If it seems likely that the John Davis Martha married was the John Davis who bought Riley's Portion in 1753, then how do we explain that John's wife Martha did not sign the deed to sell Riley's Portion in 1764 yet she signed a Somerset deed in 1768? I've looked at the original online and no wife signed in 1764. Was Worcester county less strict about having the wife sign off? Could that explain why no John Davis deeds have any wife agreeing to the sales? Am I wrong in thinking the wife has to sign off on her thirds in any land sale or agree to the sale? Maybe I made that rule up! Now that I think about it, I realize I don't know the law at all on land sales and just assumed the wife had to sign as well if the seller were married unless there was a marriage contract that reserved certain land for one of the spouses only. Any help on this? This has been a fun discussion. 1764 Indenture Liber F folio 105-106 WORCESTER County Grantor: John Davis Grantee: Nathaniel Brittingham April 6 1764 Riley's Portion contained 200 acres on the east side of a branch called Tamfett? branch, John Davis sells 9 acres of Riley's Portion to Nathaniel Brittingham. No wife signed the deed. 4Nov1768, recorded 16Nov1768 -- Som. L.R. 25:242 Deed -- John & Martha (his wife) Davis of Worcester Co. sold to Thomas Moor of Somerset Co. in consideration of complying with the condition of a bond executed 14Feb1744 by John Read Junr. who was the former husband of the afsd. Martha and for £8 - 150 acres of Green Meadow; witnessed by Jno. Scarborough, Ad. Spence, two Justices of the Peace; signed John Davis, Martha Davis.

You're quite right to ask the question. A wife was supposed to release dower rights. Even so, after having indexed every one of many thousands of Somerset and Worcester deeds before 1776 and many beyond,, I can tell you that in practice it was not always done ... I have seen cases in which more than one sale took place on the same day or about the same time, in which the dower release was made on one, but not on another. I've also run into others in which the release was not made, but at some later time (maybe years later), another deed pops up for the same transaction in which the dower stipulation had been added, obviously because someone had questioned the rights... All I can say is that, laws aside, the lack of such a release is not at all to be taken as a proof that there was no wife in the wings. You are best advised to look at this as an "asterisked record", not at all as an exclusionary absolute. As to whether this occurred more frequently in one county than in another, or if there might have been a particular set of clerks who failed to verify all legalities, I haven't tried to assess. This is only one case type for irregularities or missing mass or lack of clarity in the land records. The business with GREEN MEADOW is another, in which one normally would expect a rationalization of John Callaway's rights to make the resurvey of James Givan's old patent. But not here. Eventually all this stuff either got fixed (or forgotten, waiting, it seems, for me to find it). To quote Don Quixote de la Mancha, "I have seen the world as it is, and not as it should be..." John John -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] If it seems likely that the John Davis Martha married was the John Davis who bought Riley's Portion in 1753, then how do we explain that John's wife Martha did not sign the deed to sell Riley's Portion in 1764 yet she signed a Somerset deed in 1768?