Item. I give to my son Denis, my diamond ring, and to son Daniel, my ruby ring and charge both on their duty not to part with them out of the name because they were my father’s. To Billington, I give the ring his mother left me at her death. To Thaddeus I give the ring made with collage bead of God & the crystal mourning ring with his mother’s hair in it, and to Sarah the stone ring that was her mother’s & to Denis the mourning ring marked S. P. The stone ring my present wife gave me & which by her request I have constantly worn, I give to her son, Mr. Henry Fitzhugh. The debt due to me on Book L. for hers & her sister’s account, I order to be paid to my wife & laid out in a young Negro by her for her aforesaid daughter Sarah, to whom I give it. Item. It is my will that my Negro woman, Jons or Johanna, that was Mr. Spencer’s, if she lives to the year of our Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred and thirty-three, be then delivered from slavery & I do will & order that at that time she be free & be sufficiently clothed & sent to Maryland, but as I expect that my wife will take her for one of the four, so it is my will that if it pleases God that my wife dies before the time aforesaid that the said Negro serve the rest of her time to which of my children she desires and that every Christmas Day she may annually choose her master or mistress for the ensuing year to the end she may not be abused because I think her a faithful servant. Item. It is my will and desire that my son Daniel, who is living under the care of Mr. John Gilpin, merchant in Whitehaven, be there continued until his education amounts to one hundred pounds maintenance & all & no more to be paid out of my estate and to him at the day of his arrival in Virginia, I give all my library or books, law & gospel, or any other sort and, if please God he never arrives, I give them all to Thaddeus. All my war habiliment & accoutrements or utensils I give to my sons Denis and Daniel, & my gold studs to Daniel, and for my wearing apparel, I desire my wife to distribute between my son Denis & son-in-law William Payne, as she sees fit. The pictures of my son & daughter Fitzhugh I give to their son at seven years old if any such happens or to remain where they are and my own and first wife’s to remain in my dwelling house. My coach & coach horses I leave under my wife’s command while she remains my widow for her and my family’s service as he pleases. My tailor & the boy Cork to do the necessary service for the family & butcher to serve in common as my wife thinks fit at any of my plantations (except Stafford), till Daniel arrives to twenty years of age and then I give him to Billington & ( ) now send or David Jones. I give to Thaddeus but each to be bought in to value in a true distribution of my slaves between my three sons. The reason I give Daniel no carpenter because his plantations are well fitted with houses. Item. For as much as the land given Thaddeus was Captain John Rice’s was by the said Rice ( ) on my father and his heirs male so that my son Denis may thereby claim the same in such case if ever my said son Denis or his heirs or assignees shall claim the same or in any way disturb or molest his brother or his heirs, I do revoke all the gifts & bequests in that my will to him made and give the same & every part thereof of land, Negroes, stock, etc. to Thaddeus & his heirs forever & to Denis I give twenty shillings and no more. Item. I do hereby declare that all the legacies & bequests in this my will made or to be made to or in favor of my wife is for & in satisfaction of her dower & all claims out of my estate and, if she refuses to accept it as such, then it is my will that she have what the law allows her of my estate & no more. And that my executors & trustees make the best advantage they can to my estate out of that reserved for her in Vaulx’s patent. And I do further order that at the proving of this my will my said wife may declare her acceptance or refusal in open court & that the same be entered on record to prevent future claims. Item. It is my will & desire that my three younger sons have the best education my estate can afford, that one be a lawyer, one a divine, and the other a physician or surgeon or mariner or in the secretary’s office or any lawful employment as their mind leads them but rather to the axe & hoe then suffered in idleness & extra vagrancy. My scripture, clock, & brandy still I order to remain where they are for my son Daniel after his mother’s death or marriage and it is also my will that then he immediately come & live on my said dwelling plantation and so continue to live his life. On his failure or refusal whereof I give the said plantation & all the lands thereto belonging to my son Thaddeus, in manner aforesaid as if Daniel were dead without issue provided he lives constantly thereon. Item. If it please God I should have a child by my wife before or leave her with child at the time of my death, if it proves a daughter & lives to the age of eighteen years or to be married, then I give such daughter the sum of five hundred pounds sterling. If please God it is a son, I give to him at the age aforesaid the sum of five hundred pounds sterling, and all my land in Washington parish in this county to him and his heirs of his body and for want of such to my son Daniel as before mentioned. The mill I am now building I give to my son Daniel & his heirs male and for want of such of his body to descend in the same manner as the other lands. But it is my will that the profits thereof be for the support of my widow & family until he arrives to twenty years of age and then I order that all the rest of my estate of what nature or sort so ever be equally divided between my three sons, Daniel, Billington, and Thaddeus or the survivors of them to whom at my wife’s death, I also give all the Negroes given or allotted to her and their increase to be equally divided as aforesaid between my said three youngest sons, whom I hereby appoint & ordain my executors of this my last will & testament. But because they are under age, I constitute and appoint my good friends, Col. John Tayloe, Messrs. Humphrey Pope, Nicholas Minor, John Fitzhugh, & Samuel Peachy, Gent. My executors in trust until Thaddeus shall arrive to seventeen years of age, requesting & empowering them jointly & separately to take care of my children & their estates according to the true intent and meaning of this my will, and to each of my executors or trustees I give a ring of fifteen shillings value and to each of my first wife’s daughters, Elizabeth Sturman & Mary Burn, I give a bible of fifteen shillings price & wish them to make good use of them. And for as much as Humphrey Pope is best acquainted with my method of bookkeeping & accounting, I desire if need be that he be employed to settle the same & have a recompense for his troubles. Item. Whereas Col. John Tayloe & myself paid to John & Moses Tayloe the sum of fifty pounds sterling by equal portions to redeem two Negroes named James & Phillis & three hundred acres of land sold & conveyed by our uncle, Mr. Joseph Tayloe, late clerk of Lancaster, to them the said John & Moses Tayloe & Daniel McCarty, it is my will and desire & I do hereby give (upon the payment of twenty-five pounds sterling to my son Billington at twenty years of age or in case of his death without issue to Thaddeus at twenty years of age or in case of both of their deaths before that time & without issue to my surviving son) all my right & title of in & unto the said land and Negroes to my aunt, Mrs. Barbara Tayloe during her natural life and then to her son Joseph and his heirs forever. Item. I give to my brothers, Messrs. Phillip, Francis, Thomas, & Henry Lee, to my friend Capt. Eskridge and to each of them a ring of twelve shillings price & six pence sterling value & I hope Capt. Eskridge will take the same care of my affairs that he would have desired to serve me or my estate he annually school & teach any poor children that are sent to him gratis not exceeding six at any time, such as my wife and her brothers, Col. & Capt. Lee, shall think fit objects of charity. Item. It is my will if please God my wife survives me and lives until the last ten Negroes allotted to be bought for her use aforesaid, is bought for her, that then I give her liberty at any time in her life or at her death to dispose of any two of them or their increase if she remains single or is married at the time and to such person or persons as she is pleased or to declare she desires should have them. I give & confirm the said two Negroes according to her desire. Item. The mill called Flynt’s Mill, which I have lately agreed for, & bought & paid for, I give to my son Daniel & his heirs forever. Item. It is my will that accounts of my estate be fairly kept & annually made up & returned to Westmoreland Court, debts & credits and if increase to pay said to my younger sons or the survivors of them to have the benefit thereof or to bear the loss if it decreases. I will that John Warner serve the rest of his time in the employment as now to teach school and the writing for my estate as my trustees shall order and that his wife remain with him to be employed as my wife shall think fit for my family’s service and, if they behave well to the end of their servitude, I then order that they be both clothed well from or with a Carolina hat & black hood, cloth drugget stuff, good dowlix or Irish lining each three shifts & a pair of shoes & worsted hose and I also give him my surveyor’s instruments & appurtenances and one hundred acres of my land at Aquia during his life. But if he misbehaves then it is my desire they have justice as the law directs and no more. But if my wife is not pleased with this my will, so that she will take what the law allows, then it is my will & I do hereby order that Mr. Humphrey Pope come & live on my now dwelling plantation as master there & look after that & all my other plantations, keep the account to the others and have thirty pounds sterling annual wages & a horse of my estates to do my business until my son Daniel arrives to twenty years of age. And that Mr. John Fitzhugh take my three youngest children to his house & John Warner & his wife to teach & serve them and that they be in all respects supported & maintained out of my estate and the charges thereof annually given in court. Item. If my wife desires to be and is laid in the tomb with my corpse, I order my trustees to send for a tombstone (such as is there already) and this I order whether she is consent with what I have before allotted for her and if not if she is laid there. Item. It is my will that all the gold in my purse, that my daughter Sarah made for me, being at the time of my death be hers & to her my said daughter I give the same over and above what I have before given her. Item. It is my will that the ten Negroes I’ve ordered to be bought for my wife be clothed the first year & furnished with corn, hoes, & axes out of my estate. I give the bricklayer to Denis at the end of two years. And in testimony that this is my last will and testament, I have hereunto set my hand & affix my seal this 29th day of March 1724. Signed D.A. McCarty Signed, sealed & published David Jones Samuel Wilson Francis Strothers William Roach Westmoreland. At a court held for the said county the 27th day of May 1724, the last will and testament of Daniel McCarty, Esg. deceased, was presented by Col. John Tayloe, Nicholas Minor, John Fitzhugh, & Samuel Peachy, Gent. Executors in trust who made oath thereto (Mr. Humphrey Pope, one of said executors in trust in open court refusing to undertake the burden of the executor thereof) and being proved by the oaths of David Jones, Francis Strothers, & Wm. Roach, three of the witnesses thereto is admitted to record. And upon the motion of the said executors & their performing what is usual in such cases, certificate is granted them for obtaining a probate thereof in due form. Denis, the heir apparent of the said testator, being present & saying nothing in bar thereof, but Madam Anna McCarty, relict of the said Daniel, by her petition to the court disannulled such part of the said will as any way related to her so far as to debar her of dower & thirds of the said McCarty’s estate. Test: Tho. Sorrell, Clerk Recorded 9th day of June 1724