Will of Wm. Steven

In the Name of God Amen I Wm. Stevens of Rehobeth in Pocomoke in Somerset County in the Province of Maryland [??] being in good health and memory blessed be God but considering the frayalty of this like and that all flesh must yield when God by death Calls. Doe make and this my last will and Testament in manner and form following revoeking all other and former wills by me made ____ Imp. I commit my soul to god that gave it hoping for its future happiness though the Mercy of my creator and of my merritts Redeemer Jesus Christ my body after my deceased I commit to the earth till its resurrection to be burried as my Executrix hereafter to be named , shall think fitt and for what worldly goods I god hath bee pleased to interest me with after Just debts and funerell charges , being paid. I dispose of the same as follweth ~ To Sarah White I confirm the plantation she now lives on during her Natural life and after her deceased to her son Stevens While and his heirs for ever. Secondary to his fathers desire specified in his last will and testament as also two hundred acres of swamp lying next James Hendersons to all my brother John White Christopher and their heirs in common, I give unto the said Steve's White and to his heirs the plantation on which I now live on. Bounded by the River and by Caldeest{????] And a ditch from an brosses landing to the Branch and backwards by a gully??? And a branch or wet swamp to the Executors of the place where and his heirs for ever-+ the poynt plantation on which black Jack now lives as also the plantation on which Tege Meshir now lives. I give unto my cousin Wm. White five hundred Acres of land to be sold by my Executrix to buy him servants and household stuff provided he indeavours to please my Executrix. I give and bequeath unto my cousin Elizabeth White Cedar Hall Plantation Containing five hundred acres of land and to the heirs of her body lawfully begotten and to their heirs. I give and bequeath unto my Sister [Whitos???] three youngest daughters Tabitha Prisella and Sarah one thousand pounds of tobacco to each of whom to say each of them a piece of Plate- I give and bequeath and confirm unto Edmund Howard and to Wm. Stevens Howard his son and to the heirs of the sd. Wm. Stevens Howard and he remainder as his father hath disposed the plantation that the sd. Edmund Howard now lives on and all the dependances thereon, being bounded by the river and branch through the town to the Mill Dam, and from thence up the Branch, that parts the town and the plantation on which Richard Hill now lives, as tenant to the sd. Howard. In the north side bounded by a ditch running from Ambrose Landing at the River and running to he branch and over the branch to a valley backwards and from thence west into the woods to a branch near unto the branch or wet swamp where Thomas Shilio formerly lived and bounded there with. I also give and bequeath unto the said Edmund Howard during his natural life and to be his son Wm. Stevens Howard and his heirs for ever a part and parcel of Land belonging to the entrance on the Northern side of the Pocomoke beginning at [?????] Spanish Oak Standing in the woods in a Swamp amoungst a parcell of Tall pines and from the said Marsh and tree with a Line drawn south east by south two hundred perches to a marked oak standing by the river side on a poynt of high land standing in Marshes being an Ancient Bounder to the said land an by the mouth of a small Creek now called Cat Feets and from the mouth of the said Creek by the tree down the river to a small space to the mouth of a another Creek running out of the river through Marshes Up the said Creek and bounded therewith to the pasture fence of the plantation which Tege Mishin now lives on. I nelecting [???] all the land on the North side of the last mentioned tract to the said Howard and so running up to the head of the main branch of the said creek to a marked Tree and from the sd. Tree with a line running north northeast as for as the said land will extend and from the end thereof inclosed by a strait line to the first bounder. I give and bequeath unto George Howard the second son of the said Edmund Howard all the land that belongs to the entrance that lies on the westernmost side of a branch between the plantation Richard Lewis now lives on an the plantation Richard Brulland now lives on and from the head of the sd. branch seporating the same from land given to Stevens White, by a north northeast line to the savana leaving all the land to the westward of the sd branch and NNE line on which Richard Buehland and Wm. Lewis formely lived to the said George Howard and his heirs for ever. I give and bequeath unto Benjamin Keyser in liue [???] of three hundred acres in a former will bequeathed and given to the said Benjamin Keyser in Caronell at the sea side which I now revoke instead thereof I give him three hundred acres of land part of which is commonly called the Rich Ridge the whole being bounded as followeth by Muruncse [???] branch down and creek on the westward by a branch or wet swamp on the southward of the Rich Ridge by a branch or wet swamp on the east side seperating it from land given to the aforesaid Edmund Howard and Stevens White and bounded on the north with a line drawn east and west. I give and bequeath to the aforesaid Mentioned Keyser the said tract of three hundred acres of land and to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten, more over two thousand pounds of tobacco towards furnishing his dwelling house in Rehobeth town provided my two legacies be kindly accepted all the best of my estate both reall and personall. Both houses lands goods and chattles I give and bequeath unto my dear and loving wife Elizabeth Stevens and to her heirs for ever whom I nominate and appoint to be the executrix of this my last will and testament discerning her to remember t fullfill and perfomre my desire Expressed to her as ample or Sieth [???] in her to perform the same as she is my Executrix. In testimony that this is my last will and testament I have hereunto put my hand and seal this Xxi day of August ~ Anno. Do. 1687 ~ The lands in this will given to Stevens White and his heirs my Executrix to injoy the same during her natural life ~ Signed Sealed Published And declared by Wm. Stevens } To his last will and testament In presence of us . . . . . Wm. Stevens seale Phillip [PH] Hammond Mark Thomas Purnell Somerset Imp. Memoranda that this day Henry Scofield being the 26th of March 1688 Came before me and one Phillip Hammond, Thomas Purnell. And Henry Scofield the witnesses to this will and being duty sworn did own this to be last will and testament of Col. Wm. Stevens deceased. As also the same day I did administer the oath of Spectr. [???] to the said Will be Elizabeth Stevens the Relect [???] of the said Col. Wm. Stevens- Also the same day was sworn by me Thomas, John and William Plames the appraisers appointed for appraising the sd Estate in Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 26th day of March 1688- Robert King Seale Recorded in Liber EB No. 5 folio 171 +172. ~ Examd. Test. Esme Bayly Reg. W.S.C.