This week's document for Amanuensis Monday is from the Bristol County, Massachusetts Probate Packet records for William White of Dartmouth, Massachusetts:
a) Bristol County (Mass.) Probate Packet 18,021, image 8 (of 11):
b) Bristol County (Mass.) Probate Packet 18,021, image 9 (of 11):
The transcription of this will is:
[image 8 of 11]
This Seventeenth Day of the Second
month one Thousand
Seven Hundred & Seventy Seven I
William White Son
of William White of Dartmouth in the
County of
Bristol in the Province of y^e
Massachusetts Bay in New
England Blacksmith; Being through the
Goodness of God of
a sound Disposing mind & memory Do
now for the Preventing
Trouble & Divicalty among my
Children make & ordain this my
Last will & Testament; And as to
such things as God hath been
Pleased to Bless me with all in this
Life I Give devise and
Dispose of the same in the following
manner & form.
Imprimis My mind is I do hereby Give to
my son Jonathan White all my
wareing appariel of all Sorts.
Item I Give Unto my son Jonathan White
& to his heirs & assigns for
Ever all my homestead farm with my now
Dwelling house
with all the buildings there on
Standing & other Priviledges there
unto belonging; Also I Give Unto my s^d
son Jonathan & to his heirs
& Assigns for Ever all that my farm
which my Honoured Grand
father George Cadman gave me after the
Decease of my
honoured father & mother; with all
the Housing & building
thereon standing & other
Priviledges thereunto belonging.
Allso I Give Unto my above s^d son
Jonathan White and
to his heirs & to his assigns for
Ever all the Rest Reasundue
& Remainder of my Real Estate which
I have not herein
before given him let it ly or be
wheresoever it may both
Upland Sauld meadow or Ceadar Swamp
with all the
Building & other Priviledges
therunto belonging.
Also I Give Unto my s^d son Jonathan
all my Live stock
Except what I Shall herein after Give
to my Three Daughters.
Also I Give him my s^d son all my
Farming Utencels als all
my Blacksmith Tools also all my
Carpinders Tools.
Item My mind is & I do hereby Give
Unto my Eldest Daughter
Hannah Kirby One Hundred & fifteen
Pounds in Silver or
Gould also I give to my s^d Daughter
Twenty five Pounds
in Paper Currency also one cow &
one more neat kind
Two year old & these Gifts to be
her full Part & Portion
in my Estate with what she hath already
had and
the one Third Part of all my houshold
goods which
I do hereby give her.
[image 9 of 11]
Item I do hereby Give Unto my second
Daughter Elisabeth Peckham
One Hundred & fifteen Pounds in
Silver or Gould allso I Give
to my s^d Daughter Elisabeth Twenty
five Pounds in Paper
Currency also I give her one Cow &
one more neet kind
Two years old also the one third part
of all my household
goods & these gifts with what she
hath all ready had to be
her full Part & Portion in my
Estate.
Item I Give & bequeath unto my
youngest Daughter Abigail
White one Hundred & fifteen Pounds
in Silver or Gould
allso I give her Twenty five Pounds in
Paper Currency also
I give to my s^d Daughter Abigail one
cow & one more
neet kind Two years old also I give her
the one third
Part of all my household goods &
these Gifts with what she
hath already had to be her full Part &
Portion in my Estate.
Item My mind & will is & I do
hereby order that all my Just Debts
funeral Charges & just Expences of
all Sorts together with the
Settleing of my Estate Should be paid &
discharged by my
Executor herein after named out of that
Part of my Personal Estate
which is herein given him.
Item All the Rest & Reasudue of my
Estate let it be in what kind
or nature soever it may be in I give
the same to my son Jonathan
the better to Enable him to Pay
Legacies & to discharge debts
& Charges which is herein ordered.
Item I do hereby ordain Constitute &
appoint my Son Jonathan White
sole Executor of this my Last will &
Testament hereby making
null & Void all other wills or
Testaments by me before this time
made Rattifying this & no other to
be my Last will & Testament.
In witness whereof I the s^d William
White have here unto
Set my hand & seal y^e day &
year above written.
Signed Sealed Published Pronounced and
Declared by the s^d William White to be
his Last Will & Testament in the
Presence
of us the Subscribers
Joseph Tripp William White {seal}
Philip Tripp
Justus Kirby
Bristol County, Massachusetts, Probate case files, Case file 28021 - William White 1780; "Bristol County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, 1636-1899," digital images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 17 May 2018).
The will of William White was written on 17 February 1777, and was proved in Bristol County probate court on 3 October 1780. The estate inventory is very long but defines all of the real and personal estate of William White.
William White (1708-1780) was the son of William White (1683-1777) and Elizabeth Cadman (1685-1768). He married Abigail Thurston (1700-1770) in 1729, and they had five children. Daughter Sarah White died before William wrote his will. The will provides for the remaining four children. Son Jonathan White is given the wearing apparel and all of the real estate, but has to pay the debts, charges, and the legacies given to his three sisters - Hannah Kirby, Elisabeth Peckham and Abigail White.
William White is my 6th great-grandfather, through his only son, Jonathan White (1732-1804) of Westport, Massachusetts, who married Abigail Wing (1734-1806) in 1756.
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NOTE: Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme years ago called "Amanuensis Monday." John offers this definition for "amanuensis:"
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver
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