Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4
I recd. yours1 by the Coll. but the Traveling was Such that hores & Slay were Left at Keiths but Murphy is a going to morrow to get it home. We have not Butcherd yet but intend to a monday if the weather is Good but Eunice is not come. The traveling being So Bad I Suppose that to be the reason if Seth dont come in a few days I Shall Send their to know what about her. I feal very uneasy at having no help & you from home but I Beg you would not Let it be Long before you come home you are wanted at home more then ever for John2 is the poorest Soul that I ever Saw nothing done but what I See to & that with So much trouble that I fear I Shant hold out much Longer. I asked Mr. Burt to find a man he knows of one that he can recommend & is to be hir’d if you have a mind to have him Mr. Burt did not get the pork but is in hopes of having a hog ells where he wants to know if you intend to have Some flower. John wants his Cloath if you can get it due Let me know by Charles Barstow who carrys this when you intend to come home.3 Give my Love to Mr. Greenleafs family & tell them I am in Great want of my Sleves. Our family are well but Should feel Better if you were here.
Not located.
RTP Diary, Dec. 17, 1779: “agreed with James Bolton for his son John to live with me at 3½ Dolls. old Way”; Dec. 20: “John Bolton came to live with me”; Jan. 23, 1780: “I dismissed John Bolton & sent him home.”
RTP had left for Boston on Dec. 27 to attend the General Court and the state constitutional convention. It was a particularly snowy winter, and on Jan. 5, 1780, RTP noted in his diary that “Snow so deep that several members of the Court were obliged to come to Town from Concord & Andover on Snow Shoes no travelling with a horse. Supposed to be 4 ft. on a level. Convention met a few & adjd. to next Friday”; on Jan. 7: “Snowd last night & this AM, very cold: Convention met and adjd. to next Wednesday. no members but of the Court & Boston”; on Jan. 12: “Accounts from the Country by Persons who came on snow shoes are that the Roads are all filled with snow, no Paths broke: pby. not so much Snow on the Ground at once Since the Great Snow 1717: Convention met & adjd. to Friday next”; on Jan. 14: “Genl. Court prorogued at noon. Convention adjd. to Wednesday next.” The convention met again briefly on the 19th and again on the 20th when it adjourned until the following Wednesday. RTP rode home to Taunton on the 21st and stayed until the 31st.