At his death in 1831, Seth Nims’ eldest daughter Lucinda (b.1784) inherited her father’s property. The instructions were that she would hold the property “so long as she shall remain unmarried.” It was rare for women, married or single, to own real estate in the years before the Civil War. In 1844, after the death of her mother, Lucinda leased one-half of the property, described in this document, to her brother Edwin (1791-1852), retaining for herself a life lease in the homestead.