Person:Ebenezer Kent (6)

The following is a copy of his will, the original to be found at probate office in Boston (Suffolk, 1752, No. 10051).^[3]

In the name of God, Amen. This 16th day of June Anno-Dom. 1748. I Ebenezer Kent of Hingham in the county of Suffolk in New England Yeoman, being sick & week in Body but sound mind thanks be given to God & calling to mind ye mortality of my Body do make & ordain this my Last Will & Testament. That is to say Principally & 1st of all I recommend my Soul into the Hands of God who gave it & my Body to ye Earth to be buryed in Decent manner at ye Discretion of my Executors hereafter named, hoping to obtain Eternal Life through the merits of Jesus Christ & as touching my worldly Estate with which it hath pleased ye Lord to bless me in this Life I dispose of ye same in the following manner (viz) First of all my mind and will is yt all my just Debts & Funeral charges be well and truly paid in convenient season after my Decease by my Executors hereafter named, out of my personal Estate.

Impremis-I give and bequeath to my well Beloved wife Hannah Kent the use & improvement of my whole Estate after ye payment of my just Debts & Funeral charges out of my personal Estate as aforesaid, so long as she remains my widow & in case she changed her condition again by marriage my mind and will is yt she shall be paid Thirty-five £ in bills of ye last Emission or in other money equivalent thereto so good as it was at ye day of ye date thereof, by my Executors hereafter named.

Item - I give and bequeath to each of my sons after ye Death of their mother or marriage (viz) to my sons Isaac, Ebenezer, Seth and Abel Equally out of my Estate upon a just appraisal thereof & to each of my Daughters Equally one half so much as to each of my sons upon a just appraisal thereof to each of them their Heirs & assigns forever, & whereas my son Seth aforesaid hath been absent for Divers years my mind is that what I have given to him be after a Division of my Estate lodged Equally in the hands of the other three (viz) Isaac, Ebenezer and Abel, to be paid to him if he returns or be in ye land on ye living & if not my will is that they their Heirs & assigns Enjoy it forever, & to prevent Discord as to what each one's share shall be my will and meaning is yt each son shall have one seventh part of my whole Estate and each of my Daughters one fourteenth part to them, their Heirs and assigns forever (viz) Hannah Whitcomb, Mercy Stodder, Elizabeth Pitcher, Abigail Souther, Mary Blake & Lydia Kent. And further, my mind and will is that my Executors shall have liberty to sell my whole Estate and to pay to each of their Brothers & Sisters their proportions upon a full appraisal after ye Death or marriage of their Mother, within one year after, and I do hereby nominate and appoint my Beloved wife & my two sons Isaac & Ebenezer to be ye Executors to this my last Will & Testament, & I do hereby utterly reveke, Disannull & Disallow all former Wills, Legacies & Bequests, ratifying and confirming this and none other to be my Last Will & Testament. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal the Day & year first above written.

Signed, Sealed, Published, Pronounced & Ordered by the said Ebenezer Kent to be his Last Will & Testament, in presence of

1. ↑ Joslyn, Roger D. Vital Records of Charlestown, Massachusetts to the Year 1850. (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1984-1995)
   1:64.

   Ebenezer, son of John & Hannah Kent, b. Aug. 18, 1680.

2. ↑ Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Hingham, Massachusetts, ca. 1639-1844. (New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   1:209 (original p. 80).

   Ebenezar Kent D Feb 16 1752.
   [Note: This is Reuben Hersey's copy of the records, not the originals.]

3. ↑ Dale, E. I. History and genealogy of the Kent family: descendants of Richard Kent, Sen., who came to America 1635. (Spencer, Mass.: unknown, 1899)
   pp. 8-9.

   Ebenezer Kent, s/o John Kent and Hannah Grisold, b. Charlestown 18 Aug 1680, d. Hingham 26 Feb 1752, m. Scituate 8 Dec 1703 Hannah Gannet.

4. ↑ Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. Indexes to and Vital Records of Hingham, Massachusetts, 1635-1880. (Microfilm of manuscript at Hingham: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1965)
   Vol. 2, p. 65.

   Ebenezer Kent Died Feb'y 26 1752.

5. ↑ Find A Grave
   Ebenezer Kent.

   [Note: hard to read due to lichen and partial burial but appears to say 16 Feb 1752, and is reported to say this by History of Hingham, Vol. 2, p. 404.]