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Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4

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From Joseph Palmer

7 January 1785

From Seth Padelford

7 February 1785
323
Order on the Petition of Thomas Ives
Massachusetts General Court RTP
February 2, 1785 .

On the petition of Thomas Ives.1

Ordered, That the petition2 of Thomas Ives, Collector of impost and excise in the county of Berkshire, with the papers accompanying, be referred to the Attorney General of this Commonwealth; and that he be, and he hereby is, directed to enquire into the facts alledged therein, and to take such measures thereon as may appear to him consistent with the laws, and for the interest of this Commonwealth.

Printed as Chapter 29 [Jan. 1784] in Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts [1784–1785] (Boston, 1894), 333–334.

1.

Thomas Ives (1753–1814) graduated from Yale in 1777 and was admitted to the Litchfield County bar in 1780. He relocated to Sheffield, Mass., shortly thereafter and was a major in the Berkshire militia by the fall of 1781. The General Court appointed Ives as collector of impost and excise for Berkshire County in 1783, but he left the post when “the laws regulating the collection of these duties became so unpopular, and in his opinion so oppressive, as to induce him to resign it” (Dexter, Biographical Sketches of Yale Graduates, 3:684–685). He later represented Great Barrington in the General Court beginning in 1785.

2.

Not located in RTP Papers or Massachusetts Archives.