Joseph Hewes, Signer of the Declaration from North Carolina

1 page (10 3/8 x 7 1/4 in.; 264 x 1986 mm), no place, no date (North Carolina, circa 1770s), countersigned by Charles Blount and Andrew Knox. Lightly browned, strengthened at folds. 

HEWES ENDORSES A COURT ORDER SIGNED BY NORTH CAROLINA JURIST SAMUEL JOHNSON.

Johnson’s order of judgment reads: “Joseph Sutton vs Joshua Jones} Ordered by Consent of the Parties that this Suit be referred to Joseph Hewes Charles Blount Andrew Knox & William Skinner & that their Award or the Award of any two of them be made a Judgment of the Court.” Hewes’s endorsement is written below the order: “In Obedience to the above Order we have examined the witnesses on the suit, and do award that it be dismissed and that the defendant pay all Costs.” 

Joseph Hewes (1730–1779) was a member of the Continental Congress from 1774-1776 and in 1779. He was served on the first naval committee, formed in October 1775, and chaired the subcommittee in charge of fitting out the nascent American navy’s first vessels, putting his entire merchant fleet at the disposal of the Continental Navy. John Adams later recalled that Hewes “laid the foundation, the cornerstone of the American Navy.” In Collecting Autographs and Manuscripts, Charles Hamilton wrote, “Hewes’s autograph is of great scarcity. Of the fifty-six immortals who signed the Declaration of Independence, only a few are harder to obtain.”

Samuel Johnston (1733–1816) was a member of the North Carolina General Assembly from 1759-1775 and then North Carolina's Provincial Congresses, serving as president of the 3rd Congress.  He also served as president of the 4th Congress in 1776 and governor of North Carolina from 1787-1789. He resigned to become one of North Carolina’s first U.S. Senators (1789-1793). Charles Blount, Andrew Knox, William Skinner, and Joseph Sutton were each members of the North Carolina Provincial Congress and/or the General Assembly in the 1760s and/or 1770s.