Lincoln County Probate Records

In the Name of God Amen, I Jonah Dodge of Blue hill Bay in the County of Lincolon and Common-wealth of Massachusetts in New England, Yeoman : Being through the abundant Goodness and Mercy of God of a sound disposing Mind and Memory ; yet calling to Mind the frailty of my Nature, my continual exposedness to the Stroke of Death, Knowing that it is appointed for man once to Die; Do therefore make and Constitute this my last Will and Testament, desiring that it may be received by all as such ; First I most humbly recommend my Soul to God its Maker, earnestly intreating his most gracious Acceptance of it through Jesus Christ my ever blessed Redeemer, who gave himself a Propitiation for Sin and is able to save all who come unto God through him : who I hope and trust will not reject, but own me, in the Day when he shall make up his Jewels ; in hope and Confidence of which, I cheerfully resign my Spirit into his hands ; most earnestly Imploring the divine Aids, that I may be found ready, and prepared for Deatth, whenever it shall come, That my Soul may wing its way, under the convoy of Angelic Hosts, to the Mansions of Eternal Bliss—My Body I commit to the Dust, whence it was taken in full Assurance of its Resurrection at the last Day. My Burial I desire may be decent and leave it to the Discretion of my Executrix, who I doubt not will manage it with all Requisite Prudence. As to my worldly Estate, with which it has Pleased Almighty to bless me, I Will and positively order, that all my Debts, and funeral Charges be first paid, by my Executrix hereafter named ; and then to be disposed of in Manner and form following, That is to Say.

Imprimis I give to my beloved Wife Sarah : The Improvement of one half of all my Estate both Real and Personal so long as she remains my widow.

Item I give and bequeath to my son Jonah Dodge and to his Heirs forever Thirteen pounds Six Shillings & Eight pence to be payed him by my two Sons viz John and Reuben they each paying their Proportionable part of said Money to their Brother, in one year after my Decease provided, I do live till Reuben comes to Be Twenty one years of Age but if I should Die before Reuben comes to be Twenty one years of Age then it is to be paid in one years after Reuben comes of Age. Item I give and bequeath to my Three Sons viz Abner Dodge Benjamen Dodge & Abraham Dodge, Each Son, the Sum of Thirteen pounds Six Shillings & Eight lawful Money to be pay'd them by my two Sons viz John and Reuben one third part of Said Money to be paid them in two years after my Decease another third in Three Years and the Remaining part in four years after my Decease provided I do live till my Son Reuben comes to be Twenty one years of Age. but if I should Die before Reuben arives to the afores'd Age then the Respectives Sums afores'd are to be paid to them Yearly as before Expressed in four years after Reuben come to the Age of Twenty one.

Item I Give to my Daughter Abigail Wife of Simon Dodge fifteen shillings which together with what She has had is her full Share.

Item I Give & Bequeath to my two Sons viz John Dodge and Reuben Dodge they paying the afores'd Legaces to their Brothers & Sister, the whole of the Remainder of all my Estate both Real and Personal which I shall Die Possessed off, and further It is my Will, If it should please the Allrighteous Ruler of the Universe, in whose hand their Breath is to take one or both of them away by Death before they shall have any lawful Heirs begotten, that his, or their Proportion of my Estate, Should Revert to, and be Equally Divided among the Surviving Brothers.

Lastly, I make and Constitute my Wife the Executrix to this my last Will and Testament :

In Witness whereof I have hereunto Set my hand and Seal this Seventeenth Day of June in the Year of our Lord, one thousand, seven Hundred and Eighty four.

Jonah Dodge (seal)

Signed, Sealed, published,
Ratified and declared, to be
my last Will and Testament, In Presence off us,

John Peters
Daniel Osgood
Jedidiah Holt

Probated on the first Wednesday in September, 1788. [IV, 90-91.] Inventory by Joseph Wood, Jr., Robert Parker and Jonathan Darling, all of Blue Hill Bay, 1 Sep., 1788, £326 : 5 : 10. [V, 160-1.] John and Reuben, minor sons, chose Sarah, widow, to be their guardian, 27 Aug., 1788. [V, 161-2.]

Source: The Probate Records of Lincoln County, Maine, 1760 to 1800 (Portland, Me.: Printed for the Maine Genealogical Society, 1895), p. 164, citing Lincoln County, Maine, Probate Records.