Some thoughts on the inventory of my 4x great grandfather John Ellingwood Sr.'s
estate:
- It took me a few minutes to decipher the signature before I realized that one of
the assessors was a woman, Barbara Bartlett. It's not the first time I've seen this.
And it makes perfect sense. After all, while men had a pretty good idea of the
value of tools and livestock in earlier times, they probably didn't have a clue on
most of the clothing and household items.
-While John was a shoemaker I noticed that there was nothing connected to his
trade listed in the inventory. From what I read in A History of Bethel:formerly
Sudbury, Canada, Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890;with a brief sketch of Hanover
and family statistics, his son Ebenezer Ellingwood had taken over the business so
he'd probably already taken possession of John's tools and equipment years before.
- John is one of my ancestors who owned books, Yet so far I haven't seen a bible
listed in an ancestor's estate inventory.
-John certainly had an interesting wardrobe. I think the "1 Frock" refers to a frock
coat rather than a dress, and the "calico gown" probably was a night shirt. But I
have no idea what a "Spencer" was.
And that concludes my series on the Probate File of John Ellingwood Sr.
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