Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records
(Hartford District),
Charles W. Mainwaring,
Hartford, 1902,
Vol 2, p 472
BRAINARD, Hezekiah, Haddam. Died 24 May 1727. Invt. £2442-03-03. Taken 24 June 1727, by Joseph ARNOLD, Jared SPENCER and Caleb BRAINARD. Will dated 23 May 1727
I, Hezekiah BRAINARD, of Haddam, do make this my last will and testament: I give to my eldest son a double portion of all my estate, to be injoyed by him when he comes to the age of 21 years or day of marriage, which shall happen first, excepting those lands I hereafter appoint to be sold. Item. To the rest of my children I give an equal proportion of my estate. Item. I give to my wife Dorothy 1/3 part of my moveable estate forever and 1/3 part of my housing and lands during her natural life and she to have her first choice. Item, I do appoint that my son Nehemiah be bred up to learning and fitted to be serviceable thereby. I do appoint my loveing wife Dorothy to be sole executrix to this my last will, and I do desire her out of my whole estate to pay all my just debts. And also I do hereby fully impower her for the bringing up of my son Nehemiah to learning and other necessary uses, to sell the following parcells of land, viz., yt which I bought of Samuel SMITH, and also tha parcell of land I bought of William SPENCER, and also that parcel of land that I have in partnership with my brother Caleb BRAINARD.
Hez: BRAINARD
Witness: Timothy WOODBRIDGE, Richard LORD, Elizabeth WYLLYS.
Court Record, Page 160 -- 4 July 1727: Will proven
Page 68 (Vol XI) 22 May 1732: Dorothy BRAINARD, executrix of the last will and testament of Hezekiah BRAINARD, late of Haddam, not having fully perfected her account of executorship and being decd., this court do therefore grant letters of Adms. on sd. estate unto Hezekiah BRAINARD, son of the decd., with the will annexed. And the sd. Hezekiah BRAINARD became bound in the sum of £400.
Page 89 -- 28 April, 1733: Hezekiah BRAINARD, eldest son of Hezekiah BRAINARD, moved to this Court that there may be a distribution according to the will; and this Court appoint Caleb BRAINARD, Elijah BRAINARD and Jared SPENCER, of Haddam, too distribute the estae. Daniel BRAINARD, a minor, 15 years of age, and Martha BRAINARD, 17 years, chose their brother Hezekiah BRAINARD to be their guardian. And this Court appoint the sd. Hezekiah BRAINARD to be guardian to 3 of the children, viz., John, age 13 years, Elizabeth, 10, and Israel 8 years of age. Recog. £300.
See Dist. per File: 17 May 1733: Order to distribute to Hezekiah, to Nehemiah, to Dorothy SMITH, to Jerusha SPENCER, to Martha BRAINARD, to David, to John, to Elizabeth, and to Israel BRAINARD. By Caleb BRAINARD & Elijah BRAINARD.
Page 42 (Vol XII) 31 March 1736: It appears to this Court that there was 300 acres of land granted by the General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut to James WADSWORTH, John HALL and Hezekiah BRAINARD, Esq., bounded south by the Litchfield line and every way else by commmon land, lying neare the west line of the place called Torrington. Sd. WADSWORTH hath sold his third part as undivided to Ebenezer HILL, Jr., Luke HILL and Isaac HILL, and sd. HALL's part now belongs to his eldest son John HALL of Wallingford, and in the dist. of sd. BRAINARD's estate according to his last will his third part of sd. land fell to his son Israel BRAINARD, who is yet underage, who, together with the other owners of sd. land,via., John HALL and the sd. Ebenezer, Luke and Isaac HILL, moves this Court that James WADSWORTH, Esq., and James WADSWORTH, Jr. of Durham, might assist Hezekiah BRAINARD, guardian to sd. minor, to divide the sd. 300 acres of land by meets and bounds, that each owner may know their part thereof.