Lot 156
Pynchon, John (1621-1703) Colonial leader and landowner in Massachusetts Bay. Autograph Letter Signed, Springfield (Massachusetts), November 20, 1672, 2 full pages, legal folio. With integral address leaf. To his son, Joseph Pynchon, then a physician in Uxbridge, England. Waterstained, not affecting legibility of text; fold wear; basically in good condition. A long, newsy letter. In part: "…I understand you are in a way of settling at Uxbridge in your practise of phisick: I no whit dislike your imploying your selfe therein….I am desirous…to help you and furnish you with necessary requisites, and to encourage you I have resolved to settle upon you my Parsonage Land at Wraisbury….I also give you Blaste house and orchard and ye Pigeon house and orchard….I also do give you 1000 acres of land in this countrey at New London…I can ill spare any money…in furnishing your self with drugs….I have wrote to Mr. Wickins to furnish you with £100….you must be ye more husbandly and thrifty. You speake of Tenants complaining…It hath always been so….I hope John hath sent you your Commendamis from ye Colledge….The Lord Jehovah be your protection…."
John Pynchon's father, William, was the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts; William returned to England in 1652 and left his extensive land holdings and flourishing trading ventures in John's hands. John served as selectman, town clerk, magistrate, deputy to the General Court of Massachusetts Bay and Assistant in the Council; he was also one of the commissioners who received the surrender of New York from the Dutch. His business ventures prospered; he owned sawmills, corn mills, grist mills, and ironworks, and he established trading posts in the Housatonic Valley. In the 1680s he obtained a large sugar plantation in the Leeward Island, and his own ships carried sugar to the colonies and furs to England. At his death, he was one of the wealthiest and most influential men in New England. An autograph letter signed by John Pynchon is listed at $3750 in Sanders.
Estimated Value $2,000 - 3,000.
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| Realized $2,530 |
