Maine Wills

 From York County Probate Records, Volume Seven (1721-49)

   In the Name of God Amen. The eleventh Day of Iuly Seventeen Hundred & fifty one [sic], I Ioseph Pray of Berwick in the County of York Yeoman, being aged & well Stricken in years, but of perfect Mind & memory, Thanks be given unto God, Therefore calling unto Mind the Mortality of my Body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die and not knowing when my Change may come, Do make and ordain this my last Will & Testament, That is to Say principally & first of all, I give & 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 Executors hereafter mentioned 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 with in this Life, I give demise and dispose of the Same in the following Manner & Form.

   Imp^r I give & bequeath to my Wife all the Income of my Estate for her Maintenance during her Widowhood, if I Should die before her the Income thereof to be disposed by her among my Children as She Shall See meet.

   2^ly I give to my Son Iohn Pray one Acre of Land whereon his Dwelling House now Stands, and Forty one Acres more Land beginning at Peter Knops Spring & from thence Eastward the Breadth of my Lot until Forty one Acres is Accomplished to be at his Dispose after the Decease of his Mother, only a Way excepted.

   3^ly I give unto my Son Peter Pray Thirty five Acres of Land out of my Estate beginning at the Head thereof and running on a South West & by West Line down my Said Lot until the Same be accomplished on which Land his dwelling House now Stands, to be to his Dispose after his Mothers Decease.

   4^ly I give unto my Son Samuel Pray all my Lands belonging to my Home State beginning at the River, and running to the head thereof, except what I have before given to my Sons John & Peter, only John is to have Liberty to cut Fire Wood off of Said Land for his own Fire and not for any other Use.

   5^ly I give to my two Grandsons Peter Pray & Daniel Pray One Hundred pounds old Ten^r Money to be paid them by my Son Samuel Pray in equal Shares when they Shall come to lawful Age, and if they both die without Issue then the Said Money to return to my Said Son Samuel and his Heirs. Also I give to my two Grandsons Peter & Daniel Pray the Sum of Twenty pounds old Ten^r Money to be paid to them in equal Halves by my Son Peter Pray after they Shall come to lawful Age, and if they both die before that time without lawful Issue then y^e Said Twenty pounds to remain to my Son Peter & his Heirs.

   6^ly I give my Right in the Saw Mill Standing on the Salmon Falls on the West Side of the River to my three Sons Iohn Samuel & Peter to their Dispose in equal Shares. Also all my Right in the Commons & undivided Lands in Berwick I give to them in equal Shares to be divided between them.

   7^ly I give to my Daughters Ioanna Yeaton Mary Wallingford Martha Allen & Miriam Lord Ten pounds old Tenor each out of my Estate to be paid them by my Executors after my Wife's Decease, The Said Daughters to be paid by my three Sons in equal Shares.

   8^ly My Will further is that my three Sons Iohn Samuel & Peter Shall pay all my just Debts & my funeral Charges out of my Estate equally between them.

   9^ly I give to my Wife all my live Stock of Creatures & all my Household Goods to her Dispose to & among my Children & GrandChildren as She

   10^ly As to what Iron Work y^t I have I leave it with my three Sons to keep what each one has got of the Same.

   11^ly And lastly, I make & ordain my Sons Iohn Pray and Samuel Pray to be my Sole Executors to this my last Will & Testament, ratifying & confirming this and no other to be my last Will and Testament. In Witness whereof I have hereto Set my Hand & Seal this eleventh Day of July in the twenty first Year of His Majestys Reign Annoque Domini 1747.

Signed Sealed pronounced published    and declared by the Sd Joseph    Pray to be his last Will & Testa-    ment In the Presence of us Witnesses.    Thomas Goodwin    Ioseph Stone    Moses Butler		Ioseph Pray (a Seal)
Probated 18 Oct. 1748. Source: Maine Wills, 1640-1760 (Portland, Me., 1887), p. 592, citing Probate Office, 7, 216.