Letter of Confession by Ebenezer Carlton

Letter of confession written by Jonathan Fisher for Ebenezer Carlton. July 18, 1829. "I, the subscriber, acknowledge that a few weeks ago, at the trial of the speed of a couple of horses, without due consideration I laid a small bet upon one of them." Letter continues. The letter formerly belonged to Mary Ellen Chase. It was framed with two other letters and hung in her bedroom at the Chase Homestead in Blue Hill for many years, from the 1920s to the 1960s. The letter has been removed from the frame. Members of the early Congregational Church were subject to church discipline. Often a person accused of committing a sin was asked to make a public confession and write an accompanying letter. Reverend Fisher would often write the letter and the guilty party would sign by name or mark.