Probate Records

Carol Buchalter Stapp’s book Afro-Americans in Antebellum Boston: An Analysis of Probate Records provided an interesting method in which students could identify African-Americans who were either members of or at least supported the various voluntary associations of the ante-bellum period. Probate records are court documents that help settle people’s estates. Usually when we think of probate records we think of wills. If a person leaves a will she is called testate and if no will is written, in testate. Wills provide wonderful primary sources for determining what specific organizations or associations these individuals’ bequeathed money or goods to. These bequeaths would indicate at least some organizational participation or support.

Ms. Stapp’s in depth study was focused on the probate records of Boston’s antebellum blacks who died in the 1840’s. As our study focuses on the 1850’s we used components of her research as a model for ours. We used the Suffolk County (Mass.) Probate Index. This index lists alphabetically the names of people who died in Suffolk County, their age, occupation and docket number to their will. The docket number is the method in which the probate record is filed and cataloged. We linked the names of almost 2,000 individuals in our database. We now have a number of names and respective docket numbers from individuals from the database that died in the decade of the 1850’s. The wills are held at the Massachusetts State Archives in Boston. Our spring 2004 PATH members will be analyzing these wills on the first Saturday field trip.

Another interesting component of probate records that is beyond the focus of our study is the inventory list of the individual’s possessions. These inventory lists help articulate the lives of these people through their material culture.

 

Name	Age at Death	Year	Occupation	Type of Probate	Docket #
Bassett, Benjamin P		1854	hairdresser	admin	39382
Bell, H. H.	12	1858		admin	41725
Brown, Nancy	30	1854		admin	39312
Brown, Nancy	27	1854		admin
Burrows, Elizabeth		1854	laundress	admin	39473
Butler, Mary	47	1852		admin	23487
Byus, Peter		1867	tailor	will	47672
Cash, Jonathan	81	1852	cartman	will	37973
Castell, William		1860	barber	will	42686
Delancy, William	35	1858	hairdresser	will	41527
Fisher, John	22	1850	seaman	admin	36693
Francis, David	30	1853	waiter	admin	38377
Francis, Eliza	18	1854		adoption	39475
Freeman, Julia	35	1854		adoption	39027
Hall, Henry	45	1860	laborer	will	42929
Hall, Henry	65	1860	trader	will	42929
Harris, Elizabeth	22	1853		admin	38567 or 43709
Henry, John		1857		??will	41154
Howard, Peter M.	70	1854	hairdresser	will	38871
Jackson, Ann	42	1855		will	39553 or 43504
Johnson, Henry	54	1855	laborer	admin	40168
Jones, Ann	30	1853		??admin	32863
Lewis, Joseph	50	1858		??will	41650
Loomis, John H.	27	1849	clothing dealer	??will	36732
Mahoney, Mary Ann		1860	widow	??will	42962
Mundruco, Emeliano	59	1863	clothing dealer	admin	44890
Murray, Ester	48		laundress	will	47391
Owen, Joshua		1855	laborer	will	12219
Patterson, James	46	1852	waiter	??admin	37775
Patterson, Mary	58	1854		??admin	39130
Prentiss, Rosa Ann	75	1852		??will	38165
Proctor, William	22	1850	seaman	guardianship	36769
Reed, Mary	42	1855		guardianship	39580
Reed, Thomas	43	1856	tender	admin	40597
Riley, George P.	21	1854	barber	admin	39335
Rogers, Lucy	77	1855		admin	39875
Ross, Charles	30	1851	barber	admin	37100
Scarlett, Margaret		1852	widow	will	37750
Smith, Eliza		1857		admin	41167
Smith, Judith	54	1850		admin	36679
Smith, Lewis	55	1853		admin	38467
Smith, Lewis	55	1857		admin	40893
Thacker, Henry	63	1869	waiter	will	49570
Thurston, Pompey	62	1857	laborer	admin	41178
Tinkham, Mrs.	60	1854		??guardianship	??39140
Turner, Isabella	29	1855		guardianship	40012
Willaims, Lucy	29	1854		??admin	38894
Willaims, Lydia	20	1859		admin	42407
Wilson, Samuel	35	1856	boys clothing	admin	40698
Woodland, Isaac	45	1853	laborer	admin	38458