Last Will & Testament of Sarah Brechin Signed ___ June 1751; Proved 23 March 1753

[Note: The clerk did not indicate on what date the will was recorded. The outer edges of the pages have broken off, and along with them went the number of the day in June on which the will was signed. In this transcription, portions of the original record which were on the now missing edges of the pages are indicated with bracketed ellipsis points, I.e., "[...]". When enough of a word or phrase remains to be fairly sure of what letters are missing, the missing letters are placed in brackets.]

Louisa County, Virginia, Will Book 1 (1745-1761), left-hand page of folio 27:

In the name of God Amen I Sarah Brechin of [t]he County of Louisa being sick and weak in body but of perfect Sence and [m]Emory blessed Be the Almighty God fore it, and considering the [U]nsartenty of Life and that it is appointed once for all to Die Do consti-[t]Ute and Ordain this my Last Will and Testament revoaking and Disannuling all and every other Will and Wills whatsoever here- [t]ofore made by me, and I Do Declare this only to be my Last will [an]d Testament in manner and form following Imprim's first and [pr]incapally I give my Soul into the hands of Almighty God that gave [it] me hopeing assuredly through the Meritorious Dethe and Passion [of ou]R Blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ to Receive free Pardon and [the] Remission of all my Sins, Secondly I commit my body to the

[right-hand page of folio 27]

Ground to Buried in a Cristian Decent manner according to [...] of my frinds, and as to what estate it hath pleased the Almighty [...] me with be the Same raial or personal, or in what nature or [...what-] Soever I give and bequeath in manner and form following It[em I give and] Bequeath my fieve negros By name Bender, Dinah, Duk[e, ...and] Nell to be equilly Devided between my Nine Children [...] John Poindexter, Thomas Poindexter, William Brechi[n, ...] Brechin, Susana Snead, Elisabeth Shrosberry, Sarah R[...] Reatherford and [J?]oan [I?]rland to them and their heirs or [assigns for-] ever, Item further Give and bequeeth to my aforesaid Nin[e Children] all my hole and Sole right and Title to all the negros that [...] property in which was of my fathers Estate Descending to m[e...] to them and their heirs and assigns for ever, that is to say, m[y...] Desire is that my Loving Daughter Susana Snead shall [...] Young Negro to her Self before the Devision made and afte[R...] Rest to be equally devided amongst them all Item I give [...] William Brechin my bed and furniture Item my Will [...] that all my Wairing Cloths shall be Equly Devided amongst [...] Daughters Lastly I Do apoint my Son Thomas Poindexter [...] Son John Snead hole and Sole Executors of this my Last W[ill and Testam-]ent In Witness hereof I have hereunto Set my hand and [seal this ___ ] Day of June in the year of our Lord Christ One thousand Seven [Hundred and] fifty one his her Charles C Parrot Sarah S Brec[hin (Seal)] mark mark [J or I]on. I [L?]ose Samel [L?]ose
At a Court held for Louisa County on Tuesday the XXiii [Day of] March MDCCLiii This Will was this Day Proved in open Court by the Oath of Charle[S Parrot one] of the Witnesses thereto, & by the Court admitted to Record and [recorded.] Teste Jas. Littlepage Cl[...]

Note: The second witness may have signed with a mark, but the clerk did not indicate as such. The "I" between his first and last names looks like a printed capital "I" with a short horizontal line drawn across the vertical stroke at the midpoint--somewhat like some people write the number "7" with a short horizontal stroke intersecting the vertical part of the figure. The first letter of that witness's given name could be a "J" or an "I". [My note: This is a description of an initial I have often seen for the letter J made by those who could not sign their name.] The similarity of those two letters also left me guessing whether one child's name was Joan Irland. In this clerk's handwriting, the capital letters "J" and "I" are virtually the same. The first letters of the surnames of the second and third witnesses could be "L" or "B", since one of the three ways this clerk wrote a "B" was virtually the same as one of the ways he wrote an "L". The clerk also wrote a capital "H" so that it looked the same as the "Lo" or "Bo" in those witnesses' surnames, but "Hse" doesn't seem to be a possible spelling of their names. The surname of the daughter named Elisabeth is probably meant to be the same as Shrewsberry or Shrewsbury.]