Submitted by: Beatrice Leemhuis.
Source: Registrar of Wills, Berks County Court House
Will of Jacob Hill, decd...
1770, March 1 Registered N 11, page 70.I Jacob Hill of the Western District in Berks County and province of Pennsylvania, yeoman, being sick and weak of body but of sound mind, memory and understanding have thought proper to dispose of my temporal estate which God in mercy hath blessed me with. By this my last will and testament in manner following, that is to (illegible) debts and funeral expenses (illegible) discharged out of my personal estate.
Item, I give and devise to my eldest son, John Hill, my house and plantation which he now lives on and also the lot which lays between that and Manatawny with five pounds lawful money to him, his heirs and assigns forever.
Item: I give and devise to my beloved wife my house, furniture, one cow, and the interest of five hundred pounds lawful money during her natural life and then to be divided as hereafter directed.
Item: I give and devise to my youngest son, Jacob Hill, my house and plantation I now live on with my waggon, horse ----, plow, harrow, horses, sheep and five cows to him his heirs and assigns forever willing him in lieu thereof to pay his mother seven bushels of wheat yearly and allow ----- for her in my house during her natural life.
Item: I give and devise to my daughter, Catherine, and her husband Teeter Mathew the house and thirty nine acres ------ they now live on to them their heirs and assigns forever willing them ____ to allow seventy ---- pounds to be reduced out of their legacy hereafter mentioned.
Item: I give and devise to my five daughters, namely Catherine, Mary Elizabeth, Hannah and Susanna one thousand pounds to be made up tp for that which they have already had in money or land to be divided equally amongst them by my executors. One moity or half part to be paid them at the expiration of one year after my decease. The other moity or one hundred for each of them to be paid at the expiration of one year after the decease of my wife. And that the remainder of my stock of cattle be divided equally among them as soon as may be after mt decease and likewise my house furniture after the descease of my wife.
Item: I ordain constitute and appoint my son Jacob Hill and my esteemed friend John Old to be executors of this my last will and testament.
Item: I ordain and appoint my esteemed friend Moses Roberts of Oley to be overseer of my last will and testament and I desire that he use the utmost of his endeavor that the same may be accomplished. Finally I revoke and make void all other and former wills by me heretofore made either in word of mouth or in writing. Ratifying this to be my last. I witness whereof I havehereunto set my hand and seal this twenty ninth day of the fifth month in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty seven 1767
Sealed, Published and acknowledged By the said Jacob Hill as his last will and testament in the presence of (The word"sheep" interlined before signed) John Hunter, William Stebleton and Moses Roberts.
Register Generals Office Reading, Berks County Pennsylvania. The first day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy then personally appeared John Hunter, William Stebleton and Moses Roberts the subscribing witnesses to the aforewritten will and the said John Hunter, William Stebleton upon their solomn oath upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God and the said Moses Roberts , being one of the people called Quakers, upon his solomn affirmation according to law did respectively did depose and say that they were present together and saw and heard Jacob Hill the testator therein named sign, seal with his seal which in the time of the sealing thereof stood where there is now a hole of about an inch and a half diameter nearly round upon a part of his sheet of paper then whoel and entire as the said deponents and affirments respectively declare) and also publish pronounce and declare the aforegoing writing as for his last will and testament and that at the time of the doing thereof he the said testator was of sound mind memory and understanding according to the best of their knowledge and as they verily believe; and further that the names of John Hunter, William Stebleton and Moses Roberts were by them respectively subscribed as witnesses to the said will in the presence of each other and in the presence and at the request of the said testator.
James (illegible) |
May 16, 1770
To James Reed Esquire, Deputy Register for the County of Berks. The petition complaint of Catherine -------Hill, widow relict of Jacob Hill late of Western District in the county aforesaid. Humbly sheweth
That your petioner’s said husband being possessed of a considerable realty and personal estate the twenty ninth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty seven signed and sealed a paper as for his last will and testament and published the same before witnesses whereby he devised his real estate to two of his sons making some provision issuing thereout for your petitioner. That about a year after the said Jacob Hill by deeds conveyed the same lands to said sonsand your petitioner signed the same. That the said Jacob at the time of the execution of the deeds declared his intention of making another will and some short time after the said Jacob Hill canceled the said will but dfied withour making another and your petitioner humbly conceives intestate. Your peteitoner is further advised that the conveyances made by the said Jacob Hill would be deemed both at law and in equity to be a revocation of the said will even had not the said Jaocb Hill concelled the same. Your petitioner understnds that your worship has admitted the said concelled paper to a probate as the last will and rtestament of the said Jacob Hill of which she iis as totally ignorant and humbly believes without your worship being acquainted with the above facts and should the canceled paper be received and held a good will your petitioner will by her signing the said deeds lose her dower in the said lands to her great injury. She therefore prays a hearing of the premises before your worship or in such other manner as you shall direct and that she may be relieved in the premises according to the equity and good conscience And your petiutioner will pray.
Catharina Hill |
A motion setting forth that the petitioner was of full age at the time of the death of Jacob Hill the argument therein the court dismisses the within petition, as not being within the court’s jurisdiction
Petition: 1887 Dietrich Mathew and other heirs of Jacob Hill for final ------ January 30, 1787.
Court held at Reading
Present: Henry Christ, Gideon Mayer, John Alto , Justices
To the honorable the Justices of the Orphans Court of the County of Berks The petition of Dietrich Mathew and Catherine his wife, Titchicus Weidman and Mary his wife, John Kerlin and Elizabeth his wife, Jacob Caufman and Hannah his wife, and Henry Blieler and Susanna his wife which said Catherine, Mary, Elizabeth, Hannah and Susanna are the children of Jacob Hill the elder late of the said county of Berks deceased humbly showeth
That the said Jacob Hill by his last will and testament duly proved and remaining in the Registrars office of the said county divised five hundred pouds to be paid to his daughters, the petitioners, within one year after the death of their mother. That their mother has been ---- upward of twelve months and said legacies and every part thereeof remain unpaid. That by an account rendered into the Registers Office on the sixteenth day of July 1773 by Jacob Hill the younger and John Old executors of the last will, it appears there was a balance in the hands of the said executors amounting to four hundred and twenty four pounds three shillings and two pence undistributed by the said testator and which remain to be distributed as in the case of an intestate and the said Jacob HIll one of the executors being deceased intestate.
Your petitioners humbly pray that as will John Old the surviving executor and John Graff and Mary his wife, late Mary Hill administrator of the said Jacob Hill may be cited to appear before this honorable court and make a final settlement of the account of the said executorship and that distribution may be ---- of the undis---residuary estate of the said testator to the end that your petitioners may have their shares thereof.
And they will pray
James (illegible) |
The 17th of Aug 1789 in the Orphans Court. On motion setting forth that the petitioners were at full age at the time of the death of Jacob Hill, Sn. argument thereon the court dismisses the within petition as not being within the courts jurisdiction.
Citation to John Old, John Graff and Mary, his wife to appear in the Orphans Court Feb. 13, 1787.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to John Old surviving executor o fthe last will and testament of Jacob Hill the elder late of the said county of Berks deceased, and to John Graff and Mary his wife, late Mary Hill administratix of the estate of Jacob Hil Jr. deceased who was also an executor named in the said will. GREETING These are to cite you the said John Old, John Graff and Mary his wife to be and appear before the Justices of the Orphans at an Orphans Court to be held at Reading in and for the said county of Berks on Tuesday the thirteenth day of February next then and there to render and adjust the administration account of all and singular the chattels, rights and credits which were of the said jacob Hill Sr. deceased at the time of his death in order that distributuin may be thereof made according to the direction of the said will issued at the insistence of Dietrich Mathews and Catherine his wife, Titichus Weidner and Mary his wife, John Kerlin and Elizabeth his wife, Jacob Kauffman and Hannah his wife, and Henry Bleiler and Susannah his wife which said Catherine, mary, Elizabeth, Hannah and Susannah are children of said Jacob Hill the elder deceased. Hereof you are by no means to fail Witness Pete Spyker, Esquire at Reading the thirteenth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven.
By order of the court
Henry Christ of said court
Feb 14, 1787
At an Orphans Court held at Reading the 14th of Feb. 1787 before Henry Christ, Jacob Morgan, Jacob Weaver, and Paul Groscup, Justices.
John Old one of the executors of Jacob Hill the elder, deceased appeared before the court according to the citation to render and adjust the account of the executorship of the said estate and the said John Old declares and saith that Jacob Hill the younger who was the executor with the said John Old was the acting executor and received and paid all the money and took into possesssion all the goods, chattels, bonds, bills, notes accounts and other papers belonging to the deceased. And that the said John Old was not at any time nor is possessed of any part thereof and that he gave his advice and assistance in the management of the estate without receiving into his hands any part thereof And that he had no part of the balance of four hundred and twenty four pounds three shillings and two pence farthing which he and the said Jacob Hill the younger acknowledged to be due to the estate on a settlement in the Register’s office the 16th of July 1773 Nor did he receive any part of the commissions cahrged in the said account That before the time of his removal to Virginia in 1778 he understood and believed that ____ of the said balance was paid to the legatees And that before that time the said Jacob Hill the younger had consulted him about calling in the five hundred pounds _____ to produce the annual interest of thiry pounds payable to the widow in order to lend the same to Dietrich Mathew husband of one of the legatees who applied to borrow the same and the said John Old advised him to call the dame in if wanted for the use of any of the family.
John Old |
July 16, 1773
The Accompt Jacob Hill and John Old executors of the testament and last will of Jacob Hill late of the Western Distrist in Berks County, yeoman, deceased viz.
They charge themselves with items worth 1708 –2- ¼ pounds this included bonds or interest due from;
Peter Fisher, Charles Witz, Dietrich Barger, Peter Massert, John Starret, Abraham Andrews, John Berber, Jacob Klein, Moses Roberts, Nicholas Jones, Jacob Kopp, Martin Markwort (Marquand) and Jacob Hill.
They made disbursements totaling 1169.13.10 pounds. This left a balance of 424.3.2 ¼ .pounds. Disbursements included funeral expenses, administration costs, court costs against John Hill, five legacies to Jacob Kauffman, Dietrich Mathew, Tychicus Weidner, John Kerlin and Henry Bleiler in right of their wives one hundred pounds each, and payments to the widow, Catherine.
Inventory and appraisement for the estate of Jacob Hill, deceased
. Filed March 19, 1770Berks County
On the tenth day of March one thousand seven hundred and seventy before me, George Douglas Esquire, one of the Justices for said county come Joseph Millard, esquire and Henry Vanreed the appraisers of the goods and chattels, rights and credits of Jacob Hill of the Western District in said county, deceased and on their solmn affirmation according to law did declare and say that the foregoing appraisement to which they have subscribed their names is a just and conscionable appraisement according to the best of their knowledge and understanding affirmed before me the day above.
George Douglas |
The appraisal includes wearing apparel, nine yards of cloth, small feather bed, saddle and bridle, pewter basins, dishes, and plates, prringers and spoon, iron pan and collender, ladles and flesh forks, house clock, bedroom furniture, gun, large Bible, other books, spinning wheel, brass kettle, iron pots, bee hives made of straw, lantern pepper mill, candle molds, several bushels of wheat and rye, a wheelbarrow, windmill, 4 chains, walnut boards.
There were many bonds and interest on bonds included. These included the names of Jacob Kopps, John Mayor, Peter Fisher, Mounce Jones, Nicholas Jones, Andrew Smith, Charles Witts, George Dietrich Boachger, Martan Markwort, Peter Mafford, John Harrets, John Becher, Abraham Andrew, Jacob Klien, Moses Roberts, Jacob Hill, Detrick Mathews, Henry Plyer, Tychicus Weidner, Jacob Kauffman, John Kirlin.
The total appraisement amounted to 1545.3.0 pounds.
On the tenth of May 1790 John Kirlin (Kerlin) of Amity Township in Berks County, son in law of Catherine Hill, late of Berks County, widow, deceased took out a bond with John Egle and John Spohn both of the boroough of Reading in the said county, yeomen for six hundred pounds.
Children of Jacob Hill, Senior
John Old was married to ? Sands. He owned a forge near the Hill home. He moved to Virginia in 1773.
Moses Roberts was a Quaker pastor who was a neighbor of Jacob Hill He was a nephew of Benjamin Longworthy, another neighbor. Moses was the son of Aaron Roberts and Jane Longworthy.
Joseph Millard lived near John Kerlin in Amity Township. He was a contemporary of Marcus Huking who owned the White Horse Tavern. He was a Quaker.
Henry VanReed was born in 1722 in Holland He resided in Amity Township He died 1790 in Amity Twp. He married first Anna Vanderslice in 1745 and Anna Hiestand in 1769.
John Hunter and William Stepleton were neighbors.
Sources: Wills of Berks, Church baptisms, tax lists, 1775 map of Oley Twp.
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