Maine Wills

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

   In the Name of God Amen. I William Cole of Biddeford in the County of York in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Yeoman, being Sick & weak of Body but of perfect Mind & Memory, therefore calling to mind the Mortality of my Body, and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die do ordain & make this my last Will & Testam^t that is to Say. First of all I recommend my Soul to God that gave it, and my Body to the Earth to be buried after a decent christian Manner at the Discretion of my Executors hereafter mentioned; and as touching Such worldly Estate as it hath pleased God to bestow upon me in this Life I give demise & dispose of the Same in the Manner following viz^t Imp^r I order that all my just Debts and funeral Charges Shall be paid out of my real & person^l Estates

   Item I give & demise to Elizabeth Cole my Wife (whom I appoint my Sole Execut^x) my present dwelling House and all the Household Goods therein contained, togather with all & Singular her Thirds of the real & personal Estate of or belonging to me.

   Item I give to William Cole my Eldest Son One quarter part of my Mill that I now possess, and all my timber Land Situate on the Eastern Side of Saco River, adjoining to the Land of Ebenezer Hill when he arrives to the Age of twenty one years.

   Item & lastly, I give & bequeath to my Sons Ieremiah Benjamin & Nathaniel Cole my Sons the remaining part of my Estate equally to be divided among them for Quantity and Quallity. The whole & every part of the above bequeathed Premises Singular according to their particular Ages to be at the Disposition of the Executrix till they advance to the Age of twenty one years. And finally I revoke & disannul all former or other Wills Legacys & Bequests heretofore made Ratifying & confirming this & no other to be my last Will and Testament.

   As Witness my Hand & Seal this 18^th Day of February Annoque Domini 1754

Signed Sealed published pronounced    & declared to be the last Will &    Testamt of William Cole in    presence of us    Jonathan Bane    Samuel White    Iames Staple		William Cole (Seal)
Probated 8 Oct. 1754. Inventory returned 3 Oct. 1754, at £720: 7: 1, by Joseph Dyer, Benjamin Hooper and Tristram Jordan, appraisers. Source: Maine Wills, 1640-1760 (Portland, Me., 1887), p. 734, citing Probate Office, 9, 53.