Estate of Robert Emerson of Haverhill
Essex Probate Docket # 8936

I being weake of body but in my right mind & of a good and perfect memory I thinke good to mak my last will and tastament I give and bequeath my sole to God yt gave it & my sperit I commit into ye hands of my blessed savier and redeemer yt has died for me and my body to return to dust from whance it came: and for my worly d goods I disposeth of as foloeth vedalisit
I give unto my son Thomas one half of my right and intrast of uplands & madow in my farm ling by mares crike pond and three akers madow at hakes madow yt I bought of Peter Ayers to him and his Aires for ever and ye other half of my farme both upland and madowe
I give to my sone Joseph and to his Aires for ever and I give unto my sone (.....) my four aker of land (.....) yt joins to Peter (.....) and also on common right and I give also unto my son ephrom my madow ling at ye este madow comonly called unto him and his Aires forever and
I give unto my two yongest sones Steven and baniamen my dweling house and barne and my upland and madow where my house stands be tween them unto them and thair Aires for ever alwais provideed yt Steven & Beniamen do paye unto thaier mother three pounds a year and kepe her a cow and a hors when shee has a ocasion for him and my wife shall have one ende of ye house douring hare widowhode and thaye Steven & beniamen shall find hare fire wood and eke three pounds a yere to be paied on halfe in whate and rye and the other half to be paied in inden corne at prise corent and if my wife doo marye yn shee shall have but forti shiling a yere yerliye douring har life time to be paid in graine further
I give unto my dafter Elisabeth on cow and three shepe and unto my dafter Sarah on cow and three shepe and I give unto my dafter Ladey one cow and three shepe and I give unto my two yongest sones steven and beniamen on yoke of oxen betwixt them two and I make my wife and my sone Thomas Emerson my sole Executors for too reseve all detes & to paie all dets and what is undisposed of after my wifes deth to be aquilly devided amongst my children.

This is my last will & (.....) June 3: 1694

Robert X Emerson His marke

Witnes
Steven Coffin
Joseph Johnson
William (his marke) Johnson X
(Seal)

Source: Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts, Dockett # 8936

Submitted by: Pamela Rhett Molzan

Note from the submitter:

Robert made reference to an additional son, referred to as (....). Anyone have any ideas about this one? I thought perhaps wife, Anne, might be expecting at the time the will was written, but Robert makes no mention of that. Robert made his will June 3, 1694, dying three weeks later, on June 25, 1694. If Anne were expecting a child at the time the will was written, that would mean there was about a 15 year difference between the birth of their youngest son, Benjamin and (....), and the eldest child, Elizabeth would have been 34 years older. While this is may not be impossible, it does seem rather improbable. Ican find of a child being born to Robert and Anne Emerson posthumously. So, at this point anyway, the meaning of Robert's reference to a son (....) remains a mystery.

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