Lincoln County Probate Records

In the name of God Amen. This 13th day of August A. D. 1768, I Zaccheus Beal of Bowdoinham in the County of Lincoln yeoman, being Sensible of my own mortality, but being of sound mind, after commending my Soul into the hands of Almighty God, & my body to the Earth to decent burial, do hereby make this my last will & testament & therein dispose of my worldly estate in manner following, that is to say.

Imprimis, I give bequeath & devise to my beloved Wife Mary the use & improvement of all my Estate real & personal situate or being in said Bowdoinham, or Elsewhere, during her natural life, Saving a right & priviledge to my Daughters Abigail and Eleanor, severally of living in my dwelling house during the times they shall severally remain unmarried with their Mother

Item At my said Wife's decease & when her said Use & improvement expires in my Estate, I give & devise to my said Daughters Abigail & Eleanor their heirs & Assigns forever Five acres of Land in the Front of my Land in Bowdoinham where I dwell, said Five acres to be next Abbagadasset river, & to be divided from the rest of my Land there, by a back line running across My Land at right angles with the side lines thereof & all the buildings upon said Five acres of Land, equally to be divided between them, also I give them severally the priviledge aforementioned of living with their mother as afore expressed—Also I give them each one Third part of my personal Estate forever after my Wife's use therein ceases, & the remaining Third part of said personal Estate I give them after said Use expires, the use of, during the joint Lives of my Daughter Dorcas & her husband David Wilson

Item, In Case said Dorcas survives her said husband I give her forever the said remaining Third part of said personal Estate to take effect at & after the decease of both my said Wife & said David & not before also I give her said Dorcas the sum of Five shillings to be paid her by my Executrix in six months after my Decease, but if said Dorcas should not survive her said husband I give said Abigail & Eleanor said remaining Third part of the personal Estate forever equally to be divided.

Item I give & devise to my Three Sons Zaccheus Josiah & Joshua, all the rest & residue of my real Estate in said Bowdoinham & Elsewhere except said Five acres & said buildings to them their heirs & assigns forever after my said Wife's Use therein expires

Lastly, I appoint my said Wife Executrix of this my Will. In Witness whereof I hereto set my hand & seal the day first herein aforewritten,

Memo. ye Words, "all" "heirs" "forever" "Estate" were interlin'd before Signing &c

Zacheus Beal (seal)

Signed, sealed & Declar'd by s'd Zaccheus to be his
last Will & Testam't. In presence of

Wm. Cushing
David Bailey
Nathaniel Bailey

Probated 16 Sep., 1772. [I, 238-239 & 251.]

Source: The Probate Records of Lincoln County, Maine, 1760 to 1800 (Portland, Me.: Printed for the Maine Genealogical Society, 1895), p. 54, citing Lincoln County, Maine, Probate Records.