342 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



the premises ; and these are to give 

 and bequeath the said land to 

 whomsoever the said Thornton 

 Washington (who is also dead) de- 

 vised the same, or to his heirs for 

 ever, if he died intestate ; exonera- 

 ting the estate of the said Thornton, 

 equally with that of the said Samuel, 

 from payment of the purchase-mo- 

 ney, which, with interest, agreeably 

 to the original contract with the said 

 P. Pendleton, would amount to more 

 than a thousand pounds. And 

 whereas two other sons of my said 

 deceased brother Samuel, viz. 

 George Steptoe Washington, and 

 Lawrence Augustine Washington, 

 were, by the decease of those to 

 whose care they were committed, 

 brought under my protection, and 

 in consequence, have occasioned 

 advances on my part for their edu- 

 cation at college and other schools, 

 for their board, clothing, and other 

 incidental expenses, to the amount 

 of near five thousand dollars, over 

 and above the sums furnished by 

 their estate, which sum it may be 

 inconvenient for them or their 

 father's estate to refund ; I do, for 

 these reasons, acquit them and the 

 said estate from the payment there- 

 of, my intention being, that all ac- 

 counts between them and me, and 

 their father's estate and me, shall 

 stand balanced. 



Item — The balance due to me 

 from the estate of Bartholomew 

 Dandridge, deceased, (my wife's 

 brother), and which amounted on 

 the 1st day of October, 1795, to 

 425/. (as will appear by an account 

 rendered by his deceased son, John 

 Dandridge, who was the acting exe- 

 cutor of his father's will, ) I release 

 and acquit from the payment there- 

 of ; and tlie negroes (then thirty- 

 tlirec ill number) formerly l)cloiig- 



ing to the said estate, who were 

 taken in execution, sold and pur- 

 chased in on my account, in the 

 year (blank,) and ever since have re- 

 mained in the possession, and to the 

 use of Mary, widow of the said 

 Bartholomew Dandridge, with their 

 encrease, it is my will and desire, 

 shall continue to be in her posses- 

 sion, without paying hire, or ma- 

 king compensation for the same, for 

 the time past or to come during her 

 natural life, at the expiration of 

 which, I direct that all of them, 

 who are forty years old and up- 

 wards, shall receive their freedom ; 

 all under that age, and above six- 

 teen, shall serve seven years, and no 

 longer ; and all under sixteen years 

 shall serve until they are twenty-five 

 years of age, and then to be free ; 

 and to avoid disputes respecting the 

 ages of any of those negroes, they 

 are to be taken into the court of 

 the county in which they reside, 

 and the judgement thereof, in this 

 relation, shall be final, and record 

 thereof made, which may be ad- 

 duced as evidence at anytime there- 

 after, if disputes should arise con- 

 cerning the same ; and I farther di- 

 rect that the heirs of the said Bar- 

 tholomew Dandridge shall equally 

 share the benefits arising from the 

 service of the said negroes, accord- 

 ing to the tenor of this devise, upon 

 the decease of their mother. 



Item. — If Charles Carter^ who 

 intermarried with my niece, Betty 

 Lewis, is not sufficiently secured in 

 the title to the lots he had of me, in 

 the town of Fredericksburg, it is my 

 will and desii'e that my executors 

 shall make such conveyance of them 

 as the law requires, to render it 

 perfect. 



Item. — To my nephew, William 

 Augustine Washington,(iflieshould 



