Part 5/5 Dr/Col Thomas Packer and the Berry Land Transfer

Our First Packer Ancestor to come to the New World

Terry Packer is our guest blogger for a series of five posts telling the story about the research and acquisition of an early land transfer document signed by his ancestor.

Part 5 - EQUAL RIGHTS

The similarity in quill, ink application and writing style between the examples of "berry" and "Rachel" in Dr. Packer's certification and "Rachel" and  "berry" in the execution, suggests they are all in Dr. Packer's hand. But is there a reasonable explanation why this should be so?

In the 17th century while widows and single women could own property in their own names, property ownership within a marriage was vested in the husband. Husbands were required to get their wife's consent under certain conditions, especially to transact property which she brought to the marriage. But that was clearly not the case here as Joseph attests he acquired the land from his father. And a strict reading of our document reveals it to be an act of Joseph Berry ONLY. He alone attests he is making this gift to his son, therefore he alone would have been required to execute the document.  

What we see can be explained if, consistent with its text, the document was originally executed only by Joseph. It was nearly three months later when Dr. Packer attested that Joseph and Rachel BOTH appeared before him and that it was THEIR "voluntary and free act". So not only was Rachel present at the certification but Dr. Packer determined she had a rightful interest in the transaction which should be formalized.

Dr. Packer then prepared Rachel's execution writing "Rachel Berry" (correctly spelled) and, unlike the other initialed signatures, included the proper formalities of writing "her" and  "mark" and designating a specific space for Rachel to insert it.

Without having been in the room it is not possible to know with certainty that this was the sequence of events. But the argument is certainly to be made that not only was Dr. Packer scrupulously accurate in carrying out his official duties, but at an unusually early time in colonial history he insisted that Rachel's interest in the real property of their marriage be certified. 

Part 4/5 Dr/Col Thomas Packer and the Berry Land Transfer

Our First Packer Ancestor to come to the New World

Terry Packer is our guest blogger for a series of five posts telling the story about the research and acquisition of an early land transfer document signed by his ancestor.

Part 4 - WITNESSES, SIGNATURES AND SEALS

Our document was drafted by an accomplished writer who was unlikely to be a party to it. He was experienced in the preparation of legal documents and would have been paid for his service. Noticeable care was taken in its creation as writing materials were in short supply and were very expensive. Consequently, many early writings were done on mere scraps of paper. Others have writings at odd angles filling all the margins. Where the material allowed, some have writing on both sides. The organization, neatness, and generous use of materials, including a large portion of additional unused paper that was simply folded over, all suggest a document out of the ordinary.

The identity of the first witness was initially in question. Other than "X", a match for the first letter of Samuel's surname could not be found in documents or handwriting samples of the period. It was then considered the mystery symbol might be the "mark" of a "Samuel eall", but the mystery character is too ornate to be the mark of an illiterate.

Genealogical research eventually resolved Samuel's name and confirmed it as his authentic signature by revealing that everyone named in this document, except Dr. Packer, was closely related. Witness John Locke was the husband of landowner Joseph Berry's sister Elizabeth Berry Locke. Witness William Philbrook was the brother of recipient Nathaniel Berry's wife Elizabeth Philbrook Berry. And finally, we find witness "Samuel Neall" was the brother of witness William Philbrook's wife, Mary Neal Philbrook. Aside: While not related, Joseph and Rachel Berry and the Packers were well acquainted. They all lived in Greenland (pop. 50) and sat near each other in church.

Witness William Philbrook's signature is likely authentic. 

John Locke and Joseph and Rachel Berry all initialed the signatures provided for them. Reinforcing that they did not sign is that Joseph Berry's name was misspelled as "Josef bary", a mistake he was unlikely to have made had he signed his own name. Also, the leading J in Josef is identical to the J of witness John Locke indicating the same hand-signed for them both. But Locke and the Berrys could all be considered semi-literate for the time because each was capable of writing a version of his initials. This elevated them above those who could only make a simple cross. Nevertheless, they could not write their complete names and the quality of the initials they applied suggests limited experience writing with a quill.            

Illiteracy among women was especially common. At that time formal education was thought to be unnecessary for women's domestic rolls of housekeeping and child rearing. So it is especially notable that while Rachel could not write her complete name, like her husband and John Locke, she had received sufficient education to be able to write her personal mark "B".

It appears the six lines of the Justice of the Peace certification were all written entirely in the original hand of Dr. Thomas Packer on May 31, 1694, nearly three months after the document's execution date. New Hampshire provincial law specified a fee of two shillings be paid for a deed certification service. 

The two wax seals were the acknowledgments of Joseph and Rachel Berry. By the early 1600s seals were the official form of identification. The seal itself was often worn as a finger ring and it was common even for illiterate people to own or borrow seals to authenticate their consent on documents. As literacy improved into the 1700s, the use of seals continued but became more decorative, merely accompanying a person's authorizing signature.

MISCELLANY

The quills used in the colonial era were usually duck feathers with a sharpened point. The blotchiness and inconsistent inking of Dr. Packer's writing suggests his quill had suffered damage or, more likely, had just been used extensively. 

The conclusion that Samuel Neall and William Philbrook signed for themselves dovetails with the genealogy. John Locke and the Berrys were of the older generation and could only make their marks. Neall and Philbrook were associated with recipient Nathaniel Berry's younger generation. Their elevated literacy is consistent with the historical trend that more capable writers emerged from each successive generation.

Part 3/5 Dr/Col Thomas Packer and the Berry Land Transfer

Our First Packer Ancestor to come to the New World

Terry Packer is our guest blogger for a series of five posts telling the story about the research and acquisition of an early land transfer document signed by his ancestor.

Part 3 - 17TH CENTURY SPELLING AND PHRASES

Early on, rules guiding capitalization were largely unknown or unheeded. It was accepted to use a capital letter at the beginning of every sentence and proper name. By the 17th century the practice had extended to titles (Sir), forms of address (Father) and selected categories of nouns. Writers then began to capitalize any noun they felt to be important. The writer of our document not only capitalized selected nouns like "Premises" but extended capitalization beyond nouns to verbs and adverbs like "Given," "Granted," "Peaceably" and most words beginning with a "c". Adding to the complication we see that "ff" was an accepted way of writing a capitalized leading F as ffrance (France).

So while some words appear to have had consistently accepted spellings like "sayd" (said), it was not uncommon for the same word to be spelled in different ways, sometimes even by the same writer within the same document. An example in our document is the name "Nathaniel" shared by Joseph Berry's stepfather and son, which on this single page the document's author wrote as Nathaneel, Nathanell and Nathaneell.

Even those of advanced education were inclined to spell words as they sounded. Our document also contains - "hould" (hold), "welbeloved" (well-beloved), " medow" (meadow) and "wayes" (ways). In the eighth line "Intire" is a capitalized misspelling of "entire". Extra "e" letters were often added as in "doe" (do).  Other letters are omitted as in the word "p cells" (parcels) and the "sd" contraction for "sayd" (said).  Dr. Packer himself wrote "dead" (deed), "thair" (their) and "Just ps" (Justice of the Peace). The fact that spelling was not yet standardized in the 17th century should not be too surprising in light of the evidence that three of our document's six signers could not write their own names.

Regarding Locke and Berry's authentic initials, "L" and "B" are easily recognized but their "J" initials are not. The explanation begins with the fact that through the 1600's i and j were not universally considered two distinct letters, but different forms of the same letter, hence ioy (joy) and iust (just). The fact that the letter j is dotted is an acknowledgement of j's emergence from the letter i making it one of the last letters added to our alphabet. This explains why many sample alphabets from the early 17th century do not include a distinct j character at all.

The distinct symbol for j and the custom of using i as a vowel and j as a consonant are first found in the 1630s, yet the duality in their usage continued into the 18th century. This i/j duality is illustrated in the first line of our document where it appears the writer made a false start with the J of "Joseph" and then wrote "Joseph" in full. But there was no false start. "I Joseph Berry" was properly written "J Joseph Berry" reflecting the fact that for the writer, the sounds for both I and J were represented using the same character.

The vertical stick symbols written by Locke and Berry for their "J" initials can be found in an obscure Italic form of caligraphy for the letter I. Like the document's author, for them the same character could represent the sound of either I or the emerging letter J. So the initials written IL and IB on the document should be interpreted as JB and JL, the personal marks of Joseph Berry and John Locke. 

A number of phrases appear repeatedly in 17th century deeds and official papers. Our document opens with one - "To all Christian People to whom these Presents Shall come". Another common phrase then and still in use today is "in the presence of us" which is the text in our document damaged at a paper fold. But a common phrase no longer seen was 

"me therunto moveing" which meant "important to me".  But do we really understand the full import of such coloquial phrases?

 Consider researchers 350 years in the future transcribing "It is what it is". Will they think it just an inconsequential, duplicitous error or will they somehow grasp the hopeless resignation and surrender to fate we know it is meant to convey? Recognizing words and knowing what was meant can be different things.

Part 2/5 Dr/Col Thomas Packer and the Berry Land Transfer

Our First Packer Ancestor to come to the New World

Terry Packer is our guest blogger for a series of five posts telling the story about the research and acquisition of an early land transfer document signed by his ancestor.

Part 2 - DATES

Our document's date, given in the text as of March 4, 1693, or 94, does not indicate confusion over the year. It reflects the fact that the newer Gregorian calendar, which we still use today, was emergent in the colonies while the traditional Julian calendar was still used in England. During the late 1600s, both calendars were in use concurrently, with England not officially adopting the Gregorian calendar until 1752.

The month names used by the two calendars were identical. However, New Year's Day of the older Julian calendar occurred on March 25, not January 1. That is why dates in the January to March period took the form February 1693/94 to reflect it was still 1693 by the Julian calendar but, having passed January 1st, that same day was in the new year of 1694 by the modern Gregorian calendar. Dr. Packer practiced dual-year notation as well. But the date of his certification, May 31st, would have been properly recorded as 1694 using either calendar.

Experts will note that a second difference between Julian and Gregorian calendars was that they accumulated leap days differently. This meant that in addition to writing dual years for January through March dates, the daily dates of the calendars diverged over many years as leap days accumulated.

For this reason, the use of dual calendars in the 17th century can lead to confusion, especially when specific dates are of consequence. For example, it was a mystery why the gravestone of Dr. Packer's first wife Hephzibah in the Old Burying Ground of Salem, Massachusetts is inscribed January 22, 1684/5, yet the Vital Records of Salem present the birth date of their second daughter, Susanna, as of February 1, 1684/85. Were there circumstances under which Hephzibah could have died later than the date on her headstone? How could Susanna have been born after her mother had already died? It took some time before the answers to these questions came to light. In the late 1600s the accumulated difference between the two calendars totaled ten days and the differential between January 22 and February 1 is ten days. So Hephzibah's date of death was Julian and Susanna's recorded date of birth was Gregorian. And despite the differing dates, both events occurred on the very same bittersweet day, with Hephzibah dying giving birth to her daughter, Susanna.