JAMES OTIS, SR. - MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENT SIGNED 1754 CO-SIGNED BY: JOSEPH NEWMARCH - HFSID 295409

JAMES OTIS, SR.
Summons for the appearance of a deputy sheriff to appear before the Court of Common Pleas in Boston, signed by Otis and also by the plaintiff, Joseph Newmarch
Manuscript Document signed: "J. Otis", "Joseph Newmarch", 2 pages (front and verso), 7½x9½. Suffolk County, [Colony of Massachusetts], 1754. Summons in the name of King George II, addressed to "any commissioner [?] of our County of York or his Deputy", to call upon the inhabitants of the first and third parishes of Kittery [now in the state of Maine, formerly a part of Massachusetts] to aid in locating Caleb Hutchings, a deputy sheriff of York County, that he may be brought before the next session of the Court of Common Pleas, meeting in Boston, to answer a debt complaint brought by Joseph Newmarch of  Portsmouth, New Hampshire. James Otis, Sr. (1702-1798), a distinguished Boston lawyer and a member of the Massachusetts General Court and Governor's Council, was appointed Attorney General of colonial Massachusetts in 1748. Himself a strong advocate of colonial rights, Otis was the father of three notables in the American Revolution: James Otis, Jr. (1725-1783), author of the phrase "Taxation without representation is tyranny"; Samuel Allyne Otis, Secretary of the US Senate for a quarter century until his death in 1814; and poet, playwright and revolutionary pamphleteer Mercy Otis Warren. James Otis, Sr. is often called "colonial James" to distinguish him from his even more famous son. He was active in the campaign against "writs of assistance," which empowered royal officials to search private homes without a warrant, the issue on which his eloquent son James Jr. first earned fame. The senior Otis had expected to be appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, but was passed over in favor of future colonial Governor Thomas Hutchinson. This triggered a feud between the Otis and Hutchinson families that influenced the movement for independence. Kittery is located in the present state of Maine, which was a part of Massachusetts in the colonial era and until 1820. Courts of Common Pleas in England and colonial America were used to resolve civil disputes. Joseph Newmarch was a merchant formerly resident in Kittery, relocated to Portsmouth New Hampshire. Edges fayed. Heavily toned and creased. Multiple mailing folds. Torn at top edge. Top right edge has become separated. Fragile condition.