Piece of Cranston history up for auction

By PAM SCHIFF

There never seems to be a lack of drama in Cranston, even going back to the 1700s. And Dovetail Auction House has the actual piece of paper to prove it.

“We were called to go a private Westerly home to pick up some early American furniture. While we were there, the present homeowners [children of the deceased owners] gathered some other items like rugs, clocks and artwork. Among the artwork was the Fenner letter,” said Nick Ricci, co -owner of Dovetail. “It was barely an afterthought for the them, as their attachment was to the furniture which had been in the family since it was bought new back in the 1830s. The seller really had no idea where the letter came from and that his mother just liked to pick up random antiques as a hobby.”

At its upcoming auction at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, Dovetail will be auctioning off a letter written by Justice of the Peace Nehemiah Knight, for whom Knightsville is named. The letter is dated June 1776. It features several prominent names from Cranston, such as the Fenner, Knight and Carpenter families.

“Its content is a letter of complaint to the County of Providence, in the colony of Rhode Island about one of the Fenners being beat up and demanding justice from the perpetrator,” Ricci said. The letter also includes the original wax stamp, which are usually missing from such documents.

“I would give it a ‘good’ rating, like a six or seven out of 10m” Ricci said. “It is still very easy to read. The ink is nice and dark. It does have some condition issues like foxing. Of course, it is 239 years old.”

The alleged perpetrator named in the letter is Nathaniel Carpenter of Cranston. William Fenner Jr. is the victim of the apparent crime. The letter includes the description of the attack as an “assault upon the body of him the complainant, and in a fierce angry manner, did violently Sieze (sic) him the complaintant by the collar of his shirt and did Beat and Bruise him the said complaintant in a Terrible Manner.”

William Fenner Jr. was born approximately in 1736 and died in 1794. He was married to Sandra Barton in 1777 and had five children – Mary, William, Phoebe Ann, Lydia and Betsy. Also included is an 1860s letter from Dr. Lister, the inventor of Listerine.

For more details about the letter, or to see its complete contents, contact Dovetail Auctions at 401-263-6220 or visit dovetailauctions.com.