Introduction

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

The Will of John White

   In the Name of God Amen. The Ninth Day of October Annoque Domini 1747. I Iohn White of North Yarmouth in the County of York & Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Yeoman, being in perfect Mind & Memory Thanks be given unto God, therefore Calling to 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 decent Manner. Nothing doubting but at the Gener^l 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 in this Life, I give demise & dispose of the Same in the following Manner & Form.

   Imp^r I give & bequeath to Rachel my beloved Wife, (whom I likewise constitute make & ordain my Sole Execut^x of this my last Will & Testament) Fifty five pounds lawful Money or good Bills of Credit of the last Emission to be raised & levied out of my Estate together with all my Household Goods and the Improvem^t of all my Estate both Real & personal until my eldest Child Asa White comes to the Age of twenty one years.

   Item. I give to my eldest Child Asa White one Hundred pounds old Tenor when he Shall arrive to the Age of twenty one Years.

   Item. I give all the Rest of my Estate both real & personal to my Children namely Asa, Iohn, & Iames, equally to be divided amongst them, each one to enter into the Possession of the Same, as they Severally arrive to the Age of twenty one years, until which time they are to be brought up out of my Estate. And I do declare this & no other to be my last Will & Testament. In Witness whereof I hereunto Set my Hand & Seal the Day & Year above written.

Signed Sealed published pronounced &    declared by Iohn White as his last    Will and Testamt in ye Presence of us Witnesses    Ionas Mason, Samll Baker, Jona Bryant		Iohn White (Seal)
Probated 4 Oct. 1748. Inventory returned 12 Jany 1747/8, at £4006: 12: 6, old tenor, by Jacob Mitchell, Gilbert Winslow and Jeremiah Powell, appraisers. Debts due the estate from Gilbert Winslow, John Loring, Paul White, Adam Cushing, Richard Stubbs, Edmund Chandler, Thomas Scales Samuel Bucknam, Samuel Royal, Barnabas Seabury, William Stevens, Jacob Brown and Jacob Mitchell. [Source: Maine Wills, 1640-1760 (Portland, Me., 1887), p. 598, citing Probate Office, 7, 239.]