Autograph letter signed from Timothy Parsons to Captain Caleb Hopkins, a Boston mariner and merchant. Pownalboro, [Maine District of Massachusetts, present-day Lincoln County, Maine], 15 September 1777. 1p, 7 1/2 x 6 3/4 in. Docketed to verso "Timo. Parsons / Letter Sept 15th / 1777." War-date letter in which Parsons asks Hopkins to oversee the distillation of 110 gallons of molasses into rum.

Letter reads, in full: "Sir I have sent by Capt. Brown in the Spy Schooner, 1 HH [hogshead] of Molasses containing 110 Gallons which I want to geet stilld into Rum if Sir you will take the troble of geeting it to a good still and geet it stilld for me it would much oblige me, and I will pay all charges. I shall be at Boston in three week from this. I have rec'd of Capt. Brown the Syeth [scythe?] & 2 tickets. I am with Respect Your Oblig'd friend and Humble Svt."

Though there were multiple schooners operating under the name Spy during the Revolutionary War (the most famous of which was a vessel of the Connecticut Navy), the vessel mentioned here likely refers to a Massachusetts privateer. Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution by Gardner Weld Allen (Massachusetts Historical Society, 1927) lists two Spy schooners, both operating in 1777, and each outfitted with guns and operated by a crew of 20. Privateers like the Spy disrupted enemy shipping, delivered intelligence, and transported essential goods for the Continental Army as well as the residents of coastal towns. The "Captain Brown" referenced may be a Captain William Brown who appears in references to Massachusetts privateers operating in 1777.

Timothy Parsons (1748-1807), a prominent merchant of Pownalboro (also Pownalborough), was serving in 1777 as an "Appointed Agent" for the Massachusetts Eastern District for Holding Court of Captures, and was a well-known Patriot. Captain Caleb Hopkins (1726-1799) is likely the prominent Boston mariner, merchant, and member of the Sons of Liberty who was also an associate of Paul Revere. Hopkins's name is inscribed on the famous Liberty Bowl of 1768. He was described in a 1775 Loyalist list of Boston "rebels" as "Caleb Hopkins, Mariner, a Northern politician, [who] talks on both sides the question occasionally" (Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, Series 2, Vol. 12). The letter between Parsons and Hopkins - two committed Patriots - is evidence of close-knit New England communities linked by commerce, industry, and shipping even in the midst of war.

[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [Revolutionary War, American Revolution]

Light creasing at folds, loss at seal not affecting text, scattered pencil notations.