Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
The subject today is a deed in Worcester County, Massachusetts dated 22 October 1847, from Samuel A. Munroe to Isaac Seaver 3rd (my great-great-grandfather):
Know all men by these presents that I Samuel A. Munroe of Gardner in the County of Worcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts yeoman in consideration of nine hundred dollars to me paid by Isaac Seaver 3d of Westminster County and Commonwealth aforesaid blacksmith the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge do give grant sell and convey unto the said Isaac Seaver 3d, his heirs and assigns forever a certain tract of land being in the northerly part of Gardner aforesaid consisting of mowing pasturing ploughing and woodland with building thereon containing by estimation fifty acres be the same more or less being the Southerly part of the Pearley Howe farm, bounded as follows, viz. Beginning at the Southwest corner on the road leading from Gardner to Winchendon and running East on land belonging to Capt. Benj. Stone and the land belonging to Asel Clapp about one hundred and fifty rods to a stake & stones, thence northerly on land belonging to Reuben Haynes to a stake & stones, thence westerly about eighty two rods to a stake & stones thence northerly about thirteen rods to stake & stones thence northwesterly about twelve rods to a stake & stones thence westerly about sixteen rods to a stake and stones thence northerly about five rods to a stake & stones thence westerly about four and half rods to a stake & stones the south side of the lance thence westerly in center of said lane to the road aforementioned thence southerly on said road to the first mentioned bound (being a part of the farm formerly owned & belonging to Perley Howe and deeded to me by deed recorded in the Worcester Registry of Deeds Book 374 page 94, reference to which is hereby given) the water to be used in common by said P. Howe & I. Seaver 3d. To have and to hold the aforegranted premises to the said Isaac Seaver 3d his heirs and assigns to his and their use and behoof forever. And I do for myself my heirs executors and administrators covenant with the said Isaac Seaver 3d his heirs and assigns that I am lawfully seized in fee of the aforegranted premises that they are free of all incumbrances that I have good right to sell and convey the same to the said Isaac Seaver 3d and that I will warrant and defend the same premises to the said Isaac Seaver 3d his heirs and assigns forever against the lawful claims and demands of all persons. In witness whereof I the said Samuel A. Munroe have hereunto set my hand and seal this twenty second day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty seven.
Samuel A. Munroe (seal)
Signed sealed and delivered
in presence of
…............................
…............................
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Worcester
Ss October 22, 1847. then personally appeared the within named Samuel A. Munroe and acknowledged the within instrument to be his free act and deed before me. William S. Bradbury Justice of the Peace.
Rec^d Oct. 22d, 1847 at 3^h10^m P.M. Ent'd &Ex'd By Alex. H. Wilder, Esqr.
The source citation for this deed is:
"Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986," digital images, Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 20 May 2013) , Worcester
County, "Deeds 1847-1848, Vol. 428-429," image 415/416 of 684, in Volume 429,
Pages 137-138, Samuel A. Munroe to Isaac Seaver 3d deed in Gardner, Mass., recorded 22 October 1847.
Isaac Seaver 3rd (1823-1901) was only 24 years old when he purchased this land in Gardner for $900 from his brother-in-law, Samuel A. Munroe (1810-1875), husband of Isaac's sister Abigail (Seaver) Munroe (1817-1899).
In October 1847, Isaac Seaver's wife, Juliet (Glazier) Seaver, had just given birth to their daughter, Juliet Glazier Seaver (1847-1910), on 24 August 1847, and Juliet (Glazier) Seaver had died on 21 September 1847 at age 21. Isaac bought this property just after his wife died and his daughter was two months old.
I don't know if Isaac's extended family helped him buy this land. His father Benjamin Seaver had died in 1825, his mother remarried to her father's brother, Isaac Seaver (1802-1870) in 1832, and he had another married sister, plus quite a few aunts and uncles from the Seaver and Gates families of his parents. Isaac had had a rough life up to this point, had become a blacksmith, but I doubt that he had the wherewithal to purchase this property on his own.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/09/amanuensis-monday-post-188-1847-deed-of.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
1 comment:
Interesting thoughts about how the land might have been paid for. It could have been paid by some amount of cash-in-hand and the rest by IOU. Possibly there was an unrecorded side agreement whereby some other family member(s) agreed to make good on the purchase price if the grantee defaulted for some reason. Since this was between relatives who lived amid other relatives, the grantor could be pretty confident that he would receive the full purchase price one way or another.
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