Monday, February 26, 2018

Amanuensis Monday - Will of Thomas Carter (1585-1652) of Charlestown, Massachusetts

This week's document for Amanuensis Monday is the 1652 Will of Thomas Carter (1585-1652) of Charlestown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts:

a)  Middlesex County, Mass. Probate Packet 4,303, image 2 (original document image):



b)  The Probate Court transcription (Volume 28, page 18):



Note:  I chose to transcribe the Probate Court transcription:


The last will and Testament of Thomas Cartar of Charlestown made the fifth
day of the third month A thousand six hundred and fifty

I Thomas Cartar weak in body but whole in my understanding and memory
do make here my last will and testament in menner and forme following

imprimis I comitt and Comend my soule unto God my faithfull Creator and
Preserver believing trusting and relying only on my Lord Jesus christ for
my Salvation and eternall hapines.

I Comitt my Body to be decently buried And for my outward estate I due dis-
pose of it and apoynt it to be disposed of as followeth.

I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Mary Cartar my now dwelling
hous with the garden ground the Barne, and the five Akers of Land which lies
in the feild behind and above my hous, with all my houshould stuffe;
alsoe two Cowes and three Cows Commons and a quarter alsoe halfe the Evry
of all my ground, and she to have all this as long as she lives; she each year
fynding and allowing halfe the ear corn for all the ground.

I give and bequeath unto my eldest son Thomas Cartar after my wives
decease my now dwelling hous garden and barne with the five Akers I
bought of my son Samuell, and the three Cows Commons and a quarter
And a Cow hay Lott lying wthout the Noll (by Ralph Mousalls Land) wch was
given me in the divident, Also the Dwelling hous that Thomas Cartar my son
now dwells in; Only out of this house I will and bequeath to my son Samuell
Cartar to bee payd him by my son Thomas Cartar ten pounds Also I give and
bequeath unto my two sons Samuell and Joseph the twoo Akers of ground that
lies on mistik Syde near Richard Spragues land it to be equally divided
amonst them, and to be theirs wthin a month after my decease.

I also give unto my son Samuell Cartar after my wives decease one of my
hay Lotts without the Neck, wch I bought of goodman Potter.

I also give and bequeath after my wives decease unto my son Joseph Cartar
three Akers of Land lying at moltons poynt bought of Mikell Bastoe Also a hay
Lott bought of mr Lyn without the necke, alsoe one cows Comon.

I bequeath and give after my wives decease unto my son John Cartar A cow and
three heifers.

I give and bequeath unto my daughter Mary Brinsmead, and unto my daughter
Hanna Gre-- [Green] four Akers of land lying nere in Bunkers within the Neck
and my will is that to this foure Akers there shall be added as much out of
my houshould goods as shall make them up to be worth twenty pounds but this
to be theirs after my wives decease.

I alsoe give and bequeath after my wives decease, unto my beloved grand
children Caleb Cartar, Joseph Cartar, John Greene, and John Brinsmead, A hous
and the Ground belonging to it wch is about an Aker, wch Land and the
ould hous I bought of goodman Robinson, and a new hous to be sett upon
the garden platt where the ould house stands which I give amongst the
four children aforenamed to be theirs forever.

witneses the marke of W William Dad__                        Thomas Cartar.
                            John Green John Fuller.

Alsoe for the scotchman my will is that he shal be sould to mr Russel upon
resonble agreement and upon his good demeanor I do give him three quarters of a
year of the time he is to serve.

And I ordain my eldest son
Thomas Cartar to be my executors of this my last will and Testament.

A true record.
                                                    Attest W. Rogers Register

The source citations for this record are:

a)  "Middlesex County, MA: Probate Papers, 1648-1871," digital image, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org : accessed 25 February 2018), Probate Packet #4,043, Thomas Carter of Charlestown, 1652 (original document).

b)  "Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991," indexed database with digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 February 2018), Middlesex County, Volume 28, page 18, Thomas Carter will (court clerk transcription of original).

Thomas Carter (1585-1652) was married to Mary --?--, and they had six children, all named in the will (Thomas, Joseph, Samuel, John, Hannah and Mary). 

Thomas Carter's probate packet had a lengthy inventory attached which was much more readable (!).  It was made 25 June 1652 by Thomas Lynde, John Hale and Ralph Mousell.  The estate totaled £286 - 1 - 6.  It included the dwelling house, shop, barn, out housing, orchard, yard, garden (£80), the dwlling house that son Thomas lives in (£30), "servant Mathew the Scotchman" (£14), four more plots of land (totaling £82-10), a sword, muskett, bandoliers, a green rug, etc.  

Thomas and Mary (--?--) Carter are my 10th great-grandparents.  I am descended from their son Joseph Carter (1610-1676), who married Susanna Chamberlain (1616-1697) in 1644, and resided in Woburn, Massachusetts.

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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."


Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

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