Amanuensis Monday -- 1841 Deed of Hinsdale Fisher to Lucy Butterfield For Land in Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts

This week's document for transcription is the 1841 Deed of Hinsdale Fisher (administrator of the Alpheus B. Smith estate) of Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, selling 16 acres of land in Medfield to Lucy Butterfield of Dedham for $358.

*  Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Deeds 1842-1843, Page 109 (penned in upper right corner), Image 440 of 663

The transcription of this deed (with help from FamilySearch Full-Text Search, with a few errors corrected) is:

[Page 109, Starting near the bottom of the left-hand page of the image]

To all People to whom these Presents shall come, 

Whereas I Hinsdale Fisher Administrator upon the estate of 

Alpheus B. Smith late of Medfield in the County of Norfolk 

deceased, by an order of the Judge of Probate of said Coun-

ty made at a Probate Court holden at Dedham on the 

first Tuesday of August 1840, was licensed to make sale 

of the real estate of said deceased so far as should be ne-

cessary to pay the sum of Six hundred twenty three dolls

and seventy one cents being the just debts of said deceased

 over and above what his personal estate will pay. Therefore 

Know ye that I the said Hinsdale Fisher Administrator as 

aforesaid as well by virtue of the power and authority to me 

[Page 109, Continuing at the top of the right-hand page of the image]

given as aforesaid : as in consideration of the sum of three 

hundred and fifty eight dollars paid me by Lucy Butterfield 

of Dedham in said County the receipt whereof is hereby ac-

knowledged have granted bargained and sold and do hereby 

grant bargain and sell, confirm and convey unto her the 

said Lucy, her heirs and assigns forever, the following described 

real estate, situated in the Southerly part of Medfield, and

bounded as follows viz: Northerly on the heirs of Elisha Clark,

 Mrs Keziah Mann and Eliakim Morse. Easterly upon the 

land of David Smith. Southerly upon Asa Hamont, Westerly 

upon road leading to Walpole and containing sixteen acres 

more or less. And also all the reversionary right in that 

part of said deceased, real estate which was set off to and 

assigned his widow as her Dower consisting of about one acre 

of land with a house and barn thereon.

      To Have and to Hold the same with all the privileges 

and appurtenances thereof to her the said Lucy her heirs 

and assigns forever. And I do hereby in the capacity 

aforesaid covenant with the said Lucy her heirs and assigns 

that the said Alpheus B. Smith died seized of the premises, 

That I was duly licensed by said Court to make sale thereof,

and that it was necessary the same should be sold for the

purposes aforesaid, that previous to the intended sale I 

took the oath prescribed by law, and gave public notice 

thereof according to the directions of said Judge and that

the said Lucy offered the most for the said premises and 

the same were thereupon struck off to her for the aforesaid 

at a public vendue held at the house on the premises on 

the twenty first day of April 1841. And I do further in 

the capacity aforesaid covenant to and with the said 

Lucy her heirs and assigns. And I do further in the ca-

pacity aforesaid covenant to and with the said Lucy her 

heirs and assigns that the premises are free of all incum-

brances, and that I will warrant, ^secure^ and defend the same to 

her the said Lucy her heirs and assigns forever against the 

lawful claims and demands of all persons. In witness 

whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this first 

day of May A.D. eighteen hundred and forty one. Hinsdale 

Fisher Administrator {seal) Signed Sealed and delivered in 

presence of Jon'a P. Bishop. Caroline E. Bishop, Norfolk ss. 

August 16. 1841. Then personally appeared the above named 

Hinsdale Fisher, and acknowledged the above to be his free 

act and deed , before me Jon'a P. Bishop Jus. Peace 

Jan'y 2- 1843. Rec'd Entered & Examined 

                                                  By Enos Foord Reg'r

The source citation for this deed is:

"Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States land records," Deed of Hinsdale Fisher to Lucy Butterfield,  executed 1 May 1841, recorded 2 January 1843; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9ZH-VVF7?view=fullText : accessed 9 September 2026), Image Group Number: 007459119, "Norfolk Deeds, 1842–1843, 1842, Land Records 1842, 1842–1843," page 109 (penned), image 440 of 663; original papers at Norfolk County (Massachusetts) Register of Deeds.

By this record it appears that Hinsdale Fisher, acting as administrator on the estate of Alpheus B. Smith, sold 16 acres of land in Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, to Lucy Butterfield of Dedham for $358.

Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840) married Elizabeth Horton Dill (1791-1869) in 1826, and they had two children.  They are my 3rd great-grandparents through their daughter Lucretia Townsend Smith (1828-1884) who married Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) in 1851. 

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

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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