52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2017 WEEK 10: RICHARD REITH OFSALEM AND MARBLEHEAD PT3

While Richard Reith had bequeathed certain properties to specific children in his will, there were others that still had to divided among them. One of the documents in his probate
file shows how that was accomplished .Again, it's divided into two images at a point just after a few blurred lines, and as it happens, those lines turn out to be very important.

Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1881.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)23463:12

6 We agree that Joseph Tuck in the Right of his wife Sara have and enjoy halfe of the ho use in (? Cove and halfe of the Cow Commonage thereto belonging, valued att forty pounds, and have also his part of the (?) on all estate amounting by (?) to twelve pounds, seventeen shillings &8 d, the house to be by him & his heirs forever.

Now the reason those lines are important is that they corrected an error in my family tree. I
had Sarah (Reith) Tuck, wife of Joseph Tuck, in my database as the daughter of William Reith and Abigail Haskell. But here's Joseph acting on behalf of Sarah in Richard Reith's will. What was going on here?

It turns out I committed a cardinal sin. At the time I first entered this branch I couldn't find
any birth record for any Sarah Reith except for one whose father was William Reith. I didn't follow upon that information as I've since learned to do over the years since. If I had
I would have realized the birth dates of both Sarah and William made it impossible for him
to be her father. And when I started researching my family I began just with my direct ancestors, leaving the siblings to fill in later. Here's an instance where it came back to bite me.

Having access to the probate files  made me aware I'd screwed up.

I will correct my family tree and database to reflect the new information. This means I need to prune John Hardy and Dr. William Griggs. William Reith remains as my 6x great granduncle, not grandfather.    

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2017 WEEK 10: RICHARD REITH OF SALEM AND MARBLEHEAD

9x great grandfather Richard Reith is one of those ancestors where what little I know of him
teases me but there's not enough to fill in all the gaps.

-When he died in Marblehead on 28 February 1708 he was said to be 73 years which would
put his birth year in 1625.

-I have found records of his marriage on 16 February 1664 to a young lady but depending on
which record you are looking at her name is either Elizabeth Goryr or Elizabeth Gorge or
Elizabeth George. After Elizabeth's death he remarried and his second wife Ann is mentioned
in his probate file.

-Richard seems to have a number of different properties in Marblehead, Salem, and Gloucester,
Ma. One transaction was with another of my ancestors, Moses Maverick. According to his will
a property he owned was an island.

-In those land sales records Richard's profession is variously given as merchant, fisherman, and shoreman. From what I've seen in the probate file I think the island mentioned might have been
the base of his operations because it mentions "scales". It must have been good sized because he bequeaths a half of it to two of his sons.

I'll have a transcription of that will in the next post.