Maine Wills

 From York County Probate Records, Volume Nine (1743-58)

   In the Name of God Amen. The fourteenth Day of March 1754. I John Fernald of Kittery in the County of York in y^e Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Yeoman, being Sick and weak in Body but of perfect Mind & Memory (thanks be given to God there for) calling unto Mind the Mortality of my Body & knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die. Do make & 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 a christian like & decent Manner, at the Discretion of my Executor hereafter named : And as touching Such Worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this Life, I give devise & dispose of the Same in the following Manner & Form.

   Imp^r. I give & bequeath unto my well beloved Sons James Fernald and Joseph Fernald all my wearing apparel to be equally divided betwixt them : I also give unto my Said Sons & their Heirs forever a Confirmation of the Tracts of Land whereon they now dwell which I formerly gave them by Deeds of Gift which on Record may more at large appear.

   Item I give & bequeath unto my well beloved Son Samuel Fernald my Gun; And also I give to my Said Son a Confirmation of a Tract of Land whereon he now dwells, and to his Heirs forever, which I formerly gave him by a Deed of Gift which on record may more at large appear.

   Item, I give & bequeath unto my beloved Son Benj^a Fernald all my Cyder Cask, and all my Husbandry Utensils; I also give unto my Said Son, and his Heirs lawfully begotten by his Body forever a Confirmation of the Tract of Land whereon I now dwell with two other Tracts of Land which I formerly gave to him by a Deed of Gift bearing Date y^e 16^th Day of Decem^r Anno Domini 1740, which on Record may more at large appear. Be it known & understood that my Will is if my Said Son Benjamin Fernald Should die & leave no Heirs lawfully begotten by his Body that he the Said Benj^a Shall dispose of the afores^d Tracts of Land to any of my Grandsons of the Name of the Fernalds or to as many or to any of them as he Shall See meet.

   Item. I give & bequeath to my well beloved Daughters, Mary Rogers Sarah Rogers Abigail Staple & Lydia Johnson to each of them Eight pounds to be paid them by my Executor in neat Cattle at the Customary Price. my Will is that the Said Cattle Shall be valued by indifferent Men, each person to whom the Legacy is due to choose one Man, and my Said Execut^or to chuse the other, and if it Shall so happen that them two men cannot agree on the price of the Said Cattle, that the Said two men so chosen Shall choose y^e third man, and so Shall abide by the price that either two of them Shall Set them at.

   Item I give & bequeath unto my beloved Grand Childⁿ the Children of my Son John Fernald late of Kittery Dec^d Viz^t John Fernald & Mercy Fernald to each of them five Shillings in lawful Money. My Will is that all the Legacys herein mentioned and my funeral Charges be paid out of my personal Estate.

   Item. I give & bequeath unto my beloved Wife Sarah Fernald all the remainder of my personal Estate to be to her own proper Use Benefit & Behoof forever.

   Item I give and bequeath to my beloved Son Sam^l Fernald and his Heirs forever all my Right Title & Interest I have in or unto a Grant of Land I bought of John Gelden late of Kittery Dec^d as by his Deed on Record may more at large appear.

   Lastly. I constitute make & ordain my beloved Son Sam^l Fernald my only & Sole Executor of this my last Will and Testament, & I do hereby utterly disallow revoke and disannul all & every other former Testaments Wills Legacys and Executors by me in any Ways before this time named Willed or bequeathed ratifying & confirming this & no other to be my last Will & Testament. In Witness whereof I haue here unto Set my Hand & Seal the Day & Year in these presents first written

Iohn IF Fernald (Seal) his mark

   Signed Sealed published pronounced & declared by the Said Iohn Fernald as his last Will & Testament in the presence of us the Subscribers Iames Fernald jun^r Sarah Leighton Tho^s Dennet.