Boston Augt. 30th. 1757 Sr.,

I recd. a line & an half by Capt. Jones. I am very Sorry you should put off writing till the last moment so as to have no time to answer a Letter. I want much to know how Leighs affair stands & Knox & some other affairs wch. I must once more repeat & pray you to answer me in Such a Manner as you would expect to be answered your self. & 1st. as to the hat Why can't you give me an answer to a civil question, is there one in the case of Draws or is there not? If there be & it abt. 7 inch in the crown pray send it to me safely packed up & if you see any thing of Duglass History acording to the discription I gave you pray send it. You may remember that when you sent the Chest of Linnen you could not get it all in & I find there are some napkins Sheets & other things missing. Pray let me know something about them as I have often desired you. If I took no better Care of yr. Business here then you do of mine there you would have lost the money in Col. Hills hands but by my carefull Industry tho he is still in jayl I have got it & given you Credit for it. You are sensible that half yr. Bond to Father became due last July & as the Estate is circumstanced it will not be in my Power to delay the payment so long as I would do. There is one thing Occurs to my mind wch. as a Freind to you & Mr. Palmer I am Obliged to mention which is the affair of Bucknam. Mr. Palmer Sued Bucknam. He said you owed him money on account & produced one. Mr. Palmer not being able to do any thing better took an order on you & dropt the action, & has wrote to you to be advised concerning the matter.1 You have never given any direct answer whether you owe Bucknam or not or whether you will pay Mr. Palmer. I think it incumbent on you to give an answer of Some Sort that So he may know wt. to do, for if you wont pay it or you don't owe him he must be held to security, for as the matter now lyes if he dyes Mr. Palmer looses his debt. Pray consider how unkind treatment this is to yr. true freind Mr. Palmer & write him speedily how the matter stands. Capt. Jones has hinted to me that there is a claimer to the House there vizt. Mr. Tidmarsh I think. I pray you to consult Mr. Salter2 abt. this & write me perticularly abt. it. I am very sorry I am necissetated to trouble you abt. so many affairs. Our concerns at present seem to be pretty much tangled & the only way to get out is to be in earnest a little while & do wt. do as it needs to be done explicitely and intellegabley. I hope 'ere48long to write to you on more agreable Subjects, but at present I think it my duty to put you in mind of yr. negligence that you may reform. & I pray you to assist me all you can there & depend upon I shall consult yr. Interest in every respect. If the hat be a good one and abt. 7 inches Crown send it me notwithstanding my Power to you to sell the things.

RTP

LbC ; addressed: "To James Freeman at Halifax pr. Capt. Jones."

1.

RTP notes in his diary, Dec. 21, 1756: "W&S writ and service Palmer vs Bucknam for Middlesex"; Jan. 4, 1757: "Writ Palmer vs Bucknam return'd not served, altered it to April Court and dd. it"; and Jan. 10, 1757: "I went to Charlestown wrote to Shff Richardson abt. abatmt. in Writ Palmer vs Bucknam."

2.

Malachy Salter (1715/6–1781), a Boston native, settled at Halifax perhaps as early as 1749. Be came one of the leading merchants of that town and in addition also extended credit, prosecuted debts, settled estates, and purchased Halifax estates, often from the over-extended poor. As a result he was characterized by contemporaries as a "Litigious troublesome man... who has treated us in a Barbarous cruel manner" (DCB).