1695, Taunton, Mass. , Judge John Saffin Signed Bond, Breaking Up A House
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| Reference Number: Avaluer:1319862 | Modified Item: No |
This is a wonderful, original document dated 1695, Taunton, Mass, where Issac Negus has been given a recognizance bond in order for him to appear and tell the court what he knows about breaking up the cellar and house of Samuel Rowlan and must keep the peace in the meantime. Signed at bottom by Judge John Saffin . Document is 8x11, left edge faults, overall good condition.John Saffin (baptised 22 November 1626 – 29 July 1710) was a colonial New England mercha...nt, politician, judge, and poet. He is best known for his A Brief and Candid Answer to Samuel Sewall's The Selling of Joseph, and for a small collection of poetry, most of which was not published until the 20th century.Upon his arrival in America Saffin is known to have eventually settled in Scituate, in the northeastern part of Plymouth Colony. There he would have been educated by Charles Chauncy, the future President of Harvard. In 1654 he moved to Virginia, where he spent three years, establishing a merchant trade and eventually acquiring some property.The trade Saffin engaged in was fairly typical: lumber and fish from New England were shipped to Virginia, and tobacco and hides were sent north. He is known to have been part owner of a ship involved in the direct shipment (and illegal smuggling) of slaves from Africa directly to Massachusetts, and was active in the direct shipment of African slaves to Virginia. His merchant activities made him one the wealthiest men in Massachusetts. Although he is not known to have owned slaves for personal use, he did have indentured servants in his house.King Philip's War, fought in the late 1670s, resulted in the conquering of Indian territories on the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay. In 1680 the area around Mount Hope was awarded to the Plymouth Colony, which promptly sold it to a consortium of Plymouth men, including Saffin, the Indian fighter Benjamin Church. This tract became what is now Swansea, Massachusetts, Bristol, Rhode Island, and all or part of other nearby communities. Saffin was active in promoting development of these lands, promoting and signing an agreement in 1686 for the establishment of Kingston, Rhode Island by Huguenot refugees.The area was the subject of jurisdictional disputes between Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and Saffin, who had a reputation for his litigious tendencies, was involved in court actions central to the dispute. In 1679 a Rhode Island court convicted him of attempting to uphold a foreign jurisdiction (in this case, that of Connecticut) over the disputed land. Rhode Island confiscated his titles, and he spent some time in prison. Saffin received revenge when in 1687 Joseph Dudley, also an Atherton Company principal and then president of the Dominion of New England, restored his claim.In Boston Saffin served for several years in the colonial assembly of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He served as the speaker of that colony's assembly in 1684, the year in which the colonial charter was revoked. With the arrival of Joseph Dudley in 1686 and the establishment of the Dominion of New England, Saffin moved to Bristol (then part of the Plymouth Colony, now part of Rhode Island) in 1687. Following the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688, there was a revolt against the Dominion rule of Andros; Saffin sided with the rebels, and sat on the Plymouth Colony councils during the interregnum years from 1689 to 1692. This stance is likely responsible for a political estrangement between him and Dudley, who was among those imprisoned and sent to England.In 1692, when the Province of Massachusetts Bay was chartered, Saffin was made a judge of the court of common pleas for Bristol County. He served on the governor's councils of the province from 1693 to 1702.Please view the other historical and Civil War related documents I'll be listing this week.SEE SCAN.I now accept PAYPAL but PREFER other forms of traditional paper payment. Buyer pays shipping(usually FREE within the US and $12 for International), payment must be received within 5 days.
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