Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4
I recd. yours1 by Mr. Paddelford. I have told Joe2 to call at Mrs. Noyes about the Girl I hope She is a good one. Joe Brings with him 5 Bushels of potatoes. I Send your Cap & Black Silk for Cousin Polly3 to make Lace for my Scarf I intend to wrote to Polly about it but her name Sake wont Let me due any thing tell Polly if their not Silk enuf to write to me & Ill Send Some more. I want 1¼ yd. of durant for Polly Skirt which I forgot to put down. I hope you got to Boston Safe & dont forget that you have a gay horse. I am half a Sleep So I wish you a good night.
Not located.
RTP noted in his diary that “Joseph Porter came to live with me” as a manservant on Jan. 25, 1780. Joe is mentioned in various diary entries and in the correspondence over the course of the next year. He probably left the service of the Paine family shortly before June 8, 1781, when Samuel Wier replaced him.
Presumably RTP’s niece Mary Greenleaf (1757–1804), while the namesake was the newborn Mary Paine.