Maine Wills

 From York County Probate Records, Volume Two (1698-1718)

   In the Name of God Amen, the twenty fifth day of Aprill 1717/ I Ioshua Downing of the Town of Kittery in the Province of Main in New England Husbandman, Knowing my own frailty & that it is appointed for all men Once to die thô I being now in perfect health of body do make & ordain this my Last Will & Testament, That is to Say, principally & first of all I give & Surrender my Soul to God that gave it, and I humbly beg pardon & exceptance through Iesus Christ his Son & Mediator in whom I deSire to be found & my body I recommend to the Earth to be buried in a Christian manner by my friends at the discretion of my Executors; And nothing doubting but at the general ReSurrection I Shall receive the Same again by the almighty power of God; and as touching Such worldly Estate where with it hath pleased God to bless me in this life with I give & demise in the following manner & form.

   Imprimiss I will that my Iust debts & funeral Charges be paid by my Executors out of my Estate.

   Item I will & order my two Grand Children Patiance & Sarah the daughters of Son Ioshua Downing of this Town deceased; and also my other Issue I my Selfe may have by any other wife to be brought up & maintained wholly by the Income of my Estate for ten years for the Same vse after the Said ten years are expired I give & bequeath to my Said Grand Children Patiance & Sarah Downing one hundred pounds each of them out of my Estate to be payed by my Executors at their discretion and if either of them die before She come or be of age the other to have her part with her own, that, is to Say the whole two Hundred pounds.

   Item I give & bequeath to my Grandaughter Patiance Mendum the Summ of twenty pounds money to be payed out of my Estate by my Executors at their discretion.

   Item If both the Grand Children before named viz^t Patiance & Sarah Downing Should die before they come of age then the aforeSaid portions to be divided amongst the rest of my Grand Children Equally.

   Item the remainder of my Estate after these Legacies & my Iust debts are payed I give & bequeath to my three daughters and the heirs of their bodyes to be equally divided viz^t.

   Elizabeth Woodman the wife of Ionathan Woodman of Oyster river on third part To Sarah Mendum the wife of Ionathan Mendum one third part To Alce Downing the wife of Richard Downing one third part & in case either of them die without Issue her part shall return to the other that Surviue, and their heirs to be Equally divided betwene them; and I do by these preSents likewise ConStitute make & ordain Ionathan Woodman, Ionathan Mendum, & Richard Downing my Sons in Law, to be my Executors of this my Last Will & Testament; And I do hereby utterly disanull revoak & disalow all & every other former Testaments Wills Legacies & bequests & Executors by me in any ways before named Willed & bequeathed ratifying & Confirming this & no other to be my Last Will & Testament. In Witness whereof I have hereunto Sett my hand & Seal the day & year above written 1717.

   Item in case my daughter Alce Downing Should die without Issue NotwithStanding what is above written out of the third part I ordain for her their Shall be given & payed in money to her Said Husband Richard Downing the Sum of twenty pounds and the rest to be divided as above amongst the Surviuing Sisters & theirs heirs.

   Item I bequeath my Loving wife Rebecca one of my houses which She pleaseth with the halfe of my peartrees with the ground they grow in with ten bushels of apples winter apples with the maintaining of one Cow Summer & Winter with three hoggs liberty at the dore with my bed & furniture all this fore mentioned during her widowhood Also I bequeath my Said wife Rebacca the Summ of fifty pounds the one halfe in money the other in Spetia thirty during her widowhood & in case She marry twenty pounds reduct of the fifty pounds.

   Item I bequeath my Grand Child Mary Woodman ten pounds money to be payed by my Executors at their discretion.

   Item & if either or both Sue for the Sixty acres Land lying in Newberwick it Shall be deducted out of the portions of the two Sisters Patiance & Sarah Downing at the discretion of my Executors; and if the mother or any other of the relation think fitt to remove the Said Patiance & Sarah from my place then & in that case the Income of my place Shall be no more obleiged to pay for their maintainance except ocations fall otherways I leave it to the discretion of my Executors.

   Item & in Case that my Estate or the homelot is not Suffitiant for the Maintainance of my wife Rebacca & the two Grand Children then I give full power to my Executors to Sell of the Said Estate for their Maintainance.

   Item I impower my Executor to Sell my whole Estate they fulfiling the fore Said premisses except what I have given my wife Rebacca. Item the two Grand Children Patiance and Sarah Downings portions are not to be payed to them till they be twenty years of age each of them

Signed Sealed Published pronounced    & declared to be by the Said    Ioshua Downing his Last Will &    Testament in preSence of    Iohn ThomSon Senr    Robert ThomSon    Ionathan ThomSon    David Kincaid		Ioshua Downing (Seal)
Probated 25 Feb. 1717-18. Inventory returned at £636: 18: 6, by Jos. Hammond, John Heard and Stephen Tobey, appraisers, 18 March 1717-18. Source: Maine Wills, 1640-1760 (Portland, Me., 1887), p. 196, citing Probate Office, 2, 143.