Beschreibung:

Partially printed document discussing a debt Samuel Hall owed Benjamin Franklin dated June 12, 1772. An excerpt of the document reads, Benjamin Franklin now resigning in our City of London, in our County of Middlesex in our Kingdom of Great Britain esqr in a plea of debt, for that the said Samuel at said Boston, on the fifteenth day of February Amno Domini 1764, by his bond under his hand and seal duely [illegible] and in court to be produced bound himself by the name and additions of Samuel Hall Printer, of Newport in the County of Newport in the Colony of Rhode Island, to the said Benjamin by the name and addition of Benjamin Franklin of the City of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania Esqr, in he sum of two hundred and seventy pounds, three shillings and five pence of careful money of Great Britain, to be pain upon demand, yet the said Samuel, tho requested has never paid it, but detains it. Samuel Hall apprenticed under his uncle in New Hampshire until he began working with his father-in-law James Franklin Jr., the nephew of Benjamin Franklin James Franklin Jr. printed The Newport Mercury in Rhode Island. He died in 1762 and his widow, Anna Smith Franklin, partnered with her son-in-law. Anna died in 1763, making Hall the owner of The Mercury. A year later, he borrowed money from his distant relative and fellow printer, Benjamin Franklin Hall sold The Mercury in 1768 in order to establish the first printing shop in Salem, Massachusetts. [1] Even though he acquired money from the sale, he did not pay his debt to Franklin. Tired of waiting for the sum owed to him, Franklin took legal action from London and hired John Adams to obtain money from his relative. Sheriff Nathan Brown arrested Hall on June 22, 1772, but he posted bail. Hall and Franklin settled in court by a "proposal made by Hall or rather Hall's friends" in July 1772. [2] Although, Hall did not begin paying installments until January 1773. According to Adams' law dockets, Franklin paid him a sum of £5.0.6 for recovering the money. When the Revolution began Hall was a fierce supporter and relocated his business to Cambridge at the request of the Provincial Congress. After the war, he printed in both Salem and Boston, became a respected community leader, and was one of the nation’s leading publishers of sermons, children’s books, science, and literature. [3] [1] Bulletin of the Newport Historical Society, Volumes 3-15. Newport, RI: Newport Historical Society, 1912. 10. Accessed via: https://books.google.com/books?id=6QcoAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=samuel+hall+,+printer,+rhode+island&source=bl&ots=RVXzE 6OLar&sig=c0GADpZvIBTKOVI1OnLIj2sid5I&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHvY2XqM3MAhUnzIMKHZaKCfMQ6AE IRjAI#v=onepage&q=samuel%20hall%20%2C%20printer%2C%20rhode%20island&f=false on May 9, 2016. [2] Carl Van Doren (editor), Letters of Benjamin Franklin and Jane Mecom. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 138. Accessed via: https://books.google.com/books?id=aznWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=samuel+hall+and+benjamin+franklin&source=bl&ots=DUP EFbBdEu&sig=y_JsVWlPqxrzlbusaHq2syO9tFQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig8Odo83MAhXK5YMKHds3AtQQ 6AEIPDAF#v=onepage&q=samuel%20hall%20and%20benjamin%20franklin&f=false on May 9, 2016. [3] Salem Athenaeum. "Samuel Hall: Patriot-Printer of the Revolution." Accessed via: http://salemathenaeum.net/current-exhibition/past-exhibitions/ on May 9, 2016. Additional references: Benjamin Franklin Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1964. 282. Accessed via: https://books.google.com/books?id=TUUvLQxzoKoC&pg=PA282&lpg=PA282&dq=samuel+hall+and+benjamin+franklin&source=bl&ots=yMB7xp Bk6o&sig=gDPoE9ujjXAX6nvgXmTq7kjXUEE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig8Odo83MAhXK5YMKHds3AtQQ6AEIPjA G#v=onepage&q=samuel%20hall%20and%20benjamin%20franklin&f=false on May 9, 2016. Condition: Some tears at the folds and toning of the paper, has some backing to support the paper from further damage.