In the name of God, Amen!
I, Robert Beverley of the Parish of St. George & county of Spotsylvania... do make this my last will & testament in manner & form following; vizt:
Imprimis: I do bequeath my soul to God....
Item. It is my will that all my Just debts & funeral Expenses be first Justly paid and discharged.
Item. It is my will that the acct. of the Estate of my late father, Mr. Harry Beverley, deceased, be fairly & Justly settled with my sisters & the husbands of them that are married and whatever is due to them for their parts of the same be Justly paid to them, Either in money or in any part of my father's personall estate that is left in specie as they shall choose. And it is my will that no account which I had against my father, Mr. Harry Beverley, dec'd, before his death be brought ag'st his Estate in the settlement above directed; I hereby freely remitting everything that was due to me from my father before his death; and only those accounts that I have against his estate since his Death be taken as a charge against his Estate in the settlement above directed.
Item. I give unto my nephew, Beverley Stanard, & to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten forever Six thousand acres of land, part of my tract of land at the Mountains in Spotsilvania County, commonly called the Octonia land, to be laid off at the upper end of said tract, the whole breadth thereof and to come downward from the upper end untill it makes the said Six thousand acres.
Item. I give unto Mr. Benjamin Winslow, my brotherinlaw, & to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten forever three thousand acres of land, part of my tract of land at the mountains in Spotsilvania county commonly called the Octonia land to be laid off at the lower end of the said tract & running up to the mouth of the Clow run, thence up the Clow run untill a line from thence to some of the lower lines w'ch run nigh the southwest mountains will make the said three thousand acres of land, only it is my will that fifty acres of land adjoining to my mill and below the Clow run be first laid off in an oblong on the run side.
Item. I give unto Anthony Head & to his heirs forever two hundred acres of land, part of my said Octonia tract to be laid off on the upper side of the Clow run in an exact square and to include the plantation the said Head now lives on.
Item. I give unto Robert Dearing & to his heirs forever two hundred acres of land, part of my said Octonia tract to be laid off on the lower side of the Clow run and bounded according to a survey thereof lately made by Mr. Benjamin Winslow.
Item. It is my will that my whole estate be kept together untill it (raise besides the Yearly expences thereof, the paying the debts I owe & the legacy I do herein bequeath) five hundred pounds sterling which sum when so raised I do desire and order to be laid out by my executors to the best advantage in negro slaves, w'ch slaves when so bought I give and bequeath unto my son Harry and I do desire that the said slaves may be settled on my land for his life.
Item. It is my will that my three unmarried sisters, Mary, Catherine and Agatha have their board and live in my house at Newland in the same manner they have used to do with me in my lifetime untill they marry; w'thout any charge or expense to them.
Item. It is my will that my two sisters Catherine and Agatha work their negroes on my dwelling plantation called Newland untill they marry w'thout paying any consideration for the same.
Item. I Give and bequeath unto my two sisters Catherine and Agatha six pounds currant money p'r annum besides the product of their own slaves untill they marry.
Item. I lend unto my dear wife Ann Beverley after that clause in this my will w'ch Directs five hundred pounds sterling to be raised and laid out in negroes for the benefit of my son is complied with one Entire third part of all my negroes, stock & land and all my other personall estate except the negroes and stock without being obliged to make up any account for the same w'th my son when he comes of age, that is; & my meaning is; that she my said wife Ann Beverley shall have the use of my whole personall estate except negroes and stock immediately after my death and the use of the third part of my negroes and stock, after the above mentioned clause is complied with during her natural! life & it is my will that my estate be neither appraised nor sold, only inventoried.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my dear and only son Harry Beverley all the rest of my estate both reall and personall, to him and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten forever.
Item. It is my will & desire and I do order and Impower my Executors to sell the one thousand acres of land which I bought of Joseph Harris, and also ye nine hundred and twenty acres of land in Caroline County binding upon ye lands of William Durrett for money—the most that can be gott.
Item. I desire that ye a flairs of my land with ye "Iron Mine Company" on Pamunkey may be settled and that ye fifteen hundred acres of land being ye upper half part of a tract of land called Camm's land & now due to me lron ye said Company may be laid off & deeds thereof made to my Executors & that my executors also sell the said land for money—the most that can be gott & that my said executors buy for each of my sisters a young negro out of the said money.
Item. I give all the land that I have in that tract at pamunkey to my five sisters that have part there already, to them and their heirs forever, to be equally divided between them.
Item. I give unto my sister Stanard's two daughters all the right which I have in Mr. Stanard's estate except the negroes, and I give them each a negro out of my share of the negroes of the said estate.
Item. I make and appoint my dear and loving wife, during her widowhood—and my cousin William Beverley Executors of this my last will & testament, and after my dear wife shall happen to marry, then my will is, that my brother Benjamin Winslow be one of my executors.
Item. It is my will that my dear son Harry be not sent to England, but put to school at ye college at the age of ten years & there kept as long-as shall be necessary, that is, till he is one & twenty years old, to learn all such things as is necessary for a gentleman & can be taught him there.
Item. I appoint my cousin William Beverley to be the guardian of my son Harry.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seal this nth day of May in ye year of our Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred and thirty-three. [1737]
Robekt Beverlev. [Seal.]
Signed, sealed & delivered to be his last will and testament in die presence of us—the interlineation in ye clause about the land called Camm's land & that about ye pamunkey land being first made.
Elias Waff,
Jerome Armor,
Larkin Chew,
W. Beverlev.
