Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 2
Mr. Jos. Doan has Sued one Capt. Gage, master of one of our Sloops about a whale1 to April Coart this is desired that you'll take up our Side of the Question and when I2 See you will Do what is bound four. I am yr. Humble Servt.
The case Doane v. Gage concerned the ownership of a captured whale. John Adams represented Joseph Doane, and James Otis and RTP were counsel for Lot Gage. The suit commenced in June 1766 and continued until arbitration in Oct. 1769. The referees' decision is unrecorded but was apparently in favor of the Otis contingent (See Joseph Otis to RTP, Barnstable, Jan. 10, 1770). See Legal Papers of John Adams, eds. L. Kinvin Wroth and Hiller B. Zobel, 3 vols. (Cambridge, Mass., 1965), 2:69–97.
Joseph Otis (1725/6–1810), son of James Otis (1702–1778), manager of the family store and business interests at Barnstable. He was for many years clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1775, and was appointed collector of customs for the Barnstable district by Washington (Waters, Otis Family, 95, 187; NEHGR 2[1848]:291).