In the name of God amen Know all Christian people this may or shall concearne yt I Robart Andrews of Rowley village in the County of Esex being verey sick & weack of body but blesed be god in prfect cence & memorey doe mack this my last will & testiment revoking all other former will wtsoever.
Impr. I bequeath my soule to Allmighty God that gave it me in whome I trust
through the merits of Jesus Christ to be receaived into Eternall happiness forever
and my body to the earth from whence it came to be deciently burried in ye burring
place of Topsfield according as my wife and Children shall see meet.
It I give & bequeath unto my eldest sonn Thomas Andrews the house yt I now
Live in and nine(s)core Ackers of Land being upland & Medow & yt Land
yt I bought of Zacheus Gould only my well beloved wife is to have duering her
life time, the kiching and hall & Kiching Chamber & halfe the seller
& the new feeld & the eight Ackers peeice & halfe the orchard &
if ther be not Land enufe for her to manuer then my sd sonn with ye help of
my son Robart is to breack her up three Ackers more or let her have three Ackers
yt is allready broacken up and the same to injoy duering her life without the
Lett hinderanc or molestation of my sd sonn or aney other prson under him and
my sonn Thomas is to shingle the house and at my wives deceas the said land
orchard and rooms is to returne to my son Thomas & his haires forever my
said sonn Paying unto my three youngest daughters Rebeckah, Sarah & Ruth
twenty pound pr each when she shall be twenty yeares of Age and if eaither of
them shall die before yt time then yt prt shall be equally devided between the
other two and allso his is to pay unto my Daughter Mary the wife of Isack Comins
five pound three years after my deceas & for the new whip saw and all other
Carpenters tools shall be for the use of my wife sonn Thomas & Robert.
It. I give and be bequeath unto my sonn Robart Andrews eight(s)core Ackers of
Land from Piebroock to ye clay pits and ye fatti medow and the fishing broock
medow & becaus my sonn Thomas & Robart should not wrong one another
in wood I desier ther Land may be ped by them selves & two other honest
men and Robart is to pay unto my Daughter Elizabeth the wife of Samuell Symons
five pounds three years after my deceas and to my daughter Hanah Pebody five
pounds fouer years after my deceas.
It. I give unto my sonn John the Lot comonly called the seller Lott and the
Medow belonging unto it but the medow shall be for the use of my wife &
Thomas untell my sonn John shall be one and twenty years of Age and then to
returne to him without aney further truble he paying to my seaven Grandchildren
twenty shillings pr each when they shall come to the age of fourteen years.
It. I give unto my sonn Joseph ye Land in the Topsfeeld yt I bought of John
Wilds, Senr. with all the previledgs therunto belonging.
It. I give unto my well beloved wife all my Cattell & other moveable goods
and the Doung that is now in ye yard & half the barne & Lintos and my
sonn Thomas the other halfe and he and his brother Robart is to set up the other
Lintoos & Lay in for the use of ther mother eavery year duering her Life
twelve Loads of hay and if eaither of my sonns should die before they are married
then yt Land yt is given to them to be equally devided amongst the Survivers
Leaving my said wife sole Executrix and in Testimony hereof I have Set my hand
and Seale this Sixteenth day of May in the yeare of our Lord one thousand Six
hundred Sixty & eight.
Robart (his / mark) Andrews, Senr (seal)
Witness:
Robert (his G mark) Smith
James Hanscombe
Proved in Salem court 2: 5m: 1668 by the witnesses. Essex County Probate Files,
Docket 709
Inventory of the estate was taken by Frances Pabody, Isack Comings, and Edman
Towne. Attested 1:5m: 1668 by Grace Andrewes wife of the deceased
Source: Essex County Quarterly Court Files, vol 13 leaf 67