Last Will and Testament of Taylor Chapman
Deed book O, Pages 80-82, Stafford County, Virginia Records

     In the name of God amen I Taylor Chapman of the parish of Overwharton &
County of Stafford Gent. being at the present sick & weak of body but of sound
mind & disposing memory blessed by God for the same & calling to mind the
shortness & uncertainty of Human life have thought fit for the better ordering
of My worldly affairs to make this my last will & Testament in manner & form
as follows: I recommend? my soul into the hands of almighty God my merciful
creator, hoping for eternal happiness & remission of all my sins only in &
through the merits & mediation of my dear redeemer Jesus Christ my body I
leave to be devoutly buried according to the discretion of my Exr hereafter
mentioned & appointed All my debts lawfully contracted I desire may be
honestly paid out of what Estate it hath pleased God to bless me with & the
remainder I give as follows Imprimis I give & bequeath the land whereon I now
live which I bought of William Jackson to my dear & loving wife Margaret
Chapman during her natural life only & after her death I give & bequeath the
same unto my loving son William Chapman & his heirs forever.  Item I give &
bequeath the land I bought of Colo. Johnson Champe unto my loving son Joseph
Chapman & his Heirs forever, and as the said Champe has never yet made me
Deeds for the same my desire is the Deeds be made out in my said son Joseph's
name & acknowledged to him & that the consideration be paid out of my Estate
in yearly payments of eight pounds per annum according to our agreement Item I
give & bequeath to my said son William Chapman & his heirs my negroe fellows
named Tom & Stephen Item I give and bequeath to my said son Joseph Chapman &
his heirs my negro wench Chloe only: her Juneau till he comes of age to be
disposed of as follows Item I give and bequeath to my loving daughter Jane
Chapman & her heirs my negro Joseph the son of Chloe Item my will & desire is
that my negro fellow Frank be sold by my Exr & another negro bought in his
stead with his produce & out of what money I leave behind me and the said
negro when bought I give unto my loving wife during her natural life & after
her decease the value thereafter to be Equally Divided among my Surviving
Children Item it is my further will & desire that whatever children my negro
wench Chloe may have before my son Joseph comes of age they may be Eually
Divided among my said three children or the Survivors as they Severally come
of age Item I give unto my friend Capt Benja Strother my horse called Robin.
The rest of my Estate of what kind so ever I leave to be Equally divided among
my wife & the said three children or the Survivors of them & my wife's share
after her decease to be Equally Divided among my said Children also or the
Survivors of them; and my desire is likewise that my said Estate may be
inventoried but not apprais'd but kept together untill my children come of age
& they maintain'd & Educated out of the profits thereof according to the
discretion of my Exr hereafter named. Lastly I nominate and appoint my dear &
loving wife Margaret Chapman & trusty & well beloved friend Capt BenjaStrother
Executrix & Exr of this my last will & Testament hereby revoking and
Disannulling all former wills by me made & declaring this writing only
contained in this & the two foregoing Pages to be my last will In witness
whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal this 8th day of Nove anno:Dom:
1749
                                   Taylor Chapman (seal)
Signed Sealed & published
in presence of
John Moncure, Peter
Hodgman, Robert Mclouraine (?), Michl. Wallace

     At a Court held for Stafford County 13th Feby 1749
The within last will & Testament of Taylor Chapman decsd was presented unto
Court by Margaret Chapman one of the Exr therein named who made oath thereto
according to Law. And being proved by the oaths of three of the witnesses
thereto is admitted to record and on motion of the said Exr & she performing
what is usual in such cases certificate is granted her for obtaining a probate
thereof in due form.

                                   Fouts H. G?. Tyler Cl Court

Note 1:  Based on my research, I believe Taylor Chapman to be the son of Jane,
(Maiden Name Unknown) Chapman Murdock, by her first marriage to ? Chapman (first
name possibly Thomas).  Jane subsequently married Jeremiah Murdock.  Jane and
Jeremiah's wills are posted on the King George County GenWeb Archives page.

Note 2:  In transcribing a will, I have opted not to use all the abbreviations
used in the recorded will either because the abbreviation may not make sense
to someone reading my transcription or the abbreviations were superscripted.
An example of a superscripted abbreviation would be a letter with either a
period or some other letter or symbol beneath the superscript letter, for
instance "sd.", the d would be superscript with a period underneath or
"Testamt.", the t would be superscript with a period underneath.  These two
words are "said" and "testament."  If I thought the abbreviation would make
sense to someone reading my transcription or if I could not translate the
abbreviation, then I did the best I could to copy it exactly.  Other than
translating the abbreviations, I have tried to transcribe the document exactly
as recorded. If I could not transcribe it then I placed a (?) to so indicate.

Contributed for use on the Stafford County, VAGenWeb Site by A. Murdock  smalldab@bellsouth.net