Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 2
At our last Octr. Court I comenced An Action in favr. of Benja. Edwards2 of Wooburn for possession of a house sold him by one Rebecca Pimm.3 She says she had a husband living at the time of the sale & that he has been to see her since the sale & since she has been in the Almshouse & she brings one Ann Bantrum who says she knew her husband Pimm was at the Wedding & that she saw him come to the alms house since the sale. Now Mr. Edwards being Absent obliges me to apply to you who I was inform'd by him knows something of this matter, whether that man that came & pretended to be her husband was really so. Pray let me hear as soon as you can by letter directed to the Care of Mr. Peter Edes4 at Charlestown or to Mr. Edwards brother the Cabinet makers in Boston what you know of this Matter & for this base Woman has been paid for her house & now would get it back again. I understand that Mr. Jno. White of Billerica is knowing of this matter if therefore you would send this to him & he could let me know how as above directed it would oblige yr. hble. sert.,
P.S. Let me hear as Soon as you can that I may Order my self accordingly. If you come to Boston you may find me at Mrs. Eliot &c.
Benjamin Johnson (1700–1771) lived in Woburn and later in Spencer where he died on Jan. 23, 1771 (NEHGR, 59[1905]: 84, 144).
Benjamin Edwards of Woburn, gentleman, assigned RTP his power of attorney on May 26, 1760, "to demand sue for & recover Possession of all my Right & Interest in a certain part of a messuage & peice of Land scituate at the Northerly part of Boston which I hold in Common with said Paine" (RTP Papers).
On June 8, 1758, Rebecca Pimm deeded to Benjamin Edwards, shop-keeper, and Phineas Parker, gentleman, one-half acre of land with buildings thereon in the North End, Boston (Suffolk Deeds, 91:235, cited in Thwing Index).
Peter Edes (1705–1787) was a hatter at Charlestown, active in public affairs, and a member of the Committee of Correspondence in 1773 (Thomas Bellows Wyman, Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, 2 vols. [Boston, 1879], 1:320).
Alexander Edwards (1733–1798), cabinetmaker, had a shop on Back Street in Boston (Myrna Kaye, "Eighteenth-Century Boston Furniture Craftsmen," in Boston Furniture of the Eighteenth Century [Boston, 1974], p. 278. Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, vol. 48).
After my Compliments to you & yr. Lady I inform you that by close watching I got the first Volumns of Bacon's abridgments1 from Mr. Skinners2 Library who is lately dead.B
3 They are out of Print & so esteemed as to fetch £8.10.0 Ster. in London.C A The method they took to sell his Law book was to get them priz'd by a Stationer who prized 'em all at the Sterling Cost.B C These are as good as new, 'tis a shocking price for three small folios but I gave it, & so did a brother Lawyer for a set not long since & I refused 40 dollars for these because I expected you chose to have 'em which if you do you are welcome to 'em at £11.6.8. Law, Money which they come to from
Matthew Bacon, A new abridgement of the law (London, 1736, and later editions).
William Skinner (1707/8–1760) was a Boston lawyer (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 9:98–99). RTP 202noted in his cashbook that he purchased the following volumes on Nov. 2, 1760, from Mrs. Lydia Skinner: Bacon's Abridgt. 3 Vols. (Matthew Bacon, A new abridgement of the law, 5 vols. London, 1759–1766, 1762–1766), 32s.; Boothe on Real Actions (G. Booth, Nature and Practice of Real Actions in their Writs and Processes. 1701, 1704), 3s.; New Nata. Brevium (Anthony Fitzherbert, The new Natura brevium of the most revered judge, Mr. Anthony Fitz-herbert. Many edns. London, 1652–1755), 6s.10d.; Doctor & Student (Christopher Saint German, Doctor and student: or Dialogues between a doctor of divinity, and a student in the laws of England. 15th ed. London, 1751; copy now at Mass. Hist. Soc.), 5s.1d.; Molloy de Jure Maritimo (C. Molloy, De Jure Maritimo et Navali; or Treatise of Affaires Maritime and of Commerce. many edns.), 5s.4d.; Naval Trade & Commerce 2 Vols. (General Treatise of Naval Trade and Commerce as Founded on the Laws and Statutes of this Realm. 1753), 10s.8d.; and Worrals Law Catalogue (John Worrall, Bibliotheca legum. London, published annually beginning 1732), 11s.3d.
The superscript letters probably indicate changes in the organization of the letter by RTP before he sent the fair copy to Dyer.