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A document written and signed by John Saffin, a Bristol County justice of the peace, directing the sheriff to arrest Edward Hammon and Esther Andrews on suspicion of stealing goods from Andrews's employer, James Tiffany. 

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This document and the one following (MSN/COL 2717-3) relate to the case of Ephraim Burt (or Burts) and Samuel Waldron, brought before the Court of General Sessions in Bristol County to answer a complaint of defamation lodged by Samuel Throop of Bristol. Burt and Waldron allegedly repeated a false rumor that Throop had "gott a mayd with child." The document, written and signed by John Saffin, justice of the peace, is a memorandum of testimony given by Burt on 8 December 1697. 

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This document and the one preceding (MSN/COL 2717-2) relate to the case of Ephraim Burt (or Burts) and Samuel Waldron, brought before the Court of General Sessions in Bristol County to answer a complaint of defamation lodged by Samuel Throop of Bristol. Burt and Waldron allegedly repeated a false rumor that Throop had "gott a mayd with child." The document is a bill of costs attendant to the case, written and signed by John Cary, clerk of the writs for Bristol County. 

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A document written and signed by John Cary, clerk of the writs, directing the sheriff to attach the property of John Graves to the value of £6 18s plus fees, to satisfy judgment in favor of complainant Joseph Tisdale by the Bristol County Inferior Court of Common Pleas; with endorsement of Samuel Gallup, sheriff, on verso. 

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A memorandum written and signed by John Saffin, a Bristol County justice of the peace, recording a bond of recognizance entered by John Read, Robert Durfee, Ralph Earl, and John Read, Jr., in the amount of £50, on condition that they appear before the Court of General Sessions to answer a charge of disturbing the peace at a 27 March 1699 town meeting at Freetown. 

Scope and Contents A document written and signed by John Cary, clerk of the writs, directing the sheriff to arrest Sarah White, alias Palmer, of Tiverton, Massachusetts, and to bring her before a Bristol County justice of the peace. White had earlier failed to heed a summons to answer a charge of "haveing a child whilest a widow;" this document requires her to make recognizance to appear before the Court of General Sessions. Constable John Earle's endorsement on the reverse reports that he failed to apprehend...

Scope and Contents This document, written and signed by John Cary, clerk of the writs, directs the constable to give notice to the citizens of Little Compton, Massachusetts, to elect two jurors to serve at the next session of the Bristol County Inferior Court of Common Pleas. Secondarily, the document summons the selectmen of the town to appear before the court to answer for their failure to appoint a schoolmaster; with endorsement of Samuel Gray, constable, recording the selection of Daniel Eaton and William...

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A document written and signed by John Cary, clerk of the writs, directing the sheriff to summon Thomas Hathaway, John Spooner, and John Jenney to appear before the Bristol County Court of the General Sessions for failing to levy a £19 tax upon the residents of Dartmouth, intended to pay for bridge construction, and to answer for their contempt of an earlier summons; with endorsements on the reverse by Samuel Gallup, sheriff, and Samuel Little, deputy sheriff.

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This document, written and signed by John Cary, clerk of the writs, directs the sheriff to attach the property of Nathaniel Smith, of Taunton, to the value of £2 3s 6p plus fees, to satisfy judgment for John Poole, of Boston, by the Bristol County Inferior Court of Common Pleas; with an endorsement on the reverse by Samuel Gallup, sheriff. 

Scope and Contents This document and the one following (MSN/COL 2717-12) pertain to a ministerial vacancy in Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts c1705-1708. Dated 13 December 1705, it directs the constable to summon the selectmen of Freetown to appear before the Court of General Sessions to answer a presentment made against them at the 25 September 1705 session of the General Court of Judicature for "being distitute of a minister". It was written and signed by clerk of the writs John Cary, and bears the...

Scope and Contents This document, and the one preceding (MSN/COL 2717-11), pertain to a ministerial vacancy in Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts c1705-1708. Dated 13 January 1707/8, it notes that Freetown selectman Nicholas Morey had pleaded before the Court of General Sessions that the town had voted to hire a Church of England minister, but had yet to receive the Bishop of London's answer to their application. The document, a court order, stipulates that the town select "an Able Learned Orthodox...

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A document written and signed by John Cary, clerk of the writs, directing the constable to summon Nathaniel Blagrove, Thomas Walker, and Josiah Torrey, Bristol selectmen and tax assessors, to appear before the Bristol County Court of General Sessions to answer Nathaniel Byfield's complaint of over-taxation; with endorsement of Joseph Jacob, constable of Bristol. 

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A document written and signed by John Cary, clerk of the writs, and issued by the Bristol County Court of General Sessions, directing the selectmen of Dartmouth to call a town meeting to elect a new constable. The town's first choice, Thomas Briggs, had been judged unsuitable "for that he was Aged and Could neither writ nor Read." An endorsement on the reverse indicates the choice of Thomas Briggs, Jr. as constable. 

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The first of two copies (see also MSN/COL 2717-16) of a Bristol County Court of General Sessions memorandum, written and signed by John Cary, clerk, recording a bond of recognizance entered by George Berstow, of Rehoboth, with Abiah Carpenter as surety, in the amount of £10, licensing Berstow to sell alcohol for one year on condition that it be consumed "out of Doors." The first copy bears docketing on the reverse: "George Berstow out of Doors 1707." 

Scope and Contents The second of two copies (see also MSN/COL 2717-15) of a Bristol County Court of General Sessions memorandum, written and signed by John Cary, clerk, recording a bond of recognizance entered by George Berstow, of Rehoboth, with Abiah Carpenter as surety, in the amount of £10, licensing Berstow to sell alcohol for one year on condition that it be consumed "out of Doors." The first copy bears docketing on the reverse: "George Berstow out of Doors 1707." This second copy further stipulates that...

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A Bristol County Court of General Sessions memorandum written and signed by John Cary, clerk, recording a bond of recognizance entered by Seth Pope, of Dartmouth, with Thomas Hathaway as surety, in the amount of £10 pounds each, licensing Pope to sell alcohol for one year on condition that it be consumed "out of Doors." 

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A Bristol County Court of General Sessions memorandum written and signed by John Cary, clerk, recording a bond of recognizance entered by Daniel Freeman, of Attleborough, with an unnamed "carpenter of Rehoboth" as surety, in the amount of £10 each, licensing Freeman to keep a common inn and to sell alcohol for one year. The license is subject to several conditions, among them that Freeman not allow gambling on the premises, and that he not sell alcohol to "servants Indians or Negros." 

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A Bristol County Court of General Sessions memorandum written and signed by John Cary, clerk, recording a bond of recognizance entered by Samuel Humphrey, of Swansea, with Josiah Torrey of Bristol as surety, in the amount of £10 each, licensing Humphrey to keep a common inn or alehouse and to sell alcohol for one year. The document further stipulates that Humphrey pay a fee of 6s to James Taylor, treasurer for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, "as a Consideration for his Draft." 

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A document written and signed by John Cary, clerk, directing the constable to summon the selectmen of Bristol to appear before the Bristol County Court of General Sessions to answer a jury presentment that the town lacked a standard for trying weights and measures; with endorsement on the reverse by John Lindsey, constable of Bristol. 

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A document written and signed by John Cary, clerk, recording a Bristol County Court of General Sessions grand jury presentment against Philip Tabor, of Tiverton, Massachusetts, charging him with disturbing the peace. Cary notes that Tabor pleaded not guilty. The endorsement of John Bosworth, jury foreman, appears on the reverse, where it is noted that the jury found the presentment billa vera, or a "true bill," i.e., backed by sufficient evidence to warrant a petit jury trial.

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An unsigned document recording a Bristol County Court of General Sessions grand jury presentment against William Wood, of Dartmouth, for assaulting Thomas Macumber. A note on the reverse indicates that the presentment was found ignoramus, i.e., that the jury considered the evidence insufficient to warrant a petit jury trial. 

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A petition to the Bristol County Court of General Sessions, signed by Ebenezer and Mary Bishop, seeking the court's leniency in determining the penalty for an unspecified transgression. The Bishops admit to having "Committed Folly," but beg the justices to "Consider us as wee are Fatherless Childrean; & under very difficult Curcumstances."

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A document written and signed by John Cary, clerk, directing the sheriff to summon Elizabeth Smith, of Taunton, to appear before the Bristol County Court of General Sessions to answer a charge of fornication; the accompanying endorsement by Stephen Leonard, constable of Taunton, indicates that he did not succeed in locating Smith.

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A memorandum written and signed by Thomas Church, justice of the peace, recording a bond of recognizance entered by Frank Towning, described as "an Indian Man of Tiverton," with Benjamin Chase, also of Tiverton, as surety, in the amount of £5 each. They are recognized on condition that Towning appear before the Bristol County Court of General Sessions to answer the complaint of Towning's wife Sarah, an "Indian Squaa," that he had left her for another woman. 

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A document signed by William Almy, of Tiverton, Massachusetts, petitioning the Bristol County Court of General Sessions to review the proposed routes for a new highway and driftways across Almy's farm in Dartmouth; he claims these would cut off his livestock's access to water. 

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A document written and signed by Timothy Fales, clerk, directing the sheriff to summon Mary Adams before the Bristol County Court of General Sessions to show cause (per writ of scire facias) why court-ordered weekly payments by Thomas Waste, father of Adams's child, should not be abated. Endorsement of Elnathan Pope, deputy sheriff, on verso.

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A document written and signed by William Throope, commissioner of excise for Bristol County, petitioning the Court of General Sessions to proceed against Samuel Crossman, Josiah Turner, John West, and Gershom Woddell, for refusing to pay taxes.

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A document written and signed by Lemuel Pope, of Dartmouth, petitioning the Bristol County Court of General Sessions for abatement of the 3s per week payments he had been ordered to make to Sarah Spooner, who charged him "(tho' wrongfully) . . . of being the father of Her Bastard Child." 

Scope and Contents A document written and signed by Ebenezer Brenton, clerk, directing the sheriff to arrest John Rosher, of Taunton, and bring him before the Bristol County Court of General Sessions to answer for his contempt of a summons. Rosher had been previously summoned by the court to answer a charge of failing to attend public worship. The endorsements of John Barney, deputy sheriff, and Jonathan Thayer, constable of Taunton, appear on the reverse. Thayer reports being refused entrance to the house at...

Scope and Contents This document and the two following (MSN/COL 2717-32 and 2717-33) relate to the case of George Brownell v. Thomas Brownell, heard by Bristol County justice of the peace Thomas Church on 9 February 1719/20. It is a memorandum recording Church's judgment against Thomas Brownell of Little Compton, fining him 10s plus costs of court for "Raising a falce Report against" George Brownell. Church indicates Brownell's intention to appeal the judgment at the next sitting of the Court of General...