Transcription

The record

Document: Two pages: a handwritten will on a printed will form (Form 26), from the Philadelphia Register of Wills. The will is dated 11 December 1874; the 1896 in the filename is the year of probate after George’s death.

Language: English

Transcription conventions: on printed forms, pre-printed text is set in roman and handwritten entries in \italic\; wholly handwritten registers and lists are set in roman. Square brackets mark editorial matter: [?] follows an uncertain reading, [illegible] marks unread text, [blank] marks an unfilled field, and bracketed descriptions record stamps, marks, and annotations. Spelling, abbreviation, and capitalisation follow the original; nothing is corrected. On census and register pages that carry many unrelated entries, the page heading and the target household or entry are transcribed in full; the extent of what is and is not transcribed is stated on each page.

Page 1

[Printed at head:] (Form 26.)

Last Will and Testament

— of —

George Wesemann.

In the Name of God Amen

I, George Wesemann of the City of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, Grocer, although now sound in body as well as in mind yet considering the uncertainty of this life and the certainty of death do think proper to make declare and publish this my Last Will and Testament hereby revoking and making void all Wills and Testaments by me at any time heretofore made.

First. I order and direct that all my just debts and funeral expenses shall be paid by my Executrix hereinafter named as soon as may be after my decease.

Second. I give devise and be=queath to my beloved wife Fredericka all and all manner of property of which I may be seized or possessed or to which I may in any

[Stamped vertically at lower right edge:] 1939 [Faint stamps along the foot of the page, illegible]

Page 2

manner be entitled whether such property be real personal or mixed or wheresoever situated to have possess and enjoy the same to and for her own exclusive use and benefit and to her heirs and assigns forever.

Lastly I hereby nominate and appoint my beloved wife Fredericka to be the sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament.

In Witness Whereof I have here=unto set my hand and seal this Eleventh day of December one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four (1874)

[Signature:] Geo. Wesemann [wax seal]

The above instrument of writing written upon one sheet of paper was Signed, Sealed, Published and Declared by the above named testator George Wesemann as and for his last Will and Testament in our presence who in presence of each other and in his presence and at his request have affixed our signatures as witnesses thereof.

[Signatures:] J. Fletcher Budd

Charles Knittel.

Emma Budd.

Transcriber’s notes

The whole will is in a clerk’s formal hand; only the testator’s and witnesses’ signatures are distinct. The page shown is the original will, not a register copy (it carries the seal and signatures).

Date: 11 December 1874, when George was a grocer and his children William, Emma, and Sophia were small; the will does not name any child. Probate followed his death in January 1896. The probate date, will book number, and the meaning of the stamped “1939” (probably a file or will number) should be confirmed from the Register of Wills index.

Word-division marks “be=queath” and “here=unto” reproduce the clerk’s double hyphen at line ends.

Grade: PRIMARY.