Monday, October 24, 2016

Amanuensis Monday - Will of John Hill (1602-1664) of Dorchester, Mass.

This week's document for Amanuensis Monday is the probate record for John Hill (1602-1664) of Dorchester, Massachusetts:




The transcription of the will of John Hill is:


[page 479]

[in margin] John Hill Will

The Last Will and Testament of John Hill
of Dorchester Made this Eleventh Day of
Aprill in the year or or Lord One thousand
sixe hundred and sixty.  Imprimis I give
unto my Eldest sonne John Hill that Estate
of myne that is now in his hands & more
over for a remembrance I give ^unto^ him the
summe of five shillings.  Item for the Rest
of my Estate, house & Land & mooveables I
give unto my Beloved Wife Francis during
her naturall Life for her Maintenance,
& for the Bringing up of my Children and
at her Death my will & minde is that my
whole Estate bee given unto my nine young-
est Children, or to so many of them as shall
bee then alive always provided there be
respect had to my sonne Samuell who
hath been helpful unto mee in my In-
firme Dayes.  Also I give unto my said
Wife power to Dispose of any parts of my 
Estate, as shee shall Judge meet, with the
Advise of my Loveing Friends Tho Tileston
& John Minott for my Daughter mary she
having had her portion according to my abil-
itye alreadye I Doe for a Remembrance give
unto her the summe of Five shillings And
being Confident of the Faithfulness & care of
my beloved Wife I doe make her my Exec-
utrix of this my Last will.  In witnesse where-

[page 480]

of I have set my hand the Day & yeare abov-
said/
                       the Marke  X  of John Hill
Sighned in the presence of
Thomas Tileston
Timothy Tilston
John Minott

Boston 30th 4th 1664 the abovenamed witnesses
to this Instrument appearing before the Worpfull
Rich Bellingham Esquire Dept. Govern^r Thomas
Danforth & Being sworne Do say that they
were present, & saw the abovenamed Jno Hill
Decesd sighne & Declare this Writing his
Last will & testament & that w[hen] he so did he 
was of sound Judgment & memory, & that
they are not privye to any other.
                                       Edward Rawson  Recorder

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. 1-4, 1628-1667," Volume 1, pages 479-480 (images 256-7 of 832), John Hill will, 1660.

John Hill married his wife, Frances Tileston(?) in England in about 1629, and they had 13 children between 1630 and 1651.

In his will he names only three children - eldest son John, son Samuel, daughter Mary - and his wife, Frances.

This document is a transcription from the original will which is probably in a probate packet for John Hill in the Suffolk County Probate Court records.  As such, it is a Derivative Source, with Primary Information and Direct Evidence for the names of the three children and his spouse.  The date 30th 4th 1664 (30 June 1664) is Indirect Evidence that the death date was before 30 June 1664.

John and Frances (Tileston?) Hill are my 9th great-grandparents, through their ninth child, Ruth Hill (1644-1738), who married Roger Willis (1646-1700) in 1664 in Dorchester.

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."

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