Amanuensis Monday -- 1854 Adoption Petition and Decree for Andrew P. Seaver in Middlesex County, Massachusetts

 This week's document for transcription is from the 1854 Middlesex County, Massachusetts probate file for the adoption petition and decree for Andrew P. Seaver of Worcester, Massachusetts:

Middlesex County, Massachusetts Probate Court Records - Case File 41270, image 3 of 3:

The transcription of this guardian's petition is (handwritten text in italics):

To the Honorable Judge of Probate, for the County

of Middlesex,

Respectfully represents the undersigned   William Seaver

of   Ashland   in the county of Middlesex,

with   Sarah F. Seaver    his wife,

that they are desirous of adopting as their own child  Andrew Penniman

   Seaver   a minor, under the age of fourteen years, and child of

    Leonard Seaver of     Worcester   in the County of

    Worcester & Cynthia P. Seaver who is

    now deceased.

that your petitioners feel that they are of sufficient ability to bring up said child

and furnish   him   with suitable nurture and education;

that they feel that they can ever     love, cherish, and care for    him

as their own.

Wherefore we pray your Honor to make a decree that said child shall be deemed

and taken, to all legal intents and purposes, to be the  child of your petitioners.

                                                                William Seaver

                                                                Sarah F. Seaver

The undersigned, the    Father

of said child hereby gives consent to the adoption of the same, as above prayed for.

                                                                Leonard Seaver

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Middlesex, ss.  At a Probate Court, held at   Framingham

in said County on the    thirty first   day of   October

in the year eighteen hundred and fifty    four.

                                    Upon the petition of   William Seaver

of    Ashland    in the County of Middlesex,

with     Sarah F. Seaver   his wife,

praying for leave to adopt as their own child    Andrew Penniman Seaver   

a minor, under the age of fourteen years, and child of     Leonard

    Seaver    of    Worcester    in the County of     Worcester

and the Court being satisfied of the identity and relations of the aforenamed persons,

and that the petitioners are of sufficient ability to bring up said child  and fur-

nish    him   with suitable nurture and education, considering the degree and condition

of the said child; and that it is fit and proper that such adoption should take

effect, and that the    Father   of said minor   as the mother

being deceased   has certified in writing    his    consent to such adoption.

It is therefore decreed and ordered that from and after the    thirty first

day of    October    aforesaid, said child be deemed and taken, to all

legal intents and purposes, as the legal child of said petitioners.

                                             Jos O. Fay,  Judge of Probate.

                                 

The source citation for this probate file is:

Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Probate case files, Case file 41270 (3 images), Andrew P. Seaver of Worcester, 1854, adoption petition and decree; "Middlesex County (Massachusetts) Probate File Papers, 1648-1871," digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors  (https://www.americanancestors.org: accessed 11 September 2022).

Andrew Penniman Seaver was born 12 September 1847 in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son and fifth of Leonard Seaver (1810-????) and and Cynthia Penniman (1813-1848).  Cynthia (Penniman Seaver died 12 August 1848 in Worcester, leaving at least three children aged 1 to 11.  

William Seaver (1806-1887) married Sarah Fisher (1804-1875)  on 16 August 1829 in Newton, Massachusetts.  They had six children born between 1830 and 1841.  William Seaver was the older brother of Leonard Seaver, and their parents were Leonard and Charlotte (Cutter) Seaver.

Apparently, Leonard Seaver was unable to nurture and educate his son Andrew, so William and Sarah (Fisher) Seaver, having six children, petitioned the Middlesex County Probate Court to approve the adoption of their nephew, Andrew Penniman Seaver in 1854.

Andrew Penniman Seaver (1847-1910) married Mary Elizabeth Millard (1855-1911) on 24 January 1885 in Des Moines, Iowa.  They had two children.

Andrew Penniman Seaver is my 6th cousin four times removed.  Our common Seaver ancestor is my 9th great-grandfather, Robert Seaver (1608-1683).

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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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