Description:

"One if by Land, Two if by Sea" – Exceedingly rare and desirable document signed at Old North Church by sexton Robert Newman who, at the request of Paul Revere, had hung two lanterns in the steeple of his church to alert the colonial militia that the British were invading "by sea"

Exceedingly Rare Manuscript Document Signed "Robert Newman" as Sexton of Boston's Old North Church, 1 page, 7.25" x 4". On laid paper, two mounting remnants on verso. Fine condition.

Funeral expense bill "for Negro Woman" filled out in unknown hand. In full, "1787 Mr. Samuel Bradstreet to Robert Newman / Augt 10 Digging Grave for Negro Woman 5..0 / Cash Pd for ye Pall 4..6 / Ditto for tooling Bells 2..8 / My Attendance, Borrowing Chears &c 6 - / £ 0..18...2 Recd Payment – Robert Newman"

Docketed on verso "Funeral / Expenses of / Billah / 1787."

According to Todd W. Van Beck in the Handbook of Death and Dying Clifton D. Bryant, Editor in Chief (Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 2003), "Probably the oldest documentation of an undertaker being certified to do the job occurred in Boston during 1786. City records indicate that Robert Newman was registered that year with the Selectmen of Boston (the town council) as “one of those willing to undertake the charge of funerals.”

"It was undertaker-sexton Robert Newman who, on April 18, 1775, hung the lanterns in the steeple of Old North Church to alert the colonial militia of the British invasion, which culminated in the battles of Lexington and Concord and the American Revolution." Robert Newman hung two lanterns to signal that the British were marching to Lexington and Concord by sea across the Charles River and not by land. Ironically, as a teenager, in Boston, one of Paul Revere's first jobs was as a bell ringer at the Old North Church, then called Christ Church.

Also present is a 5" x 3" envelope, stamp cut off, postmarked Charlestown, Mass., November 14, 1876, addressed to E.N. Coburn in Charlestown noted to be the envelope in which the treasured document here offered was preserved.

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December 15, 2015 10:30 AM EST
Wilton, CT, US

University Archives

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