Lincoln County Probate Records

In the name of God Amen. I Josiah Bradbury of Pownalborough in the County of Lincoln Inholder being weak of body, but of sound & disposing mind & memory do make publish and declare this to be my last will & testament.

Imprimis. I give my soul to God who gave it hopeing for Salvation thro' a blessed redeamer, and my body to the grave.

Item. I give & bequeath to my beloved wife Anna my farm on Jeremy-Squam-Island to have & to hold the same to her, her heirs & assigns as an Estate in fee simple forever.

Item. All the residue of my Estate, real, personal, or mixed I give & bequeath to my said Wife Anna so long as she shall remain my Widow.

Item. After the death or marriage of my said Wife Anna I give devise & bequeath to my daughter Anna Decker one third part of all my Estate to have & to hold the same to her, her heirs & assigns forever as an Estate in fee simple,

Item. After the death or marriage of my said Wife Anna I give devise & bequeath to my daughter Meriah Sevey one third part of all my Estate, to have & to hold the same to her, her heirs & assigns forever as an Estate in fee simple.

Item. To my Grand daughter Catharine Bradbury I demise & bequeath one sixth part of all my Estate that shall remain after the death or marriage of my wife Anna to have & to hold the same to her, her heirs & assigns forever as an Estate in fee simple provided she shall arrive to the age of twenty one years.

Item. I give & bequeath to my Grandson Josiah Bradbury one Sixth part of my Estate that shall remain after the death or marriage of my wife Anna to have and to hold the same to him his heirs & assigns as an Estate in fee simple provided he arrives at the age of twenty one years.

Item. My Will is that in case the said Catharine Bradbury shall die before she arrives to the age of twenty one years that her part shall go to her brother Josiah in fee simple & In case the said Josiah dies before he arrives to the age of twenty one years his part shall go to his sister Catharine in fee simple & in case the said Josiah & Catharine shall both die before they arrive to the age of twenty une years that the said two sixth parts of my estate be equally divided between my Daughter Anna & Meriah as an Estate in fee Simple.

Item. My Will is, that the two sixth parts of my Estate devised to Catharine & Josiah Bradbury remain in the hands of my Executors till they arrive to the age of twenty one years or till their death, my Executors laying out the profits for them as they shall see proper for Education & necessaries.

Item My Will is that, in case my said wife Anna should marry again she shou'd have set off to her one third part of all my Real Estate instead of the whole of my Estate & that the residue of the Estate I shall leave, be divided according to the before mentioned legacies & after her decease the residue of the Real estate I shall leave to be divided according to the within mentioned legacies.

Lastly. I do constitute and appoint my beloved wife Anna & my son in law John Decker my executors to this my last will and testament to see that the same is faithfully performed. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal the eighth day of October A D seventeen hundred & seventy four.

Josiah Bradbury [seal]

Signed sealed published & declared
to be the last will & testament of the
said Josiah Bradbury before us—
The words "I devise & bequeath" in
the space between the third and forth
lines from the bottom of the first
page being first interlined.

John Page
Thos. Rice
Mary Silvester

Probated 13 June, 1775. [II, 3.]

Source: The Probate Records of Lincoln County, Maine, 1760 to 1800 (Portland, Me.: Printed for the Maine Genealogical Society, 1895), p. 69, citing Lincoln County, Maine, Probate Records.