Samuel Burbank's Will
(From the Ancestors & Descendants of Lt. Daniel & Mary (Marks) Burbank)
In the name of God, Amen.: The seventh day of February 1778, 1 Samuel Burbank of Holliston, County of Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay in New England; Yeoman: Calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing that I must die, recomending my soul into the hands of God that gave it, and my body I recomend to the earth to be buried in a decent Christian burial at the discretion of my Executor. And as to the worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this life, I give, demise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form by this last will and testament.
I give and bequeath unto Hannah, my wife, the use of one-half of my dwelling house, meaning the westerly part of the same from the center of the chimney and the cellar under the same house; and also the use of the oven in the easterly part of said house and of the well for water; together with all priviledges she may need in using and improving the westerly part of said house meaning to bequeath the same during the present Hannah's natural life only. I also give and bequeath to the present Hannah all my household furniture for her own use and disposal forever together with her fire wood and provisions for her comfortable support as I shall hereafter order in this my last will and testament.
I give to my son Eben(ezer), five shillings which together with what he has received making his full portion in my estate.
I give to my son Samuel, five shilling which together with what he has received making his full portion in my estate.
I give to my son Daniel, five shillings.
I give to my daughter, Mary Morse, five shillings, which together with what she has received makes her full portion in my estate.I give to my daughter, Rebecca Bishop, five shillings, which together with what she has received makes her full portion in my estate.
I give to my daughter, Rachell Dix, five shillings.
I give to my daughter, Lydia Sheffield, five shillings, which together with what she has received makes her full portion.
I give to my son, John Burbank, his heirs and assigns forever; all my lands and buildings in Holliston afore said, together with my armour, my wearing appearl, and all my personal estate; except my household furniture already bequeathed, reserving the use of the westerly half of my dwelling house to my wife Hannah during her life - he the said John Burbank, paying on demand the several legacies within mentioned; together with my funeral charges, and charges that may arise by executing this my will and testament. And also that he supply my wife, Hannah, during her widowhood with every of the necessaries of life, as she may require for her comfortable support, and so much firewood as she may require brought to her door, cut fit for her use, and carried into her room if requested, and he my said son John to receive my creidts and pay my just debts.
I do constitute and appoint my son Samuel Burbank within named, sole executor of this my last will and testament, ratifying and confriming this and no other to be my last will and testament. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year first above written.
Signed, Sealed and Declared by the said
Samuel Burbank, to be his last will
and Testament, in presence of us:
John Hemenway
Eunice Burbank
John Stone Samuel Burbank
Seal
Children: All born in Sudbury, Mass.
Timothy Burbank born 30 May 1668, Haverhill, Mass., married Rebecca Darling 3 July 1695, Salem, Essex, Mass. He was the second child and the first son of John & Susannah (Merrill) Burbank, and was named for his Uncle Timothy Burbank, who died in 1660 at the age of 19 years. When he was 12 years old his father moved to Suffield, Conn., but left Timothy with Capt. Nathaniel Saltonstall of Haverhill, Mass., graduate of Harvard and Timothy must have apprenticed himself to Capt. Salstonstall to become a Mariner. He was sailing out of Salem when he met his wife and married her. He had a daughter, named after his wife Rebecca, and she was born somewhere in the vicinity of Salem, but her birthplace or date is unknown.
Timothy had an Aunt Lydia (Burbank) Foster living in lpswich and one of her boys, Isaac Foster, was his age. He also had Aunts and Uncles of his mother, Susannah (Merrill) Burbank; their children were his first cousins living close by in Newbury, Mass. Only one item regarding his early life dated 1691: Timothy Burbank took Jane Toppan to Newbury to help tend her brother, Samuel who is there taken ill of the smallpox. This was probably one of his girl friends before he met and married Rebecca Darling. Note that he named his second child; a daughter, Jane.He was sailing out of Salem at first, but about 1698 out of Boston, as his last four children were born there; Jane, Timothy Jr., John and Samuel. From the Virginia Magazine, Vol 26, we find in the record of the receiver of the Virginia duties for York river district, dated 3 July 1704, the Swallow of Boston, mastered by Capt. Timothy Burbank, was bound for Boston, and that it was a ship of 25 tons. These ships were called Brigantines.
Rebecca Darling's parentage has been sought for many years without success; the Darling Family, Carlos Parsons Darling, especially, has written me many letters on it; nothing is certain. John Darling of Mohnegan Island, Maine and Salem, Mass., thru his wife Elizabeth Waters may be her parents. I do not have space to bring all of the research material I have and print it here. (See file folder, Capt. Timothy Burbank in the hands of Henry DeLore Burbank.)
Nothing is found regarding Timothy's death; no date, no place. After the birth of his last child, Samuel, 16 Oct 1706, no further record is found regarding him. There is strong evidence, however, that he died shortly after the birth of this child as the Boston records give the marriage of his widow to Thomas Smith, of the Reserve, 22 Feb. 1709. His death was not listed in the Boston Vital Records -- so it can be only supposed that he was lost at sea. None of his sons became mariners.
Children:
- Rebecca, Born between 1696-98, probably Salem, Mass.; married Nathan Webber by the Reverend Samuel Miles, Presbyterian at Boston, Mass., 20 Oct. 1713. He married (1) Ruth Corbett, 7 April 1709, Boston, Mass. From York county Deeds, 8:149: Nathan Webber, Mariner of Boston, only son and heir of John Webber, late of Boston, mariner. Whereas my Grandfather Thomas Webber, formerly of Kennebeck river, husbandman, and my Grandmother, Mary (Parker) Webber, by an Indian deed and a deed of gift from my Great Uncle to my said Grandmother and where as said Thomas Webber and Mary Webber had five sons and one daughter at their decease and that two-sevenths descendants unto me as heir to the eldest son, I Nathan Webber sell John Wentworth, Esq. of Porstmouth, N. H., et al, all rights that my father, John Webber had in Small Point Neck in Maine, 21 Feb. 1715/6.
- Jane, born 24 March 1699, Boston, Suffolk, Mass.; married John Smallage 12 August 1720, by Reverend Joseph Sewall, Presbyterian, Boston, Mass.
- Timothy, born 12 October, 1703, Boston, Mass.; married in 1728 at the age of twenty five, Mercy, daughter of Samuel & Mercy (Dunham) Kempton. He was a tailor and settled in Plymouth, Mass. The following is on the stones at his grave in Burial Hill Cemetery, Plymouth; Mr. Timothy Burbank, died 13 October 1793, age 90 years. Mrs. Mercy, his wife died 27 January 1771, age 63 and here lieth interred. From a deed in the Registry at Plymouth, vol 32 p. 218: Samuel Kempton, Shipwright, to Timothy Burbank, Tailor -- reserving to my mother-in-law, Bathsheba Dunham dated 18 June 1739, and signed Samuel & Mercy Kempton. He had five boys and five girls, probably all born at Plymouth, Mass.
- John, born 19 January 1705, Boston, Mass.; died 30 September, 1791; married 28 June, 1728, Elizabeth Tower (She was born Hingham, Mass., 11 June 1705.) He lived in some town on the south shore of Mass. Many of his children died young while the tenth and thirteenth lived to be over ninety years old. He married Elizabeth at Cohasset, Mass.
- Samuel, born 16 Oct 1706, Boston, Mass.