Description:

Interesting pair of Colonial-era documents related to charges of fornication and producing a bastard child leveled against a Sarah Read, includes: A.D.S., 1p. oblong 8vo., Bristol County, Nov. 10, 1779, a "...Voluntary Examination of Sarah Read...", comprising four questions, in part: "... 1st Quest. are yous with Child by fornication, answ. yes... 2d Quest. who begot you with Child answ. James Barnaba of Freetown a miner and Aprintice to James Winslow... 3d Quest. when did he begat you with Child, answ. Sum Time in the Month of April Last... 4th Quest. where was you when he begat you with child answ. at Freetown... [all sic]" The document is signed at the conclusion by Justice of the Peace Samuel Tobey. Shows folds, docketed on the verso, else very good. WITH: Partly-printed D.S. 1p. oblong 8vo., Bristol County, Nov. 10, 1779, a memorandum form recording that Sarah Read and her father, Benjamin Read, are each fined 100 pounds for Sarah's transgression. Interestingly, the line "...in the... year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, defender of the faith..." is struck through in heavy black ink, replaced simply with "AD" before the year. The document was of course drafted at the height of the Revolutionary War. Justice of the Peace Tobey again signs at the conclusion. Shows folds, docketed on the verso, else very good. Two pieces. Adultery laws remain on the books in Massachusetts...

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February 18, 2019 10:00 AM EST
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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