The Will of Joel Viles (1743-1817)

Joel Viles, b. 17 Dec 1743 Waltham, Middlesex, Massachusetts, was the son of John Viles and Susanna Bemis.  He married Mary Bowman on 27 June 1775 at Lexington, Middlesex., Massachusetts.  He died on 5 Jan 1817 at Lexington.

As part of Amanuensis Monday, here is my transcript of the last Will and Testament of Joel Viles.
(Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.) Case 23354: Pages 3-5)



In the Name of God amen I Joel Viles of Lexington in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts Yeoman, considering the uncertainty of this mortal life and being of sound disposing mind and memory, blessed be almighty god for the same, yet calling to mind my own mortality and knowing that it is Appointed for man once to die do at the date hereof make and ordain this instrument to be my last will and testament, but principally and first of all I commend my soul into the hand of god who gave it, and as to my body I desire to be buried in a decent and christianlike manner by my Executor hereafter named, and as to such worldly estate and temporal interest as it hath [leased god to give me I give and dispose of the same in the following manner viz.

Item 1st. I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Mary Viles the use and improvement of one half of all my dwelling house during her life time with liberty of [illegible] round said dwelling house, and to the well and [illegible] the same, and the door yard, to use the out building as she may have occasion. I also give her the use and improvement of all my household furniture during her life time (Except the Clock). I also give her a right to sit in my pew during her life time. I also give her my chaise for her own use.  I also give her the sum of two hundred Dollors for her own it being one half of the money that my son John Viles owes me and to be paid her immediately after my death, and I order my son Elias Viles to bring into her yearly and every year during her life time one third part of all the produce that shall be raised on my farm and to bring it in in season and to find he fire wood for one first and cut the same fit for burning, and also to find her a horse when she wants to ride out, and to pay for her doctoring if required, and at her death to give her a decent burial.

Item 2. I give and bequeath unto my son William Viles two hundred Dollors out of the notes that he owes me and the remainder of what shall be owing from him to be at my death if it can be collected I order to be equally divided between Bowman Viles, John Viles, Elias Viles, Nathan Viles & Joel Viles as soon as my Executor can collect the some after my death.

Item 3rd. I give and bequeath unto my son Bowman Viles two hundred Dollors and to be paid him in one year from my death.

Item 4th. I give and bequeath unto my son John Viles two hundred Dollors and to be paid him in one year from my death.

Item 5th. I give and bequeath unto my son Nathan Viles two hundred Dollors and to be paid him in one year from my death.

Item 6th. I give and bequeath unto my son Joel Viles two hundred Dollors and to be paid him in one year from my death.

Item 7th. I give and bequeath unto my daughters viz. Mary Simond, Susanna Colburn, Hannah Teal & Lucy Viles all my household furniture (Except my Clock) and to be equally divided between them or their heirs at the death of my wife who is to have the use of the same during her life time. I also give unto said Mary Simond, one Dollor and to be paid her in one year from my death.  I also give unto Susanna Colburn & Hannah Seal the sum of one Dollor each and to be paid them in one year from my death. I also give and bequeath unto Lucy Viles the sum of Two hundred Dollors it being one half of the money that my son John Viles owes me and to be paid her immediately after my death.

Item 8th. It is my will that my children living in Lexington have a right to sit in my pew. It is also my will that my son Elias Viles should not dispose of the Clock nor remove the same out of the house so long as my wife should live.

Item 9th. It is my will that after all my just debts & the above named legacies and funeral charges are paid by my Executor hereafter named that all my real estate together with my personal estate good * chattle of what name or nature not otherwise disposed of I give and devise unto my son Elias Viles to hold to him his heirs and assigns forever, and lastly I do hereby constitute and appoint my son Elias Viles sole Executor of this my last will and testament hereby revoking all former wills by me made.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this thirtieth day of December in the year of our Lord one Thousand Eight hundred & Sixteen

    Joel Viles

Signed Sealed published and declared by the above named Joel Viles to he his last will and testament in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses to the same.

    Jacob Smith

    Samuel Chunellen????

    Nathan Chandler

52 Ancestors Friday

I picked up this idea from Randy Seaver and his blog, Geneamusings (www.Geneamusings.com). He said that he got the idea from Amy Johnson Crow, who suggested it as a weekly blog theme.

Sounds good to me!

Randy said: “Doing this should help me add content and standardize content in my genealogy database….”  I agree.  I don’t use the same database program as Randy, but I can see the benefit of looking at what I have done before, updating it with information that is now available online, and cleaning up and adding citations.  If I can figure out how, I will create an Ancestor Biographies Page for this blog and add each of them to that page.  I also seem to get lots of questions from nieces, nephews, etc., so these pages will make it easier for others to find the information, and I won’t have to dig it out anew every time.

So, where should I start?  I decided to start with my grandparents, and do them in ancestor name list order.  I only knew one grandparent, so I will be learning new things about them in the process.  Next Friday will be my first Ancestor Friday.

Viles Name Study - Will of Nathan Viles (1739 - 1788)

Nathan Viles, b. 30 Dec 1739 Waltham, Middlesex, Massachusetts, was the son of John Viles and Susanna Bemis.  He married late in life to widow, Mrs. Sarah Hagar, on 14 Oct 1784 at Concord, Middlesex., Massachusetts.  He died in March 1788 at Waltham.

As part of Amanuensis Monday (OK, I'm late, It is Tuesday), here is my transcript of the last Will and Testament of Nathan Viles.(Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)  Middlesex Case 23360)

Nathan made his Will on 10 Feb 1788.  In it, he provided as follows:

 

"In the Name of God Amen

"I Nathan Viles of Waltham in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts of sound Mind and Memory Thanks to God therefor but weak and infirm in Body do make and ordain and constitute this my last Will and Testament in Manner and Form following first I commend my Soul to God who gave it me, my Body I commit to the Dust to be buried in a christian decent Manner at the Discretion of my Ex’er here after mentioned and as for the wordly Estate where with God has blessed me in this World I will and dispose thereof as follows viz.

"Imprimis. My Will is that my Executor hereafter mentioned pay the several sums hereafter mentiond in Manner following viz to my beloved Brother John Viles one Hundred and ten Pounds in one year after my Decease[.] to my beloved Brother Joel Viles one Hundred Pounds in eighteen months after my Decease. To my beloved Sisters Abigail Barnard Wife of Jonas Barnard, Susanna Call, Dinah Watson Wife of John Watson, Kezia Walton Wife of John Walton, Lydia Wilson Wife of David Wilson and to Lizze Mead Wife of Moses Mead thirty Pounds each in two years and an half after my Decease. To the Children of my beloved sister Sarah Dise deceasd collectively Thirty Pounds in two years and an half after my Decease. To my good and kind Friend Mrs Elizabeth Stone nine Pounds to Esther Perry six Pounds.

"Item. I will and bequeath to Jonathan and Sarah Hager all the cloths of their Mother and my late beloved Wife as likewise all the household furniture she was possessd of at the time of our Marriage as likewise two Promissory [promissory inserted at left] Notes of Hand one subscribed by Benjn Hager the other by Amos Harrington. And that no Charge of be brought against them on any amount whatever but that the Rent of an House belonging to them that I have received be considered sufficient therefor.

"Item. My Will is that my Executor pay and discharge all my just Debts and funeral Charges

[Page 2]

"Item. All the rest and Residue of my Estate wherever situate and lying of whatever Determination I will and bequeath to my beloved Brother Jonas Viles who I constitute sole Executor of this my last Will and Testament he paying as before ordered

"In witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal this tenth Day of February in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven Hundred and Eighty-eight.

Nathan

His X Mark

Viles

"Signed, sealed and pronounced by the said Nathan Viles as his last Will and Testament in Presence of us who at his Request and his his Presence and in Presence of one another have subscribed our Names as Witnesses hereto

"The Word each interlind before signing and sealing

John Sanderson

Elijah Smith

Leonard Williams"

Viles Name Study - 1850 US Census

After working for a week, I finally got all 264 Viles name entries on the 1850 US Census into a spreadsheet.  As I had thought, I did get distracted, and at times I was bored and had to break off to do something else, but I got it done. Knowing that I had assigned a high priority to this task made me keep working.

The hardest part was designing the spreadsheet.  I tried to include columns in the design for information that isn't on that Census.  The reason was that I may want to be able to combine different spreadsheets.  I won't know if that will be helpful until I start to analyze the information.

Most importantly, I did include both a reference number column that will be specific to the 1850 US Census, and a column for the WikiTree ID. I hope that will allow me to combine information for the same person from different spreadsheets.

Viles Name Study - Progress and Spreadsheets

I feel good today.  We had a great day out being committee boat for our local sailing club, so it is hard to get back to working on my genealogy project.

Then, I created a couple of spreadsheets for the Viles family.  I created a spreadsheet for the 1850 US Census and got about 1/4 of the Viles entered onto the spreadsheet.  I need to think carefully when I set up a spreadsheet to make sure that I am capturing everything and also making the spreadsheets compatible with each other.

Although my Research Plan sets out what I SHOULD be doing, I got sidetracked and didn't complete the 1850 data collection. I decided to see what Missouri and Washington had online.  I created another spreadsheet for Viles who died in Missouri between 1910 and 1965 and another for Viles who died in Washington between 1907 and 2000. So, I have my work cut out for me.  First, I need to complete the 1850 US Census data collection, then it will be time to start adding the info to WikiTree.

Viles Name Study - Initial Research Methods

Research Methods

Questions:

1. Should I Use a Separate Database?

: Advantages:
:: Setting up a data collection system that will make it easier to draw conclusions.
::: I don't think that I can export info from WikiTree to use for statistical purposes.
:: If I decide later to expand the project, I won't have to go back and dig out the data.
:: If someone else is interested in the project or if I have to pass the project on to someone else, it will be easier.
: Disadvantages:
:: Setting up a database will be time-consuming.
:: Psychologically, I might get bored with the whole thing.
:: Inputting data twice, once into a database and once into WikiTree, will be time-consuming.

Conclusion:
A database of Viles should be established.  The reference number could be the WikiTree profile number, which would make it easier to keep track.  Also, it would mean that the same reference number would be used if another database page is set up for a different Census or data source.

2. Where Should I Start?

Should I start with the 1850 or the 1880 US Census or with some other data source?
: Given that I want to start the project by capturing the New England Viles, it would probably be best to start in New England.
: Most Massachusetts towns have published vital records to 1850.
:: As I think the initial Viles families came to Boston and Watertown and expanded from there to Waltham and that vicinity, starting with the earliest information for Boston, Charlestown and Waltham would be on point.  Vital records for those places should be entered into the database and into WikiTree.
:: Vital record data collection could later be expanded to other Massachusetts towns and then Maine.
: There are about 300 entries for the specific name Viles on the 1850 US Census.  This is manageable.
:: A database sheet should probably be set up for the 1850 census, just to track the people as profiles are created on WikiTree.


Conclusion:
I will start with a three-pronged approach:
: Find all Viles in Boston, Watertown and Waltham prior to 1750 and enter the information into WikiTree and a database.
: Enter all Viles mentioned in the 1850 US Census into the database and into WikiTree.
: Tie these Viles together in families, if possible.

Viles Name Study - Research Goals Discussion

Research Goals Discussion

What Do I Want to Know?

My questions are:

When did the first Viles come to the United States?
: I think the first Viles showed up in Massachusetts about 1635, so the place to start might be there and the Viles families in Massachusetts were clustered around Waltham, so that might be a more specific location, but I think they started in the Boston or Watertown area.
: Also, there were only 4 Viles families on the 1790 US Census, so that would be another place to start.

Where did the first Viles in the US come from?
: It is possible that I won't be able to find out anything about where the initial Viles came from through US records.
: I may have to try to back-track in England to make a good guess as to the origins of the family.

Where did the Viles in the Southern United States come from, and when?
: It appears that the Viles in Georgia and North Carolina arrived later than those in New England, but branches moved West from both New England and the South.  
: As I find Viles, I will try trace them back as far as I can, regardless of the family's original start in the US.

When did Viles emigrate (from England) to other countries? And, were they from the same original location? 
: Well, those are interesting questions, but my interest, at least for the moment, is in the United States, so I think I will concentrate there.

Do I want to build families or gather information?
: I like building families and tying people together, and I know I will do it anyway, so I might as well make that one of the tasks for the Study.

Research Goals

1. Determine the origins of the Viles in New England.
: In order to accomplish my primary goal, I should concentrate on New England before 1750.  For the moment, until I know more, I am not going to spend much time on the Southern Viles or on Viles in other countries.
2. Put together the families that spread from the original New England settlers.
: My secondary goal will follow as I continue to connect Viles profiles in WikiTree or expand my research.