52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015 WEEK 31: MOSES COBURN 1702-1742 PT2

As I said in my last post, Moses Coburn had died without a will, but there was a Probate File.
I had some questions I hoped the file would answer:

-What had he done for a living? The Coburn Genealogy had given no information.
-How big an estate did he leave?
-How many of his seven children were alive when he died, and how was the estate divided
among the heirs?

I found the images for the Probate File on AmericanAncestors.org. They were out of order
but fourteen images in I found the first page of the inventory of the "real estate of Mr. Moses
Coburn, Late of Dracut in ye county of Middlesex, yeoman, deceasd":

Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)

The first item concerns Moses'  "Homestead Farme" which turned out to be "about twenty eight acres", bordered on the west by the Merrimack River on on the other sides by neighbors that included Coburn relatives. The farm included a barn, a "dwelling house" and a "Corn House" and was valued at 750 pounds. But what astonished me was that there were four more pages of other plots of land Moses owned in the area. In the end Moses' estate, including the livestock and farming implements, came to over 1383 pounds.

The final settlement of the estate wasn't made until 1758, at which time the eldest son, Moses Jr. received the major part of what was left after the estate debts were settled and a third was given to the widow Deborah. The second son, my ancestor Caleb Coburn, received 19 acres of land in the neighboring town of Dunstable as his share. At the end of the file is a document confirming their inheritances, but also containing the following order, for Moses Jr. and Caleb:

'to pay his Brother Abiel Coburn & to his sisters Phebe, Deborah, & Jerusha (children of the sd intestate)each fourteen pounds four shillings & four pence. one farthing; and to his sister Mary (another daughter of the said intestate) in part of her portion, the sum of thirteen pounds, fifteen shillings, & four pence half penny;

And I order the said assigneee Caleb to pay to said Mary (to complete her share) eight shillings and eleven pence, three farthings.

Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)

The following page contains the signatures of all the family members agreeing to the terms of the settlement. By now, they were all grown and in their twenties.

Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)

I'm guessing that after Deborah Wright remarried the children were brought up by her and
her husband Deacon Edward Coburn. I 'm not surprised the girls received small amounts of cash as their share, but I wonder why Abiel, the youngest son, didn't receive any land. Could he have been left an inheritance by his stepfather Edward? I'll have to see if I can find out!