Josiah Bartlett Declaration Signer ADS As One of "his Majesty's Justices of the Peace" 5 Months

Josiah Bartlett
Kingston, Rockingham County, NH, ca. September 27-28, 1774
Josiah Bartlett Declaration Signer ADS As One of "his Majesty's Justices of the Peace" 5 Months After Joining Committee of Correspondence & Committee of Safety!
Partial ADS

A partial autograph document signed by Josiah Bartlett (1729-1795), the future Declaration of Independence signer then in his role as Justice of the Peace of Rockingham County, New Hampshire, as "Josiah Bartlett" on the last line recto. September 27-28, 1774. Kingston, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. The document fragment is also signed by Bartlett's fellow Justice of the Peace Jacob Hook verso. Inscribed on laid paper, double-sided. Expected wear including toning and isolated foxing. Flattened paper folds and closed tears have been repaired. Isolated chipped edges. Else very good to near fine. Measures 7.125" x 3.5" overall.

This fragment comes from part of a larger legal document outlining charges against "transient person" John Saunders, levied by one David Cheney, a carrier from Rawley, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay. Cheney alleged that Saunders physically assaulted him and also urged him to break the law on September 27, 1774 in Kingston. A constable's warrant was summarily issued, and Cheney was apprehended the following day, tried, convicted, and sentenced to pay a fine and court costs.

This portion of the document reads in full, with unchanged spelling and punctuation:

Recto:

"…Complaint being made as above these are therefore in his Majestys name to Require you forwith to apprehend the Body of the said John Saunders if he may be found in your precint & him Bring Before some one or more of his Majestys Justices of the peace forsaid County to be Examined Concerning the premises & Dealt with according to Law thereof fail not Given under my hand & seal at Kingstown this 27th Day of September in the 14th Year of his Majestys Reign Anno: Dom 1774

Josiah Bartlett Justice of Peace."

Verso:

"Jacob Hook

which being paid forthwith the Respondent was Dismissed

Summon for witnesses Lt. John Pearson John Stickney Timothy Quinby Jonathan Greeley 3rd & Benjamin Folsom Capt John Judkins David Corbank Saml. Woodman Daniel Busell and notify the Complainant…"

This partial document is most interesting because Bartlett was still serving as Justice of the Peace and defending his Majesty's laws in September 1774, five months after he had joined the Provincial Assembly's Committee of Correspondence and Committee of Safety. Of further interest, Bartlett had been slated to serve as a New Hampshire delegate at the First Continental Congress, which convened in Philadelphia between early September and late October 1774. He ultimately declined the appointment, though, because his house had been burned down by arsonists, probably local Tories, in May, and he was focused on rebuilding. So Bartlett was in Kingston dealing with a breach of peace case in late September instead of in Philadelphia conversing with like-minded Patriots. Less than three months later, in mid-December 1774, Bartlett was implicated in the Patriot seizure of gun powder and canons from Fort William & Mary in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Convicted as an "accessory after the fact," Bartlett was stripped of his position as Justice of the Peace in February 1775.

Bartlett was one of three New Hampshire delegates to sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and tended wounded Continentals at the Battle of Bennington one year later. He helped draft the Articles of Confederation in the late 1770s, and during his later career, he served as a state supreme court judge before being elected as President and then Governor of the State of New Hampshire. Bartlett thus served as state President for about one year.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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7.125" x 3.5"