Description: This photographic reproduction in color shows a handwritten receipt from early 1791 that documents partial payment of a fine paid in Cincinnati, Ohio. The paper is yellowed, and the handwriting is partially illegible; however, it is possible to decipher certain words and phrases: “Received of ___ McMillan [sic] Two Doll__ in ___ of a moiety [half or part] of a fine from William Kelley Yeoman of Cincinnati.” The next line is mostly illegible except for the word “intoxicating.” The date of the offense seems to have been January 7, 1791. Receipt, dated February 2, 1791, was “received by me Wm. [illegible].” William McMillian was judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions in Hamilton County, then part of the Northwest Territory. A year earlier, on January 2, 1790, Arthur St. Clair (1734-1818), governor of the Northwest Territory, visited Fort Washington (Cincinnati) and organized the county of Hamilton. He also created the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions. He named three men to that office: McMillian, William Goforth, and William Wells. On January 5, a law was enacted that required the court to meet four times a year: on the first Tuesday of February, May, August, and November. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05840
Subjects: St. Clair, Arthur, 1734-1818; Ohio. Court of Common Pleas (Hamilton County); Courts--Ohio--History; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)