Transcript:Colonial Society of Massachusetts. Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts/v10p271

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the cancelling thereof."¹ Then she seems to have given the Colony a rest for three years; but in the spring of 1647 she obtained from the General Court an order for the Secretary to write and send by special messenger to Doughty a letter saying that —

though nothing was shewed, in ye 6 months limited by ye Co'te of Assistants, why ye deede should not be canceled, nor nothing since wch may cause us to question ye formr verdict & iudgmt, yet, etc.,²

and desiring Mr. Doughty to come himself or to send the Court an authentic copy of the deed of release, or other instruments or evidences which in court he formerly produced, that the court may review the case, and saying further that if he does not come within six months the court is resolved to proceed as best they may in the matter. He did not appear; and in November, out of consideration for the widowhood and poverty of this persistent woman, the General Court, asserting that the Court of Assistants had done her no injustice and had followed the law of England and the laws and custom of the Colony, nevertheless annulled the cancellation of the before-mentioned deed so far as the power and credit of the General Court may prevail and further provided that "ye order shalbe exemplified undr the scale of this colony, if ye petitioner shall so desire."³

Mrs. Cole still pursued the Court: which, though manifestly losing patience, on 18 October, 1648, agreed⁴ to endeavor to procure Mr. Doughty's return to Boston to answer if Mrs. Cole would put up good security to pay charges and possible damages. In May, 1649,⁵ she petitioned the Court again in the same matter. Finally, in May, 1650, the Court answered that they had done what they conceive is fully just under which the petitioner "ought to rest herself satisfied nor can they further act therein."⁶

¹Massachusetts Colony Records, ii. 74.
²Ibid. ii. 191; iii. 138, 139.
³Ibid. ii. 205-207.
⁴Ibid. ii. 257.
⁵Ibid. ii. 272.
⁶Ibid iii. 190. Mrs. Cole's name appears again on these records three times. On 16 October, 1650, " being visited with longe & sore sicknes, & hauing spent all her estate," she petitions for help and is granted £20 (Ibid. iii. 217). On 14 October, 1651, John Lewes petitions for fifty shillings expended for her " mayntenauce " and it is granted, " it beinge the last the