Page:Augustine Herrman, beginner of the Virginia tobacco trade, merchant of New Amsterdam and first lord of Bohemia manor in Maryland (1941).djvu/127

Chapter IX

HERRMAN’S HEIRS AND THE DESCENDANTS OF THE ORIGINAL FAMILIES OF BOHEMIA MANOR

The exact date of the death of Augustine Herrman is uncertain. But inasmuch as his will was proved November 11, 1686 he likely died in the summer or in the early autumn of that year.^[1] This will in itself is very interesting as its provisions formed a subject of contention as late as 1700. Consisting of some fifteen hundred words, the will is written on a single piece of parchment and is preserved in the Pennsylvania Historical Society. It is dated September 27, 1684.

“In the Name and Good Will of God, the Holy Tri Unity, Amen”, the document begins. It first provides that a monument stone on which is stated that he was the “first author of Bohemia Mannour” be erected over his grave, next naming the executors of the will, his son Ephraim, his second son Casperus and his son-in-law Jn. Thompson. It further provides:

 

“I doe hereby further give, bequeath & devise, unto my Sonn Ephraim, and to his Heires Male from his body lawfully begotten, durande vitae . . . my above said Bohemia Mannour . . . unto my aforenamed Sonn Casperus and to his lineall posterities . . . my Bohemia river Middleneck, called little Bohemia . . . . I do bequeath & Devise Unto my said three daughters, Anna Margarita, Judith and Francina, and to their legall heires & Posterities from their Bodies Lawfully begotten . . . Three Tracts of land . . . named three Bohemian Sisters formerly called Misfortun . . . . In case My

 

1. See Johnston, G. Hist. of Cecil County, Md. p. 107.

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