1734 Philadelphia Will Signed by Joseph Breintnall — Ben Franklin’s Junto & Library Company Associate
Original manuscript last will and testament of Samuel Nicholas, Philadelphia bricklayer, dated October 15, 1734. Signed by Nicholas beside a seal and witnessed by James Estaugh and Joseph Breintnall.
An evocative early Philadelphia legal document bearing the signature of Joseph Breintnall, an original member of Benjamin Franklin’s Junto and the first secretary of the Library Company of Philadelphia. The manuscript offers a tangible connection to Franklin’s civic and intellectual circle during the early years of his Philadelphia career.
Nicholas, describing himself as sick but of sound mind, provides for his wife Mary and disposes of houses on Mulberry Street and High Street. He grants Mary lifetime use of the properties, with detailed provisions governing their eventual inheritance, and leaves her his household furnishings and remaining personal estate.
A significant opening clause directs that an enslaved man named Douglas be sold to raise money for Nicholas’s debts and funeral expenses. The provision documents the presence of slavery within an eighteenth-century Philadelphia artisan’s household.
Nicholas appoints Mary, his brother-in-law Joseph Paschall, and Philadelphia carpenter Edward Warner as executors.
One manuscript page shown. Bold, substantially legible writing, with fold creases, light discoloration, scattered spotting, and minor edge wear. Seal impression or remnant visible beside Nicholas’s signature. Dimensions and reverse not examined.
A substantial colonial Philadelphia manuscript combining a Franklin-associated witness signature with evidence of urban property ownership, family inheritance, and slavery.
Original manuscript last will and testament of Samuel Nicholas, Philadelphia bricklayer, dated October 15, 1734. Signed by Nicholas beside a seal and witnessed by James Estaugh and Joseph Breintnall.
An evocative early Philadelphia legal document bearing the signature of Joseph Breintnall, an original member of Benjamin Franklin’s Junto and the first secretary of the Library Company of Philadelphia. The manuscript offers a tangible connection to Franklin’s civic and intellectual circle during the early years of his Philadelphia career.
Nicholas, describing himself as sick but of sound mind, provides for his wife Mary and disposes of houses on Mulberry Street and High Street. He grants Mary lifetime use of the properties, with detailed provisions governing their eventual inheritance, and leaves her his household furnishings and remaining personal estate.
A significant opening clause directs that an enslaved man named Douglas be sold to raise money for Nicholas’s debts and funeral expenses. The provision documents the presence of slavery within an eighteenth-century Philadelphia artisan’s household.
Nicholas appoints Mary, his brother-in-law Joseph Paschall, and Philadelphia carpenter Edward Warner as executors.
One manuscript page shown. Bold, substantially legible writing, with fold creases, light discoloration, scattered spotting, and minor edge wear. Seal impression or remnant visible beside Nicholas’s signature. Dimensions and reverse not examined.
A substantial colonial Philadelphia manuscript combining a Franklin-associated witness signature with evidence of urban property ownership, family inheritance, and slavery.
