This week's document for transcription is the 1739 Bond and Decree to distribute the Widow's real estate filed in the probate packet for John Plimpton (1649-1704) of Medfield, Massachusetts, which is in Probate Packet 2,865 in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts probate court records.
[Image 33 of 38]
The transcription of this bond and decree to distribute the widow's real estate is:
[image 33 of 38]
Know all Men by these Presents That
We John Plimpton & Seth Dwight of Medfield Hus-
bandmen & Josiah Fisher of Dedham Husbandman all
in the County of Suffolk ---
within His Majesty's Province of the Massachu-
setts Bay in New England are holden & stand
firmly bound & obliged unto Josiah Willard Esq'r
Judge of the Probate of Wills &c for & within the
County of Suffolk in the full & Just Sum of
Nine hundred & Seventy Pounds Currant Money
in New England To be paid to the said Josiah
Willard his Successors in the said Office or Assigns
To the true payment whereof We bind our
selves our & Each of our Heirs Exec'rs Admin'rs &
Assigns Jointly & Severally in the whole & for the
whole firmly by these Presents. Sealed with our
Seals. Dated y'e Eleventh Day of Octob'r A.D. 1739.
The Condition of the above Obligation is Such
That whereas that part of the Real Estate of John Plimpton
late of Medfield in y'e County of Suffolk Husbandman deced will not
admit of a Division among all his Children or their Legal Repre-
sentatives and the said Estate having been Apprized at the
Sum of Four hundred & ninety Pounds is assigned unto his Grandson
John Plimpton Eldest Son of his eldest Son John Plimpton ^also^ deced
he paying thereout to y'e Children or Legal Representatives of his
s'd Grandfather John Plimpton their Rateable parts of y'e appris'd
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Value thereof (after the Sum of eleven pounds twelve
shillings & eleven pence is first Defaulted & taken out being so much
paid by the admin'r in Charges settling y's Estate there being no
Personal Estate to Satisfy y'e Same). That is to say to the Heirs of John
Plimpton eldest son of his s'd Grandfather's as his Double Portion thereof
the Sum of Two hundred & fourty three pounds three shillings & six
pence in bills of Publick Credit and to the Heirs or Legal Representa-
tives of Henry Plimpton & Elizabeth Metcalf both Deced y'e other Children
of his s'd Grandfather as their Single Portion thereof the Sum of
one hundred twenty one Pounds eleven shillings & nine pence a
piece in like Bills of Credit w'ch said Sums are to be paid on or
before the Eleventh Day of October which will be in the Year of
our Lord One thousand seven hundred & forty with Interest for the
s'd Sum in the Interim after the Rate of Six pounds pr Cent pr
annum. Now if therefore the within bounden John Plimpton
fulfill the Decree of the s'd Judge of Probate by paying the afores'd
Sums of Money with Interest as afores'd, Then this Obligation to
be void & of none Effect, Otherwise to abide & remain in full force
and virtue.
Signed Sealed & Delivered
in prsense of John Plimpton
John Payne Seth Dwight
John Boydell Reg'r Josiah Fisher
The source citation for this probate case file is:
Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Probate case files, Case File 2865 (38 images), John Plimpton of Medfield, 1705; "Suffolk County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, 1636-1899," digital images, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 6 August 2020). From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org.
John Plimpton (1649-1704) married (1) Elizabeth Fisher (1659-1694) in 1678 in Medfield, and they had three children:
* John Plimpton (1680-1730), married 1707 Susanna Draper (1687-1769)
* Henry Plimpton (1684-1731), married 1706 Mary Smith (1688-1774)
* Joseph Plimpton (1686-????).
John Plimpton married (2) Sarah Turner (1663-1738) in 1697 in Medfield, and they had two children:
* Sarah Plimpton (1700-1706)
* Elizabeth Plimpton (1702-1725), married 1719 Jonathan Metcalf (1690-1758).
John Plimpton died intestate on 30 January 1704 in Medfield, Massachusetts. The Bond and Letter of Administration on 5 April 1704 was signed by sons John Plimpton and Henry Plimpton, and the Inventory was presented on 5 April 1704. A committee of three divided the estate - one third to the widow and two-thirds to the three living children - John (two shares), Henry (one share) and Elizabeth (one share), with John receiving the remainder of the homestead. When the second wife, Sarah (Turner) Plimpton, died in 1738, her third share of the real estate was appraised at 490 pounds, and a committee told the Court that the estate could not be fairly divided. Grandson John Plimpton, son of the eldest son John Plimpton, gave Bond, was named Administrator of the estate, and was assigned the whole of the real estate.
The order and decree above provided that the 490 pounds, less the charges accounted for, be distributed to the grandchildren of John Plimpton, since the three children of John Plimpton were deceased in 1739, with grandson John Plimpton (son of son John Plimpton) receiving the homestead and distributing money or bills of public credit to the other grandchildren of John Plimpton. The children of son John Plimpton received a double share of £243-3s-6d (to be shared by four children) and the children of son Henry Plimpton (four children) received a single share of £121-11s-9d (to be shared by four children) and the children of daughter Elizabeth Metcalf received £121-11s-9d (to be shared by two children).
John and Elizabeth (Fisher) Plimpton are my 8th great-grandparents, through their son John Plimpton (1680-1730) who married Susanna Draper (1687-1769) in 1707 in Medfield, Massachusetts.
Copyright (c) 2020, Randall J. Seaver
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