I wrote a genealogical sketch for my 7th great-grandfather, Joseph Seaver (1672-1754) in 52 Ancestors - Week 301: #512 Joseph Seaver (1672-1754) of Massachusetts, based on the records found that document his life. There is an AI-assisted biography in ABC Biography of Joseph Seaver (1672-1754) of Massachusetts based on the genealogical sketch. I wondered what he might say in a life memoir to his children and grandchildren.
(AI ChatGPT5 image of Joseph Seaver's family in 1722)
1) Based on the genealogical sketch, I requested Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 to create a memoir written by Joseph Seaver (1672-1754) summarizing his life in 1753. The prompt was: "Please write a life memoir for Joseph Seaver based on the attached genealogical sketch, as he might tell to his children and grandchildren in 1753."
2) The AI Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 memoir (lightly edited for accuracy) is:
The Memoir of Joseph Seaver
As Told to His Children and Grandchildren in the Year 1754
My dear children and grandchildren,
I am now in my eighty-second year, and as I sit here in Framingham on this cold January day, with the snow covering the fields I have worked these fifty-six years past, I feel moved to set down the story of my life for you and for those who will come after. My hands are still strong enough to hold a pen, though not as they once were when I could swing an axe from dawn to dusk, and my mind remains clear, praise God.
My Beginnings in Roxbury
I was born on the first day of June in 1672, in Roxbury, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. My father, Shubael Seaver, was a wheelwright -- a skilled craftsman who built and repaired wheels and carts for our neighbors. It was honest, hard work that kept food on our table and taught me the value of a trade well learned. My mother was Hannah Wilson before her marriage, a good and pious woman who raised us children in the fear of the Lord.
I was the second child born to my parents, coming after my brother Robert, and before my sisters Hannah and Abigail, my brother Shubael, and my youngest sister Thankful. We were a house full of children, and though we had little in the way of luxuries, we had sufficient. Mother kept a good table, and Father's work as a wheelwright meant we were never wanting for the necessities. I also remember my grandfather, Robert Seaver, who came from England in 1634 to this Colony and died in 1683 in Roxbury.
Growing up in Roxbury in those years after the great Indian troubles—King Philip's War started just four years after my birth—I heard many stories of hardship and danger. The older folk spoke of attacks and burnings, of neighbors lost and towns destroyed. But by my boyhood, peace had returned, and Roxbury was a settled place, with good farms and the meetinghouse at its center.
I was born on the first day of June in 1672, in Roxbury, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. My father, Shubael Seaver, was a wheelwright -- a skilled craftsman who built and repaired wheels and carts for our neighbors. It was honest, hard work that kept food on our table and taught me the value of a trade well learned. My mother was Hannah Wilson before her marriage, a good and pious woman who raised us children in the fear of the Lord.
I was the second child born to my parents, coming after my brother Robert, and before my sisters Hannah and Abigail, my brother Shubael, and my youngest sister Thankful. We were a house full of children, and though we had little in the way of luxuries, we had sufficient. Mother kept a good table, and Father's work as a wheelwright meant we were never wanting for the necessities. I also remember my grandfather, Robert Seaver, who came from England in 1634 to this Colony and died in 1683 in Roxbury.
Growing up in Roxbury in those years after the great Indian troubles—King Philip's War started just four years after my birth—I heard many stories of hardship and danger. The older folk spoke of attacks and burnings, of neighbors lost and towns destroyed. But by my boyhood, peace had returned, and Roxbury was a settled place, with good farms and the meetinghouse at its center.
The Decision to Leave
As I came into manhood, I saw that Roxbury offered little opportunity for a second son. The land was already divided and settled. My elder brother Robert would inherit father's house and shop, as was proper. I had two choices: to remain in Roxbury and work for wages, or to strike out for the frontier where land could still be had. However, Robert died soon after I departed for Framingham.
In early 1697, when I was not quite twenty-five years of age, I made my decision. I would go to Framingham, which was then still being settled, where a man with strong arms and a willing heart might make something of himself. It was not an easy choice to leave my family and the only home I had ever known, but I was young and full of hope.
As I came into manhood, I saw that Roxbury offered little opportunity for a second son. The land was already divided and settled. My elder brother Robert would inherit father's house and shop, as was proper. I had two choices: to remain in Roxbury and work for wages, or to strike out for the frontier where land could still be had. However, Robert died soon after I departed for Framingham.
In early 1697, when I was not quite twenty-five years of age, I made my decision. I would go to Framingham, which was then still being settled, where a man with strong arms and a willing heart might make something of himself. It was not an easy choice to leave my family and the only home I had ever known, but I was young and full of hope.
My Arrival in Framingham and Meeting Mary
I arrived in Framingham in those early months of 1697 with little more than my tools and my determination. I soon learned that Thomas Read Senior, a yeoman of Sudbury, had land in Framingham that he was willing to let. On the twentieth of March, 1696 by the old reckoning (which would be 1697 by our new calendar), I bound myself by indenture to pay him ten shillings yearly on the twentieth of October for the use of seventy-five acres of good land.
It was substantial acreage—more than I had dared hope for—on the northern part of a farm that Mr. Read had purchased from Samuel Winch. The boundaries were marked by trees and stones, as is our custom, and the land was bordered by the Sudbury line, by Mr. Read's own land, by Thomas Frost Senior's property, and by George Walker's land that Jonas Eaton then possessed. The covenant specified that if I was more than twenty days late with my rent, I would owe six shillings more—a penalty I was determined never to pay. Mr. Read kept rights to pass through for the stream and orchard, which was only fair.
Now, Mr. Read had a daughter, Mary, born in 1679, who was then about eighteen years old. She was the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Goodrich) Read, and I will tell you plainly that she caught my eye straightaway. She was comely and capable, with a good head for managing a household and a kind disposition. Over the months and years that I worked that Framingham land, I came to know her better, and I dared to hope that she might look favorably upon a young farmer with more ambition than property.
On the thirteenth of October in 1700, Mary Read consented to become Mary Seaver, and we were married in Sudbury. I was twenty-eight years old, and she was twenty-one. That day remains one of the happiest of my long life. Your grandmother has been my helpmeet and companion these fifty-three years, and I thank God for her daily.
Our Children—The Greatest Blessing
The Lord has blessed us with six children, and though not all have survived to see this day, each one has brought joy and purpose to our lives.
Our firstborn, Robert, came to us on the twenty-ninth of October, 1702, in Sudbury. How proud I was to have a son! I remember holding him as an infant and imagining all that he might become. Robert grew to be a fine man and married Eunice Rayment in Boston in 1726. They gave us nine grandchildren. Robert took up farming and settled in Westminster in Worcester County. Sadly, he died before the end of September in 1752, and it grieves me still that I have outlived my firstborn son. But Eunice and their children have come back to Sudbury and carry on his name and his blood.
Your aunt Mary came next, born on the fifth of October, 1706, here in Framingham. She married Christopher Nickson, and they had seven children together. This very year, 1748, we lost both Mary and Christopher—a double sorrow that your grandmother and I feel most keenly. Their children are scattered now among relatives, and I have tried to remember them in my will, particularly young John Nickson, who will share in the homestead farm.
Nathaniel, born on the first of April, 1709, has been a good son to us. He married Rebecca Willis in 1737, and they had eight children before Rebecca's death in 1753. Just this past year, Nathaniel married again, to Judith Treadway, and I pray they will have many happy years together. Nathaniel has established himself well in Sudbury and Framingham, and I have already given him his portion during my lifetime.
Hannah, born about 1712, married Jonathan Belcher around 1732. They have seven children and remain here in Framingham, which gladdens my heart. Jonathan is a good man, honest and capable, and I have named him executor of my estate, knowing he will deal fairly with all.
Elizabeth came to us on the thirty-first of January, 1714. She married Samuel How in 1738, though they have had no children. Elizabeth is a dutiful daughter, and I have provided for her in my will.
Our youngest, Abigail, was born about 1720. She married Azariah Walker before 1748, and they have given us nine more grandchildren. Azariah is a good husband and provider, and I am content with the match.
A Life Spent Working the Land
My children, you have seen me work the land all your lives, but perhaps you do not understand how much of my life has been spent in acquiring and managing property. In colonial Massachusetts, land is everything -- it is wealth, security, and legacy all bound together.
In 1710, I was rated in Framingham and paid my tax of one shilling and nine pence. It was not much, but it showed I was established and recognized as a landowner. In 1716, I served as constable, which was an honor and a duty I took seriously. That same year, I joined with many other inhabitants of Framingham to quitclaim 600 acres on Nobscot and Doeskin Hills to the heirs of Thomas Danforth, so that land might be held in common for the town's use.
The year 1717 was particularly important for building our estate. On the thirteenth of May, I purchased extensive lands from Nehemiah How, a weaver of Framingham who had come from Sudbury. I paid him 160 pounds in current money of New England -- a great sum that took years to earn -- for multiple parcels. These included two-thirds of his homestead in Lanham, which was part of Sudbury, two-thirds of an orchard, various meadowlands along Hop Brook, upland in Lanham, and parcels along Mill Path. Each piece was carefully bounded and marked, as is proper in law.
Then, on the thirty-first of July that same year, your grandmother and I purchased additional lands from the Commissioners of the Province of Massachusetts Bay for 70 pounds. These included orchards, plowlands, and meadows -- all good productive land that would help support our growing family.
Trials and Troubles
I will not pretend to you that life has been without difficulties. The records show -- and I am not proud of it -- that I was sued by John White for debts in both 1715 and 1718. Times were hard, and money scarce, and I fell behind in my obligations. These matters were eventually settled, but they taught me the importance of careful management.
In 1722, I was brought before the court for not attending public worship. This too shames me still. I had let my work on the farm take precedence over my duty to God and the community. Since that time, I have been more faithful in my attendance at meeting, though I confess the sermons are long and the benches hard.
I have also brought suits myself when necessary. In 1735, I sued Jonathan Belcher and Samuel Belcher for a debt owed to me. It is a curious thing that Jonathan Belcher later married my daughter Hannah, and we are now the best of friends and family. In 1737, I sued Hezekiah Fletcher for debts as well. These legal actions are not pleasant, but in this world, a man must protect his interests.
The Inheritance from My Father
My mother, your great-grandmother Hannah, died in 1721 in Roxbury. I traveled there for her burial, remembering the woman who had raised me and taught me right from wrong. My father followed her nine years later, on the eighteenth of January, 1730. He was an old man by then, and he had lived a good ninety years of life.
Father left behind a significant estate in Roxbury—the house where I was born, his shop, land, and a salt marsh. As the eldest surviving son (my brother Robert having died), I received a double portion according to the law and Father's wishes. The agreement we siblings made, signed on the eighteenth of May, 1730, gave me the mansion house with its garden and about one and a half acres of orchard, bounded by the country road leading toward Dedham. I also received the barn that stood across the highway from the house, and half of the salt marsh at a place called the Island in Roxbury—about two acres in all.
But Roxbury was far from Framingham, and I had no desire to return to the place of my birth. So on the fifth of March, 1734, in the year 1735 by the new reckoning, my siblings and I sold Father's mansion and lands to Thomas Boylston of Boston for 400 pounds current money of New England. My share of that sum helped me to expand and improve my holdings here in Framingham.
Consolidating My Holdings
Throughout the 1720s and 1730s and 1740s, I have been constantly buying and selling land, consolidating my holdings and managing what God has given me. In May 1722, I sold five acres of meadow to John Maynard for 35 pounds. In April 1727, I bought four acres of meadow from Samuel Streeter. On the fourth of July, 1732, I paid off a mortgage to the Massachusetts Commissioners—126 pounds, 3 shillings, and 9 pence—to secure clear title to lands I had purchased back in 1716.
In November 1733, I sold substantial property to Isaac Read—a dwelling house and more than seventeen acres—for 173 pounds, 13 shillings, and 9 pence. This helped to simplify my affairs and raised capital for other purposes.
Providing for My Children
As you children grew and married and began families of your own, I began to think about how to provide for you. On the twentieth of October, 1740, in an act of fatherly love and affection, I gave five acres of meadowland near West Brook to Robert, valued at 150 pounds in bills of credit. I wanted him to be established on his own land, to have something solid to build upon.
In April 1742, I sold four acres of meadow to Josiah Richardson for 120 pounds. Then in March 1749, your mother and I assigned substantial land in Sudbury to Benjamin Eaton for 320 pounds. That was the very land I had first rented from Thomas Read back in 1697—I had come full circle, now selling the property where I had established myself as a young man more than fifty years before. I took off my dwelling house that stood there, moving it to consolidate my living arrangements.
As you children grew and married and began families of your own, I began to think about how to provide for you. On the twentieth of October, 1740, in an act of fatherly love and affection, I gave five acres of meadowland near West Brook to Robert, valued at 150 pounds in bills of credit. I wanted him to be established on his own land, to have something solid to build upon.
In April 1742, I sold four acres of meadow to Josiah Richardson for 120 pounds. Then in March 1749, your mother and I assigned substantial land in Sudbury to Benjamin Eaton for 320 pounds. That was the very land I had first rented from Thomas Read back in 1697—I had come full circle, now selling the property where I had established myself as a young man more than fifty years before. I took off my dwelling house that stood there, moving it to consolidate my living arrangements.
My Final Purchase and the Homestead Farm
In April 1750, though I was already seventy-seven years old, I made one last major purchase of land. I bought 100 acres here in Framingham from Robert Montgomery of Townsend for 160 pounds in lawful money. This substantial property includes the dwelling house where I now sit writing these words. It is bounded by the lands of Thomas Frost, of Jonathan Belcher (who is married to my daughter Hannah), of David Stratton, and by a pond. This is my homestead farm, and it is this property that will form the bulk of my estate.
My Will and Testament
Just two days ago, on the second of January in this year 1753, I wrote my last will and testament. I am of perfect mind and memory, praise God, and I wanted to ensure that my affairs were in order and that each of you would be provided for according to what is right and fair.
Your grandmother Mary will have one-third of my real estate with house room where it is most convenient for her, for the rest of her natural life, and one-third of my moveable estate to dispose of as she sees fit. She has been a faithful wife these fifty-three years, and I will not see her left without provision.
The homestead farm -- those 100 acres I bought from Robert Montgomery -- will go jointly to Jonathan and Hannah Belcher and to young John Nickson, the son of my deceased daughter Mary. They will share it equally, half to Jonathan and Hannah, and half to John. But they must pay 20 pounds each to Elizabeth and Abigail at specified times after my death.
To my grandson Daniel Belcher, I give a twenty-acre tract that I had from my father-in-law Thomas Read, bounded by the Sudbury line and the lands of Benjamin Eaton and Nathaniel Gibbs. Daniel is a good boy, and this land will serve him well.
To Robert's heirs and to Nathaniel, I give five shillings each. This is not because I love them less, but because each has already had his full portion during my lifetime. Robert received five acres of meadowland in 1740, valued at 150 pounds, and Nathaniel has also received his share. The five shillings is a token to show they are remembered and acknowledged as my heirs, but the estate has already been settled with them.
I have named Jonathan Belcher as my executor, charging him to pay all my debts and funeral charges before distributing any legacies. He is an honest man and will deal fairly with all.
Reflections on a Long Life
My dear children and grandchildren, I have now lived eighty-one years in this world. I was born just fifty-two years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth and only 38 years after my grandfather Robert Seaver settled in Roxbury, and I have lived through times both peaceful and troubled. I remember hearing as a boy about King Philip's War and the terrible destruction it brought. I have lived through the Salem troubles in 1692, when madness seized good people and led them to accuse their neighbors of witchcraft. I have seen the Massachusetts Bay Colony become a royal province. I have watched currency change from English pounds to colonial bills of credit, and I have seen the value of money rise and fall with the wars and policies of distant kings.
I have witnessed the frontier gradually pushed back, new towns established, and wilderness transformed into productive farmland. I have seen Framingham grow from a raw settlement to an established community with its meetinghouse, its constables, its proper governance.
I have worked hard all my life -- as a yeoman, as a husbandman, even for a time as a mason. I have swung an axe, guided a plow, mended fences, built walls, and done whatever was necessary to provide for my family. My hands are calloused and scarred from decades of labor, but I am not ashamed of them. They are the hands of an honest man who has earned his bread through sweat and toil.
I have made mistakes, as all men do. I have fallen into debt and been sued. I have neglected my duty to attend public worship. I have lost my temper and spoken harshly when I should have been patient. I have not always been the father I wished to be, too often concerned with the work that needed doing rather than the wife and children who needed me.
But I have also tried to live according to God's commandments and the laws of this Province. I have provided for my family to the best of my ability. I have dealt honestly in my business affairs, though not always successfully. I have served my community as constable and in other ways. I have attended meeting and tried to raise my children in the fear of the Lord.
The land I have acquired through decades of work and careful management is my legacy to you. It is not just soil and stones and trees, but security, opportunity, and the foundation upon which you can build your own lives. I have tried to divide it fairly among you, taking into account what each has already received and what each one needs.
My Final Counsel
As I approach the end of my days, I would leave you with this counsel:
Work hard and be diligent in your affairs. Land and property do not maintain themselves, and wealth can be lost as easily as it is gained.
Deal honestly with your neighbors and in all your business. Your word should be your bond, and your reputation is worth more than silver.
Attend to your religious duties. I confess I have not always been as faithful as I should have been, but the comfort of faith is real, and the community of the meeting is important.
Provide for your families to the best of your ability. There is no shame in poverty that comes despite hard work, but there is shame in poverty that comes from laziness or poor management.
Remember that family is more important than property. I have sometimes been too concerned with acquiring land and not concerned enough with the people I was acquiring it for. Do not make my mistake.
Be kind to one another. You are brothers and sisters, and you will need each other in the years to come. Do not let disputes over property divide you.
In Closing
I do not know how much time the Lord will grant me yet. I may see another spring, or I may not. But I am content. I have lived a long life, longer than most men are granted. I have had a faithful wife, children who have mostly brought me joy, and grandchildren to carry on the family name. I have provided for those I love and have left the world a little more improved than I found it -- with farms where there was wilderness, with prosperity where there was want.
When I am laid in the earth -- whether in Framingham or Sudbury, I care not -- I trust that you will remember me not as a perfect man, for I have been far from perfect, but as a man who worked hard, loved his family, and tried to do right by all.
May God bless you and keep you, my children and grandchildren. May He guide your steps and prosper the work of your hands. And may you always remember that the greatest legacy is not land or money, but the good name and honest character that you pass to those who come after.
Your father and grandfather,
Joseph Seaver
Written this fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord 1754 (new calendar), in Framingham, Massachusetts Bay Province, in the twenty-sixth year of His Majesty's reign.
3) The Google NotebookLM Video discussing Joseph Seaver's memoir is below:
4) I think that these relatively short memoirs are poignant and will be interesting to his descendants, and especially to me. This format provides a different perspective than a biography, doesn't it?
It is historical fiction, but many of the historical facts from the genealogical sketch are included and it rings true to me. These are thoughts and words that Joseph Seaver might have said late in his life if his children and grandchildren had asked him to reminisce. I hope that they did ask him at some point. Unfortunately, no stories about his life were passed down to me except for what can be gleaned from the records described in the genealogical sketch.
I will write more of these AI-assisted memoirs or life memories as told by my ancestors as time goes on. This is great genealogy fun for me!
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Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page. Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.
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