Captain Berry's Will
Debauchery, Miscegenation, & Family Strife
Among 18th Century Gentry

Answers, he thinks he could have done it, because he told the Deponent he would give him three thousand pounds of tobacco for drawing the will, and the Deponent is of opinion if he had drawn a note of hand for such a quantity of tobacco payable to himself Wm Berry would have signed it. . . . do you think had Captn Berry been sober he would have given three thousand pounds of tobacco for drawing his will? Answers, he does not think he would. Did William Berry give you three thousand pounds of tobacco for drawing his will? Answers, “He did not.”

Was William Berry, when the will exhibited was made & executed, capable of looking after and managing his plantation and other affairs with judgment & discretion? Answers, “He was not.” Was he from bodily infirmity or weakness of mind incapable of transacting his business as aforesaid? Answers, he thinks from both. Do you think Capt. William Berry was capable . . .of either truly considering & forming a rational judgment concerning his common plantation & household affairs? Answers, from his mode of managing he is of opinion he could not form a rational judgment even as to the management of his common household affairs. Did not Mr. Berry, at & about the time of his making & executing the will now exhibited, manage and conduct his business & household affairs as well as the Deponent did at that time? Answers, they managed their business pretty much in the same manner the principal business of both, & their chief study, being to take care that a regular supply of spirituous liquors should be provided.

Does he think that he and Wm Berry was nearly in the same state of

Source: Prince George’s County Register of Wills (Orphans’ Court Proceedings) 1777-1790, f. 108, MSA C 1275-1