THE "HOT MESS" PROBATE FILE OF NATHANIEL STOW JR PT1

Probate files are wonderful things for genealogists because of what they can tell us about an ancestor and his family: his profession, his possessions, his financial state, his relationships in his family and in the community. But not all probate files are alike, and some tell us less than others. Particularly frustrating are the files with lots of pages and information, if you could only decipher the handwriting! Take the probate file for my 7x great grandfather, Nathaniel Stow, Jr. I've found some challenging probate files for ancestors before, but this is the first one I consider a "hot mess".    

I'm going to look at the file and try to decipher it. Now to be honest, I usually work on the easier
to read files first. More complicated ones like Nathaniel's I set aside for days when it's raining or snowing and I need something to distract me. How far I get before wanting to tear my hair out by the roots will determining how much I blog about it.

For starters, how do I know it's the right Nathaniel Stow?

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.) Case21772 p1

While the year of filing on the first image of the file is correct, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the right Nathaniel. In early colonial Massachusetts you could have many people sharing the same
name. My method is to check the information I have on a person's family against the names of the people in the probate file. In Nathaniel's case, I knew he and his wife Ruth (Merriam) Stow
has the following children:

John 8Sep 1691
Joseph 19Feb 1693
Samuel 27Nov 1694
Nathaniel 21Jan 1697
Thomas 25Feb 1699
Benjamin 28Feb 1701
Ruth 25Jan 1703
Jonathan 2Oct1705
Mary 6Sep 1707
Sarah 10Apr 1710
Simon 11Apr 1712
Timothy 16Feb 1714

That's a lot of names, and I looked through the 38 file images to see if I could find some matches. Right off the bat in the second image I saw "Thomas Stowe Housewright, Joseph Stowe Husbandman and Samuel Stowe." 

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.)Case21772 p2

Three matches, but fairly common names, so I looked for more.

Finally I came upon a list of signatures on one of the documents which matches up well against the list of Nathaniel's children, with most of his sons and several men who probably were married to his three daughters.

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.)Case21772 p.34

Alright, I am now sure this is the probate file of my 7x great grandfather Nathaniel Stow Jr.

Now what?

My next step was to make sure the images were in chronological order and that will be where
the next post about the file takes up the story.

To be continued.