1785 Hassanamisco NIPMUC Indians, BUNKER HILL Captain Luke Drury SIGNED Document

Description: - 1785 Hassanamisco (NIPMUC) Indian Tribe DOCUMENT -- Battle of Bunker Hill CAPTAIN Luke Drury SIGNED Bond -- With the THREE Massachusetts GUARDIANS for the TRIBE - VERY RARE, Hassanamisco (NIPMUC) Indians BOND document SIGNED by Revolutionary War “Battle of Bunker Hill” CAPTAIN Luke Drury. Document is two-pages in length (one sheet of paper both sides) and is dated May 11th 1785. In 1773, Luke Drury was appointed a member of a Grafton committee organized to give bonds to the Hassanamisco Indian trustees which allowed the town to come into possession of some of the tribes’s land. This BOND agreement / obligation concerns LUKE DRURY, his brother ELIJAH DRURY, and JEDUTHAN FAY of Grafton AND the THREE Massachusetts GUARDIANS (Edward Rawson, Stephen Maynard, and Willis Hall) for the Hassanamisco Indian Tribe. Document is genuinely SIGNED on the BACKSIDE by Luke Drury, his brother Elijah Drury, and Jeduthan Fay. To the left of their signatures, BOTH Abner Stow and Samuel Wood have SIGNED their names as WITNESSES to the bond. Document reads in FULL (will some spelling corrected), “Know all men by these Presents that we Luke Drury Esqr (Esquire) Elijah Drury and Jeduthan Fay yeomen all of Grafton in the County of Worcester – and Commonwealth of Massachusetts are held and firmly bound and obliged unto Edward Rawson of Leicester Esqr (Esquire) Stephen Maynard of Westborough Gentleman and Willis Hall of Sutton Yeoman all in the county Worcester – Trustees appointed and empowered by the Great and General Court or Assembly of the said Commonwealth for and on Behalf of the Indians of Hassanamisco alias Grafton relating to the Purchase consideration arising on the sale of their lands etc in the sum of Thirty Pounds – Lawful money of said Province to be paid to the said Edward Rawson Stephen Maynard + Willis Hall – Trustees as aforesaid or their successors in said Trust To the which Payment well and truly to be made We bind ourselves our several and respective Heirs Executors and Administrators jointly and severally for and in the Whole firmly by these Presents Sealed with our seal dated this eleventh day of May Anno Domini 1785 in the ninth year of the Independence of America – The condition of the above obligation is such that if the above bounden Luke Drury Elijah Drury and Jeduthan Fay – or either of them their or either of their Heirs Executors Administrators Shall well and truly pay or cause to be paid unto the said Edward Rawson Stephen Maynard + Willis Hall – Trustees as aforesaid or to their successors in said Trust the full sum of Forty three ounces fourteen penny weight of coined silver or Equivalent in Lawful money of said Commonwealth with Lawful Interest for the same at on or before the Nineteenth day of March next Ensuring the date here of then the aforesaid obligation shall be Void or else shall abide in full ??? and Virtue. Luke Drury (signed) Elijah Drury (signed) Jedut Fay (signed) / Signed Sealed and Delivered in Presence of us Abner Stow (signed) Samuel Wood (signed)”. Directly below this written text, on the backside of the document (page 2), there is a YEARLING listing of INTEREST received or paid on the BOND – beginning on May 23rd 1786 and continuing EACH year until the LAST INTEREST was paid on September 24th 1808. GRAFTON / HASSANAMISCO INDIANS - in 1727, 7500 acres of land comprising an area known as “Hassanamisco” was purchased from Native American Indians, the Hassanamisco band of the Nipmuc Tribe and divided among English settlers and existing Indian families. Eight years later, in 1735, this parcel of land was incorporated as the town of Grafton in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. LUKE DRURY (1734 -1811) was an important Grafton, Massachusetts farmer, merchant, military and civic figure. Drury joined the militia in 1757, protecting Grafton during the last French and Indian War. Prior to the Rev War, he moderated a 1774 meeting of concerned citizens in Grafton, airing their grievances against the unpopular acts of the British Parliament. During the American Revolution, Captain Luke Drury marched his minuteman to Lexington and Concord on April 19th 1775. Thereafter he was incorporated into a Continental Regiment and was stationed on the lines at Dorchester. Drury fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, served at West Point, and was stationed in Grafton where his company of men guarded military stores. Following the war, Luke Drury took part in the 1786 – 87 western Massachusetts farmers tax revolt known as “Shays Rebellion”. Drury was chosen by the Grafton voters to represent them at the Worcester County Convention on August 17th 1786 and was a member of the temporary county government set up by the Shaysites in the midst of the insurrection. The uprising was ultimately put down by the Massachusetts militia and Drury was arrested in January of 1787 and imprisoned as a person dangerous to the state. In March, he petitioned the Governor and was eventually released on good behavior. Thereafter, Drury took an active role in state and local politics, serving terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the General Court. In Grafton, he was chosen Constable, Deputy Sheriff, Tax Collector, Assessor, and Selectman. WILLIS HALL (1718 -1800) was a civil and religious figure in the town of Sutton, Massachusetts. He was a Deacon and a member of the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety. In 1777, he was appointed to the Massachusetts General Court. Beginning in 1776, Hall served as one of the trustees of the Hassanamisco Indians in Grafton, but resigned his position in 1790 because of the supposed mismanagement of funds by the two other guardians. EDWARD RAWSON (1721 -1807) was an attorney and Deacon in the town of Mendon, Massachusetts. He represented Mendon in the Massachusetts General Court both before and after the American Revolution. Beginning in 1776, Rawson was appointed one of the trustees for the Hassanamisco Indians of Grafton. He moved to Leicester at some point. CONDITION: document is guaranteed authentic and original. It measures about 8 x 13 inches in size and is in fine overall condition with dark writing and bold signatures. There is a single horizontal fold and two vertical folds. There are several fold splits along the vertical folds on the bottom half of the document only, the largest about 1 ¼ inch in length. In addition, there is a loss of paper in the area where the paper seals for Luke Drury, Elijah Drury, and Jeduthan Fay would have been located. These faults aside, this is a very rare colonial New England Indian document signed by a notable figure in the early history of Massachusetts (see SCANS). The signature / autograph of LUKE DRURY is guaranteed authentic. Winning bidder to pay $25 for shipping, postage & INSURANCE. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. PLEASE READ: I have been buying + selling American historical autographs & documents for over 40 years and a former member of both the “Manuscript Society” and the UACC. We ship everything INSURED (thru the USPS) with a value over $50. This helps us know that the item you took the time to purchase arrived safely. Packages are shipped out within 1 – 3 business days, but typically the next day. Please understand, we do not make any money on shipping costs, but rather run a deficit over the course of a year. Most buyers don’t realize that ebay charges me a 13.3 percent FEE on the item sold, an additional 13.3 percent FEE on my quoted shipping charges, and another 13.3 percent FEE on the sales tax that ebay collects on the item. Everything we sell is packaged with the utmost care. Please read my ebay feedback over the last 25 years. The comments are often – the best packaging I have ever seen or “bullet proof” packaging. We do NOT offer returns for one simple reason. In the past, I have had some buyers purchase items from me and then proceed to shop them around during the return period to try and make a fast profit, without any financial risk. After they were unsuccessful, they returned the item to me. This information, however, made it back to me from different people I know who were directly offered my item immediately after I had sold it and before it was returned to me for a refund. Bid with confidence! You will receive the exact item pictured and in the same condition as described in my listing.

Price: 1250 USD

Location: Massachusetts

End Time: 2025-01-13T18:15:13.000Z

Shipping Cost: 25 USD