Will, MA, Bristol, Thomas Shepard 1774 In the name of God Amen. I THOMAS SHEPARD of Norton in the county of Bristol in the province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England being in the sixty ninth year of my age and being at the in a week and low condition, as to my body, the of a sound disposing mind and memory, blessed be God for it, calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die I do make this my last will and testament as follows. FIRST I give and bequeath my body to the grave to be decently buried at the discretion of my executors hereafter named in hopes of a joyful resurrection at the last day. SECONDLY I give and bequeath my soul to God who gave it, and redeemed it with the blood of his son Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Savior, and as to the outward or worldly estate with which God in his providence has blessed me I give and bequeath and disposed thereof as follows viz. FIRST I give and bequeath to my dearly beloved wife CONTENT [WHITE] SHEPARD the “presevent” of one third part of my homestead and one third part of all buildings thereon during her natural life, and then, to belong to my son JACOB SHEPARD as hereafter mentioned and firewood sufficient to maintain one fire cut at the door. I also give to wife one quarter part of all my indoor movable or household furniture to be at her own disposal, and I also give her a note of hand which I have against JAMES CODDING £15 lawful money to be at her own disposal, and one good cow. SECONDLY I give and bequeath to my eldest son JACOB SHEPARD all my homestead / farm in said Norton and all buildings thereon reserving the improvements of one third part of it and one third part of the buildings for my said wife, as above, during her natural life, and reserving liberty to my daughter JEMIMA SHEPARD to live in the house so long as she shall live single, or unmarried, I also give to my said son JACOB about fifteen acres of woodland lying partly in Easton and partly in district of Mansfield adjoining ABIJAH WITHERELL’s land. Further I give him about one acre and a half of Cedar Swamp lying in XXX Cedar Swamp to be called be to provide firewood for my wife as above and I do hereby order my said son JACOB SHEPARD to pay to each of my daughters JEMIMA SHEPARD, RACHEL SHEPARD and OLIEF [OLIVE] SHEPARD £30 to each of them in three years after my decease and in five years after my deceased to pay to each of my daughter's above named £30 more so as to make up £60 in five years after my decease, to each of them. And I give further to my said son JACOB SHEPARD two thirds of all my livestock and outdoor movables and money and personal estate of what name or nature forever, excepting what I have given to my wife as aforesaid and what I hereafter give to my daughters, and my wearing apparel. THIRDLY I give and bequeath to my beloved son SETH SHEPARD all the land and buildings that is contained in the farm that I own in the district of Mansfield, it being by estimation about thirty five acres, be it more or less. Further I give him all the land that I own in Wrentham containing about 25 acres be at more or less lying adjoining to the land of EASTHER [ESTHER] SHEPARD. I also give him my said son SETH one third part of all my livestock outdoor movables and personal estate of what name or nature forever, excepting what I have given to my wife and what I had hereafter give to my daughter and wearing apparel. And I do order my said son SETH to pay to my daughter SARAH [SHEPARD] BASSET the wife of JOHN BASSET £15 in three years after my decease in £15 more in five years after my decease so as to make it £30 in five years after my decease, when in five years after my deceased further I Page 1 of 4 ** PAGE BREAK ** Will, MA, Bristol, Thomas Shepard 1774 order my said son SETH SHEPARD to pay to my son GEORGE SHEPARD £25 the one half of it to be paid when he shall arrive at the age of twenty one years of age in the other half to be paid in three years after and likewise forever my son to pay to my son MOSES SHEPARD £25 the one half of it to be paid when he shall arrive at the age of 21 years the other half in three years after reserving liberty for my daughter RACHEL [SHEPARD] to live in the house that is on my farm in Mansfield so long as she shall live single or annexed. FOURTHLY I give and bequeath to my third son GEORGE SHEPARD and to my fourth son MOSES SHEPARD a certain tract of land line partly in the district of Houghtonham and part in the town of Walpole in the county of Pellolk containing about 100 acres with all buildings there on to be equally divided between them according to quantity and quality reserving liberty to my daughter OLIVE SHEPARD to live in the house so long as she shall live single or unmarried. Further I give to my said son GEORGE SHEPARD and to my said son MOSES SHEPARD £25 a piece to each of them to be paid by my son best as aforesaid. FIFTHLY I give and bequeath to my eldest daughter SARAH BASSET the wife of JOHN BASSETT £30 to be paid by my son SETH SHEPARD the one half to be paid in three years after my decease and the other half to be paid in six years after my decease over and above what she already had of me. SIXTHLY I give and bequeath to each of my daughters JEMIMA SHEPARD and RACHEL SHEPARD and OLIVE SHEPARD £60 pounds to be paid to each of them by my son JACOB SHEPARD £30 of it to be paid to each of them in three years after my deceased and £30 more to each of them in five years after my decease. Further I give to my daughters JEMIMA, RACHEL and OLIVE all my indoor movable or household furniture, excepting what I have given to my wife as above to be equally divided between them. Further I give to my daughter JEMIMA SHEPARD the privilege of living in my house which I have given to my son JACOB SHEPARD so long as she shall live single, and I give to my daughter RACHEL SHEPARD the privilege of living in my house in Mansfield, which I have given to my son SETH SHEPARD to so long as she shall live single. I also give to my daughter OLIVE SHEPHARD the privilege of living in my house and Houghtonham, which I have given to my son GEORGE and MOSES so long as she she shall live single. Further I give and bequeath to all my wearing apparel to my son GEORGE SHEPARD and I do hereby constitute and appoint my two sons JACOB SHEPARD and SETH SHEPARD executors to this my last will and testament, fully empowering them to demand, receive and recover all that is anywise due to me from any person or persons and to pay the previous legacies, above mentioned, and to pay all my just debts and funeral charges. And I do hereby make void and disallow all wills heretofore by me made, ratifying this and none but this to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 9th day of July in the fourteenth year of his Majesty's reign Annoque Domini 1774. THOMAS SHEPARD {seal} Signed Sealed published and declared by Thomas Shepard to be his last will and testament in presence of us DAVID WILLIAMS SETH GILBERT GEORGE WHEATON Page 2 of 4 ** PAGE BREAK ** Will, MA, Bristol, Thomas Shepard 1774 Bristol November 14th 1774 Then before the honorable GEORGE LEONARD, Esquire, judge of the probate of wills for the county of Bristol came DAVID WILLIAMS of the and SETH GILBERT two of the witnesses to the within written instrument made oath that they were present and saw THOMAS SHEPARD the subscriber thereto, who is since deceased, sign, seal and heard him publish and declare said instrument as his last will and testament, and that he was of sound and disposing mind and memory when he so did and that they with GEORGE WHEATON signed as witnesses at the same time and all in the presence of the testator. Quorum GEORGE LEONARD Page 3 of 4 ** PAGE BREAK ** Will, MA, Bristol, Thomas Shepard 1774 ###### # # ##### ####### # # ##### ####### # # # # ## ## # # # ## # # # # # ## ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ###### # # # # #### ##### # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ## ### # # # # # # ###### # # ##### ####### # # ### ##### ####### # # Transcribed from original documents by Brent R. Brian & Martha M. Brian. This document and others can be found on our website: BMGEN We claim COPYLEFT on the documents that we publish that are our original work. COPYLEFT “rules” can be reviewed on the web site: GNU Free Documentation License In short, use what you like. But if you use our stuff, mention us as the source. Brent R. Brian Martha M. Brian BrianMitchellGenealogy@gmail.com Page 4 of 4 ** PAGE BREAK **