|
Facts and Events
References
- ↑ Massachusetts, Probate Court (Essex County). The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1916, 1917, 1920)
Case 17176: Low Daniel 1726 Feb 4.
4 Feb 1725 [endorsed on reverse as 4 Feb 1725/26]: Bond of Susannah Low Widow as Admin'x on her Husband Dan'll Low Late of Ipswich Dec'd Intestate. 11 Feb 1725/6: Inventory of the estate of Daniell Low Late of Ipswich Deceased by caleb Kimball, Nathaniel [Haws?], Thomas Lord: £133=17=2 plus debts due to estate £13=9=1, plus debts due from estate £78=17=3. 18 May 1728: Account of Susannah Sawyer alias Low Adm'x to the Estate of her Husband Dan'l Low Lat. of Ipswich De'd, allowed
- There is no suitable birth record for a Daniel Low in Ipswich. One clue mentioned by Source:Hammatt, Abraham. Hammatt Papers ... : the Early Inhabitants of Ipswich, Mass., 1633-1700, p. 216, that on 28 Jan 1705-6 "Elizabeth Low, Daniel Low, Joseph Low, renounce administration on ye estate of my late Husband, Jn.Low, dec'd" it being granted to Thorndike Low. The document is found in Essex Probate 17204. Various Low sources have been consulted (Hammatt; Source:Davis, Walter Goodwin. Ancestry of Phoebe Tilton, 1775-1847, Wife of Capt. Abel Lunt of Newburyport, Massachusetts, p. 176; Source:Merriam, Ellen M. Ancestors of the John Lowe Family Circle and Their Descendants, p. 16) and none show a John Low with wife Elizabeth, nor has such a marriage been found. The only one that discusses Daniel is Hammatt and no explicit parentage is given.
The wording of the document clearly seems to indicate Elizabeth is the widow and other documents in the file show Thorndike Low being administrator, so unless there were two John Low's who died at the same time and were misfiled into a single probate file, this suggests John Low had a third wife Elizabeth after Dorcas, not shown in any of the mentioned secondary coverages??? This creates much doubt in their reliability. Did they just miss a wife, or did they miss a whole family?
The next issue is the role of the names under Elizabeth's, namely Daniel and Joseph. There are no apparent witnesses, all the names being signed in a column on the right side. So one explanation is that they are witnesses signing in the wrong place, the note appearing to be written for Elizabeth. Another would be that they are sons of John turning down administration in turn (i.e., widow, eldest son, second son, ...) until it is settled on the eventual administrator, Thorndike. Since administration was usually offered by age, would make Daniel the eldest son and Joseph the younger son. This does not fit any known family. The John Low whose estate was administered by Thorndike had a son Joseph b. 1681 to his 2nd wife Dorcas and there is a gap between Dorcas b. 1674 and Martha b. 1679 where Daniel could be born, but the son Thorndike is from the first marriage, so older than both of them. One is left concluding the names are simply witnesses and this clue probably means nothing.
The estate of John Low was insolvent so no distribution is found giving the names of all the heirs.
|
|