TITLE: Letter from John Crook in London to John Bowne, Samuel Spicer, and John Tilton
DOCUMENT ID: BFP 2018.1.02-12
DATE: 7 August, 1675 (Old Style) / 17 August, 1675 (New Style)
John Crook of Newton in Bedfordshire, England writes to John Bowne, Samuel Spicer, and John Tilton, asking them to mediate a business dispute with Nathaniel Sylvester of Shelter Island regarding a shipment of goods that he sent to his kinsman Latimer Simpson using Sylvester as a middleman. Crook has repeatedly failed to get an accounting for, despite multiple letters to Sylvester. He suggests involving Rhode Island Quaker Christopher Holder and other area residents if need be, and threatens legal action against Sylvester if mediation does not prevail.
Attached invoices and attestations mentioned in the letter are no longer present, nor is an enclosed letter to Sylvester himself. (See also 2018.1.1-17: Power of Attorney from John Crook.)
Notes:
Letter-writer John Crook (1617-1699) was a wealthy English Quaker and writer well known for hosting George Fox before a large crowd at his estate, Beckerings Park in Bedfordshire, in May 1658. Like George Fox, Crook was an advocate of silent prayer.
Co-recipients Samuel Spicer (1640-1699) and John Tilton (1631-1688) were Quakers of Gravesend on Long Island. today part of Brooklyn. Nathaniel Sylvester (1610-1680) was the sole proprietor of Shelter Island, Long Island at the time of this letter.
Latimer Sampson was engaged to Nathaniel's daughter Grizzell Sylvester (1654-1691), but he died in 1674 before marrying. It is not clear to what extent Grizzell and/or Nathaniel Sylvester had an interest in Sampson's estate or a role in executing his will; Grizzell did inherit some land. Their relationship may explain Sylvester's delay in rendering an account and reluctance to release the funds that Crook claims he is still owed for the shipment.
Christopher Holder (1631-1688) was an English Quaker missionary and passenger on the ship Woodhouse who disembarked in Cape Cod in 1657 rather than in New Amsterdam. A year later in Massachusetts his right ear was cut off by the Boston authorities. Holder later married Mary Marbury Scott, Anne Hutchinson's niece in Rhode Island.