Adams John 1735 - 1826 John Adams signed legal document as lawyer for Ben Franklin: an order to arrest Samuel Hall, of Franklin and Hall, with about 170 words in Adams hand!

Partly Printed Autograph Document Signed "Adams" on verso, 1 page, 8" x 6.25". Boston, June 9, 1772. To the Sheriff of Essex County. Also signed "Ezekl Goldthwait Clerk." Also on verso is an ADS "Nathan Brown under Sheriff." Expertly restored. Fine condition.

Completed and signed by John Adams: 169 words in his hand! In full, "Suffolk, ss. GEORGE the Third, by the Grace of GOD, of Great-Britain, France and Ireland, KING, Defender of the Faith, &c.

"To the Sheriff of our County of Essex his Under Sherriff, or Deputy, Greeting. We Command you to Attach the Goods or Estate of Samuel Hall of Salem in our Said County of Essex, Printer to the Value of Two hundred Pounds, and for want thereof to take the Body of the said Samuel (if he may be found in your Precinct) and him safely keep, so that you have him before our Justices of Our Inferiour Court of Common Pleas next to be holden at Boston, within and for Our said County of Suffolk, on the Second Tuesday of July next:

"Then and there in Our said Court to answer unto Benjamin Franklin. Now residing in our City of London, in our County of Middlesex in our Kingdom of Great Britain Esqr in a Plea of Debt, for that the Said Samuel at Said Boston, on the fifteenth Day of February Anno Domini 1764, by his Bond under his Hand and Seal duly executed and in Court to be produced, bound himself by the Name and Additions of Samuel Hall Printer, of Newport in the Colony of Rhode Island, to the Said Benjamin by the Name and Additions of Benjamin Franklin in the City of Philadelphia in the Province of Pensylvania Esqr in the Sum of Two hundred and Seventy one Pounds, Three Shillings and Five Pence of lawfull Money of Great Britain, to be pad upon Demand, Yet the Said Samuel, tho regretful has never paid it, but detaind it.

To the Damage of the said Benjamin as he saith the Sum of Five hundred Pounds which shall then and there be made to appear, with other due Damages: And have you there this Writ, with your Doings therein Witness Eliakim Hutchinson, Esq; at Boston, this Ninth Day of June in the Twelfth Year of Our Reign, Annoque Domini, 1772."

ADS "Nathan Brown under Sheriff" on verso. In full, "Essex ss June ye 22d 1772. I have taken the Body of the within Named Samuel Hall and have taken Bail for his appearance."

Background

Ann Smith Franklin (1696-1763) was an American colonial newspaper printer and publisher. She inherited the business from her husband, James Franklin (1697-1735), brother of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). In 1741, she began selling her brother-in-law Benjamin's almanac, Poor Richard's Almanack. She took on the printer Samuel Hall (1740-1807), widower of her daughter Sarah, as her business partner in 1761, publishing The Newport Mercury, and forming "Franklin & Hall" which lasted until her death in Newport, R.I., in 1763. A year later, Hall borrowed money from his late wife's uncle and fellow printer, Benjamin Franklin. Hall sold The Mercury in 1768 in order to establish the first printing shop in Salem, Massachusetts. Even though he acquired money from the sale, he did not pay his debt to Franklin.

Tired of waiting for the sum owed to him, Franklin took legal action from London and hired Boston lawyer John Adams to obtain money from Hall. Sheriff Nathan Brown arrested Hall on June 22, 1772, but he posted bail. In February 1773, Franklin received word from his cousin Jonathan Williams that a settlement had been brought about by "a proposal made by Hall or rather Hall's friends." From papers at the American Philosophical Society, we learn that the first installment of "Hall's Money" was •£100 sterling (•£133.6.6 lawful money of Massachusetts) and had been paid in January 1773. The remainder in four installments brought the total amount received to •£152.1.6 (•£202.15.4 Mass. Lawful money). The account also shows a payment of •£5.0.6 to John Adams for bringing suit against Hall for the recovery of the money. In March 1773, Franklin wrote his youngest sister, Jane (1712-1794), in part, "I have desired Cousin Williams to give you the Money he may recover from Hall." Recalling an old unpaid debt of their father's to "an old Man whose Name I have forgotten," Franklin tells his sister, "If you know that Person, I wish you would now out of Hall's Money pay that Debt..."