Writ of Attachment 1732 to Seize Property or Person of "Indian man" Samuel Amous in Colonial Massachusetts

Bristol County clerk Timothy Fales issued this writ of attachment to the sheriff or deputy of Bristol County to attach property worth £10 or arrest the person of Sam Amous/Amos, a laborer and "Indian man" to compel Amous to respond to a suit brought by widow and shopkeeper Sarah Paine for the payment of an account for £5, 10s, 6d. Amous was in Woodstock, then part of Massachusetts, which was incorporated in 1749 and became part of Connecticut.

On the verso, Deputy Sheriff John Payson reported three days later that he attached "the Body of the within written Samuel Amos and taken bond" for his appearance at court. Payson was assisted by Nathaniel Jacobs, who also signed the return.

[NATIVE AMERICAN.] Timothy Fales, Partially Printed Document Signed, Writ of Attachment to Sheriff of Worcester County, Massachusetts, August 7, 1732. 2 pp., 7.75" x 6.25". Expected folds; embossed wax seal intact; general toning; very good.

Excerpt
"We Command you to Attach the Goods or Estate of Sam Amous (late of Barrington in ye County of Bristol now) of Woodstock in ye Count of Worcester Indian man Labourer to the Value of ten Pounds; and for want thereof to take the Body of the said Sam Amous (if he may be found in your Precinct) and him safely keep, so that you have him before Our Justices of Our Inferiour Court of Common Pleas next, to be Holden at Bristol, within and for Our said County of Bristol, on the Second Tuesday of October next; Then and there in Our said Court to Answer unto Sarah Paine of Bristol in ye County of Bristol widow – shopkeeper...."

Timothy Fales (1690-1777) was born in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College in 1711. He worked as a schoolmaster in Bristol before working at sea for a few years. In 1724, he received a commission as a justice of the peace. He served as the clerk for both the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and the Court of Sessions of Bristol County. From 1760 to 1761, he served as the judge of the Bristol County Court of Common Pleas.

Sarah Clark Paine Chandler (1691-1778) was born in Boston and married Nathaniel Paine III (1688-ca. 1732) in 1713, and they had seven children. He was a judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for Bristol County from 1724 until his death. After his death, she married widower John Chandler (1693-1762) of Worcester in 1740, who had nine children from his first marriage. One of her sons married one of his daughters in 1749. Sarah Chandler died of smallpox.

Nathaniel Jacobs (1683-1772) was born in Massachusetts and was one of the first settlers and founders of Thompson, Connecticut. He lived in Bristol in 1722 and later moved to Woodstock before 1737. In 1713, he married Mercy Whitman (1689-1774).

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