Plymouth County Wills
"Allow my said wife a gentle horse or mare to ride to meeting or any other occasion may have and that Jemmy ... catch it for her."
Walter Briggs of Scituate expressed concern for his wife, Frances, in his will of June 4, 1684. He also left her his bed and furniture "to be at her dispose when she dye, and liberty to make use of the pots, kettles, and other vessels commonly made use of in ye house, that she may use them as she has occasion but not to dispose of them."
It is apparent that Plymouth Colony people cared for their family members. In surviving wills there emerges considerable feeling for close relatives. The primary concern of wills was to provide for the widow and to distribute property among the children.
The will of the wealthy Governor Josiah Winslow, recorded in 1681, left his "affectionate and loving wife, Penelope," the major part of his estate and housing in Marshfield with the option of dividing his estate and disposing of his lands at Sakonnet (Little Compton, Rhode Island) and at Marshfield, if needed -"for the support and comfort of her self and my children." He made provisions for the inheritance of his two children, both minors, when they came of age and "to each .... that good education may be given according to their sex." To his son Isaac he gave equal interests with his wife in both his personal and real estate, while to his daughter Elizabeth he left 300 pounds and the estate of house and lands in the event that her brother and mother predeceased her. Winslow appointed three of his own kinsmen, not his wife's, to be Penelope's advisors, "in such matters of importance as may be too weighty for her." Winslow made provisions for a number of his relatives, a servant and the local minister. He left a cow for the poor of Marshfield. Governor Josiah Winslow's family was small, his children were minors, his wealth significant and his concern for extended family members was unusual.
(The above has been duplicated from Chapter IX entitled “Family and Kinship,” in the book Plymouth County, 1685 by Cynthia Hagar Krusell of Marshfield; published by the Pilgrim Society and the Plymouth County Development Council, Plymouth, MA.)
Dorothy Langley - Scituate Town Archivist