Taunton Sept. 30 1779 My Dear,

Mr. Steavenson with the horse & Chaise Set out for Boston this after noon. I Should be Glad of ¼ lb of Spice cinnamon cloves mace nutmages & Some Good Sugar to Save Loaf that Brother got is not nice. I have not been able to get any flower I have Sent to all the places & Could get none if you can get me a few lbs. of nice flower for pyes I can make it due for court1 their will be a Load of flower in town within a month. By your Letter2 I recv’d yesterday I find Nabby3 is married my Love to her & wish her Joy for me & tell her I Long to have been their. Know of Mrs. Greenleaf when one of her daughters can come. Dont forget my Rose water I have not any to use & Sweet herbs.

Our family are well. In haste yours Sally Paine

RC ; addressed: “The Honbl: R: T Paine Esqr. at Boston”; endorsed. Notations about travel expenses on address sheet.

104 1.

RTP returned home on Oct. 2 “in my chaise with Mr. Stevenson.” He left for a session of the Superiour Court of Judicature in Worcester (Oct. 5–9) but returned to Taunton for the Superiour Court’s Bristol County session (Oct. 12–15) (RTP Diary).

2.

Not located.

3.

Abigail Greenleaf (1753–1788) married at Boston, July 29, 1779, the Rev. Ezra Weld (1736–1816), as his third wife. Reverend Weld, a 1759 graduate of Yale College, was ordained as the minister of Braintree, Mass., in 1764 and remained there until his death (Charles Frederick Robinson, Weld Collections [Ann Arbor, Mich., 1938], 95).

Taunton Novb. 29 1779 My Dear,

Mr. Tisdal Set out for Boston this morning by him I Send this hoping this will find you their.1 Mr. Winslow has been here & would be glad of his money if you could Send it would oblige him very much. I have Sent to the woman but finding no place for her child she cant come. I intend to Send to Attleborough for Eunice but fear I Shall get nobody. My wants are so great I must trouble you with Some of them & I hear their is a great plenty of every thing in Boston we can get nothing here neither Beaf nor nothing else if you can get Some Stores I will find away to Get them home. I dont know but I must Send Seth home with Katy2 as there nobody offers if Seth Should leave you may Load him home as thanksgiving3 Draw near we want a Lettle of every thing. I conclude it will be out of your power to Look out for things must beg the favour of Mr. Greenleaf to if agreable to you. II We want tea & Coffe & Sugar as to Butter & flower I dont think of that their out of fashon. Give my Love to Mr. Greenleaf family & tell them if Seth Should come I Shall Send their Cloath. Our family are pretty well. Dont you intend to come home before thanksgiving I hope youll by Mr. Tisdal that I might know where its best for Seth to come or not. Mr. Tisdal waits So must Conclude your affectinate

Sally Paine

RC ; addressed: “The Honoble. Robt. T. Paine Esqr. Boston”; endorsed.

1.

RTP was away from home again from Nov. 15, attending the courts in Salem, Cambridge, and Boston, as well as the General Court in Boston (RTP Diary).

2.

Katharine Greenleaf (b. 1760), RTP’s niece who married the following year. See Sally Cobb Paine to RTP, Jan. 24, 1781 (below).

3.

The Continental Congress declared Dec. 9 as “a day of public Thanksgiving.”