Lancaster July 5 1762 Sr.,

I have Inclosed with this a Writ against Thos. Willys, which I should be obliged to you to give to Some Plymouth Officer & as I am not acquainted with any of them, if you'll be so good as to pay the Officer his fees I will repay you when ever I can have an opportunity. I have also Inclosed a Power of Attorney & a Note of Hand against one John Foster who lives I believe at Plymouth but am not certain. He was a Lieut. in the army at the westward in the year 1760, perhaps by that you may find him out. You'll see by the Power where the Deft. lives, I would have you get the money as soon as you can.1

In your last Letter you wrote to me to Sue a Note of Hand I have in keeping against David Baldwin in favour of your Sister Eunice but not knowing where your Sister lived I did not Sue it but I wrote to him & he came to me & promsd to pay the money at our last May Court, but I have heard nothing of him from that time to this. Therefore if you purpose to have him sued send me a Power & also where your sister lives the first opportunity for the Time of Service draweth nigh. I Should have wrote to you before, but I had determined to have taken a ride to Taunton that I might among other things have had the Pleasure of gazing upon your Phiz (which my Soul for this great while hath longed after) but business & an indifferent State of health prevented.

In my last Letter I wrote to you I desired you to let me know how much I was to give for Bacon's Abridgment, but you wrote me no answer, therefore be so good as to write me how much I am indebted to you, unless when you come to Commencement you'll be so good as to ride to Lancaster and Spend an Evening with an old unsociable Friend, that we may consult upon Matters of Importance. I am yr. Friend & hble Sert.

ABEL WILLARD

N.B I had like to have forgot Full which I want very much for Since I have Seen you I have become a most unaccountable farmer.

RC ; addressed: "To Mr. Robert Treat Paine Attorney at Law, in Taunton"; endorsed.

226 1.

Neither action was brought before the July 1762 Court of Common Pleas at Plymouth (Plymouth Court Records, 8:58–64).

Taunton July 24th. 1762 Sr.,

The Officer who served the inclosed desires me to return it for him, & I the more readily Accept Undertake to do it, as it gives me An Opportunity of presenting my Regards to you, yr. Worthy Lady1 & all my Beloved Freinds at Worcester. I had it in my heart to have visited you immediatley after the Celebration of Sd.? Commencement, but a Worn out horse & some perticular affairs on the Carpet obliged me to return immediately home. Nevertheless I hope these will find you all in high Spirits, regular health & in the full possession of all the Blessings that flow from the Social & Connubial Life, & whenever you meet in a crowded Circle Of Socialbility, Whether it be to lend a Mutual assistance at repairing the Outward Man with roast Chickens & Limon Puddings, or to digest the Same & lubricate the Organs of Chit Chat with best Bohea or Hyson or more especially when you exhilerate yr. Spirits & Whet up yr. Understanding with fresh Limon, Claret, Sherry Madeira Strong Beer or the true Academic double minesterial Velvet at these Times may you never be Unmindful of yr. old Freind & Obliged hble. Servt.,

RTPAINE

Dft ; addressed: "To Timo Paine Esqr. att Worcester."

1.

Timothy Paine was married to his stepsister Sarah Chandler, daughter of John Chandler of Worcester by his first wife, Mehitable Gardiner. Her siblings included the Hon. John Chandler; Lucretia, the wife of lawyer James Putnam; and Katherine, wife of RTP's cousin Levi Willard. Chandler, Murray, and Putnam were all noted Loyalists (Chandler, Chandler Genealogy, 140).

Eastham July 31st. 1762 Sir,

I1 received Yours of the 1st: Instant2 & with Satisfaction I peruse the Contents; in Answer to which I would inform you, that the Information you have received, of my unhappy Scituation with regard to Mr: Wormley as his Wife, & my Willingness to be freed from this near Relation to him, is just. Altho' I ever wanted a proper Person to carry on227this my intended Prosecution for a Divorce, I can't enough extoll your Generosity & Kindness in affording of me such an Opportunity, to make Use of your great Skill in such Affairs, & depend on it that you'll Advise nothing but what will be to my Advantage; which I shall ever be ready to requite.

Your are pleas'd to inform me that you expect I shall write all I know about Mr. Wormley's being married to another Woman: which I suppose to import, what I have hear'd of this his Marriage; as I have no other Knowledge of it (except two Letters; I have one wrote by him, to her: & another wrote by her, to him which I can produce.) My Brother Hezekiah3 informs me when he was in Philidelphia he there enquir'd & was inform'd that he was married some few Miles Distant from Philidelphia, but cant remember the Name of the Place; by a Dutch Minister; To a Girl whose name was Mary Peek or Pike; who now lives at Philidelphia; with his Mother. who has married her second Husband one Mr. Hodge. They were married under borrow'd Names. And had one Child before he came here. I was married to him on the 17th Day of May A.D. 1757: the last Letter I ever received from him was dated Feby. 1st. A.D. 1760. He was then in Jamaica. These are the most of the Perticulars I can inform you off. If you think 'tis probable to succeed in this attempt, I would have you not only to send; but if you possibly can to go to Philidelphia, where you may be further inform'd & I will pay you amply for your Expences, Trouble, & whatever other Charges may arise, if it can't be accomplish'd otherwise. If you should proceed be pleased to give Me timely Notice thereof; And if you do not, I desire this may be buried in Oblivion. If you should write again be pleas'd to cover it with a Superscription to my Brother, Elisha Doane,4 that it may have a safer Conveyance. I trust to your Favour in Compliance herewith & with pleasure subscribe myself Your greatly oblig'd Friend & Hume. Sert.

RACHEL WORMLEY

PS My brother Elisha Doane joins with me in Compliment you ut supra5

RW

RC ; addressed: "To Mr. Robert Treat Paine In Taunton. To the Care of Mr. Fleet Boston"; endorsed.

1.

Rachel Doane of Eastham had married "John Wormely residant at Truro" at Eastham, May 17, 1757 (Mayflower Descendant 16[1914]: 196), but she now sought a divorce on the grounds of bigamy. RTP sought the assistance of his friend Richard Smith of Philadelphia to ascertain the legality of the228 first marriage (see Richard Smith to RTP, Philadelphia, Mar. 21, 1763, et seq.). While at Boston on Nov. 7, 1764, Smith deposed on his own knowledge of the case and gave character references for the other deponents (Charles Francis Jenkins Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia). The marriage was eventually annulled in 1765 (Suffolk Files, no. 129744).

Rachel Doane (1734–1806) was a member of a prominent Cape Cod family. Her father, Col. Elisha Doane of Wellfleet, a successful whaler and captain of a company in the Louisburg Expedition, was considered one of the richest men in New England (Adams, Legal Papers, 2:355 n.12). Rachel Doane Wormley later remarried twice; in 1765 she married Edward Bacon, who died in 1783; she later married Dr. Thomas Smith of Woods Hole. Bacon was a prominent citizen of Barnstable and business associate of the Doane family. He served in the House of Representatives, but during the Revolution was accused of Tory sympathies. A resolve to expel him from the General Court was drafted by RTP, and in Jan. 1779 Bacon resigned his seat. Barnstable issued resolves in his support, and reelected him to the next session, but the House expelled him in June 1779. (Alfred Alder Doane, The Doane Family [Boston, 1902], 88; Swift, ed., Barnstable Families, 1:27–28; Journals of the House of Representatives, 54:107, 55:24.).

2.

Not located.

3.

Hezekiah Doane (1730–1808) was active in the whaling trade and was said to own sixteen sail of vessels before the Revolution. He served his hometown of Wellfleet as deacon, selectman, and representative to the General Court (Doane, Doane Family, 140).

4.

Elisha Doane (1725–1783) was a whaler in his early life, and later served as a justice of the peace, colonel in the militia, and state senator and representative. He later became the father-in-law of RTP's friend Shearjashub Bourne (Doane, Doane Family, 147).

5.

As above.