Roger Sherman Signed Three Times — Important Colonial Court Record, Counterfeit Currency Prosecution, New Milford, Connecticut, March 9, 1756, from His First Year as Justice of the Peace

The only Founding Father to sign all four of the nation’s founding documents — the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. Autograph document signed “Roger Sherman” three times in dark ink, one page, approximately 10 × 13 inches, being a Court of Examination record held at New Milford, Litchfield County, Connecticut, March 9, 1756, prosecuting Amos Fuller of Dutchess County, New York, on charges of uttering and passing false and counterfeit bills made in imitation of the lawful paper currency of the Colonies of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, “knowing them to be False and Counterfeit.” Fuller was informed against by Eliphalet Beecher of New Haven, apprehended by warrant, and brought before the court. Having examined Fuller and heard sundry witnesses, the court finds sufficient reason to suspect the defendant guilty and orders him committed to the Keeper of the Common Gaol in Litchfield until the next Superior Court of Judicature, or until discharged by due course of law. A Mittimus is also recorded, committing Fuller to the Constable of New Milford.

Sherman signs in three distinct places: named in the opening as “Roger Sherman Esqr Justice of the Peace,” signed at the foot of the proceedings alongside justices Paul Welch and Bushnell Bostwick as “Roger Sherman,” and certifying the document in his own hand as “A true Copy of Record, Test Roger Sherman Justice of Peace.” Light folds, toning, and soiling consistent with age; all text and all three signatures fully legible. Good to Very Good condition.

This document dates from Sherman’s very first year on the bench he was appointed Justice of the Peace for Litchfield County in 1755, just a year after being admitted to the bar in February 1754. He had arrived in New Milford as a young man, opened the town’s first general store with his brother, taught himself law, and climbed from shoemaker to justice in barely a decade. He left New Milford in 1761 for New Haven, where national fame awaited. The subject matter, a professional counterfeiter passing forged bills of three separate colonies simultaneously, was among the most serious matters before a colonial justice, and the triple-signed true copy attesting the court record is an unusually complete and authoritative document. Pre-Revolutionary Sherman documents from his New Milford judicial years are among the rarest survivals of any signer of the Declaration of Independence.