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Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4

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From Joseph Palmer
Palmer, Joseph RTP
Ger: 25th June 1781. Dr. Sir,

The Deed is to be dated 1st May 1781, & the oblign: on Interest from that time, half to be pd. next fall, & half 1 yr. after. Flint & Clark are both of Windham, & are willing to take the Lot as 100 acres.1

The Deed & obigas. to be lodged (perhaps with Colo: E. Dyer) ’till all the Money be paid.

I expect to go to Cant:2 again in about 8 or 10 Days; & perhaps several times in the course of the Sumr.

I am Your Frd. &c. J. Palmer

RC ; addressed: “The Honble. Robt: Treat Paine Esqr:, Boston”; endorsed. Attached is a receipt: “May the 1 1781. The men that Agred to by Esqr. Pains 100 acor Loat in windham are Zaceus Flint, Jeremiah Clark Junr. 100a at 24/.”

155 1.

This land in Windham, Conn., appears to be the last of the patrimony of RTP’s mother, Eunice (Treat) Paine. Col. Eliphalet Dyer had long been associated with the family in regard to these land transactions. See RTP to Samuel Gray, Feb. 2, 1757 (RTP 2:8); and to Eliphalet Dyer, Aug. 28, 1758 (2:107); Apr. 5 (2:181) and 14 (2:183), 1760.

2.

Canterbury, Conn., is also in Windham County.

From John Lewis
Lewis, John RTP
North=Yarmouth July 4. 1781. Sir,

An Inventory of Francis Waldo’s1 Real Estate was lodged in the Secretary’s office some time ago, & I2 am informed by Judge Freeman that there has been an Agent & commissioners appointed on Said Waldo’s Estate who have accomplished the design of their appointment, & there appears considerable due from said Estate, who & the creditors apply to the committee for Sale for their pay, & as the creditors cannot be paid until the Estate is Sold it would be an Act of Justice to proceed in the affair as Soon as may be which I Suppose can’t be Sooner than Octr. Court & then they will be long kept out of their dues I trust that you will take Such care in your department that no injustice Shall take place by delays.

I am Sir your Humble Servt. Jno. Lewis by order of the Committee for Sale of Absentees Estate

P.S. there are several other Estates in Falmouth under the same predicament.

RC ; addressed: “To The Honble. Robert Treat Paine Esqr. Boston.”

1.

Francis Waldo (1728–1784) was a 1747 Harvard graduate and collector of customs in Falmouth, Maine. He left Falmouth in 1775 and settled in London, associating with fellow loyalists and becoming a member of the New England Club. He was proscribed and banished in 1778 and much of his property, including substantial holdings in Maine, was confiscated. He died in exile in England (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 12:214–218).

2.

John Lewis (1717–1803), a lawyer, surveyor, and farmer of North Yarmouth, represented Cumberland County in the Massachusetts Provincial Congress (1774–1775). He was very active in state and local committees, including the North Yarmouth Committee of Correspondence and Safety during the Revolution. He later served as a judge (1782–1796) and as chief justice (1796–1803) in the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas (Schutz, Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court, 274; Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society, 2d. ser., 1[1890]:70–77).

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