I published this document back in 2015, but since then my son began to work on a paper for an advanced grammar class using this document, and I decided to go over my transcription and more carefully reproduce the spelling, word divisions, punctuation, and capitalization exactly as in the original, or to note exactly where anything differed. I found that I had made a lot of mistakes, and since now I am certain that every word and mark is correct, here is my update, with some notes at the end of this post on my work and what happened to these people.
march 23 1662
3
it having plesed The Lord in the dispan sashon of his profidans Too me and myne soo to ordar it that thar is lykck to be an afynity xxx be-twixt Thomas Barns xxxxxxx of farming Toune and John John androos of the sam Toune By the maryge of the aforesaid Barns with the daughtar of the aforesaid John androus The covine and agremant betwixt the aforesaid John andros and Thomas Barns con sarning: the: pramisys: ar as: foullouth:
Furst that the aforesaid barns dos give Too his tandar wife his now dwalling hous and orchard and howse loot that is now inclosed with all the apurtynansis belong:ing too it to be at hur one dispose dewaring the tyme of hur natarall lyfe
2) the afore said barns dooth couinant Too and with the afore said John androos too lefe too his tandar wife in cas that he shall dye before: his: wif: I say too lefe too hur a met and comfartaball maynty nanse for hur sallf acording too the istate that the Lord hath or shul blas us with all and allso I doo bynnd my sallf too lefe with my loving xx wif so much istat as is met and cumfart abill for the bringing up of such chilldran as the Lord shall be plesed too give to us to bring thum up xx acording Too the Rulls of the gospull
3) The afore said:: Thomas: barns: doos: couinant: and: agre too and with: the afore: said: John andros: that he will lefe too his tandar wife in cass that he shall dye before his wife hallf the moufabills in the house or hous houlld goods for his wif too mack use of tham xx for hure hure one cumfurt dewaring the tim of hur natarall lif:: and at the end thur of xxxxx what Shall be remayning of tham too returne too gathur with the hous and hom loat and orchurd with the apur tynansis belonging too tham too be xxxx disposed of acording too the last will and testymant of the afore said Thomas barns
4) the afore said Thomas barns doos Couinant too and with the afore said John andros Too give too his tandar wif a Joyntar that shall be: at hur on dispos too give and be:queth to hom She ples aftur the deses of hur husbun:: it being hur one pacullur rit which Joyntar contayns a pasall of land by istymashon Six ackars mor or los lying in a pasull of land Calld the allebow a buting on the reuire xxxx north and on the reuar south and on the land of moysis uant ras est and west
5 the afore said Thomas barns: dos douth Couinant too and with the afore said John androus too pute out all his chilldran axsapt ing his sun banyyman barns ondly and if that the aforesaid barns too gethur with the desire of xxx his wife shall se it comfurtabull for him sallf and his wif and chilld he hath Liburty and poure too cep his dautar hany barns at hom with him xx to be surf uis abill too him untall that xxx she depart hur natarall lif or tull god shall dispos of hur in maridg / This aforesaid wif of Thomas barns hath poure now too give the Joyntar abof spasifid or whan She ples but the ayre or ayrs of it ar not too in Joy it tull aftur the deses xx of the afore said barns / in wit nus too the pramisis I hafe set too my hand and synd and deliuured this in the presans of
witnus Sam Stell The marck T of Thomas barns
Modern English spelling; caps and punctuation as in the original
march 23 1662/3
it having pleased The Lord in the dispensation of his providence To me and mine so to order it that there is like to be an affinity xxx betwixt Thomas Barnes xxxxxxx of farmingTon and John John andrews of the same Town By the marriage of the aforesaid Barnes with the daughter of the aforesaid John andrews The covenant and agreement betwixt the aforesaid John andrews and Thomas Barns concerning: the: promises: are as: followeth:
First that the aforesaid barnes does give To his tender wife his now dwelling house and orchard and house lot that is now enclosed with all the appurtenances belong:ing to it to be at her own dispose during the time of her natural life
2) the afore said barnes doth covenant To and with the afore said John andrews to leave to his tender wife in case that he shall die before: his: wife: I say to leave to her a meet and comfortable maintenance for her self according to the estate that the Lord hath or shall bless us with all and also I do bind my self to leave with my loving xx wife so much estate as is meet and comfortable for the bringing up of such children as the Lord shall be pleased to give to us to bring them up xx according To the Rules of the gospel
3) The afore said:: Thomas: barnes: does: covenant: and: agree to and with: the afore: said: John andrews: that he will leave to his tender wife in case that he shall die before his wife half the movables in the house or household goods for his wife to make use of them xx for her her own comfort during the time of her natural life:: and at the end there of xxxxx what Shall be remaining of them to return together with the house and home lot and orchard with the appurtenances belonging to them to be xxxx disposed of according to the last will and testement of the afore said Thomas barnes
4) the afore said Thomas barnes does Covenant to and with the afore said John andrews To give to his tender wife a Jointure that shall be: at her own dispose to give and be:queath to whom She please after the decease of her husband:: it being her own peculiar right which Jointure contains a parcel of land by estimation Six acres more or less lying in a parcel of land Called the elbow abutting on the river xxxx north and on the river south and on the land of moses vantras east and west
5 the afore said Thomas barns: dos doth Covenant to and with the afore said John andrews too put out all his children excepting his son benjamin barnes only and if that the aforesaid barnes together with the desire of xxx his wife shall see it comfortable for him self and his wife and child he hath Liberty and power to keep his daughter hanny barns at home with him xx to be servicable to him until that xxx she depart her natural life or till god shall dispose of her in marriage / This aforesaid wife of Thomas barnes hath power now to give the Jointure above specified or when She please but the heir or heirs of it are not to enJoy it till after the decease xx of the afore said barns / in witness to the promises I have set to my hand and signed and delivered this in the presence of
Witness: Sam Stell The mark T of Thomas barnes
Notes:
About the date:
The new year started on March 25 before the year 1750 when the British government adopted the Gregorian calendar. The Roman Catholic Church had adopted the Gregorian calendar about 1572 and changed the new year’s date to January 1. After about 1600, English and colonial American documents written between January 1 and March 24 began to use the Julian calendar with two years, the earlier year termed “Old Style” or (O.S.) and the later year termed “New Style” or (N.S.). Documents created during this time period are now legally left with their original dates.
About the punctuation:
The original has no full stops (periods) or commas or semicolons. You have to know your grammar pretty well to understand where the clauses of these complex sentences should begin and end. The capitalization is pretty random, though proper names are beginning to be capitalized in the 1600s, and there are instances where we see capital letters at the beginning of sentences.
The use of colons is really different from modern usage. I wondered if they were sometimes for emphasis, sort of like we would use underlining or italic typeface. That would make sense in such constructions as “concerning: the: promises: are as: followeth:” and “the afore said: Thomas: Barnes: does: covenant: and: agree: to and with: the afore: said: John andrews . . . .” Another use of the colon is a double colon where we might put an em-dash today, such as here: “. . . to leave to his tender wife in case that he shall die before: his: wife:: I say to leave to her a meet and comfortable maintenance . . . .” But then how can anything explain “belong:ing” and “be:queath”? This is a mystery that I would like to know the key to solving.
In the final paragraph are two curved lines like a closing parenthesis mark (I put a / slant line in the transcriptions) seemingly with the intention of dividing one part of text from another. I think the clerk ran out of space and used these marks to show where a new section or paragraph should start.
About my interpretation:
I used “xx”s to show where the clerk crossed out mistakes. Sometimes I could read the words behind the crossings-out and sometimes not.
Most of the words were obvious, but I did wonder about the use of the adjective “tandar” in the original and whether I should interpret it as “tender” with a meaning of beloved, or of delicacy, or youth, or whether it should be “intended” as one who offers or is offered for a contractual agreement. My OED gives all these meanings and more for this time period.
The use of the word “covine” in the first few lines I took to mean a “covenant” because there are none but rather sinister meanings in the OED for the word “covine”: a “private agreement often with unfavourable connotation”; a “privy agreement between two or more to the prejudice of another”; “fraudulent action to the injury of another”; or a “secret contrivance or device”—all of which throw this contract into a category that I doubt was the intent of its originators.
Different word forms:
The third-person singular verb forms had been changing during this period, so we see instances of both “doth” and “does” for the verb “to do” and “hath” for “has” as we now would write. The word “betwixt” has today become “between.” The word “dispose” would now be written as “disposal.” My son discovered that the phrase “at one’s own dispose” was a common one in this period of time. The first paragraph has the word “like” where we would write “likely.” Finally, a “jointure” is a very old term meaning an estate settled upon a wife for the period during which she survives her husband, in lieu of a dowry; it is so removed from modern American life that I had to look it up, having never seen it before.
About the legal and social situation:
Women had very few legal rights in 17th century colonial America. They had no automatic right to own property; they had no legal right to their own children; they could not enter into contracts; thus Mary Andrews could not be a party to this contract nor sign it. Thomas was over 40 years old; Mary Andrews turned 20 a fortnight after this marriage contract. Mary would not have automatically inherited anything from her husband after his death, so her father ensured that she should have something tangible upon the marriage that would ensure her future, since her husband was pretty certain to predecease her by many years, and his eldest son would inherit his property in the normal course of things.
Thomas Barnes was married first to another Mary, surname unknown, who was hanged after being convicted of witchcraft, one of the very last people in the Colony of Connecticut to be executed for witchcraft, in January 1661 or 1662 (probably a year earlier than this contract). In March 1662, Thomas Barnes’ children were: Sarah, an adolescent; Benjamin, age 9½; Joseph, age 7 or 8; and Hannah, about 5 years. It seems very harsh to us today that the children were to be sent away from home upon the marriage of their father and Mary Andrews, but this was a much less sentimental age when children were little better than commodities, and these children had the additional stigma of their mother having been executed as a criminal. They were probably put into service.
The future of these people:
Thomas and Mary Andrews Barnes had at least four children who lived. A son, Thomas, was born the year after their marriage, then nine years passed before their son Ebenezer was born. They had two daughters who were mentioned but not named in a deed of trust from their grandmother Andrews. They were probably born between the two brothers.
Thomas’s eldest child, Sarah from his first marriage, married three years after her father and stepmother. She had many children and died an old lady. Her brother Benjamin married a woman named Sarah and lived to be about 78. Their brother Joseph lived to be about 89; his wife was Abigail Gibb. I have no further information about Hannah Barnes.
John Andrews, Mary’s father, died in 1681, and Mary’s mother died ten years later. Thomas Barnes died in 1689 after 26 years of marriage to Mary Andrews. Mary’s mother died two years after Thomas, and at that time Mary was remarried to a man named Jacob Bronson. Mary and Jacob were married about 20 years and died within a year or two of each other.
About the provenance of the document:
I inherited this document from my father in 2008; he was given it by his uncle Roger Wilson Andrews in December 1968; Roger inherited it from his father, Ernest John Andrews, in April 1939, who (being a descendant of John Andrews through one of Mary’s younger brothers) had been given it upon his marriage to Vinnie Zelora Barnes in June 1886 by Vinnie’s mother, Julia Barnes. Julia got it from her late husband, Silas Truman Barnes (1827–1875). From there things get murky as to who owned the document and when. Silas Truman Barnes was the fourth son of Silas Barnes (1788–1869), who was the second son of another Silas Barnes (1760–1841), who was the first son of Timothy Barnes (1739–1831), who was the third son of Thomas Barnes (1703–1744), who was the second son of Ebenezer Barnes (1675–1756), who was the second son of Thomas Barnes and Mary Andrews. When I inherited the document, it was folded inside an old business-sized envelope with my great-grandfather's pencil writing on the outside. The envelope was stored in a family Bible that had belonged originally to Silas Barnes (1788-1869) that I also inherited. I took the book and document to a document preservationist who showed me how he would be using tiny fragments of rice plant fibers with some kind of period-correct solution to attach them to where the folds had weakened the document. Then the document was sealed into an acid-free mylar envelope. (He also did preservation work on the Bible covers.)
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| I taped the mylar cover to the window this afternoon to photograph this with the light coming through. |