Monday, February 19, 2018

Amanuensis Monday - Will of Nathaniel Wade (1648-1707) of Medford, Mass.

This week's document for Amanuensis Monday is the 1707 Will of Nathaniel Wade (1648-1707) of Medford Middlesex County, Massachusetts:

a)  Probate Packet 23,417, image 2:




The transcription of the will is:


Medford June: 12: 1707 In the name of god, Amen.
I Nathanael Wade of Medford in the county of Middlesex in
New England being sensible of my approaching death & being yet in my perfect
understanding, & enjoying my senses, do ordain this as my last wil & testament
committing my soul to god, & my body to y^e earth by a decent burial.

1 I do constitute my loving wife Mercy Wade my sole Executrix of this
my last wil & testament, & do give to her during her natural life my whole
estate (& do immediately upon my death put it into her hands) real & personal.

2 I do ordre that al my just debts be paid, & do impower her my Executrix
to sel what lands are needful for that end.

3 My wil is that my daughter Anne Wade shal have at my decease as much
in land, or otherwise, as the eighteen Acres of land given already to her sister
Dorothy Willis is valued at.

4 I do order, & my wil is, that after y^t death & buryal of my loving wife Mercy
Wade the Executrix, the remaining part of my Estate be thus divided amongst
my sic children. That my son Nathanael Wade shall have the value of five
pounds only, he having had his portion already, & given acquittance for it.
That y^e rest of my Estate remaining be thus divided, one third part to my three
daugtters Mercy Bradstreet, Anne Wade & Dorothy Willis, equally every one their
equal share, & that the other two thirds be divided betwixt my two sons Jonathan
Wade & Samuel Wade after this manner viz that my son Samuel shal have
three parts, to my son Jonathan two parts. And it is to be understood that what
these my sons, or daughters have, already received of their portions, as Also what
my daughter Anne Wade is to receive at my decease, shal be computed as
so much of their share, & every ones part to be made up proportionably according
to the above stated rule of division. And that my son Jonathan Wade &
Samuel Wade, shal freely (at this time & from my decease, til the time of
division shal come) enjoy & possesse the brickyard & ???? ground adjacent,
proportionably to the shares given them in the abovesaid dividend, without any
allowance for y^e use of it. And this I signe & seal & declare to be
my last wil & testament, respecting the whole estate & goods that god
hath gratiously given me.
                                                                         Nat^h Wade {seal}
Witnesses: Benj. Woodbridge
                  Thomas Taft
                  Sam^ll Woodbridge 

The source citation for this will is:

Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Probate case files, Nathaniel Wade Case File 23,417, 1707, Medford, 15 images; "Middlesex County, Mass. Probate File Papers, 1648-1871," digital images, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org: accessed 3 August 2017); original papers on file at Suffolk County Probate Court, Boston, Mass.

Nathaniel Wade (1648-1707) died 28 November 1707.  He married Mercy Bradstreet (1647-1715) in 1672 in Andover, Massachusetts.  They had six children living at the time Nathaniel Wade wrote his will on 12 June 1707.  All six children are named as heirs in the will.

There are no records of a probate by the executor, Mercy (Bradstreet) Wade, who died in 1715.  Son Samuel Wade was appointed administrator in 1714, the will was proved on 3 November 1714, but the estate was not settled until 1724.  By that time, son Jonathan Wade was deceased.  The probate case file has a number of receipts for debts owed by Nathaniel Wade, several accounts filed by Samuel Wade, but no inventory.  The accounts are very difficult to read.

Nathaniel Wade (1648-1707) is my 8th great-grandfather.  I descend through his son Jonathan Wade (1683-1720), who married Mary Dolberry in about 1701.

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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) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

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