Seamen’s Protection Certificate. The document pictured here [call # D24 FF18] reads:

I, Leonard J. Presson, Deputy Collector of the District of Gloucester, do hereby certify, that John R. McKinnon an American Seaman, aged forty six years, or thereabouts, of the height five feet, nine inches, light complexion, sandy hair, hazel eyes, born in Glasgow in the State of Scotland has this day produced to me proof in the manner directed by the Act entitled “An Act for the Relief and Protection of American Seamen,” and pursuant to the said Act, I do hereby certify that the said John R. McKinnon is a citizen of the United States of America. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal of Office, this nineteenth day of February in the year of our Lord, 1816. L.J. Presson Dy Collector. It is document No. 8, and the word Naturalized is written along the side. Seamen’s Protection Certificates were issued to every registered seaman beginning in 1796 and continuing until the start of the Civil War. Each certificate gave a brief

physical description of the man and vouched for him being an American citizen. The intention was to prevent him being impressed into the British Navy, which believed they had a right to forcibly recruit British seamen anywhere on the high seas or in port. By 1861, when McKinnon’s certificate was issued, press gangs were a thing of the past, but the documents continued to be used because they were useful forms of identification. Thus McKinnon’s paper attests to him being a naturalized American seaman, despite the fact that he probably still spoke with a Scottish burr. Captain John R. McKinnon (also spelt McKennon) first came to America in 1831 at the age of 17. He soon moved on to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia where he spent almost twenty years as a Master Mariner sailing trading vessels to the West Indies. He returned to America around 1850 and settled in Gloucester, where he captained fishing schooners for the firm of Giles & Wonson. He was married to Anastatia Ross of Newfoundland and had a son Robert and a daughter Annie. Incidentally, the customs collector who issued the certificate, Leonard J. Presson, was the youngest of the four sons of William Presson and Sarah E. Parran. His older brothers were Capt. William Presson, Alfred (treasurer of the Cape Ann Savings Bank), and Charles (an insurance agent). He also had a younger sister, Sarah, whose romantic trials and tribulations are among the varied subjects chronicled in an extensive Presson family correspondence now held in the Museum’s archives. This entertaining and informative collection was donated by Susan Presson.