Scope and Content: During the American Revolution, a series of actions taken by the Massachusetts General Court against estates abandoned by departing Loyalists directed legislative agents to take, inventory, auction, or lease real and personal property for state benefit.  Organized by absentee estate from various Massachusetts counties,  ledger lists debits and credits for each estate on facing pages. –Many estates were insolvent, so the percentage of each claim paid out is given, with formulas changing over time as new claims surfaced. Certification of amounts paid into the state treasury was done by members of the Committee for Methodizing Accounts (for history of this body, see (M-Ar)2350X), which was appointed to settle the accounts of the county committees by Resolves 1782, May Sess, c 85 (July 1, 1782).  Absentee estates listed include those of Thomas Hutchinson, Governor Francis Bernard, and Lewis Deblois. John Hancock appears among the claimants to various estates. –Also included are certificates signed by a judge of probate awarding claims against several of the estates.
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