Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
Please to pay to The Honl. Mr. Paine, Coll. Willson, Mr. Huntington, Coll. Lee2 & Coll. Morris a Committee for Encouraging the 175Manufacture of Fire Arms, Ten Thousand Dollars, the said Committee to be Accountable for the Expenditure of said Sum. I am Gentn. Your very hum. Svnt.,
Treasurers.” Endorsed by RTP on verso: Mrch. 9th. 1776
Recd. 267 Dollars by an Order favour Ebenr. Cowell Recd. 30 Dollars & paid Anthony Mosengeil by Order of Congress this day to make Sulphur as per his Rect.— June 28 1776.
Michael Hillegas (1729–1804), a Philadelphia merchant, was appointed one of two joint Continental Treasurers on July 29, 1775. When George Clymer resigned the following year to accept a seat in the Congress, Hillegas continued alone. On Sept. 6, 1777, Congress appointed him treasurer of the United States of America, a position he held until Sept. 11, 1789 (
DAB
).
George Clymer (1739–1813), a Philadelphia merchant, served with Michael Hillegas as one of the joint Continental Treasurers from July 29, 1775, to Aug. 6, 1776. He left that position to assume a seat as delegate from Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress and became a signer of the already approved Declaration of Independence. After the Revolution, he served in the First Federal Congress (
DAB
).
Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797) served in Virginia’s House of Burgesses before the Revolution. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and continued in Congress until June 1779 (
DAB
).
It is agreed between Ebenezer Cowell1 of Trenton in the Colony of New Jersey Gunsmith on the one part & Robert Treat Paine James Wilson Samuel Huntington Francis Lightfoot Lee & Lewis Morris Esqrs. a Committee appointed by the American Congress to contract for the making musketts & bayonetts in behalf & for the use of the united Colonies on the other part, that the said Ebenezer Cowell shall set up & carry on the manufacture of double bridled gunlocks, & shall use his best endeavours to enlarge his business therein & shall at the end of every week deliver to Abraham Hunt Esquire2 or any other person who may be appointed to receive them at Trenton, all the good substantial double bridled gunlocks he shall make every week during the term of twelve months from the date hereof for the use of the united Colonies, and the said 176Robert Treat Paine James Wilson Samuel Huntington Francis Lightfoot Lee & Lewis Morris in behalf of the said Congress engage with the said Ebenezer Cowell that the sum of two hundred & sixty seven Dollars shall be advanced him in hand to enable him more effectually to carry on & enlarge his said business, & agree to pay him for every good substantial double bridled gunlock fit for a muskett carrying an ounce ball the sum of three Dollars, & that the full price of such gunlocks shall be paid him weekly for all such gunlocks as shall go back as shall be delivered within three Months3 from the date hereof & after that, two thirds of their price shall be paid weekly till the other third amounts to the said money advanced & after that the full price shall be paid weekly to the end of the agreement. In Testimony whereof the partys above named have interchangeably sett their hands this ninth day of March AD 1776
March 9th. 1776 Recd. of the Committee within named an Order on the Continental Treasurer for the Sum of two hundred & Sixty Seven Dollars for which I have given my note of hand to sd. Committee
Recd. 267 Dollars by an Order favour Ebenr. Cowell Recd. 30 Dollars & paid Anthony Mosengeil by Order of Congress this day to make Sulphur as per his Rect.— June 28 1776.
Ebenezer Cowell petitioned Congress on Dec. 28, 1791, for a remission of the money advanced to him by this contract and also requested allowance of an account for similar work. At first (Feb. 3, 1792) the House simply tabled the petition but later (Jan. 2, 1793) rejected the request (Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, 1789–1873).
This name inserted into the text in Cowell’s hand. Abraham Hunt (c. 1740–1821) was for many years the most prominent merchant in Trenton, N.J. He also served as the town’s postmaster both before and after the Revolution (John Hall, History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, N.J. [New York, 1859], 195–196).
This timeframe inserted into the text in Cowell’s hand.