Cooper Blakeslee
The Last Will and Testament of Cooper Blakeslee
Geauga County, Ohio Probate Ledger
352
Cooper Blakeslee
Deceased
At a term of the Court of Common Pleas within and for the County of Geauga, in the state of Ohio, begun and held at the Court House in Chardon, on the twenty-ninth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight-hundred and forty-two before the Honorable Benjamin Bissel, President, and Neri Wright, John P. Bosley and Joseph W. Brockett Esquire, associates, Judges holding said Court, and setting as a Court of Probate, the last Will and Testament of Cooper Blakeslee, late of the township of Thompson, deceased, was produced in Court, and offered for Probate; in the words and figures following:
The last Will of Cooper Blakeslee
I Cooper Blakeslee, of the township of Thompson, Geauga County, Ohio do make and ordain this my last will and testament, in manner and form following vis. I give and bequeath to my dear beloved wife, Mary Blakeslee, the use of my farm while she lives, or while she remains my widow. I likewise give and bequeath to my wife all my household furniture. I give and bequeath to my daughter Theda Brockett the sum of five dollars. I give and bequeath to my daughter, Almira Webster, the sum of fifteen dollars. I give and bequeath to my daughter Louisa Knapp the sum of fifteen dollars. I give and bequeath to my daughter Lucretia Blakeslee the sum of forty dollars. I give and bequeath to my daughter Mary Stockwell, the sum of twenty-five dollars I give and bequeath to my son Horace Blakeslee the sum of forty dollars. I give and bequeath to my son Orren Blakeslee the sum of one hundred dollars. I give and bequeath to my son Jared Blakeslee the sum of one hundred dollars. I give and bequeath to my two sons, Uri Blakeslee and Jason Blakeslee, the remainder of my farm, in equal proportion. Given this third day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty.
[signed]
Cooper Blakeslee
In presence of
Nathan Warren
Jonathan Rand
Nathan Warren Junr. one of the subscribing witnesses to said will appeared in Court, and took and subscribed an affidavit, in the words & figures following to wit:
"I, Nathan Warren Junr. of lawful age, being first duly sworn, testify that I was present at the execution of the last will and testament of Cooper Blakeslee, now presented to the Court, and that he duly executed the same in my presence, by subscribing his name thereto, and that the testator at the time of executing the same was of full age and of sound mind and memory and not under any restraint.
[signed]
Nathan Warren Junr.
Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 30th day of March A.D. 1842
[signed]
D. D. Aikin, Clk
Jonathan Rand, the other subscribing witness to said Will, also appeared in Court, and took and subscribed an affidavit, in the words and figures following to wit:
"I, Jonathan Rand of lawful age, being first duly sworn, testify that I was present at the execution of the last will and testament of Cooper Blakeslee, which is now presented to the Court, and that he duly executed the same in my presence, and subscribed his name thereto, and that the testator, at the time of executing the same, was of full age & of sound mind and memory, and not under any restraint.
[signed]
Jonathan Rand
Sworn & subscribed before me March 30 1842
[signed]
D. D. Aikin, Clk"
The Court thereupon considered the said Will and duly proven, did approve the same, and order it to be recorded. No executor being named in said Will, the Court appointed Uri Blakeslee Administrator of the estate of the said Cooper Blakeslee deceased, with the said Will annexed, and ordered that he give bond in the final sum of four hundred dollars, with Charles Goodrich and Winslow Wilber as his sureties. The Court also appointed Israel Comstock, Nathan Warren, and Philander Knapp, appraisers under said Will to appraise the personal property belonging to said estate. The said Administrator having filed his bond, in the final sum and with the sureties above named, a Testamentary Letter, have a true copy of the said will thereunto be annexed, was issued to him, by the Clerk of said Court in the words and figures following to wit:
" Geauga County, Ohio. SS
Benjamin Bissel, President of the fourteenth Circuit of the Court of Common Pleas in said State, in which circuit is included the said County of Geauga, and Neri Wright, John P. Bosley and Joseph W. Brockett Esquire, associate Judges of the said Court, for the County of Geauga aforesaid, in the name and by the authority of the State, To all whom these presents shall come, Greeting:
Know Ye that before said Court sitting as a Court of Probate, at a term thereof begun and held at the Court House in Chardon, on the twenty-ninth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, this last Will and Testament of Cooper Blakeslee, late of the County aforesaid deceased, (a true copy whereof is herewith annexed) was duly proved and approved by said Court. and the said Cooper Blakeslee deceased, having whilst he lived, and at the time of his death, divers [sic] goods, chattels and credits, within said County, the foresaid goods, chattels and credits, doth belong unto us: And the Administration of all and singular the goods, chattels and credits deceased, and all matters concerning said will, is committed to Uri Blakeslee, no executor being therein named. And we do require you the said Uri Blakeslee will and truly to perform the said Will, by paying first the debts, and then the legacies contained in the said Will, as far as the goods, chattels and credits of the said Cooper Blakeslee deceased will extend and the law charges you, and that you make a true inventory of all the said goods, chattel and credits (the said goods and chattels t be appraised, under oath or affirmation by Israel Comstock, Nathan Warren & Philander Knapp, house-holders of the County aforesaid, as also a just account, when thereunto required, to perform all which the said Uri Blakeslee has been duly sworn in open Court, according to law.
[Seal] In Testimony of which we have caused the seal of our said Court to be hereunto affisced [sic]. (Witness he Honourable Benjamin Bissel, President thereof at Chardon, the 31st day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty two.
[signed]
D.D. Aikin, Clerk"
Transcribed from a copy of the pertinent section of the Geauga County, Ohio Probate Ledger obtained from the Geauga County Archives and Records Center, Chardon, Ohio.