Estate of John
Burbank of Rowley
Essex Probate Docket # 4009
I being att this day aged and Decriped in body thought having Mercy of Perfect Memory & understanding, Knowing how fraile my Life is and not Knowing the Day of my Desolutions, that my House may be so far sett in Order & trouble as much as in me lieth, prevented after my departure I therefore appoynt this to be my Last will.
My soule I committ into the hands of him that gave it
and my body to be interred by decent buriall in hope of a blessed Ressureection
through the Lord Jesus Christ.
As to my outward estate I dispose of it in a Manner following:
To my beloved wife Gemima, I give half my dwelling house & half my Lands
throughout to be at her dispose during her natural life. Also I give her all my
household stuff bedding utensils & necessary things in the house for her
natural life and what of them she hath not occasion to Dispose of for her
comfortable Maintenance & livelyhood after her decease to my son Caleb,
also I give her one cow and the keeping of her Winter & Summer, also
convenient fire wood shall yearly be provided for her during her Naturall Life
by my Executor. Also, I give her the third part of the fruit of the orchard
yearly, also I give her the keeping of a pig or swine yearly during her life.
To my son John Burbank
I give the sum of forty shillings in Cattle to be paid within one year after my
Decease if he come and Receive it in Rowley the reason I now give him no more
is because I have given him what I thought was sufficient according to my
ability in Cattle and Household stuff & Village Land, all I judge to be
worth about three score pounds which when I gave it him it was accepted by him
as his full portion and that in presence of Capt. Brocklebank and his wife
before whom he gave it under his hand that he would Desire no more of what I
have Left.To his son Timothy my grandchild who lieth with Capt. Saltonstall
after he cometh to the age of twenty-one years I give a beast of about three
pounds price.
To my Daughter Lydia having given her
To my son Caleb I give the half of my Dwelling and Barn and the other half of
all my Lands & Meadows that is to say Lands Divided or not Divided, or Layd
out within the bounds of Rowley and the opther half given to his Mother for
Life to be to him & his Heirs after her Decease and all my Moveables not
given to my Wife.
My will is that my son Caleb Burbank be my sole Executor and that he pay all Debts and Legacys given in my Will as an
Explaination of what I have given my wife. My will is that my Executor provide all comfortable necessaries for my beloved wife
During her Natural Life both for Health and sickness according as my overseers
shall think and Judge convenient.
If my son or those that survive him provide not according to her need and
expectation my will is, and that which I desire that my loving friends Daniel
Wicam & Nehemiah Jewett be my overseers to see that my will be performed
and especially that my wife be well provided for. For as she may need and he
thus providing according to her need then the Lands given her to be free to my
son Caleb as the other Lands given him.
Signed Sealed and Declared to be his Last
Will and Testament the fifth Day of April Anno Domini: 1681.
his mark X
John Burbank
In Presence of Witness:
Danl. Wickam
Att Court
Attest
Daniel Appleton Reg.
Source: Genealogy of the Burbank Family and The Families of Bray,
Wellcome, Sedgley (Sledgeley) and Welch by George Burbank Sedgley, published
1928
Submitted by: Richard C. Witters