About Item:

Paul Revere’s father, Apollos, immigrated to Boston as a young boy in 1712. He changed his name from Apollos Rivoire to Paul Revere, then named his first son Paul (the famous Paul we know today). Revere kept in touch with his family in France throughout his life. Though he didn’t speak the language, he would find someone to help him write letters and translate letters when they came back in French. This is a draft of a letter Paul Revere wrote in May of 1786 to his cousin John Rivoire (who lived on Guernsey, an island in the English Channel, between England and France), after the death of his young son, John, from illness.

Read excerpted transcription here

Read modernized excerpt here

Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society