Individual Details

Moses Prison Term Dear Steven Milligan, On January 16 I received in the mail the information about the prison record of our ancestor Moses Jackson. This information was sent to me by the Massachusetts Archives in Boston, Massachusetts. As you know, our ancestor Moses Jackson was arrested in May 1815 in Norridgewock, Maine where he was living at the time for possession of counterfeit banknotes that he knew to be counterfeit. I wrote to the library in Norridgewock, Maine and neither they nor their local historical society knew anything about this event. Moses Jackson was convicted at a trial by a grand jury in Augusta, Maine and he entered the state prison at Charlestown, Massachusetts near Boston on June 26, 1815. This prison was built in 1805 and closed in 1970. Maine was a part of Massachusetts until March 15, 1820 when it became a state as part of the Missouri Compromise, a compromise worked out in the U.S. Congress to have an equal number of slave states (States where slavery was permitted.) and free states (States where slavery was not permitted.) in the United States. The information about Moses Jackson's prison record comes from the Charlestown [state prison] Commitment Records. The record states that Moses Jackson was sent to prison for 'having in possession counterfeit money.' He was 26 years old, so he was born in 1789. He was born in Newry, Oxford County, Maine. He was six feet tall. His eyes were light color. His hair was brown color. His complexion was light colored. He was born in Massachusetts because at that time Maine was still a part of Massachusetts. He was convicted of his crime on June 3, 1815 in Augusta, Maine. He was admitted at the prison on June 26, 1815. He was sentenced to life at hard labor. He was in solitary confinement for seven days. He was pardoned on October 18, 1818. According to the 1820 U.S. Census Record from Shelburne, New Hampshire sent to us by our cousin Janet Bruehl of Maine, Lovisa (Louisa) Jackson, the wife of Moses Jackson, was listed as a widow living with two sons under age 16 in Shelburne. She was a farmer. The sons were Willard Cross Jackson who died in San Jose, California in 1876 and Moses Jackson who died in Bradley, Maine in 1887. This information leads me to think that Moses Jackson died between October 18, 1818 and whenever in the year 1820 the U.S. Census was taken in Shelburne, New Hampshire. There was a separate U.S. Census for the state of Maine in 1820. I will go to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and look in the Census Record book for Maine in 1820 and try to find if Moses Jackson is listed in Maine. He is not listed in either New Hampshire or Massachusetts for the 1820 U.S. Census. If Moses Jackson is not listed in Maine fro the 1820 U.S. Census, then I will assume that he went on the sailing ship to Matanzas, Cuba (The library in Gorham, New Hampshire said that his father, Joseph Jackson, broke out of the state prison and went on a sailing ship to Cuba. This is not true. I found Joseph Jackson's Revolutionary War Pension Application submitted by him on April 24, 1818 in Newry, Maine.) between October 18, 1818 and the date the U.S. Census was taken in Shelburne, New Hampshire in 1820. I will send an E-mail to the Massachusetts Archives and ask them if they have ship passenger records for ships going form Boston to Matanzas, Cuba for that time period and if so, to check and see if Moses Jackson's name is on one of the lists. I hope this information will of interest to you. If I find out anything more about our Jackson family, I will be glad to let you know. Sincerely, Susan M. Grady More about release from prison Hello! Today my husband and I went to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. I looked in the 1820 U.S. Census Record. No one named Moses Jackson was in the 1820 U.S. Census Record for either Massachusetts or Maine. There were two persons named Moses Jackson in the U.S. Census for 1820 in New Hampshire. One was in Cheshire County, in southwestern New Hampshire. That is not where our Jackson family came from. Therefore, I did not look up this record. The other Moses Jackson was living in Piercy in Coos County, New Hampshire. This is the county where Shelburne, New Hampshire is where his widow Lovica Jackson was living in the 1820 U.S. Census. I looked up the Moses Jackson in Piercy (This town is not near Shelburne.). The Moses Jackson in Piercy was married and was too young to be our ancestor Moses Jackson. As I told you earlier, Moses Jackson was released from the state prison in Charlestown, Massachusetts on October 18, 1818. I do not know in what month(s) in 1820 the U.S. Census was taken for Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Therefore when I send an E-mail message to the Massachusetts State Archives tomorrow, I will ask them if there are ship passenger records for ships sailing from Boston, Massachusetts to Matanzas, Cuba from October 18, 1818 to the end of 1820. If these records exist maybe they will show that Moses Jackson went to Cuba. Sincerely, Susan M. Grady I have stayed home from work yesterday and today because again I have asthmatic bronchitis. My husband has bronchitis again also. Last night I received in the mail a large package from the Massachusetts State Archives in Boston, Massachusetts. It was nineteen pages and was the pardon record of our ancestor Moses Jackson. As you know, Moses Jackson was arrested on May 20, 1815 in Norridgewock, Maine because he was in possession of counterfeit bank notes that he knew to be counterfeit. He was going to use them to buy things. The pardon records state that at the time of his arrest he was a farmer and was living in Canaan, Maine, a small town near Norridgewock. He was convicted at a superior court session in Augusta, Maine and sentenced to life imprisonment at the State Prison in Charlestown, Massachusetts because Maine was still a part of Massachusetts then. The prison was built in 1805 and closed in 1970. Moses Jackson entered the prison in Charlestown on June 26, 1815 and he was pardoned by Governor John Brooks of Massachusetts on October 18, 1818. The pardon papers consist of an account of the trial and conviction of Moses Jackson by the Superior Court of Augusta, Maine, requests for a pardon written and signed by Moses Jackson while he was in the prison in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and several requests for the pardon of Moses Jackson initiated by his parents, Joseph Jackson and Marcia Jackson. One of these requests for pardon was made in 1816 and another was made in 1817. They were signed by a minister in Rumford, Maine and by the selectmen of the towns of Newry, Maine once and Bethel, Maine another time. In April 1818 Joseph Jackson filed an application for a Revolutionary War pension in Newry, Maine. Rumford and Bethel are near Newry. In the petitions initiated by his parents, his parents state that they are suffering great anguish by his imprisonment. They state that their son Moses Jackson has a sickly wife and two young children and that his wife and children are living in dire poverty because there is not one to take care of him. Moses Jackson's parents are also living in poverty. Moses Jackson's parents state that Moses Jackson has reformed in prison. His imprisonment was for a first offense. His parents state that their son Moses Jackson was living near the Canadian border and that men of bad character used to travel between Canada and the United Sates and spend the night at Moses Jackson's house. These men gave him counterfeit bank notes and Moses Jackson knew they were counterfeit. These men corrupted Moses Jackson, according to his parents. During and after the Revolutionary War, British subjects living in Canada (Canada was then a colony of England.) would enter the United States and pay for items with counterfeit bank notes for banks in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and other states. These British subjects did this deliberately in order to weaken the value of the currency and the economy in the United States. In the petitions asking for his release signed by Moses Jackson, Moses Jackson states that the authorities at the Charlestown State Prison in Charlestown, Massachusetts stated that he (Moses Jackson) has been a model prisoner and done everything correctly while in prison and should be released from the prison. There is a document from the directors of the Charlestown State Prison dated August 18, 1818 recommending to the Governor of Massachusetts that he pardon Moses Jackson. The professor from Princeton University is still in Cuba. He took my e-mail message asking if Moses Jackson went to Matanzas, Cuba between October 18, 1818 and January 1, 1821 with him and is going to ask the Cuban National Archives if they have records for Moses Jackson entering Cuba and dying there. I hope you are all well and having a good year so far. Sincerely, Susan M. Grady On March 2, 2004 I received a message in Spanish that was forwarded to me by the professor at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey who recently went to Cuba. This message was sent to him by a member of the National Archives of Cuba with whom he spoke while he was helping conserve old documents there. I translated the message into English and the man from the National Archives in Cuba said he was very sorry but, after having made a careful search in two sources: Census of Foreigners (1800-1896) and Registers [Lists] of Citizens having to do with the Registration of Foreigners in Cuba (1800-1897), he could find no person named Moses Jackson. He said that if we could ever find the exact date of arrival of Moses Jackson in Cuba, he would be glad to look in the book List of Passengers, to try to find his name there. I have written to one other place for information. Also, when I have recovered from my bronchitis, I will go into the surname lists on the Rootsweb Internet website and post queries about some of the descendants of Joseph Jackson's brothers and sisters. Maybe someone will contact me who has information. If anyone has information about Moses Jackson in old family papers, could you please copy it and send it to me? Thank you. Sincerely, Susan M. Grady

Spouse	Lovisa Clemmons ( - )
Child	Moses Jackson (1813 - )

Father	Joseph Jackson (1754 - 1835)
Mother	Mercy ( - 1824)
Sibling	Willard Jackson ( - )
Sibling	Josiah Jackson ( - )
Sibling	Dorothea (Dolly) Jackson ( - )
Sibling	Nancy Jackson (1786 - )
Sibling	Joseph Jackson (1786 - 1875)
Sibling	Marcy Jackson (1794 - 1883)