Description:

Colonial Massachusetts
Bristol County, Massachusetts Bay, May 14, 1723
Colonial Massachusetts Couple Seeks Legal Forgiveness for Premarital Sex; Part of Abraham Lincoln's Family
MD

[COLONIAL AMERICA.] Manuscript Document, Petition of Jonah Linkon and Mercy Linkon to Bristol Justices of the Peace, May 14, 1723, Bristol, New England [Massachusetts Bay Colony]. 1 p., 6.125" x 7.5". Expected folds; light toning; some soiling on verso; very good.

In this brief petition to the justices of the peace for Bristol County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Jonah Linkon/Lincoln and his wife Mercy seek forgiveness for having premarital sex. The common punishment for the sin of fornication in colonial New England was either a fine or a public whipping. Those involved in premarital sex could sometimes avoid punishment if they married, and the law tended to treat women more harshly than men.

Jonah Lincoln (1688-1735) was born in Massachusetts to Samuel Lincoln (1657-1727) and Sarah Jones Lincoln (1660-1702). He married Mercy Crossman Lincoln (1697-1775), and they had at least one daughter, born in 1734.

President Abraham Lincoln was the great-great-grandson of Mordecai Lincoln (1688-1736), Jonah Lincoln's older brother. Jonah Lincoln was thus Abraham Lincoln's great-great-great-uncle.

Complete Transcript
To the Hone his Ma[jes]ties Justices of the Peace in the County of Bristoll in New-England, met at Bristoll as adjourned in their present sessions being the 14 day of May Anno Domini 1723.
The humble Petition of Jonah Linkon & Mercy his wife is as followeth, that being both of us deeply affected with the consideration of our great folly and sin, in our unlawfull converse together before Marriage, for which we stand presented by the grand jury—Wee shall plead nothing in our own vindication but cast our selves on the Mercy of the court. Pray yor honors will Esteem of us as of Penitents & Extend as much favour to us, Considering the hard times & our poverty & shrights, as may by Law be granted to such as are not contumacious but penitent & submissive Transgressors of the Law—
And your Petitioners shall every pray &c.

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  • Dimensions: 6.125" x 7.5"
  • Medium: MD

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