a) Volume 27, pages 540-541:
The transcription of the Letter of Administration and Inventory of John Plimpton is:
[page 540]
Josiah Willard Esq Commissioned by his
Excellency William Burnet
Esq Capt General and Governour in Chief
in and over his Majestys Province
of the Massachusetts Bay in New England
deceased & Continued by the Hon^ble
William Dumoner Esq Commander in Chief
of the same by and with the
advice and Consent of the Council to be
Judge of the Probate of Wills &c for
Granting Letters of Administration on
the Estates of persons deceased
having Goods Chattels Rights or Credits
in the County of Suffolk in the Province
aforesaid. To Susannah Plimpton Widow
and John Plimpton Hysbandman
both of Medfield in the County
aforesaid Greeting. Whereas John Plimpton
late of Medfield aforesaid Husbandman
deceased having while he Lived &
at the time of his decease Goods
Chattels Rights or Credits in the County
aforesaid lately dyed Intestate,
whereby the power of Committing Admi-
nistration and full disposition of all
& singular the Goods Chattels Rights
& Credits of the said deceased, and
also the hearing Examining and allowing
the accompt of such Administration doth
apperatain unto me Trusting
therefore in your care & fidelity,
I do by these presents committ unto you
full power to administer all and
singular the Goods, Chattels, Rights & Credits
of the said deceased. And well and
faithfully to Dispose of the same according
to Law, and also to Gather levy Recover
and Receive all and whatsoever
Credits of the said deceased which to
him while he Lived and att the time of his
Death did appertain and to pay all
Debts in which the said deceased stood
Bound so far as his Goods Chattels
Rights & Credits can Extend According to
the value Thereof, And to make a true
and perfect Inventory of all and
singular the Goods Chattels Rights &
Credits, And to Exhibit the same into
the Registry of the Court of Probate
for the County aforesaid at or before
the seventh day of July next Ensuing,
and to Render a plain & true
[page 541]
Accompt of your said Administration
upon Oath at or before the seventh
day of April which will be in the year
of our Lord one Thousand seven hundred
& Thirty one, And I do hereby
ordain Constitute and appoint you Admin^rs of all
and singular the Goods Chattels Rights
& Credits aforesaid. In Testimony
whereas I have hereunto set my hand and
the seal of the said Court of Probate
Dated at Boston the seventh day of
April Anno Domini 1730.
John Boydell Reg^r J. Willard
A True Inventory of the Estate of John
Plimpton late of Medfield deced
as I was apprized by the subscribers
hereunto March 10^th 1730.
| To money and Bills of Credit & Bonds | 45 – 16 - 11 |
| To Cloathing Books and armes & several Book Debts | 45 – 09 - 10 |
| To Beds & Bedding sheets and Linnen and wool | 44 - 2 - |
| To Pewter Earthen Brass & Iron & wooden ware in the house | 30 - |
| To Provision Corn and Meat a stock of Leather and shoemakers tools | 47 – 19 - |
| To a Cart and plow Chains Axes & other Husbandry Tools | 21 - 6 - |
| To the stock oxen Horses Cows Sheep and swine | 87 - |
| To the Buildings & homelot of both sides the way | 190 - |
| To 12 acres of Pine swampy Meadow by Stop River | 80 - |
| To 5 acres of Meadow lying in three pcells | 85 - |
| To 25 acres of wood Land lying on the south side of Stop River | 77 - |
| To 8 acres of swamp and Upland near Wheelers Bottom | 25 - |
| To that pcell of plow Land near Lieut Plimptons & also 2 acres of Cedar swamp 1 Acre more of swamp |
34 - |
| To 7 acres & a half of Upland in 3 pcells & also 5 acres of Devident Land | 26 - |
| To the Common Rights in Wrentham some laid out some not | 13 - 10 |
| To the fiftieth part of the Rights in New Medfield so called | 25 - |
| Samuel Smith Ebenezer Mason Henry Harding |
£879 – 3 - 9 |
Suffolk Ss. By the Hon^ble Josiah
Willard Esq Judge of pro:&c
Susannah Plimpton & John Plimpton,
Adm^rs presented the foregoing and
made Oath that it Contains a true and
perfect Inventory of the Estate of
John Plimpton late of Medfield
Husbandman deceased so far as hath come
to their Knowledge and that if more
hereafter appear they will Cause it
to be added. The Three subscribing
Apprizers were at the same time sworn as
the Law Directs.
Boston April 7th 1730 Exam^d: Ss John Boydell Reg^r J. Willard
The source citation for this record is:
"Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991," indexed database with digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com, : accessed 5 November 2017); Suffolk County, "Probate Records, V. 27-28, 1729-1731," Volume 27, pages 540-541 (image 281 of 586), John Plimpton, 1730, letter of administration and inventory; Original images in Suffolk County [Mass.] Probate Court.
John Plimpton (1680-1730) died intestate on 19 Janaury 1730 with a significant estate in Medfield, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. He left a widow, Susannah (Draper) Plimpton, and four children, two of them over age 21 and two under age 10. The Letter of Administration appointed the widow, Susannah Plimpton and the oldest son, John Plimpton as Administrators of the estate. An inventory of the estate was taken on 10 March 1730, and totals £879-3-9, of which £567-10 is real estate. The Letter of Administration is dated 7 April 1730.
This is the first of several transcriptions from this estate.
Since I found the image of this record first on Ancestry.com, I have cited it. However, it was not found by a search by the person's name - it was found by searching the Probate Docket Index on Ancestry to find all of the papers for John Plimpton in the probate court clerk volumes. There were no index entries for this particular John Plimpton.
The same process can be used on FamilySearch in the digital microfilms - use the Probate Docket Index for the county, note the volumes and page numbers for each record type, and then find the individual pages in the noted volumes.
Since I found these pages, the American Ancestors website has the original probate file papers available in digital format on their website, which can be searched by name. There are 32 papers in the John Plimpton estate file number 5941.
John Plimpton (1680-1730) is my 7th great-grandfather, through his son John Plimpton (1708-1756).
==============================================
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."
Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver
Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.
