Claire, Dower rights as described in the document you excerpted refers to a widow's right to an interest in the property of her late husband. This goes along with inchoate dower rights which grant a spouse an interest in the property of a living husband. Both were frequently written into law in many places to prevent a wife/widow and her children from being left destitute should a husband depart by horse or death. Normally this is a 1/3 interest. The property in question couldn't be sold until the wives signed off of their dower rights - effectively a quitclaim. My quess is that the property in question was held jointly by both families and was being sold to another party. Aaron Threasher was the husband of Daniel's daughter Marcy/Mercy. I can't tell you which Hix was the other witness, but there were a lot of them around Rehoboth at the time, many related to the Bullocks by marriage. I'd also like to see more of the document. the small part given doesn't really show the nature of the transaction. Chuck Bullock