Documentary history of Chelsea : including the Boston precincts of Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, 1624-1824, vol 2, Part 2

Author: Chamberlain, Mellen, 1821-1900; Watts, Jenny C. (Jenny Chamberlain); Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918; Massachusetts Historical Society
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Boston : Printed for the Massachusetts Historical Society
Number of Pages: 832


USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Chelsea > Documentary history of Chelsea : including the Boston precincts of Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, 1624-1824, vol 2 > Part 2


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79


The said phs Elisha Cooke John Wiswall & John floyd come into the Court & by Ralph : Syndry Gentt their Attorney say that there is not any thing in the said defts Nicholas Page & Anna his


" Thomas was afterwards a judge of the Supreme Court, Newton had acted as attorney-general in the witcheraft trials at Salem, and Dudley was a son of the governor. About this time legal proceedings began to show the skill of trained lawyers, and contrast favorably with those of a few years earlier.


" Chamberlain MSS., iv. 33.


10


HISTORY OF CHELSEA


[CHAP. XX


wifes plea to prelude or abate said plts from haveing & mainetayn- ing their accon of Review aforesaid agt. them ye said Defts for yt an accon of Review will lye in this Inferiour Court vpon ye said Judit menconed in ye said writt of Review


And further ye Pls Reply and say yt all ye persons inenconed in the said process and Judgint which are needfull are menconed in the said writt of Review whereby the persons and Case may be well understood, and therefore the plis crave Judm! &e


Ralph : Syndry 23]


The Court apparently sustained this demurrer by Paige, and thereupon Cooke and his associates went to the General Court the next year.24 The General Court, with which Cooke as a popular leader had influence, granted the application, and a second time he was defeated in the Superior Court; for Sewall records : 25 " Boston, N. E., Novr 19. 1701. The Court gave Sentence that the Law for Reviews bars Mr. Cooke &e. their Action against Col. Paige, Mr. Saffin was of that opinion also." Sewall gives the names of the jurors when the ease was tried at Boston, July 27, 1686, and also on the appeal, November 2, the same year; to this last, he adds the names of the judges. But Cooke had courage and perse- veranee, and again appealed to the General Court.


23 Suff. Early Court Files, No. 4197. The writ of September 18, 1695, is also on file.


24 [The petition is omitted because printed in Provincial Acts and Re- solves, vii. 509. It preceded the introduction into the General Court of the bill cited supra, p. 8.]


25 Diary, ii. 47.


4


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11


APPENDIX 1


CHAP. XX]


APPENDIX 1


John Wiswall Jung his Bill of Costs 1 in ye Action of Attaint Mr Nicholas Paige &e. being Plaintiffes &. sd Wiswall Defendant at this Court of Assistants Sep! 2. 1684


3 8 d


To payd for ye Reasons of Attaynt


To 1. daye to fetch them . 4 24


To Coppyes of Records to defend ye case


.1 " 17 " - oned by ye Secretaryes warrant « " 12 " .


To Lft Remington 2 for three dayes attendance being sum-


To ye defendants Attendance 3. dayes


To fyling of papers .


To ye Bill of Costs allowed March 4º 1683/4 "-7" 15 "-6


Allowed H D.3 ERS'


11".2" .6


[John Wiswall Sen! & Elizabeth Cooke their Bill of Costs " at ye County Court at Boston Aprill 290 1684 in ye Ačio of Nicho Paige &e agt. ym


u CO d


to ye Coppy of ye Attachmt. .


-"-6


to Coppyes of Records giuen in ye ease as { ye pticulers may appeare


"-3"-7 "-6


to Attendance of ye Defendants 7 . dayes "-1" -1"-


to fyling of papers 0 11


5


At ye Court of Assistants held at Bosto Sepr 2@ 1684


to Coppy of ye Reasons of Appeale . ." -3" -


to Coppyes of Records of Court .


" 4" -6


to ye Defendants Attendance 6 - dayes " 00 11 00 -" 18 " - to fyling of papers . Allowed . H D " . 1 " 16 " -6 ERS


Jno Wiswall senr & Elizabeth Cooke their Bill of Cost" in yir Aetio agt Nicho. Paige &e upon an Appeale fro ye Judgint or order of ye County Court held at Boston April 29h 1684


1 Chamberlain MSS., iv. 11, Doe. 2.


2 [ Jonathan Remington was foreman of the jury whose verdiet in this case was attainted. Records of the Court of Assistants, i. 245, 250.]


3 [ Humphry Davy, one of the judges.]


4 [Edward Rawson, Secretary. ]


5 Suff. Early Court Files, No. 2233, p. 74.


" Ibid.


-


12


HISTORY OF CHELSEA


[CHAP. XX


li 8 d


to Entring ye Actio .


66


to payd for Coppyes of ye Records " 15 "-


to ye Appellants Attendance 5 . dayes


66 15"


to fyling of papers .


"_1"-8


Allowed H D ERS


2"-1"-8


The Account presented by Anna Paige7


li . s . d


Mr Mussey . 7 . yeares rent at . 70li p yeare 400 : 00:00


Mr Musseys . 7 . yrs rent at . 50li p yeare 300 :00:00


To Lands Sould to Goodman Dolittle 250:00:00


The ffarm at Malden sould mr Dexter 250:00:00


For ten yeares Rent whilest in Cooke & wiswalls hands as the farm hatlı been 660 :00:00 The Stock at the ffarm as they received it as it was prized by Inventory 8 271:18:00 To Houshold Stuffe & implements at the ffarm 031 : 00 : 00


To the ffarm in m! Lanes own hand 1/2 year 050 : 00 : 00 To the ffarm it Selfe at Rumly Marsh worth at least ? 3000 : 00: 00


The pasture in Boston worth at least . 150:00:00


The Land on which m! Wiswalls & Cook's Shops stand 050 : 00 : 00 Of what they have received of my Granmothers third.10 600: 00:00 A debt oweing from Left Cook to mr Lane for Inglish goods which goods in! Lane bought of mr Bradstreet . 200:00:00


Besids all the Household stuff Linen plate Iron baeks torn out of my Chimnys a large Coper all his money bills bonds debts, apperill & Linen tho prized in his Inven- tory but at 5 =6 : 1. who had one hat with a Silver hat band wch eost 3ti 10s : 0d in England the Sumer before I went thether, which hat Left Cooke wore after- wards as I have often seen & also a Ring which my Granffather in his will gave to my ffather worth at least. 20li besids Silver buttons clasps & buekles & other things; all which things Left Cooke valued at . 5 - 6 - 1.11


270:00:00


7 Suff Early Court Files, No. 26733. Endorsed: " An Aecott of Rents of ye ffarme &a ex." This account is undated, but the certificate by Isaae Addington, and not his sueeessors Thomas Dudley and Daniel Allen, and the list of rentals, show that it was prepared in 1684.


8 The inventory of Captain Keayne's estate in 1656. Cooke and Wis- wall did not receive the farm until 1663.


" The farm was appraised in 1656 in Captain Keayne's inventory at £750, and was estimated by his widow in 1659 at £1200. Mass. Arehives, vol. B. 15, 211.


.


10 Cooke and Wiswall received one fourth of Mrs. Keayne's thirds, that is the portion of Anna Keayne Lane. This estimate would make the total of her thirds £2400, a few pounds less than the whole of Captain Keayne's estate was appraised at in 1656. See also supra, p. 1.


11 Inventory of the estate of Edward Lane. Suff. Prob. Rec., L. 5, f. 119.


13


APPENDIX I


CHAP. XX]


The Rents of the pasture & all the houses in Boston (except my Grandmothers) the kent of which houses my Lane received for 6 . yeares before 1 went for England 12 324 : 00: 00 For Land Sould at Medfield 080 : 00 : 00 050 : 00 : 00


And Land Sould to mr Turner #


And fifty pound in plate & honshold Sinff he reced of my Grand mothers .


050 : 00: 00 6986 : 18 : 0


They have received all this & much more See mr Lanes Deed for the payment of 7000 & that at their Cooke & Wiswall. liberty whether they would pay it or noe = by my knowledge Anna Paige Vera Copia of its' original on file Attests Isa Addington (Irc


The Account presented by Wisicall and Cooke"


In the Extract of Capt Keaynes will & The abreviate of the Legacyes vnder his owne hand it plainely appers That he hath given in Legaeyes out of yt pt of his estate which he Calls his owne to severall persons & for publick vses to the value of


And out of that part which he Intended for his son but he being Dead gives it to others to the Vallne of . . The Third part of his houseing & Land he setts aparte for his wife Dureing her Life & after her Death Dis- poseth of which as # Inventory amounts to The Debts & funerall Charges as # Inventory


Mr Lane Disbursed for repaireing the houses &e att his first being possessed of The Estate as A aeett thereof given by him to the Genrli Court November 1659 to ye vatt of


Mr Lane hath paid more for Debts which were not In- ventoried to severall psons an actt whereof was for- merly given by him Amounts to


" 1201 " 10 " .. 1000" . .


1.576 " 13" 4 274" .. " . 3052 " .3" 4


4 .280 " 4" 6


.124 " 14 " 11 3466 - 29 9


The whole of Capt Keaynes Estate as # The Inventory is 2426 " 2" 1 All The Debts that Mr Lane received as Due to that Estate were but . .. 81 - 18" 6 2508 : .


So that ye Estate would thus be Indebted to Mr Lane .958 : 2: 2


Besides what he paid to the Excentrix as ? the account in Court which is . .209 " 13 " 5 113" 8" 2


And to his wife as ? that account also


12 Mrs. Paige includes in this account against Cooke aud Wiswall rents received by Edward Lane when she was living with him as his wife. 13 Edward Lane sold this land May 7, 1659. Suff. Deeds, L. 3, f. 241. 14 Suff. Early Court Files, No. 2233.


14


HISTORY OF CHELSEA


[CHAP. XX


And his gift to his wife the now plaintiffe as # Deed of enfeofment for the house she Lives in Valued in the Inventory which was before the repaireing att . . . " .570 " . And what the Plaintiffe reced more of him when she went for England which was something considerable This is a true Copie of that on the file of Jany Court 1683 [1684] Attesis Isa Addington Clr. Vera Copia Attests Isa Addington Circ]


.


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15


APPENDIX 2


CHAP. XX]


APPENDIX 2


The Survey of the Paige Farm 1


BY Vartew of A Warrant from his Excelency S! Edmond Andros Knight Cap! Generall & Gouen! in Cheife of his Majes- ties teritory & dominion of new England baring Date Boston the 18th day of Jan! 1687 -


Haue suruaed and Layd out for Licut Co" nicolas Paige and Anna his wife two seuerall farmes or tracts of Land the first being Sitenat and Lieng by Rumney Marsh and Knowne by the name of begining at A bridge upon the Pines River known by the name of Linn bridg and stretching south west and by south three degrees and fifteene minits southerly twenty Eight Rodd and from thence turns west and by south two degrees & forty five minits westerly one hundred and ten Rodd & A half and from thence south and by west two degrees and forty fiue minits westerly forty two Rodd and then South East seuen degrees sontherly fifty six Rodd and from thence south west and by south six degrees and fifteene minits westerly thirty eight Rodd then south south west two degrees & A half westerly one hundred and foure Rodd to A great oake tree Marked with B: standing in the Road from thence East & by south fifteene minits Easterly twenty Eight Rodd to two yong oake trees standing by the fence and then East South East Eight degrees & A half Southerly three hundred & twelve Rodd to the End of A stone wall and then by said wall North East and by north Eight degrees and fifteene minits East- erly twenty nine Rodd & A half and from thence north north East nine degrees Easterly one hundred and twenty Rodd to A ditch in the Meadow by the Little Island of vpland : and soc by the midle of said ditch and A Rainge of stakes north north cast senen degrees & A half Easterly one hundred thirty two Rodd to the Pines Riner and falls A Little to the East of A small Musell " banke in the River and from thence by the River as it Runs to Linn bridg wheare first began: all Conteyned within said bounds hills Valleys swamps Cricks and Marshes is Eight hundred and


1 Mass. Archives, Maps and Plans, iii. 4. [For the survey of his Boston estates, February 19, 1687 (1688), see ibid., 11.]


2 [Interlined over " elam," cancelled. ]


16


HISTORY OF CHELSEA


[CHAP. XX


seuen Akers and A half out of which is to bee Alowed A suficient way for the Contrey Roade, the second is A Little farme neare adjoyning to the former being distant fifty six Rodd to the south west : begining at A stake and A heap of stones in the Roade which is the west Corner, and Rainges in Length one the south west side East south East Eight degrees and forty five minits southerly two hundred Eighty foure Rodd and then in bredth East and by north one degree & A half Easterly sixty seuen Rodd then turns north East and by north one degree Easterly twelue Rodd and from thence in Length one the north East side north north west Eight degrees and forty fine minits northerly three hundred and thirty six Rodd to the Road and from thence in bredth fifty foure Rodd to the first stake and heape of stones being bounded to the south west by Land Improued by Newgat south by Land Claimed by John Tuttle & brothers North East by Land in possion of John Coging North west by the Contrey Road Conteyning one hundred and seuen Akers and A quarter out of which is two Rodd in bredth Left at the north west End for half the Contrey Roade performed this 16th day of Febr 1687


P Phillip Welles Surur


Endorsed: " 16th ffebruary 1687 [1688] Survey of two farmes neere Rumney Marsh for Leiut Colf Nicho : Page. &c."


Among the maps and plans at the State House, is one of this survey, a reduced copy of which is here given.


133


Lift Por" Wirdlas Luigethis Little fare


· [10] acres].


Cartary Road


Lay Down & dl. Brulle of 40 200


1


plusvagyall


if' Cort isolas Irige Mis goed fume [807 acres]


. F


Rin Aridy


17


ELISHA COOKE'S LAST APPEAL


CHAP. XXI]


CHAPTER XXI


ELISHA COOKE'S LAST APPEAL


W HEN I began to investigate the legal proceedings for Captain Keayne's farm, I was greatly embarrassed by the lack of records, and later by the multiplicity (though far from complete). But the story is told graphically, if not quite impartially, by Elisha Cooke in a memorial to the General Court.1 [The endorsements on this memorial follow : ]


In Council Read 26th Feb! 1701/2


Read a 20 time . 27th feb!


Read . 10th July . 1702 2 27th Febr 1701 | 1702] In Council


The Question being put. Whether the Petcon should be granted ? Ans' Yes.


Then a 2ª Question being put, Whether a private Bill shall be made for the releife of the l'etrs?


Ans" Yes , by Fourteen, Five of them saying, provided That Colº Paige be Notifyed."


A third Question being put, Whether Colo Paige shall be notifyed to attend too morrow, at Ten in the morning, or sooner, if it may be ? Ans! Yes.


Isª Addington Secry.


1 Mass. Archives, xlv. 272. [Printed in Provincial Acts and Resolves, vii. 509, 510.]


2 [ June 27, 1702, Governor Dudley prorogued the General Court until August 12, and July 8, he informed the Council that he would leave Boston on the following day for a trip to the castward. There is no record in the Mass. Archives of a meeting of the Council between July 8 and August 3. Possibly the endorsement on the petition should be June 10, when the bill given in the text, infra, p. 18, was read.]


3 February 28, 1702. " Yesterday Mr. Cookes Petition to enable him to sue Col. Paige for his Farm, was brought forward. I moved that Col. Paige might be Notified and 4 more. Mr. Cooke seemed displeas'd, and in way of Displeasure said 'twas to delay his Business: was sorry I was so far engag'd in it. For this, and because of Sherbourn case, I chose to stay from Conneil this Forenoon; that might avoid being present when suspected, or charg'd with Prejudice." Sewall, Diary, ii. 54. VOL. II .- 2


18


HISTORY OF CHELSEA


[CHAP. XXI


February 28, 1701/2, " Collo Nicholas Paige attended the Board According to the Notification Sent him Yesterday; And Offering nothing against what was Prayed for by Elisha Cooke Esq" &e in their Petition, only that he had been informed that Something had been sent from England relating to the Passing of Acts a Bill was brought in To enable Elishia Cooke Esq" John Wiswall, and Sarah, and Hugh Floyd Administrators of the Estate of John Floyd Deced to review two Judgements given in the Year 1686, at the Superiour Court of Judicature &e to be holden at Boston Which Bill being read at the Board, it was Voted that it be re- ferred to the next Sitting of the General Court." 4


The Bill 5 to enable Cooke to sue for the Keayne Estate


Provinee of the Massachusetts Bay


An Aet To Enable Elisha Cooke, Esqr John Wiswall and Sarah & Hugh Floyd Admin's of the Estate of John Floyd deced to review two Judgemts given in the year 1686 at ye Superiour Court of Judieature &e to be holden at Boston.


(Here follows by way of reeital the petition)


Be it therefore Enacted by the Couneil and Representatives in General Court assembled And by the authority of the same It is Enacted That the sd Elisha Cooke John Wiswall, and Sarah Floyd and Hugh Floyd Admin's of the Estate of the sd decd John Floyd Shall be and hereby are enabled & impowred to have new Tryals by Review of the two several Judgemts given as aforesd in the 'year 1686. by virtue of which they were put out of possession of the Farme and Pasture beforementioned, at the Superiour Court of Judicature. Court of Assize and General Goal Delivery to be holden at Boston at any time before the last day of May Anno. 1704, And That the sd Superiour Court be and hereby is directed and required to admit & receive the sd Tryals by review, And to heare and determin the same doing therein that which to Justice doth appertain aeeording to Law.


Any Law Usage or Custom to the contrary in any wise not- withstanding


February. 28th 1701. Read In Couneil and referred to the next Sitting of the General Court. Isª Addington Seery. A.M. Read in Council. June 10th 1702. P.M. Read a 2ª time


4 MSS Rec. of the General Court, vii. 271.


5 Mass. Archives, xl. 735.


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Y


19


CHAP. XXI] ELISHA COOKE'S LAST APPEAL


We hear no more of this bill. It was dropped, and from that time Anna Paige was allowed quietly to enjoy her estate, but not for long; for Sewall has this entry: " " Feria Sexta, Junij, 30, 1704. As the Governour [ Joseph Dudley] sat at the Council-Table twas told him, Madam Paige was dead; He claspd his hands, and quickly went out, and return'd not to the Chamber again." Madam Paige was the niece of Governor Dudley, and on July 2, 1704, in Boston, was borne to the tomb by distinguished pall-bearers. Her husband, Colonel Nicholas Paige, survived her some years, dying prob- ably late in 1717, as his will was probated January 3, 1717/18.


Of the Keayne estate at Rumney Marsh, the little farm was sold 7 to Paul Dudley, as before related, and the great farm became the property of Martha Hobbs, who was in some way related to Nicholas Paige, and married Nathaniel Oliver."


" Diary, ii. 109.


7 Vol. i. p. 636, note.


8 For the subsequent owners of the great farm, and for more about Martha Hobbs, see E. D. Harris, Account of the Descendants of Capt. Thomas Brattle, pp. 55, 56, 59, 60; and for the connection between the Oliver and Wendell families, pp. 39, 40. The late Henry K. Oliver of Salem was of the Rumney Marsh family. [Infra, p. 74. ]


.


20


HISTORY OF CHELSEA


[CHAPS. XIX-XXI


APPENDIX


TO CHAPTERS XIX-XXI


[IN January, 1683/4, Captain Nicholas Paige and Anna his wife brought suit in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas to recover the farm at Rumney Marsh on the plea that she was the heiress of her grandfather, Captain Keayne, who had died nearly twenty eight years before. The suit was brought against John Wiswall, Jr., tenant and part owner of the farm through a deed from Edward Lane to Richard Cooke and Elder Wiswall dated some twenty years before. The verdict in this lower court was for the plaintiff, possession of the farm and costs of court.1 The de- fendant appealed to the Court of Assistants, where the judgment was reversed at the March court of 1683/4.2 Nicholas Paige then took the final step of attainting the jury. This rendered a new trial necessary before a jury of twenty-four, a method of procedure substituted for an appeal to the General Court, which had been the earlier practice, but had proved burdensome and obstruetive of the country's business.3 This trial by attaint of jury was appointed for the September term of the Court of Assistants.


In the meantime at the April term of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, Nicholas Paige and Anna his wife brought suit to reeover another piece of property, a pasture in Boston, which had belonged formerly to Captain Keayne, and passed by the same deed from Edward Lane to Cooke and Wiswall.4 This time the verdict in the lower court was against Captain Paige, and he appealed to the Court of Assistants, the case also coming up at the September term. Many of the papers in these suits thus


1 Supra, p. 2. One of the jurymen at this eourt was Daniel Turell, infra, p. 30. On the same day Captain Nicholas Paige and Anna his wife petitioned to be appointed exeeutors of Captain Keayne's estate. The petition is printed in the N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg., xxxi. 105. Letters of administration were issued to them (Boston Ree. Com. Rep., x. 54) ; they gave bond therefor on February 9, 1683/4. Suff. Prob. Files, No. 171. How much of the original farm Captain Paige and his wife would have secured through this suit is not known. John Wis- wall, Jr., owned one fourth of the great farm; possibly he was tenant of the whole, though this is not probable. Supra, vol. i., pp. 665-667.


2 Supra, p. 2.


: Supra, p. 3.


Supra, p. 3.


T


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21


APPENDIX


CHAPS. XIX-XXI}


appealed have been preserved in the Early Court Files of Suffolk County.5


" Elder Wiswall & Widdow Cook " in defence of their title claimed that all Captain Keayne's estate had been given away by will and consequently there was nothing for the heir to inherit ; that the estate had been sold to Edward Lane for the payment of debts and legacies by the overseers of the will under a resolution of the General Court, and with the approval of its committee; and that Lane had conveyed to them (the defendants) the land in dispute by deed of Dec. 14, 1663.º


Nicholas Paige and his wife claimed the farm on the ground that she was sole heir to the estate of Captain Robert Keayne, insisting that " if it had in express terms been said in the will that his Executor or any other should Sell his Lands to pay his Legacys, yet that takes not away the descent from the heir," quoting Godolphin, page 372, s. 3. Of the deed from Lane to Cooke and Wiswall they demanded first that the original should be pro- duced, adding, " That if any such Instrument were made by Mr Lane to them Their safest Plea is to say that it was in Trust, which if they shall not so Doe we say That the said Instrument was a Covenous & fraudulent Conveyance . . . Made & contrived one purpose to Defraud Mrs Paige of her Estate which came to her from her Grandfather Capt Keayne."


A few words of explanation seem necessary. Anna Keayne Paige was not by the will a residuary legatee. She received three hundred pounds as her first legacy, six hundred more if her father died leaving no other children, and at the death of her grand- mother, Captain Keayne's widow, one fourth of her thirds - that is, the legacy could not have exceeded, in the intent of Captain Keayne, £1234. Under the will she could not claim both the house in Boston, which Edward Lane had deeded to her in 1663, and the farm at Rumney Marsh, for in the inventory of Captain Keayne's estate the one had been valued at £570, and the other at .£150. a total of £1320, exclusive of household furniture and stock; and


5 Case No. 2233 (46 papers). Other documents relating to the case are to be found at the State House, at the Middlesex County Court House, and in the Chamberlain Collection at the rooms of the Mass, Hist. Soc.


" The plea and arguments of Cooke and Wiswall in this ease have not been preserved, and are only known as quoted in the answering argu- ment by Nathaniel Thomas, the attorney of Captain Paige. The latter is in Suff. Early Court Files, No. 2233; see also supra, p. 4. Richard Cooke died some ten years before this suit was brought, and Elisha Cooke. the well-known political leader, conducted this case as his mother's attorney.


22


HISTORY OF CHELSEA


[CHAPS. XIX-XXI


the appraisement of the inventory was some fourteen hundred pounds less than Captain Keayne's estimate, by which he gauged his legacies.7 Therefore if Captain Paige and his wife intended to claim the whole of the farm, it was necessary to demand the estate as heir-at-law.


Their opponents claimed that the whole of Captain Keayne's estate had been given away by the will, and therefore nothing was left for the heir-at-law. As to the intent of the testator, the will is in print and can be consulted. Apparently Captain Keayne intended, in case his son did not survive him, to dispose of his whole estate; if there were any residue, it was to be devoted to " publike or charitable use or uses" by the overseers with the advice and consent of his wife, the executrix.8


Anna Keayne married Edward Lane December 11, 1657. Before the marriage Mrs. Anna Keayne, the grandmother, transferred the executorship of the will to Edward Lane.º Within fifteen months the granddaughter, dissatisfied with Edward Lane as a husband, petitioned the Court and sceured an annulment of the marriage.1º A business settlement was necessitated, and to ac- complish it the aid of the Great and General Court had to be invoked. Edward Lane insisted that he had assumed a heavy burden when he undertook the executorship, that Captain Kcayne had estimated his estate at four thousand pounds, and had made his bequests in accordance with that estimate, while by the inven- tory of the estate taken at his death it fell far short of this, and when his debts and funeral charges were paid, it would not amount to two thousand pounds; and he asked to be relieved of the


" Captain Keayne, when he made his will, estimated his estate at £4000. Boston Rec. Com. Rep., x. 47. For the inventory, see infra, p. 51. As to the widow's thirds, see supra, p. 13. See also Boston Rec. Com. Rep., x. 19, 20, 21, 37.




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