Genealogy of the Olmsted family in America : embracing the ...

First Generation 7
The Rev. Thomas Hooker mentions in a letter the death of James Olmsted:
" Slept sweetly in the Lord, having carried himself gratiously in his
sickness."
From the will of James Olmsted an intimation is to be gathered that he
died after a very short and severe illness, during which illness his will was
made. After the death of his wife in England, he appears not to have
married again, as no mention is made of a wife in his will, nor is mention
made of any othSr children than Nicholas and Nehemiah. Among the
legatees there appears the name of Rebecca Olmsted, a niece who lived with
him at the time of his death, and who, says James Savage of Boston, came
over with him. To her is left a small sum that had probably been held by
him in trust. In an appendix to his will, two kinsmen are named, who, says
Hawley Olmsted, were doubtless nephews of James 1st. Mr. Savage also so
regards them, and advances the conjecture that they also came over the
water with their uncle. The names of these kinsmen or nephews were
Richard and John Olmsted.
The Last Will and Testament of James Olmstead
Late of Hartford, decesed.'
This is my wyll, to giue my Estate betweene my two sonns, that is to say,
the on halfe to my sonn Nicholas, and the other halfe to my sonne Nehemiah,
equally deuyded betweene the both, w"" this reseruation, that if my brother
Lumus doe make his word good to make my sonne Nicholis wifes portion as
good as any child he hath, for so I vnderstand his p^'mise is, but if he shall
refuse so to doe, I shall then refuse to giue my sonn any p'te of my moueable
goods, cattell or debts, but my will is to leaue the thing w'*" Richard Webb
and William Wodsworth to see my Brother Lumus doe p''forme his p''mise,
and as the said Richard Webb and Will' Wodsworth shall doe I shall be con-
tent. And if my Brother Lumis doe p'forme his p''mise, then my will is their
portions shall be a like, only Nicholis shall abate so much as I gaue him before.
And my will is that my sonne Nehemiah shall giue out of his portion ten pownd
to my Cossen Rebeca Olmstead that now dwelleth w"" me, and he shall pay
yt her w''''in three yeares after my dicease, and I leaue her to be disposed by
Richard Webb and Will' Wadsworth, and as shee shall carry herselfe, yt shall
be in their power ether to giue her the tenn pownd or to deteyne yt fro her.
I doe giue my searuant Will' Corby fine pownd, to be paid when his tyme coms
forth, and I doe will my sonne Nehemya to pay him out of his owne portion:
And I doe will that Will' Corby doe searue his tyme w"' my sonne Nehemiah.
And I leaue my sonne Nehemiah w'" Richard Webb and Will' Wodsworth,
intreating the to haue the ouer sight of him, and the disposeing of him as their
owne child. But if my sonne Nehemiah shall goe contrary in bestowing himselfe
any way contrary to the judgement of my two frinds. Rich: Webb and
Will' Wodsworth, then yt shall be in their power to comaund and take a hundred
pownd of his Estate, and dispose of yt as they thinke fitt. I giue to my
two frynds Richard Webb and Will' Wodsworth, w'" I put in trust, six pownds
and a marke to be paid equally betwixt the, and my two sonns shall pay the,
the one pay the one halfe and the other pay the other halfe.
Witnesse, the 28"^ of September, 1640, Ja: Olmstead.
Richard Webb,
Will' Wodsworth.
1 James Olmsted's will, codicil, and inventory are copied from The Public Records of the
Colony of Connecticut, prior to the Union with the New Haven Colony, May, 1665, by J. Hammond
Trumbull, -Hartford, Brown & Parsons, 1850, pp. 446-449. Unfortunately, the original will
of James Olmsted has disappeared from the Hartford probate records.