Monday, August 28, 2017

Amanuensis Monday - 1736 Inventory and Debt List for Estate of Josiah Wood (1687-1753) of Woburn, Mass.

This week's documents for Amanuensis Monday are from the Middlesex County, Massachusetts Probate Court records for Josiah Wood (1687-1753), husbandman of Woburn, Massachusetts:

c)  Probate Packet 25,489 (image 6):



The transcription of this document is:

This is a true inventory of the Estate of Josiah Wood jun^r
of Woburn in the County of Midels^x Non compos taken
and a prized by us the Subscribers January 12^th 1736(7)

Primus To his now dwelling Hous and Barn and about 22 Acores of Land
340-00-00
To the House and Land and Medow he bought
of Mr. John Knight a bout 52 acors
400-00-00
To 56 acores of Land and medow and swamp
Lying at a place called Longmedow
420-00-00
To 14 acores of Land Ling in Longmedow Fiel
070-00-00
To 4 acors of Land ajoynning to Land that
was John Wymans
020-00-00
To 4 oxen
040-00-00
To 4 Cowes
028-00-00
To 14 Sheep £14 to a hors 2£
016-00-00
To Staples Coprins and 3 Chains and 2 forks
003-18-00
To a plowe and plowe grone 10s axes and hows 8s
000-18-00
To an gron bear 1£ 10s to Hors Chains 15s
002-05-00
To bevel Rings and wedges 10s To 5 5 Swine 11£
011-10-00
To a Lambe and Foaling 3£ a Cart and wheals 4£
007-00-00
To agers and other Tools 1£ 10s to a bras Ketles 2£
004-00-00
To 2 Sadles and bridles 3£ 10s To Spining whele 14s
004-04-00
To Chest of draws and Great table
003-00-00
To ? ? beds and beding
014-00-00
To 40 bushels of Indian corn at ?? pence per bushel
011-00-00
To 18 bushels of barly at of ??? per bl
005-17-00
To 14 bushels of rye – 8 s per bushel
005-12-00
To a bariel of pork
009-00-00
To Cask in the seler
001-00-00
To an iron pot
000-10-00

£1430-14-00

                                                                Jonathan Bacon }
                                                                Samuel Wood    } sworn before

                                                                Edward Walker } Jon^a S???? Just^a

d)  Probate Packet 25,489 (image 7):




The transcription of this document is:


Middlesex Ss January 17^th 1736
M^rs Ruth Wood & her son John Wood the Guardians
of the Non-compos Person within named exhibited
the within written Inventory on oath.

                                                     Jon^a Remington Jpr

d)  Probate Packet 25,489 (image 8):


The transcription of this document is:


Wobourn Jan^y y^e 8 1736

An account of the Debts due from the Estate of M^r
Josiah Wood Jnr which is Estemed by the Selectment and
others Noncompos, viz.

To ??? George Reed
50-15-00
To Rachel Putney
42-12-00
To Thomas Skilton Jnr
27-08-02
To Mi^s Sebbellah Reed
11-03-04
To Mr. John Poulter
22-08-00
To John Knight
20-02-10
To the franch Doctor
10-00-00
To Doctor Jonathan Haywood
8-00-00
To Doct or Roger Toothaker
1-00-00
To Ruth Wood Junr
16-00-00
To John Wood        for his services
60-00-00
To Mr. Ebnezer Reed     rates
4-02-00
To Mr. Edward Walker
10-07-00
To Mr. William Taye     rates
2–00-00
Sum Total
£285-18-04

219-15-00

Midd^x Cambridge January 17^th 1736
I have examined the above written list of Debts
                                     Jon^a Remington Jpro

would sell the Land bought of John Knight – to the value of the Debts
his Personal Estate being necessary to keep house.

The source citation for this probate packet is:

"Middlesex County, MA: Probate Papers, 1648-1871," digital image, American Ancestors  (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org : accessed 13 August 2017), Probate Packet 25,489 (14 images), Josiah Wood of Woburn, 1736.

In 1736, when Josiah Wood of Woburn was age 49, his wife and eldest son petitioned (see 

Amanuensis Monday - 1736 Non Compos Mentis Petition for Josiah Wood (1687-1753) of Woburn, Mass.) the Middlesex County Probate Court to have Josiah Wood declared "non compos mentis," meaning not sane, or not in their right mind.  At the time, Josiah and Ruth had eight living children, all but one of them (John) were minors.  


Ruth Wood and John Wood, as Guardians, committed to well and truly do their duty as guardians, and, with two friends, post bond of 1,000 pounds each.  See Amanuensis Monday - 1736 Bonds for Estate of Josiah Wood (1687-1753) of Woburn, Mass.

In the documents in this post, the guardians of Josiah Wood Junior took an inventory of the estate and made a list of the debts owed by Josiah Wood.  The estate totaled over 1,430 pounds, of which five items were real estate valued at 1,250 pounds, and the personal estate was over 180 pounds.  The debts were about 220 pounds.  Rather than sell all of the personal property, the probate court suggested selling one of the real property parcels in order to pay the debts and leave the household of this relatively young family intact.

There will be several more posts about this set of probate papers - there are some interesting twists in the records.

Josiah and Ruth (Walker) Wood are my 7th great-grandparents, the parents of Susanna Wood (1724-1780), who married Nathan Reed (1719-1802) in 1743.


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NOTE:  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."

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Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver


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