THE WILL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.1 IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN! I GEORGE WASHINGTON of Mount Vernon, a citizen of the United States and lately President of the same do make ordain and declare this Instrument, which is written with my own hand and every page thereof subscribed with my name to be my last Will & Testament, revoking all others." -Imprimus-All my debts, of which there are but few, and none of magnitude, are to be punctually and speedily paid, and the legacies hereinafter bequeathed are to be discharged as soon as circumstances will permit, and in the manner directed. ITEM. To my dearly beloved wife, Martha Washington I give and bequeath the use profit and benefit The wills of the Washingtons are printed in my Wills of George Washington and his Immediate Ancestors, 1891. This publication includes the wills of the two immigrants, John and Lawrence, of Lawrence, grandfather of the President; of Augustine, his father; of Mary [Ball] Washington, his mother; his own will; that of his half-brother, Lawrence; of Bushrod and of John Augustine Washington; with much else of related matter. 2 At the bottom of every page-with one exception-he signed his name. On the one page, the last word was Washington, which probably led him to suppose he had signed. There is mention of an earlier will to be found in a letter written to his wife, printed in Vol. II., 485. of my whole Estate, real and personal, for the term of her natural life, except such parts thereof as are specially disposed of hereafter,-My improved lot in the Town of Alexandria, situated on Pitt and Cameron Streets, I give to her & her heirs forever, as I also do my [2]' household and kitchen furniture of every sort and kind with the liquors. and groceries which may be on hand at the time of my decease, to be used and disposed of as she may think proper. ITEM-Upon the decease of wife it is my will and desire, that all the slaves which I hold in my own right shall receive their freedom-To emancipate them during her life, would tho earnestly wished by me, be attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their intermixture by marriages with the Dower negroes as to excite the most painful sensations-if not disagreeable consequences from the latter while both descriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor, it not being in my power under the tenure by which the dower Negroes are held to manumit them-And whereas among those who will receive freedom according to this devise there may be some who from old age, or bodily infirmities & others who on account of their infancy, that will be unable to support themselves, it is my will and desire that all who come under the first and second description shall be comfortably clothed and fed by my heirs. while they live and [3] that such of the latter descrip 1 These figures in brackets mark the beginning of each page of the MS. will. |