Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Your Ancestors or Cousins Born on Your Birth Date

It's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun! 

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

The challenge this week is to find out if any of your ancestors, or their siblings (your cousins!), were born on your birth date?   

1)  What is your birth date (not the year, only month and day)?

2)  Review your records, or use your genealogy management program to create a list of persons in your database born on your birth date.  Are any of them your ancestors, or siblings of your ancestor?  Tell us how you figured it out too.

3)  List one or more of those born on your birth date in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or on Facebook or Google+.  

Here's mine:

1)  My birth date is 23 October.

2)  I created a list of all of the persons in my database born on each day of the year, using the Reports > Lists > Birthday and Anniversary List > and selecting birthdays only.  This created a 624 page report, but it was easy to scroll quickly down to 23 October on page 518:

There are 63 persons in my database with a birth date of 23 October, but none of my ancestors have that birth date.  Some of them are not related to me because I have information about several separate lines, including my wife's, my sons-in-law, other Seaver families, etc.  However, many of the persons on the list are my cousins - siblings of an ancestor of mine.  I can determine which ones are, and the relationship, by going to the index for the persons in my database, and finding the person, and RootsMagic will tell me the relationship.  

There is another way to use RootsMagic to find persons born on a specific birth date.  I used the Reports > Lists > On This Day List > and selected only "Family Events."  This resulted in a 5 page report that I could peruse but it had births, marriages and deaths on 23 October from 1593 to 1990.

3)  From these lists, I found these four that are related to me (there were many more):

*  Earliest match:  8th great-granduncle John Wheeler (1608-1611), son of my 9th great-grandparents Thomas Wheeler and his unknown wife.

*  Closest match:  2nd cousin twice removed Roy Percy Trembley (1926-1990), son of Percy and Maude (Hunter) Trembley; our common ancestors are my 2nd great-grandparents, James Abraham and Mary Jane (Sovereen) Kemp.

*  Closest Seaver (my father's surname) match:  5th cousin 3 times removed Milo Bert Seaver (1887-1978); our common ancestors are my 7th great-grandparents Joseph and Mary (Read) Seaver.

*  Closest Carringer (my mother's surname) match:  3rd cousin twice removed Otis Monroe Carringer (1872-1942); our common ancestors are my 4th great-grandparents Martin and Magdalena (Hoax) Carringer.  

4)  I wonder if any genealogy software program will provide a list of the relationships to a key person in some sort of order for a given birth date.  Perhaps some sort of custom report could do it.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/02/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Surname Saturday - BARTLETT (England to colonial Massachusetts)

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week.  

I am in the 8th great-grandmothers and I'm up to Ancestor #1087 who is  Abiah BARTLETT (1651-1723) [Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 8th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through two generations in this BARTLETT family line is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)

4. Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942)
5. Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)

8. Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922)
9. Hattie Louise Hildreth (1857-1920)

16. Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
17. Lucretia Townsend Smith (1827-1884)

32. Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825)
33. Abigail Gates (1797-1869)

66.  Nathan Gates (1767-1830)
67.  Abigail Knowlton (1774-1855)

134.  Jeremiah Knowlton (1745-1785)
135.  Abigail Pierce (1750-1776)

270.  Samuel Pierce (1712-1772)
271.  Abigail Stearns (1715-1798)

542.  George Stearns (1690-1760)
543.  Hannah Sanderson (1689-1770)

1086.  Jonathan Sanderson, born 15 September 1646 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 03 September 1735 in Waltham, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 2172. Edward Sanderson and 2173. Mary Eggleston.  He married 24 October 1669 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
1087.  Abiah Bartlett, born 28 May 1651 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 13 September 1723 in Waltham, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  

Children of Jonathan Sanderson and Abiah Bartlett are:
*  Abiah Sanderson (1673-1739).
*  Jonathan Sanderson (1673-1743), married 1699 Abigail Fiske (1675-1759).
*  Thomas Sanderson (1675-1759), married 1702 Hannah Priest (1681-????).
*  John Sanderson (1677-1750< married 1700 Hannah Stratton (1677-1756).
*  Benjamin Sanderson (1679-1735).
*  Samuel Sanderson (1681-????), married 1708 Mercy Gale (1683-1776).
*  Edward Sanderson (1684-1766), married 1707n Mary Pakhurst (1683-1766).
*  Hannah Sanderson (1689-1770), married 1712 George Stearns (1690-1760).

2174.  Thomas Bartlett, born about 1594 in of Ernley, Sussex, England; died 26 April 1654 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He married before 28 February 1636 in probably Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
2175.  Hannah, born about 1598 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England; died 11 July 1676 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Thomas Bartlett and Hannah are:
*  Hannah Bartlett (1637-1639).
*  Mehitabel Bartlett (1640-????), married 1658 Henry Spring (1628-1697).
*  Hannah Bartlett (1643-1681), married 1668 John Kendall (1646-1732).
*  Bathshua Bartlett (1647-1692), married 1671 John Applin (1645-????).
*  Abiah Bartlett (1651-1723), married 1669 Jonathan Sanderson (1646-1735).

Information about the Thomas Bartlett family of Watertown was obtained from:

 Robert Charles Anderson (editor), The Great Migration Begins (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1994), Volume 1, pp. 120-122.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/02/surname-saturday-bartlett-england-to.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Checking Out Grandma's Pie - a Nice Treat!

I saw a blog post by Jana Last on Wednesday titled Have You Tried Grandma's Pie?  This was new to me, so I clicked on the link and quickly figured out what "Grandma's Pie" was all about.

"Grandma's Pie" is a website, in Beta development, by the Family History Technology Lab at Brigham Young University, that uses the FamilySearch Family Tree and colors in a circle chart by country origin of your ancestors up to 8 generations.

You do need to have your ancestors in the FamilySearch Family Tree, and the information needs to be accurate and consistent to see the contributions from each country.

The "Pie" aspect of this is that you can see slices of your ancestry by generation or your whole ancestry back so many generations (up to 8 generations, the 6th great-grandparents).

Here is the home page:

There is an excellent video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD5GkZm79Rs that explains the concept and shows how to make it work.

After clicking on the link for "Log in with FamilySearch" and providing my credentials, the site opened and showed me a big blue pie, noting that this was my parents generation:

The color key on the left says they were born in the United States.  If I move the slider below the words "Grandma's Pie" to the right, say to the 3rd great-grandparents, I see the slices of the pie for that specific generation (i.e., 32 possible in the 3rd great-grandparent generation):

Now I have more color.  The "Percentages" table on the right tells me the country percentages for that specific generation.

So far, I've kept the box checked (above the color code list) for "Show Single Generation."  If I select the next item down that list for "Show Multiple Generations," then I can see all of the pieces of the pie for all five generations selected (to third great-grandparents) on the slider bar in parts of concentric circles:

If I run the slider bar out to the maximum 8 generations (6th great-grandparents), then I can see the origins of all of those persons:

On any of the pie images, the user can run the mouse over a piece of the pie and the person's name will be shown.  On the image above, I had my mouse over Ann Marshman born in England. Using this feature, I know where I am on the pie chart.

There are some missing generations in my pie chart (that have no color) - I either haven't found those persons or haven't added them to the FamilySearch Family Tree.  There are also some extra "countries" in the country color code list because some of the Family Tree entries are not standardized - so I have more standardization work to do.  There are also some "Unknown" (light orange) colors on the chart because the person in the Family Tree does not have a birth location identified - another research and collaboration opportunity.

I saw one of my 8th generation ancestors had "N.Y." as the country of origin before I made the screen shots above, went into the FamilySearch Family Tree and modified the birth place for that person, and re-drew the pie chart and the change was reflected in the chart above.

I captured my current "pie" in an image using the Windows Snipping Tool:

This is another very useful online program to use in conjunction with the FamilySearch Family Tree.  I like the concept and the implementation of it.

I haven't found a way to change the key person whose parents are in the inner-most circle - if a reader knows how to do that, I would love to know about it.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/02/checking-out-grandmas-pie-nice-treat.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Added or Updated Databases on Ancestry.com - Week of 31 January to 6 February 2015

The following databases were added or updated on Ancestry.com during the period from 31 January to 6 February 2015 (Note: not all new or updated databases are indexed or have images).

*  London, England, Selected Rate Books, 1684-1907; indexed records and digital images, UPDATED 2/5/2015

*  Hartford, Connecticut, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1957-1962; indexed records and digital images, ADDed 2/5/2015

*  1911 Census of Canada; indexed records and digital images, UPDATED 2/5/2015

*  New York, Abstracts of National Guard Service in WWI, 1917-1919; indexed records and digital images, ADDed 2/4/2015

*  Jefferson County, Ohio, Court Records, 1797-1951; indexed records and digital images, UPDATED 2/4/2015

*  1891 England Census; indexed records and digital images, UPDATED 2/4/2015

*  South Africa, Immigration Index, 1858-1986; indexed records, no images, ADDed 2/3/2015

*  U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783; indexed records and digital images, UPDATED 2/3/2015

*  U.S., Colored Troops Military Service Records, 1863-1865; indexed records and digital images, UPDATED 2/3/2015


*  South Africa, Estates Death Index, 1999-2014; indexed records, no images, ADDed 2/3/2015

The recently added or updated page on Ancestry.com is  at  http://www.ancestry.com/cs/reccol/default.

The complete Ancestry.com Card Catalog is at  http://search.ancestry.com/search/CardCatalog.aspx.  There are 32,569 databases available as of 6 February, an increase of 4 over last week. 

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/02/added-or-updated-databases-on.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 58: #65, Martha (Whitney) Seaver (1764-1832)

Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post Challenge:  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog.  I am extending this theme in 2015 to 104 Ancestors in 104 Weeks. Here is my ancestor biography for week #58:

Martha (Whitney) Seaver (1764-1832)  is #65 on my Ahnentafel list, my 4th great-grandmother. She married in 1783  to #64 Benjamin Seaver (1757-1816) .

I am descended through:

*  their son, #32 Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825), who married  #33 Abigail Gates (1797-1867) in 1817.
*  their son, #16 Isaac Seaver (1823-1901), who married #17 Lucretia Townsend Smith (1828-1884) in 1852.

*  their son, #8 Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922), who married #9 Hattie Louise Hildreth (1847-1920) in 1874. 

*  their son, #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942), who married Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962) in 1900.

* their son, #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983), who married #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) in 1942.

*  their son, #1 Randall J. Seaver (1943-....)

 =====================================================

1)  PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Name:                           Martha Whitney[1–4]
*  Alternate Name:           Martha Seaver[6–7,9–10]       
*  Sex:                              Female   

*  Father:                          Samuel Whitney (1719-1782)   
*  Mother:                         Abigail Fletcher (1720-1783)   
  
2)  LIFE EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
*  Birth:                           18 September 1764, Westminster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[1–2]
*  Census:                       1 June 1820 (age 55), Westminster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[6]    
*  Death:                         2 September 1832 (age 67), Westminster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[7]   
*  Burial:                        after 2 September 1832 (age 67), Woodside Cemetery, Westminster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[8–9]   
*  Probate:                     7 September 1832 (age 67), will proved; Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[10]
  
3)  SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
*  Spouse 1:                  Benjamin Seaver (1757-1816)   
*  Marriage 1:               19 August 1783 (age 18), Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[3–4,11]

*  Child 1:                    Achsah Whitney Seaver (1784-1865)   
*  Child 2:                    Abigail Seaver (1786-1817)   
*  Child 3:                    Job Whitney Seaver (1789-1868)   
*  Child 4:                    Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825)   
*  Child 5:                    Susannah Whitney Seaver (1794-1879)   
*  Child 6:                    Martha Seaver (1797-1837)   
*  Child 7:                    Silas Whitney Seaver (1799-    )   
*  Child 8:                    Isaac Seaver (1802-1870)   
*  Child 9:                    Rozilla Seaver (1806-1825)   
*  Child 10:                  Mary Jane Seaver (1812-1892)   
  
4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
 The Westminster, Massachusetts town record listing the children of Samuel and Abigail (Fletcher) Whitney includes[1]:

September 18 1764   Martha Whitney Borne

The marriage record in the Westminster town records says[3]:

August 19              This day Benjamin Sever                  both of
1783                       and Martha Whitney                      Westminster

The children of Benjamin and Martha (Whitney) Seaver born in Westminster were listed in the Westminster town records[5]:

Benjamin Seaver and Marthy his Wife Family Records
December 30th 1784          Achsa Whitney Seaver Born
December 2d 1786             Abigail Seaver Born
May 1^t 1789                     Job Seaver Born
November 15th 1791         Benjamin Seaver Born
July 27th 1794                   Susanna ^Whitney Seaver Born
Febr^y ye 10th 1797          Martha Seaver Born
Nov^r 24^th 1799              Silas Whitney Seaver Born
Dec^r 20^th 1802               Isaac Seaver Born
March 16^th 1806              Rozilla Seaver Born & Died Sept 18 1825
April 14^th 1812                Mary Jane Seaver Born

In the 1820 United States Census, Martha Seaver was a head of household in Westminster town, Worcester County, Massachusetts[6].  The household included:

*   one male aged 10 to 16, 
*  one male aged 16 to 18, 
*  one male aged 26 to 45, 
*  one female under age 10, 
*  one female aged 10 to 16, 
*  one female aged 16 to 26
*  one female over age 45

The death record for Martha W. Seaver in the Westminster Vital Records book says[7]:

SEAVER, Martha W., w. Benjamin, Sept. 2, 1832, a. 68. G.S.I.

The gravestone for Benjamin, Martha and Rozilla Seaver is in Woodside Cemetery in Westminster, Massachusetts[8-9].  The inscription is:

BENJAMIN SEAVER

Died

June 20, 1816

AE. 59

------

MARTHA W.

his wife

Sept 2, 1832

AE. 68

------

Martha Seaver died testate, and her probate papers are in Worcester County Probate Records, Probate Packet 52,908[10].  The will of Martha Sever was filed 7 September 1832 and proved 16 October 1832. It reads:

"Be it remembered that I Martha Sever of Westminster in the County of Worcester & Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Widow, do on this twenty first day of July in the year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and thirty two, make and publish this my last Will and Testament, in manner and form following, viz:

"In the first place, I give to my Daughter Achsah Mosman, One Dollar.

"2ndly.  I give to the Children of my Daughter Abigail Fairbank, deceased, One Dollar to be equally divided between them.

"3rdly.  I give to the Children of my Son Benjamin Sever deceased the sum of One Dollar to be equally divided between them.

"4thly.  I give to my Daughter Martha Leland One Dollar.

"5thly.  I give to my Son Silas Sever One Dollar.

"6thly.  I give to my son Isaac Sever One Dollar.

"The aforesaid legacies to be paid by my Executor within one year after my decease.

"7thly.  I give to my Daughters Susannah & Mary J. Sever the use of the Westerly room in my House with the chamber over the same with a privilege to pass through the entry, also a privilege in the cellar, also to each of them one third of the Household Furniture that I may die seized and possessed of for their own use so long as they shall remain single, but they shall have no right to sale or let their right in the House to any other person, and if they shall out live my son Job Sever, then they shall have the whole of the Household Furniture, but if my son Job Sever shall out live them, or either of them, then he shall have their shares.

"8thly, I give to my son Job Sever all the rest, residue and remainder of all my estate both Real, Personal or seized.

"9thly, I do hereby appoint Edward Kendall Esqr of Westminster my sole Executor of this my Last Will and Testament.

"In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, the day and year above written.

"Signed, sealed and published by the said Marthy Sever, declaring this to be her last Will and Testament, in presence of us, who at her request were called as Witnesses to the same, and in her presence did hereto subscribe our names."

"Merari Spaulding                                 her
Sewall Barnes                          Martha  x  Sever     S.S.
Nathan Howard                                  mark"

The Widow's dower, which she had received at the death of Benjamin Seaver, was divided among the children.  The real estate was appraised at $1,154.  It was set off to:

*  Asah Mosman (who was to pay Isaac Seaver $5.11); 
*  Mary Jane Seaver (who was to pay Isaac Seaver $3.34); 
*  Susannah W. Seaver (who was to pay Isaac Seaver $3.34);  
*  Job W. Seaver (who was to pay Martha Leland $124.88 and the heirs of Jabez Fairbank $124.88); 
*  Isaac Seaver (who was to pay the Heirs of Benjamin Seaver $124.88) 

The inventory of her estate was taken by Merari Spaulding, Simeon Sanderson and Asa Bigelow on 18 September 1832.  The inventory showed Real estate appraised at $750 (the homestead containing 12 and one half acres with the buildings), and Personal estate appraised at $743.24. 

The court order was approved on 4 January 1833.  All payments were accepted by those noted.

The administrator's account, dated 15 October 1833, and accepted the same day, shows that the legacies were paid to the children, the debts were paid, and Job Sever received the balance of the estate.  Job Sever deposed that he was satisfied with the account.  

5)  SOURCES:
 
1. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), "Westminster Births, marriages and deaths," page 91 (penned), image 142 of 1195, Family of Samuel and Abigail Whitney.
2. Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908), Births, page 99: Martha Whitney entry.
3. Massachusetts, Town Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com, "Westminster Births, marriages and deaths," page 3 (penned), image 490, Marriage of Benjamin Sever and Marthy Whitney, 19 Aug 1783.
4. Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, Marriages, page 186: Benjamin Sever and Martha Whiting entry (in Leominster).
5. Massachusetts, Town Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com, (accessed 26 February 2012), "Westminster Births, Marriages and Deaths,"  page 38 (penned, image 116 of 1195), Family of Benjamin and Marthy Seaver, list of children of Benjamin and Martha Seaver.
6. 1820 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, Worcester County, Massachusetts, Westminster town; Page 108, Martha Seaver household; indexed database and digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M33, Roll 54.
7. Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, Deaths, page 247: Martha W. Seaver entry.
8. Woodside Cemetery (Westminster, Massachusetts), Grave Markers, Benjamin Seaver monument.
9. Jim Tipton, indexed database, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com), Woodside Cemetery (Westminster, Mass.), Martha Whitney Seaver memorial #88187318.
10. "Worcester County, Massachusetts Probate Court Records" (Worcester County Probate Courthouse, Worcester, Mass.), Probate Packet 52,908, Martha Sever (1832) estate (also in Worcester County Probate Records, Volume 72, page 468, accessed on Microfilm 0,856,339).

11. Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Leominster, Massachusetts to the year 1849 (Worcester, Mass. : Franklin P. Rice, 1911), Marriages, page 255: Benjamin Sever and Martha Whitney entry.

====================================

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/02/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-wekk-58-65.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Dear Randy: Where did You Get That 1798 Massachusetts Tax List?

After I posted Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 249: 1798 Direct Tax List Record for Benjamin Sever and Sarah Sever this morning, I received an email from a correspondent asking the question:  "How did you obtain that record?"

As I noted in my blog post, the "Massachusetts and Maine 1798 Direct Tax" collection is on the AmericanAncdestors.org website.  This is part of my New England Historic Genealogical Society membership, and I try to use it as often as possible for my New England ancestors and their records.  The digitized records are great, and they are adding useful records every month.  I digress...

On the AmericanAncestors.org home page, after logging in, I clicked on the "Search" dropdown menu and selected "Databases:"

Clicking on the "Databases" link opened the Search fields for all of the databases on the site.

I added a name, first name = simon, last name = gates, and since I was specifically after entries in this one database, I limited the year range to 1798-1798.

I could have selected the "Tax" record type, or clicked on the "Advanced Search" and selected the "Category" and the specific "Database."

After clicking the "Search" button, the list of results from my search were:

I was interested in Simon Gates of Gardner, Massachusetts (my 5th great-grandfather), so I clicked on the second result on the list (there is another Simon Gates of Gardner entry also - his son).  Here is the top of the record page in Gardner:

And further down on the page:

Simon Gates is listed on the image above, with six lines for his property, defining the acreage and the valuation.  

There is a "Download" button above the image, so I downloaded the image, then renamed it and added it to my file folder for Gates > 02-Simon Gates + Susanna Reed > Documents with the file name of:

SimonGates-1798-TaxRecord-GardnerMA-MA&MEDirectTax-V14-p281

I added an Event in my RootsMagic database in the profile of Simon Gates, then added a source citation, attached the image to Simon Gates and tagged it to the Tax List entry, and added a note with the extracted information to the Event.

Then I noticed that Nathan Gates (Simon's son, my 4th great-grandfather) was on the same image, so I copied the file to Nathan Gates file folder, renamed it, added an Event in Nathan's profile, added a source citation, added a note for the extracted information, and attached the image to Nathan and tagged it to the tax event.

That took me all of 5 minutes - from logging in to adding the second image.

I could use RootsMagic to add the event, the image, the source, and the extracted information to the FamilySearch Family Tree profiles for Simon Gates and Nathan Gates.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/02/dear-randy-where-did-you-get-that-1798.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 249: 1798 Direct Tax List Record for Benjamin Sever and Sarah Sever

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the  1798 Direct Tax List for Massachusetts and Maine record for Benjamin Sever and Sarah Sever in Westminster, Worcester County, Massachusetts:

The section with Benjamin Sever's entry, and Sarah Sever's entry, is:

The extracted information from this document includes:

The heading on the page says:

"General List of Lands, Lots, Buildings and Wharves, owned, possessed or occupied on the 1st day of October 1798, within the Assessment District No. 4 in the south Division of the State of Massachusetts, excepting only such Dwelling Houses, as, with the Out-Houses appurtenant thereto, and the Lots on which they are erected, not exceeding two Acres in any Case, are above the Value of on hundred Dollars."

a)  The columns with pertinent information for Benjamin Sever are:

*  Names of occupant or possessers:  Benjamin Sever

*  Names of reputed owners:  Sever Benjn

*  In what County, Township, Parish, Town or City, in the Assessment District situated:  [Westminster]

*  Quantities of Lands, Lots, &c. exempted from Valuation (Acres-Perches-Square feet):  [none]

*  Quantities of  Lands, Lots, &c. subject to and included in the Valuation (Acres-Perches-Square feet):  157 [acres] 120 [perches]

*  Valuations as determined by the Principal Assessors including Dwelling Houses, &c. not exceeding One Hundred Dollars in Value (Dollars-Cents):  1014 [Dollars]

b)  There is a second line for Benjamin Sever with:

*  Quantities of  Lands, Lots, &c. subject to and included in the Valuation (Acres-Perches-Square feet):  52 [acres]

*  Valuations as determined by the Principal Assessors including Dwelling Houses, &c. not exceeding One Hundred Dollars in Value (Dollars-Cents):  300 [Dollars]

c)  here is a line for Sarah Sever, with the following information:

*  Names of occupant or possessers:  Sarah Sever

*  Names of reputed owners:  Sever Sarah

*  In what County, Township, Parish, Town or City, in the Assessment District situated:  [Westminster]

*  Quantities of Lands, Lots, &c. exempted from Valuation (Acres-Perches-Square feet):  [none]

*  Quantities of  Lands, Lots, &c. subject to and included in the Valuation (Acres-Perches-Square feet):  20 [acres] 

*  Valuations as determined by the Principal Assessors including Dwelling Houses, &c. not exceeding One Hundred Dollars in Value (Dollars-Cents):  195 [Dollars]

The source citation for this record is (cited for Benjamin Sever):

"Massachusetts and Maine 1798 Direct Tax," indexed database and digital image, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org), Volume 14, page 296, Westminster town, Benjamin Sever entry.

From this record, I can see that Benjamin Sever had two land parcels in Westminster that were eligible to be taxed, with 157 and 52 acres respectively, valued at $1014 and $300 respectively.  I believe the larger parcel is the home lot that he inherited from his father, Norman Sever in 1787.  The second parcel is the land he bought in 1794 and 1795 in Westminster.

His mother, Sarah Sever, widow of Norman Sever, had one parcel eligible to be taxed, 20 acres valued at $195.  

This list for Westminster is in semi-alphabetical order, so a researcher cannot determine who the neighbors are.  

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Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver