Talk: .MTIxNA.NTgzMg

The date of this letter, and the subsequent pages of another letter adjoined to this, is March 17,1821, not March 6. The postal cover sheet is postmarked March 31.

The recipient is William King (1768-1852), who was a member of the Massachusetts Senate in 1807-11, and the first Governor of Maine in 1820-21.

The author is probably William Vance (1759-1841). He was a Revolutionary War veteran and an influential early landholder in the St. Croix valley, residing in New Brunswick and later in Maine; Vanceboro is named for him. One of his many children married L.M. Morrill, who was Governor of Maine and a US Senator and Cabinet officer in the next generation.

Vance's writing is a challenge to render clearly. He spells erratically, for example shifting back and forth between "Commition" and "Commission", when describing the principal issue of concern to him in this letter. I have employed capitalization, and uniformity of spelling, where it would help with reading comprehension.