Petition of Benjamin Heywood, Edward Rawson, and Isaac Harrington to the Massachusetts General Court
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
To the Honourable, the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled
The [ illegible ] memorial of the Trustees of the Hassanamisco (alias Grafton) Indians humbly sheweth that Fortune Burnee, a Negro man, late of said Grafton deceased,1 was formerly married2 to Abigail Anthony, alias Printer, an Indian woman of the said Hassanamisco Tribe, by whom he had issue, a son, Fortune Burnee, Jr.,3 that the said Abigail was possessed in her own right4 of a valuable real estate in said Town of Grafton and also had a claim to a proportion of the interest money annually paid to said Hassanamisco Indians, that the said Abigail died,5 leaving the said Fortune Burnee, Jr., and two other sons by former husbands (namely) David Abraham and Joseph Anthony,6 equal heirs to the reversion of the aforesaid estate, that the said Joseph Anthony died intestate without issue, leaving his share or right in said estate to be equally divided between the said David Abraham and Fortune Burnee, Jr., that the said David Abraham conveyed his original share in said estate by deed, to one Benjamin Wiser,7 and Indian of said Grafton and, having no issue, disposed by will of his share in said Joseph Anthony's estate to one Joseph Prentice, son of Henry Prentice,8 then of said Grafton, which will, since the decease of the said David Abraham, has been proved and approved by the Judge of Probate for the County of Worcester.9
That the said Fortune, Jr., in the year 1776 enlisted into the Continental Army, and deserted his Regiment,10 afterward went to sea, and it is not now known whether he be dead or living, that said Fortune Burnee, Sr., as tenant by the courtesy, has been indulged with the improvement of the aforesaid real estate to the time of his decease and had also received the annual dividend of said interest money, in the right of his said wife, and presuming upon the death of his son, the said Fortune, at the age of more than one hundred years, has disposed by will (a copy of which accompanies this memorial) of his said son's right to said estate to said estate to one Shelomith Stow, which will, since the decease of said Fortune Burnee, has been lodged in the Probate Office for said County to be appointed.
But as it has not been usual for land in said Town of Grafton to be alienated from said Indians without the special interposition of the General Court, your memorialists, therefore, thought it their duty to make the foregoing statement, at the same time, praying for the directions of this Honourable Court with respect to the aforesaid disposal of said estate and also with respect to the appropriation of the interest money that has and may arise on the right of the said David Abraham, deceased, and the said Abigail, late wife if the said Fortune Burnee, deceased.
And as in duty bound shall ever pray,
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Endorsement: |
Resolve directing the Attorney General11 to examine the nature and extent of the right of the Grafton Indians and estates in lands mentioned / January 29, 1796 / Copied 2 |
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Memorial of the Trustees of the Grafton Indians / Colonel Flagg / Mr. Sprague / Mr. Parsons / Accepted12 |
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[ illegible ] / Mr. Read |
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Docketing: |
23 |
- 1. Fortune Burnee, Sr., died in 1795 at an advanced age, over 100 years old.
- 2. Fortune Burnee and Abigail Printer then Abigail Abraham Anthony married in 1757. It was her third marriage and Burnee's second. Mandell, Sex, Love, Race, 78.
- 3. Fortune Burnee, Jr. was born March 24, 1757. Grafton Records: Marriages, Birth & Deaths 1: 192.
- 4. Abigail derived her right through her father Ami Printer.
- 5. She died in 1776. Mandell, Sex, Love, Race, 79.
- 6. David Abraham was born (March 28, 1744) during her marriage to Andrew Abraham, Jr., as were her other sons Jonas (May 8, 1742) and John (June 10, 1747). Joseph Anthony was born (December 24, 1753) during her marriage to William Anthony. Grafton Records: Marriages, Birth & Deaths 1: 192.
- 7. Benjamin Wiser was the son of Benjamin Wiser and Sarah Printer, the sister of Abigail Printer, making him David Abraham and Fortune Burnee II's first cousin. Benjamin had three siblings, James (b. 1752), Sarah (b. 1753), and Abigail (b. 1758).
- 8. Joseph Prentice, the son of Henry and Sarah Prentice of Grafton, Massachusetts was born on July 19, 1770, making him eight years old when David Abraham's will was written.
- 9. His will proved and approved in Worcester on March 1, 1785.
- 10. While Burnee may have deserted from his unit, he, nevertheless, served, at least up to 1777. In April 1775 he enlisted in Artemas Ward's regiment for seven days. By the end of the month, he joined Luke Drury's Company, in which he served until November of that year. In 1776 he was a private in Captain Mose McFarland's 7th Company of Lt. Colonel Thomas Nixon's 4th Regiment. His military wages for that last year were received by Benjamin Heywood, then paymaster of the 4th, and later a trustee of the Hassanamisco Indians.
- 11. James Sullivan was the Massachusetts Attorney General from 1790 to 1807.
- 12. Resolves 1795, c.23, January 29, 1796