Amanuensis Monday -- 1750 Affidavit of Son Jonas Prescott in Jonas Prescott (1678-1750) Estate in Middlesex County, Massachusetts

This week's document for transcription is the 1753 Affidavit of Jonas Prescott (1703-1784) accepting money from the administrator of the estate of Jonas Prescott (1678-1750) of Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, which is in Estate File 18081 in the Middlesex County Probate Court records. 

[image 10 of 10]

The transcription of this affidavit is:

Know all Men by These ^Presents^ that I Jonas Prescott of Westford

in the County of Middlesex Gent'n For the consideration of

Two Hundred Pounds Lawefull money paid by Ebenezer

Prescott of the same town and County afores'd Yeoman.

I the s'd Jonas Do by these Presents for my Self my Heirs

for Ever Barr my Self and Them for Ever makeing any

Demands or Challenge to any Rights to any

of the Real or Personal Estate To which my Honored

Father Jonas Prescott Esq'r Deceased gave unto Him by

Deeds of gifts I the said Jonas Do only Reserve out of the

Personal Effects Two Certain Bond Which I the s'd Jonas have now

in my Keeping, But all The Rest That is Given ^by Deeds^ to

him the s'd Ebenezer Prescott is Quietly to Enjoy without

any molestation from the s'd Jonas or His Heirs for Ever &c.

In Witness Whereof I the s'd Jonas Prescott This Twenty

Eight Day of Nov'r 1750 have Sett ^to^ my Hand and Seal

in Presence of us

Josiah Sartell                                        Jonas Prescott {seal}

Mary Sartell

Middlesex August 20 1753

I order the abovewritten to be recorded

                                    S. Danforth J.prob.

The source citation for this probate case file is:

Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Probate case files, Volume: Middlesex 18000-18199, Estate File #18081 (10 images), Jonas Prescott estate, 1751; "Middlesex County (Massachusetts) Probate File Papers, 1648-1871," digital images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014, American Ancestors  (https://www.americanancestors.org: accessed 10 February 2021); Digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org from original records at Probate Registry, Cambridge, Mass. 

Jonas Prescott (1678-1750) married Thankful Wheeler (1682-1716) on 5 October 1699 in Concord, Massachusetts.  They had five children:

*  Ebenezer Prescott (1700-1771), married 1721 Hannah Farnsworth (1702-????).

*  Jonas Prescott (1703-1784), married 1731 Elizabeth Harwood (1701-1739).

*  Thankful Prescott (1705-1751), married (1) 1726, Timothy Spaulding (1700-1734); (2) 1741 Joseph Baldwin (1702-1747); (3) John Marshall (1700-????)

*  Mary Prescott (1711-1793), married 1728 Joseph Stone (1702-1777).

*  Sarah Prescott (1712-1737), married 1732 Samuel Minott (1706-1766).  

Jonas Prescott died intestate on 12 September 1750.  On 23 September 1751, Ebenezer Prescott, the eldest son, was named administrator of the estate of his father, Jonas Prescott.  An inventory of the real and personal property was taken on 15 November 1751, and presented to the Probate Court by the administrator on 25 November 1751.  The real property listed totaled over £7500 Old Tenor, and the personal property about £1140 Old Tenor (£450 in notes and bonds).  The inventory notes that most of the real property was given by deed to his children before he died.  However, the inventory does not list any property given to his daughter, Sarah Minott and her family.

In a series of affidavits in the probate packet, Ebenezer Prescott agreed to give money (in "Lawful Money" of New England) to his siblings: 

*  Joseph Stone and Mary Stone of Groton - £150

*  John Marshall and Thankful Marshall of Nottingham, New Hampshire - £150

*  Samuel Minott of Concord - £100 for his children

*  Jonas Prescott of Groton - £200

Apparently, the land was distributed via gift and deed to the children of Jonas Prescott before his death.  The Inventory itemizes everything that was given to each heir.  Ebenezer, being the oldest child, probably received the homestead and other property and then paid the other heirs a share of money for the excess part of the estate that Ebenezer received.  

This document has the signature of my 6th great-grandfather, Jonas Prescott (1703-1784).

Jonas and Thankful (Wheeler) Prescott are my 7th great-grandparents, through their son Jonas Prescott (1703-1784) who married Elizabeth Harwood (1701-1739) on 7 March 1730/1 in Westford, 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."

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