52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS #11: WILLIAM PINSON PT6

The previous statement from Thomas Robbins appears to have been a request for
the Court to hear his case against my ancestor William Pinson. When the case was
actually heard on 30June 1685, he went into a little more detail in his accusations.
First, a few observations:

-Notice how many times William Pinson's last name is spelled differently in the petition.

- I wish I knew what the rule was in Puritan times as to when the letter "v" was to be written as the letter "u". I don't know how many times I typed "v" and had to change it
while doing this transcription(of another transcription)

Here's Thomas Robbins' petition:


Petition of Thomas Robbins June 30, 1685, to Salem Court "whom sence of ye greate afflction he now doth& hath a Long Tyme undergon both himself & his wife in ye howse where I live with William Pincen of wch seuerallof my Friends & neighbors haue bin ey witnesses unto & ye great grieuance that I labor under with this Pynson compells me to trouble this honored Court with a declaration of ye same unto you in wch ye seuerall euidences herewith presented you will sufficiently make manifest unto you how grossely I am abused by him ; as I hope ye honors will find cause not to Judge me Blame worthy in this my Complaint against ye gd Pynson but on ye contrary be solicitious  for me & poore wife to direct unto a way for or help & redress. I would not be ouer tedious in excerising yor patience with too Long a rehearsall of matters agt him but referr to ye euidences sworne: This Pynson in  ye tyme of my greate sickness when to all peoples apprehension about me neer my dissolution & uinsensible of what I did, obtained from me an Instrument of conveyance of my estate unto him,wch I was humbly Judge of noe more value than if a dead man if it was possible had don it ye said writeing being not made by my knowledge understanding or approbation neither was it made in my howse or hearing & so doe hope that ye will Judge the thing to be Fraudently obtained from  me & besides manifest proofe is against him that he hath not onely attempted to murder me in a Barbarous manner by throweing me on ye Fire ; & other horrid & absurd abuses to me & my poore [wife] at Seurall other Tymes both by word & deed but& also in selling & disposeing of my estate contrary to my allowance or consent; wch absolutely hath broken & Forfeited his pretended Interest to my estate & morour as for ye Instrument of Gift wchby that manner he obtained from me since I came to see it ; I find therein mentioned according to conditions as a Bond given me; whereas Indeed that wch he termed a Bond is noe&nbsp Bond as may appeare to ye honord Court & when I asked him for it he tooke it  to me & bid me doe what I would with it he cared not for it--now ye honord  Court may please to think that if I had bin Rational & had taken a Bond from him, whether or noe I should have Left it with him to have kept for me."
-pp479-480 
Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County Volume IX Published and Copyrighted by the Essex Institute 1975


Now, this puts another spin on things. Besides accusing William Pinson of physically
and verbally abusing him, Thomas Robbins is now adding the claim that the document which gave William control of the Robbins estate was fraudulently obtained while Thomas was ill and not capable of making such a decision.

I'll have some of the testimony in the case next.

To be continued.