In the name of God amen. I William Monroe of Lexington in the County of Middlesex in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England being at present writing hereof of a sound disposing mind thro Divine goodness, but sensible of my mortality, do therefore make this my Last Will & Testament in manner & form as followeth.

And first I do commend my precious and immortal south into the hands of Christ Jesus my Lord, hoping in his merits alone for the salvation of it; and my body I committ to the dust by a decent burial at the discretion of my executor in hopes of a joyfull resurrection to life eternal. And as for the temporal state which it hath pleased allmighty God to bestow upon me, & which is in my hands undisposed of, my will and pleasure is to dispose thereof as followeth.

I do give and bequeath unto my beloved John Monroe, William Monroe, George Monroe, Daniel Monroe, David Monroe, Joseph Monroe & Benjamin Monroe to each, & every of them ten shillings a piece, besides what I have already bestowed upon them.

My will and pleasure is, that my beloved daughter Eleanor Burgess shall have the sole use of my mansion house, & a priveledge in the barn during the whole term of her widdowhood, and that upon her secease or marriage my son George Monroe shall have all my buildings; he paying unto the said Eleanour Burgess the sum of three pounds. and I do also give and bequeath unto the sd. Eleanour Burgess the one half of my moveable household stuff.

I do also give & bequeath unto my beloved daughters Martha Comee, Hanah Peirce, Elizabeth Rugg, Mary Phasett [Fassett], Eleanour Burgess & Sarah Blanchard to each & every one of them ten pounds apeice.

And after all my just debts & funeral charges be defrayed, my will & pleasure is, that all the rest and residue of my estate both reall & personall be equally divided among all my children & that my son George Monroe shall have the first tender of all my lands at the price of four pounds per acre. And if any of my children are contentious about their portions, they shall forfeitt the same unto their brethren, that shall abide by my will.

I do also make & ordain my well beloved sons John Monroe, & George Monroe to be executors of this my last will & testament. And that is is my last will & testament. And that I do hereby revoke & disanul all other & former wills & testaments by me at any time made; I do putt my hand & seall hereto november the fourteenth anno Dom. one thousand seven hundred & sixteen. In the third year of his majt. Reign.

William Munroe wrote his will on 14 November 1716 in Lexington, Massachusetts. He died 27 January 1717/18, according to his gravestone, just a couple months after writing the will. Lexington Vital Records give a death date of 23 January. His third wife, Elizabeth Johnson Wyer, died a year before him, in December 1715. All of his living children are mentioned in his will. His daughter, Eleanor Burgess, a widow, was given his mansion house as long as she remained a widow. William appointed his sons John and George Monroe as his executors. An inventory of William's estate was completed on 6 April 1719.

Source: FHL MF 421474, Probate records 1648--1924, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Microfilm of original records in the Middlesex County Courthouse, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Probate papers 15706-15825. Probate packet #15716.

William and Martha George Munroe's daughter, mentioned in the will as Martha Comee, married John Comee, son of David Comee, another Scottish prisoner who came over on the John and Sara with William Monroe. Their daughter, Abigail Comee, married Jonas Peirce; and their daughter, Abigail Peirce, married Nathan Darby and my lines descends through their daughter, Rhoda Darby.