Lot 92
Hancock John 1737 - 1793 A document boldly signed by Boston Patriots and Signers of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock and Samuel Adams, appointing Dr. Nathaniel Ames as Justice of the Peace. The Ames family owned a famous tavern that could have served Sam Adams' beer!
Partly Printed Document Signed "John Hancock" as Governor of Massachusetts, one page, 11.25" x 17.25". Boston, February 10, 1790. Manuscript Document Signed "S. Adams" as Lieutenant Governor on verso. Boston, April 14, 1790. Blind embossed paper seal of Massachusetts affixed at upper left. Fine condition.
Appointment of "Nathaniel Ames of Dedham to be one of the Justices to keep the Peace in our County of Suffolk for the term of Seven years - "
Nathaniel Ames' father, Nathaniel Ames, Jr. (1708 - 1764), was the founder and editor of the first American almanac, The Astronomical Diary and Almanack for 1726, which he published in 1725, seven years before Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richards Almanack. His son, the appointee in the document here offered, Nathaniel (1741 - 1822), continued publishing the almanac for ten years after his father's death. A graduate of Harvard in 1761, Nathaniel became a physician, as well as an almanac publisher.
The senior Ames became involved in a landmark court case over the famous family tavern and its ownership.
The Tavern was the site of the second of three meetings leading to the publication of the Suffolk Resolves in 1774, a document that framed the colonists' grievances and is viewed, ironically, considering the other signers of the present document, as a precursor to the Declaration of Independence. In at least one publication this place is known as "The birthplace of the American Revolution". It was called the Ames Tavern, and was renamed when Ames' widow married Richard Woodward. This document has so many interesting connections and in the modern day, one cannot help but ponder if the Ames Tavern served Samuel Adams beer.
One of only six documents we can find in the last forty years that bear both patriots' signatures, the prices for which have reached as much as $40,000.
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| $500 | $999 | $50 |
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