Monday, September 23, 2019

Amanuensis Monday -- 1824 Quitclaim Deed Nathan Gates to Jabez Fairbank in Gardner, Massachusetts

This week's document for Amanuensis Monday is an 1824 deed of  Nathan Gates quitclaiming land to Jabez Fairbank in Gardner, Massachusetts in the Worcester County, Massachusetts Land Records: 

[Volume 237, pages 614-615]

The transcription of this deed is:

[page 614 near bottom of left-hand page]

[in left margin]

Gates Nathan
to 
Jabez Fairbank

[body of text]

Know all men by these presents that I Nathan Gates of Westminster

in the County of Worcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts yeoman in
Consideration of one dollar paid me by Jabez Fairbank of Gardner in said
County yeoman the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge do hereby grant
sell and quitclaim unto the said Fairbank his heirs and assigns all
my right title claim and demand in and unto a certain tract of land
lying and being in the Southeasterly part of Gardner aforesaid contain-

[page 615]

ing sixty acres be the same more or less and is bounded as follows (to wit) begin-
ning at the Northeasterly corner of said land at a stake and stones thence
Westerly to a stake and stones being the Southwest corner of John Miles ^land^ thence
Northerly to a heap of stones the Southeast corner of land of the said Gates,
sold to the said Miles thence Westerly to a heap of stones on the line of
the Edgell land so called, thence Southerly to a stake and stones in the
bend of the wall near a well thence Southerly to a stake and stones about
a rod and a half West of the river thence Southerly to a heap of stones and
stump thence Westerly to a stake and stones at the road thence Easterly
bounding on said road to a heap of stones in the fence thence Southerly bounding on
said road to a heap of stones the corner of Aaron Woods land thence
north 76-1/4°  East twenty five rods three links to a heap of stones thence
South 61-1/2°  East 18 rods to a heap of stones thence North 44-1/4°  East 15 rods
to a hemlock thence North 16-1/2°  East 16 rods and 20 links to a stake and
stones then North 63°  East 9 rods to a heap of stones thence Northerly 43 
rods to a stake and stones thence Northerly to a hemlock tree marked
being the corner of fourth division lands thence a straight line to the bounds
first mentioned with the buildings thereon standing said land is the
greater part under improvement and is all the land that said Gates owns
in said town the privilege to pass and repass forever through the land
which I sold and conveyed to John Miles of said Gardner which privi-
lege was reserved to me and my assigns forever in said Deed is hereby
conveyed to said Fairbank and his assigns reference to be had to said
Deed for the terms and conditions of said privilege.  The road through 
said land is not here conveyed any thing in this deed to the contrary not
withstanding.  To have and to hold the same to the said Fair-
bank his heirs and assigns to his and their use and behoof forever
and I do covenant to warrant and defend said granted and quitclaim-
ed premises to the said Fairbank his heirs and assigns forever against
the lawful claims and demands of all persons claiming by or under
me.  In witness whereof I the said Nathan Gates and Abigail
Gates Wife of the said Nathan in token of her relinquishing her right
of dower or allimony in the above described premises have hereunto
set our hands and seals this twenty sixth day of June in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty four.

Signed sealed and delivered                             Nathan Gates   {seal}
in presence of us                                               Abigail Gates   {seal}
Edward Kendall    }  Worcester ss June 26^th 1824 then the above named
Jonas White           }  Nathan Gates acknowledged the above instrument
to be his free act and Deed.  Before me  Edward Kendall Just of Peace
Rec^d  August 3^d 1824  Ent^d & Exam^d By  Art^s Ward  Regr.
  
The source citation for this recorded deed is:
"Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986," digital images, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 13 January 2015), Worcester County, "Deeds, 1824, Vol. 237-238," Volume 237, Pages 614-615, image 319 of 619, Quitclaim Deed of Nathan Gates to Jabez Fairbank, 1824; citing records in land offices and county courthouses, statewide, Massachusetts.


This is the last deed that I found in the Worcester County Deed Records for Nathan Gates.  He sold this tract of land in Gardner for $1 in a quitclaim deed to Jabez Fairbank.  At the time of this 1824 deed, Nathan Gates was "of Westminster" so he probably was not living on this land.  Earlier, he had sold the same tract of land to Jabez Fairbank in 1811 for $1000.  There is no mortgage claim in the earlier deed, and no other deed wherein Jabez Fairbank or another person sells the land back to Nathan Gates.  

Jabez Fairbank (1784-1833) and his wife Abigail (Seaver) Fairbank (1786-1817, married in 1808, and they had two children; she was the daughter of Benjamin and Martha (Whitney) Seaver, whose son Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825) married Abigail Gates (1797-1867) in 1816, daughter of Nathan Gates and Abigail Knowlton).  So Jabez Fairbank and Nathan Gates were "extended family" or "kinfolk" but were not directly related.  

When Jabez Fairbank's wife, Abigail, died in 1817 leaving two small children, it is possible that Nathan and Abigail (Knowlton) Gates went to live with him in 1817, being extended family.  It is possible that Jabez Fairbank supported Nathan and Abigail (Knowlton) Gates for some period of time.  Perhaps there is an unrecorded deed for this tract of land wherein Jabez Fairbank borrowed money from Nathan Gates, and this quitclaim deed was used to forgive the loan.  

Nathan Gates (1767-1830), who married Abigail Knowlton (1774-1855) in 1790, is my 4th great-grandfather.  I am descended from their daughter, Abigail Gates (1797-1867) who married Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825) in 1817.

                                     =========================================

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) 2019, Randall J. Seaver


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