Benjamin Franklin Papers

To Benjamin Franklin from John Mace: Promissory Note, 12 April 1779

From John Mace: Promissory Note9

Two DS:1 American Philosophical Society

Passy, April 12 1779

I promise to pay to the honbl. the President of Congress or his Order the sum of three hundred & sixty four Livres, twelve sols, for Value recd. of Mr. Coffin at Dunkirk, & of B. Franklin esq; at Passy.

I have signed three Notes of this Tenor & Date to Serve as one.2

John Mace

364.12

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

9Mace appears on the Alphabetical List of Escaped Prisoners where he is recorded as receiving at Dunkirk and Passy 454 l.t. 12 s. An itemized receipt, dated April 5, reveals his expenses: board for fifty-six days, a pair of shoes, two waistcoats, washing, a nurse and an apothecary’s bill, and wine and sundries. Adding on 48 l.t. travel money from Dunkirk to Paris, his total is 244 l.t. 12 s., which he acknowledges having received from Coffyn. He lists himself as a doctor from North Portsmouth, Virginia. APS.

1The second of the two is dated April 14.

2To be sent to America by three conveyances; see BF to Fizeaux, Grand & Cie., June 7.

On May 10, William Willis signed a similar note, drafted by WTF, promising to repay twenty louis d’ors (eleven received from Coffyn and nine from BF). His note states that the sum is given to assist him in returning to America. APS. He also appears on the Alphabetical List of Escaped Prisoners.

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