Maine Wills

 From York County Probate Records, Volume Six (1736-46)

   In the Name of God Amen, the seventeenth Day of January in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & forty two I John Hearl of Kittery in the County of York within the Province of the Massachusets Bay in New England Yeoman being sick & weak but through Divine Goodness of sound & perfect memory & not Expecting long to Continue in this Life Do make and Ordain this my last Will & testament. Resigning my Soul to God hopeing for Mercy through Jesus Christ, I Give and Dispose of my worldly Estate Real & Personal in manner following Viz^t My Will is and I Give and Bequeath to my two Sons Ebenezer Hearl and Benjamin Hearl all the Lands that I have & am intituled to in Berwick either by vertue of my Common Rights or otherwise between them in Equall Shares to be Divided in fee simple Excepting four Acres of Land in Berwick lying near to Brother James Hearls Place which four Acres I hereby Give & bequeath to my Daughter Mary in fee simple I also give and Bequeath to my said Sons Ebenezer & Benjamin five pounds to Each of them in Lawfull money to be paid to them by my Son Joseph in lieu of my Yoak of Oxen or twenty pounds a peice old tenor Bills for said Oxen.

   I Giue and Bequeath to my Daughter Hester my Bedd & Bedding. I also give and Bequeath to my said Daughters Mary & Hester, to Each of them ten pounds old tenor or an Equivolent in Lawfull money to be raised out of the Proffits of my Estate whereon I now liue and paid to them within four Years time from my Decease that is to say fifty shillings a peice in Lawfull money or ten pounds a peice old tenor as aforesaid.

   Item, my House and Lands whereon I now live in Kittery Bounded on the North by Lands of John Neal, West by Newichwannick River, East by Rocky Hill Common & on the South by Lands formerly of Nicholas Gowen Daniel Emery & Timothy Wamouth (now in Possession of some of their Children) I Give and Bequeath to my Son Joseph Hearl in fee tail that is to say after the Payment of the aboue mentioned sums to my two Daughters out of the Proffits thereof my Will is that the same with all the members & appurtenances thereto belonging shall be to my said Son Joseph During his Life and after his Death to his next Male Heir & to the next Male Heir in fee tail successiuely of such as shall be Lawfully begotten of him my said Son Joseph & if such Male Issue fail then to his Female Issue in tail & for want of such Issue to my Son Ebenezer & his Issue in like manner the Male to be preferred before the Female, and if his Issue fail to my Son Benjamin and to his Issue in like manner & if his Issue fail It shall go to my two Daughters in fee Equally to be Divided—my said Son Joseph to Improve y^e Said Lands in order to raise the Legacies aforesaid.

   Item, I Giue and Bequeath my Yoak of Oxen to my afores^d Son Joseph he paying the aforementioned five pounds a peice Lawfull money to my two Sons Ebenezer & Benjamin or twenty pounds a peice old tenor or otherwise y^e s^d oxen may be giuen to them in lieu of y^e money.

   Item, all the rest and Residue of my Estate both Real and Personal whatsoever & wheresoever I give to my said Son in fee for Defraying of all Charges & Dues that shall be Just & my Funeral Expence.

   Lastly I Constitute my Son Joseph Hearl Sole Executor of this my last Will and testament, In Witness whereof I set my hand & Seal hereto y^e Day & Year above written.

Signed Sealed published pro-    nounced & Declared by the    sd John Hearl to be his Last    Will & testament in    presence of.    Henry Snow    James Gowen    Caleb Emery    Daniel Emery Jur    Noah Emery		John IH Hearl (Seal)     his mark
Probated 17 Jany 1743. Source: Maine Wills, 1640-1760 (Portland, Me., 1887), p. 483, citing Probate Office, 6, 86.