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Last Will and Testament Andrus Wederwax/Weatherwax Town of Greenbush |
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Last Will and Testament Andrus Wederwax/Weatherwax Town of Greenbush |
Page 246
The people of the State of New York by the grace of God ____ _____ to all whom these presence shall come or may concur ____ ____ know ye that in the City of Troy in the county of Rensselaer on the twenty second day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred twenty four before Thomas CLOWITZ Esquire Surrogate of our county the last Will and testament of ANDRIS WIDERWAX late of the town of Greenbush in the county of Rensselaer state of New York deceased, one copy thereof is hereunto annexed, was proved & is now approved & allowed by us and the said deceased having whilst he lived & at the time of his death goods, chattels or credits within this state by means when of the proving registering the said Will and the granting of administration of all ____ the ____ goods, chattels, and credits also the auditing ____ final discharge the accounts thereof doth ____ to us The administration of all ___ the good chattels & credits of the said deceased ____ ____ said Will is granted unto LAWRENCE WEDERWAX, BATEYON WEDERWAX [Bastian Wederwax] & Evert VAN ALEN executors in the said Will named they being first duly sworn will truthfully administer the same to make & exhibit a true perfect inventory of all ____ and the said good chattels and credits also to render a just & true account thereof whom thereunto required in testimony whereas we have affixed the seal of office of our said Surrogate to be hereby affixed _____ _____
Thomas CLOWITZ Esquire Surrogate of the said county at the city of Troy the twenty second day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred twenty four.
Thomas CLOWITZ Surrogate
In the name of God Amen I Andris Weiderwax of the town of Greenbush in the county of Rensselaer & state of New York
Page 247
being weak in body but of sound mind & memory before the almighty God for the same but considering the uncertainty of th____ life do make publish & declare this my last Will & testament in ____ following
My ____ I will that all my just debts & funeral expenses be duly satisfied & paid in some convenient time after my decease to be (paid) out of my personal property by my executors hereafter nominated
I give & bequeath to my sons LAWRENCE, ANDRIS, BASTOYAN and their heirs all my _____ ____to be ____ equally divided at expiration of six weeks after decease. And to son Lawrence I give my gun.
Item I will bequeath to my daughters all the (wearing) apparal of the late deceased wife to try them equally divided share and share alike at the expiration of six weeks after my decease.
Item I give devise and bequeath to my son BASTOYAN his heirs assigns all the south part of my farm together buildings improvements thereon as the same has been by me divided or partitioned lines between BASTYAN ___ over LEONARD in his lifetime and as the same has been surveyed by Evert VAN ALEN as by his map or chart by him made. Thereunto affixed ____bing thereunto ____ Will appear contains one hundred & twenty three acres of land & that the said BASTYAN pays annually in ____ ____ for the ____ to help him Vern Ruy___ Eleven Bushels of good ____ ____ ____ winter wheat & shall pay the sum of three hundred & fifty pounds in annual payments of fifty pounds or yearly every year until paid. The first payment to be made one year after my decease.
To children namely LAWRENCE, ANDREW, CATHERINE, MARGARET, DOROTHY, ANATIE, BARBARY to be by them equally divided to hold the same to my said son BASTYAN unto his heirs & assigns forever.
Item: I give devise & bequeath unto my two Grandsons ANDREW & SAMUEL both born of my deceased son LEONARD to his heirs assigns my dwelling house whereon I now live + ____+ all that Northerly part of my farm as the same has been by me divided as above stated in the devise to my son BASTYAN in which said Northerly part is said to contain one hundred thirty two + seven tenths acres of land for consideration of which they shall pay to Stephen Van Rensselaer annually, eleven & one half bushels of clean merchantable winter wheat. That they shall support maintain and keep their mother widow of LEONARD WIDERWAX deceased for & during her natural life or so long as she remain unmarried, with sufficient food, clothing in the manner in which she has been accustomed to live. To remain in my dwelling house during said time & also for consideration of said ____ that they the said LEONARD [sic - SAMUEL?] & ANDRIUS pay the sum of four hundred
page 248
pounds in payments of fifty pounds annually until the said farm ____ unto____ or___.The first payment to be made in one year after my decease to my children namely: LAWRENCE, ANDRIS, CATHERINE, MARGARET, DOROTHY, ANATIE, BARBARY to be by them equally divided to their heirs to hold the same to said ANDRUS & SAMUAL the heirs ____ ____
And further I Will that said ADRIS [ANDRIS] & SAMUAL do for in consideration of the above ____ pay to their ____ ____ of my deceased son LEONARD the following sums ____:
To ELIZABETH the sum of twenty five dollars in ten years after my decease.
To CATHERINE the sum of twenty five dollars in eleven years after my decease.
To MARIA the sum of twenty five dollars in twelve years after my decease.
ITEM: All the rest residue & remainder of all of my property both real and personal not hereunto previously willed ___ I give __ bequeath to all my children & to all the children of my son LEONARD late deceased. They to ____ pick one share as though the said LEONARD had lived to equally by them divide share & share alike. At the expiration of six weeks after my decease & that the share or portion so drawn of my son LEONARD deceased & equally divided among his children share and share alike by my executors hereinafter named.
And lastly I do hereby further constitute, nominate and appoint my sons
LAWRENCE WEDERWAX, BASTYAN WEDERWAX & Evert VAN ALEN executors to this my last Will & testament hereby utterly revoking disannulling & making void all former Wills, bequests by me made ratifying allowing & confirming this & no other to be my last Will & Testament.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal this first day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty one.
his
signed & sealed published & declared by
Wetrufus- James WOOD - Frederick SIPPERLY - Henry ____ ____
Page 249
who being duly sworn declare that they did see _____(Andris Wederwax) the annexed written instrument purported to be the last Will & Testament of the said Andris Wederwax deceased ___ the February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred twenty one & _____ _____ published ....
Andrus X Wederwax (ss)
mark
said Andris Widerwas as for his last
Will & testament in the presence
in the presence of each other who have
hereunto subscribed our names
The remainder of this Will is unreadable. Unlike other wills I have transcribed, this one transcribed as it appears in the book has the probate portion first, then the will. Since probate occurred after death, it appears that either this Will was in a book already completed or damaged. Or possibly the Will was recorded in another book which was destroyed. In any case it appears the family did have a copy of the Will to get it probated.
Words which are not clearly readable are indicated by ______. Words within parentheses ( ) indicate my interpretation of the correct word. [Lin Van Buren adds: Items in square brackets [ ] were inserted by me.] As in all such cases, you are advised to check the original document to verify my transcription.
This will was a very clear photocopy, but the penmanship made it very difficult to transcribe. It also appears that the recorder himself got lost in the process and repeated required lines several times.
I believe that this is the Will of Andreas Weatherwax born in 1739, last son by the first marriage of Johann Andreas Widerwachs (the immigrant son). He writes this about a year after the death of his wife, Catherine Reisdorff. I had just visited this farm in May of 2003 and viewed the Weatherwax family cemetery there.
The will consists of four pages, numbered 246 through 249.
