Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records for Estate of John Plimpton (1708-1756) of Medfield, Mass. - Part 3

This week's documents for Amanuensis Monday are from the Suffolk County, Massachusetts Probate Court records for John Plimpton (1708-1756) of Medfield, Massachusetts:

a)  Volume 55, pages 160-161:

The transcription of this division and appraisal is:


[page 160]
{In margin]

Plimpton

Jn^os ReEst^e

divided &

appraised

[body of the division and appraisal]

We the Subscribers being Directed & Impowered by

the Hon^ble Thomas Hutchinson Esq^r Judge of Probate

for the County of Suffolk. to make Just & equal

Division of the Estate in Housing & Lands of John

Plimpton late of Medfield deceast. died seized of in

fee between his Widow Abigail, & his four Children

[page 161]

Provided the same Will admit of a division without

Prejudice thereto, hasving viewed said Estate, are of opinion

that it will accommodate but one, we have set to the Widow

Abigail her thirds as follows – one third part of the dwelling

house the North Side, lately Set up with the Cellar

under it, with a third part of the yard Room & well, and

Liberty through the other part to go to the Bedroom & well,

with a third part of the barn, the East end, with Yard

Room, with an acre & half of land, lying from the yard

to the brook, being Six Rods wide, next the land of Joseph

Clark, with four acres & a half of plow land, lying by the

land of Simon Plimpton, with two Acres of Pasture land

in the Claypit pasture, next the Land of Joseph Clark,

with that piece of Meadow land Joyning to the long Cause-

way, being four Acres & a half, with Seven Acres of wood

Lands, on the South Side of Stop River, the North end

of the Lott with thirty one acres of land in Sturbridge

lying on the East End of that Lott.

& have Appraised the Remainder as followeth:

To two thirds of the house with y^e yard Room & Well	£ 8 : 00 : 00
To two thirds of the barn with the Yard Room	3 : 00 : 00
To two Acres of Land on the North side of the house	3 : 00 : 00
To the home lott on the South Side of the Country Road	36 : 00 : 00
To five acres of Meadow in harbour Island Meadows	17 : 10 : 00
To two acres & a half of land in the Clay pit pasture	15 : 00 : 00
To five acres of meadow lying on Stop River	27 : 00 : 00
To four acres & a half of Woodland in the Rocky woods	4 : 16 : 00
To Nine Acres of Woodland on the South Side of Stop river	16 : 00 : 00
To Five acres of Pasture on the South side of Stop River	10 : 00 : 00
To Sixty two acres of Land in Sturbridge	34 : 02 : 08
Medfield Jan^y 16 1759	£189 : 02 : 08

Timothy Hamant, Ezek^l Adams, Simon Plimpton Noah Allen
Boston Nov^r 23 1759 I Accept of the above division
                                                              T Hutchinson Jud Pro
                                    Ex^d Jn^o Cotton Reg^r

The source citation for this document is:

"Suffolk County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, 1636-1899," on 439 FHL US/CAN microfilm reels, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), : accessed 19 October 2017),"Probate records v. 54-55 1758-1759," FHL US/CAN film 493,876, Volume 55, pages 160-161 (image 396 of 473), John Plimpton division and appraisal, 1759; citing original records in the Suffolk County, Mass. courthouse.

John Plimpton (1708-1756) died 8 May 1756, and his widow, Abigail (Fisher) Plimpton, and eldest son, Amos Plimpton, were appointed administrators of his intestate estate on 2 July 1756.

In Part 1, three appraisers were appointed to make a true and just inventory of the estate, which they did on 20 October 1656.  The estate was valued by the appraisers at £375 : 4s : 3d.  It included real estate valued at £ 264 : 16s.   The personal estate was £ 110 : 8s : 3d.

In Part 2, the administrators, widow Abigail Plimpton and son Amos Plimpton, declared their account, which totaled £70 : 4s, on 22 October 1758.  This included fees and charges for the probate court documents, notes and money owed to creditors.  

In this document, the appraisers divided the real property and set off one third of it to the widow, Abigail (Fisher) Plimpton.  They appraised the remaining two thirds of the real property at £189 2s 8d.  However, they did not divide the property between the children of John and Abigail Plimpton because it would "prejudice" the division.  Apparently, they did nothing until all of the real estate could  be divided after Abigail died and her thirds reverted to the rest of the estate.

John and Abigail (Fisher) Plimpton are my 6th great-grandparents, through their son, Amos Plimpton (1735-1808), who married Mary Guild (1735-1800) in 1756.

Note that these records are on FHL Microfilm, and are on FHL digital microfilm on FamilySearch.org, but they are not indexed.  The Suffolk County Probate Packets have not been filmed to my knowledge,so I used the Suffolk County Probate Court Clerk volumes because I found them first.  A researcher has to search the Probate Index for the person's probate packet number, then find the Probate Docket files with the list of papers that are in the probate packet, along with the volume and page numbers, and then find the individual volumes and pages with the documents listed in the Probate Docket.

This set of court clerk volume records are not indexed on Ancestry.com in the "Massachusetts, Will and Probate Records, 1635-1991" collection.  They are available in the Ancestry collection, but you have to use the Probate Index and Probate Docket files to find the volumes and page numbers (similar to the process on FamilySearch).  They just are not indexed with the correct decedent's name.

There will be several more posts for this set of estate records.

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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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