Ancestry/Genealogy

A number of those have been passed. It is probably a state law, so would depend on what state your ancestor was in. Basically amercement laws allowed a path for some to reduce their debt.

Some states (South Carolina) passed amercement acts after the Revolutionary War ended - allowing some supporters of the king who would have otherwise been confiscated (lands, slaves, goods, money) to petition and plead special circumstances (ranging from actual innocence to family has nothing to eat) to have these confiscations reduced.

Others were apparently passed at other times. Googling, I ran into references to 1842, but nothing substantial. Probably need the name of your state.

Scan and post the word and some of the writing around it if you like and I'll see if I can decipher it. Or you could possibly attach it to a pm? I don't know if that can be done.

Only other possibility I can think of that would fit the context is some sort of bankruptcy act, again, would probably be specific to the state your ancestor resided in. It might be helpful to know that the US was suffering one of our periodic economic crises during the early 1840s.

Wat