American Historical Ephemera & Photography

One page, 7 1/2 x 13 1/8 in. Separations, adhesive residue from old repairs, creasing and loss to edges. Addressed to William Barrell with Boston cancel stamp on integral leaf. Docketed verso. True copy of Barrell's reply written beneath Adam's letter and extending into next page. 

Adams writes of Barrell's legal action against his brother, in which Adams is acting as Barrell's attorney. Adams received Barrell's action and was obliged to deliver it to the Superior Court, but is unaware of the grounds for the action. He writes, in part: "It is grounded on an Account & I had no evidence to support it. I must beg the favor of you to write me immediately Directions what I shall do with it - if you depend upon your Book you must be present with it to take your Oath - if you depend upon witnesses, please to write me who those witnesses are, that I may summon them."

Barrell's reply of 11 February 1773 notes his receipt of Adam's letter of 19 January, and expresses his surprise that he needs to provide proof against his brother, "as he repeatedly acknowledged the charges just before the Refferees..." Most notably, he writes, "The net[?] proceeds of his negro, leaves the Balance sued for."

William Barrell (d. 1776) was a New England merchant who had a store in Philadelphia from 1774-1776. John Adams charged goods in Barrell's store while he was serving in the Continental Congress, and described Barrell as a "worthy Bostonian transmuted into a worthy Philadelphia" in a July 1775 letter. Barrell was also notably the recipient of brother-in-law John Andrews's letters describing conditions in Boston in the lead-up to the Revolution.