Estate / Collection: The Victor Gulotta Collection

FREEMAN, EDMOND [sometimes EDMUND]

Indenture signed. 20 May 1639. Manuscript on vellum with a scalloped upper edge and the original vellum tie (wastepaper with manuscript). Signed "Edmond Freeman" on the folded flap along the bottom edge, the verso signed by witnesses Thomas Henshaw, Thomas White, Ralph White and one other. 10 x 18 inches (26 x 46 cm); not framed. Lightly soiled but fine overall, original folds.

Bond between "Edmond Freeman of London Merchant" and his brother William Freeman of Cowfolds, Sussex. While this document transfers land in England, it is believed to be signed by Edmond (sometimes (Edmund) Freeman (c.1596-1682) who had come to Massachusetts on the Abigail in 1635 and was one of the ten founders of Sandwich, the first town settled on Cape Cod. Freeman was admitted freeman at Plymouth on 23 January 1637 and served as Assistant Governor of Plymouth Colony from 1640 to 1647 under Governors William Bradford and Edward Winslow. The witnesses who have signed on the verso may in fact be other early Plymouth settlers. This document sells land at Sussex, England from Freeman to his brother who remained there, and is a good example of the dissolution of ties between the first colonists and those back at home.

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