Lincoln County Probate Records

In the Name of God Amen: I Nathanael Simmons of Waldoborough in the County of Lincoln in the State of Massachusetts Bay in America Husbandman Calling to mind the Shortness of my Life and Being in Perfect mind and memory think fit to Ordain and appoint these Presents to be my Last Will and Testament I therefore in the first Place give my soul to God in Jesus Christ and my Body to be Buried Decently according to the Discresion of my Executors herein after named Believing that at the grate and General Resurection to Receive the Same again—and I Do Hereby Dispose of the Estate which Almigty God has Bles'ed me with in manner as followeth. Itim first I give to my True and Loving Wife the one half of all my Real Estate together with the Improvement of all my House-movables and I here further give to my wife Mrs Marcy Simmons the Improvement of three Cows and five Sheep—What is here ment is the Improvement of all the Real and Personal Estate here given to my wife so Long as She the sd Marcy Simmons shall Remain my Widow—Itim I hereby Give too my two oldest Sones viz Joseph Simmons and Zebedee Simmons the whole of that my Farme it Being the Homestead Farme on which I now Dwell after their mothers Improvement as above to them and their Heirs forever Equally : further I give to s'd Joseph and Zebedee my four best oxen together with my Horse and two thirds of all my tools of all sorts : further I give Joseph and Zebedee the two Gunes that they now Improve and my two Swoards—Item I hereby give to my Son Steven Simmons the Long Island farme which I bought of Benjamin Bradford Lying on Long Island near a Place Called the midle narrows further I give to my son Steven my Half of the farme on which he the s'd Steven now Does now Dwells on—further I give Steven the gun that he Improves Itim I hereby Give to my four Daughters viz Mary the wife of John Hunt Dorothy wife of John Winslow Sarah Simmons Rachel Simmons all that my Farme which I bought of Mrs Jane Cleveland and Contains one Hundred Acres and lyeth on the Southerly side of Jacob Wades farme all which farmes or Tracts of Land Laying within the Township of Waldoborough above s'd Except the Long Island Lot further I hereby give to Mary and Dorothy four Pounds a Piece to be Paid to them in one year after my Deceas further I give Mary and Dorothy Each of them one Cow a piece itim I hereby give to my three Children now Living at home viz Zebedee Sarah and Rachel after my wifes Improvement as above the three Cows and five Sheep together with all the House movables to be Equally divided among them further I give to Zebedee Six Sheep and what Remains after my Debts and funaral Charge are paid Equally to be Divided among my Seven Children I hereby appoint my two Sones Joseph and Zebedee to be my sole and only Executors to this my Last will and Testament in Consideration of the Love that I bare to my Loving wife and Dutiful Children I give as above s'd to them and their heirs forever In witness and Confirmation whereof I hereunto set my hand and Seal this Twenty Second Day of January in the year of our Lord one Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Seven

Nathanael Simmons (seal)

Signed Sealed and Declared to be my Last Will and Testament In Presence of these Witnesses

Peleg Oldham
John Haupt
Andrew Storer

Probated 22 Jan., 1789. [IV, 21.] Inventory by Nathaniel Pitcher, Jabesh Cole and Peleg Oldham, all of Waldoborough, 2 Feb., 1789. [IV, 85 to 87.] Cornelius Turner and Peleg Oldham, both of Waldoborough, sureties. Account filed 18 Sep., 1792. [V, 91-92.]

Source: The Probate Records of Lincoln County, Maine, 1760 to 1800 (Portland, Me.: Printed for the Maine Genealogical Society, 1895), p. 180, citing Lincoln County, Maine, Probate Records.