"This indenture made the Twenty Seventh day of June in the Twenty first Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second by the grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland “

This is the way this gorgeous antique indenture begins. This document is between John Townley and Josiah Nichols both from Manchester, England.

Written in 1747, this document is 276 years old!

Dimensions: 20 1/2 in x 13 3/4

Donated by Randall Scott

The term indenture comes from the fact that in early records a duplicate of the record was written on the same sheet and then cut in a jagged line.  That way two parties holding the pieces of a document that “fit” together proved it was the legal document originally made.

There were no spelling rules until the nineteenth century and so you will see many words spelled in various ways.

They didn’t use punctuation in most of these records, but the writing is beautiful and can be read.  If you love history, you will love this artifact! 

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