Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. From The National Standard Encyclopedia

Amanuensis Monday was started on the Transylvanian Dutch Blog. This link will take you to the page concerning Amanuensis and why one should transcribe the records !

List of pardons, commutations, and respite granted by the President (William Howard Taft*) during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1911-Continued  page 246  Report of the Attorney General (George W. Wikerson*)

Name of Applicant:
Claude Fry
District and offense:
United States Army
Date of Sentence:
Nov. 23, 1905. Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and allowances, and confinement at hard labor for 1 year at Fort Riley, Kans. (Unexecuted portion of sentence remitted Feb. 7, 1906)
Recommendation of Attorney General:
[Pardon recommended by the Secretary of War to restore rights of citizenship]
Action of President, and date:
July 6, 1910. Pardon granted to restore rights of citizenship

Name of Applicant:
Esias White
District and offense:
Indian Territory, central. Murder, without capital punishment
Date of Sentence:
Nov. 30, 1904. Imprisonment for life in the United States
Recommendation of Attorney General:
The petitioner, an Indian, was about 15 years of age when this crime was committed. He did not himself fire the fatal shot, but witnessed the murder, and aided and abetted to the extent of holding the gun for his companion, and the fact that he was probably dominated by his companion, who was an older man, the Attorney General recommended that the sentence be commuted to 15 years, the remainder to be served in the Missouri Training School for Boys.
Action of President, and date:
July 9, 1910. Sentence commuted to imprisonment for 15 years, with allowance for good behavior, the remainder of the term to be served in the Missouri Training School for Boys or such institution, penal or reformatory, as the Attorney General may designate.

Name of Applicant:
Frank Minor
District and offense:
District of Columbia Murder
Date of sentence:
Nov. 29, 1884. To be hanged April 11, 1885, sentence commuted to imprisonment for life
Recommendation of Attorney General:
The death penalty in this case was commuted by President Cleveland to imprisonment for life on the ground that the circumstances of the killing showed such provocation as to justify clemency. At the time of the conviction there were no degrees of murder in the District, but the prosecuting attorney stated in his report that in another jurisdiction the offense would probably have been murder in the second degree. Under the new District Code the minimum penalty for murder in the second degree is 10 years. His conduct was good during an epidemic of smallpox in the penitentiary, when he rendered valuable and faithful service. The Attorney General Advised that the sentence be commuted, to expire immediately
Action of President, and date:
July  13, 1910. Sentence commuted, to expire at once.

Name of Applicant:
James R. Kaye
District and offense:
Illinois, southern. Making and having in possession molds for making counterfeit coin.
Recommendation of Attorney General:
Jan. 11, 1908. Two year in the United States penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kans. (Case appealed; judgement affirmed with leave to have case reopened and new sentence reduced to 6 months in the Peoria House of Correction and costs.)
There was no evidence that  petitioner ever attempted to pass any of the spurious coin which he made, and the work was done openly.  It was claimed by him that the molds with which he experimented were for the purpose of making medals to be used in his Sunday school.  Public sentiment in the community where he lived was strongly in his favor, because he was not believed to be guilty of wrong intent. The Attorney General advised a pardon, to take effect upon his release from imprisonment.
Action of President, and date:
July 13. 1910. Pardon granted to take effect  July 17, 1910.

James R. Kaye, is my grandmother Ruth O. McCartney’s Uncle.
More at the end of transcription. 

Name of Applicant:
Lewis Coffey
District and offense:
Kentucky, Counterfeiting
Date of sentence:
October 25, 1898. Five years in the Ohio Penitentiary and $5 fine.
Recommendation of Attorney General:
It was certified that since the release of these prisoners, in 1901 and 1902, they have conducted themselves as honest, law-abiding citizens, having the respect of the communities in which they live. The Attorney General advised pardon to restore their civil rights.
Action of President, and date:
July 13, 1910. Pardon granted to restore civil rights.

Name of Applicant:
Shelvy  Coffee
District and offense:
Kentucky, Counterfeiting
Date of sentence:
Oct. 25, 1898. Three years in the Ohio Penitentiary and $5 fine.
Recommendation of Attorney General:
It was certified that since the release of these prisoners, in 1901 and 1902, they have conducted themselves as honest, law-abiding citizens, having the respect of the communities in which they live. The Attorney General advised pardon to restore their civil rights.
Action of President, and date:
July 13, 1910. Pardon granted to restore civil rights.

Google Books  Congressional edition, Volume 6215

James Ross Kaye

In the year of 1865 the 0n May 3.  James Ross Kaye was born to Byron and Ellen Smith Kaye in Woodstock, Ontario Canada. He and his twin sister Anna Gordon Kaye were the sixth and seventh children of this couple. My second great-grandparents. The extra ordinary feet of having twins carried to term and grow to adult hood in 1865 must have been a joyful thing, but  on  06 March  1865 shortly after beginning his work day Byron Kaye was killed in a boiler explosion at the Eaton & Wood’s flour mill, two months before the delievery of his children. What a bittersweet  moment must have been for Ellen. Ellen had to divide her children among friends and family, just to be able to survive. On 28 September 1880 she is believe to have come from Canada to the United States, Chicago to be exact.

I don’t know very much about their childhood, but the plight of his family must have had an impact on James. I do know from letters written by both of his parents that they were God fearing and dediticated to God. The morning that Byron left for work he had prayed for and over his wife and children to keep them safe and out of harms way. I imagine that this was a daily occurance. Ellen wrote this in a letter to family:

 ” on the morning of the 6th of March we had Breakfast at 7 oclock  we had worship as usual he read the 9th ch of the romans passed some remarks on the lecture the minister gave the evening before kneeled down & commended himself & family to the care of his heavenly father the children had gathered around me to say the Lords prayer “

With this up bringing and of course God’s glorius provisions James could not have but helped be a devoted man of God. He received some of his training at the Chicago Seminary along with his brother, Alexander and his soon to be brother in law David.

He served dutifully his Lord. As stated in the pardon he was trying to figure out how to make to make medals for his children in Sunday school. He was using coinage as models. They were accidently spent by his son and the perusing changers where brought up against him.

After the incident and the pardon, James removed himself from the pulpit, but he never ceased to thirst after his Lord. He made several trips to the Holy land and authored several books, The History of The Covenant, Chart Bible, The Coming Crisis: are approaching the end of the age? (this one I purchased for my father, James’ name sake), and many more.

I have in my possession a beautiful dried flower collection bound in carved wood that he brought home, to his sister Barbara (my great-grandmother), from the Holy-Land.

I never knew this kind of record was available. I guess I never thought about there being Court records pertaining to reprieves and such. This one I stumbled on, so I will tuck the source in my bag of tricks. One never knows who else it might bring to light.

*my note

Happy Hunting!