Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4
I recd. yours1 by Mr. Paddelford. I have told Joe2 to call at Mrs. Noyes about the Girl I hope She is a good one. Joe Brings with him 5 Bushels of potatoes. I Send your Cap & Black Silk for Cousin Polly3 to make Lace for my Scarf I intend to wrote to Polly about it but her name Sake wont Let me due any thing tell Polly if their not Silk enuf to write to me & Ill Send Some more. I want 1¼ yd. of durant for Polly Skirt which I forgot to put down. I hope you got to Boston Safe & dont forget that you have a gay horse. I am half a Sleep So I wish you a good night.
Not located.
RTP noted in his diary that “Joseph Porter came to live with me” as a manservant on Jan. 25, 1780. Joe is mentioned in various diary entries and in the correspondence over the course of the next year. He probably left the service of the Paine family shortly before June 8, 1781, when Samuel Wier replaced him.
Presumably RTP’s niece Mary Greenleaf (1757–1804), while the namesake was the newborn Mary Paine.
After Respectful Compliments, would Remind you that one of my Clerks waited on you last weeke, & public Exigencies prevented you from attending to the Contents of my letter.
I am, from the great Consequence of the affair, under a Necessity of troubling you again, & of reqg. you to attend (if Possible) to the Papers in the Case Thayer vs. Gibbs (alias Gibbs appt. vs. Thayer) in order to Determine whether the written Evidence in the Case is now Admissible. The Parole Evidence we think necessary, I suppose, is procured, excepted whether Hannah Scarlet, mentioned in one of the Depositions, is Dead, (or alive) who is there Said to have been the Midwife. But I must refer you to my former letter.
Please to send me some hints in the Case, in a line; & Releive me from some Considerable anxieties, as the this Cause is the Key to 1700 Acres of good Land whh. our client Claims.
The Bearer, Has a Cause of Great Consequence to lay before you &, to Retain you in. Please to take his money & Engage for him. The only matter, I can See, at present to be done is to obtain a Continuance the Next week, over to the next Term, in order to gain time to Consider of the Cause; it is as intricate (Perhaps) as ever was—as great a complication of Evidence.
Please to inform him whether you Shall be at Worcester the Next Term—if not, be kind enough, PleasePlease to direct a line to this Court, Certifying that you are engaged in the Cause, & can’t attend. I am so indisposed in Health, that I can’t go to Boston (I left Home with that Intent) otherwise I should have waited on you in person.