During the Revolutionary War, Governor John Hancock Appoints a Future Congressman Justice of the Peace
This is the first political appointment of Josiah Dean, later member of Congress from Massachusetts.
Josiah Dean was born in 1748, and was an adult in witness to the American Revolution. He was a businessman and shipbuilder until 1781, when he entered public office as a Justice of the Peace. Beginning in 1804 and through 1811, he served in the state legislature and U.S. Congress before retiring to...
Josiah Dean was born in 1748, and was an adult in witness to the American Revolution. He was a businessman and shipbuilder until 1781, when he entered public office as a Justice of the Peace. Beginning in 1804 and through 1811, he served in the state legislature and U.S. Congress before retiring to continue his business pursuits. This is Dean's first political appointment, as Justice of the Peace, signed by John Hancock.
Document Signed, approximately 18 1/2 by 11 1/2 inches, Boston, March 1, 1781, appointing “Josiah Dean, Esquire of Upton to be one of the Justices to keep the peace in the county of Worcester…for the term of seven years, if he shall during that time behave while in the same office.”
The verso of the document is also signed by Moses Gill, later acting Governor of the State, as well as Samuel Baker and Joseph Dorr, two other politicians from the County of Worcester. They attest to the oath of allegiance Dean has taken.
In the years from 1780 to 1785, Hancock served his first term as governor of Massachusetts. Documents from that first term are much less common than those from his second from 1787-1793.

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