Monday, September 28, 2015

Amanuensis Monday - Post #287: 1702 Will of Ezekiel Bloomfield (1653-1703) of Woodbridge, N.J.

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."

The subject today is the 1702 will of Thomas Bloomfield (1653-1703) of Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey:

[image 155]


The transcription of this will is (transcribed line by line):

I Ezekiel Bloomfeld of Woodbridge in the County of Mid'x in the Province
of East Jersey in America being very weak in body but of competent Judge=
ment & perfect memory doe leave this as my Last Will & Testament con=
cerning the disposal of my worldly Estate which God hath give me, &
from Man is due.
Impr's My Will is that my Salt Marish lying beyond the Red brook be sold for the paying
my Debts so far as it will reach, & that the rest of my Debts & my funeral
expenses be discharged out of the moveable part of my Estate.
Item: My will is that my Son Timothy have, & I doe hereby give & bequeath unto him
my Son Timothy Bloomfield his Heirs & Assigns for ever my house in which I
now live together with the Out houses, Land, meadow & freehold thereunto belong=
ing: & Eighty acres of Upland lying at Langster's plain; with Twenty Acres of Salt-
Marish w'ch I purchased of John Lovebury.
Item: I doe in like manner give unto my son Ezekiel Bloomfield Sixty Acres of
Upland which was my Brother Thomas Bloomfield's farm, & Fifteen Acres
of Salt Marish lying in Raraton meadow between the great pond & the River;
together with one halfe of the Freehold Land belonging to my father.
Item: I doe in like manner give unto my Son Jeremiah Bloomfield Eleven Acres & a
halfe of Upland which was my Brother Thomas Bloomfield's house lot; & Five
acres of Salt Marish which was my father's lying at the great Meadow at
Rarington.
It'm: I doe in like manner give unto my Son Joseph Bloomfield about Nine Acres of
Upland be it more or less lying at the west end of my Father's Lott.
It'm: I doe in like manner give unto my Son Benjamin Bloomfield Forty Acres of
Upland in Langster's farm after my Son Timothy hath taken his Eightie Acres
out of sd farm; and also Five of those Twentie-five Acres of Salt Marish, w'ch
I purchased of John Lovebury, after Timothy has taken his Twentie.
It'm: I give all my Stock of Cattle & the moveable part of my Estate to my wife Hope Bloom=
field & my two eldest sons Timothy & Ezekiel Bloomfield to be equally divided a=
mong them.
It'm: My Will is that when my daughter Mary Bloomfield comes to the age of Eighteen
years, my son Timothy Bloomfield doe pay unto her Fifteen pounds & my son Ezekiel
Bloomfield Ten pounds current money of this Province.
It'm: My Will is that my well-beloved wife Hope Bloomfield have the use & Improvement of
the House in w'ch I now live, w'th the Land & meadow thereunto belonging, & all the Ac=
comodations & Priviledges thereof so long as she shall remain my widow, & when
her condition shall alter, either by marriage or death, then to fall into the Possession
of my Son Timothy Bloomfield as is above-mentioned.
It'm: I doe nominate & appoint my faithfull & well-beloved wife Hope Bloomfield & my
Son Timothy Bloomfield to be my Executors to see the Execution of this my Last Will
& Testament. And this I declare & publish to be my Last Will & Testament
hereby revoking all or any former Will or Wills. In witness whereof I have
hereunto set my hand & seal, this Twelfth day of January An'o Domi'i One thou=
sand Seven hundred & Two: Annoqe RR Anne nunc Anglice &'a Primo.
Sealed & published
in Presence of
Sam'l Hale                                                 Ezekiel Bloomfield
William Ellison
Joseph Fitz Randolph

The source citation for this document is:

New Jersey Surrogate's Court, All Counties, Wills Vol. 9-10 (image 155 of 472), Ezekiel Bloomfield will, 1702; "New Jersey, Wills and Probate Records, 1656-1999," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 7 September 2015, no longer available); citing original data from New Jersey County, District and Probate Courts.

In this will, Ezekiel Bloomfield bequeathed his real and personal property to his wife Hope, his sons Timothy, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Joseph and Benjamin, and his daughter Mary.  The children were born between 1681 and 1701, so the settlement of this estate may have taken some time.  I don't have a death date for Hope (Fitz Randolph) Bloomfield other than "1703" on her Find A Grave memorial.  

My line from Ezekiel Bloomfield is through his son Timothy Bloomfield (1681-1748) who married Rose Higgins (1686-1715) in 1707.  

The URL for this post is:   http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/09/amanuensis-monday-post-287-1702-will-of.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver


Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.


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