To all people to whome these presents shall come, I Edmund Shearman ofDartmouth in the County of Bristol in the Province of the MassachusetsBay in New England: do hereby manifest & declare that I being at thistime very sensible of the weakness of my body but my memory andunderstanding being yet good, do for the disposing & settleing of mywordly estate make this my last Will and Testament to be of force aftermy decease hereby revoking and declaring to be null & void all otherWills & Testaments by me formerly made & this to be my last will.

Impress. I will and bequeath to my son Samuel Shearman five shillings tobe payed by my Executor hereafter named with what is already given him bydeeds.

Item. I give and bequeath to my son David Shearman of my Homestead lot ofland twenty rods wide on ye south side of my said lands to run the wholelength from the foot to the head and to remaine unto my said son DavidShearman and his heires and assigns for ever.

Item. I give and bequeath to my son Nathan Shearman of said lott of landtwenty rod wide on the north side of said lands & to run from the foot tothe head & to remain unto him my said son Nathan Shearman, his heirs andassigns for ever.

Item. I give and bequeath unto my son Natha'l Shearman twenty rods wideof my said lott of lands and to lye on the south side of the remains ofmy sd homestead lot of land and on the north side of my son David aforesdand to run and even bredth from the foot to the head and to remain untomy sd son Natha'l Shearman his heirs and assigns for ever.

Item. I give and bequeath unto my loving wife Dorcas Shearman all therest of my said lot or farm of lands with all the housing orchards &fences priviledges and commodities in upon or to the sd lands, dureingall the time of her natural life and allso for her more comfortablesupport: I give to said loving wife all my personal or movable estateeither to make use of for need or to dispose of amongst our children asshe shall see cause; but after the death of my said wife: Item. I give &bequeath all that my lands given to said wife with the housing orchardsand fencing as abovesd unto my two sons Elkanah Shearman & JosephShearman and is to be equally divided beginning exactly in the middle atthe foot and so to extend to the head with a straight line; and my willis that my son Joseph Shearman shall have the north side with the housingthat is on it, and shal be and remain to my two sons Elkanah Shearman &Joseph Shearman and to their heirs and assigns forever.

Item. I give and bequeath to my son Elnathan Shearman, twelve acres and ahalfe of the land which was bought of Thomas Hicks, Scituate, lying andbeing in Dartmouth all the allowance layd out and surveyed by BenjaminGrant and is bounded as the return of sd survey makes mention and is tobe and remain unto said son Elnathan Shearman his heirs and assignsforever.

Item. I give and bequeath unto my daughter Lidia Maxfield seven acres ofland in the next division of lands in Dartmouth after eight hundred acresis compleated to the one whole share to be and remain unto her and herheirs and assigns for ever.

Item. I give and bequeath unto my five sons, David Shearman, NathanShearman, Natha'l Shearman, Elkanah Shearman & Joseph Shearman all myland lyeing between my said son David __ land and Jonathan Russel's to beequally divided among them my said son David to have the east and my sonNathan next and my son Natha'l next to Nathan and Elkanah next toNathaniel and Joseph to have the west end, and all to run across the sdland.

Item. I give and bequeath all my salt marsh meadow to my seven sonsSamuel Shearman, David Shearman, Nathan Shearman, Natha'l Shearman,Elkanah Shearman, Joseph Shearman & Elnathan Shearman and to be equallydivided among them and to remain unto them my sons their heires & assignsfor ever.

Item. I give & bequeath all the rest of my undivided lands in theTownship of Dartmouth to my six sons David Shearman Nathan Shearman,Natha'l Shearman Elkanah Shearman Joseph Shearman and Elnathan Shearmanand to remain unto them their heirs and assigns for ever. And for theperforming and executing this my last will and Testament, I make myloving wife my whole and sole Executrix and so for her my said wifeDorcas Shearman to act and perform according to law: In witness whereof Ithe said Edmund Shearman have hereunto sett my hand and seal thissTwentyeth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and twelve: 1712.

Seal

EDMUND (the mark of) SHEARMAN
Signed, Sealed, Published and Declared
by the above Edmund Shearman
as his last will and Testament in
presence of us the subscribers
George Codman
James Tripp
John Tripp

Proved July 6, 1719. Tauton, Mass.
Bristol County Probate Records. Vol. 3; page 565

[Source: Sherman, Roy V. Some of the Descendants of Philip Sherman, The First Secretary of Rhode Island. Privately Published, 1968. pp. 293, 294.]

URL: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bowers/edmund.htm