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Item 12: Decree by Jonathan Trumbull (removed to Black Box #1) , 1778 June 1

 Item — Box: 12, Folder: 53

Decree by Jonathan Trumbull (removed to Black Box #1) , 1778 June 1

Dates

  • Created: 1778 June 1

Creator

Access:

All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.

Extent

1 items

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Type of Material:

Decree

Condition Note:

Poor. Paper has extreme staining and in some places the print has been rubbed off completely.

Measurements:

16 in. x 13 in.

Description:

The manuscript dated June 1, 1778, depicts the Governor of Connecticut, Jonathan Trumball, establishing a corporation to assign and maintain rules of peace according to those of the government. The corporation is comprised of fourteen names, including Nathan Denison, Christopher Avery, Obadiah Gore, Zerah Beach, Zebulon Butler, William McKamecan, Asaph Whittlesey, Uriah Chapman, Anderson Dana Ebenezar, Marcey Stephen Harding, John Franklin, Joseph Harding, and William Judd. These men are charged with maintaining the rule of law by threat of seizure, as Trumball writes that the person and estate are held together in sureties to the county, with the possibility of said property being withheld until the goal of the county is reasserted. Trumbull further appoints three individuals of the fourteen, Nathan Denisson, Christopher Avery, Obadiah Gore, and Zara Beach, to assist the judge. The reverse of the manuscript depicts a handwritten note of another, unknown author, which explains that this is an original manuscript of a document mentioned in the History of Wyoming by Paine. The manuscript mentions the duty of maintaining the Goal of the county. This was a position assigned to a number of men in the late eighteenth into the early nineteenth century, titled a Goaler, which was tied with the settling of a township or county most often. The Goaler was a position that worked under the sheriff, ensuring arrests, preventing escapes, and taking out writs of execution to repossess homes, land, or other goods when necessary or directed by the sheriff. The word was an early interaction of the term jailer, with roots dating back to the middle ages.

Location:

Hartford, Connecticut

Transcription:

First page: [The page is comprised of both printed and annotated text. The bolded text represents the parts of the manuscript which are printed versus the unbolded, underlined text which notes annotated sections. ]

The Governor and Company of the State of Connecticut, in New England, in America; To: Nathan Denison Christopher Avery Obadiah Gore Zera (sic) Beach Zebulon Butler William McKamecan(?) Asaph Whittlesey Uriah Chapman Anderson Dana Ebenezar Marcey Stephen Harding John Franklin Joseph Harding William Judd ~~~

Esq’res [Esquires], GREETING. Know YE, that We have Assigned you, and every of you, jointly and severally, to keep the peace of the county of Westmoreland within the State aforesaid; and to K[illegible] cause to be kept, all the Laws and Ordinances that are or shall be made for the good [of] the Peace, and Conservation of [the] same, and for the quiet Rule and Government of [the] People within the County aforesaid: And to chastise and punish all Persons offending [illegible] the County aforesaid, against the said Laws or Ordinances, or any of them, as accord[ing[ to those Laws and Ordinances shall be fit to be done : one his Person or Estate to[gether] sufficient Sureties for the Peace and good Behavior or in dsfult of their finding S[urei]ties, to commit them to Goal, or safe custody until they shall do so.

And We have assigned you [the?] said Nathan D[enison] Christopher Avery Obadiah Gore & Zera (sic) Beach Esq[uir]es to assist the Judge of the Cou[nty] [illegible] [illegible] or the Coun[ty?] [illegible][illegible] [Inq]uire of, [illegible]ar and [illegible] by a Jury or [illegible][illegible][illegible][illegible][illegible] civil and criminal, cognizable [illegible] and Court.

And we do also assign you the said Nathan Denison C[hristopher] Avery Obadiah Gore Zera (sic) Beach Zebulon Butler William McKamecan(?) Asaph Whittlesey Uriah Chapman Anderson Dana Ebenezar Marcey Stephen Harding John Franklin Joseph Harding William Judd ~~~

and each and every of you, to hear and determine all Causes, Matters, and Things, civil and criminal, which any One Assistant in this Corporation, now hath, and hereafter shall have Power by Law to hear and [d]etermine And I command you, and every of you, that you diligently intend the keepin[g] of the Peace, Laws, and Ordinances, and all and singular other the Premises, and perform and fulfil (sic) the same, doing therein what yo Justice appertains, according to the Laws of our said State to be hereunto affixed. Witness, Jonathan Trumbull, Esq[uire]; Governor of our said State of Connecticut, and with the Consent of the General Assembly of the same, in Hartford this first Day of June Anno Domini, 1775 ~ John Franklin By his Excellency’s Command, George Wyllys Secr’y [Secretary]

Back:

See Durkee(?) History of Wyoming Page 210 & 211 very [un]documented GmClintock (sic)

This is the original document referred to in Paines(?) History of Wyoming beginning page 21 Found in papers of El DANA

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Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository

https://archivepublic.wilkes.edu
Contact:
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