NorthShore Slavery

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Essex County Massachusetts Freedom Case Participants 1760 - 1783

Benjamin Kent (1708-1788)

Biography: BENJAMIN KENT (1708-1788). Harvard 1727. Admitted attorney, J, ca. 1739; barrister, Aug. 1762. Began career as a Congregational minister. Dismissed by an ecclesiastical council after a heresy trial in 1735, but won a lengthy civil suit for his back salary in 1737. A Son of Liberty and correspondent of John Wilkes. Appointed state Attorney General, 1776. Served as Attorney General for Suffolk Co., 1777-1785. Under the influence of his loyalist son-in-law, Sampson Salter Blowers, q.v., joined family in Halifax in 1785. 8 Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates 220-230.
Adams, John, L. Kinvin Wroth, and Hiller B. Zobel. Legal Papers of John Adams. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1965.

Comments: Ceasar's attorney in Casar vs Watson (1771) at both the Plymough Inferior and Superior Courts. In April 1771, on a plea of not guilty, the Inferior jury found for Caesar. At Plymouth Superior Court in May, where Adams appeared for Watson, the jury affirmed the lower court's verdict, awarding Caesar nominal damages of 6d.9 Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed. C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2017. https://www.masshist.org/publications/apde2/view?id=ADMS-05-02-02-0004-0001 Legal Papers of John Adams, Volume 2 Editorial Note, pg 49

Jenny Slew vs. John Whipple, Jr. (1766) Attorney for Plaintiff
Lewis vs. Dodge (1769) Attorney for Defendant
Casar vs. Samuel Taylor (1772) Attorney for Defendant
Juno vs. David Larcom (1775) Attorney for Defendant

Sources

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• ECCP Writ
  Citation: Lewis vs. Dodge, Superior Court of Judicature, November 1769, 209

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• Dodge's response to Writ
  Citation: Lewis vs. Dodge, Superior Court of Judicature, November 1769, 209

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• ECCP Court Judgment for Dodge, page 1
  Citation: Lewis vs. Dodge, Superior Court of Judicature, November 1769, 209

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• ECCP Court Judgment for Dodge, page 2
  Citation: Lewis vs. Dodge, Superior Court of Judicature, November 1769, 209

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• Notice of Lewis's intent to file appeal of loss to Dodge in ECCP case.
  Citation: Lewis vs. Dodge, Superior Court of Judicature, November 1769, 209

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• Back of Writ to Linebrook residents for SCJ
  Citation: Lewis vs. Dodge, Superior Court of Judicature, November 1769, 209

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• Front of Writ to Linebrook residents for SCJ
  Citation: Lewis vs. Dodge, Superior Court of Judicature, November 1769, 209

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• SCJ ruling in favor of Edward Lewis.
  Citation: Lewis vs. Dodge, Superior Court of Judicature, November 1769, 209

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• Dated Sept. 9, 1771. Copy of ECCP writ for Casar vs. Taylor.
  Citation: Samuel Taylor vs Casar, Superior Court of Judicature June 1772, 15. Suffolk # 132190.

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• ECCP September 1771 Record of Caesar vs. Taylor, Docket #51. Finding is for Plaintiff for 25 pounds, 13 shillings and eight pence. Defendant files an Appeal to the SCJ.
  Citation: Samuel Taylor vs Casar, Superior Court of Judicature June 1772, 15. Suffolk # 132190.

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• Dated September 24, 1771. Judgement by ECCP of 25 pounds 13 shillings and eight pence to Casar.
  Citation: Samuel Taylor vs Casar, Superior Court of Judicature June 1772, 15. Suffolk # 132190.

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• Dated September 30 1771. Bond for Appeal to SCJ.
  Citation: Samuel Taylor vs Casar, Superior Court of Judicature June 1772, 15. Suffolk # 132190.

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• ECCP July 1775 Record of Juno vs Larcom's caase being dismissed because Larcom had died.
  Citation: Juno vs Larcom (1775) Essex County Court of Common Pleas July 1775 Record, 43.