Collectibles

1700 · 000819 — Boston Massachusetts MA 1700. On offer is a superb and important piece of Americana specifically a handwritten deed concerning the very important geographic area of Fort Warren which defends the harbor in Boston Massachusetts and has done so from 1861 through the end of World War II. To buffs of the Civil War it was also the location where the famous Union marching anthem 'John Brown' was written using a tune from an old Methodist camp song 'Glory Glory Hallelujah!' and signed by Isaac Addington who served on the Salem Witch Trial Grand Jury and Adam Winthrop the son of John Winthrop First Governor of Massachusetts. John Winthrop 1588-1649 is perhaps best remembered for the famous sermon in which he likened the Massachusetts Bay Colony to a 'city upon a hill' a model to the world of social and religious order." Ref: Wikipedia. This manuscript document is dated Boston 27 Dec 1700. Folded into thirds Calligraphic initials. SIGNED BY ADAM WINTHROP son of John Winthrop First Governor of Massachusetts and ISAAC ADDINGTON clerk of the Grand Jury during the Salem Witch Trials. This is the original deed referenced by Holmes Abiel 1763-1837. Cambridge : Hilliard and Brown 1829. from the Coll. Mass. HiM. Soc. iii. 299. which states: "In 1700 Adam conveyed the island to his son-in-law and daughter to be transmitted to their descendants. The Indenture handsomely written on parchment is now before me. It covenants and grants the island to "John Wainwright and to Ann his wife during the term of their natural lives and afterward to the use and behoof of the heires of their two body. begotten or to be begotten forever." The island was next owned by their son John Winthrop Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy In Harvard College; and next by his sons Hines and William of Cambridge lately deceased. James purchased of William his share and a few years since sold to the United States about five acres in two parcels at the east and west end of the island with a passage way rota the one to the other for the purpose of fortifications. On the west end has been erected Fort Warren which defends the entrance of the harbour." CONDITION: signatures are strong and legible majority of the deed legible though with age-wear sometimes serious rubbing and fading discoloration some holes; certainly not in the presumed fine condition when Abiel Holmes held the document in 1829 but certainly very presentable with the red wax seal still intact. This document is a wonderful tapestry comprised of the strands of early Colonial history. Inherited by his son Adam it links the famous Winthrop name from his namesake Grandfather Adam Winthrop 1548-1623 an English lawyer and famous Puritan reformer in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods through his great grandson Professor John Winthrop who was intimately connected to Harvard University's early history. The document is also witnessed and signed by Isaac Addington the first Secretary of the Mass. Bay Colony from 1692 to 1714 who additionally served on the grand jury in the Salem witch trials. The trials famously resulted in the executions of 20 people 14 women 6 men. PROVENANCE: Most recently from a private collector the present condition suggests this deed has long been in private hands and not an institutional archive. While in the 1820s the deed was possibly present in the archives of the Mass Historical Society it did not remain in the archives long thereafter and entered less protected private circulation. That stated Mr. Jeremy B. Dibbell of the Massachusetts Historical Society has kindly confirmed that this document like others that have entered private hands is not the property of the Massachusetts Historical Society. . Good. Atlas Folio - over 23" - 25" tall. Manuscript. unknown