Description:

Colonial Massachusetts
Bristol County, Massachusetts Bay, November 24, 1697
Colonial Massachusetts Judge and Poet Takes Deposition in Case of Stolen Silver
ADS

John Saffin, Autograph Document Signed, Deposition of John Tucker, November 24, 1697, Bristol County, [Massachusetts Bay Colony]. 1 p., 7.5" x 6". Expected folds; minor edge tears, general toning.

Justice of the Peace John Saffin took this deposition from John Tucker regarding some allegedly stolen silver. Tucker testified that Elizabeth, the wife of Abraham Chase, gave him a bundle of silk damask and lace that had hidden within it some silver. He said that she asked him to keep it until his sister Deborah Tucker came to retrieve it. When on his way home, some silver fell from the bundle, which he believed might have been stolen. He gave the bundle to Constable John Eddy of Swansea.

In a separate deposition, Abraham Chase (1652-1738) swore that he knew nothing of the goods but did not think his wife guilty of stealing them. His wife, Elizabeth Henry Chase (ca. 1657-1714), said she found the bundle of silk bound up in an apron under a fence. In contrast to Tucker's testimony, she declared that Tucker came to her for the bundle, saying that "it was a pitty it should lye and rott for it was payd for." She denied that she told Tucker to say nothing "for his life" about the matter. When she asked Tucker what he would do with it, he said he would put the bundle in his chest, and she gave the bundle to him.

Complete Transcript
John Tucker of lawfull age being Examined and Sworn Testifieth and Saith
That Last Sabath day was Sevenight Abraham Chase his wife (named Eilza:) delivered to him a Bundle of things viz silk damask & silk lace (as tis called) for him to keep till his Sister Deborah Tucker came back to fetch it, biding him to say nothing of it for his life, and as he was carrying said bundle to put it into a Chest wch he had of Mr Ralph Chapmans Boys there fell out severall broken pieces of silver cutt and battered upon wch he mistrusted that it was stollen goods where upon he told Ralph Chapmans Boys, who he supposeth told sd Chapman and he the Constable; who came to him about the said goods, and he the said deponent Readily showed it to him that the Right owner might have it
Bristol 24th Novembr 1697 Taken upon Oath from me
Jno Saffin Just:
25th The said Deponent upon the Oath that he hath taken saith and affirmeth that the said Elizabeth delivered to him the above sd bundle of goods long since the Constable came to search for it, as is above expressed.

John Saffin (1626-1710) was born in England, migrated to America, and settled in Scituate in the Plymouth Colony. There, he was educated by Charles Chauncy, the future president of Harvard College. After spending three years in Virginia in the 1650s, Saffin returned to New England and married Marie Willett in 1658. By 1660, he had settled in Boston, where she died of smallpox in 1678, after giving birth to eight children, all of whom died young. Saffin became a merchant and wrote poetry. His best-known work is the proslavery A Brief and Candid Answer, written in response to Samuel Sewall's critique of slavery, The Selling of Joseph (1700). Saffin also served in the colonial assembly of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, serving as speaker in 1684. When the Dominion of New England was established in 1686, Saffin moved to Bristol in the Plymouth Colony. In 1692, he became a judge of the court of common pleas for Bristol County in the new Province of Massachusetts Bay and served on the governor's council from 1693 to 1702. He married Elizabeth Lidgett, the widow of a Boston merchant, but she was frequently ill and died in the 1680s. He then married Rebecca Lee in 1687, but their marriage was marked by periods of separation for many years.

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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