The Humphreys family in America - citizen hylbom blog

prudence, and when these were demanded at his hand, he failed not to answer the requirement.
The events of his day called for resolution and decision, for boldness and self-denial, and in all
these he did not disappoint. Well was it for the town that he and his compatriots of like position
and character were the men to whom it entrusted the honor of lajing the foundations of its
future prosperit}-; and well has it been for their successors that those foundations were broadly
and deeply laid m virtue, industry and honor.
Major Humphrey was also a wealthy man for his day, probably the most so of any one
in his town, the inventory of his estate amounting to nearly thirty-four thousand dollars. This
was divided among his children, and it may be a matter of some interest to kixow what it con-
sisted of and where it was located. His will, executed 20 April, 1786, and proved 8 May, 1798,
and recorded in Norfolk Probate files, gives to Silence, his wife, one-third of that part of his real
estate under his own improvement; all of his household goods; one hundred pounds in money,
besides some of his farm stock.
He gives to each of his daughters, reckoning the children of his daughter Luc\', deceased,
as one, the remainder of his personal estate (money and securities), to be equally divided among
them all after giving each of those unmarried thirty pounds.
To daughter Margaret Pratt, the improvement of that part of the house then occupied by
her, and a garden spot.
To his unmarried daughters, the liberty of living in the house he then occupied, and after
the decease of his wife, the household goods were to be divided among them equally.
The sons were given the real estate with the exceptions above mentioned, his live-stock,
tools and wearing apparel.
James, the executor named in the will, declining to act, the other sons, Josiah and Nathaniel-
were appointed administrators. The witnesses to the will were Cotton Tufts, Cotton Tufts, Jr.,
and Mary Whitman.
The estate was appraised by James Humphrey 2d, Urban Bates and John Tirrell; the real
estate at $18,886, and the personal estate at $14,825.23. The real estate was divided as follows
among the three sons.
To James, the eldest, with other propcrt\-, the farm where he then lived, consisting of
fil\v-six acres, located on the old Plymouth road, opposite the lane leading to the meeting-house.
The place is now occupied by his great grand-son, William E. Humphrey. To Josiah the second,
besides other property, the farm he then lived upon, consisting of about fifty-five acres, situated
upon Middle Street, at the corner of Barberry Lane (now Essex Street), and is owned at the
present time by the heirs of James H. Clapp, whose widow is a great grand-daughter of Major
Humphrey; also the farm on Barberry Lane, consisting of about fifty-five acres, then occupied by
Laban Pratt, and is now the town farm.
To Nathaniel, the youngest, the homestead—the quantity of land is not stated—located on
Neck Street. The dwelling, an old-fashioned two-story house, of the st}!e of two centuries ago,
was burned in 1822.
The record of his death alone remains to be noticed. It occurred on the 2 Jlay, 179S, at
the age of eighty-seven years, lacking one month and twenty days. Of his last hours nothing has
come down to us more than what is contained upon the public records of the town and church
and the inscription upon his grave-stone on Burying-Hill, where rest the remains of the family.
It reads as follows:
"Erected
In Memory of
the Honiiio James Humphrey
Esqr wlio departed this
Life May y" s".l 1798
in the Sytl" year
Hie sweet rememhr.'ince of the just
Sh.ill flourish when he sleeps in dust-"
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