Maine Wills

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

   In the Name of God Amen. I Robert Smith of Arundel in the County of york in His Majestys Province of the of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Yeoman, being Sick and weak in Body, but enjoying the free use of my Reason and Understanding, Thanks be given to God therefor : and calling to Mind the Mortality of my Body, and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make & ordain this my last Will & Testament, in Manner & Form following, that is to Say, I do principally & first of all commend my Soul into the Hands of almighty God that gave it, hoping thrô the Merits Death & Sufferings of our Lord & Saviour Iesus Christ for the full Pardon of all my Sins, and to inherit everlasting Life : and my Body I commit to the Earth to be decently buried at the Discretion of my Execut^rs hereafter named; nothing doubting but at the Gen^l Resurrection I Shall receive the Same again by the mighty Power of God. And as to the Settlement of Such Worldly Substance as God hath been pleased to bless me with; my Will is that it be Settled in Manner & Form following viz^t

   That with Mary Smith my dear & loving Wife, Joseph Miller my Brother in Law be joined an Executor to manage with her in all Affairs that respect my Estate; excepting y^e Settlem^t of a Bond which Lieu^t Burbank hath against me.

   II. That my Funeral Charges and all other my just Debts be paid by my two Executors above named.

   III. My Will is that with Mary my beloved Wife Robert Patterson of Biddeford in our Said County Trader, be my Executor to assist her in the full Discharge final Execution & Settlement of y^e afores^d Bond in the Hands of Said Burbank, because none but my Self knows so well the circumstances of it, as he doth.

   IV. My Will is, that over & above her Right of Dower & Power of Thirds the Said Mary my Wife out of my Estate, have a good Suit of Mourning, and so long as She remains my Widow and lives in my dwelling House for the Support of her Self & Family I leave all within Doors and without, to be by her improved according to the Advice & Direction of the Said Miller my Executor; and would have but one Yoke of Oxen, one Horse, and the rest of the Stock kept on the place to be Cow kine, the overplus of the Stock whether Oxen or Horses both I would have disposed of

   V. In Case the Said Mary Shall be maried again, that my Fatherless Children may not be under the Command of a Father-in-Law, nor any Father in law Settle himself on my Estate my Will is that all my Children upon the Marriage of their hon^d Mother be put to live with one or another of my Relatives here in our Said Town as Said Miller my Executor and Mary their Mother Shall think best for them, and my Place rented out by said Miller, who Shall take Care that all my Children be taught to read write & cypher my Sons to the Rule of Three, and that the Thirds of the Household Goods my Wife upon her Marriage may take with her be inventoried, that so my Children as they Shall be no Charge to a Father in Law, may at their Mothers Death have them again.

   VI. That no Father in Law come on my Place to lay out my Wives Thirds to the Disturbance of my Children in their quiet Enjoym^t of what I leave them; my Will is, that the annual Income and Profits of my Estate be computed, and the Thirds of it during the Life of the Said Mary be by Miller my Executor or my Children paid their Mother Yearly & every Year in Money or in y^e Produce of the Place which She chuses : And confirming this to be my last & only Will, I do now hereunto Set my Hand & Seal the 27^th of May Anno Domini 1747.

Signed Sealed pronounced    & declared by the Said    Robert Smith as his last    Will, in presence of us    three Witnesses    Abel Merrill    Ieremiah Miller    Samuel Iameson		Robert Smith (a Seal)
Probated 5 April 1748. Inventory returned at £682: 10: 1½, new tenor, by Thomas Perkins, Abel Merrill and Robert Cleves, appraisers, 13 May 1748; also debts due the estate of £26 from John Fairfield, and £5 from Harris Downing, old tenor. Source: Maine Wills, 1640-1760 (Portland, Me., 1887), p. 568, citing Probate Office, 7, 147.