The Will of John Sweet of Trinity - 1763

In the Name of God Amen. I JOHN SWEET inhabitant of TRINITY in Newfoundland being of sound and disposing mind and memory thanks be to God for it do make and ordain this my last will and testament in manner and form following ffirst of all I recommend my soul to Almighty God ? the merits of Jesus Christ and my Body to the dust(?) ? buried at the discretion of my friends. Item I give and bequeath unto my wife MARY SWEET all her wearing apparel and ffurniture and all and every sum and sums of money that I shall or may be possessed of at the time of my decease whether in England or here in whose hands soever it may appear to be, she paying out of it the sum of ffifty pounds unto my DAUGHTER ANN SWEET as shall be after named ? I give and bequeath unto my said wife twelve pounds sterling per annum to be paid to her by my said Wife by my two sons or whomsoever shall occupy my said Room hereinafter mentioned to her their mother for her natural life and afterward to continue the same to my daugher Ann Sweet if she should be then unmarried but when she marries that is to cease. Item I give and devise to my SON JOHN SWEET and his heirs my now dwelling house ? and gardens adjoining and the cow house that is between them. I also give and bequeath unto him the ? part of my now fishing room (that is to say) my Landwash Fflakes and the three narrow fflakes that is opposite to them with all the beach that is betwixt them and more thirty ffoot on that part my larger beach next to that before mentioned say thirty foot from the now boundarys of the church yard where the door or Hatch? now is ? we go from my now dwelling house to the church ? in a direct line down to the path and more the lower part of the small beach on the south side of the path that goes down from my now dwelling house to the stage and now one moiety of my stage or stages of the store house and what other house or houses may be on the premises at my decease now than is hereafter mentioned ? one moiety of the meadows that ? the house that's to say the ffarthest part from the storehouse and also in three meadows in the sound known by the name of UPPER and MIDDLE LANCE(?) COVE and GOOSEBERY(?) POINT to him and his heirs. I give the above Item I give and devise unto my SON WILLIAM SWEET and his heirs a sufficient room to build a dwelling house on the Upper part of the ? beach on the south side the path going down towards the stage as is before mentioned where there is now two small houses and all that point of land to the SE of it as far as mine and also the garden next to the store house and the largest beach as far as the boundary before ? for his brother JOHN that's to say thirty ffoot from the ffence that now makes the Church yard that part of it as before where is a door or hath ? which to go to church hour thence in a right line down to the path with the words the sand beach and all the ? fflakes or ? three narrow fflakes ? ? from that and I do ffurther give and bequeath to my Son WM SWEET and his heirs the other moiety of my stage or stages and also of the store houses and the other moiety of the meadows that part that's next the storehouse and the moiety or ? half what other house or houses may be on the premises more than before mentioned at the time of my decease. Item I give and devise unto my DAUGHTER ANN SWEET all her wearing apparel and ffurniture and my two rooms at HANTS HARBOUR known by the name of JOHN (?)KERS(?) Room ? appears by an instrument to have been purchased from GEORGE GARLAND and now I give and bequeath to my said Daughter Ann Sweet the sum of ffifty pounds to be paid her by my Executrix hereinafter named out of what I have bequeathed her. Item I give and devise unto my two SONS JOHN and WILLIAM SWEET all my roome at the South West part of SAMMON COVE to them and their heirs for ever to be equal between them with all its profits and advantages with whatever stage or stages house or houses or whatever may be there at the time of my decease. Ffurther I give and bequeath unto my two sons JOHN and WILLIAM SWEET all my boats of every sort with sales netts and all manner of ffishing craft belonging to the ffishery to be equally divided between them a large kettle included and as to my household goods and whatsoever stock of provision of every kind as well live stock as otherwise not before named I give and bequeath it to and amongst my WIFE MARY SWEET and my two sons JOHN and WILLIAM SWEET and my DAUGHTER ANN SWEET to be equally divided amongst them. Lastly I make ordain and appoint my wife MARY SWEET to be my sole Executrix of this my last will and testament. In Witness of which I have hereunto set my hand and seal this ffourteenth day of Ffebruary in the year of our lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty three.

JOHN SWEET JS his mark.

Signed Sealed and declared to be the last will and testament in the presence of

THOS WARDEN
THOS CLARK

On the eighteenth day of July in the year of our lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety two administration (with the will annexed of all and singular the chattels and credits of JOHN SWEET late of the Bay of Trinity in the Island of Newfoundland deceased was granted to ANN PAMPIER (transcriber's note, should read DAMPIER) ??? the natural and lawful daughter and one of the next of kin of the said deceased having been first sworn by commission duly to administer Mary Sweet Widow the Relict of the said Deceased and the sole Executrix named in the said will surviving the said Deceased but dying without taking upon her the Execution thereof and no residuary legatees being named therein.

Transcriber's Note:
Note that Ann Sweet gets a payment from her father's will as long as she is unmarried. Note that she married Thomas Dampier at the age of approximately 40-45 in 1787, two years after her mother's death, at which time she inherited the remainder of her mother's estate.