Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 2
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 Supersc
PS My brother Elisha Doane joins with me in Compliment you ut supra5
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.).
Not located.
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).
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).
As above.