George Jordan, Will, 1678

WILL OF LT.-COL. GEORGE JORDAN
ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF VIRGINIA IN 1670

Lt.-Col. Geo. Jordan’s will, dated May 28th, 1678, was proved in Surry County Court, 9 br., 1678, by the oaths of William Thompson and Lt.-Col. William Browne. Thomas Jordan qualified as administrator, C. T. A.

I recommend my soule to Almighty God, who gave it, beseeching him for the mediation sake of the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, that he will receive me into the arms of his mercy, and pardoning my manyfold sins, that he will grant me a joyfull resurrection and number me amongst his redeemed, and my body to be buried by my wife and children in Major Browne his orchard, & that at my buriall theire may be noe drunkenness nor gunns, but a good and decent funerall to entertain my friends and neighbours, and as for what worldly goods it hath pleased God to trust me with, I dispose of, &c. All debts I owe in Va., great & small, to be paid first. I give unto my two God-daughters, Col. Thomas Swan’s Children, a piece of plate worth three pounds stere. I give to Sarah Sowerby, George Norwood & George Briggs, alsoe God-Children, each a silver spoon, worth ten shillings. And it is my will that the 15th day of every October there shall be a sermon of mortality preached at my house, it being ye day that my daughter, Fortune Hunt, dyed, & that all the neighborhood have notice of it, that they may come, leaving it to the discretion of my exor. what entertainment he will give, & some times when that day shall fall upon Sunday, I desire that the Holy Communion may be given. And whosoever in time to come shall enjoy my land in this Co., although it be a thousand generations hence, he in possession shall perform this sermon & prayer: Wherein if he fayle, the land shall fall to the informer; that shall give notice to any Court of Justice of his failing, & I doe further give unto five such poore people as the vestry shall find most to need it, one barrell of corne in the yeare for seaven years after my decease; & to the Church a baptisme bason of silver worth three pounds sterling. After payment of my debts as above, the rest of my personall estate to be divided into equal parts, & out of one halfe I give unto my Cossen Edward Bayly, six hundred pounds of tobo & the rest of that said halfe shall be equally divided into seaven parts & shall be paid to these seaven persons following: Chr. Foster, Walter Flood, George Jordan, James Jordan, River Jordan, Eliz. Jordan & Thomas Flood.

The other halfe of my said personall estate, as alsoe all my land in Virga., I give & bequeath unto my nephew, Thomas Jordan, & to his heirs for ever; he or they performing the above said sermon; and in case of his decease before this will be proved, then all that I have given to him, I give to my brother, Arthur Jordan, to be equally divided amongst my seaven nephews and my neece Eliz. Jordan, only a mourning ring to himself; but still the above said sermon to be preached yearly by a lawful minister unto the end of the world. I pray to God Almighty to bless this poore Colony & this County, especially wherein I have now lived about 43 years.

SINCE.
Since the making of this, my will, above written, I have given my nephew, Edward Bayly, a seate of land for ever, cald the white marsh, & I doe therefore take back the six hundred pounds of tobo mentioned in my will above said and doe give it equally between Christopher Flood(?) & Walter Flood. I give unto Donall Roome five hundred pounds of tobo. I give also unto Katherine Maddison five hundred pounds of tobo towards the cure of her legg, if shee be not sent out of this parish by the vestry before the cure be effected.

Sources

“Will of Lt.-Col. George Jordan: Attorney General of Virginia in 1670,” The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Apr., 1908), pp. 288-290, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/1922668.