April 12th. 1757 Sr.,

The bearer (Cato)1 is to receive his money tomorrow & promises to leave it either wth. my father or you for me if he has not Liberty to return to us. If the weather be fair I intend to be wth. him when he35receives it but lest I should not I write this that you may prevent his fooling it away when he comes to Boston.

White has let his house again to Cowen but would sell it for Land at Connecticut.

As to the Jewells &c. 'tis Eunice's desire that you would Inquire the utmost they will fetch & inform us before you make sale. We think the best way to know the Value is to pray Mr. Hurd2 (who knows the Value of them) to direct you how to make a division of them between yr. sisters & tell him they are their property & they want to divide them. Yrs. &c.

J: GREENLEAF

P.S. I Expect to be in Boston next week.

RC ; addressed: "To Mr. Robt. Treat Paine In Boston"; endorsed. Enclosed in Joseph Greenleaf to RTP, Apr. 17, 1757, printed above.

1.

This is the last reference in the Paine Papers to Cato, the family slave. His later history is not known.

2.

Nathaniel Hurd (1729–1777), a Boston silver- and goldsmith (Hollis French, Jacob Hurd and His Sons Nathaniel & Benjamin Silversmiths, 1702–1781 [Cambridge, Mass., 1939], 6–8; NEHGR 132[1978]:90)