Lincoln County Probate Records

I Francis Rittal of Pownalborough in the County of Lincoln and Commonwealth of Massachusetts Tailor, being in health of Body and of sound Mind and Memory, and knowing that I must shortly put ofif this earthly Tabernacle, do make this my last Will and Testament ; that is to say, in the first Place I commend my Soul into the hands of God who gave it, and my Body to the Earth to decently buried at the discretion of my Executrix hereafter named, in Expectation that I shall receive the same again glorious & immortal at the Resurrection of the Just.

And as touching such worldly Estate as it hath pleased God to bestow upon me in this Life, I give devise and dispose of the same in manner following,

Imprimis—I will and order that all my just Debts and funeral Expenses be paid out of my Estate as soon as may be after my Decease.

Item. I give and bequeath to my beloved Wife Lucy the Improvement of all my Estate real & personal till my youngest Child shall arrive to full age ; she to take care of & provide for all my Children under age out of the Income & profits of my said Estate until they shall respectively arrive to full Age ; and when the youngest Child shall arrive to full Age, then my said Wife to have one Third of all the Personal Estate, & a third Part of the real Estate, during her Life—

Item I give to my Daughter Sally Theobald twenty shillings to be paid her out of my Estate, by my Executrix, after my youngest Child arrives to full Age—

Item, I give & devise to my Children Molly Stilfinn, Francis, John, Louis, Lucy, Nancy, Betsey & Charlotta all the rest and Residue of my Estate, real personal & mixed, wheresoever the same is or may be found, equally to be divided among them, when my said youngest Child shall attain to the age of twenty one years.

Lastly, I do hereby constitute and appoint my said Wife Lucy sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament. In Testimony whereof I the said Francis Rittal do hereto set my hand & seal the twenty fifth day of April in the year of our Lord 1789—

Memo. The words, all my Children under Age, were interlin'd before seal'g.

Francis Rittal (seal)

The above Instrument was signed, sealed, and declared by the Testator to be his last Will & Testament in presence of us—

Edmd Bridge
Phebe Bridge jun
Edmund Bridge juneor
Jon. Bowman

Probated S Jan., 1796. [VII, 219-220.] Inventory by Ezra Taylor, John Polereczky, and Jonathan Reed, all of Dresden, 13 Feb., 1796. [VII, 221 to 223.]

Source: The Probate Records of Lincoln County, Maine, 1760 to 1800 (Portland, Me.: Printed for the Maine Genealogical Society, 1895), p. 305, citing Lincoln County, Maine, Probate Records.