Amanuensis Monday -- 1728 Bond and Distribution of Estate of John Fisher (1652-1727) of Medfield, Mass.

 This week's document for transcription is the 1728 Bond for and Decree to Distribute the estate of John Fisher (1652-1727) of Medfield, Massachusetts, in Probate Packet 5,511 in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts probate court records:

Image 17 of 18:

Image 18 of 18:

The transcription of these papers is:

[Image 17 of 18]

Know all Men by these Presents That we Joshua

Fisher of Walpole Husbandman Samuel

Mors Blacksmith and Timothy Hammon Hus-

bandman of Medfield all within the County of Suffolk

are holden and Province of the Massachusetts Bay

in New England, are holden and stand firmly

bound and obliged unto Samuel Sewall Esq.

Judge of the Probate of Wills &ctt or his Successors

in s'd Office in the full and just Sum of four hundred

and fifty pounds current money in New England

to be paid unto the said Samuel Sewall his Successors

in s'd Office or assigns To the payment whereof

we do bind our Selves & Each of us our & Each of our

heirs Executors & Admin'rs joyntly & severaly for

the whole and in the whole firmly by these presents.

Sealed with our Seals Dated this Twenty Second

day of November In the Second year of the Reign

of our Sovereign Lord George the Second over

Great Britiain &c 1728.

The Condition of this present Obligation is such

That whereas the Real Estate of John Fisher late of

Medfield Blacksmith deceased Intestate not admitting of

a Division among all his Children without great

prejudice or Spoiling of the whole being apprized

at the Sum of Two hundred and thirteen pounds & five

shillings is assigned unto the within Bounden Joshua Fisher

he paying thereout unto his eldest Brothers Children vz't the

Heirs of John Fisher Jun'r deceased ^£47-7-9^ & to his Sisters

Namely Hannah Parteridge ^deced^ or her heirs Rachel Boyden ^decd^

or her heirs & Mehitabel Bullen or their Legal Representatives

the Sum of Twenty three pounds, thirteen shillings & ten pence

half penny apeice in Current lawfull money of New England

or Bills of publick Credit on this Province on or before the

Twenty Second day of November which will be in the year

of our Lord one Thousand Seven hundred & twenty nine

[Image 18 of 18]

with Interest for the said Sums in the Interim

at the rate of Six pC't pr Annum being their

single shares of Two Third part of their

said Father's Real Estate at present and

at and upon the Death of their Mother

Hannah Fisher or other the Determination 

of her term in the premises the further sum

of twenty three pounds thirteen shillings

& ten pence half penny to the heirs of the Eldest

Son John Fisher aforesaid and to the Rest of

the Children or those that represent them

the further Sum of Eleven pounds Sixteen

Shillings and Eleven pence a peice to

Compleat their Respective Shares of and in

their said Fathers Real Estate.  Now if therefore

the said Joshua Fisher perform in the Decree

of the said Judge of Probates by paying

the abovesaid sums of money with Interest

 in Manner & true as before Expressed without

fraud coven or further delay then the within

written obligation to be void & of none Effect

or otherwise to remain in full force & vertue.

Signed Sealed & Delivered               Joshua Fisher

in presence of                                    Samuell Morse

    George Houstoun                        Timothy Hamant

    John Boydell

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 17 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 of their father's estate, and when their mother died, their share of her estate also.  Their were six shares for five children (the eldest son receives a double share), so a share of the father's estate for each child was £23-13-10, and a share of them other's estate was £11-16-11.  The probate court ordered this on 22 November 1728 to be completed by 22 November 1729.

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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