Notes about cases heard as Justice of the Peace, 1784-1795

This small paper-bound notebook contains notes Winthrop made concerning the cases he heard between 1784 and 1795 as a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex County. These notes provide insight into the nature of crimes being committed in Cambridge in the post-Revolutionary period, as well as the names and occupations of those accused and their victims. The cases involved the following individuals, among others: Samuel Bridge, Benjamin Estabrook, Joseph Jeffords, Cato Bordman, John Kidder, Spenser Goddin, Jacob Cromwell, Benjamin Stratton, Mary Flood, Bender Temple, John Willett, Joseph Hartwell, Nathaniel Stratton, Amos Washburn, Francis Moore, Thomas Malone, Thomas Cook, and Amboy Brown. The cases involved a range of offenses, and occasionally Winthrop decided that a case exceeded his jurisdiction and forwarded it to the General Court or the Supreme Judicial Court.

Copy of answer to Judge Phillip's invitation to attend his son's Commencement. 1795 July 8

One-page handwritten copy of a letter of acceptance by Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin to join Judge Samuel Phillip (Harvard AB 1771) at the Harvard Commencement where his son John Phillips (Harvard AB 1795) was graduating.

Bond of Samuel Shapleigh to Ebenezer Bradish, July 1, 1793

Although it is known that Bradish was a tavern keeper in Cambridge, the circumstances precipitating this bond are unclear. Shapleigh's name has been cut out from the bottom of the document. It was "signed, sealed and delivered" in the presence of John Warland and Raham Richardson. Annotations on the verso indicate payments made in 1795 and 1796.