Massachusetts Archives Collection. v.183-Revolution Petitions, 1777-1778. SC1/series 45X, Petition of Joseph Prout

Petition subject: Slaves Original: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:13906055 Date of creation: 1777-09-10 Petition location: Scarborough Selected signatures:Joseph Prout Legislative action: Dismissed Total signatures: 1 Legislative action summary: Dismissed Legal voter signatures (males not identified as non-legal): 1 Female only signatures: No Prayer format was printed vs. manuscript: Manuscript Additional archivist notes: William Vaughan, “who came from your hon[orable] court” had informed his two negro men that slaves had been set free by an act of the court on July 14 and they had immediately deserted him and hired themselves out, one to Vaughan, and asking for redress [his cash book for the 1750s is at the Boston Public Library and William Vaughan’s papers or his relatives at MHS: http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0040 and wikipedia page for one of the William Vaughan’s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Vaughan_(merchant)] Location of the petition at the Massachusetts Archives of the Commonwealth: Massachusetts Archives volume 183, page 132 Acknowledgements: Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-5105612), Massachusetts Archives of the Commonwealth, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University, Institutional Development Initiative at Harvard University, and Harvard University Library.