Maine Wills

 From York County Probate Records, Volume Ten (1749-60)

   In the Name of God Amen. The fourteenth Day of May 1757. In the 30^th Year of y^e Reign of George the Second King of Great Britain France & Ireland. I Thomas Woodberry of Falmouth in the County of York and Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Yeoman being very Sick and weak in Body but of perfect Mind & Memory, Thanks be given unto God, therefore calling unto Mind y^e Mortality of my Body, and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die; Do make & ordain this my last Will and Testament, That is to Say principally & first of all, I give and recommend my Soul into the Hands of God that gave it; and my Body I recommend to the Earth to be buried in decent Christian Burial at the Discretion of my Execut^x Nothing doubting but at the General Resurrection I Shall receive the Same again by the Mighty Power of God; And as touching Such worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this Life, after paying my just Debts and funeral Charges, I give demise & dispose of the Same in the following Manner & Form.

   Imprimis. I give to my well beloved Wife Priscilla Woodbery whom I likewise Constitute & ordain Sole Executrix of this my last Will & Testament, the Income of all my Estate both real & personal so long as She continues my Widow But in Case She marries again, then my Will is that She Shall have one feather Bed, one Brass Kettle two pewter Dishes, and half a Dozⁿ of pewter Plates.

   Item. I give & bequeath to my well beloved Daughter Lydia Hicks the Wife of William Hicks a piece of Land beginning at a Stone by y^e Side of the Road running Northeast till it comes to Iacob Sawyer's Tenn Acre Lot, and from thence Northwest to the Land of Iohn Robinson jun^r & from thence to the Road first mentioned Southwest, be the Same more or less to her & her Heirs forever, by her or them freely to possess and enjoy.

   Item. I give & bequeath to my well beloved Daughters Priscilla Woodbery Thankful Purrington the Wife of Humphry Purrington of Georgetown Hannah Woodbery Mehetable Woodbery Ioanna Woodbery, Fifteen Acres of Land out of my Sixty Acre Lot to be equally divided among them in quantity and Quality to them & their Heirs forever by them freely to be possessed & enjoyed, and furthermore my Will is that my Daughters Priscilla Mehetable & Ioanna Woodbury Shou'd each of them have a Heifer as Soon as they can be raised upon my Farm.

   Item. I give & bequeath to my only & well beloved Son Charles Woodbery all the rest of my Estate both real & personal, Houses Lands Goods Tenements whatsoever & wheresoever they may be found thereunto appertaining or belong to Tho^s Woodbery to him & his Heirs & Assigns forever freely to be possessed and enjoyed by him or them. And furthermore my Will is that there Shall be no Division of my Estate either real or personal until the Death of my Wife or She is married to another Man.

   And I do hereby utterly disallow revoke & disannul all and every other former Testaments Wills Legacys & Bequests and Executors by me in any Ways before named willed and bequested, Ratifying and confirming this & no other to be my last Will & Testament. In Witness whereof I have hereunto Set my Hand & Seal the Day & year above mention^d

Signed Sealed published pro-    nounced & declared by the    Sd Thos Woodbery as his last    Will & Testament in presence    of us the Subscribers.    Ephraim Clark Ebenezer Cox    Iohn Aramstrong.		Thomas Woodbery (Seal)
Probated 3 Oct. 1757. Inventory returned same date, at £391: 3: 6, by Capt John Robinson, Benjamin Thrasher and Joshua Woodbery, appraisers. Source: Maine Wills, 1640-1760 (Portland, Me., 1887), p. 823, citing Probate Office, 10, 15.