Benjamin Chesley’s Will: Multiple Codicils, Six More Years of Life
Benjamin Chesley: 1743-1831 (Maternal Fifth-Great-Granduncle)
While researching the previous post on my
fifth-great-granduncle Benjamin Chesley’s, which dealt with his signing eight
petitions to various branches of government between 1787 and 1820, I ran across
his will. I had seen the document during earlier research on his family, and it
had made me question his purported death date. I decided to re-examine the will
and try to resolve the discrepancies that had confused me in the past.
The will in question was written and signed in the year
1825. Wills of that era were normally written shortly before death, when the
testator was in failing health and realized the end was near. As a result, some
trees gave Benjamin Chesley a death year of 1825. Even Ancestry’s algorithm used
the will to suggest a death year of 1825. But other records and trees—including
mine --used a death date of 1831.
There were three possible explanations for the six year
difference in death years. First, the person who wrote the will was not the
correct Benjamin Chesley—I already knew there were several men with that name living
in Massachusetts and New Hampshire during that time period, so it was a
distinct possibility. Second, perhaps I had the wrong death date for Benjamin
Chesley—perhaps he really did die in 1825 and the Chesley who died in 1831 was
a different man. Third, Chesley actually wrote the will six years before he
died, contrary to general practice of the time.
My first step to determine which possible explanation was
correct was to read the will and identify the beneficiaries. Did they match my
Benjamin Chesley’s children, or were there different children listed that would
show the will was written by a different man?
The beneficiaries were as follows: Benjamin’s wife, Deborah.
Sons Isaac, Benjamin, Miles, Valentine, Israel and Thomas.
He also leaves property to his son James’ sons William and Valentine—James had
already died in 1823.
Daughters: Deborah Stone, Susanna Chesley, Nancy Hart, Molly
Woodman and Abigail Hall. He also leaves the sum of $50 to Nancy Hart’s
daughter (his granddaughter) Mary Chesley. He also left the paltry amount of
$1.00 each to his grandchildren who were born to eldest daughter Abigail.
The sons primarily received land in the will. Benjamin seems
to have had extensive land holdings in a variety of locations in New Hampshire,
including Durham, New Durham, Middleton, and towns in Rockingham County including
Nottingham, Barrington and New Market. In addition, his grandsons were to
inherit a grist mill and saw mill at Durham Falls. The daughters primarily
received money.
The beneficiaries perfectly correlate to Benjamin and
Deborah’s eleven children in my tree. The name “Miles” in the handwritten copy
of the will in the probate records looks more like the name “Moses”, and that
is how AI transcribed it. However, I think it should read “Miles” as all the
other records for that son show his name as “Miles”. Miles did have a son named
Moses so perhaps an error was made in probate court when they copied the will
into the court records.
This evidence persuades me that the will was indeed written
by my fifth great-granduncle Benjamin Chesley. The next thing I needed to check
was the date on the probate records. Was the will probated in 1825, or in a
later year? When I took the time to examine the entire probate file, I
discovered that Benjamin had added two codicils to his will in later years.
The first codicil was dated December 30, 1828, three years
after the original will was signed. The codicil made two changes to his
original will. First, Benjamin made an additional bequest to his daughter Nancy
Hart, writing:
“And I do hereby give and bequeath unto my daughter Nancy
Hart in addition to the provision made for her in my said Will the use and
occupancy of my Hill house so called settled in said Durham together with the
use and occupancy if one half acre of land and around said house where she
shall chouse so long as she remains a widow and no longer.”
Signature section of First Codicil to Benjamin Chesley Will
He goes on to specify that Nancy must actually live in this
house, and that she does not have permission to rent it out and collect the
rents. He also directs his grandsons William and Valentine (sons of his dead
son James) to provide Nancy with what is “sufficient for one to be wintered and
summered and kept the year round.”
The second section of the codicil amends a provision Benjamin
had made to Sally Chesley, the widow of his son James Chesley. He had given her
“one full third of all my estate as might have happened to her by her husbands
decease to whom she a former will” during her natural life. In other words, she
would receive a life interest to one third of what her husband would have
inherited from Benjamin. The remainder of James’ would-be inheritance was to go
to James and Sally’s sons, William and Valentine Chesley. Benjamin amended this
bequest to give her a full one-third of the property, not just a life interest,
with the proviso that she not remarry.
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| Second Codicil to Benjamin Chesley will with date of codicil and date of probate highlighted |
The second codicil was dated June 24, 1830, just a month
after the death of Benjamin’s wife, Deborah Randall Chesley. The second codicil
made the following changes: Benjamin leaves daughters Nelly Woodman and Deborah
Stone fifty dollars each in addition to the bequests in the previous will. He
also references his wife’s death and eliminates a clause in his original will
giving his wife power to distribute the residual assets of the estate among his
children as needed. Instead, he gives daughters Susannah Chesley and Mary Hart
any residue of the estate, divided equally between them.
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| Section of Second Codicil noting the death of Benjamin's wife Deborah |
The will and two codicils were presented to the probate
court for execution on May 16, 1831. Benjamin died February 5, 1831. The
probate date three months later seems reasonable.
After rereading the will and codicils, I feel I can
understand why Benjamin Chesley chose to make his will long before his eventual
death, which wasn’t typical in the early nineteenth century. He had a
considerable estate to dispose of—extensive property, businesses, and money. He
seems to have been a planner. He wanted to ensure that everything was prepared well
in advance of his death. He continued to think about how to best distribute his
possessions as the years passed, and made adjustments to the will as his priorities
and his family’s circumstances changed. I can also now see that he took
responsibility for his family members, caring for his son’s widows and his
grandchildren as well as his own children. I’m glad I took the time to
re-examine and reassess this fascinating document.
Sources:
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