Re: Sonne-in-Law and Now-Wife

John Brandon wrote:

Edward N. Hartley, _Ironworks on the Saugus_, pp. 289-90: "By the
winter of 1665-1666 that gentleman [Capt. Breedon] sued him [John
Gifford], presumably for debt, and was awarded the quite substantial
verdict of L1050. Gifford tried to put his land into the name of his
wife and daughter but was unsuccessful. It went to Breedon. So, one
must infer, did whatever interest Gifford held in the 'new Iron works
at Lin.'"

p. 292: "The clouds in Gifford's title that went back to his attempt
to sign things over to his wife and daughter had been cleared to the
satisfaction of the highest officials in the colony. All looked
promising in the extreme."

If he was unable to transfer the property to his wife, why were there
'clouds in the title'?

Hartley's interpretation seems to be that there were clouds in the
title because . . . John Gifford had tried to transfer the property to
his wife! If John could have accomplished nothing else by this ploy, he
could have at least managed this; whereas, if he had _succeeded_ in
making the grant, then _she_ would have held clear title.

At one point in the _Essex Quarterly Court Records_, it specifically
states that some land adjacent to the ironworks was "owned by Mrs.
Gifford." Her husband was still very much alive at this time.

Was she "femme covert"?

It would seem that Margaret _was_ the sole owner of the house and land
adjoining mentioned in EQC 5:398, in which case she would have held the
property in fee simple and the rule of "feme covert" would not have
applied. But the record does not specify that the house stood that
close to the ironworks. It certainly does not imply that she had any
equivalent right to the ironworks themselves.

Austin W. Spencer

.

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