Monday, December 22, 2014

Amanuensis Monday - Post 248: Inventory of Simon Gates (1739-1803) Estate

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme years ago called "Amanuensis Monday."  John offers this definition for "amanuensis:" 

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

The subject today is the 1803 Inventory for the estate of Simon Gates (1739-1803) of Gardner, Worcester County, Massachusetts in Worcester County Probate File 23252:




The transcription of the three pages is:

[first page]

To the Honor^b Nath^ll Paine Esq
Judge of probate for the County of Worcester
An Inventory of the Real and personal Estate
of Mr Simon Gates Late of Gardner Decd –

Home Farme 100 acres apprised att
$2500.00
Colborn Meadow So Called 15 acres apprised att
$180.00
Conant Lott so Called … 30 acres apprised att
$300.00
Marshal Lot So Called 40 acres apprised att
$460.00
two fourth Division … 40 acres apprised att
$240.00
1 Pew below 46d Do 1 27d one hors Stable 5d
$80.00
To three hats 2d Blew Grate Coat 3d.75c
$5.75
1 old Grate Coat 1d Navey blew Coat 4d75c
$5.75
1 Lonon brown Coat 3d.50c Cotton Do 1d
$4.50
1 Spencer 2d Black Small Cloth 2d.50c
$4.60
1 Velvet Small Cloth 2d.50c two pair Do 50c
$3.00
1 Velvet waistcoat 1d 67c two old Do 60c
$2.29
2 old Shirts – 30 cents Stocking 60c Silk Handkerchief 60c
$1.50
Boots and Shoes 1d60c Bed No 1 20d Do No 2 18d
$39.60
Bed No 3 – 19d Do No 4-4d two woollen sheets 2d.75c
$20.75
Ten Sheets 5d Seven Table Cloths 2d25c
$7.25
Six pillow Cases 1d.12c Six Knapkings 75c
$1.90
1 Clock 40d Chest of Draws 4d.50c woman Saddle 9d.50c
$54.00
Mans Saddle 6d 1 Do 3d.50c 1 Do 3d
$12.50
1 Pillion 90c two Grate Chanes 1d.63c Do 12 Chans 4d.50c
$7.23
3 Bridles 1d.67c two pair of Saddlebags 2d
$2.75
Oval Table 50c Square Table 60c hand Bellows 65c
$1.75
Shovel and Tongs 1d-50c two pair of handirons 3d-50c
$5.00
3 Grain Tramels and hooks 8d.25c Iron Kittle 2d.50c
$10.75
Brass Kettle 5d.50c Grate Wheele 80c
$6.30
Two foot Wheels 2d.50c fan Comb 2d.67c
$4.17

$3984.89


[page 2]

Brought Forward
$3,964.89
4 old Tubs 1d.50c one Chair 80c wooden Bottles 30c
$2.60
4 old Baskets 60c three old pales & pigons 45c
$1.05
Tin ware 6d.35c Flatiron 75c Tasting Iron 70c
$7.80
Warming Pann 1d.11c Crowey ware 80c
$1.91
Glass ware 92c fore Large Pewter Dishes 3d
$3.92
12 Pewter plates 2d five pewter Dishes 1d.34c
$3.34
2 Candle Stickers 20c Case of Knives & forkes 1d.40c
$1.60
1 Looking Glass 35c Glass 81 lb 13d50c Iron pot 1d
$14.85
Dish kettle 90c Tea Kettle 80c Frying pan 75cents
$2.45
Beef 80wt – 4d.40c Pork 230wt – 20d70c
$25.20
2-1/2 Barrels of Syder 6d.67c twenty Syder barrels 8d
$14.67
Potatoes 10d Soap 2d.25c two meat Barrels 1d
$3.50
Nine pounds of Tallow 1d.25c Setwork 2d.25c
$3.50
Old Casks 3d hand Saw and Sho???? 35c l???? 3d.50c
$6.85
English hay 4d Fresh hay 46d
$50.00
Curry Comb and Shovel 40c three bushels ½ of wheat 3d.63
$4.03
Loom and hur??? 3d.50c 2-1/2 bushels of barley 2d
$5.50
4 bushels of oats 1d.34c two Bushels of Beans 1d.67c
$3.01
20 Bushels of Rye 16d.67c thirty three bushels of corn 22s
$38.67
Salt 2d.50c two paire of Cords 50c old Books 1d.25c
$4.25

2 pair of Shearin 25c Spoons 26c 56wt of whitelead 7d
$7.57
Spanish Brown 1d.50c ???? lead 20c S????? yallow 83c
$2.53
1 Gun 6d 6 ft pair of Trases 2d.50c one Chaine 1d.34c
$9.84
2 oxen 2d.16c old Traces 1d.60c one harrow 1d.80c
$5.56
1 three year old colt 22d yearling Do 17d
$39.00
Sheep 53d Cart Sham?ing pinn 13d one plow 5d.50c
$71.50
2 oxen 58d No 1 White fair Cow and Calf 29d
$80.00
Brindle Cow No 2 – 21d yallow cow No 3 – 19d
$40.00
White tale Cow No 4 – 18d Cow No 5 – 13d
$31.00
2 Best two year old Stears 26d two Do Stears 25d
$53.00
2 two year old heifers 22d Six yearlings 45d
$67.00
One horse 33d one wagon 13d Grindston 3d Sl?? 83c
$51.83

$4,631.76
[page 3]

Brought Forward
$4631.76
1 Dung fork 50c Best Chains 2d.50c two mow forks 50c
$3.50
2 yokes 1d.25c one Brake 83c three Brakes 50c
$2.58
3 Cythes and tackling 2d.75c three augers 70c
$3.45
Cross Cut Saw 2d two wedges 50c one Chisel 25c
$2.75
Slay and harnis 5d Cut So??? and bit 12c
$5.12
Cheese press 75c Steelyard 1d.75c Iron Barr 1d.67c
$4.17
Old hoes 67c two old Chanes 1d.50c Slay Shoes 3d
$5.17
Bo???? 2d two Swine 16d.50c Calf Skins 3d
$21.50
Sole Leather 2d.80c three meat bags 1d
$3.80
Notes of hand principal and Intrest
$943.99
Ashes 2d.50c Boxes 40c pinchers 34c Money 4d.80c
$8.04
One Sim
$0.34

5636.17
                                       Stephen Miles }
Gardner May 14th 1803 Stephen Hoar } Apprisers
                                       Levi Fairbank }


The source citation for this inventory is:

Massachusetts, Worcester County, Probate Files, 1731-1925, Case 23252, Simon Gates Estate, 1803, Inventory; digital images, FamilySearch.org,(https://familysearch.org: accessed 12 August 2014); in "Case no 23243-23330, Gates, Sarah-Gay, William, 1731-1881" (images 96-98 of 1069); original records in Worcester County, Mass. Courthouse.

This is the second of several transcriptions from the Estate packet for Simon Gates (1739-1803), my 5th great-grandfather.  He died 11 March 1803 in Gardner, Worcester County, Massachusetts.  

The inventory of the estate of Simon Gates totaled $5,636.17, of which $3,760 was real estate (including the church pews and the stable).  The notes from debts owed to Simon Gates was $943.99.  The balance was personal property - clothing, furniture, utensils, tools, livestock, foodstuffs, etc.  

I tried to retain the original spelling.  The handwriting was difficult in places - if readers can suggest words or better spellings I would appreciate it.   I put this in a word processor table to transcribe it, and the table included the $ sign in the right-hand column.   There are money amounts in the list of property "d" stands for "dollar" and "c" for "cents."  In the original, these were superscripts, as was "wt" for "weight".  The "Do" stands for "ditto" meaning the same as the item before.  There may be two lines of text for some of the items.

These records were digitized by FamilySearch from the original probate estate packet in the Worcester County Probate Court in Worcester, Massachusetts.  The papers are also transcribed in the Worcester County Probate Records, 1732-1881, found on Family History Library US/CAN Microfilm.  


Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


1 comment:

Geolover said...

Here are some suggestions for the questioned items on second page of the inventory, omitting money amounts:

Line 15
3rd item just might be a Shovel, and the last (across the split) "linen"

Line 18
Loomb and harnis

Line 23
Spanish Brown Read lead Spruce yallow

Last line
one horse one wagon grindston slead

Given the pigments Spanish Brown, white lead and red lead, was he mixing paint? I am not familiar with "Spruce yellow," which from context would be unrelated to the yellow spruce tree.