Monday, June 20, 2016

Amanuensis Monday - Post 325: Will of Samuel Guild (1647-1731) of Dedham, Mass.

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 will of Samuel Guild (1647-1731) of Dedham, Massachusetts:



The transcription of the will of Samuel Guild is:

[page 106]

In the Name of God Amen the Twenty Second
Day of November one thousand Seven hundred & Twenty
nine. I Samuel Guild of Dedham in the County of Suffolk
within his Majestie's Province of the Massachusets Bay
In New England Yeoman being weak in Body but of
Sound & disposing Mind & memory (Thanks be to God) do
make and ordain this my last Will & Testament hereby
Revoking & Disannulling all other or former Wills in any
way or manner heretofore made by Me, Ordaining this &
only this to be my last Will & Testament. That is to say
first & principally I Give & Recommend my Soul into
the hands of god that gave it hoping for Salvation
through the Merritts of Jesus Christ and my Body to the
Earth to be decently buried at the discretion of my
Executor. And as touching such Worldly Estate as the
Lord hath lent me in this Life, I Give Demise and
Dispose of in the following manner & Form. After my
Just Debts and funeral Charges are paid Impr^s I Give
& bequeath to my beloved Wife the use benefit and
Improvement of my whole Estate for her Comfortable
Subsistance during her Natural Life. Item Having
Given to my Son Samuel Guild thirty six pounds I
further Give and bequeath unto him & his heirs forever
fourteen pounds to be paid ass its after Expressed and also
all my right Title property & Interest in a certain tract
of Land lately Granted by the Great & General Court
to the Soldiers that were at the Narraganset War.

Item having already given to my Son Nathaniel Guild
fifty pounds which I Esteem his proportion of my Estate
my Will is that he be therewith Content. Item Having
Given to my Son John thirty nine pounds my Will and
meaning is that he or his heirs have paid out of my
Estate Eleven pounds more in manner as is after Mentioned.

Item My Son Israel having already had thirty pounds

[page 107]

I further Will and bequeath to him & his heirs Twenty
pounds to be paid out of my Estate as is after
provided. Item my Son Ebenezer Having already Received
twenty four pounds I further will ^& bequeath^ unto him
& his heirs twenty six pounds to Compleat his part
of my Estate to be paid as is after mentioned. Item my
Daughter Mary Fuller having Received Eight pounds
fifteen shillings I further Will & bequeath unto my said
Daughter or her Representatives twenty one pounds five
Shillings to be paid out of my Estate as is after Expressed.

Item my Daughter Deborah Fairbank having Received
Seven pounds I Give & bequeath to her or her Represen-
tatives twenty ^three^ pounds to be paid out of my Estate as is
after provided. Item my Daughter Elizabeth Stanley
having already received ten pounds I further will & Give to
her or her Representatives twenty pounds more to be paid
out of my Estate as is herein provided. Item I Will and
bequeath to my Son Joseph ^Guild^ and to his heirs forever
my houses Barn Garden Orchard ad all my Land whatsoever
and wheresoever with all my Estate both Real & Personal
he doing & performing as I hereby Enjoyned. And my
further Will is that my s^d Son Joseph out of what I have
Given him do pay and discharge all my just Debts & mine
& my Wives funeral Charges as also all the Several
Sums & Legacies herein ordered to be paid out of my Estate
within three years after mine & my Wives decease which
of them shall last happen. And I do hereby likewise
Constitue make & ordain my s^d Son Joseph Guild to be the
Sole Executor of this my Last Will & Testament to whom
I also give full Power & Lawfull Authority to Execute the
Same According to the true Intent & meaning therein
Expressed. In Witness whereof I have hereunto Set my
hand & Seal this day & year above written.

Signed Sealed published & declared Samuel Guild & a seal
by the said Samuel Guild as his last Will & Testament
In presence of us Witnesses             Josiah Fisher
                                                         Joseph Wight
Exam^d Ss John Boydell Reg^r      John Metcalf

[page 108]

Suffolk Ss By the Hon^ble Josiah Willard Esq^r J. Pro.

The foregoing Will being presented for Probate by the Executor
therein Named Joseph Wight and John Metcalf & made Oath
that they saw Samuel Guild the Subcriber to this Testament
Sign & Seal & heard him pulbish and declare the Same to be
his last Will & Testament And that when he do did he was of
sound disposing mind & memory according to these Deponents
best discerning and that the together with Josiah Fisher
now Absent by Reason of Infirmity & old age Set to their hands
as Witnesses in the said Testators presence.
Boston June 24^th 1731
John Boydell Reg^r                        J. Willard.

The source citation for this record is:

Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991, indexed database with digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Suffolk County, "Probate Records, Vol 29-31, 1731-1734," Volume 29, Pages 106-108 (images 62-63 of 858), Samuel Guild will, 1729.

Samuel Guild is my 8th great-grandfather, and I descend through his son Nathaniel Guild (1679-1774) by his first wife, Mary Woodcock (1653-1703).  

In his will, Samuel mentions his children in this order - Samuel Guild, Nathaniel Guild, John Guild, Israel Guild, Ebenezer Guild, Mary Fuller, Deborah Fairbank, Elizabeth Stanley and Joseph Gould.  He gave each of his sons 50 pounds (counting what they had already received), and his daughters 30 pounds (counting what they had already received.  He gave his son Samuel the land granted by the colony for service in King Phillip's War, and gave the rest of his real estate to Joseph, who was to be the executor and pay his siblings their inheritances.  

He mentions his wife in this will written in 1729, and I have no record of a second wife of Samuel Guild.  Perhaps I missed something in the Dedham records.  I will have to check.  He gave his "beloved wife " the use, benefit and improvement of his estate during her natural life.  The executor was supposed to provide the heirs their share after the wife died.  There may be a death record, or a marriage record, for the second wife.

I looked for other probate records for Samuel Guild, and the probate docket book had only the will and the letter testamentary.  There was no inventory or account or any other papers in the probate court record volumes listed.  Land records may shed some light on subsequent events.

This document is part of the Probate Court clerk volumes, so it is a Derivative Source, but is considered authoritative.  There may be additional papers in Probate File 6117, but if there were, they should be listed in the Estate Docket.

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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

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