Amanuensis Monday -- 1727 Inventories of Estate of John Fisher (1652-1727) of Medfield, Mass.

This week's documents for transcription are the 1727 and 1728 Inventories of the estate of John Fisher (1652-1727) of Medfield, Massachusetts, in Probate Packet 5,511 in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts probate court records:

Image 7 of 18:

Image 10 of 18:

Image 15 of 18:

The transcription of these papers is:

[Image 7 of 18]

                                          Medfield October the ??? in the year 1727

An Inventory of the movabell and Real Estate of John Fisher sen latte Deceased in Medfield

To Books and mony and Armes	4 – 00 – 00
To waring Clothes	7 – 06 – 06
To beds beding and lining	28 – 07 – 06
To woolling Cloath and Sacks	5 – 06 – 00
To brass and iron ware	9 – 13 – 02
To putter and Earthen ware	2 – 16 – 02
To wooden ware	5 – 17 – 10
To woollen and lining yarn	0 – 14 – 00
To all sorts of graine and Swine	8 – 05 – 00
To the stock of cattel	28 – 00 – 00
To the house and barn and home sted	117 – 00 – 00
To medow land and Swamp land and woodland	96 – 05 – 00
	313 – 11 – 02
Joseph Plimpton Samuell Sadey John Plimpton

                                 By the Hon'be Samuel Sewall Esq. J. of pro &c

Joshua Fisher Admin'r presented the foregoing & made Oath that it

contains a true & perfect Inventory of the Estate of his Father John

Fisher aforesaid deceased so far as hath come to his knowledge

and if more hereafter appear he will Cause it to be added.

The subscribing apprizers were at the same time sworn as the Law

directs.

                                                                         Samuel Sewall

Boston Nov'r 13'th 1727

[Image 10 of 18]

To the hon'ble Judge Sewall

The humble Petition of the Widow of John Fisher

Senior late of Medfield Deceased – most humbly sheweth

That it pleased God to take away my Husband

from me by Death not long since and I am

left a widow in my old age under low and dif-

ficult Circumstances for my Husband was prevailed with

to give away a considerable part of his lands to his

Children by Deeds and left but little as I may say

undisposed of and the case is so circumstanced

that my Thirds which is almost the onely

Support I have to depend upon amounts to but

little and some of my Children are not willing I

Should have that in so agreable a manner as I could

wish and as I think I ought to have.

And there is two acres of Meadow that of Right

belongs to me for I have an hereditary right

to it insomuch that at the first apprizement of

my Husbands Estate it was not put into the Inven-

tory Yet notwithstanding ^it is^ since apprized as part of my

Husband's Estate, and I am like to be deprived of my

Right, unless your Hon'r will be pleased in your

Wisdom and Compassion to help me. Wherefore

I Do most humbly and earnestly pray Your Hon'r

if it seem meet to you to order y't I may have my

Thirds Sett out to me near home where it may be most

beneficial to me, and that I may not be deprived

of my said two acres of Meadow, which being grant-

ed your humble Petitioner as in Duty Bound

Shall ever pray.

                                                     her

                                         Hannah X Fisher

                                                   mark

Medfield October 16, 1728

[Image 15 of 18]

                                       Medfield November the 12, 1728

A true Inventory of the Reall Estate of John Fisher se late dececed of Medfield

To all the buildings	37 – 00 – 00
To the homested upland and medow	64 – 00 – 00
To one acre on the north side of the highway	16 – 00 – 00
To three acres of medow att harbour Island	75 – 00 – 00
To two acres of upland upon Chestnut plain	10 – 00 – 00
To fouer acres and a halfe od devident land near castell hill	9 – 00 – 00
To two acres and three quarters in black swamp	2 – 00 – 00
To a small parcell of Swamp medow by the long Causeway	0 – 05 – 00
	£213 – 05 – 00
Samuell Sadey John Plimpton William Plimpton

Joshua Fisher

John Fisher's Children deceased Eldest }

Hannah Partridges heirs                          }

Rachel Boyden's her heirs                        } Hannah Fisher widow

Mehitabel Bullen                                       }

Nov'r 22 1728

The source citation for this probate case file is:

Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Probate case files, Packet #5,511 (18 images), John Fisher of Medfield, administration granted 1727; "Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1636-1893," indexed database and digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (https://www.AmericanAncestors.org : accessed 12 August 2020); from records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org.

John Fisher (1652-1727), a blacksmith, married Hannah Adams (1656-1746) in 1674 in Medfield, and he died 15 October 1727 in Medfield.  They had seven children, but one died as a child, and three others died before the death of their father in 1727 and left children, and one child (Josiah Fisher) is not named in the probate records for some reason (he was probably deeded land by his father as his share).  A list of the children of John and Hannah (Adams) Fisher that are named in the list of heirs on image 13 are:

*  Joshua Fisher [named administrator of the estate]

*  John Fisher Jr. [eldest son, died in August 1727, had children]

*  Hannah Partridge [daughter, wife of William Partridge, died before her father, had children]

*  Rachel Boyden [daughter, wife of Jonathan Boyden, died before her father, had children]

*  Mehitable Bullen [daughter, wife of John Bullen, has children]

On 16 October 1727, Joshua Fisher (son of the deceased John Fisher Senior) was appointed administrator of his father's estate.  An inventory was immediately taken (see Image 7 above) that totaled £313-11-02, of which £213-05-00 was real property.  On 16 October 1728, the widow Hannah (Adams) Fisher petitioned the court (see Image 10 above) for her widow's thirds and complained that the land she inherited was not in her husband's inventory and it should be her property.  On 12 November, the real property was inventoried and totals £213-05-00 (see Image 15 above), so it was not included in the property to be divided by the children.  The administrator filed his account on 25 October 1728.  A committee decided that the property should be awarded to son Joshua Fisher (since son Josiah had his own property) and eldest son John Fisher Jr. was deceased, with Joshua to pay his siblings or their representatives their shares in money and when their mother died, their share of her estate also.  The probate court ordered this on 22 November 1728.

John and Hannah (Adams) Fisher are my 8th great-grandparents, through their son John Fisher (1677-1727) who married Abigail Smith (1686-1725) in 1705 in Medfield.

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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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