The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

574 WASHINGTON'S WILL. [APPNDX.
who were taken in execution, sold, and urchasedinonmyaccount
in the year (blank), and ever since have remained in the possession
and to the use of Mary, widow of the said Bartholomew Dandidge,
with their increase, it is my will and desire shall continue and be
in her possession, without paying hire, or making 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 upwards shall receive their freedom; and all under
that age, and above sixteen, shall serve seven years and no longer;
and all under sixteen years shall serve until they are twenty-five
years of age, and then be free. And, to avoid disutes respecting the
ages of any of these negroes, they are to be taken into the court of
the county in which they reside, and the judgment thereof, in this
relation, shall be final, and record thereof made, which may be
adduced as evidence at any time thereafter if disputes should arise
concerning the same. And I further direct that the heirs of the
said Bartholomew Dandridge shall equally share the benefits arising
from the services of the said negroes,according to the tenor of this
devise, upon the decease of their mother.
[tem. - 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 desire,~ that
my executors -shall make such conveyances of them as the law
requires to render it perfect.
Item. - To my nephew, William, Augustine Washington, and his
heirs, (if he should conceive them to be objects worth prosecuting,)
a lot in the town of Manchester, (opposite to Richmond,) No. 265,
drawn on my sole account, and also the tenth of one or two hundred
acre lots, and two or three half-acre lots, in the city and vicinity of
Richmond, drawn in partnership with nine others, all in the lottery
of the deceased William Byrd, are given; as is also a lot which 1
purchased of John Hood, conveyed by William Willie and Samuel
Gordon, trustees of'the said John Hood, numbered 139, in the town
of Edinburgh, in the County of Prince George, State of Virginia.
Item. - To my nephew, Bushrod Washington, I give and
bequeath all the papers in my possession, which relate to my civil
and military administration of the affairs of this country. I leave to
him also such of my private papers as are worth preserving; and at
the decease of my wife, and before, if she is not inclined to retain
them, I give and bequeath my library of books and pamphlets of
every kind.
Ztem. - Having sold lands which I possessed in the State of