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Benedict Arnold III 1754 Legal Document

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Benedict Arnold III 1754 Legal Document - Father Of The American General and Historic Traitor Seeks Restitution

(BENEDICT ARNOLD, III), The Father of American Revolutionary War General and Famous Traitor, Benedict Arnold.
January 3, 1754-Dated, Partially-Printed Document, Signed by the Judge, Isaac Huntington, Choice Very Fine. This original document regards legal claims made in court at Norwich, Connecticut by Benedict Arnold, (the father of Benedict Arnold, the historic American Revolutionary War General and Traitor). It reads, in part:
"These are therefore in His Majesty's Name to command you, that of the money of the said Daniel Cuttler, or his goods or chattels within..." It is an order to arrest and take the goods and property of a debtor, and to find him and bring him to the front for judgment. It is extremely rare to find anything at all on Benedict Arnold III (the father). This document refers to the FATHER. His young son will be only 15 years old when he joins the army in the French and Indian War. Later, his son's Revolutionary War exploits are profound, and his history at that time well known and documented. Benedict Arnold's father's name is written within this document three times, and once again upon the reverse side docket as the plaintiff in this court case. It does not bear his actual autograph. A long notation from the Sheriffs Deputy on the upper reverse describes that the payment was not made and he had the Daniel Cuttler, "committed unto the Keeper of the Goal (prison) in Windham" for nonpayment of the debt due to Benedict Arnold. It is boldly printed and completed, measures 6" x 7" and is in choice, clean overall condition.

General Benedict Arnold was born the last of six children to Benedict Arnold III (1683–1761) and Hannah Waterman King in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1741. He was named after his great-grandfather Benedict Arnold, an early governor of the Colony of Rhode Island, and his brother Benedict IV, who died in infancy before Benedict Arnold V was born. Only Benedict and his sister Hannah survived to adulthood; his other siblings succumbed to yellow fever in childhood. Through his maternal grandmother, Arnold was a descendant of John Lothropp, an ancestor of at least four U.S. presidents.

The Arnold family was well off until the future general's father made several bad business deals that plunged the family into debt, and became an alcoholic, forcing his son to withdraw from school at 14 because the family could not afford the expense.

His father's alcoholism and ill-health prevented him from training Arnold in the family mercantile business, but his mother's family connections secured an apprenticeship for Arnold with two of her cousins, brothers Daniel and Joshua Lathrop, who operated a successful apothecary and general merchandise trade in Norwich.


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