New York County NyArchives Wills.....Bruce, William April 14, 1775 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ny/nyfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Leigh Jones leighj@mail.ptd.net February 9, 2015, 1:04 pm Source: From Sampubco Written: April 14, 1775 Recorded: May 24, 1780 New York City. Vol: 32 Page: 334 His Excellency James Robertson Esquire General and Governor in Chief in and over the Province of New York and the Territories depending thereon in America. Chancellor and Vice Admiral of the same and Major General of his Majesty’s Forces ~ To All to Whom these Presents shall come or may in anywise concern Sendeth Greetings. Know Ye that at the city of New York on the day of the date hereof before Cary Ludlow Esquire thereunto delegated and appointed the last Will and Testament of William Bruce Deceased (a copy whereof is hereunto annexed) was proved and is now approved and allowed of by me. And the said Deceased having whilst he lived at the time of his death goods Chattels and Credits within this Province by Means whereof the proving and registering the said Will and the granting Administration of all and singular the said Goods Chattels and Credits and also the auditing allowing and final discharging the account thereof doth belong unto me The Administration of all and singular the Goods Chattels and Credits of the said Deceased and any way concerning his Will is granted unto Judith Bruce the Executrix in the said Will named who is duly sworn well and faithfully to administrate the same and to make and Exhibit a true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the said Goods Chattels and credits and also to render just and true account thereof when thereunto required. In Testimony whereof I have caused the Prerogative Seal of the Province of New York to be hereunto affixed at Fort George in the City of New York the twenty fourth day of May one thousand seven hundred and Eighty. Sam Bayard, Jun’r D’Secry William Bruce of the City of New York surgeon to the Royal Artillery in North America, for the settlement of my temporal affairs, do this fourteenth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy five make my last Will and Testament in manner and form following, First, I order my Debits be paid in some convenient time after my Decease. Item. I do will and Impower my Executors herein after Named or the Major Part of them as soon as it can be done without Disadvantage to my Family to grant and sell all my Real Estate whatsoever according to their discretion and to Make seal and Execute to the Purchasers good and sufficient Deeds and conveyances in the Law in fee Simple and also to dispose of and convert all my Plate household Furniture chattels and personal effects into money and the monies to arise from the sale both my real and Personal Estate to place and keep at Interest on such Securities as they in their Discretion shall judge Competent And the yearly interest arising there from (or so much as shall be sufficient) to apply to the support of my beloved Wife Judith and the maintenance and education of my Children, Thomas Gage Bruce and Elizabeth Rynders Bruce and such child or children I may have or leave by my said wife or whereof she maybe pregnant at the time of my Death until my said wife and children shall respectively become entitled to their several proportions thereof in the manner hereafter specified. Item. I do give devise and bequeath unto my said wife and her heirs Executors administrators and assigns forever one full and equal third and part and share of all my whole Estate (excepting what shall be used and applied for her own support and the maintenance and education of my children born and to be born) to be paid and delivered unto her in case of her Remarriage before any one of my children shall come of age or marry at the time of such remarriage of my said wife. But in case my said Wife shall remain my Widow until any one or my children shall be of the age of twenty and one years or marry then to be paid and delivered unto her at the time when such Child shall attain such age or marry. Item. I do Will and declare that what I have herein given and devised to my said Wife is and shall be in full Bar of her Right and Title of Dower of and to my Estate. Item. All the rest Residue and Remainder of my Estate I do give devise and bequeath unto and among my said son Thomas Gage and daughter Elizabeth Rynders and such other child or children as I may have or leave by my said wife whereof she may be pregnant at the time of my Decease and to their several and respective Heirs Executors Administrators and assigns forever equally to be shared and divided among them share and share alike when they shall respectively attain the age of twenty and one years or marry whichever shall first happen. Item. In case of the Death of any or either of my said children born or to be born before he or she shall be entitled to receive a portion of my estate according to this my Will I do give and devise the part and share of such of them so dying unto and among the survivors or survivor of them their heirs Executors Administrators and assigns forever equally to be shared and divide among them share and share alike. Item. Lastly I do nominate constitute and appoint my said beloved wife Judith, my brother Archibald Bruce, Surgeon of the Royal Navy and my friend Isaac Low of the City of New York Merchant and the survivors or survivor of them to be Executrix and Executors of this My Last Will And Testament Hereby revoking all other Wills and Testaments by me at any time heretofore made Declaring these presents only to be and contain my Last Will and Testament In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year above written. Will’m Bruce {S.S.} Signed Sealed published and declared by the said William Bruce as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us who subscribed our names as Witnesses thereunto in the presence and at the request of the testator. James Duane, John Lansing Jun’r, Edward Dunscomb City of New York} SS Be it remembered that on the twenty fourth day of May one thousand seven hundred and Eighty personally came and appeared before me Cary Ludlow Surrogate for the City and Province aforesaid Peter Dubois of the City afore said Magistrate of Police Isaac Low of the same place Merchant and Judith Bruce Widow and one of the Executors of the before written Will of William Bruce deceased who being duly sworn on their Oaths declare first said Isaac Low himself declared that he is well acquainted with the hand writing of James Duane and hath frequently seen him write that he verily believes the name James Duane subscribed as a witness to the before written Instrument purporting to be the Will of the said William Bruce is his the said James Duane’s own hand writing And the said Peter Dubois for himself also declares that he is well acquainted with the hand writing of James Duane and William Bruce deceased and he hath frequently seen them write That he verily believes the names of James Duane and William Bruce the former subscribed as a witness and the latter as the testator were respectively wrote by the said James Duane and William Bruce And the said Judith Bruce for herself also declares that the said Instrument here produced and shown to her contains the true last Will and Testament of William Bruce Deceased as far as she knows or believes That she will well and truly perform the same by paying first his just debits and then the Legacies contained in the said Will as far as his goods Chattels and credits will there unto extend and the Law charge her and she will make a true and perfect inventory of all and singular the goods Chattels and credits and a just account and exhibit same when thereunto required whereupon I do admit the said Judith Bruce to the said Will Given under my hand the day and year first above written. Cary Ludlow, Surrogate. Additional Comments: Dr. William Bruce was a surgeon in the Royal Artillery in North America and subsequently head of the Medical Department of the British army in New York. Dr. Bruce died 1779, in the West Indies, on the Expedition to St. Lucia under General Grant. His wife Judith was the daughter of Nicholas Bayard and Elizabeth Rynders and the widow of Jeremiah Van Rensselaer. Of the children of the union of Dr. William and Judith Bruce, only a son Archibald Bruce, born in 1777, lived to maturity. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ny/newyork/wills/bruce876gwl.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/nyfiles/ File size: 8.8 Kb