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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Times were uncertain in New England in the mid-18th century. Travelers with little or no identification were likely to be detained. This handwritten note, signed by William Pitkin and John Chester of Albany, New York, in 1751, makes clear the identity of the two boys and informs the reader that, although their father is Native, their mother is an English woman, Mercy Carter, formerly of Deerfield. The boys are en route to Norwalk, Connecticut, to visit relatives of their mother.

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