engage in history by stepping into the shoes of those who lived it, as they signed documents and committed themselves to the permanent record. We are greatly in debt to the record-keepers of early New England for leaving a paper trail of both every day and horrific events. New England 100 Years before the Revolution: From Plymouth Colony to the Salem Witch Trials are rife with stories worthy of research and remembrance. In this collection, major historical and momentary figures interact. Such collections are infrequently offered at auction, and collectors, institutions, and all those interested in the history of early New England should certainly take note.
1. The Landing at Plymouth Imagined CURRIER & IVES Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth 11th Dec. 1620. New York: N. Currier, [1876]. Lithograph added color. Image 8 7/8 x 12 13/16 inches (22.5 x 32.5 cm); framed. Toning and spotting in margins, not removed from frame. $200-300 3. Document signed by Samuel Pepys and King James II PEPYS, SAMUEL and KING JAMES II Document signed by King James II at the head and countersigned by Samuel Pepys, the King instructing that Lieutenant Simon Foulks should receive captain’s pay for his temporary service as commander of HMS Bristol from June to August 1682. Single page on a sheet, 22 lines in a secretarial hand, dated Whitehall (the royal residence in London), 5th November 1686, signed above the text by James II, and at the foot by Pepys as Secretary to the Admiralty. Usual folds, minor foxing and soiling, framed with a portrait of James II and of Samuel Pepys. An attractive English naval document signed by King James II and Samuel Pepys, of diary fame. The Bristol, for the command of which Foulks was remunerated by the instructions in this document, was a 44-gun fourth-rate, and apparently the first named vessel in the British Navy. Pepys had served as Secretary under Charles II, and he continued in that role after the accession to the throne of James II (following the death of Charles in 1685), and the present document was prepared quite early in the reign of the new King. 2. Document signed by Charles II
Pepys was interested in witchcraft; his library included a number of works,
KING CHARLES II and ROBERT SPENCER, EARL OF SUNDERLAND
including both those that reflected positions doubtful of its existence and
Document signed by Charles II at the head and countersigned by Robert
those evincing full belief (Reginald Scot’s Discovery of Witchcraft in the former
Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, the King writing to Edward Wood, the Envoy
category, and Bodin’s treatise on demonology in the latter). His diaries do
Extraordinary to the Court of the King of Sweden. Single page on a folded
not really reflect on what side of the debate he stood, and unfortunately, they
sheet, 16 lines in a secretarial hand, dated Whitehall (the royal residence in
conclude well before the period of the Salem Witch Trials, so we do not know
London), 23rd June 1679, signed above the text by Charles II, and at the foot
what he thought of that folly. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, an intellectual
by Robert Spencer, second Earl of Sunderland (signing as “Sunderland”),
who was au courant with the trends in natural philosophy of the epoch, so it is
Secretary of State to the Northern Department; the verso of the second leaf
likely enough that he was an interested skeptic.
with the address panel and affixed wafer seal. Usual folds, minor foxing and
$3,000-5,000
soiling, framed with a 1736 portrait of Charles II by George Vertue. Charles bids Wood, his “Envoyé Extraordinary” to the Court of the Swedish King, to prepare to return to England. $1,000-1,500
4. Sir Henry Vane, fifth Governor of the Massachusetts colony [MASSACHUSETTS] VANE, Sir HENRY, the younger. Document signed by Sir Henry Vane the younger and Henry Mildmay. Secretarial document signed by Sir Henry Vane, Sir Henry Mildmay, Thomas Hoyle, and other witnesses, dated Westminster July 25, 1647, a grant of one hundred and forty-five pounds for various horses paid to one John Freeman by order of both Houses of Parliament. 11 3/4 x 7 3/8 inches (30 x 18.5 cm); a folded sheet, single page containing the parliamentary instructions, 14 lines written in brown ink in a court hand, with Freeman’s signature written strongly below, and Sir Henry Vane and the other witnesses signing below that, secretarial docketing on the verso of the second leaf. Light wear, and soiling, usual folds. Framed with a portrait, not examined out of frame. Sir Henry Vane the Younger was the fifth Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, from 25 May 1636-17 May 1637, and later the Joint Treasurer of the Navy, and a Member of Parliament. He held various important positions in England, before dying on the scaffold in June 1662. During his time in New England, he became (and remained) friendly with John Winthrop, despite their political differences. William Ireland wrote, in his The Life of Sir Henry Vane the Younger, 1905, (p. 91) that “Had he remained in New England, his enlightened mind and humane spirit would have held the Puritans back from the executions of witches and persecutions of other heretics which have added a dark chapter the early history of the States.” $300-500
5. A manuscript deposition signed by Governor John Endecott ENDECOTT, JOHN (sometimes ENDICOTT) Document signed as Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. [Vicinity of Salem: circa 1654 from docketing on verso]. A manuscript deposition on a slip of paper written in English and Latin in a secretarial hand, signed by Endecott as “Jo: Endecott Gub[ernato]r”, the document being the deposition of Daniel Kimbell in the case of a corn theft, possibly conducted by a sometime employee named Samuel Cutler. 3 x 5 ¾ inches (7 x 14 cm); framed with a portrait. A few small stains, but very well-preserved and dark overall. John Endecott (before 1660-1664), one of seven signatories to a land grant given to “The New England Company for a Plantation in Massachusetts,” landed at Salem in 1628. He was the longest-serving Governor of the colony, serving one term before the arrival of John Winthrop with the colonial charter, and many thereafter, for a total of sixteen years between 1629 and 1664. The present document offers a large example of Endecott’s signature, which is uncommon at auction. $2,000-3,000
6. Signed by the penultimate Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony LEVERETT, JOHN Document signed. No place: 3 July 1664. A document signed “Jno. Leverett,” 14 lines possibly in his hand, the document regarding the payment of £5 made to Captain Sanigo by Samuel Showman (or Sherman) for a shipping voyage in 1663. 7 x 6 inches (18 x 15 cm); framed with a portrait which bears a manuscript note. Some minor offsetting and smudges, a neat later notation at foot, unexamined out of frame. Provenance: Highly Important American Historical Documents and Autograph Letters and Manuscripts, The Property of the Elsie O. and Philip D. Sang Foundation, 21 April 1978, lot 175; sold as part of a lot, University Archives, 2022, lot 186. John Leverett (1616-1679) came to Boston as a teenager and became a prominent merchant and soldier. Made a freemen in 1640, in 1642 he and Edward Hutchinson were dispatched as envoys to negotiate with the Narragansett. Leverett returned to England to fight in the English Civil War and upon his return to Massachusetts served several terms on the General Court and for ten years from 1663 he held the rank of major-general on the Massachusetts militia. Leverett served as Governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony from 1673 until his death in 1679. Before 1980, Rare Book Hub lists various examples of documents signed by Leverett, but only this document and the document sold with it in 2022 have been sold since. We note the fine provenance of the Sang collection as part of the document’s history. $800-1,200
7. Signed by Richard Bellingham as Governor BELLINGHAM, RICHARD, Governor Deposition signed. Boston: 29 April 1668. A one-page deposition in a secretarial hand, with a three-line attestation at foot in Bellingham’s hand signed “Ri Bellingham Gobn.” Framed. Corners toned, old folds, else fine, not removed from frame. Richard Bellingham (1592-1672) served three times as the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1641 and 1672. In 1637, during the Antinomian Controversy, Bellingham was one of the magistrates who helped convict religious dissenter Anne Hutchinson and voted for her to be banished from the colony. Later, Bellingham was fictionalized as the brother of Ann Hibbins, hanged for witchcraft in real life and in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. $1,000-1,500
8. The Last Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony BRADSTREET, SIMON Deposition signed. [Boston:] 27 June 1677. A one-page deposition in ink headed “This deposition of Enoch Moore aged thirty seven years...”, with a three-line autograph attestation in Bradstreet’s hand stating this is a copy of the original and signed “Simon Bradstreet.” 6 x 7 inches (15 x 18 cm); framed with a portrait. A few spots but very clean overall, not removed from frame. Provenance: The collection of the late Charles P. Greenough Brookline, Massachusetts, sold Anderson Galleries, New York, 3 May 1926, lot 74; Pacific Book Auctions, 12 November 2012, lot 21. Simon Bradstreet (1603-1697) arrived in Massachusetts Bay in 1630 on the Winthrop Fleet and was always involved in local politics. He served as the final Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1679-86 before the creation of the Dominion of New England and again from 1689-92 before the creation of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He was married to Anne Dudley Bradstreet, America’s first published poet. Simon Bradstreet’s son, Dudley Bradstreet, was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace in Andover in June 1692 and is known to have issued arrest warrants and investigations during the Salem Witch Trials that led to convictions. $1,500-2,500
9. Military Appointment for the Great Grandson of Mayflower Pilgrims SHIRLEY, WILLIAM, Governor Document signed. Boston: 16 May 1745. A partly printed document with wafer seal and woodcut initial accomplished in manuscript, being a military appointment for Seth Alden, the document signed “WShirley” by William Shirley as Governor of the Province. The verso with a later plat map depicting the Keith Farm in 1802. Framed. Stains along folds and elsewhere, an old tape repair to verso, not removed from frame. Seth Alden is a great-grandson of Mayflower pilgrims Priscilla and John Alden who were married at Plymouth in 1622 and whose offspring in subsequent generations have numbered into the millions. $500-800
10. Printed document signed by Massachusetts Bay Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson [MASSACHUSETTS] HUTCHINSON, THOMAS. Document signed by Thomas Hutchinson as Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Printed document signed by Hutchinson, dated Boston January 18, 1754, appointing Samuel Stevens the executor of the will of August Bailey, Labourer. 11 3/4 x 7 1/8 inches (30 x 11 cm); one printed page with a written heading, Hutchinson’s signature written strongly at the foot. Usual folds, small hole in left margin. Framed with a portrait, not examined out of frame. The Massachusetts-born Hutchinson (1711-1780) was the Governor and Acting Governor of the state several times in the years preceding the Revolution. A Loyalist, he died at age 68 an exile in England. $400-600
11. Governor Thomas Pownall issues orders during the French and Indian War [MASSACHUSETTS] POWNALL, THOMAS. Document signed by Thomas Pownall as Captain General and Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Secretarial document signed by Pownall, dated Boston May 31, 1760, instructing the recipient to “restore the Militia of the Town of Westford with Horse & Foot to the second Regiment in said County...” 12 1/8 x 7 1/2 inches (31 x 19 cm); single page, containing a heading and 14 lines written in brown ink, with Pownall’s signature written strongly at the foot. Light wear, usual folds. Framed with a portrait, not examined out of frame. Written during the French and Indian War, 1754-1763, this document orders the consolidation of a local militia from the fourth to the second regiment. Pownall served the Crown as the Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey and the Governor of Massachusetts Bay, the latter from 1757 to 1760, a fraught period in the history of the Province, with a brutal war raging in its environs. Pownall was a friend of Benjamin Frankin, and the two enjoyed a lengthy correspondence. $600-800
12. The Colonial Governor pays his Secretary BERNARD, FRANCIS Document signed as Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Boston: 21 June 1765. A partly printed document accomplished in manuscript and signed “Fra Bernard” as Governor, the document in the hand of secretary John Cotton and relates to his payment for services as such. Framed. Fine overall, not removed from frame. $400-600
13. Document signed by Edmund Andros as Governor of the Dominion of New England [NEW ENGLAND] ANDROS, EDMUND (Sir). Document signed by Edmund Andros as Governor of the Dominion of New England. Military appointment of Lieutenant William Furnill, signed “Andros” at the foot, dated February 10, 1686/7 at the foot, instructing the recipient to join a company of militia “in Kettery in the Province of Maine” as a Lieutenant under Captain Francis Hooke. 9 x 14 1/2 inches (23 x 37 cm); framed with a portrait of Andros. A few small stains, small losses to
14. Signed by the namesake of Bowdoin College
the folds, residue of a seal at left, restorations to folds noted. Not examined out
BOWDOIN, JAMES
of frame.
Document signed as Governor of Massachusetts. Boston: 18 March 1786. A partly printed document on paper with wafer seal, signed “James Bowdoin”
An unusually early military appointment from early New England, signed
in the left margin, countersigned by John Avery as Secretary, the document
by Andros as Governor of the Dominion of New England. This was a brief-
appointing Jonathan Felt of Wentham to be Coronor to Suffolk County. Framed
lived entity that consisted of the territories of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
with a portrait. Spotting and stray stains.
(including present-day Maine), Plymouth Colony, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Andros’s term proved controversial and ended in
James Bowdoin (1726-1790) was the second Governor of the state of
a full-scale revolt that saw Andros briefly in captivity, and the Dominion
Massachusetts from 1785-87. He is the namesake of Bowdoin College in
effectively dissolved.
Brunswick, Maine.
$1,000-1,500
$500-800
15. Signed by the husband of Mary Bradbury - A convicted witch who managed to escape the gallows BRADBURY, THOMAS Autograph deposition signed. Hampton: circa 7 August 1659. An autograph deposition signed twice “Tho: Bradbury recrd,” about 16 lines in his hand, the document the deposition of John Rodman in a case regarding payment. Framed with a reproduction of a painting of a Salem courtroom scene. Uneven toning or staining, small losses to edges. Captain Thomas Bradbury was one of the founding settlers of Salisbury in 1639 and a prominent citizen of the colony. We trace few examples of the signature of this clerk of Salisbury. He is notable though for the experience of his wife in the Salem Witch Trials. Unrelated to the current document, on July 2nd, 1692, Thomas’ 72-year-old wife Mary was questioned after four accusers alleged she was the spectral force behind the illness of Timothy Swan. One accuser went as far as to say that she saw the ghost of an uncle in the courtroom when Mary Bradbury was present and the ghost accused Mary of his murder. Mary was also accused of attending a “satanic baptism.” Over 100 neighbors signed a petition in Mary Bradbury’s defense to no avail. Further grievances against her were listed in court, including one man who claimed that thirteen years earlier Bradbury had turned into a wild boar and attacked his father’s horse. Bradbury was convicted on September 10th and sentenced to be hung with five others. Of these six, four were hung on September 22nd, one who confessed was given a month to prepare for her hanging and by then the Salem Witch Trials were over. Perhaps with the help of prominent friends, Mary Bradbury somehow managed to escape the gallows and was hidden as a fugitive not returning to her family until May 1693. Later, after her death, her family appealed for a reversal of the conviction which was granted, and the family was awarded £20 in restitution. A most unusual outcome of the Salem Witch Trials. $800-1,200
16. Document signed by William Hathorne, the prosecutor of the Quakers HATHORNE, WILLIAM Legal document signed regarding a complaint. Boston: 2 January 1662/63. Manuscript document on a slip, seven lines in ink, signed “Wm Hathorne” and likely in his hand. The document is a bond for twenty pounds, and orders Elias White and Unison Tisson to appear in court, reading “The condition is that Elias shall answer at Boston the 5 day of this month at the Court, to answer the Complaynt of Goody Bonwith, & mary her daughter.” 3 ½ x 5 inches (8 x 12 cm); framed with an engraving of the Winthrop Fleet. Faint folds, some ink spots and one small burn hole, the last letters of the signature weak. Provenance: Parke Bernet, Autograph Letters and Documents Mainly American, Collected by the Late Forest G. Sweet, Battle Creek, Michigan, October 22 and 23, 1957, lot 125; Bloomsbury Auctions, London, 2015, lot 140; RR Auction, 2015, lot 181. William Hathorne (c. 1606–1681) was a prosperous merchant who lived at Salem having arrived on the Arabella, flagship of the Winthrop Fleet, in 1630. He is the father of John Hathorne, the notoriously harsh judge on the Court of Oyer and Terminer during the Salem Witch Trials. Both men are the earliest ancestors of Nathaniel Hawthorne in America, and it is long thought that the author added the “w” to the spelling of his name to distance himself from the judge, who was apparently unrepentant for his role in the executions of the Salem Witch Trials. The signature of William Hathorne, who arrived with the Winthrop Fleet, the first major wave of settlers following the Mayflower, is unquestionably scarce. $1,500-2,500
17. Signed by a character in The Crucible
Reverend John Eliot known as the “Apostle to the Indians.” Gookin petitioned
DANFORTH, THOMAS as deputy governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony and
on behalf of the Native Americans alongside Eliot and wrote quite eloquently
DANIEL GOOKIN
about them in his two books on the subject. In 1649, Gookin was chosen as
Legal document signed. Near Watertown: 19 April 1686. A manuscript
Deputy from Cambridge to the General Court held in Boston and held the post
document on the recto and verso of a rectangular sheet, the recto and half of
for nearly 35 years including at the time of this document. His signature is
the verso offering a copy of a document relating to the estate of William Knox
scarce and desirable for his association with Eliot.
written in the hand of Samuel Stearns as Marshall’s Deputy, the verso with Gookin’s attestation signed “Daniel Gookin” and Danforth’s “also before me
Despite being a leading figure in the colony and a magistrate, Danforth did not
Tho: Danforth Dept. Govr.” 4 ¾ x 7 ½ inches (11 x 17 cm); framed with a pane
sit on the Court of Oyer and Terminer during the Salem Witch Trials. He was
revealing the other side. Folds, losses to two corners affecting text, spotting,
the Acting Governor at the time the hysteria commenced but was removed
not removed from frame.
in May upon the arrival of Sir William Phips, the first royal governor under the new charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. It is possible that Danforth
Thomas Danforth (circa 1623-1699) served as Deputy Governor of the
was excluded for not accepting spectral evidence as valid as required by Chief
Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1679 to 1686. Earlier, in 1675 during King
Judge William Stoughton and it was said that Danforth was one of “several
Philip’s War, Danforth is associated with Daniel Gookin (1612-1687) and the
about the Bay, men for understanding, judgment and piety ... that do utterly
Reverend John Eliot in his support of Christianized “Praying Indians” then
condemn the said proceedings, and do freely deliver their judgment...” Upon
being heavily persecuted by colonists. Daniel Gookin had originally settled
the removal of spectral evidence as admissible by Governor Phips, Danforth
in Virginia in the early 1640s and became close with Puritan ministers from
served on the court that ended the trials quickly and ordered no executions.
New England sent south at the request of Virginia authorities at a time when
It is also recorded that Danforth was sympathetic to the accused and helped
ministers were in short supply. The New England ministers were given a cold
relocate several to his lands west of Boston. Danforth is depicted in Arthur
reception in Virginia by Governor Berkeley and Gookin decided to join them
Miller’s 1953 play about the trials, The Crucible.
when they left for Massachusetts in 1644. At Roxbury, Gookin befriended the
$1,000-1,500
18. Signed by a Superior Court Judge of the Salem Witch Trials WINTHROP, WAIT Document signed. Newport, Rhode Island: 15 December 1688. Manuscript document on vellum with red wax seals, the document regarding the estate of “William Peirce of Boston in New England Mariner” who died intestate, the document signed by both his son William Peirce and his wife Elizabeth Peirce, with a six-line docketing on the verso in the hand of and signed “Wait Winthrop,” with later docketing dated 1697. 9 x 23 1/2 inches (23 x 60 cm); not framed. Usual folds, some staining along folds and puncture at fold points, one small old vellum repair with manuscript infill, the docketing by Winthrop large and dark. Waitstill Winthrop (1642-1717) was the son of John Winthrop the Younger and grandson to John Winthrop, head of the Winthrop Fleet and the longest-serving governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony. Wait Winthrop here recognizes this estate document as administrator of the short-lived Dominion of New England, which attempted to unify the Mid-Atlantic colonies of New England from New Jersey to Maine, from just 1686-89. During this period Wait Winthrop also led the Massachusetts militia as he had during King Philip’s War in the 1670s and again during King William’s War in the 1690s. In May of 1692, during the investigatory period before the Salem Witch Trials, Wait Winthrop was appointed one of the nine magistrates to the court of Oyer and Terminer by Colonial Governor Sir William Phips. When this court was terminated in October 1692, Winthrop was appointed to the Supreme Court of Judicature which heard the remaining cases through 1693. In this period, due to the allowance of spectral evidence to the courtroom, cases under Winthrop and the other judges sentenced 20 convicted witches to death. His signature is scarce, particulalry this close in date to the trials themselves, and is important as a member of the influential Winthrop family. $400-600
19. Signed by two notorious Salem Witch Trials magistrates in 1691
Corwin starting in February of 1692. Hathorne and Corwin conducted the
HATHORNE, JOHN and CORWIN, JONATHAN
first interrogations of accused witches, including the West Indian slave Tituba
Autograph document signed ordering the apprehension of two servants to
owned by Samuel Parris, father of the girls whose fits initiated the accusations.
appear in court.
Hathorne and Corwin are both considered key players in the admission of
Salem: 21 December 1691. A manuscript document on recto and verso of a sheet
“spectral evidence,” or the allowance of reports of attacks by apparitions, to
of laid paper, the main text is likely in John Hathorne’s hand and is headed “To
the courtroom. Hathorne has long been associated with an overzealous stance
the Marshall of Essex or his dep. or to Either of ye Constables in Salem.” The 14
towards punishing the accused and has been portrayed as such in popular
line text orders the apprehension and delivery of “paule Woodbrige and Eleazer
culture. Most notably, he was the great-grandfather of author Nathaniel
Cooke, both servants or apprentices to mrs. Sarah Price, Widdow of Salem …
Hawthorne who it is said added the “w” to his name to distance himself from
to answer the complaint of John Rogers late … for breach of the peace,” and is
this ancestor and wrote critically of the Salem Witch judges.
signed respectively “John Hathorne” and “Jonathan Corwin.” This text is above a further order also likely in Hathorne’s hand, requiring the appearance of George
Jonathan Corwin’s home in Salem is the only building still standing in which
Herrick and others to give evidence in the case, this signed “John Hathorne
interrogations took place. George Herrick (1658-1695) served as marshal to
asst”; the verso with the attestation and signature of George Herrick Marshal
the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Documents signed by Hathorne and Corwin
of Essex, that he brought forth the “bodys of Danl Woodbridge and Elias Cooke
are scarce and particularly so when paired with the signature of Herrick.
to answer as wished.” 7 x 6 inches (18 x 15.25 cm); presented in a double-sided
Documents relating to the Salem Witch Trials are uncommon on the open
frame. Small ink burn affecting one word on recto, some original smudging and
market as many were destroyed by family members seeking to distance
offsetting to the ink, not removed from frame, a few spots, a well preserved and
themselves from the lasting reputational effects of the trials or lost to the
largely legible document. Provenance: Catherine Barnes Historical Autographs
ravages of time. Those that survived are largely held by institutions which have made them available to scholars for over 300 years. Infrequently, related items
A scarce autograph document, penned just weeks before the initial
are offered at auction or by specialist dealers. Thus, the current document
interrogations of the Salem Witch Trials, signed by two notorious magistrates
represents a rare opportunity to collect a document signed by major players in
who influenced the trials, John Hathorne (1641-1717) and Jonathan Corwin
the Salem Witch Trials as close in date to the events as possible.
(1640-1718). While this document does not directly relate to the impending
$3,000-5,000
witch-hunt, it greatly resembles the arrest warrants signed by Hathorne and
20. The 1691 signature of the Salem Witch Trials first Prosecutor NEWTON, THOMAS Autograph document signed relating to the transport of documents from Boston to New York during the Dominion of New England. New York: circa 3 September 1691. Autograph document signed “Tho: Newton” headed “Charges in bringing the Records from Boston & other expenses for the County,” followed by about 10 lines of the expenses including “Porterage to Boston ... one horse to bring them ... my pains and trouble ...” etc. 7 x 5 ½ inches (17 x 12 cm); not framed. Small loss to one corner, faint old dampstain. Provenance: University Archives Born in England in 1660, Thomas Newton arrived in Massachusetts in June 1688 and was sworn in as an attorney in the Dominion of New England. Newton served briefly as Attorney General for the colony of New York under William Andros, and prosecuted cases such as the treason trial of Jacob Leisler. With the fall of the Dominion of New England, Newton returned to Massachusetts, bringing the records mentioned herein. In May of 1692, at the height of the Salem Witch Trials, Newton was appointed prosecutor of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, a position from which he resigned just two months later. He was only person involved in the Witchcraft Trials who had formal legal training. While magistrates conducted the interrogations, the prosecutor wrote indictments and determined the order of cases to be heard, and he selected the case of Bridget Bishop, accused of bewitching five young women, to be first believing the case against her to be the strongest. He was correct and Bishop was tried and hung by June 10th, 1692. The present document, being close in date to the trials and relating to Newton’s return to Boston, serves as a precurser to his critical role in the Salem Witch Trials. $800-1,200
21. Foreman of the jury that convicted Rebecca Nurse
Nurse’s trial received some measure of public outcry and a petition on her
[SALEM WITCH TRIALS]
behalf was signed by 39 citizens. Initially found not guilty, David Goss’ The Salem
FISKE, THOMAS Autograph document signed. Wenham: 23 September 1693.
Witch Trials: A Reference Guide describes what happened next:
An autograph document in the hand of Thomas Fiske and signed “Tho: Fiske
“When Thomas Fiske, the jury foreman, announced the verdict the afflicted
town Clerk,” the document a true copy taken from the Town Book of Records
children raised such an outcry that Chief Justice William Stoughton asked
providing the text of a resolution of a town meeting at Wenham on 20 April 1692
Fiske to reconsider. Stoughton suggested that perhaps the jury had not heard
in which “30 acres of land to be laid for Goodman Hobbs joining to the house
Rebecca make an incriminating statement when another prisoner was brought
where he dwell to be for his use till the Towns do cause to dispose of it some
in to testify against her. When Fiske later questioned Rebecca as to the exact
other way…” 3 ½ x 6 inches (16 x 8.5 cm); framed with a reproduction of an
meaning of her statement, she would not reply. This lack of a response, probably
illustration depicting the trial of Rebecca Nurse.
due to Rebecca’s partial deafness, was unexpected. Fiske waited briefly, then returned to the jury, and soon came back with a verdict of guilty. Stoughton
Thomas Fiske (1630-1707) came to Massachusetts shortly after his birth in 1630.
sentenced her to be executed on July 19, 1692.”
A prominent citizen, he was town recorder for Wenham from 1686 and given his standing was appointed to the jury that heard the case of Rebecca Nurse,
The incriminating statement that Nurse had made was that another accused
accused of witchcraft, in June of 1692. Rebecca Nurse was an unlikely person
witch, Deliverance Hobbs, was “of her company,” likely meaning that they were
to face persecution: she was a 71-year-old married woman with children and
standing trial together rather than that they had both made a pact with the
well-respected within the community with a reputation for piety. Nurse’s family
devil as it was perceived. Governor Phips reviewed Nurse’s case personally
originated in Salem but settled in nearby Topsfield. On March 23, 1692, a warrant
but ordered the execution. The current document signed by Fiske, just months
was issued for her arrest based upon accusations made by Ann Putnam, Jr.,
following these events, mentions a “Goodman Hobbs,” possibly William Hobbs,
Ann Putnam, Sr, and Abigail Williams of Salem, as well as another who claimed
husband of Deliverance with whom Rebecca Nurse was accused. The execution
to have seen Nurse’s spirit tormenting Ann Putnam, Sr.
of Rebecca Nurse, a pious and well-respected woman, signaled the beginning of the end of the Salem Witch Trials as the local citizenry began to question the
An example of the testimony against Rebecca Nurse follows: “The Deposition
accusations, and soon thereafter spectral evidence was rendered inadmissible
of Ann Putnam… saith that on the first day of June 1692 the Apperishtion of
by Governor Phips.
Rebekah Nurs did again fall upon me and almost choak me and she toald me that now she was come out of prision she had power to afflet me and that now
In 1697, Thomas Fiske signed an apology for his role on the jury that condemned
she could for she tould me she had kiled benjamine Holton and John fuller and
Rebecca Nurse: “we justly fear that we were sadly deluded and mistaken — for
Rebekah Shepard: and she also toald me that she and her sister Cloyes and Ed:
which we are much disquieted and distressed in our minds,
Bhishop wife of of Salem village had kiled young Jno putnams Child because
and do therefore humbly beg forgiveness…” The present document presents a
yong Jno putnam had said that it was no wonder they were witches for their
rare opportunity to possess the contemporaneous signature of the troubled
mother was so before them and because they could not aveng themselves on
jury foreman.
him they did kill his child…”
$1,000-1,500
22. Signed by the Chief Justice of the Court of Oyer and Terminer in the Salem
from Harvard in 1650 and chose politics over religion for a career. During
Witch Trials
the Dominion of New England period in the 1680s, Stoughton and his friend
STOUGHTON, WILLIAM [and BRADSTREET, SIMON]
and business partner Joseph Dudley served in high-ranking positions under
Document signed as Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Massachusetts
Governor Sir Edmund Andros. In 1692, when the Dominion of New England
Bay. Dorchester: 17 September 1700. Manuscript document with wafer seat
fell and Sir William Phips arrived from England carrying the new charter
stitched with an early ribbon, written in a secretarial hand and relating to the
for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Stoughton was made Lieutenant
appearance of Elizabeth Shrimpton, executrix of the will of Colonel Samuel
Governor. Rumors of witchcraft at Salem were already rampant at this time,
Shrimpton, before Stoughton. Signed in Stoughton's hand "Wm Stoughton"
and Stoughton was appointed head of a special tribunal to deal with the many
in the lower margin. The second page provides Elizabeth Shrimpton's signed
accusations and in June he was appointed Chief Justice of the colonial courts,
attestation with a red wax seal, this page also signed by Isaac Addington and
a post he held for the rest of his life. During the trials he was notoriously harsh,
J. Roberts as witnesses. The third page is an earlier document on a shorter
for example sending the jury that had exonerated Rebecca Nurse back to keep
sheet here appended, dating from 1684 and being the bond of payment of 400
deliberating, and he repeatedly defended the allowance of spectral evidence
pounds from William Strong to Colonel Shrimpton, this page signed by Simon
into the courtroom despite the protestations of many. It was only when the
Bradstreet as Governor ("Simon Bradstreet Gobn.") as well as Edward Lyde and
accusations of witchcraft reached the wife of Governor William Phips that the
Thomas Longe. Overall 13 3/4 x 9 inches (35 x 22 cm); housed in a folder with
trials were shutdown in October 1692 after 20 had been killed. Stoughton never
portraits of Stoughton, Bradstreet, Cololnel and Elizabeth Shrimpton. Some
expressed remorse for his actions.
staining and minor wear but well preserved overall. Provenance: The collection
The present document dates to late in his life during the period in which he
of the late Charles P. Greenough Brookline, Massachusetts, sold Anderson
served as Acting Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The 1700
Galleries, New York, 3 May 1926, lot 74; Pacific Book Auctions, 12 November 2012,
document signed by Stoughton recognizes an early document signed in 1684
lot 21.
by Simon Bradstreet, both relating to the Estate of prominent landowner Colonel Samuel Smith as executed by his wife Elizabeth Shrimpton. Thus, many
William Stoughton (1631-1701) is one of the most notorious figures of the Salem
important late 17th-century Massachusetts figures collide in this interesting
Witch Trials, having served as the Chief Justice of the Special Court of Oyer and
document.
Terminer throughout the affair. Born in England, it is known that Stoughton
$2,500-3,500
and his parents were in Dorchester, Massachusetts by 1632. He graduated
23. Nathaniel Saltonstall, Salem Witch Trials Judge [SALEM WITCH TRIALS] SALTONSTALL, NATHANIEL. Document signed as Justice of the Peace. [Vicinity of Salem: 27 December 1700]. A partial indenture or land sale document in a secretarial hand between John Haseltine and Jonathan Kimball, with the ink signature of John Haseltine, and with Nathaniel Saltonstall’s attestation at the foot “Approved this 27 of December 1700 … before me Nath: Saltonstall Justice of the Peace.” 6 1/2 x 4 inches (17 x 19 cm); framed. Trimmed close with some loss of text to upper and left margin, not examined out of frame. Nathaniel Saltonstall (also spelled Nathanial Saltonstall; c. 1639-1707) was born at Ipswich and his family were among the first settlers at Watertown. He graduated from Harvard in 1659. A town clerk from 1668, he was described as “firm and effective in law enforcement, and yet, where allowed discretion by law, humane and flexible.” On May 27th, 1692 Saltonstall was one of six men appointed judge at the Court of Oyer and Terminer to hear the cases against the accused witches at Salem. But Saltonstall resigned in June, possibly over the handling of the trial of Bridget Bishop, the eight-day trial that was the first of the Salem Witch Trials. In April 1692, Bishop had been accused of “sundry acts of witchcraft” and made responsible for the startling behavior of five young women: Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, Jr, Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Elizabeth Hubbard. Spectral Evidence was used against Bishop, and several people claimed her apparition visited them and threatened them if they did not sign her book. The story of her trial is recorded by Cotton Mather in Wonders of the Invisible World, her guilt a foregone conclusion due to the damning evidence against her. This evidence included the apparent discovery of a third nipple on her body which was not located upon a second investigation and because of her own comments in court. Saltonstall resigned from the court on June 8th 1692 but Bridget Bishop was hanged anyway on June 10th, the first execution of the Salem Witch Trials. It was recorded that Saltonstall was “displeased with the handling of the Bishop case,” and for some time afterward remained “very much dissatisfied with the proceedings.” $300-500
24. Signed by the clerk of the Court of Oyer and Terminer SEWALL, STEPHEN Document signed as Justice of the Peace. Bradford, Massachusetts: 24 February 1712. Manuscript document in a secretarial hand selling land in Bradford between Nicholas Wallingford and Caleb Hopkinson, with Stephen Sewall’s autograph three-line attestation signed “Steph Sewall Just Peace,” below the signatures and marks of Wallingford and witnesses. 12 x 7 ½ inches (30 x 19 cm); framed with a window to the document verso revealing another Sewell signature on the docketing. Spotting, old folds, stray stains, not removed from frame. Stephen Sewall (1657-1725) was born in England and came to Massachusetts with his family in 1661 and settled in Salem in 1682. He served as clerk to the Court of Oyer and Terminer during the Salem Witch Trials and as such attested to the accuracy of each witness account and thus was eye-witness to each testimony. He later showed regret for his role in the events and participated in the committee that offered compensation to victim’s families. His brother was Samuel Sewall, a chief magistrate of the court. $300-500
25. Signed by one of the ten founders of Sandwich, Massachusetts FREEMAN, EDMOND [sometimes EDMUND] Indenture signed. 20 May 1639. Manuscript on vellum with a scalloped upper edge and the original vellum tie (this nude from wastepaper with older manuscript). Signed “Edmond Freeman” on the folded flap along the bottom edge, the verso signed by witnesses Thomas Henshaw, Thomas White, Ralph White and one other. 10 x 18 inches (26 x 46 cm); not framed. Lightly soiled but fine overall, original folds. Bond between “Edmond Freeman of London Merchant” and his brother William Freeman of Cowfolds, Sussex. While this document transfers land in England, it is believed to be signed by Edmond (sometimes Edmund) Freeman (c.1596-1682) who had come to Massachusetts on the Abigail in 1635 and was one of the ten founders of Sandwich, the first town settled on Cape Cod. Freeman was admitted freeman at Plymouth on 23 January 1637 and served as Assistant Governor of Plymouth Colony from 1640 to 1647 under Governors William Bradford and Edward Winslow. The witnesses who have signed on the verso may in fact be other early Plymouth settlers. This document sells land at Sussex, England from Freeman to his brother who remained there, and is a good example of the dissolution of ties between the first colonists and those back at home. $200-300
27. Autograph document signed by Daniel Gookin GOOKIN, DANIEL Autograph document signed. Cambridge: 2 August 1652. One page manuscript on paper in ink, signed “Daniel Gookin,” being several depositions in a suit between Henry Prentiss and William and Winifred Homans along with others “at ye court at Cambridge.” 12 x 8 inches (30 x 20 cm). Some repair and paper replacement to verso. Provenance: sold C.F. Libbie, 6 January 1891, as part of the Documents Collected by the Late Prof. E. H. Leffingwell; Sotheby’s, The Property of the Elsie O. and Philip D. Sang Foundation, April 26, 1978, lot 103. An interesting list of sundry complaints recorded by Daniel Gookin as Deputy to the General Court at Boston. The various complaints from Gilbert Crackbond, Andrew Stimson, John Gibson, Henry Prentiss and Winifred Homans have to do with pigs, cows, trespass, and other aspects of colonial life over which the citizenry frequently quarreled and dragged each other into the general court Daniel Gookin (1612-1687) had originally settled in Virginia in the early 1640s and became close with Puritan ministers from New England sent south at the request of Virginia authorities at a time when ministers were in short supply there. The New England ministers were given a cold reception in Virginia by Governor Berkeley and Gookin decided to join them when they left for Massachusetts in 1644. At Roxbury, Gookin befriended the Reverend John Eliot known as the “Apostle to the Indians.” Gookin petitioned on behalf of the Native Americans alongside Eliot and wrote quite eloquently about them in his two books on the subject. In 1649, Gookin was chosen as Deputy from Cambridge to the General Court held in Boston and held the post for nearly 35 years including at the time of this document. His signature is scarce and desirable for his association with Eliot. $1,000-1,500
26. The first Secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony RAWSON, EDWARD Manuscript signed. Boston: circa 1640-72. One page manuscript on a long sheet of watermarked laid paper fully in Rawson’s hand and with three original signatures, the document providing true copies of earlier Boston Generall Court records with internal dates of cases from 1640-1672. 13 x 8 inches (32 x 20 cm); not framed. Some unobtrusive tape and tissue repairs to folds on verso, some chips to edges costing a few words, well preserved overall. Edward Rawson (1615-93) arrived in Massachusetts and settled at Newbury in 1637, graduated from Harvard in 1653, served as Notary Public for Newbury from 1638-47, and was the first Secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1650-86. This is an interesting and long sheet in Rawson’s hand, about 50 lines, offering reports from the Generall Court. The top report dated March 1640 is “The petition of the Inhabitants of Salem, for some of their church to have Jefferyes Creek & land to erect a village there ... what land & in largement may be convenient & is not granted to any other plantation is granted them, and it is reffered to Mr. John Winthrop Junr & Mr. Symond Bradstreet, to settle the bounds of the sd. village. This is a true copie taken out of the court book of records by Edward Rawson / vera copia of yt copie attest Hilliard Devin Clerk.” this report also names six men who had come in on the Higginson Fleet in 1629 who were later sought their own land. The following report, dated May 3rd 1642, relates again to the land at Jeffereyes Creek, this time with a mention of William Hathorne and Edward Holioke. The final report is dated much later, 1672, but appears contemporaneous with the other manuscripts, and relates to land at Gloucester. This document represents an early effort to copy the earlier records of the Boston Generall Court which surely had grown voluminous by the 1670s, and there is a note on the verso of the sheet that reads: “Old and now coppied to be compared.” $500-800
28. An uncommon 17th century Boston court document relating to a
Humphrey Atherton (1607-1661) was an early settler of Dorchester arriving on
divorce case
the ship James in August 1635. He is best remembered for achieving the rank
ATHERTON, HUMPHREY
of Major-General, the highest in colonial New England, and formed the first
Document signed as Justice of the Peace relating to the attempted divorce of
militia in Dorchester. From 1654, he served as a magistrate in the judiciary of
Martha and William Clements. Boston: 15 March 1656. One page manuscript
the colonial government, a selectman, and a Justice of the Peace, in which he
testimony in ink signed by John Thorne (possibly Trane) and likely prepared in
“solemnized many marriages” including the wedding of Myles Standish, Jr. and
his hand. The document also signed and inscribed at foot “Taken upon oath this
Sarah Winslow in Boston in 1660.
15 (3) 1656 before me Humphrey Atherton” by Atherton in his role as Justice of the Peace. 6 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches (16 x 19 cm); framed. Light spotting and one
A tough enforcer, Atherton is associated with the persecutions of the period
puncture touching two words, clean overall, dark and legible, not examined out
and believed in witches. As written in Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground in
of frame.
Dorchester, Atherton “felt it to be a duty which he owed to God and to his Country to mete out to the poor creatures, against whom accusations were brought,
A rare manuscript testimony relating to an attempted divorce, one of the more
the punishment, which, in his opinion, they so richly merited.” Atherton was
infrequently heard cases in colonial New England. This document provides “The
instrumental in bringing about the execution of Mrs. Ann Hibbins for witchcraft
testimony of John Thorne aged 46 years testifieth that he heard the wife of
in June 1656, just months after this document was signed but decades before
William Clements of Cambridge say in the presence of Mr. Wintroyd Mr. Bellinger
the hysteria that overtook Salem. Humphrey Atherton was also instrumental
and Mr. Howell that she never loved the said Mr. Clements, her husband, and
in the 1660 execution of the Quaker woman associated with Anne Hutchinson,
never had societie with him nor never the desire to have and that she loved one
Mary Dyer, of which he insultingly said, “She hangs there like a flag for others to
that went out of Salem better than her husband, and that to my knowledge the
take example by.” Some Quakers believed that Atherton’s death from a fall off a
said Clements her husband hath(?) ... lovingly towards his said wife… “
horse a year later was God’s wrath upon him for these actions.
Of all 17th-century documents issued by New England courts, papers relating to
An unusual 17th century divorce document signed by a harsh enforcer of
marital disputes are particularly scarce. Roger Thompson in Sex in Middlesex
1650s Boston.
reports “that there were seventeen cases involving marital problems, other than adultery or adulterous carriages, in the county court between 1649 and
See: Thompson, Roger. Sex in Middlesex: Popular Mores in a Massachusetts
1699.” The current document is testimony on behalf of William Clements, who
County, 1649-1699. Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 1989 edition, p. 115;
petitioned the General Court in 1656 “craving a divorce from his wife, who
Woodward, Harlow Elliot. Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground in Dorchester.
for several years refused marriage fellowship with him.” Other testimony in
Boston, 1869. p. 6.
the case indicated that Clement’s wife, Martha (misrecorded in some places as Susan) said that “her heart died within her when her husband would have
Provenance: PBA Galleries, 1 July 2010 in Books, Manuscripts & Ephemera from
kissed her” and described the marriage as “forced business.” Unfortunately,
the Library of Calvin P. Otto, lot 86.
the court took a full year to respond and in June 1657 the divorce petition was
$1,000-1,500
refused. The court ordered the Clements to “treat each other according to their Marriage Covenant & that upon Complaint made by such party as shall be found faulty shall be severely punished.” Such a harsh ruling likely discouraged future attempts at divorce and there is much to research in the language of the present document.
29. Early indenture for land on the Boston waterfront [MASSACHUSETTS] MATHER, SAMUEL. Indenture signed by William Coles, Samuel Mather, William Whiting, and Nathaniel Enderby as witnesses, with the attestation by Whiting as subscribing witness endorsed by Elisha Hutchinson in 1691 and that of Samuel Mather endorsed by John Forster in 1695. Legal document dated London, 12 August 1695, conveyancing a parcel of land in Boston for “ten pounds of lawful money” to Samuel Sewall of Boston, signed by the sellers, Edmond and Margaret Willis and Richard and Judith Hancock with their seals, and witnessed in 1691 in Boston as noted above.15 x 11 1/8 inches (38 x 29 75 cm); single page, containing 26 lines written in brown ink, docketed on the verso. Light wear, usual folds, framed, not examined out of frame. According to the docketing on the verso, the marshland conveyed by this document passed from Samuel Sewall to Steven Winthrop and his heirs, and was later the site of his warehouse lands at Oliver’s Dock. Sewall, of course, is best known for his part in the Salem Witch Trials, for which he later apologized publicly in 1697. Of the signatories, of especial interest is Samuel Mather, a nonconformist minister who was educated at Harvard College and who graduated as an M.A. in 1643. He was the first fellow of Harvard who graduated from the College. He returned to England in 1650, nine years before signing this document. Elisha Hutchinson, who here endorses the attestation of William Whiting, an original signatory to the transaction, was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Court in Boston for many years. An intriguing document pertaining to the early history of Boston. $1,000-1,500
30. Colonists push westward in the years before King Philip’s War WATERS, LAWRENCE Autograph Grand Jury Appointment Signed. Lancaster, Massachusetts: 25 September 1667. Autograph manuscript in ink on a rectangular slip of paper, 8 lines in Waters’ hand signed as “Lawrence Waters Constable,” the document appointing two men “to serve on the grand jury of the next county court to be held at Cambridge.” Fine overall. Provenance: James Cummins Bookseller Lawrence Waters (1602-1687) came to Massachusetts in about 1634 and came to own land quickly. He married Anna Linton (several sources indicate they had been warned not to dance before marriage) and relocated to Lancaster in the late 1640s to clear land for the incoming colonists of the Nashaway Company. This official document was written in this period. Later there was a garrison on the Waters property during King Philip’s War. Waters, blind by this time had withdrawn to Charlestown after the massacre of August 1675. But during the Native American raids on Lancaster in February 1676, Mary Rowlandson and her children were taken captive for 11 weeks, and other survivors fled and hid at the garrison on Waters’ land. In 1682, Rowlandson published her account of the ordeal which remains one of the best-known early American captivity narratives. $400-600
31. Early land sale document signed for lots on Spectacle Island signed by Joseph Dudley DUDLEY, JOSEPH Early land sale document signed for lots on Spectacle Island. Boston: 20 April 1677. Manuscript document in ink on paper selling two lots of land on “Spectacle Island in Massachusetts Bay near Boston” from John Marshall to Abel Porter and Joseph Belknap. The document further acknowledges that Sarah, wife of John Marshall surrenders her right of dower to Porter and Belknap. The document is signed and sealed by John Marshall and with the mark of Sara Marshall (recorded here as both Sara and Sarah), acknowledged and signed in full “Joseph Dudley” as a member of the Council of Assistants, and further attested and signed by Isaac Addington as the Register of Deeds. Visible area 9 ¼ x 14 ½ inches (23 x 27 cm); framed with portraits of Dudley and Addington. Toned, some splits to the old folds with small losses affecting some words, of a flat appearance and possibly laid-down or mended, not examined out of frame. Joseph Dudley (1647-1720), born at Roxbury, was the son of Thomas Dudley, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Company and among the first settlers of Cambridge. This document is early for Dudley, before his time as the president of the Dominion of New England, and before frequent document signing likely caused him to shorten his signature. This document offers an early mention of Spectacle Island, a small island just off Boston. $500-800
32.
With
the
rare
signature
of
Constant
Southworth,
William
in England. The first iron forges in Massachusetts were at Braintree and at Lynn
Bradford’s stepson
on the Saugus River, where James Leonard first appears in the written record
SOUTHWORTH, CONSTANT and THOMAS GILBERT
in 1651. The Taunton Iron Works, which was also known as the Leonard Iron
Land exchange document signed for an early Plymouth ironworks. Vicinity
Works, was planned after a large amount of bog ore was discovered in 1652. The
of Taunton, near Plymouth: the document dated December 1668; Southworth’s
Town of Taunton offered the ironmasters land in exchange for help establishing
acknowledgment dated 20 July 1670. A manuscript document in ink,
the works. From this deed it appears the extension of the forge was planned in
approximately 23 lines, possibly in the hand of Thomas Gilbert and signed by
1668 and it is known that James Leonard established an iron works on the Mill
him with wax seal; signed at lower left by witnesses Robert Thornton and with
River in Taunton in 1670.
“This wright was acknowledged/before me Constant Southworth/Assistant this 20 of July 1670” in Southworth’s hand. 6 x 12 inches (15 x 30 cm); framed.
Constant Southworth was born by 1615, likely at Leiden, the decade-long home
Toned and with a few spots, well preserved overall and dark, not examined
of William Bradford and the separatists who ventured to Plymouth in 1620, as
of frame.
his parents are recorded as being married in Leiden in 1613. His father Edward died at Leiden and his mother Alice Carpenter Southworth came to Plymouth
A very interesting deed of sale providing land for an extension of the first iron
and married then-Governor William Bradford in August 1623 (Bradford’s first
forge in Plymouth between “Thomas Gilbert of Tanton within the jurisdiction
wife had fallen from the deck of the Mayflower off today’s Provincetown and
of the New Plimouth Husbandman… and James Linoard Senior of Tanton
died on 17 December 1620,). In 1628, the teenaged Constant arrived at Plymouth
Forgman… for consideration … of twenty acres of upland and two acres of
and it is presumed lived with his mother and Bradford. Constant married
maddow land more or less lying and being within the township of Tanton… at the
Elizabeth Collier and named several children in his will. He held many important
Mill River being westward of the town…”
posts throughout his life including ensign to the Duxbury military company, treasurer, and assistant to the Governor, the capacity in which he here signs.
It is unknown when James Leonard Sr. was born in England but it is believed he
He died about 1678.
was in Plymouth by 1640. James and his brother Henry are said to have learned
$1,000-1,500
the iron trade from their father and later abandoned claims to iron forges back
33. Walter Barefoot, “litigious rogue” BAREFEOOTE, WALTER (also BAREFOOT) Manuscript legal document. [Salisbury: circa 1672]. Manuscript document in ink on paper headed “Walter Barefoot bill of Case against Robert Marshall,” the document in Barefoote’s hand, the headline serving as signature. The document lists the expenses in the legal case including the services and testimony of constables, the costs of summonses, etc. 7 ½ x 8 ½ inches (19 x 22 cm); framed. Some short tears, small losses affecting some text along right edge, lightly toned, not examined out of frame. It is believed that Walter Barefoote (fl. 1655-1688) came to America in the early 1650s, settling first in Kittery, Maine before opening a medical practice near Dover, in New Hampshire. Captain Barefoote is described as a “litigious rogue” who was in and out of court almost 150 times during the second half of the 17th century (and was responsible for at least one courtroom brawl). Unhappy with the outcomes of his cases and taking matters into his own hands, Barefoote attempted to create his own courtroom in a Newbury, Massachusetts tavern but was unsuccessful. The current document dates from his “litigious rogue” period, the case being heard at Salisbury in 1672. Eventually, he ran afoul of Simon Bradstreet who ruled against him and put him in jail in the late 1670s, but he was released when Massachusetts lost control of New Hampshire in 1679. Barefoote enjoyed a new political life once back there and served as deputy governor of the Province of New Hampshire for many years. From 1685 to 1686 he served as acting governor. A rare signed document from a colorful character of 17th-century New England. See: Rappaport, Diane. The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New England, 2007, p. 113. $800-1,200
34. The 1682 deed of sale for what became East Boston RAWSON, EDWARD Autograph document signed relating to the release of Noddle’s Island. Boston: 7 February 1682. Autograph General Court document in Rawson’s hand signed “Edward Rawson” as the first Secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the document written “In answer to the Petition of Mr. Samuel Shrimpton for the release of the Quitt Rent & the Incumbrances upon Noddles Island…This Court has Consented and does hereby forever release…the said Island from the said duty & payment…and that the same beholden by the said Samuel Shrimpton his heirs & assigns for ever in fee, without any Incumbrance whatsoever, upon no other condition, but the payment of thirty pounds money sterling of England.” The document noted as “Folio 407” at lower left. Framed with portraits of both Shrimpton and Rawson. Fine overall and dark, not removed from the frame, very finely presented with portraits. Provenance: Joe Rubinfine; sold RR Auction, 2016 A fascinating and important early document of an island in Boston Harbor that had a history of settlement before the arrival of the Puritans and is now East Boston, a thriving part of the current city. Named for William Noddle who apparently settled on the island in the 1620s (he died in 1632), the land was inherited by the wife of Reverend Samuel Maverick, said to be one of the first slave owners in Massachusets. The island served as grazing grounds and the secret meeting place of early Boston Baptists. Maverick also built a fortified house on the island thought to be one of the earliest permanent structures in the region. Shortly thereafter in 1633, the island was given a grant that required an annual payment of livestock and money to the governor. Colonel Samuel Shrimpton (1643-1698), who served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the militia and on the Governor’s Council under Governor Andros and King James II, was a successful Boston and London merchant who came to own much property including Noddle’s Island, apparently after his father had been part of the religious organization that met there. Colonel Shrimpton complied with the required payments to the Governor for many years before offering to pay a larger sum to own the property unencumbered. The present document is the acceptance of that petition. An important early document for the land that is now central to the city of Boston. $800-1,200
35. Laying out the road from Cohasset to Hingham in 1685 [EARLY ROADS]. Hingham: circa 4 May 1685. Manuscript document on the recto and verso of a rectangular sheet. The recto nine lines headed ‘The return of the committee at Falmouth” and continues “the subscribers ... chosen and impowered by the town of Hingham .. to lay out a high way... through part of the first division of Conahassett...” A later penciled note reports this “written by James Hawke.” The verso 18 lines being the names, lot numbers and shares of the subscribers. Old folds, toned, but very well preserved overall. An interesting early document recording subscribers and the desire of a Falmouth committee to build a road between Hingham and Cohasset in 1685. The document is reported to be in the hand of James Hawke (1649-1715) and the shares of his father Mathew Hawke, who had died in 1684, are recorded on the back. This road is also mentioned in the entry for Daniel Lincoln, whose name appears on the list of subscribers here, in History of the Lincoln Family an Account of the Descendants of Samuel Lincoln of Hingham Massachusetts, a book that traces the Lincoln family from the those mentioned here to President Abraham Lincoln nearly two hundred years later. Stephen Lincoln (1635-1692) is also listed here. Thus the present document is not just a fascinating listing of the contributors that came together to construct at least a five mile highway but also an interesting and early Lincolniana. $500-800
36. William Bradford the Younger The scarce signature of an important figure in colonial New England BRADFORD IV, WILLIAM [William Bradford the Younger 1624-1703] Document signed attesting to the last will and testament of Roger Glass, 1692. Two manuscript documents conjoined. The top document is the Last Will & Testament of Roger Glass. [Duxbury:] 2 September 1690. This a manuscript document on a long sheet in black ink signed “Roger Glasse,” countersigned by witnesses John Soule and Thomas Delano (who likely authored the text) and with the attestation at foot of Samuel Sprague as clerk. The lower document is William Bradford’s signed attestation of the will. Plymouth: 14 January 1692/3 (see note below on double dating). This a manuscript document on a long sheet in brown ink signed “William Bradford” as Deputy Governor of Plymouth Colony, the document likely in the hand of and signed by Samuel Sprague as clerk, this document with a red wax paper-covered seal in the margin. Overall 25 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches (65 x 21 cm); framed. Well preserved overall but with some old dampstain, small losses along folds and to the right edge of both documents, some original smudging and corrections within the text, not removed from frame. A remarkably scarce document signed by William Bradford the Younger, son of William Bradford (1590 - 1657), the long-serving Governor of the Plymouth Colony, signer of the Mayflower Compact, and author of On Plymouth Plantation. The document provides both the original will of Roger Glass, born in Somerset, England in 1623, who arrived at Plymouth in 1639 and died at Duxbury in August of 1692. Married to Mary Launder (1623- 1692), he fathered three children, all of whom are here bequeathed money and livestock and instructed along with Mary to execute his will. The document opens “The Last Will and Testament of Roger Glass, I being old and not knowing the day of my death yet of perfect memory and understanding do thus will my Estate to be divided(?) after my death… I do give and bequeath my spirit to God…”
The document is witnessed by Thomas Delano (circa 1642-1723), believed to be the son of Philippe de Lannoy (1602-1681), the Leiden-born Protestant who joined the English and ventured to New England on the Fortune, the ship following the Mayflower, landing in Plymouth in November 1621. After several years in Plymouth, Philippe de Lannoy settled in Duxbury, was married twice, and had many children. His second wife was Mary Pontus Glass, sister-in-law to Roger Glass. Thomas Delano was born at Duxbury circa 1642, married Rebecca Alden and had many children. They are among the earliest ancestors of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and many other notable Americans. The other person to witness this will is Plymouth-born John Soule (circa 1632-1707), believed to be the son of Mayflower passenger George Soule. Both signatures of these first native-born sons are scarce. The signature of William Bradford the Younger, also born at Plymouth in 1624, is also quite scarce despite his position. This document was signed by Bradford in January 1692 (and uses the double date of 1692/93 as after 1583 the Gregorian calendar was introduced to correct the Julian calendar). Bradford served twice as Deputy Governor of the Plymouth Colony, first from 1682 to 1686 before being suspended from office during the Governorship of Sir Edmond Andros, and again from 1689 until 1692 until Governor William Phipps arrived in May 1692 carrying the charter of the newly established Province of Massachusetts Bay which ended the period of self-rule at Plymouth Colony (and also the Salem Witch Trials). The current document is dated January 1692, just one month before the startling behavior of Betty Parris, age 9, and Abigail Williams, age 11, in nearby Salem initiated the accusations, persecutions and executions of two dozen people accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials. $3,000-5,000
37. Sworn true copy signed by Elisha Cooke of a deed of gift signed by John Irish [MASSACHUSETTS] COOKE, ELISHA, Senior. Document signed. Sworn true copy signed by Cooke, the signature undated but likely May 1696, a copy of a deed of gift made by John Irish in 1674, the copy prepared and attested by John Cary May 1696. 11 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches (29 x 19 cm); single page, written in brown ink by Cary, the additional attestation by Cooke at the extreme foot of the document. Wear, usual folds, toned, small losses to right margin, trimmed at the foot just touching Cooke’s signature. Elisha Cooke, an early Harvard graduate, was an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature from 1695 to 1702, following a long career in the Boston courts and in politics. The present document was likely signed by him in the course of his judicial duties. John Irish, the original signatory of this document, was Massachusetts-born, lived in Duxbury, and was a servant of Myles Standish, and was mentioned in the captain’s will. $200-300
38. A 17th century Boston bond PAIGE, NICHOLAS Document signed. Boston: 5 July 1698. A one page manuscript document on a long sheet of watermarked laid paper with paper-covered seal, the document acknowledging the debt from Nicholas Paige to Elizabeth Shimpton, Executrix of the Estate of Samuel Shrimpton, signed at foot by Nicholas Paige, with docketing on verso. 12 x 7 1/2 inches (30 x 20 cm); not framed. Old folds with a few spots, fine overall. $200-300
39. Elisha Cooke Senior passes judgement [MASSACHUSETTS] COOKE, ELISHA, Senior. Document signed by Elisha Cooke, Senior, and Benjamin Lynde, Senior. Document signed by Cooke, possibly holograph, dated Boston October 25, 1701, a judgment prepared by Cooke against Samuel Younglove, affirmed in a holograph footnote by Benjamin Lynde. 11 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches (29 x 19 cm); single page, 37 lines written in brown ink (likely by Cooke), wafer seal at the head, with a four-line concurrence written by Lynde at the foot. Light wear, usual folds. Framed with two portraits (one the incorrect Cooke), not examined out of frame. Elisha Cooke, an early Harvard graduate, was an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature from 1695 to 1702, following a long career in the Boston courts and in politics. The co-signer of this document, Benjamin Lynde, was a lawyer and magistrate of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and was Salem-born, though educated in England. $800-1,200
40. Document signed by Elisha Hutchinson HUTCHINSON, ELISHA Legal document signed. Boston: first Tuesday of January 1702. Manuscript prepared in a secretarial hand listing the costs for the case of Andrew Volch against John Bickmore signed “Elisha Hutchinson” and with two lines in his hand, also signed by Addington Davenport as clerk. 6 x 4 ½ inches (16 x 11 cm). Framed. Elisha Hutchinson (1641-1717) was the grandson of religious dissenter Anne Hutchinson and the grandfather of Thomas Hutchinson, the final colonial governor of Massachusetts. In 1692, Hutchinson was appointed Judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas of Suffolk County and here signs in that capacity. During the Salem Witch Trials, Elisha Hutchinson is known to have issued an order to arrest George Burroughs, a preacher and former resident of Salem then living at Wells, Maine. Burroughs was accused of witchcraft and feats of superhuman strength. He was able to recite the Lord’s Prayer upon the gallows, something witches were thought unable to do, but he was hanged anyway, the only minister to experience this fate. $200-300
41. Legal document signed by Ephraim Savage SAVAGE, EPHRAIM Legal document signed. Boston: 22 May-October 1703. A one-page document prepared in a secretarial hand, with Savage’s attestation signed by him “Ephrm. Savage,” the document confirming receipt of money from “Mada. Eliza. Shrimpton” for the court expenses listed on the right side of the sheet. 9 ½ x 8 inches (25 x 20 cm); framed. Old folds with small punctures but generally clean, not examined out of frame. Ephraim Savage (1645-1731) , a grandson of Anne Hutchinson, was born at Boston and graduated Harvard in 1662. He lived a long life and at the time of his death was the oldest living graduate of that institution and the sole survivor of his class. A militia man, like his father Thomas Savage, in 1675, Ephraim became a member of the “Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company” and in July 1690, was appointed captain of a company of men to join Sir William Phip’s expedition against Quebec. $300-500
42. Deed of sale for a section of Tiverton in Massachusetts Bay now part of Rhode Island ARNOLD, SETH Document signed. Vicinity of Plymouth/Duxbury: 30 November 1704. A manuscript document on a large sheet being a land sale document Between Seth Arnold of Plymouth (crossed out with Duxbury added) and Joseph Antony of Tiverton in Bristol County for a parcel of land in Tiverton described therein and signed by Arnold and with a black mark, with the witness signatures of Benjamin Arnold and Edward Gray and the attestation of Nathaniel Thomas, the document in the hand of recorder John Cory according to a 1711 note at foot. Framed. Old folds, a few spots but well preserved and legible, not removed from frame. This document sells land at Tiverton, which despite being surrounded by mainland Massachusetts is opposite Portsmouth and is now part of Rhode Island. $300-500
43. Signed by Sheriff Samuel Gookin and Elisha Hutchinson GOOKIN, SAMUEL and HUTCHINSON, ELISHA Warrant signed. Concord: circa 17 June 1704-7. A manuscript document on a long sheet of laid paper with a good example of the paper-covered seal, the main body of the document directed to Samuel Gookin, Sherrif of Middlesex County, commanding him to “Attach the goods or Estate of Joseph French of Concord within our County of Middlesex Yeoman & Joseph French Junr. of Norwalk of the Colony of Connecticutt Glazier to the value of thirty pounds money & for want thereof to take the body of the said Joseph French and Joseph French Junr. if they may be found in your precinct” to appear in court and answer the complaint of John Mico of Boston for non-payment of “two chest glaze bout of J. Mico.” The document is witnessed and signed by Elisha Hutchinson and Addington Davenport as Clerk; the verso with two lines in the hand of and signed by Samuel Gookin as Sheriff above the attestation and shaky signature of Joseph French. 11 x 7 inches (29 x 18 cm); not framed. Old folds, minor staining. 44. An early signature of Jonathan Belcher Samuel Gookin (1652-1730), son of Daniel Gookin who had accompanied
BELCHER, JONATHAN and TUCKER, JOHN
John Eliot among the “Praying Indians,” served as Sherriff of Suffolk and later
Ship’s pay order document signed. Boston: 28 March 1721. A partly printed
Middlsef Counties from 1691-1730. His signature is uncommon. The document is
document with a fine woodcut initial “S” featuring a ship motif, accomplished in
also signed by Elisha Hutchinson (1641-1717), noted militia commander from the
manuscript in Belcher’s hand and sigend “Jno Belcher,” the document ordering
influential Hutchinson family.
Captain John Tucker, whose ship the Drake is now harbored at Marblehead and
$400-600
bound for Gibraltar to deliver a load of dry Cod fish to an agent in London, the document also signed at foot by the Captain in full “John Tucker.” A few spots but fine overall. Jonathan Belcher (1681-1757) was from a prominent Boston merchant family that came to own outright or own shares of fifteen ships that sailed between Boston, London and Europe, and the West Indies. He was also a large landowner known to have held and traded in slaves. He was later Governor of the Province of Massachusettes Bay from 1730 to 1741. $200-300
45. Son of Judge Elisha Hutchinson HUTCHINSON, EDWARD. Document signed. Boston: 1 January 1730. Manuscript bill of costs with two lines in Hutchinson’s hand and signed “Edwd. Hutchinson.” The document is inlaid to a larger sheet. 5 x 4 inches (13 x 10 cm); not framed. A few spots but fine overall. Edward Hutchinson (1678-1752) is mainly known as a prominent Boston merchant. A member of the influential Hutchinson family, he was the greatgrandson of religious dissenter Anne Hutchinson. His father was Elisha Hutchinson, an important colonial military commander and outspoken figure against the Dominion of New England, who famously said during the Salem Witch Trials that the investigators should “see if they could not whip the Devil out of the afflicted.” $200-300
46. Making rum in Boston in 1734 WALDO, CORNELIUS Manuscript shop ledger sheet. Boston: 28 September - 15 October 1734. An extracted ledger sheet from Cornelius Waldo's account book recording about 20 various expenses. Toned and spotted but legible and attractive. Finely framed with reproductions of paintings of Waldo and his wife. Cornelius Waldo (1684-1753) was a prosperous merchant, landowner and distiller in colonial Boston. The present ledger lists the payments of a cosmopolitan man of his stature including "Paid Le Mercier for a month's teaching my son Jos. the French tongue" and other payments for beef, taxes on land, and the expenses of keeping horses. At the bottom is a longer entry "Agreed with Mr. Robert Browne ... to work at my Stillhouse & to do the utmost he can to serve my interest in making as much rum from the molasses he works & distills into Rum..." $300-500
47. Bill of sale for two pipes of Madeira Wine HUTCHINSON, THOMAS, Sr. Document signed. [Vicinity pf Boston:] 10 June 1736. A one-page receipt document likely fully in Thomas Hutchinson's hand and with his signature at the center. The document selling two pipes of Madeira wine to a Mr. Richard Gridley. Framed. A few spots, not removed from frame. This document is believed to be in the hand of Thomas Hutchinson Sr., (1711 1780) merchant, grandson of Anne Hutchinson, and father to the later colonial governor of the same name. $200-300
48. An important letter from the only repenting judge of the Salem
silver cooper’s ...’Tis a mercy the pirates did not take them.” Also notable
Witch Trials
about this letter is that it seems to have accompanied Sewall’s well-known
SEWALL, SAMUEL
biographical letter that was written at his son’s request.
An important autograph letter signed from Judge Samuel Sewall to his son, with other Sewall family materials. The letter Boston: 26 August 1720. A
Though he had begun its composition on April 21, 1720, it was not until August
onepage autograph letter signed “Samuel Sewall” on one sheet of laid-paper,
26 that he completed this correspondence. He notes: “I have now sent it as
the verso with an attestation of a descendant also named Samuel Sewall dated
I finished it this morning. Possibly, upon your suggestion, something may
1842. 8 x 7 inches (21 x 17 cm); framed with an engraved portrait of Sewall and
be added hereafter.” An interesting August 19 1842 note on the verso of the
with a pane on the verso revealing the attestation. Visible repair to horizontal
letter provides some further details on the unfortunate events described, and
split along fold, small loss and chip to lower corner, not removed from frame,
the accompanying volume includes an article from the American Quarterly
lightly spotted but legible and with a dark, large signature; The balance of the
Register for February 1841 with a fine biography of Sewall, and a variety of other
materials are bound into an old book, half-calf and paste paper over boards.
desiderata.
This Includes Vol. XIII No. 3 of the American Quarterly Register; frontispiece engraving, [237]-364 pp., with a mounted tintype, two mounted bromide
Samuel Sewall’s father had first come to Massachusetts in 1635 and married
photographs of houses in the Sewall family, and a few other family-related
there only to return to England until 1661. Born in England, Samuel Sewell was
letters and papers. The volume worn with the first leaves detached, residue
largely raised in Newbury Massachussetts where he was a Harvard classmate
from adhesive, etc., the bound letter with tears, minor restorations, etc.
of Daniel Gookin. Sewall was a noted diarist and had been employed as the librarian at Harvard before becoming a freeman and eventually the official
An interesting and touching letter of Judge Samuel Sewall (1652-1730) that
printer to the colony before entering politics. In 1692, Sewall was one of the
was at one time tipped into a volume serving as a Sewall family genealogical
nine judges appointed to the Court of Oyer and Terminer at Salem at the outset
compendium. The letter is remarkable in that, according to the attestation on
of the Salem Witch Trials. His diary is invaluable in that it recorded many of
the verso, it was begun before the death of Sewall’s wife and completed after.
the events of the trials including the agonizing pressing death of Giles Corey.
Sewall here writes to his son Samuel of Brookline, Massachusetts. The letter
Following the trials, Sewall believed his role in the trials had brought upon him
was sent just after a series of “awfull changes” that have “passed over me,”
punishment from God as several of his children and other family members died
including the deaths of his second wife Abigail Tilley, his “worthy friend the
shortly thereafter. In 1697 he remarkably stood up in the meeting house to read
Widow Hobart.. buried about 6 o’clock p.m. yesterday,” and a beloved clerk:
a confession of his guilt, the only judge to show this measure of repentance. The
“Our ears tingle to hear of ye violent death of young Mr. Dowle Town Clerk of
current letter speaks to the continued misfortune that fell unto Sewall in the
Charlestown; who was shot by Michael Gill accidentally as he was shooting at a
years of his life following the Salem Witch Trials.
bird as they were walking together by water.” In addition to being the town clerk for Charleston, Sewall notes that Dowle was also a clerk for the proprietors
It is fitting to print the verse from Matthew 12:7 that is known to have swayed
of a tract of land known as the Land of Nod, of which Judge Sewall owned a
Sewall: “If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
large segment.
ye would not have condemned the guiltless.” $2,000-3,000
“He is very much lamented,” Sewall writes. He closes with an intriguing bit of news: “Last night the cask was brought home that contained the last of your
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