Estate Agreement with Widow Uffit [Ufford]

of Stamford, 20 August 1660

Connecticut Probate Court (Fairfield District) Vol. 1-5, 1648-1750 - LDS #4287

(See the original, PDF, 1.4 MB)

These may certifie to home it may consearne, that in our presentes whose nam[es] are hereto under writin: by the proposion [proposition?] of Thomas Uffit of Stratford [illegible] they wife of Thomas Uffit of Stanford, lately deceased, with her child[ren] [are]? freely willing to acsent of what esteat of her deceased husband was in her or her childrens custodey here in Stanfford: and to pay and fully discharge any debts and dues of any thing that is due to any parson upon any accompt in the bounds of Stanford [with] out any further trouble: or mollystations is to be [illegible], and parsor [illegible] that the said two brothers of Thomas Uffit doth accept and agree unto the [terms] and the saide widdow Uffit with her children is to renounce any right or title to any [part] or parcele of any of the esteat of the saide Thomas Uffit deceased, that is not [in the] Stanfford bounds, and the saide Thomas Uffit with his bretheren are to pay and [di]scharge any debts, and deues, that shall be found deue from Thomas Uffit deceased, threught his proper personall accation, with out the bounds of [Stan]fford, that is to say be fore his marriage to this his present wife widdoe Theale, and only [?] if the three children of the deceased Thomas Uffit shall please [to] alowe something to the said widdow in conceideration of the many debts in Stanfford, it will be acceptable: this was in the presences of us we whose names are under written doe consent to the within writteing this: 20^th of aguest: 60:

Transcribed by Nancy Tyrrel Theodore, August 2010.

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There is some very creative spelling in this document, but still, it tells an interesting story. Of course, Uffit is Ufford, and this agreement seems to have been the idea of Thomas¹ Ufford of Stratford the son of Thomas⁰ Ufford of Stanford at his decease. However, there is no Stanford in Connecticut, Stamford is meant.

Thomas⁰ Ufford (father of Roger¹ Terrill's wife, Abigail) left an estate in Milford and Stratford, CT. Thus heir Thomas¹ is now the Thomas of Stratford in this document. The elder Thomas is referred to as the Thomas of "Stanford" because his second wife was Elizabeth, the widow of Nicholas Theale, and Elizabeth was of Stamford. After their marriage c. 1659 (Nicholas Theale died 19 June 1658) Thomas may have resided for a short time in Stamford, but at his death he resided in Milford as his estate was probated there on 6 December 1660^b.

So, it was a short second marriage. Such debts as there were in Stamford were to be paid out of "what esteat of her deceased husband was in her or her childrens custodey here in Stanfford." By this agreement the widow and her children by her Theale marriage renounced any of the Ufford estate that wasn't in the bounds of Stamford. The children of Thomas were to pay all debts outside the bounds of Stamford, or those acquired before the "marriage to this his present wife widdoe Theale."

The widow then asked if the three children of Thomas.... Thomas, John and Abigail represented by her husband Roger Terrill.... would consider helping her with "the many debts in Stanfford." They refused, "we see noe cause, to alowe aney [thi]ng more.

The document is signed by Thomas and John Ufford and Roger Terrill, as well as the widow's son Joseph Theale and her son-in-law William Ratliff. Have not identified John Archer. Alexander Bryant was a merchant of Milford. The subsequent refusal to help with the widow's many debts was signed by Thomas and John Ufford, and Roger Terrell.

The widow Elizabeth died 27 December 1660^c. ntt

a History of Stamford, Connecticut, Rev. E. B. Huntington, A.M., published by the author, page 63: "Theale, Nicholas, was here in 1650, as appears from land records. He was in Watertown, in 1638. He was a landholder, and died here Aug. 19, 1658. His will, witnessed by Nicholas Knapp and Joseph Theale, makes bequests to his son Joseph; his daughter Elizabeth, who married, Oct. 27, 1769 [this date is incorrect], William Ratcliff; and his wife. The inventory of his estate, taken Nov. 29, 1658, was proved in court Dec. 16, 1658, by widow Thell [sic]. He must have been somewhat prominent. His name still remains attached to the bridge on Broad Street, over Mill river. Joseph Theale son of the above, made freeman in 1669, represented the town five years, between 1670 and 1677, and removed to Bedford, N. Y., in 1687."

b The Ancestry of Rev. Nathan Grier Parke & his wife Ann Elizabeth Gildersleeve; compiled by N. Grier Parke, II; edited by Donald Lines Jacobus; published by the compiler 1959; page 119: "His inventory was presented in Court at Milford, 6 Dec. 1660, and showed estate in Milford and Stratford amounting to nearly £290." New Haven Probate Records 2:418.

c Ibid p. 119