Last Will and Testament of Seth Eastman

You can learn so much about a family from a will and I am thrilled that someone saved this one

Last Will and Testament of Seth Eastman of Concord, NH 1801-1885 age 84

Married to Sarah Coffin 1805-1878 age 73

Sons: Edson Cummings Eastman (publisher and book seller) 1832-1911 age 79 and Samuel Coffin Eastman 1838-1917 (lawyer) age 79

Edson C married Mary Elizabeth Robinson (Mary E Eastman 1830-1884) Mary died at age 54

Son: Seth Newton Eastman, MD (1855-1889) died at age 33

Daughter: Isabelle Eastman (1858-1937) died at age 79

Edson married a second time after being a widower for 2 years

Mary Louise Whittemore in 1888, she was 39, and Samuel was 56

Samuel married Mary Clifford Greene in 1861 (1836-1895) 

Daughter: Mary Clifford Eastman 1862-1913 never married, age 51 at death

Mary Isabel Eastman was known as Oklahoma’s Sonnet Queen and married Robert Emmett Styll (1850-1920) Edge Hill, VA age 70 at death

Seth’s will was written in 1879 and the codicil in 1883; his wife Sarah preceded him in death in 1878

Ages of named family at the time of Seth Eastman’s death

Mary E Eastman (wife of Edson) died the same year as Seth. 

Isabelle Eastman (grand) was 27 when Seth died

Mary C Eastman (wife of Samuel) was 48

Edson C Eastman (son) was 53

Samuel C Eastman (son) was 47

Seth Newman Eastman (grand) was 30

Mary Clifford Eastman (grand) was 23

I give and bequeath to Mary E Eastman, wife of Edson C Eastman, my silver sugar and cream pot, to be given to her daughter Isabelle Eastman, when she is done with them. And since Mary E had passed away, Isabelle inherited the sugar and cream pot.

I give to my granddaughter Isabelle Eastman, if living at my deceased, my horse, carriages, slays, harness and wolf robes, also one share in Contoocook Mfg and Mech Co. Note: from the Concord Monitor 2019. The property has been an industrial site since at least 1846, first as the site of warehouses for the nearby Penacook textile mill, then as the site of a tannery after the collapse of New England’s textile industry in the 1940s. 

The Allied Leather operation was large, and a wastewater treatment plant and coal-fired electrical generator were part of the operation on Canal and Crescent streets.

The tannery went bankrupt in 1987, and the city bought the property in 2006 after failed attempts to develop it. Cleanup was difficult as tanneries often leave pollution. The state Department of Environmental Services says that site “had been used for disposal of leather scraps, which were contaminated with chromium” and that as the buried leather decayed “it produced methane, posing an explosion risk and potential vapor intrusion and structural problems with new construction.”

I give devise and bequeath to Mary E Eastman (daughter of Samuel), the house where I now reside and the lot on which the same is situated, being the lot I bought from Abel Hutchins and a piece on the north from Sanford Place, as now enclosed and also a piece nine feet wide off of the south end of the lot I bought from SG Sylvester, which 9 feet I purchased an added to my lot before I bought the Sylvester house, to have and to hold to her sole and separate use for enduring to the term of her natural life. In the case of my son Edson C Eastman, shall survive his wife, Mary E Eastman, then I give, devise and bequeath the said house and lot, after the deceased of his said wife, to him to have and to hold for the term of his natural life.

I hereby authorize empower my son, Edson C Eastman, if he survive his wife Mary E or Mary E Eastman, if she survive for a husband to dispose of the remainder of said state after their deceased by will and in case the survivors neglects to make a will then to their heirs of the said Edson C Eastman.

I give and devise and bequeath to my son, Samuel C Eastman, the house owned by me on the east side of State Street, south of the first Calvinistic Baptist meetinghouse lot, and the lots of land belonging there too and also the land situated easterly there of, being the lot use now for a blacksmith shop and all the buildings they’re on, intending to give him all of the land owned by me in the square to him and his heirs forever.

I give and bequeath to my granddaughter Mary C Eastman sinking fund bonds of the Boston, Concord and Montreal railroad of $500 number 33.

I give and bequeath to Mary C Eastman wife of Samuel C Eastman the stock which I may hold at my deceased in the Concord Gas and Light Company not exceeding however 34 shares.

I give to my son Samuel C Eastman the rest of my silverware and the right to take furniture out of the house as he may select to the amount of $100 in value, and all the rest and residue of my furniture I give to my son Edson C Eastman.

I give and bequeath my watch to my grandson, Seth Eastman.

I give and bequeath to my granddaughter Isabelle Eastman, to Sinking Fund Bonds of the BC & MRR, one of the one of $100 and one of $300.

I give and bequeath to my son Edson C Eastman, 10 shares of the Concord Gas Light Company.

I give them bequeath to my son Edson C Eastman the stock I hold in the Boston Concord and Montreal Railroad, to be held by him in trust to apply the income thereof to the benefit of my grandson Seth Eastman, in such manner as he may deem best, with the right to appoint a successor and said trust by will.

All the rest of the residue of the state, I give them bequeath and advised to my two sons Edson C and Samuel C Eastman to be divided equally between them.

I hereby constitute and appoint my said sons at Edson C and Samuel C Eastman, executors of this my last will.

And testimony whereof, I have here on to set my hands and soul this 15th day of July, 1879 and do make and publish this my last will and testament.

Know all men hereby that I, Seth Eastman of Concord, NH do make this as a codicil to my last will bearing date July 15, 1879.

I give devise and bequeath to my great granddaughter Isabelle Eastman the house and lot on by me on school Street and said Concord now occupied by my son Edson C Eastman. Dated June 1, 1883.