Document measures about 17 x 11 cm and has some modest edge-wear and one word that we could not decipher. Text of document: "6.00 Leicester Feby 13 1789 [.?] Mills Revd., Yeoman to pay to Katy Salem of Scituate Six d. for Clothes made at her domain to be Paid in lawful monies of the Massachusetts Bay. Received in my hand. Katy X Salem (mark). Witness Clifford Carver." On verso is written at top in small letters: "J. Mills note $6." Katy Salem was probably the wife of Peter Salem, the African American who was one of the early heroes on the Colonial side in the American Revolutionary War. He was generally thought to have fired the shot that killed John Pitcairn, a British officer at the Battle of Bunker Hill after which he served in the 6th Massachusetts Regiment under Colonel John Nixon's command until 1780. He married Katy Benson, presumably an African American, in Salem, Massachusetts in Sept. 1783. Peter relocated sometime thereafter to Leicester and built a cabin. We assume that Katy accompanied him. The marriage between Pater and Katy is said to have ended by 1790 based on census data according to the online biographical material on Peter Salem posted by the National Park Service. Parhaps Katy, about whom very little seems to be known, had grown up in Scituate and so described herself or was planning to or had moved to Scituate by the time this agreement or promissory note was created in 1789. Peter, the Revolutionary War hero, died in the Poor House in Framingham in 1816. We do not know what happen to Katy.

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Bibliographic Details

Title

Holograph Document. An Agreement or Promissory Note for Payment of $6 for Unspecified Clothes to be Made by Katy Samuels for J. Mills which is dated Feb. 13 1789

Publisher

Leicester

Publication Date

1789

Condition

Very Good

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African Americana

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We started our business in 1971 as mail-order specialists on Africa and African-Americana. We soon expanded to include material on Asia and the Middle East. We also purchase antiquarian and rare books and libraries in all fields. A suite of offices at 2348 Whitney Avenue is open by appointment and contains 15,000 volumes. Easily accessible from I-91 or the Wilbur Cross Parkway. Catalogs are issued occasionally on listed specialties.

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McBlain Books, ABAA
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