Inventory of the Estate of Hezekiah Gray
Bob Gray, March 2019
Updated May 2019
Introduction
Hezekiah Gray was one of my fourth great grandparents. Early on in my genealogy research, I had a difficult time establishing the link between Hezekiah and my third great grandfather, David Gray. Over time, I was able to find references to Hezekiah by several members of my family, as discussed in my brother’s extensive research into Hezekiah’s military service during the American War of Independence. Prior to my brother’s research, I didn’t have a lot of information about Hezekiah. Thanks to my brother’s efforts, we now know a lot about Hezekiah’s time in the Revolutionary Army. One mystery that remained was when Hezekiah died. The most common reference to when Hezekiah died was that it occurred prior to the Letter of Administration granted, 5 March 1784, to Samuel Barrett, of Bedford, and Abigail Waterbury Gray Barrett, the late widow of Hezekiah Gray. During a recent family history trip with my brothers, we were given a copy of the Letter of Administration by a research assistant at the Fairfield Museum and History Center. The letter is shown below on the right. I have transcribed it on the left.
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THE PEOPLE of the State of New York, by the Grace of God, Free and Independent,
To Samuel Barrett of Bedford in the County of Westchester and Abigail his wife late the widow of Hezekiah Gray late of the same place deceased send Greeting:
WHEREAS the said Hezekiah Gray as is alledged, lately died intestate, having whilst living, and at the Time of his Death, Goods, Chattels, or Credits with this State, by Means whereof the ordering and granting Administration of all and singular the said Goods, Chattels and Credits; and also the auditing allowing and final discharging the Account thereof, doth appertain unto us; and we being desirous that the Goods, Chattels and Credits of the said Deceased may be well and faithfully administered, applied and disposed of, do grant unto you the said Samuel Barrett and Abigail Barrett full Power by these Presents, to administer and faithfully dispose of all and singular the said Goods, Chattels and Credits, to ask, demand, recover and receive the Debts which unto the said Deceased, whilst living, and at the Time of his Death, did belong; and to pay the Debts the said Deceased did owe, so far as such Goods, Chattels and Credits will thereto extend, and the Law require, you being first duly sworn, well and faithfully to administer the same, and to make and exhibit a true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the said Goods, Chattels and Credits; and also to render a just and true Account thereof, when thereunto required: And we do by these Presents ordain, depute and constitute you the said Samuel Barrett and Abigail Barrett Administrators of all and singular the Goods, Chattels and Credits which were of the said Hezekiah Gray IN TESTIMONY whereof, we have caused the Seal of our Court of Probates to be hereunto affixed: WITNESS Thomas Treadwell Esquire, Judge of our said Court, at the City of New York the fifth DAY of March in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven hundred and Eighty four.
Dav. Judson Clerk
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Letter of Administration from the Court of Probates, New York City, dated 5 March 1784 identifying Samuel Barrett and Abigail Barrett, Hezekiah Gray's widow, as Administrators.
The latest military record my brother was able to find for Hezekiah was a Revolutionary War Roll dated 6 November 1776. Samuel and Abbigail Waterbury Gray Barrett’s first son, Joseph, was born 17 September 1779. Although these two facts narrow the range of Hezekiah’s death, it was still unclear when he died or where he was buried. During the same family history trip with my brothers, we were also given an copy of the inventory of Hezekiah’s estate [1]. Subsequently, I obtained another copy of the inventory from a different source [2]. The second version differed in the layout of the pages and also included a petition to the Court of Probates which was not included in [1]. The new information contained in the second version of the inventory of Hezekiah Gray’s estate led to the update of this page. I have updated this page using the layout of this new version as I believe the first version I obtained had shuffled the order of the inventory information. Click on one of the pages below for a full-size view. Note that the folder is mislabeled as being for Elizabeth Gray. I only found this version because I noticed that the date on the index looked familiar and the index referenced Samuel Barrett.
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I was somewhat confused when I first looked at the inventory, as it appeared to be a semi-infinite list of people Hezekiah owned money to when he died. I was expecting a listing of his furniture and real estate holdings, not how much money he had borrowed. I asked the research assistant about the list and was told it was fairly common occurrence during the time of the Revolutionary War as there were not many banks.
Inventory of the Estate of Hezekiah Gray
I didn’t look at the inventory until several months after our history trip. This time I noticed an entry at the top of one of columns that said, “To funeral charges.” I suddenly had an interest in what else might be contained in the inventory. The following is a detailed look at the Inventory of the Estate of Hezekiah Gray.
The first page of the original version of the inventory I have includes a label on a file folder which must have contained the original inventory at the time it was scanned. The first page, shown below, identifies the New York State archive containing the inventory and the box within the archive that held the folder. The folder label gives a date of 11 January 178(7).
Scan of the folder for the Inventory of the Estate of Hezekiah Gray. Note the last number of the date is in ().
The date on the folder label above came from the original inventory document. The first page of the inventory is shown below on the right. I have transcribed the first page as given in the left side of the table below. It is seen that the last number in the date is over written, making it impossible to read. However, later in the inventory, the date of 11 January 1787 appears, indicating this is the correct date. I’m not sure why the inventory would have a date later than the probate letter above.
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First Page – Upper right
Account of Personal Estate & debts of Hezekiah Gray and of the Administration there Exhibited 11th January 178(7)
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The second and third pages of the inventory have several different dates. The order in which the different dates appear seems somewhat random.
The second page of the inventory has two columns. The left side is a list of debts Hezekiah’s had when he died. The right side is a summary statement. I have split that page in two to allow ease of comparison of the transcribed information and the original entries. The top of the left side of the second page has the earliest date in the inventory which is 22 February 1777.
The first column typically has an entry to show if the debt has been paid, the second column typically identifies who was paid. The last three columns are the amount paid in pounds (£), shillings (S), and pence (D). It is noted that 12 pence = 1 shilling and 20 shillings = 1 pound. An entry of “ in the last three columns is equivalent to a zero. The presence of “Do” is assumed to mean ditto. I have tried to leave the names as they are spelled in the original inventory, including capitalization. In some cases, the capitalization may be incorrect as the writer’s intent is not always obvious due to differences in written script then and now.
The entry below the 22 February 1777 date is the “To Funeral Charges” mentioned above. Assuming the inventory was started near the time of Hezekiah’s funeral, he most likely died in February 1777, possibly just a few days before the inventory of his estate was started. The second thing these two entries tell us is that Hezekiah most likely died in Bedford, Westchester County, New York and was buried there as well. Previously, it was thought he might have died while on tour with the Army, which may still be the case, but he most certainly had a funeral in Bedford.
The entry after “To Funeral Charges” is interpreted to be “To pork and jammons consumd in the family.” This interpretation, thanks to my brother Barry, starts to make sense when it known that Jamon is a dry cured ham. I interpret this entry to be the cost of the food consumed at the wake for Hezekiah. Using an on-line calculator [3] the four pounds in 1777 would equate to 650 pounds in 2019. Therefore, it seems likely that there were many friends and family members at Hezekiah’s funeral.
The left side of the second page has a summary section that includes information from both the second and third pages. This portion of the page is discussed later.
The third page has entries on both sides just like the second page. The left side of the third page is presented in the table below along with the transcribed list. It is noted that the top of the page has a date of 5 March 1784, some seven years after Hezekiah died. The last row is a total for all of the debts listed on this page. There appears to be an error in the total amount of debt calculation in the page below, as the transcribed values add up to 190 pounds, 7 shillings, and 9 pence which is two shillings lower than the total on the original document. The rest of the calculations in the inventory are correct.
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Third Page, Left Side
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At the top right of the third page is a statement about a credit to Hezekiah’s estate. This same amount appears on the right side of the second page.
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Third Page, Top Right
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The entry at the top of the right side of the second page is provided in the table below along with a transcription on the left. The phrase at the top of the page also appears on page three shown above. The meaning of this phrase is discussed later. The second row contains the paragraph in the middle of the second page that runs across both columns. My original transcription had this entry split in the middle. It makes sense when the two parts are joined together as shown below.
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Second Page, Top Right
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Second Page, Middle
A just and true account of the personal Estate and debts of Hezekiah Gray deceased as far as I have been able as yet to ascertain, the same ____________ Samuel Barrett admin
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The last entries on the right side of the second page shown above are a summary of Hezekiah’s debts and an indication that the debts were to be paid out of real estate. The total debt of a little over 361 pounds would translate to about 60 thousand pounds today [3]. The date next to the entry listing the total amount of Hezekiah’s debts is 11 January 1787 which is the same as the folder label and the legible part of the date at the top of this page. The entry called “from the other side of the book” refers to the left side of page 3. The date at the top of the left side of page three is 5 March 1784 which is consistent with the Letter of Administration’s date. This page identifies Samuel Barrett as the administrator of Hezekiah’s estate and also shows payment for the Letter of Administration and to himself for obtaining the letter. There is another entry further down the page indicating additional payment to himself for the preparation of the inventory and taking it to New York which again is consistent with the probate letter which was signed by a judge in New York City.
Meaning of the phrase “Cr By sales of a Vandue”
The phase “Cr By sales of a Vandue” appears on the second and third page. It took some time to interpret its meaning. The “Cr” is taken to mean Credit, but the word at the end of the line was not clear. I tried several variations of the word, but most didn’t seem to fit. I eventually tried a Google search on Vandue and found a reference in the North Carolina State Library’s glossary indicating it was a verb meaning “to sell by auction.” A credit for something sold at auction started to make sense. According to the on-line Webster’s Dictionary [4], the correct spelling of the word is vendue and it means “a public sale at auction.” Clearly, two auctions were held, one around 15 April 1777 and another around 29 September 1785.
In an effort to understand what might have been sold at the auctions, I returned to the letter of administration presented at the top of this page. The letter offers a clue in the following sentence:
And we do by these Presents ordain, depute and constitute you the said Samuel Barrett and Abigail Barrett Administrators of all and singular the Goods, Chattels and Credits which were of the said Hezekiah Gray.
Given that chattel means property other than real estate [5], it is clear that the credits were from the auction of Hezekiah’s personal goods, probably including his cloths and household goods, such as the chest listed at a value of eight shillings. The letter of administration did not give Samuel and Abigail the right to sell Hezekiah’s real estate. That came later.
Who compiled the estate inventory?
It is noted that Samuel Barrett’s name appears four times in the inventory. There is an entry on the right side of the second page for a debt owed to Samuel Barrett and his name appears again at the top of the left side of the second page. There are two others that appear to be signatures, one at the bottom of the left side of the second page and one at the bottom right side of the third page. The four are shown below. The top two are written in the same hand as all the other entries for debts. The bottom two are the apparent signatures. They appear to be in a different hand. Samuel Barrett signed his pension application as shown below the four entries in the inventory. There are differences in the signatures, but they would be expected given the nearly 50 years between them. This indicates someone other than Samuel Barrett made out the inventory. There is no indication of another person being paid for compiling the inventory. The entry at the top right side of the second page, “To my time and expense in obtaining the afore said letter,” along with the entry on the right side of that page, “to my time and expense in making of the Inventory to New York,” indicates that it was Samuel who filled out the inventory. Given the differences between the entries of Samuel’s name and his signature, along with the absence of the identification of another person being paid to fill out the inventory, I came to the conclusion that it was Abigail who filled out the inventory. It would have been Abigail who tallied up the debts as well. This conclusion is supported by the fact that both Samuel and Abigail are named as administrators in the Letter of Administration shown at the beginning of this page.
Comparison of “Samuel Barrett” entries.
Samuel Barrett’s signature on his pension application in 1832.
Who did Hezekiah Gray owe money to?
There are 54 entries in the inventory that show payments for debts incurred by Hezekiah Gray during his life. Of those 54, there are seven duplicate names, leaving 47 different people who had a claim against Hezekiah’s estate. Some, but not all, of these people probably lived in Connecticut as the family had only lived in Bedford for about ten years when Hezekiah died. This is based on baptism records for Hezekiah, Jr. who was baptized in Fairfield, Connecticut on 3 May 1767 [6].
Nearly four dozen seems like a lot of people to owe money to. It also makes me wonder why there isn’t a similar list of people who owed money to Hezekiah. Several of the people listed were relatives of Hezekiah Gray or his wife, Abigail Waterbury, as follows:
Samuel Barrett – Married Hezekiah’s widow, Abigail Waterbury Gray
Marcus Barrett – Abigail Waterbury Gray Barrett’s brother-in-law
Daniel Gray – Probable relative of Hezekiah Gray and husband of Abigail Waterbury’s younger sister Prudence
Benjamin Higgins – Probable relative through Gabriel Higgins
Joseph Higgins - Probable relative through Gabriel Higgins
Gabriel Higgins – Brother-in-law through marriage to Hezekiah’s sister, Sarah Gray
Marcus Moseman – Uncle of Samuel Barrett
Enos Weed - Probably a relative. Abigail Waterbury’s grandfather David was married to Sarah Weed.
Six of the people on the list are also listed on the Muster Roll dated 6 November 1776 with Hezekiah Gray [7]. The six are Cornelius Clark, Nathan Clark, Joseph Higgins, James McDonald, Richard Sarlls Jr, and Isaac Smith. In addition, Hezekiah’s military service records show that Isaac Titus served with Hezekiah in February 1776, as did Cornelius Clark.
There are debts owed to seven people that are significantly larger than the majority as listed in the table below. These seven people account for two thirds of the debts. It would be nice to know what the debts were for, but that information is not available.
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Name |
£ |
S |
D |
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Asher Taisler Cott? |
47 |
10 |
“ |
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Silvanius Fansher |
44 |
10 |
“ |
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Gabriel Higgens |
47 |
“ |
“ |
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Lewis McDonald |
24 |
14 |
8 |
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Marcus Moseman |
11 |
16 |
10 |
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Lot Sarlls |
13 |
14 |
11 |
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James Wright |
11 |
4 |
“ |
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Total |
200 |
10 |
5 |
It is noted that only the first four entries have a reference to a receipt for the debt that was paid. It is possible the author of the inventory got tired of making ditto marks. The last military record for Hezekiah Gray is "A Pay Roll of Officers, Noncommissioned Officers & privates, in Capt. Elli Sely's Company of Minute Men, in Colonel Samuel Drake's Regiment raised in Westchester County, now in the Service of the United Colonies [7]" mentioned earlier. The pay roll shows Hezekiah’s pay per day at 1 shilling and 9.6 pence. Hezekiah’s pay for six days of service from November 1776 to 12 November 1776 was 10 shillings and 9.6 pence. At that rate of pay, it would have taken over ten years for Hezekiah to earn the amount of his debt of 297 pounds, 5 shillings, and 4 pence.
Petition to the Court of Probates
Samuel and Abigail Barrett petitioned the Court of Probates for permission to sell real estate owned by Hezekiah Gray to settle the debts he owed when he died. As seen in the full document above, the sheet was folded in half in one direction and then in quarters the other direction. It probably was folded in half yet again, but it is the quarter fold that must have been the on the exterior, much like a map (silly reference I know as most people no longer use paper maps) as there is a description of the document as shown in the first row of the table below. The actual petition is provided in the second row. The petition is not dated, but it is known that the Honorable Thomas Tredwell was the Judge of the Court of Probates for the State of New York from 1778 to 1787 [8]. Given that the inventory has a date of 11 January 1787, it seems likely that the petition was made sometime that same year as it was the last year of Tredweel’s tenure on the Court of Probates. The significance of the petition is that it confirms the credits listed in the inventory of Hezekiah’s estate inventory were not related to the sale of land owned by Hezekiah.
I searched for land records where Samuel Barrett or Abigail Waterbury Gray Barrett were the grantor without success [9]. It is unclear whether the real estate owned by Hezekiah Gray when he died was ever sold. It appears that most of his creditors were paid based on the “paid” notations before the debts listed on page 2 and page 3 of the inventory. The amounts marked paid far exceed the amount of credit identified from the sale of Hezekiah’s personal property.
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Samuel Barret & Abigail Barret Petition for sale of real Estate of Hezekiah Gray
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To the Honorable Thomas Tredwell Esquire Judge of the Court of Probates of the State of New York.
The Petition of Samuel Barret and Abigail Ba Administrators of Hezekiah Gray late of Bedford in the County of WestChester deceased
Sheweth (i.e., shows)
That the said Hezekiah Gray was at the time of his death seised (i.e., possessed) of a real estate within this State that your Petitioners have made a just and true account of the personal estate and debts of the said Hezekiah Gray as far as they could discover the same which is herewith delivered and thereby it appears that the personal estate of the said Hezekiah Gray is insufficient to pay his debts.
Your Petitioners therefore request the aid of your Honor in the premises according to the directions of the act entitled “An act for the relief of creditors against heirs devisees, Executors and Administrators and for proving Wills respecting real estate.”
And Your Petitioners will ever pray &c (i.e., etcetera).
Samuel Barrett Administrators for himself and Abigail Barrett
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Conclusions
The inventory of the estate of Hezekiah Gray narrowed down the time of his death. It is now known that he died sometime between his last military record, dated 6-12 November 1776, and the start date for the inventory of 22 February 1777. His death most likely occurred a few days or weeks prior to the start date for the inventory. The presence of funeral costs and the purchase of meat consumed by the family indicates he died at home, or at least was buried at home.
Analysis of the hand writing in the inventory indicates that Samuel Barrett signed it but someone else filled it out. The absence of payment to another person for filling out the inventory led to the conclusion that it was probably Abigail Waterbury Gray Barrett who filled out the inventory. Abigail was listed as an administrator of Hezekiah Gray’s estate along with her husband, Samuel Barrett. This conclusion indicates Abigail was an educated woman who could read and write. She also had to have good math skills as the tally of the debts would have required ability beyond simple addition.
The presence of common names between the inventory and a military muster roll supports the fact that both records are for the Hezekiah Gray who was one of my fourth great grandparents.
The inventory indicates that Hezekiah had a substantial amount of debt at the time of his death. The inventory indicates that some of his possessions were sold to cover part of these debts, but the bulk of the debt was to be covered by the sale of real estate. No records of the real estate transactions could be found.
References
1. Ancestry.com. "Hezekiah Gray, 11 Jan 1787," New York, Estate Inventories and Accounts, 1666-1822 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original Data: Inventories and Accounts, 1666–1822. Series J0301-82. Microfilm (7 reels). New York (State), Court of Probates. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.
2. "New York Probate Records, 1629-1971." Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. County courthouses, New York. (New York Probate Records, 1629-1971 – Albany - Administrations, Inventories 1776-1825 Craig-Green Images 719 to 723.
3. http://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1777
4. Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Definition of vendue: noun, a public sale at auction. First Known Use of vendue: 1668, in the meaning defined. History and Etymology for vendue: borrowed from Dutch vendu, borrowed from regional French vendue, noun derivative from feminine past participle of French vendre "to sell," going back to Old French, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vendue.
5. Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Definition of chattel. 1: an item of tangible movable or immovable property except real estate and things (such as buildings) connected with real property. 2: slave, bondman slaveholders who were determined to hold on to their human chattel. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chattel.
6. Jacobus, Donald Lines, History and genealogy of the families of old Fairfield, Volume II, Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., New Haven, Connecticut, Page 405/6.
7. "United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9WB-9R4M?cc=2068326&wc=M61K-VP6%3A355086501 : 31 October 2017), 73-New York (jacket 82-99) > image 503, 504, and 505 of 706; citing NARA microfilm publication M246 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1980).
8. From the Biographical Directory of the US Congress.
9. FamilySearch.org New York Land Records, 1630-1975. Land and property records from the New York Land Office and county courthouses. The records include land grants, patents, deeds, and mortgages.
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