U.S. Seamen Protection Certificates, 1792-1868

These certificates were issued to sailors after the Revolutionary war to protect our seamen against impressment by the British. I doubt they were very effective, but one of my relatives had one - by the name of Benjamin Percival, born in Barnstable County, Massachusetts in 1810. Benjamin was a grandson of Benjamin Percival who kept a diary that has become a piece of Cape Cod history.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes