1786 Post-Revolutionary Massachusetts Probate Bond Document – Peter Hopkins

Offered here is a rare original 1786 probate bond from early post-colonial America, dated April 8, 1786. The document names Peter Hopkins of Wales in Lincoln County, Massachusetts, along with Abner Maxson and Edward Fuller, both yeomen of Pittston. The region was then part of Massachusetts and later became Maine. Hopkins was acting as administrator of the estate of Parish Humphrey, a deceased yeoman of Winthrop. With permission from the court at Pownalborough, Hopkins was authorized to sell part of Humphrey’s real estate to pay the estate’s lawful debts. The three men were bound for the substantial sum of five thousand pounds to Jonathan Bowman, Judge of Probate for Lincoln County.