Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records for Estate of John Plimpton (1680-1730) of Medfield, Mass. - Part 1

This week's documents for Amanuensis Monday are from the Suffolk County, Massachusetts Probate Court records for John Plimpton (1680-1730) of Medfield, Massachusetts:

a)  Volume 27, pages 540-541:

The transcription of the Letter of Administration and Inventory of John Plimpton is:

[page 540]

Josiah Willard Esq Commissioned by his Excellency William Burnet

Esq Capt General and Governour in Chief in and over his Majestys Province

of the Massachusetts Bay in New England deceased & Continued by the Hon^ble

William Dumoner Esq Commander in Chief of the same by and with the

advice and Consent of the Council to be Judge of the Probate of Wills &c for

Granting Letters of Administration on the Estates of persons deceased

having Goods Chattels Rights or Credits in the County of Suffolk in the Province

aforesaid. To Susannah Plimpton Widow and John Plimpton Hysbandman

both of Medfield in the County aforesaid Greeting. Whereas John Plimpton

late of Medfield aforesaid Husbandman deceased having while he Lived &

at the time of his decease Goods Chattels Rights or Credits in the County

aforesaid lately dyed Intestate, whereby the power of Committing Admi-

nistration and full disposition of all & singular the Goods Chattels Rights

& Credits of the said deceased, and also the hearing Examining and allowing

the accompt of such Administration doth apperatain unto me Trusting

therefore in your care & fidelity, I do by these presents committ unto you

full power to administer all and singular the Goods, Chattels, Rights & Credits

of the said deceased. And well and faithfully to Dispose of the same according

to Law, and also to Gather levy Recover and Receive all and whatsoever

Credits of the said deceased which to him while he Lived and att the time of his

Death did appertain and to pay all Debts in which the said deceased stood

Bound so far as his Goods Chattels Rights & Credits can Extend According to

the value Thereof, And to make a true and perfect Inventory of all and

singular the Goods Chattels Rights & Credits, And to Exhibit the same into

the Registry of the Court of Probate for the County aforesaid at or before

the seventh day of July next Ensuing, and to Render a plain & true

[page 541]

Accompt of your said Administration upon Oath at or before the seventh

day of April which will be in the year of our Lord one Thousand seven hundred

& Thirty one, And I do hereby ordain Constitute and appoint you Admin^rs of all

and singular the Goods Chattels Rights & Credits aforesaid. In Testimony

whereas I have hereunto set my hand and the seal of the said Court of Probate

Dated at Boston the seventh day of April Anno Domini 1730.

John Boydell Reg^r                                            J. Willard

A True Inventory of the Estate of John Plimpton late of Medfield deced

as I was apprized by the subscribers hereunto March 10^th 1730.

To money and Bills of Credit & Bonds	45 – 16 - 11
To Cloathing Books and armes & several Book Debts	45 – 09 - 10
To Beds & Bedding sheets and Linnen and wool	44 - 2 -
To Pewter Earthen Brass & Iron & wooden ware in the house	30 -
To Provision Corn and Meat a stock of Leather and shoemakers tools	47 – 19 -
To a Cart and plow Chains Axes & other Husbandry Tools	21 - 6 -
To the stock oxen Horses Cows Sheep and swine	87 -
To the Buildings & homelot of both sides the way	190 -
To 12 acres of Pine swampy Meadow by Stop River	80 -
To 5 acres of Meadow lying in three pcells	85 -
To 25 acres of wood Land lying on the south side of Stop River	77 -
To 8 acres of swamp and Upland near Wheelers Bottom	25 -
To that pcell of plow Land near Lieut Plimptons & also 2 acres of Cedar swamp 1 Acre more of swamp	34 -
To 7 acres & a half of Upland in 3 pcells & also 5 acres of Devident Land	26 -
To the Common Rights in Wrentham some laid out some not	13 - 10
To the fiftieth part of the Rights in New Medfield so called	25 -
Samuel Smith                                         Ebenezer Mason                                         Henry Harding	£879 – 3 - 9

Suffolk Ss. By the Hon^ble Josiah Willard Esq Judge of pro:&c

Susannah Plimpton & John Plimpton, Adm^rs presented the foregoing and

made Oath that it Contains a true and perfect Inventory of the Estate of

John Plimpton late of Medfield Husbandman deceased so far as hath come

to their Knowledge and that if more hereafter appear they will Cause it

to be added. The Three subscribing Apprizers were at the same time sworn as

the Law Directs.

Boston April 7^th 1730       Exam^d: Ss John Boydell Reg^r         J. Willard

The source citation for this record is:

"Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991," indexed database with digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com, : accessed 5 November 2017); Suffolk County, "Probate Records, V. 27-28, 1729-1731," Volume 27, pages 540-541 (image 281 of 586), John Plimpton, 1730, letter of administration and inventory; Original images in Suffolk County [Mass.] Probate Court.

John Plimpton (1680-1730) died intestate on 19 Janaury 1730 with a significant estate in Medfield, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.  He left a widow, Susannah (Draper) Plimpton, and four children, two of them over age 21 and two under age 10.  The Letter of Administration appointed the widow, Susannah Plimpton and the oldest son, John Plimpton as Administrators of the estate.  An inventory of the estate was taken on 10 March 1730, and totals £879-3-9, of which £567-10 is real estate.  The Letter of Administration is dated 7 April 1730.

This is the first of several transcriptions from this estate.  

Since I found the image of this record first on Ancestry.com, I have cited it.  However, it was not found by a search by the person's name - it was found by searching the Probate Docket Index on Ancestry to find all of the papers for John Plimpton in the probate court clerk volumes.  There were no index entries for this particular John Plimpton.  

The same process can be used on FamilySearch in the digital microfilms - use the Probate Docket Index for the county, note the volumes and page numbers for each record type, and then find the individual pages in the noted volumes.

Since I found these pages, the American Ancestors website has the original probate file papers available in digital format on their website, which can be searched by name.  There are 32 papers in the John Plimpton estate file number 5941.

John Plimpton (1680-1730) is my 7th great-grandfather, through his son John Plimpton (1708-1756).  

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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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