Will of Daniel STAUFFER (1797) Frederick County, Maryland This file was contributed by Mark Ault ************************************************************************ * USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. ************************************************************************ Will of Daniel Stauffer Frederick County Register of Wills Liber GM-3, Folio 342 In the name of God Amen. I Daniel Stouffert of Frederick County and the State of Maryland calling to mind the mortality of my body as knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die and impelled by a sense of the necessity of a timely arrangement of our worldly concerns which in the full enjoyment of our corporal & mortal facilities do make and ordain this my last will and testament. Imprimis that is to say my will and desire is that all my just debts be paid & sums of money due or that shall become hereafter due to me may be collected by my executors as soon as with propriety may be after my decease. Item my will and desire is that my beloved wife Barbara and my son Joseph whom I appoint and nominate joint executors of this my last will and testament do and shall manage the plantation to the best advantage together with all other family concerns till my son Samuel shall have attained to the full age of twenty on years and then they shall either divide the land which I possess in the State of Maryland into two equal parts or if the cannot duly effect it by themselves they shall cause it to be done by six proper persons and my wife Barbara shall receive during her natural life the full third part of the ????? rents or ????? thereof or in case of a sale thereof she shall receive the third part of the interest accruing from the purchase money thereof during her natural. Item to my son Joseph I give & bequeath the Negro boy named Bill to become his own sole property with this reserve or injunction however viz that he shall free and manumit said Negro when he the said Bill shall have attained to the age of thirty five years & also at his manumission of liberation from slavery he shall give him a good Freedom List. Item to my daughter Maria I give and bequeath that tract of land which I possess in Cross Creek Township, Washington County & State of Pennsylvania to her & her heirs & assigns forever after she shall have attained the full age of twenty one years. Item my will and desire is that the executors with all ???table dispatch after my decease shall cause a proper estimate or valuation of all my moveable estate in this county to be made by two freeholders & when the remaining children shall have attained the age of twenty one years then pay to said children their respective third shares but without interest after the plantation has been divided into tow equal parts as aforementioned. I give & bequeath to my sons Joseph and Samuel their equal parts as they shall agree or the said six men agree for them, to them their heirs and assigns forever, yielding or giving to their mother the full third part of the Noat Rent or interest as may be as aforesaid. Moreover I do revoke dis???? & invalidate any other other former will legacy or bequest by me heretofore in my wise(?) made left or bequeathed ratifying this & no other to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & affixed my seal this Sixteenth day of August in the Year of our Lord Seventeen Hundred & Ninety Seven. Signed sealed published & declared by the testator to be his last will and testament in our presence who subscribe the same in his presence & in that of each other Jacob Beyer, Peter Engles, Edward Salmon Daniel Stauffer (seal) Frederick County November 6th, 1799. Then came Barbara Stouffert & solemnly affirmed and declared and Joseph Stouffert made oath on the holy evangels of almighty God that the aforegoing instrument of writing is the true and whole will and testament of Daniel Stouffert late of Frederick County deceased that hath come to their hands and possession and that they do not know of any other. Geroge Murdock Reg. Frederick County Novermber 6th, 1799. Then came Jacob Beyer & Edward Salmon two of the subscribing witnesses to the aforegoing last will and testament of Daniel Stouffert late of Frederick County deceased and made oath on the holy evangels of almighty God that they did see the testator therein named sign & seal this will that they heard him publish pronounce and declare the same to be his last will and testament that at the time of his so doing he was to the best of their apprehensions of a sound and disposing mind memory and understanding that they respectively subscribed their names as witnesses to this will in the presence and at the request of the testator and that they did also see Peter Engles sign his name as a witness to said will in the presence and at the request of the testator and all in the presence of each other. George Murdock Reg.