Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

may think proper to send, for the Troops there, who have been entirely Destitute for Two Months Past

I have the Honor to be With the Utmost Respect

Your Excellencys most Obedient Hble Serv1
Ja Avery Agent for Machias

His Excellency the Governor

Petition Elijah Ayer.

To His Excellency John Hancock Esq' Governor & Commander in Chief in & over the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

The Petition of Elijah Ayer Senior Humbly Sheweth That in the Year 1776 Colo Jonathan Eddy with a party of Men from this State made an attack on the Enemys Garrison of Fort Cumberland in the Province of Nova Scotia most of the Inhabitants of which County took up Arms & Join'd said Eddy among the Rest was your Petitioner, some time After the Enemy Receiving a Large Reinforcement said Eddy was obliged to leave that County & a great Number of the Inhabitants who had been most Active and whos lives were In danger was Compell'd to do the same, & abandon their Family, & Estates to the Mercy of an Enraged Enemy

Your Petitioner among the Rest Abandoned his Estate & a Large family leaving only one Son to take care & provide for them the other came with him & Resided in this State ever since

A few Weeks since the Son whom your Petitioner left to provide for his family was taken on his Passage from Cumberland to St John River by a Privateer & bro't into this Port, by which your Petitioners Family is left Destitute of any person to provide & take care of them & Unless he coud be permitted to Return will Inevitably Suffer,

Therefore your Petitioner Humbly Implores your Excellency to take his distressed Case into your Serious Consideration & be pleased to permit his Son (Mariner Ayer) to Return to Cumberland via Penobscott on Parole, and he will engage a Prisoner of Equal Rank shall be returned in his stead, which will Relieve his helpless & Distressed Family, and your Petitioner as in Duty Bound will ever prayElijah Ayer Srt

Boston, Dec 6, 1782

In Council Decb 7th 1782

Advised that John Hopkins Esq' Commissary of Prisoners be directed to permit Mariner Ayer, lately captured on his Passage from Cumberland to st Johns River and bro't into this Port, to take Passage on Board the first Cartel that shall sail from hence to Penobscot & said Commissary be further directed to see that said Ayre is exchanged

Attest

John Avery Sec

Petition of Timothy Hodgdon.

To the Honble Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Gen' Court assembled

Jan' 1783

The petition of Timothy Hodgdon of Arundel in the County of York Humbly Shews that your petitioner in the year 1774 did Bargain with John Sparhawk Esq agent to Sir William Pepperall for twenty one acres and two thirds of an acre of Land- Lying in Arundel aforesaid for twelve shillings p acre and did pay for the aforesaid Land fourteen pounds and whereas Sir William Pepperrell being one of the absentees your petitioner Cannot obtain a Deed for the aforesaid Lands

Neither has or Can obtain the mony he paid for the aforesaid Land therefore your petitioner Humbly prays that your Honours in your Great wisdom would Direct some person to Convey the Land aforesaid or that your petitioner may Receive his money that he paid out of the Sales of Sir William's Estate which has been Sold by order of Government or Relieve your petitioner in some other way that your honours may Direct and as in Duty bound will ever pray

Timothy Hodgdon

Arundel, Decem' 20 1782

Petition Town of Bristol.

To the Honourable the Senate Council & House of Representatives in General Court Assembled

The Petition of the Town of Bristol in the County of Lincoln humbly sheweth that by reason of the late War this Town has been reduc to great distress & tho now by the Blessings of Providence peace be restora unto us yet we still sorely feel the Effects of the War-By our Enemies taking Post at Penobscut & continually infesting this Coast with their privateers & small Boats our lumber & fishing Trade in which alone we had any Concern has been almost totally Suppress Almost every Vessel we own in the Beginning of the War fell into their hands & tho from time to time Vessels have been purchas—wh money borrow for this purpose whereby a debt has been contracted as the Inhabitants could not possibly subsist without some to convey their lumber to Market yet of this we have been stript with our lumber & Fish on Board or the returns of it in Provision for the Support of our families So that by a late Computation our losses by Water amount to £4240 besides the Arms Ammunition provisions

& Apparel that have been taken out of our Houses by plundering Refugees -The Seasons for a Number of Years past have been very unfavourable & the Drought So Severe that tho people's Attention have been more than ever turn to the Cultivation of their Farms yet they have not been able to raise above half enough of Bread for their Consumption & the risque of Importation being so great & many dispos to take Advantage of the Necessities of others thereby the Price of the Necessaries of life has been rais—so high that people were involvd in the greatest difficulties & obligd to part with every Commodity they had to dispose of at the Buyers Price So that Corn has been sold for four Dollars or more & other Articles in Proportion - Our Hay has also been cut of with the Drought for several years so that our Stocks are greatly diminish by what they were at the Beginning of the War & at present there is such a Scarcity of Bread that hardly all the Lumber we have on hand can procure us bread for the Season a Cord of Wood not fetching above half a Bushel Corn-Besides the debt contracted by Individuals thro the distresses occasion by the War the most part of the State Taxes for some Years have not been dischargd We acknowledge that a few Individuals could at the proper time have paid their proportion & were willing to do so, but the majority however dispos to pay their part were utterly unable & numbers among us inimically inclin'd-to these States who carried on a clandestine Trade with the Enemy greatly to the detriment of the Town threaten the Collectors with utter destruction so that they durst not discharge the duties of their OfficeIf your Honours should now exact from us these Taxes it would utterly ruin Individuals & give such a crush to the whole Town as it could not for many Years recover of & put it out of its power for the future to pay such a proportion of Taxes for defraying the Expenses of Government as otherwise it might We would therefore beg your Honours would

take our distressing Situation under your Serious Consideration & discharge us of these Taxes that were due before Peace was made & your Petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray Sign in name & by Appointment of the Town by

Henter Hunter,

Thomas Johnston

Selectmen of
Bristol

Petition of George Smith.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts To the Hon'ble the Senate

and House of Representatives in General Court assembled. The petition of George Smith, late an Inhabitant of Ireland, humbly sheweth that in the year 1779 — having been informed that great encouragement was given to those who should emigrate from other countries, and undertake the Cultivation of the American Wilderness, he with his wife removed from their native country, hoping to approve themselves useful Inhabitants in some parts of the United States; -During the continuance of the war, your petitioner did not pursue the object which he had immediately in view, but engaged in the manufacture of Gunpowder in this Commonwealth, and pursued that hazardous business in such manner as he presumes has proved advantageous to the Community; -The return of Peace renders his continuance in that business longer unnecessary; and he now wishes to prosecute the original design of his coming to America, and to put himself in a capacity to exercise the employment of a Malster and Brewer in which he served an apprenticeship- & being informed of a small gore of land | in the County of Cumberland | laying between the Towns Bakerstown & Raymondtown & supposed to contain about six hundred acres, he humbly offers himself as a purchaser thereof, & hopes he shall meet

« VorigeDoorgaan »