Amanuensis Monday -- 1870 Will of Isaac Seaver (1810-1870) of Cambridge, Massachusetts

 This week's document for transcription is from the 1870 Middlesex County, Massachusetts Probate Court estate papers for the probate of the will of Isaac Seaver of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

*  Middlesex County, Massachusetts Probate Court Records - Case File 41274, image 2 of 11:

*  Norfolk County, Massachusetts Probate Court Records - Case File 41274, image 3 of 11:

The transcription of these pages is:

[Case File 41274, image 2 of 11]:

Know all men by these presents that I

Isaac Seaver of Cambridge in the county of

Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts

being of sound and disposing mind and

memory, do make and publish this my

last will and testament, hereby revoking

all former wills by me at any time heretofore

made.

I.  I direct all my just debts and personal

charges to be paid out of my estate as soon

and conveniently may be after my decease.

II  All the rest and residue of my estate

I give, devise and bequeath to my wife,

Clara Seaver, to have and to hold the same

to her during the remainder of her natural

life.  She to have the entire use and income

and control of the same with full power to

sell and convey the same at will and

to use the income for her support and as 

much of the principal as may be necessary

therefor during he life; and at her decease

all of said property which then remains

unexspended whether it be in the form

and nature left her at my decease or another

form into which it may have been

???????, shall go to my son Charles E.

Seaver if then living, and if not living, then

[Case file 41274, image 3 of 11]

to his issue if any are then living, share

and share alike; but if neither my said

son nor any issue of my said son

shall be living at the decease of my said

wife the ???? said property that remains

shall go in equal shares to my

heirs at law.

III  I hereby nominate and appoint my

wife Clara Seaver to be sole executrix of

this my last will and testament 

and I request that she be required to

give no surety on her official bond.

In witness whereof I have hereunto

set my hand and seal this fifteenth

day of June in the year one thousand

eight hundred and seventy.

                                 Isaac Seaver   {seal}

Signed, sealed, published and declared

by the said Isaac Seaver as and for his

last will and testament in the presence

of us who at his request and in his 

presence and in the presence of each other

have signed our names as witnesses hereto.

   Charles Eaton     Sumner Albie  }

                               Clara M. Lee  }  h

The source citation for this probate record is:

Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Probate case files, Case file 41274 (11 images), Isaac Seaver of Cambridge, 1870; "Middlesex County (Massachusetts) Probate File Papers, 1648-1871," digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (https://www.americanancestors.org: accessed 10 April 2022).

Isaac Seaver (1810-1870) was the son of Richard and Elizabth (Morse) Seaver of Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He married Clarissa Eaton (1812-1903) on 3 October 1841 in Cambridge.  They had one child, Charles E. Seaver (1847-1913).  Isaac Seaver died 10 July 1870 in Cambridge.

In his will, Isaac Seaver left his entire estate to his wife Clara for her use and income, and after she died the remainder to be granted to his son, Charles E. Seaver and his issue, and if there were no living heirs at the time of his wife's death, then to Isaac's heirs-at-law.  Clara Seaver was named as executrix in the will.  The will was proved in Middlesex County Probate Court on 19 July 1870, with a $2000 bond posted by Clara Seaver, Charles E. Seaver and Albert L. Norris.  There is no inventory or distribution in the estate file.

This handwritten will is very light and somewhat smeared in places and is difficult to read in those places.  I was able to read some of the difficult words on Ancestry.com's images of the handwritten will.  FamilySearch does not have the probate court clerk copies of probate records for Middlesex County.  

Isaac Seaver was my 5th cousin 5 times removed, with our common Seaver ancestor being Robert Seaver (1608-1683) of Roxbury, Massachusetts.  In the 1850, 1860 and 1870 census records, Isaac Seaver of Cambridge is listed as a brush maker.  In the 1870 census, he had real property worth $2000 and personal property worth $200.  Clara Seaver and Charles E. Seaver are listed living with him in all three census listings. 

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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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