THE "HOT MESS" PROBATE FILE OF NATHANIEL STOW JR PT2

Continuing my slow crawl through my ancestor Nathaniel Stow's probate file.

As I said, there were 38 images in the file, which I then went through to see if they
were dated so they could be put in chronological order. These are the dates I found:
1-N/A                                                                                                 
2-15Dec 1724
3-7Feb 1725
4-4th Dec 1724
5-4th Dec 1724
6-4th Dec 1724
7-15th Dec 1724
8- 7Feb 1725
9-7Feb 1725
10-7Feb 1725
11-9Apr 1726
12-18Apr 1726
13-18Apr 1726
14-6Jun 1726
15--6Jun 1726
16--6Jun 1726
17--6Jun 1726
18- No date
19-6Jun 1726
20-6Jun 1726
21-7Jun 1726
22-10Jun 1726
23-10Jun 1726
24-4Jul 1726
25-4Jul 1726
26-11Jul & 19Jul 1726
27-11Jul 1726
28-11Jul, 2Aug, & 5Sep 1726
29-5Sep 1726
30-5Sep 1726
31-5Sep 1726
32-2Jul 1726
33=30Mar 1726
34-27Oct 1726
35-No date
36-No date
37-13Dec 1726
38-No date

Luckily it didn't require too much moving around of pages to come to a chronological order:
1-N/A
4-4th Dec 1724
5-4th Dec 1724
6-4th Dec 1724
2-15Dec 1724
7-15th Dec 1724
3-7Feb 1725
8- 7Feb 1725
9-7Feb 1725
10-7Feb 1725
33-30Mar 1726
11-9Apr 1726
12-18Apr 1726
13-18Apr 1726
14-6Jun 1726
15--6Jun 1726
16--6Jun 1726
17--6Jun 1726
18- No date
19-6Jun 1726
20-6Jun 1726
21-7Jun 1726
22-10Jun 1726
23-10Jun 1726
24-4Jul 1726
25-4Jul 1726
26-11Jul & 19Jul 1726
27-11Jul 1726
28-11Jul, 2Aug, & 5Sep 1726
29-5Sep 1726
30-5Sep 1726
31-5Sep 1726
32-2Jul 1726
34-27Oct 1726
35-No date
36-No date
37-13Dec 1726
38-No date

Notice the three with no dates. Two are something I hadn't seen before. They seem to be actual
notes taken while the judge interviewed various heirs, and were taken "on the fly", so they are
messy and difficult to read:

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.35

Image 35 says there had been some appeal against the original settlement that all parties had dropped.
Now they were questioned about what they might know about Nathaniel's intention for the further
schooling of his son Samuel, and whether any knew if Samuel had received any money from his father
before Nathaniel's death.

 -Son Joseph said the other children were concerned that Samuel would try to claim a share of the
estate, to which (he said)his father replied he had left something behind "that would remove all their
doubts" and prevent Samuel from making a claim.

-Son Nathaniel testified that he heard his father tell Samuel "he must never expect any Land".

-Son Thomas said he'd heard his father tell Samuel "he had received his full portion and not to expect any more Estate."

-Son Benjamin told of a conversation with his father a year before his death about the division of his estate "asked him if he had given any acquittance----- answered in ye affirmative and intended to give him twenty pounds..."

Hmm. So there had been a dispute between Samuel Stow and his four older brothers over whether
he had received any money already prior to Nathaniel Stow's death and if so, what form that
inheritance should take. His brothers said he had nothing more coming to him.

I'll discuss Samuel, his answers to these statements, and a little background I've found on him.

To be continued.