The Last Will and Testament of John Burbank of Rowley in the county of Essex in New England is as followeth:--

I being att this day aged & 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 Manner following:

To my beloved wife Gemima I give half my dwelling house & half my Lands throughout to be at her dispose during her naturall 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 Merrimack Land or my Land at Bradford and other necessaries I hereby Confirm it to her Husband and her and their Children. Also I give her Ten pounds to be Paid in Rowley within one year after my Wife her decease) in cattle.

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 other half given to his Mother for Life to be to him & his Heirs after her Decease and all my Moveables not given 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 & 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                                                                                                         John X Burbank                                                                                               mark        

In presence of Witness:
Nehemiah Jewett
Danl. Wickam

Att Court at Ipswich 10th of April 1683.

Attest
Daniel Appleton Reg.