Amanuensis Monday -- 1807 Order to Pay Creditors of Insolvent Estate of Peter Johonnot Seaver in Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

This week's document for transcription is from the 1806 probate estate file of Peter Johonnot Seaver of Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, filed in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Probate Court.

*  Suffolk County, Massachusetts Estate Files, Case 22,220 (44 images), image 4:

*  Suffolk County, Massachusetts Estate Files, Case 22,220 (44 images), image 6:

The transcription of these pages is:

[image 4 of 44]

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Suffolk ss

By the Honourable

Thomas Dawes Jun'r Esquire

It appears to me, by the Account of

William Porter, administrator ^with the will annexed^ on the estate of

Peter J. Seaver formerly of late of Boston, late of the city

of Savanna Merchant, deceased, represented insolvent, that after Subduction

of necessary Charges and Disbursements, there remains in the Hands of the said

Administrator a Balance of Thirteen hundred

eight five dollars and ten cents,

and that the Claims of several Creditors to the said Deceased's Estate amount

to the Sum of Thirteen thousand six seven hundred forty eighty

nine dollars thirty one ^fifty nine^ cents.

as appears by the Report of the Commissioners, appointed to receive and examine

the same upon their Oaths.

Pursuant, therefore, to an Act of the General Court of the Common-

wealth aforesaid, for the equal Distribution of insolvent Estates, I do hereby

order the said Administrator to pay the aforesaid

Sum of Thirteen hundred eighty five dollars and

ten cents remaining in his Hands, of

the Estate of the said Deceased, unto the several Creditors named in the said

Commissioners' Report, a Copy whereof is hereunto annexed, in Proportion

following, that is to say, the Sum of ten cents and one mill

on the dollar

for the Debts to them respectively owing from the said Deceased's

Estate, being the Proportion that the same will bear at present, saving to each of

the said Creditors a Proportion of such other Estate, as shall thereafter appear, upon

any further Account, to be rendered thereof.

Given under my Hand and Seal of Office, this sixteenth Day

of November, Anno Domini 1807.

                              Tho's Dawes Junior

               Copy       T. Dawes

[image 4 of 44]

List of debts exhibited and allowed by the Commissioners

of insolvency on the estate of Peter J. Seaver:

Names                                              Amount allowed      Dividends

John Heard Jun'r assignee       780.46                  78.30

William Whittemore & Co         704.60                  70.63

Henry Bess & Co.                             77.00                      7.71

William Clap                                 2186.63                219.60

Ebenezer Seaver                            552.35                  55.20

Thomas M. Woodbridge           4011.30               403.25

Leonard White                               539.37                   54.10

Machin G. Mackintosh             4797.00               486.44    

                                                        13648.31               1385.10

Stephen Higginson & Co.           141.28                    14.11    

                                                       13789.59                1385.10

The source citation for this probate record is:

Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Probate case files, Estate Cases 22000 to 23999, Case 22,220 (44 images), Peter J. Seaver estate (of Chatham County, Georgia), 1806; "Suffolk County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, 1636-1899," digital images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 10 March 2022).

Peter Johonnot Seaver (1770-1804), a merchant, died testate 5 September 1804 in Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, having written a will on 1 December 1802.  His will names his only child, Elizabeth Grafton Woodbridge Seaver, as his heir, and nobody else.  The will does not provide the name of the "dearly departed" mother of child Elizabeth.  It does name Thomas March Woodbridge as one of the executors.  It names Mrs. Dorcas Woodbridge (his "matrimonial mother")  and Mrs. Mary Woodbridge ("sister," wife of Thomas M. Woodbridge) as guardians for his child.  See the will in Amanuensis Monday - 1805 Probate Records of Peter Johonnot Seaver (1770-1804) in Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

As a merchant, Peter J. Seaver had a long list of creditors and some debtors, perhaps in both Savannah and Boston, when he died.  His executors made extensive lists of the inventory and lists of creditors in the estate file.  After the charges and expenses of administering the estate, the administrator filed his account.  The charges were paid.  In the first image above, the estate was declared insolvent and ordered to be settled for 10 cents on the dollar.  The second image above contains the list creditors, how much they were owed, and their portion of the remainder of the insolvent estate.

Peter Johonnot Seaver was the son of Ebenezer and Sarah (Johonnot) Seaver of Boston, Massachusetts.  The entire set of probate records from Chatham county, Georgia were transferred to Suffolk county, Massachusetts for this probate file. 

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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."

Read other transcriptions for records of my ancestors at Amanuensis Monday Posts.

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