⚖️ ORIGINAL MAY 16, 1832 HANDWRITTEN LEGAL RECEIPT AND JUDGMENT SETTLEMENT from Truxton, Cortland County, New York, signed by AMBROSE HOUGHTON and concerning ENOCH BENEDICT. The document states that Houghton received payment from Benedict in satisfaction of a judgment, together with other debts and demands, and further records that the dispute had been carried to the COUNTY COURT before the parties agreed to settle and each pay his own costs.
📜 This is more than a simple receipt. It is a surviving piece of EARLY NEW YORK LEGAL HISTORY, documenting an active civil dispute, a judgment, an appeal or transfer to the county level, and a final private settlement between the parties.
FULL FRONT TRANSCRIPTION
✍️ Reading from the top after rotation, the front appears to read:
“Rec’d of Enoch Benedict in full of a Judgment
obtained before [FREEMUS/FREEMAN] Howard in my
favour [CROSSED-OUT WORDING] for about
$17 = Also all Debts due and demand up
to this date
the above Judgment was Carried up to the
County Court we the same parties have this day settled
Law suits and each one pay his own cost +
stop said suit
Date Truxton May 16th 1832 Ambrose Houghton”
🔎 The name immediately before HOWARD is the one portion I would not present as absolutely certain. It looks closest to FREEMUS, FREMUS, or possibly FREEMAN. I would leave it as [first name uncertain] Howard in a strict museum transcription rather than invent certainty.
💵 The amount is written prominently as approximately $17, followed by language covering “all Debts due and demand up to this date.” That wording indicates the receipt was intended as a broad settlement rather than payment of just one isolated amount.
⚖️ The most historically important section is:
“the above Judgment was Carried up to the County Court”
followed by the agreement that the same parties had settled their legal dispute and that “each one pay his own cost.”
REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION
🖋️ The reverse is considerably simpler and appears to read:
“Ambrose
Houghton
Receipt in
full”
📜 This docketing identifies the document as AMBROSE HOUGHTON’S RECEIPT IN FULL, exactly matching the substance of the front.
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
🏛️ The identification of TRUXTON, NEW YORK is strongly supported by outside records. A published genealogy citing the 1830 U.S. Census places ENOCH BENEDICT in Truxton, Cortland County, New York, only two years before this receipt was written.
👤 The AMBROSE HOUGHTON connection is also compelling. Genealogical records identify an Ambrose Houghton born in 1788, married to Lucy Powell, whose children Samantha Angeline Houghton and Lucy Ann Houghton were specifically born in Truxton, Cortland County, New York, in 1822 and 1824. Another son, Cyrus, was born in Cortland County in 1829. This places the Houghton family in precisely the correct locality and period for the 1832 document.
🏠 Additional Truxton history identifies Enoch Benedict as the owner of a dwelling later converted into the Stearns Hotel, providing further independent evidence that Benedict was an established Truxton resident rather than merely sharing the same name.
📚 Surviving Cortland County material from 1832 also confirms active probate and county legal activity in and around Truxton at precisely this time; surviving early wills include residents explicitly identified as being “of Truxton” during 1832.
WHY THIS STANDS OUT
⚖️ This document has several strong collecting angles at once: 1832 DATE, TRUXTON NEW YORK, CORTLAND COUNTY, NAMED INDIVIDUALS, A $17 JUDGMENT, COUNTY COURT LANGUAGE, LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT, AND AN ORIGINAL SIGNATURE.
🖋️ Unlike a routine promissory note or basic paid receipt, the writer actually explains the history of the dispute. The judgment had been obtained before a local official, was subsequently “carried up to the County Court,” and was finally resolved by agreement, with each party paying his own legal costs. That narrative gives the paper unusually strong historical content.
🏛️ The online evidence connecting both Enoch Benedict and the Houghton family with Truxton makes the manuscript substantially more researchable and display-worthy than an unidentified early legal receipt.
CONDITION
📜 ORIGINAL 1832 MANUSCRIPT with substantial authentic age and handling character. The paper shows overall toning, scattered brown spotting and staining, multiple old fold lines, edge irregularity, small edge losses and tears, and a larger irregular loss along part of the lower edge. Several words on the front were intentionally crossed out by the original writer. Ink remains generally dark and highly legible for a document approaching two centuries old. The reverse shows lighter ink transfer, spotting, folds, docketing, and general age wear. Please review both photographs closely as the definitive condition reference.