The Will of Anneke Jans Bogardus

by Anneke Jans Bogardus

Will of Anneke Jans Bogardus

In the name of the Lord, Amen.   Know all men by these presents, that this day, the 29th of January 1663, in the afternoon, about four o'clock, appeared before me, Derrick Van Schelluyne, notary public, in the presence of the witnesses hereafter mentioned, Anneke Janse, widow of Roeloff Janse, of Master Land, and now lastly widow of Reverend Everhardus Bogardus, residing in the village of Beverwyck, and well known to us, notary and witnesses;

The said Anneke Janse lying on her bed in a state of sickness, but perfectly sensible and in full possession of her mental powers, and capable to testate, to which sound state of mind we can fully testify.

The said Anneke Janse considering the shortness of life and certainty of death and uncertainty of the hour or time, she, the said Anneke Janse, declared after due consideration, without any persuasion, compulsion, or retraction, this present document to be her last will and testament, in manner following;

First of all recommending her immortal soul to the Almighty God, her Creator and Redeemer, and cosigning her body to Christian burial, and herewith revoking and annulling all prior testamentary dispositions of any kind whatsoever, and now proceeding anew, she declared to nominate and institute as her sole and universal heirs her children,

Sarah Roellofson, wife of Hans Kierstede;

Catrina Roeloffsen, wife of Johannes Van Brugh;

Jannetje and Rachel Hartgers, the children of her deceased daughter Fytje Roeloffsen, during her life the wife of Peter Hartgers, representing together their mother's place;

Also her son Jan Roeloffsen, and finally William, Cornelius, Jonas and Peter Bogardus, and to them to bequeath all her real estate, chattels, money, gold and silver, coined and uncoined, jewels, clothes, linen, woolen, household furniture, and all property whatsoever, without reserve or restriction of any kind, to be disposed of after her decease and divided by them in equal shares, to do with the same at their own will and pleasure without any hindrance whatsoever; provided never the less with this express condition and restriction that her first four children shall divide between them out of their father's property the sum of one thousand guilders, to be paid to them out of the proceeds of a certain farm, situate on Manhattan Island, bounded on the North River, and that before any other dividend takes place; and as three of these children at the time of their marriage received certain donations, and as Jan Roeloffsen is yet unmarried, he is to receive a bed and mulch cow;

And to Jonas and Peter Bogardus she gives a house and lot situated to the westward of the house of the testatrix in the village of Beverwyck, going in length until the end of a bleaching spot, and in breadth up to the room of her, the testatrix, house, besides a bed for both of them and a mulch cow to each of them, the above to be an equivalent of what the married children have received.

Finally, she, the testatrix, gives to Roeloff Kierstede, the child of her daughter Sara, a silver mug;

To Annetje Van Brugh, the child of her daughter Catrina, also a silver mug;

And to Jannetje and Rachel Hartgers, the children of her daughter Fytje, a silver mug each;

And to the child of William Bogardus named Sytje also a silver mug;

All the above donations to be provided for out of the first moneys received, and afterwards the remainder of the property to be divided and shared aforesaid.

The testatrix declares this document to be her only true last will and testament, and desiring that after her decease it may be supersede all other testaments, codicils, donations, or any other instruments whatsoever; and in case any formalities may have been omitted, it is her will and desire the same benefits may occur as if they actually had been observed;

And she requests me, notary public, to make one or more lawful instruments in the usual form of this, her, testatrix, last will and desire.

Signed, sealed, and delivered at the house of the testatrix in the village of Beverwyck, in New Netherland, in the presence of Ruth Jacobuse Van Schoonderwurt and Evert Wendell, witnesses.

This is the X mark of Anneke Janse with her own hand.

Rutger Jacobus

Evert Jacobus Wendell

D. V. Schelluyne, Notary Public, 1663