Maine Wills

 From York County Probate Records, Volume Four (1677-1734)

   In the Name of God Amen I Richard Gowell of Kittery in the County of York in the province of the Mass^ts Bay in New England Yeoman haveing upon me the Infirmities of old age being weak in body but of a Sound Disposing mind & memory and Calling to mind y^e uncertainty of this life and that is Appointed for all men once to dye Do make & Ordain this Instrument in writing to be my last Will & Testament.

   Imp^rs I recommend my Soul into the Mercifull hands of God who gave it & my body to the Earth to be buried in Such Decent and Christian Manner as to my Execut^rs hereafter Named Shall Seem meet And as to such Temporal Estate as it hath pleased God to bestow upon me I Give & Bequeath as Followeth Viz^t

   Item I Give & bequeath unto Hannah my beloved Wife my whole personal Estate after my Iust Debts & funeral Charges are paid and the Legacies hereafter given the Remaind^r to be at her Disposing forever Besides her Dower in my house and lands Dureing her life.

   Item. I Give and bequeath unto my beloved Son Richard Gowell all my Houses and lands in the Town of Kittery afores^d upon part of which I now Dwell Containing abo^t Seventy Acres Excepting Twenty Acres out of the Same which I have already Given by Deeds to my Sons William & In^o Gowell to be to him the s^d Rich^d Gowell his heirs & Assignes forever.

   Item. I Give & bequeath unto my Sons William Gowell & Iohn Gowell & to my Daughters Tamisin Hunscomb Mary Hunscom Sarah Chase Hannah Tayler Lydia Adams Each of them Twenty Shillings besides what I have already given them.

   Item. I Give & bequeath my right in the Common & undivided Lands in Kittery or Berwick the one halfe part thereof to my Son Rich^d Gowell & the other halfe part Equally to be Divided between my Sons William & Iohn Gowell.

   And Lastly I Do appoint my beloved Wife Hannah Gowell and my beloved Son Rich^d Gowell to be Execut^rs of this my last will & Testament/ In Testimony where of I have hereunto Set my hand and Seal this fifteenth day of Decemb^r In the Third Year of the Reigne of King George the Second of Great Brittian &c^t Annoque Domini One Thousand Seven hundred and Twenty Nine 1729

Signed Sealed Published and    Declared by Richard Gow-    ell to be his last Will and    Testament In ye presence    of us.    Joshua X Remick          his mark    William X Wilson          his mark    Ios : Hammond		Richard X Gowell (Seal)        his mark
Probated, 6 April 1730. Inventory returned 30 March 1730, at £375: 6: 0, by John Dennet John Fernald and Peter Staple, appraisers. Source: Maine Wills, 1640-1760 (Portland, Me., 1887), p. 309, citing Probate Office, 4, 70.