English
Will of Æthelflæd
(in Anglo-Saxon and dating from around 1004-1014. Note
that this is obviously only a record of an oral ceremony that had
already
taken place. This is confirmed by the prominent reference to several
witnesses, whose function it was to remember what had happened.
Incidentally, although the will appears genuine, some of the witnesses
could not have been present; it is assumed their names were added
somewhat later by scribes who may have been copying an illegible
manuscript)
Will of John Washbourne,
1517
An Indenture establishing a charitable trust (an almshouse), 1679
(click here to see an image of the indenture
or of the seal)
(additional documents relating to the Seymour
trust)
Will Margaret Silcock
(1764) (image of page 1 page 2)
American
Will of Edmund Sherman
(an American colonial will from 1712)
Will and Codicil of Benjamin Franklin (1789)
Will of James Crawford
(North Carolina, 1816)
(Note the many religious references and also that the
estate seems to consist largely of slaves
Will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop (Hawaii,
1883)
(This is the will of the last descendant of King Kamehameha of
Hawai'i. It established a trust to fund the Kamehameha schools
for native Hawaiian children. This trust owns large amounts of
land in the islands. The schools have been in the news recently
because of controversial actions
by some of the trustees and because of the limitation to native
children)
Will of Elvis Presley
(1977)
(excerpts; can you imagine the King singing this
legalistic mumbo-jumbo?)
Will of David Packard
(California, 1987)
(a remarkably plain language and straightforward will
of one of the wealthiest men in the United States in his time. He
probably
had some complex trusts, however)
Other
An Indian Will: Chaudhari Zaharia Mall
(1967; note that even though the will uses
centuries-old English legalese, it is distinctly Indian in tone,
avoiding the generally impersonal language of Anglo-American wills)
A Dutch
notarial will (Amsterdam 1872)
(This will is typical of the notarial style commonly used
in Europe; note that the notary reads the will to the testator to make
sure this really is how he wants to dispose of his possessions. I
have tried in the translation to convey some of the stilted and archaic
language, as well as the bizarre word order--perhaps a literal
translation from French or Latin--in the original document.)
