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vital records sources
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Josiah Lovett's
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Father Peter Woodbery died five months before Rebeckah was born. He was only forty, but left a large enough estate for her to be given &paound200 as her share of it. She seems to have lived in financial security all her life. She had enough of an estate of her own when she died for it to go to probate. Her inventory suggests she was a seamstress herself and/or had a small business making women's clothes. The weaving items, cloth, feathers and finished clothes were of a quantity that would be odd for one woman's household use.
Personal estate
To one Contenental Loan Office Certificate dated January 1st 1780 of 200 dollers consolidated down to...[£]2"0"10 [pence]
To 1 oak chist 2/ one looking glass 4/.. [0]"6 [shillings]"0
To 2 iron tramels 6/6 pair of stilyerds 3/...0"9"6
To 1 warming pan 2/6 frying pan 1/8...0"4"2
To 1 iron bason and spoons 1/ pine table 1/...0"2"0
To 1 meal chist 6/ case of draws 12/...0"18"0
To a case and 4 bottles 2/6 maple table 6/...0"8"6
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5"8"0
To close stool chair and pan [portable toilet]...0"15"0
To 1 armd chair 3/ seven kitching [kitchen] chairs 8/...0"11"0
To 1 wooling wheel 2/ lining [linen] wheel 4/6...0"7"6
To 1 clock real 2/6 tape looms 1/...0"3"6
To 1 pair of dog irons 4/6 settle 1/...0"5"6
To iron box and heators 6/ stowe [stove?]...0"7"6
To 1 tin lathorn [lantern] 1/6 large Bible 12/...0"13"6
To 2 other books 1/ stone suger pot /9...0"1"9
To 1 bowl and mustard pot 1/...0"1"0
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3"6"3
To 1 juge bottle 0/6 silver spoon 11/6...0"12"0
To 1 diaper table cloath 1/6 three towels 1/4...0"2"10
To 1 pair of shears /6 three pair pillow cases 3/6...0"4"0
To 1 headcloath 1/ six tow sheets 18/...0"19"0
To 4 cotten lining sheets 24/ four bed blankets 18/...2"2"0
To 1 coverlid 24/ one quilt 15/ coverlid 10/...2"9"0
To 1 pair of curtains and vallions...1"0"0
To 2 yards of cloath 3/...0"3"0
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7"11"10
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£16"6"1
To 1 feather bed bolster and pillers...4"5"0
To one underbed bedstead and cord...0"11"0
To 1 feather bed at R. Smiths...2"10"0
To 1 feather bed boster and pillers at Bethiah Woodberys...3"5"0
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10"11"0
To 1 marking iron /8d To 20 lbs feathers 18/...0"18"0
To a quilting frame and cloath in the same...0"6"0
To 21 1/2 lbs of pewter 24/ iron kittle 3/6...1"7"6
To 1 iron pan kittle 2/16 milk bench 1/...0"3"6
To 1 bread trough 2/ cheese press 2/...0"4"0
To 2 chees fats tongs and strain dish 1/6...0"1"6
To 1 pine table 5/...0"5"0
To 1 black taffety gound...1"1"0
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4"7"2
To 2 pair of silk mitts 1/6 two pair gloves /8d...0"2"2
To 1 gauze shaid and hood 1/8 gauze handkercheif 1/6...0"3"2
To 1 silk handkercheif 3/ eleven womens caps 2/...0"5"0
To 2 cotten handkercheifs 1/6...0"1"6
To 12 cotten lenen shifts 33/ four chect aprons 4/...1"17"0
To 4 pocket handkercheifs /8d specticles 1/...0"1"8
To 1 camblit rideing hood 11/ callico gound 14/6...1"5"6
To 1 black calominco skirt...0"9"0
To 1 cotten linen gound 7/ calico gound 7/...0"14"0
To 1 womans hat 2/ cloath cloak 1/...0"3"0
To 1 calominco gound 4/6 three wooling waistcoats 2/0...0"6"6
To 4 under coats 10/ wooling gound 5/...0"15"0
To 1 pair stais 2/ black quilted coat 6/...0"8"0
To 1 lose gound 3/ two cotten linen lose gounds 4/...0"7"0
To 5 pairs of cotten stockings 6/...0"6"0
To 4 pair of wooling stockings...0"3"0
To 1 wooling quilted coat...0"4"0
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7"11"6
To 1 note from Daniel Wallis dated December the 8th 1782 of...24"0"0
To intrest due on sd note till the 8th of December 1786...2"17"8
To 1 State note dated April 1st 1782 of 58"18"3
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£85"15"11
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£124"11"8
Given under our hands this first day June AD 1787
John Lovett 4th admr
Joseph Wood }
John Lovett 3d } committee sworn
John Low }
The inventory was brought to court and approved on 11 July 1787.
Rebeckah's son Joseph, known as 2nd, who was the oldest surviving son, declined the administration of her estate. John, known as the 4th, became administrator and he was the second oldest surving son. John Lovett, 3rd, was on the assessment committee for the inventory. He was the next older John Lovett in Beverly, son of Andrew and Bethiah.
Continental Loan Office Certificates were a way for the colonial government to raise funds that were depleted during the Revolutionary War. Private citizens could buy a certificate with the risk of losing the investment, which Rebeckah did. The "State note" listed later apparently was the same arrangement for the State of Massachusetts.
This family name in the 17th and early 18th centuries is spelled variously depending on the document and the gravestone. There were varying degrees of literacy, even among town clerks and ministers. Spelling was fluid and often reflected phonetics, but the prevailing spelling amongst family members was decidedly "Woodbery." Since there is no ambiguity about this, I see no reason not to use it. I do so with the note that other spelling were used, uncommonly by Woodberys themselves, more commonly by others. This spelling eventually shifted to "Woodberry," and now "Woodbury" is favored. The same can be said of the name "Lovett." In Rebecca's earlier lifetime the name was often spelled "Loveitt" within the family, including her husband, but not without exception. She spelled it "Lovitt," but her sons signed "Lovett." Her gravestone calls her Rebecca Lovett, from information and spelling likely given by her son and estate administrator John. Rebecca Woodbury - Rebecca Woodberry
children of Rebeckah Woodbery and Josiah Lovett:
i. Josiah b. 18 October 1729
ii. Mary b. 2 August 1731
iii. Rebecca b. 26 September 1732
iv. Mercy b. 26 June 1735
v. Mercy b. 20 April 1737
vi. Joseph b. 24 April 1739
vii. Joanna b. 4 May 1741
viii. John b. 1 July 1743
ix. Bethiah b. 21 July 1745
x. Elizabeth b. 12 March 1747
xi. Deborah bap. 27 May 1750
vital records sources: Rebecca's birth is in Vital Records of Beverly, Massachusetts to the Year 1849, vol. 1 (Topsfield:1906), 389; her marriage intentions are in Vital Records of Beverly, Massachusetts to the Year 1849, vol. 2 (Topsfield:1907), 353, 12 January 1728 (old or Julian style, confirmed by her signing her maiden name on a document dated July 1728); her death is in Vital Records of Beverly, Massachusetts to the Year 1849, vol. 2 (Topsfield:1907), 497. She died of jaundice.