willa: John Tobias Upper Bern Twp, Berks Co, PA File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Crystal Ritter. Spunkygen@aol.com 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. ____________________________________________________________ This is the will of John TOBIAS son of Jacob and Barbara (DEGLER) TOBIAS. Some words I could not make out so put them in ( ). John is my 3rd Great Grandfather. I am through John's son, Benjamin. I believe Jacob above noted is the son of immigrant Hans Jost TOBE but have not yet been able to confirm this. John supposedly had 3 wives and 21 children. I know of one other wife: Margaretha (Rebecca) HOFNER/HEFFNER. Another possibly wife is Maria ALTHOUSE daughter of Daniel ALTHOUSE but I have been unable to confirm that John is mine. John was born 25 Sep 1790 in Berks Co, PA. Looking for any info that will help to confirm or deny these things. Also looking for info on John's descendants. Sorry for those seeing it more than once. Crystal (Tobias) RItter Be It Remembered, That I, John Tobias--- Being of sound and disposing mind, memory and understanding, and considering the uncertainty of life, do therefore make, ordain, publish and declare, this to be my last WILL and TESTAMENT, in manner and form following, the is to say: Imprimis: I direct all my just debts and funeral expenses to be fully paid and satisfied by my executor hereinafter named as soon as convenient may be after my decease. Item, I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Catharine Tobias all my personal property consisting of money, bonds, notes, furniture, etc (and all my real estate consisting of a messuage, tenement and tract of land situate in Upper Bern Township Berks County adjoining lands of Peter Spatz, John Feick and Jonathan Loose, containing twenty acres more of less-If Daniel Resch can-not keep it) (I do order and bequeath the whole of the above described messuage-tenement unto my beloved wife Catharine Tobias during her natural life-In case she survives me. Item. It is my will and I do order that after the decease of my beloved wife Catharine Tobias the residue shall be divided as follows by my executor hereafter mentioned- First, I give and devise to my son William Tobias his heirs and assigns one dollar and a half Secondly-I give and devise to my son Joseph his heirs and assigns one dollar and a half Thirdly-I give and devise my son Daniel his heirs and assigns one dollar and a half Fourthly-I give and devise to my son Benjamin his heirs and assigns two dollars and a half- Fifthly-I give and devise to my son Levi his heirs and assigns two dollars and a half Sixthly-I give and devise to my daughter Isabella her heirs and assigns, one dollar and a half Seventhly-I give and devise to my daughter Sarah her heirs and assigns one dollar and a half Eighthly-I give and devise to my daughter Lucian Ann her heirs and assigns one dollar and a half Ninthly-I give and devise to my daughter Polly her heirs and assigns twelve cents. And as to all the rest, residue and remainder of my Estate, real, personal or mixed, of whatever nature or kind, or wheresoever situate at the time of my decease, I do hereby give devise and bequeath to my daughter Lovinia And lastly, I do make, constitute and appoint Wm. K. Haag to be the executor-of this my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all former Wills by me at any time heretofore made, and declaring these presents only to be and contain my last Will and Testament. In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name, and affixed my seal the twenty third day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and Seventy one John (X his mark) Tobias Signed, sealed, published and declared, by the testat above named, as and for his last Will and Testament, in the presence of us, who have hereunto, at his request, subscribed out names in his presence, and in the presence of each other, as witnesses hereto Franklin K. Rick E. B. Miller January 5, 1877 E. B. Miller Registers office Berks County (not sure could be SS or 88 or 33) on the 5th day of January AD 1877 Before me P. Y. Edelman Register of Wills (se ??) personally appeared E. B. Miller and on the 26th day of January AD 1877. Personally appeared Franklin K. Rick the Subscribing Witnesses to the foregoing will being duly Sworn according to (Saw ?? not sure of word) did depose and say that they were present and did see and hear John Tobias the Testator make his mark real publish and declare the foregoing Instrument of writing as and for his last will and Testament that at the time of so doing he was of Sound Mind Memory and understanding to the best of his knowledge observation and belief. P. Y. Edelman, Register Will of John Tobias Proved Jan. 26th AD 1877 and Letters of Testamentary in (Common??) form were granted unto William K. Haag the Executor in the will named having first been duly qualified there to died in the Township of Upper Bern on the 16th day of December AD 1876 at between 5 & 6 o'clock AM Recorded in Vol. 13 Pag 353 >>>> Additional notes This was sent to me reguarding the will, I neglected to include the date the will was written at the top: March 22nd 1841. I replied to him and also noted to him that John's wife, Catharine died the day after the will was probated. John died 16 Dec 1876, will was proved 26 Jan 1877 and Catharine died 27 Jan 1877. Catharine was supposedly the 3rd wife. All the children listed on the will are not hers. Benjamin, Levi, his twin sister who died in infancy and Lovina all were Catharine's. Hope this helps to clarify things a little bit. Sorry for neglecting to add that date. The last part of my message before that is below was on the outside page of the will. Crystal This gives the appearance that the will was dated January 1877 even though we show John dying December, 1876. The following provides the December date but it's not clear to me whether this refers to John or to his exectutor who died--and this date picked up as John's Will of John Tobias Proved Jan. 26th AD 1877 and Letters of Testamentary in (Common??) form were granted unto William K. Haag the Executor in the will named having first been duly qualified there to died in the Township of Upper Bern on the 16th day of December AD 1876 at between 5 & 6 o'clock AM ==== PASCHUYL Mailing List ====