Petition of Joseph Aaron to the Massachusetts General Court
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
To the Honourable, the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled
The petition of Joseph Aaron humbly sheweth that your petitioner, one of the Indian Natives of Grafton, in possession of forty-seven acres and three quarters of land in said Town of Grafton, which is mostly covered with small brush, the large wood being generally taken off, and but a very small part of it under improvement, that he is also entitled to the annual interest arising on three-fourths of one-seventh part of the fund belonging to said Grafton Indians, which is all the means your petitioner has for the support of himself and wife,1 that his said wife has been confined the whole of the last season with a lameness in one of her feet nearly approaching to a mortification, which has incurred a bit of expense of more than sixty dollars, for doctoring, nursing, etc., and she will probably never recover so as to be able, by her own labour, to contribute anything toward her future support.
That your petitioner has no children and being now sixty-three-years-old, feels himself, through the infirmities of age, utterly unable to cultivate his land in such a manner as to yield a support for himself and wife.
Under these circumstances, your petitioner is very desirous of disposing of his property aforesaid in such a manner as to secure for himself and wife a more comfortable support during the remainder of their lives and, for this purpose, he, therefore, humbly prays This Honourable Court would grant him liberty to convey his land and right in said proprietary fund to one Silas Fay of Westborough, in consideration of which, the said Silas will, at his own expense, comfortably support your petitioner and his wife the residue of their lives, and is ready to enter into bonds with sufficient sureties, for the performance of the same, in such a way and manner as this Honourable Court shall direct.
And as in duty bound shall ever pray,
Joseph Aaron
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Certification: |
The subscribers, Trustees of the Grafton Indians, hereby certify that the facts set forth in the foregoing petition are true, and are of opinion that it would greatly conduce to the comfort of the petitioner and his wife, should the prayer thereof be granted. Benjamin Heywood, Isaac Harrington |
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Legislative Action: |
The Petition of Joseph Aaron, one of the Grafton Indians / Mr. Fay / Mr. W. Fisher / Mr. Pope / |
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To consider the memorial of the Trustees on Fortune Burnee / |
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Mr. Bridgham / Mr. Smith |
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Mr. Mitchell / Mr. Robinson / Mr. Eustis / June 4, 17902 |
- 1. The marriage records of Grafton indicate that in February 1798 a Joseph Aaron married Susanna Malson. Given Joseph Aaron's advanced age, it is reasonable to assume that the groom in 1798 would have been a son. However, considering his statement some lines down, he and Deborah may have been childless and Aaron did remarry in 1798. Grafton Vital Records to the Year 1850, 157.
- 2. Resolves 1796, c. 7, passed February 7, 1797