A VERY EARLY COLONIAL DOCUMENT FROM BOSTON – A YOUNG MAN IS FINED FOR LYING TO AVOID PUNISHMENT

 

(BOSTON – COLONIAL MASSACHUSETTS).  ADS. 1pg. 7” x 4”. 1654. No place [Boston].  An autograph document signed “Jonath: Hayne Clerk”.  The document states: “Att a meeting ye Sixteenth Day of ye eleventh month 1654 Captain Keayne, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Parker, and Mr. Stoddard being prsent Henry Messenger was fined ten shillings for affirming that he had corected his sonn John for playing in ye meeting house which appears to be a lye, to prvent the Commissioners of laying any punishment upon him, ye boy himself said he was corected by his mother...”.  It is marked at the conclusion “This is a true copy of the record”.  The Town Commissioners were chosen to adjudicate minor offenses; the first named is probably Robert Keayne, an English militia officer and early Boston official.  Nathaniel Duncan, Richard Parker, and Anthony Stoddard are all listed as Commissioners.  “Sonn John” was born in 1641; his younger brother Henry Messenger, Jr. became a joiner and a chairmaker of note. The practice of seating boys together during religious services might have contributed to, John's problem.  An interesting example of colonial punishment during Boston's third decade. Mostly fine with paper tape repair to a fold separation on the verso and minor discoloration in a blank area.  Pre-1670 American documents are rare.

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