What did it mean to come of age in 1684 at Saco (now Maine, USA)?

Question

John Presbury died 1679 of Saco, now Maine, USA, but then Massachusetts Bay Colony. John left minor sons including William Presbury. John's estate was administered by others until his son, William, "came of age" in 1684; at that time administration of the estate was relinquished to the son.

The various information above and other bits of family history was originally derived from Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (Portland, ME, USA: The Southward Press, 1928), p. 567-568, entries for John Presbury and William Presbury.

Although I have located many of the records from which Libby and others worked from, the record of John Presbury's probate file remains elusive, more because I seem to seek it when work is in process on the collections and/or archives. There is a fair chance that when I do locate the probate record, it will provide the same information that Libby did regarding William Presbury's age--he was granted administrator's rights because he had "come of age."

I'd really like a better understanding of how old William Presbury was in 1684 when he "came of age".

What resource would provide insight into the laws and customs of this region in the late 17th century as same pertains to age of majority and the administration of an estate?

Even better, can someone answer the question of what "coming of age" meant in the context of estate administration at Saco in 1684?

Answer 1

Via Google books I searched in A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, by Bryan A. Garner, Oxford University Press, 2001, On page 38 Garner lists age of capacity, age of consent, age of majority, and age of reason as terms which "share the general sense 'the age at which a person is legally capable (of doing something)'. But, over time, each term has assumed a specific sense in a particular context."

These are established by statute and may vary by jurisdiction, so it is proper to form the question as you have, as what that age was in that place and time.

Current usage for the age at which one is legally capable of executing a will is the age of capacity. That may not be the usage for the 1600s, but modern writers discussing changes in the law over time may use the term in their discussion of changes in the law, so it may be helpful to use it as a search term. Garner says that the modern age of capacity is usually 18.

I searched the blog of The Legal Genealogist. but a search for "age of capacity" and "coming of age" came up empty. She does have a place to submit questions on her blog if you'd like to ask there.

Typing 'massachusetts historical statutes' into Google brought up a suggestion of 'massachusetts statutory history' whose top search result was the site of the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries -- on that page, there is a link to a Guide to Massachusetts Legislative History at the state library.

The Massachusetts Probate Records page on the FamilySearch wiki cites:

Smith, William L. The Practice in Proceedings in the Probate Courts of Massachusetts, With an Appendix of Uniform Forms and Rules Approved by the Supreme Judicial Court. Sixth editon. Revised by John E. Abbott. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1903.

They note that this book is available in digital form on Internet Archive. It might be one place you could find out what the age of capacity is, and what changes in the law have taken place over time.

---

For a set of case studies similar to this question, see Judy G. Russell's webinar "How Old Did He Have to Be?" which is available for purchase on CD at the website of the North Carolina Genealogical Society.

Answer 2

Coming of age is regarded as a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood. Given the date of 1684, the age would have been their 21st birthday, having been the tradition brought from England.