American Historical Ephemera and Photography Online

DAVENPORT, Addington (1670-1736). Document signed ("Adton Davenport Cler") as Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. [Boston, MA], January 1703. 1p., 7 1/4 x 9 in. (losses/separations including central loss with paper repair, creasing, toning/spotting). This early Massachusetts document is a manuscript court order empowering a committee of merchants to audit the accounts involved in a suit between George Lason and Peter Sergeant and report findings to the court the following April.

PEPPERRELL, William (1696-1759). Autograph document signed ("WM Pepperrell [?]").. 1724[?]. Manuscript court document referencing the deposition of a man named Thomas Knight in relation to a stray mare.

Together, 2 manuscripts documents signed by important Colonial Period figures.

[With:] Partly printed command to the Sheriff of the City of New York, 1750.

Addington Davenport was a jurist who graduated from Harvard in 1689 and, after traveling, returned to his native Boston where he became Register of Deeds. He was a founder of the Brattle Street Church, and Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Court of Common Pleas. He also served as a judge on the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature from 1715 until he died in 1736.

Sir William Pepperrell was an American merchant and soldier during the Colonial Period. His family business, which he largely took over in 1713, became one of the most prosperous mercantile houses in New England, exporting lumber, fish, and other products to Europe and the West Indies. He served in the Massachusetts militia, eventually becoming a colonel in 1726, and later a major general in 1755 during the French and Indian War. For a few months, he served as acting Governor of Massachusetts, having had experience in Massachusetts politics as a legislator and Governor's councilman for many years. His legacy is troubled, though, due to the many people he and his family enslaved and the trade they financed as part of their business dealings.