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Document 27728

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
New attorney Adams defends plaintiff in a civil suit between hairdressers.
Early Partly Printed ADS: "by J.Q. Adams", 2p, 8x6½. Boston, 1791 September 14. OVER 300 WORDS IN ADAMS' HANDWRITING ON A LEGAL FORM. The future sixth U.S. President, then a 25-year-old lawyer and son of incumbent Vice President John Adams, fills out a Suffolk County legal form ordering the Sheriff of Suffolk "or any of the constables of the town of Boston in said County We Command you to attach the Goods or Estate of Stephen Francis of said Boston hairdresser, to the Value of twenty Pounds and for want thereof to take the body of the said Francis (if he may be found in your Precinct) and him safely keep, so that you have him before Our Justices of Our Court of Common Pleas next to be holden at Boston...then and there in Our said Court to answer unto Elkanah Barnes of said Boston hairdresser, in a plea of the case, for that the said Barnes on the eighteenth day of September in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and eighty seven, did by his deed of that date, by the name and addition of Elkanah Barnes...put himself voluntarily and of his own free will and accord, and with the consent of his said father Lemuel Barnes, and bind himself Apprentice to the said Francis to learn his art, trade or mystery, and with him the said Stephen Francis after the manner of an apprentice to serve from the said eighteenth day of September for and during the term of three years and nine months...." Francis promised "to teach and instruct, or cause the plaintiff be instructed in the art, trade or calling of a hair dresser...and to find and provide unto the plaintiff good and sufficient meat, drink, apparel, washing and lodging during the said term; and at the expiration thereof to give to the plaintiff one new suit of apparel...that the said term of three years and nine months did expire on the seventeenth day of June last, and that the said Stephen Francis, though often requested since that time, hath never given to the plaintiff a new suit of apparel, according to ~~the~~ by promise contained in the written agreement aforesaid, but refuses so to do...." On verso, Boston Constable Edward Wentworth has noted that "I have attacht A Wigg Box as the property of the within namd Stephen Francis and gave him a Summons...." Also, Francis' lawyer, E. Schier, notes that "said Francis comes & defends &c...saith that he never promised as within declared...."THIS DOCUMENT WAS PREPARED BY ADAMS JUST FOURTEEN MONTHS INTO HIS LEGAL CAREER. During the American colonial period, the apprenticeship discussed in this document could ultimately prove very lucrative, as hairdressers were kept busy styling the elaborate powdered wigs worn by American aristocrats and the visiting French and English. Following the Revolution, men's styles became somewhat simpler; many American men opted for the "travel" or "campaign" wigs so familiar in depictions of the Founding Fathers. John Quincy Adams, like his father, began his public career as an attorney, a profession viewed with considerable prejudice by New Englanders. After studying law with Theophilus Parsons, later a Chief Justice of the Massachusetts court, he began his own practice in Suffolk County in July 1790. Just three years after signing this document, young Adams was appointed U.S. Minister to the Netherlands by President Washington. Browned at top edges and at folds. Pinhead-size holes along vertical fold, which was separated, but was repaired on verso with tape. Chipped and nicked edges.

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