West in New England: Stow Nathaniel Jr.

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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

THE "HOT MESS" PROBATE FILE OF NATHANIEL STOW JR PT6

The next three images in Nathaniel Stow's probate file are still pretty straight forward. Image 11 is a letter from Nathaniel's heirs to the judge in which they name the people they've chosen as the commissioners to appraise the value of the estate and then divide it up. It's dated 9Apr 1726 and I've transcribed it as written (except that I can't reproduce how some letters in abbreviated words are slightly above the rest of line.)

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.11

To the Honorable Judge of Probates for the County of Middsx
These may Certify that wee the subscribers do make Choyce
of the men hereafter named to be Commissioners to
Apprise the ~~Fathers Nathaniel Real~~ Estate of our Father
Nathaniel Stow of Concord in sd County deseast: Capt John
Flint mr Samll Jones mr Samll meriam mr Daniel
Brooks Junr mr Samll Straten all of Concord afore sd
as witness our hands this 9th Day of April 1726

Mary Stow her x mark                                         Joseph Stow
                                                                            Benjamin Stow
                                                                            Nathll Stow
                                                                            Nathll Merriam
                                                                            Bartholomew Jones
                                                                            Eleazer Melvin
                                                                            Daniel Brook

Images 12 and 13 are the front and back pages of the instruction the judge sent to the five commissioners describing their duties in evaluating the estate. This is dated 18Apr 1726:

As I said, these images are straight forward, and easy to read as well as easy to understand.
Unfortunately, things start getting messier with the next images, as you'll see in the next post in this series.

To be continued...

Friday, March 11, 2016

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?

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."

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.

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.

Wednesday, March 09, 2016

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2016 WEEK 10: NATHANIEL STOW JR. OF CONCORD, MA.

My 7x great grandfather Nathaniel Stow Jr is another ancestor in the Stow line for whom I have somewhat limited information. I know from the Concord Ma/ Vital Records that he was born there 16Sep 1663, married Ruth Merriam there on 3Dec 1690, and died there on 12Nov 1724. I also know from the same records that he and Ruth had twelve children, nine of whom were sons:

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

Most of the children were still living when Nathaniel died without a will and he left a good sized estate. This led to what looks like an agonizing process for whoever was trying to figure out how to divide everything up. My head hurts just looking at the calculations, never mind trying to interpret them