Mass. Teacher Finds Nearly 220-Year-Old Document

PEABODY, Mass. — A Massachusetts teacher tidying up her classroom in preparation for a move has discovered a Colonial-era document buried in a pile of outdated text books and dusty scraps of papers.

Michelle Eugenio, a fourth-grade teacher at Peabody’s Center School, found the yellowed sheet of paper, protected by plastic, two weeks ago. Dated April 1792, it appears to document the payment of a debt by a Vermont man named Jonathan Bates.

Peabody Historical Society President Bill Power, who verified the paper’s authenticity, tells The Salem News he was thrilled with the discovery.

No one knows how the paper ended up at the school or how long it has been there.

Bates, of Shaftsbury, Vt., served in the Continental Army in 1780, and died in 1808 at age 63. He’s buried in Williamstown, Vt.