 |
Tri-County Legal Documents |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tri-County Legal Documents |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sullivan township in 1838 was a wilderness interspersed with a few homesteads with several cleared acres here and there. We know from the 1830s store ledgers in my possession that a few frame houses were going up based on the orders for plastering. But for the most part, people were living in log cabins that we would call hovels. It was a subsistence living that they eked out in this area. See my 1830s tax records on the Sullivan Township page of the site for an analysis of the relative levels of ownership for the township. This document gives us an excellent insight into a better than average household of the era.
We do not have a known burial place for Thomas Rexford, but my educated
guess is that he was buried in Wood Cemetery which was deeded
to the community in the immediate or near area where he lived in
1838 by Seth and Elizabeth Wood. Why a man of his wealth did not have a
tombstone that has survived, when others in that cemetery have, is anyone's
guess.
Filed Nov. 19th 1838
$3.56 of fees paid
Known all men by these presents that we Thomas Raxford Henry Bailey and Roswell W. Bailey are held and firmly bound unto the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the sum of three hundred dollars lawful money of Pennsylvania, to be paid to the said commonwealth to which payment well and truly to be made, we do bind ourselves and each of us for and in the whole, our and each of our heirs executors and administrators, jointly and severally by these presents, Sealed with our seals and dated the nineteenth day of November A.D. 1838.
The Condition of this obligation is such that if the above bounden Thomas
Raxford administrator of all and singular the goods, chattels and credits
of Thomas Raxford decd do make or cause to be made a true and perfect inventory
of all and singular the goods chattels and credits of the said deceased,
which have come to or shall come to the hands possession or knowledge of
him the said Thomas Raxford or into the hands or possession of any other
person or persons for him and the same so made do exhibit or cause to be
exhibited in the Registers office in the county of Tioga within thirty
days from the date hereof and the same goods chattels and credits and all
other the goods chattels and credits of the said deceased at the time of
his death which at any time shall come to the hands or possession of him
the said Thomas Raxford or into the hands and possession of him the said
Thomas Raxford or into the hands and possession of any other person or
persons for him do well and truly administer according to law and further
do make or cause to be made a just and true account of his said administration
within one year from the date hereof or when thereunto legally required
and all the rest and residue of the said goods chattels and credits which
shall be found remaining upon the said administrators account, the same
being first examined and allowed by the orphans’ court for the county having
jurisdiction shall deliver and pay unto such person or persons as the said
orphans court by their decree or sentence pursuant to the law shall limit
and appoint, and shall well and truly comply with the laws of this commonwealth
relating to collateral inheritances and if it shall hereafter appear that
any last will and testament was made by the said deceased and the same
shall be proven according to law, if the said Thomas Rexford, being thereunto
required to surrender the said letters of administration into Registers
office aforesaid then this obligation to be void otherwise to remain in
full force & virtue.
|
Witness Present
|
Thomas Rexford (Seal) | |
|
T.F. Donaldson
|
Henry Bailey (Seal) |
A Schedule of the Property of the late estate of Thomas Rexford of Sullivan
Township, Tioga County and State of Pennsylvania.
| 1 Horse 45 Dollars 1 cow 18 dollars |
63
|
00 | |||||
| Notes |
|
|
|
dated 27 June 1837 | Addison McDowell |
40
|
00 |
|
|
|
|
9th May 1837 | David Burman |
25
|
00 | |
|
|
|
|
Nov 20 1837 | Myron Ballard |
15
|
00 | |
|
|
|
|
July 1st 1837 3Dlls | B.R. Chapman |
3
|
00 | |
|
|
|
|
May 17th 1837 | B.R.Chapman |
10
|
00 | |
|
|
|
|
Feby 15th 1835 | Samuel Bullock |
19
|
46 | |
|
|
|
|
July 4th 1837 | Moses Strait |
4
|
00 | |
|
|
|
|
April 26th 1837 | Jesse Baker |
25
|
00 | |
|
|
|
|
Feby 24 1838 | Hiram Wood-- |
22
|
00 | |
|
|
Bond | dated June 1st 1837 | John G. McDowell | ||||
| Payable on the 1st day April 1838 Interest after 5 months |
350
|
00 | |||||
|
|
Judgement against Tunis Slingerland on | ||||||
| Esq A. Ripleys Docket for $12.20 |
12
|
20 | |||||
| Cash Two Hundred & fifteen Dollars |
215
|
00 | |||||
| 1 Feather Bed 1 Pair Woolen Sheets
1 Pair Linen Sheets
1 Pair Pillows 1 old Birds Eye coverlet 2 Check Blanket 1 Comforter 1 Bedstead Cord Standing Noth west corner of hous & 1 old Straw tick 1 Pair Pillows & Cases |
14
|
00 | |||||
| 1 Feather Bed 1 Chek Blanket 1 Comforter 1 Pair old woolen sheets 1 linen & 1 cotton sheet 1 Old Birds Eye coverlet 1 old straw tick 1 Bedstead 1 Pair Pillows & cases |
12
|
00 | |||||
| 1 Feather Bed 1 Check Coverlet & old birds Eye Coverlet 1 Pair Cotton sheets 2 old Check Blankets 1 Bedstead 1 Old tick 1 Pair Pillow Cases |
10
|
00 | |||||
| 1 Five Pale Kettle 3 Dls 1 large dish Ketle 1 Dls 1 old frying pan |
4
|
25 | |||||
| 1 old tin oven & 2 Baketins 50 cents 4 tin Milk pans 1.50cts 1 old tin pot 12 ct |
2
|
12 | |||||
| 8 tea Saucers & 2 teacups 4 old plates 1 Bowl 6 old glasses | 62 | ||||||
| 3 Butcher Knives old 2 Knives & forks 7 old teaspoons | 62 | ||||||
| 5 old bottles 1 old tea pot 1 old tin pepper box 1 old bread box | 56 | ||||||
| 1 Pair smothing Irons 50 cents 1 old fire shovel 50 cents |
1
|
00 | |||||
| 1 old Churn 2 old trays 1 trammel |
1
|
00 | |||||
|
$49
|
83 | ||||||
|
Amt brot over
|
849
|
83 | |||||
| 1 old table cloth & 1 old towel |
00
|
50 | |||||
| 1 Pair House steel Yards 75 cents 1 old stand | 87 | ||||||
| 1 oldish common table 2 Dls 1 trunk 1 Dls |
3
|
00 | |||||
| 1 old Chest 50 cents 1 old little Wheel 1.50 |
2
|
00 | |||||
| 1 old big wheel 75 cents 1 oldish Hitchell |
1
|
75 | |||||
| 1 old Rifle & bullet Moulds 2 Dls |
2
|
00 | |||||
| 1 Old shoe hammer 12 cents 2 old axes 1 Dls |
1
|
12 | |||||
| 1 Hatchet 12 Cents 1 Handsaw 1 Dls 1 Draw shave |
1
|
62 | |||||
| 1-2 Such augers 62 Cents 1 Such auger 37 cts |
1
|
00 | |||||
| 1 Pair Portmantaus 1.25 Cents 1 old Jumper |
2
|
00 | |||||
| 312 - 16 old chairs 2.62 Cents 1 old staple & Ring |
3
|
12 | |||||
| 1 old dung fork 56 cents 1 old scoop shovel | 81 | ||||||
| 1 old saddle 2 Dls 1 old slay shoe 50 Cents |
2
|
00 | |||||
| 3 old Bags 50 Cents 1 old Book Whitfield Sermons | 62 | ||||||
| 1 Set of Common old House Chairs 1.50 Cents |
1
|
50 | |||||
| 1 Set of one Horse Harness 1.50 and bells 75 very old |
2
|
23 | |||||
| 1 old half Bushel 12 Cents 1 old meat barrel 50 | 62 | ||||||
| 14 old Barrels 1.50 Cents 7 old drag teeth 1 D |
2
|
50 | |||||
| 1 old Corn Basket 12 Cents | |||||||
|
$879
|
61 | ||||||
We the Subscribers hereby Certify that we have Valued and apprais'd
the above property belonging to the Estate of Thomas Rexford Deceasd of
Sullivan Township Tioga County this 12th day of December AD 1838
| Sworn and Subscribed | Burton Strait |
| before me the day and year | Arad Smith |
| above written Alfred Ripley JP | Appraisers |
by Jane Webb
What does it take to transcribe old documents? First it takes time and patience. Don't expect the obvious translation to be the correct one. Inventories are a wonderful insight into the lifestyles of our ancestors, but they list many items with which we are unfamiliar.
While transcribing an inventory of Thomas Rexford, deceased, an early settler in Sullivan Township, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, I used a number of tools. First of all you have to remember that the appraisers were walking from room to room in the house while taking the inventory. So if they are in the kitchen you need to think pots & pans & dishes. What had been a mystery suddenly became tea saucers and what looked like tramps became teacups. While in the barn what looked like a draw shovel became a draw shave.
Words become obsolete and uses of words change. Who ever heard of a portmanteau? But this traveling bag originally adapted for use on horseback is a logical item to find in an inventory from the mid 1800’s. A jumper is not what we would expect to find in a man’s workshop but makes sense when you know that it was a loose upper garment worn over other clothing.
I keep a copy of Ancestry's Concise Genealogical Dictionary near my computer. I also have my mother's old dictionary which will often have a definition for a word that is not found in newer dictionaries. A magnifying glass can sometimes be useful even if the writing is not small. And sometimes it is possible to find a solution on the internet. I was curious about the book in the inventory. The Whitfield was plain to read, but the word after that seemed indecipherable. I thought that Whitfield was probably the author so I did an internet search on Whitfield +author and found an early Methodist minister by the name of George Whitefield that published a book of sermons. Suddenly it was quite plain that the inventory read Whitfield sermons. Even though Thomas Rexford did not have a Bible he had a religious book in his possession and we now know that he was more than likely a Methodist.
Don't give up too soon. What seemed impossible the night before may
be obvious by the next morning.
 |
First Added to the Site on 12 FEB 2003
By Joyce M. Tice Email: JoyceTice@aol.com You are the visitor since the counter was installed on 12 FEB 2003 |
